In another move to make up for the problems that MobileMe has been plagued with since its launch in July, Apple has made another extension to many users, giving another 60 days for free - on top of the 30 days free extension it gave users in July.

In an e-mail to subscribers, Apple has said that the suite of services needs more work. The service was to be an extension of the .Mac service, and is a “cloud” storage solution that syncs e-mails, calendars, contacts, photos, Safari bookmarks, Dashboard widgets, etc. to Macs, iPhones and the iPod Touch.

Users are given 20GB of storage within Apple’s servers and has an application to cooperates with Outlooks on Windows computers. The full letter is below.

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I am still getting my head around why would someone would be so gullible to buy this application when the entire web was going haywire over it.

Lee5279xx was jokingly clicking on the Buy link, but apparently forgot that his wife had an application on his laptop and thus he bought the application for $999.99. He went to his bank to get his money bank, but now he’s in limbo because he now needs to negotiate with the developer - Armin Heinrich, or Apple. He even goes so far as saying it was a scam:

THIS IS NO JOKE…DO NOT BUY THIS APP AND APPLE PLEASE REMOVE THIS FROM THE APP STORE….APPLE MUST MUST MUST START TO SCREEN THESE FAKE APPS AND RIDICULOUS SCAMS.

No, it is not a scam, it’s just you being an idiot to buy the application in the first place.

Image & Source: Gizmodo

While Apple did say that they were checking all the apps that were going to be in the Apps Store, this has to be the most funny cock-up that Apple has done since the MobileMe launch.

This application, known as the I Am Rich application, is basically an application for the iPod Touch and iPhone that displays a red gem.

And that’s about it.

It’s all about how rich you are - and that is basically what the description of the application says

However, the most ridiculous thing about the application is the price - it costs US$999.99, or $1,199.99 for the application.

The good thing is that Apple will get 30% off all purchases - which is US$300 for those who were stupid enough to buy the application in the first place. So, while you go get your bank to loan you that much money for a picture of a red gem; we will be covering more technology news, while sipping at our coffees and writing on other people’s Facebook Wall - because that is much better than covering this app.

Click on the Read More link to view the application in its entirety.

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A second, official retail store will open at 9am this Saturday (9 August) in Chatswood, NSW. The store will also allow people to register to a range of workshops online, including one-on-one training and teaching sessions for children. Workshops will be available for Final Cut, OS X, iWork and Adobe’s CS3 products.

The new store will be located in Chatswood Chase Shopping Centre, at 345 Victoria Ave, and will have similar features at the Sydney CBD store, including the "Genius Bar". It will also be open seven days a week.

When we reported that 3’s unauthorized, make-you-buy-your-own-because-we-cannot-be-stuffed-talking-to-Apple iPhone plans gave you a maximum of 2GB of data on one of their plans; we thought that it would be the only one that is going over the 1GB limit - but we were wrong, as usual.

Virgin Mobile, which recently said that it has been allowed to sell the iPhone (it is owned by Optus), is now offering 5GB on a $100 cap plan - and allowing you no handset repayments on the 8GB and 16GB versions. Those who are looking for something cheaper, they are also offering a $70 cap plan with 1GB - and offering the iPhone for free on the 8GB, and a $4 fee per month on the 16GB version.

However, since its cheap broadband plans were introduced with its home phone deals, there have been heavy congestion on the network with speeds so slow that it has been unusable by some customers. As well, while 750Kb/s speed throttling has been applied, it will not be applied to those on the iPhone.

Calls are charged at 40c per 30 seconds, within Optus’ and Vodafone’s range - though they offer calls at 35c per 30 seconds.

Even though Apple has left them in the dark, it did not stop Three to get its hands on the iPhone - by making you get it from another carrier. It tells you to buy a pre-paid version of the phone and pay the $80 to get it unlocked so it can work with their network.

This would set you back $809 for the 8GB, since it costs $729, and $949 for the 16GB version, since it costs $849 for it. The good news is that the 3 will pay you back $300 just for bringing the phone to them. After that, the plans get better over at 3.

While the $49 cap will allow you 1GB and $350 worth of Calls, SMS and "more", all the other plans will allow you to have 2GB of data. There is a 10c/MB charge if you go over that limit. All are under a 24 month contract.

There are some catches, however, like:

• Your cap includes up to $100 of international calls, video calls, SMS, voicemail, 1300 and 1800 numbers and directory assistance.
• You will need to pay $1.65 per MB if you roam on Telstra’s coverage area - since there are a lot of black spots in its coverage.
• If you disconnect within the 24 months, you will need to pay $49 or $50 per remaining month, depending on your plan that you have on the remaining months.

Remember, these are not sanctioned by Apple; so its Three’s fault if your iPhone screws up - which is unlikely, but I just like warning people of false fears.

RUMOUR MILL: The blogs are rumouring that Apple could be releasing a brand red iPhone 3G model for the holidays.

The red coloured iPhone would be part of the (PRODUCT) RED campaign, a charitable organisation that donates money to fight AIDS in Africa. It will also join several Apple’s other (PRODUCT) RED items like iTunes gift cards, the 8GB iPod Nano and the 1GB iPod Shuffle.

As well, it would be an easier way to score an iPhone, while helping a good cause.

Image from MacBlogz.

Paris-based security firm Intego has released the very first antivirus software for the iPhone. However, it does not run on the phone itself, but on a user’s Mac.

The software, Virus Barrier X5 10.5.3, would be able to scan the iPhone for viruses by copying the files to the Mac for a security check, once the user has plugged in the cable and is connected to the Mac itself. The company claims that since Apple has opened it its SDK, users would be at risk of installing apps that would harm the devices, or even take control of them.

There is, however, only one known malware that is publicly known. Antivirus vendors have predicted that since the iPhone is running a stripped down version of Mac OS X, it would lead to an increase of malware on all Mac OS X, but currently the threat is low; but other vendors are agreeing that the Apple App Store can be hijacked.

Apple has said that just three days after its launch on Friday July 11, it has reached the 1 million mark; even though the hype wasn’t there (in those who got the first gen iPhone) and the lines were not that long.

The iPhone was sold in 21 different countries, including Australia, United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Hong Kong and New Zealand. The iPhone is now going to be sold in France in a couple of days time, on July 17.

For the Apps store, users went and downloaded up to 10 million apps so far, even though there were 500 at launch, meaning that roughly 20,000 download the same app (do the math!). But while you can just argue that this is just another phone, it is not. It is a platform, where you create applications for not only for the iPhone 3G, but for the 1st gen iPhone and the iPod Touch.

Wow - I really must be an Apple fanboy (who also likes Windows).

Though the iPhone is already one day old around the world, the past few hours saw many Apple fanboys could not get their precious phone activated.

From paidContent, they said that the Apple Store was facing a system overload, and in the UK, its carrier O2 saw problems as its activation required Internet Explorer. In Australia, Optus faced a couple of problems with their activation.

Ars Technica is also reporting that some stores were selling the phones unactivated and telling consumers to go home and activate it through iTunes like the previous generation. However, they tried that and they were given an error message saying that the iTunes Store was down.

As well, we have heard that T-Mobile stores in the Netherlands were turning away customers because of the activation system was down. (Link is not in English, but in Dutch)

CNET News.com is quoting an AT&T representative that it is an Apple issue and not AT&T. "This is not an AT&T activation server issue…Apple (is) working to address issues affecting its iTunes software right now," according to the email.

From what we are hearing now, all the activation servers are now back and running.