The United States Copyright Office meets on occasion to debate exceptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).  At the group’s latest meeting, several important exceptions to the act were carved out, and one of them should be of particular interest to iPhone, iPod touch and iPad owners: jailbreaking, the group found, does not violate the DMCA.

So what does this finding mean for users?  Not much, actually.  Its only real-world effect will be to help prevent Apple from taking legal action against providers of jailbreaking tools or those that aid in those tools’ dissemination.  Apple can still continue to take steps to make jailbreaking difficult, including releasing software updates which nullify the jailbreak. 

Yesterday, Apple replied to the Copyright Office action, stating that jailbreaking your device, while legally protected, will void its warranty.  This is ridiculous, particularly when considering that taking your MacBook apart and adding new hardware doesn’t void its warranty.  How can one argue that changing hardware doesn’t void a warranty, but installing software does?  They can’t, really.  But no argument needs to be made – the company can do as it pleases.

In the end, this is a minor win for consumers.  But a win all the same.  Companies will continue to hobble the technology their customers pay for as long as it is tolerated.  And in this practice, Apple may be one of the most prominent offenders, but it is by no means alone.

Learn More:

EFF Wins New Legal Protections for Video Artists, Cell Phone Jailbreakers, and Unlockers

Wikipedia: iOS Jailbreaking

We’ve added new accessories to the iPad Accessories Center. 

The following iPad Accessories pages have been updated with new listings:

• iPad Stands & Holders

• iPad Car & Truck Accessories

• iPad Capacitive Stylus / Styli

• iPad Batteries & Battery Extenders

As promised last week, Apple has begun its free case program for iPhone 4 owners who are experiencing reception problems with the device.  If you have an iPhone 4 and want a case to separate the phone’s external steel antennas from your skin, here’s the process you must follow.

1. Download an app called iPhone 4 Case Program [iTunes Link] onto your iPhone 4.

2. Run the app, sign into your iTunes account, and select either an Apple Bumper (black only) or one of the other cases being offered from Incase, Belkin, Griffin or Speck.

Current iPhone 4 owners must request a free case by August 22, 2010.  New buyers have 30 days to make the request.

The program is scheduled to terminate at the end of September.

As of this morning, none of the cases available will ship for 3-5 weeks.  Hope you have plenty of duct tape to hold you over.

See full details here.

Golfscape GPS Rangefinder, the latest sports-related offering from Shotzoom software, marries augmented reality technology and the iPhone’s GPS, compass and camera hardware to give golfers a new tool for finding the range to the green. 

The app is available for $19.99 [iTunes Link] and does not require future renewals for subscriptions.

Features include detailed maps and data for 35000 golf courses, distance to the front, middle and back of Green, and bunkers, water, trees and layups information, all presented over the real-time video displayed on your iPhone’s screen that changes as you move the phone.

Compatible with iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4.

Check out the video after the jump.

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We reviewed Air Display last month, an iPad (and now iPhone) app that allows you to use the tablet as a second display.  But Air Display – at least for now – only works with computers running the Mac OS. 

If you’re a Windows user – and most iPad owners certainly are – Air Display isn’t an option.  But you do now have one – it’s called MaxiVista for iPad.

MaxiVista works with Windows XP, Vista and 7 – both 32 and 64bit versions – and allows you to extend your desktop onto the iPad over Wi-Fi.  It’s $9.99 in the app store and is available now [iTunes Link].

We hope to get this app in for review in the near future, so stay tuned.  

Check out a video of MaxiVista for iPad after the jump.

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It’s been 24 hours since Apple’s iPhone 4 “Antennagate” press conference.  If you haven’t seen it, you can watch it here.  It’s worth a look for a number of reasons.

My brief summary of the iPhone 4 reception portion of the event goes like this:

iPhone 4 is, perhaps, our greatest product. There is no problem.  Every smartphone has the problem.  The vast majority of iPhone users don’t have the problem.  The problem goes away when you use a case.  We’ll give you a case to fix the problem.  We love our customers.

Understanding Apple’s reaction to Antennagate really occurs in three parts: obfuscation, remedy and pity.

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If you have an iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS or iPhone 3G, you can now upgrade your handheld’s operating system to the latest version, iOS 4.0.1.

The upgrade addresses the formula iPhones use to determine the number of signal bars to display, but doesn’t seem to do anything to address the so-called “Death Grip” issue.  Update 4.0.1 comes one day before a press conference at which Apple is expected to announce a way forward on their increasingly evident iPhone 4 antenna problems.

It is not yet known how the upgrade will affect jailbreaking and carrier unlock methods.

To get the upgrade, simply connect your iPhone to your PC or Mac; iTunes will do the rest.

Thanks to Jack for the tip.

There have been countless discussions about iPhone 4 and its reception issue over the last three weeks; I’ve written about it a few times myself.  But most of what you read regarding the problem has to do with arguing the legitimacy of the issue, recitations of numbers and readings, debunking of testing metrics, explanations of signal-to-noise ratio tables, and the like.  That’s all important (I suppose), but not particularly useful as an indication of what the problem actually means for prospective iPhone 4 owners.

After getting daily questions from friends, family and readers regarding the flaw and how it affects me, I’ve decided to write a more real-world report on how the problem impacts the way I use the iPhone 4 on a day to day basis.

Before I go any further – if you’ll allow a brief recap – the antenna problem is real.  It’s a design issue.  It will not be fixed with a software update in any way I can imagine.  If I hold the iPhone 4 where the bottom left corner is cupped in my left palm, the signal bars always drop.  Sometimes it drops to one bar.  Most of the time it drops to zero.  This had never happened with any other phone I’ve used, irrespective of carrier, at my location in four years.

Okay, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, what does this actually mean for someone considering the otherwise impressive iPhone 4?

Several things, some minor, others not so much.

Case-mate, a favorite Apple products case manufacturer, has just launched their latest iPad case, the Venture.

The black and lime green Case-Mate Venture is an iPad case and stand, and unfolds to prop the iPad up for more comfortable viewing.   You can also configure the stand to view the iPad screen at multiple angles.

When you’re not viewing your iPad’s screen, the Venture snaps closed to keep the tablet safe from scuffs and scratches.

The Venture is available today for $89 at Case-mate.com.  Check out other iPad Cases at the iPad Accessories Center.

If you’re an Audible subscriber, we have fantastic news: Audible.com has finally launched a dedicated app for the iPhone and iPod touch.  Cleverly named Audible for iPhone, the free app adds capabilities that Android and BlackBerry users have had for some time and frees users from relying on iTunes to sync their Audible content. 

Once installed, the app gives Audible users access to their entire library.  You can view your audiobooks in order of purchase date, in alphabetical order or by the author’s last name.  You can also search your library by title, author or narrator.  Once you’ve found the title you want, you can download it directly to your iPhone – though this option is available over Wi-Fi only.

As new audiobooks download, they are instantly available for playback beginning with the first chapter.  As subsequent chapters download, they are added to the list of completed chapters and are also available.  While the app can detect Audible books already transferred to your iPod player via iTunes, new titles downloaded with the Audible app are not added to the iPod app’s Audiobooks section. 

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