The Technophilez

This isn't as much of a concern for people who are buying refurbished Apple iPhones as much as it is a concern for people who sent their iPhones to Cupertino for servicing or repairs. Typically what happens when you send something in for warranty is that they'll send you another unit while they work on fixing yours. When your iPhone has been fixed, they'll ship it out to the next customer who sends in a unit for repair.

The assumption with the refurbishing process is that the unit will be brought back to "like new" condition with factory spec. Unfortunately, the Apple refurbishing procedure "doesn't erase all personal data from the iPhone." With a little bit of footwork, an Oregon State police detective was able to "retrieve some seriously sensitive personal data from a recently purchased refurbished iPhone." This includes a restoration of the email inbox, for example.

The unfortunate fact of the matter is that there is no full-format utility available for the iPhone yet. If you go through the iTunes-based "Restore" function, much of your personal data remains on the iPhone. It may not be readily visible, but it's still there.

Reuters is reporting that Sybase plans to start selling soon software that lets businesses securely distribute e-mail to the iPhone, which could help the popular device gain use among business clients.

The program for the iPhone will be released before the end of this year, John Chen said on Monday at the Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit in New York. When asked to be more specific, he said, "It will be soon."

The new program lets workers use the iPhone to access their e-mail with the same security safeguards that are currently available in products for use on Treo smartphones from Palm and Research in Motion's BlackBerry, Chen said.

He said that Sybase is also working on similar software for Android, a new smartphone platform that Google is developing with dozens of other companies.

The new Sybase software programs will allow businesses to deliver e-mail to several different types of phones, depending on which device a user carries, Chen said.

"It will be secure enterprise grade," Chen said. "It will let the IT guys manage it."

Reports indicate that iPhone users are no longer able to access the AT&T WiFi HotSpot for free through their iPhone. It's not clear if AT&T mistakenly launched the service before it was ready for prime-time (which is possible, given the lack of an official announcement from AT&T), or if the "user-agent spoofing" method to get free WiFi HotSpot access on your laptop caused AT&T to freak-out and pull the plug. The service was clearly intentional, so it's not like AT&T just messed up by allowing iPhone users to get free WiFi for a day.

Here's to hoping that AT&T irons out the bugs (if any) or closes the "user-agent spoofing" loophole and launches the free service soon.

A German telecommunications company announced that it was cutting the prices of its Apple iPhones bringing the cost down to $156 from a minimum of $629.

The price cut, announced by Deutsche Telekom AG, was intended to drive up exclusive German carrier T-Mobile's sales numbers of the Apple iPhone in the German market.

The offer is set to be available from April 7 to June 30, said CNN, and will be open to customers who subscribe to an "XL" service contract that costs at least $140 per month.

The telecom company also introduced a starter offer of $45 a month, and will come with a $393 iPhone.

Deutsche Telekom AG, according to the Wall Street Journal, is one of selected telecom operators authorized by Apple to several countries. Only one carrier per country was given permission to sell the handset, coupled by a service contract.

Apple Inc on Tuesday introduced models of its popular iPod touch handheld computer and iPhone with double the memory available in previous versions.

Apple, which said in January it had sold more than 4 million iPhones since sales began last June, says the iPhone will now also sell with 16 gigabytes of memory.

The iPod touch, a wireless touch-screen device that plays music and videos, adds a 32 gigabyte model. Both devices will sell for $499, Apple said.

Apple will continue to sell its iPhone with 8 gigabytes of memory for $399, and two lower-capacity versions of the iPod touch, 16 gigabytes and 8 gigabytes, for $399 and $299, respectively.

The updated models come amid a slump in Apple's stock, due to fears that a U.S. recession could make consumers less likely to buy iPods or iPhones. The stock, which closed on Tuesday at $131.65 on Nasdaq, is down more than 33 percent so far this year.