Here’s a neat app for iPhone that makes your home smarter. Many people have dreamed of automating their house, but it has always been an expensive proposition. Now anybody can do it for a reasonable price, thanks to DIY software like Cinemar’s Mainlobby. The Mainlobby iPhone app works with iPhone and iPod touch. It will turn your iPhone/iPod touch into a universal remote control that can control almost everything in your home, like lighting, heating, TV, security, audio and video etc.

It works with the iPhone/iPod Touch web browser,and Mainlobby’s built in web-server using Safari’s Ajax support. It basically becomes a touch screen which sits on your wall and interfaces with all your equipment. How cool would it be to control your home using your iPhone or iPod?

Here’s another Spykee robot to go along with your Spykee Vox and the Spykee Miss. I won’t comment on what it looks like he is doing to that iPhone from behind, that’s his business.

The Spykee Cell is another build-it-yourself robot from Meccano. It’s remote controlled via Bluetooth from a cellphone and can move and snap pictures, then transmit them back to your cellphone for storage. The loudspeaker module gives it the capability of becoming a hands-free set, if you want to speak and hear through the robot.

According to the Wall Street Journal Steve Jobs has been in talks with Masao Nakamura, president of NTT DoCoMo, about launching the iPhone in Japan next. The iPhone has already made its launch overseas in the UK, Germany and France and could soon be trying its hand at one of the largest markets for mobile phones in the world.

The report says that Jobs is in talks wtih Softbank Corp. in Japan as well who could also have a shot at carrying the iPhone in Japan and of course makes some friendly competition for Jobs to deal between on an exclusive contract. If Apple ends up partnering with NTT DoCoMo, could this spark the launch of the 3G iPhone?

iPhone owners can now take advantage of Google applications online through a new, easier to use interface that integrates the different tools into a single interface. The new interface is available for iPhone users through the Safari web browser and will come up automatically when they visit Google’s home page.

From the newly integrated page users can navigate quickly to applications including Search, Gmail, Calendar, Reader, Docs, GOOG-411, SMS, News, Photos, Blogger, and Notebook. According to Google the pages will download to the iPhone faster than before and comparable to using them on a desktop computer. This interface was made specifically for the iPhone but Google says that they will be “optimizing” its applications for use on other popular mobile devices as well in the future.

If you were looking to take advantage of, or get taken advantage of depending on how you look at it, the very expensive deal T-Mobile was offering for unlocked iPhones in Germany you’re now too late. A German court has ruled that T-Mobile can indeed be the exclusive operator for Apple’s popular handset in Germany by ruling against a complaint filed by Vodafone.

Apple had planned to launch the iPhone in Germany with T-Mobile being the exclusive carrier much as it did in the United States, however Vodafone filed a complaint stating that the exclusivity went against German laws to protect consumers. The complaint resulted in a temporary injunction against T-Mobile requiring them to offer the iPhones unlocked and able to connect to other operators including Vodafone. T-Mobile complied with the injunction but offered the normally $580 iPhone in an unlocked state for $1460. Despite the high price Klaus Czerwinski of T-Mobile told ZDNet UK that there were still “many sold.”

At an event dinner in California on Wednesday AT&T Chief executive Randall Stephenson said that consumers could expect the iPhone to be available on a 3G network as soon as next year. This change would solve one of the major complaints many have of the iPhone with its currently slower EDGE network.

Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, has said in the past that the iPhone didn’t initially launch on the 3G network due to the restrictions the faster network put on the battery life of the phone. He also stated that the 3G capabilities may be available by late 2008, so this news in general isn’t too much of a surprise.

Apple’s iPhone, winner of Time magazine’s invention of the year, went on sale in France tonight allowing residents to finally officially get their hands on the popular media smartphone. There’s more to the significance of this launch, however.

After months of bouts between iPhone hackers and Apple developers trying to keep the mobile phone “locked” and restricted to approved carriers, the French law requires that the phone not be restricted to any single mobile operator. France is the second country having this requirement for the iPhone after it was launched in Germany earlier this month and both countries are offering unlocked iPhones.

In a recent report from MacNotes.de, unlocking an iPhone sold by T-Mobile Germany is simple, done in only a few seconds and is handled by none other than Apple’s own iTunes. Due to a temporary injunction against Apple, the company has been forced to sell the iPhones with the ability to be unlocked in Germany. Apple will also be forced to sell them unlocked in France in six months after their launch on November 29.

In case you’re not familiar with what “unlocking” means exactly, it prevents the iPhone from being “locked” to a single network provider such as AT&T in the U.S., and allows the phone to accept any SIM card. Up until now there have been a number of hacks to unlock the iPhone and allow it to be used on other networks and other countries, and Apple has been in a constant battle to thwart the hacks and keep the phone locked-in with only approved providers.

On Friday the long wait is over for many law-abiding citizens of the UK and Germany as the Apple iPhone will be (officially) sold for the first time in countries other than the United States. The iPhone will be sold through O2 in the UK and T-Mobile in Germany and surprisingly will still be lacking the fast and common 3G connection that is already prevalent with many existing smartphones in those areas. Pricing is expected to be 269 pounds in the U.K. and 399 euros in Germany, which both convert to roughly in the high $500’s USD.

The new iPhones are expected to be basically the same models that the U.S. customers have received although they will come preloaded with the OS X 1.1.2 version which has a fix for the latest hacks that allow 3rd party apps to run on it, which will make it just a little bit harder for hackers to unlock in the next go-round. Apple is likely betting that the cool dual-touch screen interface and media playing integration will overshadow the lack of high-speed data connections with 3G, and users will be satisfied with a jumping from hotspot to hotspot instead. France will be the next country to get their hands on the iPhone later this month through Orange where Apple may run into problems with French law and restrictions on locking phones to exclusive carriers.

Do you need cash and have a broken iPod or iPhone? Ebay is not the only option anymore. BuyMyBrokeniPod.com is offering a new service that is quick and environmentally friendly. Best of all you’ll get a return on your old useless device that is just gathering dust. Beginning next week, they will even take gaming consoles.

They will take your old iPhone or iPod regardless of it’s physical condition. Yes, even if it is completely dead. So, do your part and make sure that it does not end up in a landfill somewhere. Give them a proper “burial”. After all, they served you well during their short lives, didn’t they?

The latest in mixing advertising with games will take place on the iPhone Safari browser. The game is called Matchcaps and was specially designed for the browser.

The game will allow Dr. Pepper to interact with their consumers no matter where they are and at any time, through the iPhone. The game was developed by Imaginuity New Media, and based on the “match three” format that has been a hit with online gaming fans for years. They are expecting more games for the iPhone from February onward since Apple expects to distribute kits developers by then.

Expect more Dr. Pepper sales, followed by cooler games.

Rumor has it, spurred by this ad copy for Rogers Wireless, that folks in Canada may have the opportunity to get their legitimate hands on an iPhone from Apple before the end of the year. According to this advertisement floating around, the iPhone would be available exclusively through Rogers Wireless for $499.99 CAD (about $519 USD) with a 3-year contract. Rogers and Apple would start taking pre-orders on the iPhone in Canada on November 20th.

Of course this is still falling under our Rumor category but the ad looks like it could be for real. The fact that the text is actually legible makes us feel like the it’s not an intentional leak by Rogers or Apple, but you might not want to plan on getting in line for anything quite yet. We’ll keep watching.

Apple started placing new restrictions on the sale of its iPhones last week in the U.S. and reports are saying that the restriction will apply in the U.K for next months launch as well. When purchasing an iPhone, consumers are no limited to purchasing two per person and must use a credit or debit card to make the purchase. According Apple spokesperson Natalie Kerris, the restrictions are to ensure there are enough iPhones available for everyone through the holidays, or everyone that’s willing to play by the rules, that is.

“Customer response to the iPhone has been off the charts, and limiting iPhone sales to two per customer helps us ensure that there are enough iPhones for people who are shopping for themselves or buying a gift,” Kerris said. “We’re requiring a credit or debit card for payment to discourage unauthorized resellers.”

Apple has released some numbers on iPhone sales and came to the conclusion that a lot more iPhones than most had suspected were actually purchased with the intention of unlocking and running on networks other than AT&T, likely overseas.

In the report, Apple guessed that as many as 250,000 of the 1.4 million iPhones sold were purchased by those with the intention of unlocking them and possibly reselling them to overseas customers to use on other networks. AT&T is currently the only approved carrier in the US to provide service for the iPhone.

After Apple iPhone developers have already had a couple of volleys with hackers who want to run 3rd party applications on the new phone Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, has today let the hacking community know that they can stop, or at least slow down for a few minutes. Jobs has announced that Apple is going to open up both the iPhone and the iPod Touch for third party application development on the device in February of 2008.

Prior to this the only way to get any third party applications on the iPhone was through an “open” platform on the Safari web browser which runs on the device and was still fairly limiting. Jobs attributed the these development restrictions to security issues stating that open development increases risks of viruses. He also states that these security risks are also why it will take until February to release an SDK for developers.