Those of us in the Mac rumor and news business (is there a difference?) love it when we get a good tip, especially when that tip is from someone who has given us good, solid info in the past. iLounge featured a post last night called "Ten New Details on the Apple Tablet" that passed along some rumors that they've received from one of those solid sources.

While I won't parrot back the bullet list of ten details that are in the iLounge post, here's the gist of the article: Apple has created at least three prototypes of what editor-in-chief Jeremy Horwitz calls the iPad. The prototype that is still in the running has a 10.7" diagonal display, runs iPhone OS, and looks like a large iPhone 3G.

The device will have two variations, one with 3G networking built-in (think of it as an über-iPhone 3GS) and another without it (a mongo iPod touch). The larger display is expected to have about 7 times the surface area of the iPhone, and about 6 times the resolution, allowing easy reading of books, magazines, and cropped newspapers.

With the extra screen space, the new devices are designed to bring ebook functionality to the iPhone platform as well as make a more compelling platform for games, media, app, and the web. Apple doesn't expect this device to compete with netbooks, hence their continued denial that the company will come out with a netbook killer. Instead, this will be an extension of the iPhone platform.

Horwitz finishes his list by noting that the device is still awaiting a green light from Steve Jobs, and that it has about an 80% chance of making it to market. If it's given the go-ahead, the source is stating that the device would be announced on or before January 19, 2010 and would go on sale in May or June.

While this is still a rumor, the information is from the same source that gave iLounge the scoop on the iPod nano 5G, the iPhone 3GS, and the Chinese iPhone 3G. It appears we'll still have to wait until 2010 before the fabled tablet appears in our local Apple Stores.

The legendary Dev-Team has done it again. It just released the new version of the Pwnage Tool, a desktop application that's used to create custom firmware packages to jailbreak iPhones and iPod touches.

Jailbreaking is the act of modifying the official firmware in order to run applications not approved by Apple. Chief among those applications, at least for the iPhone crowd, is the SIM unlock that allows the phone to be used on unofficial cell phone service providers.

The Dev-Team has found holes in previous versions of the iPhone OS that allow this code modification and has developed tools to make exploitation easier for the average user to accomplish. Once implemented, the jailbreak process installs an app that acts an unofficial App Store of sorts. The iPhone or iPod touch user can browse and install games, utilities, themes, and general applications. Cydia, one of these installer apps, even has a store with applications for sale.

Traditionally, when Apple releases a new iPhone OS version, that software upgrade breaks any jailbreak and SIM unlock present on the device. And so, you end up with the cat-and-mouse game that Steve Jobs alluded to shortly after the first firmware loophole was exploited and the original iPhone was unlocked.

Well, the mouse has stolen the cheese once again, and the Pwnage Tool released today will jailbreak the latest firmware, version 3.1.*

The big asterisk at the end of that previous sentence is that the Tool will only work on about half of the devices that use the iPhone OS -- only the original iPhone, original iPod touch, and iPhone 3G. The iPod touch line just released, as well as the 2nd generation iPod touch and the iPhone 3GS, cannot be jailbroken at this time. That means if you've already upgraded to 3.1 on your 3GS, you still won't be able to SIM unlock it as of the time of this post.

So, if you want to SIM unlock your iPhone 3G or the original model, Pwnage Tool 3.1 should do the trick. On the 3G, you'll need to use Icy or Cydia to also install the ultrasn0w app that actually performs the software unlock; however the original iPhone should be unlocked without this additional step.

You will need a Mac to run Pwnage Tool 3.1, but a Windows version is expected in the near future. Also expected soon is redsn0w, for both Mac and Windows, that further simplifies the jailbreak process by avoiding the need to create a custom firmware package.

Keep in mind, if you've been waiting for a jailbreak solution before upgrading to the latest firmware, many users have had fairly substantial issues with iPhone 3.1. My fellow TUAW blogger, Josh Carr, has reported that lots of iPhones and iPod touches are working poorly after upgrading. You may wish to hold off and stick with 3.0 or 3.0.1 until a solution is found, either by Apple or some other group of smart people.

But, if you're so inclined, you may find links to download Pwnage Tool 3.1 on the Dev-Team's official blog. Make sure to read the instructions thoroughly, and take heed of all of the warnings. They are there for a reason.

Stepping up to a shiny new 3GS? Thinking about selling your old iPhone on eBay or craigslist? Don't forget to wipe!

I buy iPhones from time to time to unlock and offer to our local customers. One such phone arrived today and I eagerly opened the box to get things prepared. After charging the dead iPhone for a while, I powered it on and was greeted with tons of personal information about the previous owner.

The phone was loaded up with three accounts full of literally thousands of emails, 107 contacts, 974 songs, a few dozen photos and a handful of apps -- all still happily filling the 8GB. There were faxed checks related to the previous owner's sales position, visual voicemails available to anyone's ears, and a huge log full of text messages.

The previous owner hadn't deleted anything before sending his iPhone off to a complete stranger! While I was taking care of that important step for him, I thought "This is a perfect opportunity to save some TUAW readers from this sort of embarrassment, not to mention potential ID theft, with a quick reminder."

Clearing all of the data from your iPhone was made simple with the 2.0 firmware update last year.

1. Go to Settings
2. Tap on General
3. Scroll all the way down and tap Reset
4. Choose Erase All Content and Settings
5. Confirm (twice) that you REALLY want to lose everything

Make sure you have it plugged in, as the process will take quite a long time, "about an hour" according to the warning. But, believe me, it is time well spent!

Once the process is complete, you'll be left with a "factory fresh" installation of the iPhone OS with no trace of you or your data, and you can safely sell it and upgrade to the latest and greatest model. Oh, and do me a favor -- if I'm the auction winner, include a working sync cable this time!

So here's something interesting, if you're curious to know what features might be in iPhone OS 3.1. It seems YouTube is chock full of videos shot in what seems to be defiance of Apple's NDA for 3.1 features. A couple of gems hint at expanded copy/paste functions, and there's one video which we could swear might hint at a real-time zoom... perhaps not just for photos but for framing video?

Anyway, it's a bit of a mining expedition, as searching for specific [REDACTED] methods or properties yields best results, so don't get all hot and bothered thinking you'll peep an iPad by searching for "setAppleTabletSize" or something. In fact, all of these could be fake, although the sheer number of videos seems to suggest something other than a grand deception.

As is our wont, we predicated today's iPhone press event with our own predictions and wishes for what would be released. Let's look back and see how we did.

Copy and paste

As the event wore on, and everything but copy and paste was being announced, I started to worry. "Someday," I thought, "This event will be known as The Great Copy And Paste Debacle." The attending geek corps were about to slip into Angry Mob Mode, replacing their laptops with torches and pitchforks, when Scott Forstall gave them what they wanted. Crisis averted.

How did TUAW score? Quite well. Mike Rose, Cory, Steve and Aron all called for copy and paste.

Push

Remember Apple's promise of push notification for developers? We nearly forgot, too. It was finally announced today, and Aron was the only TUAW blogger to call it. Incidentally, we shudder to think of how fart apps will make use of push notification.

Landscape keyboard in Mail

Once again, Aron comes through and calls for a landscape keyboard in Mail. I would have done the same, but I've found that my muscle memory has acclimated itself to the portrait keyboard, and I now make more mistakes when it's in landscape mode.

Notes sync

While Aron was the only TUAW blogger to wish for notes synchronization, he wasn't really alone. Fortunately, he got his wish. Score: we're at 4 out of 4.

Lock screen changes

This would have been a good one. Both Aron and I have wished for a customizable lock screen. Instead of the time and date, I might like to see the weather, number of waiting emails, calendar appointments for the day and so on. Apple let us down.

Tethering

We've been hearing rumors about this for quite a while now. Steve, Cory and Mike Rose all called for it this time around, and their wishes were granted. Thanks, Apple! Score: 4 out of 6.

Wireless keyboard

While we saw a slew of cool accessories today (I'm not even a doctor and I want the blood pressure cuff), there was no official keyboard from Apple. While hackers have paired a Bluetooth keyboard to a jailbroken phone, blogger Steve saw his wish for the real deal fall flat. Sorry, Steve.

Springboard changes

This could use some work. Not because it's bad, but because five screens of apps quickly become disorganized and cluttered. Plus, jumping from a collection of games to a collection of utilities is a real swipe-tastic pain in the butt.

There's a concept video floating around that demonstrates how this could work via iTunes. It's neat, but I'd rather see something on the iPhone itself. Similar to how Dash Board enhances the experience on a Newton. Mike Rose, Cory, Aron and I all called for this change. It's due.

Enhanced search

Cory and Mike Rose both asked for greater search capabilities, and Apple delivered. The other features we were after, namely greater call reliability, MMS and calendar enhancement, received one vote each. The enhanced calendar and MMS (for 3G owners at least) are coming for sure; we'll have to wait and see about greater call reliability.

As for the final tally, we went 7 out of 12, or 58%. Not too shabby. What did you miss?

Earlier today, Apple issued a press event announcement that promises to offer a "sneak peek" at iPhone OS 3.0. It'll go down at 10am Pacific on March 17th in Apple's Town Hall building in Cupertino.

As usual, the whole thing is rather cryptic. From the "blueprint" graphic and text, it sounds like the event will be limited to an overview (but not a release) of iPhone OS 3.0. Perhaps we'll learn a bit about any changes to the SDK as well.

What would you like to see? Copy and paste, for sure. Push notifications for 3rd party apps next. Anything else?

Finally, we don't know who will be doing the talking. Typically, we just assumed it would be Steve.