Caveat Emptor: This is for newbies only. If you've been around, you probably don't need this.

When I bought my last Verizon phone, it came with about three quarters of a pound of paper housed in three manuals allowing me to find just about anything through the index. Yeah, it was overkill -- but at least I knew where to go to learn about an option or feature.

When I opened my iPhone 3GS, I quickly searched for the documentation to show me how use this puppy. All I found was an accordion-pleated piece of paper, titled Finger Tips, telling me all the wonderful things my new iPhone could do... but it was awfully skimpy on covering just how to do anything at all.

On the last page of Finger Tips there were some links to get more information. Following the links would give you almost what you need. But I question how using a software-based paradigm of digital manual delivery relates to a hardware-based product like an iPhone 3GS.

Perhaps that's why an industry has sprung up to print instructional books. David Pogue's massive 'Missing Manual' series speaks to my point. If a good manual were to be included in a hardware product, 'Missing Manuals' would be superfluous.

Apple's manuals have been shrinking for many years; they have come a long way from that of the Apple ][+, in which Woz printed the entire ROM code of its 6502 processor.

The Apple way is to compactly package hardware. This seems way more elegant than being handed a big honking box. But adding half an inch to the height of the iPhone box, to accommodate a concise manual, wouldn't damage the minimalist look.

I don't feel quite right about having paid a goodly sum of money for the box and then having to download a 213-page manual using my own resources. My preference would be to have a manual the size of the iPhone 3GS right in the box, for immediate reference. With that, I could get started right away. After all, if you buy a new piece of technology, you don't want to be slowed down by needing to download and possibly print hundreds of pages along with reading a bunch of sites. You just want to push some buttons and play.

For those who have either lost the brochure or want some more information, see below for links where you can get it. Of course, you can always start with the "iPhone Help" section under the Help menu in iTunes.

The 213 page manual for the iPhone 3GS
Quickstart guides for various iPhone 3GS features
A video guided tour of major features of the iPhone 3GS

And here are some other resources to get you started:
Macworld's App Guide: Searchable by category
19 instructional books on how to manage your iPhone
Apptism - catalog and reviews of over 53,000 apps
Macworld's general listing of 3.0 features
TUAW's iPhone 101 series

I'm sure that many more resources are currently being written, but the links above are more than enough to get started.

I wonder how many agree with me that leaving out a decent manual is a poor idea, and how many of you consider this a non-event.

I love hearing this about the iPhone: the San Francisco Chronicle has a piece about how Apple's little revolutionary telephone has brought a whole new crop of programmers into the development mix. People who had never before looked at code or considered writing their own applications are getting ideas about how to make better software, picking up Cocoa and Xcode books, and going to town. And strangely, we might actually have fart apps to thank for this -- people aren't just seeing the iPhone as an innovative platform, but they're seeing the App Store as an "anything goes" environment, where even their silly little idea might work.

I don't know if we can pin all the credit for the burgeoning iPhone development scene on fart apps and the impression that even a monkey can make bestselling iPhone software (certainly Apple has set the bar and price for entry pretty low, both with the extremely cheap $100 fee for a developer account as well as the high quality Xcode software that comes on every Mac), but there is definitely something in this little device that's driving people to try and create their own software for it.

Oh, and the money probably helps, too. Still, whether people are taking up iPhone development because they want to make millions or are just looking for another hobby, it's us, app consumers, who will benefit.

A recent story over at the Sun Chronicle points out one of the biggest issues facing new iPod owners: stacks of unripped CDs and the unrealistic expectations that go along with your music library. Owning a new iPod shouldn't be a burden. Here are a few quick tips to ease your adjustment to iPod.

Give yourself time. You didn't buy your entire library all at once, so why should you feel you have to load your iPod at all once? Throttle back your expectations and grow your iTunes collection a little bit at a time.

An incomplete library doesn't mean failure. You don't have to rip your entire CD collection in order to enjoy your iPod. Remember that you can only listen to a single song at a time.

Don't feel tied to your older music. People grow and change. The CDs you bought a decade or two ago might help you connect to your past but if your musical tastes have changed over time, allow yourself to buy new tracks without feeling obligated to your older collection. No one will be checking in on you to make sure all those 80's and 90's CDs got digitized.

Explore. One of the great things about iTunes is that you can taste new music without commitment. Check out the charts. Listen to the free 30-second samples. And don't forget that every Tuesday, iTunes offers free tracks that might lead you to find new artists and styles to enjoy on your iPod.

Think different. If your CD collection is just too much of a burden to face, you can enjoy any number of free podcasts on your new iPod and if you own a 5G or newer unit, you can use it to watch TV and movies as well. The iPod does not begin or end with music.

iPods shouldn't remain wrapped and unused on a coffee table like Lauren Carter's does. What are your tips for overwhelmed new iPod users?