While Steve Jobs announced he would offer a rebate of $100 (apple store credit) for those who paid full price for their iPhone, I would guess that most were not complaining about the steep price just 5 days ago. So, if it was a “good deal” then, what has changed ? Nothing ! If I want the coolest gadget, I know it will be cheaper in a few months. That’s the price of “cool”. At least two people quoted from a CNN.com article are being honest with themselves on why they bought an iPhone …

“It’s better than a dog, if you want to meet people,” Brin said of his iPhone.

“It’s the equivalent of having that season’s handbag,” said Shamama, who goes through cell phones as quickly as some people do shoes.

BTW – I don’t agree with the first quote but it is really funny because 10 years ago I actually knew three guys who got together and bought a puppy just to pick up girls. I felt bad for the dog because it wasn’t clear if it would get the caring home it deserved but one of the guys was a decent bloke so I stayed optimistic. … I never did find out what happened to the dog … or the guys for that matter. It was South Padre Island at spring break so they could be anywhere by now.

At Lotusphere a small band of talent created a live blogging service and took to the ether[net] with “live blogging”. Well, the concept has a new contender – Gizmodo!

Live Blogging from Apple WWDC 2007

Gizmodo’s liveblog updates automatically. Source: Gizmodo Live from Apple WWDC 2007 – Steve Jobs Keynote (Note: live blogging of the keynote finished at 14:40 EDT 11-JUN-2007)

Gizomodo’s solution is not exactly “live” blogging. It would be better described as “auto-refresh browser updates”. Where as true “live” blogging would have some of the feel of a chat window with rich HTML content and updates as soon as an author presses their “enter” key. GizModoLive is a web page that refreshes very 30 or 60 seconds with any new content since the last refresh. On the upside, GizmodoLive is more like a real blog. It supports comments (which also appear on the refresh cycle) and it only requires a browser (no applet download).

Yet another example of pushing the boundaries of the Internet and collaboration. I for one and happy to see these things take shape. I was not at Lotusphere nor at WWDC but I had a chance to see a little of what took place and didn’t have to wait for the “new cycle” !