Apple's Q3 Financial call may or may not have pointed to a new Mac tablet offering but that doesn't really matter. The Mac tablet isn't a rumor any more, Robert. It's right here sitting in my pocket. If the iPhone isn't a Mac tablet, I don't know what is. It runs OS X. It has a full touch interface. OS X + touch == Mac tablet, any way you look at it.

The computing world is changing. We're no longer tied to desktops. We move around, we take our computing with us. Holding a computer in the crook of our arms isn't just a nice idea, it's practical. When you're walking through hospital halls, sitting in on a University lecture, attending business meetings, or specing out a project at a construction site, the tablet computer makes sense. If anything, the iPhone which has been pushed far beyond its original design specs, has proven that people want truly mobile computing. No keyboard, no standard screen -- true portability.

And it's not just about people who spend their lives away from their desks. Drawing directly on a screen beats the heck out of drawing on a Wacom tablet. Tablet computing brings the artist directly to the canvas. And it doesn't stop at drawing. How do traditional laptops and computer screens integrate meaningfully in any way into creating music. Sure, we're used to the standard tools but isn't a piano keyboard or a guitar a more natural interface into music? Let musicians jot notes into a portable tablet rather than figuring out how to keep moving between instrument and computer keyboard.

Cell phones and tablet computers are all about freeing ourselves. Sure you can bring a laptop on a camping trip or into the grocery store -- but an iPhone or a small tablet mac work much better on the go. So, say "Yes" to tablets. In fact, say "Heck Yes". Because we don't have to wait for Apple to deliver one any more. iPhone and App Store already have.

Since Apple's third quarter conference call, the rumor mill has been grinding its latest batch of corn: or what natives call "the MacBook tablet." The endless list of features, the bad Photoshop: It's already here.

Every time Apple has whetted our appetites for new products, the same people keep predicting a tablet-style device, and, since the Newton, they've yet to be right.

I know tablets are useful to some, but is Apple going to make one? Not just no: Heck no. Picture trying to drive with your hands in front of your face the whole time. If you design with a computer, a tablet of any kind just isn't for you.

Join me for a medium-sized rant about this Mac tablet, why it's a bad for Apple, and why they won't sell it.

Don't let the summer heat get you down, Arizona. A new Apple Store is going to open this weekend in Glendale. At 10:00 AM on July 26th, Apple Store Arrowhead will open at Arrowhead Towne Center (75th Avenue & Bell Road). The store is located next to Sephora and Naturalizer on the bottom floor below the food court. You can get full travel directions here.

If you visit the store on opening weekend, please send us your stories and photos. This will be Arizona's fifth Apple Store.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Lots of folks are writing in to let us know about the iLife '08 update waiting in Software Update. The iLife Support 8.3 update, 'provides system software components shared by all iLife '08 applications. This update improves overall stability and addresses a number of other minor issues. It is recommended for all users for iLife '08.'

At the moment this update is only available via Software Update, but we'll update this post when Apple posts the update on their site.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

Update: You can grab the installer here.

Apple will open a new UK store in Leicester on September 4th. The 577 square metre store will be located in the Highcross Leicester development along with 119 others, 15 restaurants and 3000 parking spaces. The new store joins others in Birmingham, Manchester, Solihull and Sheffield to provide pretty good coverage for the whole region.

Thanks to John Coxon for the tip!

In the Electronic Arts booth here at E3, nestled in among the raucous noises of various first-person shooters, is a completely white room with a few cell phones on tables. This is the EA Mobile space, and it was here that we got to play Spore Origins, the iPhone version of Will Wright's sure-to-be masterpiece.

Like the EA Mobile space, Spore Origins is pretty simple and clean, and stands out as a fairly calm experience among the racket of a lot of other iPhone games. Spore takes you through a civilization from ameoba to space travel, but Spore Origins sticks with just the ameoba stage. You play a creature of your own creation and float through the microbial ether, eating things that are smaller than you, and running away from things that are larger.

Read on for TUAW's impressions of one of the most anticipated iPhone games, and why it might not be all we had hoped.

Most of you will have heard of Fraser Speirs. He's the developer behind FlickrExport and now Exposure for iPhone.

This week he's made two consecutive and interesting posts that show what it's been like to be a software developer during the first few days of the Store's operation.

In one post, he complains about the review process imposed on not just every app, but every update to every app that gets submitted to the Store. Things are not being reviewed fast enough, he says: "If Apple can't guarantee a maximum 24 hour review process, they should drop it."

In the second, Fraser reveals that Exposure has been downloaded an average of 3,200 times per day since the Store opened. It already has more users than FlickrExport for Aperture, a much older and better-established product.

"These are crazy numbers," he says. His point is simple: the iPhone as a platform is going to be huge. In fact, it's going to be "Apple's mainstream platform for 2012 and beyond." Now there's a prediction.

According to a survey from the Gartner group, Apple is again the third largest PC vendor in the United States. The company nosed out Acer for the second-quarter bronze. (Dell is number one, followed by HP in second place.)

Apple shipped 1.4 million units last quarter, 38 percent more than the prior quarter. In the United States, PC shipments overall grew by just 4.2 percent.

IDC research manager David Daoud credited Apple's competitors with the company's success, citing consumers' disappointment with the "lack of innovation" among other PC manufacturers. Also: Windows Vista. 'Nuff said.

But that's just the U.S. Apple still lags worldwide, selling only 3.2 percent more units abroad than last quarter. Compare that to other manufacturers, who sold an average of 16 percent more units.

Macs account for nearly 8 percent of internet-connected computers worldwide.

[Via Infoworld.]

If you've been looking to get the Apple Bluetooth headset for your iPhone (really, it works on any Bluetooth enabled phone/device/computer) then now is the perfect time to buy. That's because Apple has lowered the price by $30 (US). So you can now pick up a Bluetooth headset for $99 instead of the previous $129.

However, Apple did make some sacrifices to get the price down: they no longer include the Dual Dock that allows you to dock both your iPhone and Bluetooth headset for charging/pairing. This is a huge bummer seeing as the Dual Dock now sells for $49.

Apple does still include the docking travel cable, which allows you to charge your iPhone/headset, however, it is definitely not as nice to look at as the Dual Dock.

Thanks, Dylan!

Well, I'm back home after five hours in line at the Apple Store, less $389.98 (I bought AppleCare and a 16GB iPhone 3G). What do I have to show for it?

As of 1:00 PM MDT, everything is suddenly working. I have an iPhone 3G, although I've now discovered that I don't have 3G service at my home despite the AT&T coverage map showing that I do. My old iPhone is no longer sending or receiving phone calls, but at least I can use it as an iPod touch over Wi-Fi.

Read after the break for a recap of my morning:

There are historic days, people. The App Store went live, and all of a sudden, we're drowning in new things for the iPhone. But it's not just a big deal for iPhone owners -- this is a huge day for society and technology in general. While there have been lots of PDAs, and lots of apps to run on them, there's never been anything like the App Store before -- here's five ways that Apple's platform for iPhone application distribution will change our world.

1. Ubiquitous computing.

Any science fiction writer will tell you that we're already living the future -- we can teleport things, robots are easy to make, and almost anything dreamed of can be done if you have enough money to do it. But a technology really doesn't move from fantasy to reality until it's everywhere, and thanks to the iPhone 3G, computing has become just that. You can't take a laptop around with you all the time (as in, to a fancy restaurant or to the movies) to edit photos or post to your blog, but you can bring the iPhone. It's the ultimate ultramobile platform, and it's now cheap enough to be everywhere, and powerful enough that almost any common computing task can be done.

Four more huge changes after the jump.

Apple has a treat waiting for all you iPhone/iPod touch owners who also happen to be iTunes users (I imagine there is a high level of overlap between the two groups): Remote. Remote is a free application that turns your iPhone (or iPod touch) into a remote control for iTunes. Sounds simple, but once you use it you'll wonder how you did without it.

Apple's implementation makes it a fairly seamless experience. Your iPhone and Mac that hosts your iTunes library need to be on the same Wi-Fi network (nope, it doesn't work over EDGE or 3G), and you need to enter a code from your iPhone into iTunes but that's it. From there it feels like your entire iTunes library is now on your iPhone. The best part is that if you have multiple sets of AirTunes speakers, like I do, you can control where your music is routed to.

Did I mention that Remote is free? Yep, this great little app costs nothing.

Check out this gallery for a bunch of screenshots.

The Apple Store US is down at the moment. I imagine Apple's web elves are busy updating it with some iPhone 3G goodies, but only time will tell.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

The wacky folks at iFixit are up to their destructive ways once more. They've gotten their hands on an iPhone 3G and they did what any normal geek would do: tore it apart and posted pics on the internet. The biggest news from the break down is that while the battery isn't user replaceable (as we have all known for a long time now) it isn't soldered on so replacing it will be a tiny bit easier for folks brave enough to attempt it.

This isn't the first time iFixit has gotten their hands on Apple gear and took it apart. Previous TUAW coverage here:

• MacBook
• iPhone (first gen)
• iPod nano/classic
• MacBook Pro
• iPod Shuffle
• MacBook Air
• iPod touch

Apple has posted to KB articles that might be of some interest to the iPhone crazed out there: Syncing Applications from the App Store and Troubleshooting applications purchased from the App Store (which basically says you should delete the troublesome app and re-install it).

The syncing article details how you get apps that you download from iTunes onto your iPhone (it functions in much the same way as syncing podcasts or music, you tell iTunes which apps, some or all, and there you go!). It also tells us what happens when you purchase an app directly on an iPhone and then sync to iTunes. The above message will pop up and ask if you want to transfer the apps to iTunes. If you do it will put them in the new Applications section of iTunes. Interestingly, if you sync your iPhone with an instance of iTunes that is not authorized with the same account as the one you used to buy an app, and you transfer said app to this unauthorized iTunes library the app transfers to iTunes but is deleted from the iPhone.