Remember the recent unconfirmed quotes from the BBC that a version of the iPlayer was coming for the hallowed iPhone? Well in a surprise move, no doubt trying to gain a little momentum with today’s SDK furore, a limited selection of shows from the iPlayer have been made available to UK residents on their iPhones. It’s worth noting, however, that the service makes use of existing technologies on the iPhone — not anything announced today.

At the moment only the BBC-produced ‘Whistleblower’ documentary seems to be working from the iPlayer website, with content being streamed-only via the iPhone’s built-in QuickTime player — quite the surprise given the heavy use of Windows-only technologies until fairly recently — although we’d guess there’s more shows on the way.

Of course, it’s a beta service (when aren’t they?) so you may not be able to access all the content and the usual caveats apply. As ever, the iPlayer is only for UK residents.

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It was recently announced that consumers will be able to access Encyclopaedia Britannica through their iPhones. This means that as long as you have your iPhone, you will no longer be caught unaware and can look up pertinent facts about almost any subject quickly and efficiently.

The iPhone-optimized site offers full-text searching, thousands of high-resolution thumbnails that expand to full-size images, and page layouts optimized for cell phone bandwidth. The entire database is said to be fully searchable and hot-linked in a method similar to Encyclopaedia Britannica’s Web editions.

In case you want to find out more about accessing the Encyclopaedia Britannica on your iPhone, feel free to follow our Source Link below.

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Research analysts have reported in recent days that Apple is aggressively cutting back production on iPods and iPhones, while increasing production on Mac computers.

Craig Berger, an analyst with FBR Research, told clients in a research note this week that Apple has reduced orders for iPhones and iPods for the second time in two months.

“For both iPods and iPhones, we believe Apple was previously targeting a roughly 50 percent quarter-over-quarter decline for first quarter units, whereas we now think the firm is targeting a 60 percent quarter-over-quarter unit decline for first-quarter units,” he wrote.

Apple has released two new TV commercials for the iPhone focusing on the device’s internet capabilities. The first, ”Facebook," talks about how you can check on your Facebook account from the iPhone, while demonstrating the social networking site’s iPhone and iPod touch interface. The second new advertisement, ”Cars," shows how the iPhone’s internet access can come in useful when dealing with a car salesman. Both are filmed in the style of Apple’s original series of iPhone ads, with the device being used against a black background, while an unseen narrator speaks above the song ”Perfect Timing” by Orba Squara. Both ads are available for viewing on Apple.com.

Apple have released updated versions of the iPod touch and iPhone.

The latest iPhone features 16 gigabytes of memory and retails for £329. The new iPod Touch comes with 32 GB of memory and also retails at £329.

The new devices are available through Apple’s online and retail stores. Apple have confirmed that these new iPhone and iPod Touch models will be shipped with updated software that the company announced in January.

You probably already know that you can go directly to the iPod touch January Upgrade purchase page by following this link. What you might not know is that in order to purchase the iPod touch January upgrade you must be logged into your iTunes account and you must be running iTunes 7.6. You cannot make this purchase using earlier versions of the software.

If you ever restore your iPod and need to get back those upgrades, once again you need to use the magic of 7.6 plus be signed into the account with which you purchased it. I found out the hard way that your Mac doesn’t automatically “remember” that you purchased it and that it belongs on your iPod touch.

I was one of the many people affected by the week-long “Error -2″ outages at the iTunes store and had bought it with my secondary account. After restoring, my iPod just wouldn’t reload the upgrade. I knew I had bought it and I knew it was available in my home folder in Library/iTunes/Mobile Applications. The problem was that I needed to sign into my secondary account (rarely used–except for doing posts like these) and then synchronize while signed in.

A few calls to Apple and a lot of annoyance later, I hope these tips may save you some grief. You can tell if your iPod touch has been “blessed” by checking its Summary tab in iTunes. Next to the Software Version, you should see the magic phrase “(with Software Upgrade)”.

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Jeremy Horwitz at iLounge has written a comprehensive guide for integrating the iPhone with you car, from a budget-friendly rig to the ultimate set-up.

The problem, of course, is that there’s no single device, cable or solution that will manage calls, music, and charge your iPhone’s battery simultaneously (Yet). I’m using a set-up similar to Jeremy’s budget solution — a cheap mount holds the iPhone in place, an audio cable connects it to my stereo’s audio in port and a Belkin charger keeps the battery going.

Of course, I’ve still got to pick the thing up and disconnect the audio cable to place or receive a call. I know that a Bluetooth headset would eliminate that issue, but I don’t want to have to buy one more thing to accessorize my iPhone.

Jeremy’s “Optimal Solution” eliminates a lot of the stuff with a Contour Design / Bluetrek SurfaceSound Compact, which is a nifty hands-free solution for mobile phones (though quite pricey). If price is not a concern, check it out. As for the rest of us, have you got your iPhone set up in your car? Share your solutions below.