As much as I truly and honestly don't want to talk about the iPhone, I can't. I was hoping that all the iPhone talk will go away after the big launch, but it didn't. So I really must cover some of the news that came out lately about the new Apple baby.

First of all, Apple has released the developer guide for the iPhone, which basically enables developers of all sorts to create websites and applications to run on the iPhone. You will have to use the Safari Web Kit engine, the same that runs on the iPhone and on the Safari browser on your desktop, this will provide basic tools and functions on which you can improve. So you can get better audio and display, map integration, fast loading webpages or whatever you feel like creating.

To design a web application that shines on iPhone and ensures a great user experience, you'll want to:

* Understand the capabilities of iPhone.
* Follow established design practices for the web.
* Adopt iPhone-specific design principles.

These being said, applications like multi-platform, multi-service, IM client, Trillian Astra can now be ported to the iPhone. In Trillian Astra's case, development was underway for a while now, so the beta will be out soon. What the guys behind the project (Cerulean Studios) want to do, is to create an IM client that will run on several platforms, such as Windows, Mac OS and now, on the iPhone, but that will also provide multiple IM services such as Yahoo! and MSN. That's not as easy to accomplish as it is to say , but as I previously mentioned, due to the fact that they wanted to bring it on the Mac and Mac OS and the iPhone use the same Safary engine it'll be a walk in the part to make port it.

So the IM problem on the iPhone was solved but how about Office tools? Well you have gOffice at your disposal. It's neat enough, you can edit stuff and then mail it to yourself or mail it. Although it's a bit rough, it does have some templates you can use, and you can apply signatures to your text, so for now one can say it's Ok.

But I know more apps are needed at any time, and that's exactly why we have iPhone Web Dev. A group of "Developers helping Developers", that are offering support for applications under the Safari platform, to run under the iPhone. If you're interested take a look at their Google Group you can find examples, bug fixes and much more. So now you have both the platform and the support to design your own Web 2.0 iPhone applications, or just optimize your sites.

Now speaking about hacks. First of all the guys over at #iPhone on IRC, worked really hard and managed to hack the iPhone interface. This was done with realative ease, as as the iPhone features the same 30 pin dock connector as the iPod, so to skip a lot of technical data it's possible to connect to a fully usable interface. They even released a command list for it. Besides that other hacks have emerged, some interesting and some quite boring. But I'll mention just one of them, as it's about the famous DVD John, who did it again and managed to hack iPhone's activation so it doesn't require AT-T.

This being said I really hope this is the only iPhone coverage I'll have to do (before all the crazyness starts in Europe, that is).Melanie H. Mayo writes articles on topics such as Iphone and How to Find Iphone Downloads Visit iPhone - apps and hacks.