The last nail has been driven into the coffin.  Apple is now offering movie purchases and rentals through its iTunes store.  Movies will be available the day they are released on DVD.  Good stuff.  The days of brink-and-mortar retail stores for music and movies is officially over!

Tags: Apple, iTunes, Movie Rentals, Movie Purchases, Movie Downloads, TechCrunch

Today, I found 2 interesting tidbits of information about the iPhone:

1) Mashable is reporting that a company called iphonesimfree (I think they are a company because their website claims they will sell individual licenses of the software) claims to have developed a software only hack to unlock the iPhone for use with a carrier other that AT&T which uses SIM cards (T-Mobile here in the US) anywhere in the world.

This makes me want to buy an iPhone. As a staunch supporter of Apple products, I haven’t been able to justify putting down my BlackBerry for an iPhone. The BlackBerry handles Microsoft Exchange email, contacts and calender so well (all wireless) and the iPhone is not yet reported to provide such a seamless solution. That being said, I would consider buying one as an iPod, WiFi/wireless browser on the go and guess what, my phone will still ring because the SIM from my BalackBerry will be in the iPhone when I’m using it. Why the hell not. Tons of people carry around 2 devices. Why not have one of them be the most versatile and useful devices ever built? Besides, I have a BlackBerry Pearl and its very small. The only drawback I can see right now is that I think it will be a pain in the ass to constantly switch the SIM back and forth.

2) NewTeeVee is reporting that a company called Veveo has created a very good video search engine for mobile devices. That is great in and of itself but the best part is that the service also decodes videos in all formats and converts them to mp4 files so they can be played on the iPhone. Now all of the video sites have a shot at dominating mobile….yeah right.

I have bought four of Apple’s mighty mice and three of the four have had the scroll ball completely die or at least temporarily stop working. Sometimes the scroll ball on the mighty mouse works for scroll up but not down and sometimes vice versa. Sometimes it does not work at all. I really like Apple’s products but I think they have done a great job at creating perception that their products don’t break or malfunction. I must say though, that the folks at the Apple retail store have been good to me. They have replaced two of the three mice that malfunctioned (I have not taken in the third mouse yet). Also, a little story that I’m sure Apple will not be happy about my sharing: Last summer I bought the 17″ MacBook pro with the Intel Core Duo processor and had it about three months. Then the new MacBook Pro came out with the Core2 Duo and I took my MacBook Pro into the Apple store in Fashion Island in Newport Beach and told them I would have waited the three months had I known that the new processors were coming out and they gave me a new MacBook Pro with the Core2 Duo right on the spot. Pretty awesome.