Back in the day the entertainment industry tried to stop consumers from videotaping TV shows to watch at a later time. But the courts and Congress said taping TV shows is a non-infringing use of copyrighted works: it is “fair use.”

Now, the Copyright Office has determined that Apple locking the iPhone to prevent it running unapproved apps is an unfair restriction on consumers’ fair use rights.

Consumers should be allowed to jailbreak their iPhones and install whatever applications they like: not just those approved by Apple. Unlocking your iPhone to install non-approved apps is a legal exemption to the DMCA, the Copyright Office has just ruled.

To reach this conclusion, the Copyright Office applied the four famous “fair use factors” to the case:

[polldaddy poll=”3525801″]

Now that the US Copyright Office has ruled that jailbreaking your phone is not a violation of the DMCA, you can go ahead an tinker without crossing over to the wrong side of the law.

Tell us whether you will jailbreak your iPhone now or not and why in the comments.

We kick off another week of deals with a bargain on MacBooks. The Apple Store has a number of unibody MacBooks starting at $929 for a 2.26GHz unit. There is also an 8GB iPod touch for just $149. Lastly, to keep track of all those apps you are accumulating on your touch or iPhone is “App Chest” for the Mac, an application tracker and license managing software.

As usual, details on these and many other items (such as a USB adapter for your MacBook Air) can be found at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Many of the most vocal critics of jailbreaking — a group which includes Apple itself — have been quick in the past to cite the fact that hacking your smartphone is a violation of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, and thus illegal.

It wasn’t a bad argument, all things considered, but if you’re used to relying on it, you’re going to have to ditch it: the Copyright Office has just issued a new set of exemptions to the DMCA, making jailbreaking and unlocking your iPhone officially legal.

The iPad has been called magical, but now it’s also mystical: at least one priest has used the latest and greatest Apple device to say holy mass.

A Catholic priest in Italy recently employed an iPad to perform an outdoor mass in the place of a heavy bible.

Many of you waited about 5 hours in line just to get your hands on the latest and greatest installment of the Apple consumer electronics dominance: the iPhone 4. You also had to sign your life away for another 2 year contract with AT&T, unless you’ve got the big bucks and paid for one without the contract. Apple is nice enough to cover the iPhones for a fairly hassle-free 1 year manufacturer’s warranty, but we all know that a lot of issues come up in the year after that and AppleCare doesn’t cover your phone for accidental issues. A lot of you have probably ALREADY dropped your iPhone or spilled beer on it. SquareTrade is a quality third-party warranty company that offers extended warranties for just about every consumer electronic you can think of! We got your back when it comes to taking care of your precious iPhone, and SquareTrade has offered to give away 2 FREE Extended Warranty plans for the iPhone 4 to two of our lucky Cult of Mac readers! Each warranty retails at $99! SquareTrade is a legit independent warranty company. They’ve been around since 1999, and it’s the only warranty that’s consistently been rated 5 stars! They’ll cover your phone from drops, spills, and normal use defects for 2 years! Click here for more details about the warranty. Here’s how to be entered into the giveaway:

1. Follow us on Twitter! (This is essential, because if you aren’t following you, we can’t DM you to let you know that you’re a winner)
2. “Like” the SquareTrade Facebook page.
3. Tweet the message below:

I love @CultofMac and @SquareTrade because they got my back with my new #iPhone4 #cultofmac

Make sure you include the #cultofmac hash tag or we won’t be able to see if you tweeted the special message. Good luck!

Giveaway Terms: You must be 18 years old to enter. Giveaway is only open to people living in the United States. No purchase is necessary to enter the giveaway. This giveaway is void where prohibited. Giveaway will end at 11:59pm PST tonight. We will not accept any entries after that time. Winners will be notified tomorrow, July 27th through Twitter.

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkB9vQDY3eU&feature=player_embedded

The sad fact of the matter is we’re never going to see the release of the long fabled iControlPad iPhone case, which would allow you to add a D-Pad and physical buttons to your phone.

For us jailbroken retro-gamers with an affinity for emulation, that’s pretty sad, but maybe there’s hopes: the iPhone Game Pad has now come along, adding the same functionality to the iPhone.

Unfortunately, right now, it only works with the original iPhone, with 3G and 3GS support coming soon. Double unfortunate is that, as usual, this seemingly wonderful product isn’t in the shipping phase, with its creators now looking for a manufacturing partner.

Granted, it’s understandable why iPhone accessory manufacturers both wouldn’t and couldn’t sell an accessory that depends on jailbreaking, especially if they want to keep a good relationship with Apple. Still, I hope someday one of these iPhone control pad projects gets off the ground: there’s plenty of iPhone gamers out there who miss the tactility of physical buttons underneath our thumbs.

Harking back to a time when Lost‘s mysteries had not been explained away with the MacGuffin of a stupid magic light, the original Dharma Initiative Apple II Plus computer used in the Pearl Station to release electromagnetic radiation every 108 minutes way back in Season Two is soon to go on sale.

If you’re interested in picking up this bit of Apple-centric television history, it’ll be auctioned off on August 21st. If you win, don’t worry about typing in the numbers: like everything in Lost, failure to follow the rules set down by the show’s creators will ultimately have no consequence whatsoever.

Samsung isn’t the first smartphone maker to try to capitalize on the iPhone 4 antenna issues, but they are the only one who stand to directly benefit from Apple’s latest handset’s success.

That’s what makes a recent campaign by Samsung USA so curious. They have begun giving away free Samsung Galaxy S Series smartphones to Brit’s complaining about their iPhone 4 on Twitter.

What’s so odd here is that Samsung makes an estimated $2 billion a year supplying components to Apple for sale in the iPhone. In fact, as 9to5Mac notes, they make $50 for every 16GB iPhone sold, and $75 on every 32GB iPhone sold.

In other words, Samsung’s playing the strange game of competing against itself: stressing the iPhone 4 antenna issue in order to get some free publicity for its own series of handsets, even while profiting directly from every iPhone 4 sold. It’s hard to tell whether or not this is win-win or lose-lose.

Your average digicam already takes care of almost every step of the photographic process for you. From selecting an ISO, to autofocus, to opening the aperture, to adjusting the shutter sped, today’s digicam is truly an idiot-proof affair… providing said idiot is trying to take pictures of it, as opposed to, say, eating it.

Unfortunately, while the hardware is streamlined enough that any swollen-tongued moron can use it, photographic composition itself is still very much thwartable by the dumb and untrained.

Enter the prototypical Nadia digicam, which eschews an LCD live view display for a simple read-out gauging a photograph’s composition against its own programmed aesthetic beliefs in percentage form.

Inside, there’s a Nokia N73 cellphone, communicating with a Mac via Bluetooth, which is in turn running an “aesthetic inference engine” linked to Acquine. Unfortunately, Acquine’s aesthetic taste seems pretty questionable: Goatse.cx (Wikipedia link, work safe) scored an astonishing 67.5%, for example, while a photo of the Nadia itself scores a paltry 32.5%.

Still, the theory’s sound. After all, digicams already do everything short of telling you if your shot is good, and they already boast every other software feature under the sun in the ongoing quest for brand differentiation. Why stop there?

[via Gadget Lab]

Again jabbing their paint coated thumbs right into poor Jonny Ive’s vitreous jelly comes rig pantone outfit Colorware, who are now prepared to slather your gorgeously designed aluminum unibody Mac mini in whatever garish, classless color scheme of your heart’s choosing.

The service costs $250, which is pretty cheap given how much they charge for a custom-colored iPad, but still a lot more expensive than a can of spray paint and some masking tape. For $1000, you don’t even have to mail them your own hardware: they’ll just send you a Mac mini in the colors of your choosing.

Me, I prefer the Mac mini’s gorgeous design as it is naturally, before it was dipped in a vat of Manic Panic. Pig in lipstick is the wrong analogy: it’s more like a supermodel drowned in a vat of the stuff. Your mileage may well vary.

If you’re living in one of the many international countries yet to experience the iPhone 4’s transcendent Retina Display, futuristic FaceTime capability or the infamous Death Grip, good news: Apple has just announced that they will be shipping iPhone 4s to 17 more countries this Friday.

The second-tier first-worlders who can expect to get the iPhone 4 are Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

Launch day? July 30th. We can’t wait to see the iPhone 4 waiting line photos from far more exotic climes.

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDj_Q2HuhPw&feature=player_embedded

Although there are already quite a few iOS 4 jailbreaks out there, they don’t work on some devices like the third generation iPod Touch (MC), and — of course — the veritable iPhone 4.

The good news, of course, is that the indefatigable Dev Team is already hard at work on a new jailbreak that will support all iDevices under iOS 4.0.1, including the iPhone 4.

The new jailbreak will be very much like the 3.1.3 ‘Spirit’ jailbreak. Unfortunately, though, it’s not quite ready for prime time.

According to the Twitter feed of one of the most vocal members of the Dev Team, their iOS 4.0.1 jailbreak has been delayed because of issues with FaceTime on jailbroken devices, noting there’s no point in releasing a half-assed jailbreak if some of the best new features don’t work entirely right.

Rest assured, though: a jailbreak for the iPhone 4 is coming. It’s just a matter of patience.

As we reported on Friday, Apple seems to be unsure of itself when it came to promising swift delivery of free iPhone 4 bumpers.

In Leander’s case, his free iPhone 4 bumper won’t ship until August 27th, and delivery was slated for September 1st.

Luckily, it looks like Apple was erring on the side of caution when it comes to delivery dates: a few readers have emailed us, saying that while their original estimated delivery date was closer to Leander’s, they have already received word that their free bumpers have shipped, well over a month before originally promised.

Personally, I was pretty understanding about Apple having shipping delays: this iPhone 4 antenna issue clearly took them by surprise, and organizing and shipping out millions of free cases on such short notice is a difficult logistic problem. Good on Cupertino for getting things done more quickly.

Anyone else gotten an email saying their bumper’s on the way?

If you woke up this morning ready to pull the trigger on that long-lusted for Mac Pro, here’s some counter-intuitive good news for you: it’s currently “unavailable” for purchase at both the Apple Store and many retail stores around the United States.

This is good news, trust us. Apple pulling an item from inventory usually signifies an imminent hardware refresh, and rumors have been swirling for the last few days about what the next MacPro might have going for it.

What does the scuttlebutt have to say for itself Try a USB 3.0 capable Mac Pro with FireWire 1600 (or even 3200) ports, and — in all likelihood — a couple of Intel Core i7 processors.

We’ll keep readers informed if and when new Mac Pros go on sale. We’re certainly hopeful that any new Mac Pro update will hearken a company-wide adoption of the faster USB and — in Pro-level computers — FireWire processors.

[via Mac Rumors]

MacRumors have picked up on some claims this morning by Mac4Ever that give details on Apple’s next update to the iLife suite.

It’s rumored that the update will happen on August 7th, 2010, and will introduce a whole host of new features including a new “mystery” application:

– iLife ’11 will be sold for $79
– Release Date of 08/07/2010
– All applications will be 64-bit
– Improvements in iPhoto faces & places
– Improving the integration of social networks
– iWeb will be totally renewed
– New application (mystery!)
– Disappearance of iDVD
– MobileMe gallery in beta (with faces & places)

Several rumors have circulated recently regarding an update to iLife, some of which claim the new update will be labelled iLife ’10. However, as MacRumors points out, the iLife ’11 name would be more consistent with Apple’s previous behavior; iLife ’08 was introduced in August, 2007.

The iPhone 4 brought changes in shape, function, features, and so on, but to the joy of many cell phone photographers, the device now includes a rear facing 5-megapixel camera with an LED flash and a forward facing VGA-quality camera. Apple enhanced the cameras via software improvements like FaceTime, zoom, etc. linked to the hardware changes above. These changes will probably calm the complaints about the camera that I heard about on the previous iPhone models. However, regardless of the issues users have developed exciting ways to use the camera and there are innovative third-party applications to help along the way.

One such app is Camera+, which is a joint effort between Taptaptap and Canadian photographer Lisa Bettany. I figured it was worth taking a look at it since it was on sale Sunday for $1.99 (regular price is $4.99).

Turns out everyone’s favorite Sith Lord is an iPhone 4 user, and even the Force can’t help Lord Vader avoid the Death Grip.  Russell Arch has posted an entertaining animated clip over on YouTube about the experience.  Also, the Empire keeps an old iMac around to run Classic Apps!

Thanks to RetroMacCast for the tip.

Newton Peripherals carved out a niche in the gadget-universe, guided by the simple principle that the best gadget is the one you take with you — because that’s the one you’ll use. They created the MoGo Mouse, a mouse-remote hybrid that tucks away into a laptop’s pc-card slot, then followed it with the MoGo Talk: an ultra-slim Bluetooth headset that resides in — and actually forms part of — a case which attaches to the back of the iPhone 3G/s.

But while the design concept is brilliant, engineering-wise, the Talk wasn’t quite ready for prime-time when originally released; complaints surfaced that the headset was difficult to eject from the case, and more alarmingly, that the case’s pop-up charging port was fragile and often broke, removing the only method available for charging the headset.

ID8-Mobile has since snapped up Newton Peripherals, addressed the Talk’s problems, made a few other minor improvements to the case (while leaving the headset unchanged) and re-released it as the MoGo Talk XD. So did they get it right?

I just got an email notification from Apple about my free Bumper case, which I just ordered using the iPhone 4 app.

“That was quick,” I thought. But then I saw the estimated ship date: Aug 27. And the estimated arrival? September 1st.

Did anyone get an earlier ship date?

Email and texting is so yesterday; we’re all down with Twitter and Facebook and whatnot these days, so it only makes sense that the new 2.0 update for Nuance‘s speech-recognition app for the iPhone, Dragon Dictation, now adds the ability to send messages as status updates and tweets instead of just as emails or texts.

Another, smaller improvement, is the ability to instantly paste the transcript into the body of a text message.

Finally, in addition to standard Yankee English, the app now also supports “Engish (United Kingdom),” which presumably means it’ll insert the letter “u” randomly into words throughout the message. More languages arriving soon, including German in a few weeks and Italian, French and Spanish by the year’s end.

[via Macworld]

We wrap up another week of deals with three bargains for the Mac, iPod and iPad user. First up is the continuation of Apple’s back-to-School hardware sale. Buy a MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air or iMac and get an 8Gb iPod touch for free. Next, if you have an iPad, keep it’s screen safe with this mirror-screen protector for just $4. Finally, if you are looking for a bargain on a new MacBook, check out this bundle from the folks at Expercom. Along with the 17-inch MacBook with a 2.8GHz Core 2 Duo processor, you also get three years of AppleCare for just $2, 058.

Along the way, we also check out Apple’s newly introduced iPhone 4 care program, the SquareTrade iPhone warranty, an iBook for just $300 and many more items. As usual, details on these and much more is available at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Nothing like dropping a little ninja into a spoiling dish to spice things up. In this case, the dish is a game like Tap-Tap Revenge, and the ninja is…well, it’s a ninja. Sorta.

Rhythm Spirit ($2) lets you control a little rendered cartoon-ninja named Toshi as he battles through ten levels of Japanese-ish folklore after being “empowered by a spirit.” The art and soundtrack look and sound tasty, but it’s the way you control Toshi — through tapping out fight (or flight) commands to the rhythm of the soundtrack— that makes this game stand out from the crowd.

Try the free version if you’re still not sold after watching the vid.

Tanoshii’n da!

After a string of early morning burglaries at Apple stores, police are looking for links between the crimes.

The idea is simple: thieves smash Apple’s signature glass windows, then grab whatever gadget goodness they can.

The latest smash-and-grab looting hit the Apple store in Suburban Square, Pennsylvania on July 14.

At 5:18 am, crooks smashed the glass front window and harvested $22,000 of merchandise, including 11 laptops and three iPods plus iPhones, including the iPhone 4. An alarm sounded, but by the time police arrived there was no trace of the thieves.

Okay, demand for the iPad in Hong Kong may not match New York City, but for Apple, it could be an important precursor to how the device will be accepted in the all-important Chinese market. Friday was the first day the tablet device officially went on sale in Hong Kong. How’s it going? Ask a local salesperson.

“Crazy — the iPad is crazy,” Kurt Lo tells the Wall Street Journal. Lo’s usual orders from Chinese and Vietnamese customers have nearly doubled – 300 to 400 orders instead of the usual 200 to 300 per week. His Chinese customers are also expected to order between 10 to 50 iPads for the gray market.