I don't even have an iPhone in my hand yet, and I've already ordered my first accessory for it. While all of the cases from Qase are beautiful compared to some of the others I've seen online, the SWiFT (pictured above) fits exactly what I am looking for: a nice simple design, protection for the screen (not a huge concern thanks to it being made of glass) and casing (the bigger concern), and it's available in both black and brown leather (you don't know how hard it is to find brown leather cases). They cost $34.95 and quickly ship from Virginia; mine will be here just in time to meet my shiny new iPhone.

I'll be sure to post my initial thoughts on the phone sometime later this weekend; I'm going to a wedding on Saturday, so I'll have plenty of time to play around with it there. =)

From Macrumors:

Apple has released details of the service plans that will be available for the iPhone. Three special monthly plans are available:

- $59.99 for 450 minutes talktime
- $79.99 for 900 minutes talktime
- $99.99 for 1,350 minutes talktime

All three plans include unlimited data (email & web), Visual Voicemail, 200 SMS text messages, roll over minutes and unlimited mobile to mobile. Plans have a $36 one-time activation fee and have two year contracts.

In addition, any standard AT&T service plan may be chosen.

iPhone goes on sale at 6:00 pm local time on Friday. Apple Stores will be closing at 2:00 pm on Friday in preparation.

This seals the deal for me, I will have an iPhone Friday evening!

That's right, Indiana Jones is back, and the picture below is the first time we've seen him since he last appeared on the big screen. I have big hopes for this film, even if Sean Connery will not be coming back. The film is currently scheduled to be released on May 22, 2008.

That's right, I'm officially done with my MBA classes, and pending some major disaster, will receive my diploma at the end of the summer session. It was a weird feeling walking out of the classroom last night after finishing my International Business exam, but I am relieved that it is over and anxious to move on. To celebrate, Kelly, Jared, Cheryl, and I will be heading to the Tea Tree Asian Bistro on Saturday for some sushi. Bar Louie is also set to open this weekend at Levis Commons and I wouldn't mind checking it out if it isn't too busy; I've heard some pretty good things about their location in the Columbus Arena District. Should be a fun Saturday evening!

We're at almost exactly one week away from the iPhone launch... hopefully the rumors that AT&T will release plan pricing information in the next couple days turns out to be true so that we'll know exactly how much this sucker is going to cost us every month. I'm sure it will be well worth it though! =)

EDIT: Apple has updated the iPhone website with a new design as well as posted a 20-minute video tour of the features of the iPhone.

This Saturday could be a pretty big one... all I can really say now is that I'll be brewing what could very well be the last beer in my apartment; a Belgian Wit styled after some of my favorites including Hoegaarden (of course). If everything else plays out as it should, I will likely have some big news to post here then as well. As for now, only one more week of MBA classes until I can finally take a little rest.

Keep an eye on the Mad River Brews page as well for more info on (and pictures from) the Saturday brew session!

Today was the beginning of Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco and, as is usually the case, Steve Jobs presented the opening keynote. He focused on three main topics: Leopard (OSX 10.5), Safari 3.0 (coming to Windows), and iPhone development. He opened the keynote by announcing a number of big-name gaming companies have pledged support for the Apple platform, including Electronic Arts and id Software. EA has a number of titles that will be released starting in July. To round out the presentation, Jobs also announced a way to allow third-party developers to develop applications for the iPhone using web 2.0 technologies. While this isn't exactly what everyone was hoping for, I think it is a good first step, especially since Apple will allow these applications to interact directly with the built-in iPhone functions.

Below is a list of some of the key new features of OSX 10.5, courtesy of Engadget:

1. New Desktop - First off is the new desktop, featuring a new menu bar, a snazzed up dock and "Stacks" to help you keep your desktop clean. For instance, there's a default Stack that collects all your downloads in one place on the dock.

2. New Finder - More on the aesthetics side, Apple is going with a unified look for apps, which nixes the brushed metal style and instead mimics the current iTunes theme -- surprise, surprise. In fact, the new Finder looks and performs almost exactly like iTunes, all the way down to integrated Cover Flow for shuffling through your files. You can also save smart searches in the "playlists" side of the interface. On the back end of things, Leopard includes "Back to my Mac," which keeps track of your home Mac's IP address through various (and secure!) magicks, letting you browse your files remotely as if they were on a local network. Spotlight search also works over networks now, as expected.

3. Quick Look - Another new Finder integrated function, Quick Look lets you open up previews of most common document types without opening the respective app, and unsupported doc types can be added through extensions.

4. 64-bit top to bottom - Apple is driving a hard line and going fully 64-bit in every aspect of Leopard. Hard luck for those rocking older machines, but the speed demons should rejoice.

Apple also announced a public beta, available today, of Safari 3.0 for both OSX 10.4 and Windows XP/Vista. You can download a copy of it by clicking here.

EDIT: This is an interesting tidbit... before leaving the stage, Jobs reportedly announced that the iPhone would be available on June 29th at 6pm. I think this is the first time I've ever seen a new product with not only a release date, but time as well. Oh well, I guess I'll just leave work a little early instead of arriving a little late. =)

I was finally able to grab the pictures Cheryl took last weekend and put them up here for everyone to see. Click on the picture above or here to see the complete gallery.

No, it's not mine, but it seems there may be a new entry into the Toledo brewpub market soon at the new Fallen Timbers Mall in Maumee...

From Toledo Blade:

A Minneapolis brewpub chain, Granite City Food & Brewery, has announced on its Web site that it will have a site in the Maumee center.

This could be a pretty interesting development... As those who have talked to me know, I have said that would be a great place to put one. Hopefully it comes through (along with an Apple Store please); I'll be there on opening day.

Granite City Food & Brewery Website

You can rest assured I will be waiting at the AT&T Wireless store early in the morning on June 29th!

http://www.apple.com/iphone/ads/

Just wanted to post a quick note here about Kelly and Jared's wedding over the weekend. I had a great time; from the rehearsal to the wedding and the festivities afterwards. I should have some pictures up here as soon as I can get them from Cheryl (which might be a couple days since I've got class after work all week). We're heading down to Bellefontaine this weekend for my sister's birthday -- that could be interesting.

In other news, did anyone hear about someone building an ark, because it has been raining hard non-stop all day up here. It definitely made for an interesting trip back from Bay City earlier today.