The excellent Ars Technica has a look at two new programs that attempt to connect your iPhone with a television, iPhone TVOut and SCREENSPLITR:

http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2009/01/19/iphone-gains-two-new-tv-out-utilities

Dragging me into the world of iTunes, my iPhone re-introduced me to the world of podcasts, which now are one of my favorite parts of having an iPhone.  There are WORLDS of both audio and video podcasts on all subjects and I have overloaded my laptop hard drive by sampling so many and filling up my iTunes folder.  With the new updates to the iTunes store interface on the iPhone, not only can you sample songs for sale, if you are connected to WI-FI, you can STREAM podcasts instead of downloading them by clicking on the podcast episode title.

This is great for trying a new podcast you haven’t heard before or just for avoiding the accumulation of digital “clutter” on your hard drive.  You can also manage your podcasts settings (i.e. how many back episodes to store on your hard drive) through options in iTunes.  One WARNING, though: streaming over WI-FI is one of the more draining activities on the iPhone’s battery.

Many updates and posts to come, but a HAPPY NEW YEAR to all readers before it gets too late to say that… to ring in the New Year, Apple can celebrate by enjoying the iPhone’s new landmark: 500 MILLION downloads from the App Store!

Read more @ ARStechnica: http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2009/01/16/iphone-app-store-half-a-billion-served

The iPhone is truly revolutionizing the industry of independent software development, allowing some to quit their “day jobs” : http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2009/01/16/profits-from-ishoot-iphone-game-cause-developer-to-quit-job