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Apple Inc. said Monday its online stores in the U.S. and UK are sold out of the iPhone, a sign supplies are being winnowed ahead of the launch of the device’s next generation featuring faster Internet surfing speeds.

The iPhone is out of stock online, but brick-and-mortar stores run by Apple and AT&T might still have units.

The Cupertino-based company confirmed that the iPhone is out of stock online, but added that brick-and-mortar stores run by Apple and iPhone carriers including AT&T Inc. might still have units available.

Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris declined to comment on reasons for the shortage and on Apple’s plans for an update to the device, which is widely expected to be unveiled in June at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.

The paucity of iPhones for sale in some markets comes as Apple is hustling to meet its goal of selling 10 million of the hybrid iPod-cell phone-Internet surfing gadgets by the end of 2008. So far, Apple has sold 5.4 million iPhones, according to the latest data as of the end of March.

One way Apple is expanding the iPhone’s reach is by inking deals with wireless carriers around the world, even breaking with its pattern of requiring exclusivity to sell in a certain country.

On Monday, four mobile providers in the Asia-Pacific region announced partnerships with Apple to bring the iPhone to their regions later this year.

SingTel will sell the gadget in Singapore, Bharti Airtel Ltd. in India, Globe Telecom Inc. in the Philippines and Optus in Australia, the companies said in a brief joint statement, without giving details.

SingTel owns Optus and holds a 30.5 percent stake in Bharti and 44.5 percent in Globe.

SingTel has about 2.3 million mobile subscribers in Singapore and around 7 million in Australia, according to data as of December 31, 2007. Bharti currently has about 64 million subscribers, while Globe reported a 21.3 million mobile subscriber base for the quarter ended March 31.

Last week, the top mobile phone operator in Latin America, America Movil SAB, also announced plans to deliver the iPhone to its region. America Movil has 159.2 million subscribers in 16 countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico.

In recent weeks Apple has also signed deals with Rogers Communications Inc. to sell the device in Canada; Milan-based Telecom Italia SpA to sell the iPhone in Italy; and Vodafone Group PLC, the world’s biggest mobile company by sales, to sell it in a total of 10 countries, including Australia, India, Italy and Turkey.

Until the spate of the latest deals, Apple adhered to its policy of exclusivity with one carrier in each country.

The exclusive deals for the iPhone were with AT&T Inc. in the United States, O2 in Britain, T-Mobile in Germany and France Telecom’s Orange wireless arm in France.

Industry observers say some people may be holding off on buying an iPhone until the much-rumored next-generation of the device is launched, and the phone is officially rolled out in more countries.

It takes some technical gymnastics, but it’s still possible to get the phone in some markets where Apple doesn’t have arrangements with wireless carriers.
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Many of the phones sold so far have been bought legitimately in one country, modified to work on any cellular network, and resold in countries where Apple doesn’t have agreements to sell the iPhone. The trend expands the iPhone’s reach but deprives Apple of some of the subscriber fees that Apple splits with its carrier partners.
Apple is also planning a software update for this summer that makes the iPhone work better with corporate e-mail, a necessary upgrade to help the iPhone compete with Research in Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry and Palm Inc.’s Treo smart phones.

The iPhone downloads is a wondrous little invention, and it is bringing its natty little itself on the long trip over the Atlantic to the motherland: apparently Apple has engaged the help of service providers in France, the UK and Germany. While this means an even longer wait for some hopefuls, at least it is a step in the right direction. The greatest journeys start with a single step, and all that.

Apple have also seen a little action in the “oh-no-another-new-technology-leak” stakes recently. This time we do believe that the (poor quality) pictures posted on the Web were an actual reflection on Apple’s newly facelifted iPod Nano. Why? Because of the speed that the Apple lawyers got on the case and had the images removed, that’s why. Not as exciting for some as the iPhone’s international adventures, perhaps, but definitely something for the Apple fans to look forward to.

The download an app for iPhone’s appeal is universal and it wouldn’t surprise us at all if the free downloads for iPhone sold more models in Europe than it did in the US. Apple just have to get its marketing right, which it will.And be careful with iphone music downloads.

Nothing is more important to your home business than your computer and your phone. So spend a little time getting the right one.

Why are these pieces of kit so vital to any home business? Think of it this way. How much does a really good telephone cost? One with a wireless headset? Maybe a hundred dollars – perhaps even two. Whatever the cost it’s not astronomical. Now think about how much you stand to loose if your constantly breaking phone drives away a customer for your home business. What about if a customer goes to someone else instead of you because they can’t get you on the phone? Quite possibly a lot more than one or two hundred dollars?

How about a computer repair? If your computer is away for a day that’s a days worth of lost time. How much will that cost you?

The moral of the story: pick quality over price every time. It’s an investment and it’s worth it if your home business is worth it.

The name Ares might strike fear into the hearts of those to which it is uttered, it might instill massive pride in a NASA engineer, or it might induce a conversation with your seemingly mute teenage brother. Ares might not be all things to all men, but it is many things to some.

The Greek god Ares – the guy after which all these other things were named – was a god of war. He was the Greek equivalent of the Roman’s Mars; although Mars was actually liked among the Gods while Ares seems to have been spurned as a harbinger of terror, slaughter, murder, and other nasty things.

NASA’s Ares rocket is currently being designed as the launch component of the so called Project Constellation which will launch when NASA returns to our moon in 11 years’ time. So don’t expect to hear much about it just yet.

Your teenage brothers’ favorite piece of software is the P2P filesharing version of Ares. Neither rocket nor fearsome deity, the software nonetheless enables people to share music, videos and other files without getting caught by their college campuses. Thank goodness for Ares!

What others are saying:
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U.S. legislators are becoming increasingly agitated by the availability and the popularity of the hallucinogen Salvia.

Hailing from Mexico, Salvia is in many cases an entirely legal alternative to Marijuana, LCD and PCP; the effects, however, are much shorter term. It gives users an out-of-body sense of traveling through time and space or merging with inanimate objects. There have been no recorded deaths resulting from use of Salvia, though it was cited as a factor in one teen’s suicide.

Florida state representative Mary Brandenburg has recently introduced a new bill which will make Salvia as illegal as other drugs; those found in possession will face a hefty five year prison sentence.

Other states, as well as its native Mexico, have not started to think about legislating against Salvia and it seems unlikely that a country-wide ban on the substance will be coming any time. While it is legal in at least one state then it is likely that websites will continue to sell the substance to willing purchasers.

Sex isn’t something that one automatically associates with self-help books, so when I was at a meal with a group of friends and they mentioned the sex in Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, I was amazed.

Not one to take another’s word for granted I opened up Think and Grow Rich as soon as I got home. There it was, chapter 11: The Mystery of Sex Transmutation: The Tenth Step Towards Riches. Now I’m not entirely sure what sex transmutation is, but it certainly sounds interesting, so in I went.

I’d never really got into Think and Grow Rich in the past, and I’d tried to get through it on a couple of occasions. This time was different – I do believe it’s a mindset thing, just like many of these self-help books – and I finished the entire book in two sittings.

I was finally into the mindset of someone able to Think and Grow Rich, and all because the mention of sex piqued my imagination enough to pick up the book and try again.

More bad news recently for CD sales: sales of music downloads are set to pass that of physical CDs by 2012.

But what’s this: bad news for paid-for music downloads. Many providers are starting to offer music downloads and music steaming from their websites for free. We7 is a shining example of such a service: set up by Peter Gabriel in May 2007 it recently surpassed the 2million tracks mark. Two million free tracks: free of cost and free of DRM. Just free downloads and streaming.

Sony BMG recently gave We7 – and by proxy other providers of free music downloads – by sanctioning the service and proving its back catalogue for free streaming on the site. Sony’s back catalogue includes many well known contemporary artists will be a fantastic boost for We7’s already extensive catalogue.

There is some concern that all this free music will affect the sales of legal music downloads but if this is a fantastic example of market forces dictating the way the market moves: which is just as it should be.

People selling downloads have discovered a new market: iPhone downloads. Numbers of music tracks or movie clips that are iPhone downloads have been steadily increasing over the last year or so since the ‘ultimate’ gadget’s release. Before this there were downloads available for iPod – and of course equivalent mp3 players – in the form of music tracks.

But it is the sheer number and variety of different types of iPhone download that has seen the market explode. Apple’s iTunes store has made its entire business model out of selling iPhone downloads (as well as iPod and other mp3 player downloads, of course).

Finding free iPhone downloads is possible too, though, and for this remember that Google is your best friend. There are many sites that claim to offer the best products but who can you really trust? That is a question that you can only answer for yourself: using your sixth sense is imperative.

Thomas Horrell is the well qualified wakeskater that has produced his first wakeboard video. Horrell first wakeboard video is literally double the fun: it’s a two video combo. Comprising titles Decline of the Waterski Monopoly and Linear Perspective these grand titles only hint at the elegance of wakeskating that you are about to see. Horrell is a masterful performer and producer, and these wakeboard videos really are worth the wait.

Decline of the Waterski Monopoly is an anti-establishment video that pulls out all the stops. It stars him and a number of his friends from Florida hitting all kinds of obstacles all over the water. Linear Perspective is artistically shot, nicely produced, and probably unlike any other wakeboard video that you’ve ever seen. Well worth a look if you’re into that kind of thing.

The videos compliment each other well and actually I found myself watching them back to back. Great fun.

Filesharing is endemic throughout schools, universities and colleges. This is an inevitable by-product of putting lots of people together that may share tastes in entertainment. They’ll naturally want to swap their latest finds with their mates. Who would blame them? Filesharing comes naturally.

Services like Ares assist the filesharing community but it is the community that perpetuates the action. This means that stopping the filesharing requires a fundamental change in the people doing the sharing. So what have universities done? They have introduced a system where students are encouraged to use an alternative. The alternative’s name? Ruckus.

Where ruckus falls down is in the way it allows us to share our files: not at all. It is essentially none of the things that a service like Ares is: it doesn’t allow us to share music, to burn to CD, nor to upload to our MP3 players. Pointless? Probably. A replacement for filesharing? Definitely not.