I’ve written a couple of times how in Japan seeing a wayward iPhone is rarer than it normally is elsewhere. That’s because hack-and-kracks don’t work there (their system has different requirements that the iPhone hardware does not have yet). So seeing one in Apple-crazy Japan is not too common, and the craving seems to have given rise to odd things - like this Sony Ericsson slider that someone there modified to look like an iPhone:

Gizmodo calls it the “saddest iPhone” they’ve ever seen. I agree.

The Financial Times reports that a deal has been struck between Apple and 20th Century Fox that will let iTunes users rent the latest Fox DVD releases for a limited time, ready for viewing on an iPod or iPhone, or their computers, and likely on Apple TV.

This marks the first time FairPlay, which is Apple’s version of Digital Rights Management currently used on iTunes-bought tracks, to be used on non-Apple products. Apple is also currently in talks with Sony, Paramount and Warner Bros for a similar deal.

The agreement between Apple and 20th Century Fox is expected to be announced at Macworld on January 14, but it isn’t yet known if the deals with Sony, Paramount and Warner will be closed in time to be announced on the same date.

Figures to ponder:

• US$200 - per-share stock value hit by Apple briefly today, an all-time high
• US$170,000,000,000 - current market value of Apple Inc.
• 3 - times Apple’s size is now compared to Dell
• 1/2 - times Apple’s size is now compared to Microsoft
• 10 - times Apple’s stock value is today compared to mid-2003 when it was just starting with iPods
• 34% - increase in sales of Macs in the most recent quarter
• 143% - percentage Apple stock has risen this year, making it one of the top performers for 2007 (in contrast, Google gained 53% in 2007)

(Via Mashable)

No, it’s not exactly a phoned-in thing.

Engadget reader Claude M. proposed to his girlfriend Doris by painstakingly producing a faux-Apple iPhone iProposal ad and then showing it to her. She said yes. Don’t you just love geeks?

Watch the iProposal here.

If you aren’t yet aware, Adobe updated and patched their Flash Player last week, and fixed nine weak spots in the app - most of them rated “highly critical”, where malware and hackers can take advantage of vulnerabilities in SWF files. These weaknesses are present in Windows, Linux and Mac.

Two of the bugs were caught and reported by Google engineers, and two by people from Stanford U. The update, Flash Player 9.0.115.0, can be downloaded from the Adobe website. Folk who still use Version 7 are advised to get the patched version of 7 rather than 9.0.115.0.

Mac users need not fret, though. If you got the last Security Update (2007-009 V.1.1) released just before Christmas, you’re already covered, as the Adobe update was already incorporated into it.

(Via Computerworld US Online)