Here is a pic that looks to be exactly as the upcoming iPhone has been described.  It has what looks like a forward facing camera, iPhone 3.0 firmware and the matte black finish with no chrome.  This looks to be what we have been hearing about for the past couple of months.  

While I can say I like the idea of iChat with a forward facing camera, I certainly don’t like the lack of a chrome bezel to set it apart from the iPod touch.  Perhaps this is the budget version we have all been hearing about? Only one and a half days left until we know for sure.  See more images at engadget.

[nowhereelse] via [engadget]

  If you have paid your $99 and have access to the development kit for iPhone, then you can now get the most recent update.  The iPhone SDK 3.0-Beta 4 and iTunes 8.2 Pre-Release are now available.  While we do not have a lot of details regarding the updates, we do know that in order to activate the iPhone 3.0 Beta 4 firmware you must already have iTunes 8.2 installed.  We will be sure to update you of any significant changes should they come our way.

[UPDATE]  According to a post on MacRumors

 "One forum poster points out that the latest iTunes 8.2 beta carries references to Blu-Ray data from Gracenote, suggesting that iTunes could support the reading/recognizing of Blu-Ray discs. This note is not present in the current version of iTunes"

[Apple Dev]

  As we continually grow closer and closer to the summer release of iPhone 3.0 to the public, Apple continues to update and fix the Beta to ready it for mass consumption.  Today was seeded the iPhone 3.0 Beta 3 Firmware.  Although there are no major changes noted, there are a few.

"Apple has this evening released beta 3 (build 7A280f) of iPhone OS 3.0 due for release in the Summer.
Of note in the latest seed is that Apple advises developers, "Applications targeting devices prior to iPhone OS 3.0 beta cannot be tested in this seed. This bug is intended to be fixed in a future seed."
Changes to the iPhone OS 3.0 beta 3 will not become apparent at first."

If you are a developer head on over and download your update as it is available now.

  A developer was messing around with some configuration files which fooled the 3.0 beta software for iPhone to think a video camera was present.  As we and others have posted, we have a pretty firm confirmation that video will be an option in the next iPhone.  The screenshot shows a switch between still or video capture and has an "auto-focus camera", "magnetometer" (digital compass), and "Voice Control".

This summer should show the release of the final 3.0 firmware along with new version(s) of hardware.

[Mac Rumors]

  Yesterday we had heard that you could tether the iPhone with the 3.0 firmware and thanks to Crunchgear we now know step by step how to do it for ourselves.  This is something we have been waiting for, for 2 years now from the iPhone, lets just hope the final version is not too expensive and limiting when it becomes available for all to use.  See their instructions after the jump:

Step 1: Check if you own a 3G iPhone. If you’re on EDGE (as I am): sorry. Tethering does not seem to work with EDGE phones.

 

Step 2: Check to see if AT&T is your carrier. If it is: sorry. AT&T will not let you tether.

 

Step 3: Navigate to ~/Library/iTunes/iPhone Carrier Support. Notice the spaces in that last folder name! If you’re at the command line, use backslashes to escape the spaces, i.e. cd ~/Library/iTunes/iPhone Carrier Support. You will find a file with an ipcc extension. Copy that file: e.g. cp foo.ipcc foo.ipcc.original. This creates a backup for when you mess up.

 

Step 4: rename the ipcc extension to zip. For me that was ATT_US.ipcc renamed to ATT_US.zip. (Did I mention how I’m on a 1st Gen iPhone with AT&T?). Unzip it. This creates a new folder called Payload.

 

Step 5: Navigate into Payload and then into the folder under that. Mine was called ATT_US.bundle. Yours will differ. Inside that folder you will find three files that you will edit: Info.plist, version.plist, and carrier.plist. Open all three in the Property List Editor that comes with the dev tools on a Mac.

 

Step 6: In Info.plist, change the CFBundleVersion to 5.0. Save.

 

Step 7: In the version.plist, change the CFBundleVersion to 5.0. Save.

 

Step 8: In carrier.plist do the following and then save:
(a) Add a new dictionary to the apns array:
apn = internet
password = password
username = iphone
(b) In the wap dictionary (mine is wap.cingular, sts’s was wap.dol.ie), add a new pair. Do not edit the password or username:
type-mask = (NUMBER) -2
(c) Add a new pair at the top level dictionary of the carrier.plist file. (We’re not sure this is strictly speaking necessary but go ahead and do it.):
AllowEDGEEditing = (BOOLEAN) YES

 

Step 9: Zip up the Payload folder in which you just made your edits. Rename it to the same name as the original ipcc file. (For me that was ATT_US.ipcc).

 

Step 10: Connect your iPhone to iTunes.

 

Step 11: In the Summary tab, option-click “Check for Update”. Navigate to your ipcc file, select it. It takes no more than a second or two to update.

 

Step 12: Reboot your iPhone.

 

Step 13: In prefs (on the phone) navigate to Settings > General > Network.

 

Step 14: Let me know how this worked for you.

HOW TO FIND A CARRIER IPCC FILE:

curl -s -L http://phobos.apple.com/version | grep -i carrier

[Crunchgear]