I’m a color hound. I own every kind of color utility for the Mac and dozens of bookmarks for sites with color wheels, color schemes, themes, backgrounds, and more. Instant Color Themes creates color schemes in a very unique way. For example, enter ‘city sidewalk’, and get schemes from photos of city sidewalks.

Let Yahoo pick your color scheme! Enter a word or phrase and I’ll grab 5 related images from Yahoo Images, and get the 6 most prominent colors from each.

I entered ‘Steve Jobs.’ The six color schemes were mostly black or gray. I entered ‘Mac’ and the color schemes were silver or blue. ‘Sunset’ and ‘Midnight’ returned predictable results, respectively. You get the idea.

Apple had to build the iPhone to protect its iPod portable media player business. The iPhone was introduced as a three-in-one device; cell phone, internet navigator, portable media player. Christian Zibreg rightly points out that it’s now five devices in one, adding video camera and personal navigation:

Some could argue that the iPhone 3GS has no chance against smartphones with much better cameras capable of DVD-quality recording, like the Nokia N97, but let’s not forget the fact that hardware specs are but a part of a bigger picture called the user experience… if the new iPhone 3GS zooms past rival phones on YouTube just like previous iPhone models did on Flickr, it will be yet another indication that average users prefer the complete experience over mere hardware specs.

That’s the key. Apple removes the hardware specification as an important selling point and replaces it with a better, more complete user experience than rival devices.

Apple is now into making changes and not telling anyone. It’s part of their new campaign of Under Promise, Over Deliver. If no one tells you it’s there, is it really a change?

Megan Lavey:

When I logged into MobileMe this morning, I noticed that my iDisk icon looked a bit different ... it now resembles the one representing the forthcoming iDisk app for the iPhone.

Other changes include new Mail options, sync options, Help menu in the toolbar, MobileMe messages can be searched from your iPhone or iPod touch, and others.

File this one in the Why Morons Can’t Leave Well Enough Alone Department. Former eWeek writer Joe Wilcox lashes out at Steve Jobs with a moronic challenge designed only to get hits to his web site which is full of blather and drivel.

Prove me wrong. Yesterday, you officially returned to work after a six-month medical leave of absence. Twice this month, on June 5 and 10 days ago, I said that you wouldn’t return as full-time CEO. Call me a liar. Make me the idiot. By instead returning in your full capacity.

Apple’s CEO needs to do nothing to ensure Joe’s posture as an idiot. His own site is a ‘Chronicle of Technology, Culture, and Stupidity.’ I had difficulty finding anything that resembled culture, but stupidity was overstocked.

What has Apple done truly innovative in your absence? Not much (and there’s perhaps good reason I’ll explain later). Across product lines I see a consistent trend: More of the same, only better. Of course, you don’t want to admit it. But, c`mon, Steve. Let’s be men discussing it.

Why? A true man avoids being an idiot on purpose, right? Wilcox complains that Apple, in Jobs’ absence, was merely “more of the same.” Seriously, I’m appalled that someone has the chutzpah to do in public what guys usually do in private (or, in circles with other guys). How’s Tim Cook doing, Joe?

Your team remained loyal, and Tim and upper managers helped by actions that arighted Apple’s sagging stock price. In that sense, “more of the same, only better” had a calming affect on investors—and perhaps Apple’s board. You’re back on the job. The calming must come for you. Now is the time for “one more thing.”

Bad so far? It gets worse. This is pure butt licking and spitting of a totally new calibre. Apple and Steve Jobs are chastised by Wilcox for simply providing customers with “more of the same, only better.” As if that’s a bad thing. Are you beginning to wonder why Wilcox isn’t writing for eWeek?

I hope that someday we’ll meet at some event or tradeshow and you look me in the eye and say, “You stupid son of a bitch.” And walk away. From you, that would be praise.

That works for me except that I trust, and hope, Apple’s honcho has better things to do with his time than respond to a loose sperm sack. Is it not obvious that the recession didn’t cause Joe Wilcox to become a casualty at eWeek. They just didn’t carry the termination far enough.

I love my iPhone and take it with me constantly, but if you think a smart phone is a full on substitute for a Mac (or Windows) notebook, think again. John R. Quain of Fox News tried an iPhone, a Palm Pre, and an Android G1 to see if they could replace a laptop (John, they’ve been called ‘notebooks’ for many years). His troubles are common:

In the end, I only managed to make it 4 days with the smartphones before I gave on my digital expedition and returned to my laptop. Certainly, if all you need to do is send e-mail and occasionally surf the Web, the latest crop of souped-up cell phones can get you pretty far. But for some tasks — such as finishing this article — only a full-fledged notebook will do.

The laws of physics play into this, too. Try writing a lengthy article on any smart phone keyboard. Ouch.

While you were sleeping last night Mozilla launched a long-awaited update to Firefox. The open source web browser that has everything now has more of it.

Firefox 3.5 makes surfing the Web easier and more enjoyable with exciting new features and platform updates that allow Web developers to create the next generation of Web content. Native support for open video and audio, private browsing, and support for the newest Web technologies will enable richer, more interactive online experiences.

Flash crashes in Safari far more often than it crashes in Firefox.

The browser wars continue but this time Microsoft does what other browser builders don’t: advertise. The web only ads tout features and benefits of Internet Explorer, and feature former Superman Dean Cain in a series of video commercials which mix serious camp with attempts at humor, Microsoft style.

Microsoft is only airing the ads online (seen on Hulu), but may consider broader broadcast depending on the public’s reception. With IE’s shrinking user base, especially among the tech-savvy, its clear Microsoft is hoping the ads will gain a viral audience online.

Most memorable? O.M.G.I.G.P. Truly disgusting. The viral campaign is decidedly contagious. Now everyone won’t want to use Internet Explorer.

The Touch Book is a real netbook with a detachable touch screen, smaller keyboard, small price tag, but generally a miniature notebook. It comes with Touch Book OS, but claims to run Ubuntu, Android, and Windows CE.

The CPU is an ARM chip from Texas Instruments, the OMAP3530, running with 256MB RAM and 256MB of NAND memory. There is no hard drive — instead you get an 8GB SD card. You’ll also find Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a 3D accelerometer and three USB ports. The display is held in place by magnets.

Price? $300 for the tablet screen, or $400 with the attachable keyboard. Would you buy a similar sized multi-touch Mac with an attachable screen that runs Mac OS X and iPhone OS? What would you pay?

There was a Mac-like PC before the Mac. 1983 was a tough year for Apple. How difficult was it to sell a PC for almost $10,000 back then? Very. Today, you could buy 8 iMacs for the same money as Apple’s original Lisa.

Ted Friedman on the year up to 1984:

Apple was in danger. Their competitors in the emerging PC industry had been joined by IBM. Purchasers who’d chosen Apple out of necessity were relieved to be able to turn now to Big Blue. Apple’s first attempt at a next-generation product that could re-establish the company’s pre-eminence was the Lisa. A $10,000 computer designed for the business market, it was a flop.

The Mac was nearly a flop and sluggish sales probably cost Steve Jobs his job back in 1985. What a difference a few decades can make.

The trend of bundling a bunch of Mac apps for a ridiculously low price continues with a new MacBundle. This software bundle features 11 Mac apps and utilities for less than $50. The MacBundle is somewhat anemic when compared to the MacUpdate or MacHeist bundles earlier this year, but includes Caboodle, ShutterBug, IPNetMonitor, Trampoline, and a couple of others only available during the first 14 days.

The answer is yes. I have to admit that I was a little sad when Fake Steve was outed last year. Daniel Lyons proved himself to be a better Fake Steve than a real Daniel Lyons writing for Newsweek. There’s no real money in Fake Steve, so Lyons is back for the fun of it. If you follow Apple, and are mesmerized by Steve Jobs, you’ll love Fake Steve.

Palm, which has reinvented itself with a business model that basically involves doing whatever Apple does, only two years later, announced today that its CEO, Jon Rubinstein, is planning to receive a liver transplant. No official date—they just say it will happen sometime in the next 12 to 18 months.

Priceless.

Remember iPhone Bob? He was senior director of Apple’s worldwide product marketing for the iPhone, and the onscreen pitch man in 2008’s iPhone 3G Guided Tour videos. Bob Borchers worked on the iPod and iPhone for five years at Apple, while the company’s stock went up, up, down, and up again. He’s now a general partner of venture-capital firm Opus Capital.

Borchers is taking the plunge into venture capital even as the venture industry has been hit hard by the recession. Fund-raising is down, many startup investments have been hurt, and venture exits through IPOs and M&A are also hard to come by. Numerous venture capitalists have been let go or are retiring.

To move into an industry where more people are going than coming can only mean one thing. Borchers has the money to do what he wants. Bob, say, “Thank you, Apple.”

It’s true. I love Safari. It’s fast, elegant, uncluttered, and pages look fabulous. It’s true. Sometimes I use Firefox. All those add-ons make it a tempting browser.

Meryl Evans in Salon:

Quick overview for those new to Firefox: Add-ons are little free tools that make your application experience better and easier. Add-ons don’t stop at browsers, either. Email applications like Thunderbird have them, too. They’re very easy to install. Just go to Firefox add-ons, browse, click “Add to Firefox” and click “Install” in the popup window.

I use only three of the 10.

Here’s hoping this story ends soon. Steve Jobs went on medical leave, had a liver transplant, and is back to work and doing fine. Meanwhile, Apple didn’t melt down, AAPL went up over 70%. Tim Beyers in The Motley Fool says someone at Apple should pay.

Someone should pay for hiding material information like this. But it’s not obvious that anyone will—except perhaps for those who bought shares without understanding Jobs’ health status.

Hello? The stock is up over 70-percent. It’s still going up. No laws broken. Privacy maintained. Company worked well. Customers happy. Investors happy. Media pundits make so many assumptions, yet have little time to deal with facts.

What do you expect of fools?

Technology journalism has become grabber headlines with no substance. The Register is one of the worst, now with a list of alleged iPhone killers.

While iPhone mania shows no sign of dissipating among the faithful, another big difference between the original iPhone and the latest version is that there are now a lot of very credible alternatives out there, all with touchscreens, fancy new interfaces, HSDPA 3G, Wi-Fi, A-GPS and the ability to expand and improve with downloadable apps.

The problem with this multi-page, hit whoring, ad generating article is that feature comparisons are mostly hardware, while applications, utilities, games—those things we actually use on our smart phones—get little mention, though that’s exactly where the iPhone excels.

Investors and media pundits say Apple should have told shareholders about Steve Jobs’ liver transplant. Among many others voicing similar sentiments, Warren Buffett:

Some people might think I’m important to the company. Certainly Steve Jobs is important to Apple. So it’s a material fact. Whether he is facing serious surgery or not is a material fact. Whether I’m facing serious surgery is a material fact.

Puhleeze. Apple’s stock went up 70-percent during Jobs’ medical leave. What’s to complain about?

Most of the Apple-related noise the past two weeks has been about the iPhone 3GS and Steve Jobs’ liver transplant. What about the next great thing? Mac360‘s Bambi Brannan:

It may not be called a Mac, but the next MacBook, the digital device destined to sit between iPhone/iPod and Mac notebooks, will be a true handheld Mac. Think 10 inches of screen with a rim, thin, wireless, on screen keyboard, and here it comes—this new MacBook will run Mac OS X and iPhone OS X, so it can run Mac apps and utilities and iPhone/iPod touch apps, utilities, games.

Why not? I’d pay $799 for one.

Silly list of Five things missing from iPhone 3GS. Let’s see. Besides no Mass Storage Connectivity (see App Store, sweetie), Broader Data Handling (uh, Notes syncs, you know?), iTunes folders (sure, and why doesn’t it open a wine bottle?), Better Web Integration (why doesn’t my iPhone sync with Google, Outlook, Yahoo, my Mac, and the Library of Congress?), Better Camera (more megapixels isn’t the answer, dear), what’s missing? Melissa J. Perenson:

That’s not to say that the iPhone 3GS isn’t good. In fact, this new model is among the best handsets on the market today. Still, the 3GS’s combination of hardware and software continues to miss the mark in a few critical areas, and these deficiencies prevent the iPhone from leaping far ahead the competition.

I have a hard time determining how the list of five are “critical areas.” Is there any cell phone anywhere that does all the iPhone does now?

From Neven Mrgan on Twitter:

If AT&T sold T-shirts, they’d cost $9.95 a month.

This is a trend that’s becoming crystal clear. Essential services cost money. Need tethering support for your iPhone? AT&T will charge extra. Need GPS turn-by-turn navigation? Here it comes. AT&T will charge extra. Their new Navigator software is free, with a catch:

The application, which provides voice-guided directions with automatic rerouting and real-time traffic updates, is a free download from the AT&T store and includes maps for the U.S. as well as regular updates. Naturally, it requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later, but it’s compatible with both the iPhone and iPod touch.

The application is a free download but the turn-by-turn navigation service is $10 a month. I can’t wait to play an iPhone game that charges me 99-cents to go to the next level.