Make no mistake about it, the iPhone (and the App Store in particular) has made the lives of many home owners much, much easier. As it stands, there are already a few apps out there that interface with Crestron gear, but to date, there's no official Crestron app to fiddle with. But give it 60 days or so and there will be -- at least, that's the good word over at the company's booth today at CEDIA. Said application will be 100% free to download, and as you can see in the gallery over at Engadget HD, it elegantly enables wired home owners to control lighting, temperature and all sorts of other things via WiFi or 3G, at home or anywhere else in the world. Users can even program in settings for multiple houses, enabling them to turn the AC on in Orlando while blasting the heat in Jackson Hole. So let's see, all you need now is an iPhone, a couple properties, a few dozen grand to blow on Crestron HA gear and a tiny bit of patience.

For those in America who just can't shake the desire to snap up one of those Samsung Instincts, but can't bring themselves into braving the yellow-clad walls of most Sprint stores, an alternative method of B&M procurement has finally arrived. Effective immediately, Sprint's "iPhone killer" will be available across the US in RadioShack stores. If you happened into one over the Labor Day weekend, you were lucky enough to grab the handset for just $99.99 on contract, but from here on out (well, until the first second price drop), it'll be $129.99 for everyone else.

[Image courtesy of RiverWalkPlaza]

Ugh, make it stop. Every few months, someone in the media asks Michael Dell the inevitable question: "Do you plan on competing with Apple's iPhone?" While speaking recently in the Citi Technology Conference in New York, the chief executive stated that "I think you will see us with small screen devices," and he continued on to state that we the people will see Dell producing "smaller and smaller devices that have capabilities of the [iPhone]." Without missing a beat, he also proclaimed: "Not in the near-term." Alrighty then -- anything we didn't already know?

LG's cover was blown late last month with the early unveiling of the KC910, but it's hard to ignore that warm, fuzzy feeling one gets when any outfit doles out the official verbiage as confirmation. The self-proclaimed Viewty successor (formally dubbed the LG-KC910) looks mighty fine on paper, with a 3-inch WQVGA touchscreen, 8-megapixel camera (with Schneider-Kreuznach certified optics and a Xenon flash), geotagging support, Dolby Mobile, video recording, A-GPS, 7.2Mbps HSDPA and integrated WiFi. Regrettably, LG failed to pass along the most pressing morsel of news (read: the price), but at least we know it'll be available somewhere in the world this October.

[Via MobileBurn]

It was only a matter of time before the WSJ (Katherine Boehret, in this case) got their hands around Sprint's still-not-official Touch Diamond, and we can't say that the conclusion she drew is at all shocking. As Mossberg and his partners so often do, Katherine mentions Apple's darling just as much as the topic of the review itself, and while she seemed impressed with the hardware, it was the software that suffered the brunt of her attacks. She proclaimed that "despite its handsome TouchFLO 3D software and animated icons, the device failed to disguise the frustrating interface of Windows Mobile often enough for [her] taste." Beyond that, she also found room to gripe about the "cramped" keyboard, which she felt was "next to impossible" to use with just her fingertips. On the plus side, she did give the browser a decent amount of praise, but if you were looking for support from this critic before picking up the forthcoming handset, you'll be sorely disappointed.

[Via phonescoop]

We won't kid ourselves here -- you know good and well what Nokia's N96 looks, feels and tastes like, but given that it just started shipping in Europe within the last 24 hours, we figured it prudent to pass along the first proper unboxing of the retail unit. Like we said, don't expect any surprises with this one, but we still suspect you'll leave the video waiting after the jump with a smile on your face.

[Thanks, Steve]

While the world still tries to decide if its really into mobile TV or not, Cricket is moving forward with plans assuming that she is. The wholly-owned subsidiary of Leap Wireless has just announced a flat-rate unlimited mobile video service that will enable users with "select handsets" to view one-to-four-minute-long video clips for $5 per month. Watching the clips won't tack on any additional data charges, and as for content, customers can look for clips from FUEL TV, Hollywood Insider and an array of other sources. Nah, there's no live TV (yet), but the pricing sure is admirable.

[Via phonescoop]

Details on this one are remarkably skimpy, but here are the facts as we know them. A fire caused around $30,000 worth of damage to a mobile home in Delaware this past week, but thankfully, the Millsboro and Indian River firefighters found no one home at the time of the incident. The culprit? A "malfunctioning cellphone charger that ignited the wall covering in a bedroom." That's it, folks -- no manufacturer, no brand name, nothing. In other words, unplug your chargers when you leave the house... or store your home in a fireproof safe, either one.

[Thanks, Carl]

We've known that a pay-as-you-go iPhone 3G plan was in the works at O2 since June, but the carrier has at long last fessed up and provided the formal introduction. The iPhone 3G Pay & Go plan will be live on September 16th, enabling users in the UK to purchase the handset sans contract for £349.99 (8GB) or £399.99 (16GB). Yeah, it's quite a bit more than free on contract, but those prices do include unlimited browsing and WiFi for the first 12 months after the phone is activated. Once that honeymoon ends, you're looking at £10 per month to keep browsing. Also of note, Visual Voicemail is conveniently omitted from Pay & Go phones, but if you're cool with that, you can get going in a fortnight by heading to your local O2, Apple or Carphone Warehouse store.

[Via Stuff, thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Colorware is at it again -- stealing taking money from folks who just can't be satisfied with the stock color option(s). RIM's BlackBerry Bold is the next major handset to get the colorific treatment, with a fully customized unit running just $174 over the handset's base price. We'd typically encourage any and all of you to order up the above pictured combination in support of the Wolfpack, but given the recent performance on the field, feel free to just back your own alma mater.

[Via The Boy Genius Report]

It's not that texting from planes is currently impossible, it's just not terribly reliable. Thanks to Avidyne's Q4-bound MLX770, however, all that is about to change. The two-way datalink receiver will not only enable pilots to have access to the radar mosaic for most of the world along with weather conditions, but it will add support for text messaging right from the MFD. And we're not talking about CPLDC -- we're talking bona fide SMS. To keep pilots from chatting away too much unnecessarily, the system will limit messages to 32 characters, and beyond that, each message sent will run between $1 and $2. And to think, we actually have the nerve to gripe about $0.20 texts...

[Via FlightGlobal]

Barely a month after Nokia's North American E71 went on sale at the Chicago / New York flagship stores, we've received word that the QWERTY-less sibling (that'd be the E66) has now arrived at the same locales. The quad-band slider boasts support for AT&T's 3G network, and there's also a 3.2-megapixel camera, GPS, WiFi and all the other goodies you'd expect from another solid S60 contender. Snap it up now in Grey Steel for $540.

[Via IntoMobile]

We've seen some bizarre -- bizarre -- handsets in our day, but this one is just too darn cute to call weird. The conceptual Kuma Phone was recently shown off in Japan by Willcom, and according to local reports, the audience in attendance absolutely adored it. The GSM teddy bear, er, mobile can hold up to four speed dial numbers, boasts a built-in vibration function and allows users to answer / terminate calls by "pressing the tail." An accompanying pamphlet suggested that it would run around $500 should it ever hit mass production, which leads us to wonder if they plan on using Boyds / Vermont Teddies or something.

[Via textually]

While Apple's App Store was far from being the first of its kind, we're now seeing a job posting over in the Redmond area that suggests that Microsoft is looking to produce something similar for its Windows Mobile platform. The news comes hot on the heels of Google's own Android Market announcement, and if the Product Manager position writeup is to be believed, said platform will be christened Skymarket. Described as a "marketplace service for Windows Mobile," Skymarket could seemingly be a critical part of WinMo 7. But don't take our word for it, the proof is the pudding -- or in the read link, in this instance.

[Via The Raw Feed]

For better or worse, it looks like the so-called iControlPad is edging closer to reality -- or at least something really similar. According to a new image (and our limited Spanish translation skills), Belkin is actually looking to produce an App Store gaming controller, though we're still not entirely convinced that what we're seeing is legitimate. Whatever the case, the JoyPod would somehow, someway provide users who purchased Super Monkey Ball to play it using a bona fide game pad, though we can't figure out if the iPod touch / iPhone slips in behind the controller or if it just morphs to fit the JoyPod's space constraints. Guess we'll see (or not) soon enough.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: Belkin pinged us to say this is 100% fake. Ah well, at least you know the truth now.