An Australian computer hacker named Ashley Towns has created a virus that … rickrolls jailbroken iPhones:

The Australian programmer who claims to have created the world’s first Apple iPhone virus as a prank has told Computerworld he does not regret writing it.

The worm, ‘Ikee’ changes iPhone owners’ wallpaper and replaces it with a photo of ‘80s pop star Rick Astley and the message “ikee is never going to give you up”.

Twenty-one-year-old Wollongong resident Ashley Towns, said he created the virus out of curiosity and boredom.

“I had just formatted my iPhone and it told me to set the password in bold, big letters and I wondered how many people have actually done that," Towns said.

“So I ran a scan on my [Optus] 3G network and there was 26 phones running the service that’s vulnerable, and out of that 26, 25 hadn’t changed their passwords.”

Link – via Buzz Log

Photo: woodtec

Because you can’t out-tech the sleek iPod and iPhone, it’s much better to go low-tech when showcasing Apple’s coveted gadgets. Behold, the log dock by Woodtec:

Again from Woodtec, the dual iPhone/iPod docking log takes the single log dock and adds room for another device. Now you can charge your iPhone and iPod simultaneously via a single length of tree limb. Unsurprisingly, as there’s more wood and an extra connection, the dual dock comes in at a higher price but for something so unique, $119.00 is surely money well spent.

Zoombits got more on wooden iPhone accessories: Link – Thanks Dave!

Image: Fred Beneson

Emoji are pictographs and emoticons common to text messaging in Japan. The scale of this language has grown so much that Fred Beneson of Creative Commmons wants to translate Herman Melville’s Moby Dick into emoji. The novel has 6,438 sentences, and he hopes to crowdsource the translation project out to people interested in completing at least one sentence of the novel.

Link via BoingBoing

RunPee is a handy site that let’s you know when it’s the best time to run to the bathroom during any given movie.  Then they tell you what happens during the 4-5 minutes you were away.

“This way you not only know when to go, but can also find out what you’ll be missing.  You will no longer miss those ultra-important scenes, or need to come back to your seat and ask someone, ‘What did I miss?’”

They have new releases and classics, and now there’s even an iPhone app that alerts you when a good opportunity is coming to answer Nature’s call.

Link |  Image courtesy Elizabeth O. Dulemba

Wired has a photogallery unusual accessories that you can mount on a firearm, including a cupholder and an iPhone mount. The latter includes an app that makes ballistics calculations based upon wind, distance, air pressure, humidity and temperature. Take your shot, then sip your beer.

Link

Ever wonder just how much that meeting will cost your employer? By entering the estimated average salary of everyone in the meeting, the number of employees and when the meeting started, you get to watch just how much money is wasted on these pointless get togethers. I can’t wait until this becomes an iPhone app you can stealthy bring to the meeting with you.

Link Via BoingBoing

If you’re more into eating circuit boards than walking on them, then this candy circuit board might be just what you sweet-toothed geeks are looking for. This one is based on an iphone circuit board.

Link

Why wasn’t I told that June is National Bathroom Reading Month? I’ve been celebrating it all year long!

Anyways, to celebrate this momentous occasion, our pal Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader is running a neat contest: Deep Thoughts From the Throne.

You can win nifty prizes (including an iPhone, a set of Bathroom Reader books autographed by Uncle John himself and a year’s supply of toilet paper – a year! – now that’s a prize) for entering a video clip you create about … your bathroom!

Here’s the details: Contest Rules | Visit Uncle John’s YouTube channel for approved entries

English painter David Hockney, who is considered one of the most influential British artists of the twentieth century, has had his iPhone for only four months, but he has already turned it into a hi-tech canvas.

Beth Hale of The Daily Mail has the story:

… Speaking about it last week the artist, who thinks calling his work digital art is as absurd as calling traditional drawing pencil art, said: ‘The computer is a terrific medium.

‘You miss some things, you miss texture for example, but you gain a lot. In a watercolour, once you put things down, that’s it. With this you can move things about, change, make them bigger and smaller.’

For the moment his computer-created art is being printed in limited editions, which will sell for thousands of pounds. That is considerably less than some of his more traditional paintings fetch.

Several thousand pounds for an iPhone doodle? I’m in the wrong biz: Link – via The Daily Dish

(Links open in a new browser window/tab)

	Juggling with Bowling Ball Remember the Chinlone video we posted on Neatorama a while ago? Well, that ain' nothing compared to this rhythmic gymnast juggling with a bowling ball! I kid: that's not a bowling ball, but it sure does look like one! Link
	Dog Hates the Happy Birthday Song! Dave the Wonder Dog is a half black lab, half border colli and all crazy. It has a strange musical trigger: if you sing the Happy Birthday Song, be prepared to deal with a dog gone berserk ... Link
	Physics Fun: Jell-O + Electricity = FIRE! Can you make Jell-O electrically conductive? Sure you can, if you make it out of alcohol. Here's what you get when you tase a Jell-O: Link (Includes the phrase "electrically active Jell-O mound" that is PURE WIN)
	Cell Phone Reunion When Bluetooth, cell phones, car phone and the Blackberry teams up, the iPhone gets what he deserves ... From the geniuses over at CollegeHumor: Link (NSFW language - the ending makes it all worth the wait)
	The Crazy PS3 Kid Banned From Playing PS3 That PS3 is like crack for little kids - here's a Norwegian kid giving an Oscar-worthy performance when he got banned from playing his Playstation. His range of emotion is amazing! Christian Bale, watch out! Link

For more the web's most interesting videos, check out: VideoSift.

Michel Cuhaci received a flawed copy of the book A Student’s Guide to Maxwell’s Equation, so he left a one-star review on Amazon. The author, Dan Fleisch responded and promised to send a replacement overnight. At the time, Fleisch did not realize how hard that would be on Christmas Eve!

“I called (parcel services), and getting it delivered was out of the question,” he said. “Then I thought, ‘OK, maybe I can find a bookstore that had it in stock.’ ”

No luck — most bookstores had closed early.

“It got to be late afternoon. I couldn’t find anyway to get it to him.”

His next thought — he’d drive to Canada and deliver the $26 book himself.

“I looked at my iPhone and there was this massive blob (snowstorm) over the whole Northeast,” he said.

Fleisch ended up flying from Ohio to Ottawa to deliver the book on Christmas Day, ending up back home after midnight. His journey reads like a comedy of errors.

Last week Cuhaci went back to Amazon and added a new comment about the book and its author.

“But I did not change the rating,” he said. “I want people to look at my comment and see what a dedicated author he is.”

Link to story. Link to Amazon review. -via reddit

The following is a guest post by Collin Palkovitz and Jason Latshaw of Elany Arts, creators of an iPhone app called LETHAL that tells you what dangerous things are lurking just around the corner, or in any given location in the United States.

We scoured government databases and academic publications to find crime rates, disease rates, disaster occurrences, and deadly wildlife ranges. We then compiled our findings into one centralized database that pulls those stats, combines the score into four categories, and gives you an overall “LETHAL Index” for hundreds of locations.

The research for this project was both captivating and terrifying. It was fascinating to learn about the different dangers that various locations pose. Below are the most dangerous locations in each of our four categories.

Wildlife

Photo: King Power Cinema [Flickr] (Yes, in Mobile, AL)

We were all surprised to discover the location in the United States with the greatest number of deadly animals.

One might think that somewhere in Alaska with polar bears, grizzly bears, AND great white sharks would take the prize, but no. (Even though the possibility of meeting up with all three of those fearsome beasts does make Alaska pretty exciting. But you’ll read later what keeps Alaska from being all around completely awesome.)

Or maybe the Everglades, the only place in the world where crocodiles and alligators are both native (in addition to bears, panthers, and poisonous snakes! Seriously, think about that, they’re one tiger away from being able to say “Oh my!”)? But again, no. The Everglades aren’t it either.

Instead, welcome to Mobile, Alabama, the home of 19 – yes, nineteen - deadly animal species. It’s like the Baskin Robbins of blood-thirsty predators. Whether you are on the land or the sea, something here can kill you. The sheer number of creatures you have to watch out for is impressive. A day at the beach near Mobile may sound pleasant, but you should be prepared to wind up fleeing the shark infested waters only to find yourself in a land crawling with more kinds of poisonous snakes and spiders than anywhere else in the country.

But I’m sure you’re wondering what the most BORING place is when it comes to Wildlife? I know we were. Well, if you don’t like the idea of being offed by something that you thought was lower on the food chain, make immediate plans to move to North or South Dakota or Nebraska. There, the only thing you’d have to watch out for would be a couple of lame standbys that are just about everywhere else, too – Dogs, Hornets, Black Widow Spiders, and Mosquitoes. Yawn!

Crime

The St. Louis Arch is there to distract tourists from the city's dangers.
Photo: Storm Crypt [Flickr]

When it comes to crime in the U.S. you may think that New York or Los Angeles sound like scary places, but compared to Detroit and St. Louis, those cities are delightful locations for Sunday-school picnics.

St. Louis and Detroit battle it out for the title of “Which City is More Likely to Annihilate You With Its Crime,” and quite honestly this contest is going into extra innings with no end in sight.

St. Louis comes out of the gate and scores some quick points because of its insanely high violent crime rate – 2,480 violent crimes per 100,000 citizens. But the Motor City comes right back – nearly tying the match with its own hefty rate of 2419 per 100,000.

Maybe the Lions went 0-16 because they couldn't focus on the game – they were too busy looking over their shoulders to make sure they weren't going to get mugged or killed!

Speaking of getting killed, if you do decide to ignore the fear of being mugged, stabbed, or beaten and decide to brave these Midtown Detroit streets, you run the risk of being one of many yearly murder victims there – people are killed at the gaudy rate of 61 per every 100,000 citizens. When you realize that the national rate is a mere 7, you see how dangerous this area is.

But before you fall out of your chair and start hyperventilating know this: Downtown St. Louis has that rate beat – by a mile – because 93 out of every 100,00 are murdered there. All of a sudden, Midtown Detroit might be looking safe. But it isn’t.

Because St. Louis has one thing going for it in the crime department ­– at least when it comes to Forcible Rape, it’s not Midtown Detroit.

Detroit is not safe enough even for the Department of Public Safety.
The building has been abandoned ...
Photo: Derek Farr (Detroit Derek) [Flickr]

We’ll let you know just how bad Midtown Detroit is in the rape department, but first a discussion about the stats we found for rape in the US: When we were doing our research, we were horrified by Juneau, Alaska. I don’t know what they’re drinking there, but 102.3 out of every 100,000 people are getting raped in the land of “Whatever It Is People Do In Juneau,” Since the US average is a mere 33.1, clearly they have a serious problem. (And actually, it’s kind of widespread to the whole state of Alaska! That place has an unbelievably high rate of 76 – that’s for the state on average. Sarah Palin, what in the world is going on up there?).

Truly it can’t get worse than Juneau, right? Wrong. Sleepy little beach communities Ocean City, Maryland and Key West, Florida made a baffling and troublesome attempt to hang with the major cities by weighing in with rates of 123.3 and 127.3, respectively. Think about that for a second. If you had a NFL Football game in Ocean City, Maryland, about 127 people in that crowd would be raped that year, on average. What’s going on, Ocean City? Considering that New York City’s Rape rate is a mere 13 per 100,000, one has to wonder if NBC should move the Special Victim’s Unit to Ocean City, Maryland! Benson and Stabler, head to the Shore!

Actually, no. If we’re going to be calling Benson and Stabler anywhere, it should be to Midtown Detroit. While we were scandalized and terrified by Key West, Ocean City, and Jeneau – we were absolutely left in a state of disbelief by Midtown Detroits numbers. 181 rapes per 100,000 people. Yes, 181. Just about six times the national average.

So it looks like Midtown Detroit is more likely to rape you while Downtown St. Louis will more likely just kill you. We can’t pick a winner. But we know two areas we’ll be avoiding for the near future. (This would be the time to point out that both Detroit and St. Louis have areas that are very safe and lovely. But really, don’t go to Midtown or Downtown without body armor and some pepper spray.)

Disasters

We were shocked to learn which location ranked the highest for disasters. Memphis, TN!

The Mississippi River has a nasty habit of flooding in Memphis.
Photo: jeb simpson [Flickr]

As it turns out, this unsuspecting town sits in the path of tornadoes and is located in an area geologically prone to earthquakes, floods, and landslides. There is also significant potential for wildfires in this area. In addition to natural disasters, motor vehicle deaths, accidental firearm deaths, and suicides are all above average.

But if you’re headed to the nation's capital, you might want to follow Obama’s lead and drive in a bullet proof SUV, because Washington DC has the most gun related deaths per year – by far. A full 21% more deaths than the runner up in this inglorious category, New Orleans.

And if you’re feeling a little down, you may want to steer clear of Montana. There’s something about all that ranching and wheat farming that must make you want to just up and end it all, because Montana has the worst suicide rate in the nation. 22 out of every 100,000 Montanians (I have no idea if they’re called that or not, but what’s the alternative really… Montanites?) kill themselves every year.

Disease

US Naval Hospital Ship Mercy docked in San Diego in 2006.
Coincidence? I don't think so ... Photo: Jim Frazier [Flickr]

San Diego takes the cake (ew, what kind of cake would that be? Pro tip: don’t eat it) for the most disease-ridden location in the United States. It is a good thing that cancer, heart disease, stroke, and Alzheimer’s are non-communicable; otherwise the entire city would have to be quarantined.

But it’s a city on the other side of the continent that takes the unfortunate status of being the “AIDS capital of America.” That would be Baltimore, with 37.7 AIDS related deaths per 100,000 citizens. Its sister city Washington DC isn’t much better off in that department at 37.1. Compare that to a mere 3.7 AIDS deaths per 100,000 in Oakland, California or the very impressive virtual ZERO in Salt Lake City, Utah and you’ll see that Baltimore and DC have to change something up.

Win a Free Download!

If you’d like to score yourself a free copy of LETHAL for your iPhone or iPod touch , be the first to answer ONE of the following questions in the comments. We’re giving out 5 freebies here.

1. Can you guess what location has the highest overall LETHAL Index?
   Hint: it is none of the locations listed above. It is a city where a moderately high score in all four categories reveals that it has the most cumulative danger.
   
2. Can you guess what location has the least overall LETHAL Index?
   Hint: It also wasn’t mentioned.
   
3. Can you tell us which city comes in 3rd behind Detroit and St. Louis with the Crime Index?
   
4. Which state should probably have its collective Drivers License taken away because it has the highest automobile death rate?
   
5. What state has the highest rate of Occupational Fatality?
   Yep, a whole lot of people seem to die on the job here… over 40% more than the second most dangerous area in this category!

Please login and use your Neatorama username (if you don't have one, please register). Place your guess in the comment. One answer per comment, though you may enter as many guesses as you'd like. One free download per person.

Be sure to check out LETHAL App for more information (or get one at iTunes now!)

Designing those little icons is tougher than you might think. Check out how designer Felix Sockwell went through the creative process (and the review process, of course) to come up with the icons for the New York Times app.

Link via Boing Boing

iLounge reader Tuan Nguyen, Ken Thomas, and friends created this sweet iPhone coffee table with built-in Apps coasters from corrugated boards. Link – via coated

Songs of Love is an interesting non-profit organization that creates free, personalized songs for children and teen with chronic and life-threatening illnesses.

Founded by John Beltzer, Songs of Love has over 120 songwriters that compose one-of-a-kind songs that are sure to lift the spirits of kids during the time when they need it most.

And the songs are good! You can listen to them on their website: Link [Flash, click on the jukebox icon on the bottom of the page] – Thanks Denise Thobe!

PS The Songs of Love have just released a free iPhone App (I’m not good with the iPhone, so I’ll leave it up to you to check it out)

The 3G iPhone doesn’t come with a dock , unlike the 2G version, instead you have to spend an extra $29 on an Apple iPhone 3G Dock.

So we decided to make our own iPhone dock, that was easy for anyone to make and can be made from readily available materials.

We decided to make our dock out of cardboard, and wanted anyone to be able to print one off on their printer so we kept the size to A4.

Geeky Gadgets has a pdf pattern and a video tutorial. This will give you a place to put your iPhone as you recharge it with vegetables. Link -Thanks, Roland!

Photo: nickbilton [Flickr]

Nick and Danielle Bilton made these awesome iPhone App Cupcakes. They took first place at the NYC Cupcake Decorating Championships and Ignite NYC: Link – via RuebenMiller

A line of people outside the Orange cell phone store waiting to buy the iPhone 3G a few weeks ago in Poland meant that there’s a big demand for Apple’s hottest gadget. Right? Well, may be not so much:

[Orange's] hiring "dozens" of actors to line up at 20 stores around the country to "drum up interest." Yeah, that’s just sad — especially since there aren’t any real customers in line at Polish T-Mobile stores, which is also carrying the phone.

Link – via Textually | Photo via appleblog.pl

When Mac Rumors forum user markm49uk turned on his brand new Apple iPhone 3G, he found a little "surprise": some photos of a factory worker that assembled it!

Looked like someone at the production line was having a bit of fun (they’re probably sooo fired!): Link – via Gizmodo

What to get your beloved Apple fanboi who already has everything? How about a Steve Jobs bobblehead iPhone charger? Link – via Gizmodo

Wonder why the iPod is so expensive as compared to other MP3 players? Well, sure – it looks and works great – but is quality necessarily the main driving force behind its high prices?

Perhaps not. Here’s an article in Popular Mechanics about the secret "Apple Tax":

Last year, when Apple introduced the original iPhone and the latest generation of iPods, another new product came out of Cupertino, Calif., but this one received little fanfare. It was a proprietary authentication chip. The chip works like a silicon key that unlocks streaming video functionality on iPhones and iPods and generally authorizes the devices to work with approved accessories. The advent of the “auth chip” made it impossible for any third-party company to produce iPod-compatible gadgets without dealing first with Apple—the only company selling the chip. Previous-generation iPods could output video over a generic $2 iPod video cable, but new phones and iPods require officially licensed Apple cables—and these can cost up to $50.

The chip has become a headache for many accessory manufacturers, who complain that they sometimes have to compromise on quality to pay for the chip and other Apple licensing fees, while still maintaining price points consumers can afford. “If we didn’t have to pay Apple for the dock and auth chip, we could have made a much better speaker for the same price,” said an official at a major electronics maker, who, like several sources for this story, requested anonymity because of fears that speaking with the press could jeopardize his company’s relationship with Apple.

Link – Thanks Andrea Faville!

Who are these people eating apples at the Apple Store in the Big Apple? A week before the product is available, a line began forming Friday for the new 3G iPhone at the Apple Store in Manhattan. Who would stand (or sit) in line that long? It’s not so much Apple fanboys. Ten people from the group Waiting For Apples began the line, but after a rainy night, only five are left. Their goal is -get this- to set a record for waiting in line. Link

That’s what women with long fingernails are complaining about the iPhone. Because the iPhone multi-touch screen works by detecting electrical conductance of your finger, fingernails or stylus don’t work:

She and other women who have long nails — as well as people of all genders with chunky fingers — have real trouble typing on the iPhone. The 39-year-old consultant and lecturer, who says her fingernails are typically between one-eighth and one-quarter of an inch long, wants the iPhone to include a stylus.

"Considering ergonomics and user studies indicating men and women use their fingers and nails differently, why does Apple persist in this misogyny?"

Link – via reddit