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Morning, folks,

A few new updates have surfaced regarding Apple and AT&T's kung fu grip on the iPhone, and as always, we love keeping up on the end of a deal that will benefit consumers everywhere and serve as an open model for the wireless world.

New Chip May End Exclusivity
The latest and greatest in the rumor mill regarding the iPhone's imprisonment comes on the coat tails of Qualcomm's hybrid chip release that facilitates the use of the phone on both networks, asw well as almost every other cell network in the world. Maybe the U.S. can finally move into step with the rest of the cellular world if our major carriers put customer choice before their own profits...even if Verizon's latest ad blitzkrieg hasn't really played nice with the iPhone at all.

All's fair in love and war, though, we guess, and if Apple can forgive the "there's a map for that" and "iDon't" campaigns, who are we to judge?

Tethering Before the End of Time?
AT&T has once again announced that they intend to enable iPhone tethering..."soon." Last week we passed the year anniversary of the first promise...we don't know about you, but we've had human relationships we ended for less important promises than that! We jest, of course, but still, we have to wonder if it's more beneficial at this point for AT&T to continue strengthening their network before they unleash the power to use the iPhone as a wireless access point; whether it's a big hit or just something to whine about, the more people actually use the tethering the worse it's gonna be for any network, no matter how powerful.

After all, there are all those bitsy pocket sized wireless networks available now; options abound for WiFi and not all of them will set you back an obligatory $30 a month. Something to think about.

Linkedin Tweets
However, you CAN use your iPhone to access your Twitter account...and now the professional networking site LinkedIn will incorporate tweets into status updates. This comes after an announcement that Microsoft and Google will now count tweets into their search results and really cements our long held belief that social networking and business are completely intertwined, at least for the smartest professionals!

Will you be using this new service? Let us know!

Till tomorrow, Newsies...