"Apple Inc. warned users that they can permanently damage their iPhones by modifying the cellular phones to work on unauthorized wireless network.... Any permanent disabling of iPhone that stems from the installation of unlocking software isn't covered on the product's warranty." [WSJ]

Apple is promoting its Starbucks partnership by giving away 50 million songs at the chain of coffee shops. The new wireless service "Now Playing" allows iPhone- and iPod Touch-using Starbucks patrons to preview and purchase the music that happens to be playing in their local shop. [AppleInsider]

Kitchen appliances:

"This microwave looks great. Does it have a popcorn setting?"

"A popcorn subscription, yes."

"Sorry?"

"There is a popcorn setting, but it's only good with this list of popcorn manufacturers. We were at least able to get Pop Secret and Orville Redenbacher to agree on a 99-cent price point for each use."

"Erm. How about this model? Is popcorn free on this?"

"Yes, but you can only use it three times."

"Oh."

"There is, however, a bonus: You can play five pre-loaded microwave games."

"On this little screen?"

"One of the games is 'Guess what I'm cooking.'"

Sorry to get your hopes up, folks. After early reports that American Express was giving cardholders $200 refunds on their iPhones — after Apple slashed the price earlier this month — it now seems the company has reconsidered its generosity. Early adopter Muhammad Saleem blogs that he only got a $100 refund, not the $200 he requested. An AmEx rep told him that he had to apply to Apple, which now offers a $100 credit to premature iPhone buyers, to get the other half. Saleem and other cardholders should consider themselves lucky to get anything at all, though. American Express discontinued its price-protection benefit last fall, and the company is only offering iPhone refunds at its discretion — likely because it's a high-profile case of a price drop, and it hopes to win positive publicity and customer goodwill.

Apple's shiny white posterior has been bruised and tarnished today. First there's some whining over iTunes being offline. Then CEO Steve Jobs was subpoenaed to testify in the SEC's lawsuit against Nancy Heinen, who allegedly backdated stock-option grants. Apple was than accused of cavorting with "the most cock-thirsty and money-grubbing conglomerates in the United States" — that is, Hollywood studios. And then there's this sob story: Apple is blocking hacked iPhones. Maybe all these headlines will finally get the Apple devout to realize that Steve Jobs is not their best pal. Rather, he's the figurehead of a corporate entity trying to make money. It's like keeping a crocodile as a pet. It looks cute, sure, but eventually it's going to try to bite off your hand. And can you blame it? It's just hungry. (Photo by Daniel Shaw-Cosman)

With Apple's lineup of European carriers for the iPhone taking shape, speculation has already turned to the Asia market. KTF, a Korean wireless carrier, is already talking about their negotiations and declaring a Korean iPhone will use the WCDMA platform rather than EDGE/GSM. In other words, expect KTF to join the ranks of Steve Jobs's spurned, unhappy ex-girlfriends when Apple actually announces its Pacific partners. [The Korea Times]

Apple's Steve Jobs waxing metaphorical on playing European carriers against one another during iPhone contract negotiations: "Partnerships take a lot of work — you want to go out on a few dates before you get married," said Jobs. "Yes, we dated a few people but didn't get married, and so there were a few unhappy girlfriends out there." [AppleInsider]

While American analysts question whether an iPhone price cut means the uberphone is a disappointment, European analysts wonder how Apple secured as much as 40 percent of all revenue from partner O2, the British wireless carrier, on the eve of the iPhone's impending European launch. Orange and T-Mobile have been "confirmed" as the French and German mobile carriers, but things could change as Steve Jobs continues to negotiate for even a larger share of mobile revenue. [The Guardian]

"I dropped my iphone :(" says Kevin Rose, co-founder of social sites Digg and Pownce. Best caption wins an iPhone ringtone version of "Umbrella."

Even with the controversial price cut and an impending European launch, the Apple's iPhone is so passé. Why? The entire Valley (or almost everyone) is convinced search giant Google is about to enter the telecom business in a big way. They just have no idea what way: A software platform? Their own handsets? A significant wireless services revolution using the wireless spectrum soon to be auctioned? No one seems to be sure, but — just as everyone was confident Apple could deliver a better, consumer-focused handset — they're also sure that Google will do something that will overturn the existing mobile apple cart. And do so in a way that others can capitalize for themselves unlike Apple who prefers to keep profits to themselves. And while some hope to see an unlikely battle between partners Apple and Google, what they really hope to see is one of these giants break down the walled gardens controlled by the telecom carriers.

Sick of those $3,000 bills for international iPhone data roaming? AT&T has created a data plan that is slightly less wallet- gouging at a generous $25 a month for 20MB of data transfer. [The Unofficial Apple Weblog]

Dan Frommer of the Silicon Alley Insider sees the world as flat and static — at least when it comes to Apple's iPhone. Two days ago, he estimated that the iPhone wasn't meeting Apple's expectations based on the absurd assumption of flat sales — despite the obvious fact that sales will not be consistent over the time period analyzed. Between now and the end of 2008, Apple will experience two holiday shopping seasons when they have historically experienced huge surges in sales. Apple will also enter at least two new markets, Europe and Asia. And while a 3G version of the iPhone is unlikely to arrive in the US before the holidays, an upgrade of some kind is certain in the next 15 months... as are additional price cuts. All of which will produce sales increases and likely fuel further upward momentum to Apple's pricey phone. Not content with poor analysis of unit sales, Frommer is now extending his simplistic assumptions to iPhone profits.

The iPhone price cut produced pissed-off early adopters — and a ton of new, nonenraged customers. It bumped sales 200 percent, according to one report. [Apple 2.0]

Our efforts to understand the surprising aesthetic success of "TMZ" on television continue apace. The Daily News' David Bianculli notes that the show "is all attitude, all the time, from Harvey Levin's hyperkinetic staff meetings—some self-aware stage business that serves as a teasing table of contents—to the stories themselves, which are paced and edited so briskly that some seem almost subliminal," and he might have a point. Take, for instance, this encounter between Mike Tyson and a fan in the parking lot of a mini-mart. Why do I care? I don't know. And yet I'm compelled to watch it! Bizarre.

Unless Apple and Treo get their respective acts together, David Carr and Joe Nocera are going to go elsewhere for their MP3 player/smartphone needs. And then write about it. [NYT]

As summer overdoses and dies, so do our excursions to Fire Island. And so this is our season finale, as it were, of Rod Townsend's adventures among the gays, recording the conversations of their native environment. See ya, gays!

Why did the iPhone price cut blow up in Jobs' face? Steven Levitt, author of Freakonomics, explains consumers hate companies that look like they're dropping the price simply to make more money. Apple would have been better off disguising it as a component upgrade. [Freakonomics]

Pity the underworked and lonely Apple PR staffers. Whenever they have a chance to do their job, the boss takes all the action for himself. Following the iPhone price drop and Steve Jobs's Marie Antoinette-esque "That's technology" declaration, a reporter at a major newspaper put in a call yesterday to the the PR department asking for comment. A mere half-hour later, Jobs himself returned the call. Shortly thereafter, Apple posted Jobs's iPhone-credit announcement to its website. Has the man never heard of delegating?

Apple's retaliatory Google ad, countering a Nokia ad and congratulating "late adopters" on getting a lower price for the iPhone? A fake. [Gizmodo]

There's one class of privileged iPhone buyers who are going to get all of their money back: Those who bought the phone with an American Express card. Extending its usual price-protection policy, the card issuer is refunding $200 back to anyone who paid the old $599 price for an iPhone, blogger Muhammad Saleem reports. All they need to do is call customer service, he writes. (It's not clear what's going to happen to people who bought the cheaper 4GB iPhone, since that was discontinued, rather than reduced in price.) Some Visa and MasterCard issuers have 60-day price-protection policies on their cards, but for early adopters who waited in line to buy the iPhone on June 29, that window has already passed. Update: American Express apparently discontinued its price-matching benefit last year. Anyone else, like Saleem, luck into a generous customer-service rep? Another first-hand report after the jump.