Following rumors of the iPhone Nano the case manufacturer XSKN, Vaja has added an “iPhone Nano” listing to their website. Many case manufacturers have started to list and sell cases for the rumored iPhone Nano. Analysts also seem to believe that Apple will release a cheaper iPhone in the first quarter of 2009. Softbank has also released a voice translation tool for iPhone. The application can translate up to 1,500 spoken phrases mostly centered on travel/tourist situations and basic communication.

Mat Brady has come up with an iPhone idea that has 60GB of internal memory, slide-out keyboard, true 16:9 screen ratio with 640x 360 resolution.  This concept design is being called the “iPhone ELITE.” We have seen a few iPhone camera lenses out there, but they all require bulky cases and never seem to work very well. USB Fever has come up with a magnetic set of lenses that can be attached without the air of a case.

Kraft Foods has released the iFood Assistant iPhone application. This app provides users with 7,000 recipes, each with its own video demonstration. iFood Assistant also gives users an editable shopping list for gathering ingredients from the grocery store. Spatial View has finally released their Wazabee 3DeeShell for the iPhone 3G. This “shell” has a lens that claims to allow users to see the screen in a unique 3D view. Man there has been more than enough third party keyboards out there for the iPhone. This latest one we have stumbled upon folds in half and is packed with features.

The 2008 Best App Ever Awards have come around and we urge you to take the time to go over and vote for your favorite application. There are 34 categories that the applications are voted on ranging from the eponymous “Best App Ever” all the way down to “Best Free or Ad Supported Game.” The PSP-like iControlPad for gaming on the iPhone has finally made its way to production. Now we will soon be able to play games with physical buttons.

As promised the iPhone Dev Team has released their iPhone 3G unlocking tool entitled “Yellowsn0w.” This unlock ban be downloaded via Cydia on unlocked iPhones. A pink iPhone 3G hit Ebay this week sparking all sorts of rumors. It was not long after it popped up that we found out that this is only a pink case that looks surprisingly like the phone itself.

iPhone owners in colder climates have always wanted to be able to use the iPhone with gloves to avoid freezing their fingers off.  Apple has filed a patent on gloves that contain a special tip that can mimic the electrical conductivity of skin to trigger a response.

Macworld is next week, immediately followed by CES 2009. The iPhone Buzz team will be attending both events to bring our readers all the latest news, announcements and updates. We will start the week off liveblogging Apple’s last keynote at Macworld on Tuesday January 6th starting at 9AM PST over at http://live.slashgear.com.  Then we begin immediate coverage of CES 2009 complete with previews on Tuesday and running throughout the weekend.

In addition to our regular event coverage, we will also be bringing your pre-event pictures and live streaming video at http://www.kyte.tv/slashgear. We were able to give readers pre and post-even live video coverage at the MacBook and MacBook Pro launches back in October.

We are working hard to find out exactly what you, our readers, want to know from CES 2009 so please let us know of any special requests. We can not promise to cover everything, but we will certainly do our best to get as much as possible.

The iPhone gets yet another weight management applications and just in time for all those who made a new years resolution to get fit. This very simple, sleek looking application is designed to track your weight over an extended period of time and give users a real grasp of what is going on with their weight.

One of the first things that you notice about Weightbot is the beautiful interface.  Input your weight information each day and before long your data will be graphed out to make it easier to visualize your progress. You can also track your progress by week, month and by year.

For those more sensitive about our weight there is a passcode lock option to keep your data away from prying eyes. While this application is not free it certainly is worth the money spent. If your not willing to shell out any money on a weight tracking app there are plenty more options out there for you.

The iPhone Dev Team came through with their 2008 release date.  Although the software is still in beta.  There are a few features that are missing, but nothing real important.  They will continue to work on the software to make it perfect.

STEP 1:  Update to firmware 2.2 in iTunes if you have not done so already.  Make sure you have the 02.28.00 baseband by visiting Settings - General - About

STEP 2:  Launch QuickPwn and follow the onscreen directions to jailbreak/Activate your 2.2 iPhone 3G.

STEP 3:  Open up Cydia and download all of the important updates.

STEP 4:  Restart Cydia and click Manage at the bottom.

STEP 5:  Click on Sources.  Then hit Edit at the top left.  Click Add.  Then enter http://apt9.yellowsn0w.com and press Add source.  Once it says Return to Cydia, press that and then hit done at the top right.

STEP 6:  Click Search at the bottom and search for Yellowsn0w.  Click on yellowsn0w and install it.

STEP 7:  Press the home button after it has installed to return to your main screen.  Insert your new simcard.

STEP 8:  Open up Settings - General - Network and set Enable 3g and Data Roaming to OFF.

STEP 9:  Go Back to Settings - General - Reset and click Reset Network Settings.  Your Phone will reboot.

STEP 10: Once your phone has booted up, wait 10 seconds for a signal.  If you do not get a signal, eject and reinsert your sim and wait 10 more seconds.  You should have a signal then.  If you do not go to Settings and turn Airplane Mode on then off and you should have a signal.

-please note that if you reboot your phone and you do not have signal, flip the Airplane Mode on and off.

Hey guys, wow! Was I surprised to find something awesome! I was in Google’s application and I was going to change some setting on the app and my iPod lagged (I had music + app installing + push enabled) and I kept on scrolling to get the screen to react, and guess what I found?! A “bells and whistles” menu! It was hidden. I think that perhaps Google’s developers forgot to take the menu out, (or were lazy and just hid it).

Either way, it was a surprise to me. I’m not sure if anyone has already found this (or if someone has posted on this at all) but yeah. I took some screen shots of this for you guys.

Now inside this hidden menu you can change the theme of the application, change the sounds from “Default” to “Chicken” or “Monkey”. You can so opt to open links to applications inside the application. It’s really cool having the hidden menu.

Now after I got to the hidden menu, it stayed there. So I guess that Google might have just been having a little fun (I have a hard time believing that though) but either way, it’s pretty cool. Now, after I found the menu, the lag on the “settings” tab went away.

So how did I do this? Well just flick your finger upwards in the “settings” tab, until “About” is the last thing you see, then keep flicking upwards really fast. Now you should have it!

Alright guys, this time it’s 100% official. Reports of some Walmart stores carrying the iPhone surfaces a couple of days ago, but nothing was 100% certain in that department. So I waited until I got confirmation from Walmart Inc. directly.

There is no $99 iPhone 3G guys, I knew this was completely false so I didn’t even bother writing on it.

The iPhone 3G will come in all 3 flavors, a black 8 GB will sell for $197, a black/white 16 GB will sell for $297.

A few things of note are that you can not buy this online, it is only available in store. The biggest thing of note is that these are all subsidized prices. (Subsidized means with 2 year contract)

So that’s just a little tid bit for you guys here in 2009! Alright guys, more to come about other things soon…