Palm and Sprint have finally announced the official release date and pricing for the upcoming Palm Pre. The Pre will be release on June 6th (2 weeks!) for $199 with a two-year service agreement and after a $100mail-in rebate. It will also require a Everything Data plan, which will run at $69.99 a month with450 minutes. This is on par with the cheapest iPhone plan, but it comes with a big advantage, namely unlimited texting. You can also get Sprint’s Simply Everything plan for $99.99 a month, which includes unlimited voice, text, and data.

So, overall the Pre is going to be running on par with the iPhone in terms of pricing, but it will be interesting how the release will pay out with it’s release being so close to Apple’s WWDC (Which is June 8-12), where Apple is expected to release iPhone 3.0, and possibly a new iPhone.

Say tuned during the next two weeks, this is going to be interesting.

UPDATE: Forgot to include this earlier, The Pre will be available at Sprint stores, Best Buy, Radio Shack, select Wal-Mart stores and online at Sprint.com.  You can also read the full Sprint Press Release here.

Also, it was posted at Endgadget that the Pre will be $549 with out a contract acording to Sprint customer service.

Thursday afternoon, Apple has announced that its annual developer conference will kick off on Monday June 8th at Moscone West in San Francisco and end Friday, June 12th. Tickets for the event are currently $1295 until April 24th, when Apple plans to increase the price by $300. Last years event did sell out in May, with over 5,000 attendees.

This year, Apple is expected to show off a close to finished build of Snow Leopard along with a new iPhone hardware revision as well as a completed (or close to complete) iPhone OS 3.0. More information will be coming soon.

The iLife accurately predicted the dates for this years WWDC and will be providing coverage on the latest builds of Snow Leopard and iPhone OS 3.0.

Updated: Apple has sent out a mass emailing announcing WWDC 2009 and stating:

“Turn your ideas into groundbreaking apps at WWDC 2009. Don’t miss your chance to join over 1000 Apple engineers and 5000 of your peers for an exciting five days of hands-on learning, in-depth technical presentations, and one-to-one code-level assistance. Whether you’re developing, deploying, or integrating with Apple technologies, WWDC 2009 will provide the insight and inspiration you need to take your work to the next level.”

The front of Moscone West, WWDC 2008

Apple Worldwide Developer Conference, often abbreviated as WWDC, is an annual conference held in San Francisco for Apple Developers. In recent years, thousands of developers have gathered at the Moscone Center and notably in 2008, Apple sold out of tickets- which can be attributed to the success of the iPhone SDK. This year shouldn’t be very different, as the recent iPhone OS 3.0 preview and SDK update will keep new developers attracted to the already huge platform. Along with the iPhone OS 3.0, Mac OS X Snow Leopard which was announced at WWDC 2008, is expected to be near or ready release.

WWDC typically kicks off with a Keynote from CEO Steve Jobs, who is currently on a medical leave until June. It is still unclear whether Steve Jobs will present at this years keynote, which usually kicks off the conference. Usually WWDC is held in the second week of May or June, but was rescheduled to August in 2006. Curiously the Moscone Center schedule shows only one week long date reserved with the title of “Corporate Meeting” in between events such as Sun’s Java One, Cisco Live!, Linux World, Oracle OpenWorld- June 6-12. In past years, Apple has used the “Corporate Meeting” as a mask for their own events, keeping the dates secret until an official announcement is made. Interestingly however, there is another event from May 27th to 28th with the same “Corporate Meeting” title.

The June 6th to 12th dates fall on the same week as WWDC 2008. Above, a chart of WWDC dates going back until 2004.

Aside from the Snow Leopard and iPhone OS 3.0 releases, Apple is also expected to release the iPhone 2,1 that has been spotted in sever logs. If Apple intends on holding the conference in early June this year, we should hear of an announcement sometime very soon. Stay tuned to The iLife for the latest news!

Today was yet another great day. The WWDC Bash at Yerba Buena Gardens was lots of fun! With the fourth day now over, here is a summary of Thursday at WWDC 2008, some in pictures, some in videos and some in text. Tomorrow is your last chance- if you would like to meet up with us, please contact us!!

Articles:
Live from the 2008 WWDC Bash at Yerba Buena Gardens (theiLife)

More Pictures:
Sidney’s WWDC Flickr Set

Gallery after the jump!

For the second year in a row, Apple will be hosting the 2008 WWDC Bash at Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco. Beginning at 6:30 PST, the event will have live music and food to celebrate a hard week of work and draw closure to WWDC 2008. The party is currently scheduled to end at 9:30 PST and it is unknown who the live music will be provided by. As always, stick with theiLife.com for the latest coverage, as Sidney San Martin will be in attendance of the WWDC Bash tonight. Photos and text updates to follow!

From Apple:
Below are important details for tonight’s WWDC Bash at Yerba Buena Gardens.

Entrance to the Bash at Yerba Buena Gardens—Please enter Yerba Buena Gardens on Mission Street, between Third and Fourth Streets (Fourth Street runs between Moscone West and the Sony Metreon). You must be wearing your conference badge to be admitted to the Bash.

1:59PM PST: Just after Lunch here at WWDC, more sessions are beginning and I have obtained not obtained my wristband to get into tonight’s party (that’s only for 21+ attendees)! More content coming soon.

7:38PM PST: Arriving at WWDC bash, new photos posted! Check the liveblog at live.theilife.com!!

Gallery after the jump!

The good pictures are stuck on Sidney’s camera. A new hard drive for him is in the mail and they’ll be showing up soon.

Stump the Experts is one of the highlights of a WWDC experience. Stump the Experts is the most popular session at WWDC- by far. TheiLife.com is bringing coverage from this years event in the form of transcribed text and photos. In the meantime, for those who aren’t familiar with how the game is played (via Wikipedia):

Stump the Experts is structured as a game show in which the audience acts as one team, and the experts on stage are another. The audience may ask the experts any question related to Apple in an attempt to “stump” them, hoping to earn a point for their team. Conversely, experts may ask the audience questions that any audience member may try to answer. Any and all resources are allowed including source code, the Internet (e.g., Wikipedia & Google) and cell phones. Host Fred Huxham describes it as an “open book test”.
Stump the Experts is chaotically hosted by Fred Huxham and Mark “The Red” Harlan.

There are three types of questions (via Wikipedia):

Songs - The 7-8 songs played before Stump the Experts begins are chosen by Fred, the leader of the show for the past 15 years. Audience members may come up to the microphones and guess the artist and name of the songs to win prizes and get points for their team.
Images - The experts create cryptic images that represent Apple-related phrases or information. The audience must decipher the image’s meaning. This innovation was introduced by Craig Marciniak in 2006.
Standard - Questions about arcane Apple knowledge.

Sidney San Martin from theiLife.com is attending the 2008 Stump the Experts and will be transcribing some of the questions as well as bringing back photos. Check back soon.

Today was another very laid back day. Ending the day with Stump the Experts and the Apple Design Awards was fun- check out the related posts below! Now that we are more than halfway through our week at WWDC, here is a summary of Wednesday, some in pictures, some in videos and some in text. Remember to stick with theiLife.com for continuing coverage of WWDC 2008 via our Liveblog and Twitter throughout the rest of this week! If you would like to request anything or to meet up, please contact us!

Gallery after the jump!

Articles:
Live from the 2008 Apple Design Awards (theiLife)

Stump the Experts WWDC08 (theiLife)

Pictures:
Sidney’s WWDC Flickr Set

Since 1996, every year at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple has awarded the most innovative Macintosh software and related hardware produced by independent developers with a Design Award. Apple Design Awards are given away on a number of categories that vary from year to year. The physical awards have an Apple logo that glows when touched. This years Award Ceremony begins at 7:30 PST (10:30 EST). We will be bringing you live coverage with photos throughout the awards below.

The winners, in order of presentation:

Best Leopard Student Product Runner Up:
Flow 1.0.1 by Brian Amerige
Best Leopard Student Product Winner:
Squirrel by Axel Peju
Best Mac OS X Leopard Graphics and Media Application Runner Up:
FotoMagico by Boinx Software Ltd.
Best Mac OS X Leopard Graphics and Media Application Winner:
ScreenFlow by Vara Software Limited
Best Mac OS X Leopard User Experience Runner Up:
Checkout by Werk BV
Best Mac OS X Leopard User Experience Winner:
Macnification by Orbicule
Best Mac OS X Leopard Game Runner Up:
Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars by Electronic Arts Inc.
Best Mac OS X Leopard Game Winner:
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock by Aspyr Media, Inc.
Best Mac OS X Leopard Application Runner Up:
Bee Docs’ Timeline 3D Edition by Bee Documents
Best Mac OS X Leopard Application Winner:
ScreenFlow by Vara Software Limited
Best iPhone Web App Runner Up:
AP Mobile News Network by The Associated Press
Best iPhone Web App Winner:
Remember the Milk by Remember the Milk
Best iPhone Game Winner:
Enigmo by Pangea Software, Inc.
Best iPhone Entertainment Application Winner:
AOL Radio by AOL LLC
Best iPhone Social Networking Application Winner:
Twitterrific by The Iconfactory
Best iPhone Productivity Application Winner:
OmniFocus by The Omni Group
Best iPhone Healthcare & Fitness Application Winner:
MIM by MIMVista, Corp.

(If you want to see second by second updates, save our servers: please visit the liveblog!)

3:17 PM (PST) [Matt]: The Apple Design Awards post is live and Sidney will be lining up about an hour and a half in advance (about 6 o’clock PST).

4:56 PM (PST) [Sidney]: I’m in Presidio for another session. I might score a top seat while I’m here and just hold onto it.

4:56 PM (PST): I’ve taken my seat, this time slightly farther right, next to the left presenter display to better see acceptances. In my opinion it’s the best in the house.

7:49 PM (PST): Liveblog is up and running at live.theilife.com- check it out. Pictures to follow, on this post. Transcript of the event will be added later.

8:30 PM (PST): Event is over, everything from the liveblog has been transfered to this post, more pictures coming very soon (~15 minutes)!

9:18 PM (PST): All photos from the ADA are live, gallery is just after the jump!

Photos after the jump!

Today was a very relaxing day. After being up for more than 40 hours, sleep was appreciated. This morning things got started late as a result of lack of sleep from the previous two days. Unfortunately because of the NDA agreement of WWDC, we are unable to report very much information back to you guys, but we are doing our best. This evening, Sidney went around to various afterpartys- one from Savant Systems, not being allowed into the Ars/Gizmodo party (21 and over) as well as a local Apple user meeting. Before we call it a night, here is a summary of today, some in pictures, some in videos and some in text. Remember to stick with theiLife.com for continuing coverage of WWDC 2008 via our Liveblog and Twitter throughout the rest of this week! If you would like to request anything or meet up, please contact us!

Gallery and more after the jump!

Articles:
Savant Systems Afterparty Liveblog (theiLife)
WWDC 2008 Day 1: Keynote (and Keynote Line) Photo Gallery (theiLife)

Pictures:
Sidney’s WWDC Flickr Set

Tonight, Savant Systems is throwing a party for WWDC developers. The iLife is glad to be in attendance and will be bringing you text updates and photos from the party. A more complete account of the event and the company will follow after WWDC. For those of you who not familiar with Savant Systems:

“Savant Systems is an exciting, new home automation platform, leveraging Mac OS X technologies throughout the house. Savant is throwing a party to introduce themselves to the Mac developer community and to demonstrate the Savant platform.”

4:55 PM (PST) Still at Moscone West — leaving soon.
6:39 PM (PST) I’ve entered the event. Maybe 40-50 people here. There are music, drinks, and projectors showing digital art along with demo computers and equipment and a couple of touchscreen coffee tables.
7:21 PM (PST) Listened to the CEO present how he started the company: when he retired from the telecom industry, he wanted to install a few large TVs and automation, but found that a software engineer, after two years of custom work, hadn’t gotten beyond a primitive system. He started a new company which used Macs and code-free automation to, perhaps, solve the home automation “problem” once and for all. Savant is currently looking for developers to add modules to their system. For example, an application that set up the house for evening when the user arrived home. In other news, at least half the attendees appear to be Apple employees!
7:45 PM (PST) Heading out to check out other after parties. Pictures will be uploaded when I get back to the hotel.

Pictures after the jump!

Here is theiLife.com’s gallery of the first day of WWDC 2008. From Sidney waiting outside on line for 19 hours to Stevenote- it was a quite memorable day. Stay with theiLife.com for continuing coverage of WWDC related events all week. Like they say, “A picture speaks a thousand words”.

Gallery (42 pictures) after the jump!

Today was quite an exciting day. From being first in line and waiting outside for 19 hours to the actual keynote and proceeding events, it was a great way to kick of WWDC 2008. We saw over 34,000 unique hits slightly before, during and after the Keynote- which makes a total of about 50,000 unique visitors today. Our servers held up fine, the AJAX Liveblog was much improved from Macworld version and the SMS updater/Twitter integration preformed wonderfully (as did Twitter, more or less). Before we call it a night, Here is a summary of today, some in pictures, some in videos and some in text. Remember to stick with theiLife.com for continuing coverage of WWDC 2008 via our Liveblog and Twitter throughout this week! If you would like to request anything or meet up, please contact us!

Articles:
First in Line (Mac|Life)
Apple introduces 3G iPhone (theiLife)
Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Preview (theiLife)
Apple Introduces MobileMe (theiLife)

Videos:
Entering the Keynote
Walking Around After the Keynote
Questions Following the Keynote
iJustine Keynote Sleepover (featuring Sidney in first place)

Pictures:
Sidney’s WWDC Flickr Set

What started as a rumor, then revealed at the WWDC Keynote: the next iteration of Mac OS X, version 10.6 will indeed be called Snow Leopard. Snow Leopard will “..build on the incredible success of OS X Leopard..” by “..focusing primarily on new features, Snow Leopard will enhance the performance of OS X”. Rumors say that this means no PowerPC support, and could possibly mark the end of existence for Carbon UI.

Apple says that by optimizing the new OS X for multi-core processors and tapping into the potential of graphic processing units (GPU) OS X become faster and more reliable and allow more vast amounts of RAM. Additionally, Snow Leopard will ship with Microsoft Exchange support out of the box and features QuickTime X, a “new, modern media platform”.

According to Bertrand Serlet, Apple’s senioer vice president of Software Engineering:

“We have delivered more than a thousand new features to OS X in just seven years and Snow Leopard lays the foundation for thousands more”. “In our continued effort to deliver the best user experience, we hit the pause button on new features to focus on perfecting the world’s most advanced operating system.”

Using new technologies, coded named “Grand Central” future developers will be able to take full advantage of multi-core processors. Also, Open Computing Language (OpenCL), based off the C programming language, will allow for applications to ‘tap’ into the power of the GPU- which is typically reserved for graphics applications. Snow Leopard, thanks to 64-bit technology, will be able to support system memory up to a theoretical 16TB of RAM.

According to Apple, QuickTime X optimizes support for ‘modern audio and video formats’ which will result in more efficient media playback. Snow Leopard will include Safari with improved JavaScript implementation, which can be up to 53 percent faster- allowing heavy Web 2.0 applications respond faster. Microsoft Exchange 2007 support will be integrated into upcoming versions of Mail, iCal and Address Book.

The Mac OS X State of the Union address took place today at 2:00 – 3:15 PM at Presidio. You can read more about Mac OS X Snow Leopard here.

Check more the pictures below!

The new service is a three part suite, that is targeted at the mobile OS X platforms for the iPhone and iPod touch, natively coded calender and email clients, and a multi platform capable web based suite that contains an email client, iDisk, and media sharing. Information can be added to the iPhone and automatically synced with your MobileMe account, allowing you to access contacts, pictures and email from anywhere.

The web based client is notable for its extremely slick Ajax based interface, that is highly reminiscent of a native OS X application. The web app allows drag and drop objects, object animations, instantaneous spotlight style searching and photo album managing. Photos are also available onto the Apple TV’s photo viewing application, and can be managed and viewed in iPhoto, selected from a new MobileMe menu. Updates for Mail, Address Book, iPhoto and the Apple TV are likely pending in order to integrate the new features into these applications.

iDisk capacity has been doubled from 10GB to 20GB, and is available for access from within the web based client, OS X’s finder, and is mountable as a network drive in Windows Vista.

MobileMe will be launched in early July with a 60 day free trial, after which there will be a $99 subscription. A guided tour of MobileMe is available at Apple’s website.

With Sidney out of the keynote and currently eating lunch, the coverage of this years Worldwide Developers Conference is far from over. Sidney will be broadcasting occasionally for theDigitalLifestyle.tv from within WWDC. You can still follow our liveblog for the latest information. If you have any questions or requests for him, feel free to leave them in the comments below or contact us.

Today Steve Jobs took the wraps off of the new iPhone that features 3G technologies. The iPhone looks almost identical to the image found in the Mac OS X 10.5.3 update late last month. The new iPhones are priced at $199 for the 8GB model, which comes in black plastic and $299 for the 16GB model, which comes in white. More coming shortly.

Note the new power adapter.

Apple has posted the following specs for the new iPhone:

Screen size: 3.5 inches (diagonal)
Screen resolution: 480 by 320 pixels (163 ppi)
Input method: Multi-Touch
Storage: 8GB and 16GB
Cellular:
UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz)
GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
Wireless data:
Wi-Fi (802.11b/g)
UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz)
EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
GPS: Assisted-GPS
Camera: 2.0 megapixels
Battery:
Talk time: Up to 5 hours on 3G; up to 10 hours on 2G
Standby time: Up to 300 hours
Internet use: Up to 5 hours on 3G; up to 6 hours on Wi-Fi
Video playback: Up to 7 hours
Audio playback: Up to 24 hours
Dimensions:
4.5 by 2.4 by 0.48 inches
(115.5 by 62.1 by 12.3 mm)
Weight:
4.7 ounces (133 grams)

Post-keynote coverage video after the jump!

Check out the liveblog at live.theilife.com. Sidney just entered and is in the 7th row, which is the closest any non-VIP can get. Video of his entrance into the keynote attached below. Stay with theiLife.com for continued coverage of WWDC 2008 and the keynote.

More after the jump!

With the WWDC 2008 keynote starting in less three hours, things are coming down to the wire. Sidney San Martin as of now, remains number one in line. After hours of waiting by himself, then with a small group of about seven, there are now hundreds of people lined up outside the sidewalk of Moscone West as of 9:30AM EST (6:30 PST). Sidney is now located on the second floor, where they are waiting for about 10AM (PST) to file into the third floor hall where the keynote will take place. Sidney currently is walking inside the building to queue up for the Keynote. Keep with theiLife.com for the latest regarding WWDC 2008 at live.theiLife.com, via Twitter or our SMS updater. You can also check out theDigitalLifestyle.tv for video coverage and commentary of the keynote.

More pictures and videos after the jump!

Sidney has just relayed back a confirmation that he is indeed, first at line for the 2008 Worldwide Developers Conference keynote line. Sidney began the line for the Keynote after registering and gaining permission from Apple to do so, of course. He attached the picture above of his waiting area, which is the same place we waited for the Macworld 2008 keynote, until the split the two lines up. To stay up-to-date with the latest information from theiLife and WWDC, follow our liveblog at live.theilife.com. You can additionally follow us on Twitter (theiLife) or sign up for urgent updates delivered to your cell phone here. Lots more photos and video to come.

More photos after the jump!

The time has finally come! With Apple’s annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) beginning in less than 24 hours it is time to kick off our coverage! Sidney is currently en-route to San Francisco (US Airways Flight Number: 6431). Upon landing in San Francisco, he will be taking his spot in line. The liveblog is fully coded and ready to go for Steve Jobs keynote tomorrow morning. You can access it at live.theilife.com. If you can’t be at your computer during the keynote, which begins at 10AM PST (1PM EST); or you would prefer updates via SMS, you can get urgent updates from the keynote sent directly to your phone (expect about 10-20 messages). Finally, there we also added Twitter integration; so you can view all the updates in our Twitter feed (theilife). Stay tuned for the latest WWDC information here at theiLife.com!

If you read or follow Digg, help us by digging our WWDC 2008 coverage!