If the asking price for the iPhone is just a little too steep, fear not, because Apple is offering some pretty sizable discounts on refurbished iPhones at their online store.

Both models come in at $100 under the typical $599 and $499 MSRP, and for your money you get an iPhone with Apple’s one-year warranty. We can’t say exactly what to expect with a refurbished iPhone, but refurbished Apple products are generally safe bets, with it usually being impossible to tell they aren’t brand new. Given the warranty situation on the refurbished units, there’s not a lot to lose here.

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Many have criticized the high price of the iPhone, but what Apple hasn’t told you is that your iPhone is the next best thing to kevlar. One golfer took a golf ball traveling at 100 MPH, striking him near his surgical scar after treatment for prostate cancer. The only thing protecting him? His faithful iPhone. The iPhone practically threw itself on a grenade for its owner, giving up its pristine LCD for the health and safety of its owner. You can’t put a price on that.

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Back problems not sufficiently crippling? Skin on thighs lacking adequate scar tissue from burns? Laptoping.com has a story on a new portable that could be right up your alley. The Xtreme 917V Accelerator from XtremeNotebooks (purveyors of all things Xtreme) are now offering a quad-core notebook that–if actually used on a human lap–will likely destroy your Xtremities.

Besides the Intel Core Quad processor running at either 2.4 GHz or 2.66GHz, there is a 17-inch display, with single or dual NVIDIA GeForce 8700M GT or NVIDIA GeForce Go 7950 GTX video cards. The beast can handle 4 GB of RAM and three hard drives, and if you want a Blu-Ray drive, all you have to do is ask. And for those of you asking Well, that’s all well and good, but does it have a subwoofer? Do you really need to ask? Of course it has a subwoofer, this isn’t open mic night at the laptop factory.

For $3359 you get all of this and an affirmation of your masculinity in a convenient 12-pound package.

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WaterField Designs

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Yes, we’re still waiting on the long-rumored ultra-portable, but AppleInsider has word of an intriguing new patent filing by Apple to whet your appetite.

The patent is for a ‘collapsible connection receptacle’ and is a rather dramatic reimagining of how ports are handled on portable computers to conserve space, allowing for smaller notebooks. Apparently the rumored ‘MacDuoDock’–updated version of the DuoDock for the 21st century–is off the table.

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MacNN spotted a website touting the iPhone on Vodafone and 02, adding fuel to the fire of exactly which European carrier–or carriers–will be offering the iPhone upon its release overseas.

The credibility of the retailer hosting these listings is rather questionable, though, given that the price they list for the iPhone–a mere £100–for 02 customers is almost certainly incorrect. If the Brits can get iPhones for ca. $200, then there’s going to be quite an export market…Until then, European customers can continue holding their breath and keeping their fingers crossed.

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If you’ve had trouble finding a new battery for a vintage PowerBook in your collection, it looks like venture FreshBattery will be able to help you out:

IRVINE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Older laptops are beloved for their simplicity and durability, but more often than not, the battery isn’t holding a charge, and the laptop requires an AC adapter to be used. It’s time for older laptops to get away from the wall!

Today, FreshBattery introduces its Legacy Power line of new batteries for more than 1,500 older laptop models including HP, Compaq, IBM-Lenovo, Apple, Toshiba, Sony and Dell that will meet or exceed the original battery capacity. With a new Legacy Power replacement battery from FreshBattery, laptop users can regain their mobility, improve performance and get their laptop away from the wall.

The new Legacy Power line of replacement batteries support popular notebook models, some of which have been discontinued for more than 3-5 years, and in many cases are no longer available for purchase from the OEM.

“The majority of consumers today are working on a one to four year old laptop and a new battery can dramatically improve performance, runtime and mobility. At FreshBattery, we offer the latest battery cell technology. This allows our Legacy Power battery line to significantly extend the life of older laptop models,” said Bob Schaffer, FreshBattery VP of Business Development.

According to Schaffer, “Battery cells available today allow a user to get greater battery capacity into their older machine. For example, an original Apple PowerBook G4 15″ Titanium with 3600 mAh cells would run for 2 and a half hours. Now with a FreshBattery Legacy Power replacement battery that uses 4400 mAh cells that same computer will run for 3 hours and 10 minutes.”

New Power, Priced Right

The new FreshBattery Legacy Line of replacement batteries for older machines is available now and is reasonably priced. More than two-thirds of the Legacy Power batteries are priced under $100. For example, a new Legacy Power battery for the very popular Apple Titanium Powerbook sells for $89.99.

Most batteries are built to hold a full charge for about two years, based on an average number of a few hundred recharges over that time. As the battery reaches the latter phase of its lifecycle, the charge it can hold diminishes dramatically – sometimes down to only 10-15 minutes. This means older models are often tethered to an AC adapter in order to be used.

The FreshBattery online store, at www.freshbattery.com, offers a one-stop battery source for popular laptop models including Apple, Acer, Dell, Fujitsu, Gateway, HP-Compaq, IBM-Lenovo, Sony, Panasonic and Toshiba. The site is user-friendly and provides multiple search tools to ensure each customer can quickly locate the correct battery to fit his or her computer model. Each FreshBattery is stamped with a “Born On” date to ensure freshness. In addition to the Legacy Power line, FreshBattery offers a variety of high capacity replacement batteries that provide up to 75% more power.

Check out FreshBattery.com to take a look at their offerings.

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If you were excited by news that the 2008 version of iLife would make it simple to get photos directly from your iPhone to a web gallery, but found it not quite easy, and actually closer to impossible, Macworld has you covered. In their latest Mac 911, Christopher Breen goes over how to make this actually work…sort of. It’s not exactly the sort of process that leaves you wondering where step three is, but it gets the job done..

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Tom Bihn

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It seems Apple is always either suing or being sued these days, and a Florida company is adding to the fray with a patent infringement suit against Apple over the iPhone keyboard. This isn’t simply a matter of an infringement of the touch-screen keyboard, but SP Technologies LLC’s patent for a “method and medium for computer readable keyboard display incapable of user termination.” What exactly this patent means, we’re not sure.

MacDailyNews adds to the intrigue with word that it is a convicted criminal suing Apple. That’s right, the man suing Apple over this matter was just convicted of fraud and sentenced to nearly a year in prison, and he has sued Canon, LG, and Kyocera over other patents.

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With only a a few hours to go, there are rumors that updated MacBooks or MacBook Pros could be unveiled alongside the expected imac update. Details are scarce, but a MacBook revision has been mentioned, and a 13-inch MacBook Pro–the long-rumored ultra-portable–is also considered a possibility. If something comes to pass tomorrow, we will, of course, have coverage here. Bring on the new portables!

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