London is currently mired in a brutal heat wave. Silicon Valley isn't faring much better. And if that's not enough, the iPhone 3GS is said to be experiencing a scorcher as well.

There have been a number of reports that the new handset is prone to overheating. No reports of any handsets getting hot enough to cause injury or catch fire, but some users have reported unusually high temperatures, even causing case discolouration in some cases.

If the 3GS really does run hotter, it wouldn't be a huge surprise. The model uses a much faster processor, and faster processors often mean more heat. It would be expected that the operating temperature would be a bit higher.

Apple is also no stranger to abnormally warm hardware. The first MacBook Pro models were notorious for getting hot enough to make actual laptop use uncomfortable at times.

In the case of the MacBook Pro, the temperature was a minor hindrance, and users still scooped up the machines in big numbers. The iPhone 3GS will likely see the same. As long as the device doesn't self-destruct, I doubt many people will be turned off.

It looks like Saint Steve may be gearing up for his official return to Apple, and the Silicon Valley news machine is gearing up right alongside him.

Today when Apple announced the one-millionth iPhone 3GS sold, there was a quote from Jobs in the press release. Normally this isn't news at all, but this is the first time in a while that the executive quote was given by Jobs. During the recent health hiatus, Phil Schiller was the one talking about the newest products. Granted, it doesn't take a lot of work to give a quote, but is this an indication that Jobs is ready to return?

When Jobs does return, there will be plenty of speculation on just what went on during his absence. A recent report in the Wall Street Journal claimed that Jobs dealt with a bit more than a hormone deficiency, he actually had to receive a liver transplant.

Knowing how Jobs and Apple handle these sort of things, we may never know exactly how serious Jobs' health concerns were, and what measures had to be taken. When he does come back, however, I think everyone from the consumers to Apple employees to those of us in the press who cover the company will welcome him back.

If you're like most Mac lovers, the thought of using anything from Microsoft makes your skin crawl. You rejoiced when Firefox and Safari allowed you to dump IE, you searched frantically for an alternative to Outlook, and when you finally had to use Office, you did so with a clothespin clamped tightly over your nose.

But from the looks of things, Microsoft's new Bing search engine may be okay.

Some rather clever reporters over at MacWorld asked Bing whether one should purchase a Mac or a PC. The "response" from the engine is overwhelmingly against using Windows. In fact, the first result returned is Apple's own "Get a Mac" page.

That loud crash you heard this morning? That was Steve Ballmer tossing his desk through a wall.

Today was a good day to be a Mac fan. Not only did the mothership show off the new iPhone and MacBook models, but we also got a release date for the iPhone 3.0 update and a sneak peak at the September 'Snow Leopard' update.

But there was one item on the Apple Fan wish list that went unchecked (aside from the fabled Mac tablet.) Steve Jobs was nowhere in sight.

Likely still at home recovering from his lingering post-surgical health problems, Jobs spent the second consecutive keynote address out of the spotlight while Phil Schiller handled things.

But that does not seem to be the case for much longer. New reports say that El Jobso is recovering well and on track to get back to his old role by the end of the month. This confirms a report from Steve Wozniak a few weeks back that his Apple co-founder was in fact doing much better and getting ready to return.

So, given Saint Steve's love for the dramatic, it's a safe bet that his return will come in the form of some sort of public event, or at least in that time frame. My money is on the mid-June release of the iPhone 3G S, with a full return to the Cupertino office a week or two later.

If you were among those hoping to get a Mac clone from infamous hardware vendor Psystar, you may want to move fast. It turns out Apple isn't the only company trying to get some money out of the clone vendor.

In a filing obtained by ZDnet, the company filed for bankruptcy protection and outlined its list of outstanding debts. In all, the total or the debt is well into the six figure range (but less than $500,000) and includes taxes, processing fees and outstanding loans.

The company itself credits the filing to a drop in consumer demand due to the economic crisis. Or maybe the demand for Mac clones just isn't what it was 13 years ago...

Apple is no doubt less than pleased, but the leaks on the new iPhone just keep coming.

Last week, a blog cited developer sources in listing several of the key features for the new iPhone. Among the specs are a better battery life, snappier performance, FM radio abilities and, most importantly, a beefy 32GB of storage space.

Now, another leak is pointing to a new 32GB iPhone. This one comes from TMobile Austria, which is said to have mistakenly pushed live a placeholder spot for a 32GB iPhone. Fone Arena was able to grab a screenshot of the gaffe, which has since been removed.

At this point, the new iPhone seems to be a foregone conclusion. Aside from the reports, we're entering the summer, a time in which Apple has made pretty much all of its iPhone-related releases. Aside from that, the iPhone 3G is all of one year old, making it quite ripe for an upgrade.

The smart money is on an iPhone-related announcement at WWDC, followed by a product release in late June or early July.

If you're among those eagerly awaiting the iPhone 3.0 update, you got some welcome news earlier this week. Apple has begun asking all of the third-party developers who have been writing new code to start testing out the data push feature.

What does push do? Well, it allows developers to send data updates for their programs even when the app is not actively running. Much in the way Facebook or Twitter will send notifications or updates through email, the push feature allows the app to notify the user of changes or updates (such as an instant message or new article posting).

Even if the idea of push updates leaves you yawning, this is good news in that it means the iPhone update is one step closer to meeting the ambiguous "summer" release date.

When I first saw the story about Microsoft claiming the iPod costs $30,000 to fill as opposed to a much cheaper Zune subscription, my first thought was "they're still making the Zune?" Then my second thought was "Microsoft has completely lost it."

Apple has in the past been a bit fuzzy and exaggerated with its claims about PCs, but this one is just ridiculous. Claiming that it costs $30,000 to fill an iPod is at worst a major distortion and at best a blatant insult to the intelligence of consumers.

The reasoning is that, to fill an iPod, users must buy 30,000 songs from the iTunes store, one at a time, for $1 a pop.

...anyone see one or two flaws in this reasoning?

Apparently, in spite of all the great music that came out of Seattle in the 90s, the concept of the CD never made it to Redmond. Either that, or everyone at Microsoft threw out their CDs five years ago.

Then even if you don't own a single CD to put on your player there's the concept that, well, you have to buy iTunes songs one at a time, and that you have to fill your iPod to capacity, and only fill it with music rather than, say video files or games. I'm no lawyer, but you have to see how Microsoft is only barely toeing the line of truth in advertising at this point.

If Apple's ads assume that iPod buyers and insecure and desperate to feel hip and look fashionable, then Microsoft must assume that Zune buyers are... well... stupid.

If you get some downtime today, it would be a good time to load up Software Update and install a few patches. Apple has issued updates for OS X as well as Safari 3 and the Safari 4 beta.

Additionally, Microsoft's monthly update contains fixes for security vulnerabilities in the Mac versions of Office that protect against PowerPoint attacks.

And if that's not enough, Adobe has also issued patches for flaws in Reader and Acrobat that should be installed.

Part of good security practice and general computer housekeeping is to make sure you have all of the latest patches and updates, so it's definitely worth taking a minute or two to get everything installed.

It seems that our friends in Cuptertino have some extra cash burning a hole in their pockets. The rumour mill is abuzz with new reports that Apple is looking at two companies for possible acquisitions.

First, there's Twitter. The microblogging site is the current media darling of the startup world and, despite not really having much in the way of a revenue stream, is said to be a hot target for everyone from Google to Facebook. Now, reports are that Apple has added its name to the negotiations with an offer of some $700m.

Then, there's Electronic Arts. The iconic game studio produces some of the hottest titles on the market but has recently fallen on hard times, posting losses of some $42m. The two companies have been working together to boost Mac gaming in recent years and now Apple is reportedly looking to take things to the next level with an outright takeover.

Both rumors seem a bit far-fetched. Apple has shown little interest in either gaming or web services beyond what can be bundled into MacOS X or the iTunes store. And even with the success of the digital content branch, Apple's bread and butter continues to be the manufacture and sale of computers and consumer electronics.

So, would either really improve any current Apple products? Better Twitter integration could be a selling point for the iPhone, but certainly not $700m worth. Right now it seems the only way Twitter makes money is as a part of a much larger network that can sell advertising or beef up the larger brand (Google buying YouTube for example.)

Then there's EA. Of course Apple wants to improve gaming, particularly on the iPhone, but would that really be worth the money and headache of taking over one of the largest game studios in the world? Perhaps it would make sense if Apple wanted to get into the console market, or turn the iTunes store into a fully-functional online software market, but that's just about the only scenario I can think of.