If the rumors are true, according to phonesreview.co.uk’s article, New iPhone 4G: Release Date and 2010 Expectations, “The new iPhone 4G is expected to feature a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash, which will help low-light picture-taking abilities, improved SGX545 graphics processor core, compatible with OpenGL ES 2.0 3D graphics API, OpenCL and OpenGL 3.2, improved battery and OLED screen, we also mentioned not so long ago about the new iPhone featuring 64GB NAND flash memory, and could there possibly be a front-facing camera.” There are also rumors of a built-in FM transmitter and a GPS, camera, compass and Google map combination that will identify a photograph’s location and provide information about the location to the user.  In addition, the external look is expected to have a comparatively sleeker design with a rubber-tread backing and a glowing Apple logo on the rear of the phone.

The biggest change, however, has to do with the Apple ambitions to expand to multiple carriers.  AT&T is allegedly losing exclusivity to the iPhone. As “iPhone is Apple’s biggest money maker,” according to Robert Holland, author of  iPhone 4G, Apple Still Has Secrets, opening the iPhone to multiple carriers will immediately expand their market and sales.  In fact, phonesreview.co.uk’s article revealed that, “Verizon wireless has already stated they have beefed up their network to cope with additional iPhone traffic which leads one to believe that they too believe they will eventually gain the iPhone, perhaps iPhone 4G 2010.”  While Apple has benefited from their exclusivity deal with AT&T, it doesn’t make sense for Apple to continue to limit iPhone profits by restricting them to one carrier. Many have tried to predict when Apple will put the iPhone 4G’s on the market. First the iPhone 4G was rumored to be released in April, then it was May, but really it will probably be mid-summer which is when Apple has traditionally released its previous iPhones.

Newmark does, however, acknowledge the speed with which social media can effect change today as opposed to the times of Martin Luther King or Thomas Paine.  Newmark writes, “A great example of this is SeeClickFix, where you can use a smartphone to take a picture of a problem, geo-tag it, add a comment, and send it to the civic authorities who can fix it.” In the past, you would have to actually contact a person – if you could figure out who to contact – to have this problem fixed.  You would have had to explain the problem and someone probably would have had to visit the scene before repairs could even start.

Today’s social media has also created more government accountability and transparency than ever before.  In his interview with ourblook.com’s, Scott Burns, co-founder of GovDelivery said, “Agencies can now get instant feedback on outcomes and citizen satisfaction.“  Furthermore, “[w]ith accountability and visibility comes continuous improvement.” Consequently, lawmakers can no longer drag their feet and hide behind the bureaucracy. Social media creates a space where a diverse group of citizens, that may have never run in the same social or professional circles, to organize around a common purpose and use the power of a group rather than an individual to affect change; thereby forcing lawmakers to act promptly and efficiently.  Burns put it best when he said, “technology is the biggest opportunity we have to make citizens better citizens and government better government.”

Thus, while citizen have provoked change throughout history, the power citizens have today is unprecedented and will continue to grow as generation Y grows up.  The social media of today presents a new set of opportunities as it creates a forum for people to organize and fight for change effectively merely by clicking a button. Furthermore, transparency and accountability that comes as a result of social media demands lawmakers to respond and act quickly and efficiently.

Today, innovative companies like RevTrax are making coupons work for retailers by providing information about the coupon holder. For example, the information contained in RevTrax’s smart coupons allows its retailers to learn about their demographic and how they shop.  Additionally, retailers can now test marketing strategies on a small customer base before spending thousands or millions of dollars on a huge advertising campaign. Then, once a full-fledge marketing plan is launched retailers can get direct feedback on how well their marketing plan is working. Finally, it allows retailers to connect with customers on a more personal level, by sending customer-specific follow-up offers or a simple thank-you note.

Loss of anonymity is a worry that many people have with these smart coupons.  However, the benefits can be great. Instead of receiving a lot of coupons to places you never shop, the goal of smart coupons is to deliver them only to people who will use them. Moreover, if a company sees that you love to buy a certain brand of shoes, they could send you a coupon when a shipment of that brand of shoes is comes in.  Not only will this drive traffic into the store, it benefits the customer with insider knowledge and a discount to boot.

As an avid shopper, I would gladly give up some information about myself and my shopping habits in order to get a great deal on a product I really want or need. What do you think about smart coupons?

Further evidence of their tumultuous relationship appears in Cade Metz’s article, Adobe to sue Apple ‘within weeks,’ says report, which quotes Adobe platform evangelist Lee Brimelow as telling Apple to “Go screw yourself.”

For now, only time will tell if anything will come of these rumors or even under what basis Adobe could sue Apple.   What we can be sure of is a law suit will take years before there is a final resolution.

This Monday, Jim Gamble, the head of Britain’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection Center (CEOP) met with Facebook executives in Washington to convince them to embed a “panic button” on every page to enable users to report disturbing contacts with a single click. Currently, Facebook has a “report abuse” button at the bottom left corner of each profile.

However, according to Vicki Barker’s article, Child Safety Group Fights For Facebook ‘Panic Button’, “Facebook . . . says it has experimented with a panic button similar to what the British child protection agency advocates, and found that reports of abuse did not rise but fell.” In fact, “Facebook says its existing monitoring system is constantly reviewed;” and “Incidents of bullying or approaches by pedophiles are extremely rare.” While Facebook has agreed to place a panic button on a page it had already set up for reporting abuse, the CEOP believes it is only effective if it is on every page.

In contrast, Larry Magid, author of Facebook rejects suggested ‘Panic Button’ for pages, questions the necessity and usefulness of putting a panic button on every page. According to Magid, “The number of young people who have been harmed by a stranger they met online is extremely low and, even in those few tragic cases, the victim has always willingly met up with the abuser. The Hall case is evidence of this as she clearly never suspected she was in any danger and therefore would not have used the panic button.

But what about Phoebe Prince and others subjected to the same kind of cyber-bulling? Magid believes that most cases of Internet “abuse” have more to do with problems in relationships than with crimes and are not issues for law enforcement. I have to respectfully disagree. Maybe if Prince had the ability to push a panic button, Facebook could have at least stopped her abusers from bullying her online. Now we will never know.

However, it does seem clear that a “panic button” alone is not going to stop abusers from using the Internet for their own twisted pleasure. Rather, a panic button in conjunction with appropriate supervision and education that teaches children and adults how to protect themselves from online abusers is likely to be the most beneficial for all social media users.

And no, we still don’t have info on pricing or a launch date, although a “well-known reporter” is due to test run the WePad later this month. Stay tuned for more info.