(Photo: new 16GB white 3g iphone. source apple.com)

Steve Job revealed the 3g iphone at the WWDC (developer event) today.

So what’s new about the 3g iPhone?

1. Price! The price will be USD199 for 8GB version and USD 299 for 16GB(black or white). 
2. 3g. Fast mobile internet. 2.8 times faster then EDGE.
3. GPS. Build-in Assisted GPS system for realtime accurate positioning. 
4. Longer talk time (5 - 10 hours) depending if you’re using edge or 3g network.
5. Launch in 25 countries on July 11, 2008. 48 more country coming soon.
6. Mulitple language support. Including hand written recognition for chinese.

• exchange mail support
• contact searching
• iWork document support
• Office document support (now includes PowerPoint)
• bulk delete and move for Mail
• save images you receive
• scientific calculator in landscape mode
• parental controls
• language 

Sega Super Monkey Ball

Initially previewed at the SDK launch, Super Monkey Ball now includes over 100 levels. In playing through the last world, Sega demonstrated how they used the iPhone’s accelerometer to control the movement of the character.
      

Loopt

Loopt is a location-aware social networking app that displays a map with pins representing where your friends are. User profiles can show a log of where you’ve gone and its simple to blog, send in a photo, text, or call your friends.

Pangea Games

Pangea Software is bringing 2 games to the iPhone. The first game is Enigmo, which is a physics-based game. The second game is Cro-Mag Rally, described as a “cave-man racing game.” Both applications are priced at $9.99.
 

Band

An independent developer from the UK developed Band that includes a virtual piano, drums, 12-bar blues “instrument”, and a bass. And you can record when you play any of the great sounding instruments.
 

eBay
 

Click the photo below to see the complete gallery

Float in Rome’s Pride Parade

Pride was celebrated around the world this weekend, including Rome, Athens, Warsaw and West Hollywood. 

Saturday’s march in Warsaw marked the end of ‘Equality Days,’ a week-long festival with the slogan Live, Love, Be. 2,000 people took part in this year’s parade. Warsaw police were out in force to prevent attacks by extreme right sympathisers, although the parade passed off without major incident. Bans on Polish Pride festivals in 2004 and 2005 were found to be unlawful by Polish courts and the European Court of Human Rights.

More than 10,000 people took to the streets in Rome for the Pride parade, which had previously been denounced as “an act of sexual exhibition” by the city’s mayor Gianni Alemanno.

In Athens, Pride festivities were disrupted by right wing sympathisers. Police had to intervene. One of the four people married in a same-sex ceremony last Tuesday attended. 

Source

photo source

In a strongly worded letter to Gambian President Yahyeh Jammeh, Paula Ettelbrick, Executive Director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) condemned statements by the West African leader ordering homosexuals out of the country, threatening hotel owners who rented rooms to gay and lesbian people, and threatening summary executions. Ettelbrick also called for the repeal of Gambia’s antiquated sodomy law, inherited from its days as British colony.

Click here to read the letter to President Yahya Jammeh (you have to scroll down a bit to read it).

(French Human Rights Minister, Yama Rade)

France’s minister for human rights has stated that The French government will ask the United Nations to pressure countries to abolish bans on homosexuality. Homosexuality is a crime in 86 countries, punishable by imprisonment. In 7 countries, a person can be killed for engaging in gay or lesbian sexual acts.

French Human Rights Minister, Rama Yade, told a meeting of French LGBT rights groups that his government would make its appeal to the UN when France assumes the rotating six-month EU presidency in July. During that period France will speak for all EU member states at the UN General Assembly. 

Source: 365Gay.com

The International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) has reported that state-sponsored homophobia is alive and well in at least 86 countries around the world, resulting in jail if found guilty. In 7 of those countries, queer people can be sentenced to death.

The 7 countries include Iran, Mauritania, Nigeria, Qatar,  Saudi Arabia, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. 

The research deals only with legislation criminalizing consensual sexual acts between persons of the same sex in private above the age of consent. 

A 30-year-old world federation, ILGA consists of 670 lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex groups from more than 100 countries.

“Although many of the countries listed in the report do not systematically implement those laws, their mere existence reinforces a culture where a significant portion of the citizens needs to hide from the rest of the population out of fear,” said Sri Lanka’s Rosanna Flamer-Caldera, co-secretary general of ILGA.

“A culture where hatred and violence are justified by the state and force people into invisibility or into denying who they truly are. Whether exported by colonial empires or the result of legislations culturally shaped by religious beliefs, if not deriving directly from a conservative interpretation of religious texts, homophobic laws are the fruit of a certain time and context in history.

“Homophobia is cultural. Homophobia, lesbophobia and transphobia are not inborn. People learn them as they grow.”

ILGA’s 2008 report on state homophobia around the world is available at www.ilga.org. ILGA has published a map on LGBTI rights that can be used to raise awareness of people on the many laws affecting LGBTI people in the world. It is available here. 

Believing in alien life does not contradict a faith in god according to The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, a Jesuit priest who directs the Vatican Observatory. Funes asked:

“How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere? Just as we consider earthly creatures as ‘a brother,’ and ’sister,’ why should we not talk about an ‘extraterrestrial brother’? It would still be part of creation.”

Funes went on to say that such a belief “doesn’t contradict our faith” and that refusing to even admit the possibility of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe would be the same as “putting limits” on God’s abilities.

His statement offers evidence that the Church has progressed somewhat since Galileo’s “round earth” theory that led to his persecution 400 years ago. But while the Church is making strides when it comes to the division between science and religion, it remains stagnant on acknowledging gay people as equals. As recently as yesterday, Pope Benedict firmly restated the Roman Catholic Church’s position that only unions between a man and a woman are moral.

One question remains, what is the Church’s position on gay aliens?

California’s highest court will give its ruling on the legality of the state’s ban on gay marriages on Thursday, a long-awaited milestone that could have a nationwide impact on the issue.

A statement on the California Supreme Court website in San Francisco said the opinion would be made available by 10 am after hearing arguments for and against the ban in March.

The court is addressing the constitutionality of a controversial amendment to the civil code which states that “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”

The state already allows for domestic partnerships between same-sex couples. Supporters of gay marriage stress that Proposition 22, adopted in a 2000 referendum, violates citizens’ constitutional rights.

Denying same-sex couples marriage rights would paint California as “indifferent” to how gays are treated both inside and outside the state, warned San Francisco chief deputy city attorney Therese Stewart.

“If the state says that this is a marriage, it may be that some other states would not recognize it, but it would be sending the message that California considers its lesbian and gay couples equal.”

In 2004, San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom, citing California’s guarantee of equal protection under law, began allowing same-sex marriages.

Several hundred gay couples were married at the city hall, but the procedures were subsequently invalidated. The case has now made its way to the state Supreme Court.

California Deputy Attorney General Christopher Krueger said “there is a rational basis for the state to adhere to the common and traditional definition of marriage” as affirmed by Proposition 22, and stressed that registered same-sex couples are provided with “all the rights and benefits associated with marriage.”

Source: Associated Free Press

From The Guardian:

“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” So said Albert Einstein, and his famous aphorism has been the source of endless debate between believers and non-believers wanting to claim the greatest scientist of the 20th century as their own.

A little known letter written by him, however, may help to settle the argument - or at least provoke further controversy about his views.

Due to be auctioned this week in London after being in a private collection for more than 50 years, the document leaves no doubt that the theoretical physicist was no supporter of religious beliefs, which he regarded as “childish superstitions”.

Einstein penned the letter on January 3 1954 to the philosopher Eric Gutkind who had sent him a copy of his book Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt. The letter went on public sale a year later and has remained in private hands ever since.

In the letter, he states: “The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this.”

Einstein, who was Jewish and who declined an offer to be the state of Israel’s second president, also rejected the idea that the Jews are God’s favoured people.

“For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people. As far as my experience goes, they are no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything ‘chosen’ about them.”

The letter will go on sale at Bloomsbury Auctions in Mayfair on Thursday and is expected to fetch up to £8,000. The handwritten piece, in German, is not listed in the source material of the most authoritative academic text on the subject, Max Jammer’s book Einstein and Religion.

One of the country’s leading experts on the scientist, John Brooke of Oxford University, admitted he had not heard of it.

Einstein is best known for his theories of relativity and for the famous E=mc2 equation that describes the equivalence of mass and energy, but his thoughts on religion have long attracted conjecture.

His parents were not religious but he attended a Catholic primary school and at the same time received private tuition in Judaism. This prompted what he later called, his “religious paradise of youth”, during which he observed religious rules such as not eating pork. This did not last long though and by 12 he was questioning the truth of many biblical stories.

“The consequence was a positively fanatic [orgy of] freethinking coupled with the impression that youth is being deceived by the state through lies; it was a crushing impression,” he later wrote.

In his later years he referred to a “cosmic religious feeling” that permeated and sustained his scientific work. In 1954, a year before his death, he spoke of wishing to “experience the universe as a single cosmic whole”. He was also fond of using religious flourishes, in 1926 declaring that “He [God] does not throw dice” when referring to randomness thrown up by quantum theory.

His position on God has been widely misrepresented by people on both sides of the atheism/religion divide but he always resisted easy stereotyping on the subject.

“Like other great scientists he does not fit the boxes in which popular polemicists like to pigeonhole him,” said Brooke. “It is clear for example that he had respect for the religious values enshrined within Judaic and Christian traditions … but what he understood by religion was something far more subtle than what is usually meant by the word in popular discussion.”

Despite his categorical rejection of conventional religion, Brooke said that Einstein became angry when his views were appropriated by evangelists for atheism. He was offended by their lack of humility and once wrote. “The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility.”

(source)

Saturday, May 17, marks the day queers and their allies from around the world ‘celebrate’ International Day Against Homophobia. This year’s theme is “Homosexuality is Not An Illness.” While many countries no longer consider it to be, far more do hold the view that queerness is a disorder, punishable by imprisonment, torture, and, even death.

If you have a desire to find out about how your city or country is participating in this important day, or what activities have been organized by your local activists, or even just to learn more about the day, visit Homophobiaday.org.

Suze Orman

Thursday, May 1st saw the release of the TOP 100 Most Influential People Around the World. And, while certainly not mentioned in the magazine, one is a lesbian, one is asexual, and many are strong supporters of queer rights. Here, we include the queer people who have daringly come out, or allies who have strongly supported queer individuals and communities in their lifetime.

Suze Orman, Lesbian. Suze Orman is known for her hardcore quip when discussing finances on the Suze Orman Show, Oprah, & Dr. Phil. Orman came out in The New York Times magazine in February 2007 as a lesbian. Her partner of seven years is Kathy Travis, a co-producer on The Suze Orman Show. In the interview, Orman said that she wishes she could marry her partner partly because it would save them both a lot of money. She then says, “It’s killing me that upon death, K.T. is going to lose 50 percent of everything I have to estate taxes. Or vice versa.”

In Time Magazine, Donny Deutsch, an advertising executive and the host of CNBC’s The Big Idea, says of Orman, “A fantastic energy follows Suze Orman wherever she goes, and it’s contagious. The scene is always the same: people firing off money questions and Suze answering them with as much passion as a single human being can muster. She loves knowing that her advice will save people from getting deeper into financial trouble. That’s her mission.”

Karl Lagerfeld, Asexual. Lagerfeld is widely recognized as one of the most influential fashion designers of the late 20th century. He has collaborated with a variety of different fashion labels, most notably Chanel but also Chloé and Fendi.

Allies:

Dalai Lama, Spiritual Leader. The Dalai Lama, world-revered leader of millions of Buddhists and leader of the Tibetan people, spoke out strongly against discrimination and violence against lesbians and gays during a June 11, 2007, meeting in San Francisco with lesbian and gay Buddhists, clergy, and human rights activists.

Barack Obama, Democratic Nominee Hopeful. Obama is a strong supporter of civil unions, and often mentions queer rights in his speeches. “t is my strong belief that the government has to treat all citizens equally. I don’t think that the church should be making these determinations when it comes to legal rights conferred by the state. I do think that individual denominations have the right to make their own decisions as to whether they recognize same sex couples. My denomination, United Church of Christ, does. Other denominations may make a decision, and obviously, part of keeping a separation of churches and state is also to make sure that churches have the right to exercise their freedom of religion.”

Hilary Clinton, Democratic Nominee Hopeful. Clinton has also strongly supported equality. In October 2006 Hillary Clinton was quoted by 365gay.com as saying,”I believe in full equality of benefits, nothing left out. From my perspective there is a greater likelihood of us getting to that point in civil unions or domestic partnerships and that is my very considered assessment.”

Kevin Rudd, Australian Prime Minister. While heavily criticized from all sides, Paul Rudd’s party has identified around 100 laws where gay couples faced discrimination, and has introduced legislation to correct these problems. Changes are to be implemented between mid-2008 and mid-2009 to remove these laws, which will assist in reducing inequality, though there still won’t be adoption or marriage privileges.

Ma Ying-jeou, President-Elect for Taiwan. He said, at a recent Taipei queer parade, “Homosexuality is a natural phenomenon. It can’t be restrained and it can’t be extended with force.”

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, Actors, Activists. Brad told Esquire, “Angie and I will consider tying the knot when everyone else in the country who wants to be married is legally able.”

Oprah Winfrey, Day-Time TV Celebrity. There are numerous examples of Oprah’s queer support. From her shows in the 80’s featuring men dying of AIDS to her most recent show on “Gays Around the World,” Oprah has proven to be a huge proponent of equality.

Sonia Gandhi, Indian Politician. Gandhi is the President of the Indian National Congress and the widow of former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi. During a United Nation’s UNGASS meeting in 2001, Gandhi specifically stated that gay and lesbian persons need to have their human and fundamental rights protected.

Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York. “I think anybody should be allowed to marry anybody”

Tony Blair, Ex-Prime Minister of England. Blair supported changing age of consent for ‘gay’ sex to 16, equalizing it with ‘hetero’ sex.

There are certainly more allies from the Times 100 Most Influential list, and possibly more (closeted) queers. Yet, this list seems the most comprehensive based on positions people have taken in the press.