The latest iPhone firmware update is here and available for download. If you need any convincing before you snap it up, the update includes a Google Street View application and the ability to download Podcasts straight to the iPhone.

On the Street View front, all the bells and whistles are here. The public transit and walking directions are all in place.

Additionally, there were some bug fixes, Safari enhancements and the ability to toggle auto-text correction. The Podcast downloads have been reported to work flawlessly, as well. Get ye to the iTunes store and make your iPhone a little bit better.

Here are some post-update photos to get you excited, as if you needed anything more:

Microsoft’s Zune Pass subscription just got better. For $15 per month, you have access to all the songs in the Zune Marketplace but now you also get to keep 10 songs as well. That means for the price of a CD, you get to "rent" all the songs you want per month PLUS keep 10 of your favorite songs. Sounds like a bargain to me.

Why pay 99 cents per song in iTunes when you can have access to a plethora of songs for $15 bucks a month? I really think they have iTunes beat.

I personally hate iTunes, but have already vested so much money in buying seasons of Lost which I can’t watch on the go anymore because I got rid of the iPhone for the Blackberry Bold. I may be switching to Zune Marketplace today.

Hitachi Maxell has released a pair of noise-canceling headphones that work a bit differently from their cousins. The HP-NC20 headphones don’t require separate power. They simply connect to iPods via the dock connector. They manage about 20dB of noise reduction via their "Active Noise Rejection" system. They also manage to reduce your battery life by as much as 50%. The headphones will also only work with 4th gen or later iPods and iPod touches. They do not work with the iPhone. They are available now for about $80.

A Macforums member bought an "as-is" Macbook Air from Ebay and the unit ended up being an early Air prototype. The computer bears a mark indicating it was built in May 2007, six months before the line was introduced.

There are a few changes from the final design: The microphone positioning is a bit off, the keyboard has no lighting, and it runs an interim build of OS X 10.5. The bottom, as shown in the photo above, is black-colored aluminum. Apple has offered no word as to how the prototype unit escaped their clutches.

Jordan Hubbard, Director of Apple’s Unix Technology Group, made a mistake by listing the coming release date for Snow Leopard OS X. Hubbard accidentally put it on a slide that was used at a presentation at the LISA (Large Installation System Administration) conference.

Up til now, Apple was commenting only that Snow Leopard would be released "in about a year." Now it looks like it will be coming out in the first quarter of 2009. Steve Jobs must be annoyed at this information leak.