Once you have updated your device, you can go into the App Store application and then the Featured option on the lower menu bar. Once in the Featured option, there will be a new tab at the top of the page titled Genius (it is located next to New and What’s Hot).

The first time you open the Genius feature you will have to set it up. First you must choose the “Turn On Genius” option. You are then greeted with some Terms and Conditions lingo that you must agree to (twice). Once you have successfully turned on Genius for Apps, it will begin to load recommended applications.

I tested this feature on my son’s iPhone and it actually did pretty well. It recommended 15 applications (with the option to see more recommendations) that were very similar to the ones he plays most often. I also like that on each recommendation, it displays which installed application the recommendation is based off. You can also swipe and remove a recommendation from the list.

I couldn’t really determine any sort of order for the recommendations, they seemed pretty random. This feature is available for both the iPhone and the iPod touch on 3.1

Overall, a very handy new feature that could make the black hole of applications in the App Store a little less overwhelming and a little more manageable.

ScreenShots

The free iPhone OS 3.1 Software Update includes some great new features, as well as all the features from previous updates. iPhone OS 3.1 gives you Genius recommendations for apps, lets you download ringtones wirelessly, offers a new way to organize apps on your iPhone, and more.

Genius Recommendations for Apps:
Get recommendations for apps you might like based on apps you’ve already downloaded.

Added by Brooke… The Genius section will be located in the App Store application in the Features option. At the top of the Features page it will now have tabs for New, What’s Hot and Genius.

Genius Mixes:
Have iTunes create up to 12 playlists based on what’s already in your library. You don’t even have to choose a sample song.1

Download Ringtones Wirelessly:
Choose from thousands of iPhone ringtones on the iTunes Store and buy them with a tap.

Added by Brooke… There will be over 30,000 ringtones available from all 4 of the major music labels. They ringtones will be sold for a $1.29 (USD) each.

Organize Apps in iTunes:
Use iTunes on your computer to drag apps onto virtual Home screens, then sync them to your iPhone.

iPhone OS 3.1 also includes these features and updates:
* Improved syncing for music, movies, TV shows, podcasts, and photos1
* iTunes U content organization1
* Redeem iTunes Gift Cards, codes, and certificates in the App Store
* Display available iTunes account credits in the App Store and iTunes Store
* Save video from Mail and MMS into Camera Roll
* Option to “Save as new clip” when trimming a video on iPhone 3GS
* Better iPhone 3G Wi-Fi performance when Bluetooth is turned on
* Remotely lock iPhone with a passcode via MobileMe
* Use Voice Control on iPhone 3GS with Bluetooth headsets
* Paste phone numbers into the keypad
* Option to use Home button to turn on accessibility features on iPhone 3GS
* Warn when visiting fraudulent websites in Safari (anti-phishing)
* Improved Exchange calendar syncing and invitation handling
* Fixes issue that cause some app icons to display incorrectly

ScreenShots

The Genius feature will make recommendations for new apps based on the apps you already own. It will give you a list of recommended apps and why they have recommended them. The Genius section will be located in the App Store application in the Features option. At the top of the Features page it will now have tabs for New, What’s Hot and Genius.

The second new feature is Ringtones. There will be over 30,000 ringtones available from all 4 of the major music labels. They ringtones will be sold for a $1.29 (USD) each.

Remember, you may want to hold off on updating until we have more info on how jailbreaking/unlocking will go.

iphone_dev tweet – “Early adopters have found that redsn0w JB *already* works on 3.0.1 (just point it at 3.0 IPSW!) Even for 3GS & ultrasn0w.”

Apple’s Info about 3.0.1 Upgrade

Summary
This document describes the security content of iPhone OS 3.0.1.

For the protection of our customers, Apple does not disclose, discuss, or confirm security issues until a full investigation has occurred and any necessary patches or releases are available. To learn more about Apple Product Security, see the Apple Product Security website.

For information about the Apple Product Security PGP Key, see “How to use the Apple Product Security PGP Key.”

Where possible, CVE IDs are used to reference the vulnerabilities for further information.

To learn about other Security Updates, see “Apple Security Updates.”

Products Affected
iPhone, Product Security

iPhone OS 3.0.1
*CoreTelephony
CVE-ID: CVE-2009-2204

Available for: iPhone OS 1.0 through iPhone OS 3.0

Impact: Receiving a maliciously crafted SMS message may lead to an unexpected service interruption or arbitrary code execution

Description: A memory corruption issue exists in the decoding of SMS messages. Receiving a maliciously crafted SMS message may lead to an unexpected service interruption or arbitrary code execution. This update addresses the issue through improved error handling. Credit to Charlie Miller of Independent Security Evaluators, and Collin Mulliner of Technical University Berlin for reporting this issue.

See original document HERE.

Quote from Apple Rep.
“We appreciate the information provided to us about SMS vulnerabilities which affect several mobile phone platforms. This morning, less than 24 hours after a demonstration of this exploit, we’ve issued a free software update that eliminates the vulnerability from the iPhone. Contrary to what’s been reported, no one has been able to take control of the iPhone to gain access to personal information using this exploit.”

Note: If you are a developer, you will need to update to 3.1 beta 3 before July 29th because 3.1 beta 2 expires at midnight on the 28th.

    • Copy and paste videos – You can now copy and paste videos in your e-mails. There is a 15 MB limit for copying/pasting videos or images. This limit is most likely there to save bandwidth usage (see demo video below).
    • Tethering counter – If you go to Settings -> Genral -> Usage on your iPhone, you’ll notice Tethering data which shows how much tethering you’ve used. Note: Tethering is not available to AT&T users yet.
    • Springboard icons – When you hold down the Springboard icons they no longer vibrate.
    • Baseband updated – The baseband has been updated to 05.11.04.
    • Camera API additions

Info via QuickPwn.

Demo Video of Video Copy/Paste

You’ve seen us give this warning before, and there are only so many ways to say it or come up with a clever title But here it is: ultrasn0w users must stay away from any firmware updates past 3.0 (including today’s 3.1 beta) until we release the tools that let you update the firmware without updating the baseband. For most phones out there, baseband updates are irreversible and you’ll lose ultrasn0w.

The 3.0 jailbreak was one of those (rare) times where both the jailbreak and the unlock coincided (the only other time was 2.2). It’s important that people realize that *most* firmware releases aren’t like that, and you need to take steps (via the tools) to separate the firmware update from its included baseband update.

This warning does not apply to the iPhone 2G, which uses BootNeuter for the unlock, not ultrasn0w.

List of new features:

- Non-destructive video editing now gives you the option to trim your clip then “Save as copy…” rather then replacing the original clip.
- Voice Control now works over Bluetooth
- iPhone vibrates when moving icons
- Updated AT&T profile to 4.2
- Updated modem firmware to 5.08.01
- Improvements to OpenGL and Quartz.
- APIs to allow third party apps to access videos and edit them.
- MMS buttons are back in the Messages app for AT&T customers but still don’t work
- Copy & Paste functions also work in the address book as well as in the numeric keypad of the phone application.
- Videos can be saved from e-mail attachments and stored.
- Find My iPhone feature, the audio alert Blasts at full volume regardless of what the ringer volume is set to.
- It does NOT fix the high pitched noise issue, I still hear it when locking my phone.

ScreenShots

Thanks to gadgetsonthego.net, theiphoneblog.com, iclarified.com, iphoneblog.de & blog.iphone-dev.org for all the info.

First off, most all regular apps should work on 3.0. The changes were not that severe for most apps to stop working. So if the app is not in the list, it probably works. What probably does not work are apps that rely on mobile substrate or any sort of springboard patching. These all use undocumented APIs.

Next is to understand why some things are not working *for you* that are listed on the “working” list. Many apps require root access and use a trick that involves the dirname command. This command was not present in some older packages in Saurik’s older repository. Saurik set up a newer version of his repository for 3.0 (which will merge back in to the trunk soon). The point is, many of you may have his older repository instead due to one of these reasons:

1) You used an early Icy without its essential updates that do not fix saurik’s repo.
2) You used apt backup to restore your packages and it restored the old repository.
3) You did not accept some essential updates.
4) Some other thing that I am not aware of. But the cause is most likely failing dirname command.

You can check if you have this issue in Cydia: Load Cydia, wait for it to do its thing then go to manage, sources, then look for Telesphoreo in the list. If you see this line of text *exactly*, you have the new repository “Distribution of Unix Software for iPhoneOS 3″ (this is good!) If you see this line: “Distribution of Unix Software for iPhoneOS” (this is bad) you have the *old* repository.

One more thing. If you install something and get an immediate spinning wheel of death, reboot. Some times mobilesubstrate’s install causes this and after a reboot it will be fine.

You can see the full post and view the compatibility list HERE.

* Yep – It will be my first iPhone! (9.0%, 106 Votes)
* Yep – Upgrading from the 1st Generation iPhone. (16.0%, 191 Votes)
* Yep – Upgrading from the 2nd Generation iPhone. (24.0%, 289 Votes)
* Nope – Keeping my 1st Generation iPhone. (9.0%, 107 Votes)
* Nope – Keeping my 2nd Generation iPhone. (35.0%, 425 Votes)
* Nope – Sticking with my iPod Touch. (6.0%, 69 Votes)
* Nope – Still no iPhone. (3.0%, 37 Votes)

Total Voters: 1,224

Now that firmware 3.0 is finally available, did you upgrade?

Important Note: Upgrading to firmware 3.0 will break your current jailbreak and unlock (see below for more specific information). Also, many of the current jailbroke applications do not work on firmware 3.0.

1st Gen iPhone’s:
You can upgrade to the 3.0 firmware however, you will lose your current jailbreak and your unlock . You will be able to jailbreak as soon as the Dev-Team released the jailbreak which will hopefully be some time today. You will also be able to unlock your iPhone when ultrasn0w is released on Friday. So, if you upgrade to 3.0, you will not be able to unlock your iPhone until Friday. Remember, even once the jailbreak is out, not many of the current jailbroke applications work on firmware 3.0.

Update: According to the comments (and THIS iClarified article), it seems the you will keep your unlock on a 1st gen iPhone even when you upgrade to firmware 3.0. However, there are a few stipulations. Below are those stipulations according to the iClarified article.

“HOWEVER, if you are using the 2G iPhone on an unofficial carrier you may loose your activation. This means that will your network will be detected but you will not be able to use your iPhone.

You will loose your activation if you used QuickPwn to jailbreak your iPhone. If you used PwnageTool you will not.

If you are super excited about iPhone 3.0 and wish to update immediately, either make sure you jailbroke with PwnageTool or rejailbreak using PwnageTool and then do the update.

Otherwise wait for a little bit and the iPhone Dev-Team will release new PwnageTool and QuickPwn utilities shortly.”

Note: The following features of the 3.0 firmware will not work on a 1st Gen iPhone:
    • Send and receive photos, contacts, audio files, and location via MMS
    • Internet Tethering over USB and Bluetooth
    • Stereo Bluetooth

iPhone 3G (2nd Gen iPhones):
You can also upgrade to firmware 3.0 however, you will also lose your jailbreak and your unlock. You will be able to jailbreak as soon as the Dev-Team released the jailbreak (hopefully today). You will also be able to to unlock your iPhone 3G, on the 3.0 firmware, when ultrasn0w is released on Friday. yellowsn0w will not work on the 3.0 firmware. Remember, even once the jailbreak is out, not many of the current jailbroke applications work on firmware 3.0.

iPhone 3GS:
We do not know much about this yet, we will know more about jailbreaking and unlocking the iPhone 3GS on Friday when it is released.