Way behind on blog posts this morning as you can tell… scroll down for various picture sets and the morning weather discussion and Weather Xtreme video. I am amazed at the quality of images sent to us by our readers. Great stuff.

I promised a review of the new 2.0 iPhone firmware late last week…

No, I didn’t stand in line for a new 3G iPhone, contrary to what you might hear. Yep, there was a James Spann sighting at the Apple Store Saturday, but I was there buying a birthday present, not a new iPhone. Will I buy one in the future? More than likely, yes. But, why not just use the old phone with the new 2.0 firmware for a while? That is the course of action here.

Friday was a big day in the Mac world… the new 3G iPhone, the new 2.0 firmware for the original iPhone, and the conversion of “Dot Mac” to “Mobile Me”. To say that put a stress on Apple’s infrastructure was an understatement; getting through to iTunes to complete the 2.0 upgrade was almost impossible for a few hours Friday morning, meaning some that tried to upgrade “bricked” their phone for a while until the traffic subsided. I finally got my upgrade complete after a couple of hours. But, late in the day all was working well.

Here are my initial thoughts on the new 2.0 firmware after a weekend workout:

THE GOOD: Being able to download applications and install them is the big deal. Initially there are about 300 apps in the new iTunes App store. You can download them anywhere; using iTunes on your computer, or directly on the iPhone. And, yes, you can use the slower speed AT&T edge network if you don’t have wi-fi or 3G.

My first apps installed?

AIM Messenger: A nice client… allows you to IM anyone via AIM or iChat. Nothing fancy, but it sure is nice having that available without having to use a web based Safari site. Cost? FREE!

Twitterific: If you use Twitter, the short “social network” blog/message platform, this is a wonderful way to check and make “tweets” right on your iPhone. I downloaded the free version, the occasional ad messages don’t bother me at all.

Facebook: Like Twitterific, this allows access to Facebook in a very friendly way. Quite frankly, I find this the best way to get messages and other traffic from Facebook as compared to the web. Cost? FREE!

Remote: Now this is too cool. It allows you to control iTunes on your computer from anywhere within wi-fi coverage. I haven’t had much of a chance to play with it, but reviews are very very good. Again, this is a freebee.

AOL Radio: This was the one that took my breath away. Some say it is the end of radio as we know it; I say it is the birth of radio. All of a sudden, my iPhone becomes a radio, much like my little transistor Panasonic radio I had when I was a small child. Plug this thing into your car system, and you have incredible fidelity and choice.

AOL has dozens of their own “radio stations” with music formats, but the CBS owned and operated radio stations are there too. This means I can listen to any of their 150+ stations while I am driving literally anywhere. Even on AT&T’s EDGE network, which is available everywhere they have service (3G high speed access is limited to larger cities; Birmingham, Huntsville, Montgomery, Mobile).

Last night driving down to Greensboro, I listened to stations like WBZ in Boston and KCBS in San Francisco. Yep, on my original iPhone with incredible quality. Even in rural areas between Tuscaloosa and Greensboro, I only had one spot where service dropped in a low spot down below Havanna Junction (the home of the great Alabama weather legend, J.B. Elliott).

Every radio group in the nation needs to have their own iPhone app like this. For a kid that grew up in radio, and still loves it, this is like Christmas in July.

Beyond the apps, it is nice having a “contacts” button now (you don’t have to go through the phone button to get to them)… other improvements include being to delete multiple e-mails at one time, “push” services for e-mail, calendar, bookmarks, contacts, etc through MobileMe, contact searching, and better e-mail attachment support.

THE BAD: Battery life sure takes a hit when using push e-mail. Very noticeable… I figure it will even more problematic with the new 3G hardware. Looks like I will need to charge it every night as long as I am using push e-mail, which I plan to do. Still no cut and paste, and no ability to record video. But, I expect the app store will have some offerings soon to make up for this.

SUPPLY: When I was at the Apple Store Saturday, they had just run out of the 8 gb versions… so the supply seems pretty tight. Ashley Brand is the owner of a new 3G version… maybe she will let me take a look at it one day in the weather office. It will be interesting to see how the 3G speeds work on the iPhone; I do have a 3G card for my MacBook Pro, and I get excellent results in the city.

I should mention the new 2.0 firmware was a free download for all of us with the first generation iPhone models. Hey, the price is right! I will poke around the Apps store this week on iTunes and look for more good ones. Great times for a Mac geek.