A number of weeks back I wrote about those apps currently occupying my first home page.

Since this is the first screen to display when the iPhone is unlocked it only makes sense to have the most important/frequently used apps right there. The problem is… when you grab an app on page six it is a long way back to page one.

More accurately, it used to be.

Thanks to Firmware Update 2.2, no matter which screen you are on it is now as easy as hitting the iPhone’s main button to jump to the first page.

Apple, my aching thumbs thank you!

That makes selecting your first page apps even more important now!

Thanks to TUAW for the tip.

To my mind the really interesting news with the new 2.2 firmware update isn’t the podcasting, (which is nice), or the possibility that Safari won’t crash as often (which is overdue), but rather the fact that the iPod Touch DID NOT get Google Maps Street View. Let me explain why…

When the iPod Touch came out it looked like an iPhone without the GSM radio, camera and speaker. It wasn’t. While it looked that was it, Apple had consciously left off features to make sure it wasn’t. It was missing the maps program and all of the features that would have made it a PDA, let alone a non-GSM iPhone. While it was obnoxious on Apple’s part, it did help make sure that, at least initially, the Touch did not cannibalize the iPhone too much.

A short time later those features did become available for a small fee and the Touch DID become an iPhone without the GSM radio, camera or speaker. The Touch took off and didn’t appear to significantly affect iPhone sales.

As expected Version 2.2 of the iPhone/iPod Touch firmware is out this morning and available for download. That’s exactly what I’m doing as I write this.

Among the tastey treats expected-

Map improvements that include Google Street View (except for iPod Touch users- sorry), sharing location via emai (there’s a whole group of apps that have no purpose now), call enhancements for reducing dropped calls (yeah!), email performance improvements, OTA podcasts (double yeah!), and more.

All in all it is a nice update with some welcome fixes and featues.

Kinda makes all that 2.0 headache stuff a distant memory… doesn’t it!

This is not good…

It is bad enough that each individual eBook appears in the App Store as a separate iPhone App. (This stupidity has already yielded 21 pages of books in the App Store and the number is growing rapidly.)

Add to that (App Store polluter #1) ZATZ Publishing’s "DaysTo…" series of crApp (which stands at 37 and counting)

…and you have tons of garbage to sort through when trying to find the latest apps that are actually worthwhile and useful…

(I keep waiting for ZATZ to issue "DaysTo Tomorrow…")

But now this…

The sweet leather scent that emanated from the white Vaja box was truly intoxicating. Then again, the sweat that was running down my forehead due to the contained excitement might have added to the smell.

I mean, I had waited 51 days for something I spent $120 on, and only bought based on strangers’ opinions online, and I finally had the opportunity to see it for myself. I had three very high expectations for the case, so it had better be a good-looking case, a protective case, and a quality case.

I looked inside the box, and saw what had been my most anticipated arrival, second only to my iPhone 3G: a black caterina leather case with a dark blue stripe running down its center (good-looking case: check); The Vaja iVolution Top SP Holster for iPhone 3G.

Immediately, I picked it up, took my iPhone out of the Griffin FlexGrip case it had been shamefully living in for over three weeks, and slipped it inside the SP. Or, at least, I tried to slip it in, but in reality I had to push down on the top of the phone hard for it to settle into place. For me, that was a good sign, because if it took my manly strength to get it in the case, then the case would not allow it to get out very easily, either (protective case: check).