Apple has announced that Eric Schmidt, CEO of a little company called Google, has resigned from its board of directors. Today’s press release on the matter contained a prepared statement from Apple CEO Steve Jobs:

“Eric has been an excellent Board member for Apple, investing his valuable time, talent, passion and wisdom to help make Apple successful. Unfortunately, as Google enters more of Apple’s core businesses, with Android and now Chrome OS, Eric’s effectiveness as an Apple Board member will be significantly diminished, since he will have torecuse himself from even larger portions of our meetings due to potential conflicts of interest. Therefore, we have mutually decided that now is the right time for Eric to resign his position on Apple’s Board.”

While some are pointing to the Google Voice on iPhone fiasco, this move is long overdue. Apple and Google are competing in too many areas these days — mobile phones (iPhone OS vs. Android), portable computers (iPhone/Mac OS vs. Chrome OS), web browsers (Safari vs. Chrome), personal music players (iPod vs. Android), and more. With the FCC snooping around to learn why Google Voice was blocked from Apple’s App Store, the resignation looks even more suspicious, but really, it seemed like a matter of time.

That said, many pundits are wondering how authentic this “resignation” is. Steve Jobs’ temper and combative nature are well known. It’s entirely possible that he told Schmidt, “Get the f*&^ off my board and take your crappy web browser, apps, phone OS, netbook OS, and whatever other crap you’re working on with you!!!” Tech pundit Om Malik (from the outstanding GigaOm) has suggested that the FCC’s investigation might have something to do with Google’s lobbying power in Washington D.C. He even went as far as to say that Apple ought to “take these hostilities one step further” by going with Yahoo! Maps and Bing over Google products. That might sound a bit extreme, but can’t you picture Steve Jobs doing that (despite the number of Apple customers he’d piss off)?

The war between Google and Apple could have a tremendous impact on tech-nerd culture. It might get as heated as Marvel’s Civil War, with techies choosing sides. I love products from both companies, so I’d have to think long and hard about which camp I’d back (though I’m definitely leaning in one direction).

What do you think really happened? Did Schmidt really resign? Did Jobs kick him off the board? Or was it a mutual thing? Do you think Apple would go as far as too use Yahoo! Maps and Bing? If you had to chose between Apple and Google, which company would you go with? Leave your opinions on this torrid tech soap opera (please)!

Source:g4tv.com

The iPhone and iPod Touch are big sellers, but how big? Really big. The iPhone Blog was listening to Apple’s third-quarter sales results conference call this afternoon, where the company announced combined sales of the iPhone and iPod Touch have surpassed 45 million units worldwide. 45 million.

There’s no doubt Apple’s is wielding a powerful platform. What’s next?

Source:game4tv.com

When Sega of America announced Streets of Rage arrived on iPhone this morning, I tried to give it the benefit of the doubt — hey, maybe this one will work. A quick download later, however, and I’m here to report: it doesn’t. The above screen shot, taken directly from my iPhone 3G, is all you need to know about Streets of Rage on the iPhone. Look at that awesome d-pad interface!

Source:g4tv.com

• Faster processor & upgraded graphics chipset.
• Better camera with video support, auto-focus, auto-white balancing.
• Voice command
• Support for HSDPA 7.2MBit/s 3G (whenever AT&T actually gets around to rolling it out)

The biggest feature, especially for those of you that play games on the iPhone, is the faster processor and upgraded graphics chip. What do I mean by faster? Watch this side-by-side comparison for loading Pop Cap’s Peggle on a 3G and 3GS. It’s a LOT faster on the 3GS.

iPhone 3G vs. iPhone 3GS Loading Time Comparison

The 3GS is loaded up and taking shots before the 3G even finishes loading to the main menu. Additionally, the upgraded graphics chipset will support shaders that won’t even run on the 3G. Whether or not developers decide to code games exclusively for the 3GS is another question, though.

What about the camera?

Are these worth the point of entry, though? It all depends on the tasks you throw at your device. If you take a lot of photos and want video: upgrade. The camera is so much better on the 3GS. It loads up faster, takes pictures faster, and they look better. The auto-focus and white balancing is a nice touch, but doesn’t reach the level of quality that a true digital camera offers. Take a look at these comparison shots.

Mr. Sark in the Game Lab

Sterling McGarvey loves Friday!

The view into G4’s courtyard

Overall, the quality of the pictures off of the 3GS is higher with Mr. Sark looking better on the old school 3G. That is possibly due to poor white balancing on my part, though. Throw in bonus features like direct uploading to YouTube and you’ve got the complete package. How is video quality, though? Take a look:

The voice command is what it is… voice command. If you really miss not being able to dial by voice, it’s a nice bonus feature. I wouldn’t recommend upgrading for it, though. I guess it’s nice to be able to control iTunes by voice.

Personally, I ordered the 3GS after seeing how much faster it loads games. There’s a major increase in performance and game load times are probably my least favorite aspect of the iPhone. Being able to shoot video is a huge added bonus as I often find myself wanting to sneak video of events and games without having my digital camera ready.

Did you get the iPhone 3GS? Were you eligible for the upgrade or did you pay full price?

Source:g4tv.com