Weekly high-tech hot topics in the blogs: iPhone 4G gets exposed, Facebook f8, Adobe Flash

Hot topics in the tech blogs for the week ending April 22: Apple's next generation iPhone unveiled by a tech blog two months before it was due to be announced, Facebook makes the entire web social (and puts users' information in the hands of third party sites), Adobe announces it is scrapping Flash for the iPhone, Dell smartphone images and specs leaked, and BlackBerry's 6.0 OS makes its way onto the tech blogs.

iPhone 4G pictures, video and specs: Apple's next generation handset get outed 
Technology blog Gizmodo caused chaos in the tech world this week when they revealed they had purchased a next-generation prototype of Apple's iPhone from someone who "found" it at a bar. "While Apple may tinker with the final packaging and design of the final phone, it's clear that the features in this lost-and-found next-generation iPhone are drastically new and drastically different from what came before," wrote Gizmodo's Jason Chen and Jesus Diaz. The story that surrounds the device - which according to Gizmodo has a high-durability ceramic glass-like back, a Micro-SIM, a front-facing camera, a much higher screen resolution (more than likely 960 x 640) and a 5 megapixel back-facing camera with flash - has been the talk of almost every tech blog all week. From Apple's letter to the blog asking that the device be returned to legal talk about "Will Apple sue over stolen iPhone prototype?" to "The Prototype iPhone Dissected" technology blogs wanted to know every inside detail about the phone (and the story about how the blog came to get their hands on it).

News from the Facebook f8 developers conference
During the April 21 conference Facebook developers and entrepreneurs discussed "the future of personalized and social technologies" on the web. Facebook made it clear that it has its eye on making the entire web more personal - a world in which Facebook is the center of connected information with its "global Like button." Bloggers discussed the implications of the changes to Facebook users' privacy on the web and wondered how third party sites might abuse the information they obtained through Facebook. The positive implications of the changes were also discussed. Facebook headlines in the blogs included: "Facebook announces new Internet-wide social features", "Has Facebook won the web war against Google?", "Facebook Crushes Privacy with Impunity", and "Be Evil. Facebook's New Like Button Has An Interesting Option."

Adobe Flash gives up on the iPhone
This week Senior Product Manager for Developer Relations at Adobe, Mike Chambers announced that it was " Calling Quits on Flash for iPhone" after Apple's changed its iPhone developer program license and restricted the submissions of applications created in Flash. Apple's normally "no-comment" PR, made a rare exception to their quiet stance and responded to Mike Chambers’s claim that Adobe was an open platform saying, "“Someone has it backwards — it is HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, and H.264 (all supported by the iPhone and iPad) that are open and standard, while Adobe’s Flash is closed and proprietary.” 

Dell phones and tablets
Technology blog Engadget got their hands on a host of "leaked" devices from Dell this week. The blog outed Dell's 2010 smartphone offerings giving details on the "ultimate" Windows Phone 7 portrait slider, the Lighting; the Android 2.1 Dell Thunder; the "mainstream" curved glass, Android-powered Dell Flash; the mini-tablet previously known as the Mini 5, the Streak; the wild form factored, Android-powered Dell Smoke; and the "runt of the litter," the Aero. The blog also laid their eyes on Dell's  Looking Glass tablet - a seven-inch, Android-powered device.

Leaked photos and information about BlackBerry's 6.0 OS
Technology blog Boy Genius Report got their hands on images of RIM's much-awaited BlackBerry 6.0 operating software and posted them on the web for all to see. According to the blog, RIM has been working hard to redesign (and beautify) its brand new OS, adding new features and  a modernized media player. The blog also showed off pictures of a BlackBerry clamshell running the new OS causing people to comment "If THIS is the best RIM can come up with to stand beside iPhone and Android, they should probably go ahead and start digging their grave."