The concept of ad-supported free services is nothing new. There has long been web services that cost money, yet also come in a free version that has ads. The user of the free version consigns him/herself to looking at a few ads in exchange for getting the service at no charge. Premium version users pay the going rate to get the exact same service without the ads. Mobile phone service providers have offered ad-supported services in the past but as GigaOM points out cell phone carrier Orange in the UK is looking to offer cell phone service at reduced rates to those willing to put up with ads.

This is an interesting concept as there are those who need to keep cell phone service charges to a bare minimum. The willingness to put up with ads is a fair trade-off to some, no doubt. This new effort by Orange might just fly but then the devil is in the details- those details being how much do the reduced rates save the consumer, how much do the ads interfere with normal phone usage, etc.

Peter Rojas and Ryan Block, both former bigshots at Engadget and friends of ours, piqued a lot of interest when a while back they joined up and promised a new venture for the gadget lover crowd. Gdgt would be unlike any other gadget site, with a focus on sharing gadgets from an end user perspective. They have been working fast and furious on getting gdgt ready to launch and I am excited to tell you that today is the day.

I have been enjoying the beta of gdgt for a bit already, and it is all that Peter and Ryan said it would be. There is already a big database of popular gadgets and information about them all. What makes the information very useful is that gdgt members share their thoughts on these gadgets, giving the whole place a homey feel. It’s live for the masses now, so head on over and check it out. You may like it well enough to stay a while.

DISCLOSURE: GDGT is backed by True Ventures, a venture capital firm that is an investor in the parent company of this blog, Giga Omni Media. Om Malik, founder of Giga Omni Media, is also a venture partner at True.

Image courtesy PreCentral

The Palm Pre auto-rotate feature is very useful, but I occasionally get one of those HTML emails that is too wide for the narrow screen. The email app doesn’t natively rotate into landscape, which would make it easier to read such email — that is, it didn’t rotate until this simple little hack was reported.

PreCentral points out that enabling landscape mode in the Pre email app is as simple as typing in:

RocknRollHax

This has to be done in the mailbox listing view (top level), and it’s not sticky. This means you need to do this every time you open the email app, so just leave it running in the background all the time. That’s what multi-tasking is for, anyway.

You have likely heard today that Firefox 3.5 has gone gold, unless your Internet Explorer browser is hung up again. I’m kidding of course. Firefox 3.5 has a very fast JavaScript handler that makes a big difference on many web pages.

WebWorkerDaily reports that this production version is not much different than the Release Candidate version. They reviewed that version so you can get good insight into the benefits you may receive by upgrading to 3.5 by reading their review. I have been using it since its release and it is definitely one speedy browser.

The recent post about smartphone hacking and the active community supporting it struck a vein with readers, according to the commentary. It seems that some folks believe that jail-breaking or hacking the phone they own is allowed under any circumstances. Others feel that hacking is OK in some situations but not others. It’s time for a poll to see what the real story might be.

This is not a scientific poll by any means; it is simply a quick and dirty chance to see how people feel about hacking their own phone. Fill out the poll as best you can, and if you want to elaborate on your choice, leave a comment.

One of the greatest benefits we get from being part of a great network is the ability to work with a lot of very smart people who are experts in their particular fields. We have been remiss in pointing you to good information on the GigaOM Network, so we’re going to make it up to you. Here is what is hot on GigaOM right now:

• Biggest Barriers to Seamless Mobile Connectivity- GigaOM
• Microsoft’s Craig Mundie: Next Windows Will Have Better Power Management- Earth2Tech
• Facebook Gives Live-Stream Chat Add-On to Everyone- NewTeeVee
• Songbird Jukebox App Out in New Version, Complements iTunes- OStatic
• Wild Charge Helps iPhone Steal a Trick from Pre With Wireless Charging- TheAppleBlog
• Talk to Your Email, and Have Your Email Talk Back- WebWorkerDaily
• Can Microsoft’s OS Versions Survive the Netbook Challenge?- GigaOM Pro (subscription required)

Our poll has only been active for a bit, but there’s already some good feedback about how readers keep netbooks in sync with other computers. Making sure you have the files you need on any device you use is critical and, in timely fashion, our sister blog has a great guide for BlackBerry users. TheAppleBlog’s guide breaks down How-To: Transfer Files Between Your BlackBerry and OS X Via Bluetooth.

It is actually pretty simple to do, and following the straightforward instructions, will get your files flying back-and-forth in no time. When you need that one important file, you really need it, even if there is no Wi-Fi around.

The iPhone 3G S is going to start hitting eager owner hands shortly, and the iPhone 3.0 update has already hit iPhone 3G owner hands. CNET Asia decided to put those two phones up against the Palm Pre in a video test comparing “real world” speeds. They tested cold boot times, web browser speed, and taking a photo and sending it via email. I won’t spoil the results, just watch the video and see for yourself how the three phones fared. There is nothing scientific about this test, but it is interesting to see real things being done on the phones. One thing is certain, the iPhone 3G S is so much faster than the older iPhone 3G.

The news today has been all about the iPhone 3.0 update, and I admit I applied it to my iPhone 3G. It’s working as expected with all of the cool new features, but a reader left a comment with a warning for original iPhone owners:

“A few months ago, I switched from my original iPhone to a BlackBerry Bold. Until today, I could take the SIM out of my BB and use it in my original iphone with no problems. Today, I upgraded my iPhone to 3.0 and I can no longer use the BB SIM. When I try to open safari or email it says it can’t connect because I don’t have a data plan. This all worked just fine under 2.2.1. If you have an old iPhone that you are using with some other SIM and data plan, don’t upgrade to 3.0! It does still work with wifi as an iPod touch, but I wish I hadn’t made the change.”

If his situation describes yours, you may want to hold off the iPhone 3.0 update. Thanks for sharing that, Tax Man!

The successor to the T-Mobile G1 is rumored to be hitting the U.S. next week. The myTouch had previously been known as the G2 and is the same HTC Magic that Vodafone has been selling in Europe. The myTouch loses the physical keyboard of the G1, making it thinner and smaller than the first model. The myTouch will be running Android 1.5, previously known as Cupcake in the Android world.

(via WSJ)