With only nine more days until the iPhone 3G hits the market, Apple is feeding the frenzy with a brand new guided tour video of the iPhone 3G. The video covers every aspect of the new device, from its “simple, sculpted design” to the new App Store and more. If you’re still undecided about getting an iPhone 3G—and somehow aren’t familiar with how it works—the guided tour is a good way to get a feel for the iPhone in action.

The folks at Ars Technica suggest that the most interesting aspect of the guided tour is the App Store demo. Once you choose to download an app, the icon will show up on the Springboard with a progress bar, showing how much of the app is yet to download. If you’re stuck without a 3G or WiFi connection, the App Store will also be accessible via iTunes, and applications can be downloaded to the iPhone during a regular sync operation.

If the three streaming options aren’t satisfactory, or your don’t have “about 30 minutes” of free time, you can download both an iPod or “Large” version of the video for later viewing (or archiving). If that still isn’t convenient enough, Apple also has a 12-minute video that just highlights the new or updated features of iPhone 3G.

Enjoy.

In anticipation of the rapidly approaching iPhone 3G debut, HighEdWebTech has compiled a handy list of likely impacts of the device on higher education technology and web professionals.

HighEdWebTech’s first discussion point is the obvious deluge of devices to be precipitated by the significantly lower, $199 (8G) price tag. The article asserts that the increased number of iPhone-toting students will expect wifi access as well as websites optimized for browsing on iPhone. Authentication issues and other wireless security options will certainly need to be reviewed.

Next, the article treats the automatic geotagging of photos offered by the iPhone 3G. The new iPhone will allow users to automatically, via the internal GPS, record the exact location a photograph was taken. While this is a potentially useful feature, university administrators and IT departments are going to have to be extra-vigilant in keeping an eye on what photos are attributed to their schools or taken on their campuses.

Strain in server resources is another potential impact of the new device. HighEdWebTech suggests that schools that have an email setup using Exchange probably won’t see a huge bump; however if a large number of new iPhone users are checking their email every few minutes, schools may see an increased load on email servers. If you outsource your email to Gmail, for example, you won’t see this.

Finally, the article discusses the possibility of offering additional connection options at stations that offer power and network connections. For example, the iPhone is of course powered through USB port; adding this port to current power stations would allow students to keep their phones powered on and charging while they study, do research, eat, etc.

For more, be sure to check out HighEdWebTech’s complete article.