Bugs plague iPhone launch

The launch of Apple Inc.’s new iPhone turned into an information-technology meltdown Friday as customers were unable to get their phones working.

In stores, people waited at counters to get the phones activated. Many of the customers had already camped out for several hours to become among the first with the new phone, which updates the one launched a year ago by speeding up Internet access and adding a navigation chip.

A spokesman for AT&T, the exclusive carrier for the iPhone in the U.S., said there was a global problem with Apple’s iTunes servers that prevented the phones from being fully activated in-store as planned.

COEUR D’ALENE

Tomlinson expanding to SW Idaho

Coldwell Banker Tomlinson Group, the largest real estate company in the Inland Northwest, is expanding into southwestern Idaho through a merger with Boise-based Holland Realty.

Tomlinson, founded 70 years ago in Spokane, had sales volume of about $2.2 billion in 2007 – more than four times those at Holland – and is the nation’s 37th rated real estate company.

Bob Tomlinson, Tomlinson Group president, said he wanted to expand in southwestern Idaho because the region lacked a dominant real estate company and he saw an opportunity to gain a bigger foothold. Merger discussions began early this year.

His company bought Coldwell Banker Aspen Realty in Boise last year.

Washington

Still time to file for stimulus check

The government on Friday sent out the last of the economic stimulus checks for people who filed tax returns before April 15. But the IRS stressed that it’s not too late for those who haven’t yet filed returns to benefit from the payments.

The tax agency said it will continue processing tax returns and issuing stimulus checks for much of the year. In particular, it is urging some 5 million Social Security recipients and veterans who don’t normally need to file returns to do so this year so they can qualify for checks.

It urged this group, and people who received extensions for filing, to file by Oct. 15 to ensure they receive a payment before the end of the year.

From staff and wire reports