Despite the rampant rumors surrounding the next generation iPhone, thanks to Verizon Wireless at least two points of speculation have been cleared up. Thanks to an interview of the Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo by Reuters, hardware and data plan details for the iPhone 5 have been divulged. First the hardware: it's widely known that the Verizon iPhone 4 already has a hybrid wireless modem installed, making it possible to connect to GSM or CDMA networks.

Currently the chip is locked into CDMA mode for the Verizon network and can't be used on GSM networks in the US or overseas. In contrast, the AT&T model iPhone 4 has only a GSM modem. Shammo explained that Apple's next hardware release would take place on both carriers simultaneously, indicating that the hybrid chip would be installed and activated for use on both network technologies.

Weather radios can save lives by warning people that dangerous storms are on the way. The iMapWeather Radio iPhone app takes this concept a step further by feeding real-time weather warning information for your exact location directly to your device. The developer, Weather Decision Technologies, is having a one-day sale on Thursday, May 19 and offering the app for free.

The first 100,000 people to download the app can take advantage of the promotion, after that the price will jump back up to $9.99. The sale will be on for 24 hours starting at midnight EDT. The app is compatible with Apple devices running iOS 4.0 or later and available on iTunes. So why should you download this weather radio app?

The tenth anniversary of Apple's retail stores is on Thursday the 19th, and employees have been told nobody can take time off between the 20th and 22nd. In fact, all Apple stores have scheduled employees to work overnight between Saturday and Sunday, with mysterious packages and locked training files arriving at locations. What does Apple have up its sleeve to celebrate the 10th anniversary?

BGR reports a new product launch could be underway, or even the installation of NFC wireless payment terminals. Even though the latter would make sense, it's not clear what near-field communication technology Apple would adopt, especially since no iOS devices currently have NFC capabilities installed. Current information from analysts indicates that Apple is likely to wait until the iPhone 6 to integrate NFC into their mobile phones.

Industry checks by analysts have concluded that the fifth generation Apple iPhone will be a souped-up version of the iPhone 4, with improved hardware in a similar form factor. Sprint is also rumored to be the next major carrier to receive the device, as Apple has posted a job opening for a carrier engineer.

The job posting was originally listed with a location of Kansas City, Missouri which is only 20 miles from Sprint headquarters in Overland Park, Kansas. Since the post was first revealed by Stop it, AT&T the job location has been changed to Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California. Sprint's network operates with CDMA, similar to Verizon Wireless which received the iPhone 4 earlier this year.

Apple could have a variety of cloud-based services up its sleeve for iPhone owners. The company is expected to announce a complete revamp of its current MobileMe service, possibly at the 2011 WWDC in San Francisco this June. With the recent launches of Google's and Amazon's own streaming media services, the time is ripe for Apple to jump in the game.

Rumors have coalesced around the completion of a giant Apple data center in North Carolina as well as a purported email from Steve Jobs claiming that MobileMe is headed for changes. Not only this, but developers have discovered a cloud-based service (codenamed Castle) in the latest developer preview of Lion, Mac OS X 10.7. Apple reportedly even purchased the domain iCloud.com for $4.5 million from a company that has changed its name to CloudMe.