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Despite tough sanctions on the Iranian government, they still were able to get embargoed American technology that has helped them track down and arrest—and then assuredly torture and otherwise harm—critics of the regime.

For Apple, the last two weeks have been filled with praise and scrutiny. Steve Jobs was held-up as the best American business has to offer in Tuesday's State of the Union address while the New York Times reported worrying work conditions at Chinese factories that produce Apple products. Bob speaks with Wired's Steven Levy who says the bad news won't immediately change public opinion of Apple.

Keith Bradsher, New York Times Hong Kong bureau chief, discusses his investigation (with Charles Duhigg) about why the U.S. lost out to China for the contracts to produce Apple's iPhones--as well as revelations about the working conditions in some Chinese factories where many technology products are produced. 

"Apple took us into a space where technology didn't have to be this rational thing," John Maeda told The Takeaway. "It could be an emotional thing — a thing you could connect to as a person." Maeda, a world renowned graphic designer and visual artist, is president of the Rhode Island School of Design. Maeda cannot understate the influence of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs on his life and career. He fondly remembers his Apple II and his first Macintosh in 1984, which his MIT classmates derided as a "pansy computer." "I knew that computer was different," Maeda said. "It was making a statement."

Apple unveiled an iPhone 4S on Tuesday that will run faster and has new mobile software that can sync content wirelessly, without having to plug an iPhone to a Mac or Windows machine.

News broke last week that Apple and Google phones are keeping a location-based log of your calls, texts, and movements. Are you worried? Or is this just the cost of living in the connected age? Let us know!

Two computer programmers presented findings showing that your iPhone and iPad is recording your locations in a hidden file. Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center explains how the devices track your location and why this is a breach of privacy. The issue, he says, is partially the fact that you are being tracked, but also that the file is being saved. This points to a larger privacy problem whereby users don't have a choice as to whether they can be tracked.

Countless iPhone and other smartphone users have been waiting for years for this week to arrive. Verizon, which operates the nation's largest wireless network, is finally offering its version of the vaunted iPhone. But, now that the time has come, is it the right move?

They're using mobile phones for talking, texting, e-mailing, playing video games, and now...fine art.

Forget NASA and Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic. One Brooklyn dad and his son went into space on their own. Luke Geissbuhler and his son, Max, built a makeshift spacecraft out of an iPhone 4, an HD camera, a takeout box and a weather balloon and launched it into space. Much to Luke and Max's surprise, the balloon sailed almost 100,000 feet into the ether, taking remarkable video of the earth just above the atmosphere.

Watch Luke Geissbuhler's video after the jump.

Sure, cell phone companies would love you to believe that video chatting from your mobile phone will change your life—but what if it really did? This week, engineers at the University of Washington will conclude testing on software that makes it possible for hearing-impaired mobile users to do just that: communicate through video.

NATO forces in Afghanistan now say they have recovered the body of one of the two U.S. Navy personnel missing since Friday night. Negotiations are still going on through tribal elders to secure the release of the other man, who is still being held in the eastern province of Logar.

Yesterday, the U.S. Copyright Office declared it perfectly legal for iPhone owners to "jailbreak" their mobile devices. In reviewing the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, the office said that although it may break Apple's warranty, there was no legal reason why iPhone users shouldn't be able to free their phones from the software restrictions that Apple places on them. The Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple Corporation responded that jailbreaking iPhones could lead to "copyright infringement, potential damage to the device and other potential harmful physical effects" to the device. The new ruling changes the sense of ownership that technology users have over their products.

Even for the editor of a gadget blog, it's a list of devices worth drooling over. The search warrant for Jason Chen, the editor of the blog that posted pictures of the next generation iPhone that was left in a bar last week, made public his personal inventory of gadgets. Here's what the police hauled away, according to the warrant:

Two Macbook Pros, one MacBook, a Dell Desktop, an IBM ThinkPad, a 32 GB iPad, a 16 GB iPhone, a Motorola Droid, two digital cameras, two external hard drives, a media server, and two flash drives. A quick price search shows the total value to be about $7,600 (conservatively).

Poor Jason Chen must be having withdrawal.

Here's the full list with links to prices:

California police seized the computers of the Gizmodo editor who outed the new iPhone last week. The blogger, Jason Chen, says he's a journalist and that he should be able to protect his sources under a California shield law. Takeaway digital editor, Jim Colgan reports on the charges against the blogger and whether shield laws apply to the case.

Senate Republicans held their caucus together and blocked debate on a bill to re-regulate the financial industry late Monday afternoon. Only one Democrat, Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, joined the GOP in a procedural move to prevent the bill from coming to the Senate floor. Other Democrats indicated that they would delay the rest of their agenda in order to keep bringing the bill back, perhaps as soon as Tuesday.

• MONEY TAKEOUT: New York Times finance reporter Louise Story explains how smart phones and other mobile devices are clogging wireless networks across the U.S.
• SPORTS TAKEOUT: New York Times sports reporter Joe Drape gives us the latest on the Australian Open tennis tournament. Who will match Roger Federer and what are the chances of Serena Williams getting into the next round?
• LISTENER TAKEOUT: Listeners react to yesterday's conversation with a lucky survivor of the Haiti earthquake, who used his U.N. credentials to leave the country.

Rumors have been swirling for weeks about a new Apple product that's scheduled to be unveiled next week. The legions of Apple rumor-mongers suspect the company is about to launch a new tablet device, which Apple fans hope will have the kind of game-changing impact of the iPhone. We try and separate fact from fiction and look at how useful such a device might be.

Apple's iPhone continued to dominate popular technology this year. In today's "Best of 2009," The Takeaway talks to technology writer Marshall Kirkpatrick about his favorite iPhone applications of the year. Marshall is lead writer at ReadWriteWeb, a blog about technology news.

I was lucky enough to be a fly on the wall for Kurt's interview with David Hockney last week. It was a revelation to hear him talk about his way of seeing. And I was surprised to learn that he has started painting on his iPhone, using the 'Brushes' application, to 'paint' lovely little pictures that he then sends off to his friends.