Apple has seeded a new version of the iPhone 2.0 Beta OS for developers enrolled in the beta iPhone Developer Program. Also available today to all ADC members is an updated version of the iPhone SDK (Beta 3).

This week Apple released the new version of their iPhone SDK. The latest iPhone SDK build 9M2158a, beta 3 which includes the iPhone Simulator now has the pre-release iPhone firmware 2.0 build 5A240d running on it. The latest firmware build has revealed couple of interesting new features which we will ultimately see in the iPhone firmware update to be released to iPhone owners in June.

Apple has added a contact search function to the new build of iPhone OS 2.0, 5A240d. The search function is also included with the revised iPhone Simulator that comes with the iPhone SDK build 9M2158a, beta 3. The search works much like iTunes search — a live-refining list of result.

According to NetBlender, iPhone and iPod touch users will be able to control their Blu-ray players using an application called BD Touch. The application will use the network capabilities of Blu-ray hardware and Apple’s handheld devices to transfer data, allowing you to do many different things beyond controlling movie playback. Update: we have spoken with NetBlender about BD Touch. As we imagined, it requires more than just an iPhone application: Update: Denny Breitenfeld, the CTO of NetBlender, told us that it’s not a standalone application but a technology for professional Blu-Ray authoring tool combined with an SDK for iPhone developers:

It’s a technology that is built into our professional Blu-Ray authoring tool that will allow studios, independent movie companies to enable BD Touch features.These features send data in two directions from the Disc to the Iphone and vice versa. Video, Audio, text, and player commands can be sent. So right now it seems everyone likes the “remote control” idea. However the player can control the IPhone as well. One idea is to automatically pull up IMBD of the movie you are watching right on your Iphone or send the movie information a movie database on your phone. The ideas are only limited to what people want and will use. We are releasing an SDK for the 100k Iphone developers out there so they can take advantage of BD Touch features to build applications that easily work with all kinds of titles.

According to NetBlender: • The iPhone application will be able to interact directly with movies, showing extra information in the iPhone. • It will also be able to keep a database of your movie collection. • BD Touch will also be able to get digital copies of the movies inside the Blu-ray disc, presumably already encoded for iPod touch and iPhone playback. The only problem we see with BD Touch is the quote they gave to MacWorld UK:

The sophisticated user interface of the iPhone enables greater user interaction as well as the power to leverage the iPhone’s existing network. Search, e-commerce and advertising possibilities related to movie content abound when one imagines real-time communication between the iPhone and the content currently being displayed on a Blu-ray player.

Possibility of buying/snatching a song while I’m listening to it in the movie soundtrack? Great. Advertising popping on my iPhone while I watch a movie? I was going to say “no thanks,” but I just stopped at the “why?” We will see how it exactly works when it gets announced this Thursday. [Netblender via MacWorld]

Apple has released a new version of the iPhone SDK, this one labeled build 9M2158a, beta 3. The previous build was labeled 5A225c. We’re not yet sure what’s included in the new release, but we are receiving reports from developers indicating that iPhones legally running the pre-release 2.0 beta software, build 5A225c, were been remotely disabled by Apple and can be restored to full functionality using the new build of the device-installable OS — which is labeled 5A240d. Apple’s notes, according to developers, state that the SDK update “fixes bugs and adds support for the latest iPhone OS.” Regarding the remote disablement, Apple’s documentation states: “Once you install the pre-release iPhone OS on your device, such device may only be used for development and testing purposes until the final (GM) version of the iPhone OS is released. In addition, you will need to install new versions of the software from time to time throughout the beta period. Failure to install the most current version will, after a period of time, put your device in a deactivated state.” iPhones that are unlocked and “pwned” are not subject to Apple’s remote lockdown.