Monday, 28 July 2008

the pursuit of appiness

RE: iPhone apps:
I found the WordPress app invaluable at ComicCon. I loved standing in line for something and writing a blog post. Likewise, the Facebook and MySpace apps which kept me in touch with out-of-town friends while I was stuck in traffic on Thursday or just hanging out at the Con. But MySpace, really… Facebook’s app kicks their ass. MySpace uses a tiny version of frames when viewing a profile so that the top of the page stays put and the bottom scrolls. This is incredibly annoying on an iPhone where vertical space is a premium.

Other apps I’m using right now: (continue reading…)

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Tuesday, 22 July 2008

Wordpress for the iPhone

Just added the new wordpress app for the iPhone and I’m stoked to start mobile blogging. This should make the comiccon reports way more fun.

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Tuesday, 15 July 2008

new apps

So I’ve been going a little app happy with the iPhone. The Facebook and MySpace apps are way better than connecting to those services through Safari. I also quite like YPmobile, BoxOffice, and Pandora. Those were all free. The only one I’ve bought so far is Texas Hold ‘Em. It’s pretty slick and fun. Mostly, I’m eagerly awaiting this one.

Do you have any favorites?

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Monday, 14 July 2008

how to do a browser detect for iphone

After a weekend with my new old iPhone, I got interested in how to do a browser detect for an iPhone in order to deliver iPhone optimized webpages to those users. Found this easy tutorial.

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Friday, 11 July 2008

the continuing saga of the iphone

Yesterday, while bitching about my experience with AT&T’s 800 # customer service, I asked my boss what he was doing with his Gen 1 iPhone when he bought the new one. “Nothing,” he said, “You want it for like $25?”

Done. The screen is cracked pretty badly and Apple will charge me quite a bit to replace it but the phone works great.

So here’s the outcome of the AT&T customer service: I walked into my local AT&T store this afternoon (after the iPhone rush) and told the rep I wanted to hook up a used iPhone I’d just purchased from a friend. He told me all I needed to do was drop a blank SIM card into the phone, attach it to my Mac, fire up iTunes and iTunes would guide me through the setup. He handed me the blank SIM card.

I’ve never been an iTunes user but I opened it with the phone connected. iTunes prompted me to create a new account, asked me information about my AT&T account and walked me through the setup very easily. Now I’m waiting for the iPhone to update to the 2.0 software. Supposedly, the phone will let me know when it is active and working though I’ve already received an email telling me that “AT&T has successfully activated your iPhone service.”

So, for all the annoyance of Wednesday’s encounter with AT&T, today worked like a charm. So far. If the phone doesn’t work soon, I will change my tune since my old phone is already kaput.

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Thursday, 10 July 2008

AT&T’s bad customer service

Well, I had pretty much made my mind up to buy a damn iPhone despite my misgivings. I went to my local AT&T store about a week ago and asked the friendly customer service rep about upgrading, pricing, et cetera. His response was: as long as I would re-sign for another two years with AT&T, I could get the discounted pricing; it didn’t matter when my current contract expired.

(continue reading…)

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Thursday, 3 July 2008

the iphone and closed systems

I’ve been greatly debating whether or not to purchase the new iPhone next week. I want the convenience of the internet on my phone but I have a gut distrust of Apple and AT&T. Whenever I talk about it with friends, I realize I sound like a crazy person because I say things like, “I don’t want to use iTunes” and they think, “What’s the big deal about iTunes?”

But I realize the big deal to me is choice. I don’t want to be locked down. I don’t run iTunes on my iPod and I don’t even run Mac’s OS on my Mac. I like variety. I like choice. I think it was Reason’s Nick Gillespie who said (probably in much better language), “Freedom means being able to opt out.”

With Apple, opting out is always difficult. But I do. And I will again. Because I’m planning on buying the iPhone. After all, no one else is offering the internet on a mobile device like they are. But the minute the Google Phone appears with its open source operating system, I’ll jump ship. I’ll leave AT&T and Apple and sure there will be a penalty to pay. But getting a customer to pay a one time penalty for breaking a contract isn’t exactly good business. Good business is giving the customer choice.

On second thought, maybe I’ll just buy the OpenMoko.

UPDATE: And now this news, new OpenMoko on sale July 4th.

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