news Archives

Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2008 -- 9 a.m. -- on my couch

I know that caller Neil will stop what he is doing when he reads this and pump his fists up in the air.

He's been trying to tell me for a long time now that whenever he syncs his iPhone that the custom ringtones he has assigned to specific callers revert back to the default setting.

I tried to duplicate this problem. And nothing. Always worked fine. My ringtones were always there.

And now ... lo and behold .... just within the past week, I believe ... all the ringtones are reverted to default.

I set them back and then synced again. Back to default.

So a problem that cropped up for one person and didn't affect me at all now affects me -- and judging by the discussion thread at the Apple support forums, it's affecting others as well.

I don't know what would cause this to happen, let alone just kick in for someone that wasn't previously affected.

Do you suffer from this absolutely and ridiculously annoying problem? Considering that some of us are still paying for ringtones, this is really unacceptable. And here's hoping that 2.2 fixes it.

Thanks for calling.

Monday, Nov. 17, 2008 -- 11:07 a.m. -- out and about

Mmmmm. iPhone wrapped in bacon.

No, I'm not kidding. Although you might be tempted to eat it, just drool over it.

The product page is in German, but a quick pass through a translator gives us the gist of what we need to know -- and that's that this case is unique and available for just about any kind of electronic device from camera to iPhone. Oh, and the iPhone is not included -- neither is the frying pan, as far as I can tell.

The cost is 25 euros and International orders are welcome, according to the site. I think it's pretty safe to say that someone, somewhere outside Germany is going to order 1 or 10 of these. Definitely a delicious idea.

Let me know what you think? And if you order one. If you have one, well, that's even better.

Thanks for calling.

Friday, Nov. 14, 2008 -- 9 a.m. -- on my couch

Well, if you already whisper sweet nothings into your iPhone's ear, here's another reason to keep talking to it.

The New York Times reports that as soon as today, Apple will release an application from Google that allows iPhone users to talk to their iPhones to search.

It appears to be called Google Voice Search.

The Times explains it this way: "If you ask it “Where’s the nearest Starbucks?” or “How tall is Mount Everest?” the sound is converted to a digital file and sent to Google’s servers, which try to determine the words spoken and pass them along to the Google search engine."

I don't know how many ways I can stress this .... this is HUGE NEWS.

Think about it ... now, you can talk into your iPhone to ask a question instead of type on it. All the concerns about the iPhone's keyboard and what happens in cold weather -- it's also fantastic for someone who is visually impaired. And ... perhaps most amazingly ... think of how this will work in tandem with an iPhone that's location aware. You can literally find something in an unfamiliar location in seconds -- as long as there is an Internet connection.

Granted, and the Times quotes experts who say the same thing -- the service is likely to be far from perfect to start. And even down the road it may take some work to get it just right. But wow ... talk about the future on your iPhone

Yahoo and Microsoft already feature voice-activated services, just not on the iPhone. This is an opportunity for Apple and Google to really shine.

The Times says that Google's offering can be used for other things too ... like getting driving directions or looking up address book contacts. Asking for the best of something like a restaurant returns suggestions featuring starred reviews and the ability to click to dial or map the route.

Wow!

And we all thought that the streamlined interface for the iPhone version of the Google home page was Google's big news for the week. I absolutely cannot wait to see what this voice software ends up offering and how it works across the network -- whether EDGE, 3G or Wi-Fi.

Stay tuned. I have a feeling we'll be talking lots more about this.

Let me know what you think -- and if you see it appear in the app store, please let me and everyone know.

Thanks for calling.

Thursday, Nov. 13, 2008 -- 12:05 p.m. -- out and about

Well, we know that 2.2 is coming soon. That's really about all we know. Some sites are declaring the 21st as the date, and while it's plausible, I'd hate to hang my hat on it. So I'm going with soon.

But anyway, 2.2 appears to be a pretty exciting upgrade, well, if you like Google Maps. Sadly, for the folks that really want MMS and louder sounds and video, there's none of that. But there is love for those folks who use Google Maps anywhere but on the iPhone and would like to see some of the functionality carry over.

There's also supposedly line in audio for developers and over-the-air podcasts.

Not bad for a simple point update.

What I don't think you'll see is a one-more-thing surprise or push notification.

I think Apple is taking a very cautious road and I absolutely applaud the company for that. After the iPhone 3G activation mess and the MMM (Mobile Me Meltdown), I'd personally rather wait months for push notification for my Twitter and IM apps than have my battery drain in 45 seconds.

I think the technology is close to ready and I think it's being tested all over Cupertino by folks at Apple and inside developers and I think that's how it should be. I'm as impatient as the next person when it comes to technology, but knowing how important my iPhone is to me, I'd rather have a perfect and working iPhone than something that was released just for the sake of release.

What's fascinating, also, is the competition. As BlackBerry continues to play catchup to the coolness factor of the iPhone and Android continues to develop, I think what we'll see from Apple will amaze us for years to come.

And in addition to what's being worked on with push notification, I'm always convinced that Apple is working on the next big thing. Is it video like Google released for G-Mail this week or something totally out of this world? Although, video on Mobile Me that I could somehow sync and/or use on my iPhone would be an absolutely phenomenal feature.

So ... what's your take on 2.2? I mean, based on what you read? Do you agree with the better safe than sorry approach that I'm talking about here?

Let me know in the comments and on Twitter.

Thanks for calling.

Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2008 -- 11:54 a.m. -- on my couch

Thanks, Google!

This is from the official Google Mobile Blog:

Starting today in the U.S., when you go to google.com on your iPhone and do a search, you'll see search results that are better optimized for your phone. You'll still get the full comprehensiveness and quality of regular Google Search results, but laid out in a more efficient and user-friendly arrangement.

Take a look at the picture. Much, much better.

In the case of this business, for example, getting directions or calling the business is much, much easier now thanks to much more intuitive layout.

I'm always happy to see the Google folks showing us iPhone users some love -- Android or no Android.

Check it out. Definitely much, much better.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks for calling.

Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2008 -- 8:14 p.m. -- at my desk

**UPDATE: I've received some incorrect comments on this so I wanted to clarify - there is no charge for this whatsoever. The choice to have something from Twitter come to your iPhone is yours and yours only. You can see anything on Twitter online free of charge in myriad ways. I'd never do anything that charges you. This is meant to make things easier and better.

If you need specific instructions, feel free to email me.**

I mention iPTIB's Twitter site pretty often, because it's a great way to bring you the latest news fast.

And while doing some Twitter work for my newspaper today, it dawned on me that I don't use it nearly enough for the blog.

So starting now, I'm going to be sending news briefs -- very short briefs -- to the Twitter site.

For example, here are 3 I sent in the past few minutes:

iPTIB Oh, and just my take. The Nov. 21 release date of 2.2 makes sense, but I wouldn't take it as gospel. Site predicting it is unknown, unproven

iPTIB In other cool news, Google implementing Gmail video chat into Web mail. Very, very cool. Apple really needs this for iChat/MobileMe.

iPTIB Awesome app i.TV now lets you manage and rent DVD from Netflix right on your iPhone and iPod touch. Love the app. Sounds even better now!

I've received a lot of feedback where folks ask me to just post the news -- that they enjoy the commentary and the in-depth analysis in the form of reviews and what not, but sometimes they just want to be alerted to "what's going on."

That was the repetitive theme: "What's going on." So I wanted to capitalize on that by using Twitter, which asks the question: "What are you doing now."

And the beautiful thing is that it took me 20 seconds to update the entire Twitter audience with those 3 items.

So if you haven't already, please make iPTIB on Twitter a companion to the blog to make sure you are getting the absolute latest and greatest and most up to date information I can provide.

And of course, breaking news events will always be liveblogged here on the blog and on Twitter.

Let me know what you think ... I hope you find this extra way of bringing you more news to your liking. Please let me know what you think.

Thanks for calling.

Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2008 -- 12:22 p.m. -- out and about

Does everyone know that $5 footlong song on the Subway commercials? Once you get that in your head, well, it's hard to get out.

Now, thankfully minus the tune, Apple has announced a movie of the week for less than $5 ($4.99) in the App Store.

This week -- Terminator 2. And with a whole section of movies that are under $5 for a limited time, Apple is obviously hoping that you'll be back (insert Arnold accent here).

Apple already has a $5 music of the week section, but it's great to have another offering that's easy on the wallet -- especially with the economy the way it is. Nothing like a pizza, the perfect person and a cheap movie on your iPhone. That's a great way to spend a few hours.

The movies are available now just by clicking off the home page in the iTunes store.

Let me know what you think of the selection. There's some others in there I haven't seen in ages!

Thanks for calling.

Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2008 -- 9 a.m. -- on my couch

I was watching CNBC's Mad Money with Jim Cramer over the weekend and he was interviewing Ivan Seidenberg, chairman and CEO of Verizon. They were talking about the state of the economy and what it means for the communications industry.

An interesting interview indeed. And then Cramer asked about text messaging. He commented on how the number of text messages being sent are reaching the 1 billion level -- and he found it wild that folks are texting much more than they are talking. I agree ... I don't use my minutes nearly as quickly as I use my texts.

And then Cramer asked a great question. He asked what Ivan thought was the next text messaging. The next thing that people will embrace this way.

And while Ivan didn't have the answer, he mentioned something that made me take notice. He said that he believes that something to do with multimedia is the next big thing. He said that delivery of multimedia messaging is a fraction of text messaging but that people love their music and their videos and their pictures.

I agree, Ivan. I agree.

But it's hard for me to sit here knowing the state of the iPhone's non-existent multimedia messaging capabilities and talk about some futuristic version of MMS being the next big thing. But if Apple and AT&T are looking for something different than just regular old MMS, well, then it makes a little more sense. But folks -- get it in gear because the stuff that folks love ... the videos, the pictures -- they love it now and they are doing it on different providers. Sure, once it gets to the iPhone it will be a heck of a lot cooler than anything else out there now, but that's not the point. Making us wait is far from fair.

But the point is that MMS in some fashion is the next big thing. It's the next text messaging. And not just your typical MMS. Maybe the next text message is the 10-second video that doesn't take up ridiculous amounts of bandwidth. I'm just throwing out ideas, but what if? I mean, I'd much rather have a 10-second video of my wife smiling at me than just typing a smiley face.

Although I do love the smileys :-D

Oh and consider this ... the combination of doing all of these things ... listening to your music, chatting with your friends, etc., etc., -- that's what folks want. MySpace talked about possibly creating it's own media device that incorporates the best of the MySpace world. I think that would actually take off because of what it could do and imagine if it had the support of Apple?

Now that could be absolutely huge.

What do you think? What's the next big thing? And what's preventing it from coming to market?

Let me know in the comments.

Thanks for calling.

Thursday, Nov. 6, 2008 -- 2:33 p.m. -- at my desk

AT&T announced today that it's buying Wayport, which you may recognize as a company that offers Wi-Fi hotspots.

The $275 million buy means AT&T gains more than 10,000 new hot spots in places such as McDonald's and hotels.

iPhone users already have free access at McDonald's, but this deal will only serve to add locations -- plus many hotels including Marriott, Four Seasons and Wyndham.

Altogether, the combination means AT&T will have about 20,000 hotspots in the U.S. and 80,000 globally. That counts providers with which it has roaming agreements. How many of those are actually accessible free on the iPhone isn't exactly known, but it's good news all around.

Thanks for calling.

Thursday, Nov. 6, 2008 -- 10:43 a.m. -- on my couch

I for one am very excited about the 2.2 update that's coming. While it doesn't have copy and paste and push notification and louder alerts -- the things that I really have been hoping for -- it has other things that are going to make my day so much better. Like ...

Google Maps Street View
I use Google Maps and I think they are very useful. But sometimes, there is no substitute for seeing where you need to go or where you are. And while Street View from Google Maps isn't necessarily perfect, it's darn near. And knowing the thought that Google put into Google Earth, I have no doubt that not only will Street View function well, but that Google is serious about the iPhone platform whether there's an Android or not.

Direct podcast downloadsI don't have a lot of extra time in my day. Heck, I'm writing about being swamped! But having the ability to download a podcast is something I'll use all the time. According to German blog Schimanke.com, the podcasts are real and they look spectacular. Yes, the same rules will apply as with apps -- 10 MB or less on the cellular network, unlimited via Wi-Fi. But it's audio and video and since it still takes more than a half hour to sync my darn iPhone with iTunes, this is a much-needed way around that.

Emoji
While likely only coming to Japan, Emoji -- the Japanese name for the picture characters or emoticons used in Japanese wireless messages and webpages -- is good for the iPhone. In Japan, a phone without Emoji is like a morning without coffee. And perhaps Apple can find a way to bring Emoji to the masses. I use Twitter A LOT for this blog and my job at the paper and the program I use has pages and pages of what's kind of like Emoji. I use it because it makes me smile and folks always comment and ask how they can get these characters into their tweets. So it's fun, and while I know Apple is doing it because all iPhone markets are different, it would not surprise me to see them go the extra mile.

And who knows ... will there be surprises in 2.2? Well, these days, with the beta versions that are released, there are fewer surprises. But that doesn't mean there won't be any ... copy and paste isn't likely to be a surprise and neither is push -- those things need to be tested and retested. But auto-correct off in the iPhone's dictionary was mentioned and I know a bunch of people who are looking forward to that -- present company not included.

So let me know what you are looking forward to in 2.2 and also what you want to see beyond that. It's always nice to talk about what we're hoping and wishing for.

Thanks for calling.

Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2008 -- 3:49 p.m. -- at my desk

AT&T sent out an e-mail that's quite informative ... it reminds customers that international data usage is not covered under U.S. data plans.

Most of us are well aware of that but just in case it slips your mind and you're planning a trip, the information provided is a key way to prevent a huge bill.

The good thing is that a few steps is really all it takes to prevent problems:

strong>Turn Data Roaming "OFF"
Be sure to download and install the latest version of iPhone software from iTunes. By default the setting for international data roaming will be in the "OFF" position. To turn data roaming "ON/OFF" tap on Settings>General>Network>Data Roaming

Utilize WiFi Instead of 3G/GPRS/EDGE
WiFi is available in many international airports, hotels and restaurants to browse the Web or check email.

Turn Fetch New Data "Off"
Check email and sync contacts and calendars manually instead of having the data pushed to your iPhone automatically. This way you can control the flow of data coming to your iPhone. To turn off the Auto-Check functionality tap on Settings>Fetch New Data Change Push to "OFF" and Select to Fetch Manually

Consider Purchasing an International Data Package
If you are traveling outside the U.S., purchasing a Data Global Plan will significantly reduce the cost of using data abroad.

Reset the Usage Tracker to Zero
When you arrive overseas access the usage tracker in the general settings menu and select reset statistics. This will enable you to track your estimated data usage. To reset Usage Tracker to Zero tap on Settings>General>Usage>Reset

And if you have questions, you can always ask me!

Thanks for calling.

Monday, Nov. 3, 2008 -- 3:19 p.m. -- at my desk

After Lollapalooza last year in Chicago, a number of you wrote me to complain about the spotty to non-existent AT&T service in and around the Grant Park venue. I received well over 100 emails telling me that you calls couldn't be dialed, texts couldn't be sent and Internet connections could not be made.

So I decided to be proactive this time and ask AT&T for a statement regarding their service at Tuesday's Barack Obama rally in Chicago. For those of you who don't know, the massive rally where Obama is expected to either concede or accept the nomination is scheduled for Tuesday evening. 65,000 to 75,000 tickets are being given out with the possibility of a million people in the general area on Election night.

Here is what AT&T had to say:

We expect that event attendees and members of the media to be highly mobile with a need to transmit real-time information using wireless technology and we intend to deliver on that expectation.

AT&T is preparing to supplement coverage with temporary alternate solutions like Cell sites on Wheels (COWs). We are placing two COWs near Grant Park this week to handle additional wireless traffic and will be working with the city to prepare and monitor additional locations where large scale events may be held.

In a nutshell, this means that you shouldn't have any problems using your iPhone or any AT&T phone at the event or near the event.

But as always, if you have trouble please let me know about it.

Thanks for calling. And thanks to AT&T for taking the time to reply to my request for a statement.

Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2008 -- 3:15 p.m. -- at my desk

**UPDATE 7:38 p.m.: I'm happy. I got the text. It took a while, but it's the thought that counts.**

I just found it sad that I did not receive this text from AT&T welcoming me to the free Wi-Fi that's now available at Starbucks. (This picture is courtesy of caller Paul -- thanks again, Paul).

Sigh. Well, iWife didn't get one either but we're on the same account. My colleagues at work did. My friends did. Everyone did.

I did not.

Well, you know, AT&T ... I was going to find out anyhow. And, I was the first site to pretty much have the story up this morning, so you've got to get up pretty early to get one past me ... but all I wanted was my text.

Strange. Maybe I'm on Starbucks' special list. I also did not get an invite for the new Starbucks Gold Card program that's being launched nationwide. Apparently there were a select number of free invites that were sent out. And since I spend more money on coffee each month than I do rent, I was so sure I was going to be one of those people.

But no. No invite.

And today, no text.

This is not a pity party post for iPTIB, but you gotta admit ... something's not right here.

Well, we'll know something is amiss if I go to Starbucks and try to log in and get a message telling me to go home and surf the Internet.

If there's anyone else out there who did not get the text, let me know. Make me feel better ;-)

Thanks for calling.

Friday, Oct. 24, 2008 -- 11:51 a.m. -- out and about

This is brilliant.

Here's a Web site that feels our pain regarding the problems on our iPhones.

No question that we have a great phone and plenty of other phones would benefit more from something like this, but if Steve Jobs sees this site and refers to it, well, that would be good for all of us.

A company called Fullsix -- it's a networking company -- has launched the site "Please Fix the iPhone," and it encourages iPhone users to vote on the biggest iPhone problems. The idea is similar to what Starbucks was and might still be doing where people submit ideas, the community votes and the moderators decide what will be fixed/implemented and what won't. The difference there is that Starbucks started that site and this is a non-Apple sanctioned site. But the idea is the same and if Steve sees it and embraces it, well, that would be awfully nice.

Is it any different than the feature that allows you to send a note to Apple's feedback? Yes and no. No because you won't won't get a response from Steve Jobs, but yes because you'll feel that oneness with the iPhone community and know that you aren't alone in what ails you.

And what good is a please fix the iPhone site without an iPhone-optimized version? So there's one of those too.

As someone who has sent in a bunch of your signatures and comments to Apple and have heard nothing back, I support any person or company who wants to take on big Steve. And I like the method here, so check it out.

Let me know what you think and what you enter on the list.

Thanks for calling.

Thursday, Oct. 23, 2008 -- 11:14 a.m. -- out and about

I've received probably hundreds of e-mails over the past few months about wi-fi issues on the iPhone, specifically where the iPhone just stops connecting to the network. In most cases, the network appears in the list and can be selected, but if you try to join it it immediately reverts to Edge or 3G.

And short of the usual troubleshooting documents that Apple has posted, there hasn't been a true fix. And there still isn't.

But I've received 5 reports in the past 2 days that Apple is replacing some of these phones after users bring them to Genius Bars. Of these reports, the geniuses are calling the issues hardware-related and are replacing them without any questions.

Here's one e-mail:

"Last week, I was using WiFi at home with no trouble when I got kicked off. That was the last time I was able to connect to my network despite restoring and going through all of the troubleshooting tips I've found on this site and others. When I went to the Apple Store, the Genius first said that I was apparently typing in my password wrong, but when he was unable to connect to the Apple Store's WiFi on my iPhone but successful on 2 others, he swapped it out and said it was a hardware issue."

Now before you get too excited, these folks all have iPhones under warranty. So if you have an original iPhone from 2007 and don't have Applecare, I don't think you'll be getting a swapped phone. But ... what this tells me is that there's apparently some sort of issue that Apple is at least acknowledging, even if they don't explain much about it.

Here's a thread from the Apple discussion boards talking about the issue.

My advice to you is this:

1. Check that thread and see if the problem is the same as the one you are having.

2. Make sure you haven't done anything to your home network or anything that would change your connectivity on the iPhone.

3. THIS IS IMPORTANT -- try to test to see if the problem is limited to 1 network or all wi-fi networks. Obviously, not being able to connect to wi-fi at all is very different than not being able to connect to a specific network. Even if it's the same problem, an Apple Store Genius is much more likely to sound the alarm if he or she can't connect to the Apple network.

4. If you find you are suffering from this issue, get yourself to an Apple store right away. You can certainly reference this blog, however, Apple notoriously doesn't like to listen to or acknowledge anything outside of its internal memos. And while I don't know of any specific memo, it sounds to me based on the situation that there's something circulating with instructions to how to handle these problematic devices.

I tried to ask as a customer at the North Michigan Avenue Apple Store and was told that problems are all dealt with on a case-by-case basis. Yes, that's true and that's the official Apple line. I also have a note into Apple corporate in Cupertino to see if they have any comment on the issue and if I hear anything back, I'll be happy to let you know.

Meantime, if you are one of the folks with this problem, either send me an e-mail or leave a comment and be specific with your experience and I'll pass it along here.

Good luck and thanks for calling.

Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2008 -- 9 a.m. -- on my couch

I'll hand it to the folks at Freehands -- this is an interesting idea. However, knowing how cold it gets here in Chicago, I can't imagine these being very practical.

But for the folks that bundle up with a hat and scarf when the temperature drops below 60 in Florida, well, this might work.

The basic premise is exactly how it looks in the photo -- to operate your iPhone or other gadget where a gloved finger just won't do, you pull back the tops of the gloves to expose your bare skin.

So while part of your hand is still warm, the fingers aren't.

I'm one of those people that rarely wears gloves, even when I should. My wife is always telling me to remember my gloves when the temperature falls below 0 (that's Fahrenheit, not even Celsius, folks) so you'd think these would appeal to me. But truth be told, I'm not likely to expose my fingers to the elements and I can't see how I'd be an effective typist in those kinds of conditions.

But not everyone is like me. This could make sense to a lot of people. Perhaps combined with a sleeveless cup of hot coffee, your fingers could handle this kind of treatment.

Let me know if this kind of glove interests you.

Thanks for calling.

Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2008 -- 3:48 p.m. -- at my desk

You've got plenty of ways to listen to music. You've got your iTunes and your Pandora and your WunderRadio. And now you've got something really unique and potentially game changing.

I am fascinated by Lala and its unique way to bring your existing song library to you wherever you are via the Web.

Basically, you use an upload tool to send your existing songs in iTunes to lala.com ... the service then matches your songs and makes those available to you anywhere via lala.com. And it's browser friendly; Microsoft Explorer, FireFox, and Safari browsers on both Windows and Mac OS are supported.

Now if Lala can't match the song, the song can still be uploaded and streamed at no cost, but you can't share or do anything other than listen to it until the song is licensed by Lala. But there's plenty to choose from; the catalog has more than 6 million songs.

Still very cool.

\And get this ... you can add songs that you don't have from lala's music library for just 10 cents -- then you can stream it whenever you want. But if you have to own it, you can put that 10 cents toward the price of an 89 or 99 cent DRM-free download.

Lala's CEO sums it up pretty well.

“We live our lives in a browser, whether it’s emailing, watching television shows or using Facebook” said Geoff Ralston, CEO of Lala.

A key element is the support from the record labels that Lala has garnered. All four major labels including EMI Music, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group and publishers have licensed Lala with partnership agreements to stream and sell music online.

Here are the features according to Lala:

· Completely advertising free service
· First and only fully licensed service for free Web hosting of a personal music library
· Instant matching of MP3s and iTunes Fairplay songs to the Web without uploading
· Fully featured web-application in a browser with speedy look-ahead search, drag and drop playlist creation, and instant, continuous music streaming
· 6 million and growing song catalog
· Free sampling of the entire catalog as songs or albums
· Websongs available for purchase at 10 cents or less
· DRM-free MP3s for additional price of 79 cents
· Support of popular Web browsers including Windows Explorer, Firefox, and Safari
· Support for both Windows and Mac
· Catalog of all four major labels and publishers
· Catalog of 170,000 independent labels

There's much more information online at lala.com.

Tell me what you think? Is this a game changer for you and the way you listen to music?

Thanks for calling.

Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2008 -- 9 a.m. -- on my couch

As someone who doesn't drive nearly as much as he used to, I'm afraid I'm not the best person to answer this question from caller Mike in Tennessee.

So I'm posing it to all of you.

Hey Scott! I was looking around for an FM transmitter so I can listen to iPod songs on the car radio. However, I was also wondering if there was a transmitter for the iPhone 3G that would also broadcast the audio from music apps like Wunderradio & AOL Radio? Do you or any of your readers know of any? Ideally it would be one that I can charge the phone/transmitter with also, instead of the transmitter running out of battery.

If you or your readers know of any, please let me know. I appreciate it! Thanks!

If there's anyone out there who has an answer or can point Mike in the right direction, I know he'd appreciate it. And I would as well.

Thanks for calling.

Friday, Oct. 17, 2008 -- 12:46 p.m. -- on my couch

As you may have already noticed, I decided to take down the cell tower story regarding cell service at the McCain ranch.

Lots of folks out there are asking what the politics were behind taking it down ... nothing like that. The only politics at play here are mine ... After doing more research on what the Washington Post wrote, I saw too many holes.

And then I received a comment from Carolyn Schamberger in Verizon Wireless Public Relations:

For the record, The Washington Post story regarding Verizon providing a cell tower to the McCain Ranch is wrong. Verizon received a request from Mrs. McCain, but declined. Subsequent to that, the Secret Service made a legitimate request for a temporary tower for its work and Verizon complied as is required by our contract with the agency. The Secret Service request, made on May 28, specifically said it needed the service urgently and requested that Verizon “explore every possible means of providing an alternative cellular or data communications source in the referenced area and provide any short term implementation of any type as a solution in the interim.”

After feeling a little uneasy in what I saw in my own research, Carolyn's comment was the final piece I needed to take it down.

At some point, I'd like to do something on what happened with a bit more two-sidedness to it. I always try to be fair and while I was really attempting to take what sounded like a funny consumer story and add a little comedic twist to it, it ended up coming across as taking sides -- and that's not something I ever intended or will do.

In the end, politics have their place, but they don't have their place in an iPhone blog, no matter what the intentions.

So there you have it ... the reason the story came down is because of what I believe is undercooked reporting by the Washington Post. And I always strive to be objective and fair. And if I came across any other way, I apologize.

Feel free to discuss further if you'd like ... thanks for calling.

Friday, Oct. 10, 2008 -- 12:23 p.m. -- out and about

I'm hearing all kinds of reports about problems accessing the iTunes store, whether it's buying music or apps or updating apps or syncing purchased music. Most common report is an error 1020.

But now I'm starting to hear that things are normalizing, although not everyone has had success.

I'm not sure what's behind it and I haven't heard anything back from Apple yet on the matter, but it seems as though if it's not working now, the best advice is to wait a little while and try again.

Just wanted to give you an update in case you were wondering. Thanks for all the great reports on this.

Thanks for calling.

Thursday, Oct. 9, 2008 -- 11:49 a.m. -- on my couch

First Apple did it ... they set up a section on their Web site that allows folks to fill out important information before heading to a retail store to purchase a new iPhone.

Now, AT&T is doing the same thing and I for one am happy to see it.

When you go to the above-linked page you will be greeted with another link:
Save time at the store — get prequalified for your iPhone 3G now. Set up my account.

And it's here where you get the ball rolling, and, if all goes well, your trip to your nearest AT&T store is fast enough where you still have time to grab a Jamba Juice before heading back to the office.

AT&T actually did something similar, albeit more manual, on the day of the iPhone 3G launch. Before anyone knew -- with the exception of Apple, probably -- that the iTunes servers were going to implode, AT&T sent representatives out to the Chicago Loop store line with papers that allowed you to enter pertinent information, select plans, colors, etc.

So if not having enough time was an excuse you were using to keep from buying an iPhone, you either have to find a new excuse or take the plunge.

Let me know how it works out for you.

Thanks for calling.

Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2008 -- 11 p.m. -- at my desk

Vacation
All I ever wanted
Vacation
Had to get away

I'm writing this because somebody out there is going to get my automated out-of-office reply depending on which e-mail address you use. And no, the Go-Gos song is not my ringtone.

I'm using up my vacation days to do some traveling and just rest up a little bit, so you won't see "at my desk" until a week from Sunday.

In the meantime, I'll be flying and doing other things, but I will be plugged in ... I'm always plugged in. There might be sometimes when I can't respond right away, but I'm here.

That's why I'm going to take another opportunity to ask you to please sign up for Twitter if you haven't already. When something big happens or there's something I really want you all to know, the quickest way I know to do that is to send it via Twitter.

Just click on the link above, create an account if you haven't already, click on the follow button and you'll get the messages that I send. I use Twitter for conversation and for breaking news, so even if I'm not on vacation, it's a great thing to have and use if you enjoy iPTIB.

That said, my travels will give me the opportunity to try out some GPS features -- not leaving the U.S., but I'll be in places that I haven't used my iPhone 3G before, so I'll let you know how it compares to using it in Chicago.

In the meantime, send me your e-mails like you always do but use the iptib address that's in the right rail and I'll get it that much faster.

Thanks for calling.

Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2008 -- 11:44 a.m. -- on my couch

So I'm looking at my RSS feeds for new apps this morning and I see something striking. There are 4 apps in a row all dedicated to one thing: e-mail in landscape mode.

I must admit ... I am an equal opportunity iPhone mode user -- sometimes I'm up and down and others I'm landscape. However, I can certainly see the appeal of landscape e-mail.

And this falls under the umbrella of why don't I have this already as part of the original iPhone experience? I still don't know why I don't have an incredible texting monster that does MMS and chat. I still don't know why I don't have cut and paste. I still don't know why I can't see how many characters I have left in a text. I still don't know why I don't have a little icon showing me when the ringer is off ....

For an iPhone blogger pretty immersed in the news, there's a lot I don't know.

But the good news is that we have a development community that's thinking about what we don't know and those apps plus the others out there that do the same or similar things will only make our experiences better.

Only problem is that when Apple eventually gets its act together and provides the feature and makes it look like they came up with it, the additional apps won't be as shiny and exciting anymore. But for now, I send amazing amounts of kudos to the developers who are making sure we have what we need now.

Here's a few just as a sample to show what's out there (all links open in iTunes).

Compose

Sideways

Lettera This one actually makes your iPhone look and act like an old-fashioned typewriter -- it's a nice and nostalgic touch and while it might not be practical, it's imaginative. I like imaginative.

Wide Email

So if you are looking for landscape e-mail, here's a way to get you started.

In the meantime, what other things that seem so simple are you looking for? I'm sure developers are thinking just like we are, but what's the one thing -- besides cut and paste since we all know that one -- that would be the must-download app?

Let me and everyone know in the comments.

Thanks for calling.

Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008 -- 2:11 p.m. -- at my desk

Today, I feel like a million bucks and it's all because of you.

I was just informed that I passed 1 million page views for 2008 at iPTIB ... a number that's really hard for me to wrap my head around no matter how hard I try.

I'm just a humble blogger who writes about the iPhone in my spare time. You are the reason this is even news. If you didn't come back every single day and make this community what it is, well, I'd be writing something else right now.

So thank you very much for everything you've done to make iPTIB a giant success. And as we march toward 2 million and beyond, I hope the site can only grow.

As always, I want to know what you are interested in seeing more of and less of. Send me an e-mail, a comment and sign up to follow iPTIB on Twitter for even more up-to-the-minute news.

Thanks again for everything, and thanks for calling.

Sunday, Oct. 5, 2008 -- 3:06 p.m. -- at my desk

Did you all hear what happened on Friday? When CNN's iReport.com, which is basically anyone submitting stories as news to CNN, reported that Steve Jobs had a massive heart attack. This caused Apple stock to plummet and obviously sent shockwaves around the world. The misinformation remained on the site for about a half hour, after which it was yanked.

The idea behind iReport.com is strong and needed -- it allows for news reporting in places that professional journalists might not otherwise be. And while not everyone can be a reporter -- there's a lot to know about ethics and rules -- this shows the limitations of such a setup.

CNN released a statement that said:

"iReport.com is an entirely user-generated site where the content is determined by the community. Content that does not comply with Community Guidelines will be removed. After the content in question was uploaded to iReport.com, the community brought it to our attention. Based on our Terms of Use that govern user behavior on iReport.com, the fraudulent content was removed from the site and the user’s account was disabled."

So whether or not there was malice here, that's not really the important part. The important part is that it shows what happens when journalists -- like me -- aren't careful with what they read.

I read HUNDREDS of stories a day and I don't post hundreds of stories. That's mostly because of my concerns about what's real and what's not. When there's something that I really want to report, I always ask the source to verify it. So even if you see it on another site first, the reason you might not see it on mine until later if at all is because I'm taking the time to verify it.

Does that mean that someone else will get the "credit" for posting it first? Sure. Does that mean it might cost me page views. Yep. But that doesn't matter at all. It's all about getting you the most accurate news -- and even if something seems harmless, it's important to me that it's correct the first time.

I've had situations where I've posted things that are incorrect -- and one came after I "verified" it with a source. It happens to everyone. At the end of the day, it's all about trying to make sure what you are reporting is the most accurate information that's available at any given time.

Hopefully CNN will learn something from this ... it's impossible to watch every single post given the size of iReport.com, but knowing the consequences of unverified news might have the network thinking differently next time.

Comments are always open for discussion of course.

Thanks for calling.

Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2008 -- 2:27 p.m. -- at my desk

Not too much happening in the iPhone universe today -- shame, because there should be at the center of the universe -- but here's what I know as of mid-afternoon.

OMG! FYI: Apple drops NDA on SDK
All those letters mean one thing ... Apple says developers can now talk about released software where it's related to the iPhone. The non-disclosure agreement, according to Apple, was put in place to protect Apple inventions and innovations. But anything unreleased as far as features and software are still privileged.

2.2 betas show refinements
Some screenshots that have been making their way around the Internets include a better looking Mobile Safari that more closely resembles the full version of Safari. Plus, there are some changes to the browsing category in the Mobile App Store. Here's hoping that they figure out how to get the search going again.

Nine Inch Nails coming to Tap Tap
TechCrunch reports that Tapulous, the fine folks behind Twinkle and some other soon-to-be-released iPhone apps, will create a premium version of the wildly popular Tap Tap Revenge game featuring the music of Nine Inch Nails. No word on pricing or availability but very cool.

Facebook normal again
As you might have seen on Twitter or here, I posted about a problem I had with Facebook not forgetting that I already accepted a bunch of friends. Last night, for seemingly no reason, the error cleared out and all is back to normal. Hopefully it stays that way because overall, the new Facebook is quite good.

Taste of Wii on the iPhone
touchArcade reports that two games -- iGolf and iBowl -- both in the app store -- attempt to bring Wii-style play to the iPhone. My 2 cents is that while this makes sense for the future evolution of the iPhone -- and even would be great if Apple and Nintendo ever partnered to allow an iPhone-like controller -- this is just the beginning because the graphics on these two games don't look all that impressive. The full story can be found here.

Let me know your thoughts on one or all of the above topics. Thanks for calling.

Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2008 -- 7:44 p.m. -- at my desk

Add yet another location or two for the iPhone ... AT&T says that it's coming to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands effective Oct. 17. And, it will cost the same as it does here in the U.S. -- fair for territories I'd say -- at $199 for the 8GB and $299 for big 16.

And, AT&T offers information for those residents not eligible for an upgrade:

Current customers who are not eligible for an upgrade discount can purchase iPhone 3G for $399 for the 8GB model or $499 for the 16GB model. Both options require a new two-year service agreement. Current customers may also choose to wait until they become eligible for an upgrade discount.

So if you are in Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands, yay!

Let me know if anyone from there is reading and your reaction.

Thanks for calling.

Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2008 -- 11:35 p.m. -- at my desk

Just as Apple has promised, the iPhone isn't done yet. Eventually, we'll run out of countries, but for now, Apple has its sights set on the following countries:

Botswana, Brazil, Cameroon, C. African Republic, Croatia, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, Madagascar, Mali, Malta, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Niger, Panama, Russia, Qatar, Senegal, South Africa, Turkey and Venezuela.

Hey, we've got folks in 59 countries reading iPTIB, including in some of the countries mentioned above. Hopefully we'll grow the readership even more and truly get to connect with people everywhere.

So if you happen to be in one of these countries, do drop me a line and let me know.

Thanks for calling.

Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2008 -- 2 p.m. -- at my desk

On Friday, Apple announced a voluntary recall of the mini USB power adapters that came with the iPhone 3G in several countries because of problems where the metal prongs break off in outlets, causing potential hazard.

It was certainly good of Apple to err on the side of caution, however, this kind of quality control problem isn't something Apple wants to deal with now -- or ever, actually.

And yesterday and today people have been getting text messages from Apple reminding them of the recall. This is part of what seems to be a campaign of information by Apple and AT&T to keep iPhone customers informed of important news and software updates. While I don't exactly like receiving extra text messages, I certainly don't mind being kept aware. Normally, I like to think that nothing they send will surprise me -- here's hoping -- but it never hurts to be gently nudged every once in a while.

If you have one of these adapters, you definitely should get a replacement. It won't cost you anything. They won't be available until Oct. 10. Here is a little bit of what Apple said last week so you have the pertinent info:

There are two ways to exchange your current ultracompact Apple USB power adapter for a new, redesigned adapter.

1. Order a replacement adapter via the web. These replacement adapters will ship within three weeks of your order, starting on Friday, October 10.

2. Exchange your adapter at an Apple Retail Store starting on October 10.

We'll need to collect your iPhone 3G's serial number as part of the exchange process.

If you apply via the web, you will also need to provide your name and address so that we can send you a new adapter along with a shipment box so that you can return the affected adapter to Apple.

If you visit an Apple Retail Store, you need to bring your affected adapter(s) and your iPhone 3G(s) with you to complete the exchange process.

So there you go ... and if you get a text message from Apple or AT&T or your carrier wherever you are that I have not mentioned here, please bring it to my attention -- and better yet, send a screenshot to iptib (at) mac (dot com).

Thanks and thanks for calling.

-------------------

Help out iPTIB on Twitter
**I'm doing a little Twitter recruiting on behalf of RedEye, the paper I work for at the Tribune. I'm working on that project also, and, well, if you like this blog, I think you'll find it to be a very entertaining read. So if you'd like, please sign up for the new RedEye Twitter feed here. We've got less than 100 followers so far and really want that number to grow. Thanks very much.**

**Doing a little Twitter recruiting on behalf of RedEye, the paper I work for at the Tribune. I'm working on that project also, and, well, if you like this blog, I think you'll find it to be a very entertaining read. So if you'd like, please sign up for the new RedEye Twitter feed here. We've got less than 100 followers so far and really want that number to grow. Thanks very much.**

Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2008 -- 11:35 a.m. -- on my couch

Yesterday, I mentioned Apple's announcement of a program where you can enter pertinent information at home, let Apple know what store you will be going to and then complete the process more quickly.

It's a great idea and it makes sense. Even AT&T gives a paper ahead of time that you can fill out if you want to bring it in. It only makes sense to automate it this way for the many people who purchase at an Apple store.

Here is what Apple says you need to do when you go the Web page:

Click the button below to:

1. Enter your billing information.
2. Review eligibility and pricing.
3. Select your AT&T rate plan.*

Once you’re done, choose your closest Apple Retail Store and let us know when you’d like to come in to complete your purchase. An Apple Specialist will be ready to help you personalize your new iPhone 3G, make calls, browse the web, receive email, and more.

What's interesting here is the paragraph above that explains what happens once you complete the process. Apple is clearly stating that it will set up your iPhone to your specifications before you leave the store, and, as we know, there's no charge for this service. That's unlike Best Buy, which recently started selling iPhones and said that it would offer services like setting up e-mails if a customer purchases an accessory package with the iPhone.

Clearly, customers do not have to pay extra for services like the ones Apple offers, and that's something to keep in the back of your mind. If you live near an Apple store, this new process does make it pretty easy to do and it's something I certainly recommend.

Let me know what you think and if you've used the service or if you plan to.

Thanks for calling.

Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2008 -- 3:49 p.m. -- at my desk

You asked for it and you've got it ... effective now, my RSS feeds show the full text from my entries. Please do let me know if you see anything that's not working -- this is a work in progress, but I hope it's what the majority of you were looking for.

I do notice that I'm having a hard time getting the links to the apps in the App Store to open in the mobile App Store, but we're checking on that now.

Thank you to everyone to took the time to tell me how you felt about this. Remember that this blog is about bringing you the best in the way of iPhone news and I want the time you spend here to be well spent.

Thanks for calling.

I've said all along that Google's Android phone is definitely competition to the iPhone, and the official announcement this morning has only strengthened that belief.

The cost is only a little less than the 8GB iPhone at $179. A 2-year contract is still required). It will ship with 1GB of memory via a microSD card preinstalled but it will support up to 8GB. Obviously, the 16GB iPhone has it beat there. But expandable memory is obviously a key plus in any scenario down the road. When the 32GB iPhone is released and we're all wishing we had that extra space, a phone like the G1 will have a leg up.

You get unlimited internet and messaging for $35 a month. That's a good deal. Will AT&T lower its rates in response? I don't think right away, but it could certainly happen.

As you can see from the photo, the screen is nice looking. The specs say it's a 3.17-inch touchscreen at 480x320 resolution and 65,000 colors. But as you can also see from the picture, the phone looks much more like a circa 2003 T-Mobile MDA than a sleek and sophisticated iPhone. So if sleek is your goal, this phone doesn't pass the test in my opinion. But the features are pretty decent and I'll detail as many of those below as I can.

Battery Life: 5 hours of talk and 130 hours of standby. Forgive me, but I'll need to see proof of that.

Camera: 3.1 megapixels -- 1.1 megapixels better than the iPhone, although the actual quality remains to be seen.

Maps: It has GPS and a MUCH better version of Google Maps than the iPhone has with Street View built in. Plus, it has something unique in a built-in compass that always makes north up. So you are always facing the right direction. Very impressive.

What's the frequency Kenneth: GSM,GPRS,EDGE,Wi-Fi plus HSDPA/UMTS in the following flavors:850/900/1700/1800/1900/2100Mhz

Size matters: 4.60” x 2.16” x 0.62”

Tipping the scales: 5.6 ounces

Colors: Little combo of iPhone and Zune with white, black and brown.

Android Market vs. iTunes App Store: This will be the subject of many separate posts, I'm sure, but you can download apps just like you can on the iPhone with restrictions depending on size. But here's just one interesting aspect: You can't buy software yet -- only free -- and there's no approval process. Everything is open content. So remember how Steve talked about safety and keeping malicious offerings out of his store? Well, assuming it wasn't just Steve on a power trip, Android users would have to at least worry about that knowing that there's no gatekeeper.

iTunes Music Store vs. Amazon MP3 Store: Yep. Amazon's store is preloaded on every G1. That gives users access to Amazon's full library of 6 million tracks -- DRM free -- and the singles start at 10 cents less than iTunes at 89 cents. Wi-Fi required just like on the iPhone -- no over the cellular network downloading. Expect to read MUCH more about this ... this will be a huge thorn in Apple's side and could foster some serious competition.

That's the basic gist. We'll see soon enough what the experience is like. Remember, the phone is just one part. It's how the software interacts. It's also how the network works and remember that T-Mobile's 3G network is very new.

Please share in the comments your thoughts about the new G1 phone and anything related to competition between the iPhone and this phone. Whatever you want, always up for discussion.

Thanks for calling.

Monday, Sept. 22, 2008 -- 10:45 p.m. -- at my desk

There's been lots and lots of talk on multiple Web sites about how folks with 2.1 software on their iPhones are finding that mail doesn't properly push or fetch. For some, it doesn't matter if it's G-Mail, me/mac or Exchange.

I have not had any such problems. If anything, I've had the opposite sometimes.

I have push on but I have MobileMe set to it and my Exchange set to fetch every 30 minutes because I get so much work e-mail that it's better than my pocket vibrating every few seconds.

But in many cases, my Exchange e-mail still pushes along with my MobileMe. Not the worst thing and much better than the opposite, which is what people are complaining about.

To date, my MobileMe e-mail has not missed a beat.

What say you all? Do you find yourself suffering from this problem? Please let me know in the comments.

Thanks for calling.

Monday, Sept. 22, 2008 -- 7:12 p.m. -- at my desk

It's almost hard to believe, but the first phone running Google's Android lands on our planet tomorrow after months and months of back and forth about whether or not this would ever happen.

I think the competition is important for Apple and for the App Store. Apple has never been one to sit by while another company takes the glory. This is no Zune-iPod competition here ... I know it won't be as pretty as an iPhone, but it might be quite functional.

And here's something that we must not forget: Apple has made quite a few developers mad with its tough rules. There are going to be people just as eager to develop for Android as the iPhone. I don't think the App Store will suffer in any way; I think there's a market for each. But like there's cool stuff if you jailbreak, there might be cool stuff with an Android phone that ends up not being possible on the iPhone simply because Apple says so.

Apple has got to get its act together and make sure the entire iPhone experience is a lot less buggy that it is and has been because now there's another game in town. Switching to Android (for now) requires a switch to T-Mobile, so I don't think you are going to see many folks jumping from the AT&T boat. But I do think you'll see some folks who give it some serious thought.

But it's safe to say that Apple's grip on the mobile market isn't about to be lost ... but it could get a little looser if it doesn't play its cards right.

Obviously, Apple wants to maintain itself in a position of leadership in the mobile space. But it cannot afford to be blind to the threat that Android poses. There's some serious talent at Google and despite the company's representation on Apple's board of directors, Google really wants to hit a home run. It's like the third place team coming into your stadium and sweeping the series.

So I'll have plenty of reaction to tomorrow's announcement and we'll have plenty of pictures to compare and contrast.

And here's an interesting thought to leave you with: How long do you think it will take for a hack to be released on a jailbroken phone that lets Android apps run on the iPhone? Unless there's some sort of chip or hardware limitation, which there may be, I think that could be possible. And oh, wouldn't that be interesting.

I'm curious to know your thoughts about Android ... are you excited for the competition? Do you think it can give Apple a run for its money? Would you consider moving from an iPhone to Android or have you put off an iPhone purchase to see how this all plays out? Let me know in the comments.

Thanks for calling.

**Doing a little Twitter recruiting on behalf of RedEye, the paper I work for at the Tribune. It's a very entertaining read, if I do say so myself, and I think if you like the blog that you'll enjoy RedEye. So if you'd like, please sign up for the new RedEye Twitter feed here. Thanks very much.

Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008 -- 10:24 a.m. -- on my couch

There are many times I'll come across a bit of iPhone news and be very surprised.

This is not one of those times.

There's talk on other sites since yesterday about Apple re-starting in-home activations for iPhones and of a potential 32GB model as the supply of the 8GB runs thin.

Neither of these tidbits surprise me at all.

If you remember months ago, both before and after the 3G was released, we talked in depth about Apple and AT&T and their model going forward as far as sales of the iPhones. AT&T said way back when that a version that didn't require a contract was in the cards at a future date. Here in the States at least, we didn't know and still don't know how much this version will cost.

But it makes sense that Apple is going to have to work on bringing in-home activation back because these phones won't require as much interaction with AT&T ... granted, they will still likely work on the AT&T network so there's that, but having AT&T activate every single iPhone doesn't make sense either.

Let me backtrack ... on iPhones that cost $199 and $299 -- where people could make a purchase, take the unactivated device home and sell them on eBay -- in store activation was the best way to product the product and that's why the change in policy was made between the first-generation sale and the 3G sale.

But now if we're talking about an iPhone that might cost $699, what you do with it is pretty much your business. We'll find out if there's some sort of crazy restrictions that make buying an unlocked version a silly idea soon enough. But I'm sure AT&T also wants to get back to not devoting so much of its time to activating iPhones. There will be 10 or 12 other people that will buy some other models and AT&T will need to devote some resources to those people too.

Personally, I was annoyed when I heard I had to have AT&T/Apple activate my iPhone 3G. I think as a savvy user that I'm capable of bringing it home and handling it from my end ... and actually, that's what I did after the iTunes servers all crashed at the same time on opening day.

As for the 32GB version, well, you've heard me say it a thousand times here and you pretty much knew it before I came on the scene ... that's how things evolve in technology. The computer you bought last week is outdated already and something else will come out soon that will blow it out of the water.

Same with the iPhone. It's not as easy to just add a 32GB iPhone, despite what some might think. The insides of the iPod touch and the iPhone and different enough where the two aren't interchangeable. That's why we have a 32GB iPod touch now and no 32GB iPhone.

But that's going to change ... and soon. And yes, the 8GB will eventually be phased out just as the 4GB was phased out .. and the 16GB will be phased out. And the 64GB will replace the 32 and the 128 will ... well, you know the drill. It's just a matter of time, and it's never easy to watch. Because whenever there's a newer model, no matter how much you say and believe that your current model is all you need, there's a part of you that always wants the newest and greatest thing. I'm the same exact way. Frankly, I'm impressed with myself that I type all of these entries on a 4-year-old laptop. It's very unlike me, but that's how it goes.

I won't be purchasing a 32GB iPhone when it comes out. Heck, with the contract situation, no one really knows how that's going to work and if we even can ... I will purchase a new iPhone when there's a new model that has new functionality. Whether it's called the iPhone 4G or LTE or iPhone pro or whatever it's called, that's my next entry into the iPhone market.

I suspect many of you are doing just fine with your current model. I suspect that most of you won't need to upgrade just to get double the storage, although if you are a first time buyer, then yeah ... a new and bigger model is very good news.

So in conclusion ... please don't be too upset. We all knew this was coming. And be thankful that Apple didn't pull an Apple and decide to release the 32GB the day after we all signed up for our iPhone 3Gs. To be honest, I was half expecting that to happen and was pretty relieved when it didn't. Doing it now or soon makes sense for the company, for the brand and for users.

Let me know what you think, of course.

Thanks for calling.

Friday, Sept. 19, 2008 -- 5:46 p.m. -- on my couch

**UPDATE: Here's the link to take care of replacing it online. **

Apple is recalling the power adapters that came with the iPhone 3G due to a problem where the metal blades on some may break off.

The following is the text from Apple's announcement.

Thanks for calling. Please, if you haven't already, sign up to follow iPTIB on Twitter -- when breaking news happens, that's the easiest way to alert everyone and is how this story was first reported.

----------------------------

Important Safety Notice
Today Apple announced the Apple Ultracompact USB Power Adapter Exchange program.

Apple has determined that under certain conditions the new ultracompact Apple USB power adapter's metal prongs can break off and remain in a power outlet, creating a risk of electric shock. We have received reports of detached blades involving a very small percentage of the adapters sold, but no injuries have been reported.

The ultracompact USB power adapters were supplied with every iPhone 3G sold in the following countries, and may also have been purchased separately as an accessory:

US
Japan
Canada
Mexico
Several Latin American countries (click here for a detailed list of countries)

Note: Apple USB power adapters supplied with original iPhones or supplied with iPhone 3G units sold in other countries are not affected.

Customer safety is always Apple's top priority, and therefore we have voluntarily decided to exchange every ultracompact power adapter for a new, redesigned adapter, free of charge.

Users with ultracompact power adapters should immediately stop using them until they exchange them for a new, redesigned ultracompact adapter.

In the meantime, they should charge their iPhone 3G by connecting it to their computer with the USB cable that came with their iPhone or by using a standard-sized Apple USB Power Adapter (with fold up prongs) or with a third party adapter designed to work with the iPhone, such as a car charger.

Identifying your adapter
If you purchased an iPhone 3G in any of the countries listed above, you received the ultracompact USB adapter.

If you have purchased this ultracompact adapter as a standalone accessory, you may also exchange it for a new one. Replacement adapters have a single green dot on the bottom.

If you have an ultracompact adapter with a green dot on the bottom, you already have a new, redesigned adapter and do not need to participate in this exchange program.

The Exchange Process
Replacement adapters will be available starting Friday, October 10, 2008.

There are two ways to exchange your current ultracompact Apple USB power adapter for a new, redesigned adapter.

1. Order a replacement adapter via the web. These replacement adapters will ship within three weeks of your order, starting on Friday, October 10.

2. Exchange your adapter at an Apple Retail Store starting on October 10.

We'll need to collect your iPhone 3G's serial number as part of the exchange process.

If you apply via the web, you will also need to provide your name and address so that we can send you a new adapter along with a shipment box so that you can return the affected adapter to Apple.

If you visit an Apple Retail Store, you need to bring your affected adapter(s) and your iPhone 3G(s) with you to complete the exchange process.

If you live in Latin America, we will announce the appropriate exchange program information before October 10.

Thank you for your cooperation with this exchange program, and we apologize for any inconvenience.

Friday, Sept. 19, 2008 -- 11 a.m. -- on my couch

There's just no delicate way to put this.

According to a story at cnn.com, researchers at the Cleveland Clinic say that keeping a cell phone in a pocket can decrease sperm quality.

So even if your phone is just on standby, it can impact your swimmers.

Hopefully all that switching between EDGE and 3G isn't making it worse.

This research is like any other research .. cell phones may or may not be bad for your health. They may or may not cause brain cancer. They may or may not decrease sperm quality. It's one of those things we may never really know.

Anyhow, that's the gist of the story, but there's more specifics on the research if you follow the link.

And although I'm not a doctor, you can discuss this topic just like another other topic in the comments.

Thanks for calling.

Friday, Sept. 19, 2008 -- 9 a.m. -- on my couch

You're getting warmer, Microsoft. But the Mac commercials are still sooooooo much better.

Here's the first three of who knows how many "I'm a PC" commercials. As per usual, Microsoft couldn't think of anything original so it's copying Apple by trying to take PC back. Mac's PC is so much better.

See for yourself. Let everyone know what you think in the comments.

Thanks for calling.

And ... just to remind you how it's really done ...

Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008 -- 10:02 p.m. -- at my desk

AppleInsider has a really nice write-up detailing a patent application from Apple that would make the front screen on the iPhone a lot more functional and useful than it is today.

Taking a cue from Windows Mobile, but likely a heck of a lot nicer looking, the patent drawings (shown here) show a combination of things like missed calls, missed SMS, number of e-mails, number of voicemails -- and the touchscreen of course allows a person to go to any of those right from that screen.

Tell you what -- that's one complaint I've always had about the iPhone ... all you get on that screen is wallpaper, the time and date and a choice to unlock. That's really all. It seems that so much more could be done with that valuable real estate.

The folks with jailbroken phones will quickly point out Intelliscreen, which while nice, doesn't look as good as I would imagine the Apple version looking.

But that said, it's obvious something like this is important and hopefully Apple is further along on this update than just a patent app.

Let me know what you think? Is this something you'd use and want to see on your iPhone?

Thanks for calling.

Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008 -- 7:31 p.m. -- at my desk

Hello, callers ... thought I'd try another round of random thoughts off of today's news -- a brief look at what's going on in the news today and a quick comment on each.

Of course, all of this makes for great commentary later ... so please share your thoughts in the comments.

Thanks for calling.

iPhone trojan: IT Wire reports that iPhone/Windows users are being targeted by a virus ... folks get an e-mail saying to open a popular game and ... well, you know the rest. This isn't 1998. Don't open these e-mails.

Steve Jobs: 61st richest American: Yep. Sounds about right. Let's see ... MobileMe ... $99 a pop times and then carry the 4 ...

Atari going after iPhone game developers: Some breakout games, Pong and maybe others targeted by the video gamers that were but no longer are. Can't argue ... Atari owns it. But man, is that what the company is now? A bunch of old fogies sitting around surfing the App Store?

AT&T says people using the iPhone 3G aren't using as much bandwidth as it thought they would: Oooh, you know what I'm going to say ... maybe if 3G was a little more reliable we wouldn't be in this situation? I'm not saying. I'm just saying.

iPhone Google maps get left behind: MacWorld reports that improvements on Google Maps aren't making it to the iPhone version because the improved versions run on Java, which, yeah, yeah, the iPhone doesn't support. Plus, with Android, I wonder how nice Google is going to be to the iPhone down the road?

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary now available on iPhone. Just $24.99. Hey, someone look this up, ok? RIDICULOUS.

Sarah Palin's e-mail hacked: Someone guessed her password hint question, had the password reset and changed it to something else. Hopefully the question wasn't "I'm from what state?"

New Zune software: Everyone says it's better and really gives iTunes a run for its money. It was only a matter of time before Microsoft realizes that a carbon copy of the iPod wasn't going to help its bottom line. We'll see what Apple's response is, but hopefully it's better than Genius. Genius is great, but it's not that great.

Thursday, Sept. 18, 2008 -- 11:25 a.m. -- at my desk

Now that we know that T-Mobile will feature the first Android phone -- The Dream by HTC -- starting next week, it's time to consider what implications this phone has on the iPhone that other phones -- like the Voyager and the Instinct -- have not had.

It's going to be interesting. I will go out on a limb and say this much to start. While I think this phone will sell better than the previously mentioned 2 other phones, I don't believe it's going to threaten the iPhone landscape anytime soon ... now, that's not to say that it won't eventually if Apple is complacent on fixing problems and adding new features, but for now, I think we can all breathe easy.

First off, the phone is going to T-Mobile. Of all of the carriers, T-Mobile has good customer service support when you call the toll-free number. But when you need your phone upgraded -- well, unless Google and T-Mobile have an iTunes like surprise planned that no one knows about -- or unless all software updates are over the air -- well, that's an area in which they don't excel. iWife was forced to use a version 1.0 phone even though there were several versions of software after that because the representatives said that they couldn't help us if we didn't own a PC.

So the point is ... a phone can look good -- it can smell good -- it can sound good. But it's got to have a seamless experience and one of the things that makes the iPhone so special, despite its faults, is the way it interacts with iTunes. Because when it's not taking 25 hours to back up and sync, the iPhone's interaction with iTunes is still pretty amazing no matter how many times you see it.

In that case, point iPhone.

And we've also heard that the price of the Dream will be $199 with a 2-year T-Mobile contract that will be agressively priced to compete with the iPhone data plans. No doubt. In fact, I think this could be good for us down the road if AT&T decides to get into a little price war with T-Mobile. However, that likely wouldn't help current customers as much as it would new customers.

But that said, if the Dream and the iPhone are similar in price, what's going to prevent folks on the fence from going Google?

Well, first off, the phone is unproven. HTC makes phones, yes, but the software inside is brand new. Talk about being beta testers. No doubt that Google is an amazing, amazing company, but any company doing something this big is going to face some big hurdles and customers might be on the receiving end of many of those.

Then there's the pictures. Soon we'll have high-quality ones to look at, but the low-resolution shots show a bulky Windows Mobile-like device that makes me incredibly bored and disappointed. When I think of Google creativity, I think of something that absolutely gives Apple a run for its money. This phone is not that phone.

Plus, there's the coverage. T-Mobile has been slowly rolling out 3G and only plans to have about 2/3 of the country covered soon -- and remember, T-Mobile's footprint is smaller than AT&T to start with, so 2/3 3G on T-Mobile is less than 2/3 3G on AT&T ... case in point, the coverage. While the Android phone won't require 3G, we all know how much it helps and how important the coverage is when some folks decide what phone to purchase.

So what we have now is something that I think will be interesting, but pretty telling. I don't think this is going to be a Zune-iPod situation, where the 4 proud Zune owners will be facing the millions of iPod users. I think you'll get plenty of people interested in signing up. And I think you'll get folks switching over to T-Mobile for the chance. Heck, you might even get some folks to give up the iPhone and go over to T-Mobile, especially with some of the frustrations with the iPhone lately. (p.s. note to my colleague David Pogue over at the New York Times -- you finally used my joke in yesterday's column after I've been using it for about a year now -- but you got it wrong ... it's 4 Zune users ... not 6. Just FYI).

But in the end, the first Android phone is no match for the iPhone. I don't really think Google is trying to make it a match ... I think it's just trying to get its foot in the door and go from there. To use the Zune as an example .. I think it's the same business model. The first Zunes were terrible and laughable and really didn't get much traction. Now, with the new Zune 3.0 software that came out this week, the reviews are showing that the software is really maturing and that it's giving iTunes a run for its money in some places and actually not following in the shadow of the iPod anymore.

That's what Android needs to do. It needs to lure people away from thinking that the iPhone is the only phone and then it needs to prove that it is. It needs to give people more. It needs to be responsive and fix problems quickly. And then it needs to develop software. It looks to look for weaknesses in the Apple armor -- like the whole App Store what's in and what's out flap. But it also needs to remember that open source, no matter how noble and open to developers it is, runs the risks of phones with viruses and problems permeating the landscape ... Apple said it best when it said that it would control the iPhone universe and keep users from malicious apps. Google needs to watch carefully that that doesn't happen here.

In the end, I'm looking forward to the competition. I've always said that competition is good for the tech sector and I still believe it. Am I worried about Android in the future being a big player? Yes, I am. But I think the competition I speak of will keep Apple on its toes and make for a fair, fun and interesting fight.

What do you think in all of this? Are you going to purchase an Android phone? What do you like about it and what don't you like? Do you agree with my assessment? The questions are never ending, and lucky for all of us, the room in the comments section is pretty much unlimited as well. See you there.

Thanks for calling.

Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2008 -- 10:36 p.m. -- at my desk

**UPDATE 11:20 a.m. Thursday ... other reports this morning seem to indicate that the New York Times jumped the gun and that Bill and Jerry still have jobs -- just that the focus will be off them but that they are still very much part of the commercial landscape. We'll soon see which report is right.**

Try to keep up, ok" ... Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates appear in two awkward commercials that supposedly showcase Microsoft's amazing future.

Some folks think it's kitschy, others hate it. And most importantly, most just didn't get it.

So now no one gets it. According to the New York Times, Microsoft is dropping Jerry and switching to some guy that looks like the PC guy from the Mac commercials. Apparently, Microsoft is going to play off of the success of the PC in the Mac commercials to get folks to buy more PCs.

Got that?

HA! Oh, how the "mighty" have fallen, Microsoft ... the PC Guy is a part of the Mac culture now. The PC Guy is the anti-Mac. The PC Guy is the reason Apple's market share is growing. The PC Guy can't help you now.

It's not actually John Hodgman, who plays PC ... it's some guy who's an actual Microsoft engineer ... and he starts one of the first commercials with this line: "Hello, I’m a PC, and I’ve been made into a stereotype.”

Darn right, you have been.

According to the Times, Bill Gates makes a cameo appearance, as well as Eva Longoria (Desperate computer Housewife, perhaps??). But Microsoft is going to be focusing on the every day folks, not the stars ... and these regular Joes are going to talk about the great pride and joy they have using Microsoft products.

Personally, I thought the Seinfeld ads were entertaining as someone who enjoys Seinfeld's brand of comedy. As an advertisement for Microsoft it made no sense. So a change needed to be made, but I'll say now what I said when the Seinfeld thing was announced ... Microsoft is not going to gain customers through TV commercials. It's just not going to work.

Wow. So what do you all think? Are you surprised? Happy? Intrigued? What do you think of the new idea? Sound off in the comments.

Thanks for calling.

Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2008 -- 7:30 p.m. -- at my desk

Let's see, there was the $999 app that did nothing. Pulled from the App Store.

And NetShare, which promised to give you a tethered Internet connection between your iPhone and computer. Pulled from the App Store.

This week, Apple denied Podcaster because it was too similar to Apple's podcasting services. Denied from the App Store.

Add to that an app that I originally struck down as unneccesary -- Pull My Finger -- which basically makes your iPhone fart. Denied from the App Store.

There might even be more I haven't thought of, but the point is that people are starting to take notice and complain about the freedoms that are being taken away by Apple.

A new Facebook group called APPLE: Stop trying to control my content! is garner some attention tonight. Folks are asking the all-important question ... where does Apple's decision making cross the line between protecting the App Store and unfair control?

Some folks will certainly argue that as long as Apple controls the App Store, it has the right to make these calls. The whole "as long as you live under my roof, young man, you'll do what I tell you!" deal (noooo, I never heard that growing up).

But other folks have an equally compelling argument: The iPhone costs a good chunk of money ... shouldn't I have the right to have what I want on it?

When Pull My Finger was denied, I instinctively called it a waste of space and something that didn't belong in the store. But then I got some really compelling comments from folks who say that they would appreciate the opportunity to decide for themselves whether or not they want to download an app ... no one is forcing their hand.

And it's true ... people can figure that out. There are certain exceptions, though ... the $999 I Am Rich app was just an accident waiting to happen. Someone with one-click shopping enabled with an itchy mouse finger just spent the rent money on an app that does nothing. Same rule could apply as does with Pull My Finger -- Caveat Emptor ... let the buyer beware. But I think that one was pushing the envelope a little too much.

Netshare is in its own weird place ... the sharing of an Internet connection that doesn't belong to the developer is probably at the center of the problem ... AT&T controls that. And, if AT&T is smart -- if Apple is smart -- both will join to develop an App that provides the functionality, because no matter who gets it, it's something that folks would really appreciate and could use. I know I could use it and I'd even pay for the chance to have it if that's what it came to.

Finally, Podcasting ... well, I'm not happy with Apple's decision on Podcasting. As I wrote in my Random Thoughts thread earlier tonight: "Apple says it's too much like its podcasting service. Guess what, Apple? It's not. Know why? Because I still can't download a freakin' podcast on my phone, so until someone is actually copying you, step aside." I'm waiting for a mobile podcasting app ... would this banned app take away some luster from iTunes? Perhaps it would, but what's the alternative, Apple? Not giving us the functionality at all? That doesn't sit well with me, Steve.

As a journalist, I am all about giving fair and equal coverage to both sides. As a blogger and an iPhone user, I am all about watching out for callers and for what's fair and what's not. In a nutshell, I agree that Apple has the right to control the App Store ... it belongs to Apple. And when jailbreaking became part of the lexicon last year, Apple made it clear that its control over the App Store was going to prevent something sinister from happening to your iPhone.

But when what's in the store isn't sinister ... when what's in the store is being denied because it's something Apple doesn't like ... that's when things are progressing too far.

It's what I always say as an editor outside the blog ... I'll change something if it's wrong, I won't change it because it wasn't the way I'd do it. That's not a reason to change something. And in some cases here, that's exactly what Apple is doing.

So it's tight, but clear ... Apple has a right to protect what it owns and it should be protecting us from evil and bugs. But it shouldn't be striking down apps left and right like some biblical figure on a mountain.

I know this is a controversial topic, so I'm very, very interested in finding out what you all think. I think this could really generate some conversation, so please add your two cents to the comments.

Thanks for calling.

Monday, Sept. 15, 2008 -- 10:31 p.m. -- out and about

You think 2.1 is amazing? Check out what's coming/possible on the iPhone.

AT&T showed off some prototypes Monday and the iPhone was one of the stars of the show. One app, called Splat, allowed users to throw a virtual tomato at the TV. Actually, the technology lets you throw anything with real results, like a baseball hitting and creating the illusion of broken glass.

Practical? Maybe not. Cool? You betcha.

Another app showcased allowed someone to see his entire commute on a TV by superimposing cameras over the route.

Another was a remote control that showed TV shows and allowed for voice-activated recording (actually I created that in my mind before AT&T ... they just created it).

Yet another one showed a card game where the iPhones acted as a vehicle to throw virtual cards on a table, which in this case was a TV.

We always knew that the iPhone was capable of amazing things. This event shows the scope.

I'm sure this isn't coming in 2.2, but give it time. Sounds like it will be worth the wait.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments.

Thanks for calling.

Monday, Sept. 15, 2008 -- 11:45 a.m. -- on my couch

Ahhh, Napster, we loved you. For many of us, Napster was how we originally acquired our first MP3s.

Then all sorts of things happened over the years that almost killed it and then it came back and then it almost died again. Recently, it's been back as a pay service. It's always tried to position itself as an alternative to iTunes -- heck, what doesn't, right?

Now comes word that Napster is being purchased by Best Buy for about $121 million.

Talk about a sad, sad ending to one of the great technology stories of our time.

To repeat the first line of this post, Ahhhh, Napster, we loved you. Rest in peace.

Thanks for calling.

Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008 -- 9 a.m. -- on my couch

**UPDATE: I ended up with 28 hours. Push off, although I may have mistakenly had part of it enabled ... I turned push off, but I was still getting exchange e-mail every 20 minutes or so even though I had it set for every hour. So I went into the advanced features and turned it off from there and will try it again. Either way, the fact that I can't use push and get improved battery life shows me that the better battery claims aren't exactly true.**

I have been doing a little testing since Friday to see if battery life is truly improved as Apple promises.

I don't think it is.

But I did find something out ... prior to the 2.1 update, I've pretty much had push on non-stop. When it first came out, I had it on for MobileMe and for Exchange. Then, as I saw battery life really take a hit, I kept it on for Exchange mail only. But I still wasn't happy with the battery performance.

So when 2.1 came out, I decided to just turn off push and change fetch to every hour. Just to see what kind of charge I get.

I unplugged my phone at 4 a.m. Saturday morning. Now, close to midnight, I have about 40 percent battery left. So it looks like I'll hit 24 hours. I haven't done a lot. Sent a few e-mails, downloaded an app (which took 5 seconds over Wi-Fi, by the way) and I did some Twittering.

Overall, even if I get 36 hours, I'm not very happy with it. I think it could be better. But, compared to how it is with push on, it's an improvement.

But here's the problem callers ... just like our iPhones should have worked all along the way they are working under 2.1, I should be able to utilize push and get more than 12 hours between charges. Apple specifically says to turn push off to avoid battery drain, but I've read that there shouldn't be so much drain with push in general.

Either way, I'm glad I found a way to increase my battery life a little bit ... but I'm not using my iPhone the way I want to use it.

Now, onto the still unreleased push notification service ... I fear it. I have to be honest. I fear it. And I may be the first one to say it.

Why?

I don't know the specifics yet about how the push notification service works, but if it works the way push works now and things are working in the background, the battery is going to drain like crazy unless Apple figures out a way to really maximize the power usage.

Perhaps that's why it was delayed ... I almost hope that's the case. Because when this service comes out, I have two immediate plans for it. One, I want IM running. And second, I want the first Twitter client that utilizes the service running as well.

I hope I'm worried for nothing, but based on my testing thus far, I think I have cause for concern.

Sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear ... believe me, I'm really looking forward to the service too. And I know that it's possible that Apple will hit this one out of the park, but forgive me if I'm not feeling all that positive these days when it comes to these kinds of features.

Let me know what you think in the comments.

Thanks for calling.

Friday, Sept. 13, 2008 -- 7 p.m. -- at my desk

Apple has acknowledge the blue screen of death problem with iTunes 8 and Vista that made the rounds yesterday and has posted a document and a fix for the problem.

You can find that here.

Let me know how it goes if you are one of the people affected by this.

Thanks for calling.

Friday, Sept. 12, 2008 -- 6:25 p.m. -- at my desk

**UPDATE: I may have found an undocumented feature that's going to make at least one caller very happy -- when I have my 2.1 iPhone set to vibrate on the same desk that I had my 2.0.2 iPhone, the iPhone moves when it vibrates. Meaning, I think the vibrate is stronger. It has to be. The phone never moved. And it clearly does now. Anyone notice this?**

Whew! What a day. Nothing like a 8-hour liveblog to get the blood pumping. That was fun. A lot of fun.

It was awesome spending the day with everyone and meeting new people.

And, how about this ... we got the 59th country represented at iPTIB -- South Korea!

But as for 2.1 -- pretty solid, I'd say. I mean I know some of you had some trouble with backing up and getting upgraded .. and there were some problems like location services not working ... but overall, I was pretty happy with what I saw.

I need to sync with iTunes 8 from home and make sure the Genius playlists show up -- couldn't do that at work -- but assuming that goes well, I'd call 2.1 a success.

We have what seems to be much stronger 3G in terms of signal and quality. Battery life is still something I'm not ready to declare a success just yet -- I need to see how my fully charged iPhone does between now and tomorrow morning. But when you can download a brand new app over 3G via the App Store in 8 seconds, well, that's pretty darn good and that makes me happy to be an iPhone owner.

Other little things like text alerts, even though they didn't work for me at first but now seem to, are pretty unexciting and need to be beefed up in terms of customization.

But there's one thing I cannot go without mentioning and that's this: The way your iPhone is working today under 2.1 is how the iPhone should have worked out of the box. As I've said before, every device has bugs to start. The iPhone didn't have bugs ... it had giant roaches. Those were no bugs. They were big, big problems that should have been taken care of long before 2.1.

The point in the end is that it's fixed ... but let me say this ... I better not get to 3.0 only to find it as buggy as 1.0. These fixes better stick. Just absolutely mind-bogglingly stressful in some cases. As much as I enjoy blogging and helping all of you, I'm also an iPhone user and as an iPhone user who is paying a lot of money, I just expect more.

So that said ... I'm very happy with how today turned out. I'll let you know how the iTunes sync and backup goes and how the genius playlist thing goes. And, I'll certainly let you know about battery life.

In the meantime, I hope you will keep those comments coming. I may not be able to get to them immediately, but I will just as soon as I can.

Thanks for being a part of iPTIB and thanks for calling.

Thursday, Sept. 11, 2008 -- 6:22 p.m. -- at my desk

**UPDATE: Adding link to Wired blog.**

Well, you aren't, but your screen is ... according to Jonathan Zdziarski, who does a webcast for O'Reilly and happens to be pretty darn good at understand this kind of advanced stuff, your iPhone takes a screengrab every single time you press the home button.

Right. Exactly what you are thinking. Zdziarski is saying that every time you finish sending a text and press the button to get back to the screen, the iPhone snaps a photo. Press it again and there's another one. And another.

It's like a personal paparazzi inside your iPhone, snapping pics everywhere you go.

What's apparently happening is that the system takes an unannounced (until now) screen grab and caches it. So hopefully you aren't doing anything you aren't supposed to be doing ;-)

Apparently, to get to this cache, you'd need to spend about an hour recovering deep into the file system to look at what's been shot. So is this something that most folks are going to do? Probably not, but the fact that it can be done speaks volumes about how valuable your iPhone could be in the case of a crime.

It's pretty safe to say based on what I'm reading that if you lost your iPhone that the chances of someone knowing how to do this would be crazy slim. Now if you lost it in a room full of iPhone hackers, well, that's another story, but otherwise this is one of those things that you can file under "It can be done, but I don't think I need to worry about it."

Surprised? I was. What do you think about what Zdziarski had to say? Let us all know in the comments.

Thanks for calling.

Thursday, Sept. 11, 2008 -- 1:42 p.m. -- at my desk

**UPDATE: Also remember that your iTunes may not show the update automatically. You may need to click on Check for Update to prompt the system to search.**

Friday is almost here, and, if Apple is right and what we're reading is right, our iPhones should all work a lot better tomorrow than they are right now.

Normally, I'd be at the couch office on Fridays, but I'm going to come into the office office and man the station here. I have a much faster Internet connection here and I'd like to have 2.1 on my iPhone as soon as possible in order to keep all of you updated on how things are going.

Now, I expect the rollout of 2.1 to be staggered across time zones so Apple can make sure its servers aren't overloaded. They'll be watching that even more carefully I suspect after the whole 3G launch debacle.

So, that said, this is a shout out for my many, many international callers from the UK to Russia to Japan and Chile and everywhere in between ... your reports will be a huge part of the day ... in many cases, someone out there will have an iPhone running 2.1 while the rest of us repeatedly hit Check For Update in iTunes. So we'll be waiting for your reports and I'll be here to approve the comments. I may not reply to each one right away in the interest of getting the comment up for the world to see, but rest assured that I will at some point.

I will also be using Twitter to post the biggest news so just in case you aren't able to download right away, you'll know what to expect when you can. So if you haven't signed up, there's no better example as to why you should.

It's going to be like the New Year ... when one time zone has fireworks before the other and it rolls around the world. That's pretty much what we're going to have going on tomorrow. Looking forward to it. Also looking forward to talking to all of you and seeing what you think and also looking forward to any great surprises that might be waiting -- although my gut tells me that we won't see any.

Anyhow, don't focus too much on that ... the big picture is that syncs should get faster, battery life should improve, call quality should improve -- everything should improve. And while those improvements have been a long time coming and should have been here before now, it's still good that they're around the corner.

Thanks for calling.

Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2008 -- 10 p.m. -- at my desk

I will provide full coverage of the 2.1 iPhone software release on Friday and plan to update live on the blog if possible. And I will also post updates to Twitter.

In the meantime, here's a treat. I've scoured every single forum and blog I could find, and talked to every person that I know of that has an iPod touch to find as many new features/fixes in the 2.1 software.

Now keep in mind, no one has 2.1 for the iPhone installed yet. There's always a chance that some of this won't make it to the iPhone, however, it's my feeling that it all will and the only thing we won't see is support for Nike +.

According to AppleInsider, someone reported that they were "blown away" by the amazing speed of app updates on the iPhone.

Exciting!!

The official list from Apple:
* Genius playlist creation
* Much, much better battery life (my words, but same idea)
* Dramatically reduced time to backup to iTunes
* Improved email reliability, notable fetching email from POP and Exchange accounts
* Faster installation of 3rd party applications
* Improved call quality/fewer dropped calls
* Fixed bugs causing hangs and crashes if you have lots of 3rd party applications
* Faster loading and searching of contacts (SCOTT'S REPLY: Lag officially gone)
* Other bug fixes

My list based on lots of looking:
* 2 lines for song information on iPod
* According to Wired, more information on Podcasts, including a circle that changes to indicate how much of the podcast has been listened to and another indicator to show when a new podcast is available.
* Much more responsive
* Much faster backups (seconds as opposed to more than 30 minutes, in some reports).
* When updating an application, the icon stays where it is as opposed to jumping around (woo-freakin'-hoo!!)
* In iTunes, there's a green bar that shows apps so it's not just lumped under other
* Keyboard lag gone
* Longer bar for navigating songs in iPod
* Shuffle and looping play icons moved to second line
* Tap an application icon during installation and it pauses the process

Those alone make 2.1 worth the price of admission (free, at least on the iPhone). I'm excited. We'll all see first-hand on Friday.

Feel free to discuss in the comments.

Thanks for calling.

Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2008 -- 11:38 a.m. -- on my couch

I am not in this camp, but from reading the support forums over at Apple, apparently, iTunes 8 kills the Airport Express option that allows for streaming audio to remote speakers.

Ouch.

While not directly iPhone related, it's still a pretty big deal and it's worth mentioning.

Not sure if every single person in the world with AE, remote speakers and iTunes 8 is out of luck, but it's a pretty major flaw for a new release. Seems like something that should have been tested and retested and tested again for good measure.

But I've said that before, so what do I know.

Here's hoping that Airport Express users don't have to go through 8.0.1 and 8.0.2 and all the way to 8.1 to get the functionality back.

Are you using Airport Express and now have this problem? Let me know in the comments.

Thanks for calling.

Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008 -- 10:54 p.m. -- at my desk

Well, if caller Tyler's experience is what we will all eventually experience when 2.1 hits Friday, I think we'll all be quite pleased.

Tyler writes:

2.1 is amazing!!!!!!! My iTouch backed up within a minute, which is amazing compared to the 20 minutes it would have taken yesterday. I just thought I'd let you know that 2.1 didn't kill me, neither did iTunes 8!

Are these the fast sync times that Steve promised us today? Perhaps. Perhaps.

I'm still sore that certain features may appear in one and not the other -- Nike Plus being one. And I have to assume that the genius playlists will be a part of 2.1 for the iPhone too ... I haven't heard otherwise and can't see a reason why they wouldn't be.

Friday should be an interesting, interesting day.

Keep your reports about how your syncs are going with iTunes 8 and then we'll have all kinds of reports I'm sure about 2.1 on Friday.

Thanks for calling.

Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008 -- 5:49 p.m. -- at my desk

**UPDATE: OK, apparently, the new headphones will work with the iPhone, but the volume cannot be changed. That's a feature that is unsupported. While that would be very nice, I would still buy the headphones without that functionality. Perhaps Apple will do the next best thing and release a set of headphones that work with the IPhone that are of higher quality than the ones that are included.**

I am totally confused as to why the new headphones that Apple announced today won't work with the iPhone.

Am I missing something?

According to Apple's page:

Compatibility Information
The remote and mic are supported only by iPod nano (4th generation), iPod classic (120GB), and iPod touch (2nd generation). Audio is supported by all iPod models.

Why?

OK, I understand why the Nike Plus doesn't work -- well, I don't, but whatever ... but what's stopping these better headphones with mic from not working with an iPhone?

Please enlighten me, anyone.

Oh, and needless to say, I'm disgusted. Whether or not this was an iPod event, there's little iPhone love today. This 2.1 update on Friday had better be the best damn update ever from Apple. Seriously, a home run. Nothing else is acceptable.

Thanks for calling.

Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008 -- 5:20 p.m. -- at my desk

Just because you couldn't be there doesn't mean you can't enjoy it. Apple should do these live, but until they do, here's link to the video.

Let me know what you think, of course.

Thanks for calling.

Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008 -- 1:19 p.m. -- on my couch

As I begin to make the transition to my office, I wanted to just wrap up a few loose ends and give you something to comment on. Tonight, when I have some free time from my other work, I will devote myself to answering the comments to the best of my ability.

So ... we basically got a passing mention today as iPhone owners, with the exception of the games that are coming to the app store. The soccer game looks amazing, as does the racing game. I think the app store is only going to get better and better.

Perhaps the biggest thing we got today was a promise from Steve that our iPhone experience is going to get better. It's unclear if this update is coming today or Friday, but 2.1 is supposed to address the slow sync times and provide "big" improvements to battery life. It's also poised to cut back on dropped calls and presumably make the 3G experience that much better.

All that remains to be seen, of course. Steve really emphasized the word BIG when he talked about battery life. That's a BIG BIG issue, so here's hoping he wasn't playing it up too high because believe me, the minute I install this software, I'm letting my battery run down, charging and doing a complete test to see how far we've come. Any improvement would be much appreciated. A BIG improvement would be just wonderful.

The new nano boasts 24 hours of music playback and 4 hours of video playback -- and the touch boasts 36 and 6 respectively. We'll see. Hopefully those numbers are on the mark.

Now if you are in the market for an iPod, well, this was a great day for you. You've got a choice of some new nanos that looks really nice and come in really vibrant colors. And the touch is redesigned just a little bit but comes with the Nike Plus software and hardware included, which I think is a big deal. As someone who recently lost a bunch of weight, I was looking forward to measuring my walking with Nike Plus.

Up until now, that's only been available on the nano ... no word if it still is, but my hunch is yes. So the fact that it's not looking likely we'll see it on the iPhone isn't that surprising. Apple and Nike were apparently ok with limiting it to one model before, so if there's 1 or 2 now, I don't think that's so bad in their eyes. I would like it for the iPhone, but I'm just one person.

But in one of the photos posted by Gizmodo, the touch had a white dongle plugged into the dock connector at the bottom -- I thought that would indicate the possibility of the add-on coming to an older model touch or an iPhone. Maybe, maybe not. Apple shows things that aren't released right away or at all, so it's hard to say what it really means going forward.

Other than that, iTunes 8 is interesting. The genius playlist is basically a smart playlist on steroids that takes some cues from Pandora and Last fm and allows the machine to decide what music you might want to listen to. That's intriguing and interesting, if not a little annoying. If it finds great music for me, well, then, great. But if it starts to select Celine Dion all the time, I might want to throw it out the window. We'll see. Obviously sales would skyrocket if people started throwing their iPods out the window :-D

Oh yeah, and NBC finally came crawling back.

So tell me ... what are your thoughts? What do you think? Try to look at it in perspective too ... this was an iPod event so the fact that it wasn't so great on the iPhone end might not be as bad as it seems. But maybe you feel differently. That's ok. I want to hear what you have to say.

And as soon as I have a little time later, I will comment. I may approve comments first to keep the conversation flowing, but rest assured, I'll be back to answer you at some point soon.

Thanks for calling. Hope you enjoyed this morning's coverage.

Monday, Sept. 8, 2008 -- 11:59 p.m. -- at my desk

Imagine being Steve Jobs the night before a big Apple show. Imagine the rehearsals and the extra steps to make sure everything is perfect.

Imagine his fear.

Yeah, I said it ... fear. The guy who always looks like he's got everything under control and is ready to wow the world with the product that will change lives is scared. He has to be. Imagine if the last 3 projects you presented to your customers was riddled with problems ... I'm pretty sure you'd be sweating a little bit too.

I've never seen Steve sweat. Maybe the long-sleeved black turtleneck helps that, but I think he's sweating -- if not noticeably, then inside, because he wants whatever it is that he introduces tomorrow to just work.

Believe me ... I know and you know and he knows that someone will complain about whatever is announced. But whatever it is, it just has to do what Steve demonstrates. Anything less makes it look very much like no one tested it.

Steve will admit when he's wrong. Look at MobileMe as the prime example from this year. He extended everyone's subscription not once, but twice. And way back when, he gave early iPhone adopters $100 when he lowered the price of the first iPhone and almost caused a war.

Now, whatever he's got up those sleeves can't be an epic FAIL. He's got to deliver the goods. He's gotta go back to the heyday -- like when the iPod was first introduced -- when what he showed off on stage operated exactly the same in real life.

I remember opening that first iPod ... I knew how an MP3 player worked in general because I had a craptastic one before. And I remembered what Steve did to make his iPod play. I emulated the steps and it just worked. In fact, that was a common theme with Apple ... it just worked. MIcrosoft didn't work. Microsoft crashed. Now, Apple has stepped into that danger zone where people just think Apple works. They know it's cool, but other than that there's been little reassurance.

Look at 2.0 ... look at all of the problems you've read about here and on countless other sites. I just talked to a colleague now who told me that none of her apps work. Syncs take hours, reboots take 10 minutes. The world's coolest phone is sometimes the world's biggest pain in the neck.

Steve knows it's the greatest device. But he knows that it's got problems. And now he's focused on making sure the attention shifts from the negatives to the positives. That's why I think there will be some sort of great surprise in the 2.1 software that just makes jaws drop and folks like me type in all capital letters OMG ... OMG ... OMG ....

But all those OMGs don't mean a thing if the features -- whatever they are -- don't work. And all those OMG's don't mean a thing if the problems that exist now aren't fixed. There's plenty Apple has had to work on and I assume there are some programmers and engineers and testers that have had many sleepless nights.

We won't truly know what's coming tomorrow until it happens. All that speculation is either right or wrong. And remember that in that speculation is always the possibility that we don't see new iPhone software tomorrow and this ends up being nothing but an iPod event. That would be very disappointing, and I personally think it's bigger and better than that.

That said, tomorrow will be interesting. Join me about 11 a.m. or so for the pregame festivities -- we'll talk about any last-minute rumors flying around. And we'll test out the chat feature that I hope works. Whether it does or it doesn't, I'll be blogging live ... I have some folks in San Fran feeding me Twitter updates and another colleague who will be there as well.

And remember ... Twitter will be active at www.twitter.com/iptib.

You'll have a front row seat to tomorrow's excitement, no matter where you are.

See you then. Thanks for calling.

Monday, Sept. 8, 2008 -- 2:15 p.m. -- at my desk

Just a quick note about all those iTunes 8 predictions.

While I respect Kevin Rose and what he's done with Digg, I just don't want you to all get too excited because the mock ups that you are seeing might not be what we actually get.

It's clear that Kevin knows someone in a high place because his predictions are more detailed than anyone else's. But that doesn't mean they are real.

See the thing that stands out to me here is Apple's silence. Many times, when someone nails the rumor exactly right or ever close, Apple sends its legal department on the prowl and silences the folks spilling too many beans.

Now in this case, it might be tough to silence the founder of Digg. ... he basically makes sure that things that are online are shared with the world. And Apple might not want to silence him since those kinds of tactics usually are met with negative reactions.

So as I always say ... what we end up with tomorrow is anyone's guess. If we end up with what Kevin Rose says, well, then I'm likely to walk away from it going ... oh, ok. That's nice. I'm most interested in the 2.1 software update of course, and that's not really mentioned very much.

Obviously we are all interested in new features, but I think many of us just want the features that we have fixed.

We'll see soon. Remember to sign up for the chat (see this link) and Twitter at www.twitter.com/iptib

And as always, if you have any thoughts as we get close to the big moment, please let me know in the comments.

Thanks for calling.

Saturday, Sept. 6, 2008 -- 3:02 p.m. Eastern Time -- Angola, IN

I saw an interesting tidbit at Ars Technica that Tuesday could be a big day with new iPods, iTunes 8 and the 2.1 firmware, which, according to Ars, contains surprises that have not been previously reported.

We know that push notification is possible as is better GPS navigation. But as for surprises, I'm in the dark along with everyone else.

Good thing is that Apple desperately needs a home run after all this 3G stuff. Maybe we are in for an absolutely great surprise come Tuesday.

Of course it is just a rumor. I mention it because Ars has a good track record when it comes to getting this kind of stuff right.

I'm out of town til Sunday but as soon as I can update -- even if I don't have anything concrete, I certainly will.

Thanks for calling. Happy weekend and happy 2.1 thoughts.

Friday, Sept. 5, 2008 -- 7:32 a.m. -- on my couch

And there's a headline I never thought I'd write.

So long story short, because it really doesn't need too much space, is that there are reports out there this morning that someone's app that makes fart sounds didn't make the App Store cut.

You know ... because that's what you need while on public transportation ... an app that highlights fake fart sounds to overshadow the real thing that's happening all around you.

Anyhoo, let's leave Chicago's public transit out of this. The debate is over Apple's vetting process ... what makes it, what doesn't, what's worthy, what's not, what $999 apps will be left up to let the public fend for themselves and what will come down ... you know, stuff like that.

So here's my take on the whole thing, ok? I don't care if an app that makes fart sounds is free, 14 cents or $1.99. There's about 125 pages plus of apps now in the store. 85 pages of that are nothing but tip calculators. So in the rest of the precious space that exists, I would like very much to have something other than fart noises.

Does that mean that it can't be in the store? No. But does that mean it should be? No.

I applaud every single developer out there that wants to create. I applaud every single developer that thinks they have a product worthy of the store. I do not, however, think it is fair to put things in the store that have no practical use. And I'm sorry ... there's nothing in this world that makes an app that makes fart sounds worthy of the app store.

You'll remember Steve Jobs when he introduced the whole App Store process talk about making the whole shopping experience a safe and good one and keeping stuff out that didn't belong. Does farting belong in the App Store?

That looks like today's big question.

Again, another thing I never thought I'd write.

I'm looking forward to your thoughts on this.

Thanks for calling.

Friday, Sept. 5, 2008 -- 7:19 a.m. -- on my couch

This, my friends, is classic. Allow me to take you back to a simpler time:

From The Pitch: George and Jerry talk about presenting a show to NBC:
George: This should be the show.
Jerry: What?
George: This, just talking.
Jerry: Yeah, right.
George: No I'm serious that sounds like a good idea.
Jerry: Just talking? What's the show about?
George: It's about nothing.
Jerry: No story?
George: No, forget the story.
Jerry: You've got to have a story.
George: Who says you gotta have a story?

Jerry Seinfeld again used this obviously-winning formula in the first ad in his new ad campaign for Microsoft, which, while very, very cheesy, is exactly the kind of great work I expect from Jerry Seinfeld.

Watching the first in a series of very expensive commercials Jerry is starring in for Microsoft, it's clear that what you see here could have fit in perfectly as a classic Seinfeld episode. It's got the exact kind of humor that one comes to expect from Seinfeld.

But I'll tell you ... there's nothing anyone can do ... not Jerry Seinfeld ... no anyone ... that can make Bill Gates funny. He's just there. He's a person in a blue shirt that just sort of exists. He doesn't interact with anything. He's just Bill Gates. Obviously, that's why Microsoft is paying Jerry $10 million, because if you told me that Microsoft's answer to the fantastic Get a Mac ad campaign was just Bill Gates, I'd say, again in the immortal words of Seinfeld from the show's hey day, "I don't think so."

Let me know what you think of the ad. Somehow, an ad that features churros, shoes and a very awkward scene of Jerry and Bill in a shower is supposed to make us all think that Microsoft will be cool again someday.

"I don't think so."

Thanks for calling.

Friday, Sept. 5, 2008 -- 7:04 a.m. -- on my couch

**UPDATE 2:55 p.m.: The updates are back, but I'm waiting a little while. For one of the updates, Twitterific, it says 1.1 on one screen and 1.0 on the other and has no information on what's updating. Just want to be a little cautious, but I always look forward to a Twitterific update, so I don't know how long I'll wait. Do you see your app updates coming back now?

Morning, all. Still no access here to the iTunes app store on my iPhone ... I haven't been able to test the update function in iTunes, so I'm not sure if that's also affected, but it's clear to me based on all the comments here that Apple is in some sort of update mode that hopefully will make the whole update process much better.

This clearly happened sometime yesterday evening because I had 2 updates for a while and was all set to update them finally when the little number badge disappeared and the message telling me the store was unavailable appeared.

Now you can get to the store and I suspect that downloading an app for the first time works, although I'm not 100 percent sure of that.

I would say for safety sake that if you don't need to download an app on your iPhone immediately that you just might want to hold off for a little while so we can see what's up. Last thing you would want would be to download and have an interruption in that process. The corrupted data could wreak havoc on future syncs. Sure, that's a worst-case scenario, but it's something that seems worth mentioning if you can avoid even the possibility.

So what does it all mean? Well, speculation is usually futile in these cases, but let's consider the fact that some announcement is coming on Tuesday. Let's consider the fact that I still believe an expanded App Store has a role in whatever Apple is going to announce on Tuesday.

Why isn't anyone else on any site on the planet besides this one talking about the App Store being down? Well, I think everyone has been put into a trance by Kevin Rose and his amazing rumors about the dimensions of the new iPod nano and a new visualizer in iTunes 8.

No denying it. That's obviously bigger news that what's going on with the App Store, right? Right?

Anyhoo, keep trying the store. I will as well. And we'll see what's up. Right now, my update to Texas Hold Em Poker is just gonna have to wait.

Keep your comments coming. Let me know if you have any luck accessing it. Let me know what you think of the store being down. Just let me know what you think. Always love hearing from you.

Thanks for calling.

Thursday, September 5, 2008 -- 11:37 p.m. -- in bed

I can't update apps in the iTunes store on my iPhone. It says the store isn't available. I can browse the store and I haven't tried to buy anything but the message says updates aren't available.

I know I have at least 2.

Anyone notice this problem also? Let me know in the comments.

Thanks for calling.

Thursday, September 4, 2008 -- 11:24 a.m. -- at someone else's desk

Today, I'm filling in for Jimmy Greenfield, whose name you may have seen on this blog a few times. He's our Web editor, so all things default to his name. And apparently, when Jimmy is off, I default to him as well. I'm in his chair, running RedEye's Web site, desperately trying to fight the urge to take every link down and replace it with an entry from this blog. It's so tempting.

But I have a better idea that might be a little more fun.

This afternoon, from 2 until 3 Central Time, RedEye's iPhone blogger Scott Kleinberg will be hosting an online tweet-up. It's your chance to voice your opinion about the iPhone, ask questions or whatever. If it pertains to the iPhone, it's fair game.

By definition, a tweet-up is a gathering of people who use Twitter. Because everything discussed on Twitter has to fit in 140 words, this is a chance to overcome that barrier and match a face with the tweet.

In this case, there's no time to do a true tweet-up -- we'll do that down the road. If you've never used Twitter, this might help you become hooked.

Here's all you need to do to participate.

1. If you don't already have a Twitter account, go to www.twitter.com and sign up. It's free.
2. Go to www.twitter.com/redeyeiphone and click on the little follow symbol at the top of the page.
3. Once you are subscribed to my tweets/following me, you'll receive whatever I tweet in the format you choose. You can choose to have everything delivered to your cell phone (great if you have unlimited texting) or just read it all online.
4. We'll use redeyeiphone only for online gatherings; For regular iPhone news, please follow iptib.

It's kind of short notice, so we'll see how we do and plan on doing more in the future. And I'll eventually post what was said during the session for all who couldn't make it.

I'm looking forward to tweeting with you. I think this could be a lot of fun.

Thanks for calling.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008 -- 2:04 p.m. -- at my desk

**REMINDER: This morning's example shows how valuable Twitter can be ... sign up now at www.twitter.com/iptib and be the first to know the next time something like this happens.**

All kidding aside, it looks like the outage is over and all is well.

I talked to Michael Coe from AT&T, who explained that the situation was caused by a routing issue. He said that the outage affected people in the eastern U.S. and that some customers in the central U.S., including Chicago, are served by
the data server with the corrected routing issue and may have also been impacted.

Coe did point out that voice, texting and Blackberry e-mail wasn't affected. Yes, thankfully I was able to text to Twitter to keep folks up to date and use a native blogging app to get the information online. So who needs Internet, anyhow?

Well, I do .. .and while I understand network issues are a part of life and there's no one person to blame, I'm simply amazed at how we all tend to react when these things happen. I'm as guilty as the next person, but it's almost as if we can't go on without our Internet. Face it, it's hard.

And every single time iPhone data goes down, I always hope that it's some sort of massive fix of the system that's going to boost the connection speeds. But when the outage affects multiple states, well, then you start to realize that it's not a tower thing and something much bigger. Luckily, the folks I talk to at AT&T are always GREAT about getting back to me, which in turn assures you all know the status much faster.

If you are having problems as of right now, I strongly recommend either rebooting your iPhone or toggling airplane mode on and off to establish a new connection with your nearest tower. 9 times out of 10 it comes back without this step, but sometimes folks find themselves without access even after the all clear is sounded. So try that and if you have further problems, be sure to let me know in the comments -- and remember to include your location so I can isolate it for any potential trouble tickets.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to keep me up to date on Twitter. I heard from folks in about 12 states this morning where problems existed and folks from 4 states that weren't affected.

Thanks for calling.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008 -- 12:11 p.m. -- at my desk

Mark your calendars. One week from today. Live from San Francisco. Apple will hold a special iPod event.

What in the world could this be? Oh, it's hard to say for sure. One thing we seem to be assured of is the form factor of the iPod nano, which appears to be losing some serious weight, going from George Costanza short and pudgy to something thin and svelte. At least that's what the indications are from accessory/case manufacturers.

But we have to take that with a grain of salt. Some accessory makers have had to scrap prototypes due to changes, so what we're seeing on the Interwebs might not reflect what's current.

That said ... will this event yield any special iPhone news? Hard to say. It's fair to at least assume that we could see new software for the iPod touch, which, usually, translates over to the iPhone. So will we get an actual demonstration of 2.1? Maybe, maybe not, but we can hold out hope. Steve promised us a fix in September. Next Tuesday is part of September.

Draw your own conclusions.

While I cannot fly to San Francisco on such short notice, I'll be liveblogging the event using my well-placed sources on the West Coast. So as soon as they hear something that day and I have time to process it and let out a couple of "oh darns" or "woo-hoos" I'll pass it along to you via Twitter and the blog.

That said ... the floor is open to speculation ... speculate in the comments until your heart's content.

Thanks for calling.

Sunday, August 31, 2008 -- 9 a.m. -- on my couch

Starting Monday, Verizon becomes the second cell service to work in the Chicago Transit Authority's sweet-smelling trains and tunnels. U.S. Cellular is the other one.

What does this mean to you and how does this affect you? I can think of a few ways.

1. When your iPhone signal drops to none as the Red Line disappears after the Fullerton stop, folks with a Voyager or a Dare or any other Verizon offering will be able to continue the conversation. (Keep in mind that your iPhone signal may drop to none while walking above ground, anyhow, and one has nothing to do with the other).

2. All CTA trains are about to get much more crowded ... as you are well aware, with Verizon service, about 254 geeky-looking people travel with each Verizon subscriber. I believe they are referred to as "the network." Here me now, oh geeky ones: If anyone from "the network" takes up a seat and forces me to stand, I will call 611 on yo ass. 1 seat per person. No exceptions. Can you hear me now? Gooooooooood.

3. Even with a cell phone that works underground and 3G coverage that works pretty consistently, the person sitting next to you with an iPhone in no-service mode is still waaaaay cooler than you are.

So to recap:

1. iPhones don't work in subway. Verizon phones should.

2. iPhones may not work in some Subway restaurants -- but 2.1 software upgrade should fix that.

3. iPhones still cool. No current or past Verizon phones are.

So there you have it ... if you have questions or comments, I'm all ears. I may not be able to respond while underground, but trust me ... the thought is there.

Oh, and even though I didn't get any link love from my colleague Kyra Kyles, who writes RedEye's CTA blog, I'm going to take the high road and link to her. Hi, Kyra ... Happy Labor Day.

Thanks for calling.

Thursday, August 28, 2008 -- 11:48 a.m. -- on my couch

Oh, Bloomberg. You have such a nice iPhone app and then you go and do the ultimate journalistic gaffe -- you posted, however briefly, an obituary for a person that's still alive.

And Steve Jobs' obit, no less.

The guy has been peppered with questions for months about his health. His battle with cancer was publicized in a sometimes heartless way, where every time Steve looked like he lost a few pounds, people were assuming and printing that he was sick.

I chose not to cover that whole saga. I think it's ridiculous to speculate about something like that.

So this thing with Bloomberg ... definitely an accident. All major media outlets keep obit files ready for short updates. That way, if someone does die suddenly, there isn't a giant gap between the event and the first obituaries. So the practice is widely known; whether or not you agree with it is another story. Bloomberg retracted the event with a very generic bulletin -- saying that a story about Apple should have never been published. Journalism 101 ... never repeat the mistake when writing a correction.

But it got me to thinking... what if this news event was real? If I happened to be looking at a Bloomberg terminal and saw this flash across, I would have reacted as though it's real. I would have had no reason to believe otherwise. I'd research it of course and confirm and re-confirm and then make sure, but what would I have said?

In every single industry, you've always got to be thinking about training your successor. You have to instill the things you do into the people you work with to keep your dreams alive should something happen to you or circumstances change where you can no longer fulfill your obligations. It's a terrible thought to keep information to yourself and leave people in a lurch.

In the case of Apple, while Steve is the face and the man we look to for everything, he's hardly the only person that makes Apple Apple. The company wouldn't be the same without him, but the company would go on.

I've read over and over that Eddy Cue, the guy who was given the reigns of Mobile Me after the whole debacle, is very much like Steve in his work ethic. MobileMe has been working better ... I will say that. I'm pleased with the free extensions and the attention to detail. Could there be more? Sure! But if I didn't know that Eddy Cue was behind it, I'd think Steve was. It shows that there's a level of transparency there where the company operates with different drivers.

Of course, Jonathan Ive is a genius. I mean, if that guy ever went to work for another company, well, that would be the one time I'd fear for Apple's lead in the market. Part of making a device functional is the software, but a giant part is the look and user experience. I'd love Jonathan Ive to design anything that I own.

And, Al Gore and Google CEO Eric Schmidt also reside on Apple's board. Gore would make sure no iPhones contribute to global warming -- he'd better start by making the back of the iPhone 3G a little less warm -- and Schmidt, well, he's working on Android, but he's obviously got some pretty good ideas.

What I'm basically saying is this ... Steve Jobs' death would be a giant loss for the world. I look up to him as a businessman and a creator. But if it happened, Apple and the products that we know and love would go on.

We look at the time when Steve wasn't with Apple and how poorly it did until he came back. Sure. But that was a different time. Apple didn't have that iconic status that it has today. Today, an Apple without Steve wouldn't be the same Apple, but it would still bear fruit.

What do you think? First, did you see the obit and freak out? Do you think Apple would be OK post-Steve?

Let me and everyone know in the comments. As we like to say in this business, this story is a real talker.

Thanks for calling.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008 -- 3:35 p.m. -- at my desk

After finding out about this today, I'm thinking we might see a 2.0.2 update pretty fast. Almost seems as though we'd have to.

Way back in January, in 1.1.3, Apple patched a security flaw in the iPhone to stop people with prying eyes from bypassing the password protection built into the iPhone. Well, the flaw is back .. unpatched in 2.0 ... just like it was never patched in the first place.

So did Apple just forget to put the patch back in? Who knows. They haven't commented yet, but obviously if you password protect your phone, this is not a good thing.

Would you believe that I don't? Never have. Not sure if it's because I have this fear that the time I go to enter the code that my phone will lock me out. Just a fear of the software not being mature. I would consider doing it, though, once this is patched.

Basically, in order to sidestep the password feature, you tap EMERGENCY CALL on the password screen and then double-tap your home button. Just like that -- you end up in the iPhone's favorites list with complete access. If there's a link to e-mail or anything else in the contacts, you can get to the Internet and e-mail that way. Not good, obviously. All of my contacts have e-mails associated, and many have Web site addresses.

Here's the direct information on passcode lock from Apple as per 1.1.3:

The Passcode Lock feature is designed to prevent applications from being launched unless the correct passcode is entered. An implementation issue in the handling of emergency calls allows users with physical access to an iPhone to launch an application without the passcode. This update addresses the issue through an improved check on the state of the Passcode Lock.

According to several Mac sites with forums, there's at least a workaround for now: You go SETTINGS--GENERAL--HOME BUTTON -- and when you do, the flaw can't get to the favorites. The passcode option just pops up again.

So while that's somewhat reassuring, it's not ideal.

Here's hoping that Apple fixes what ails the iPhone (again) and this time leaves it fixed!!

Sound off in the comments, please.

Thanks for calling.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008 -- 1:28 a.m. -- on my couch

Well, Apple, I told you that you should have put Flash on the damn iPhone. Now look what's happened.

Thanks so much to caller Kim in the U.K. for the great heads up on this ... The U.K.'s Advertising Standards Authority ruled than an Apple ad (called an advert across the pond) cannot air again in its current form because the ad can't deliver what it promises.

What is it that it can't deliver? Apparently, the complete Internet. The specific claim that caused the problem was "all the parts of the Internet are on the iPhone."

Nope. The advertising watchdog says all the parts of the Internet are NOT on the iPhone, specifically Flash and Java. Because the Internet that we all use off the iPhone contains Flash and Java and the iPhone can't show pages rendered with either, the claim just doesn't hold up.

Apple disagreed, arguing that its claim referred to availability of webpages, rather than their specific appearance.

The ASA said the advert "gave a misleading impression of the internet capabilities of the iPhone," according to the BBC and consequently "it must therefore not be aired again in its current form."

"Because the iPhone doesn't support Flash or Java, you couldn't really see the internet in its full glory," said Olivia Campbell, a spokesperson for the ASA.

"They made a very general claim that you can see the internet in its entirety, and actually that's not quite true - so we've upheld."

Apple had no comment to the BBC.

Hmmmm. I think Steve should go downstairs, get some warm milk and call Adobe ... time to get some Flash action.

And be careful with the next ad ... don't go promising fast 3G or decent battery life or non-buggy software. Because if you do, you know the ASA is going to take those down too.

What do you think? Overboard? Overblown? Funny? Sad?

Personally, I think it's telling that an advertising standards agency in the UK realizes that the iPhone's claims tend to be a little misleading.

Thanks for calling.

Sunday, August 24, 2008 -- 2:42 p.m. -- at my desk

If you don't know who Kevin Rose is, he's a genius. He's the guy behind digg.com and, well, digg.com is pretty much one of the coolest spots on the Internet.

But Kevin Rose has this habit ... he likes to predict Apple rumors ... and, well, let's just say that he doesn't have the greatest track record. In fact, in all fairness, his track record stinks. He got one iPod rumor right a few years ago. So did I, by the way.

This time? Well, he says that the fat little iPod nano is going to get thin and tall again -- it's been reported before, but he claims to have a photo of it. He's also claiming big price drops across the iPod line and a few cosmetic changes to the iPod touch. But the big thing is that he's calling for 2.1 software to hit the touch before it hits the iPhone and he's calling for iTunes 8.0

That said, I'm going to offer my predictions, which I believe will end up being more accurate than Kevin Rose's

He's got a 50-50 shot at being correct. Is that really a prediction or a guess?

So that said, here are predictions not from me, but from the great NostraScottus ... I believe he is related to Nostradamus, but I'm not sure.

1. iPods will eventually be updated.

2. The price of iPods will eventually change to something other than what they are now. Maybe higher, maybe lower.

3. 2.1 software will come soon for the iPhone and iPod touch. It may or may not correct bugs that exist now and it may or may not add new features.

4. A 32GB iPhone will eventually be available.

5. 3G coverage may or may not improve.

6. Syncing and backing up may get faster at some point, but they may also get slower.

While some say it's fun to speculate, and although it can be, 9 times out of 10 it just makes us upset because we get our hopes so high that the letdown really, really stings.

What do you think? You buying Kevin Rose's predictions? You buying these? Let me know in the comments.

Thanks for calling.

Friday, August 22, 2008 -- 9 a.m. -- on my couch

Actually, there is something wrong with that. Microsoft just isn't cool. Seinfeld is. Or so I thought.

But, it’s the summer of Microsoft! And, Jerry, you’re crazy.

Is he? Or is he so sane that he just blew your mind?

Obviously the guy is still the master of his domain -- he's going to make $10 million for his work and will actually appear with the king of cool in the ads, Bill Gates.

G-g-giddy up.

But what I don't understand is how a creative genius who likes Junior Mints, Yoo-Hoo, Superman, Cheerios and Drake's Coffee Cakes can push something as uncool as Microsoft. That's not gold, Jerry.

I mean for goodness sakes, the guy had a Mac in his apartment all those years on "Seinfeld." OK, I never actually saw him use it, but that's not the point. He does rail about the iPhone in his stand-up act, but apparently he rails on a cell phone in every act and just happens to be riding the iPhone trend right now.

Seinfeld is just being fusilli.

So while I don't think this pitch is going to put more Microsoft products under Festivus poles this holiday season, it'll be interesting to see if an influx of people say no Mac for you. NEXT!

Oh the humanity!

What do you all think? Will people be saying Helllllooooo, Microsoft ... Or will this whole show be about nothing?

Thanks for calling -- I'll answer as soon as I can. Feels like an Arby's night.

Thursday, August 21, 2008 -- 3:34 p.m. -- at my desk

You may have already read about Birmingham, Alabama, resident Jessica Smith, whose name is getting worldwide attention since she filed a lawsuit against Apple over what she said is the "defective iPhone 3G."

Normally, when someone files one of those frivolous lawsuits down in the Eastern District of Texas, I'm the first one to complain and blast the people doing it ... normally, though, it's something ridiculous like Apple being sued for using the letter M on its keyboard or the fact that iPods are capable of playing songs by Barry Manilow.

But this time, we're talking about someone suing over the IPhone 3G problems. According to Dow Jones, Smith's lawsuit accuses Apple of breach of express warranty and unjust enrichments. She also wants a judge to order that Apple fix the problems and that the suit be certified as class action.

On Thursday, Apple spokeswoman Jennifer Bowcock told Dow Jones the following: "We are always working to improve our products for our customers." Dow Jones said she didn't have a comment on Smith's suit, filed earlier this week in Alabama.

And while I applaud Bowcock for what she said -- and it's something that I do believe -- I think there needs to be consequences for problems like these. What's happening now, in many cases, is really preventing folks from using their iPhones the way they were intended -- and, in some cases, from using them at all.

The consumer advocate side of me wants to see consumers protected.

I have no doubt that fixes are coming ... and perhaps some folks will say that Smith jumped the gun a little bit. But it's a prime example that folks expect to be given what they pay for ... and in cases where we're talking $199 or $299 plus a lot of money for a contract, etc., we're talking serious money.

Believe me, Apple knows there are problems. And Apple isn't happy about them. It's shown that it feels consumers' pain by offering 90 day extensions on Mobile Me ... but there's more that needs to be done.

I throw this out there ... I think Steve Jobs should offer all iPhone users that sign up as affected by these problems a $10 iTunes gift card -- or something for their trouble. I know it seems like a lot of people and a lot of money, but it's the right thing to do.

What do you think? Do you think the lawsuit is ridiculous? Do you think I'm crazy in thinking Steve should offer iTunes rewards?

Let me know.

Thanks for calling.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008 -- 3:22 p.m. -- at my desk

I'm no engineer, but I wonder if I've stumbled upon the main problem in 2.0.x software that's causing the extreme suckage (today's word of the day is: suckage) of battery life.

In my case, in the 3G iPhone, I did a little test last night. I've modified my use of Push (sparingly) and fetch (30 minutes or manual). I always keep my Wi-Fi off when not using it and I never have bluetooth on unless I'm using the headset, which I don't do all that often anyhow.

The one constant is that 3G is always enabled. When the iPhone can't find 3G (read: often) it switches to EDGE and then back and forth and back and forth ... and I'm starting to wonder if the searching back and forth -- even though the 3G network is there -- is what is causing the massive battery drain.

Now I know you are going to say ... but what about us folks with first-generation iPhones who also have extreme suckage? Well, I wonder if the software is still causing the phone to look for a signal -- even when a signal doesn't need to be acquired. Meaning, you have 5 bars of EDGE but the phone is still searching for EDGE behind the scenes.

I don't know, because as I said, I'm not an engineer, but it's equivalent, in my mind, to what happens when you leave Wi-Fi on in a non-Wi-Fi area ... the phone periodically searches for a Wi-Fi network. If you turn it off, there's no searching and you save battery life.

So ... to really do this test justice, there's only one answer that can be done on any phone -- and that is to put the phone into airplane mode and don't use it ... and see how long it takes for the battery to run down. Because if I'm right and there's no searching for a cellular network at all, the battery will last a long time. If I'm wrong and the problem is somewhere else in the OS, well, then it has nothing to do with the cellular network.

Now, if there's anyone out there with an extra iPhone or iPod touch who can really afford to put their phone into airplane mode, well, I'd love your help. But I understand what that's asking so I understand if we can't achieve it here ... but I'm really starting to think that it's the searching for network thing.

As a quick example ... last night, I turned off 3G on my phone before bed. I wasn't doing a test ... I just did. It was 3 a.m. At a little before 9 a.m., the charge was still just about full. The other night, I went to bed at the same time and got up at the same time. Same charge, pretty much with 3G enabled. And in the morning, I was down to 10 percent battery warning.

Today, after this realization, I turned 3G back on as I normally do before leaving my apartment. By the time I got to work, I was already close to needing to charge.

I don't think it's a simple matter of it just being 3G -- because if it was that, the first generation iPhone owners wouldn't have similar battery problems, which many of them do.

So that's my thought ... I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks for calling.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008 -- 11:46 p.m. -- at my desk

All the Mac sites are abuzz over a comment that was sent to an AppleInsider poster regarding the Iphone problems.

"This is a known iPhone bug that is being fixed in the next software update in September," is what Jobs said, according to AppleInsider.

I think it's great that he wrote to anyone ... of course, IPTIB callers already knew that because Steve commented here on Aug. 7:

"We are aware of this issue, and a remedy will be made available as soon as is possible; rest assurred that our FW team is diligently working to resolve the problem."

Too bad that story didn't make the rounds the way this one is, but that's far from the point. The point is that Steve is aware and he wants us to know he's working on it. Why he doesn't make a grander statement and ease some minds that way is beyond me. Well, actually it's not ... it just doesn't seem to be the guy's style. But ... he does enjoy putting on a good show for the media, so maybe he could stand to do that for us.

Either way, I won't go into the issues again. The point is there are several outstanding issues that need corrected and if the promise of September's 2.1 software is as advertised, we should get a bit of good news soon.

Thanks for calling.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008 -- 6 p.m. -- at my desk

I'll tell you what ... I really like to write things that are positive. I do. And I waited 24 hours before posting anything new about 2.0.2 just to test it out under all scenarios and give it a fair shake like I did with all the versions before it.

And I'm still unimpressed.

The only fix that I see is smoother scrolling of contacts. The text input was better yesterday and just like in 2.0.1, after a few hours, it's back to being slow. That leaves me to wonder whether contacts scrolling will eventually revert to their slow state ... I don't know ... I hope not because I really want to at least find one thing that I like about 2.0.2.

The signal for me is the same .. reverts to EDGE all the time and then eventually back to 3G, but not fast enough.

Battery life sucks. I can't find a more delicate way to put it. It sucks.

Safari was faster last night ... it's not that much faster now.

I'm really holding out hope that this minor fix is the predecessor of a more massive fix in 2.1.

We'll soon see.

What are your experiences with 2.0.2. I've got lots of comments already, but I'd love some more.

Thanks for calling.

Monday, August 18, 2008 -- 10 p.m. -- at my desk

Thanks for all the great updates on 2.0.2, everyone.

While everyone always seems to have different positives and negatives about every software update, I thought I'd give you my thoughts after 4 hours with 2.0.2.

There are certain things I have not been able to do as of yet -- like do a full backup and sync with iTunes at home -- that comes tonight if I'm brave enough.

So here's a breakdown. Please continue to send your comments and I'll post them just as fast as I can.

Thanks for calling.

Safari
Caller Brad told me that he thought his Wi-Fi was faster and said something must have been done to Safari. While I don't have Wi-Fi here, I did a few tests with some usual sites on 3G and they are clearly and without question faster to load than they were before, so this is a nice touch. Looks like the download speeds are just faster overall, which is great.

Response when typing
I'm having no problems getting the cursor to appear immediately in the box when I type either text messages or Web addresses. Definitely seems better.

Contacts response
Either via the dedicated contacts app or via the phone icon, contacts respond immediately to scrolling. It was better in 2.0.1 and got progressively worse, so I'll be watching that, but I've never seen it this fast so I'm holding out hope that this is the fix.

Moving from screen to screen
Definitely seems faster and more fluid.

Reboot time
Went from well over 2 minutes to about 30 seconds. Definitely see an improvement here, although it's nowhere near the wonder and amazement of the 1.1.4 days when it was no more than 10 seconds.

Signal strength
Tough for me to tell for sure ... where I am in downtown Chicago, I get 5 bars 3G both before and after the update. In the elevator in my building, same as before. I lose 3G and go to EDGE .,.. but when I arrived in the lobby, there seemed to be a quicker changeover back to 3G. Usually it takes a long time or there's a period of no service. Need to actually try this in my apartment to see if I notice a true difference. That's a spot where I have 3G sometimes, but other times I don't.

Battery life
**UPDATE: Craptastic as usual. Already charging as of midnight, after being 2/3 full 6 hours ago. And the little battery icon at the top doesn't come close to matching the green battery icon on the recharge. The green battery icon shows I have about a half left when I plug in while the little icon at the top is just about to the 20 percent warning. This has to be fixed, Apple ... this is a bad bug/problem.** Too early to tell, but I was at 2/3 full charge at 6 p.m. and now at just after 10 I'm below half. So I'm thinking there's no improvement there.

I'll keep testing as the night goes on and if there's something to update in this post, I'll do it at the top so it's apparent.

Sunday, August 17, 2008 -- 9 a.m. -- on my couch

Well done, Apple.

I haven't said that in a while. It's kind of rare.

Let's get to the meat of this post, shall we? I'm talking about reports that Apple, in its latest beta of iPhone 2.1 software, has pulled its answer to allowing applications to run in the background -- its push notification service. I heard about this yesterday and while I was trying to confirm the news, a caller informed me that he has the latest beta and this is indeed true.

It's about time, Apple. There's a lot at steak here. (Ha! OK, that's the last mention of beef I'll make for a while, I promise.).

What's the big deal here? Simple ... lately, it's all been about rushing to get things out. Obviously, clearly and absolutely Apple rushed MobileMe ... and somehow, after months of testing, they must have rushed the 2.0 software because it's not even close to being ready.

This push notification thing is a big, big deal. To release it before it's ready would be a mistake of tragic proportions. It's great to see that Apple is taking a proactive approach to this situation.

The actual release of the push service is due in September, according to Steve Jobs, but I would think that this delay will push that date back.

While I want instant notifications of my incoming Tweets and other types of messages, I also would like something that I haven't yet seen on any day with my iPhone 3G and that's stability.

So good for you Apple ... we don't want anything else that's undercooked. I like my steaks medium well and I like my iPhone software and hardware to be well done.

My advice to you is to go back and make sure this service is perfect when it finally does come out.

Because you know, Steve, that you owe us this much ... we've been really patient up until now.

What do you think? You ok with a little more cooking time on this push notification? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Thanks for calling.

Thursday, August 14, 2008 -- 11:27 p.m. -- at my desk

I was sad today when one of my callers and Twitter followers informed me of Twitter's decision to change the way it handles international communications via SMS messages.

While I understand the cost must be enormous, it's a shame that it had to come to this ... it would almost seem that Twitter is big enough to cover the costs, but apparently not.

It's not all bad news ... as you'll see in the letter. Twitter will be introducing several new, local SMS numbers in countries
throughout Europe in the coming weeks and months.

I hope that if you do follow me from outside the U.S. that you'll continue to be able to do so via an alternative method. I so appreciate your support.

Here's the full text from the letter that Twitter's co-founder Biz Stone sent to subscribers.

Thanks for calling.

Hi,

Thank you for your attention,
Biz Stone, Co-founder
Twitter, Inc.
http://twitter.com/biz

Thursday, August 14, 2008 -- 11:51 a.m. -- at my desk

Morning, callers. BusinessWeek has a great write-up saying that there's help on the way for all those folks (read: everyone in the world) with iPhone 3G connection problems.

This is not necessarily related to a fix for all of the other problems (read: hundreds) that are plaguing not only 3G customers, but pretty much anyone that upgraded their software from 1.1.4 to 2.0 and 2.0.1. It might be, but the gist of this article is the actual connection problems between Edge and 3G.

If you haven't experienced it ... or if you aren't using a 3G iPhone, here's how I'd describe the problem, as it plagues me as well.

Here in Chicago, right now, in the center of downtown Chicago, I have 5 bars on 3G. It's fast -- not as fast as in the commercials, but pretty close -- and great. When I leave the central area -- even a few blocks, it quickly drops to 1 or 2 bars and then jumps up and down. At my apartment, which is only 10 blocks away from here in a high-traffic area, it jumps between 3G and EDGE outside my building -- 5 bars EDGE and then no service and then 3G and then no service.

It's really hard to maintain a connection because of that. I talked to my mom on Saturday on my walk to work. During my 25 minute work through the city, we lost each other 4 times. Call dropped and said call failed. My mom was sitting in her living room, where she usually sits when she talks to me -- and on 1.1.4, we never lost the connection.

I am aware that topography and buildings affect signal strength, but I'm talking about a much bigger problem here ... I don't blame the carriers here at all ... the experts and sources say that the problems are at the chip level, thus the need for the upgrade.

And in my own non-scientific test, I have asked folks here at work who have other 3G phones if they have such problems and the looks I get are classic ... Most tell me that they have never lost the 3G signal in Chicago since getting the phone and seeing a reversion to EDGE is very, very rare, usually reserved for deep interior spots in buildings or elevators.

I'd say I get the revert to EDGE and loss in signal strength no less than 30-40 times per day. And I'm not alone. I know other folks in Chicago with 3G iPhones and it's exactly the same for them. Same with folks in other cities.

Apple, as per usual, just won't comment on anything having to do with this problem -- they don't even acknowledge the problem, but usually, when it comes to Apple, the silence indicates they know and are working on it. You just have to know how to read them.

Anyhow, this is a good piece from BusinessWeek that's worth a look.

Here's hoping it's accurate and a fix is imminent. We need something and fast.

And then there's MobileMe ... that's a whole different problem.

Let me know what you think. What's your 3G reception experience. Include your city/country so we can keep track.

Thanks for calling.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008 -- 9:29 p.m. -- at my desk

AT&T says the iPhone's 3G performance is just dandy, but apparently Sweden disagrees ... well, at least one Swedish technical magazine that says that the problems with the iPhone's 3G performance are hardware based and a product of a bad manufacturing process.

Read the whole story here at MSNBC.com.

Thanks for callling.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008 -- 8:41 p.m. -- at my desk

It's official folks, Best Buy will be selling the iPhone starting September 7.

The good: It means more iPhones in more stores.

The bad: The folks in the blue shirts at the Best Buy I deal with can't work a can opener. Should be fascinating to watch them pushing the iPhone.

My apologies if I offended any Best Buy employees, unless you happen to work at the store that I'm talking about in Chicago. Because then I mean it.

So my question ... would you buy an iPhone at Best Buy? Do you think this is good news?

Thanks for calling.

Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2008 -- 11:46 a.m. -- at my desk

You probably read by now Ars Technica's story about the e-mail from Steve Jobs to his staff about the mistakes with MobileMe.

When I read it, after convincing myself that it was real, I started to wonder if it means that Steve is going to be a little more careful instead of ambitious when it comes to rolling out new products and updates to iPhone software -- updates for new features as opposed to bugs.

I'm not quite sure I have a definitive answer, but I will say this ... I think Steve was humbled by what happened with MobileMe and the whole too much at one time thing regarding the iPhone 3G launch. I think he realizes that Apple is human and although it's always trying to stay at the forefront, it has to realize that straying too far ahead isn't necessarily the best way to get where he wants to go.

So I think there's going to be some serious thought given to putting too much on the Apple plate, but I don't think it's going to affect any of us. In fact, I think what it might end up doing is making the next big thing that much better. We might wait a little longer for it, but I think the quality control is going to ramp up and I think we'll all appreciate it much more -- whatever it is.

That said, Steve, if you are reading this ... I applaud that kind of thinking and I hope I'm right about it. But the iPhone needs some work. It's a beautiful device, but it's not quite where I think it should be yet. Certainly seeing some problems with syncing and iTunes ... I think it's time to just launch iTunes 8, make it better and bigger and put all these problems to rest so we can all get back to the business of loving our iPhones.

I know it would make everyone here at iPTIB happy.

What do you think? Has Steve learned a lesson or will it be business as usual in Cupertino?

Let me know in the comments.

Thanks for calling.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008 -- 11:40 a.m. -- on my couch

Well, for many of us, it's day 2 of the 2.0.1 update. For some of us, it's a new day where the sun is shining and birds are chirping, meaning all is right with the world.

For others, it's overcast and foggy ... nothing has changed, EDGE isn't working and it's an overall mess.

It's true. Some folks are reporting great success while others are wondering what the excitement is all about.

I'd say overall that the response to 2.0.1 is positive. For most folks, contacts are faster, text input is more responsive and scrolling between screens is more fluid.

It's too early to tell just how much better, if at all, battery life is. I'm still on my charge from last night which is a good sign, but I'm not at 90 percent charge, which is what I would have expected pre 2.0 update. However, there's a lot more happening in 2.0 and 2.0.1, like location services and push ... and for some of us, 3G. So your mileage will vary more now on battery life than ever, but that doesn't mean you should be recharging every few hours.

I'd love to know your experiences as you head into day 2 of 2.0.1 ... anything wild or crazy that you are seeing? So far, definitely no new features. Apple was correct in that this was all bug fixes, and to be honest, they didn't go far enough. Looks like they got some, and that's great, but we still need iTunes 7.7.2 or something to fix this crazy app backup issue (more on that in another upcoming post).

So let me and all of the iPTIB universe know what you are finding and we'll all work together to find solutions where needed.

Thanks for calling.

Monday, August 4, 2008 -- 10:46 a.m. -- on my couch

Hi, everyone. I got all your comments and will reply as soon as I can catch up. iWife and I spent the weekend in Ohio at a friend's wedding and didn't get back til late yesterday.

But ... turns out, a weekend between major cities in northeast Ohio is a great time to test out the new iPhone 3G. So many of you have said that you couldn't think of a need to get a new iPhone if you didn't have access to the 3G network and potentially all the different variants of GPS that make the iPhone's GPS so advanced.

Not that I doubted you, but now I have proof that you were 100 percent correct.

The area where I was staying was about 65 miles southeast of Cleveland and 30 miles west of Youngstown. Definitely no 3G here ... in fact, it was hard at time to get a good EDGE signal, although I think that had more to do with the hotel than the actual lay of the land.

Out of habit, I went to settings--network to enable 3G and see what happens. And wouldn't you know ... it actually gave me the no signal message so I had no network. I waited and waited and waited and couldn't get it back -- this is now outside of the hotel room where I had 4 bars on EDGE before turning on 3G. Finally, I decided to put the phone into airplane mode and then off again and the signal came back.

So not only did I not have 3G, it really took a while for the phone to get used to what I was trying to do to it. I thought that it would, by default, simply just come back to EDGE once realizing there was no 3G anywhere nearby. It really didn't do that. The extra need to turn on airplane mode was annoying, and actually I noticed that here once in downtown Chicago last week ... when I lost 3G even though it was enabled in settings and it showed EDGE, I went to the settings and toggled the 3G switch. I was greeted with no service for about 5 minutes in the middle of downtown Chicago, where I know there is plenty of signal. It took airplane mode and a toggle to get back up and running. I really didn't think anything big of it at the time and I still don't, but I still don't understand why it takes anytime at all to realize if no 3G is available, it should just revert back to EDGE no questions asked.

Anyhow, back to Ohio ... I then did a test with GPS to see just how the little blue pulsating dot tracks me in a more rural area. In Chicago, I watched the dot plot my course on a train and it was pretty cool. Same on a bus and while walking. No such luck at all in Ohio. In fact, I couldn't even get the little blue dot ... it never gets that close on the map .. I got the really big circle which found me regionally and sometimes a smaller circle that showed me within about 30 miles but never the smallest circle and dot showing my actual location.

And keep in mind ... this whole experience came on the same weekend where iWife and I had a GPS in our car for the very first time. We never, ever used one, and I know that's hard to believe for a tech person like me, but I've always been naturally good at directions and never needed a GPS -- I know, you are thinking typical male who doesn't ask for directions, but truth be told I used to teach a map-reading class for AAA -- but that aside, I got to see what "true" GPS is.

And I'm hooked! It's amazing. It works really, really well and it finds you wherever you are. Twice the system said it was acquiring satellites and had to fine-tune my location, but it works and it's trustworthy.

For the iPhone to ever serve as a GPS system with turn-by-turn directions, well, it could but the software that a GPS company would provide would only be one small piece of the puzzle. If my iPhone couldn't determine my exact location at any point this weekend, unless I'm in a major city, well, it kind of defeats the purpose.

I don't think there's anything wrong with my iPhone's GPS ... I think that's just the way it works. But perhaps someone out there has found a situation where it works perfectly in a rural area and the problem is just me. If that's so, well, I'd like to know about it so I can take care of it, but my thinking is that it works fine in the big city and not so well anywhere else -- especially, when only EDGE is available.

Please do let me know your thoughts on that and anything else of course.

So in conclusion ... those of you outside of a 3G area who chose to stick with the first-generation iPhone with upgraded 2.0 software chose very wisely, despite the bugs present in the software. I just can't see a true need for you to upgrade at this time to a 3G model.

Thanks for calling.

Friday, Aug. 1, 2008 -- 1:47 a.m. -- on my couch

271,550
This is a number I can honestly say that I never thought I'd type here at the blog, at least not under the heading of page views for the month of July.

And then ponder this number: 192,053. That's the number of unique visitors at the site for July.

Numbers aside, it means that you are turning iPTIB into a significant worldwide source of iPhone news, tips, advice, witty banter, app reviews and much more.

Consider this. Prior to this month, the most page views for a month at iPTIB was 84,000. So we're talking about 3 times that number.

I know I'm far from the only iPhone blog in the world and that's why I'm so darn humbled by this number and appreciative of all of you. You don't have to come here, but you do ... some of you every day, and some of you several times a day. Many of you participate in my dream of a worldwide iPhone community by answering questions for new and seasoned callers.

I know I feel like if there's ever a global iPTIB meetup that I'll know a lot of you ... and I have a feeling that a lot of you will know someone too ... there's a family feeling here that's like one of those backyard BBQs, you know, the kind where the steaks are done just right.

I mean, we've got callers that have checked in from 54 countries. 54 countries! Japan, China, New Zealand, Russia, Brazil, South Africa, Denmark, Israel ... I could name them all ... but you get my point ... every time I write a post like this, I'm reminded about what this blog started as ... a simple collection of thoughts about life with an iPhone.

I wish I remembered the name of the person who asked me the first question ... how do I fix this problem? Boom! A community was born.

Enough reminiscing. Now for the thanks. I hope that number is a million in no time, but there's no time like the present to thank each and every one of you for making iPTIB what it is today -- and that's one of the world's most popular and successful iPhone blogs. That's an incredible thing for me to type, and despite the worldwide reach, it's still just me -- either on my couch or at my desk -- plugging away and hoping to make a difference somehow.

And the blog doesn't just live on the blog ... there's hundreds of you subscribed to my RSS feed, hundreds following me on Twitter for breaking news and hundreds that are part of the Facebook group. And now, I just launched the last.fm group and I expect that to take off as well.

And whether you agree or disagree with me, you know what ... it's all good. ... I respect each and every opinion I read here. In fact, I look forward to them.

And remember ... I do the typing, but this is your community ... I want you to continue to tell me what you love, what you hate, what you want more of and less of.

So here's to iPTIB's quest for a million and here's to you all.

Thanks for calling.

Thursday, July 31, 2008 -- 2:13 a.m. -- on my couch

Use caution when downloading iTunes 7.7.1 and syncing your iPhone with it.

Caller Michael reported that his iPhone crashed and is currently non-functional.

I've read all kinds of reports from around the Web of longer sync times, backups still being slow, apps doing strange things between iPhone and iTunes ... even reports of the Remote app no longer working.

Hey, Apple ... I'm really growing impatient with your craptastic quality control lately.

Care to comment, Steve Jobs? I've always wanted to talk to you ... I think you owe us an explanation for the mess flowing out of Cupertino this past month.

Anyway, just use caution when syncing with 7.7.1.

Best advice I can give you ... make sure that before you take the plunge that you have a recent and working backup -- in case you are forced to restore your phone, this way, you don't lose it all.

Do let me know what you decide to do. Please report any problems and also please let me know if there are any success stories.

Thanks for calling

Tuesday, July 29, 2008 -- 8:11 p.m. -- at my desk

I missed this one earlier today ... AT&T didn't send me the press release.

The company announced today that the Text Accessibility Plan (TAP) for iPhone 3G will give customers with disabilities unlimited text messaging, Web browsing and easy access to e-mail for $50 per month. Customers with disabilities wishing to use enterprise email can sign up for a $65 per month plan that features unlimited messaging, data, and support for enterprise email with Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync. Pay-per-use voice is included in both the consumer and enterprise TAP at $.40 per minute.

This new plan is available to current and future iPhone 3G users with qualifying disabilities through AT&T's National Center for Customers with Disabilities (NCCD). To qualify for the iPhone 3G TAP, customers must complete an application for eligibility. The form is available for download here

When purchasing iPhone 3G, customers will be required to sign up for a standard iPhone 3G voice and data plan. After the iPhone 3G is activated, customers can e-mail, fax or mail the eligibility form back to the NCCD to change their rate plan to the TAP for iPhone 3G. Customers can contact the AT&T NCCD with questions at 866-241-6568 for voice calls or 866-241-6567 for TTY calls.

The NCCD also helps AT&T customers with disabilities with a variety of applications that aid in wireless communications. These include features to assist persons who are blind, such as Mobile Magnifier, which enables an individual to zoom-in on the screen, and Mobile Speak, which reads aloud the phone's menu options.

If you have any questions, I advise you to call the phone numbers above or check AT&T's Web site.

And as always, feel free to discuss in the comments.

Thanks for calling.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008 -- 1:47 a.m. -- on my couch

Bit of good news from Apple regarding its sales of the iPhone 3G.

This is from apple.com

Open Early
Your favorite Apple Retail Store is making it easier and more convenient to purchase an iPhone 3G. All stores will now open at 8:00 a.m. every day but Sunday and, to accommodate demand, we’re adding staff to help you get up and running as quickly as possible. Customers will be prequalified to purchase while in line and will receive a claim ticket for an iPhone 3G. Your ticket can be redeemed on the spot or — if it would be more convenient to return later the same day — by 6:00 p.m. (4:00 p.m. on Sundays).

There you go ... still, Apple recommends arriving as early as possible and says all iPhone 3G sales are normally on a first-come, first-served basis.

Thanks for calling.

Monday, July 28, 2008 -- 11:29 a.m. -- on my couch

If you have not downloaded or tried last.fm yet, well, you might be missing out on something really great.

Now, iPTIB has a group on last.fm, and that means you can join (free) and share your musical tastes with other iPTIB callers.

It's like a concert in cyberspace!

If you aren't familiar with last.fm, here's the info from iTunes.

First off, it's free, and it works on any iPhone whether you use EDGE, 3G or Wi-Fi.

You use it to listen to streaming radio, and it allows you to share your favorite or newly-discovered music with friends in your iPhone contact list -- or people in a group on last.fm's site.

Then, based on your musical taste, last.fm creates personalized radio stations that stream music that last.fm thinks you'd like -- and you don't have to store it on the iPhone. It streams, and it sounds good.

It's like Pandora in terms of the service, but the groups function in last.fm is pretty cool.

So here's how to join the newest kind of social networking group:

1. Go to the App Store on your computer or on your iPhone and download the last.fm app for free. (Click for the direct link).
2. After you have the app installed, go to your browser or mobile Safari and go to this address.
3. You will be asked to create an account ... it's simple.
4. Then, you'll have the option to enter your musical faves, which will in turn become part of the iPTIB last.fm page and accessible to everyone.

So sign up and let the world know what iPTIB is listening to ... with callers in at least 54 countries, imagine the music out there that you don't know about.

If you sign up, please leave a comment here and let everyone know ... I think this could be very, very cool. As interactive as Facebook and Twitter are, this might be the next big thing.

Thanks for calling.

Sunday, July 27, 2008 -- 2:40 p.m. -- at my desk

**UPDATE 07.29.08 -- well, so much for this great idea. This is what's posted on the Web site as of this minute: This page will not be updated again as Apple has removed their 3G iPhone availability data via JSON and replaced it with a new lookup.

It was cool while it lasted.**

This is some great stuff.

Here's a site that not only keeps us informed of the availability of the iPhone 3G, it does it every 15 minutes and breaks down the inventory in each store.

I'd definitely want to check this site out before going shopping for a new iPhone.

Unfortunately, at least now, it's just for the U.S. If that changes, I'll certainly let you know in an update.

Here's the link.

Thanks for calling.

Friday, July 25, 2008 -- 4:34 p.m. -- on my couch

**UPDATE 07.26.08 2:15 p.m. -- now, there's a blog from Apple that Steve apparently had a hand in creating that talks about MobileMe status. Thanks for calling, Steve!!**

Today was a banner day in the iPhone world, and you might not have even noticed.

It's almost comical yet sad that clues were uncovered today in not-yet-released builds of the iPhone 2.1 firmware that indicate copy/cut and paste is on the way.

Had we gotten wind of this a few months ago, there would be parades in the streets and people driving to Cupertino to kiss the ground inside the Apple compound.

But today it's just kind of being reported with little fanfare. People aren't sending e-mails exclaiming hallelujah. It's just news, and while it's very good news, it's not getting us riled up.

The obvious question is why? And, how is that even possible knowing how much we want copy/paste and knowing that it's likely the most talked about thing in iPhone history besides Flash.

The answer is simple and again sad ... it's because the iPhoneosphere isn't exactly buzzing these days with the way the 2.0 software is working. That and the MobileMe problems and the fact that you can't find an iPhone anywhere are making things a little subdued.

As Charlie Brown would undoubtedly say ... I can't stand it.

Think about it ... I mean, I'm still excited about my iPhone. I love blogging. I love talking to all of you and I love downloading apps from the app store. But the news in general lately is trending a bit negative. My gosh, even Walt Mossberg said that he couldn't recommend MobileMe, and Fortune declared MobileMe Apple's most flawed product in 10 years.

All of that comes back to the iPhone. 2.0 was supposed to be the dawn of a new era. Coupled with MobileMe and a new iPhone, it was supposed to be more life changing than the first iPhone. And, well, 2.0 is riddled with bugs .... hundreds of them ... and MobileMe only works for some people.

Apple's discussion boards are anger filled virtual rooms where seething customers are cursing Steve and Co. Nearly 100,000 messages and hundreds of thousands of page views. And Apple hasn't exactly done much to ease the pain and frustration -- they extended MobileMe subscriptions and issued an apology, which is great, but it's only one step.

The logical step now is for Steve Jobs to use that doctorate or whatever he has in PR and do something ... Make a statement. The stock price is falling. Confidence is falling. iPhones are crashing. Syncs take 2 hours. Mail isn't going through. Haven't we suffered enough?

He needs to let the world know that what they are experiencing now on their iPhones is temporary and not to give up faith. He needs to let the world know that not only is a fix imminent, but EXACTLY when it's going to hit. None of this .. we'll have it in August only to find out that you and I won't get it until a later date (like the SDK).

Apple is a business. Coke doesn't make a statement when you open a flat can of soda. Nike doesn't make a statement when you get a hole in your shoe. Starbucks doesn't make a statement when your coffee tastes bitter (although it should) ... So why do we demand so much from Apple?

Many iPhone fans don't look at Apple as the company it is ... they look at it as the guiding light ... WWSD (what would Steve do?) Heck, they'd vote for him if he was really running for president. They expect bigger and better from Apple.

I think Apple is probably doing the very best it can right now under the circumstances. If you think about what has happened, it's pretty alarming. MobileMe was a debacle a few days before the iPhone 3G made its debut to crashing servers around the world that bricked millions of phones. Meanwhile, the App Store and the 2.0 software were all being rushed out of fortress Apple. The App store is the shining light here, but the 2.0 software is the equivalent of a car with water in its gas tank, constantly stalling and sputtering and causing customers to call for a tow.

How this all happened is anyone's guess. Knowing what I know about Steve Jobs, the man is impatient as the day is long. When he wants something done, he gets it ... supposedly yelling and punching the desks and all that good stuff. If it was he who said he wanted everything done the way it was done and put it on lower employees who knew he was making a huge mistake, well, then it's on him no matter who is the face of the blame.

If someone at Apple did this without Steve's approval -- or their immediate boss's approval, well, that's another problem.

In the end, I imagine it was rooms full of thousands of people with Steve on the balcony controlling the chaos. Those thousands of people bumped into one another, stopping and realizing when the smoke cleared that all of this probably wasn't going to work and that storm clouds were gathering ... but by then, dazed and confused, there was precious little they could do to stop it.

So that's how we got here. And today, we hear there may be cut and paste coming.

Can I get a woo-hoo? Anyone?

Thanks for calling.

Thursday, July 24, 2008 -- 11:20 p.m. -- at my desk

On the roadmap of iPhone software, sometimes all you need is a sign.

Usually, I'm very careful when it comes to believing sites that claim they know about future firmware and software updates.

But, this one comes from Gear Live, which you may remember, turned out to be a very accurate source back in the 1.1.x days.

When we were finally getting icons that wiggled and moved around, I was very skeptical. I didn't know much about Gear Live and I didn't believe the wiggle thing. It just seemed really, really strange.

And I was wrong ... big time. It was true. And Gear Live is reporting again -- complete with screenshots -- that there's a 2.1 in the pipeline.

No way to know how long it will take to reach us, but honestly, it doesn't matter. It just needs to come. Apple obviously knows how important this update is and hopefully they are working hard to get it right. It's not even a .x.x update. It's a full .x update from 2.0 to 2.1. That usually means bug fixes and some updates.

However, it could also be that 2.1 is the second update and that 2.0.1 will come sooner to address the serious bugs while 2.1 is finalized.

Here's what Gear Live reports:

"A few new things we are seeing in this version of the software is the addition of a bunch of Core Location features that track the direction you are heading, and the speed you are traveling. Looks like we might see a turn-by-turn GPS app after all on the iPhone 3G."

OK, that's very exciting.

You can check it all out at the Gear Live site here.

Feel free to discuss in the comments, of course.

Thanks for calling.

Thursday, July 24, 2008 -- 8:52 p.m. -- at my desk

Hi, callers. I've had the opportunity to really think about this post today, well, with my blog provider was down and a longer-than-usual walk to grab soup and salad for dinner.

I'll start by letting you know that I got the green light today to use Exchange e-mail on my iPhone -- no, I couldn't do that here at work officially -- and, well, it's pretty darn cool.

I read a lot about how you absolutely cannot use MobileMe and Exchange at the same time. Now while I have not yet set up my work calendar, I can tell you that for mail, so far, both work side by side in perfect harmony.

With that, though, I noticed a big, big shortcoming in the iPhone that's probably the easiest piece of software to either write or tweak. Of course, I thought the same thing about copy and paste as well as some other features, so who knows.

Anyhow, here are the three things, with the first being the most important.

1. Dedicated mail count badges on the mail icon
So today, when I activated my work account and checked to see if my home account still worked, I noticed something that gets annoying quick.

I had 4 new e-mails in my home account and 5 in my Tribune account.

When I clicked the home button and went back to the front page , I had 9 e-mails showing on the badge.

That's right ... 4 for home, 5 for work. But 9 e-mails doesn't tell me anything, because I have no idea whether or not those e-mails are personal or business without clicking in.

So ... why not 2 icons? There's a program for the Mac that I've used for a long time called DockStar from Ecamm (see photo) that lets you customize the mail badge for up to 5 accounts. When I used it, I had 2 -- one for one account and one for the other. If Ecamm could make an app or if Apple would license the software, I could have a badge on one side of the icon that reads 4 and another badge that reads 4 for a total of 8. And color-coding them would allow me to know instantly whether or not I need to read the mail now or later.

I don't see Apple letting Ecamm have access to the base OS in the iPhone to allow this to happen, but Apple could certainly make it happen. And I think if Apple is serious about attracting business customers that this is something that it should do quickly. Most people I know like having their personal and work accounts in one place and not knowing which one you have mail in gets old fast.

2. Notification of mail on the front screen
This is not the first time I've mentioned this one, but it takes on new importance starting today.

When my iPhone is idle at the very first screen and I have a missed call or text or voicemail, I see a notification indicating what it is -- and even the entire text.

But why is it that I can't see something that reads MAIL (1) or anything to indicate how much mail I have. Now, to find out if I have mail, I must unlock the phone and check the badge. And, if you read No. 1, you'll see that I have to tap again to find out where that mail is. So there's all this extra clicking that I really shouldn't have to do that I'm forced to do all because Apple doesn't put the mail notification on the front page and doesn't split up the icon.

And the notification on the front page is even more weird because there's notifications for everything except for mail.

There's a jailbreak program that allows all that stuff to appear on the front screen that Apple won't allow, and while I'd like that functionality, that's really ok. Just adding the mail to the notifications would be all I need -- and, don't just do MAIL (8). Do it this way: MOBILEME MAIL: 4 TRIBUNE MAIL 6 or something so I know on first glance. It should be a quick read.

3. The little bell
Yep. I've talked about the little bell before too.

I go to a lot of meetings and when I do, I always turn off my ringer. And sure, I get the bell notification to indicate that the ringer is off, but there's nothing on the face of the phone after that to remind me that I turned it off. And 4 hours later, when my phone is vibrating but not making a sound, I remember that I forgot to turn it back on.

Same when I go to the movies. I turn off the ringer and then I forget to turn it back on.

And while my memory isn't as sharp as it used to be, having a simple icon in the corner of a bell or a bell with a line through it isn't too much to ask, is it? It can be tiny and right next to the alarm clock symbol at the top. I know that Apple wants a clean icon presentation at the top -- it always does. But this bell would be functional.

It's exactly like cruise control in cars. Very few cars have any kind of symbol that tells you that cruise is on. You don't really want to forget about cruise control and usually when the gas pedal gets heavy and you realize your foot isn't needed then you know it's on, but I never understand why there couldn't be a little symbol that says "cruise" on the dashboard" with all the other symbols.

Maybe Apple makes most cars and we don't know it.

Anyhow, I know there are a million other things that are missing and are absolutely needed, but as a power iPhone user, these 3 things would be most welcome. And think about how easy they are to implement!!

What are your thoughts? Would you find these things useful?

Thanks for calling.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008 -- 10 p.m. -- at my desk

Posted on Apple's support site tonight for all to see:

MobileMe: Important information regarding email service interruption
Last Modified: July 22, 2008
Updated: July 22, 2008, 4 p.m. PDT.

Symptom: On Friday, July 18, 2008 (2008-07-18) we experienced a serious issue with one of our MobileMe mail servers. This issue is currently affecting approximately 1% of MobileMe members. Affected members are unable to send or receive email at www.me.com or access email using any email client software such as Mail on a Mac or Microsoft Outlook on a PC.

Resolution: We understand this is a serious issue and apologize for this service interruption. We are working hard to restore your service.

So there you have it ... Even when there's no actual answer, it's ALWAYS nice when Apple acknowledges the problem. It seems to make it better knowing that they know.

Thanks for calling.

UPDATED: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 -- 8:25 a.m. -- on my couch

**For even more analysis on the cloud and Apple's big plans, click here.**

No one said that the product that no one can match had to be a product you can actually touch, right?

Think about that for a while. Let that sink in.

No one knows marketing like Apple. No one, anywhere in the world.

Last night, during Apple's financial results quarterly call, CFO Peter Oppenheimer talked a lot about a future product that he couldn't talk about.

That. Right there. That's what makes Apple so darn smart.

Leave it to a company to tease to something that's so incredible and then refuse to ever talk about it again until launch. Now, every single source on the planet -- big and small, print and online, audio and video -- will discuss it until the day it arrives.

Some will speculate correctly. Some will make us laugh.

It doesn't matter. It's all about the buildup. The talk. The attention is what Apple thrives upon. Everyone knows that Steve Jobs could introduce the long-sleeved black turtleneck for $599 and everyone would buy it. If Steve announces it, they will come.

And while Apple always wins because its software is so incredible -- there are MP3 players and video players that do more than the iPod and iPhone, but nothing matches the ease and simplicity of iTunes. In this case, instead of folks saying "It's the software, silly" ... they'll be saying ... "it's the CLOUD, silly."

More on the cloud in a few minutes.

So what could this product be? Oppenheimer said it was new and contained technology that others can't match. I can think of two things right off the bat.

-- Revamped iPod line -- goodbye hard drives, hello solid state flash. Good bye clickwheels (we loved you for what you were) and hello touch. Problem is this isn't new. It's updated and reimagined, but hardly new.

Here's what I think we're embarking on:

--A bigger brother to the iPhone in the form of a touch screen mini tablet/laptop. I talked about this several months ago, so seeing it today as a brand new thought makes me smile.

But here's the key with this one, callers ... the concept isn't new ... tablets aren't new. Steve has said that no one uses a Tablet and that they aren't great. Well, he said that about an Apple-branded phone, so take it with a grain of salt ... but it's not the Tablet that's the big deal ... it's how we use the tablet. If everyone buys an iPhone and then everyone has a tablet as the home version of their iPhone ... well, imagine that for a minute.

I spoke many moons ago about a scenario where you come home, put your iPhone on the table, sit down and voila! Instant update. Instant sync. We've started that ball rolling with the cloud and Mobile Me ... but we're not there yet for podcasts and music. With this type of product, we would be. Automatic sync over the air. For music, apps, -- EVERYTHING -- not just calendars and bookmarks.

Think about it ... you don't think that Mobile Me is just about those little things, do you? Mobile Me is the beginning of a new world of computing. It's the beginning of the end for software on DVDs. It's the beginning of life over the air.

Your iPhone automatically senses the tablet. Both match. Files. Music. Songs. Time Machine technology is built in. Backing up done automatically. You'll have less space on your iPhone, but it's OK because everything else will fit on the tablet. And, here's the key .. what doesn't fit is stored in the cloud. So even when it's not with you, it's with you.

Catch my drift?

$999, perhaps? Oppenheimer hinted at lower pricing. $999? No other laptop in the world could match this.

The mini tablet wouldn't be a laptop as we know it. It would be a giant piece of glass that begs for a whole new line of cases -- a giant piece of glass to hooks up wirelessly to the iPhone in your pocket and allows you to be more productive in the form of a bluetooth keyboard and a slot loading drive (to load apps instead of over the cloud) when products are too big -- like a new version of iWork or Aperture for the iPhone/iTablet.

The mini tablet would also be the nail in the coffin for Amazon's Kindle, which, I still don't get. If this sexy piece of glass contains ebook titles from the app store and is in full amazing color and can wirelessly share the content with the iPhone, well, see ya, Kindle.

I'll speculate on this plenty more in the comments with y'all, but think like Steve for a minute. Different. Creative. Nothing exists like it anywhere. Game changer.

OK, now think about what I wrote about ... see where I'm going?

Your iPhone in your pocket grows up and comes home.

And before you call me crazy, just remember ... my track record isn't half bad. I called Mobile Me exactly and I think I'm onto something here.

Can't wait to hear your thoughts.

Thanks for calling.

Monday, July 21, 2008 -- 3:50 p.m. -- at my desk

As you know, the iPhone 3G is now ridiculously hard to find, but that doesn't mean there aren't ways to get it.

Speaking specifically about the U.S. in this particular case, one of the best ways to secure one seems to be through AT&T's direct fulfillment program.

That basically means that you order one from AT&T and they call you when it comes in for activation.

I talked with AT&T earlier today and found out that the average wait time that customers are given is a range from 10 to 21 days at the longest. Then, AT&T updated me a few minutes ago and said that the current average now is 13 to 14 days.

So while it's by no means quick, getting yourself on a waiting list is better than just getting in line every single day and facing disappointment. I would recommend this method if you really want an iPhone.

If you spend all that time reading iPTIB, the time will fly by in no time :-D

Let me know if you decide to go this route.

Thanks for calling.

Sunday, July 20, 2008 -- 8:06 p.m. -- at my desk

Is it terrible that as an iPhone blogger that I just don't care?

How I can be more honest than that, I don't know. There are so many "real" issues with the new iPhone and its associated software that I think all attention should be on that, but of course that's a little selfish on my part.

Anyhow, if you want to jailbreak your iPhone using 2.0 software, apparently you can -- and apparently unlocking is coming soon.

Wake me when something important happens.

I heard right away from caller tj, who says he's been reading this blog for several months. He makes a good point and that is that my bias shows -- and that he feels he has a right to do what he wants with the iPhone he owns.

I can't argue. He's right. He has every right and I'd want nothing less for anyone. But I still stand by the belief that jailbreaking/unlocking is only done by a small percentage and with the App store, I think there's actually less of a need for it now than ever before. Sure, Apple has certain rules and regulations that everyone wants to get around.
'
If you jailbreak, you take your own risks. You obviously know that going into it. To each their own. I hope at the end of the day you get to enjoy the iPhone the way you want to enjoy it. I say that to everyone.

And of course if you think I'm ridiculous and you think this is the greatest news ever (you there, Brian?) -- I'd love to hear from you. Well, I love to hear from you no matter what.

Thanks for calling.

Friday, July 18, 2008 -- 1:49 p.m. -- on my couch

I'm heading out and about into the streets of Chicago to do a little iPhone field testing.I'm going to check and see the signal strength of 3G -- bars in 3G vs. bars in EDGE -- and see how the download speeds on the old 3G are.

I haven't really had time to do much of that over the course of the week, so I'll report back over the weekend with what I find.

Of course, it's specific to Chicago, but it gives at least a little real-time look at things and that's always useful.

Have an awesome weekend everyone, and if there's breaking iPhone news, well, you know I'll be on top of that here and over at Twitter.

If you haven't signed up yet, it's a great time to remind you to do so here. And, now you can download Twinkle from the App Store, which is a really, really, really nice Twitter client that up until now could only be used on a jailbroken iPhone.

Thanks for calling.

Thursday, July 17, 2008 -- 11:25 a.m. -- on my couch

There's no substitute for quality. We demand it in everything we do. But lately, I feel as though I'm not getting that quality when it comes to my iPhone.

I've received so many angry comments and e-mails today about my post regarding my friend's big crash.

I really thought I was doing the developer justice by not mentioning the name of the app without doing some checking first. I still am. I know that. So I won't mention it until I see the log.

But the point of the entry wasn't to scare anyone, although maybe the headline could have been toned done a little -- and it is now.

The point is that in every discussion I had with someone who jailbroke the phone, the person said the same thing. They always said that Apple blaming rogue software on people who don't know what they are doing is a cop-out because the people who jailbreak and add "unauthorized" Apple programs are talented and know what they are doing.

I remember one e-mail where the person said that he felt like Apple compared him to a gang of roving teenagers out to do nothing but install viruses across the iPhone universe.

I always defended Apple in this case. Cookie Cop and I said that jailbreaking was bad because "we need to wait for Apple to make the applications official before just putting stuff on our iPhones ourselves."

How many times did you read that here? I said it more times than I can count and I always stood by that.

But I stand by it a lot less now ... after seeing what my friend went through last night. After talking to another caller in Virginia who tried to delete an app only to have half of her functions disappear from her iPhone screen. From people who say that brand new app for $9.99 crashes the iPhone 3 or more times a day.

Apple can say that it is the best defense and the only barrier between a free-for-all, where applications are added without any indication of what they are and true quality control, but if the company that's supposed to provide the quality control isn't providing 100 percent quality, then what good is it?

And that, callers, was really what I was trying to state in the last entry more than anything else -- and if it came across as me trying to scare folks, well, that certainly wasn't the intention.

But honestly ... if you download apps via the app store, should you have to worry that the app is eventually going to come back and mess things up so badly that you almost lose your working iPhone? Should you have to worry that if it doesn't happen right away that it could happen after a sync?

Apple wants to get as many apps into the store as possible, and the developers out there who are working as hard as they are have the right to get those apps in the store -- but Apple needs to provide a secure environment where users and developers can be ensured that their product will work the way it's intended.

And now we have a very buggy 2.0 software -- as we know -- that is either causing these crashes and problems with apps, or we have bad apps that are making their way past Apple's strict sensors. I don't know which it is, but both are unacceptable.

With the petition I have going on to send to Steve Jobs, we have a lot of signatures so far. That shows that obviously there are problems. And no one here is advocating not using the iPhone. We love our iPhones and we wouldn't dream of being without them ... and because we love them as much as we do, that's why its users as a passionate as they are. We're writing with all of these problems that need addressed, so there's obviously a quality control issue here.

Can you imagine the anger and rioting if Microsoft released something with this many bugs? See my point? No one expects this from Apple.

So that was my point ... So far, while I love the app store and I think the app store can only get better and better, it's not without it's share of bugs and problems. And while that's normal for anything that's new, I'm seeing a pattern here with my beloved iPhone products that I do not like. I see myself writing things that sound more negative than they used to and that indicates a trend.

As Apple grows .. as the iPhone grows. As the iPhone customer base grows, the quality and the quality control has to grow too. That means software that's actually complete and not rife with bugs. And while we always want things yesterday, maybe waiting is a better thing ... maybe waiting will mean products aren't rushed to market.

But that said, as Jimmy put it in the comments, every OS has bugs. We have to be a little patience. I certainly understand and appreciate that and love my iPhone as much as I always have. I just want to look out for the user.

It's just my opinion. I might be off base. And you never hesitate to tell me when I am. So feel free to leave me a comment and let's have a good discussion about the pros and cons.

Thanks for calling.

Thursday, July 17, 2008 -- 2:35 a.m. -- on my couch

We are sending as many signatures as possible to Steve Jobs, in hopes he'll take immediate action and fix the problems plaguing the current iPhone 2.0 software. Please help us by clicking here and Digging our story. The more Diggs, the more attention we get. Thank you.

**UPDATE 10:54 a.m. -- many folks are asking me why I left the name of the app out of this write-up. Simple, actually, and it's because my friend has not yet checked /Library/Logs/Crashreporter/MobileDevice -- that's where the crash report comes from every time the iPhone is synced with iTunes. I wanted to write the general piece to mention it and then I'll see what that data shows. What I would hate to do is find out something else caused it and mention the wrong thing. That's the journalist in me not jumping the gun.**

**UPDATE: 11:04 a.m. -- and I'm hearing that maybe this is exaggerated. No, not to me. Not to someone with the problem at 2 a.m. It's a great reminder that even though Steve Jobs said that the App Store was the one way to all but guarantee no rogue programs that could do damage to your iPhone, here's something that looks like it got by the sensors. So quality control is an issue too. Either way, whether the final answer is a rogue app, bad data from an app or just a problem with the 2.0 software, it's still bad.**

A friend of mine who comments on here e-mailed me in a panic a little more than 2 hours ago. His first gen iPhone with 2.0 software -- not unlocked or jailbroken or anything -- was stuck in some sort of horrendous continuous loop.

Processes were happening in the background, but all he could see was the dreaded Apple logo. The iPhone was not recognized in iTunes.

In fact, he couldn't even turn off the iPhone.

It was in whatever the iPhone version of a kernel panic is ... and I was afraid this thing was fried. His backups were completely corrupt, so he had to get rid of those, but when he tried to restore from recovery mode, the option to restore was grayed out. He was seemingly at a dead end.

After we disconnected and basically redid the steps of recovery mode (recovery mode, by the way, is the last step after restore -- it's returning your iPhone to a pristine, fresh-from-the-factory state) several times, the option to restore appeared.

The dreaded loop returned. And we started again. Finally, after a few hours, we were able to start the recovery mode process and the iPhone software and firmware was being rewritten.

And then .. more than 2 hours later, he was back. Icons reappear. Battery icon reappears. That beautiful AT&T logo is back. EDGE, you look so beautiful with that big ol' capital E all up there. And those bars. More bars, more places.

Now to the scary part ... as if that wasn't scary enough. Know what caused it?

A corrupt free app from the app store -- or perhaps corrupt data from the app from the app store. It's hard to say, and at this point, it doesn't matter which.

It all started when he decided he didn't want the app on his iPhone anymore, so he tried to delete it. And then, mayhem. Because he synced the iPhone previously, the backup was corrupt because the minute he tried to restore from backup, the loop returned and he was toast.

He described something that immediately raised a big ol' red flag. The icon for this app was dim, while the others were bright. As you may know, when an app from the app store is in the process of downloading, it starts dim and brightens as it loads until it looks like other icons. This one, though, he said, was always dim and funny looking.

My guess, although the app store is really too new to know for sure, is that the app never actually completely finished downloading. It had to come close because he could use it, but I don't think it ever fully finished the download and that's why it stayed dim. I'm not sure I would have caught it, to be honest. I assume that when the app installs and finishes that it's done.

Maybe not. I could be wrong about the dim part, but that's all I know at this time about dim icons. That's a question for an Apple programmer.

So what can you take away from this post? Well, my goal isn't to scare the bejeezus out of you, but it's that not all apps are created equal. I've learned that I'm not about to fill up my iPhone with 100 icons just because they are free. I realize that installing anything on my phone or computer carries with it a certain risk, but do you remember how Steve said the App Store was THE ONLY WAY to ensure problematic programs don't make their way onto the iPhone -- problematic programs that can wreak havoc?

Well ... looks like the App Store didn't catch this problem. Maybe it wasn't the app. Maybe it was a downloading problem or a sync problem -- whatever it was isn't quite the point. The point is that something can go wrong no matter how hard you try to prevent it.

All of the folks who jailbroke their phones and never one had a problem? They are lucky. They could have had a blowup like this at any time.

And some of us could download hundreds of apps and never see this ... you just don't know.

Point is ... he learned the hard way that 2.0 isn't all glitz and glamor. And I'm sure he's going to hold his breath and hide his face in his hands the next time he downloads an app ... this kind of experience is hard to get over.

Let's hope that if it's data corruption or a syncing issue or whatever that 2.0.1 addresses these problems.

Feel free to discuss this one in the comments. Maybe you all have a better idea of what might have happened or have a suggestion to keep it from happening again. And if there's an Apple programmer here -- or even an iPhone developer who can speak to problems like this, I know I'd love to learn your thoughts.

Thanks for calling.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008 -- 10:02 a.m. -- at my desk

I read over at MacNN earlier that firmware 2.0.1 is in the later stages of testing and coming to iPhones soon.

Thank goodness.

As I wrote and we all discussed the other day, I think 2.0.1 could truly be the most important .1 update to the iPhone since it was born. There's no question that firmware 2.0 is buggy and in need of an update.

I still do not think that 2.0 should have left the hallowed halls of Cupertino with this many bugs. The software went through about 8 different beta iterations and testing out the wazoo. That's a lot of testing.

To see this many bugs in that kind of tested firmware makes me wonder about versions of the firmware that have not undergone such extensive testing.

I'm currently working a day shift to test some software on my work system and trust me ... the bugs I find won't make it to the rest of the company. So I don't have a lot of sympathy when it comes to this stuff.

Anyhow, hopefully it will come soon and we'll all be loving how much more stable our iPhones are.

Thanks for calling.

Monday, July 14, 2008 -- 11:14 p.m. -- at my desk

Sure, a call to AT&T seems to solve the problem, but what if you don't want to call AT&T to have your Visual Voicemail working normally?

Well, caller Chris may have come up with the answer. At the very least, he found a solution that worked for him and if it worked for him, it's worth posting just in case it works for you.

"For people with voicemail problems, I found the solution. Call your number. Press star (or maybe pound). Set up a password. the call will end. Press voicemail. Enter the password. Viola! A visual voicemail screen."

Sounds pretty straightforward and easy enough to do as a troubleshooting step.

Let me (and Chris) know if this solution works for you.

Thanks for calling.

Monday, July 14, 2008 -- 7:28 p.m. -- at my desk

Before you get too excited - it's not an announcement of any sort -- it's at least some high level person from Apple talking about why is there isn't any -- and what else we have to look forward to.

Sascha Segan had an interview for extremetech.com with Apple product head Greg Joswiak regarding cut and paste, GPS driving directions and office applications.

In a nutshell, Apple figured there was more important stuff than cut and paste.

I appreciate Joswiak addressing the concern ... I wish there was better news, but half of the time, just to know that we are being listened to is all we're looking for.

Here's the link to the full interview.

Thanks for calling.

Monday, July 14, 2008 -- 3 p.m. -- out and about

Got a really nice e-mail yesterday from caller Bernard that I wanted to share. It contained an absolutely excellent idea.

"hi, i really enjoy reading your blog. I would like to just comment how awesome Apple treated those of us in line yesterday, they went above and beyond duty to make us feel important. They served us doughnuts, water, and even pizza! They even came out to talk to us and even joke around with us. One funny incident was when one of the employees came out to compare 3G speeds with the old iphone's edge speeds, and when he was comparing his to mine, he inadvertently was on Wi-Fi rather than 3G, and it was really funny when I ribbed him about "cheating". The line camaraderie was absolutely marvelous. The people standing in line were all really really friendly and approachable and people were more than willing to hold spots for their fellow line mates to go use the bathrooms. In the end, it was really fun standing in line and it was worth my six hours. You should post a blog talking about the lines compared from apple stores to AT&T stores, i think that would be something alot of people would enjoy reading."

He's right. As someone who stood in line at Apple last year and remember something very similar -- but no doughnuts and pizza! -- it was a cool thing. This year, I waited at AT&T, where they brought us ice cold water and a sneak peek at what we were buying. I thought it was a great, great experience.

So ... never mind how long it took ... that's the breaks, sadly ... tell me what you thought of the overall waiting in line experience based on who was around you. Did you talk to folks and laugh or did you stand there and not say a word.

Let's hear from lots of people. This could be fun!

Thanks, Bernard. Great idea!

Thanks for calling.

Monday, July 14, 2008 -- 10:57 a.m. -- at my desk

Well, that was fast.

Despite all the craziness we've been having -- and are still having -- Apple doesn't have any reason to be upset.

1 million iPhone 3Gs were sold over opening weekend and 10 million App Store apps were downloaded.

"iPhone 3G had a stunning opening weekend," said Steve Jobs. "It took 74 days to sell the first one million original iPhones, so the new iPhone 3G is clearly off to a great start around the world.

"The App Store is a grand slam, with a staggering 10 million applications downloaded in just three days," said Jobs.

Putting that in perspective is almost impossible. I mean, we talk about 10 million iPhones sold in a year and we've got 1 million in 3 days. And although no one was really counting or putting a target on the App Store, 10 million downloads in 3 days is mind-boggling. Even if many were free, it shows how wildly popular this is and will continue to be.

To me, it still doesn't excuse Apple from not being ready, but my guess is that all thoughts today in Cupertino are on these numbers and not on ringtone problems.

We'll see what happens. Hopefully we get the number we're all looking for.

2.0.1.

What do you think? Are you impressed? Shocked? Amazed? Dumbfounded? Insert your word in the comments.

Thanks for calling.

Monday, July 14, 2008 -- 11 a.m. -- on my couch

I have lost track of all the problems introduced in the 2.0 update:

-- Random crashing of apps

-- Geotagging shows photos in Siberia (for crying out loud!)

-- And on and on the list goes.

Apple, seriously ... this is totally was I expect from Microsoft. Never from you. And knowing how important this product is to you, I can't understand for the life of me how you could let this abomination past Cupertino.

For al the time you had to work on it, it's crap. I'm sorry, but that's the truth. It's crap. App store? Phenomenal. Give the team that produced that a raise.

Overall though, poor, poor job on the execution. Everything, from the launch on down -- 3G iPhones, upgraded iPhones ... everyone is having these problems.

And that's completely and totally separate from the MobileMe debacle.

So ... seriously, Apple .. I defend you when I can. I sit here now and proudly wear my Apple cap. I love my iPhone. I believe in you, Steve, and what you stand for.

But when you blow it, you blow it. And you blew it. Plain and simple.

So ... 2.0.1 ... we're ready for it and we're ready for it 100 percent bug free. But seriously, 90 percent bug free would be a welcome improvement right about now.

Feel free to comment. I actually had a night to sleep on this post since caller Carl wrote last night and asked if I thought we'd be seeing an update soon.

I'm still angry.

Thanks for calling.

Sunday, July 13, 2008 -- 11:28 p.m. -- at my desk

Wow. I'm in journalism. And I usually stand up for "my kind."

This guy is not my kind. He's a dork.

His name is Eric Spillman, and he works for KTLA in Los Angeles. Actually, the station is owned by my company, Tribune.

He's still a dork.

While doing a "story" about the iPhone line, he decided to basically insult everyone with such questions as -- have you ever seen a woman naked? -- and this journalistic gem, do you prefer gadgets or human beings?

So he goes over to ask one of these people in line one of the questions and he's met with some serious resistance. The interviewee called him a jackass and then told him to go away and talk to someone else.

It was beautiful. The reporter first tried to say that he needed to have a sense of humor, and then he walked away. He looked a little embarrassed, and he tried to recover, but he still looked like the biggest geek on the block even though that's what he was accusing the people in line of being.

"It's a phone! It's a phone! C'mon! Who cares?" We heard a lot of that from this genius.

I don't care if it's the iPhone launch or the space shuttle launch ... I found it insulting and I wasn't even in line.

So way to go ... Eric Spillman of KTLA-TV. Now for your next assignment. I need some coffee.

Here's the link so you can see him in all his glory.

Thanks for calling.

Sunday, July 13, 2008 -- 7:47 p.m. -- at my desk

A lot of you have written to me with this complaint, but caller Kim summed it up pretty well in her note to me:

"Have you, or anyone else, noticed that the iPhone keeps "backing up" when you sync? It happens once a day and takes forever (or at least 20 minutes). In the past it just used to sync and that was it. I don't know if this is the same with the 3G or only the upgraded original phones, but I find it a real pain. Clicking on the little X to the right of the progress bar stops the backup and lets the sync happen. I don't particularly want to wait 20 minutes every day for my iPhone to backup and sync."

Kim asks if it's the 3G iPhone or just the original upgraded ones. I haven't synced in iTunes since the very first one, so I do not know the answer yet ... I have to test at home.

Is there anyone here using an iPhone 3G that has noticed what Kim is talking about here? Can you let us know? At the very least we can answer whether it's the software or the hardware or both. My thinking is that it has nothing to do with the hardware and is yet another quirk/bug in 2.0 software.

Say, Apple ... tell me about the one dude who never used an iPhone before that actually tested this 2.0 software all these months, cause so far, while it does cool things, I'm not really seeing much quality control here.

Thanks for calling.

Sunday, July 13, 2008 -- 7:36 p.m. -- at my desk

After a bunch of slip-ups from Apple, here's something I think is done right.

It's an iPhone-optimized mobile user guide that can give you quick instructions on how to get things done on your iPhone.

For example, if you click on basics, you can learn about using your iPhone on an airplane.

"Airplane mode turns off all the iPhone radio transmitters to avoid interfering with aircraft operation. In some regions, where allowed by the aircraft operator and applicable laws and regulations, you can turn on Wi-Fi while airplane mode is on to:

Send and receive email
Browse the Internet
Wirelessly sync your contacts and calendars
Stream YouTube videos
Get stock quotes
Get maps locations
Get weather reports
Purchase music and applications

And it's informative, because the option to use Wi-Fi while flying is new to 2.0 software.

You can check out the guide on your iPhone or iPod touch here.

Thanks for calling.

Sunday, July 13, 2008 -- 4:42 p.m. -- at my desk

Apple has posted a document about MobileMe explaining the differences between Push and sync. It's interesting. A little confusing at first, but readable once you look over it twice -- well, I looked over it twice, anyhow.

Here it is directly from Apple:

MobileMe, iPhone/iPod touch: Differences between Push and manually syncing calendars and contacts

Summary
MobileMe Push, automatically syncs your calendars, contacts, and bookmarks to your iPhone or iPod touch. Alternatively, you can manually sync your calendars and contacts manually (by changing the se