A recent discussion I read has prompted me to remind you (again) about the danger of international data roaming. Remember folks, at $19 per Megabyte of data, you too could end up with a $2000 bill before you know it!
Thankfully AT&T appear to be taking a friendlier approach to data charges, and are retroactively moving people onto their data bundles once they get back home.
Initially AT&T told people to pound sand, and had no problems getting UPS involved to send their 5 box data bills, thankfully that seems to have changed.
Print This Post
iPhone owner with some gripes about the lack of common features? Join the fun at “Please fix the iPhone”.
The current nr.1 “please fix” item is of course the lack of MMS support, followed by wireless syncing, then the ability to use cut and paste.
At the end of the day it will be real iPhone users that convince Apple to add these things; it’s been a long time since the first iPhone appeared, and these basic features are still missing. Perhaps Apple will listen?
Source: Please fix the iPhone (via Downloadsquad)
Print This Post
Several sites are reporting on a new JD Powers report claiming the iPhone is the best business smartphone choice.
My initial reaction was of course “huh?”.
Then when I read the actual report, I noticed the articles played a little fast and loose with the results. The iPhone has been rated the highest in customer satisfaction.
Well of course it is the highest rated in that segment. I mean, it’s an iPod. The iPhone does games and multimedia better than any other smartphone, so if your boss is nice enough to invest in the iPhone, it only makes sense that you’ll be satisfied with it. To me, that does not make it the BEST business smartphone, as that honor still belongs to the Blackberry (in my opinion).
It’s like saying the Sony PSP is the highest rated Skype phone.
Print This Post
You know the rule when it comes to Apple rumors; if someone claims they “heard it”, it is probably false.
Nevertheless; 9to5mac.com has a pretty decent list of evidence trying to make the case for a CDMA/EVDO enabled iPhone.
There are several CDMA operators in the world that are large enough for an order of iPhones. Verizon alone has over 80 million customers (once the Alltel merger is completed) AND a very extensive 3G network.
Despite the promise of “iPhone killers”, nobody has made a phone that comes close to the success of the iPhone, and it is obvious that some operators that said no to the original iPhone are pretty pissed off at that decision.
Source: 9to5mac.com
Print This Post
One of my biggest complaints about the iPhone is the Apple lockdown on using your own music as a ringtone. Even music officially purchased from the iTunes music store can’t be used as a ringtone. Being asked to spend $1 for 30 seconds of a song is just silly.
Thankfully there are several alternatives, including the one I’ll link to today. iRinger is a (windows only) ringtone editor for the iPhone which allows you to select portions of a song or video file.
The application is free, but the developer asks that you consider donating $10 to unlock some extra features.
You can find iRinger here.
Print This Post
Last week all hell broke loose. An Apple iPhone developer went digging in his phone, and found several lines of code referring to “phoning home”.
The code linked to an Apple URL that contained a blacklist. This blacklist is at the heart of a lot of outrage over even more “big brother” involvement by Apple.
Today, Steve Jobs went on record admitting the kill switch, and explaining that Apple had no other option. The app blacklist feature was designed so rogue apps could be killed by Apple, if they started displaying bad behavior, like hacking into your contact list or sending your personal information to a third party.
Of course, Apples claim that they had no other option seems pretty bogus to me; Windows Mobile has done without this for years, and it has never been an issue. But then again, Windows Mobile users can install whatever they want, from any source, without having to go through an official Apple sanctioned repository of applications.
The funny thing, is that the iPhone has had access to applications since last year, albeit through an unofficial source; installer.app. Despite 100’s of applications being uploaded to installer.app without any third party controls, there have been no incidents of rogue apps.
On Blackberry devices, things are even tighter; but everything stays under the command of the device owner. The Blackberry application firewall controls every aspect of an application. When you install an app, you can allow or disallow anything from interaction with the phone book, to outgoing connections.
But once again, Apple shows it doesn’t trust its users, and implements something akin to parental controls on the cable box. It’s your phone, with applications YOU paid for, but they still want a little bit of control over what you do. Add that to the DRM already in place on these apps, and the DRM on your music and videos, plus a very vague and restrictive NDA for developers, and you’ll understand why many iPhone owners are not as happy as they were with the first iPhone.
Print This Post
Several days ago, a “developer”, loaded a $999.99 application onto the Apple iPhone app store. He called it “I am rich”, and it was supposed to be for anyone who wanted to show off just how rich and impressive they are. Apparently, the ability to waste $1000 on an application that does nothing more than show a red orb is a good way to show how loaded you are.
So far, so bad. The app has already been pulled by Apple, but not until some idiot actually thought it might be funny to click the “buy now” button, just to see what would happen.
Of course, most people know about the Apple 1-click system, where, as the name implies, you click once, and the purchase is completed.
Needless to say, the system worked perfectly, and the guy got his $1000 useless app downloaded directly to his iPhone. Now he’s trying to find a way to wiggle his way out of it. Good luck with that.
Via Valleywag
Print This Post
It had to happen sooner or later, I’m bringing you more insane news about the Apple iPhone. This news is a little different though, and might bring a smile to the face of anyone who has been trying to get their hands on the new iPhone in the past weeks.
For some reason, Amazon.com has the new phone listed on their site, despite not actually being one of the 2 distribution partners of the phone, or actually having any in stock. It could have been an overenthusiastic developer, or just a way to get even more traffic to their site.
There were already some rumors out there of Apple adding multiple resellers over time (including Radio Shack), so perhaps this is a sign that something will change when Apple is finally able to produce enough of them to go around.
Print This Post
It has been less than three weeks since the new iPhone app store opened its doors. Apple envisioned the app store as a place where developers could sell their programs and iPhone users could buy stuff without the usual hassle most Windows and Blackberry customers have to go through.
Of course, the app store also wraps the applications in the Apple Fairplay DRM, which was intended to restrict people pirating iPhone apps.
As of today, all those restrictions are meaningless, because creative minds have once again found themselves one step ahead of Apple.
There are currently 2 ways to “re-use” an application; one involves using iTunes to copy the app onto another iPhone, just like music can be copied onto multiple iPods. The second method is more complicated, and actually involves removing the DRM completely. The first app to be shared with the community is the hugely popular “Super Monkey Ball”. Of course, the target iPhone has to be “jailbroken” and you’ll need to perform a couple of magic tricks to actually copy it onto the device.
It was inevitable, yet I’m sure it will be a disappointment to developers that their stuff has been hacked so quickly. I’m sure many of them will be sending their Apple contacts a nasty email this afternoon once they see their (no longer) DRM protected apps pop up all over the web.
Print This Post
When Apple announced their new MobileMe service at the June 2008 keynote, it was said to be “Exchange for the rest of us”. But that description has vanished from all Apple sites.
I’m guessing that Microsoft was not too thrilled having their product name associated with something as unreliable as MobileMe.
People are claiming MobileMe has been the worst ever Apple product introduction. Clearly, those people were not around for the Newton, Pippin, Mac Cube and countless other flopped Apple products. There WAS a time when Apple did not make products like the iPod and iPhone.
Print This Post
|
TravelTechTalk is proudly powered by Boarding Area Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS). - Privacy Policy - BoardingArea on Twitter |
