Thank you Steve

Thank you

To iPhone or not to iPhone

Here is an email converstation I had with my friend MQ who is in Enlgand right now. We where talking about the merits of getting an iPhone or not.

From: MQ
Subject: Question about the iPhone

Hey there,

Before you trash this email, it's me MQ. I have a question about the iPhone. I'm thinking of getting it here in the UK. The problem is that it wouldn't do me any good if I can't use it Kuwait. I know about the jail break thingy, but I was hoping to get the full capabilities via the network.

So what gives?

Thanks.

MQ

From: DV
Subject: Re: Question about the iPhone


. If you are in the UK, jump over to France and get it there. French law forbids SIM locked phones. Apple always tries to break unlocked iPhones (done by something like the jailbreak hack) with each firmware upgrade.


From: MQ
Subject: Re: Question about the iPhone

Another question, I need your advice. I'm still kind of hesitant about the iPhone. I watched Job's keynote, and you know that it kind of gets you dazed for a couple of days, but when the hangover wears off, and you get back to reality and things start looking different. I was wondering, if you had a chance to check out the keynote on the new iPhone, what your thoughts are on the device. Cause I am torn between the iPhone and the HTC Diamond. What do you think? Do you have a super geeky opinion on the subject, oh king of all things geeky?

Thanks

MQ

From: DV
Subject: Re: Question about the iPhone

I would. Go for the iPhone, but one that is not SIM locked from apple. I don't want any jailbreak bullshit hack.

Also, I would wait a few months so that they get a chance to fix all the bugs that are usually found in a new product.

From: MQ
Subject: Re: Question about the iPhone

Why did you choose the iPhone over the HTC Touch Diamond? Do you any particular reason for that?

From: DV
Subject: Re: Question about the iPhone

I had an older htc mobile and the battery sucked, especially with push email. I have an ipod touch and the interface is much nicer and usable, even without a keyboard. It is also faster for email attacments. My htc got bricked after I tried downloading a large pdf file from an email.

From: MQ
Subject: Re: Question about the iPhone

Since the touch interface is the deal breaker, then I should settle for an iPod touch. As far as the email and email attachments go, I don't think I ever seriously used the email program on my imate, and I'm not sure if I will be using this feature on an iPhone much either. I think since you are in a corporate atmosphere, and having to travel a lot means that you rely on your email a great deal.

Any other reasons why I should get an iPhone?

MQ

From: DV
Subject: Re: Question about the iPhone

The Safari browser is excellent and supports all that AJAX stuff and browsing
with your fingers is fun.

From: MQ
Subject: Re: Question about the iPhone

So why haven't you jail broken an iPhone, and used its other features as opposed to using the iPod Touch? Also, there is still this other question you didn't answer: why should I get the iPhone, when all the features you had mentioned are in the iPod Touch. I mean I could just skip the phone feature of the iPhone, and get all the other touch, feel, coolness, and emotional relief from the iPod "Caress".

You also mentioned the browser. Opera has just "released" its beta version (hackers actually ripped off the unreleased version from the Diamond) of a super duper browser for the Windows Mobile platform. I have it now, and it rocks. Granted they have copied the coolness from the iPhone's "mini" Safari, added all the other AJAX, Flash, and pretty much all the other important regular browser plug-ins, but they have added something absolutely necessary. They made it so that when you double tap the screen, and get zoomed in, the text within the screen wraps around to the size of the screen. With the iPhone/iPod, you would have to scroll sideways if the text didn't fit the screen.

Sorry for the length of the message, your Geekyness.

From: DV
Subject: Re: Question about the iPhone

I don't believe in jail breaking products, especially from apple. If apple does not want us to use the phone, then they can keep it. I will only buy it if it does not put on me restrictions. That's why I'd buy the French iPod because its does not have SIM lock. Also, hacked software might be fun, but one small mistake and your phone is a shiny brick. HTC still has a short battery life. Opera is my browser of choice for the desktop, and its features are always excellent. The problem with Opera on the Mac is that it still does not know how to behave with multi touch. I don't know how it will behave on the iPhone platform. Opera on the Nokia would not run youtube flash, on the htc it might be different. Safari ran all the flash stuff as if you where on a regular Mac, which is expected because the iPhone is really running a slimmed down version of OSX, which has roots in Mach Unix.

From: MQ
Subject: Re: Question about the iPhone


I was searching for information on buying an iPhone from France, and I got the following response in a forum. It should be clear that buying one from France is not worth it all.

-----


Ok well having just returned from France on Wednesday with an iPhone I can help you out here with some details.

It is certainly possible to purchase an unlocked iPhone in France. In fact as of the other day it is no longer possible to buy an unlocked iPhone in Germany leaving France as the only place in the world where this is possible.

Its a relatively involved process but achievable.

The Prerequisites:
1) Speaking French (Pretty difficult to go through the process without)
2) A French address (a friend living in France is fine)
3) A French credit card (you need this to create a French iTunes account to activate it)
4) Un ordinateur (French for computer :p)
5) Patience :)

The Process:
1) Walk into an Orange store and ask to buy an iPhone with a prepaid sim (mobicarte is their product name). This will cost you 649eur. Provide them with your valid French address (this is important). Oh, and most likely you will need to do this all in French :)
2) Purchase 100eur pre-paid credit for you mobicarte.
3) This brings the purchase price up to 749eur.
4) Wait around 4 hours for the mobicarte to become active on the network.
5) Call the mobicarte recharge number and load the 100eur credit you purchased in the store. (Simply key in the code number on the paper they give you) (Prompts are in French)
6) Fire up iTunes on your computer and create a new iTunes store account using the French address (must match the one you gave Orange when you bought the phone) and your French credit card.
7) Once you have your French iTunes account you can now activate your iPhone (this will make it fully usable as a phone/ipod/device with the Orange prepaid SIM. Just connect the iPhone to your PC via the USB cable supplied and follow the prompts in French to activate it using your iTunes account.
8) Ok so now you have an activated but still locked French iPhone. If your PC was Australian then the iPhone will be in English and it will be using the QWERTY keyboard layout. Otherwise you will need to go into the settings on the iPhone and change this from French and AZERTY (easy process).
9) Now you need to make a couple of phone calls from the iPhone to announce the IMEI (hardware phone serial number) to the Orange phone network.
10) Wait a couple more hours (2?) or the Orange call centre will not see your iPhone on the network yet.
11) Call the Orange support centre and request "desimblockage" (unlocking). This is where the 100eur credit comes into it. They deduct the 100eur unlocking fee from the prepaid phone credit you loaded. Its also worth noting here that when you buy 100eur credit you get a little extra, like 125eur due to a bonus system they have. This is useful because you dont want your test phone calls/data usage to drop the credit below 100eur or they wont unlock it for you - if in doubt or you want to play more, just buy more credit when you get the phone or at the petrol station etc.
12) Now the waiting begins.
13) Orange will send the unlock code to your French address via snail mail.
14) Once you have this code I presume you connect up the iPhone to your PC, visit the iTunes store, click a link and type the code in and voila - desimblockage!!

I say presume with step 14 because this is as far as I am up to in this process as I only bought mine last Sunday (2nd of December) and got back to Australia on Tuesday. My buddy in France emailed me today to say he called the Orange support line today and they said they mailed out the code yesterday. Unfortunately for me hes out of France for a week so I have to wait another week before my iPhone is unlocked :(

Another worthwhile tip is if you wont be in France the whole time required (7 days is the end-to-end process i believe) then call the Orange service line and ask to turn on International/Global roaming on your mobicarte so that the SIM still works in Aus, just roams as if you were visiting here from France. Not sure if this is technically necessary but it costs nothing and I wanted to guard against activation SMS's or similar that would have required the iPhone to still remain in France.

Anyways, that's enough of a post. My apologies if it is somewhat unclear but im tired :)

If you have any questions or require clarification on anything just ask.

Alex.
----

This is the website

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/873516.html

From: DV
Subject: Re: Question about the iPhone

Vive La France


I thought it would be easier, if you are willing to wait, then the French iPhones will be gradually getting in the grey market through eBay. I hate hacking an iPhone, then having Apple zapping all my fixes/hacks through a firmware upgrade.

From: MQ
Subject: Re: Question about the iPhone

Now I'm thinking of getting an iPod touch. It seems more logical since I can upgrade the software to 2.0 in July, and get all the software features of the iPhone. Of course, with exception to those features that uses hardware available only to the iPhone.

It seems that getting an iPhone to work as it should either requires that I go through the hassle of jail breaking it, or get setup properly through UK's O2 carrier and have an iPhone that functions as an iPod in Kuwait.

I'm definitely not liking this situation.

MQ

From: DV
Subject: Re: Question about the iPhone

That's business, that's why I got an iPod touch with 32 GB, I get all the connectivity I need through wifi, and for a Mobile I got a blackberry, which is not the best mobile, but good for doing work. I hate the blackberry but I can't live without it. :-(

Shattered Dreams

What Music to Choose?

I am going out in 10 minutes, and I played the CDs in my car so much, even the car CD player is sick of them. Time for new music, but what music can I choose. I want music that I like but not something that I am sick of hearing over and over again. I could sit down for a few hours and make a perfect compilation CD but I cannot spare the time, instead I put together a smart playlist on my iTunes. The result was a perfect selection. Here is the Smart Playlist I created:





I got over 8000 songs on my iTunes, I did not hear all of them, I just dump any music in there.

To select my songs for my quick CD, I had the smart playlist choose the songs that I heard over 3 times, that I rated 5 stars and never skipped over. I ended up with 3 audio CDs after I burnt it. Now for some happy musical driving.

Preview shot of new iPod

LOL, looks like it is a prototype.

iPhone and the rest

The iPhone created a mini revolution once it was announced with all the mobile companies struggling to catch up with its looks and features. You can expect a lot of lookalike phones to enter the market and it already started with the first shot fired by LG with its Prada designed phone.





Excuse my limited fashion knowledge, but doesn't Prada make shoes? How would they know what sort of phone would be useful to me. If that is the new trend, associating your self with a shoe maker, you can expect zanooba mobiles or tamima mobiles.





Motorola already released a D&G RAZR a few month ago, doesn't D&G make overpriced T shirts and Jeans? How can they contribute to making a mobile better? All they did was paint the RAZR gold. If the mobile companies don't come up with more innovative ideas, the iPhone will eat up the market once Apple decides to release a cheap iPhone version a la iPod shuffle.

iPhone Ringtone

Everyone recognizes the Nokia ring tone.

Well here is the iPhone midi ringtone and MP3 ringtone that you will hear if the iPhone proves to be as popular as the iPod. For those musically inclined you, can find the music score here.

A Poor Man's Car Stereo

A few weeks ago my car battery died on me and I had to replace it. Everything is fine now except my car stereo stopped working. My car stereo would not turn on, not because of any malfunction, but because it has one of those advanced security systems that requires you to enter a code if you ever disconnect the system and reconnect it again. That might be useful in the States where car stereos get ripped away from cars every few seconds, in Kuwait it is relatively safe and if someone breaks into your car he would be better off stealing the whole car instead of just the stereo. The result is I have been driving in deadly silence for the last several weeks. I am too lazy busy to go to the car dealership to have the Stereo security system reset so I can listen to music again, instead I proudly put together the Poor Man's Car Stereo.



Actually, I think the set up I have is not that low cost, I should call it the Lazy Man's Car Stereo. It has several advantages over my regular stereo with a greater music selection and instant song selection. I don't recommend fiddling with your iPod while driving, only at red lights. Also I need to break the habit of instinctively turning up or down the volume on my car stereo instead of reaching for my iPod and increasing the volume.

Ten Top Ten Lists

It is a slow first day at work, and even slower sit down at home, so here is something to keep you entertained. Everyone loves Top Ten Lists, here are ten top ten lists:

Top Ten Vehicles owned by Billionaires.

Top Ten Bizarro World Children’s Books

Top Ten Sexually Tilted Lines In Star Wars

The Top 10 Most Fascinating Urinals

Top Ten Funniest Jokes

Top Ten Movies, ok it is actually a list of 250 movies, just read the first Ten.

Top Ten Most Commonly Spoken Languages

Top Ten Sexiest Cars, Yabeela!

Top Ten Requests for Future iPod Games

Top Ten Guitar Solos

Last Post from Malaysia

I am still in Malaysia but will be leaving after a few hours; I finished my work and now am packing my bags. From the few days that I stayed here and from the very little that I spent in Kuala Lumpur, it looks like a very beautiful and exciting city.

I had to find the latest, hottest, best computer shopping area so I googled for that and everyone recommended the Low Yat Plaza so I took a taxi cab there.






Low Yat Plaza has a majestic entrance with Chinese lions guarding it against evil spirits. (Notice, the Starbucks logo at the other end).



The Plaza is crowded with locals, which is a good sign because it means it is not a touristy place with rip off prices.



I found a Creative store, that had the full catalog of Creative products piled high inside its small area.





To the right of the Plaza entrance was an iPod Station shop that was only iPods and assorted accessories.



I was getting hungry and needed coffee so I went down to the food court in the huge basement.



The sign said, Free Wi-Fi, how cool is that!



There was a Bee Connection place that offered all the Bee products you can think of.


Walking aorund the food court trying to find a place to sit down and have something light, I saw a sign that intrigued me.



The sign told the Story of White Coffee, saying that a "Hainanese coffee maker in Ipoh devised an ingenious method of roasting coffee beans, much to the delight of coffee drinkers locally.

At OLDTOWN, our home-made coffee baking recipe brings out the hidden aromas of specially selected coffee beans to produce an unforgettable taste that cofee lovers enjoy.

The ingredients of OLDTOWN White Coffee are combined with a wonderful mixture of flavours from specially roasted Liberica Arabica and Robusta coffee beans.

OLDTOWN White Cofee is blened with small amounts of beet-sugar, and then moderately roasted with high temperatures. This produces the distinct flavour of OLDTWON White Coffee. With steamed milk and hot water added in just right, you get a truly wonderful coffee drinking experience in a cup of OLDTOWN White Coffee."

I had to try that coffee, I took a seat and placed my order.



I ordered White Coffee and some Chicken Curry. I tasted the coffee; it was warm and not tongue burning hot which is exactly the way I like it. It had a very strong and pleasant spicy coffee smell, and the taste was incredible, slightly sweet on its own without adding sugar, and not mega sweet where you need and insulin syringe right next to your mega sweet coffee cocktail. The caffeine kick was slow but effective. White Coffee was so good, I asked for another cup.

Walking out of the Plaza to the left, I noticed a signboard. It said Japanese Restaurant Street, I was full of coffee and chicken curry but I will defineitely visit that street if I return to Kuala Lumpur.

NOO - not the iPod

A suspicious package found in an aircraft washroom on a flight from Chicago on Tuesday afternoon brought out Ottawa police canine and bomb-disposal units.

It turned out to be an iPod. You can expect iPod being banned on flights and will need to settle for 70s hits from the airplanes armrest radio.

The full article is here.

What you cannot bring with you when you fly

You all heard the news about those crazies that wanted to blow up airplanes flying between the UK and USA. Well the immediate consequence is that you are not allowed to carry essentials like iPods, Cafe Lattes, cell phones, laptop computers, etc. This is very sad. Long flights are extremely boring and now without your entertainment electronics and liquid essentials they will get more boring.

I predict, other airlines and flight routes will follow suit and start banning these liquid and electronic items.

Resurect the Titanic, I want to float instead of fly.

Top 1000 songs of the last 30 years

Is your iPod feeling empty? is your iPod feeling sad? does it need music to brighten up its lonely life? Well here is a treat for you hard working ipod.

Here are the Top 1000 songs of the last 30 years.

The MP3 files are disguised as JPG files and you need to rename them after you download them.

Enjoy the music.

PS

After you download the file as music.JPG, you need to rename it to music.MP3

If you don't see the .JPG extension, you might have the file extensions hidden in windows, so you need to go to the menu of your folder and do Tools -> Folder Options, then select the View tab, scroll down till you find "Hide extension for known file types" and unselect it.

Thanks DR for pointing this out to me.

World's Best iPod utility - Introducing Artie

You filled your iPod with all your favorite music, all legal of course, no p2p downloads. If you bought your music from iPod's music store then you would get nice album art to go with your collection, but not all of us are that fortunate, so you settle for just seeing the song and artist's name.

Well, I proudly present to you, Artie, the best iPod utility I have ever used. Artie lets you select a group of songs from your iTunes and searches for the album art and automatically updates your music collection. You can find Artie here.

Artie is still a work in progress, don't worry it won't damage your iTunes music collection, it will only abort but you can always restart it. Another bug I found was that it cannot handle real long lists, so 50 songs at a time would be appropriate.

Enjoy.

The Wonders of Technology

There was a gentleman walking with two heavy suitcases in an airport terminal. Someone approached and asked him what time it was. The gentleman bends down to park the two heavy suitcases and stares at his watch. But this was no ordinary watch! He touches a tiny button and his administrative assistant's face appears.

He asks her, "Mary, what time is it?" Mary answers instantly and with a smile!

The questioner is thoroughly impressed!!!

He asks, "What kind of a watch is that?"

"It's like a TV with two-way real-time communication," the gentleman explains. He adds that the watch is the latest technology with Intel's brand new 128-bit chip with processor speed of 10 Gigahertz.

The onlooker is now quite impressed and wanted to know if he could buy this watch from the gentleman. They agree on a price and the cash was handed immediately. The gentleman takes his watch out and hands it over and then walks away.

The new owner stares at the two heavy suitcases and shouts, "Sir, you forgot your suitcases."

The gentleman stops, smiles, and replies, "No, they are yours now. They are the modems you need for your new watch.

One thing that comes to mind after reading this joke is all the new gadgets like the iPod, no matter how small they build them, you still need a laptop and / or desktop to make it useful.

Steve Jobs and Apple - The Great Presenter

Here is a video of Steve Jobs in 1984 introducing the Macintosh. Note how he does not talk about technology but humanizes Macintosh like it was a long awaited friend. He shows all the technology features like full audio music, advanced graphics, WYSIWYG displays and fonts, and its compact size he even lets Macintosh speak in a synthesized voice. As a result the hall goes wild.



Here is and ad for the iMac. No technology talk here again, no feature list, no competitive comparisions, just plug it into the wall, connect the network cable, and you have a working useful friend with a friendly curved outer shell and eye catching color.



Here is an ad about iPod, with silhouettes dancing and the white iPod and headphones clearly shown shown. The idea here is not to sell a hard disk embedded digital music player, but more of a lifestyle of freedom, dancing and having fun.



Carmine Gallo from Businessweek explain how to How to Wow 'Em Like Steve Jobs. The main points being:

• Sell the Benefit
  
• Practice, Practice, and Practice Some More
  
• Keep It Visual
  
• "And One More Thing..."
  

Not all Apple products where successful, they declined when Jobs left them and picked up after he joined Apple again.

Here is a comprehensive list of all Apple products.

What if Microsoft designs the iPod package

Funny video about how an iPod would be packaged, the Microsoft way:

How to crack your windows and put cracks in your wall

1) Get your little palm sized iPod
2) Get your audio cable and plug it in your iPod
3) Connect the other end of the cable to your monster amplifier
4) Turn your amp volume to the max
5) Run your finger across your ipod wheel to the max
6) Press Play
7) Feel the floor moving
8) Listen to windows cracking
9) Don't forget to enjoy

How to replace the Hard Disk in your iPod

I always wanted bigger, better, faster, my photo iPod only has 60GB. I want more, more, more. I want to put every single piece of music I have heard even if it was only once. Something like 250 GB music storage would be nice, or maybe 1 TB (terabytes = 1,000 GB). Should I wait for apple's new models? or should I get a screwdriver and do it myself. I am not very patient so I might as well do it myself.

Josh Highland did just that and shows it in Josh Highland's Blog with instructions and pictures showing each step, but he went for a smaller drive.

I will do that as soon as I can find a 1 TB drive that fits in my iPod.

Cheney's iPod Takes Top Priority on Extended Flight

Everyone loves their ipod, Dick Cheney and George Bush both have ipods, now question for today, what is the most played song on your ipod?

I will start, my most played song is Obsession by Aventura.