Tips: July 2008 Archives
Author: Damon Brown
A few weeks ago, more than a million new (and old) iPhone users lined up at the Apple Store to pick up the iPhone 3G. (As you probably know, $199 for the 8 GB, $299 for 16 GB.) Considering there were more than six million iPhone users before the new 3G model, many of the previous users opted not to pick it up - not right away, at least.
There are four reasons for this, three of which are Apple's fault. First, the poor economy here in America. Second, the well-reported hiccups with the iPhone 3G initialization that left some customers waiting hours without an active phone. Third, the almost equally well-reported bump in service contract costs, an increase that could run customers as much as $1,700 more over the course of the two year commitment. Finally - that which is most important to us - Apple gave the iPhone 3G's much-hyped 2.0 software upgrade to all of us. For free. I actually missed the boat on launch day, albeit by a few hours, while waiting for iTunes to tell me when the new iPhone 3G software upgrade would be available. It won't tell you. iTunes only checks for new software about every two weeks, which means, at least in my case, I could still be waiting for 2.0. Regardless, you can check for iPhone software upgrades anytime by plugging in your iPhone and viewing the Summary screen. It will automatically go to the Summary screen, but, just in case, you can always tap the Summary tab, the first tab on the iPhone screen in iTunes.
Author: Troy Dreier
The Apple iPhone is a major player in the mobile Internet space, but the iPhone still doesn't support Flash, which means it can't display most of the video available online. What's a hardworking video site to do?
Until the folks in Cupertino decide to allow the iPhone's Safari browser to display Flash content, online video sites really only have one option if they want to reach iPhone users: re-encode their entire library in a compatible format.
That's what how-to site MonkeySee.com did with its 8,000 multi-segment titles. Just this week it made its entire library available to iPhone users in high-bitrate streaming HD.
That might sound like a lot of work, but according to Greg Letourneau, the CEO of Knowlera Media (parent company to MonkeySee.com), the site's automation system made it easy.
Click here for full story at Web Video Universe.
The "hot deals" section offers you what Slifter thinks are good prices on a wide variety of products (our initial test brought up a Hot Deals list that included car tires, baby paraphernalia and a kayak paddle).
Its range of locations for the products seemed rather broad, but we tested in a rural area and perhaps in major metro markets you'd primarily get directed to more convenient locales.
Slifter's search feature lets you type in a product and then see where it's offered and for what price. You can also save a shopping list to refer to later, and presumably if you're tracking an item with volatile pricing you could easily monitor changes. Slifter alsoworks Windows Mobile devices and recently launched for the BlackBerry (see picture below).
The iPhone takes pretty good pictures for a camera phone without a flash or any sort of zoom functionality. So good, in fact, it is now the most popular cell phone to upload images from to Flickr.
It is followed by Nokia's uber smartphone, the N95, which features all sorts of advanced camera features, starting with its 5-megapixel camera with a Carl Zeiz lens. Until the iPhone, the N95 lead all others in Flickr uploads.
Here's how to share an iPhone photo on Flickr:
Once you take a picture, tap it with your finger, then hit the Email Photo option and enter your Flickr e-mail address and hit send. This is made easier if you've already added the address to your contact list. That way, all you'll need to do is type the first couple of letters for the Flickr address to come up as an option.
Hopefully, Apple will add the ability to take video with the iPhone 2.0 update coming out next month.
[via tuaw]
At 8:00 a.m. local time on Friday, the iPhone 3G will go on sale. It'll be available at both AT&T and Apple retail locations. The companies are opening their doors extra early to accomidate the expected rush of people anxious to get their hands on the speedier, more feature-packed iPhone model. Click here to find the Apple Retail store closed to you. And here to determine which AT&T location is your best bet.
Apple's listed a few things to have at hand when heading in to purchase and activate one of these smartphones:
Should you already own an iPhone, sync it with iTunes one last time before you get a iPhone 3G. This will back up all the data on your original iPhone. That way your info will be saved and ready for when you link your new iPhone to your PC or Maqc for the first time.
Unlike with iPhone 1.0, you can't activate the new model through iTunes in the comfort of your home, unforunately. Activation must occur in the store. There's been some concern that this would create long waits in line.
According to reports, however, the whole iPhone 3G activation process should take only between 10 and 15 mintues. Not the swift five-minute in-and-out of the store of last year, but still pretty reasonable.
Apple's plans to accomidate more than two-dozen people at time, according company retail head Ron Johnson. Speaking with Bloomberg.com, Johnson said "Apple stores will handle about 30 customers at a time. While the company will make sure the activation process is quick."
MonkeySee.com, a site devoted to professionally-produced and user-generated how-to videos answering an array of questions, has just posted a new video titled "How-To Upgrade to the 3G iPhone." The short (3:46) video is narrated and produced by one Joshua Dubois, a videographer and editor.
It shows you what to do with old iPhone - should you be upgrading - and how to import your contacts to a new 3G iPhone or newly acquired original iPhone. The video also walks you through the steps necessary for erasing your data from an old iPhone and popping out the old iPhone's SIM card, for example. Another section explains how to import contacts from an old 2G or 3G phone (if you're a current AT&T customer)to a 3G iPhone.
