Sharp Tools - Gear

Yo-HO!

Big Mac Boat. I'm having trouble imagining a ship with 16,150 Ethernet drops and 'thousands' of Macs. At least without a tear of happiness in my eye.

Harbor Wing Tech HWT X-1

I was privileged recently to share a few hours on a train with Stuart F. Platt, retired USN Admiral and businessman. He gave me an enthusiastic overview of his company (Harbor Wing Technologies) and its flagship technology and platform. I won't bore you trying to explain it; go to their site and check it out, it's really quite excellent. While surfing today, however, I noticed that they had just shown up on Engadget, font of all things geek toy! Good on them. I want to see this on large ships, and I want to see the larger prototype make the three-month autonomous voyage that Admiral Platt told me about. I really want to be able to check in on it via the web! Maybe a web-controllable masthead camera? Guys? Guys? Heh.

This would be a 'wow!' moment.

A Shuttle launch, seen from an airliner.

Nice.

SpaceX reaches and maybe misses

SpaceX launched their Falcon 1 booster today from the Kwajalein Atoll. They recycled the countdown to 10 minutes after the first attempt resulted in an autoabort after engine ignition. The vehicle launched and we had camera feed out to around 40 or 50 km altitude, past Max Q. The feed cut off, and SpaceX's webcast crew said tersely that "We have heard from launch control that there has been an anomaly. More details will be posted to the website as available." Then they went offline.

SIgh.

Hopefully said anomaly wasn't a flight-terminating one, but...well...in the history of spaceflight, 'anomaly' during launch has usually meant Bad Things.

Sorry, SpaceX. We're pulling for you.

BMW, The NY Times, and the money quote

Thanks to verbal for the following. The New York Times has a mini-review of the BMW Hydrogen 7 sedan, which they were testing in the New York metro area. They did note, however, that

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey would not permit the car to be driven through the Lincoln or Holland Tunnels or on the lower level of the George Washington Bridge.

It seems that BMW drew the Port Authority’s attention when it began pumping liquid hydrogen into its small test fleet of dual-fuel sedans in Port Jersey, not far from the docks where BMWs disembark after their voyage from Germany.

The money quote:

And historically speaking, it’s fair to say that the last hydrogen-dependent German flagship that docked in New Jersey left a lasting impression.

Heh.

Skype

Annoying. So I peruse Skype's website trying to find which offering I need to fulfill my 'forward a VOIP phone # to my iPhone' plan. They offer subscription plans such as the 'US/Canada unlimited calling' plan for $2.95/month. They also offer the 'Online number' subscription plan for $60/year which gives you a 'real phone number.' The former just lets you call real phones from Skype. Aha, I say, I see here that they're offering the Online phone number for half off! Excellent! So I go to buy the Online number. Oh, no they're not - as soon as I go to check out, it comes up at the full price of $60/yr. I go back and hunt around the site - now there's no mention of the deal. Sigh. Whatever. I buy it and set it up, have a friend test it, and sure enough he can call this number and it's forwarded to the iPhone with callerID info intact. I get his message on my iPhone voice mail with proper ID info. Great!

The next day I try it again. Nope. Now callers get a surly female voice saying that the person at this number is not available, leave message after beep. However, the Skype client does show these incoming calls in my history. I try making sure that I have a Skype client running on my Mac while calling, in case they're dumb enough to make that a requirement. Nope, same deal.

So I go back over the website. Yeah, see, when they say 'subscription' for the Online number, they *just* mean the number. No calling plan. So forwarding won't work because of 'insufficient funds' for call out. I'm not sure why it worked the night before. In I go to purchase the unlimited USA/Canada plan for $2.95 a month.

And now it says if I buy a new online number, it'll give me half off. But no way to apply the savings to the one I bought. Fucking bait and switchers.

On the other hand, once I did that, everything worked as expected. So the moral of the story is that when you assemble your services from Skype, make sure you do everything in the right order.

Telephony, iPhone, and work

Now that my iPhone works with Exchange, the only reason I have to keep my work Blackberry is so that I don't have to give out my private cell number to everybody at work and clients and the like. This is especially true given that I don't have a landline phone, so my cell is all I have for personal use.

New plan, though: I'm gonna get a Skype Online Number and see if I can forward it directly to my iPhone. If so, then the only thing I give up with the Blackberry is company paid long-distance. I don't travel all that much, though, so I'm cool with submitting for my long distance on the road if it gets too crazy. I don't know if the forward from online number direct to a Real Phone thing works with Skype, but I guess I'll find out.

One really annoying update. I downloaded Skype, and apparently I still had the prefs from the last time I tried it a bunch of years ago. It happily recovered my password and let me log in. When I did, it offered me a 'special deal' of half-off a year of subscription, which sounded just the damn ticket. I realized in the middle of paying that I'd signed up for that account using an online pseudonym, though, so I logged off, created a new account with my 'real' info and started again - and the offer vanished. Figuring it was because I was a new user, I logged back on as my old account, and...nope, gone. Phantom deals.

Damn.

Still, $60/year isn't too bad, especially if I can expense it (which I can if a) this works and b) I hand the Blackberry back in).

iPhone 2.0 annoyances

Since upgrading to the new firmware, my iPhone has annoyed me in a couple of ways that it didn't before. Specifically:

The phone now occasionally 'freezes' for a few seconds during operations, much like iTunes will freeze and give you the spinning beachball. When this happens, it won't scroll or take screen input at all, and gives no indication of activity - no WiFi or EDGE progress spinner. Sometimes the Home button will kick it back to the Home screen, but not always. In every case, it's recovered on its own after 15 to 30 seconds.

When entering passwords, the 'hide entry' function is broken. As I enter a password, the most recent character is visible until I hit the next character, at which point the previous one changes to the normal bullet. But it's slow and jerky, and in any case *does* display all the letters of my password, if not all at once.

Battery life is noticeably worse. I'm going to try turning off 'push' and seeing if that helps.

Note: This is on an original iPhone 8GB with the 2.0 release firmware acquired via iTunes update, nuked during update, no jailbreak/hacks, and these problems all showed up before I installed any app store apps.

iPhone 2.0 firmware

Bit the bullet and ran the update on my original 8GB, mostly because I wanted to see if MobileMe and Exchange support were worth the whole deal.

The update process said it couldn't back up my iPhone, error -94 (likely because it was jailbroken). I said go ahead and nuke it. iTunes cheerfully did so, then took 15 minutes or so to run the upgrade procedure. Following that, it dutifully asked me if I wanted to configure a new phone or restore from a backup of (my phone). I told it to restore.

It synced all my metadata (contacts/calendars/etc) and then started syncing iTunes content. After about 20 more minutes, it was done, and I picked it up to have a look.

The Good:

• Exchange push email works as advertised, on EDGE or on WiFi. My work server is happily pushing emails to my phone. I can browse contacts from MobileMe and from my work Exchange server in the same lists, and can specify which to look at using the 'Categories' screen in the Contacts miniapp.
• The App Store works, downloads relatively quickly, and seems solid. Apps drop happily onto the phone. Caveat: I've only downloaded free ones so far, because I might nuke the phone again so don't want to spend money yet.

The Bad:

• There is, of course, no way to get a shell or a POSIX layer. Hence...
• No SSH.
• No VNC.
• No filesystem access.
• No patch for Safari that lets it read file:// URLS.
• Everybody with a NY Subway map app seems to want money for it, despite the fact that the map isn't theirs. I'm hoping iWalk shows back up, it was dead useful.
• A lot of the game companies seem to have inflated ideas of what an iPhone game is worth.

This sort of sucks for me, because I realized that over the past few months probably 90% of my non-phone iPhone use was reading local storage HTML format ebooks (I spend a lot of money at Baen Books' Webscriptions site. Check them out, they have a nice free library). I can no longer do this, at least until someone figures out a way for me to patch Safari to read local files and then download the files to the phone. I could of course just put it up on a webserver that I own, but then I have to have network access to read books - and most of this reading is done while commuting on the subway.

Oops.

I don't know...this might be enough of a motive to try to downgrade to 1.1.4 Jailbroken, if that's even possible. If it's not, well, I have faith that I'll be able to do all this once more - the Pwnage app sounds really promising.

I am glad I didn't spend money on a new phone. The one feature that sounds like I really want it is...drum roll...apparently there's much improved reception and call quality on the new one. Oh well.

Ice, ice, bab...no, I can't.

Still, WOOHOO IT'S ICE! The Phoenix Mars Lander reports finding ice (and, funny enough, not by baking it) on Mars. Just to be modern about it, the lander 'reports' this via Twitter.

3G iPhone, yada, yada.

Of course I was drooling over the liveblogs of WWDC today. I'm pleased to say that what was announced was almost precisely what I predicted a few days ago to a friend of mine, but I won't insist you believe me because it was in conversation and not date-able print. Not that it matters.

Three of my friends have asked me, the well-known Apple Early Adopter (*cough*SUCKER*cough*) if I'm going to get one, and when.

You know, I don't think I am.

I have an 8GB iPhone that I bought the day of release. I've been keeping it in my right pants pocket for a year, with no protection other than my trying to remember to not put my keys in that pocket. It (knock wood) works fine, and has no visible screen blemishes at all - and few on the case, either. I've gone through a pair of V-Moda headphones, but V-Moda replaced them cheerfully under warranty, so good on them.

What does the new phone (not the new firmware, the new phone) have that I might want? Let's see.

• A-GPS
• 3G cellular connection
• ...um...a non-recessed headphone jack, woo
• ...yeah, nothing else.

I really don't care about waiting 45 seconds versus 22 seconds to get my pages to load when on EDGE (rather than HSPDA or whatever '3G' is). I do care that the new phone's data plan appears to involve an *additional* $10/month (for what? That 20-second difference, meaningless when on Wi-Fi? Pshaw). I also care that I'd have to restart my two-year AT&T clock to get one.

Could Apple have sealed the deal with me? Yeah, they could have. In a simple way, and one that no doubt they'll do within months. The most limiting thing about the current iPhone I have? 8GB of storage. If they'd announced a 32GB version for $300, or even maybe $399, I'd have thought about it very very carefully. I have to manage what's on my phone sort of constantly to fit new podcasts and new video onto it. While I would probably fill a 32GB phone immediately, it would most likely all be with video content both transient and permanent, making the phone a much more usable movie player - which I enjoy about it a lot. Also app data space - although EBooks don't take up too much.

All the other stuff I really want - Exchange functionality, MobileMe, app store, SDK-and-resulting games - all of these will be available to me free via the 2.0 firmware update.

Also, suck on Apple if (as reports indicate may be the case) you'll no longer be able to buy the iPhone and then activate it at home. That was one of the little things that made me feel like I was finally achieving some independence from the cell phone scumpond that is the industry (I know, locking it to AT&T more than made up for this slight bright light). It's possible that they're only promising it in stores because the initial production run all went to retail; it's possible that they just aren't sure enough about ship dates etc. to promise its availability via the Apple Store online. But still.

So no. I think I'll be holding on to my 2.5G version. Here's hoping it doesn't break anytime soon. Hm, maybe I should buy Applecare for it, if they'll let me...

Kindle II

I finally beheld (and held, and used) a Kindle. New impressions are below the jump in the unlikely event you care.

It's a nice size; holdable (by me) in between the thumb and fingers of one hand cupped. The screen is very nice when not updating. It's so slow as to make it completely pointless that there is web browsing functionality. Given that that's not its job, that's not really a minus. The form factor as a whole (I was using it without the 'book cover') was appealing in terms of function. It was light enough to hold one-handed for a long time, and heavy enough to not feel too fragile to loll around with.

PDFs. Amazon claims you can convert them. LIES. ALL LIES. Well, maybe you can - but don't count on the results being usable. Bleah.

The whole selector deal is odd. Since the screen can't handle a pointer and doesn't have touch anyway, you end up using a menu with the scroll wheel. It reminded me unpleasantly of ATM machines. When reading, who cares? But for all other stuff, meh.

The keyboard is even worse, functionally, than it looks. It is an obscene waste of device estate and aesthetics. As silly as the thing looks, 90% of the problem is the damn chiclet keyboard. I kept thinking 'Coleco' for no good reason.

Upshot for me: nice book reader, but I don't spend enough on current hardcovers to make the extravagant price worthwhile, no matter how much I travel, and I'm willing to buy and toss a cheap paperback for roughly what Amazon seems to want for it in e-form. Plus I can leave those on the plane for the next guy or girl.

If it was $200, I'd buy one. If it did PDFs right, I'd consider buying one at $300. If Amazon told me they'd give me the books I'd bought from them in the past six months as ebooks free, I'd seriously consider buying it. As it stands? Nope.

ob. Kindle musings

As someone whose main gripe with the iPhone at launch was my inability to install a book reader, I read the announcement of Amazon.Com's Kindle bookreader. Unlike the esteemed Mr. Love, I have not ordered one. Here's my quick reaction:

• Indeed, AUUUGH THE BUTTONS. Why so many freaking buttons? If you have full control of the store environment, you should be able to control for any requirements for typing. Honestly, if the only reason you're typing is for search purposes, an on-screen keyboard would be fine.
• Stylus and HWR. For taking notes? e-ink your scribbles, or invest in one of the many HWR systems for said scribbles. Here is somewhere a stylus is meant to be. Scribbling in margins? Stylus. When taking quick notes, a crappy QWERTY keyboard is the fastest way to discourage me.
• zOMG what no PDF?!??! Waiting to hear this isn't true.
• EV-DO? Great. Sprint EV-DO? Ugh. How about those of us that live in Verizon-dominated zones?
• Is there a way to transfer my purchases to my own machine/server for offline storage, even if I can't use them elsewhere? So that I can have a home library without requiring EV-DO xfer of all my titles if, say, I decide to completely change over my contents?
• Book DRM FTL. See Baen Books for The Right Thing To Do.
• Kudos on Mobi support.
• Wait, you want me to pay you for an RSS feed of a blog? Uh. I guess it's for bandwidth, but on a monthly basis? What if the blog just doesn't update that much? I mean, carrying Boing Boing or Engadget would surely eat up bandwidth given their flow and the inclusion of all manner of multimedia, but shee, what if I wanted to read the laconic Mr. Love's blog? Would I get charged the same for that?
• Always-on network and no generic web browser? When Opera will put one in a watch (or so it seems) this seems...wrong. Oh, okay, bandwidth, fine...so where's the luxe version with wifi? Are we waiting for WiMax?

UPDATE: Okay, the inimitible Mr. Teichman has informed me that there is a reg'lar web browser in the prefs, and that the device can be mounted as a USB Mass Storage device for backups. Two objections down.

Eventually, I guess, I'll get to hold one, and then I'll think about it more. But no order from me. I'm actually quite happy reading on my iPhone, even though getting HTML text onto it is not for the faint of heart. It also means I don't have another device to carry, and I personally don't mind the tradeoffs.

I Need One

...of these for the Acela. Seriously, people, it's called the Quiet Car. There are announcements. There are signs. There are train personnel. All three tell you you can't use your cell phone in the Quiet car, and that there are five other cars on the train where you certainly can. How hard is that?

Apparently, too hard for many people. Where's my credit card...

Which is it, Steve?

From Apple (check the Oct. 17 entry, they don't like deeplinks apparently):

Let me just say it: We want native third party applications on the iPhone, and we plan to have an SDK in developers’ hands in February. We are excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for our users.

Woo, Steve! Great! Sucks on the delay, but okay. You know, if you'd just *said* this early on, that whole PR nightmare might have been avoided.

But lower:

Nokia, for example, is not allowing any applications to be loaded onto some of their newest phones unless they have a digital signature that can be traced back to a known developer. While this makes such a phone less than “totally open,” we believe it is a step in the right direction.

...er, wait. In other words, 'less than totally open' is a *step* in the right direction? What's the goal state? Where you are now? Confused.

Improving your Amtrak Experience

Pity about the legality issue.

Via Bruce Schneier's blog

iPod Unknown Error 1416

Replacing the hard drive in my 4G 40GB iPod (my replacement one was stolen out of my car, and the car connector only works with 4G units, so resurrecting this one was called for) was a snap. I purchased an 'opening kit' from PDASmart along with the drive; for $3 I got four separate miniature screwdrivers and three plastic 'opening tools' - basically very thin-ended wedges. No problems.

When I plugged it into iTunes, it came up fine and asked me to name it, then started eagerly shoveling music onto the little white bugger. I figured I'd like to restore it to factory settings, so I told iTunes to do that. It thought about it for a while, then produced this message: "Unable to restore. Unknown error (1416)." While the iPod seemed to work, every time it booted it flashed the 'support URL' message before continuing with the boot.

Solution: don't use iTunes to restore it. Download and run the 'iPod Updater' and use the 'Restore Factory Settings' option first, then update the firmware as required. That did the trick; Gir is all happy now.

No, AT&T is a perfectly fine solution!

SUCKER.

Money quote: "Note: If you are indoors, trying going outdoors or moving closer to a window."

Apple Kvetchings

Behold, the bleating of an upset consumer. Me, as it happens. As I've said before, I don't really consider the things Apple is doing to the iPhone 'wrong' in any legal or grand moral sense - but the part of me that is purely consumer (which has a large say in my purchasing decisions) is still ticked off at the imminent loss of functionality that is the 1.1.1 upgrade. Hence, the bleating on their feedback page.

---cut---

Gentlement and Ladies-

I have been an Apple customer since my first computer, an Apple ][+ back in 1983. I have owned that machine, a Mac Plus, a Mac II, a Powermac 8500, a Powermac G4, and my current Intel iMac. In addition, I have owned the Newton OMP, 120 and 2100, as well as an original iBook, a titanium powerbook, a 1GHz AlBook, and my current MacBook Pro 15". I own an original iPod, a 40GB gen 4, a 2GB mini, and a shuffle. I waited on line to purchase the iPhone 8GB I currently carry, despite my inability to use AT&T's cellular service in my home - they have completely abysmal service here in Boston.

I have been using my iPhone constantly since getting it, again despite AT&T providing the *worst* cellular service I have experienced in my fifteen years owning a cell phone. I terminated an 11-year custom with Verizon Wireless for this device, despite their vastly superior network.

My iPhone replaced a Palm Treo 650. I had said that the minimum requirements for me to switch to an iPhone woulld be the ability to get mail, instant message via an internet IM network, read my eBooks, and use SSH on the device. All of these capabilities were easily available, with multiple choices, on the Treo 650. Despite only the first one being possible on the iPhone at launch, I bit the bullet and bought one, because the interface was so appealing and it allowed me to consolidate my iPod and phone devices. As time went on, I was glad to find that third-party developers were offering me the capabilities I had sacrificed in order to sidegrade to the iPhone.

And now comes firmware 1.1.1. I completely understand the running battle with SIM unlocking - while I may not agree with it, I have to be honest and admit that it doesn't really affect me, since the only network I'd be tempted to move to would be Verizon, and the radio hardware won't let me. I don't travel internationally often enough for the AT&T lock to be an issue, and as a Verizon customer I was used to my phone not working overseas.

However, I find myself locked out of upgradng to the latest firmware, because to do so will remove nearly all the functionality that I have come to depend on on this device. AT&T's service is so terrible in the Northeast that I have been forced to carry my work Blackberry on T-Mobile just to be fairly confident of getting a signal between the two devices. This should give you some inkling of how 'useful' the AT&T phone service is to me. However, I have been using the VPN client and the available SSH ports to manage servers, both personal and at work, when not in the office. I have become accustomed to being able to keep in touch with colleagues on IRC (using Colloquy) and AIM (using Apollo) when necessary - IRC is necessary for me as several of these colleagues are located overseas, which makes AT&T text messaging useless.

I find myself, now, with the choice of upgrading to firmware 1.1.1 and losing all the functionality that I have come to depend on on this device, being left only with the substandard cellular phone system it supports and extremely basic web browsing capabilities which won't let me use 80% of the websites I normally use due to its inability to support flash. While I use Safari as a hack to read eBooks I store on private webservers, this restricts my ability to read books to those times when I have network connectivity - and in Massachusetts, that 'E' for EDGE is not nearly as universally available as you'd think. I had had high hopes that I would be able to transfer some of my 100 or so novels onto the iPhone within a few months as development of additional software flourished.

Now, however, any effort that remains forthcoming from the mass of smart and creative people writing software for this admittedly excellently-engineered device will be sucked up into another round of trying to outguess your engineers for the meagre prize of simply being able to function. Why? Why would you work so hard to destroy functionality on this device?

I had had high hopes that, despite AT&T being so very awful, the iPhone would finally be the phone that science fiction promised me - the device I could use for all electronic and networking tasks short of those requiring the screen real estate of at least a laptop. I find myself bitterly disappointed.

Sincerely,
J.B. Zimmerman

Post-update Update

So Apple released 1.1.1 for the iPhone, and sure enough, it breaks shit left right and center. It's now painfully clear why that Apple clarification of warranty went out first. I'm of mixed feelings about some of this.

I am neutral about the effects on unlocked phones. As far as can be determined, the update doesn't destroy (brick) them entirely, but somehow disables their radio hardware so that activating them using any SIM card is prevented. While this is most definitely uncool, it also seems to indicate that there is some manner of recoverability, since the 'failure' is clearly a defined mode. What Apple does next is anybody's guess.

The iPhones left in this state are pretty much (to me) meant to be service magnets - that is, like cable TV providers sending out pulses to brick illegal boxes, Apple hopes that people will bring their iPhones in for service and be scolded back into the fold. The problem is that if this is the case, then Apple must have a method for restoring the phones in question, since the most likely avenue (to my uninformed self) would be to charge a service procedure fee. This indicates that a) the phone isn't damaged and b) there's a technical fix. Apple's problem is now one of timing, it seems.

The same forces that were behind the unlock and initial jailbreaking of the phone are no doubt working busily on recovering said phones - if not to their 'unlocked' status, then at least to their original AT&T functionality. Apple is therefore betting that 'most' people who have unlocked their iPhone will not want to wait an undetermined amount of time for this to occur, and will tamely submit to the official fix procedures. I don't know what those are - there are reports of iPhones being exchanged by Apple Stores, either because they haven't Got The Memo from the mothership or because the mothership might expect a few innocents to get caught in the blast? In any case, they haven't told us what the Official Apple SUBMIT procedure will be. If I'm correct about their intentions (i.e. scare everybody back into the fold) I'm betting that there will be a 'pay a nominal fix fee' procedure which involves you handing in your iPhone and getting it back unbricked with firmware 1.1.1 firmly stamped on it.

I'm disappointed in the grand scheme of things by this. I don't think it was At All Cool. On the other hand, Apple did clearly set up the rules of the game when they released the phone, so they haven't done anything 'unexpectedly dastardly.' Especially if there *is* an 'approved recovery' procedure. I am more ticked about the notion that the new firmware wipes out the AppTapp installer, jailbreaking and the installation of third party apps not related to their revenue sharing deal with AT&T. I recognize that this is because it affects me directly, whereas the unlock bit doesn't, but still - there is a contractual and revenue-based reasoning behind the attempts to control unlocking, much as I disagree with it. It's a fight that, dumb as it may be, they chose early on - and their analysis of the money to be had probably told them that it was worth it.

However, hacks that improve the functionality of the iPhone without jeopardizing their revenue? And, in fact, make the iPhone a much more desirable product? Dumb. Dumb, dumb, dumb. I suppose I should be grateful that the new firmware doesn't brick phones with installed apps, just wipes them - but no, I'm not. I'm just pissed, and I'm holding onto my 1.0.2 firmware image with clenched fists. Until the boffins over at the DevTeam jailbreak 1.1.1 too.

I couldn't give a rat's ass about the iTunes Wifi Music store. But Frotz and ssh? Fuck you, Apple, those are mission-critical.

iPhone unlock warranty kerfluffle

So Apple finally responds to software unlocks for the iPhone, and it ain't the smiling tolerance of Aunt Edna:

CUPERTINO, Calif., Sept. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Apple has discovered that many of the unauthorized iPhone unlocking programs available on the Internet cause irreparable damage to the iPhone's software, which will likely result in the modified iPhone becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone software update is installed. Apple plans to release the next iPhone software update, containing many new features including the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store (www.itunes.com), later this week. Apple strongly discourages users from installing unauthorized unlocking programs on their iPhones. Users who make unauthorized modifications to the software on their iPhone violate their iPhone software license agreement and void their warranty. The permanent inability to use an iPhone due to installing unlocking software is not covered under the iPhone's warranty.

(above text nabbed from Gizmodo.)

While this isn't Happy Fun News for those folks trying to use their phones on other networks, and really isn't Happy Fun News for those jag-offs trying to make business plans out of unlocking the things, I find myself in the uncomfortable position of saying "Um, not sure why this such a big deal." Seriously. First of all, let's try to separate intentional cockblocking from normal, responsible-to-shareholder corporate ass-covering, shall we?

Apple has just been through a fairly expensive customer-satisfaction exercise involving the iPhone, namely the rebate. Yes, that's pretty much entirely their own fault, no sympathy there. However, look at unlocks in that context - software designed to muck around with the internals of the phone in such a way as to prevent it from functioning normally (normally read 'as intended'). While using the loaded word 'damage' is debatable, it requires no big stretch of imagination to posit that even if current solutions haven't done so, it is possible (using those techniques) to make changes to firmware or other internals of the iPhone which not only temporarily prevent it from functioning properly but which (most importantly) prevent the dock-with-iTunes-restore method from functioning - even if they don't do actual irreparable damage to the device.

If that happens, suddenly an iPhone which is under warranty becomes a dollar liability to Apple, who must consider the possibility that the person who downloaded our notional misbehaved hack will simply march up to an Apple store and demand a new phone. Is that really Apple's problem? We can debate that, obviously. However, from Apple's point of view, hell no it isn't. This is the electronic equivalent of 'no user serviceable parts inside.'

This won't stop dedicated hackers. They possess the skills required to resurrect an iPhone which stops responding to iTunes, if that's actually possible, and they're much less likely to walk into an Apple Store and say 'hi, I broke this' if for no other reason than they want to figure out what went wrong and fix the problem. It will ensure that if a broken hack is released into the wild, Apple won't suffer financial repercussions from people gleefully downloading and using a piece of lowlevel software which Apple can't possibly have tested for safety.

I'm disinclined to worry about non-radio system hacks, either. In the above text, Apple very clearly (thrice) refers to 'unlocking software' rather than simply 'unauthorized software.' This makes it pretty clear that they're not too chuffed about your copy of Minesweeper or your install of Frotz. Especially when we consider the mechanism for updates that we've seen so far - if the update doesn't like your phone's checksum, it just restores it and then updates it. This is a pain in the ass, but it does guarantee (from Apple's point of view) that when the update is complete, you have a working phone with Apple Approved software on it. Sure, you have to hack it again to put your apps back on, and that sucks. On the other hand, if the phone was working enough to respond to the updater and complete the process, then you should be able to do so.

Enough verbage (too much, really). I, too, am ticked about Apple's stance on third-party apps for the iPhone. I rely on them to make mine into the usable device it is now as opposed to the pretty device it was when I bought it. On the other hand, I'm not going to run out and declare Doom Upon The Mothership for a little normal corporate legal shielding - even I don't see why they should be fiscally responsible if you've been mucking around with your phone deep enough to screw with its radio hardware and it gets broke as a result.

Sheep! We're SHEEP I tell you!

And how many of us will happily take that $100 credit Steve-O is touting and turn it right back around, if this is true?

Baaaaaaa.

Heeheeheehee.

iTunes 7.4.1 and custom ringtones

There have been some reports that iTunes 7.4 nukes custom ringtones installed on the iPhone by some software - 'iToner' was mentioned. I have ringtones that I placed there using iPHUC/jailbreak, and they're still there after a 7.4.1 sync (and, actually, it synced to 7.4 before it upgraded to 7.4.1). Just FYI. Mine are all AACs converted from MP3 using iTunes originally.

iPhone approaches reality value pricing

Don't get me wrong, I love my iPhone. Have since I got it. Still hate AT&T's voice and data services with a burning passion. However, when asked (as I have been countless times) by non-Apple-fanbois) if the time was right to buy an iPhone, I have typically said 'Nope. It's too expensive for what it is. It needs to do more or be cheaper.'

Well, ding. The 8GB iPhone is now $399. Which is Apple admitting that it's sucked all the rents possible out of us irrational early adopters and has finally decided to release the device to the general (i.e. more rational) consuming public. At that price? Yep, I think the phone is definitely worth it, even on AT&T.

As for me, I still don't regret it, really. I won't until the 16GB version is out for $499 or $599, because (other than having it run on Verizon) the thing I wanted most from my iPhone was more space.

I wonder if the price drop was at all due to negotations with overseas carriers?

Another reason that AT&T Wireless Sucks.

iPhone sticker shock #46j: 2 calls to directory assistance last month. $3.68. Even Verizon gave me some directory assistance love for free, guys. Even Verizon, whom I have railed about. Nickel and dime, boys. Nickel and dime.

I hope Stevie J. has some devious plan whereby the complete sucktasticness of AT&T is intended to make us all fall down for joy over Apple's branded WiMax VOIP service or something, because otherwise, this whole AT&T thing is just a fucking anchor around the God Phone's neck. I mean, come the fuck on.

Hooray! My iPhone too can stick it to the NSA!

Thanks to the excellent, clear and efficient instructions posted at hacktheiphone.com my iPhone ringtone is now the same as my Treo's was - the excellent Call Connected Thru the NSA dig recorded by They Might Be Giants.

In addition to being slightly more individual, as well as more familiar to me, there are a couple of advantages I've reaped from the use of this hack. One, this ringtone is noticeably louder than the default options on the iPhone (yay). Two, iTunes no longer autosyncs when the phone is plugged in. Although some might consider this a problem, I don't; it makes it less likely I'll screw up by plugging my iPhone into another computer and wiping its contents. In addition, I can change my video sync settings without having it start shoving movies back and forth immediately.

iPhone safe charging

Since the iPhone can only be synced to one computer, plugging it into multiple Macs is a problem. If you plug it into a different Mac, it will do the usual iPod trick of offering to sync with the new Mac...but if you say 'no', there is some chain of events where rather than sync, it will simply wipe the iPhone clean of iPod content. Or, you might (like me) just be pre-coffee and hit 'OK' and then squawk 'NOOOOOOOOoooooo....' and reach for it just too late to yank it out of the dock while you're on a road trip some 300 miles from your music/video collection.

I have adopted a new method of ensuring I don't do this to myself. While on the road, I only carry a Firewire iPod cable. The iPhone will *charge* from this cable fine, in the dock or directly, from a computer or from the iPod wall wart. But it won't even attempt to sync (it needs USB2 to sync). Ergo, safe charging with no risk of inadvertent sync.

All U.S. Cell providers suck.

I've been most derisive of AT&T in my previous iPhone posts. I suppose I should be specific about why I'm so down on them. I must preface this by noting that this in no way reflects a scientific study; I own stock in neither AT&T nor Verizon (although I do own some in Apple), and I was a Verizon Wireless customer for 12 years prior to leaving them last week in order to activate my iPhone. I have been a T-Mobile customer via my work Blackberry 8700 for some 4 months now in the New York metro area (Philly through NYC), in Washington DC, and in the Boston Metro area and in Houston, TX. I've used my Verizon phone all over the U.S. (Motorola flips, then Qualcomm candybars, then the Kyocera 7135 Palm, finally a Treo 650).

AT&T/Cingular's wireless service, subjectively, sucks. Some completely random anecdotal reasons they annoy me follow.

• I can't get reliable phone service in my house. I live in Cambridge, MA, near the BU Bridge. Verizon was 5-bar service even on the Treo (which had lousy reception) for blocks in any direction, even in my basement. The iPhone and a friend's Treo on AT&T both vacillate between zero and one bar in use sitting at my desk on the first floor.
• When I do get phone service, it's flaky. The iPhone, sitting in its dock at a particular angle, will in fact get two bars of service. If I reach out and turn the phone ninety degrees, I get 'NO SERVICE.' This is true of another, non-iPhone AT&T handset on my desk that I tested. WTF?
• For a company whose billboards read 'FEWEST DROPPED CALLS' this is laughable. I never worried about dropped calls before. In the first week, so far, I lost count around twenty calls interrupted due to failure midstream - not all of which even had the decency to bleep and say 'CALL FAILED', some of which just went silent with my handset ticking away for 15-20 seconds before doing so. On testing, I found many of these to correspond to areas where a five-bar signal would drop to NO SERVICE if the phone was rotated between forty-five and ninety degrees. Again, WTF? In only five of these cases was I walking or driving.
• Outside the Boston Metro Area, heading North, as soon as I got into New Hampshire and onto I-89 service became...spotty. Whole swathes of that highway refuse to offer any service at all. Service is notable around larger towns, which remains true up into Vermont. Um...useless.

Now, I will offer the following. AT&T, so far, has been much more pleasant to deal with on the phone than Verizon. The latter autoblocked my number transfer for 24 hours so that they could have Retentions call me 20 hours later and harangue me about leaving them; then, when they couldn't keep me, found a way that my executing a 'new every two' credit I'd waited two years to use, cashing in two years prior to buy my Treo, meant that I was in fact still under a contract despite my 12 years of time on their network. Also despite the fact that I'd had to wait two years to get it after signing up. Whatever. As delicious irony, those two years were up July 13th; I deactivated June 29th. Rather than billing me a final month of july, that's right; $175 cancellation fee.

Whatever, it's not worth my time to argue with them at this point. I had assured the Retentions lady that I was enamored of the iPhone and would certainly return to Verizon if AT&T's phone service, which I was experimenting with, was bad enough to cause me difficulties.

You know what? No way. Verizon, fuck you at the drive through. I'm done. Worst of all, you know, you *could* have had the retentions lady politely mention the contract to me, you know? Or even, heaven forbid, offer to split the difference and bill me for the month of July rather than hit me with the full $175 early termination fee for a two-week early exit after 12 years? I might have even considered keeping my Verizon phone active as a standby. But no, you simply had your system send me an email notice with the early termination fee, and when I tried to determine why my final bill had jumped by $175 your system informed me that since I wasn't a customer I couldn't use the website anymore.

And you wonder why people are leaving? Hint: the shitty phones that you lock down are part of it, yes. This is the other part.

iPhone, eBooks, stopgap solution

My major gripe about the iPhone (well, after the completely abysmal nature and quality of AT&T's cellular service, more on that later) is that on my Palm Treo I have around 150 ebooks for use in emergencies. You know, stuck on trains, in airports, in boring meetings, just sitting around? Yeah. Around 100 sci-fi novels of various quality, some reference books, and some classics from Project Gutenberg. The iPhone doesn't offer any way to load them on, much less read 'em.

Well, the trashy sci-fi novels are the easiest to deal with. I've purchased a large chunk of 'em from the Baen Books online WebScriptions service, and downloaded many more from their excellent free library. I had them all in Mobipocket format because their reader was nice on the Palm, but they offer the books in zipped HTML archives. Since they're not DRMed, and since they keep track of books you've bought and allow re-download, I grabbed a bunch of them as zipped HTML archives, stuck them up on a private server I have (thank you Linode!) and wrote a quick index page into the archive folders for them. So as long as I'm on WiFi or EDGE, I can at least read these using Safari.

Now, for next steps, I'd love to find a way to write a not-an-app that at least knows how to download and cache the HTML and/or text format ebooks on the iPhone so that I can easily leave network coverage (again, thank you AT&T for your completely shit-tastic service) and not have Safari dump the book I'm reading, as well as take care of basic bookmarking and stuff like that.

Maybe in my copious free time.

iPhone, days later

So I've been using the iPhone for around 6 days now. I migrated my phone number from Verizon Wireless, where I'd been a customer for around 12 years, to AT&T/Cingular - because I wanted this phone. Verizon promptly threw a 24-hour hold on my number transfer when I tried to autoactivate the iPhone. I will admit it's only the conspiracy theorist in me that notes that 2 hours before that period was up, I got a hard-press phone call from the Retentions department at Verizon.

I didn't really enjoy it. I told the lady on the other end of the phone I'd just gotten an iPhone. She made a great effort to sound shocked. "But you've been with us for twelve years!" she exclaimed. "You can't be leaving because of a phone!"

Um. Yes, actually, I can. See, up until now, all phones have sucked. A lot. I almost left Verizon when I couldn't get a decent Palm phone, but they got theirs out in time, and I stuck around. First for the Kyocera 7135, which was a great phone; then for the Treo 650, which is a crappy phone and middlin' PDA. I stuck with Verizon because I agreed with her next attempt:

"But we have the best network!"

Yes ma'am, I said, you surely do. And that's why I've stayed this long. But you cripple features on your phones so I can't use them and you make more money. You cripple dialup access on phones which will do it strictly to get me to buy a data plan. You backslide on 'unlimited' data access plans when people start using them as actual unlimited data plans. You lock down ringtones, multimedia, you name it.

"But you have to buy your media from Apple now! We have multimedia phones that are just as good as that one!" (that's a quote.)

Er, no. See, whatever your position on the whole FairPlay DRM kerfluffle, one thing nobody has really denied is that you can always do what I do - which is (for the most part) take your CD collection, rip it into unprotected format, and dump it to your iPod. And now, your iPhone. So no, I don't have to buy my music from Apple. Some of it I do (at last count, it looks like 1.6% or thereabouts of my library- 0.0157, that is.) Most of it, though, comes from the umpty-ump hundred CDs I've bought. Some comes from free downloads, like the entirety of Splashdown's catalogue or the Kleptones. Some, indeed, is illegal music; I won't pretend otherwise. I don't have an easy way to calc that, but it's probably something like 3%-4% of the library from a random sample I grabbed. In any case, it took all my effort not to burst out laughing at her. Your phones are just as good. I know. It's just not fair that nobody buys them, is it.

I told her that I had really been hoping Verizon had taken the iPhone. I knew that Apple had offered it to Verizon first. As a Verizon customer, I hadn't known that at the time, but had they asked me, I would have told them unequivocally to take it; I would have indicated that (at the time) I was willing to pay what I'd just paid for the iPhone, and to Verizon, and that I'd probably have been willing to incur a small monthly surcharge for it. Indeed, I incurred a $9 higher fee for AT&T's middle rate plan.

"Oh, but they insulted our company with the offer they made us."

Well, folks, that's not my problem. That sounds like pride. Which is all well and good, but guess what? I'm your customer. I was for twelve years. I am telling you, now, apparently in the only way that matters, that your pride meant bupkes to me. The network meant something to me as long as the equipment playing field was relatively even. But I consider the iPhone an uneven playing field, and your network doesn't even the gap.

Dear Verizon: If you haven't figured out yet that you fucked up, well, this won't teach you. If you have figured it out, then this won't mean anything. All it is is a blog post saying I tried to tell you but you weren't listening.

Having said that to get it off my chest, there are some things Verizon should be proud of. AT&T/Cingular's network, in the Cambridge/Boston area and up to Vermont along I-93/I-89/I-91, is incredibly shitty compared to Verizon's. The whole 'Fewest dropped calls!' claim on AT&T's billboards? Yeah, right. I never really had dropped calls on Verizon enough to notice them; one or two a month, maybe, and usually when I was on the phone with another cell user. So far this week, I've counted fifteen. FIFTEEN. Ten of those when I wasn't moving, and when I was in a five-bar signal area. Your network sucks ass, AT&T.

Furthermore, coverage is abysmal. Leave the major metro area, and it turns into little islands around towns big enough to have a McDonalds. The nearest tower to my parents' house is apparently some five or six miles away. Verizon had towers along the interstate, or at least coverage; AT&T, nope. Only at the major service towns/areas.

Is this enough to make me go back to Verizon? In my current life, no. I'm no longer required to be reachable 24 hours a day, and if I were, my answer would be to get a Verizon phone on my company's dime and carry two phones. I hate Verizon phones that much; I'd carry them both just to not have to look at/use the VZW one.

I've watched seven movies on the iPhone so far. Listened to a Harry Potter book. Haven't made a call using the headset yet. Have been keeping it in a jeans pocket (albeit with nothing else in there) and it seems quite happy. No scratching, creaking, feeling of 'ooh I'll damage it.'

Went 2.5 days without recharging, in which I watched 1.5 movies and listened to 1/4 of Goblet of Fire. Didn't make more than a call or two, but the phone stayed on standby the whole time, although it was out of service area for a good fifteen of those hours.

Happy happy as clam.

This is, indeed, me.

My TiVo

I've always been extremely ambivalent about upgrading my venerable Sony series 1 TiVo because the newer ones have either lacked features that made them worthy (Series 2) or were ridiculously expensive (Series 3). After the Series 3 price drop, the cost factor became less of an issue; however, TiVo carefully didn't do so until after expiring the Lifetime Subscription transfer period, which made my decision not to get one easier. So long as my original box works, it's just not worth it.

Then I came across this on the internet:

"Grandfather transfer: The one-time "Grandfather transfer" (for people who purchased Product Lifetime on or before January 21, 2000, and who have not already used their one-time transfer) is still allowed and will also be honored for future hardware releases from TiVo, such as the Series3. If you have any trouble when you call, please mention KDB code 09-07-04 to the agent."

The Grandfather Transfer was free, IIRC. Can such things be? Must check. If so, this would force a revision of my entire TiVo buying avoidance strategy.

iPod wasn't the first disk-based MP3 player

...and the iPhone won't be the first WiFi(/WiMax)-VoIP and Cell phone. But I still stand by my cocky prediction that it will be the best of the lot.

Duke Blue Spyder

Just got my Duke Blue Spyder from HisNibs.com (a fine pen buying experience, I might add, purely as a satisfied customer). I like this pen already. It's solid without being too heavy; the cap is quite weighty and posting or not posting can significantly change the pen's balance as you choose. The nib (I got a standard medium) actually writes a deal finer than my Sheaffer Medium. The weight of the pen and the highly curved nib (it curves around the barrel) mean that there is very little vibration of the nib when writing; it's quite difficult to make the pen 'skip' or scratch. The beading on the nib is quite good; while there's no plane to it (so no variation in line width easily noticeable) that's okay. The smoothness of the pen more than makes up for it.

Only had it an hour or so; put in a couple of pages of text with it. My hand still likes it a lot. Only complaint is standard for new pens, made worse by the design of this one; the clip is extremely tight and refuses to 'catch' on a pocket-tee pocket; whatever.

New Gear

Given that living past Applecare officially makes a Powerbook 'old', and that such had happened to my faithful G4/1Ghz, I have been waiting avidly for Apple to release updated MacBook Pro machines. My new employers had promised me the Mac of my choice, and I'd even told them to just hold off.

So yesterday rolled around, I got into the office, and the CTO strolled over and said "So we hitting the Apple Store?"

I said "They release?"

"Duh."

Woooo!

Before we could escape the office, the CEO heard us talking and leaned over. "Wait, new Pros? Man, this X41 is annoying."

Off we went. The CEO confessed, while giggling (which was awesome in a 6'6" mid-fifties guy in great shape with distinguished greying temples) "I've never done anything like this before."

To which the CTO and I responded (since we're of an age) "What, been a geek in a pack?"

Got to the flagship store found a T-shirt wearer. "MacBook Pro. Gimmes."

"One MacBook Pro..."

"Count noses, junior."

"Oh! Um, three MacBook Pros?"

"Yeah. 15 inchers."

Names taken, we headed off for the cashier. Thus spake the CTO, throwing down a titanium Amex: "Haiiiiiii-yAAAA!"

There was laughter from the cashiers. They were women. I hear titanium Amexes have this effect on them. I wouldn't know, I've never held one.

Anyway, surgical strike, mission accomplished, whee, off we went amidst hilarity and joking. Three men, three small black boxes, three foolish grins, and three web browsers to OWC to order 4GB upgrade kits.

I like my new 'book a lot. Fast, the LED backlit screen is bright and fast to respond. The color temp is quite high, but it's hard to tell if that's because the screen is so much newer than my G4 rather than because it's a different backlighting tech; the panel on the G4 is noticeably yellowed. It's just like looking at my 1-yr-old iMac next to my original Cinema Display. In a way, movies look much better on the warmer yellowed panels, but details are more visible on the brighter ones. I'm not anal enough to have color profiles for each task.

The MagSafe is nice, and it's strong enough that I don't bump it out when using the 'Book in my lap. It does get pretty warm, but so did my G4 - I don't actually really notice a difference. Haven't used it very hard yet.

AirPort reception is definitely improved.

One problem I've been having is power management. I packed it to go home yesterday at 100% charge; when I got home about 25 minutes later and took it out of my bag, I noticed as I drew it out that the Apple logo was lit. I put it on the table without opening it and waited. After about five seconds, the logo dimmed again. Shaking the closed laptop didn't cause it to light up again for several tries, but on the fourth or fifth round of shaking, the logo lit up again. When I opened the laptop after letting it darken again, it took a while to awaken (I think I didn't give it enough time to go down properly) and the battery was down to 71%. I think it was waking up in my bag on my way home; either that, or it never slept properly, I'm not sure which.

This is a brand new model. I might have a dodgy latch/closure sensor, or there might be a firmware problem. More likely the former. I'll wait to see if anyone else reports problems.

Since my first two were named Shadowfax (my TiBook 500) and Pale Horse (the AlBook 1Ghz), this one is thus titled Athansor.

They're throwing FUD again!

The problem is the FUD is losing its consistency. Steve Ballmer, interviewed on USA Today's site:

Q: People get passionate when Apple comes out with something new — the iPhone; of course, the iPod. Is that something that you'd want them to feel about Microsoft?

A: It's sort of a funny question. Would I trade 96% of the market for 4% of the market? (Laughter.) I want to have products that appeal to everybody.

Now we'll get a chance to go through this again in phones and music players. There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance. It's a $500 subsidized item. They may make a lot of money. But if you actually take a look at the 1.3 billion phones that get sold, I'd prefer to have our software in 60% or 70% or 80% of them, than I would to have 2% or 3%, which is what Apple might get.

So let's see. First of all, where did that 96% market share come from? Ah, yes, the Windows share of desktops, at least according to Microsoft. Fair enough. But note: that has nothing to do with the question asked. Nor does it have anything to do with his next point, which is all about the iPhone - because nobody has 96% of the cell phone OS market, least of all MS. Nor do they have anywhere near the '60-80%' he brackets his bleak prediction of iPhone market share with.

Ballmer is forced to admit that yes, indeed, that with the iPhone Apple 'might make a lot of money.' But that's not what he wants. He wants market share.

This from a man whose company just rushed a Toshiba-built DAP onto the market with a resounding whimper?

We'll see, Steve B.

Blast from the Past: More things to do on the Acela!

DEFCON is good if you're solo. What to do if you're on the Acela with another person? My friendly neighborhood sci-fi store has the answer, in the form of something I thought was long gone...but apparently is back in production. They were as surprised as I was when it showed up in the distributor's catalog, and I promptly reserved the first copy they got.

Oh, Spaceship ZNUTAR, I have missed you.

The Economist Misses the Point Entirely

The Economist snerks that Apple has 'missed' by making the iPhone an EDGE device as opposed to, say, EV-DO. They say that the age and slow speed of EDGE (AT&T/Cingular's data service) is such that it is easily eclipsed by offerings from Verizon and future WiMax rollouts, and that the iPhone is crippled by design for relying on GSM cellular and EDGE.

Well, there are a couple of problems with that analysis. First, Apple didn't originally pitch the iPhone to an EDGE provider, if we recall - they pitched it to Verizon, who has (ta-daa) that same EV-DO that the Econ is so hopped on. Verizon, however, didn't like Apple's terms and took a pass. No doubt The Big E would tell us that Apple's arrogance blew its chances of having a modern data network.

The second point is that the iPhone is only at most tangentially about the radio platform. The technology at that level is entirely irrelevant to the iPhone as a market strategy. Apple users don't want to know what frequency the gizmo works on- they just want it to work well, and smoothly. If AT&T/Cingular was willing to make the investments to make some of the cooler UI bits work (random-access voicemail, finally) then going with them was the right choice, by this philosophy.

Third, as I've muttered about before, the iPhone offers Apple a chance - if it works - to give the entire cellular industry (and not just EV-DO) a sharp stick in the eye. By moving to a WiMax/WiFi radio handset in a later model, and moving to a VoIP framework for voice transmission using a routing, billing and management (not radio) back-end infrastructure that Apple controls itself (and bills for) they can change the entire game. They can do that without violating any exclusivity agreement with AT&T, if that agreement describes 'cellular handsets.' Want to take bets?

Cha-CHING!

BAM. Need me a flat white box now.

I have to wonder if Apple is planning on doing something deviousweasel like doing a filesystem checksum a lá Tripwire during firmware updates, or just vacuuming out unauthorized add-on files (like Perian).

AppleTV

...no, I don't have one, and no, I haven't ordered one. I'm waiting for the inevitable blog post which explains how, precisely, to get DivX codecs installed on the thing. Then the credit card comes slashing down with the whistling ring of multiply-folded Damascus steel through sinew and flesh.

Recent posts stating that the thing runs a stripped version of OS X give me hope that there will be a sneaky way to just dump the QT codec on there somehow.

Wow. Just...wow.

Soyburger is my hero.

Now that I think about it, I have, um, lessee...

• Apple II+
• Lisa
• Mac Plus
• Mac SE
• Mac Classic
• Mac IIx
• Mac IIvx
• Mac LC500(?)
• Quadra 650
• Performa somethingsomething flat
• Performa 650
• PowerMac 8500
• PowerMac G3
• PowerMac G4
• iBook orange
• iMac teal
• iMac lamp
• iMac grape
• Powerbook G4
• Powerbook 2300 somewhere, still inside the powered Dock
• Newton OMP
• Newton 120
• Newton 2100
• Intel iMac 20"

...whimper. I am a loser. I could probably quickly lay hands on a TAM, too.

I think it's my Treo 650

I had a Palm Bluetooth headset for my Treo 650 that *never* worked. As in, if it was more than 12 inches from the phone, or on the other side of my head from the phone, it produced torrents of static. I just assumed the BT in the Treo was ass, until I tested my co-worker's identical headset from his 650, and it worked acceptably. Several months later (last week) I purchased a Jabra BT-125 headset at a Cingular store for $40. Charged it up, paired it today, no problem. The problem: It doesn't answer calls. No matter if I 'tap,' 'press' or 'hold', the damn cell phone keeps ringing away. If I tap/press/hold in various random manners when the phone isn't ringing, eventually it will call my voice mail. A single tap will cause the BT icon to invert; a few taps later, it un-inverts, if it hasn't called the voicemail by then.

I have no idea what the hell it's doing. All I can surmise is my initial impression of the Treo; it's both a mediocre Palm and a fairly craptastic phone. Every review on the 'net I can find seems to like the BT-125 and claims not only does it work well with the Treo but does all these neat tricks like reject calls and speed dial and hoo-ha.

Yeah, well, bullshit, not on mine.

I suppose mine is just broken, or some such. Good luck getting that fixed, I guess, since it demonstrably *will* work with a Palm headset. Just not the one *I* paid for.

Fucking thing.

Where's my iPhone? Even if it is on fucking Cingular, I swear to God.

More musings on the iPhone

I still hate Apple for making Cingular their cell victi...er, partner, with the iPhone. But my annoyance is tempered by a speculation that a friend and I shared while admitting to one another our carnal lust for the device. It's certainly been bandied about that Apple recently purchased some significant data center space; it had been hypothesized that this was because Apple was about to embark on MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) exploits to support the iPhone. In other words, they would be acting as a cell carrier by leasing access time on other companies' actual radio infrastructure, if I have the terminology correct. The datacenter, in that case, would be needed to perform the back-end support for a 'virtual cell network' - billing, switching, data support services especially in the high-data iPhone.

What happened?

Hm. Well, let's look. Cingular is trumpeting that they have an exclusive lock on 'handset products' coming out of Apple, or in some cases they say 'cellular products.' I (and my more perspicacious friend Glen and the various analysts we droolingly read) decided that the latter is more likely correct. Apple was clear that essentially all of the back-end support tasks for the iPhone rollout are being handled by Cingular; they mentioned several times that Cingular made 'changes' to their infrastructure to properly handle the iPhone. Since it offers standard Cingular GSM service, all billing and base data infrastructure tasks will be handled by Cingular's existent (or upgraded) systems.

However, Apple also made a point to reference the iPhone's ability to hand off between cellular (EDGE) and WiFi seamlessly for data use. Therein, we think, lies the key.

Sooner or later, WiMax or truly pervasive WiFi will be available. Maybe even sooner. As soon as that happens, there is essentially nothing that stops Apple from producing an iPhone that only has a data-based connection - WiMax, WiFi, both - and using a VoIP client of their own on the iPhone to handle any voice communications tasks.

At that point, that massive data center expansion suddenly becomes key, as Apple would need to begin offering the standard services a cell provider offers its customers - voicemal storage, data accounts and pipe, billing services, etc. etc. But at the same time, you would now have an iPhone that had absolutely nothing to do with the existing cellular infrastructure.

No partners needed to provide infrastructure Apple didn't control. Or, perhaps, a variety of available partners who offer a single pervasive access technology (WiMax, let's say) rather than the lock-in and exclusionary cellular radio infrastructure they've been forced to tie themselves to with the Cingular deal. iPhones could theoretically hop networks as agilely as Apple could make them in order to support continuous VoIP services, without bothering the user - something Apple is famous for.

Apple is poised to potentially bypass, and (smaller chance) really, really slam the cellular industry monopoly on mobile communications.

Once you had the iPhone/Data, of course, and controlled the software back end gateway to it, as Apple would, then suddenly your additional business of content delivery becomes a very attractive add-on. If Verizon can (or thinks it can) make money by offering crappy content at $2 a song over cellular infrastructure, just imagine what Apple could do with a better front end, a proven content delivery solution, and an industry-ingrained consumer price of half that which still allows them to make some money.

More concrete predictions: We'll see an iPod with a hard drive using the iPhone form factor and interface, likely before the iPhone ships; probably in the next couple of months. It may have a larger screen for video use, allowing better storage/battery. It may, or its successors may, have WiFi capabilities which may be (less likely) hooked into the precursor of Apple's mobile content/communications back end system. It will be an iPod, not a phone, and will be emphasized as such by Apple. It won't have VoIP. It won't handle communications, because without the cellular component it won't be able to do so reliably enough to be a comms device. But the germ will be there.

By this time next year? I'm betting on a VoIP data-only iPhone. Maybe with a different name to sidestep both Cisco and Cingular.

Man, I love living in the future. I just wish it didn't make me into such a kool-aid swilling crack addict.