Finally, you can pre-order iPhone 4 from the Apple Store (http://store.apple.com/iphone).

If you are on the iPhone 4 email list, you may be disappointed. Apple has not sent the email announcing the good news. But, preorders & early reservations have started, and your iPhone 4 will be delivered by mail to you on June 24 – or you can choose to pickup your new iPhone at a local Apple Retail Store. (I want mine ASAP so I’ll pick it up from the store – because I’m a huge nerd.)

Even better news – I just pre-ordered 2 new iPhones before writing this blog! Everything is working as expected at the Apple Store (but it’s a little slow).

UPDATE: Finally got my confirmation email. (see image below) As expected, I was able to keep my unlimited data plan – yay! Also, the Apple Store where I’m picking up the iPhone will be open at 7am on June 24th. That was a surprise.

Now, I’m going back to bed.

UPDATE: You can pre-order from the Apple Store and ATT.com

1:16am Central time and ATT.com has started taking pre-orders for iPhone 4.

As you can see, the new iPhone 4 page on the AT&T website has the new Data Plus & Data Pro plans.

Let the madness begin!

iPhone 4 pre-orders are just around the corner. It’s just after midnight Central Time & the Apple Store (http://store.apple.com) is showing it’s wonderfully exciting (and frustrating) yellow sticky note with the message:

“We’ll be back soon”

Hopefully, the site will return quickly.

FYI: ATT.com, BestBuy.com, Walmart.com & RadioShack.com – all rumored to be accepting reservations today – are up and running, but don’t have any info on pre-ordering iPhone 4.

UPDATE: iPhone 4 Pre-Orders Available at ATT.com NOW. (Yes, right now!)

iPhone 4 Pre-orders will start on June 15th, according to Apple.com:

“iPhone 4 arrives on June 24, and you can pre-order or reserve yours on June 15.”

If you’re a huge Apple Fanboy/Fangirl like me, you’re wondering when on June 15th. Yes, I need to know the HOUR the pre-orders start. Can I stay up late on the 14th and reserve my new iPhone at midnight? Is that midnight Pacific Time? Maybe we’ll all have to wait until 9am the morning of the 15th. It’s anybody’s guess.

Camping Out… Online

I’ll be one of the thousands of people waiting & staying up late to to pre-order and guarantee they’ll get the iPhone 4 on June 24th – and hopefully skip the long lines of people who didn’t make a reservation / order in advance (suckers!)

The good news is Apple will send you an email when the iPhone 4 pre-orders open. All you need to do is goto the “Notify Me” iPhone 4 page on Apple.com and enter your email address.

Pre-Order From Apple or AT&T?

AT&T.com doesn’t have any information on iPhone 4. All it says is “coming soon”. And that doesn’t help at all. My guess is that AT&T will let you pre-order, but right now we don’t know for sure.

UPDATE: AT&T.com will take pre-orders on June 15th here: www.att.com/iphone Your new iPhone 4 will be delivered to your home or business by mail on June 24th. View the iPhone 4 Pre-Order Press Release at AT&T.com

What about the warranty?

Apple’s warranty, named “Apple Care”, is $69 and “For up to two years from the original purchase date of your iPhone, you get technical support and hardware repair coverage — both parts and labor — for your iPhone, battery, and included accessories.” Plus, I trust the Apple Care warranty because it saved my iMac & my iPhone.

Honestly, I don’t know if AT&T will offer an extended warranty for iPhone 4. There are rumors of a $12-13/month plan to cover damage and or stolen iPhones, but it’s not listed on ATT.com. And it’s too expensive. IF (big if) you lose your iPhone, you can buy another for less than the total cost of a $12/month plan.

Will you pre-order & buy your iPhone 4 from AT&T or Apple?

Where to Buy the iPhone 4?

You have a few choices:

1. Apple.com
2. Retail Apple Stores
3. Retail AT&T Stores
4. Best Buy
5. Walmart

When the iPhone launched, you could only buy it at an Apple Store. Now you can trade up at big box stores Walmart and Best Buy, retail AT&T and Apple stores, and online at Apple.com. (Ok, you can’t actually “trade up” at these locations. You’ll have to pick where to buy it then find another place where you can sell your old iPhone.)

Apparently, Apple does not sell refurbished iPhones at Apple.com. Bummer because I was hoping to save a few bucks on the new purchase. I got a heck of a bargain when I purchased my refurbished iMac.

Why Buy a Brand New iPhone?

I purchased my 1st Generation iPhone a few weeks after it was released. It’s only 4GB, runs on the Edge network (slower than 3G), plus the apps lack punch.

I’m thinking about to buying the new 2010 iPhone (4G? Verison?).

Sure, my current iPhone still works, but I’d like to get the new, faster version with video, picture text messages, etc. I’ll keep my old phone in a safe place where I can easily activate it as an emergency backup.

I’m Buying The New iPhone 4. You Can’t Stop Me

It’s official, I’m gonna buy the new iPhone 4. There are several ways I can rationalize the purchase:

• I blog about Apple products and readers want to know about the newest iPhones
• My current AT&T contract is up
• The new iPhone will be available on Version! (I hope)

You’re right, those aren’t great reasons. What are you, my mother?

Like mom would say, “make sure you buy the warranty.” I did and it saved me a few hundred bucks.

UPDATE:

You can pre-order iPhone 4 on June 15th!

Yes, you can now write complete blog posts directly from your iPhone!

And this isn’t some watered down attempt by a hack developer. WordPress for iPhone is a fully functional app that rivals the online edition. Plus, you can add multiple blogs. I work on 3 blogs, so having access to all 3 from my iPhone is incredibly valuable.

Setting Up Your Blogs

You need to turn on the Remote Publishing options. Login to your blog (online) and go to Settings, then Writing. Check the boxes next to Atom Publishing Protocol and XML-RPC. Like this:

Now that your blog will allow remote publishing, you can setup the app on your iPhone…

Setting Up WordPress on Your iPhone

In the WP iPhone app, just tap Add blog and follow the instructions. All you need is your login information.

You’ll see the Resize Photos option. This can limit the size of photos you upload to the blog. If you turn it on, your photos will be resized to a maximum of 640 x 480 pixels. Don’t get too worried about this setting because you can turn it on or off for each post.

Writing New Posts

Of course you can type – that’s obvious. The real genius of the app is in the details. For example, you can select and add new tags and categories for every post. But it gets even better…

When writing a new post, you’re actually using the HTML version. This is awesome because (if you’re a huge nerd like me) you can add HTML code right into the post. Literally anything – CSS, H1 tags, links, lists, bold, italic, etc. I’m a big fan of this.

You might be used to the “visual” editor in the online WordPress interface – that’s OK. The iPhone app doesn’t force you to use any HTML code. When you’re typing the posts, it looks like the online version and you probably won’t know the difference. Just type as you normally would and you’ll be fine.

Publishing & Saving Posts

You can set the publish status to:

• Local Draft
• Draft
• Published
• Private
• Pending Review

The Local Draft saves your writing progress on your iPhone only. That way you can add a few sentences, put it down and come back at any time. This is perfect for times when your service is spotty or if you’re on an airplane when you can’t connect to the internet. When you’re finished writing, just set the status to Published and it will be posted to your blog immediately.

If you need to finish the post at your computer (to add HTML, a YouTube video, etc.), just set the status to Draft. When you select Draft, you’ll have keep editing on your iPhone. Plus edit on your Mac. The app will sync the current version to your iPhone or Mac so you can finish up wherever you are.

Private makes the post – you guessed it – private. Just like the online version. Same for Pending Review. I’m sure you can guess what that does.

Add Photos

Adding photos to the post is really easy. Just tap the button to take a new picture or grab an existing photo. That’s it. It’s a really cool feature, but I need a little more.

For example, the photos are converted into thumbnails. The thumbnails are what’s shown in your blog post. This is perfect if I want to add several photos to a single blog post (yes, you can add multiple photos to one blog post). Even thought the thumbnails are small, they’ll still link to a full-size version when clicked. That’s done automatically. Cool right?

However, I really want the option to setup the “main” image of my blog from the app. My website uses large images at the top of each post and I haven’t found a way to make it work yet. Maybe I can do a 2-step process by uploading the pics then editing the HTML… I’ll save that for a future post.

Pages & Comments

Yep, you can write pages too. It’s the exact same process as writing a new blog post. And you can do the same for comments. Easily and quickly edit, delete and approve new comments right from your iPhone!

The truth is I’m awful at checking for new comments. And since most of them are spam, it’s not something I look forward to. However, now that I can login at anytime, from anywhere… I’ll be checking for new comments daily. Maybe hourly.

Unfortunately, you can’t write new comments (or reply to new comments) which is a bummer. That’s a feature I’d love to see in the next upgrade.

WordPress for iPhone Has it All

This app can do almost everything. However, it’s real value is the on the fly editing and creation of new posts, pages and comments. I’m hoping that version 2.0 will have improved control over images.

According to Gizmodo, setting up the password to protect your iPhone doesn’t protect any part of your phone whatsoever. With a couple of simple taps & double taps, you can squeak anybody’s password – and get access to all of the information – Mail, SMS, Contacts and Safari.

This is definitely a security flaw, no doubt about it. BUT it’s not a complete cluster-#uck, like some people are reporting.

Your iPhone would have to fall into the wrong hands for any of this to happen – so keep a close eye on it at all times and you don’t have to worry about it.

Check out a video of the iPhone password security flaw at Gizmodo.

Today, Apple released a software update to the iPhone and iPod Touch.

To update your software, plug your iPhone or iPod Touch into your Mac and open iTunes. Click on your device in the left menu of iTunes, then click the “Check for Update” button.

What does the new 2.0.2 software do?

“Bug Fixes”

That’s the official response from Apple: Bug fixes. Sweet, right?

I’ve installed the software on my iPhone and I didn’t notice any changes in the look or performance of any applications. Maybe one day we’ll get a complete description of the “bug fixes,” but for now I can’t tell why this 2.0.2 update was released.

Ever wish you could make a call from your iPhone without your phone number showing up on the other end? You’re in luck because there’s a very simple setting to turn your iPhone’s caller ID OFF.

Why turn your Caller ID off? I dunno. Maybe you have to call somebody that you don’t want to talk to… And you know this person doesn’t ever answer blocked phone calls. BINGO! Now you can call that bastard and safely leave a message without talking to them.

TIP: When leaving the message, DON’T give your number! Instead, say something like “I’m sure you’ve got caller ID. This is my cell phone number so call me back…”

Open Settings

Tap the Settings button on your iPhone.

Phone Settings

Tap the Phone button

Show My Caller ID Setting

Now tap Show My Caller ID

Switch Caller ID to OFF

Now move the slider to OFF

Your Caller ID Is Blocked!

Now your caller ID will be blocked for every call you make on your iPhone. To turn your caller ID ON, go back to the slider and move it back to ON.

Good or Evil?

1. Call up your ex and tell ‘em what a @*&^ing @!&*(#&$) they are.
2. Call your current boy/girlfriend at the wee hours of the morning just to make sure they’re not cheating on you.
3. Call a friend over and over just to drain their cell battery

Those are just a few ideas I came up with really quick. I’m sure you’ve got some too. Let loose – go wild. Nobody will know…

Will you use this Caller ID Tip for good or for evil? Let me know in the comments.

P.S. I’m not responsible if this blocked caller ID doesn’t work on other phones. I only tested it on an iPhone…. So it should work because everybody has an iPhone, right? Even if it doesn’t work and you get busted, you’re on your own, pal.

Having problems uploading your iPhone photos to MobileMe? Me too. I setup my MobileMe email account on the iPhone and that worked perfectly. But every time I tried to upload a picture to MobileMe, I got this error:

“Photo Delivery Failed A copy has been placed in your Outbox. Operation could not be completed. (NSStreamSocketSSLErrorDomain error -9829.)“

That error doesn’t tell me anything so I looked for some instructons. The only thing I found on Apple’s website was a MobileMe Gallery Features – no instructions. Just like the MobileMe Sync Issue, I had to figure it out myself.

The trick: Set your Default email address on your iPhone to your MobileMe address! That should do it, but just in case you need a little tutorial, Here’s how you can upload photos from your iPhone to MobileMe…

Login to Your MobileMe Gallery

Do this from your Mac… It’s the fastest way to get this party started!

Click + to Create a New Album

Click that line of text (it’s almost invisible) “Click + to Create a New Album”

Edit Album Settings

You should see the Album Settings screen now.

1. Give your album a badass name… (or a regular name – your choice)

2. Check the box next to Adding of photos via email or iPhone

3. Check the box next to Email address for uploading photos

4. Click Create

Check Out Your New Gallery

You should see the new gallery on the left. Hopefully, you’ve gotten this far too. Let’s keep rollin’ ….

Change Your Default Email Address On iPhone

I’ve tried uploading photos to MobileMe with several email addresses – and that was extremely frustrating because none of them worked. ONLY my MobileMe email address would allow uploads to MobileMe. You’ve got to change the default email address on your iPhone to your MobileMe email. We’ll do this in the next couple steps:

Click Settings on your iPhone

Mail, Contacts, Calendars

Scroll down a bit and click on Mail, Contacts, Calendars.

Change The Default Account

Click on Default Account

Select Your MobileMe Email Account

Select your MobileMe email account.

(Mine is named “MobileMe Email” but yours might be called something like zyx@mobileme.com.)

Pick A Photo To Upload

Exit Settings and go find a photo (of a daschund) you’d like to upload.

Tap on the photo to bring up the menu shown above.

Now tap Send to MobileMe

Select The MobileMe Photo Album

Now you should see a list of all your Albums in MobileMe. Tap on the photo album that you want to add this picture to.

Title The Photo And Upload

Whatever you type in the Subject will become the title of the photo in MobileMe.

1. Tap the subject to give it a new title (or leave it – your choice)

2. Tap the Send button to upload the photo

Check Out Your New Photo In MobileMe!

Your photo should now show up in MobileMe AND you’ll be able to upload photos from your iPhone whenever you want!

Tips For Uploading iPhone Pictures To MobileMe

1. Make sure you’ve got a MobileMe email account set up on your iPhone.

2. You MUST change your iPhone’s default email address to your MobileMe account. I spent a week trouble shooting this problem.

3. Did you like this tutorial? Leave a comment and post a link to your photo gallery!