Where to Buy the iPhone?

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. You Can’t Stop Me

It’s official, I’m gonna buy the new iPhone. 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.

1. Portability

The iPad is an extremely portable device. It’s 9.56 inches by 7.47 inches and only weighs 1.6 pounds (about half the weight of the MacBook Air). Small, light and completely functional without any other peripherals. No mouse needed and if the 10 hours of battery life is accurate, you won’t need a power cord when working on a flight or at the coffee shop.

2. Apps

Apps will make the iPad a must-have device. Like the iPhone and iPod Touch, the apps on the iPad will give everyone a reason to buy. The new iPad apps will be more powerful, interactive than anything we’ve seen on iPhone or iPod Touch.

My guess is the iPad will become a mini-computer and it will do almost anything a full-size Mac can do. Microsoft Office with full functionality in Excel, Word & PowerPoint? Yes, it’s coming. Plus, you’ll have the entire iWork Suite. And there will be higher quality image editing apps (hopefully, PhotoShop) to create, edit and save images. The iPad should be perfect for bloggers who don’t need the power or won’t pay for a MacBook.

3. Easy to Use

Apple is famous for making its products easy to use. And the iPad is another perfect example. “But it doesn’t do what my iMac or MacBook can do.” You’re exactly right. The iPad is much, much easier to use because it’s been stripped down to the essentials. That’s why people like my parents will love it – Just apps without any of the hassle of a “full” operating system.

4. Revolutionary

The iPad is a revolutionary device. Sure, it’s all touch, all the time. It might help and/or save the newspaper & magazine industry. That’s all fine and good, it’s just the beginning.

The iPad has the power to create an extraordinary shift in how we access the internet. How? The $14.95/month 3G deal with AT&T. The iPad will bring mobile internet to the masses. No WiFi needed. No searching for the nearest coffee shop. The internet is always on, always connected.This kind of deal could seriously hurt cable and DSL internet providers.

Cell phones killed land-line telephone service. The iPad (& future computers) running on 3G internet will kill cable and DSL service. This is the future.

5. Coolness

The iPad is shiny, sleek and sexy. Translation: The iPad is “Cool”. It’s cool looking you’ll be infinitely cooler if you own one! (Just like every Apple product, right? Except the hockey puck mouse. That thing sucked.)

I can hear the Microsoft fanboys throwing a fit. “Where the hell is the second mouse button! I hate mac users!” They love to attack the coolness and/or design of Apple products (even when Microsoft admits Apple’s design is superior – then copies it.)

6. It IS a Big iPod Touch

The iPad IS a large version of the iPod Touch and that’s a huge benefit. Anyone who uses an iPhone or iPod Touch immediately knows how to turn it on, get to the web, how to download apps, sync calendars, contacts, etc. There is little or no learning curve for the iPad. Plus, the iPad has a bigger screen, more powerful apps and 3G internet. Awesome.

7. Always Online

3G internet for $14.95/month. Cheap and fast. What more can you ask for?

8. Speed

Gizmodo.com was beaming about the 3G speed on the iPad. They said:

“Apple didn’t really sell this point, but it’s the single biggest benefit of the iPad: speed. It feels at least a generation faster than the iPhone 3GS. Lags and waits are gone, and the OS and apps respond just as quickly as you’d hope. Rotating between portrait and landscape modes, especially, is where this new horsepower manifests in the OS.”

Speed is why I love my iPhone. If I need to look up directions or find a restaurant quickly, it’s faster to turn on my iPhone than power up the iMac (or any other full-size computer.) Now, I can power up the iPad (or leave it in sleep mode for 1 month) and find what I need extremely fast.

9. iPad Pocket Pants

Don’t waste your money on a fancy case for the iPad. Instead, get a sweet pair of jeans with a pocket designed for your iPad.

All I can tell you is what I like. That’s it. 87% of the time I can’t even describe what I like about a song or album. “I just like it” seems to be my default argument for digging a tune.

If you pressure me for a specific answer, I might say “the beat.” Incredibly interesting and insightful? No. Justified in my head? You bettcha.

These are my…

Top 9 songs of 2009!
(In no particular order)

1. Percussion Gun by White Rabbits

2. Empire State of Mind by Jay Z & Alicia Keys

3. Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked by Cage the Elephant

4. Treat Me Like Your Mother by The Dead Weather

5. Tonight’s Today by Jack Penate

6. Kingdom of Rust by Doves
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhbK8kQW4LI
Gotta watch this at YouTube.com because they turned off sharing. Lame, I know, but it’s worth the extra click.

7. I’m Not Your Toy by La Roux (Jack Beats Remix)

8. Heads Will Roll by Yeah Yeah Yeahs

9. Beggin’ by Madcon

Two months ago, I accidentally dropped a locked font file on to my desktop. Dragging it to the trash didn’t work so I searched for a way to delete it. Finally, I’ve found the solution to deleting those pesky locked files.

If you’re seeing the message “The operation could not be completed because the item ‘(item name)’ is locked.” message, then you’re having the same problem.

Unlock the File, Then Delete

The trick is to unlock the file first, then you can drag it to the trash and delete it for good! So the question is;

How do you unlock the file?

Try this first: Select the file you are trying to move, then choose Get Info from the File menu. If the Locked box is checked, deselect it, then try moving the file again.

If that doesn’t work – don’t worry. It didn’t unlock my font file either. You’ll have to use Terminal to unlock the file (it’s easy):

1. Open Terminal (/Applications/Utilities).
2. Type this, followed by a space: sudo chflags -R nouchg
3. Drag the folder you would like to unlock into the Terminal window.
4. Press Return.
5. Enter your password and press Return.
6. Quit Terminal

The file should be unlocked – Drag it to the trash and delete it!

If you’re still having trouble unlocking the file, try this page on support.apple.com

What’s included in the new version of iTunes? Not much.

Here are the details straight from the upgrade:

iTunes 9.0.2 adds support for Apple TV software version 3.0, adds an option for a dark background for Grid View, and improves support for accessibility.

Pretty light on features for 92.8 MB.  If your an Apple TV person, then this might be worth while.

For everybody else, we get a dark background. Well, that’s if you can figure out where this new option is located. I spent a few minutes looking through all the menus in iTunes and couldn’t find it.

If you know how to change this mysterious dark background, please let me know!

Final Score: Packers 24 – Vikings 14

Yes, I’m predicting a loss for the Vikings at Lambeau Field. How? Why? WTF?

The Vikings defense isn’t as great as we thought. They lead the NFL in rushing defense for 3 straight years, but they’ve slipped in the first half of this season. The Vikings are ranked 10th in rushing defense, 20th in passing, and 17th in total yards.

Sure, 10th in rushing defense is still good, but it’s not what we expected. And it’s definitely NOT the strength the Vikings needed in order to make up for the (below?) average pass defense.

And the defense won’t get any better until Antoine Winfield is back from his foot injury. And he’s been ruled out for this game.

What About Jared Allen? He Had 4.5 Sacks!

Yes, Jared Allen was amazing in the first game against the Packers – playing against a rookie left tackle. The Vikings finished with 8 sacks on the day … and the Packers almost came back to win.

This time will be different. The Vikings might get 3 sacks this Sunday and Jared Allen will be mostly invisible all day. How’s this possible?

1 Reason: Coaching

The Vikings have every reason to believe they’ll perform the same way – if not better – this time. Which is exactly why they’ll do everything the exact same way, in typical Vikings fashion.

The Packers know Jared Allen is weak against the run. And they know the defensive backfield is soft – especially with Antoine Winfield out.

Look for the Packers to double team Jared Allen on passing downs with a tight end or running back to completely take him out of the game. When the Packers need a few yards, they’ll spend all day running at Allen and wearing him down.

Eventually, the Packers will have to throw – and Arron Rodgers should absolutely destroy the Vikings secondary. Look for slants and screens to the right – where Winfield would be playing.

If the Packers coaches have any brains at all, they’ll do exactly what I’ve said: Run Left, Throw Right.

Simple.

P.S. Vikings receivers Harvin and Berrian are hurting from last week.

If you’re debating over spending a few extra dollars on the Apple Care warranty for your iPhone, Mac or any other Apple product, let me help you decide: Yes, you definitely need the extended warranty.

Apple Care Saved My iMac Display

In March of 2007, I got my current iMac – the computer I use every single day. It was a refurbished machine and it’s been awesome. Never had a problem until 2 days ago.

My display broke.

It didn’t really break, but it was on its last breath. I turned the computer on like any other day and saw the problem right away: a green line from top to bottom in the center of the screen.

Thankfully, it’s still under the Apple Care warranty. I gave my iMac to the guys at the Southdale Apple Store. They installed a brand new display in less than 24 hours.

I don’t know what the cost is on a replacement display for an iMac, but I’m guessing it’s a least a few hundred – plus installation fees.

Apple Care is Worth Every Penny

My guess is, I’ve saved at least $300 in repairs – thanks to the very affordable Apple Care warranty. I’ll definitely buy the Apple Care on every iPhone, Mac and other device I own. It’s already paid for itself.

Something Ain’t Right

The connection between MobileMe, my iPhone and my iMac has been a little rocky lately. Not sure what the problem is, but the data is not flowing between my Apple love triangle like it used to. You might say poor communication is killing the relationship.

Contacts Not Syncing

I added new contacts to my iPhone 2 days ago. They didn’t show up on my Mac or in MobileMe.

Today I added a new contact to MobileMe, hoping it would push the info to my Mac & iPhone. Unfortunately, it didn’t work either. I checked my iPhone about 50 times to make sure. Now what?

Backup Everything Before Doing Anything

It’s time to get intimate with my Apple electronics. Big changes must be made to get the system working again. And you gotta protect your data!

Knowing I’ll be rolling the dice with my precious contact list, email settings and everything critical to my ability to communicate with another human, I backed up everything. iPhone backup via iTunes. And backing up my iMac with Time Machine. (By the way, if you’re not using Time Machine… Shame on you!)

Scary System Preferences

It can be a little frightening to go digging around in your Mac’s system preferences. But, syncing my data is critical to survival – so you’ll have to be brave and be ready to get your hands dirty.

Plus, we’re only dealing with the MobileMe settings, which can easily be reversed. But you should backup everything just in case!

I was going to write out all the steps, but I already did that once. You can read my MobileMe sync tutorial, but the video up top is quicker and easier to follow.

It Works

Good news : The sync worked and all of my Apple products are best friends again. They talk all the time. In fact, it’s kind of annoying. You know what I’m sayin’.

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.

Of course you know about Favre’s & the Vikings last second touchdown. You’ve already seen the replay 50 times on YouTube.

Well, you’ve never seen this replay…

Some awesome dude recreated the last play of the game in Super Tecmo Bowl (the greatest football video game ever – for those keeping score). The the action in the game matches the real live event perfectly. AND awesome dude even used Paul Allen’s play-by-play on top of the video. Truly a masterful, technical achievement.

Even if you don’t like video games, you’re a fool, you’ll appreciate the accuracy of the video game action.