MacLover (FreeMac)

GrandDialer Brings GrandCentral to Your iPhone

nobody@vox.com(Atlanta iPhone Blog) — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 22:31:34 -0700

GrandDialer Brings GrandCentral to Your iPhone

iPhone/iPod touch only: Free application GrandDialer integrates with previously mentioned GrandCentral—Google's phone-consolidation service—so you can seamlessly call contacts from your iPhone using your GrandCentral number. The beauty of GrandDialer is that the call you place will display your GrandCentral number instead of your AT&T number, so contacts will call back on the right number (assuming you use your GrandCentral account as your main number). The app integrates with your contacts, so dialing is just as easy as dialing with the default phone application. If you're an iPod touch user, you can still use GrandDialer to place calls as long as you've got a Wi-Fi connection—you'd just set it to call a phone you have nearby. GrandDialer is freeware, iPhone and iPod touch only, requires iPhone 2.0 software.

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Video chat site TokBox gets $10 million

nobody@vox.com(Atlanta iPhone Blog) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 08:17:27 -0700

Video chat site TokBox gets $10 million

Posted by Caroline McCarthy Post a comment

Video phone calls just haven't caught on like all those cinematic depictions of the future said they would--kind of like flying cars. But a bunch of investors led by Bain Capital Ventures still believe. They've pumped a $10 million Series B round into TokBox, a video chat and calling site based in San Francisco. Existing investor Sequoia Capital also participated.

TokBox launched less than a year ago but has been working hard, appointing Nick Triantos as CEO, releasing a light desktop application based on Adobe AIR, and building code to integrate its video chat into Facebook Chat.

"TokBox has an impressive and very loyal and energetic user base," Scott Friend, a partner at Bain Capital Ventures who will be joining the start-up's board of directors, said in a statement. "The company is executing well and its service offers consumers a variety of great features that strongly differentiate TokBox from competitors. We are excited to be investing with our partners at Seqouia in a company we believe has the potential to be the next 'big thing' in web communication."

Cool! Now I'm just holding my breath for the Valley moneymen to start realizing how much we need flying cars.

credit - http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10009774-36.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

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Free 35mm and APS developing at Walgreens

nobody@vox.com(Atlanta iPhone Blog) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 05:50:48 -0700

Walgreens has this printable coupon good for one free film roll developing. Valid today only in the states, or August 11 in Hawaii. Applies to 35mm and APS film rolls.

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iPhone Tip - Don't install/update applications via the iPhone

nobody@vox.com(Atlanta iPhone Blog) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 08:42:33 -0700

For some time now I notice that my iPhone does not crash anymore since I stop installing/updating applications via the iPhone. I had to restore my 1st gen iPhone four time since 7/11 and since I started installing/updating my applications via iTunes on my computer I notice my iPhone runs sooo much better.

Today I was listening to the MacBreak Weekly 100 podcast today and Leo Laporte, Scott Bourne & Merlin Mann confrimed my observation - At 28:40 of the show Leo talks about his experience.

credit - macbreak weekly

photo credit - http://www.rungeek.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/iphone-crash.jpg

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iPhone 2.0.1 Update Now Available (Also Available For iPod Touch)

nobody@vox.com(Atlanta iPhone Blog) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 00:59:24 -0700

iphone update, iphone, iphone, 2.0.1, iphone 3g, apple, top, verizonbestmodo, verizonbestmodo...

iPhone 2.0.1 Update Now Available (Also Available For iPod Touch)

A reader just tipped us off to the iPhone 2.0.1 update being out RIGHT NOW. Just fire up your iTunes and click the old update button and you'll be able to grab it. We're updating now and will let you know what's different. Right now all we see is "Bug Fixes" listed under the changelog, but there's a security update info link in the update screen as well, so it might be that. [Thanks tipster!]

Update: It's an E. Honda-like 249MB, so this will take a few minutes to download.

Update 2: iPod Touch users can also update.

Update 3: The didn't wipe out our media (pics, vids, tunes) on the iPhone 3G. Awesome.

Update 4: Is it me, or does flipping pages on the home screen seem faster and smoother?

Update 5: Marcelo says iTunes sync and backup is faster. Anyone else agree?

Update 6: Confirmed that it doesn't work with Pwnage tool just yet.

credit - http://gizmodo.com/5033014/iphone-201-update-now-available-also-available-for-ipod-touch

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Talks Tony Robbins: Why we do what we do, and how we can do it better

nobody@vox.com(Atlanta iPhone Blog) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 12:04:45 -0700

Talks Tony Robbins: Why we do what we do, and how we can do it better

About this talk

Tony Robbins discusses the "invisible forces" that motivate everyone's actions -- and high-fives Al Gore in the front row.

About Tony Robbins

Tony Robbins makes it his business to know why we do the things we do. The pioneering life coach has spoken to millions of people through his best-selling books and three-day seminars. Full bio and more links »

credit - lifehacker.com - ted.com - boingboing.net

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New Mac OS X Security Update patches dangerous DNS hole

nobody@vox.com(Atlanta iPhone Blog) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 22:33:52 -0700

Apple late on Thursday offered up its fifth security update of 2008 to cover an industry-wide and potentially dangerous exploit of Domain Name System servers for spoofing attacks.

Security Update 2008-005 is available for client versions of Mac OS X Leopard (65MB) and Tiger (Intel, PowerPC) as well as Tiger Server (Intel, PowerPC).

Among the multiple fixes, the most essential is one for the Berkeley Internet Name Domain server feature in the operating system, or BIND. While not enabled by default, the service when switched on is potentially vulnerable to exploits of a fundamental flaw in the DNS system that helps govern the Internet protocol and translates website names (such as appleinsider.com) to IP addresses.

Any computer left exposed and unpatched against the attack, regardless of operating system, can have its DNS cache "poisoned," tricking the computer into visiting a malicious website even when the user chooses to visit what would normally be a legitimate address. The Apple fix randomizes the source port for DNS information and so prevents an easy attack when BIND is active.

Other security updates are also rolled into the update and include guards against arbitrary code execution in CarbonCore, CoreGraphics, Data Detectors, Disk Utility, OpenLDAP, Open Scripting Architecture, OpenSSL, PHP, and rsync.

Mac OS X Leopard users are specifically affected by a potential exploit in the software's QuickLook feature and its handling of Microsoft Office files that could allow malicious code.

credit - http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/07/31/new_mac_os_x_security_update_patches_dangerous_dns_hole.html

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Nullriver Introduces 3G/EDGE Tethering App for iPhone [Updatedx2]

nobody@vox.com(Atlanta iPhone Blog) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 22:18:51 -0700

Nullriver Introduces 3G/EDGE Tethering App for iPhone [Updatedx2] — Nullriver, Inc. has released NetShare onto the iTunes App Store this evening (via iPhone Alley). The $9.99 application promises to allow you to share your iPhone's network connection with your computer.

Discussion: Engadget Mobile, Boy Genius Report, Apple iPhone Apps and Gizmodo

Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Tethering Briefly Comes To The iPhone, Tempers Flare10 minutes ago

Discussion: CrunchGear

iPhone Apps We Love: NetShare - Share Your 3G/EDGE Connection With Your Computer

NetShare is one app we never thought would make it onto the official iPhone App Store. All it does is set up a SOCKS5 proxy for you to get your laptop/computer online through use of the 3G/EDGE connection. Does it work? Yes. Yes it does, much to our surprise. EDGE works just fine, although Mahoney says it's slow as balls. 3G impressions in a sec. Be careful of how much bandwidth you're using, since your provider probably makes a frowny face at you using their network to power your laptop, however "unlimited" your plan may be. [NetShare - Thanks Matthew and Ryan!]

Update: Having problems setting it up on my iPhone 3G. I follow the instructions and the phone seems to "connect", but that's about it. No connections shown in the NetShare app, and nothing goes through.

Update 2: Now we're getting the message that it's not available in the US store. Sucks.

credit - http://gizmodo.com/5031802/iphone-apps-we-love-netshare-+-share-your-3gedge-connection-with-your-computer

Tether your iPhone, wirelessly. Maybe.

by Nilay Patel, posted Jul 31st 2008 at 9:02PM

We're not sure how this one got past Apple's App Store censors, but the clever kids at Nullriver have released what appears to be the first tethering solution for the iPhone. The $10 NetShare app is just a SOCKS proxy that links an ad-hoc WiFi network to the iPhone's 3G or EDGE connection -- and if we could get it to work, we'd probably think it was a fine, if hacky, solution to a major limitation of Steve's baby. As it stands, though, the instructions are pretty sparse, and while we can get the app to recognize a connection, we're not able to actually load anything. We're not sure how long this one's going to last -- anyone else willing to give it a shot before it gets yanked?

[Thanks, Zoli; Warning, link opens iTunes]

Update: Aaaaand it's offline. Shocking.

credit - http://www.engadget.com/2008/07/31/tether-your-iphone-wirelessly-maybe/

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10 Things We Want to See in the iPhone 2.1 Update

nobody@vox.com(Atlanta iPhone Blog) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 09:21:28 -0700

10 Things We Want to See in the iPhone 2.1 Update

The iPhone 2.0 software is pretty good. We like the App Store a lot; it adds a boatload of new functionality to the iPhone. But it's certainly not perfect. Having used it for a few weeks, we've discovered a number of little quirks that we really hope are addressed in the upcoming update. From bugs to missing features, here are ten things that would make the iPhone a much more attractive device.

1. Make it Less Crashy
The iPhone with 2.0 software feels a little… buggy. It'll randomly crash or slow down to the point of unusability until you restart every few days with normal use. That's not right; this is a cellphone. It shouldn't feel like an unstable computer.

2. Fix the Keyboard Lag
A good chunk of the time, typing on the iPhone keyboard is made even more difficult due to the lag involved. Typing quickly means the letters pop up four keystrokes after you hit them. Make the keyboard move as fast as the user can type.

3. Fix Safari Orientation Switch Lag
Sometimes, Safari takes its sweet, sweet time switching from portrait to landscape when you turn the phone. This should feel almost instantaneous, not something you have to wait for.

4. Make Backing Up Faster
For some, "backing up" whenever you plug in your iPhone can take upwards of 30 minutes. What is it doing, exactly? The iPhone sync should be near-instantaneous when you plug it in if you aren't moving large files back and forth on purpose.

5. Make it More Efficient
The 3G mode is a battery hog. You can turn off 3G completely, but if there was an option to only use 3G for certain programs, such as Safari and Maps, it would go a long way towards making this a phone you aren't afraid to unplug in the morning when you aren't planning on getting home until very late that night.

6. Video Recording
This could easily be implemented, as we've seen from apps available for jailbroken phones. What's the holdup?

7. Wi-Fi Syncing
We'd love to have our iPhone sync automatically when it hits our home Wi-Fi network, from app data to photos to music to contacts.

8. Leave App Icons in Place After an Update
When apps update, their icon gets picked up and moved to the very bottom of your last screen. Why? When you updated four apps at once it then makes you awkwardly move them all back to where they were. Just leave them in place.

9. Make Moving Icons from Page to Page Easier
Moving an icon from one page to another takes multiple tries and, unlike most things on the iPhone, feels awkward and user unfriendly. Make this less of a pain.

10. Copy & Paste
Duh.

credit - gizmondo.com

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Waiting on a MobileMe Support Representative.......

nobody@vox.com(Atlanta iPhone Blog) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:59:35 -0700

A MobileMe Support Representative will be with you in approximately

1 minute

We look forward to answering your questions.

I'm waiting for a MobileMe rep to help me with my syncing problems -

Apple anonymized “blogger” David G. is back with the 3rd in Steve Jobs’ promised regular MobileMe status updates, and this time it’s all good news… at least from their perspective.

First up, the 1%ers, 60-100% of whom have been missing 100% of their email for over two weeks now:

We have completed restoring Mail service, including historical messages, to all of the 1% of affected members. Thank you all for your extreme patience during this trying time. If you have been affected by this issue and are still having problems we have established a dedicated chat line to reach a MobileMe Mail specialist for help.

Next, that nasty sync bug that saw data wiped out for some users over the weekend:

For some users this caused their contact and calendar data to disappear from their devices, but not from their computers or the MobileMe cloud. When we fixed the bug in the late afternoon, the problem resolved itself for most users: their data simply reappeared on their iPhone or iPod Touch. If you are one of those affected users and your data has not automatically reappeared, follow the steps at this link to restore your data.

David G. hopes that with this, Apple’s MobileMe woes will largely become a thing of the past, and they can concentrate their resources on improving the service overall (and restoring the faith of their user-base, right Apple?).

Another update is promised for later in the week.

So, how about it? Anyone still suffering MobileMe mail meltdown? Stuck in sucktastic sync-loops? Has Apple been able to help? Please let us know.

For some users like me this caused their contact and calendar data to disappear from their devices, but not from their computers or the MobileMe cloud. When we fixed the bug in the late afternoon, the problem resolved itself for most users: their data simply reappeared on their iPhone or iPod Touch. If you are one of those affected users and your data has not automatically reappeared, follow the steps at this link to restore your data.

credit - theiphoneblog.com

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