iPhone WWDC Keynote video

Mahalo and Calacanis have done it again.  Here’s the caffeinated version of SteveNote:

Jott Feeds comment + true Lifehacker feedback = innovation

So, you know (thanks to Lifehacker) that Jott will read your feeds to you. Suppose yours truly left a comment on Lifehacker regarding another potential use:

If I’m not mistaken, can’t one get a feed of his gmail inbox? If it’s not too cumbersome, I could see listening to email during morning commute.

But wait! It’s not that simple (read: it does not work). What to do?

Leaping tall buildings in a single bound, LH’s own Kevin Purdy comes through with a way:

You’ve always been able to email yourself with a phone call through voice-to-text service Jott, but with the introduction of Jott Feeds, Gmail (and Google Apps) users can now have a summary of their messages read to them by phone. The secret sauce lies in Gmail’s RSS feeds and a go-between web site that handles password requirements. I’ll show you how …

You know what Wayne and Garth would say, no?

Lifehacker, “we’re not worthy!”

iPhone and 3G

A match made in … well, you know. Since fast data network + iPhone (confessions here) = Cool

What can I say. June 9 (for soooo many) will not come fast enough.

Will you be getting one?

*Update: Are these the new iPhones:

Check out Forbes: Staking the iPhone

8525 iPhone centro

So, you’re finally looking at smartphones, but so many choices.  Let’s play the one-question game:  what are you after — high function or fun design?  If “fun design” is you, go try an iPhone.  (Enough said; see earlier posts for more iPhone detraction, even perhaps a retraction.)

If you want/need to get more done and nifty is not as important as can-do, you might look to an 8525 (Tilt is its successor w/precious few improvements) or Centro.  The Palm Blog recently presented a decent review of what a Centro offers versus other smartphones.  At conclusion, it conceded some of “what you don’t get” with a Centro:

1. Built-in Wi-Fi. Current Palm models lack built-in Wi-Fi, though Palm CEO Ed Colligan said last year it would be added to future Palm devices.

2. Built-in GPS. Given how clueless GPS-based driving directions can be, I don’t see this as a terrible loss. Also, Google Maps came preinstalled on my Treo, and it has often served me in a pinch.

3. A Pleasurable Web Browsing Experience. Surfing the Web on my Treo is painful, even using Sprint’s fast EVDO network. If a meaningful mobile Web experience is crucial, your best smart phone choice currently is the iPhone.

4. Style and a Large Screen. I’d love to see a sleek new Palm OS handset that combines a large touch screen with the usual sturdy Palm keyboard.

Now, do you “don’t get” those spec’s with a Tilt (improved 8525)?  No.  Understand?  The Tilt has:

1.  integrated wi-fi;

2.  Telenav GPS Navigator(TM) support

3.  web-browsing with Explorer on 3G network (Opera mini is a free-n-easy add-on for “pleasurable” full internet zoom in/out function); and

4.  style and large screen?  2.8-inch screen (versus Centro’s 2.2) and let’s just leave “style” to the eye of the beholder.

If you think the Kansas Business Attorney is off-base on the 8525, ie. your phone is better, do tell because I doubt it!  I realize there are a few out there which will stream live video to the web.  My 8525 will not handle that (guess whether I need that function), nor does it handle GPS without add-ons (yes, that’s one of the improvements in the Tilt, along with a tilting display and 3.0 vs 2.0 mp camera; see previous “guess whether…” comment).

Your phone is more productive than mine?  Prove it and say on.

iPhone Connected: ACU

Link: Abilene Christian University. It is no secret the Kansas Business Attorney has been skeptical of the iPhone. The rest of the story. While the AT&T 8525 has certainly filled the bill for mobile connectedness, there is a quiet concession to be made. Fewer keystrokes may have value. Some may have had a tendency (due to an old stereotype that Apple products are merely “more expensive and prettier”) to bash the iPhone in favor of the Windows Mobile (first 5, now 6) platform. True, it still seems the Windows Mobile can ultimately do more (and it already meshes well with Outlook), but for what it will do (and yes, that list is growing and many are eager to be its primary grower) the iPhone will do it faster than than a WinMo device.

Remarkable Concept: ACU Connected: Convergence and the 21st-Century Classroom. In its brief discourse (”Implications for the Emerging Classroom”) on the “flexibility, creativity, and community manifest in Web 2.0″ ACU suggest today’s students are

“born multitaskers for whom convergence is second nature.

Rather than fighting against a change that’s old news for our students, and rather than passively waiting for the development of new pedagogical models, we think it’s important to embrace and nurture the trends demonstrated by the 21st-century classroom and Web 2.0. We believe that the best way to fulfill these goals is to encourage communication and convergence. We see the new generation of converged mobile devices like the iPhone or Blackberry as devices uniquely suited to this purpose, offering multiple communication technologies - phone, voicemail, email, multi-session chat - while also bringing together an unprecedented level of media and information access - audio, video, photography, and the web.

At their core, these devices offer compelling support for the strategies of the 21st-century classroom. Further, they offer students, faculty, and staff unprecedented opportunities for building academic and social community, bringing technologies together in a way that encourages participation, creation, and exploration rather than passive consumption. We see them as ideal platforms for developing innovative and integrative applications for higher education.”

What are those terms Jobs always throws around: remarkable … fascinating … groundbreaking. Pick one. Any way you slice, convergence and the classroom — the iPhone on any campus = pretty cool.

iPhone for Business: revisited

  Based on Apple’s latest (03/06/08) announcement:

• the iPhone has 28% of market share among “smartphones”;
• it makes up 71% of US mobile browser usage (their figure, not mine);
• but iPhone (enterprise) users want push email, push calendar, push contacts (you can see where this list is going);

Captain Jobs able Lt. was “happy to announce” [drum roll] “we’re doing all of these things in the next release of the iPhone software”.  That’s it … straight from the apple’s mouth; they’re working directly with Microsoft … licensed the ActiveSync software … supporting Microsoft Exchange …

So there it is: the iPhone for business.

(Stay tuned to find out:  iPhone: All things to All people yet?)

iPhone Copy and Paste (kind of)

Link: Get Kind-Of Copy and Paste on your iPhone/iPod Touch

Since the amazing iPhone cannot do copy-paste, Kevin Purdy at Lifehacker tips off a little third-party helper, which will (as he says) “kind of” let you copy and paste on your little miracle. The app is Quasi Clipboard, and if you really want to perform (another function which Windows Mobile already does), you might try it.

iPhone: Apple’s overzealous control thwarting its potential

Brian Lam at Gizmodo gives the full scoop (and a “don’t buy” verdict) on just how useful the iPhone can be, just how much Apple is choking-off that potential, and how its buyers rightfully resent being at the mercy of the Apple Overlord. Still want a great phone with tons o’ function? Get the 8525. Desperate for the iPhone look? So, skin your 8525, and save what you would have spent (on the iPhone) for OLPC.

Posting with 8525

Well. Probably not as fashionable as posting with an iPhone and typepad…pretty unremarkable really. Why didn’t I think of this a long time ago … I guess the 8525 is just so versatile that blogging didn’t seem so exciting.

iPhone review - and thorough

A through review of the iPhone? I’ve found it (in 5 parts so far), by Paul Thurrott on his SuperSite. Be sure to read all five parts (and compare it to what you know of the 8525). Here’s some excerpt to get you there:

As a long-time PDA and smart phone user, I have certain expectations of any mobile device. These expectations revolve around such mundane tasks as synchronizing with my PIM data and allowing me to access the Internet, through the phone’s Internet connection, with my notebook computers. As it turns out, my current smart phone, a Motorola Q used via Verizon’s high-speed EV-DO network, is much more capable than the iPhone in this regard.

But before I get critical, understand this: The technology in the iPhone is of a completely different caliber than anything found in any smart phone currently being sold in the US. Indeed, the iPhone is a technological crossroads joining traditional smart phones (i.e. pre-iPhone smart phones) with the Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC), Microsoft’s ultra-mobile computing platform. So we’re talking about a device that is head and shoulders, technologically, above most other portable devices of this size. With technology, of course, comes some complexity. But Apple is good at making things simple, even if it often does so at the expense of functionality.

So let’s take a look at the core technology Apple put in the iPhone, not just to revel in what it is, but rather to discover how it impacts users in the real world.

iPhone hacked

Per the New York Times (by John Schwartz),

A team of computer security consultants say they have found a flaw in Apple’s wildly popular iPhone that allows them to take control of the device.

I am not one of those people smirking at those smug Apple zealots who have constantly regurgitated the mantra that “with Apple, you just don’t have the virus and security worries you have with Microsoft products …” I’m not; I’m just an 8525 guy.

iPhone vs At&t 8525: review (and beta post)

[*Update: If you are considering purchasing from Wirefly/Inphonic online (and you think their rebates look promising), you might consider it due diligence to at least review and consider: D.C. Sues InPhonic Over Rebate Restrictions; Cell phones: Poor customer support from Inphonic.com/Wirefly.com; and Ripoff Report: InPhonic. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of any of that information, HOWEVER, after my personal compliance, re-compliance, online status checks, online customer service requests, emails, and certified mail regarding a RAZR rebate (yes--it has been one phone ago), it was apparently the use of three magic words which ultimately inspired my long (many months) overdue rebate check to finally come in the mail: Better. Business. Bureau. Find info here. To be sure, the RAZR was truly great and the Cingular/AT&T service was fantastic. This customer's experience with Wirefly's ("fulfillment" by Inphonic) rebate? Well let's just say my mother taught me, "if you do not have anything nice to say, stay quiet." In that case "________" should make the point.]

So it’s July 12 and the iPhone has been in a lot of hands now for nearly two weeks: Is there now a revised (more considered) opinion?

• DennisKennedy writes: Is the iPhone ready for Business? pointing to a Business Week tech commentary on Making the iPhone Better for Business (what does that tell you) as well as a Consumer Reports write-up (noted by Dave Winer) which highlights a not-so-great (per the writer, comparable to Treo 680) call quality in the iPhone;
• ErnieTheAttorney reports on the iPhone blank screen of death (my words — homage to persistent blue-screen-of-death references by the many mac-faithful);
• FutureLawyer (a daily stop for this writer) drops a not-so-subtle hint, noting a post entitled “Fixing the iPhone“;
• {this portion is arguably not quite worthy of a full bullet, but here it is anyway: should you be part of the want-windows-function-but-with-iPhone-look crowd, the folks at Lifehacker present an iPhone knock-off skin and procedure to make your windows mobile smartphone/pocket pc look like the iPhone}; and finally,
• my revised comment (thanks Finis): My mistake — the iphone keypad does, in fact … go landscape.
• Update: Be sure to see Home Office Lawyer’s competing view on iPhone (and just as Bo knows sport, Grant most certainly knows tech), lest we forget that reasonable minds differ and that for us early-adopters anyway, how cool it feels in our hands does matter.
• Got an honest assessment of the iPhone? Say on.