Main Blog Iphone

Monday, October 29, 2007 — 3:42 p.m. — at my desk

NBC, you’ve made me mad. And you won’t like it when I’m mad.

Today, NBC Universal’s Jeff Zucker is talking about how unhappy he was with iTunes. Keep in mind, this is also the day where NBC launched it’s brand new download service called Hulu.com.

Yeah, apparently, NBC only made about $15 million from the iTunes deal. Pass me a tissue, would you?

I had a post about this a month or so ago talking about how dumb NBC is for coming out against iTunes and forcing people to go to this new site. In fact, Jeff? I’d like to challenge you to a page view contest … I bet more people look at my blog next week than go to Hulu.com.

This is the site, folks, in this picture. Yeah, this is looking really good.

Please, NBC, we really are smarter than you make us out to be.

I love NBC shows. I DVR a lot of them. I download Chuck to my iPhone from iTunes. But I hate the back and forth crap that comes from big business that have ZERO interest in the consumer. If the consumer was priority one, Zucker would allow folks to continue to enjoy iTunes as the most dominant media downloading site in the world. But, no … it’s hulu or the highway it seems.

Here’s hoping NBC comes to its senses now. If not, I wish Jeff Zucker well in his endeavors and look forward to hearing about the millions his company loses with hula. Or hubaloo. Or …

Oh, who cares.

Thanks for calling.

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Monday, October 29, 2007 — 3:17 p.m. — at my desk

It’s been a while since I put up some new shots in the gallery, but I made up for that today.

We’ve got shots from Colombia. Shots from South Africa. Shots from near and shots from far.

And what they have in common is that they’re all taken with an iPhone.

So show us where you and your iPhone have been and send your best shots to me here at skleinberg@tribune.com />

Source: feeds.feedburner.com/redeye/iphoneblog

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Monday, October 29, 2007 — 2:38 p.m. — at my desk

The iPhone is a great thing. I love it and I can’t imagine my life without it.

But something’s missing.

It.

As many of you know, I’ve been relying on my iPhone as my computer since the middle of last week, when my 3-year-old Powerbook went in for surgery at the Apple store. While I have a computer here at work, it doesn’t help me when I’m not here.

So I turned to my iPhone. I mean, it’s a computer, right? It’s got the Internet, it’s got my mail. I can even buy songs from iTunes.

But it just doesn’t have it.

For example … when I blog, I like to include an image with every post. It’s part of this blog’s atttitude and style and it’s an extension of me. On the iPhone, I can’t attach images. There’s no place to get them. There’s no desktop.

Worse, you know I respond to every comment. On the mobile version of Typepad, which is the administrating program for this blog, I can only read and approve or disallow comments. I cannot edit them or add them. So all I can do it hit approve and come back here and update it.

That just doesn’t fly.

No cutting, no pasting … many of the basic elements that I turn to my computer for are mysteriously absent from my iPhone.

Again, I love it. Please don’t get me wrong. But for those of you who think you can just put your computer in the closet and put one in your pocket, you will likely be disappointed.

One day, yes … the iPhone will be an extension of your computer. In fact, I think the technology Apple is working with now in Leopard where you can log into a .mac account and use your home computer from anywhere with a wireless connection is only the start. Soon, I think you’ll be able to control your computer via your iPhone. When? I have no idea, Could be several years until the technology is perfected.

Right now, the iPhone is a great little device and it’s only going to get better. But I just can’t wait until I get my computer back. I miss it. Maybe I’ll send it flowers and a card.

Or maybe I won’t.

Thoughts and comments always appreciated, of course.

Thanks for calling.

Source: feeds.feedburner.com/redeye/iphoneblog

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Monday, October 29, 2007 — 2:27 p.m. — at my desk

I mentioned in a recent entry that my battery life (on the iPhone, not me) wasn’t up to my usual standards. I do believe it is a bug that came with the 1.1.1 package.

But yesterday I found a quick fix that I have up until now overlooked.

I turned off Bluetooth.

Apple says to turn of Wi-Fi when you don’t need it because even when you are connected to EDGE, your iPhone will be searching for a Wi-Fi signal. Makes no sense.

With Bluetooth, unless you are using a wireless headset, the same type of thing is happening. The reason is unclear — why is the iPhone searching for devices constantly? Even my old Bluetooth phone allowed me to determine when to search for devices.

So I did a little experiment: I turned it off completely. And now my battery life is back to what I remember. After about 36 hours, I barely made a dent in the full charge. It hasn’t worked like this in a long time, so I know Bluetooth is what did it.

I knew that I was using a power source by having it on, but I had no idea how quickly it was truly draining the battery.

So, if you aren’t using Bluetooth, don’t let it use you.

Thanks for calling.

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Monday, October 29, 2007 — 9 a.m. — around

So here we are … Leopard’s been officially available for a few days now. We’re done with the launch parties, the big to-dos.

Thank goodness.

I’m already tired of hearing about it. Reflective dock this, time machine that. Don’t get me wrong. … I can’t wait to start using it, but the attention that should have been on the iPhone hasn’t been and that’s where I start to get annoyed.

What specifically? Well, there’s the echo that makes talking to people really annoying. The battery life is all messed up. I can’t hold a conversation half of the time because the volume is so low.

You know, stuff like that.

No mixed messages here. I love my iPhone. And I know I’ll love Leopard. But I’m just happy the attention should be turning a little away from Leopard and hopefully a little more toward the iPhone.

Apple has to get this stuff fixed. No way are Londoners going to stand for echoing when they are talking a walk. And it’s pretty loud in Paris, so folks will need to be able to hear the ringer.

And my take is pretty straightforward … If Apple can release the most advanced operating system on this or any other planet with an advanced civilization, surely they can take out the echo that they took out with the old software and reintroduced in this one.

And remember, Apple, there’s the list that I sent you that we all came up with here that told you all the things missing from the iPhone. I know you are working on it and I appreciate that, but I’d like to see a little less talking and a little more engineering.

Oh, but please don’t forget to fix my laptop first.

Thanks for calling.

Source: feeds.feedburner.com/redeye/iphoneblog

Visit www.singamos.com/iphone to read more