- Part 7

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Update: iPhone woes continue: iPhone software 2.0 upgrade bricking first-gen iPhones

by Daniel Langendorf

July 11th, 2008 | Posted in Mobile | 3 Comments

Update: After several hours of waiting, the iPhone 2.0 software update finally resolved itself. It recognized where it left off in the installation, re-started it, and finished. I now am running the 2.0 OS on a first-gen iPhone.

While I expect the installation process to improve — as demands on the servers decrease — I have one word of advice for those who have yet to upgrade: patience.

Patience is something we need for the entire iPhone experience — from MobileMe, to the App Store, to the 2.0 OS upgrade, to waiting in life to buy and activate an iPhone 3G.

My original post

It’s happened to me. My iPhone is bricked.

The iPhone 2.0 software upgrade bricked my iPhone.

And here I thought I was home free.

Surprisingly, Apple botches the debut of MobileMe. Where is it?

by Daniel Langendorf

July 11th, 2008 | Posted in Mobile | No Comments

It’s not often that Apple botches the debut of a product or service, particularly under the direction of Steve Jobs, but when it comes to the introduction of MobileMe the Cupertino boys blew it big time.

Where the hell is MobileMe?

MobileMe was supposed to have replaced .Mac, Apple’s $99-a-year personal Web service, sometime Thursday. .Mac was taken offline Wednesday night at 9, Pacific time, with the promise of a return a few hours later.

It was supposed to go MobileMe first, then the debut of the App Store, followed by the iPhone 3G. But MobileMe stuck its head above ground only a few times Thursday, remaining unlaunched for a majority of subscribers. They were given repeatedly the error message “This service is temporarily unavailable.”

Amid the App Store fanfare, Apple releases significant update for AppleTV

by Daniel Langendorf

July 10th, 2008 | Posted in Mobile, Net TV | 1 Comment

remote While we’re waiting for MobileMe to become available for longer than five minutes, it’s worth noting among the App Store fanfare that Apple has also updated its AppleTV.

Early Thursday Apple released iTunes 7.7, making the App Store possible. It also provides support for a new iTunes remote app — appropriately named Remote — that allows any iPhone or iPod Touch to control iTunes media playback on a computer connected to the same local network.

In addition to iTunes 7.7, Apple also made available AppleTV 2.1 software; you can find it by checking software updates under the AppleTV settings panel.

The non-sexy part of the updated AppleTV software are security improvements, which Apple discusses here. The sexy enhancements are support for Remote and MobileMe — if it ever gets here.

The Unofficial Apple Weblog folks went the extra mile, as they say, and photographed the setup, including MobileMe. Among MobileMe’s features is the ability to upload photographs from the phone’s camera or a computer and have the galleries available on the iPhone and AppleTV, a nice cross-product, platform feature.

Once we get MobileMe, we’ll see how well the iPhone, AppleTV, and MobileMe integrates.

First look: window shopping at App Store

by Daniel Langendorf

July 10th, 2008 | Posted in Mobile | 6 Comments

App Store on iPhone It’s a gorgeous day outside so why not go shopping? Indoors. In front of my computer. At the App Store.

Yes, Apple’s App Store has arrived in iTunes via a free software update for older iPhones and the iPod Touch ($10 fee); it will be included on the iPhone 3G, available tomorrow. And it’s everything we hoped it would be, with a few exceptions.

As you would expect, the App Store is easy to browse, shop, and purchase, just like it is in iTunes for music and video. It’s colorful, well-organized, informative, and fun.

For now, though, I must window shop. The 2.0 software update hasn’t arrived for me to load programs and begin playing.

Nevertheless, I could still shop, and I never even broke a sweat.

The Process

It’s just like buying music or video.

All apps are nicely organized into categories: New, What’s Hot, Staff Favorites, Quick Links, Top Apps, Top Free Apps, in addition to Business, Education, Entertainment, Finance, Games, Healthcare & Fitness, Lifestyle, Music, Navigation, News, Photography, Productivity, Reference, Social Networking, Sports, Travel, Utilities, and Weather.

Each app page includes all the information you need to make a purchase: multiple screenshots (a nice touch), a (usually) detailed description, appropriate links (developer’s site, support, license agreement), and social touches like Tell A Friend.

When you download an app, be careful. For free apps, it’s no problem. Click on “Get App” and the program immediately begins downloading. When it’s done it shows up in your library under “Applications.”

What’s in store for the Apps Store: third-party applications for iPhone finally arrive

by Daniel Langendorf

July 9th, 2008 | Posted in Mobile | 6 Comments

All that remains is the App Store.

Late tonight we’ll get our hands on MobileMe, which we’ll take for a test drive tomorrow.

The big three tech writers — The York Times’ David Pogue, the Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg, and USA Today’s Ed Baig — gave the new iPhone 3G mixed but positive reviews today. The iPhone 3G will be available Friday morning.

Leaving the App Store and third-party applications as the only unfinished business for the second generation iPhone. The App Store also is expected to debut Friday morning.

We’ve been given a taste of what to expect after Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference last month, when we saw programs such as Loopt, Twitterific, Typepad, the Associated Press Mobile News Network, and other apps in action.

But what else is going on out there? What can we expect when the App Store doors are thrown open for business?

More than the iPhone 3G hardware, more than the MobileMe service, the App Store and third-party applications is where the action is.

Thanks to The Unofficial Apple Weblog, who more than any other Web resource, has kept tabs on upcoming iPhone apps since the developers conference in early June. Here is a sampling of apps from TUAW, and others. It is by no means comprehensive as we expect to see all kinds of applications — from super polished to rough around the edges, from the big guys to the little guys — come opening day.

MobileMe launches Wednesday night; will it be revolutionary or underachieving?

by Daniel Langendorf

July 8th, 2008 | Posted in Mobile | No Comments

With the launch of Apple’s MobileMe just a day away, I have to wonder: How revolutionary will it be?

Will it be blah like .Mac, the lackluster service it is replacing?

Will it be underachieving like Apple TV versions 1.0 and 2.0?

Or will it be revolutionary, the first service to truly bring the “cloud” and “cloud computing” to the everyday masses?

I’m anxious to find out.

Apple will take .Mac offline Wednesday at 6 p.m. PT, with the unveiling of MobileMe later in the evening. Members will not be able to access mac.com or any .Mac services during this time with the exception of .Mac Mail via a desktop application, iPhone, or iPod Touch.

It’s unlikely, however, that the “cloud” portion of MobileMe will be turned on and operating. For that capability we’ll probably have to wait until Friday, when the iPhone 3G, the iPhone 2.0 software, and the App Store are released.

What traditional/new media innovation will NBC's "billion-dollar lab" lead to?

by Daniel Langendorf

July 7th, 2008 | Posted in Net TV | 2 Comments

We realize talk about measuring audiences on television or the Web can get pretty dull. But there is something that intrigues us about NBC’s “billion-dollar lab” beyond the sheer size of the effort.

That “billion-dollar lab,” as NBC calls the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, will provide unprecedented insight into how people are using traditional media — television — and new media — the Internet.

NBC, the sole broadcaster, will mine 3,600 total hours of coverage from its network, along with NBC-owned properties Telemundo, USA, Oxygen, MSNBC, CNBC, and Bravo. The company is also planning to make 2,200 hours of streaming video available on NBCOlympics.com. Consumers also will get video-on-demand to their computers and content through their mobile phones.

“The billion-dollar lab is an extraordinary research opportunity,” said Alan Wurtzel, NBC’s research chief.

“I have no idea how people are going to use the Internet on the Olympics,” Wurtzel said [via New York Times].

Google releases new Gtalk Web app; what does it mean?

by Daniel Langendorf

July 4th, 2008 | Posted in Comms, Mobile | 1 Comment

What does this mean? Google Talk for the iPhone.

Google announced Thursday that it has developed a new Web app version of Gtalk for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Just point Safari to http://www.google.com/talk and you’ll be launched into a much improved, albeit stripped down, interface. From there you can view contacts, send instant messages, update your status, and “go off the record” if you don’t want to store your chats in Gmail.

That’s fine and dandy. But in all honesty, Gtalk users — and users of any chat service — have wanted native chat clients for the iPhone since it debuted a little more than a year ago. More importantly, they don’t want to lose a chat connection when they switch from chat to answer the phone, to send a Tweet on Twitter, or browse the Web using Safari.

This is due to the fact that the iPhone cannot run more than one application at once, other than playing the iPod. Running more than one app at once also drains the battery.

Even so, many iPhone users have hoped that Apple will have solved this dilemma with the upcoming release of the iPhone 3G. For months they’ve been holding out that native chat applications are coming once the App Store opens in a week or two.

But is the new Gtalk Web app an indication that a dedicated client isn’t coming anytime soon — not just for Google Talk but for other chat services on the iPhone? Why would Google spend the time, money, and energy revamping its Web-based chat app if a native client is coming out in a week or two?

As it stands now, the new Gtalk Web app could be the slickest, greatest, most unbelievable chat solution for the iPhone and it still would be pretty useless. Nothing is more frustrating than engaging in a chat, answering the phone, losing the chat connection, then having to log in to chat all over again.

Do this more than a couple of times and you give up. No matter how good Gtalk for the iPhone is.

Radiohead teams with Last.fm to offer "In Rainbows" for free, on-demand streaming

by Daniel Langendorf

July 2nd, 2008 | Posted in Audio | No Comments

Leave it up to Radiohead to find every new distribution method possible for their latest effort “In Rainbows.” This time the band has teamed up with Last.fm to offer the album in its entirety for free, ad-supported, on-demand streaming.

“In Rainbows” can be accessed on Last.fm here. Already nearly 1.5 million listeners have streamed the album.

Radiohead is a popular band on Last.fm. Its songs have been “scrobbled” more than 108 million times.

When Radiohead introduced “In Rainbows” in October 2007, it was first made available as a download fans could purchase at whatever they wanted to pay. At the time, Last.fm noticed the interest in Radiohead was high for its community of 21 million music fans.

“Radiohead understand that the Internet is changing music distribution,” said Martin Stiksel, Last.fm’s co-founder. Last.fm is now owned by CBS Corporation.

“We believe that music fans should be able to access music for free, and just as importantly, that artists and rights holders should be paid when their music is listened to. Last.fm makes this possible.”

Author Archive

Update: iPhone woes continue: iPhone software 2.0 upgrade bricking first-gen iPhones

Surprisingly, Apple botches the debut of MobileMe. Where is it?

Amid the App Store fanfare, Apple releases significant update for AppleTV

First look: window shopping at App Store

What’s in store for the Apps Store: third-party applications for iPhone finally arrive

MobileMe launches Wednesday night; will it be revolutionary or underachieving?

What traditional/new media innovation will NBC's "billion-dollar lab" lead to?

Google releases new Gtalk Web app; what does it mean?

Radiohead teams with Last.fm to offer "In Rainbows" for free, on-demand streaming

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