Here and There

I want an app that speaks Google Maps directions, much the same way most in-car GPS devices speak to you. Well, maybe not in so annoying a manner.

It could just read each list item on a set of directions, and move to the next item once you reach that point.

I would be willing to pay for this app, perhaps as much as $20. I haven’t bought a single app yet, mostly cuz I don’t care that much, but also because I don’t have a lot of room in my budget for them.

This dream app, however, I would spring for.

I just discovered that you can set up iPhone to give you a “mini iPod” when you double-tap the home button.

Go to Settings > General > Home Button. Select “iPod” from the menu.

Now, no matter what app you’re in, double-tapping home will display a mini iPod controller over your active screen. I noticed that a page in Safari kept loading as I accessed my music. Very cool.

I’ve been on hold for about an hour now. I have to end the call to hop in the shower and make it to work on time. All I want is details on using my iPhone in Europe. Perhaps I’m better off searching online.

The automated message told me at the outset that they were experiencing unusually long wait times. But an hour? And still no answer? They could’ve at least had the courtesy, as some automated services do, to tell me how long the wait was.

Oh well, at least I have speaker phone, and could get on with my life. You know, answering email, surfing news, blogging.

That fact approaches the top of the list of things about iPhone that bug the fuck out of me. Here’s this magical device that does everything, effortlessly, and it cannot receive MMS. What am I missing here?

AT&T charges through the nose for the services associated with iPhone ownership. But if your friends want to send you photos from their phones, you’re screwed.

Workarounds are out there (this one being among the best I’ve found), but I’m finding them incredibly, prohibitively difficult to set up. For instance, I can’t even figure out where/how on the AT&T site to set up my 123-456-7890@mms.att.net email account, and to get smtp information.

Halp!

Here and There turned 3 at the beginning of July. It must hate me now, having forgot its birthday and all. Seems it’s not the first time I’ve forgotten. The cure next year, and every year hence? Google Calendar.

The last year has by far been Here and There’s busiest. To date, there are 1,557 posts, and only 1,119 spam comments! Go spam filters! You’ve served me well. 538 legit comments have made it through, after all.

Traffic spiked during the Democratic Presidential Primaries. I still can’t find a source of absolutely spot-on stats-collecting, but it’s safe to say that May 2008 was the blog’s busiest month. I miss Hillary Clinton. Okay, not really.

This year, I’ve blogged from my iPod Touch, and, more recently, from my new iPhone. I’ve really begun using MarsEdit in earnest, as its developer, Daniel Jalkut, has done a superb job keeping it the best blog client out there. Also, WordPress has stepped things up remarkably, with its latest iteration, version 2.6.

Anyway, sorry little Here and There. I promise never to forget another birthday. Plus, look at it this way: This kind of fuck-up can only build character.

When I have the iPhone connected to my MacBook, and I want to make edits to how iTunes handles the phone, upon hitting the “Apply” button, I get the following window:

The first time I encountered this message, I was trying to change the way iTunes adds apps to the phone. But now I get the message no matter that change is. For example, the screen image above came when I tried to edit the podcast settings.

Anyone aware of a fix?

(And yes, my phone is called “jePhone.” You got a prollem widdat?)

Weak.

I downloaded and test drove this free app, and it seemed to work well enough … until it came to logging out. I couldn’t find a way to do that.

I went back to my desktop client, logged in, and was prompted to send a reply of “1″ to the AOL admin in order to log out of my mobile client.

Someone tell me I’m missing something, please.

A friend alerted me to the problem of iPhone not sending out email from the native Mail app. We both use Gmail POP as our client, and I was unable to find a fix.

This morning, he alerted me to the fact that if you re-enter your password in the SMTP set-up (Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > POP Account > SMTP), the app will then send your email no problem.

It worked.

Thx: Jon Snyder

I hadn’t used Pandora much before today, as I mostly rely on a fairly extensive iTunes library that I’m content with.

But faced with possible eventual limitations of an 8 GB iPhone, Pandora makes so much sense.

I’ve only added a few stations (Led Zeppelin, The Cure) to get things started. Not sure if there’s a limit to how many stations you can have.

The point is: I can access the music I like from almost anywhere, freeing up storage space for more apps and photos.

Just installed it and got it working. This app will be very useful at parties, or when I get a house with rooms big enough to warrant it.

Almost makes me want Apple TV, though I’m pretty sure that comes with its own remote. My MacBook comes with a remote control, but there’s no real interface on it. iPhone allows me to browse the library visually, whereas the MacBook remote really only lets me play, pause, skip forward and backward, and access a menu.

Used WordPress’s backend to post that first blog post from the iPhone. Everything worked fine, except when I went to add categories. There was no scroll bar to scroll down my list of available categories, so I had to choose only from the first five or six that showed up.

Hmph … where is mobile MarsEdit when you need it?

just because I can.
Annoyed by me yet?

Configuring the damned thing now, which has proven to be quite laborious since I hadn’t been using Address Book, Safari, or iCal for some time.

The AT&T store nearest to my house was sold out shortly after 10 a.m. PST, so I went downtown and stood in line for about half an hour. Ended up home with the phone a little after 1 p.m., and am just now syncing bookmarks, contacts, and music. It’s 3:22.

It will cost $125 to break my Verizon contract. I’ve been very happy with Verizon over the years: great coverage, good customer service the few times I’ve needed it.

I could hold out until September 5, when my contract expires. Thing is, I feel like I’ve already waited a long time to get an iPhone. What to do?