Here and There

* Original headline contained a typo. Damn iPhone! ;)

Just noticed that the laptop, purchased May 18, 2007, is beginning to fall apart. The software still performs flawlessly.

But I discovered this defect just now:

Mars Edit/WordPress — Both rumored to be in the works. I’ll test them both and go from there.

Picasa Image Uploader — I can’t find any proof that anyone’s working on this. Know otherwise? Tell us!

Yelp App to Write Reviews — Yelp’s current app (free) is nice, but I want the ability to write reviews easily from the iPhone.

And last, but certainly not least …

Scrabulous

A blog can be proud of itself, eh? I mean, I’m sitting on top of Apple.

Like many bloggers, I live for comments. I don’t get nearly as many as I’d like, and that may easily be because of my inability to mentally stimulate.

But I’d also like to think that part of it is the extra step of having to register (for some), log in, then type a comment and save.

Well …

I’ve just made things a lot easier (I think, anyway): I activated the reCAPTCHA plugin, which allows readers such as yourself to enter a name, email (kept private), website if you’d like, your comment, and which then requires you to type words rendered as images. CAPTCHA, in case you didn’t know, is simply a way for applications to tell humans from computers. Not too many computers are sophisticated enough (yet) to look at a word rendered as an image and then type it out in actual text. Humans can do that. Yay humans!

Having people register and log in to comment is a blog setting I chose awhile ago as a way to prevent the copious amounts of spam I was receiving (and continue to receive, though it’s blocked). With reCAPTCHA, I no longer need such a barrier.

So hopefully removing that requirement will generate more and more comments on this here blog, and we’ll all have a happy new stop on the internets highway.

Happy commenting!

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?)

The last two places I’ve worked, the San Francisco Examiner newspaper and Wired.com, both suffered from at least one identical deficiency: Both of their internal website search functions sucked a big one.

Awhile back, a friend and colleague showed me the trick on Google Advanced Search wherein one can limit a search to a specific website.

Go to google.com and click Advanced Search. Then, under “Search within a site or domain:” enter the site you wish to search.

And don’t forget to love the google.

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.

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?

Yes, I’m breaking somewhat of a cardinal sin of this blog, but I’ve got to get some of this down. I’m planning to buy the iPhone 3G on Saturday morning, breaking my contract with Verizon, and, well, seeing whether my life will indeed change with this seemingly awesome gadget.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you here, but I have a feeling I may become about as obsessed with the phone as I was Obama a few months back.