Bites from the Apple: The Need for Speed

Have you been frustrated by the 3G speed or flaky reception of your iPhone 3G? You're not alone. Seems that a lot of users have been experiencing dropped phone calls and slow 3G download speeds, and it seems the culprit might be the 3G chip and antenna that's been placed into the iPhone 3G (from AppleInsider). The Wall Street Journal reports that "people familiar with the matter" are working on a software-related fix, to be released in the next few weeks (via MacDailyNews). If you want to check out your speed and add to a global iPhone study that Wired is conducting, head over to Testmyiphone.com to check your phone's connection speed (instructions here). In other Apple-y goodness...

• Happy anniversary to the iMac, which celebrates its 10th birthday this week. It's been quite the evolution from here...

  ...to here...

  

  ...and finally to here.

  

  For more on the birthday and what the iMac has meant to Apple and the computer industry (as well as design for all manner of products, including the George Foreman Grill), check out posts at Ars Technica, Macworld, MacUser, and Electronista.

• Rumor Watch: PhoneNews.com says that Apple is going to bring out a revision to the MacBook Air that will trade in its custom Merom-class Intel processor for one from the Penryn Core 2 Duo line and bump up its hard disk drive storage to 120 GB.

• What's on Michael Phelps' iPod?

• MSNBC reports that the big three GPS companies--Garmin, Magellan, and TomTom--are playing a wait-and-see game as far as providing an app with turn-by-turn voice directions for the iPhone--the main hold-up being whether Apple does anything on its own or how a third-party app of this kind might affect compliance with the iPhone SDK (software development kit). Dutch-based TomTom is the lone member of the three to say that they've tested their app and "it looks good and works very well."

• If you're an AT&T business customer, you can now purchase an iPhone 3G from AT&T's corporate sales web site rather than standing in line at one of its or Apple's retail locations (via MacNN). And Best Buy is going to become the first non-AT&T/Apple physical retail space to offer the iPhone 3G starting in September. No word on when other physical/virtual retailers will get their hands on it.

• If you're a Mac user who uses a Blackberry, TUAW notes the free PocketMac software that integrates syncing between the Mac and the Crackberry has been updated with support for syncing non-protected iTunes playlists, syncing photos from iPhoto, and syncing Notes from the Leopard Mail application. The latter being something even the iPhone won't do!

• The always helpful Adam Pash Lifehacker has just added something for my OmniFocus to-do list to be filed under my ongoing HomeTech project: turning my OG iPhone into a Sonos-like wireless remote control for my iTunes library (I've been too lazy, resorting to just an iPod and dock). He provides clear step-by-step directions, and all you need are a wireless router, Airport Express, and Apple's free Remote App iPhone application. (And yes, I've bitten the bullet and chosen OmniFocus as my task manager; more on that next week.)

• Alternatively and even easier (no tweaking of wireless settings), you can now download the Simplify Media iPhone app, which enables you to stream your music library stored in iTunes (save for DRM-restricted files purchased from iTunes), WinAmp or Rhythmbox wherever you have Wi-Fi, 3G, or EDGE connectivity on your iPhone. Additionally, you can choose music from libraries of up to 30 friends as well. Check out the video posted at Lifehacker to see how it works, and get to downloading this free app soon--it's only free to the first 100,000 downloaders (after which it's priced at $3.99).

• And finally, an extensive video walk-through of the now-notorious $999 I Am Rich iPhone app, which we noted last week got pulled from the App Store before ending up with 8 sales (hat tip to TUAW; also see this Onion What Do You Think page.). Seems to me that they could lose the jewel illustration, add in some dialogue from 2001: A Space Odyssey, and repurpose this as a HAL 9000 app for the iPhone. At a lower price point, of course.

--Agen G.N. Schmitz

Comments

[peter367 on August 20, 2008 at 08:31 AM]

I experienced a similar problem. When I bought my iPhone though, I first checked Got Reception? (http://www.gotreception.com) - a great resource for finding out where reception problems are most likely to occur BEFORE you lock yourself with a specific carrier.

[peter367 on August 20, 2008 at 08:31 AM]

I experienced a similar problem. When I bought my iPhone though, I first checked Got Reception? (http://www.gotreception.com) - a great resource for finding out where reception problems are most likely to occur BEFORE you lock yourself with a specific carrier.

[Dave Lee on August 21, 2008 at 03:22 AM]

You can find all of the coolest consumer electronics here.
http://www.buyrefurbtoday.com