Apple's servers are melting down due to the overwhelming demand for activating the 3G iPhone and installing the OS 2.0 upgrade.

Apparently Apple failed to anticipate this demand, or load test the infrastructure.

New iPhones are failing to activate, and the unfortunate customers who have attempted to upgrade their existing phones are having them left in an unusable limbo state when the final stage of the upgrade fails to complete.

Apple has managed to brick (make completely unusable) thousands of phones, including mine.

My phone completed the upgrade to OS 2.0, but before it will restore my data or even make a non-emergency call, it needs to be re-activated by Apple's iTunes server.

Which is down. And which has been down for hours now.

So for the time being, my phone is dead. I can not even receive incoming calls.

Thanks Apple.

The Apple discussion thread on the issue is here, and the mainstream media is starting to pick up the story too.

Why is there such a frenzy over a phone?

The Mercury News article linked above interviewed one customer, asking why he had spent the night outside an Apple store waiting to buy an iPhone.

His answer: "Chicks dig the iPhone."

Yeah, but only when it works!

*grrrr*

UPDATE: As of 3:30pm, my iPhone is live and full of OS 2.0 goodness. The App Store so totally rocks - this is what the on device application experience is meant to be. I've downloaded the iTunes Remote app, and I am loving having remote control of my music via WiFi. And the weather radar feature in Weather Bug is also impressing me.

Yay!

We were not ambitious enough to head out before dawn, but serolynne and I did head to the Melbourne, FL AT&T store around 10am this morning to look into getting Cherie an iPhone 3G.

We were hoping to get in and out with maybe an hour's wait.

Hah!

The line looked as if Rolling Stones or U2 tickets were about to go on sale!



The unmoving line stretched around the front of the building, and down the side. The folks in front looked like they had been there already for ages, and some of them even had lawn furniture.

It looked like it might take all day waiting in the hot FL sun to get an iPhone. Assuming that the store did not run out of stock first, which I am guessing is exceedingly likely.

I guess we will have to try again once the mad initial rush has passed. We have way too much to do in our final days in FL to spend too much time waiting in line for a phone.

Meanwhile, my iPhone 2G is in the process of downloading and installing the 2.0 OS update. And that to me is much more exciting than the faster radio and built in GPS that the iPhone 3G hardware adds.

But while I get the new toys, Cherie is stuck with her Razr for at least a bit longer.

Poor girl...

In just a few hours, the 3G iPhone will be going on sale. serolynne and I will probably be heading to the local AT&T store early to try and get her one - she is dying to get off of her Razr and onto something smarter, and her iPhone envy has gotten so bad lately that I don't think she can last another day without one.

Much more exciting to me than the 3G iPhone is the iPhone OS 2.0 software (and accompanying App Store), which will be released tomorrow as a free upgrade for all current iPhones.

The App Store is the key - and watching Apple deliver this has had me reminiscing around "what might have been" had I only been able to push my visions through at Palm and PalmSource.


What might have been...
From 2000 thru summer 2005 I was the Director of Competitive Analysis for Palm and then PalmSource (the OS spinoff company). And throughout my tenure, I had two consistent recommendations on what to focus on to maximize the success and competitive differentiation of Palm hardware and the Palm platform.

1) Build a great touchscreen phone with a 320x480 screen.
2) More importantly - build a great on-device application purchase experience, and provide the infrastructure to make it as easy as possible for both large and small developers to get rich.


Hardware: I lobbied endlessly for a phone built into the formfactor of Palm's ultimate PDA - the Tungsten X. A Tungsten X phone would have had a 320x480 touch screen, a slim case with minimal buttons, bluetooth, WiFi, great multimedia, and more.

In other words, it would have looked a LOT like an iPhone. Only years sooner.

But... Every Palm licensee was convinced that no one would want a phone without a number pad or a keyboard.

Now, everyone in the universe if falling all over themselves to make touch screen phones that rip off the iPhone's form. No one else besides Apple had the courage to try and do something different first.

*sigh*


The App Store: Even more important to me than the hardware, I knew that the most compelling and sustainable competitive advantage that the Palm OS possessed was the vast wealth of amazing applications that existed for the platform. But the process of getting at these applications was vastly too complicated for most users, particularly as typical usage switched from pairing and syncing with a desktop PC towards cellular network connected devices. For all of these applications to matter, users would need a trivially easy "zen of Palm" way to find, download, install, and ultimately purchase them - all without ever leaving their mobile device.

And developers would need a fair and affordable way to publish their applications to the full potential audience of users, without needing to jump through different hoops for each device maker and cellular network operator.

I launched a project within PalmSource to try and solve these problems, and I managed to get my roadmap approved and the first stages funded. The PalmSource Installer was a great first step, but we only managed to get to stop 1.5 on a roadmap that had at least seven major technology and business iterations planned out.

If PalmSource hadn't changed strategic direction (veering off towards oblivion it seems), by now every PalmOS device would be capable of easy one click download, installation, and purchase of thousands of apps.

The experience would have been very similar to the iPhone App Store, which is launching around the world today. But it would have been live years ago, and it would have actually done a lot more. For example, the roadmap that I was crafting would have not created a single monopoly store like Apple has launched, but rather it would have provided an enabling technology to allow a vast array of stores to operate.

And there would have been support for trial application, paid upgrades, and much more that Apple has not even contemplated for the iPhone. We even had plans to support a "tip jar" option to enable donationware.

All of this infrastructure and technology would have been baked into the OS (Palm OS 6.1 - which never shipped), and provided as a free upgrade supporting almost every Palm OS device that had at least Palm OS 3.5. No desktop computer would be required, but desktop support for Windows, Mac, and even Linux was planned as well.

You would even be able to download an app directly to your device wirelessly, and have the desktop components and conduits automatically install the next time you return to your desk. (This was actually possible with the Installer 1.5 that we did release...)

If this vision had panned out, there would have been a target market for developers of millions of devices, and users would have had access to thousands or even tens of thousands of applications, all just a click or two away from purchase. The market potential was huge!


This is what I was working on five years ago. In a few hours, Apple will finally show the mobile industry a taste of where things should have been years ago.

And now all the analysts and journalists around the world are writing gushing articles about how "the future of phones will be touchscreens and apps"...

I guess I am just a bit ahead of my time. Ah, but what might have been!

I wrote the following in 2004, when I announced internally at PalmSource that I was leaving behind Competitive Analysis and Strategy to focus on the application installer / store roadmap full time:

One bright star on the horizon has always captivated me more than any other – and that has been the potential for the Palm Economy to really blossom into an amazing ecosystem where it is easy for users to find the perfect applications to make their devices truly their own; and for developers to be able to easily profit from the joy they bring into the lives of users.

This is truly the place where Palm OS has the potential to rise above all of our competitors. We still have more developers and better apps than any other mobile platform. But what we need to do now is make it vastly easier to get applications into the hands of users, and potentially even more important – we need to make it easier to get money into the pockets of developers.

If we do this right, I see the potential for a supernova in the Palm Economy that will leave Symbian and Microsoft and all the proprietary “smart” platforms in the dust.

The supernove looks set to explode in just a few hours, but instead of the Palm ecosystem blossoming it will be Apple's iPhone.

It is bittersweet to think about what might have been had Palm(Source) managed to do it right years ago, but at least someone has ended up doing it. The doldrums that have paralyzed the mobile application universe are now about to be over.

At last!

Mobile connectivity is essential to our life as technomads.

And over the past year and half, Sprint's EVDO service has worked wonderfully for us. We have gotten broadband speed all over the country, and it has worked so well that we have even been able to cut the cable modem line while living here at Cherie's house in Florida.

To connect we use a Novatel Merlin EX720 card, and to share the connection we use a small Cradlepoint CTR-350 WiFi router. This combination is small, portable, simple, power efficient, and it works amazingly well.

The reason that we chose Sprint last year was that it was the only nationwide carrier offering "unlimited" wireless data. At the time Verizon was also advertising "unlimited data", but was attaching fine print defining unlimited as "5GB a month".

(The New York Attorney General actually had to get involved to get Verizon to stop marketing 5GB as "unlimited"!!!)

Over the past year, Sprint won a lot of customers thanks to this "unlimited" policy, despite having inferior coverage. But the limits of "unlimited" have apparently now been reached.

Taking Verizon's lead - Sprint is dropping the easy to understand and consumer friendly "unlimited" and is now implementing a 5GB cap.


The new deal from Spint:
Here are Sprint's new terms, that we must either agree to or use as an excuse to cancel our two year contract:

Sprint reserves the right to limit throughput speeds or amount of data transferred and to deny, terminate, modify, or suspend service if usage exceeds 5gb per month in total or 300mb/month while off-network roaming.

*grrrrr*

How are we supposed to depend on our wireless connection for getting work done when it can be throttled down or canceled at any time without warning? The 300mb off-network roaming is particularly troubling, because there is not even a way to tell when you ARE roaming, and such roaming has always been free.

Sprint's cap is a "soft cap" - there is no charge if you go over, but there is also no certainty that your connection will not be cut off either. Install a major OS update and you could find yourself cut off. Get a lot of work in to do, and you could find yourself unable to do it. Etc...

There is no longer ANY option for a real unlimited usage connection from Sprint, even if you would gladly pay more for it.


Verizon's WORSE Deal:
Meanwhile, Verizon's "soft cap" is growing painfully and outrageously hard. Rather than having a rarely enforced threat of service cancelation if you exceed 5GB of usage, Verizon is now rolling out "overage charges" of $250 per GB.

Let me repeat: TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS PER GIGABYTE!!!

In other words - the first 5GB you use are around $14 each, but the 6th you consume is suddenly 18x more expensive. This is the sort of gouging that you typically see con-men trying to pull after a natural disaster.

For an example of how easily it is to consume this much data - we have been watching the TV series Torchwood (purchased via iTunes). One episode is around 600MB - which via Verizon's new pricing would cost us $2.00 to Apple, and $150 to Verizon to view.

Based on this math, to download the entire season will cost you nearly $2000!!! ($25 to Apple and $1810 to Verizon). This is one VERY expensive single click of the mouse!

Here are the details of Verizon's new terms:

Effective June 22, 2008, Verizon has now changed how overage charges will affect those who exceed their allotted (5GB) usage per month. The new implementation provides for:

• All plans are now subject to standardized $0.25/MB overage charge.


• There is now a temporary "usage limit" cap of $250 for monthly overage fees.


• All customers will only have three monthly bills subjected to a usage limit of $250. After the third bill to have the usage limit applied, there will no longer be a usage limit on the monthly bill, and the customer will be responsible to pay for all actual usage charges incurred on their monthly bill.


• In addition to the changes in overage charges to existing 50MB and 5GB plans, a new plan is being made available to customers who have used up all their 'usage limits'. This new "save plan" provides 10GB of data usage for $199.99/mo and the same $0.25/mb overage charge after the alloted data usage.

Insane.


AT&T's Capped Plans:
In the past year, AT&T's 3G HSDPA network has become a viable mobile data alternative to EVDO on Sprint and Verizon. But AT&T has a 5GB soft cap just like Sprint (and like Verizon used to):

The parties agree that AT&T has the right to impose additional charges if you use more than 5 gigabytes in a month. Prior to the imposition of any additional charges, AT&T shall provide you with notice and you shall have the right to terminate your service.

At the moment, AT&T is not charging for data over 5GB, and they are not enforcing their cap. But how long before they join Verizon in the gouging? I am guessing it is only a matter of time.


Alltel - The Last Bastion of Unlimited Data:
Alltel is the only nationwide wireless network that is still offering unlimited EVDO usage, for only $59/ month. But seeing as Alltel is in the process of being acquired by Verizon, my guess is that this offer will probably not be around for very much longer.

Even though the deal is likely not to last, Alltel is the only carrier with reasonable data plans. Because of this, we will probably soon cancel our contract with Sprint and switch to Alltel. At least we will have a few months before we have to cancel again and look for another alternative...


*sigh*

It looks as if the unlimited usage plans that have allowed wireless data in the US to thrive are soon to be a thing of the past. This is a shame. The wired Internet only took off once ISP's stopped billing per hour and offered unlimited use. With usage caps and outrageous overage charges in place, users will grow very wary of actually making use of all these wonderful fast networks that are being deployed.

Why have fast 3G wireless data if you can't actually make use of it?

Unlimited data. RIP.

The Oliver Elite comes with an "Entertainment Center" package installed by default, consisting of a Jensen JE1508 15" HDTV, a Jensen AWM960 wallmounted stereo with AM/FM/CD and DVD playback, and four interior speakers.


The Oliver's AV system revolves around the Jensen JE1508 15" HDTV and AWM960 wallmount AM/FM/CD/DVD player. Next to the front door on the Oliver is an overhang that protects an exterior 12V power jack, external speaker jacks, and an external AV output from the AWM960. This setup should allow you to relocate the TV outside, or use external speakers while camped.

The Oliver's Entertainment Center package is certainly nice by RV standards, but it actually does leave a lot to be desired.

For one thing, the Jensen monitor is not wide screen, it is physically no bigger than most laptop screens, and it runs at a much lower resolution (1024x768) than we are used to. The ability to run off of 12V power and decode broadcast HDTV signals is nice - but for our needs DVD playback and usage as a secondary computer monitor is what is really important. (The Jensen JE1907DC 19" widescreen is a worthwhile upgrade to ask for, but still lacking for what we want...)

The DVD player however is the biggest disappointment. The AWM960 can only output lowres interlaced composite video to the TV, not high-resolution component or HDMI signals. So even though the JE1508 screen can handle HDTV resolution input, the quality of your DVD signal will be closer to VHS quality than what you would get from a modern upconverting DVD player. Not acceptable at all.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to find any other "mobile" AV system that can do any better. Even the upcoming Jensen AWM970 (which adds iPod support) will still only output composite video.

What I've come to realize is that with "mobile" AV electronics, you end up paying much more and getting much less.


What we are doing instead...
Instead of the factory-default setup, we've decide that a 22" computer monitor will make for the ideal display screen inside the Oliver.

Our top choice right now is the highly-rated Dell SP2208WFP, a 1680x1050 resolution 22" monitor with integrated webcam, HDMI inputs, and a super bright display - all for only $299. Other promising alternative 22" screens include the low-power ViewSonic VLED221wm or the HDTV-tuner equipped ViewSonic N2230w.

I also find myself craving the 1920x1200 resolution that I would get from a 24" Dell Ultrasharp 2408WFP - an absolutely stunning monitor.

To provide the DVD playback, speakers, and audio amplification - I've been researching small "home theater in a box" systems. Expect a post documenting this research soon.

The more urgent challenge is finding the ideal mount to attach the monitor to the Oliver. There are literally hundreds of LCD monitor mounts to choose from. We need a mount that will hold the monitor securely in the corner of the Oliver, but which can ideally swing out over the table for better position while being used as a second monitor.

It would also be very cool if the monitor can swing in front of the window, allowing movie viewing from the patio. The Jensen MAF50 looks particularly promising - it can tilt, swivel, pan, and extend out over 16" from the wall.

The Oliver factory reports that they can install either a hanging mount (like used with the current TV), or a wall attached mount. Using a wall attached mount gives many more options - but it must be installed in the factory BEFORE the inner and outer shells of the Oliver are mated.

I will report back here with details of which mount we choose. In the meantime - monitor, mini home theater, and monitor mount recommendations are appreciated.


UPDATE: I've discovered that wall-mounted monitor swing arms rarely support height adjustment. This is actually rather important for us - we want to be able to position the screen up in the corner, and then down low over the table.

The most promising option I have found is the Chief FWG110B double swing arm with 13.25" of heigh adjustment and 18.43" of extension. You can also add a third arm extension (the FWB110) to increase the max extension to 26.38". This mount typically costs nearly as much as the monitors we are considering buying, but I found it on sale here for only $131, or the triple arm version here for $166.

I also found a height adjustable Ergotron LX Wall Mount LCD Arm that looks promising, but which seems to almost entirely lack the ability to tilt downward - making it great for desk use but not so great for movie watching in bed.

If the Chief monitor arm proves unworkable - the only other option I can think of is using a fixed location corner mount, and a VESA quick-connect bracket on the monitor to be able to easily remove and relocate it to another stand.

I first came to California in 1996 to be a part of the launch of a new type of computer magazine.

'boot Magazine' was focused on the hardcore PC enthusiast who is concerned with maximum performance, having the latest technology, and pushing the limits of what their machine can do via overclocking the hardware and tweaking the OS.

In addition to being the magazine's technical editor and 3D graphics expert, I was the in house "alternative OS" advocate. But while Linux and even BeOS was deemed worthy of respect by the editors - you would never hear much nice said about any Macintosh in the pages of 'boot'.

We often used to even actively poke fun at our sister magazine Mac Addict (now known as Mac Life) and their unworthy hardware and limited operating system.

The boot audience was just about as anti-Mac as you could possibly get.

boot was renamed after I left, and lives on and continues to thrive on newsstands everywhere as Maximum PC. I've kept tabs on it over the years, and the anti-Mac attitude has hardly ever wavered.

But I think hell may be freezing over.

On the cover of this month's Maximum PC is a photo of a MacBook Air and the following feature story: "Can Any PC Notebook Beat the MacBook?"

The featured article pits the MacBook Air, MacBook, and MacBook Pro against representative best-of-class PC laptops in the ultraportable, mainstream, and professional laptop niches.

And in the professional category - according to the editors of Maximum PC, the ultimate laptop in the world right now is the MacBook Pro!

"Don't rub your eyes, the MacBook is the winner (!) ... While that’s likely to piss off many PC diehards, perhaps it’s time those folks finally admit the MacBook Pro to the power-PC family."

I must say - they are a little behind the curve. I ditched the PC world and switched to Mac OS and a MacBook Pro over two years ago!

I was just emailed this picture, along with this description:

"Thought you might like to see one guy's solution to limited roof space. It is from a poorly scanned photo ... but you'll get the gist of it. Those are the old Siemens 55 watt panels times about 34 = 1870 watts plus two 300 (or 400) watt wind machines. Makes you wonder just what he is doing inside???"


Now THAT is an impressive mobile solar setup!!!

This weekend Fritz is moving into a rented room up in Titusville. The money he will be saving on commute costs and vehicle wear (not to mention hours of his life gained) certainly justify this switch. He'll still be our housemate on weekends, until the house sells that is. But this arrangement should work out great for everyone involved.

With Fritz gone during the week, it no longer makes sense for us all to be splitting the costs for premium cable TV / and high speed Internet. So rather than dropping back to basic service, serolynne and I are contemplating cutting the cable entirely.

I just switched our half of the house network to use our Sprint Novatel Merlin EX720 and CradlePoint CTR-350 Router as our upstream connection, instead of the cable modem.

And we really can't notice any performance difference whatsoever.

Music and videos stream just fine, and the net feels just as fast as it ever has on BrightHouse Cable.

Since last year, it looks as if Sprint has upgraded the local wireless to a full EVDO revA signal. And that rocks.

According to the DSL Reports Speed Test, this is the performance we are currently getting via wireless:

Download Speed: 1199 Kb/s
Upload Speed: 240 Kb/s
Latency: 94ms

The cable modem tests out much faster (6033 Kb/s, 464 Kb/s, 62ms) - but in day to day use, it hardly seems noticeable. We'll be keeping our eye out for any hiccups - but very likely by this time next week we will be cutting off cable entirely.

This setup works amazing well. And the best part? We can take it with us (almost) anywhere!! *grin*

My iPhone has died.

*grrr*

Over the weekend the battery had gotten dangerously low (10% warning) - and the iPhone was on the verge of shutting down while we needed it to try and navigate towards Wrestlemania. Greg and Betty realized that they had an iPod car-charger onboard, so I borrowed it and plugged in.

A moment after I did so, the iPhone reset and rebooted twice - and then gave me a kernel panic and the screen filled with text. It was actually pretty cool to watch, though disturbing.

I picked up the iPhone, and the back of the case was shockingly hot to touch. Yikes!

I unplugged, and forced the iPhone to reboot by holding down the front and top buttons for ten seconds, and when it returned to life I put it into "Airplane Mode", guessing that the wireless radio combined with the charge current for the critically low battery had overwhelmed the charging circuit. Once in Airplane mode, the iPhone seemed to charge fine for the remaining 15 minutes of our drive.

Once inside the Citrus Bowl, I was able to use my iPhone to snap and email pictures, and place a few phone calls. The battery was still in the red, but the phone was working fine. After emailing a final picture off to my folks, I stuck the phone into my pocket.

About an hour later, I felt a brief vibration. I think that was my iPhone's dying gasp.

Later in the night, the iPhone was dead to the world. Nothing I could do would make it reset or wake up - the screen was hopelessly black. Once home, I plugged into both my laptop and the wall charger - but neither would bring the iPhone back to life. Even leaving it plugged in overnight did nothing.

Googling around, I've found reports of the iPhone charge circuitry sometimes failing and frying. I think that is what happened to me.

In theory, I should be able to take advantage of the 1yr Apple warranty - but since I have never activated on AT&T this may be tough. I will have to convince a Genius at an Apple store to swap my dead phone for a live one. But one catch - every Apple store in the state of FL is sold out of iPhones. There is a mysterious nationwide shortage going on right now. Even the Apple online store is out of stock..

The next generation 3G iPhone is due sometime between now and June. I was planning to buy that as soon as it is released. Now I am faced with the dilemma - do I limp along with my backup broken down Treo until then? Should I sell my dead iPhone on Ebay for parts (potentially worth up to $300)? Should I wait until the Orlando Apple store gets more equivalent iPhones in stock and try and sweet talk a warranty swap? Or...

I could even dissect my iPhone, order a new logic board for $200, and with some careful work, likely resurrect it.

I've gotten so used to having my email, web access, photo albums, and music with me all the time. It feels miserable to be without. Fortunately, I still have a Treo to fall back upon. But it does feel positively stone-age to use it.

*grrrr*

I have nearly 1.5TB of storage plugged into my laptop at the moment.

This turns me on. *grin*

• 320GB internal drive.


• 500GB USB backup drive.


• 500GB Firewire backup drive.


• 160GB USB drive (bus powered!)


• 8GB iPhone.

Sadly, my other 160GB external USB drive is loaned out, or this would be even more exciting.

I love being a geek. :-)

Watching this video blows me away. This robot "dog" can walk on all terrain, can recover if kicked (watch 38 seconds in), and it can even scramble to stay upright while slipping on ice. Its movements are more "alive" than any other robot I've seen.

This is a glimpse of the future of robotic technology.

Someday (relatively soon) even kids toys will be this advanced.

Based upon the current pace of robotic evolution, we are just a few years away from cars that can self-drive in traffic, and robots that can run and walk as well as any human or animal.

And after that equivalence is reached, what then? The imagination boggles.

The singularity is near, indeed!

To my dismay - I have discovered that Gmail can not be trusted to keep email safe.

This is extremely troubling - Google should be better than this. But I've caught Gmail in the act, mysteriously losing data twice now. Here are the details:

Last Friday afternoon serolynne emailed my mom some hotel options for my parent's visit to Florida next week.

Saturday morning, my mom called me to say that she had been on Gmail and seen the email on Friday, and she had even forwarded it to my father. But now that she was ready to call the hotel we recommended, the email was missing, and she was confused as to why.

I talked her through checking Gmail's trash and spam filters, but it was nowhere to be found. It was missing from my father's Gmail account too.

Weird. But - my parent's and technology often combine in mysterious ways, so I didn't worry too much, and Cherie resent them the email.

Fast forward to this evening, and I am catching up on my todo list for the week. I knew I had to follow up with a potential consulting client who had contacted us, and I went looking for his latest email to respond to. I was dismayed to discover that it was missing from my Two Steps Beyond inbox, which is powered by Gmail via Google Apps for Your Domain.

I could see the email proposal I had sent him on Friday evening in my Sent folder, and I knew that he had replied over the weekend proposing further conversation - but I searched everywhere and his reply was missing, including from the Gmail archive, spam, and trash folders!

Fortunately, Cherie had been cc'ed, and she found her copy of his mail. Our potential client had replied at 1:23PM on Saturday. (Interestingly - later in the day than my Mom's email had gone missing...)

Thanks to the magic of Apple's Time Machine, I have a full image backup of my system from 12:15AM Sunday morning, and I have been able to travel back in time to see that the message was missing even then, less than 12 hours after it had been sent. I could see my synchronized IMAP copies of my Gmail state, including the trash, archive, and spam folders. But the mail from our contact was completely AWOL.

How on earth could this happen?!??

It seems to me that Google must have had some serious data center failure over the weekend, but if so, I would expect them to warn potentially affected customers that they could have lost critical data and communications.

It makes me wonder - what else has Gmail lost? Is Gmail trustworthy? Was this an isolated incident? What are the chances of it being repeated? And how will I ever even know if something like this happens again unless I am lucky enough to catch Gmail in the act devouring messages?

*grrr*

I am not impressed with Google right now. I don't mind Gmail being down on occasion, but losing data is completely unacceptable.

Since it now looks like Apple will not be giving me any worthwhile reasons to upgrade to a new laptop anytime soon - I decided to spend last night doing some serious upgrading of my own.

My MacBook Pro is now sporting a 320GB (!!!) Western Digital Scorpio HD, doubling my storage capacity and increasing my HD speed significantly. Having that capacity in a container so small boggles my mind.

Using TimeMachine to restore from my backup drive made this the most painless system upgrade I have ever attempted. Kudos to Apple for making something so complex so brain-dead easy. Time Machine really is a killer feature.

I've also been doing some software upgrading and acquisition to help fill up all that extra space. I encourage any of you with Macs to check out the MacHeist II promotion where you can get a bundle of 11 great Macintosh applications (sold for $368 separately) for just $49. (BTW - If you click on the link and end up buying, I get a 12th bonus app free...)

I wrote about the first iteration of the MacHeist last year - and I continue to think that it is sheer marketing genius. If you are interested in viral marketing done right - this is one of the best examples I have ever seen.

The promotor of the Heist has put together a great bundle, he's donating 25% of every purchase to a charity you get to choose, and developers I never would have heard of are getting some great exposure. The total raised for charity is already over $175k with a week in the promotion remaining - impressive!

I was already planning to buy the uber-cool secure digital wallet and password manager 1password (the iPhone sync pushed me over the top), and the PhotoShop-like Pixelmator looks amazing and seems well worth the price of the bundle. The rest of the apps I have not had a chance to check out too deeply yet, but I suspect that there are a few other gems to be found. All of them have gotten rave reviews.

The Heist has a week left, so check it out and treat yourself to some new Mac apps.

Enjoy!

Steve didn't have any big shocking surprises for us this year, and overall I am rather disappointed.

The iPhone updates were leaked weeks ago, movie rentals were known to be coming, and the MacBook Air was expected. It is pretty sad when the biggest surprise of Steve's keynote is a new wireless router with an embedded hard drive for backing up to. *yawn*

The new MacBook Air is an incredibly sexy little laptop, but other than the amazing package it comes in, there is nothing revolutionary about it. I was hoping Apple would do something a bit more radical - like ditching the spinning hard drive for flash as a standard feature (and not as a $1000 extra), or perhaps integrating in WAN networking technology like EVDO or even WiMax.

Instead we get a super slim laptop with a slower CPU, a small and slow HD, just a single USB port, no firewire, a mono speaker, a non-removable battery, and no expansion options. A great choice for some, but it would actually be a pretty significant downgrade for many.

Movie rentals in iTunes is the much more significant news, and has the potential to finally make the Apple TV compelling. I am curious though if Apple will now support purchasing HD content (or is HD just for rental?), and whether Apple will allow HD viewing on laptops and not just on the Apple TV?

Things I had hoped to see, but which did not make an appearance:

• A MacBook Pro refresh. When will Apple embrace Intel's new mobile CPU's???


• BlueRay DVD Support. Apple could have been first to make this a standard feature!


• A sneak preview of what will be possible with the iPhone SDK...

Ah well. Maybe next time...

So I've been working on organizing my financial life, embracing Quicken 2008 as my new personal accounting system.
(Yes - the Windows version, because the Mac version is still lagging severely...)

I have a bunch of data from Microsoft Money 2005 that I'd like to bring forward - and according to Intuit this should be no problem and is actually an advertised feature of Quicken.

But...

First you have to dig around the Quicken website to find the most recent version of the Data Converter - I found it here.

But running the Data Converter gives me the following error: "CreateQWPAManager could not be found in qwutil.dll"

No amount of re-installing or fiddling seems to resolve this, and others have posted about this problem to the support forums with no response or solution yet found. So I try Intuit's online tech support chat system...

The first person I get links me to this page, which is totally useless.

As Intuit states:

Beginning with Quicken 2005 for Windows, and for all future versions of Quicken for Windows, QIF Data Import will no longer be available for most accounts.

Money can import and export QIF fine, but Quicken hasn't been able to import QIF files for three years. You think they would update the call center staff to know this.

Why would Quicken drop QIF support? They claim it is to reduce support costs and increase customer satisfaction, but the cynical reason is that it was done to force online banks to upgrade to QFX (which must be licensed from Intuit).

Certainly, they are not reducing support costs now. Nor increasing customer satisfaction.

Interestingly, Quicken still supports exporting QIF, but provides for no way to import the data it exports. What sort of lame product manager approved of that design?

I try chatting with tech support again, and this time they acknowledge that the lack of QIF import ability is a problem. And they give me a link to download Quicken 2002 (!!?!??) so that I can use that to better handle importing data from Money.

I am flabbergasted. Intuit is recommending a six year old version of Quicken as an alternative to their latest and greatest. Then - once I've manually gone through the painful process of QIF import / export one account at a time, I can "upgrade" back to Quicken 2008 from Quicken 2002, and all my data "should" be preserved.

All this because their new "Data Converter" product hasn't been properly QA tested.

You'd think Quicken would put a little more effort into making it easier for their customers to migrate away from their biggest competitor.

This is technological progress? *grrrr*

I just finished a five-mile sprint on an exercise bike with my iPhone for company. Surfing the web while rocking out to music sure makes the time fly by. :-)

I've always gotten bored on exercise machines... Music alone helps a lot, but not enough. The big-screened web browser of the iPhone though worked wonderfully to keep me distracted while the miles blew past. I like it. :-)

I am actually looking forward to working out again tomorrow morning. :-)

(BTW - I actually used to use my Tablet PC while working out before - but it always felt WAY too precarious...)

It wasn't very long ago that the mainstream technology press looked upon the Macintosh with disdain, or at best mild amusement. As Mac OS X matured over the years that amusement has morphed into begrudging respect, but still the leading PC-centric publications would barely even mention Macintosh developments, and certainly would never suggest that Mac OS was a credible alternative to Windows.

That was before the debacle that Windows Vista has proven to be.

And while Microsoft is still struggling earn back some respect with the first Vista Service Pack (due in 2008), Apple's new Leopard has swept in to rave reviews. I am amazed to see quotes like this coming from PC Magazine:

After spending days with Apple's new OS X 10.5, we're convinced it's the best operating system on the market. ... despite minor problems, it's by far the best operating system ever written for the vast majority of consumers, with dozens of new features that have real practical value ... for the average user, Leopard is the most polished and easiest to use OS I've tested.

Leopard again raises the question of whether to switch from Windows to a Mac. I've found Vista to be a major disappointment that tends to look worse the more I use it. I still use Windows XP for getting serious work done in long, complicated documents. But OS X is easier to manage and maintain and I vastly prefer OS X to Windows for Web-browsing, mail, and especially for any task that involves graphics, music, or video. Leopard performs all such tasks even better than previous versions did—and Leopard is the only OS on the planet that works effortlessly and intuitively in today's world of networked computers and peripherals. Leopard is far from perfect, but it's better than any alternative, and it's getting harder and harder to find good reasons to use anything else.

That's the official word from PC Magazine?!?!

Also amusing is PC World's current article looking back at the "Most Notable Notebooks of 2007", which has this to say:

Fastest: Apple MacBook Pro
The fastest Windows Vista notebook we've tested this year is a Mac. Try that again: The fastest Windows Vista notebook we've tested this year--or for that matter, ever--is a Mac. Not a Dell, not a Toshiba, not even an Alienware.

Egads.

It is amazing to see the big "PC" magazines gushing so enthusiastically about Apple, while it is hard to find anyone with much positive to say about Microsoft anymore.

I should be getting my copy of Leopard in the next few days, and I am very excited to start playing with it.

Over the next few weeks I'll have my hands full with geeking. In addition to Leopard, Cherie's laptop is regularly crashing and needs an XP rebraining, and my parent's are itching for a new computer entirely.

(And I am not sure I'll be able to talk them into a Mac.... *groan*)

Is anyone out there currently using a Vista system that they are actually impressed with? Any recommendations on where I should start on the quest for a new machine for my folks?

I've been fantasizing the past few weeks about using my media relations and muck-racking skills to organize an online boycott of Mac OS X Leopard as a response to Apple's hostile stance against hackers and developers who are working to extend the iPhone. The goal - that Apple announce an intention and a timeframe for releasing a supported iPhone SDK.

It's not that I think Apple has any sort of moral or business obligation to do so - I just hate watching them fumble this issue so badly, and I know they are missing a huge opportunity. Besides, as someone I shared my plans with pointed out - it would be fun to torture Apple a bit.

And indeed it would have been a fun exercise in media manipulation, and I bet I could have gotten plenty of press coverage and 1000's of disgruntled iPhone owners committing to delay their Leopard upgrades by a month.

But it would have also been a lot of work - more than it would be worth to me.

Thankfully, Apple has changed course - and saved me the trouble.

Steve Jobs posted this morning:

Let me just say it: We want native third party applications on the iPhone, and we plan to have an SDK in developers’ hands in February. We are excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for our users. With our revolutionary multi-touch interface, powerful hardware and advanced software architecture, we believe we have created the best mobile platform ever for developers. ... We think a few months of patience now will be rewarded by many years of great third party applications running on safe and reliable iPhones.

Nice.

The situation had been turning into a PR nightmare such that every article about the iPhone felt compelled to mention the "Apple versus its own developers and best customers" angle to the story.

But now Steve has flipped things completely around, silencing most critics, and making sure the press angle has shifted to "and you'll be able to do even more with the iPhone in February when..." -- all without actually announcing any specifics, or giving away any technical or business details.

What a way to dodge a bullet.

I think Apple has intended the iPhone to be "open" in some fashion from the very beginning - and looking under the hood certainly reveals plenty of hints that this is the case. But there is also a lot that just isn't ready for third parties yet - particularly the security infrastructure.
(Everything running as root? Egads!)

Apple should have announced their open intentions from the start, but I don't think they expected this level of developer and mainstream interest in iPhone apps so they never realized how much of a blunder it would be not to. It is rare to see Apple caught off guard and stumbling, but I am pleased to see they seem able to recover.

Meanwhile - I've got some iPhone native apps to start planning... Knowing Palm OS, Symbian, and Windows Mobile way too intimately - there really is a huge need for something better.

Is Mac OS X on the iPhone "the best mobile platform ever for developers"? Perhaps.

I'm just glad we'll soon have a chance to find out.

In sharp contrast to the frustratingly closed stance Apple is taking, Google is calling for new wireless spectrum to be auctioned with a mandate for both open devices and an open network.

From Google's Public Policy Blog:

However, if we do end up bidding and ultimately win the spectrum in question, we would ensure that consumers have the right to decide which devices and applications they want to use on our network. We would also encourage third party software applications -- even those that compete directly with our own services -- on the theory that users deserve the right to pick and choose the programs they want to use online.

We think the Internet offers the optimal model for what best serves the interests of all consumers. To that end, we hope the FCC sticks to its guns as it tries to introduce the open ethos of the 'Net to a small segment of the closed wireless world.

Sure they have selfish reasons for fighting Verizon on this, but this is a good thing for consumers. I sure hope the FCC does not cave in to Verizon.

Bring on the G-Phone! :-)

The iPhone is the most amazing, innovative, and truly inspiring mobile device to come along since the birth of the Palm Pilot. And I should know - I've played with pretty much every mobile gadget there is. Apple did a great job reinventing the phone - and this reinvention is long overdue.

Rather than innovating, Palm has spent the last five+ years chasing after "carrier requirements", ignoring end users, neglecting its once thriving ecosystem, and bandaging an increasingly obsolete operating system.

And Microsoft's Windows Mobile never even figured out what a mobile user experience is all about...

So it is little wonder that once the iPhone was hacked to allow for third party application development, there was an unprecedented flood of excitement and enthusiasm. Over the past two months, there has been more developer activity on the "officially closed" iPhone than on the "open" PalmOS. Some great stuff was starting to emerge - with immense possibilities for the future.

Apple was at first officially "neutral" on the concept - saying they would do nothing to guarantee that future iPhone OS updates wouldn't break iPhone applications, but they would do nothing "malicious" to stop developers either.

Fair enough.

But Apple has stopped playing fair, and has gotten VERY malicious.

The new iPhone 1.1.1 update locks down the iPhone so strongly that even if developers find a new way in, it is now clear that Apple's "neutral" stance is long gone - and every new update will slam the door hard shut yet again.

Where there was once unprecedented enthusiasm, there is now emerging a huge backlash of disgust. I don't think Apple realizes how much damage they have done - it is never wise to piss off your most enthusiastic fans, developers, and influencers. Conservative estimates show that fully 10% of the one million iPhone's sold so far have been "hacked" to install third party applications. The now stillborn Navizon soft-GPS program alone had been downloaded and installed 80k times.

The anti-Apple backlash is making news - it has been a top story on Google News all week. Gizmodo has revised its iPhone review to "Don't Buy" in response, Wired is writing about all the thing you can do with the iPhone 1.0.2 that you can't after "downgrading" to the new 1.1.1, and even the New York Times is taking a real critical look at how Apple has attacked its "most ardent fans".

Apple is certainly taking a hard-line - even a MacWorld editor was told his only recourse after bricking his iPhone by upgrading to 1.1.1 was that he was "screwed" and needed to buy a new one. Egads!

This video really nails the situation by turning Apple's own words against it - taking the audio from the classic "Think Different" campaign and overlaying it on top of a scrolling catalog of the iPhone applications that have emerged:

Apple has forgotten its own advertising - Apple has stopped "Thinking Different" and turned into 1984's Big Brother.

It is rare to see Apple stumble so badly.

And it is interesting to see Nokia trying to take advantage of the stumble - with new posters appearing saying "Phones should be open to anything. The best devices have no limits" and launching an "Open to Anything" marketing campaign.

If only Nokia had a phone even half as exciting as the iPhone...