After my inquiry to Contour Design went unanswered, I began looking for an alternative, and I’m happy to say I may have found a solution. Unlike Contour Designs, there are case manufactures who actually consider dock-ability an important feature in a case/skin. Some manufactures create slide offs like Griffin Nu Form Case with EasyDock and others like SwitchEasy do exactly what I want, create universal dock inserts to fit their cases.

I have ordered the SwitchEasy Rebel Case for iPhone 3G. This case combines a soft polymer with a slick hard shell, offering the best of both, and the design is quite eye-popping. Included with the case are two anti-static screen guards, microfiber wipe, universal dock adapter, video dock stand, squeegee for your screen guard application and a dock connection cover.

Are you docking an iPhone with a case? What’s your solution? Drop a comment below:

I think Comcast could do their cusotmers and product offering a huge service by focusing on the technology and not the content. A Comcast application for my iPhone should allow me to schedule my DVR, while I’m away (like Tivo). It would allow me to manage parental controls so I can let the teen watch the semi-educational war movie while I’m still at the office. It would allow me to remote control my set top box. A Comcast app for my iPhone would let me stream media from my iPhone to my TV and from my TV to my iPhone.

Hey Comcast! Are you listening? You have the fattest pipe, internet in the home, and a set top box on every TV. You can do better than a TV guide. Just a thought.

What do you think? Leave a comment below and let me know.

I was must say I was pretty bummed at the thought of using my 4 year old nano just to exercise at the local track, knowing my 3 month old iPhone 3G would  be in my pocket. That’s tough for a techie like me. And, my wife wasn’t too happy with my displeasure either. So I did what any carefree gadget junky would do, I used this as an excuse to buy an iPhone 3GS.

So a 4 hour wait inline at the Lenox Apple store, turned wife shopping spree at the mall, produced the wholey grail of phones iPhones, the 3GS. I’m not going to review the new iPhone 3GS in this post, but I will say there’s huge difference from 3G to 3GS just in performance. I’m truly loving the purchase. I was also able to get the subsidized pricing by upgrading my teenager’s line, which in turn meant he was getting my old 3G (lucky kid).

After leaving the Lenox Apple store, taking a left in the mall will put you right in front of the Nike store. How convenient, I needed to grab a pair of Nike + compatible shoes. BTW, the Apple/Nike relationship is obvious as the Nike store was loaded with iMacs, very hip. So I grabbed a pair of Nike Air Pegasus+ thinking I was just about ready to hit the track.

The following day included a stop at my local Best Buy to find a wireless headphone solution. With the iPhone OS 3.0 even my now old 3G supported A2DP (bluetooth) wireless audio, and what better way to workout then to do it wirelessly, right? So I found the MOTOROKR S9 HD which also included a built-in microphone so it could answer calls too. Who wants to miss that important call while working out? A short 2 hour charge and simple pairing of the devices and the my ears were full of wireless HD goodness. Or, so I thought…

Day 1 on the track:

With my Nike + shoes on, my wireless headphones roaring and my iPhone 3GS  ready to hub my digital workout, I hit the track. I set up my workout on the Nike + software and hit start. Well, it wasn’t more than 100 feet and my headphones started dropping audio, which was surprising after they worked so well at home. After repositioning my iPhone (to my hand) I thought all was well. But then I noticed my Nike + was saying I was walking a 9 min mile pace, then a 30 min pace, something was wrong. I turned my attention to calibrating the Nike+ as I could deal with the occasional audio drops. This turned into my quest for the remainder of my walk, I spent at least 3 miles trying to get the Nike+ to register something close to what I was actually walking. At the end of my walk it dawned on me, that the Nike + is probably using some form of bluetooth technology and that could explain the problems with the MOTOROKR S9-HD (interference). So back to Best Buy went the MOTOs for a refund. They may work fine without the Nike + but I bought them specifically to use with it.

Day 2 on the track:

With my handy Apple earbuds in place, I set out for a fresh start to remedy my miserable first impression of the Nike +. I was certain my problems were with the MOTO. After walking my first half mile, I checked in with my Nike + only to be shocked, it said I had walked an entire mile. This can’t be. So I decided to once again attempt to calibrate the system. One half mile, no luck. Another half mile, with no luck. I was beginning to doubt myself thinking the new track I was walking on was mysteriously supersized. So I switched over to a great iPhone app called MotionX GPS Lite (iTunes Link). This app uses the GPS in the phone to do many things, including measuring the distance you are traveling. So after another half mile, I started thinking the plus in Nike + name is meant for mystery distance they add to your workout for you. Now I’m getting frustrated.

Day 3 on the track:

So I’m beginning to think I just needed to calibrate my Nike + in the workout mode. The system will let you calibrate your device after you have worked out. So I figured I would start with a full mile, maybe the longer distance would help. As I completed one mile, naturally my Nike + tells me it was 2.08 miles I scroll the calibration to the lowest amount it would allow, 1.37 miles. I’m not sure why they limit it, but apparently Apple/Nike must think their device can’t be that far off. Ha! So with a new calibration set, I set off for another mile in workout mode, certainly this will be closer to the actual distance, wrong. Once again the Nike + is completely nuts, even Lance Armstrong chimed in on my headphones and congratulated me on new “best mile” 9’05″. Anyone who knows me and my size knows I can’t run a 9 min mile, never mind the fact that I’m walking.

At this point I’m about to give up on the Nike + iPod. I have another sensor that I’m going to try next time. Maybe that will be the winner. As for now, I have spent 3 days trying to log over 9 miles of walking with nothing to show for it. Well I’m sure my waste line will show improvement but my Nikeplus.com account sits dormant waiting for me to log some real data. I did however link my Nikeplus.com account my Twitter and Facebook, so when/if I get this working, my social network isbound to know.

UPDATE: Day 4 –  I reached Nike + nirvana, seems my new sensor works great. I put up a nice 2 mile walk this morning. Now if only there were some compatible wireless headphones. Here’s my chart:

Ideas, solutions, questions? Drop a comment below, I’d love to hear from you.

We recently purchased the iHome iP9BR Clock Radio for iPhone. Unlike our prior iHome (for the iPod) the iP9 is universal dock compatible. This is handy if you should need to buy a dock adapter from apple to fit your device. The iP9, came with 3 adapters, one of which is designed for the iPhone 3G(S), but this doesn’t work with a cover or skin on your iPhone. Now honestly, I’m not complaining and expected that. I was happy to see that removing the iPhone 3GS dock adapter allowed ample room for my iPhone + Hardskin.

I do understand that using the iHome’s dock this way isn’t recommended since the iPhone is left with no back support. So, why aren’t case manufacturers like Contour Designs creating matching dock adapters for their products? I for one would fork out $10 for one (probably only cost a few dollars to produce).

In the mean time I’m left to create my own solution. Suggestion? Drop a line in the comments. If I come up with something easy, and attractive I’ll post it here. I also left a message for Contour Designs not sure if I will hear back from them…

This was tested and used on Mac running Leopard. I’m certain it will work fine on most flavors of unix, provided you adjust the path to PHP and it’s running to support the CLI.

Usage: urlcoder.php [-option]

This program takes input from STDIN or a file and encodes or decodes the data for use in URLs

Options:

-f  filename to de/encode if no file name is given input will be taken from STDIN.

-e  Encode the input.

-d  Decode the input.

-v  Show the version.

-h  Show this help.

Usage Note: running the command without a file or piping input will leave the application running, and entering data with a carriage return at the prompt will process based on your en/decode option.

This program uses the PHP urldecode and urlencode functions. From the PHP Manual:

urlencode – Returns a string in which all non-alphanumeric characters except -_. have been replaced with a percent (%) sign followed by two hex digits and spaces encoded as plus (+) signs. It is encoded the same way that the posted data from a WWW form is encoded, that is the same way as in application/x-www-form-urlencoded media type. This differs from the » RFC 1738 encoding (see rawurlencode()) in that for historical reasons, spaces are encoded as plus (+) signs.

Examples:

urlcoder -e -f filename.txt
grep -o search datasource | urlcoder -e
echo "mike strutton" | urlcoder -e
urlcoder -e
(input strings manually followed by enter)

If you don’t frequent the Terminal (or unix shell), you will need to extract the zip file, saving it somewhere in your path, and modify the file to  it to be executable (chmod +x urlcoder). If you don’t understand this, then I highly doubt you have any use for a urlcoder anyway.

Questions, comments, variations? Drop a comment.

As for a topic I have none. As for this post here’s a couple of interesting thoughts and links for today:

1. New iPods are out. Check out the Apple store for more details. The new shake to shuffle seems novel and I like the new Touches.
2. iPhone 2.1 is almost here. Check back on this topic around friday.
3. The above comes from a very skinny Steve-note announced today. Coverage available at TUAW.
4. I heard someone say that Steve’s weight and the prices of AAPL’s stock go hand in hand. (if you coined this please sound off in the comments). 
5. Is it the end of the world as we know it. (Financial Times article).  Thinking of the REM song…
6. I’m coding an app for work. More on that in future post. 

OK, that’s it for now, back to the daily grind. BTW, total editing time 6 min. Fail. Sound off in the comments below. Tell me whatcha thinking.

Let me know if this fixes the slow sync and neverending backup problems with iPhone 2.0. I’m also curious about Bluetooth compatibility in Visual Voicemail. My Plantronics headset quit working with VVM. 

As always I’ll post my own experience and notes here. Share yours with a comment below.

(thanks to Jon Lee for alerting me of this news just moments ago)

Update: The download is 242.3 MB

Update (again): the install took <10 min. I The iPhone seems a little more responsive especially in the contacts and keyboard. I updated WordPress, and played with a handful of app, before attempting a sync. The backup seemed to take <5 min, although I had already completed a 2+hour backup earlier today. I think the verdict is still out on this. As for my bluetooth, it’s a no go. My Plantronics 520 reamins unavailable in Visual Voicemail.

Update (again, again): I have since synced my iPhone 3 times, once after updating/installing 5 applications over the air (not through iTunes). Each sync has completed a backup in just a few minutes. For now, I’m thinking the iPhone 2.0.1 update has greatly improved the slow backup on sync issue.

Anyway, I was part of the project and as you can tell, I’m really thrilled with the outcome. My role included launching a CMS, creating/packaging the video content and a handful of HTML. I’m also a participant in the company blog. Feel free to drop by and participate in our social media marketing conversations. And, congratulations to the rest of the team who had their hands in this project. Great Job!

Thanks to @stammy for sharing this. I put it on the widescreen and the kids watched it over and over again. I forgot how much I loved the Muppets when I was young. I heard the Muppets are returning via a new Disney show called Studio DC: Almost Live.  Enjoy!

Palringo for the iPhone supports AOL’s AIM, iChat, Google Talk, Yahoo! Messenger, Gadu Gadu, ICQ, Jabber and Windows Live Messenger. Setup requires registration and I’m guessing that is in order to support photo messaging. Oh, I didn’t mention that yet? You can send photos from our albums or directly from the camera. Palringo saves the photo on their servers and send a link to your recipient. 

Palringo is FREE and available via this iTunes Link.

I would like to see Comment moderation in a future release. Also improve the inclusion of URLs. Entering HTML code on the iPhone isn’t quick and easy.

You can get WordPress for your iPhone from http://snurl.com/32uhi [--> iTunes Link]

Screenshots attatched. This entire post was created, previewed and published with WordPress on the iPhone.

Having trouble, or have something to add? Please leave a comment!

1. I restored my iPhone using the iPhone1,1_2.0_5A347_Restore.ipsw – I originally updated my iPhone using the leaked iPhone1,2_2.0_5A347_Restore.ipsw before it was released via iTunes. There’s been some debate over wether or not there’s any difference in the two builds. I’m not going to debate that here. 
2. As a result of restore, my iPhone was forced to use one of my backups after reloading. I believe it then recreated a new backup folder. If the act of rebuilding my backup folder alone, is the solution then you could simply rename the folder in /Users/<username>/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup to something else. I’m certain iTunes will recreate a fresh Backup, this may take sometime, but subsequent backups should be incremental and much faster (mine are). Obviously if you run into problems you still have your original backup available. 

If number 2 alone doesn’t solve the problem, then a system restore may be necessary. Warning, please proceed at your own risk. Always maintain backups. Your milage may vary. No warranties expressed, implied, or given. Leave a comment with your experiences. 

Myself an others are reporting about iPhone 2.0 Backup and Sync frustrations over on Apple’s discussion boards. The gist of the problem is iPhone 2.0 software attempts to do a full back up every time you sync. According to the Apple User’s Guide:

Once iPhone has been configured to sync with a particular computer, iTunes automatically makes a backup of iPhone on that computer when you sync. iTunes won’t automatically back up an iPhone that is not configured to sync with that computer. If you have configured iPhone to automatically sync with iTunes on a specific computer, iTunes will back up iPhone every time you connect it to that computer. Automatic syncing is turned on by default. iTunes only makes one backup each time you connect, even if you sync multiple times before disconnecting.

OK so there’s nothing really wrong with a backup right? There is when it takes 20-40 min each time. I’m sure this differs based on the amount of data you have on your phone. If you are in a hurry and in need of syncing some data sans a full backup, you can hit the “X” to skip the backup. iTunes should then proceed to sync your data and media. 

If I find out any further details, I’ll post an update here. Feel free to add a comment below.

First Pandora Radio can only stream while the application is open. This limitation is imposed as the iPhone won’t allow 3rd party background processes. As soon as you leave Pandora Radio, the music will obviously stop.

Streaming over Edge, is possible but also spotty. During my drive home, I successfully streamed 6 songs. Most songs had a 10-12 second delay before playing. I do recall, however, that one time two songs transitioned as expected with no delay. Also I did have a song pause for rebuffering. Obviously this is due to the lower speed of the EDGE network. I would assume that 3G’ers will have a very usable experience.

The Dock connector works as expected. Pandora Radio’s audio will play through the dock connector and it will pause when disconnected. This is the same behavior for the headphones.  Obviously piping the audio is handy for in-car playback, or connecting to home audio.

Playing Pandora on my iHome (older model) took a little work. I’m assuming other iPod controllers, like the iHome, will jump the iPhone directly into “iPod” mode. To get around this just hit the Home button and load up Pandora Radio, music playback should work.

Phone calls presented a problem. You can’t receive phone calls over EDGE, but you should be able to on Wifi and 3G. During my test if the iPhone screen was on, you could decline a call and Pandora would pause and resume. If you accepted a call, at the end of the call Pandora would relaunch, requiring you to reselect your station.  Lastly, if your iPhone screen is off while Pandora is playing the experience was very sporadic. Some times I couldn’t see or hear the incoming call. Also Pandora has a hard time recovering while in this mode it appears as is the “missed call” warning caused interference at least from a user’s experience POV.

All in all, version 1.0 of Pandora Radio on the iPhone is great. I’m looking forward to future updates and continued use.

So long story short, after going through the hoopla of picture taking (by the store manager) and chatting with other staffers, we finally sat down to eat our $50 free dinner. Once the kids were settled and our talking gave way to chomping, from out of nowhere, a very pregnant woman bellies up to our table. The normal split second thoughts start flying; do we know-, wait no-, uh, yeah she’s a stranger, and just when calmness should have ensued the thought process takes a spiraling dive, what?-, Oh, oh, NO!-, as the Mommy-to-be assertively lifts her shirt, lowers her waistline and pushes her nakedly protruding abdomen atop our dinner. She hollers in a strong southern draw, ”Look what I did for free chicken.”

A train wreck, or a deer caught in the headlights, is how you might describe the immediate reactions at our table. We stared on in horror, our mouths full of chicken. Oh my god, I thought. I was speechless. Quickly Melissa stepped up, carrying the conversational torch through its awkward cycle. “Yeah I wrote on my belly,” said the pregnant lady, explaining the chicken-scratched ballpoint ink marks claiming she would “give birth for chicken.”

“Wow, that’s um,” Melissa said chokingly, “that’s nice?” as the Mother-Gone-Wild wannabe retreated to her table.  

“Holy $%*# did that really just happen?” someone from our party gasped quietly.

I mean, over our table, from out of nowhere, a woman raises her shirt, drops her waist and pushes herself well within our “personal” space. Wow, this is not something one could have imagined another person doing to anyone especially a stranger. It’s not as if we dislike pregnant woman. All of us are parents and have been there before, respectively. But shoving your hacked-up-art covered belly within inches of a stranger’s face, while a Chick-fil-A sandwich is tearing between their teeth, that’s simply wrong on so many levels. 

Anyway, the remainder of our dinner turned into quite the giggle-fest, more so after the lady left the restaurant, as we relived that shocking moment. Our horror, turned freak-show-survivor, mixed with utter disbelief, was just the fuel we needed. Our kids were fortunate enough to be sitting on their own and were somehow oblivious to the events.

While dressing up for free food, will leave a lasting, and wholesome “Chick-fil-A” inspired memory. The “attack” of the pregnant woman will haunt us even longer. For those who are dying to know, yes I did wear my cow outfit proudly. After all Chick-fil-A has long been admired in our family. We love it!

Apparently Cows and iPhones have alot in common. Cows come in black and white, and iPhones come in black or white. Cows moo, and apparently iPhones moo too (see Moo – iTunes). Leather is produced from cows, and some iPhone cases are made from leather. Today, July 11th, 2008, Apple launched the iPhone 3G to crowds of fans, while Chick-fil-a declared today Cow Appreciation day. They are inviting anyone who isn’t “too chicken” to visit a Chick-fil-a restaurant dressed like a cow, a free meal. Leave it to my family to participate. That’s the way to save some money!

The Facebook application is missing Wall posts. You will have to use the web interface for that. Also the photo integration won’t allow you to select an existing photo from your album. You are limited to  a realtime photo which is seldom the case for me. Twice now Facebook has rebooted my iPhone. Not nice!

Twitterrific has some photo orientation problems. I send a note to Iconfactory and this was their response: 

Some images uploaded to TwitPic are not rotated correctly. Again, this is a bug with the EXIF data that Apple is putting into the JPEG image. We are working on a workaround now, but didn’t have it ready in time for the launch. We’ve also heard from TwitPic that they are working on some AJAX code that will rotate the images directly in the browser, so that may help in the short term.

A totally useless useful application is PhoneSaber. I can see this coming in handy during boring meetings. Basically your phone becomes a Light Saber from Star Wars making the all familiar sound with each flip of your hand. Just don’t let go of your iPhone. I’m reminded of the Wii remote warnings and safety straps. I wonder when the first iPhone accident will be chalked up to PhoneSaber. –>iTunes Link

I still can’t stop raving over Shazam (audible song identification, see prior post). Here’s a few screen shots to follow up with. 

I finally got MobileMe working. Now my Work and Personal calendars are displayed nicely on my iPhone while maintaining their independence on respective systems. Contacts are also manage much the same way. Here’s a couple of shots:

Screenshots on the iPhone? How you might ask? Well, it’s easy, just press the Home button and the Power button at the same time. Your screen will blink and the shot will be added to your Camera Roll.

Registration Servers - Much like launch day last year, I’m hearing that AT&T is having problems again with their registration servers. This can put a crimp in anyone trying to upgrade to 2.0 or activating a new 3G phone. Be patient, it’s worth the wait. Guess I’m lucky to have completed my upgrade before the rush…

Did you get a 3G, have you upgraded to 2.0? Leave a comment with you thoughts!

First off, I have never been found of Microsoft, aside from Xbox 360, but I will say Exchange on the iPhone is incredible. Within minutes of setting up my account, I already had a meeting request pop-up and accepted. 

Passwords across the board, now show you the last character typed. This is handy for me as I’m a fan of long pass phrases. 

Shazam is one of the most impressive free apps. Have you ever wonder what song was playing on the radio? With Shazam you just let your iPhone listen and within moments it will return Album, Artist, Song Title and more. In my test it identified 10 for 10 songs. 3 on the home stereo, 3 in the car, 1 from another iPhone and 3 from MacBook speakers. –>iTunes link

Super Monkey Ball, Texas Hold’em and Ms. Pacman are all great. 

Don’t waste your money on Crazy Eye. It might be worth $0.25 akin to a prize in a gumball machine. Who knows maybe it will get some play in a meeting or two at work. 

Pandora on the iPhone is another godsend. Not usable on Edge but for you soon to be 3G’ers I think you could augment your playlist and FM tuning durring rush hour. –>iTunes Link

MobileMe has been a PITA for me today. But, on my iPhone it worked as expected. My mail account started pushing automatically, and turning on Calendar and Contacts with the flip of a switch was as simple as Steve Jobs wardrobe. The calendar app does a great job keeping my personal and business schedule separately-together. 

For guitar players like me, GuitarToolkit is a must have. Tones, Tuner, Metronome and a Chord chart round it out. I spent much more on my Sabine digital tuner. –>iTunes Link

Facebook and Twitterrific take the cake in the social networking arena. Twitterrific has a great UI, a built-in browser and Camera to TwitPic integration. –>iTunes Link – Facebook’s application also brings photos and the recently popular Facebook chat to the iphone. As expected they too have an excellent UX. –>iTunes Link

NetNewsWire is one of my favorite OS X apps and I was excited to see it in the AppStore. After a quick test drive though, I must say their iPhone web app (NewsGator) seems better and faster. I plan to give it more time but I very well might stick with NewsGator/Safari. 

BUGS? As expected with a product introduction there’s bound to be glitches and bugs (MobileMe?). I have had a handful of crashes and unexpected data errors in the “free” apps. I haven’t had a single problem with a premium app (not counting MobileMe). I expect these bugs to be worked out in due time. 

Honestly I feel like I have only scratched the surface here. So sound off in the comments and share your thoughts on the new apps for iPhone 2.0!