Thank you George. :)
I was a little nervous about taking my iPhone to Canada as I’d heard horror stories of rampant international data usage leading to $3,000 phone bills. It turned out to be no trouble at all to make sure the phone wouldn’t go nuts overseas. First, AT&T has this page of tips which essentially boil down to:
- Turn off the General → Network → Data Roaming setting. (Which was already set to off when I checked it on my phone.)
- Change the Mail → Auto-Check setting to “Manual”.
- Use Wi-Fi networks whenever you need to access data.
The first one is the most critical as otherwise the phone will use any cell network it can find to send and receive data.
One thing these steps don’t protect you against is voice and SMS usage. I didn’t use the phone but I sent a few SMS messages which cost 20¢ per message.
The iPhone is, hands down, my all-time favorite gizmo. Since the rumors sites have me pretty much convinced that I’ll soon be buying an a new version of the phone, and since the App Store is coming soon, I wanted to note a couple of things I’m hoping for:
Thinner, Lighter, Faster
Apple is so good at this stuff, I have no doubt that the next iPhone will be noticably thinner and lighter than the original, yet capable of running native and web apps faster and more reliably.
Native Feed Reader
Google’s Reader is easily my favorite feed reader on the iPhone today, but there’s a huge opportunity for Brent Simmons and the NewsGator crew to step in and steal all the marbles. I don’t know if they’re working on it, but I hope so.
Contacts and Calendar Mobile Syncing
I have to plug my phone into my computer to sync my contacts and calendars. What is this, 2007?
Native IM Client App
Of course, this one is obviously in the works, but I’m especially looking forward to it. AIM’s IM-via-SMS stuff is great, but native is native.
Video Chat
This seems like kind of a silly rumor to me but it would just be SO DAMN COOL. The kind of “living in the future”-awesome that Apple brought us with the original iPhone.
One more thing…
Post Keynote Update: The new, native, TypePad for iPhone! It was a pleasure to be able to work on this with Stephane and Ray, and extremely exciting to hear that Michael was asked to demo it at the WWDC Keynote. Congratulations to the team!
I’m finding it very difficult to rank the Indiana Jones movies after seeing this latest installment. One thing I’m quite sure of is that Raiders of the Lost Ark and Last Crusade place higher than Temple of Doom and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
But despite the shortcomings of the 2nd and 4th films, they’re both still pure Indy gold and you can’t help but love them. Harrison Ford just owns that role so completely, and the villains are just so comically goofy, that you just have to shovel popcorn into your mouth and enjoy it.
Update: Sounds like a few other people liked it too. Time to make another one!
I went to a university with a brand new, state of the art gymnasium. I think it was essentially free to the students and you could literally get lost inside it. I spent probably 15 minutes in that building the entire time I was there.
After college I didn’t make any effort to join a gym although for a while I was living on Nob Hill in San Francisco, working on Market Street, and walking to and from work every day. I’m not sure what the elevation change was exactly, but that was probably close to the best shape I’ve ever been in.
Tabitha, unlike myself, needs to go to the gym. She can’t not. When I started going with her about a year or so ago, I found it pretty brutal. But of course its grown on me considerably and these days I almost, almost, look forward to going.
Tab and I went to Monterey for the weekend and had a really nice time relaxing, eating well, wandering, and generally taking it easy.
We made a point to go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and tried to see pretty much everything, including the behind-the-scenes tour.
My main camera’s battery turned out not to be as charged as I thought it was so I spent a lot more time goofing off with the little video camera than I normally do. Expect to see more videos of otters appearing on Flickr soon. :)
Update: It’s starting already!
My office generously keeps the kitchen full of drinks and snacks in order to help us optimize our blood sugar levels. Over time, I’ve noticed that as the distance between my desk and the kitchen decreases, the number of trips I make to the chocolate drawer has increased. Exponentially.
So this last week, every time I wanted to get some M&Ms, or a Mini Baby Ruth, or a York Peppermint Pattie, I got a glass of water instead. I drank a tremendous amount of water. I’m planning to keep this trend going for as long as I can.
Update: We’re in week three of operation no-snack!
A little over a year ago I woke up in the middle of the night with my heart absolutely racing. My temperature was extremely high as well and for the next several weeks, I had a fever and just felt exhausted all the time. After the third week and several doctors visits they finally ran some tests and concluded that I had Mono.
No, thanks for asking, I have no idea where or how or I got it. :) Plus, I was 30 for crying out loud. I thought you couldn’t get Mono when you’re that old. Also, yes, it did take a very long time to completely get over it.
So yeah, that’s no fun but thankfully it’s long behind me now which makes it a prime candidate for our new series, Things I Didn’t Blog About at the Time.
I know I’m not the only person who misses the rounded screen corners in the latest version of Mac OS X. I think some clever developer had published a little app to restore them, even before 10.5 had shipped. (Here it is, Displaperture.) What I’d really like though is for the Mac OS to sport the same tiny rounded corners that the iPhone uses.
Have you noticed that the iPhone screen has rounded corners? The radius is really small, no more than 5 pixels I think. (Except when the keyboard is up. Then the bottom corners have a larger radius. Probably in order to wrap nicely around the bottom row of soft keys.)
No doubt there’s an ancient and epic struggle between UI nerds about whether to use rounded display corners. The iPhone approach is a nice compromise between being attractive and maximizing display real estate, so I hope they do something similar for the Mac.
It’s been a little over a week since we released the iPhone interface for TypePad. The buzz has been pretty good and I wanted to record some of it here. First though thanks to everyone at Six Apart for helping with everything from tweaks to the backend, to the marketing and PR. It was an extremely fun project to work on. Here’s what people are saying:
Kevin Tofel for jkOnTheRun:
I hope this doesn’t mean I’ll need to double my daily post quantity, but TypePad just made it easier to blog from the iPhone.
Fox for the UK Blogger’s Guide:
No doubt about it, the Apple iPhone is one of the best mobile phones for mobile blogging, and the dev team over at TypePad have taken the time to make sure that moblogging via their hosted blogging platform and your iPhone is a breeze.
You can now access TypePad with a streamlined, built for iPhone, interface.
I like the new iPhone interface for Typepad. Hope WP does the same. I just used it to put up a post from my hotel room.
James Corbett for EirePreneur:
Delighted to find that yet another ‘for iphone’ service works perfectly well on the Opera mini browser. I’m posting this with a Sony Ericsson P1i over wifi.
Tom Bridge for Adventures in Troubleshooting:
Wow, this iPhone site for TypePad updates os pretty solid! Check out the details at everything typepad!
kopanas on del.icio.us:
Reason enough to switch to TypePad…
Jim Barraud on del.icio.us:
Very nice interface. I’m hoping that more web services optimize there offerings for iPhone & iTouch, so when I actually get either of these devices I’ll be stylin’ :)
Wilson Miner on del.icio.us:
Next to the Facebook “app” this is one of the best balances between trying to meld with the iPhone interface and create a uniquely branded feel.
Dennis Bouchand for 901am:
Six Apart today announced the release of a mobile version of the award-winning TypePad blogging application customized for the Apple iPhone.
Janet Tokerud for Tech Ronin:
I’m posting via my iPhone. I could already post from my iPhone but now things in Typepad are iphone-sized.
John Gruber for Daring Fireball:
Very nice MobileSafari-optimized interface for TypePad. I bet we see something similar for Movable Type 4.
Since the introduction of the iPhone, we’ve been lamenting the fact that Apple has left its über-phone out of the revolution in user-generated content … It looks like the people at Six Apart, creators of TypePad and Movable Type, would like to use the iPhone and the iPod touch for content publishing, too. They announced today the release of a mobile version of their TypePad blogging application, customized for the iPhone.
We’re iPhone addicts. So this new iPhone interface for Typepad is awesome.
Edward Vielmetti for Vacuum:
New typepad version for iphone works well enough for my to post this on my BlackBerry. Hooray!
Ian Betteridge for Technovia:
And speaking of all things iPhone and Typepad, Six Apart has released a very spiffy web-based iPhone client.
Typepad is available on the iphone and on many other mobiles as a client. Tested the iphone, very cool, now testing the n95 client. Congrats to the team.
Richard Wanderman for Richard’s Notes:
Fantastic. MT and hopefully Wordpress can’t be far behind. Great.
Tom for Tom’s TypePad:
I hadn’t thought about doing a Typepad blog until they announced an iPhone version today.
Scott Gilbertson for Wired’s “Compiler” weblog:
Add Typepad to the list of iPhone optimized sites. A newly unveiled URL, http://i.typepad.com/, reduces the essence of the Typepad experience to fit the iPhone’s diminutive screen.
Jeremey for Jeremey’s Weblog:
Just trying out typepad’s iPhone interface. Nice!
Jesse Gardner on del.icio.us:
Holy UI, Batman… Movable Type on an iPhone!
Todd Plants on del.icio.us:
Writing BTP on my iPhone? Drool.
Scott McNulty for The Unofficial Apple Weblog:
I played around with the Typepad iPhone interface and I must say it is very nice indeed.
John Gruber for Daring Fireball:
Great work from Brad Choate and Walt Dickinson at Six Apart. I’m upgrading to MT 4 just for this.
Grant Griffiths for Home Office Lawyer:
For those who don’t know, Typepad released an iPhone version today. And it works great on the iPhone’s wonderful screen.
Although I can’t buy an iPhone over here yet (well not officially at least) I could blog from one if I wanted to!
If you’re a Treo ex-owner, ex because you went and got yourself an iPhone, only to realize you can’t update your Typepad blog, your wait is over.
The new, iPhone-optimized interface looks awesome — after all it IS made for the single most stylish handset on the planet — and should finally allow you to post directly from the iPhone wherever you are. Not that you weren’t able to do this before, it’s just way more convenient now. In addition, Six Apart is offering the same interface for Typepad.
Duncan Riley for TechCrunch:
Movable Type’s Byrne Reese claims that the release of the MT plugin gives bloggers another reason to buy an iPhone, but in the cut throat blogging CMS business it may well give users a greater incentive to switch back to MovableType.
Alberto Lopez for Digital Impulses:
SixApart has just released interfaces for the iPhone and the iPod Touch. This is very exciting news. Now I can literally blog from ANYWHERE. Awesome.
Stephen Antonucci for ReelSmart.com:
Six Apart has announced a plugin for Movable Type 4 and TypePad that makes it possible to blog from your iPhone using a very cool interface on the iPhone.
Charles Starrett for iLounge:
Six Apart has announced the release of a mobile version of its TypePad blogging application customized for the iPhone.
The good news: another Web company has released an iPhone-specific version of its Web site, following in the footsteps of Media Temple and Facebook. The better news: the company is a blogging service.
Mark Anderson for Andertoons Cartoon Blog:
I’m writing this post on my iPhone while the kids eat breakfast. Typepad just launched this iPhone service and I’m testing it out. Pretty cool!
Emily Turrettini for Textually.org:
Blogging company Six Aart, makers of Movable Type and Typepad, have announced a plugin for Movable Type 4 that makes it possible to blog from your iPhone using a very nice iPhone specific interface. They are also offering up the same interface for Typepad.
Paul Renner for presentsense:
Typepad, the blogging platform I use, has just opened a portal for publishing from the iPhone. This is my first blog post from my iPhone.
Phil for Phil’s Synaptic Misfires:
Well, here is my first post via the optimized iPhone interface! I have to say, this is pretty damn nice!
Sandy Hughes for Sandy’s Sayings:
I’ve had my iPhone for just about a month and I love this little piece of technology! I’m loving it even more now that the blogging company I use just made an app specifically for the iPhone! This post was done on my iPhone with typepad’s new app
Frank Gruber in the video created for Somewhat Frank:
It’s all right at your fingertips. Pretty nice, pretty easy.
James Alan Miller for PDA Street:
Six Apart recently added another notch to its belt of supported mobile devices. The company’s Movable Type weblog publishing system and hosted TypePad blogging service now support the iPhone.
If you’re blogging using one of SixApart’s great blogging platforms like TypePad or MovableType, you can finally do it all from your iPhone!
Terry A. Gray for The Academic Technology Blog:
Typepad from Six Apart is the first blogging company to offer blogging tools for the iPhone and the new iPod Touch.
Craig Schmidt for gorithm:
i’m writing this post on my iPhone, using the new i.typepad.com application. I am on the commuter rail. I’ll just see if this works before I hunt and peck too much. It is the first iphone webapp I’ve tried, and it seems really slick.
Matthew Kelleher for matty:
The brilliance continues
Jonny Evans for Macworld UK:
Six Apart has released a mobile version of its award-winning TypePad blogging application for the iPhone. The TypePad iPhone application is optimised for Apple’s multi-touch iPhone display.
David Chartier for Ars Technica’s “Infinite Loop” weblog:
Upping the ante in the blogging feature war, however, is a new custom iPhone dashboard for TypePad and Movable Type that allows users to post and manage key aspects of their blogs while on the go.
James Thornton for insideTonic:
The scope for mobile blogging has been affirmed by the fact that Movable Type and TypePad have just announced their own plug-ins for the iPhone.
Kent Pribbernow for The iPhone Blog:
SixApart has announced full iPhone support for all TypePad bloggers. No downloading any scripts or hacking involved; it’s there waiting for you. Now when you login to your admin account you’ll be greeted with a pretty but minimalist interface that gets you where you want to go in the blink of an, or tap of the finger anyway.
Paul Greenberg for PGreenblog:
I’m writing this on my iphone using typepads new iphone mobile app.
Bryan Menell for Austin Startup:
I’m trying out the new TypePad interface to the iPhone. It’s actually very cool, and pretty functional. I look forward to more iPhone interfaces for the apps I use most.
Michael Ianni-Palarchio for mip:
The Typepad interface for the iPhone looks gorgeous, but more than that, it looks very functional. It allows me to manage my blog and not just put out posts. I like that a lot.
James Fleet for Half-Geek:
The most exciting news about the iPod touch and iPhone for me so far has been from typepad (the software I use to author and design half-geek).
Paul Soupiset for soupablog:
Here’s to the ability to start a revolution from one’s bed: thanks to Typepad’s snazzy new iPhone blogging interface, I am pleased to report that this post is being typed in my room, from my comfy bed.
Frances Puckett for Frannie’s eSpace:
Typepad, the company that hosts my blog, just came out with an interface that makes it super easy to post a blog from the iPhone. In fact, I’m using it now to post this blog!
Michael Puhala for y - i - iPhone:
Having only played around with it for a few minutes, I’m impressed with the functinonality and how easy it is to manage posts, comments and settings across multiple blogs that are associated to a TypePad account.
Alex Soojung-Kim Pang for Relevant History:
Typepad has an iPhone/iPod Touch-optimized editorial interface. That’s cool.
I am publishing this from my iPhone, and I am feeling very sexy about that.
Wanna try it out? Visit i.typepad.com from your iPhone. :)