iPhone 4S – Do I need it?

Yesterday Apple, Inc. unveiled after 16 months between iPhone releases the iPhone 4S.

I was thinking what the “S” stands for.. could it be “sucker” or “scam”? I think it’s a bit of both. I think it stands for “Siri” for the must have feature of “voice activated commands”. ooh.. Since I can’t type straight.. now I show how bad my grammar is as I learn a whole set of voice activated commands!

I think the only winner of this release of the next generation of the iPhone series is Sprint (#1) and Verizon (#2).  Why? Now it’s a 3 way game between AT&T, Verizon and Sprint for the same customers.. Unlimited data issue anyone?

Physically, there is no change in the way the iPhone 4S appears.. Price is standard $199 and $299 for 16 and 32 GB respectively. Battery life is better (hopefully), and it has a faster processor with a better camera. And I forgot the introduction of the main feature voice activated commands (SIRI)..

I still don’t see myself getting this latest gadget.. I’m pretty happy with my 3GS which still works fine after a few years on the T network.

I love my 3GS.. It basically does what I want it to do.. Make phone calls and play “Angry Birds”.

In my household, I know that there will be at least one teenager that has pleaded/conned/convinced her Dad that she HAS to “pre-order” the 4GS on the VZ (“can you hear me now”)  network.  Of course last year.. the same child couldn’t live without her BBM on her precious Blackberry. So I’m taking this with a grain of salt.

I personally use both the 3GS for personal and business, and the iPhone 4 is hands down the winner here. Yet I still ask.. Do I really need the iPhone 4GS?

So I am going to ask you.. Are you buying the iPhone 4S to replace your iPhone 4 which I’m sure many of you are still under contract for??

iPhone and Mac – We are Family

I found this new site (for me) for the iPhone. Today’s iPhone has excellent application reviews, tips and videos.

As I’m typically the last one to know and utilize the true potential of  my iPhone, I’ve decided to make a conscious effort to try to understand how to use my iPhone better. I took the first step this weekend when I upgraded my 3GS to IOS 4.01

BTW, it’s official, my family is now officially a  Mac Family.. Apple related products outnumber any PC based laptop and desktops in my techno savvy home. I find that at least once or twice a week I’m at the Appleinsider site.

I’ve updated my side links for iPhone…

Even my wife who is/was a  techno-phobe,  is giddy with her Mac Pro. Now that my older daughter has her new Mac Pro, I’m the one that’s left back being a PC!

So get this our stash of apple products scattered all over my house:

• Multiple iPhones (2G and 3GS)
• 1 iTouch
• 1 Nano
• I iPod Classic
• Multiple Mac Pro Plus
• 1 iPod Shuffle
• 1 Video iPod (Dead)

Scary part of all this is that I’m envious of the girls with their Mac Pro’s that I know that sooner or later, I will be making the same leap and dumping my Dell and becoming an all Mac family. I guess, I’ll be making more frequent trips to the “happiest place in the world” (The Apple Store) .
I guess, if you can’t beat them… better to join them!

4 Ways to score iPhone Apps

iPhone Apps

I came across this great article on how to find newly “Free” apps for the iPhone on CNET.

Worth the visit, since new apps are becoming free every day.. and you know my motto: “if it’s free, it’s for me”… 🙂

1. Free App a Day – this site is pretty cool. It tells you in calendar format what the free application is by day.. Very visual… I especially like the APPS hall of fame.
2. Free App Alert – Freebie Alert… paid apps that are now free.. what more can you ask for?
3. Twitter App Alert – You want ur iPhone to flip out with tweets on apps that are now free? This is for you.
4. Bargain Bin and Pandorabox are 2 applications that you MUST have on your iPhone!

Bing vs Google

Do you live on Google the way I do?  Well I found this site which compares the challenger Bing  to Google.  I was really impressed when I saw when I compared a search on iPhone battery  life.. which as my friends know is my latest gripe..

I just read today that Bing usage is growing everymonth.

Take a look at the link on Mashable which talks about the 5 reasons to switch from Google to Bing.

TTYL for now..

iPhone – Applications

Yes G, I finally figured out how to insert pictures into my postings. 🙂

Every day there are new applications that are coming out for the iPhone, I found a few Mashable sites which summarize what’s available in both the free and paid category. I personally have not purchased any paid applications.

While you are at it,  take a look at the 10 free music based applications that are available.

Of course we are all interested in personal finances (or improving our financial bottom line), I found this weblog of 50+ free apps to make you richer. Worth a look.

Since most of us don’t have time to read the newspapers, here are some apps that enable you to read breaking news on your iPhone. I personally use the NY Times and USA Today application on a regular basis.

Hope you enjoy..

iPhone issues

So after another week of taking off and not putting up any posts, here I am again. Over the past few weeks, I hve been preoccupied with doing my taxes (still not done) and trying to fix my wife’s iPhone which had gotten brick’d (unable to restore, so basically DOA).

After much efforts and mucho reading on blog postings, I finally gave up and went to the Apple store to get help. I gotta admit I was impressed with the way the “Genius” support at the determined that my iPhone was indeed DOA and needed to be replaced.  The Apple store is really a fun and happy place.. really impressive. The support staff is very knowledgeable and they seem to be genuine in trying to help you.

Here are some lessons I learned from my iPhone fiasco:

1. If the iPhone says “haredware problems, service is needed”… Service is needed. My mistake was that when I saw it on the phone, I tried to restore the iPhone to 2.2.  (Big Mistake).
2. When you buy a refurbished iPhone, your “Apple Care” warranty does not start on date of purchase. It starts on the purchase date of the ORIGINAL owner.. odd right?
3. There are endless number of sites that provide you with guidance on the funky error codes (mine was Error Code 23 – Unknown error).  The most reliable way to find a resolution to the error code by  Googling the code and look at blogs..
4. If you decide that you will take the risk of  hacking the iPhone using the Pawnage tool, make sure you follow directions.
5. Make sure your iTunes software is up to date. If you cannot restore using iTunes there is a 100% probability that you have brick’d your iPhone.
6. Utilize the restore function in iTunes to do the restore

Overall I can say that the lesson learned here is: the iPhone is a great device when it is utilized in the manner intended… otherwise, BE EXTREMLY careful!

iPhone Blogging

So now I can update using the WordPress Application for My favorite toy — iPhone. Awesome’

mashable – All Web news

I was bored and cruising (yes everyone knows how easily I get distracted/bored) and came across the mashable site.

This site provides an excellent summarized summary of NEW things happening. I could just waste hours and hours of time on the popular category of  Facebook, Firefox, Google and my fav iPhone.

What I liked about the site,  is that you can leave comments on any of the stories that are published here.

I like the clean structure and the a could look at the popular categories. I’ll give you one guess which one I gravitated to. the iPhone area.

What I liked even more of this site is the Jobs section.

• Here you can see job postings (besides your Monster,  and careerbuilder). The interface was clean. I just selected the state I was looking for a job in and voila,  I saw the jobs in a simple list.
• Updated 11/15/18: without doubt the best aggregator site today is Indeed. This site puts together jobs from multiple sites for a one stop job search

Take a look at mashable , I added the daily feed to my Yahoo, of course this site allows you to add subscribe to this site.  I give this site 4+ stars.

One of my next blog entries  is going to be dedicated to how to network in this crummy (yes that’s a technical term) economy and the inside tricks to finding jobs others won’t find.. Stay tuned for that.

iPhone free apps

I was reading PC World business center this morning and I noticed this site that I
wanted to share. While you are here, read the great article on PC World’s favorite  iPhone apps that might be of interest to you. This is a must read, before you proceed.

This site pointed me to  appstoreapps lists the 40 applications that have gone
from paid applications to free applications. Of course as the saying goes, buyer beware. You should read about any application you install on your iPhone.

The Site:
http://www.appstoreapps.com

The site above gives very good descriptives of the applications which are now Free.

Of course everyone knows of this site where it lists the top 50 free
iPhone apps: http://www.appstoreapps.com/top-100-free-app-store-apps/

The link above looks for the installation of  iTunes on your machine..

One heads up that I want to give is that always look at all emails from the iTunes site where it concerns “Free” applications that you have purchased.  I got burnt  last month when I was charged $5.30 for an application that I did not download.

So when you are bundled in during the winter, let the iPhone entertain and stimulate you..

If you have a favorite iPhone site, feel free to respond to this post. TTYL

Howcast – An How to video Site

So if you are like me, you are constantly googling to figure thing out or to figure out how to do things. I found Howcast to be an excellent video site for the how-to junkie.

Now you are probably wondering how did you find Howcast? I found how cast because I was reading time magazines top 50 sites.. Another one of my favorites..

Bonus of the day: Howcast is a free APP for your iPhone via iTunes

Second bonus of the day: A new Apple site which has just launched – “Iphone for you life“.. Guaranteed to be a major time waster for me… 🙂

My next goal is to see the video on how I can publicize this Blog better!

As I always say.. Seek and you shall find.

ASM

Dad’s Taxi and Favorites