User Interface War

[via The Unofficial Apple Weblog]

Flash Flood

Gearlive.com, the website that became famous overnight because someone leaked the newest iPhone firmware 1.1.3 to them, has an even newer iphone scoop:

They are predicting that flash will finally be available on the iphone by the end of February. Presumably when the iphone Developer's Kit (for Independent 3rd party applications) and the inevitable new firmware upgrade are released as advertised by Apple. Gearlive is even going so far as to stake their whole newly minted reputation on the rumor. For whatever that's worth.

This is in particularly good news for a bunch of our friends who do flash animation. Even better for us, we won't feel so guilty about posting youtube videos to this weblog that just show up as broken little lego blocks on the iphone... Stuff like this:

iphone 1.1.3 firmware jailbroken

The Dev Team does it again.

I can finally upgrade and experience all those sweet new features. All 2 of them.

Cone it forward.

Our iphone is jailbroken. That means we have read/write access to the brains of the phone and can install crazy awesome programs onto it, and have a customized dock image.

It also means our phone is languishing away in the now outdated iphone 1.1.2 firmware. When legit users everywhere are enjoying the fresh new features. We could totally upgrade if we wanted and have a perfectly working 1.1.3 phone, but upgrading nullifies our jailbreak. We're waiting a few days before upgrading in case the tireless programmers at the iphone Dev Team crack the new firmware. It's difficult to be patient.

So we can't exploit the new webclip icon feature for the springboard. You can now create a webpage bookmark and the phone plops a cool icon right on your homepage. Apple has mobileSafari set up to look for a specific icon file when iphone users make a webclip of your website.

Our internet buddy, brody from the free cone blog, turned us onto this easy explanation of how to set one up. Since we don't have the new firmware we couldn't test our icon. The free conian was kind enough to show us how it looks.

Interestingly, brody is taking improv classes at the theatre I used to improvise at, Dad's Garage.

Apple is the jerk again.

Well the mystery is over.
Apple announced it's new notebook, the Macbook Air. It's being touted as the "world's thinnest notebook."

Instead of the usual Apple nerd fawning, this computer is actually getting slammed around the internet. And not for bad reasons, either. See, the Macbook Air is the thinnest and one of the lightest laptops out there. In order to get the computer so small, a lot of new hardware had to be produced. These new parts are expensive. Pricing a completely tricked-out Macbook Air with all the bells and whistles (solid state hard drive) bumps the cost well up over 3 grand. While still having a slower processor than the cheapest "original flavor" Macbook.

In addition, the computer has no optical drive. It cannot read CDs or DVDs. Again this was done to save space. This seems to be one of the biggest complaints I've seen. Even though Apple is offering an external CD/DVD drive, it costs extra.

Of course Apple's stock took a dive right after the Keynote. I guess you can't announce an iPhone every year right?

We think Apple was prepared for this backlash. We think Apple is playing the long game with this computer. Sure, it's super expensive right now. But that's just because all this hardware was just been invented. Give this laptop a year, maybe two. It'll only get smaller and only get cheaper.

Apple might have to spend some time licking their wounds. Especially after being the golden boy of 2007. We predict that this computer's popularity will increase. The same people that cried over loosing the 3.5 inch floppy drive will be touting Apple's courage to drop the optical drive when every body else does in two years.

Mystery! Intrigue!

Tomorrow Apple holds it's annual Macworld Conference in San Francisco. Steve Jobs will take the stage to present another of his legendary Keynote Presentations.

This time last year Apple announced the iPhone. At the time the release date was still a few months away, but finally we got to see what it looked like. After years fo rumors and fake mock-ups, the actual phone was better than all of them. It certainly blew us away, we fell in love with the phone the moment we saw it. Even after the $200 price drop, and having to embrace the slimey grossness of AT&T, we can say without a shadow of a doubt that the phone is totally worth it. I still consider it my new best friend.

But the best part about Macworld is the mystery.

Apple is notorious for keeping their new products and upgrades a complete secret before they are announced on stage. Who knows what mysteries lie in wait behind the back of that turtleneck-ed man. It's like second Christmas, except all the presents are unwrapped and sitting behind expensive unbreakable glass.

Every year in the few weeks and days before Macworld the Apple nerds (like me) all speculate on what new discoveries we'll encounter at Macworld. This year is no different.

Speaking of mysteries. We're such big fans of Lost that we automatically considered ourselves fans of the show's creator J.J. Abrams. In anticipation of his new moster movie project, Cloverfield, we planned on being excited. But then we thought about some of his past projects that we've actually not been that impressed with. Like Alias. Which really seems to be more of his baby that Lost is. We've only ever seen one episode of Alias all the way through, and maybe we're missing something, but we didn't go crazy for it. Essentially we talked ourselves out of being Abrams fans.

Then we saw J.J Abrams' presentation for TED...

Now we're huge fans again!

Phone home

It looks like this will be an iPhone-free holiday for yours truly.* see below

That's right. It's as hard for me to believe as it was for me to type. 3 days ago, the vibration function on my phone stopped working. (too... many... jokes...) It was not a quiet death, over the course of a couple days the phone would deliver a sickly death rattle whenever I would receive a call. Until it finally fell silent for good. Everything else on the phone works perfectly.

So it was with much sadness that yesterday I was forced to send my beloved iPhone off to Apple to be repaired. It was like wrapping up my baby and handing it to fedex.

Now I literally feel naked. See, I'm a creature of habit. I have a routine or process for almost everything I do. It's how I deal with my tendency to be a complete Attention Deficited mess. For the same reason I am constantly doing a "pocket check." I keep everything in my front two pockets, and certain things go in certain pockets. So I can touch the front of my pockets and know immediately if I've got all my stuff.

For the past 2 days when I check my left front pocket I have a mini anxiety attack. "Where's my phone!" This happened about 20 times yesterday. It was awesome.

Lets not even get into how I have to keep lists. Lists about unfinished projects, lists about blog post ideas, lists about having to make lists! If I don't block out time in advance, you can guarantee I won't get around to it. Because I might start out fully intending to work on that graphic, but chances are I'll end up in front of the Wii playing Guitar Hero III while holding a toothbrush and eating a sandwich. (?)

** UPDATE 12/22**
Apple received my phone, diagnosed the problem, issued a replacement unit, and shipped a brand new phone out to me... All in the course of ONE DAY. I've already got it in my hand. And people still ask me why I think Apple is so great.

Totally unnecessary iPhone application

Do you have a jailbroken iphone?
Do you want to open this webpage from the comfort of your iPhone's springboard?

Simply install this clunkyrobot application (control-click to download) on your jailbroken iPhone. Tapping the icon on your homescreen will automatically open this weblog in MobileSafari. Sweet.

This simple application was written in part by using this awesome web based app writer called iPhone Apper. If you need more detailed instructions for getting this app onto your jailbroken iphone please don't hesitate to ask for help in the comments.

Woziness.

You can always count on The Woz to tell it to you straight.

Steve "The Woz" Wozniak and Steve "Steve Jobs" Jobs started Apple Computers together in the 70's. Nowadays The Woz likes to collect Segways, cellphones, date D-List Celebrities, and serve as an advisor for many admirable non-profit organizations. He also likes to be the unwitting subject of unauthorized, improvised plays in Atlanta, but that is a story for another time.

Also, here is a mysterious photograph of The Woz, and his doppleganger.
Who is who?!?!

This is an interesting interview with the Woz for Laptop Magazine. In it he talks about the new OS X operating system, and more insterestingly to us, the locking of the iphone by Apple:

Laptop Magazine: So you're in favor of the unlocking and jailbreaking for third-party applications?

"Steve Wozniak: From a business point of view, Apple owns what they have done. They have a right to lock it. But I am really for the unlockers, the rebels trying to make it free. I'd really like it to be open to new applications. I'd like to install some nice games. Why in the world can I not install a ringtone that I've made? How would that hurt AT&T's network? Here is Steve Jobs sending letters to the record companies saying [they] should provide music that's unprotected, but here he is taking the opposite approach with the iPhone. I don't know to what extent AT&T is involved in the thinking and direction."

Snaps Woz.

Did you know that "jailbreaking" (the process of granting yourself root access to your phone files) has become so reliable and stable that the iPhone Dev Team has written a webpage that'll do it all for you!

All you do is navigate to the AppSnapp webpage on your phone, and IT DOES EVERYTHING AUTOMATICALLY. This new way to jailbreak your iphone even fixes the TIFF security exploit, making your phone even safer from being hacked. The Dev Team has also developed a "re-virginizing" program that'll reset SIM unlocked iPhones back to their factory settings. This effectively de-voids your waranty, and gives you a fresh iPhone.

I just don't see how anyone, including our beloved Mr. Jobs, could not see these hacks and mods as anything other than beneficial for the iPhone.

From the brink of infinity

We finally worked up the nerve to modify our iPhone. While the process was nerve wracking and sometimes extremely complicated, we found it to be a rich and rewarding experience.

Apple has made modding the iPhone as hard as possible on purpose. They want to treat the iPhone just like an iPod. That means the brains of the phone are completely "locked down" or "Jailed." But the iPhone is so much more than an iPod. Primarily because it's got a "mobile" version of OS X. The phone is so powerful, it's really a little computer. So of course people are going to want to crack that shit open and get their hands dirty.

Apple has also warned against modding or hacking your phone because they won't help you if you "brick" it. It officially voids your warranty, and you're SOL.

So of course the first day we tried to modify the phone we "bricked" it. Sending the phone into what the internet is calling an "Endless Reboot." I literally almost cried. If you've never seen a 6 foot 4 inch tall man crying over a phone... Let me tell you, it's not pretty. However, thanks again to the instruction of the Dev Team, we were able to "unbrick" the phone. I had to use the Unix Terminal in OS X to get into the brains of the phone and tell it "stop rebooting." (literally an "off" command) Now that I've brought the phone back from the brink of infinity, I feel invincible.

Behold.

Aside from adding programs and graphics, I've also re-arranged my springboard (homepage) so that the programs I use the most are organized from top to bottom, left to right. I've gotten rid of the annoying "stocks" button, and replaced it with a new "contacts" button that goes directly to my address book. I've kept the front page of my springboard as clutter free as possible.

Also, being able to kill and replace the AT&T logo in the top left was what pushed me to modify the phone in the first place. We're not big fans of the company.

This page contains the majority of the 3rd party applications I've downloaded.

The top row is all games, I've been rotating them out to see which ones I like the most. So far, none have totally blown me away. Though the NES emulator is super cool, it is practically unplayable. Since the D-pad and buttons are on the touch screen, you can easily loose track of where your thumbs are because there's no actual button to feel, only a graphical representation. The etcha-sketch program is pretty fun, and it erases sketches when you shake the phone.

Click the images above for a more detailed explanation of the various programs.

Why take this risk you ask? It's the principle of the thing. I own this phone. I should be able to do whatever the hell I want to it. On top of that, many of these 3rd party features "fix" or replace stuff that Apple hasn't gotten around to, or stuff that they simply "got wrong."

User Interface War

[via The Unofficial Apple Weblog]

Flash Flood

Gearlive.com, the website that became famous overnight because someone leaked the newest iPhone firmware 1.1.3 to them, has an even newer iphone scoop:

They are predicting that flash will finally be available on the iphone by the end of February. Presumably when the iphone Developer's Kit (for Independent 3rd party applications) and the inevitable new firmware upgrade are released as advertised by Apple. Gearlive is even going so far as to stake their whole newly minted reputation on the rumor. For whatever that's worth.

This is in particularly good news for a bunch of our friends who do flash animation. Even better for us, we won't feel so guilty about posting youtube videos to this weblog that just show up as broken little lego blocks on the iphone... Stuff like this:

iphone 1.1.3 firmware jailbroken

The Dev Team does it again.

I can finally upgrade and experience all those sweet new features. All 2 of them.

Cone it forward.

Our iphone is jailbroken. That means we have read/write access to the brains of the phone and can install crazy awesome programs onto it, and have a customized dock image.

It also means our phone is languishing away in the now outdated iphone 1.1.2 firmware. When legit users everywhere are enjoying the fresh new features. We could totally upgrade if we wanted and have a perfectly working 1.1.3 phone, but upgrading nullifies our jailbreak. We're waiting a few days before upgrading in case the tireless programmers at the iphone Dev Team crack the new firmware. It's difficult to be patient.

So we can't exploit the new webclip icon feature for the springboard. You can now create a webpage bookmark and the phone plops a cool icon right on your homepage. Apple has mobileSafari set up to look for a specific icon file when iphone users make a webclip of your website.

Our internet buddy, brody from the free cone blog, turned us onto this easy explanation of how to set one up. Since we don't have the new firmware we couldn't test our icon. The free conian was kind enough to show us how it looks.

Interestingly, brody is taking improv classes at the theatre I used to improvise at, Dad's Garage.

Apple is the jerk again.

Well the mystery is over.
Apple announced it's new notebook, the Macbook Air. It's being touted as the "world's thinnest notebook."

Instead of the usual Apple nerd fawning, this computer is actually getting slammed around the internet. And not for bad reasons, either. See, the Macbook Air is the thinnest and one of the lightest laptops out there. In order to get the computer so small, a lot of new hardware had to be produced. These new parts are expensive. Pricing a completely tricked-out Macbook Air with all the bells and whistles (solid state hard drive) bumps the cost well up over 3 grand. While still having a slower processor than the cheapest "original flavor" Macbook.

In addition, the computer has no optical drive. It cannot read CDs or DVDs. Again this was done to save space. This seems to be one of the biggest complaints I've seen. Even though Apple is offering an external CD/DVD drive, it costs extra.

Of course Apple's stock took a dive right after the Keynote. I guess you can't announce an iPhone every year right?

We think Apple was prepared for this backlash. We think Apple is playing the long game with this computer. Sure, it's super expensive right now. But that's just because all this hardware was just been invented. Give this laptop a year, maybe two. It'll only get smaller and only get cheaper.

Apple might have to spend some time licking their wounds. Especially after being the golden boy of 2007. We predict that this computer's popularity will increase. The same people that cried over loosing the 3.5 inch floppy drive will be touting Apple's courage to drop the optical drive when every body else does in two years.

Mystery! Intrigue!

Tomorrow Apple holds it's annual Macworld Conference in San Francisco. Steve Jobs will take the stage to present another of his legendary Keynote Presentations.

This time last year Apple announced the iPhone. At the time the release date was still a few months away, but finally we got to see what it looked like. After years fo rumors and fake mock-ups, the actual phone was better than all of them. It certainly blew us away, we fell in love with the phone the moment we saw it. Even after the $200 price drop, and having to embrace the slimey grossness of AT&T, we can say without a shadow of a doubt that the phone is totally worth it. I still consider it my new best friend.

But the best part about Macworld is the mystery.

Apple is notorious for keeping their new products and upgrades a complete secret before they are announced on stage. Who knows what mysteries lie in wait behind the back of that turtleneck-ed man. It's like second Christmas, except all the presents are unwrapped and sitting behind expensive unbreakable glass.

Every year in the few weeks and days before Macworld the Apple nerds (like me) all speculate on what new discoveries we'll encounter at Macworld. This year is no different.

Speaking of mysteries. We're such big fans of Lost that we automatically considered ourselves fans of the show's creator J.J. Abrams. In anticipation of his new moster movie project, Cloverfield, we planned on being excited. But then we thought about some of his past projects that we've actually not been that impressed with. Like Alias. Which really seems to be more of his baby that Lost is. We've only ever seen one episode of Alias all the way through, and maybe we're missing something, but we didn't go crazy for it. Essentially we talked ourselves out of being Abrams fans.

Then we saw J.J Abrams' presentation for TED...

Now we're huge fans again!

Phone home

It looks like this will be an iPhone-free holiday for yours truly.* see below

That's right. It's as hard for me to believe as it was for me to type. 3 days ago, the vibration function on my phone stopped working. (too... many... jokes...) It was not a quiet death, over the course of a couple days the phone would deliver a sickly death rattle whenever I would receive a call. Until it finally fell silent for good. Everything else on the phone works perfectly.

So it was with much sadness that yesterday I was forced to send my beloved iPhone off to Apple to be repaired. It was like wrapping up my baby and handing it to fedex.

Now I literally feel naked. See, I'm a creature of habit. I have a routine or process for almost everything I do. It's how I deal with my tendency to be a complete Attention Deficited mess. For the same reason I am constantly doing a "pocket check." I keep everything in my front two pockets, and certain things go in certain pockets. So I can touch the front of my pockets and know immediately if I've got all my stuff.

For the past 2 days when I check my left front pocket I have a mini anxiety attack. "Where's my phone!" This happened about 20 times yesterday. It was awesome.

Lets not even get into how I have to keep lists. Lists about unfinished projects, lists about blog post ideas, lists about having to make lists! If I don't block out time in advance, you can guarantee I won't get around to it. Because I might start out fully intending to work on that graphic, but chances are I'll end up in front of the Wii playing Guitar Hero III while holding a toothbrush and eating a sandwich. (?)

** UPDATE 12/22**
Apple received my phone, diagnosed the problem, issued a replacement unit, and shipped a brand new phone out to me... All in the course of ONE DAY. I've already got it in my hand. And people still ask me why I think Apple is so great.

Totally unnecessary iPhone application

Do you have a jailbroken iphone?
Do you want to open this webpage from the comfort of your iPhone's springboard?

Simply install this clunkyrobot application (control-click to download) on your jailbroken iPhone. Tapping the icon on your homescreen will automatically open this weblog in MobileSafari. Sweet.

This simple application was written in part by using this awesome web based app writer called iPhone Apper. If you need more detailed instructions for getting this app onto your jailbroken iphone please don't hesitate to ask for help in the comments.

Woziness.

You can always count on The Woz to tell it to you straight.

Steve "The Woz" Wozniak and Steve "Steve Jobs" Jobs started Apple Computers together in the 70's. Nowadays The Woz likes to collect Segways, cellphones, date D-List Celebrities, and serve as an advisor for many admirable non-profit organizations. He also likes to be the unwitting subject of unauthorized, improvised plays in Atlanta, but that is a story for another time.

Also, here is a mysterious photograph of The Woz, and his doppleganger.
Who is who?!?!

This is an interesting interview with the Woz for Laptop Magazine. In it he talks about the new OS X operating system, and more insterestingly to us, the locking of the iphone by Apple:

Laptop Magazine: So you're in favor of the unlocking and jailbreaking for third-party applications?

"Steve Wozniak: From a business point of view, Apple owns what they have done. They have a right to lock it. But I am really for the unlockers, the rebels trying to make it free. I'd really like it to be open to new applications. I'd like to install some nice games. Why in the world can I not install a ringtone that I've made? How would that hurt AT&T's network? Here is Steve Jobs sending letters to the record companies saying [they] should provide music that's unprotected, but here he is taking the opposite approach with the iPhone. I don't know to what extent AT&T is involved in the thinking and direction."

Snaps Woz.

Did you know that "jailbreaking" (the process of granting yourself root access to your phone files) has become so reliable and stable that the iPhone Dev Team has written a webpage that'll do it all for you!

All you do is navigate to the AppSnapp webpage on your phone, and IT DOES EVERYTHING AUTOMATICALLY. This new way to jailbreak your iphone even fixes the TIFF security exploit, making your phone even safer from being hacked. The Dev Team has also developed a "re-virginizing" program that'll reset SIM unlocked iPhones back to their factory settings. This effectively de-voids your waranty, and gives you a fresh iPhone.

I just don't see how anyone, including our beloved Mr. Jobs, could not see these hacks and mods as anything other than beneficial for the iPhone.

From the brink of infinity

We finally worked up the nerve to modify our iPhone. While the process was nerve wracking and sometimes extremely complicated, we found it to be a rich and rewarding experience.

Apple has made modding the iPhone as hard as possible on purpose. They want to treat the iPhone just like an iPod. That means the brains of the phone are completely "locked down" or "Jailed." But the iPhone is so much more than an iPod. Primarily because it's got a "mobile" version of OS X. The phone is so powerful, it's really a little computer. So of course people are going to want to crack that shit open and get their hands dirty.

Apple has also warned against modding or hacking your phone because they won't help you if you "brick" it. It officially voids your warranty, and you're SOL.

So of course the first day we tried to modify the phone we "bricked" it. Sending the phone into what the internet is calling an "Endless Reboot." I literally almost cried. If you've never seen a 6 foot 4 inch tall man crying over a phone... Let me tell you, it's not pretty. However, thanks again to the instruction of the Dev Team, we were able to "unbrick" the phone. I had to use the Unix Terminal in OS X to get into the brains of the phone and tell it "stop rebooting." (literally an "off" command) Now that I've brought the phone back from the brink of infinity, I feel invincible.

Behold.

Aside from adding programs and graphics, I've also re-arranged my springboard (homepage) so that the programs I use the most are organized from top to bottom, left to right. I've gotten rid of the annoying "stocks" button, and replaced it with a new "contacts" button that goes directly to my address book. I've kept the front page of my springboard as clutter free as possible.

Also, being able to kill and replace the AT&T logo in the top left was what pushed me to modify the phone in the first place. We're not big fans of the company.

This page contains the majority of the 3rd party applications I've downloaded.

The top row is all games, I've been rotating them out to see which ones I like the most. So far, none have totally blown me away. Though the NES emulator is super cool, it is practically unplayable. Since the D-pad and buttons are on the touch screen, you can easily loose track of where your thumbs are because there's no actual button to feel, only a graphical representation. The etcha-sketch program is pretty fun, and it erases sketches when you shake the phone.

Click the images above for a more detailed explanation of the various programs.

Why take this risk you ask? It's the principle of the thing. I own this phone. I should be able to do whatever the hell I want to it. On top of that, many of these 3rd party features "fix" or replace stuff that Apple hasn't gotten around to, or stuff that they simply "got wrong."

User Interface War

[via The Unofficial Apple Weblog]

Flash Flood

Gearlive.com, the website that became famous overnight because someone leaked the newest iPhone firmware 1.1.3 to them, has an even newer iphone scoop:

They are predicting that flash will finally be available on the iphone by the end of February. Presumably when the iphone Developer's Kit (for Independent 3rd party applications) and the inevitable new firmware upgrade are released as advertised by Apple. Gearlive is even going so far as to stake their whole newly minted reputation on the rumor. For whatever that's worth.

This is in particularly good news for a bunch of our friends who do flash animation. Even better for us, we won't feel so guilty about posting youtube videos to this weblog that just show up as broken little lego blocks on the iphone... Stuff like this:

iphone 1.1.3 firmware jailbroken

The Dev Team does it again.

I can finally upgrade and experience all those sweet new features. All 2 of them.

Cone it forward.

Our iphone is jailbroken. That means we have read/write access to the brains of the phone and can install crazy awesome programs onto it, and have a customized dock image.

It also means our phone is languishing away in the now outdated iphone 1.1.2 firmware. When legit users everywhere are enjoying the fresh new features. We could totally upgrade if we wanted and have a perfectly working 1.1.3 phone, but upgrading nullifies our jailbreak. We're waiting a few days before upgrading in case the tireless programmers at the iphone Dev Team crack the new firmware. It's difficult to be patient.

So we can't exploit the new webclip icon feature for the springboard. You can now create a webpage bookmark and the phone plops a cool icon right on your homepage. Apple has mobileSafari set up to look for a specific icon file when iphone users make a webclip of your website.

Our internet buddy, brody from the free cone blog, turned us onto this easy explanation of how to set one up. Since we don't have the new firmware we couldn't test our icon. The free conian was kind enough to show us how it looks.

Interestingly, brody is taking improv classes at the theatre I used to improvise at, Dad's Garage.

Apple is the jerk again.

Well the mystery is over.
Apple announced it's new notebook, the Macbook Air. It's being touted as the "world's thinnest notebook."

Instead of the usual Apple nerd fawning, this computer is actually getting slammed around the internet. And not for bad reasons, either. See, the Macbook Air is the thinnest and one of the lightest laptops out there. In order to get the computer so small, a lot of new hardware had to be produced. These new parts are expensive. Pricing a completely tricked-out Macbook Air with all the bells and whistles (solid state hard drive) bumps the cost well up over 3 grand. While still having a slower processor than the cheapest "original flavor" Macbook.

In addition, the computer has no optical drive. It cannot read CDs or DVDs. Again this was done to save space. This seems to be one of the biggest complaints I've seen. Even though Apple is offering an external CD/DVD drive, it costs extra.

Of course Apple's stock took a dive right after the Keynote. I guess you can't announce an iPhone every year right?

We think Apple was prepared for this backlash. We think Apple is playing the long game with this computer. Sure, it's super expensive right now. But that's just because all this hardware was just been invented. Give this laptop a year, maybe two. It'll only get smaller and only get cheaper.

Apple might have to spend some time licking their wounds. Especially after being the golden boy of 2007. We predict that this computer's popularity will increase. The same people that cried over loosing the 3.5 inch floppy drive will be touting Apple's courage to drop the optical drive when every body else does in two years.

Mystery! Intrigue!

Tomorrow Apple holds it's annual Macworld Conference in San Francisco. Steve Jobs will take the stage to present another of his legendary Keynote Presentations.

This time last year Apple announced the iPhone. At the time the release date was still a few months away, but finally we got to see what it looked like. After years fo rumors and fake mock-ups, the actual phone was better than all of them. It certainly blew us away, we fell in love with the phone the moment we saw it. Even after the $200 price drop, and having to embrace the slimey grossness of AT&T, we can say without a shadow of a doubt that the phone is totally worth it. I still consider it my new best friend.

But the best part about Macworld is the mystery.

Apple is notorious for keeping their new products and upgrades a complete secret before they are announced on stage. Who knows what mysteries lie in wait behind the back of that turtleneck-ed man. It's like second Christmas, except all the presents are unwrapped and sitting behind expensive unbreakable glass.

Every year in the few weeks and days before Macworld the Apple nerds (like me) all speculate on what new discoveries we'll encounter at Macworld. This year is no different.

Speaking of mysteries. We're such big fans of Lost that we automatically considered ourselves fans of the show's creator J.J. Abrams. In anticipation of his new moster movie project, Cloverfield, we planned on being excited. But then we thought about some of his past projects that we've actually not been that impressed with. Like Alias. Which really seems to be more of his baby that Lost is. We've only ever seen one episode of Alias all the way through, and maybe we're missing something, but we didn't go crazy for it. Essentially we talked ourselves out of being Abrams fans.

Then we saw J.J Abrams' presentation for TED...

Now we're huge fans again!

Phone home

It looks like this will be an iPhone-free holiday for yours truly.* see below

That's right. It's as hard for me to believe as it was for me to type. 3 days ago, the vibration function on my phone stopped working. (too... many... jokes...) It was not a quiet death, over the course of a couple days the phone would deliver a sickly death rattle whenever I would receive a call. Until it finally fell silent for good. Everything else on the phone works perfectly.

So it was with much sadness that yesterday I was forced to send my beloved iPhone off to Apple to be repaired. It was like wrapping up my baby and handing it to fedex.

Now I literally feel naked. See, I'm a creature of habit. I have a routine or process for almost everything I do. It's how I deal with my tendency to be a complete Attention Deficited mess. For the same reason I am constantly doing a "pocket check." I keep everything in my front two pockets, and certain things go in certain pockets. So I can touch the front of my pockets and know immediately if I've got all my stuff.

For the past 2 days when I check my left front pocket I have a mini anxiety attack. "Where's my phone!" This happened about 20 times yesterday. It was awesome.

Lets not even get into how I have to keep lists. Lists about unfinished projects, lists about blog post ideas, lists about having to make lists! If I don't block out time in advance, you can guarantee I won't get around to it. Because I might start out fully intending to work on that graphic, but chances are I'll end up in front of the Wii playing Guitar Hero III while holding a toothbrush and eating a sandwich. (?)

** UPDATE 12/22**
Apple received my phone, diagnosed the problem, issued a replacement unit, and shipped a brand new phone out to me... All in the course of ONE DAY. I've already got it in my hand. And people still ask me why I think Apple is so great.

Totally unnecessary iPhone application

Do you have a jailbroken iphone?
Do you want to open this webpage from the comfort of your iPhone's springboard?

Simply install this clunkyrobot application (control-click to download) on your jailbroken iPhone. Tapping the icon on your homescreen will automatically open this weblog in MobileSafari. Sweet.

This simple application was written in part by using this awesome web based app writer called iPhone Apper. If you need more detailed instructions for getting this app onto your jailbroken iphone please don't hesitate to ask for help in the comments.

Woziness.

You can always count on The Woz to tell it to you straight.

Steve "The Woz" Wozniak and Steve "Steve Jobs" Jobs started Apple Computers together in the 70's. Nowadays The Woz likes to collect Segways, cellphones, date D-List Celebrities, and serve as an advisor for many admirable non-profit organizations. He also likes to be the unwitting subject of unauthorized, improvised plays in Atlanta, but that is a story for another time.

Also, here is a mysterious photograph of The Woz, and his doppleganger.
Who is who?!?!

This is an interesting interview with the Woz for Laptop Magazine. In it he talks about the new OS X operating system, and more insterestingly to us, the locking of the iphone by Apple:

Laptop Magazine: So you're in favor of the unlocking and jailbreaking for third-party applications?

"Steve Wozniak: From a business point of view, Apple owns what they have done. They have a right to lock it. But I am really for the unlockers, the rebels trying to make it free. I'd really like it to be open to new applications. I'd like to install some nice games. Why in the world can I not install a ringtone that I've made? How would that hurt AT&T's network? Here is Steve Jobs sending letters to the record companies saying [they] should provide music that's unprotected, but here he is taking the opposite approach with the iPhone. I don't know to what extent AT&T is involved in the thinking and direction."

Snaps Woz.

Did you know that "jailbreaking" (the process of granting yourself root access to your phone files) has become so reliable and stable that the iPhone Dev Team has written a webpage that'll do it all for you!

All you do is navigate to the AppSnapp webpage on your phone, and IT DOES EVERYTHING AUTOMATICALLY. This new way to jailbreak your iphone even fixes the TIFF security exploit, making your phone even safer from being hacked. The Dev Team has also developed a "re-virginizing" program that'll reset SIM unlocked iPhones back to their factory settings. This effectively de-voids your waranty, and gives you a fresh iPhone.

I just don't see how anyone, including our beloved Mr. Jobs, could not see these hacks and mods as anything other than beneficial for the iPhone.

From the brink of infinity

We finally worked up the nerve to modify our iPhone. While the process was nerve wracking and sometimes extremely complicated, we found it to be a rich and rewarding experience.

Apple has made modding the iPhone as hard as possible on purpose. They want to treat the iPhone just like an iPod. That means the brains of the phone are completely "locked down" or "Jailed." But the iPhone is so much more than an iPod. Primarily because it's got a "mobile" version of OS X. The phone is so powerful, it's really a little computer. So of course people are going to want to crack that shit open and get their hands dirty.

Apple has also warned against modding or hacking your phone because they won't help you if you "brick" it. It officially voids your warranty, and you're SOL.

So of course the first day we tried to modify the phone we "bricked" it. Sending the phone into what the internet is calling an "Endless Reboot." I literally almost cried. If you've never seen a 6 foot 4 inch tall man crying over a phone... Let me tell you, it's not pretty. However, thanks again to the instruction of the Dev Team, we were able to "unbrick" the phone. I had to use the Unix Terminal in OS X to get into the brains of the phone and tell it "stop rebooting." (literally an "off" command) Now that I've brought the phone back from the brink of infinity, I feel invincible.

Behold.

Aside from adding programs and graphics, I've also re-arranged my springboard (homepage) so that the programs I use the most are organized from top to bottom, left to right. I've gotten rid of the annoying "stocks" button, and replaced it with a new "contacts" button that goes directly to my address book. I've kept the front page of my springboard as clutter free as possible.

Also, being able to kill and replace the AT&T logo in the top left was what pushed me to modify the phone in the first place. We're not big fans of the company.

This page contains the majority of the 3rd party applications I've downloaded.

The top row is all games, I've been rotating them out to see which ones I like the most. So far, none have totally blown me away. Though the NES emulator is super cool, it is practically unplayable. Since the D-pad and buttons are on the touch screen, you can easily loose track of where your thumbs are because there's no actual button to feel, only a graphical representation. The etcha-sketch program is pretty fun, and it erases sketches when you shake the phone.

Click the images above for a more detailed explanation of the various programs.

Why take this risk you ask? It's the principle of the thing. I own this phone. I should be able to do whatever the hell I want to it. On top of that, many of these 3rd party features "fix" or replace stuff that Apple hasn't gotten around to, or stuff that they simply "got wrong."

User Interface War

[via The Unofficial Apple Weblog]

Flash Flood

Gearlive.com, the website that became famous overnight because someone leaked the newest iPhone firmware 1.1.3 to them, has an even newer iphone scoop:

They are predicting that flash will finally be available on the iphone by the end of February. Presumably when the iphone Developer's Kit (for Independent 3rd party applications) and the inevitable new firmware upgrade are released as advertised by Apple. Gearlive is even going so far as to stake their whole newly minted reputation on the rumor. For whatever that's worth.

This is in particularly good news for a bunch of our friends who do flash animation. Even better for us, we won't feel so guilty about posting youtube videos to this weblog that just show up as broken little lego blocks on the iphone... Stuff like this:

iphone 1.1.3 firmware jailbroken

The Dev Team does it again.

I can finally upgrade and experience all those sweet new features. All 2 of them.

Cone it forward.

Our iphone is jailbroken. That means we have read/write access to the brains of the phone and can install crazy awesome programs onto it, and have a customized dock image.

It also means our phone is languishing away in the now outdated iphone 1.1.2 firmware. When legit users everywhere are enjoying the fresh new features. We could totally upgrade if we wanted and have a perfectly working 1.1.3 phone, but upgrading nullifies our jailbreak. We're waiting a few days before upgrading in case the tireless programmers at the iphone Dev Team crack the new firmware. It's difficult to be patient.

So we can't exploit the new webclip icon feature for the springboard. You can now create a webpage bookmark and the phone plops a cool icon right on your homepage. Apple has mobileSafari set up to look for a specific icon file when iphone users make a webclip of your website.

Our internet buddy, brody from the free cone blog, turned us onto this easy explanation of how to set one up. Since we don't have the new firmware we couldn't test our icon. The free conian was kind enough to show us how it looks.

Interestingly, brody is taking improv classes at the theatre I used to improvise at, Dad's Garage.

Apple is the jerk again.

Well the mystery is over.
Apple announced it's new notebook, the Macbook Air. It's being touted as the "world's thinnest notebook."

Instead of the usual Apple nerd fawning, this computer is actually getting slammed around the internet. And not for bad reasons, either. See, the Macbook Air is the thinnest and one of the lightest laptops out there. In order to get the computer so small, a lot of new hardware had to be produced. These new parts are expensive. Pricing a completely tricked-out Macbook Air with all the bells and whistles (solid state hard drive) bumps the cost well up over 3 grand. While still having a slower processor than the cheapest "original flavor" Macbook.

In addition, the computer has no optical drive. It cannot read CDs or DVDs. Again this was done to save space. This seems to be one of the biggest complaints I've seen. Even though Apple is offering an external CD/DVD drive, it costs extra.

Of course Apple's stock took a dive right after the Keynote. I guess you can't announce an iPhone every year right?

We think Apple was prepared for this backlash. We think Apple is playing the long game with this computer. Sure, it's super expensive right now. But that's just because all this hardware was just been invented. Give this laptop a year, maybe two. It'll only get smaller and only get cheaper.

Apple might have to spend some time licking their wounds. Especially after being the golden boy of 2007. We predict that this computer's popularity will increase. The same people that cried over loosing the 3.5 inch floppy drive will be touting Apple's courage to drop the optical drive when every body else does in two years.

Mystery! Intrigue!

Tomorrow Apple holds it's annual Macworld Conference in San Francisco. Steve Jobs will take the stage to present another of his legendary Keynote Presentations.

This time last year Apple announced the iPhone. At the time the release date was still a few months away, but finally we got to see what it looked like. After years fo rumors and fake mock-ups, the actual phone was better than all of them. It certainly blew us away, we fell in love with the phone the moment we saw it. Even after the $200 price drop, and having to embrace the slimey grossness of AT&T, we can say without a shadow of a doubt that the phone is totally worth it. I still consider it my new best friend.

But the best part about Macworld is the mystery.

Apple is notorious for keeping their new products and upgrades a complete secret before they are announced on stage. Who knows what mysteries lie in wait behind the back of that turtleneck-ed man. It's like second Christmas, except all the presents are unwrapped and sitting behind expensive unbreakable glass.

Every year in the few weeks and days before Macworld the Apple nerds (like me) all speculate on what new discoveries we'll encounter at Macworld. This year is no different.

Speaking of mysteries. We're such big fans of Lost that we automatically considered ourselves fans of the show's creator J.J. Abrams. In anticipation of his new moster movie project, Cloverfield, we planned on being excited. But then we thought about some of his past projects that we've actually not been that impressed with. Like Alias. Which really seems to be more of his baby that Lost is. We've only ever seen one episode of Alias all the way through, and maybe we're missing something, but we didn't go crazy for it. Essentially we talked ourselves out of being Abrams fans.

Then we saw J.J Abrams' presentation for TED...

Now we're huge fans again!

Phone home

It looks like this will be an iPhone-free holiday for yours truly.* see below

That's right. It's as hard for me to believe as it was for me to type. 3 days ago, the vibration function on my phone stopped working. (too... many... jokes...) It was not a quiet death, over the course of a couple days the phone would deliver a sickly death rattle whenever I would receive a call. Until it finally fell silent for good. Everything else on the phone works perfectly.

So it was with much sadness that yesterday I was forced to send my beloved iPhone off to Apple to be repaired. It was like wrapping up my baby and handing it to fedex.

Now I literally feel naked. See, I'm a creature of habit. I have a routine or process for almost everything I do. It's how I deal with my tendency to be a complete Attention Deficited mess. For the same reason I am constantly doing a "pocket check." I keep everything in my front two pockets, and certain things go in certain pockets. So I can touch the front of my pockets and know immediately if I've got all my stuff.

For the past 2 days when I check my left front pocket I have a mini anxiety attack. "Where's my phone!" This happened about 20 times yesterday. It was awesome.

Lets not even get into how I have to keep lists. Lists about unfinished projects, lists about blog post ideas, lists about having to make lists! If I don't block out time in advance, you can guarantee I won't get around to it. Because I might start out fully intending to work on that graphic, but chances are I'll end up in front of the Wii playing Guitar Hero III while holding a toothbrush and eating a sandwich. (?)

** UPDATE 12/22**
Apple received my phone, diagnosed the problem, issued a replacement unit, and shipped a brand new phone out to me... All in the course of ONE DAY. I've already got it in my hand. And people still ask me why I think Apple is so great.

Totally unnecessary iPhone application

Do you have a jailbroken iphone?
Do you want to open this webpage from the comfort of your iPhone's springboard?

Simply install this clunkyrobot application (control-click to download) on your jailbroken iPhone. Tapping the icon on your homescreen will automatically open this weblog in MobileSafari. Sweet.

This simple application was written in part by using this awesome web based app writer called iPhone Apper. If you need more detailed instructions for getting this app onto your jailbroken iphone please don't hesitate to ask for help in the comments.

Woziness.

You can always count on The Woz to tell it to you straight.

Steve "The Woz" Wozniak and Steve "Steve Jobs" Jobs started Apple Computers together in the 70's. Nowadays The Woz likes to collect Segways, cellphones, date D-List Celebrities, and serve as an advisor for many admirable non-profit organizations. He also likes to be the unwitting subject of unauthorized, improvised plays in Atlanta, but that is a story for another time.

Also, here is a mysterious photograph of The Woz, and his doppleganger.
Who is who?!?!

This is an interesting interview with the Woz for Laptop Magazine. In it he talks about the new OS X operating system, and more insterestingly to us, the locking of the iphone by Apple:

Laptop Magazine: So you're in favor of the unlocking and jailbreaking for third-party applications?

"Steve Wozniak: From a business point of view, Apple owns what they have done. They have a right to lock it. But I am really for the unlockers, the rebels trying to make it free. I'd really like it to be open to new applications. I'd like to install some nice games. Why in the world can I not install a ringtone that I've made? How would that hurt AT&T's network? Here is Steve Jobs sending letters to the record companies saying [they] should provide music that's unprotected, but here he is taking the opposite approach with the iPhone. I don't know to what extent AT&T is involved in the thinking and direction."

Snaps Woz.

Did you know that "jailbreaking" (the process of granting yourself root access to your phone files) has become so reliable and stable that the iPhone Dev Team has written a webpage that'll do it all for you!

All you do is navigate to the AppSnapp webpage on your phone, and IT DOES EVERYTHING AUTOMATICALLY. This new way to jailbreak your iphone even fixes the TIFF security exploit, making your phone even safer from being hacked. The Dev Team has also developed a "re-virginizing" program that'll reset SIM unlocked iPhones back to their factory settings. This effectively de-voids your waranty, and gives you a fresh iPhone.

I just don't see how anyone, including our beloved Mr. Jobs, could not see these hacks and mods as anything other than beneficial for the iPhone.

From the brink of infinity

We finally worked up the nerve to modify our iPhone. While the process was nerve wracking and sometimes extremely complicated, we found it to be a rich and rewarding experience.

Apple has made modding the iPhone as hard as possible on purpose. They want to treat the iPhone just like an iPod. That means the brains of the phone are completely "locked down" or "Jailed." But the iPhone is so much more than an iPod. Primarily because it's got a "mobile" version of OS X. The phone is so powerful, it's really a little computer. So of course people are going to want to crack that shit open and get their hands dirty.

Apple has also warned against modding or hacking your phone because they won't help you if you "brick" it. It officially voids your warranty, and you're SOL.

So of course the first day we tried to modify the phone we "bricked" it. Sending the phone into what the internet is calling an "Endless Reboot." I literally almost cried. If you've never seen a 6 foot 4 inch tall man crying over a phone... Let me tell you, it's not pretty. However, thanks again to the instruction of the Dev Team, we were able to "unbrick" the phone. I had to use the Unix Terminal in OS X to get into the brains of the phone and tell it "stop rebooting." (literally an "off" command) Now that I've brought the phone back from the brink of infinity, I feel invincible.

Behold.

Aside from adding programs and graphics, I've also re-arranged my springboard (homepage) so that the programs I use the most are organized from top to bottom, left to right. I've gotten rid of the annoying "stocks" button, and replaced it with a new "contacts" button that goes directly to my address book. I've kept the front page of my springboard as clutter free as possible.

Also, being able to kill and replace the AT&T logo in the top left was what pushed me to modify the phone in the first place. We're not big fans of the company.

This page contains the majority of the 3rd party applications I've downloaded.

The top row is all games, I've been rotating them out to see which ones I like the most. So far, none have totally blown me away. Though the NES emulator is super cool, it is practically unplayable. Since the D-pad and buttons are on the touch screen, you can easily loose track of where your thumbs are because there's no actual button to feel, only a graphical representation. The etcha-sketch program is pretty fun, and it erases sketches when you shake the phone.

Click the images above for a more detailed explanation of the various programs.

Why take this risk you ask? It's the principle of the thing. I own this phone. I should be able to do whatever the hell I want to it. On top of that, many of these 3rd party features "fix" or replace stuff that Apple hasn't gotten around to, or stuff that they simply "got wrong."

User Interface War

[via The Unofficial Apple Weblog]

Flash Flood

Gearlive.com, the website that became famous overnight because someone leaked the newest iPhone firmware 1.1.3 to them, has an even newer iphone scoop:

They are predicting that flash will finally be available on the iphone by the end of February. Presumably when the iphone Developer's Kit (for Independent 3rd party applications) and the inevitable new firmware upgrade are released as advertised by Apple. Gearlive is even going so far as to stake their whole newly minted reputation on the rumor. For whatever that's worth.

This is in particularly good news for a bunch of our friends who do flash animation. Even better for us, we won't feel so guilty about posting youtube videos to this weblog that just show up as broken little lego blocks on the iphone... Stuff like this:

iphone 1.1.3 firmware jailbroken

The Dev Team does it again.

I can finally upgrade and experience all those sweet new features. All 2 of them.

Cone it forward.

Our iphone is jailbroken. That means we have read/write access to the brains of the phone and can install crazy awesome programs onto it, and have a customized dock image.

It also means our phone is languishing away in the now outdated iphone 1.1.2 firmware. When legit users everywhere are enjoying the fresh new features. We could totally upgrade if we wanted and have a perfectly working 1.1.3 phone, but upgrading nullifies our jailbreak. We're waiting a few days before upgrading in case the tireless programmers at the iphone Dev Team crack the new firmware. It's difficult to be patient.

So we can't exploit the new webclip icon feature for the springboard. You can now create a webpage bookmark and the phone plops a cool icon right on your homepage. Apple has mobileSafari set up to look for a specific icon file when iphone users make a webclip of your website.

Our internet buddy, brody from the free cone blog, turned us onto this easy explanation of how to set one up. Since we don't have the new firmware we couldn't test our icon. The free conian was kind enough to show us how it looks.

Interestingly, brody is taking improv classes at the theatre I used to improvise at, Dad's Garage.

Apple is the jerk again.

Well the mystery is over.
Apple announced it's new notebook, the Macbook Air. It's being touted as the "world's thinnest notebook."

Instead of the usual Apple nerd fawning, this computer is actually getting slammed around the internet. And not for bad reasons, either. See, the Macbook Air is the thinnest and one of the lightest laptops out there. In order to get the computer so small, a lot of new hardware had to be produced. These new parts are expensive. Pricing a completely tricked-out Macbook Air with all the bells and whistles (solid state hard drive) bumps the cost well up over 3 grand. While still having a slower processor than the cheapest "original flavor" Macbook.

In addition, the computer has no optical drive. It cannot read CDs or DVDs. Again this was done to save space. This seems to be one of the biggest complaints I've seen. Even though Apple is offering an external CD/DVD drive, it costs extra.

Of course Apple's stock took a dive right after the Keynote. I guess you can't announce an iPhone every year right?

We think Apple was prepared for this backlash. We think Apple is playing the long game with this computer. Sure, it's super expensive right now. But that's just because all this hardware was just been invented. Give this laptop a year, maybe two. It'll only get smaller and only get cheaper.

Apple might have to spend some time licking their wounds. Especially after being the golden boy of 2007. We predict that this computer's popularity will increase. The same people that cried over loosing the 3.5 inch floppy drive will be touting Apple's courage to drop the optical drive when every body else does in two years.

Mystery! Intrigue!

Tomorrow Apple holds it's annual Macworld Conference in San Francisco. Steve Jobs will take the stage to present another of his legendary Keynote Presentations.

This time last year Apple announced the iPhone. At the time the release date was still a few months away, but finally we got to see what it looked like. After years fo rumors and fake mock-ups, the actual phone was better than all of them. It certainly blew us away, we fell in love with the phone the moment we saw it. Even after the $200 price drop, and having to embrace the slimey grossness of AT&T, we can say without a shadow of a doubt that the phone is totally worth it. I still consider it my new best friend.

But the best part about Macworld is the mystery.

Apple is notorious for keeping their new products and upgrades a complete secret before they are announced on stage. Who knows what mysteries lie in wait behind the back of that turtleneck-ed man. It's like second Christmas, except all the presents are unwrapped and sitting behind expensive unbreakable glass.

Every year in the few weeks and days before Macworld the Apple nerds (like me) all speculate on what new discoveries we'll encounter at Macworld. This year is no different.

Speaking of mysteries. We're such big fans of Lost that we automatically considered ourselves fans of the show's creator J.J. Abrams. In anticipation of his new moster movie project, Cloverfield, we planned on being excited. But then we thought about some of his past projects that we've actually not been that impressed with. Like Alias. Which really seems to be more of his baby that Lost is. We've only ever seen one episode of Alias all the way through, and maybe we're missing something, but we didn't go crazy for it. Essentially we talked ourselves out of being Abrams fans.

Then we saw J.J Abrams' presentation for TED...

Now we're huge fans again!

Phone home

It looks like this will be an iPhone-free holiday for yours truly.* see below

That's right. It's as hard for me to believe as it was for me to type. 3 days ago, the vibration function on my phone stopped working. (too... many... jokes...) It was not a quiet death, over the course of a couple days the phone would deliver a sickly death rattle whenever I would receive a call. Until it finally fell silent for good. Everything else on the phone works perfectly.

So it was with much sadness that yesterday I was forced to send my beloved iPhone off to Apple to be repaired. It was like wrapping up my baby and handing it to fedex.

Now I literally feel naked. See, I'm a creature of habit. I have a routine or process for almost everything I do. It's how I deal with my tendency to be a complete Attention Deficited mess. For the same reason I am constantly doing a "pocket check." I keep everything in my front two pockets, and certain things go in certain pockets. So I can touch the front of my pockets and know immediately if I've got all my stuff.

For the past 2 days when I check my left front pocket I have a mini anxiety attack. "Where's my phone!" This happened about 20 times yesterday. It was awesome.

Lets not even get into how I have to keep lists. Lists about unfinished projects, lists about blog post ideas, lists about having to make lists! If I don't block out time in advance, you can guarantee I won't get around to it. Because I might start out fully intending to work on that graphic, but chances are I'll end up in front of the Wii playing Guitar Hero III while holding a toothbrush and eating a sandwich. (?)

** UPDATE 12/22**
Apple received my phone, diagnosed the problem, issued a replacement unit, and shipped a brand new phone out to me... All in the course of ONE DAY. I've already got it in my hand. And people still ask me why I think Apple is so great.

Totally unnecessary iPhone application

Do you have a jailbroken iphone?
Do you want to open this webpage from the comfort of your iPhone's springboard?

Simply install this clunkyrobot application (control-click to download) on your jailbroken iPhone. Tapping the icon on your homescreen will automatically open this weblog in MobileSafari. Sweet.

This simple application was written in part by using this awesome web based app writer called iPhone Apper. If you need more detailed instructions for getting this app onto your jailbroken iphone please don't hesitate to ask for help in the comments.

Woziness.

You can always count on The Woz to tell it to you straight.

Steve "The Woz" Wozniak and Steve "Steve Jobs" Jobs started Apple Computers together in the 70's. Nowadays The Woz likes to collect Segways, cellphones, date D-List Celebrities, and serve as an advisor for many admirable non-profit organizations. He also likes to be the unwitting subject of unauthorized, improvised plays in Atlanta, but that is a story for another time.

Also, here is a mysterious photograph of The Woz, and his doppleganger.
Who is who?!?!

This is an interesting interview with the Woz for Laptop Magazine. In it he talks about the new OS X operating system, and more insterestingly to us, the locking of the iphone by Apple:

Laptop Magazine: So you're in favor of the unlocking and jailbreaking for third-party applications?

"Steve Wozniak: From a business point of view, Apple owns what they have done. They have a right to lock it. But I am really for the unlockers, the rebels trying to make it free. I'd really like it to be open to new applications. I'd like to install some nice games. Why in the world can I not install a ringtone that I've made? How would that hurt AT&T's network? Here is Steve Jobs sending letters to the record companies saying [they] should provide music that's unprotected, but here he is taking the opposite approach with the iPhone. I don't know to what extent AT&T is involved in the thinking and direction."

Snaps Woz.

Did you know that "jailbreaking" (the process of granting yourself root access to your phone files) has become so reliable and stable that the iPhone Dev Team has written a webpage that'll do it all for you!

All you do is navigate to the AppSnapp webpage on your phone, and IT DOES EVERYTHING AUTOMATICALLY. This new way to jailbreak your iphone even fixes the TIFF security exploit, making your phone even safer from being hacked. The Dev Team has also developed a "re-virginizing" program that'll reset SIM unlocked iPhones back to their factory settings. This effectively de-voids your waranty, and gives you a fresh iPhone.

I just don't see how anyone, including our beloved Mr. Jobs, could not see these hacks and mods as anything other than beneficial for the iPhone.

From the brink of infinity

We finally worked up the nerve to modify our iPhone. While the process was nerve wracking and sometimes extremely complicated, we found it to be a rich and rewarding experience.

Apple has made modding the iPhone as hard as possible on purpose. They want to treat the iPhone just like an iPod. That means the brains of the phone are completely "locked down" or "Jailed." But the iPhone is so much more than an iPod. Primarily because it's got a "mobile" version of OS X. The phone is so powerful, it's really a little computer. So of course people are going to want to crack that shit open and get their hands dirty.

Apple has also warned against modding or hacking your phone because they won't help you if you "brick" it. It officially voids your warranty, and you're SOL.

So of course the first day we tried to modify the phone we "bricked" it. Sending the phone into what the internet is calling an "Endless Reboot." I literally almost cried. If you've never seen a 6 foot 4 inch tall man crying over a phone... Let me tell you, it's not pretty. However, thanks again to the instruction of the Dev Team, we were able to "unbrick" the phone. I had to use the Unix Terminal in OS X to get into the brains of the phone and tell it "stop rebooting." (literally an "off" command) Now that I've brought the phone back from the brink of infinity, I feel invincible.

Behold.

Aside from adding programs and graphics, I've also re-arranged my springboard (homepage) so that the programs I use the most are organized from top to bottom, left to right. I've gotten rid of the annoying "stocks" button, and replaced it with a new "contacts" button that goes directly to my address book. I've kept the front page of my springboard as clutter free as possible.

Also, being able to kill and replace the AT&T logo in the top left was what pushed me to modify the phone in the first place. We're not big fans of the company.

This page contains the majority of the 3rd party applications I've downloaded.

The top row is all games, I've been rotating them out to see which ones I like the most. So far, none have totally blown me away. Though the NES emulator is super cool, it is practically unplayable. Since the D-pad and buttons are on the touch screen, you can easily loose track of where your thumbs are because there's no actual button to feel, only a graphical representation. The etcha-sketch program is pretty fun, and it erases sketches when you shake the phone.

Click the images above for a more detailed explanation of the various programs.

Why take this risk you ask? It's the principle of the thing. I own this phone. I should be able to do whatever the hell I want to it. On top of that, many of these 3rd party features "fix" or replace stuff that Apple hasn't gotten around to, or stuff that they simply "got wrong."

User Interface War

[via The Unofficial Apple Weblog]

Flash Flood

Gearlive.com, the website that became famous overnight because someone leaked the newest iPhone firmware 1.1.3 to them, has an even newer iphone scoop:

They are predicting that flash will finally be available on the iphone by the end of February. Presumably when the iphone Developer's Kit (for Independent 3rd party applications) and the inevitable new firmware upgrade are released as advertised by Apple. Gearlive is even going so far as to stake their whole newly minted reputation on the rumor. For whatever that's worth.

This is in particularly good news for a bunch of our friends who do flash animation. Even better for us, we won't feel so guilty about posting youtube videos to this weblog that just show up as broken little lego blocks on the iphone... Stuff like this:

iphone 1.1.3 firmware jailbroken

The Dev Team does it again.

I can finally upgrade and experience all those sweet new features. All 2 of them.

Cone it forward.

Our iphone is jailbroken. That means we have read/write access to the brains of the phone and can install crazy awesome programs onto it, and have a customized dock image.

It also means our phone is languishing away in the now outdated iphone 1.1.2 firmware. When legit users everywhere are enjoying the fresh new features. We could totally upgrade if we wanted and have a perfectly working 1.1.3 phone, but upgrading nullifies our jailbreak. We're waiting a few days before upgrading in case the tireless programmers at the iphone Dev Team crack the new firmware. It's difficult to be patient.

So we can't exploit the new webclip icon feature for the springboard. You can now create a webpage bookmark and the phone plops a cool icon right on your homepage. Apple has mobileSafari set up to look for a specific icon file when iphone users make a webclip of your website.

Our internet buddy, brody from the free cone blog, turned us onto this easy explanation of how to set one up. Since we don't have the new firmware we couldn't test our icon. The free conian was kind enough to show us how it looks.

Interestingly, brody is taking improv classes at the theatre I used to improvise at, Dad's Garage.

Apple is the jerk again.

Well the mystery is over.
Apple announced it's new notebook, the Macbook Air. It's being touted as the "world's thinnest notebook."

Instead of the usual Apple nerd fawning, this computer is actually getting slammed around the internet. And not for bad reasons, either. See, the Macbook Air is the thinnest and one of the lightest laptops out there. In order to get the computer so small, a lot of new hardware had to be produced. These new parts are expensive. Pricing a completely tricked-out Macbook Air with all the bells and whistles (solid state hard drive) bumps the cost well up over 3 grand. While still having a slower processor than the cheapest "original flavor" Macbook.

In addition, the computer has no optical drive. It cannot read CDs or DVDs. Again this was done to save space. This seems to be one of the biggest complaints I've seen. Even though Apple is offering an external CD/DVD drive, it costs extra.

Of course Apple's stock took a dive right after the Keynote. I guess you can't announce an iPhone every year right?

We think Apple was prepared for this backlash. We think Apple is playing the long game with this computer. Sure, it's super expensive right now. But that's just because all this hardware was just been invented. Give this laptop a year, maybe two. It'll only get smaller and only get cheaper.

Apple might have to spend some time licking their wounds. Especially after being the golden boy of 2007. We predict that this computer's popularity will increase. The same people that cried over loosing the 3.5 inch floppy drive will be touting Apple's courage to drop the optical drive when every body else does in two years.

Mystery! Intrigue!

Tomorrow Apple holds it's annual Macworld Conference in San Francisco. Steve Jobs will take the stage to present another of his legendary Keynote Presentations.

This time last year Apple announced the iPhone. At the time the release date was still a few months away, but finally we got to see what it looked like. After years fo rumors and fake mock-ups, the actual phone was better than all of them. It certainly blew us away, we fell in love with the phone the moment we saw it. Even after the $200 price drop, and having to embrace the slimey grossness of AT&T, we can say without a shadow of a doubt that the phone is totally worth it. I still consider it my new best friend.

But the best part about Macworld is the mystery.

Apple is notorious for keeping their new products and upgrades a complete secret before they are announced on stage. Who knows what mysteries lie in wait behind the back of that turtleneck-ed man. It's like second Christmas, except all the presents are unwrapped and sitting behind expensive unbreakable glass.

Every year in the few weeks and days before Macworld the Apple nerds (like me) all speculate on what new discoveries we'll encounter at Macworld. This year is no different.

Speaking of mysteries. We're such big fans of Lost that we automatically considered ourselves fans of the show's creator J.J. Abrams. In anticipation of his new moster movie project, Cloverfield, we planned on being excited. But then we thought about some of his past projects that we've actually not been that impressed with. Like Alias. Which really seems to be more of his baby that Lost is. We've only ever seen one episode of Alias all the way through, and maybe we're missing something, but we didn't go crazy for it. Essentially we talked ourselves out of being Abrams fans.

Then we saw J.J Abrams' presentation for TED...

Now w