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Monthly Archives: June 2008

A Perfect iPhone Ringtone, for Free

Monday, June 23, 2008

iPhone Ringtones - the Perfect Ringtone

iTunes charges you to make ringtones from music you’ve purchased from the iTunes Music Store, but there is an easy workaround to create your own free ringtones. But what’s even easier is downloading a premade ringtone, for free.

If you’re a traditionalist like me and like to have your phone sound like a phone, then Helder Luis has created the perfect iPhone ringtone for you and made it available for a free download. The ringtone has a traditional cell phone ring sound that grows gradually louder the longer you don’t answer. Thus, it gives you time to answer before it’s blasting away at full volume.

Link:

The perfect iPhone ringtone is available at HelderLuis.com here as a free download.

Filed in Apple iPhone, iPhone Ringtones | Comments (0)

iPhone Wallpaper Site for the Ladies

Monday, June 23, 2008

Life Is Colorful iPhone Wallpaper

For female iPhone owners, it can be tough to find the right wallpaper amongst a plethora of pictures of Megan Fox and sports cars. PixelGirlPresents.com is a cool girl-centric wallpaper website. The wallpapers are not exclusive to the iPhone though, there are desktop wallpapers as well. Although the site is girl-centric, there are other cool bizarre, hip, and artsy styles that make it worth flipping through if you’re guy too.

Red Robot iPhone Wallpaper

Link:

PixelGirlPresents iPhone Wallpapers.

Filed in iPhone Wallpapers, iPhone Websites, iPod Touch, iPod Touch Wallpapers, iPod Touch Websites | Comments (0)

Update to the A World of iPhone Links Page

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Art of the iPhone

Native apps are coming to the iPhone next month. The iPhone is becoming a platform, but that doesn’t mean the Internet, the greatest platform of all, is going anywhere.  And so, here are the latest webapp additions to the A World of iPhone Links page. I rummage through the hundreds of  iPhone webapps released every month to deliver you only the most choice morsels. All are optimized for use on your iPhone or iPod Touch.

iWhois - Simple domain lookup for the iPhone. Want to register a name like DaringFireball.net? Check to see if it’s taken, or see who owns it.

Moviephone for iPhone - Movie times on your iPhone. Enter your zip code and you can begin browsing by movies near you, theaters near you, top 20 movies, or even movie trailers.

NPR Mobile -  Get NPR news stories, or even listen to the hourly news via a downloadable mp3 that will play in your iPhone’s browser. Awesome for NPR junkies.

Pimp My News - Have the news and your favorite blogs read to you over the Internets. Free your eyeballs from the iPhone’s screen and have content read to you by a pleasant and only sometimes awkward computerized voice. Posts are played in a mp3 file inside your iPhone’s browser. Can be personalized so that news from multiple sites can be read together and turned into your own little podcast.

Powerset Wikipedia search - A search engine for Wikipedia articles that, supposedly, works better than Wikipedia’s own draconian search tool.

Pro Baseball - Baseball scores on your iPhone. Good looking, lots of information. Kind of buggy though–players do no appear in the correct order in box scores.

Yahoo! Maps for iPhone - Use Yahoo! Maps to find the dopest route to your destination. Google Maps is still the best. Double true.

Filed in Apple iPhone, iPhone Links, iPhone Sports Apps, iPhone Webapps, iPhone Websites, iPod Touch, iPod Touch Websites | Comments (0)

iPhone 3G Subsidy: How to Qualify for the AT&T Wireless Cell Phone Upgrade

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

AT&T Contract of Evil for iPhone and iPhone 3G Subsidized Pricing

*Update* iLounge has confirmed that current iPhone users do qualify for the subsidized pricing, regardless of how long they’ve been on contract. Via iLounge:

According to Mark Siegel, Executive Director of Media Relations with AT&T Mobility, only “[c]urrent iPhone customers, new customers, and current non-iPhone AT&T wireless customers who are upgrade eligible will get the iPhone 3G at the $199/$299 price points.”

Here are AT&T’s current rules to qualify as “upgrade eligible” (for AT&T customers who don’t own an iPhone):

  • 24 months of cell service since the activation of your current phone, or
  • 24 months of cell service since your last upgrade.

Or,

  • 21 months of cell service with contract but no upgrades, and have a data plan and standard voice plan that costs between $68.99 or $98.99 a month, or
  • 12 months of cell service and pay more than $99 a month for data and standard voice plan.

If you pay less than $68.99 month, you have to wait until month 21 of your contract to get the upgrade pricing, and you have to pay an undisclosed fee (rumored to be around $20).

Helpful Links:

Wirefly.com details AT&T Upgrades.

iLounge “Not all AT&T customers eligible for $199 iPhone 3G.”

Filed in AT&T Wireless, Apple iPhone, Data Plans, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3G Data Plan, iPhone Contract | Comments (1)

Cost of the iPhone 3G Data Plan and Other Pricing Facts

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Apple iPhone 3G

  • The iPhone 3G data plan will cost $30 a month for unlimited data. That $30 does not include text messages or a voice plan.
  • The voice plans start at $39.99 for 450 minutes of talk time.
  • Requires a two-year contract.
  • Text messages usually cost 20 cents a piece, or $5.00 for 200, but there is no official word yet on what they will cost for iPhone 3G.
  • Subsidized pricing is $199 for 8 gb iPhone. $299 for a 16 gb iPhone.
  • With all costs added together, the minimum monthly cost of iPhone 3G is $69.99 (without text messages).
  • The total 2-year cost of an iPhone 3G starts at $1,855, compared with $1,815 of the original iPhone.
  • The iPhone 3G will require activation at the store you buy it from, either AT&T’s store or an Apple store. The process usually takes around 15 minutes to complete.
  • AT&T will not allow tethering of the iPhone’s 3G connection, meaning, you can’t use the iPhone 3G as a broadband modem for your laptop. Some other AT&T smartphones offer this utility.
  • Business data plans start at $45 a month. The higher charge is because AT&T offers an “enterprise connection” to Exchange servers.
  • For international travelers, a separate international data plan will be required.
  • There is no GoPhone, prepaid plan, or pay-as-you-go plan for the iPhone 3G.
  • 3G iPhone with no contract: $599 for 8GB and $699 for 16GB.
  • You can return the iPhone up to 30 days after date of purchase.
  • First-gen iPhone customers who already have two-year contracts have to qualify for an AT&T Upgrade and have good standing with AT&T (ie, have you paid your bills lately?).
  • Limit of 3 iPhones per purchase.
  • Anyone who bought a first-gen iPhone on of after May 28, 2008, can return it and receive a refund of the difference in price between a comparable iPhone 3G, minus a 10% restocking fee.
  • Access to GPS is free.

Filed in AT&T Wireless, Apple iPhone, Data Plans, HSUPA, Text Message, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3G Data Plan, iPhone AGPS, iPhone GPS | Comments (3)

iPhone 3G: What Is Assisted GPS?

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Assisted GPS

The main advantage of Assisted GPS (AGPS) for the iPhone is that it will allow the iPhone’s GPS to operate in weaker signal conditions and determine positioning quicker than most standalone GPS receivers. AGPS also helps save battery power by handing off some computational duties to an assistance server and by allowing iPhone users to turn GPS off and on with less inconvenience.

How does it work? From a cold boot-up, a regular (non-assisted) GPS receiver requires a strong signal in order to search and discover satellite signals, decode information relating to satellite positioning, and then calculate its position. This process can sometimes can take up to several minutes depending on initial signal strength. This startup time is why GPS users don’t like to turn off their GPS receivers. However, an always-on connection is a major problem for battery life in a cell phone.

AGPS discovers its position with the help of GPS equipment at cell phone towers, which maintain a constant strong connection to GPS satellites.  The cell phone towers use approximate positioning of the iPhone, similar to the first-gen iPhone’s My Location, to send pre-decoded ephemeris satellite positioning and clock information to the iPhone. The result is that the iPhone will discover its position quicker, and thus be more conducive to having its GPS turned off and on to save battery.

Helpful Links:

Assisted GPS at Wikipedia.

“Assisted GPS: A Low Infrastructure Approach” at GPS World.

Filed in Apple iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone AGPS, iPhone GPS | Comments (3)

Buy the 3G iPhone’s Rear Panel for $3,000

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Shopping for the 3G iPhone

Impatient to get your hands on a 3G iPhone? Do you have $3,000 laying around? Well, AppleOwner.com can’t sell you the entire 3G iPhone, but they can offer you the rear panel for the low, low price of three grand. The website also appears to have assorted pieces of other Apple devices for sale in case you’re a DYI fixer upper. Take advantage of this bargain while it’s still hot!

3G iPhone Rear Panel

Link:

3G iPhone Rear Panel at AppleOwner.com

Filed in iPhone 3G | Comments (0)