nineball media

A quick hit from Costa Rica… Just heard about the new iPods and the
(gulp!) massive price drop on the iPhone. Kudos to Apple for pushing a
rebate to us early adopters though.

From a podcasting perspective, I’m most intrigued by iTunes wifi
music store… I’ve ranted about the possibility of wireless downloads
of podcasts for months, and this brings us a step closer. From what I
can tell, however, the wifi store does not include podcasts… Maybe a
future add, perhaps? Regardless, I think these new products and
services are good additions to the tech marketplace. And, since I
apparently have a $100 rebate available from my iPhone purchase, I
suspect apple will get more of my money. It’s an illness, really.

Back in the States tomorrow… Regular blogging resumes Monday. I
missed you too.

Podshow/Daily Source Code’s Adam Curry dropped his iPhone in a place you flat out don’t want to drop an iPhone. Pre-flush. He’s now apparently resorting to a kitty litter moisture absorption rescue mission (see left).

Word to the wise out there… if you drop your precious iPod, phone, PSP, etc. in the drink (or toilet), get it out… turn it off… remove the battery (if you can). Let it dry out completely. You have a shot at getting it back. Last March a buddy of mine pushed me in the pool at a resort in Tobago… pretty funny, except for the nice digital camera in my pocket! A couple of days drying out in the tropical breezes, and my camera was up and running again.

Which reminds me… I’m going to Costa Rica for a week starting on Saturday, which means it’s entirely possible the blog will be dark from September 1st to the 9th. Well, not dark I guess… just stuck on whatever wackiness I find on the Internets this Friday.

Some 17 year old in Jersey apparently has his iPhone running on T-Mobile… the significance is that it’s supposed to be locked in a way that only works on AT&T’s wireless network. Some are suggesting this will open up the phone for use around the world. I think it will just cause el-Jobso to press the “release the hounds” button on this kid. Fake Steve Jobs has already got his people on it.

Duck and cover, my friend… the lawyers are coming…

UPDATE – seems like the whole world now claims to have unlocked the phone. Meanwhile, Apple continues to get trillions of dollars in free media coverage of their phone…

Nineball Media has been good enough to upgrade equipment to the new iMacs… while the PowerBook was making nice with the new iMac, I realized that I would be without a computer for over an hour during my most productive time of the day. iPhone to the rescue… it’s amazing how technology can at once be the cause and solution of downtime. In any event, we’re all up and running now. For the speed freaks out there, I threw in 4 GB of RAM into the new computer… a podcast that took 7 minutes to crunch into an MP3 on the PowerBook took less than a minute on the new gear. Niiiiice.

Little did any of us iPhone switchers know that AT&T sends you a bill with every call, text, and data use printed out on our monthly bill. I’m an e-bill guy myself, but apparently this woman gets her iPhone bill in old school paper by way of the post office. Her bill was three… hundred… pages. Yiiiiikes. Something tells me this video might be partially responsible for AT&T to alter their billing info policy… the trees will thank them.

Have a good weekend!

There have been a ton of iPhone reviews, but none as balanced and as well-written as this one at Information Week. I’d recommend it for anyone considering the big leap.

I’m off to Nineball Portland today… should be a good week of work mixed with a little fun (a little birdie tells me the Oregon Brewfest begins this week…)

Friday marks the two week-aversary of having the iPhone… what’s remarkable is that I’m finding new features and uses for it every day. Yesterday I discovered that the maps function is also a handy wifi locator… simply plug in “wifi” plus an address, city or zip code (like 20009 wifi) and the little beastie tells you the closest sources for free wireless internet access. What a treat for the mobile tech guy. Should come in handy next week when I’ll be roaming about while working in the Nineball Portland office…

Welllll, sorta. It turns out that the iPhone can stream mp3s through its Safari browser just like any other desktop computer. Not really a podcast per se, but it’ a step closer to that dream of wireless podcast access (still hoping that either Apple adds a podcatching to iTunes on the phone).

Rob at Podcast411 has gone a step further by promoting the handy little graphic above that one can use to directly link to an mp3 file. It looks sort of awkward, but it shows up great on the iPhone screen. That makes it easier for your iPhone-enabled listeners to tap and listen with less effort. Now… is it worth it? Maybe… there’s about 1 million iPhones “in the wild” right now, and I suspect there are a disproportionate number of podcast listeners in that early adopting crowd. They need content… and your podcast can provide it.

Feel free to copy the graphic above if you’re interested in using it for your show. The sample mp3 linked above is the most recent edition of the Nonprofit Law Podcast.

Fake Steve Jobs brings you this… the Amish are buying the iPhone. I recently watched an interesting documentary called The Devil’s Playground, so I know the Amish use cell phones now (but not cars… as much as I learned about the Amish, I’m confused on that point). In any event… the iPhone is definitely a crossover product, if it wasn’t before.

Of course this begs the question… is this guy a Mac or PC user? Hmmm.

UPDATE: It occurs to me, based on my lessons from The Devil’s Playground, that this is not an Amish couple. Once a man gets married in Amish culture, he grows a beard. I suppose this guy’s potentially not married, but I’m thinking they may be rockin’ Amish-like attire, but they, in fact, may not be Amish. That’s the LAST time I rely on Fake Steve Jobs on Amish culture…

The iPhone’s awesome… only real complaints are (a) the camera’s a bit lame, and (b) the calendar doesn’t have multiple calendar support (everything gets merged together from iCal) and no tasks. Methinks Apple will solve the latter. As far as the former… well, my Treo camera wasn’t exactly killer, so it’s no loss. Everything else pretty much blows me away… the screen is ridiculously bright and sharp… the wifi hookups are seamless… it’s pretty amazing.

Podcast listening is awesome… I was listening to Meet The Press while watering the garden and took a phone call from my girlfriend. The audio ducked out for the ring… I took the call, and as soon as I was done, the audio ducked back in right where I left off. I may never take these earbuds off again…

There’s been a lot online about troubles activating the iPhone. Frankly, I suspect that was more because we all rushed home about the same time and flooded AT&T’s activation system. Sounds like new numbers registered and activated pretty quickly… number transfers like mine went a bit slower… and you whacky types that shifted from business plans to person and family plans were fools to begin with to think it would be a pain-free transition. (With all due respect… this is AT&T we’re talking about.)

That all being said… I think we’re tiring of the hype. None of us had to stand in line, it turned out, and iPhatigue has set in. Maybe enough is enough. I’m gonna go watch Season 3 of Arrested Development now… I won’t tell you how.