Having just finished my most recent iPhone conversation with my mother – a phone call that failed 4 times – I am reaching my limit with a device that is grossly misnamed. It really should be called the iGadget, because its performance as a telephone is absurd. Apple has NO business giving Adobe a hard time about its Flash player, calling it a buggy “dead technology” when Apple can’t even get it’s alleged phone to work like a phone. If the failed calls are Apple’s fault… then Apple needs to own it and fix it before calling out Adobe for alleging that Flash is a buggy “old technology.” If the failed calls are AT&T’s fault, then they have no business charging their current rates for a network that is unacceptably substandard. Further, AT&T should sever its exclusive contract with Apple for claiming to provide a service it clearly cannot handle.
Category: iPhone
It’s not new, but I was inspired to write about it after using it today in a Starbucks. AT&T provides free Wi-Fi for iPhones in any Starbucks, but the litany of tasks one has to perform in order to gain access to this free Wi-Fi is a pain in the ass. It’s a series of confirmations via the text messaging application. By the time you actually get access to the free Wi-Fi, you’ll want to lie down for a nap.
This app does the work for you. When I acquired it, it was free, but now has a price tag of $2.99. Not bad if you find yourself in or near a Starbucks with your iPhone with relative frequency, like I do.
You simply enter your phone number to set up the app. Then, when you’re in a Starbucks (or anywhere that has AT&T Wi-Fi, like an airport or something), connect to the Wi-Fi in your System Preferences, then open the Easy Wi-Fi app, and voila! You’re connected.
NOTE: this app only works for the iPhone, not the iPod Touch.
I had been hearing a lot about TweetDeck a lot in .net Magazine, my web design monthly of choice. The latest issue of .net features the 2010 .net Awards. The emphasis on the .net Awards this year has been on user experience and how technologies have been “pushed to the limit.” Among the well-deserved awards and honorable mentions in the issue, my favorite was TweetDeck. View Full Article »
A very pensive and observant young man
My latest favorite iPhone app is Adobe’s Photoshop app. Formally called “Photoshop.com Mobile,” the app by itself is an amazing tool for putting some tweaks in your iPhone photo library. But it is designed to be fully enjoyed as a companion to your account at Photoshop.com. Photoshop.com offers 2 GB of free photo storage, sharing and emailing functions, album creation and management.
The free 2GB account is a perfect solution to online storage of photos I take with the iPhone. It also enables easy sharing and emailing of the photos. The Photoshop.com Mobile app has a terrific function for uploading to your Photoshop.com account. Add captions/descriptions and put the photos into specific albums you’ve created, etc.
The Photoshop.com website account has several upgrade options for anyone needing extra space:
- 20GB for 19.99
- 40 GB for 39.99
- 100GB for 99.99
- 250GB for 249.99
- 500GB for 499.99
So… the Photoshop.com Mobile app for iPhone, as well as the Photoshop.com 2GB website account are free (as of this writing), and are two of my current fave photo tools. Much much to play with…
Photo and post by the WordPress iPhone app
Having just spent a fantastic evening with Aunt Julie and cousins Alexandra and Mike Hahn, I dropped Julie and Mike off at their Gramercy Park hotel and strolled westward on 17th Street. Between Park & Broadway, my eye was caught by bright red Eames originals: fiberglass (not plastic like the current Herman Miller issue) shell armchairs. A row of them, like a 1960s airport or bus terminal, in the lobby of the Gramercy Park Animal Hospital. The walls of the reception area inside the glass door are lined with them. Ten in all: 7 in red and 3 in mustard yellow. Pretty retro-chic for a pet hospital.
I’m a bit of an NPR junkie. By day, I usually listen to WNYC, NPR’s New York affiliate, which features mostly local programming like The Brian Lehrer Show (10am – 12pm), The Leonard Lopate Show (12pm – 2pm) and Soundcheck (3pm – 4pm). The rest of the programming day is left mostly to NPR programming like Fresh Air with Terry Gross and On The Media.
To make my addiction to public radio even more convenient, NPR has released an amazing iPhone app, which enables me to listen to broadcasts of NPR programming, read and share NPR News stories, hear the hourly news broadcasts and much more. Here is the feature list of the app:
- Hear, read and share NPR News stories
- Keep up with the news via our hourly five-minute newscasts
- Listen live to your favorite NPR program wherever it’s on air, or listen to the most recent show on demand
- Bookmark your NPR station(s)
- Use audio controls to pause or skip forward in any story or program
- Create a playlist of stories to hear in any order – right away or later on
- Listen to audio while browsing text stories
- Cache text and photos for viewing offline
All my favorite NPR programs are available for listening, like All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Car Talk (I don’t own a car, but these Boston brothers are hilarious), Fresh Air, Wait, Wait… Don’t Tell Me! and On The Media.
And the best part? The NPR iPhone app is FREE. Download it and enjoy.
As I sit here waiting for the M11 bus to take me to 42nd & 9th, I’m writing on the WordPress iPhone app for the first time. It’s amazing to me that I can post to my blog from my phone from anywhere where I can get a connection.
The WordPress iPhone app is a free download and had me connected to my blog admin within two minutes. Absolutely fantasic.
One of these photos I just took with the iPhone of the great little park at the intersection of Columbus and Broadway where I wait for the bus. (I’m sitting in one of the cafe chairs as I write and post this.)
The other picture is one of the reference photos I took a few weeks ago of The Coffee Shop for the design of their website.
This all seems quite banal, but I am still geeked as hell that I can post this (and a photo) in real time with the phone.
For years, I’ve been a huge fan of SomaFM, listener-supported, commercial-free internet radio out of San Francisco. iTunes radio features many of their streams. You can also listen by clicking the listen links on their site (http://somafm.com).
On my setup at home, I have iTunes connected wirelessly to my stereo via AirTunes/Airport Express, enabling me to listen to iTunes on multiple speakers in the apartment. Whenever I’m not listening to WNYC or my own collection, it’s usually SomaFM. My favorite SomaFM stations are the groovy Groove Salad, the ever-swank Illinois Street Lounge, and Secret Agent, the “soundtrack for your stylish, mysterious, dangerous life.”
Not too long ago, SomaFM released an iPhone app for their streaming radio. Now I don’t have to be at home to enjoy these deliriously delicious stations. In fact, I’m listening to Illinois Street Lounge on my iPhone as I type this post in a Starbucks in Hells Kitchen NYC. The app runs a cool $3.99, but dammit… worth every penny, since the listening pleasure is free. It works on a wi-fi or 3G connection, and sometimes I can even pick it up on the iPhone when I’m riding my bike along the Hudson River (depending on how busy AT&T’s dicey network is).
So here it is… a shameless plug for SomaFM and their wondrous iPhone app. The gang at SomaFM have taken the technology and run with it, delivering fantastic internet radio programming to mobile devices all over the world.
SomaFM: http://somafm.com
Get the SomaFM iPhone app from iTunes