The iPhone application for RememberTheMilk, the top-notch to do management system, is finally out on the iTunes Store. It's free if you're an RTM Pro user - Pro membership gives you a whole host of other benefits too, so I'd recommend it.
I was one of the 100 Pro testers who've been using it for a while, and it's a lovely little application.
Opera Sings an Ode to Browsers Everywhere - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com.
"Mr. von Tetzchner said that Opera’s engineers have developed a version of Opera Mini that can run on an Apple iPhone, but Apple won’t let the company release it because it competes with Apple’s own Safari browser."
And please, don't anyone try and tell me that this should be expected, and Apple is within its rights blah blah blah. If someone is too stupid to see that stifling competition is a bad idea, then frankly I don't have much time for their opinion.
UPDATE: It doesn't happen often, but I'm in agreement with Dave Winer about this:
"The web was designed as an open system. That means the user has a choice of software he or she wants to use to browse the web. Even when it was at its peak of monopolism, Microsoft never went so far as to prohibit the installation of the competitive browser on Windows, they just bundled one with the OS."
There simply is no excuse for rejecting an application that "competes" with yours, especially when both applications are free to the user. To anyone inclined to defend Apple on this, I'd ask a simple question: what would you have said a couple of years ago if Microsoft had done the same thing?
My long quest for the ultimate iPhone case is over. Today, FedEx delivered a Sena Walletskin Case for iPhone 3G, and it's the nicest looking, feeling and most pratical case I've come across.
I'm picky about cases for gadgets, and the Walletskin is the third iPhone case that I've gone through. Although some of the others had promise, this one really delivers. First of all, the feel of it is excellent. It's nicely constructed, the stitching is well-done, and it comes in a nice range of colours and finishes.
But what I really like is the credit card slots. Yes, thanks to a folding flip-down piece, you can fit four cards into it - which effectively means that I don't need to carry a wallet around. Once less thing to clutter up the pockets.
Plus, while it comes with a belt clip, you can detach it - so you don't have to have that chunky clip if, like me, you prefer carrying the iPhone in your pocket rather than looking like a geeky dweeb.
I ordered mine from the US, it cost about $65 including shipping (which took a couple of days). Worth every penny.
For those of you of a brave (and jailbroken) persuasion, there's a new app around which lets you run multiple iPhone apps simultaneously. I haven't jailbroken my phone, but if you have this has to be worth a look.
Apple Watch - iPhone - God Phone Meets the Devil:
"What about the Google focus? The phone offers single sign-on to Google's plethora of online services, including Calendar, Contacts, Gmail, Google Talk, Maps Street View and YouTube. Suddenly, the hodgepodge of Google applications and services has a single point of connection and synchronization. If this mechanism works, and well, then the G1 and other Android-based phones will be powerful data and telephony devices out of the box.As I've blogged before, sync is the killer application for the connected world. In 2007 I warned: 'If Google gets synchronization right before Microsoft, it's game over.' Ditto to Apple. Google's sync magic requires no PC."
As I've also posted, sync with no PC required is a huge feature. A phone which never has to connect to a PC is much more powerful than one which does.
"This is clearly a window into Google's view of the future – and it's a scenario that probably keeps many Microsoft executives awake at night. Microsoft's strength has always been the PC, and much of its marketing and technology has been geared to the idea of having a PC on every desktop. After all, Microsoft's Office and Windows franchises – the company's cash (sacred) cows – depend on it."
Both Microsoft and Apple see the mobile phone as an adjunct to the PC. Because Google has built the software inside the T-Mobile G1 to sync only with its servers in the cloud, this model is broken. The mobile phone gets set free.
Within a few years, I can see a large chunk of people not having their own "personal" computer, but instead relying on their phone for email, web, social networks, and so on. Oh sure, they'll use PCs - but why would you need your own when all your data lives in the cloud, and you can access that from any machine?
I'm told by people who I trust that MobileMe is now performing as it should, so I'm going to give it another week's trial and see how it goes. Will it really be "Exchange for the rest of us" this time? Tune in in seven days...
While the iPhone has been the big smartphone hit in the US, in Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA) Nokia continues to lead the pack, with a market share figure of 71.2% according to the latest figures for Q2 2008 by Canalys.
BlackBerry-maker RIM and Windows Mobile specialist HTC are in second and third place, with 7.2% and 7% respectively. Motorola and Samsung follow these two with 3.4% and 3.2%, while "Others" - including Apple - combine together to reach 8%.
However, it could be good news for Apple next quarter:
"Both HTC and RIM have been making steady progress toward the one million shipments per quarter mark in EMEA and are now very close to each other in market share terms, but it is possible that they will be overtaken by Apple in Q3 following the launch of the iPhone 3G in many countries in the region."
That, of course, implies that Apple will go from a market share of less than 3% to over 7%, which would be impressive growth. It would also be an indication that the iPhone has really arrived as a worldwide competitor.
There's an interesting story in the Wall Street Journal that both confirms that Apple has a "kill switch" for third-party iPhone software, and that it pulled "I Am Rich" rather than it being withdrawn by the developer:
"Some developers, however, have run afoul of Apple's limits on software it will distribute through the App Store. The company recently removed an application called I Am Rich that did nothing but display a glowing red gem, for the eye-popping sum of $999.99. The programmer who created it, Armin Heinrich, says he thought he was abiding by Apple's rules for its developers. An Apple spokeswoman said Apple made a 'judgment call' to remove I Am Rich.Apple raised hackles in computer-privacy and security circles when an independent engineer discovered code inside the iPhone that suggested iPhones routinely check an Apple Web site that could, in theory trigger the removal of the undesirable software from the devices.
Mr. Jobs confirmed such a capability exists, but argued that Apple needs it in case it inadvertently allows a malicious program -- one that stole users' personal data, for example -- to be distributed to iPhones through the App Store. 'Hopefully we never have to pull that lever, but we would be irresponsible not to have a lever like that to pull,' he says"
Davey Winder on the BlackBerry Bold versus the iPhone:
"Having lived with an iPhone for some time, and being in possession of relatively fat fingers, I beg to differ. It is all too easy to slip up on the virtual iPhone keyboard and not get rescued by the often irritating auto-correct system.The tactile feedback of a proper, albeit shrunken, keyboard makes for more efficient text input even for the fat fingered amongst us."
Davey makes a good point. I'm a small-fingered guy, and I'm now at the point with the iPhone's on-screen keyboard where I can thumb-type as well as I could with my old BlackBerry 8800. But for lots of people, the iPhone keyboard just doesn't work for anything other than hunt-and-peck with a single finger, which makes it much slower than a BlackBerry.
That's one of the reasons that I think the smartphone market will shake out to two main forms, and probably two manufacturers: the keyboard-less iPhone-style design, which focuses on browsing and video; and the keyboard-based BlackBerry-style, which is more focused on email and text. Which is right for you will depend not just on your needs, but also your fingers.
Dan Roam: Back of the Napkin, The: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures
Mary Jo Foley: Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft Plans to Stay Relevant in the Post-gates Era
Susan Greenfield: ID: The Quest for Identity in the 21st Century
