Ramblings from the Marginalized

AT&T Inc. announced on July 2, 2007 that millions of its customers with higher speed broadband plans can now receive free access to AT&T's nationwide Wi-Fi network — nearly 10,000 hot spots at popular locations across the country including leading airports, McDonalds restaurants, Barnes & Noble bookstores, coffee shops and popular sporting venues.

Effective now, qualifying new and existing residential and small business AT&T broadband customers instantly benefit from the free unlimited Wi-Fi connectivity at company hot spots. Qualifying AT&T broadband packages include: AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet Pro (up to 3.0 Mbps downstream), AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet Elite (up to 6.0 Mbps downstream), FastAccess Xtreme (up to 3.0 Mbps downstream) and FastAccess Xtreme 6.0 (up to 6.0 Mbps downstream).

Too bad my little 1.5Mbps service is not listed.

Just in time for the iPhone release perhaps? We have already been hearing rumors of the Edge network becoming faster but this, this adds a new element to the mix.

With Apple using the iPhone to get more people into their iTunes music store (why can't I put ringtones on the iPhone?) I guess it was only a matter of time before at&t figured out a way to hook iPhone buyers into their DSL service.

If only I could run iTunes on an iPhone and use this FREE Wi-Fi bonus to get music...

• New AT&T winback promotion offers qualified customers one year free AT&T | DISH Network
• Yahoo May Yet Surprise
• Broadband Providers in Australia
• 7-Eleven® Toasts Customers with Free New Year’s Eve Hot Beverage
• Forward Concepts Publishes Detailed WiMAX Market Study

According to Hitwise the volume of US searches for the term “iphone” increased 583 percent in the past four weeks (from the week ending May 26, 2007 to the week ending June 23) leading up to the June 29 launch date. The market share of US visits to the Apple iPhone website increased 185 percent in the same time period.

Search Analysis

In the four weeks leading up the release date, the most popular queries that contained the term “iphone” were focused on price, recent news, reviews and the release date. The search term “iphone price” received the largest percentage of searches outside of “iphone” and “apple iphone,” at 4.23 percent of all US searches containing the word “iphone.”

The top website to receive traffic from searches on the term “iphone” for the four weeks ending June 23, 2007 was the Apple iPhone website, receiving 54.44 percent of all US traffic from the term. Following Apple was its wireless partner, AT&T Wireless, which received 6.52 percent of search volume, Wikipedia, at 2.95 percent, Engadget at 2.80 percent and MySpace with 2.48 percent of search term traffic.

Analysis

All I can say is, "Way to go Engadget!" Grabbing 2.8% of the search traffic for the iPhone is very impressive for a tech blog/site. What happened to at&t? Apple gets 54.44% of the search traffic and at&t (the reseller/service providor) only gets 6.52%?

Why was MySpace getting traffic from the iPhone searches? The only thing I can think of there is that people are writing about the iPhone on their Myspace pages.

Apple iPhone Market Share Analysis
Some folks are thinking that the iPhone will attain a 10% market share by years end.

Neil Mawston, Associate Director at Strategy Analytics said, “We forecast 20 million smartphones to be sold in the USA during 2007. We expect Apple and its iPhone portfolio to account for 2 million of that total, giving it a 10 percent share by the end of the year.”

Chris Ambrosio, Director of Wireless Device Strategies at Strategy Analytics, commented, “Apple has a strong brand and good retail presence; now it needs to deliver on the product. Competitive pricing, of course, will be critical, as will the device’s usability and reliability.”

David Kerr, Vice President at Strategy Analytics, added, “A critical question will be what percentage of iPhone buyers will be churning from other operators? A second key issue is whether the iPhone will draw users who would otherwise have bought Nokia N series music and multimedia devices, eroding their premium tier share, or will iPhone most dramatically impact the SEMC Walkman series fortunes? The pressure is on Apple to deliver a great mobile media experience with the iPhone when it is launched on June 29, 2007. Its previous entry, with the Motorola Rokr music phone, in 2005, was a flop, and the industry will be watching carefully to see how much Apple has learned from that failure.”

My thoughts on iPhone
I still see the iPhone as a flop. Yes, I know it looks cool and sexy. Yes I know it's an Apple product. I also know that you can get most of the same functionality in a less expensive product.

I have a cell phone for one reason, to make phone calls. I don't want all the extra crud Apple is putting into this thing. I already have an iPod (that I hate) so I will be staying clear of the iPhone.

• How revolutionary is the iPhone?
• aketu Releases New VoIP Calling Web Application for Apple iPhone and iPod Touch
• Apple chooses Cingular as exclusive U.S. carrier for its revolutionary iPhone
• at&t offers free Wi-Fi to customers with high speed broadband
• Talkster Simplifies Group Conference Calling on the iPhone

So Apple just announced some limited YouTube functionality for the Apple TV. They made it sound as if it were ground breaking news! You might get the impression that watching a YouTube video on your TV was some amazing new thing! Guess again.

If you have a Wii and a broadband connection you can already do this. The Wii also cost less than the AppleTV and it does more.

“This is the first time users can easily browse, find and watch YouTube videos right from their living room couch, and it’s really, really fun. YouTube is a worldwide sensation, and Apple TV is bringing it directly from the Internet onto the widescreen TV in your living room.”

said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO

Some other folks on the Internet have been talking about this but I ignored it for the simple fact that it is not really news.

In fact, if you had been paying attention in the past you would also be aware of the announcement of StumbleUpon bringing video content to the Wii.

So, when will we hear Steve Jobs talk about their ground breaking deal with StumbleUpon to bring video to the AppleTV?

The AppleTV is not a real good product by any stretch of the imagination. It's not a DVR, it only streams content from another computer. Why would you buy such a thing? If you want to put your computer on your TV just get a video-out board. In fact, most new video cards already have a video-out option and some HD TVs have a VGA port.

• Weird Al
• Having a Party? Try One of These Great Party Games!
• Aces and Eights Tutorials
• Nintendo Wii News: Metroid Prime 3 trailers on the Wii!
• Anyone else remember Bruce Dickinson?

It recently occurred to me that I despise and hate my 30 GB video iPod. I’ve had this thing for a little over a year now and it has never lived up to its potential. Between crashing and syncing problems I have just had enough! I’m now ready for something new.

Before I acquired my iPod I used a very poor MP3 player called the iRock. It only held 128MB of music and did not have any sort of stop/resume feature. It worked well enough for music but not for podcasting. If I listened 30 minutes into a 1 hour podcast and then turned it off it would not resume 30 minutes in, this did not work.

When I moved on to listening to podcasts during my morning and afternoon drive times I brought my laptop in my car and plugged it in through the tape deck. This worked but… It was a laptop! I didn’t want to lug that thing around with me all day (or leave it in my car) just for a little bit of podcast listening during drive time.

The iPod worked out great, at first. It allowed me resume listening to a long show right where I left off. It also had the ability to be used as an external storage device. Considering my laptop only has a 20GB drive in it the 30GB drive on the iPod was like having a back-up drive. Unfortunately, I soon encountered problems.

Because my laptop’s drive was not big enough to store all of the MP3 files I ripped from CDs I had to turn off the sync feature of the iPod. After copying songs over I would delete the ripped files from my computer. This worked well until the first time my iPod’s indexing file got corrupted. When that happened I had no choice but to reformat the iPod, losing all of my songs in the process. No, I never did rip them all again.

Later on I tried to update the iPod’s firmware but, in order to do that it wipes the entire iPod clean! That may work well if you copies of everything on your computer but I did not.

The real pain with the firmware updates is that they were forced on me.

I like to watch a particular anime video podcast and it has always worked on the iPod. Several months ago my iPod refused to let me transfer the files. It gave me some lame “your software is too old to view this file” message even though the producer of the content was using the same exact software to make the videos. So I upgraded… and more hell broke loose!

Suddenly play lists were gone and syncing only worked sometimes. Some files would sync and others would not. No amount of cajoling would allow me to move the files over except one method. That method involved dragging and dropping from outside of iTunes and after moving the file it would only appear in the recent area for a few days. It would not appear under music/podcasting/anything… This was a very annoying problem.

Eventually I wiped the whole thing clean and started fresh, this time I set it to auto-sync everything! This has worked well enough but, the other night I needed more hard drive space so I started deleting some of the MP3 songs on my laptop. I did not delete them via iTunes though, just the files themselves.

When I plugged in my iPod this morning to get my podcasts transferred over it erased all of my MP3 songs from my iPod before I could tell it to do otherwise! Why is that? It is like that because there is no way to tell iTunes how to interact with your iPod unless it is plugged in! Once it is plugged in it does its own thing until it feels like letting you do what you want to do. In the blink of an eye iTunes wiped my 10GB music collection…

I thought deleting the files but leaving them in the iTunes index would be OK, I guessed wrong. Some of those files I even paid money for via iTunes… they are all gone now. The only reason I still use the iPod is because I like to watch my iPod video podcasts on my TV with an A/V cable. You know what? It’s not worth it anymore. I have lost too much time fiddling with this horrible music player. I want something new. I want something that does not suck.

Can anyone direct me to a new portable media player that does not suck like the iPod does? Please?

PS: I tried using RockBox on the iPod at one time but it goes into charging mode if I plug in the charger while in the car.

Perhaps I should enter John Chow's contest for a Zune? John Chow is the guy who helps you make money on the internet with a wide variety of articles on blogging.

• New iTunes Podcast Problem
• HowTo: Diagnose Your iPod
• Sonic The Hedgehog Comes to the iPod
• More iTunes troubles
• Hey Apple! Why did you break my iPod?

Every morning I check my iTunes for new podcasts that download while I sleep. This morning I found two new ones, but they were greyed out... I tried to play them but I could not. I checked my hard drive and the files were there and could be played, just not from iTunes.

A few days ago iTunes had begun pestering me to upgrade, again. I put it off because my computer is old and just meets the minimum system requirements as it is. I did not want to try and install the new version and get hosed.

So, being unable to do anything with these podcasts I bit the bullet and downloaded the newest version of iTunes.

After installing, the two files were no longer greyed out in iTunes but, I could not transfer them to my iPod! No matter what I did iTunes claimed the iPod was in sync with iTunes.

I eventually just drag-n-dropped them onto my iPod but now they only show up in the "recently added" area. To make matters worse, one of them did not transfer at all and I did not find out until I was in my car!

Is there a good alternative to iTunes out there? I can't just reset my iPod because I use it for file storage too and I don't have the space on my computer to pull all of those files.

This is why I avoid upgrading iTunes yet, Apple always forces me to upgrade by breaking the copy I currently use! Grrrr....

• New iTunes Podcast Problem
• Sonic The Hedgehog Comes to the iPod
• Apple, why do you hate me so?
• Hey Apple! Why did you break my iPod?
• Why iTunes will never come to Linux

During the keynote speech Steve Jobs revealed the existence of Apple's entry into the cell phone market with their iPhone product. A product that’s name is currently embroiled in a legal battle over its trademark status. The funny thing about this battle is all of the bloggers I see who feel that anything that begins with a small "i" somehow belongs to Apple. All of this is very comical as Apple was not the first to use the "i" branding model though they did the best job at marketing it.

Another interesting development with Apple's cell phone is that they signed an exclusivity agreement with Cingular for the American market. Let me say right off the bat that I work for AT&T. My wife has a phone through Cingular and I have one through Sprint. What's that you say, why do I not use my company's product? It's quite simple. We travel a lot and when traveling it is good to know that at least one of our cell phones will work. If we were both on the same network we would not have any sort of backup plan other than driving around to find a pay phone and we all know how hard they are to find these days!

I do not understand why Apple would choose to go this route as it is obvious, to anyone who looks at the numbers, that the iPod did not "explode" onto the market until it became possible to use it with non-Macs. The Apple was out in the marketplace and competing with other MP3 players before it became the dominating player. By allowing Windows users access to iTunes, and the iPod in general, allowed it to gain market dominance. If Apple had never opened it up in this way it would just be another MP3 player. Hey, this same thing worked for AOL! AOL was once a Mac-only application... Wait a minute, maybe they should have stayed that way?

Most cell phone users (about 90%+) want a cell phone that... ready for this? They want a cell phone that works as a phone. That is all they want. They do not want it to do anything other than be a phone. I know this is shocking to some techies out there but it is true and yes, I am part of that 90%.

The vast majority of cell phone users also go for the free phone offered in the contract. Very few people are willing to spend the extra money. The Apple iPhone? It is projected to sell for about $599, not including the service contract.

So, what does the iPhone do that makes it worth $599? Let's break it down:

1) It looks sexy.
2) It's a phone!
3) It's an iPod!
4) It can cruise the web!

Just about every product Apple makes has a high level of what we in the industry call "drool factor". This is the factor that makes people want to buy something because it looks like something they want to be associated with.

"Hey man, what's that cool thing you got there?"
"Yo dawg, it's that crazy new Apple iWidget!"
"Yeah? What's it do?"
"Do? It's an Apple iWidget!"
"Yeah, but... what is it?"
"Heck if I know, but it sure does look cool doesn't it?"

Drool factor will get the item off the store shelves and into peoples pockets but we have a problem here. In the past Apple has always announced a new product just as it goes on sale. This has the effect of getting people to buy it because it is cool and not even thinking about the product, the fact that Apple products are great also helps. Because of the way the FCC works Apple wanted to announce the product before the FCC reviews it. Otherwise we would have read about it from the FCC first and not Apple. If Apple is one thing it is a marketing juggernaut! It simply would not do for a government agency to be the one to talk about an Apple product first. Now we have a dilemma. The product is not due to ship until June 2007. That is a lot of months of thinking. Will anyone still want it by then?

The Apple iPhone is a cell phone, it says so right in the name. The entire screen is a touchpad and it will morph into whatever you need at the time. This is a great move forward in the user interface for cell phones. I do not see anything about a stylus being included but it appears to have some sort of "smart" technology that will recognize key mistakes.

"I'm keep trying to type 'rockbox' and it changes to 'iTunes'. what's up with that?"

The Phone also the ability to 'know' when it is next to your ear and it turns off the display. Hmm... How does it know your ear from your eye?

"Every time I put this thing up to my face to get a better look the screen turns off!"

Turning off the display is a good thing since most states now have laws against using your cell phone while driving. One of the key giveaways (at night) has been that glowing light next to your ear that most cell phones give off.

The iPhone also has a built-in digital camera... Wait a minute... didn't many business ban cell phones with digital cameras in them from the workplace?

The Apple iPhone is also... an iPod!!! From what I have been reading there will be a 4GB model and an 8GB model. Does this mean it will be similar to the Nano except with video and a much better screen? The screen is said to be 320x480 pixels with a built-in system to know when you are holding it in regular or widescreen modes. But, what if you are hanging at an odd angle or lying in bed? Will there be some sort of "lock view settings" button to keep it from changing viewing modes?

The iPhone also has the ability to use "some" methods of broadband access to cruise the web. I don't know about you but... other than reading email how much of the web can you cruise at 320x480? I have a hard enough time cruising the web at 1024x768! I can't imagine cruising the web in a meaningful way at that resolution.

Let's check some pricing for comparison:

1) It looks sexy - You can't put a price tag on this one.
2) It's a phone - Free with a service contract.
3) It's an iPod - iPod Nano 4GB/8GB $199/$249. Full size iPods are much cheaper per MB but these match the size of the storage space in the iPhone better.
4) It can cruise the web - you can get the Cingular 8125 Pocket PC phone with a slightly smaller screen for about $149.

So, for a lot less money you can buy several items that do the same thing. Oh yes, I almost forgot the most important thing about the iPhone. Like its sibling the iPod, its battery is NOT user replaceable.

Do you really want to get off of that 5 hour flight to find the battery in your iPhone is now dead because you needed entertainment in flight?

I hate to say it but I think the new Apple iPhone will be a dud. It costs too much and cheaper alternatives that do the job "good enough" are already on the market. The only innovative thing about the iPhone is the user interface. The market for this product probably can not afford it (teens and college kids) and those who can afford it (business) will not want it.

Apple iPhone – Highlights
Multimedia like never before: music, audiobooks, videos, TV shows, and movies
Futuristic touchscreen auto-rotates from portrait to landscape based on how its held
Full HTML web experience with GPS and location based services
2.0 megapixel camera/camcorder
Bluetooth wireless technology and WiFi wireless technology
Full email and messaging experience
Impossibly thin
Complete synchronization with your Mac or PC

Apple iPhone – Advanced Features
Digital Camera - 2.0 Megapixel Camera (1600 x 1200 Pixel Resolution Max), Digital Zoom, iPhoto-like Support
Streaming Multimedia Support - Yes, iTunes and iTV Software Lets You Experience Dazzling Video, Widescreen Format
iTunes Player - iTunes Software Pre-loaded, PC or Mac Sync, Playlists, iBook, Podcasts and Video Support
GPS Services Support - Yes
Bluetooth Wireless Technology - Yes
Two-handed Gaming Experience - Yes
Video Capture / Camcorder - Yes, Long Video Clip Capture, Video Clip Playback
QWERTY Keyboard - Yes, Built Into Touchscreen
Voice-driven Menus - Yes
PC Synchronization - Yes, Synchronize With Your PC or Mac

Apple iPhone – Messaging Features
Multimedia Messaging - Yes, Send or Recieve Picture Messages
HTML Web Browsing - Safari Web Browser, Supports Google Maps w/ GPS and LBS, Portrait or Landscape Orientation, HTML
Text Messaging (SMS) - Yes, Supports Multi-session, Touchscreen QWERTY Keyboard
Email Client - Yes, POP and IMAP Support, Supports Real-time Push Email (Like BlackBerry), YahooMail Support
Instant Messenger Built-in - Yes

Apple iPhone – Personalization and Fun Features
Polyphonic Ringtones - Yes, Downloadable
Custom Ringtones - Yes
Pre-loaded Ringtones - Yes
MP3 Ringtones - Yes, Downloadable
Ringer Profiles - Yes
Picture Caller ID - Yes
Games - Yes, Downloadable
Customizable Graphics - Yes, Downloadable
Customizable Themes - Yes

Apple iPhone – Core Features
Color Main Display - Massive 320 x 480 Pixels (3.5" Diagonal), 16 Million Colors, Auto-rotates to Landscape or Portrait
Color - Black
Style - Candybar Touchscreen
Warranty - Manufacturer Warranty By Apple
Touch Screen - Yes, Built To Ignore Unintended Touches
Speakerphone - Yes
Voice-activated Dialing - Yes
To-Do List - Yes
Voice Memo - Yes
Standard 2.5mm Headset Jack - 3.5mm Headset Jack
Alarm - Yes
Calculator - Yes
Calendar - Yes
Vibrate - Yes
Phonebook Capacity - Limit of Available Memory
Multiple Numbers Per Name - Yes, Plus Web and Email Address, Instant Messenger Handles and More
Conference Calling - Yes, Easy to Add Users To Call

Apple iPhone – Battery Life
Battery Type - Li Ion
Talk Time - Up to 300 Minutes

Apple iPhone – Technical Specifications
Application Platform - Java
Platform / Operating System - Apple OS X
Data Download Speed - EDGE (Up to 144 Kbps) and 802.11b, g and n WiFi (Up to 54 Mbps)
Network Compatibility - GSM 850, 900, 1800, 1900
Compatible Carrier - Cingular
Ringtone Types Supported - MIDI, iTunes
Internationally Compatible - Yes
Predictive Text Entry - Yes
Built-In Memory - 4GB or 8GB
Dimensions - 4.5 in x 2.4 in x 0.5 in
Weight - 4.8 oz
WiFi 802.11 Compatible - Yes, 802.11b/gn Support

Apple iPhone – Compatibility Features
Device Supports Voice Plans - Yes
Device Supports Data Plans - Yes

• How revolutionary is the iPhone?
• aketu Releases New VoIP Calling Web Application for Apple iPhone and iPod Touch
• Apple chooses Cingular as exclusive U.S. carrier for its revolutionary iPhone
• Who is looking for the iPhone?
• at&t offers free Wi-Fi to customers with high speed broadband

Apple and Cingular announced that Cingular will be Apple's exclusive U.S. carrier partner for Apple's revolutionary iPhone unveiled today.

As part of this multi-year partnership, Apple and Cingular are working together to provide innovative new features to mobile phone users, such as iPhone's pioneering and unique Visual Voice Mail, a first on any mobile phone in the world.

“Apple chose Cingular because they are the best and most popular carrier in the U.S.," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. “We are thrilled to be offering our revolutionary new iPhone exclusively with Cingular, and look forward to working together with them to create some wonderful new features for our customers."

"By partnering with Apple, we are continuing our commitment to raising the bar for customers," said Stan Sigman, Cingular's president and CEO. "We think the iPhone is one of the most innovative devices ever created, and we look forward to letting our customers be the first in the world to experience the future of mobile phones."

iPhone's unique Visual Voice Mail was co-developed by Apple and Cingular. Visual Voice Mail makes voicemail as fast and convenient as email by allowing users to go directly to any of their voice messages without listening to any of the prior messages.

iPhone will be available in the U.S. beginning in June 2007 in a 4GB model for $499 and an 8GB model for $599, and will work in combination with Apple's iTunes running on either a PC or Mac.

iPhone will be sold in the U.S. through Apple's retail and online stores (www.apple.com), and through Cingular's retail and online stores (www.cingular.com).

• How revolutionary is the iPhone?
• aketu Releases New VoIP Calling Web Application for Apple iPhone and iPod Touch
• Who is looking for the iPhone?
• Is Apple’s New iPhone Worth the Wait?
• at&t offers free Wi-Fi to customers with high speed broadband

For Christmas I purchased a new 1GB iPod Shuffle for my wife to replace her existing 512MB Shuffle...

After opening it she gave the old one to my daughter and tried to get the new one setup and loaded...

It went downhill from there.

You might be wondering why I would purchase another iPod product after all the difficulty I have been having with my 30GB iPod Video.

To be honest, my wife has NEVER had a problem with her shuffle and she wanted one of the newer smaller ones. She was also being pestered by my daughter who was hell bent on "inheriting" said shuffle.

Purchasing the iPod was pain free. At the Apple store in the Danbury Fair Mall they had a special area for iPod sales. All you had to do was hand them your credit card and an email address and they gave you an iPod.

Wrapping it was also pain free as my daughter did that. She also signed the card as if the gift was only from her but hey, kids do that.

Christmas morning she opened it up and plugged it into her computer...

I know a lot of people got iPods for Christmas and the iTunes store and servers were flooded but... It took forever for her to connect and right away it wanted to update the firmware.

That may have been the biggest mistake.

After updating the firmware she encountered a horrible problem.

The new shuffle was not being recognized by the computer. It didn't always happen either!

Sometimes it would find it right away, load iTunes and work fine. Other times Windows would find it as a USB drive and iTunes would not. Even worse, there were times when iTunes would see it and then it would just vanish... even in the middle of transferring files!

I've checked the Apple Support forums but no one has an answer for this problem (though others do have this problem.)

Here is a synopsis:

1) new shuffle not being seen by computer
2) new shuffle seen by computer but not iTunes
3) new shuffle seen by computer, iTunes loads (set to load on connection) but then iTunes does not see shuffle
4) new shuffle connects properly to iTunes and then vanishes (from iTunes and windows)
5) new shuffle connects properly to iTunes and then vanishes (only from iTunes, windows still sees it)
6) new shuffle is seen by windows and then vanishes from windows

I'm going batty here!

One suggestion I did read was to enable disk use. I tried to do this but every time I get an error message (unknown error -50) and iTunes and the computer "lose" the shuffle...

I thought it might have been a bad dock but the fact that others are having the same problem leads me to believe otherwise.

Also, the new shuffle should have an amber light on while charging. The amber light only comes on when windows "sees" the shuffle. Right now it often blinks 7 times and then vanishes from Windows! How can I charge it if it's not being seen by the computer? The light stays amber while it charges and then goes green to indicate a full charge.

I have had some luck connecting with the shuffle turned on but I still can not enable disk use or restore it without iTunes kicking it out. The above problems also still occur, just not as quickly.

I don't want to drive back to the Apple store but I may just have to.

Links from the Apple Support Boards:

My Shuffle keeps disappearing
2nd Gen Shuffle won't stay connected to iTunes

UPDATE:
I have found the solution to my problem. My wife's computer had an older USB port while my laptop had a slightly newer USB version that sent a little bit more power over the bus. I went out and purchased a USB 2.0 PCI card for her and installed it. Now all of our problmes are solved!

It looks like the new shuffle needs a little bit more power over the bus to operate properly when connected to your computer. If you are having this problem AND you have USB 2.0 ports please let me know.

• Who is looking for the iPhone?
• Apple chooses Cingular as exclusive U.S. carrier for its revolutionary iPhone
• Hey Apple! Why did you break my iPod?
• Apple’s YouTube offering is still not as good as My Wii
• Why iTunes will never come to Linux