Apple — Degutis Insights

What iTunes 7.7.1 broke for me

Posted on the August 5th, 2008 under Business, Technology, iPhone by Al

I’ve been one of the lucky ones. I’ve had pratically no problems with the 3G iPhone and only minor issues with a couple of apps since Day 1. Then I installed the iTunes 7.7.1 update when it came out. That’s when the troubles started. Luckily, the iPhone itself hasn’t been affected but the iPhone with iTunes experience has degraded.

It started with a constant and reproducible crash of the MDCrashReportTool. The following sequence causes the crash:

Interesting apps from the iTunes App Store, Part 2

Posted on the July 14th, 2008 under Business, Technology, iPhone by Al

Like my previous post on this topic, here’s another batch of apps that caught my eye, but this time only focusing on free apps. (Note – links below are iTunes links, not web browser links)

Flashlight (a free version), FlatLux and MyLite – all free
Both are trying to steal market share away from the $1.99 Flashlight app mentioned in the previous post.
SimStapler – Freeverse, Inc – Free
The first true office equipment simulator, SimStapler© brings all of the thrill and excitement of a “real” stapler right to your computer screen! Until now, the dream of stapling without a stapler remained just that, a dream. Only with the latest advances in virtual reality technologies has that dream become a true reality! Today, anyone with a multi-thousand dollar Macintosh computer, color monitor, keyboard and mouse, can enjoy the act of virtually stapling, without the expense and bother of a “real” stapler.

Is the 3G iPhone for you?

Posted on the July 14th, 2008 under Business, Technology, iPhone by Al

Probably not, especially if you’re not a tech-head or willing to bounce around to difference screens to enable and/or disable difference services (e.g. 3G, GPS, WiFi, etc) to manage the battery life on a regular basis.

Who is the iPhone for?
Answer the following questions:

Do you use social services like Twitter, FriendFeed, Brightkite, etc.?
Do you like to quickly and easily send photos to an online photo sharing account such as Flickr?
Do you crave the freedom to check e-mail and surface the web at any time?
Do you want e-mail and webpages to be readable in the small form-factor of a phone?
Do you want a device that can install a plethora of mobile applications and games?
Does the idea of automated geotagging excite you?
Are you into technology or are you gadget freak?

If you answered “yes” to at least half of the above questions then the iPhone, either the original iPhone, the 3G version (again be aware of its hungry power consumption) or the iPod Touch are devices you should consider. The original (non-3G) iPhone is would the bes choice for the average consumer.

The iPhone is not just a phone, or just a smartphone. As ReadWriteWeb explains, it’s The New Personal Computer.

-Al Degutis