I bit ago I wrote a quick post about why I wasn’t so sure about getting the new 3G iPhone here in Canada as I have been using a hacked 2G US model for some time and all I was really missing was a data plan.

Well lots has changed since the last post… Rogers caved-in to some degree and is now offering iPhones on your old plan available at the subsidized pricing but you have to renew with a three year contract, I have even heard that some people are able to get iPhones at the $199 and $299 pricing without even getting a data plan? Rogers has also introduced a limited time offer 6GB for $30 per month data plan available for most Smart Phones including the iPhone.

So what does that mean to me? I’m sticking with my old 2G iPhone and grabbing the new 6GB data plan!! Ya I know I won’t have the built in GPS ( I already have a great turn by turn Magellan GPS in the car). And ya I know I’ll be waiting for my web pages to load up with my slow Edge based data connection. The truth is I  really am not using my data as much as I thought I would, in the past 20 days I have only used just over 20MB of data. part of this is because I was in California for four days doing the Mac Video Training Tour. I guess I must do the bulk of my iPhone browsing from home based WiFi? Read the rest of this entry »

A while back after waiting for the iPhone to come to Canada, I finally broke down and got a 16GB iPod Touch, you can read about it here. A few of my reasons for getting the iPod Touch or should I say justifying the purchase as opposed to waiting on the iPhone went something like this and not necessarily in order of importance:

• I need to own one so I can support my Clients with iPhones and/or an iPod Touch.
• The iPod Touch is more compact.
• The Touch has more physical memory.
• The iPod Touch is less expensive by about $100.
• Last but not least, using a separate phone gave me the ability to use an inexpensive phone for times when an expensive iPhone could be subject to an increased risk of becoming damaged, as in doing laborious work or sports.

All of this all still holds true…

Unfortunately an iPod Touch is still not an iPhone, a device that does it all or at least most of it! The phone part being the major component in the equation. Other key benefits of the iPhone over the iPod Touch are:

• Bluetooth.
• Camera.
• Speaker/Mic.
• Stronger Battery.

Some things that can get overlooked are included accessories. An iPod Touch comes with the bare minimum, a USB cable and a pair of headphones where as the iPhone includes a USB Power adapter (a must have for a phone) as well as a Docking station and of course the Headphones with built in Microphone. The Docking Station and Power Adapter retail for around $60 narrowing the gap in the price difference significantly! Read the rest of this entry »

I didn’t want an Apple TV but I did it anyways, I went and bought an Apple TV fighting myself all the way to the store and back. You have probably all heard about all the reasons why not to buy an Apple TV.

Here are the two biggies that I was struggling with.

• The Apple TV only works with a select few file formats not including WMA, AVI, DivX, Xvid to name a few.
• Why get an Apple TV when you can get a Mac mini for just a bit more and have a full fledged OS X machine with an optical drive and easier to upgrade the components…

So why did I go against my better judgment?
My XBMC (Xbox Media Center) up and died on me and this was my only real means of streaming all my time delayed (Downloaded Internet Video) TV programing for viewing on my TV. I figured this was my opportunity to give the Apple TV a fair try and see what I could do with it.

Here was my original plan.
Buy the base 40GB Apple TV and install a hacked OS X on an external USB hard drive so I could run OS X from the USB hard drive to play all my Apple TV non-supported media and or use the OS X USB hard drive to patch the actual Apple TV with plugins to support the missing media codecs. few!
Read the rest of this entry »

Before you click the Buy-Now link from one of the iPhone Unlocking sites selling iPhone unlocking solutions for $50 and up… Go to freeiphoneunlock.com and unlocked your iPhone for free. Thtas’s right - FREE!

There are a few options available out right now to Unlock your iPhone for free, I haven’t tried any myself since I don’t have an iPhone, but with the latest iPhone unlocking news I might just have to go down and get one…

Here are some Free iPhone unlocking Links:

• www.freeiphoneunlock.com
• iphone.unlock.no
• johnbiehler.com/2007/09/11/full-iphone-software-unlock-released-for-free

For about $50 US you can now buy an individual iPhone unlocking software licence from www.iPhoneSimFree.com that will turn your AT&T only iPhone into a world wide GSM network iPhone.

iPhoneSimFree has made their iPhone unlocking solution software based so you won’t have to open or solder your iPhone in any way.

Checkout a video of their iPhone Unlocking software in action…

So you have your Mac all locked down with users log-ins, passwords and keychains so you would imagine your confidential files are all protected if someone came along and either takes, steals or has access to your precious Mac for a period of time… Well unfortunately this is not the case!

The truth is anyone with just a bit of Mac know-how can simply insert the appropriate System Disk, boot from it and reset your Admin and or Root account password in only a few minutes. What kind of security is this you ask… Well it can be a life saver from a Techs point of view, I can’t tell you the number of time this has come in handy when working on a clients computer and they have no clue what their Admin Password is.

The other side of the coin is people unknowingly leave their Macs open to not only theft of their Mac but also potential sensitive information getting into the wrong hands.

So what do you do?

• Lock your Mac in a safe when it’s out of site - not a bad idea but a pain in the but.
• Hire a personal Mac security guard - good if your loaded I guess.
• Take your Mac everywhere with you and sleep with it at night - some have gone down this road - very sad!

Read the rest of this entry »

It seems AT&T is not too happy about the latest iPhone Unlocking news, at least one of of the companies (iPhoneUnlocking.com)claiming to have the iPhone unlocked has been approached by Lawyers who say they represent AT&T and are considering seeking legal action based on “copyright infringement” and “illegal software dissemination”.

It is uncertain if the other original iPhone Unlocking site (iPhoneSimFree.com) has been approached by AT&T’s legal team or not but for now no mention on their site has been made.

So for the time being… now we have it and now we don’t.

iPhoneSimFree.com has announced that next week they will be selling their iPhone Software Unlock Solution with no need to open or solder your iPhone. This iPhone Software Unlock Solution claims to be iPhone upgrade and restore resistant.

Major Benefits: You can use an iPhone with any GSM provider in virtually any country.

Here is confirmation from engadget stating with 100% certainty that the iPhone Software Unlock Solution completely SIM unlocks the iPhone and is restore-resistant and is fully functional outside of the US.

No price point has been set to date.

Seems like everyone has an opinion about what Apple is going to do these days so I might as well have one too!

What better topic to start my Speculation Series off with then the much talked about and most notoriously hacked Apple product, the Apple TV.

My big question is, why is the Apple TV getting so much attention? There are other “Stream your stuff to your TV” devices out there and many of them even support way more files and formats then the Apple TV. After all the Apple TV really only plays what iTunes supports or in other words, what an iPod supports. I think where the other non-Apple TV devices fail is where Apple succeeds… Apple seems to have created a name for themselves (with the help of the iPod) as the company that offers your Digital Content where you want it. So what if your content is on your computer, who wants to sit in front a computer all day listening and watching their multimedia content? People love the way their iPods free them from all of this, that’s why people are looking to Apple to make the killer device to take what is on their Computer and watch it from the comfort of a couch on their TV.
Read the rest of this entry »

WoW Insider is reporting today that hackers have gotten World of Warcraft installed on the Apple TV. While it doesn’t sound like it’s actually playable in it’s current form (no keyboard or mouse support yet via the USB port on the Apple TV) and will probably get broken when Apple updates the Apple TV software, it brings up some interesting things you can do with a Mac….not to mention the gaming potential of the Apple TV if it gets supported directly by Apple.

The Nintendo Wii has shown that a simple white box can be very compelling when connected to your TV with the right software support. I’m sure it won’t be long before someone hacks the Apple TV to work with the Wiimote from the Wii.

Read the rest of this entry »