Will It Blend? – iPhone

I couldn’t stop laughing especially on the slow motion part with the Wookie cry of mourning as the iPhone finally succumbed. It held up a long time though, in the slow-mo watch now long the screen stays on and working.

iPhone Is Candy For Fantasy Nuts

IMGP0674.jpg, originally uploaded by WG Finley.

I’m a huge fantasy baseball fan and the league I participate in is pretty competitive and serious (as serious as grown men idolizing baseball players can be). Many times I’ve been out and about and wanted to check on my team and see how they were doing but have never been able to.

Thanks to iPhone and the incredible Safari browser in it I can now. Even though this web page is extremely complex and uses a lot of java iPhone has no problems with it whatsoever. Incredible.

Solution to Spam On Your iPhone

I’ve read some various stories about the iPhone where, while thrilled with iPhone’s email program they are disappointed with all the spam showing up on the iPhone. While it is true the iPhone doesn’t have any built-in spam filtering there is a pretty easy solution and mine was set up before I even bought an iPhone.

I have no less than six email accounts because I like my mail to be routed and stored by type. Last year when I picked up my MacBook Pro I switched all my email accounts from POP to IMAP. Unlike POP where messages are stored on the local computer IMAP messages are stored on the server. So no matter which of my machines I access my email from the changes are the same across them all. So if I read or delete a mail on one machine when I go to my other machine that email will be deleted. This is the first half of the solution.

The second half of the solution is a great piece of software for the Mac called SpamSieve. SpamSieve is a spam filtering application that works cooperatively with your email application (be it Apple Mail, MS Entourage, Eudora, etc) to filter your spam. I have been delighted with the product and as someone who receives several hundred spam messages a day it has been very accurate and a godsend.

So, the iPhone spam solution? Leave the MacBook Pro on, as it always has been anyway, so that it is constantly retrieving new email and is filtering it with SpamSieve. Since the MacBook Pro is filtering the email and making the changes on the accounts on their IMAP servers those same changes will be made when I access my email using the iPhone. Now, occasionally there may be a delay when the iPhone pulls down the message before the MacBook Pro has done so any spam that has found its way to my iPhone is gobbled up by the MacBook Pro when it makes its next sweep.

This has worked very well for me and kept my iPhone a spam-free environment without having to change any of my email accounts or anything else in my setup. So if you are having this problem see which of your email accounts you can change access using IMAP (many email providers give you an option or if you can configure your own website you can set it as an option) and start keeping your mail organized and synchronized!

iPhone Enabled

Just got back from the IASB conference this weekend and when I got home I realized that I had left the power adapter for my MacBook Pro at the hotel. I called there and they said they would UPS it out on Monday but that’s at least three days without my laptop, that won’t work.

So I call the Apple Store in Northbrook to make sure they have my adapter in stock before I drive down there. Sure enough they did. Of course, I couldn’t resist asking “I’m sure you don’t have any iPhones, do you?” To my surprise the response was “We sure do”. After canceling my online iPhone order (delivery “2-4 weeks”) I sprinted to my room (as much as a person of my size sprints ) and got my things to hit the door.

After the pensive drive I arrived and the place was packed, mostly with kids at the front playing with the iPhones on display. I grab my laptop adapter and get in line, there’s three people ahead of me and all three registers are selling people iPhones. Quite a few people were buying more than one. On the table behind the counter I saw a good sized stack of them so I rested assured I would get one. So after the wait I got my 4GB iPhone (with the 60GB iPod holding the collection I didn’t see a need for the 8GB iPhone, I’m sure the 2nd Gen iPhones will have abundantly more storage so I cheaped out this time around). Then began the agonizing drive home. I was glad I didn’t have to wait in line for hours to get one on the second day though, Apple has done it right by having ample product on hand at introduction.

Got home, pleased my MacBook Pro with the AC river of life and then commenced to unpacking the iPhone. A minute or so later I have it hooked up to the MBP and it sees my new little pride and joy and starts the whole registration process. Within 10 minutes I would say I had my old cell phone number with US Cellular switched to my new AT&T account for the iPhone, synchronized with all my email accounts, calendar (crucial), address book, etc, activated and taking calls — the whole smash. I was stunned because I expected there would be some hiccups for a brand new device.

Using the little beastie? Quite simply, jaw-dropping amazing. Sure, there are some rough edges (voice activated dialing would be nice, flash capability in iPhone’s Safari web browser would also be nice) but I have never had one device so eloquently, simply, and beautifully integrate stuff I need on a regular basis. Best of all, it slips in my pocket (phones are devices, not fashion accessories worn on your hip). So, believe the hype I say, this thing is amazing. My pictures, video, online video content, it’s all there for you with the iPhone. Believe the hype.

Oh, and leave it to Apple to come up with a “set to vibrate” function that doesn’t require multiple key presses or hunting through menus to activate. Their solution? A simple flip switch on the upper left side — switched one way it’s in ring mode, switched the other way it’s in silent mode (in the configuration menu you can turn vibrate off or on in silent mode). Amazing and thank the maker!!!