Recently I read a post on slimming down your wallet (via Lifehacker). As many of you I had my wallet filed with membership and other reward cards from the local hardware store the grocery shop and the rest of it. Some cards used regularly some used only once a year.

As mentioned in the post from the unclutterer most of the companies only need the number from the card. The magnetic strips are hardly used and the barcode is just a store for the number. So instead of writing down the numbers I scanned in the cards -front and back side- and stored them as images on my iPhone.

To test it out I went to the local hardware store and asked the girl behind the counter if she could scan the barcode from my phone. The first look I got was pure amazement. To her the physical card was transformed into a picture on a shiny device. On top of that the barcode was scanned successfully. The result; a slightly confused girl and a happy me.

The cards are stored as images in an iPhoto album that is synced with my iPhone through iTunes. Newly scanned cards are stored in the album and are automatically synced. When asked for the card I pull out my phone and open the “card” in full screen mode.

For iPhone Touch the same routine should work and it probably also works for an iPod with photo capabilities.

In my case I used my Mac to sync but this should also work on a Windows situation.

Now my wallet only contains three cards, credit card, debit card and the donor registration.

via http://www.tisgoud.nl/blog/2008/05/11/WalletCardsOnMyIPhone.aspx

Posted on May 15th, 2008 by admin
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Rubicon Consulting has conducted yet another survey of 460 iPhone users throughout the US, and here is a summary of their findings.

-iPhone users are, as a whole, ‘very satisfied’
-Top functions are e-mail and mobile browsing- Around 75% of iPhone users say it has encouraged them to do more browsing on the go
-The iPhone is pushing the smartphone market forward- 50% of iPhones replaced normal phones, 40% replaced smartphones, and 10% were first-time cellphone purchases.
-A third of iPhone users carry a second phone- Seems that some iPhone users carry their iPhones for media and email functions, and a second phone for more basic phone calls. Maybe they don’t even know the iPhon has a phone function…
-Half of iPhone users are under age 30, and 15% are students.

Posted on May 14th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: iPhone News, iPhone Fun | No Comments »

 I am one of the few people left in the country that owns and uses a rotary-dial telephone. Call me old-fashioned, but I just like the sound of that bell instead of an electronic noise when the phone rings.Now you can extend part of that experience (at least the labored dialing part) to your iPhone. Minnesota-based CodeMorphic has released RetroPhone, an application that simulates the rotary dial mechanism on the screen of your iPhone.

Their website doesn’t have a whole lot of information yet, but you can watch a video of the software in action at the St. Paul Pioneer Press’s Your Tech Weblog. Of course, RetroPhone doesn’t replicate the satisfying tactile response, but all the joy of spending two hours to dial an international phone number can be entirely yours.

via http://www.tuaw.com/2008/05/12/rotary-dial-for-your-iphone/

Posted on May 13th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: iPhone News, iPhone Fun, iPhone Accessories | No Comments »

Posted on May 9th, 2008 by admin
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Who has (-1) unread email message

but whom also has 4,294,967,295 unread messages?

ME!

via http://www.y2kers.com/2008/05/y2kers-exclusive-2/

Posted on May 8th, 2008 by admin
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Apple raised $378 million through iPhone, iPhone accessory sales and payments from carriers, the company revealed during last night’s financial call.

CFO Peter Oppenheimer revealed the scale of payments from carriers during his preamble last night. He admitted to 1.7 million iPhone sales in the March quarter, and also revealed total deferred revenue from iPhone and Apple TV was $1.93 billion at the end of the March quarter, compared to $1.44 billion at the end of the December quarter.

“Because we announced the specific new features to be included in the iPhone 2.0 release and plan to provide them to iPhone customers as a free upgrade in late June, we will delay the start of revenue recognition for all iPhones sold on or after our March 6th announcement date until the iPhone 2.0 software is delivered,” Oppenheimer added.

The revenue and cost of sales associated with these iPhones will be recognized over the remaining terms of their respective 24-month estimated lives, he added.

via http://www.9to5mac.com/iphone_carrier_payments

Posted on April 25th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: iPhone News, iPhone Fun, iPhone Tips | No Comments »

There are a number of solutions for streaming media (music, movies, etc.) to the iPhone and iPod touch, including a native application and several Web-based offerings. They all offer replicas of the standard mobile OS X iTunes interface, most making use of simple sliding-style navigation schemes. A new update to one of the Web-based tools, Remote Buddy, delivers the best implementation of iTunes streaming we’ve seen thus far.One of the killer new features we haven’t seen in other tools is the ability to playback complete playlists and albums automatically, and the new interface is beautiful.

Setting Remote Buddy up is fairly easy:

• Download the application and launch it, then select File > Preferences from the menubar.
• Click on Hardware then, on the left, choose Virtual Receiver
• Click the checkbox next to AJAX Remote to make it active
• AJAX Remote will appear on the left, with an iPhone icon. Select it.
• If a password is desired, click Require password and enter one.
• If you want to be able to view your Desktop on your iPhone, make sure that Allow viewing the desktop via the browser is checked
• Under Interfaces and URLs you can use to access AJAX Remote, you’ll find the URLs you can use to access your Mac via your iPhone. In our case, two entries appeared and the second (en1) allowed a proper connection. To make sure it works, click one and press the Open in browser button

via http://www.iphoneatlas.com/2008/04/24/easy-remote-streaming-from-itunes-to-iphone-or-ipod-touch/

Posted on April 25th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: iPhone Fun, iphone applications | No Comments »

Apple has agreed to purchase PA Semi, the designer of a 64-bit, power-conservative, dual-core processor, Forbes reports. PA Semi’s chip is based not on Intel x86 (like Macs) or ARM (like the iPhone) processor specifications, but rather on the PowerPC platform around which Apple no longer bases new systems but still actively supports with Mac OS X. Unlikely to divert attention from the Intel processor for full-fledged Macs, Apple may be planning to utilize PA Semi’s current processor line, dubbed PWRficient, or a still-in-development chip from the small fabless designer in the iPhone or an unannounced product line.PA Semi’s PWRficient PA6T-1682 is a monster when compared with the iPhone’s current 620 MHz ARM CPU. It’s dual-core, with each core running at 2GHz, and sports two DDR2 memory controllers, 2MB of L2 cache, and a robust I/O subsystem. It’s also significantly more power-hungry than the ARM chip, however. The PA6T-1682 draws 5-25 watts depending on application, and can drop down to 1 watt in power-saving model. The iPhone’s ARM processor draws 0.45 milliwatts per MHz. The current iPhone’s processor is clocked at somewhere around 400 MHz, meaning it draws about 180 milliwatts, or .18 watt. As such, the PA6T-1682, in its available form, won’t meet a typical iPhone’s low power consumption requirements. Intel’s Core 2 Duo processor (used in various Macs), for comparison, draws a maximum of 65 watts.

Intel’s forthcoming Atom processor seemingly makes more sense as the centerpiece of a future iPhone than PA6T-1682. The Atom’s power consumption ranges from subwatt to 2.5 watts for mobile devices.

Apple is, however, buying not only the extant PWRficient processor design but also ARM expertise. Dan Dobberpuhl, CEO of P.A. Semi, worked on the original Strong-ARM processor processor — a successor to which is currently used in the iPhone — at Digital Equipment Corporation.

Dobberpuhl revealed in mid-2006 that his firm was working on a variety of processor cores at “different power points.” As such, P.A. Semi could have chips in the pipeline that would suit the iPhone nicely.

Since the iPhone runs a mobile version of OS X, which uses the same basic foundation as the PowerPC and Intel compatible Mac OS X, reworking the iPhone’s basic software to run on a PowerPC platform such as P.A. Semi’s is theoretically feasible.

via http://www.iphoneatlas.com/2008/04/23/a-powerpc-in-your-iphone/

Posted on April 24th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: iPhone News, iPhone Fun | No Comments »

The 3G iPhone is (apparently) on its way. 1st gen iPhones are being remaindered and are otherwise thin on the ground. TUAW reader Joël Huxtable writes to ask “what will we do with the old iPhone?” Well, Joel, we’re glad you asked. Here are a few thoughts about what you can do with that old phone.

eBay it. The iPhone may soon be previous gen but it still has pretty good market value — especially if you’re willing to take the risk of auctioning it off to overseas clients. I expect to see some enterprising people realize this soon and start a buyback service specifically intended to put blocks of unlocked previous-generation iPhones together for sale overseas in countries without official iPhone support.

iPod it. Once you’ve pwned your iPhone, it becomes not only a perfectly good iPod touch but one with built-in speakers and a microphone. You don’t need an active AT&T account to keep using that iPhone as one of the best iPods ever built.

Kid it. I don’t know about your kids but mine are constantly after me to use the iPhone. It offers a perfectly portable sub-laptop solution for hooking into the Internet at Wi-Fi hotspots. It takes a lot of the burden off our main computer and allows my kids to watch endless Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus clips.

I’m sure there are plenty of other uses as well in addition to selling, re-purposing or sharing the iPhone. You can probably set it up as a SETI host or cryptography number cruncher. Got more ideas? Let us know about them in the comments.

Update: I am not now and have never been on an iPhone contract. I use prepaid (AT&T GoPhone). The rates are pretty stinky but with good WiFi and now VOIP, I’m not hurting for minutes. When I bought my new refurb 8GB, I swapped out the SIMs and then activated with iLiberty+. It’s working fine–sends and receives calls and SMS. I did not activate through iTunes.

via  http://www.tuaw.com/2008/04/18/trading-up-to-a-new-iphone/

Posted on April 21st, 2008 by admin
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iPhone owner, currently homeless and looking to live in North California? Real estate company Intero might have the answer for you. Their Terabitz property search engine is specially tailored for Apple’s handset, with listings currently in NoCal but with plans to extend them to other areas.

Terabitz offer list and mapped ways to view the results, and can calculate driving instructions to get you to a viewing. There’s also full photo galleries, details of recent sales and neighbourhood information.

You can access Terabitz at http://intero.terabitz.com/iphone/ It’ll be interesting to see which areas they offer next: are they targeting a specific demographic believed likely to be iPhone users?

Hi there,

Terabitz is announcing tomorrow that it will make iPhone mobile real estate search available to all Northern California iphone users.  Terabitz has worked with Intero to bring iPhone users access to every property on the market in the Bay Area andNorthern California.   Any iPhone user – and there are many in the heart of Silicon Valley – now have a remarkable way to search for homes when on the road and as they drive around neighborhoods looking for properties.

When you play with this application, you will see first-hand how it will revolutionize how consumers can look for homes.  House hunters can remotely search every property on the market in their selected area and view the entire property listings datasheet, explore the neighborhood to find out about schools and restaurants in the area.

The application is as simple to use and was designed with all the user friendly features iPhone consumers expect from iPhone applications, including mapping capabilities.
If you would like any further information or to speak with someone from Terabitz or Intero, please contact me at the number below.

Please note you do not need to enter commas when searching price.

April 18, 2008 – Palo Alto, Calif. – Targeting the more than 10 million iPhone users expected by the end of 2008, Terabitz today announced an iPhone home search application that enables consumers to access property listings, photos, local neighborhood information, recent sales and driving directions on the go.  The first Terabitz customer to implement this innovative search capability is Intero Real Estate Services, which is offering the iPhone search today for Northern Californiacustomers and plans to implement the technology in all other offices in the future.

iPhone users can access the search application at http://intero.terabitz.com/iphone.  Buyers have the flexibility to search by city, state, zip, MLS number, price, type of home, and number of bedrooms/bathrooms. Results can be either mapped or viewed as a textual list.  Users can then select any home and view the complete property listing datasheet, which includes information about the home, its features, photos, history and surrounding neighborhood.  With a few additional clicks of the iPhone, consumers can also contact the agent, email the listing to a friend, and access information about local schools, restaurants and recent comparable sales.

“Our iPhone application takes mobile real estate search mainstream,” said Ashfaq Munshi, CEO of Terabitz.  “The user experience is fantastic and the amount of information we’ve integrated will empower consumers to conveniently shop for homes with the browsing ease of the iPhone.”

The iPhone application has access to nearly every property on the market at any given time. Local brokers who offer this innovative search feature will not only differentiate themselves from other local brokers, but also from the large national home search sites that have no direct feeds to local MLS databases.
“The iPhone search functionality that Terabitz has developed will definitely set Intero apart from our competition,” said Gino Blefari, Founder, President and CEO of Intero Real Estate Services.  “The ability to remotely search MLS property listings and neighborhood information will be a powerful tool for bringing Intero agents together with the many online home buyers that use an iPhone.”

All the Information, Wherever Your iPhone Goes
The Terabitz iPhone application is designed to provide every bit of information a buyer or agent would want to know about a home, its features, and the surrounding neighborhood.  Every minor detail about a home is included - from heating and air conditioning to appliances, amenities, landscaping, and architecture – and the photos of the home.
In addition, the application utilizes rich and accurate digital map data and content from Tele Atlas to help consumers query places and points of interest (such as restaurants and schools) and then map that data to see where those establishments are located in relation to a specific property.

About Terabitz
Terabitz is a venture-backed technology company located in the heart of Silicon Valley that was formed to help local brokers compete against the large national sites.  The company’s mission is to ensure that brokers have all the tools, content and features to position themselves as the premiere real estate destination in their respective markets.   For more information, please visit www.terabitz.com.

via http://www.iphonebuzz.com/real-estate-search-on-the-iphone-182237.php

Posted on April 18th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: iPhone Fun, iPhone Tips | No Comments »