I decided to add the words “Part 1″ to my Apple iPhone review because, well since I just got it yesterday, I’m still in the first blush of infatuation and getting to know it. I imagine that after I’ve had it for a month or so, I may have additional opinions and ideas, so I plan to post an updated review - Part 2 - after the first 30 days.

First - a couple of notes about the Activation and Synchronization process. Activation is done through the iTunes interface, which requires iTunes 7.3 and, if you’re using a Mac computer, OS 10.4.10 (which, despite some initial negative reports, has not given me a bit of trouble on either my G5 PowerMac or my G4 PowerBook). The Activation process is very simple, regardless of whether you are already an AT&T customer (as I am) or not. After activation comes the sync process - I don’t know how this process works for Windows users, but for Mac users it was very simple and intuitively is able to sync with your Address Book, iCal, and Safari bookmarks - you only have to make one choice up front - to “Auto Sync” or not…….I recommend that you **NOT** choose the Auto Sync on that first screen unless you are positive that you want everyone in your Address Book and all your Calendars copied to your iPhone - I didn’t give this enough thought the first time through, because I have a huge Address Book and I don’t necessarily want all of those contacts in my iPhone, however, “fixing” my mistake was very simple. I just created a New Group in my Address Book (which I named “iPhone Contacts”) and I copied only those contact cards I wanted to be sync’d with my iPhone to the new Group. From within the iTunes interface, a few clicks to tell it to only sync that one Group, and then when I clicked on the Sync button, it replaced what it had previously copied over to just the Group I wanted. Very quick, very simple. You have the same control of what music, videos, podcasts, etc get sync’d - you can choose All or by Playlist. After your first sync you can set it back to Auto Sync when connected, using your custom settings.

I read someone else’ iPhone Review, in which they complained about not being able to “drag and drop” individual songs the way you can with an iPod. Maybe that feature will come with a future software update, but for now the process is simple and easy. If you really want only certain songs, then just create a New Playlist for those songs, and just sync with that playlist.

So now for my initial iPhone review.……..first the “pros:”

• Like everything else Apple produces, the iPhone itself is beautiful. I plan to get a case or a skin for it as soon as possible, to avoid scratches (I’ll do my research first to be sure I get the best possible protection, and will post whatever I wind up with). Even the packaging is elegant.
• Using it is a breeze. After Activating and Synchronizing my new iPhone, I made my first call - with just three touches to the screen - the Phone icon, the contact I wanted to call, and the phone number button for that contact. The screen backlight is crisp and bright - better than I’d expected and much better than my old Razr. To save energy (and I imagine to not be distracting through my peripheral vision) the screen went black while I held the iPhone to my ear, then became bright again so I could easily see the “end call” button when I pulled it away from my ear. The sound was very clear - sounding like a land line, not a cell phone. The person I called said my voice was also clear and strong.
• The voicemail feature is fantastic - I called my iPhone from my home phone to test it - my greeting sounded very clear - much better than the usual cell phone voicemail greeting - and left myself a message. My iPhone notified me within seconds that I had a new voicemail message, and using the visual feature to listen to it was both simple and nifty, as was deleting it (no more “7″ or “9″ - now you have clear large buttons “Save” or “Delete”….nice…and a temporary storage area for Deleted Messages, so you can undelete one if you’ve accidentally deleted it…..very nice…
• Modifying the Settings is also easy and intuitive. I changed my ringtone, sounds, email settings etc. All with very easy to follow navigation.
• Browsing the web was simple too, and all things considered, faster than I expected for a page to load. I doubt that I’ll be doing a lot of web browsing, but I can see myself using it from time to time so it’s nice to know that it’s easy to do and relatively speedy.
• The camera really does take nice photos. Not professional quality, but very nice indeed.

Okay - here comes the “cons” - I have to be honest, there are a couple…..

• The stock ringtones the iPhone comes with are not all that great, but there are a few fun ones in the mix (a barking dog, a motorcycle engine revving, crickets chirping to mention a few). I do wish that I could use snippets from my iTunes songs as ringtones, and hopefully that will come with a future software update and not a new hardware revision.
• Yes, the screen does get a bit “smudgy” from your fingertip - but not bad enough to make it difficult to see what is on the screen clearly (despite the parody video showing a totally smudged screen - made with an earlier version of the iPhone that had a plastic screen). Apple includes in the box a nice little black chamois cloth for cleaning the screen, but unless your fingers are greasy from eating french fries or something like that, it’s not going to be a big problem.
• The scrolling will take a little getting used to because it’s the opposite of browser scrolling, where you click, slide the bar, or roll your wheel down to scroll down. On the iPhone, you “flick” upward to move the page up which results in the downward scroll. It takes only a few times scrolling the wrong way to figure it out, so I imagine it will become second nature in no time.

I haven’t had a chance to play with many of the other features yet, but I will today so feel free to ask questions using the comment form and I’ll answer fairly quickly.

In case you’re wondering, yes I waited in line yesterday - at a local AT&T Store instead of the Apple Store, but only because the AT&T Store had a shorter line. I arrived a little past 2:30pm, but the time passed fairly quickly as I chatted with several fellow geeks in line around me, and the folks at the AT&T Store did a great job of making sure we were all okay - passing out free water, chapstick, and little hand-held fans to try to cool ourselves. It was over 110° but thankfully the line was on the east side of the building, so we had shade instead of sun - a blessing here in Arizona. Once the doors opened at 6pm, the AT&T staff also did a great job of expediting everyone through the purchase process, and encouraging folks to do the activation process themselves at home, through the iTunes interface (I’m sure so that they could keep the line moving through as quickly as possible). If you didn’t get one yesterday, I’m sure it will be a much easier process for you now.

So why did I wait in line? No, I’m not the type to “drink the kool-aid” but I do suffer from gadget-holism. It was a need that had to be filled. Life is short, so I believe that fulfilling some needs, provided they are not harmful to others, is something we should just do. And I slept MUCH better last night than I did the night before.

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Where will you be at 6pm on Friday, June 29th, 2007?

I know where I’ll be……..in a line…..possibly a long line……..I just haven’t decided if I’ll queue up at my local Apple Store or at the AT&T store.

I called both of them to find out if they had an idea of what will happen on Friday (I’ve heard rumors of “waiting lists” which were supposed to be verboten…….we’ll see). The AT&T dude said that they expect folks to start lining up around 4pm (their store - as will all AT&T stores - will close at 4:30pm and reopen at 6pm for the launch). The Apple Store dude said they expect folks to start lining up as of yesterday…….geesh…….what’s a working girl to do? I certainly can’t take a week off to stand in line, so it will likely be the AT&T store for me.

About the only thing working in my favor is that I live in Arizona. In case you haven’t heard, it’s hot here. Very, very hot. So maybe people won’t really start lining up that early - who wants to hang around outdoors when it’s 110° in the shade? I don’t but I will. Call me crazy, but when you’re an extreme geek you do crazy things.

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I think this one’s been around for a while, but it never fails to crack me up….seems to be making the rounds again……

Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance - particularly, in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.

In addition, Husband 1.0 seems to have uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5 and then to make matters worse, it installed undesirable programs such as NHL 5.0, NFL 3.0, and Golf Clubs 4.1.

Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system. I’ve tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.

Please help me! What can I do?

Signed,
Desperate Wife

Dear Desperate,

First, keep in mind that Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an Operating System. In a new browser window please enter the address: “http://I-Thought-You-Loved-Me.html” and download Tears 6.2, and don’t forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update. If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.

But remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 or worse, Beer 6.1. Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta.

Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-in-law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources). Also, do NOT attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. It requires an investment of time and patience. You might also consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We highly recommend Food 3.0 and Hot Lingerie 6.9.

Good Luck,
Tech Support

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<review>
Anyone familiar with GTD software (”Getting Things Done” for those who are not) will appreciate the simple elegance of Ghost Action, a Mac-only application that keeps all your “to do’s” neatly organized by Contexts (such as personal or work related items), Projects (within those Contexts) and Tasks (within each Project).

Well worth its $19.95 price tag, Ghost Action has the option to synchronize with iCal in order to take advantage of some of iCal’s features (printing your tasks on a calendar, for instance, or using alarms to remind you of critical tasks), but for those who would say “why not just use iCal”, the beauty of Ghost Action is that it gives you a lovely easy-to-use interface with greater flexibility than iCal offers - so you can view all of your Tasks grouped by either Context or Project, add Priorities and Due Dates, sort them in a variety of ways, and print in several formats.

I use this nifty tool to keep me on track, and it does a great job of it. I’d love to see a future release include a few new features, specifically the ability to print a Daily To Do list for those who, for whatever reasons, don’t want to synchronize with iCal, and also a Daily alarm that would “pop up” to remind me of what I still need to get done today (and maybe even with a snooze button?)…..but even without those features I can honestly recommend this to anyone who has tried other GTD software apps and abandoned them due to disappointment. I had almost given up on finding the right GTD software when I stumbled across this one - boy am I glad I did!
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I hate them. Interactive Voice Response applications - the ones that answer the phones at all large businesses (and small ones that want to sound large). The older style ones that still allow you to press a digit to get somewhere are not so bad, but the new ones that want you to “speak your account number” or “say customer service” drive me insane - they rarely work well, and to add insult to injury, some telcom managers are actually programming them to not respond to digits……..aaarrgh! When the options they present you with don’t suffice, or their system can’t recognize what you’re saying, you have no choices - why do companies use these things? Do they deliberately want to drive their customers crazy? I would love to hear back from anyone on the other side of the fence - those who install and program these things - do you really believe they are working?

That reminds me of this place I called the other day (after I tried calling my bank, got their IVR, and wound up slamming my phone against the wall)…….

“Hello, welcome to the Mental Health Hotline……….

• If you have obsessive compulsive disorder, press 1 repeatedly.
• If you are co-dependent, please ask someone to press 2 for you.
• If you have multiple personality syndrome, press 3, 4, 5, and 6.
• If you suffer from paranoid schizophrenia, we know who you are and what you want. Stay on the line so we can trace your call.
• If you are delusional, press 7 and your call will be transfered to the mothership.
• If you are hearing voices, listen carefully and a small voice inside your head will tell you which number to press.
• If you are manic depressive, it doesn’t matter which button you press. No one will answer anyway.
• If you are dyslexic, press 96969696969696.
• If you have a nervous disorder, please fidget with the pound button until a representative comes on the line.
• If you have amnesia, press 8 and state your name, address, phone number, date of birth, social security number, and your mother’s and grandmother’s maiden names.
• If you have post traumatic stress disorder, slowly and carefully press 911.
• If you have bi-polar disorder, please leave a message after the beep. Or before the beep. Or after the beep. Please wait for the beep.
• If you have short term memory loss, please try your call again in a few minutes.
• If you have low self esteem, please hang up.  All of our representatives are too busy with important customers to speak to you.

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I’m often asked “how do I add a picture to my blog post?”…….. well the answer depends upon what software you’re using to create your Blog, of course, but since many of the people who ask me are WordPress users, as am I, I’ve created this How To specifically to answer that question for us WP’ers. Without further ado, here ’tis…..

How To Add a Picture to your Blog Entry:

First and foremost, be cautious about using photos from the internet unless you get them from a [free or cheap] stock photography source – otherwise you may run into copyright issues. If a particular photo or graphic is only available from someone else’s website, and you are not promoting that site, they are not likely to be happy if you use their photo without permission, so I recommend that you ASK FIRST. If you are comfortable that this won’t be an issue, then follow these instructions;

• If you don’t already have it, download and install IrfanView – this is a free image manipulation program for Windows that will let you crop, resize, alter (color etc), and optimize photos until it suits your purpose; http://www.irfanview.com/ Be sure to read the tutorial so you are familiar with how to use the program. There is a good tutorial for several common functions here - http://cit.information.unl.edu/tips/irfanview.htm%20;
• Photos will lose clarity if you try to make them larger – making them look fuzzy – so be sure to start with a photo that is as large as, or larger, than what you want to use;
• If you are using a stock photography site, simply download the photo and store it on your computer in a folder called something like “Pictures” or “Blog Photos” if you already have your personal pictures stored in a folder named Pictures;
• If you are “obtaining” the photo from someone else’s website, you can generally copy it by right-clicking on it and choosing “Save As” [best] OR if Save As isn’t an option try choosing “Copy”. If you can use Save As then give it a name that is meaningful to you and save it to your folder designated for your blog photos. If you have to use Copy, then launch IrfanView and from a New file choose “Paste”;
• If it is saved to your computer then from IrfanView use File=>Open and open the photo;
• Modify as you like but be sure the size is appropriate (not too big) for your post and most importantly on the Resize dialog be sure the DPI is no higher than 72 because the web cannot display higher resolutions so anything above 72 just makes the file size larger and is wasted resolution;
• Save the modified photo using a new name – OR better yet save it to a new folder within your Pictures folder called something like “Modified Pictures” using the same name so you don’t have to rename it;
• Upload it to your “Uploads” folder in your blog directly from the page you are writing or editing your Post, down below – browse to the modified file, give your photo a name and title – something both descriptive and keyword-rich, then click upload;
• For Show choose “Full Size” (unless for some reason you really only want to display a Thumbnail, for example if you want that Thumbnail to link to a larger version of the photo to show detail, whatever). For Link To choose where you want it to link to, which may be nowhere (”None”);
• In your Post text, have your cursor at the point you want to insert the photo and click on “Send To Editor” – don’t worry if you inserted it at the wrong point – you can just highlight it, cut, and paste it where it should be – this is easier to do from the Code or HTML editor option;
• You will need to be in the Code or HTML Editor option in order to use your Stylesheet to make the photo “float” to the left or right of your text, whichever you think will look best. Check your Stylesheet (.css file) to find the appropriate class for your image (depending upon your template, it is generally something simple like “.left” or “.alignleft” or right as the case may be). When you are editing in the Code/HTML editor, find the <img tag and before the closing of the tag (which looks like this “/>” without the quotes) ADD the words: class=”left” or class=”right” (or whatever is the actual class name from your stylesheet). There should be a space before and after what you add.

That’s all there is to it - you’ve now added a picture to your Blog entry!

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<review>
I’ve often been asked about my choice of web site host company, which currently is 1&1 by people who are either looking to set up a new site or looking to change to a new web site hosting company, so it seems like the right time to write a review that might just help others.

I’ve been managing a large number of websites since early 2003, and in that time have been through a few different site hosting companies, including Host Rocket, iPowerWeb, IMHosted, and DellHost, amongst others. For the last two years I have been, for the most part, very happy with 1&1. I say “for the most part” because it hasn’t been a perfect relationship, but the few troubles I’ve had are certainly not bad enough to make me break up with them and seek a new hosting company.

What’s Good about 1&1?

• Inexpensive domain registration/renewal fees, with from 1 to 5 free domains depending on the package you choose;
• All their plans offer a generous amount of disk space, bandwidth, and email accounts, making it an excellent value;
• Loads of useful “freebies” - bolt-on apps like forums, blogs, MySQL databases, an eCommerce shopping cart solution, a mailing list manager, newsletter tool, miscellaneous cgi scripts, and much more, all accessible through a very user friendly control panel. Also included are web-site creation tools to help you quickly get a site set up (if you are a raw beginner to web site design) complete with templates, graphics, photos and more. They also include a ton of free software on CD to help you improve your site’s design and marketing, along with free paid search marketing vouchers (aka PPC advertising) to help you get started marketing your site and getting traffic. You just can’t beat the overall high value of goods and services received for the small monthly fee;
• Uptime is excellent - in the past two years I haven’t had any site downtime (I’m knocking on wood here in the hopes of not jinxing myself for saying that);
• Did I mention the control panel is very user friendly? Regardless of how many domains you manage or packages you accumulate, you can access all functions through one very easy to use interface;

What’s not so good about 1&1?

• Tech Support - on the plus side they do have toll-free 24 x 7 tech support, but on the minus side it pretty much sucks for anything but the most simplistic questions or needs. The folks who staff their tech support desk are friendly and professional, but simply not very well trained or even highly technically savvy, and for the most part their poor mastery of the english language means that communication often suffers. When I first started with 1&1 they had truly outstandingly good tech support. Then they outsourced it - we all know to where - and it went dramatically downhill at that point. Calling them now is an exercise in frustration that I generally try very hard to avoid. When I do have to call them, it generally ends with my slamming the phone down, very hard, multiple times, then pouring a stiff drink;
• Email, Part 1 - 1& routinely has problems with their mail servers getting blacklisted by various anti-spam organizations and applications, resulting in email that gets rejected instead of to it’s intended recipient. They also have a rather laissez-faire attitude to rectifying the situation when it occurs. To be fair I can’t say it effects a huge percentage of the email I manage - probably only around 5% - but since all of the domains I manage are businesses, to them 5% is unacceptable. I had to solve this problem by moving the mx (mail server) records for my key accounts to a 3rd party email handling company, even though this adds a monthly expense;
• Email, Part 2 - this may not be a problem for everyone - heck maybe only for me - but they use a redundant server set up that keeps a mirror image of all email on a second server as a “backup” - should the first email server go down for any reason, including scheduled maintenance, the switch to the backup email server. Sounds good on paper, right? Unfortunately the email client of choice for most of my business clients is Outlook, which then re-downloads all the email since the last change of servers, because the backup server considers it “unread” email. This can be a real nightmare if it’s been a few months since the last server change - and even more of a nightmare for those who routinely get a lot of email on a daily basis - one of my customers called to complain that her inbox just filled up with nearly 2,000 new emails that were 99% “old” emails - yikes! Calls to their Tech Support were, of course, frustrating and fruitless, since they aren’t about to change their backup policy for me - I’m only one of somewhere around 16 million customers of theirs;
• Did I mention their tech support sucks?

The bottom line is this - I think 1&1 is an ideal web hosting company for two categories of “webmasters”: The small site owner who doesn’t need much advanced functionality and can stick to using several of their free bolt-on site creation tools (which really are easy to use and well documented in their support files and FAQs), OR the highly experienced site admin who doesn’t need much assistance in maintaining all levels of site functionality. If you want a web site hosting company that has excellent products at a great price and offers super-reliability in terms of uptime, but don’t need much in the way of advanced Tech Support, then 1&1 is probably a really good fit for you. If you need a lot of hand holding and help, you might want to consider hosting elsewhere until you can learn the technical ins and outs, or hire a trustworthy webmaster to help you.
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This one made me laugh so hard I almost peed my shorts………maybe I’m showing my inner geek but OMG if this one doesn’t make you giggle you should probably go read the WSJ instead:

Courtesy: http://icanhascheezburger.com/

Coming soon - more software reviews - I’ve been on vacation the past week but not exactly idle….

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<review>
In general I’m not an “early adopter” of anything (okay, the iPhone is an exception - I know my lust for one will win out), but usually I wait a while before upgrading, updating, or downloading new versions of anything. I do use the Software Update feature on my Macs to keep my OS and Apple apps up to date, and Version Tracker for anything else, but I make them cool their heels for a week after a new version is released, and keep my ear to the grapevine for any fallout before I dive in.

However, I was intrigued enough about the new iTunes Plus interface to give it a go and test out the new DRM-free versions of some of my purchased music. The interface itself does not look much different. If you haven’t already upgraded to iTunes 7.2, then clicking on the iTunes Plus link in the Quick Links area (upper right) will prompt you to upgrade.

Once you are seeing the iTunes Plus at the top, it’s hard to overlook the large “Upgrade My Library” banner in the top right - clicking on it will let you know which of your previously purchased music tracks have plus versions available - you can choose to upgrade for .30 per track. Clicking on any album or other music link will trigger a prompt to set your iTunes Plus Preference (which means that it will always show you the Plus version of a searched-for track or album when it’s available). If you decline by clicking on cancel, the store will show you the protected version but will also let you know if a Plus version is available, by showing a link called “learn more” to enable the Plus Preference. You can set or change this preference at any time in your Preferences. The whole thing is somewhat klugey, but hopefully Apple will improve this feature with the next version of iTunes. It would be nice if they’d just show both versions and let the buyer decide which one to choose.

One nice option it offers you is to move your old tracks to your desktop when it upgrades any that you select, which makes it very easy to listen to the old ones (I used Preview for that) and compare them to the new ones to see how much difference there is in the audio quality, if any.

I upgraded 4 tracks for a total of $1.20, which was all that was available at this time, but Apple promises to continue to update their catalog with the DRM-free (”Plus”) versions as they become available from the music companies. Because these DRM-free songs are encoded at a higher bit-rate (256kbps versus the standard 128kbps for protected tracks), they also take up more disk space, so keep this in mind if drive space on your computer is limited. One track that I upgraded was 4.7MB in the old format, and a whopping 9.3MB in the new Plus version.

So could I detect any difference in audio quality? Yes. But just barely. No doubt any difference would be more noticeable if you have very good speakers or pricey earphones, likewise the difference will be less detectable if you’re just using your laptop’s speakers or some cheap ones from a discount store. I listened to both versions of the tracks I upgraded - several times over to be sure - and I do think there is a slight improvement in the highest and lowest levels as well as a slight improvement in the vocal track.

My determination is that upgrading for the sole reason of improving the audio quality is probably not worth it for most casual music fans - only a true audiophile with a top-of-the-line speaker set up will really appreciate the small amount of improvement. However, the freedom from DRM restrictions may make it well worthwhile for anyone who has their iTunes library spread across multiple computers, multiple iPods, and CD Players, or anyone who simply hates the idea of protected music. For that reason alone I will likely continue to upgrade my library as new Plus versions of tracks I’ve purchased becomes available.

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Anyone who knows me knows that I am an avowed Macaholic, but it’s not just blind devotion - there is a reason I love the Mac operating system. I have no frustrations with it. Period. It just works the way it’s supposed to. I don’t run the Windows operating system on either of my Macs the way some other geeks do, and I won’t ever - to me it just seems like that would “pollute” my Macs.

I do all of my ‘production’ work (e.g. web design, documents I produce, etc.) on my Macs, however, in the course of my daily duties I generally have to provide tech support for a few Windows PCs here and in several remote offices. Pretty much daily one of the Windows users I support has a problem, sometimes more than one problem. The amount of time and effort that goes into trying to keep that operating system operational is mind-boggling - full of bugs and vulnerabilities that can, and do, get exploited, Windows just strikes me as one big excercise in futility……..aaarrgh!

What prompted this post is this very funny graphic someone sent me by email - it so perfectly describes how I feel about Windows that I just had to share it:

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Anyone who has seen the movie “Dune” will no doubt get a laugh out of this! I know it’s all over the web but I just couldn’t resist………I have an absolute obsession for funny cat pics!

If you enjoy this be sure to check out my favorite website for funny cat photos, I Can Has Cheezburger

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