September 2007: Monthly Archive

figure 1: Woz is now apparently openly dating Kathy Griffin. Just humor me, I’m sick.

Steve “Woz” Wozniak, Segway-Polo-playing co-founder of Apple, brokered a handshake at the 2007 Emmy Awards celebration. The handshake marks the end of formal Kathy Griffin / America Ferrera hostilities. This handshake will likely go down in history as one of the more famous handshakes — right up there with Sadat-Rabin.

A picture of the iPhone linked to BMW’s iPhone stereo surface showed up on BMW’s website, and it shows Vodaphone’s network logo instead of T-Mobile’s. There have been rumors that T-Mobile has clinched the deal in Germany. And yet, here we have the above photo. My understanding was that Vodaphone would get the territories not covered by Orange, O2, and T-Mobile, but we won’t know until Apple says for sure. Which they’ll probably do at their “Mum is No Longer the Word” event tomorrow. Failing that, there’s Apple Expo Paris a week or so later. [via]

figure 1: what you see when you launch AnySIM.app. Apart from installing it, instructions for this app should require a FAQ.

Another full GUI SIM unlocking application is now available. AnySIM.app is the official unlocking application from the iPhone Dev Wiki crowd. AnySIM is going to be a bit difficult to install for now, as it hasn’t been brought over to installer.app yet, but that should be fixed in the next day or so. If you can’t wait and you’re comfortable with SSH and the Terminal, installing it should be a breeze. It is significantly easier than the command-line not-for-the-faint-of-heart unlock, and AnySIM’s unlock only takes 3-5 minutes, as opposed to upwards of 20 for some other methods.

We had linked to an iPhone unlocking application that worked fine earlier in the week, but there was apparently some drama with it and it wasn’t by any means an official version (that didn’t stop it from being the version I used, however).

A reader informs me that Shure’s new line of SE earphones is fully iPhone compatible right out of the box. Apparently Shure is bundling iPhone jacks with each model in this series, eliminating the need to purchase a separate $50 adapter.

A thoughtful touch considering these earbuds start at well over $120. Shure earphones rock, by the way. Totally!

[Thanks to Michael for the tip]

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figure 1: A screenshot of the 1.1.1 firmware from the rebate site. I think Apple used to be better at keeping stuff like this secret.

Apple said a firmware update was coming during their “the Beat Goes On” media event on September 5th, and it looks like they’ve posted pictures of it on their Early Adopter credit site. Our current firmware version is 1.0.2, and the link shown gives a version number of 1.1.1. This is kind of curious from a versioning number standpoint, usually companies release 1.1 or 1.1.0 before they release 1.1.1, but perhaps one of Apple’s release candidates failed.

I imagine that speculation will run rampant as to what Apple will ship in this update, but I think it’s safe to assume that we’ll get some updates to the home button (perhaps the iPod touch media controls), since there’s a new ‘Home’ section in the General settings. There’s also a tantalizing ‘International’ tab. Whether that will be support for the international networks or preferences to avoid crazy international roaming charges, I don’t know. I think that odds are good that it will be support for other international carriers, since AT&T likes them their roaming charges. It’s also plausible that the ‘International’ tab simply brings international keyboard support.

We’ll likely know for sure on or by the 18th. As to when we’ll see the update in iTunes, we’ll see the update on any given Tuesday.

Apple has posted the rules and regulations for the $100 of early adopter credit. You provide your phone number and iPhone serial number into Apple’s form. Apple will then SMS you with your access code for the credit, which can be used at Apple Retail stores or Apple’s web store. Nothing to it, really. Except that you’d best do it soon; your “opportunity” to apply for the credit expires November 30th.

Tired of the same default homescreen, and its OSX Dashboard motif? Bored with tapping the same icons over and over again? Well fire up your Community Source package, and let SummerBoard cure those homescreen blues.

This amazing app changes the look and feel of iPhone’s default launcher, with a choice of four available themes. If you have Installer.app setup, just select SummberBoard from the list of source packages. After installed you will see a new icon on your homescreen called SMBPrefs. Tap that and pick a theme. It’s just that simple.

Leopard is my favorite. It’s colorful but not gaudy. For those of you who lust for those new icons found on iPod Touch, the included Louie Mantia theme will satisfy your craving. If you don’t like certain aspects of your UI skinned, like the dock for example, you can simply turn off features you don’t want. Try it out yourself.

I don’t wear protection…on my iPhone. But if these crystal cases from 360 are as sick looking as photos portray, I may have to change my policy. These amazing looking clear plastic cases are available in an array of jaw dropping color patterns, priced at $19.99. For just a few bucks more, $24.99 to be exact, you can design your own color pattern.

Pretty sweet, I think. Anyone out there own one? Let us know your impressions.

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Angels and ministers of grace defend me! My compulsion to beta test software has led to my iPhone’s untimely demise. I installed anySIM from iPhone Dev Team, under the foolish assumption that it would work and do little harm to my dearly beloved. Everything seemed to be going fine until the unlock process completed. Then an error message popped up saying “Unlock Failed” and blathered on about not being able to update baseband settings.

Ok, I thought…the unlock procedure failed. No harm, no foul. I’ll just back away slowly and not make eye contact. Then I noticed something that caused my Adams apple to move up and down in dramatic fashion; no AT&T logo or bars were visible in the service status indicator. Ruh roh. Don’t panic, just restart. Did that, and still no signal. I can’t make or receive calls at all. My iPhone is now the worlds most advanced paperweight.

I will keep you posted. In the mean time, if you happen to see a man wandering the streets clutching a black shiny object, in tears, that will be me.

[Update] Oh god, now I’m really starting to panic. I attempted to perform a restore via iTunes, and it failed. Now the bloody thing is stuck at the recovery mode yellow alert screen that reads “Please connect with iTunes”. What a way to end the weekend.

[Update 2] And the clouds have parted. Pheww! Ok, I managed to do a full restore, bringing my formerly bricked iPhone back from the dead, and in working condition again. Excuse me while I change my underwear.

We really need to pool our money and buy the guys (and gals) of iPhone Dev Team a free round of drinks; they never stop coding! The team is now offering a GUI solution (that’s graphical user interface to you newbs out there) to its former iUnlock solution, called anySIM, making the process painless and tolerable. If this solution works as advertised, as it appears to, unlocking your iPhone can be done with just a few mouse clicks. I like the sound of that.

I plan on testing this out myself later today. Keep you posted.

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