Articles by Casey Chan

A Steve Jobs Endorsed iPhone Dock

Peeved that your iPhone 3G didn’t come with a dock? Annoyed that the dock is just too, plain? Well, if you want to add some color, creativity, and character, there probably isn’t anything better than a Steve Jobs Dock! The detail is amazing, the color is accurate, and the Steve Jobs Keynote pose is downright hilarious. Not to mention, it’s a bobblehead that works with both original iPhone and the iPhone 3G.

What would be even cooler is if you could rig Steve Jobs the Bobblehead to say “Boom” every time you insert your iPhone into the dock.

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In The Forums: Why You Like the iPhone Keyboard

Have you checked out our forums lately? The community is growing and the commentary is getting better and better each day. Unconvinced? I’ll bring out a thread, a post, a topic, or a comment directly from the forums and post it on TiPb’s front page every week to prove it to you. We here at TiPb love the interplay, quid pro quo, repartee with our readers, so step up your creativity and tighten up your diction, you could be next!

This week we have a question raised by Wegmans wondering if we love our iPhone’s soft keyboard. Answers range from resounding yes’s to an almost as good as my old phone. Surprisingly, many of the folks who came from Blackberry and Treo have little complaints about the iPhone’s keyboard and have actually gotten quite attached to it.

AutoCorrect? Best thing ever. No physical buttons? Saves ourselves from the Blackberry thumbs! However, the forums are still looking for a universal landscape keyboard.

Either way, the iPhone’s keyboard is a great implementation of a soft keyboard. For those who haven’t tried it, try it out! And for those who have, do you like the iPhone’s keyboard?

Go check out Wegmans’ thread on if you like the iPhone’s keyboard!

8 People Bought ‘I Am Rich’, the $999.99 app

You see that picture? That’s the $999.99 app that we’ve already warned you about. So please, if you’re interested in that red ruby of a status symbol, simply save that image to your iPhone and use it as a wallpaper or something. Don’t go buying this completely featureless program for $999.99 !! But sadly, it’s too late for 8 people who have already purchased the app. According to the developer there is even more waiting for it to come back to the app store.

“I am sure a lot more people would like to buy it — but currently can’t do so,” Heinrich said. “The App is a work of Art and included a ’secret mantra’ — that’s all.”
How on Earth does this happen? Maybe because it’s the start of the Olympics on 8/8/08 that 8 people decided to bandy up and go in together. Or maybe they’re all filthy rich people who would rather spend money on a digital ruby than a real one. Who knows. Hopefully this won’t spurn a bunch of copycat apps and turn the App Store into a complete dump.

Actually, I have a request for any sane and capable developer. Make the same exact program. Call it “I Am Richer’ and give it away for free. How’s that for ya?

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Review: Griffin Nu Form for iPhone 3G

Unlike the original iPhone which withstood the rigorous tests of sweaty palms, fingerpints, keys, and just daily life with relative ease, the iPhone 3G has some quality and durability concerns that the original iPhone never had. Insert the need for a case. The Griffin Nu Form Case for iPhone 3G ($24.95) is a stylish solution that hopes to offer better grip and protection from the elements while still looking good. How does it perform?

Read on for the rest of the review!

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PwnageTool 2.0.2 to be Released Today

This is fun. It’s like a game of cat and mouse between Apple firmware and the jailbreaking community, Apple launches an update and the iPhone-dev team works feverishly to jailbreak said update. This time, they are said to be putting the finishing touches on PwnageTool 2.0.2 which will be able to jailbreak the “snappier” 2.0.1.

Excited much? Well, there still won’t be Installer.app because Installer 4 isn’t ready for the primetime yet but a new version of Cydia will be there so you can still get some apps. There still is a lot of catching up to do on developing jailbroken apps and it still won’t unlock the iPhone 3G, but all in due time. We’ll follow up with a link to PwnageTool 2.0.2 when it is released.

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TiPb Faithful: How’s 2.0.1 Treating You?

So it’s been a day since 2.0.1 was made available and we at TiPb would like to know how it’s been running on your iPhone. Did this bug-fixer of an update actually fix any bugs? Or are we all getting suckered into believing that the update has made things snappier? Pains in the update process? Backups faster? Apps Crashing? Or are things just less sucky? Maybe you completely avoided the update..anything and everything, we want to know!

Personally, things have “felt” a little bit smoother. Contacts load noticeably quicker but my SMS is still a good couple of seconds too long. No crashes to report yet but I did have one ginormously big hiccup after updating: the mail app crashed on launch. I had to completely restore and set up my iPhone as a new iPhone which was more than mildly annoying, to put it lightly. So other than that, YAY 2.0.1. Woot.

So TiPb faithful, how is 2.0.1 treating you?

Colorware Customizes Colors For iPhone 3G

Bummed out that the (PRODUCT)Red iPhone never came out? Regret your White iPhone? Wondering how to turn your iPhone 3G, let’s say, blue? Well Colorware, the electronics color customization company, has just announced that they are going to be lending their amazing talents to the iPhone 3G.

Though obviously there won’t be an option to buy an iPhone 3G directly from Colorware, you will be able to send in your iPhone for customization that includes a variety of colors and finishes. Colorware also offers the opportunity to change the color of the frame, sim card tray, button, ear buds and dock.

For those looking for a solution to make your iPhone unique, Colorware is a great option. The process starts at $150 but the envious stares from your friends may be worth it. Any takers?

 

Read. Thanks to mrHiDefinition for the tip!

In the Forums: How to Swap out Your Broken iPhone at an Apple Store

Have you checked out our forums lately? The community is growing and the commentary is getting better and better each day. Unconvinced? I’ll bring out a thread, a post, a topic, or a comment directly from the forums and post it on TiPb’s front page every week to prove it to you. We here at TiPb love the interplay, quid pro quo, repartee with our readers, so step up your creativity and tighten up your diction, you could be next!

This week we have a tip from forum member, h22kai, on how to swap out your broken iPhone 3G for a brand, spanking new one at the Apple Store. We at TiPb have heard of more hardware issues dealing with the iPhone 3G than any other Apple product in recent memory, so if you own an iPhone 3G and are running into build quality issues, feel free to take a look at h22kai’s list!

It includes simple advice like restoring your iPhone prior to your Genius Bar appointment and more specific suggestions like removing any discount from AT&T.

Go Check out h22kai’s tip on how to swap out your broken iPhone 3G at an Apple Store!

Apple Extends Exclusivity Contract With AT&T Until 2010?

We’ve had our fair share of gripes and complaints about AT&T here at TiPb but we don’t give them enough credit for trusting Apple and letting them go wild with the iPhone. Sure, they may be out to squeeze every dollar from their customers, but few carriers would even imagine giving Apple the freedom to create the. best. gadget. ever.

Plus, AT&T is well aware of the attention and added dollars they get by having an exclusivity agreement for the iPhone, so it comes to no surprise to us that one of those old, reputable, print companies is reporting that AT&T has added another year of exclusivity (until 2010 now). If AT&T were to lose the iPhone now, it’d be a complete disaster since the iPhone is starting to entrench itself in the market.

So I guess since AT&T will never give up on the iPhone, it’s on Apple to make every customers dream come true and deliver a fully unlocked iPhone. Maybe then, carriers will begin to lower their prices and the power will come back to the consumers.

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NetShare Uses Your iPhone’s 3G/EDGE For Your Computer (Update 2: Yeah, gone again)

Update: Macrumors lets us know that, strangely enough, it’s back in the App Store. It doesn’t show up in a search, but you can download it via this iTunes/App Store link.

Update 2: …aaaand it’s gone again, at least in the US. Le Sigh.

The Interweb is abuzz about this little program that popped up on the App Store yesterday, so aptly named NetShare. The concept of the app is to essentially use your iPhone’s 3G or EDGE (god knows why) connection for your laptop. It creates a proxy and establishes a pseudo-hotspot with your iPhone’s connection leaving you free to surf the web on your laptop. It’s tethering, more or less.

How this got passed Apple and AT&T who knows. But it looks like  has already been kicked out of the App Store. Did any of the TiPb faithful get their hands on this app while it was hot? Anyone get it to work? From what TiPb has been hearing, it’s really hit or miss. Let us know.

Maybe Apple wanted the developers of NetShare to get the app right before they put it out again…wish for it and it’ll come true…wish for it and it’ll come true.

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