Decaflon: Last 35 Posts

Spat with Rogers leaves Canadian Apple stores without iPhones

Oli — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:28:30

That's a lot of assumption, and no fact.

Given that we're talking about a story slathered in words like "allegedly", "claims" and "rumors". There's very little fact around the story or its backing stories.

But no, I don't sit in on a lot of Apple-Rogers meetings these days -- it's hard to find the time -- but I'm really not venturing too far from common sense, am I?

There are only a couple of points there. I'll attempt to call bullshit on myself:

Renegotiations: almost guaranteed because Apple changed the pricing scales. There's no way in hell that Rogers wouldn't want to take advantage of cheaper hardware.
Apple knowing Rogers' rates: Slightly tougher but how on earth are Apple supposed to pick providers to handle their brand unless they've receive fairly detailed business planning?

I could be wrong - but I doubt I am. This "news" seems just a little too close to the rest of the internet's outrage on the subject to not be a PR back-covering exercise by Apple.

Apple Hands Out Someone's Apple ID Password To Phisher

Scrivs — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:03:39

As we all know we can't assume everyone is as smart as us.

Spat with Rogers leaves Canadian Apple stores without iPhones

Ozone42 — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:49:08

That's a lot of assumption, and no fact.

Spat with Rogers leaves Canadian Apple stores without iPhones

Oli — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:30:49

On a purely economic level, talking basic supply-and-demand theory, by cutting the supply like they're rumoured to have done, Apple have increased demand. You might see it as a sanction but it could also be something to motivate the people who were thinking about putting a purchase off into queuing. Moving on..

I'm assuming that Apple and all their providers around the world went back to the negotiating table for the 3G iPhone.

If that's the case, Apple have known about Rogers' evil plans since day one. Under their deal, I bet you a ton of that cash goes in Apple's direction.

Now it's the eleventh hour and Apple have only just discovered how much Rogers are charging? Bullshit. Apple have just found out how pissed off the internet is. Who said petitions didn't work?

Spat with Rogers leaves Canadian Apple stores without iPhones

RightOn — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:20:00

yeah I could live with 75 text messages but 150 min... yeah that's like ONE phone call for me, not to mention I'd burn through 400MB in about 10 seconds. I'm ALWAYS surfing on my iPod Touch.

Spat with Rogers leaves Canadian Apple stores without iPhones

Tyme — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:18:34

I just read an article that said most people don't use text messaging but only 400MB of data when ours is unlimited? 150 minutes? That's not a lot of talk time. I wonder what 400 minutes costs. :(

Spat with Rogers leaves Canadian Apple stores without iPhones

RightOn — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 21:02:32

Well that's just retarded... but obviously Apple has some control by slashing the line from the Retailer.

Spat with Rogers leaves Canadian Apple stores without iPhones

Tyme — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:30:34

From the article:

As a result, Canadian Apple Retail stores won't be selling the new 3G touchscreen phones come Friday, representatives for the Cupertino-based company said during a private conference call on Monday evening. Instead, it will be up to Rogers and its partner Fido to lock subscribers into steep 3-year contracts that require a minimum monthly payment of $60 for just 150 minutes, 75 text messages, and 400MB of data.

That's wrong, just plain wrong. It's a shame that Apple doesn't have any control over the plans. Not saying they should have direct say in pricing but something like "must remain competitive" so there aren't runaway plans like this one. 3 years - that's laughable.

Apple Hands Out Someone's Apple ID Password To Phisher

Mike — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:43:22

I honestly can't believe that someone at Apple was stupid enough to actually let this slide through. How stupid do you have to be to blatantly hand over someone's credentials to a new email address that has someone else's name as part of the address?!

This is a serious offense and I hope security people descend upon this person's issue and tear Apple a new one. I'm as big of an Apple fan as you will encounter, but this is ridiculous and no amount of fanboyness will stop me from getting pissed off about this situation. Handing over an Apple ID allows someone to access many things, one of which is your iTunes account. I wonder what would've happened if this nefarious individual had purchased a few thousand dollars worth of albums? What would Apple's recourse be then?

iPod Touch 2G in September?

Scrivs — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 01:47:30

Yeah minor stuff like that always made me chuckle, if you don't want to pay switch to an iPhone and have higher monthly costs or just don't upgrade at all and save your $10.

iPod Touch 2G in September?

RightOn — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 23:14:27

On a side note for us current iPod Touch owners... what's with the insane amount of complaints on other websites about the $10 charge for 2.0?

I've seen comments like "Not everyone can afford this upgrade" and "I cannot believe how insanely priced 2.0 is"... I know the economy is slumpy for people but is $10 that hard to come by? I have that much in my wallet right now, why is that an insane price?

Google learns to crawl Flash

Ozone42 — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:47:45

This is why I'm looking at flash again. It's kind of been an elephant in the corner both in my mind, lots of potential but I hated using several of the previous versions of it's development environment. This tips the scales to it's potential, so I hope they've caught up with making developing less painful. I know ActionScript 3 has made quite a few big improvements.

iPod Touch 2G in September?

fuscom — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:44:45

Yeh, I can see the storage increase / cost decrease, cause that fits the typical M.O. for Apple. If they go that route, I wouldn't be surprised to see one of the iPods dropped (either the shuffle or the classic) and prices adjusted accordingly.

However, I think there's also a case for keeping the Touch priced artificially high to encourage the purchase of the "more reasonably priced" iPhone.

Somewhere down the road I think we'll see a spin-off of the iPhone to it's own thing...and then a merger / buyout of RIM. Then iPod will be free to innovate without worry of impact to iPhone.

Mobile texting problem

Scrivs — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 21:14:09

Maybe Ericsson has a timer on the phones that break them so you are forced to upgrade.

Mobile texting problem

NoelKingsley — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 21:08:14

Yes, I tried taking the SIM Card out of the phone and the battery too. I also reset to Factory Settings, but still doesn't work!
Thanks for your suggestions.
Noel

iPod Touch 2G in September?

RightOn — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 21:07:17

I could see a redesign to match the Case change on the 3G... and a price adjustment. ($500 for a top of the line iPod is INSANE)

Google learns to crawl Flash

dubsar — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 21:01:44

The publishing options in flash do, currently, give you an option to include all text and links used in the flash as block of commented html code.

So in theory, all they've got to do on the spider/robot side of things is check to see if the page is setup to display flash, and if so, then parse whatever html comments it finds and use that for its entries.

But they're making it sound like they're actually setting up to process the swf remotely, and scan IT for urls and text... If that's the case, I've got the feeling they'll be an whole new rash of "spider/bot spoofing" via hidden and unused pages of flash content...

As a flash developer, this will be interesting to see how it pans out!

Ideas for RIAs

Scrivs — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:59:04

Just thought of this so it is not thought through at all, but an upcoming Entertainment digest.

- What movies are coming out this week with their previews.
- What songs are coming out this week with their singles and music videos.
- What movies are coming out on DVD with their previews.
- Maybe hook into the soundtrack with music videos.

iPod Touch 2G in September?

Scrivs — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:53:16

I think I would wait because at the very least you are sure to get a price drop and if not a stroage boost. With the new 3G iPhones they almost have to come out with some new iPod Touches or reduce the pricing. Of course September is a long way away or right around the corner depending on how you look at it.

Mobile texting problem

Scrivs — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:51:56

On my phone there is simply an option to clear all folders, doesn't specify the storage device so maybe you can just do that. If all else fails I know some phone work just by removing the SIM card and putting it back in. This doesn't erase it because it is a SIM card, but seems to reset the phone.

Ideas for RIAs

Ozone42 — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:39:25

I'm about to start playing with Flex to see if it is useful enough for me to invest the time to really catch up with the Flash scene again. I tend to avoid it for several reasons, but as Flex is essentially letting you use some of the good features of flash without necessarily dealing with the headache that is the flash development environment, I figure it's worth another look.

So what I'm looking for are ideas to make a nifty little flex app. We had a thread earlier on where we shared clever domain name ideas, and I'd like to take this note down a similar path.

What I've thought of so far:

Explore my music library: Essentially export an XML from itunes and then hook into various web services to show album art, info, maybe preview tune or hook into last.fm, etc.
Photo gallery: It's been done ad nauseam, but it's still a good little intro app to build.
Friendfeed redux: some sort of clever little interface around the multitude of social sites that provide rss or xml of your profile.
Stat visualizer: Pick some interesting service and do some analytics for it.

What do you all have? What kind of RIA would you like to see, or use?

Mobile texting problem

NoelKingsley — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 18:31:05

Thanks Oli. I've been through the entire menu and can't find a reference to SIM. I'll try and find a handbook somewhere....!

Noel

Mobile texting problem

Oli — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:46:16

I would have thought going through all the SMS folders and scrubbing everything (like you did in the inbox) would do the trick. There might also be a delete-all function hidden somewhere. I'm not sure because I'm not familiar with Ericssons

Mobile texting problem

NoelKingsley — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:32:13

Oli,
Thanks for this tip. How do I clear the Sim Card?
Thanks,

Noel

Mobile texting problem

Oli — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:22:35

A common problem on old phones is that they stored all the SMS messages on the SIM, giving you a stupidly low message limit. Your inbox might be empty but you could well have a ton of outbox messages and status reports clogging up the tubes.

Mobile texting problem

NoelKingsley — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:00:29

I'm having a texting problem with my old Ericsson T28 mobile phone and wondered if anyone has a solution to offer me. I can send a text OK but it's not receiving texts into my Inbox. When someone sends me a text, the little envelope appears on the screen to say I have a New Message Waiting, but it flashes rather than stay constant. When I go to my Inbox, it's always empty. I sent myself a text to test this; it was Sent OK, the envelope symbol appeared and flashes, but the message does not come into my Inbox.

Any ideas anyone?.......apart from buying a new phone!

Many thanks,
Noel

iPod Touch 2G in September?

RightOn — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 19:13:18

Exactly, everything I would like on my iPod Touch (next/previous track buttons, camera) I can get by buying an iPhone. Putting them on the iPod would confuse product identity.

I wonder though... since AT&T is allowing users to turn their EDGE iPhones into iPods by killing the phone feature when you upgrade to the 3G, if sales of disabled iPhones will ramp up on ebay...

iPod Touch 2G in September?

alexsuraci — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 05:22:37

With something like the iPod Touch most updates would probably be in terms of software.

I can't really think of any hardware-related complaints, actually.

iPod Touch 2G in September?

RightOn — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 04:59:18

I'm not sure WHAT they would do other than up the capacity... adding anything the iPhone has hardware wise would kill some sales for the iPhone.

iPod Touch 2G in September?

fuscom — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 04:29:30

So, I've decided to buy an iPod Touch. I'm pretty satisfied with how it's being upgraded with some of the features they announced for the iPhone 3G, but now I'm reading in some places that a second generation Touch is due out in September.

So my question is, what do you think a second generation Touch would include, and should I put off this purchase until it's released?

How Twitter could be worth nothing in a year

Ozone42 — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:54:13

You know, we've been saying these same things for like 4 months now? Maybe longer?

I think it's obvious twitter has to shape up to survive, but I don't think the decline has even started yet. I think they're still growing as far as users goes.

Myspace is still terrible, has problems ALL the time. It's been terrible ever since it started to get popular, but I think we're just now seeing it begin to decline.

Judge Orders YouTube to Give All User Histories to Viacom

Tyme — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:34:19

This concerns me. The judge is clueless so why does he have this case? The fact that he made this decision proves how irrelevant he is in cases like this. Names and IP addresses for their YouTube users. Thank goodness this is happening to a company that has the means to fight it.

And I'm thankful most times when I watch videos I'm not logged in. :)

How Twitter could be worth nothing in a year

Tyme — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:25:06

But that's the thing - they might not be for long. Twitter shut down access to a lot of their backend. This isn't anything different than what has happened in the past. People will move to the service that best suits them. If you're unhappy how long will you and your friends stay? Many people (tens of thousands) have moved to FriendFeed. Twitter didn't blink - services are still shut off. That says a lot.

In this case there has always been a divide of people using it how they wanted to vs. how the owners envisioned their service being used. In those cases who wins out? The one paying the bills. They've reached the point where they have enough people using their service the way they want there is no need (business wise) to care about the rest. They are dead weight.

Identi.ca is the first option (according to them) that is open-source meaning people shouldn't be able to fall into the same trap in what happened to Twitter. So technically, it's the first viable option unless there was another open-source one before it. I'm not saying it is the solution but right now it's the first one I know of that is a viable solution.

Me, I'm coasting because I follow people via RSS on Twitter. Haven't missed a thing. :)

Keep Your Original iPhone As A WiFi-Enabled iPod

Oli — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:24:37

I'm actually really surprised that AT&T would let people do this.

And I'm surprised you're surprised. Seriously: I don't get it.

I've seen this thread buzzing away in RSS and I haven't paid it any attention, just marking it read and moving on but now I've read it and I don't understand why you're surprised.

What was the alternative? AT&T forcing people to keep their units tethered to an AT&T account?

Or are you shocked that the iPhone can run SIM-free? Even so, surely the US has pay-as-you-go SIMs that only cost £1 or thereabouts?

News would be: AT&T allow you to convert your old iPhone to wlan VOIP handset. Or is that already a viable feature?

How Twitter could be worth nothing in a year

RightOn — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:13:45

That was my point... a viable alternative. Twitter may be crap, but everyone I follow is using Twitter.

There are a handful of really nice looking alternatives, but then I can't follow the people I am.