AT&T Site Down For Upgrades

Looks like AT&T is upgrading their site for their brand new friend… iPhone 3G.

WWDC ‘08 – LIVE COVERAGE

So that’s it, no one more thing. But hey, $200 for the new iPhone 3G, it’s more affordable than ever!

 

11:50 am	Overviewing # of sessions and labs at WWDC — best yet. Steve thanks the crowd and leaves the stage.
11:48 am	Steve is having the crowd thank the iPhone team.
11:47 am	Steve is showing the ad one more time.
11:47 am	The ad depicts security guards carrying a safe that is unlocked to unveil the iPhone 3G.
11:46 am	The iPhone 3G will be available July 11th in 22 countries. The maximum price around the world is $199 USD. Now showing an ad.
11:45 am	$299 for the 16GB — a white version of this size will be available too.

 

11:45 am	$299 for the 16GB — a white version of this size will be available too.
11:45 am	Now on to the final challenge — affordability. Started at $599 for an 8GB iPhone, now $399. The iPhone 3G 8GB will sell for… $199.
11:43 am	That rollout will occur over the coming few months.
11:43 am	China, Japan, Australia, etc. 70 countries total.
11:42 am	Checking off 3G from the list of challenges. The second challenge, enterprise support, is fully built-in and can be checked off. The third challenge, third party application support, can also be checked off. The fourth challenge, more countries, can be checked off as it will be available in Canada, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands and many others — “It’s a Small World” is playing as countries continue to appear on the map.

 

11:39 am

With GPS, the iPhone can do tracking. A pulsating dot is moving across the Google map as a car drives down Lombard street.

 

11:38 am

Data from cell towers, WiFi networks, and now — GPS.

 

11:38 am

GPS support now integrated into the iPhone.

 

11:38 am

3G has great battery life on iPhone. 300 hours of standby, 2G talk-time now has 10 hours (as opposed to 5), 5 hours of 3G talk-time (most phones only have 3 hour 3G talk time), 5 to 6 hours of high-speed browsing, 7 hours of video, 24 hours of audio.

 

11:36 am

2.8X faster. Approaching WiFi speeds (WiFi scored 17 seconds). When compared to other 3G phones (Nokia N95 and Treo 750), the iPhone is 36% faster — and better looking.

 

11:35 am

How does the iPhone 3G tackle the challenges? 3G = faster data downloads, perfect for Safari and Mail. Comparing download speeds between 3G and EDGE. 3G finished in 21 seconds. EDGE finished in 59 seconds.

YES YES YES YES

11:33 am	Apple has learned so much with the first iPhone. They have taken everything they’ve learned and more and created the iPhone 3G. Even thinner, black plastic back, solid metal buttons, same gorgeous display, camera, flush headphone jack, and dramatically improved audio.
11:32 am	Introducing the iPhone 3G.

This could be it!!!

 

11:31 am

1) 3G network support 2) Enterprise support 3) Third party application support 4) More countries (joking about unlocked iPhones in countries not officially supported) 5) More affordable

 

11:30 am	Apple figured out what the next challenges are.
11:30 am	In the first year, 6 million iPhones until Apple ran out several weeks ago.
11:29 am	Users love them too — 90% customer satisfaction (off the carts), 98% are browsing online, 94% are using email, 90% are using text messaging, 80% are using 10 or more features.

 

11:29 am

The iPhone had an amazing intro with tremendous critical acclaim.

11:28 am	Steve is now talking about the iPhone’s first birthday.
11:28 am	A 60-day free trial will be available along with the iPhone 2.0 software in early July. MobileMe replaces .mac. .mac subscribers will automatically be upgraded. Steve has retaken the stage.
11:27 am	He just sent a photo to a previously created gallery on MobileMe, which appeared through the web-based interface very quickly.

 

11:25 am	Now he’s adding a meeting through the web-based calendar and showing that it appears immediately on the iPhone. Within seconds of making an adjustment to the calendar entry through the web interface, the update appeared on the phone.
11:24 am	He’s showing that a pushed email appeared immediately on the phone as well as the web interface. A contact he just created on the phone also showed up right away on the web interface.

11:22 am	The iDisk app allows files to be sent to people right through the app. Phil is now demonstrating the over-the-air functionality.
11:21 am	The gallery app allows for drag & drop too as well as live thumbnail scaling like in iPhoto.
11:21 am	The calendar app has the typical day, week, and month views. Color coding and drag & drop events is supported as well.
11:20 am	The contacts app incorporates lists, live search, and Google map integration.
11:20 am	The Mail app allows panes to be resized, multiple messages to be selected like a real application, and quick reply in-line.

EPIC!!!!!

11:18 am	iDisk is integrated into Me.com as well. Phil is now demonstrating the functionality.
11:18 am	Unbelievable looking Mail, Contacts, Calendar, and Gallery applications. Photos are synched over the air too.

11:16 am	Includes incredible Web 2.0 applications to provide a desktop-like experience on the web to work with all of the data. Me.com.
11:16 am	Works over the air. Changes are displayed immediately. Works with Mail, iCal, and Address Book on Mac. Works with Outlook on Windows.
11:15 am	Everything stays in sync between iPhone, Mac, and PC. Data gets synched automatically both ways.

 

11:14 am

“It works like ActiveStink… er… ActiveSync” – Phil. Push email, contacts, and calendars. Everything is up-to-date, wherever you are.

 

11:13 am	Exchange — for the rest of us.
11:13 am	MobileMe. Phil is on stage to demo.
11:13 am	Now, something entirely new.

 

11:11 am

Enterprises can distribute apps just to their employees. They authorize iPhones within their enterprise and then create applications that just run on those phones. The apps can be distributed just through their intranet.

 

11:10 am

Available in 62 countries. If the app is less than 10MB, it can be downloaded through the cell network. Otherwise, it requires WiFi or iTunes.

 

 

 

11:09 am

Talking about the App Store. A way for developers to reach every single iPhone user. Wireless download support, automatic updates, developer sets the price and keep 70% of revenue, FairPlay wrapped, no charge to anyone for free apps.

 

11:08 am

iPhone 2.0 will be available in early for July. Free for iPhone owners, $9.99 for iPod Touch owners.

 

11:08 am	Fantastic Asian language support, including character recognition. All of the languages can be switched between on the fly. These are all some of the new features in the iPhone 2.0 software.
11:07 am	Steve is discussing new features in the iPhone 2.0 software. First, contact search with live searching. Second, full iWork document support. Third, complete support for Office documents (Word, Excel, and now PowerPoint). Fourth, bulk delete & move for messages. Fifth, the ability to save images you get. Sixth, a new calculator with scientific mode when you rotate the iPhone. Seventh, parental controls. Eight, tremendous language support.
11:04 am	This functionality won’t be available until September, but will be seeded to developers soon. Steve has retaken the stage.
11:04 am	When the user quits the application, Apple will push updates from their servers to the iPhone. The developer’s servers push the notifications to Apple. These updates can include badges, sounds, and custom messages. This requires just one persistent connection and is extremely scalable.

From MacRumors:

11:02 am	Apple has come up with a far better solution — a push notification service available for all developers.
11:02 am	The wrong solution would be to allow for background processes — bad for battery life and performance. Poking fun at Windows Mobile’s task manager.
11:00 am	Thanking the developers for their hard work. Now talking about how the #1 request has been background support. Apple wants to solve this problem.

Giz:

Jason Chen:                             

Modality is for medical students to view body parts and see where everything is. Much more fun than reading this crap in a book.

10:53 AM ON JUN 9 2008

Jason Chen:                             

Next up is Modality. He’s talking about the medical software company Epocrates, who was on stage last time when Apple introduced the SDK (Hi Dixie!). He’s introducing two new medical apps, one of which is Modality.

 

10:50 am

Next — MLB.com. The app shows today’s games with live, detailed scoring. It also includes real-time video highlights, which are delivered right after the play — not the game. It will be included in the launch of the App Store. Next — Modality.

(I think this is the same band from Installer)

 

10:48 am

Band includes a virtual piano, drums, 12-bar blues “instrument”, and a bass. All of the instruments sound very impressive and what you play can be recorded.

 

10:46 am

Both games will be on the App Store at launch for $9.99 each. Next — Band, written by an independent developer from the UK.

 

MacRumors:

10:44 am	Next — Pangea Software. They have ported 2 games to the iPhone. The first game is Enigmo, which is a physics-based game. Makes advanced use of the touch controls as well as the CPU. The second game is Cro-Mag Rally, which is a 3D racing game — the iPhone itself is the steering wheel.
10:41 am	They call it the Mobile News Network, and it gathers content from many trusted sources. It makes use of the location API by automatically showing nearby sources. Allows news video and photos to be viewed directly through the app. You can even report on news yourself by sending a first-hand report that includes photos and text. The app will be free at the launch of the App Store.

 

Jason Chen:

Even the Associated Press is making their own iPhone application. It’s basically like a news fetching program that knows where you are so it can fetch local newspapers to your phone. Stories are saved on your phone to read offline, and you can flip through photos like Fergie dancing or Chris Rock on the defendant’s chair using the iPhone’s touch screen. There’s even video.

From Giz:

Jason Chen:

WordPress tells me their native iPhone app is coming soon, somewhere around the end of the week or early next week.

 

 

10:39 am	The app will also be available for free at the launch of the App Store. Next up — AP (Associated Press).
10:38 am	Next — TypePad. Their native app makes it very simple to blog or send in a photo. The photo can be taken right then using the camera, or be selected from the gallery.

 

10:36 am	User profiles show a log of where the person has been and the photos they’ve sent in. It’s easy to call or text them as well. Works with Loopt users on other platforms and will be available for free at the launch of the App Store.
10:34 am	Next — Loopt, a location-aware social network. The app displays a map with pins representing where your friends currently are.

 

10:30 am

Available at the launch of the App Store for $9.99.

MacRumors:

10:29 am

Sega is first up — showing Super Monkey Ball again, but now with over 100 levels. Playing through the last world, which demonstrates how well the tilt-control works.

MacRumors:

10:27 am

Inviting a number of developers on stage to demo their apps.

Giz:

Jason Chen:

Easy! His sample app is a contact searching app. Using location-based services (a new feature!) he filters contacts to only people who are within miles of his current location. This may or may not mean a GPS is coming. We’ll see. It’s doable using the current location program (the Twitter client Twinkle does this already).

Giz:

Jason Chen:

Xcode, Interface Builder and iPhone Simulator are the apps you to code, debug and test the programs you want to run on iPhone. There’s also Instruments, which lets you “measure and optimize your application to get the absolute best performance from it.” Scott is going to demonstrate how you construct your interface in Interface Builder.

 

Gizmodo:

Jason Chen:                                           

“With the SDK, we’re opening up the same tools we’re using internally…” Keep in mind that a lot of this talk is going to be for developers.

10:17 AM ON JUN 9 2008

Jason Chen:                                           

Next up, SDK. Scott Forestall is coming out to show off the new apps in the SDK.

 

10:16 am

The video has ended and Steve has retaken the stage. Now talking about the SDK. Scott Forestell has been brought on stage to demonstrate.

From Gizmodo:

Jobs is rolling a video of their enterprise customers trying out the iPhone’s enterprise features. Disney, the Army, and various other companies’ IT teams are talking about how many people they’ve got on the iPhone, how many apps they made, blah blah blah. You don’t really care about this.

 

10:14 am

The video demonstrated searching contacts, which filters contacts as you type.

From Mac Rumors (here on out):

10:13 am	CTOs of various companies discussing interest and usage in iPhone 2.0 from their employees.
10:12 am	Higher-education has participated too. Showing a video of enterprise and higher-education use of iPhone 2.0.
10:11 am	The enterprise world has participated in the beta program. 35% of Fortune 500 companies have participated.

112P: Starting with enterprise. Exchange support out of the box — push email / contacts / calendars, auto-discovery, global address book, remote wipe.

110P: Bertrand Serlet to intro Snow Leopard after lunch

108P: 52,000 attendees at WWDC

1:08 pm: ”We’ve been working real hard on some great stuff that we can’t wait to share with you.”

1:08 pm: STEVE HAS TAKEN THE STAGE

 

1:04 pm (EST): Keynote is to start shortly. Celeb sightings include Walt Mossberg and Al Gore!

WWDC ‘08 – SteveNote 10 minutes and counting

10 more minutes guys… ten more minutes.

I’m broadcasting live coverage at http://tinyurl.com/5pwqcg

Apple Store Down

Apple Store is officially down for updating products unveiled by Jobsy! 30 minutes till SteveNote!

WWDC ‘08 – 44 MINUTES TILL STEVENOTE

That’s right, 44 minutes until SteveNote folks! Keep your browsers pointed here for all of the latest news on what ‘ol Jobsy unveils. I’ll keep the official post with new news on the top, old news on bottom. I’ll do my best to keep the posts organized, complete with pictures from Michael Arrington and Co. live from the Moscone Center.

3G iPhone Boxes Showing Up at Apple Retail Stores

Oh how I wish I was an Apple Store Employee right now. Looks like each store has received a mysterious box, one box per store, of an unknown product along with unidentified signage. Evidently there are strict rules, keeping each store from opening the said boxes and signage until next week.

3G iPhones? Most likely. 

Am I stoked? Oh you bet your bottom dollar!

By the way, my iPhone is for sale, and if you’re one of my blog readers, I’ll give you a special discount and some extra stuff too! Just email me at igerard8@gmail.com with code DD4D and a screenshot of my blog on your rss feed reader for my special price. You get a brand new iPhone (replaced by Applecare on May 21, kept in case since), original box, ac adapter, dock, usb cable, and headphones.

Wondering what my extras are? Hit me up!

Wal-Mart Can Fix Computers Too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looks like retail giant Wal-Mart (WMT) want to join in the computer repair industry. Attempting to compete with the already prominent Best Buy Geek Squad and Circuit City’s Firedog, Wal-Mart feels it could be a big competitor.

This really sounds like a good idea but, personally, I really don’t shop at Wal-Mart all that much. I’m a Target kind of guy. Honestly, the clientele at Wal-Mart, here in Gainesville at least, is a little sketch. This could be due to the fact that I only go to Wal-Mart at 2 in the morning, but that’s a totally different subject. Looking at some of the workers at Wal-Mart, I’m really not sure in trusting one of them to fix (dig around) my computer. In fact, I don’t trust many people at all with my computer.

One main complaint I hear about Geek Squad are the very high prices that are charged for service. The thing is, the great service balances out the price. Have any of you had a bad experience with Best Buy’s Geek Squad or Circuit City’s Firedog?

I wonder… what would Wal-Mart’s techies drive? A Ford Windstar maybe? Complete with duct tape windows and window unit AC.

[Read via Gizmodo]

WWDC ‘08 – 10 hours and 48 minutes

Oh man, oh man, oh man. I’m s0oo0ooo0o excited. There are no words for it. I am really about to pee my wee little pants.

It’ll all kick off with Steve’s keynote at 10 a.m. (1 p.m. for us on the east coast) and live blogging by every tech blog in the world (including yours truly) will be covering this most awesome event. So go ahead and schedule your lunch breaks, lock the doors, and stay glued to your monitors.

Apple will upload a video of Steve’s keynote to iTunes as soon as they can. If you want to experience the surprises with the keynote, I’d advise you stay away from any blogs. Some places are offering their sites sans Apple news, but I don’t know how to do it. Also, considering this IS an Apple-centric blog, I don’t really want to block it out .

So stay tuned here for all the newest updates on Steve’s keynote from the Moscone Center, San Francisco CA!

Zune Touch? But Why?…

Through all of the iPhone hype, there is some small voices in the crowd in ‘ol Steve’s [Ballmer aka that crazy sweaty guy] camp. In a recent interview at SFGate by Engadget’s Robbie Bach suggested that touchscreen technologies may come to Microsoft’s… kind-of-successful-but-not-really Zune.

That leaves just one very important question. Why?…

For you Zune users out there, sorry. I still think you’re a good person.

[Read via Engadget]