Testing MarsEdit

MarsEdit is a blogging tool for the Mac. I am a bit disappointed that it doesnt seem to do WYSIWYG editing.

It's been a while since the latest Mac and iPhone update. Here is a brief summary: You can currently buy any 8 or 16GB iPhone and make it work for your carrier without signing a proprietary new contract with anybody. Here is how it works:

1. Buy one (in the U.S. if possible because the Apple $/EUR exchange rate is 1/1 whereas the rest of the world currently does 1.56/1 - so a U.S. 16 GB ifon is 370EUR incl. taxes compared to 500 in Europe)
2. Go to http://www.Ziphone.org and Download the application for your platform (Windows or Mac)
3. On Windows, install iTunes of you haven't done so yet. Connect your iPhone to the PC/Mac. Plug in the ifon.
4. Install and Run Ziphone, Click the "Do it all" and "Go" buttons, wait for 4 minutes while watching you iPhone in awe.
5. Get a paper-clip to remove the SIM tray from the iPhone, put in yours

You are done. Once done playing check the Installer application that's now on your iPhone.

If you are lucky enough to be a German T-Mobile customer with a non-iPhone plan you have to add an entry to the carrier.plist file to allow for editing the EGDE settings of your fon. Details can be found here. Do that:
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Don't upgrade your hacked, jailbroken, unsimlocked iPhone to Release 1.1.1 of the iPhone Firmware. Don't yet. Wait for the mouse to catch the cat.

In case you could not wait and lost the simlock break or the jailbreak or you even bricked your iPhone, it's not an expensive door stopper yet, you can go back.

Check out 9to5's guide on how to downgrade to 1.0.2. Seems Apple is getting the same deseases as Microsoft, in many ways. Read more ...

Wer Apple Mail mit OX oder anderen IMAP basierten Mail-Lösungen verwendet hat vielleicht Probleme damit, die gesendeten Mails oder die Entwürfe auf dem Server zu speichern. Dank einiger OXen und Francisco wurde ich nun erhellt, dass man vor allem "Geänderte Postfächer automatisch synchronisieren" anclickern und als IMAP Pfad Prefix "INBOX" angeben muss, etwa so: Read more ...

July 11, 22:22pm: One day of vacation

Spent some time fighting with my son (11) on who gets to play with the iPhone. Left for a 2-3wk vacation to France today so I had to load the iPhone before we left. It did cost me 2hrs to define the 7.320.000.000 bytes of stuff that go in the device. I wish it had 250GB, saves a lot of time to simply take everyting. UMTS is a major omission and I really hope this will be part of the Euro-iPhone launch "surprises".

July 10, 18:46pm: iPhone has arrived in Germany

After some major FedEx Snafu (self-inflicted) the iPhone finally made it to Berghausen. Customs was kind enough to collect the import charges (128EUR).

It comes in a sweet little box. This is the moment...

But unfortunately and as expected, it won't play with my German T-Mobile SIM - but the American AT&T SIM roams nicely into Germany.

But this will not hurt Apple's stock price (it actually went up 10% after the iPhone launch as people may think it meets expectactions.

(WiFi still works, even with the T-Mobile card)

My first impression: It meets my expectations and it certainly is the gadget of the year. Go, Apple, go - force some innovation in the mobile phone market!

July 3, 22:58pm:

Hendrik found something:

The iPhone is locked to AT&T. Right now, a bunch of phone "hackers" worldwide are looking for a method to remove the SIM lock. The problem is: even if they succeed, the phone part may work but the iTunes part may not. Apparently the iTunes DRM activation is connected to the AT&T subscribing activation, meaning: if you don't subscribe to AT&T and at the same time activate the iTunes usage capability using your iTunes name or registering a new one, you basically hold a useless but stylish brick in your hand. Caution. I already know two guys in Germany who ordered one through eBay but right now, there is no solution for the SIM lock and iTunes activation. I doubt that the iPhone would permit an activation with an iTunes account registered in Germany or any other country than the US.

Check this link Gizmodo link before getting an iPhone, it actually explains what it can and can't.

Well, since I've never bought DRM'ed music I wouldn't care much about music not playing. But breaking the activation will be an issue. tbc...

July 3, 22:07pmCET:

Waiting has it's advantages as it gives Hackers time to work on a few things. German Heise reports that efforts have started to get into the iPhone and to crack the provider lock. There is a Wiki that seems so popular already that they are asking not to be Digg'ed etc :)

July 3, 15:26pmCET:

While I am waiting for FexEx I am more and more astounded about what an iPhone can do:

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How to upgrade the new LED based Santa Rosa MacBook Pro 15" to 4Gig RAM and 250 Gig HD.

Is the LED display worth a buy: Yes, I think it is. The display is much brighter that on the predecessor and more brilliant. Read more ...