Posts Tagged iPhone

iOS4 Makes My iPhone 3G Virtually Useless

Jul 9

Posted by Thom Allen in Featured, Technology | View Comments

Since upgrading to iOS4 on my iPhone 3G, I’ve had nothing but problems. And I’m not alone. Complaints from 3G owners have flooded blog posts, Twitter and Facebook streams, and even news outlets are reporting on the problems.

I’m usually one who stays on the edge of technology, but mobile devices are a little different. For me, the cost of upgrading my iPhone has been dependent on my contract with AT&T. Every time you extend your contract you lose options, or those options become more expensive.

But back to the phone issue. As it stands right now, very few of my applications are stable with iOS4. Especial those that use a lot of memory or network services. I don’t fully blame the app developers because I think this is an incompatibility with the OS and the phone. I’m sure there are some apps that aren’t quite compatible with iOS4, but the apps I’m having problems with are ones have recently been updated, and should be functioning correctly.

This lack of compatibility really drives me crazy. As Scott Lemon stated today, Apple is putting money above quality, similar to Toyota, who put money before quality, and now it has come back to bite both companies.

I like my iPhone, it has changed the way I consume information and communicate. I want to continue using my iPhone, but the complete system failures are very frustrating.

Reviewing options.

[Update] Before I even posted this, my iPhone has crashed, not recognized by iTunes, and I am now restoring from a backup. Incredible.

Tags: iOS4, iPhone, Technology

Facebook Pushes Out New iPhone App

Jan 6

Posted by Thom Allen in Featured, Technology | View Comments

A long awaited update to the very popular Facebook iPhone application was pushed out to the App Store today. This new version has several new features which you may or may not like; Push Notifications, and contact syncing.

The contact syncing is a great new feature that pulls data from your Facebook friends, and adds or updates there information in your iPhone Contact app. I like that it includes the photo of the person, because I always forget to take a profile pic when we meet. This new feature also elminates the need for a second app I was using to do a sync.

The other major feature is push notification. The little popup messages that notifying you that of an update on Facebook. There are a couple of issues with push. It’s a great way to stay informed, which means I don’t have to check Facebook to see what is going on. But the way Push Notification works, it generally requires you to respond to the notification before you can do anything to the screen under it. This can be annoying if your playing a game, or typing a message. So you’ll have to see if push works for you.

This application is so good you could bypass using the web at all. Get it on your iPhone through the App icon, or through iTunes.

Tags: Facebook, iPhone

FourSquare Finally Makes Sense

Jan 5

Posted by Thom Allen in Featured, Technology | View Comments

If you’re on Twitter or Facebook, you’ve probably seen posts like these “Thom A. @ Sonic (123 Main) at 9:30PM”. This interesting app let’s users “check-in” at some location, and share that with their online friends. No one should feel left out because they offer an iPhone, Android and BlackBerry version.

At first I didn’t get it. Fact is, until this afternoon, I still didn’t get it. But then this little message popped up when I checked in at Chick-Fil-A in Sandy, Utah.

After I saw this, it hit me, the untapped value of an application like FourSquare. What a strategic opportunity for businesses or events to push an announcement to the person checking in. Here I am checking in at Chick-Fil-A and I get a note to check out Fudruckers, about 50 feet away. I could possibly have been given a code to use for a discount on a meal.

I’m going to target a few places and see what I can come up with. My first attempt will be to add information on PodCampSLC 2010. If you check in at places around Neumont University, I’m going to suggest you check out the site.

Tags: FourSquare, iPhone, Marketing

My Take On 2010 Technology Predictions Part 1

Dec 17

Posted by Thom Allen in Technology | View Comments

My good friend Kip Meacham asked his fellow propeller heads what they thought about Mark Anderson predictions he gave for 2010 in this video interview with BusinessWeek. Some the predictions I agree with, and others I don’t. I’m breaking this up into a 5 part series, giving my take on Marks 10 predictions for 2010. Here are my thoughts:

Platform Wars
There are more technology options for consumers today than ever before. I really think the three big ones to watch next year will Netbooks, Smart Mobile devices (phones like Android and iPhone), and eBook readers (like the Amazon Kindle).

Netbooks are so cheap, you can almost look at them as disposable computers. With sizes around 10 inches, they almost fit in your pocket. Enough memory and storage to perform basic computing tasks, you can almost get away with using nothing but a Netbook. There are plenty of hacks out there to help you find all the online services you could need, for free, or very cheap.
Smart Mobile Devices, the one device people are never more than a few feet away from these days, will really start to change the mobile computing landscape this next year. Retailers and web site that sell products, really need to step up to the plate and offer mobile versions of their site, with complete e-commerce. This technology is available now, it just needs to be implemented. Don’t miss this huge opportunity.
eBook Readers like the Kindle have come on the market very strong. The Kindle isn’t the only player, in fact I don’t care for the physical device, but I am very excited about their iPhone and PC software versions. Other players in this market will need to catch up.

While smaller devices should increase their market share in the coming year, there is a lot of infrastructure that needs to catch up. One of those is e-commerce and micro payments which I’ll cover in another part of this series.

Another issue is always on Internet access. Today you can get 3G wireless Internet access on Smart Mobile devices, PC or phone, but at a hefty cost. More and more places are offering free or cheap Internet access, like the local coffee shop or library.

Tags: eBook, iPhone, Netbook