So by now you’ve probably heard that there is an update available for the iPhone (v1.1.1)

I don’t have an unlocked iPhone, but I do have a jailbroken iPhone so I can install 3rd party apps and sftp any damned ringtone I want without having to pay $2 for something I already own.

Apple threw us a curve ball and encrypted the firmware so at the moment the community is back to square one trying to jailbreak v1.1.1

Until then I have no desire to get the new WifiTunes store at the cost of loosing all my customizations, ringtones, and ApolloIM!! Sorry Apple, not worth it for us to update quite yet.

The native instant messenger application for the iphone made huge progress in the latest release, including additional network support (DotMac, ICQ, MSN in addition to AIM).

Keep up the great work guys, by far the best iPhone app out there!

I can’t tell you how excited I am to finally have this working. I have tried everything under the sun that claimed to be able to sync my google calendar with my iphone. Some were web based, others windows based apps even a handful that were addons to outlook. My worst experience was with plaxo, it deleted all my google calendars! Thank god a few days later I got an email from google saying that they were going to restore all my calendars (thank you google!).

Back to the plot of this post, CompanionLink for Google Calendar has finally closed the gap between the native iPhone calendar and google calendar featuring a full two way multi calendar synchronization. It might not be the most elegant solution, but it is the most robust logic engine I have tried so far. Every corner case I threw at it was handled exactly as I would have expected. No surprises = greatly satisfied customer.

It isn’t free, but after trying all the garbage that is out there I was more than happy to lay down $30 to help support this application. For the first time since June 29th I am now tapping the calendar button and using it rather than staring at a blank calendar

Ok to be fair I have to list possible Cons -

• Requires Outlook as an intermediator, not a problem for me, I already use Outlook.
• The sync process involves 3 passes (and 2 itunes/outlook <-> iphone syncs to occur).
• There doesn’t appear to be a way to specify which outlook or google calendar to plop iphone created events on, looks to create them on the ‘Main’ calendar. This might not be easily solvable until the iPhone calendar supports multiple calendars so I’m not surprised or disappointed that this support isn’t there yet.

All in all I recommend this sync app to anyone who is sick of waiting for apple and google and want to use that darn calendar app to its full potential!

So I finally got the energy to hang all the curtain rods and curtains in the great room this weekend. I am glad that job is done. No more curtains to hang anywhere in the house is such a good feeling haha. I took the opportunity to clean the inside and outside of all the windows since I don’t plan on taking that sectional apart again for a long time. Those double hung vinyl windows are a cinch to clean, I was pleasantly surprised.

Now time to go watch the game

For every new fool-proof invention there is a new and improved fool.

Hackers find way to make free custom ringtones… Apple releases update to plug hole… Hackers find another way to make free custom ringtones.

Another great release for ApolloIM, more stable and some nice tweaks

• Loads of stability fixes!
• Removed options button in favor of using the ringer button.
• Ringer button dictates vibrate or playing sounds
• New Sounds, only send/recv, but much more pleasant
• Fixed Conversation window sometimes not responding after resume from suspend
• Fixed “Disconnect not disconnecting”
• Added Wifi Keep Alive If you are using SummerBoard, the latest version now works with ApolloIM to not turn off Wifi. There is no reconnect support yet, but this is a solid feature. Note: This will drain your battery much faster because Wifi is kept on while in lock while ApolloIM is running. But it works pretty great and the drain seems to be manageable
• Does not vibrate on send.

I did notice one missing/broken feature in this release, the notification bubble on Springboard no longer shows the message count for new received messages. Neither does the buddy list.

If the horribly scary idea of using a closed source package installer wasn’t enough to make you steer clear of Installer.app before, maybe their stupid policies will now. I woke up this morning to find a flurry of political BS surrounding their decision to remove some app, then others followed suit in retaliation by removing their packages.

All I have to say is HAHAHHAHAHHA

I love it, just don’t use those installers people, you don’t really need them, they don’t really save you that much time, and if you don’t feel comfortable or don’t think you know enough about linux to do the modding/installing of apps on your own. Well, what better a situation to learn from? Don’t take the easy road all the time, you won’t learn as much

UPDATE: Looks like they shook hands and came to an agreement.  Will I use the new AppTapp? NO, haha

Check out these instructions for getting your free custom ringtones synced through iTunes to your iPhone! Great news!

UPDATE: iTunes 7.4.1 breaks this easy method, but someone might have another simple solution for you to try.

I bit my tongue blogging about this mess because I knew Apple would have to respond at some point. With all the bad publicity that their $200 price reduction in 2 months (33%) and canceling of the 4GB model of the iPhone has created, they couldn’t just sweep it under the carpet.

Well today they did respond with a peace offering of $100 credit at Apple stores. Of course there will be fine print, but basically if you are > 14 days since your purchase date and haven’t been given a rebate from Apple or AT&T yet, you should be entitled to this credit. Stay tuned to Apple.com next week for details to be posted.

What are my thoughts and feelings on this situation? After the jump…

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I had almost forgotten about Trillian’s new Astra product. I had signed up for their alpha/beta testing program a long time ago and just got the invite tonight. The desktop app (trillian 4) loads faster and has a pretty skin, but I’ve yet to see a feature that I couldn’t live without. When you get down to nuts and bolts what are you opening a chat client to do? Chat. Everything else is dressing. If a client makes my chatting experience better/quicker/more reliable I will be more liable to use that client. I’ve been using Trillian for a long time. I am glad to see Astra load a ton faster than v3, and they have an iPhone interface.

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