Unlocked iPhones a problem for Apple?

How many times in the past few days have you heard that unlocked iPhones are a problem for Apple it's all doom and it's the end of the world? Well time for a reality check folks here are the facts:

1. Apple is not selling iPhones at a discount so they are making a profit on the iPhone (no matter how small).
   
2. Don't underestimate the halo effect! Once you have an iPhone or any other Apple product your more likely to buy another Apple product.
   
3. Apple could never guarantee that all iPhone purchases would not unlock their phone. Get over the revenue sharing it's a nice extra but it can never be a guarantee in the real world.
   
4. Happy users most iPhone owners LOVE their iPhone! Not many other phones can boast about their happy users.
   
5. Where are all those missing iPhones many are without a doubt in Hong Kong while other have met other fates.

Good news from the other side of the pond as well as O2 is said to be increasing their users iPhone data plans. Now if only AT&T would do the same in the USA!

There have been a number of rumors that soon you may be able to order your cup of joe (coffee) from Starbucks directly from your iPhone or iPod Touch. You can even checkout some of the QuickOrder artwork.

Check out a Russian woman attempting to use and iPhone.

Stranded at the airport? Don't forget Rule 240

Travel Editor Peter Greenberg explains the unwritten rule that can get you on your way when your flight is canceled or delayed. Rule 240 was created by the old Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) way before the days of airline deregulation. And the rule clearly stated what an airline's responsibilities were to passengers in the event of a flight cancellation or delay. Rule 240 mandated that an airline facing a delayed or canceled flight had to transfer you to another carrier if 1) the second carrier could get you to your destination more quickly than the original line and 2) it had available seats. In pre-deregulation days, all the big U.S. airlines adhered to this practice. Today most still allow rule 240 if you ask nicely.

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7 Abandoned Wonders of the Former Soviet Union [w/ pics]

There are abandonments all over the world, but the former Soviet Union has some of the most interesting, unique and strange abandoned buildings. The complex political, military and social history of the country has led to everything from almost-finished buildings abandoned before actual use and entire abandoned cities to chilling gulags.

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OS X Russian support

If you were running Tiger 10.4 and you speak running you probably found your way to Apple's site in Russia and downloaded the Russian fonts and localized applications. The problem with this method of adding Russian support to your OS was that you could not use software update in the future. However I am happy to say that in Leopard 10.5 Russian is fully supported. Apple is also working slowly to increase it's presence in Russia as reported in the Moscow Times. But it's still a labor of love to buy a Macintosh in Russia let alone find a store that sells this wonderful computer. I look forward to the day when Apple will open corporate stores in major malls and shopping areas just like they do in Europe and the USA. I also wish Apple would pay more attention those who don't speak English I want to be able to go to the Apple online store and buy a keyboard in Russian (or any other language) without having to actually go to that country! I still remember spending a day trying to find an store that sold Apple computers and buying a keyboard.

Work at home for big profits!

How many times have you seen these work at home type of ad's? Even the ligitmate ones never live up to all the promises IMHO. But you really need to run the other way screaming if they ask you to have a pal pal account and to wire money to them via Western Union as this a 100% sign they are criminals. So the best advices I can give you is use the brain the God gave you and if the deal sounds to good to be true then it is! Read more about Money Mules here.

Fox's Legal iTunes DVD Rip Works Great, Wastes Plastic

Amid all of the MacBook Air hullabaloo, you might have forgotten about the Apple announcement that Fox would begin providing "free" iTunes versions of programs via DVD. The first release was "Family Guy Presents: Blue Harvest", a Star Wars parody. Being the brave product testers that we are, we tried it out. It was, well, kinda weird. -Gizmodo

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Mac OS X 10.5.2: Optional Translucent Menubar; DVD/CD Share

Some screenshots of the new features found in the Mac OS X 10.5.2 seed have been detailed by BabyGotMac.com. Amongst the new features:- Transparency in the menu bar is now optional and can be set in Desktop Preferences:- DVD/CD sharing preferences, allowing you to share your optical driv...

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The REAL Camera Behind Cloverfield

For those who've seen the unique monster movie Cloverfield, you know that the story is supposed to be shot by the aptly-named character "Hud" from a cheapo handheld consumer camera. Convincing the audience of that point was one of the movie's most successful angles. Read more about the Sony F23.

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Confirmed: Bricked iPhones Rise From the Grave With Firmware

For all those unlocked iPhones out there that were bricked after attempting firmware upgrades, we have some great news. It appears that Apple's new 1.1.3 iPhone firmware rewrites either most or all of the phone's firmware, allowing for bricked iPhones to be brought back to life.

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Turn Your $60 Router into a Super-Router with Tomato

Since last year there's been a lot of development of open source firmwares, and today we're taking a look at my new favorite, a firmware called Tomato. It does almost everything you expect, from Wi-Fi signal boosting to Quality of Service bandwidth allocation, in addition to offering a simplified interface chock full of fancy charts and graphs

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Mysterious $100 ‘supernote’ counterfeit bills appear across world

These “supernotes" are not just any fake bills, but a counterfeit so perfect it’s become an international whodunit. The only way to distinguish some of these bills, experts say, is to compare photographically blown-up sections with magnifying instruments. About $50 million of the mystery money has been seized since 1989. However North Korea is suspected. In the late 1990s, North Korean diplomats were caught passing supernotes in Asian capitals; diplomatic immunity prevents prosecution.

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Better late then never! Microsoft Customer Service Calls Back 10 Years Later

On 01/08/2008, 10 years after he placed a call to Microsoft tech support, they called Brian back to see if his problem had been resolved. Are they just that backed up? Latent Y2K error? Phishing attempt? The truth is much more banal, and potentially, more frightening. See if you can figure out the solution before continuing on to the answer...

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MacWorld Steve Jobs keynote 2008 Buzz!

IMHO the worlds best Macintosh journal MacFormat reports that they will be at MacWorld. They will live blog the event. So all you need to do is click here at 9AM PST to see all the action. Even better yet click here to add the event to your iCal (or OutLook).

Why Apple Is Launching New Gear a Week Before Macworld

I had a briefing with Apple on their new Xserve and Mac Pros that were released today, mid week during CES, a week before Macworld 2008. I had only one question for them: Why release new gear when the Keynote is only a few days away? Their answer won't satisfy your curiousity, but here is the official.

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iPhone 1.1.3 questions answered by Gear Live

Gear Live has started answering reader and viewer questions on the iPhone 1.1.3 firmware. So IMHO while the iPhone 1.1.3 firmware seems to have a few nice features there is nothing earth shattering. Lets hope that Apple will add more features soon such as: Voice Dialing, copy & paste, Bluetooth Profiles: advanced audio distribution (stereo), phone book access, object push for vCard and vCalendar, file transfer, human interface, basic imaging for sending/printing non–protected images to a compatible device & basic print, Apple BlueTooth keyboard. Also camera night shot, Camcorder would be nice.

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2007 Darwin Awards

Named in honor of Charles Darwin, the father of evolution, the Darwin Awards commemorate those who improve our gene pool by removing themselves from it.

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