I setup my email accounts for MobileMe and Exchange. But I was told that you cannot have more than one contact or calendar set or syncing. I was confused how on 2008 people designing mobile phones did not grasp the concept of somebody wanting to separate personal and business information. After having the phone for about ten days I got to looking around. I tried turning on the Exchange calendar and wonder of wonders the iPhone made a new group “All calendars”. With contacts I was not so adventurous. I looked online then made backups of both contact lists and tried it. The heavens smiled upon me and I not only did I have separate contact lists but I was also able to view a combined list. I should have expected this to com from Apple!

•  5000 Minutes $99.99
• Buddy time (Unlimited text and Mobile to Mobile) $10.00
• T-Zones (Unlimited 2.5G data on handset) $5.99
• Monthly Total $115.98

On AT&T with the equivalent services my bill would look as follows:

• Unlimited Voice/3G Data $129.99 
• Unlimited Text $20.00
• Monthly Total $149.99

The AT&T rates do not even include sending text messages outside the US.  T-Mobile charges $0.15 per message to send an international text and the incoming messages come out of my text messaging plan.  AT&T charges $0.25 to send an International text and $0.20 to receive an international text unless you buy their international text plan for $9.99 which includes too international text messages and additional messages are $0.20.Now to be fair, the T-Mobile price would go up to $129.98 if I had a proper T-Zones plan like T-Zones Total Internet however I can do anything I need on the phone with the T-Zones plan.  T-Mobile has not officially released their 3G network so their rates may go up but that remains to be seen.  Also if I was on the T-Zones Total Internet I would be able to tether my notebook to my phone via Bluetooth and use the phone as a modem, the iPhone still does not support this without hacking that I am aware of.So other than getting an iPhone what am I getting for  the additional $34.01 per month, $408.12 per year and $816.24 at the end of my required two-year contract before taxes!Take for example how another country is promoting the iPhone.  Optus in Australia has the following statement on their iPhone pricing page “Optus is making the iPhone 3G affordable for everyone.”  Does that even sound like something you would hear spoken aloud in AT&T offices?Also because of the progressive nature of Australian government, they do not allow things like mobile phones to be locked down to a carrier.  So when an Australian iPhone user travels to another country, they can simply purchase a local pre-paid SIM and have a local number without all the international roaming surcharges… GO USA!�

Along the way I have found a series of ups and downs trying to adapt. I was surprised and amazed at the number of applications that have specific 64-Bit versions of their applications. Overall application support was not a problem and I could run all that I needed. Lately I have been running into problems with drivers. It started when I tried to connect a Visioneer Strobe XP 100. At that point I did not realize that the 32-Bit drivers would not work, so I connected and tried and tried. Finally I phoned support and was told that I could try the Vista 64 drivers but they could not guarantee that they would work for XP 64 and they had no plans to support XP 64. Needless to say that did not work and I gave up on scanner support under XP 64.

Then a few days ago I needed to have a second network adapter to my computer. Since it is a small form factor the easiest way is to use a USB to Ethernet adapter. After doing some research I came to find out there are only two or three that actually are on the HCL for XP 64 and Vista 64. One of them was the Apple USB Ethernet adapter but since people in the forums were having trouble getting them going I figured it would be better to avoid this since I would probably need to dig through Boot Camp to find the drivers if they were even released yet. Then I found the D-Link DUB-E100, it was on the list and even less than $30. It arrived last night so I plugged it in today and no-where on the disc were drivers that would install on XP 64. I went to their web site and the download version was the same as the disc with the product. I did a search for “DUB-E100 xp 64″ and the first link is a product manual for the product that has a section telling you how to install the XP 64 drivers. I noticed two things about this manual. The URL indicates it is for 3.4 not 3.3, and also it is from the D-Link Australia site. AFter playing with the URL I was able to navigate to the Autstrlian drivers and download the 3.4 package with the XP 64 drivers.

On the flip-side I also needed to use a USB to Serial adapter I bought years ago, but guess what… I needed to buy a new version from the company because they did not offer XP 64 drivers for an “old” product. After researching I found a totally generic product that scared me a little but but claimed to support almost ever operating system from Windows 98 to Vista 64 including Windows Server 2003 64! It arrived in the mail with a 3 CM disc and I put the disc in the system. Autorun opens a splash screen with options to install drivers for the product and all the drivers are clearly in their own folders on the disc. The install goes smoothly and there are even drivers for OS X and Intel!

Someone please explain to me why a generic little USB to Serial adapter that cost $17 can have broad range driver support but USB to Ethernet adapters from the likes of Linksys, Netgear and others cannot support XP 64? Why does Apple upgrade OS X to support 64-Bit processors and without obvious turmoil in requiring new driver models? Every version of Windows in recent history has had a “new and improved” driver model which while it will cause a little hassle initially will solve the problems and be the end-all, only to be replaced again for some reason?

Finally I will note that I am displeased with scanner support in OS X. The Visioneer XP 100 will not work under OS X and I see no reason why Apple should not have better native scanner support. I thought Twain was supposed to be an industry standard? All the scanners I can find that are compatible with OS X are large desktop sized ones and I just wanted a small portable scanner for occasional use.

I ordered my TiVo HD device today and am waiting to have the service transfer completed now. I was told by the nice CSR that transfering my service does not preclude future transfers should the offer be made on a newer device. Hopefully TiVo is happy that an existing user with no forseeable revenue stream is sending some more green their way and will keep making offers in the future. Then again after doing two transfers would I be better making monthly payments to the man? I guess we will have to consider that situation should the time come in the future.

Today I read that T-Mobile is offering their first 3G handset could this mean they are actually going to upgrade to 3G?

the TiVo UI makes the Comcast software look like it was written by disgruntled East Germans in 1964

I purchased my TiVo Series 1 (Sony SVR2000) on 15-Jun-2000 at Circuit City. I know this because I can still log on to my account on circuitcity.com and see my order history!

I loved my TiVo, I used it a lot back then. I was always amazed how simple the interface was. It was not cluttered and was easy to navigate. Even when they went to the Series 2 the interface did not change much. If you consider how many revisions there have been to Windows over the years, the folks at TiVo either really studied the design or just got lucky with this one.

I eventually hacked my TiVo to add a network card and used that until about 2005 when it stopped getting updates. I wondered if it was because TiVo was trying to block the hacks for Series 1 but I never found anyone else with the same problem.

I guess now TiVo is offering an upgrade to the TiVo HD unit. I considered this with the Series 2 but wanted to get something HD at least. Now I have to decide shortly if I am going to do the upgrade. I loved the DVD option on the Series 2 but it seems as if they have dropped the DVD option all together.

I think my feelings about the interface is summed up in this comment from the Gizmodo site… “the TiVo UI makes the Comcast software look like it was written by disgruntled East Germans in 1964…” Thank you Colonel35!

Back in 2002 I had my first exposure to GSM.  I knew I would be traveling to London so I went to the local GSM mobile phone carrier, VoiceStream Wireless (read T-Mobile) and established an account.  With the account I purchased my first GSM terminal (read handset or phone for the lame) a Motorola (before they were too cool and became just Moto) Timeport T280.  This was a decent phone even for a Motorola but it had a few issues when begin used abroad.

The first issue I ran across was that I was unable to get the phone to recognize and join a network. I discovered that I had to change the frequency it was using through an obscure menu setting since the UK used 800/1800 and my US carrier was 1900 at this point. Then I went to a local Vodophone shop to purchase a SIM and was informed that my handset was SIM locked. I phoned Motorola support and they gave me the SIM unlock code. Little did I know that in the future the carrier had to provide this code so I must have been lucky this day. I got the handset working and began my enjoyment of the GSM network. My handset was capable of handling two distinct lines however I did not have the option with my pre-paid SIM.

I do not recall the exact time or place of my first Sony Ericsson handset purchase I purchased my Sony Ericsson T68i from Amazon.com on 26-Nov-2002. I was able to use it with my 12″ PowerBook G4 and enjoy all the BlueTooth goodies. Just a little under a year later I purchased my Sony Ericsson T610i from Amazon.com on 8-Oct-2003. After rebate I think I got ~$100 back which was during a time of amazing phone prices and also some of the last days you could purchase a Sony Ericsson phone with T-Mobile service. T-Mobile has not carried anything but the GC89 PC Card since then, and Amazon.com currently does not carry any Sony Ericsson for T-Mobile.

Now we are back up to date. So my friend gave me a Sony Ericsson K750i but it seems to have a few issues like BlueTooth connectivity etc, otherwise it is a great phone. Mike received an email to announce the release of the Sony Ericsson K850i. This looks to be about the most fully featured handset that I could want. It supports GSM 850/900/1800/1900, HSDPA, UMTS 850/1900/2100. All that means that if T-Mobile ever upgrades from EDGE then I should be set to get actual 3G services! Mike phoned Sony Ericsson and apparently it is officially “globally available” yet they have no idea who will be carrying it or when it will be ready for purchase. Now what does that mean? Even the Sony Style store has no commitment to carry the device. Will somebody please tell me why Sony Ericsson is so adverse to taking my money?