The free Pandora app for iPhone saves the day on a road trip with my teenage son.

My 19 year old son and I were on a road trip from Orange County, California to Denver, Colorado. It was a 16 hour drive, split up into 2 days.

At nearly the midpoint in Flagstaff, Arizona, at the beginning of our second day it became apparent that there was a lot of tension through the first half of the trip since we couldn't agree on what music to listen to. Both of us wanted to figure something out to fix this.

Typically I listen to Christian Praise and Worship, or sometimes the news, or even classical. But when I'm on a road trip I want something totally out of the ordinary: I might scan to a radio station that plays 70's or 80's music that often times brings back memories from an old song from my youth or other years.

Or I might scan to a country station when on a road trip since I don't normally listen to country even though I like it, and there are a ton of country stations to be found when driving through the West. I might listen to a Christian station for a bit, but am ready to move to something else quickly since generally it doesn't suit my road trip mood. For me, loosing connection to a station and having to scan to something else is half the fun since you don't know what you're going to get.

I especially like to hear the radio stations that are local to the areas that I'm driving through, with their quirky commercials and sometimes funky DJ's. And the main point is that this is totally out of character of what I would listen to at home on my iPod, my CD collection, the radio, or Pandora (more about Pandora in a minute).

My son likes Christian Praise and Worship some too, but what he listens to the most is techno; something I can't stand because of the driving beat that gives me a headache within 2 minutes, and the repetitiveness, repetitiveness, repetitiveness.

So we basically argued every time he would put one of his techno CD's in, or when I would scan to a new radio station.

Suddenly he asked for my iPhone, which he does sometimes in order to play games that I have downloaded. He then realized I had downloaded the Pandora app onto my iPhone. I introduced him to Pandora a couple of months ago. He and I now each have our own play lists created within Pandora on our PC's and iMac at home.

We were both surprised to find that I had a strong 3G connection while driving in remote areas of the West...

He launched Pandora on my iPhone. We were both surprised to find that I had a strong 3G connection while driving in remote areas of the West, and that he was able to bring up my playlist since we had a 3G connection and Pandora remembered my login. He wasn't interested in my playlist, so he quickly created a new playlist by typing in a song name or two from his techno stuff. He was able to listen to music on my iPhone using the earphones that came with the iPhone while the iPhone remained fully charged using $30 a car charger that I keep in the car. And I was able to listen to the radio at the same time.


So for the rest of our trip we both listened to our own music while we drove through the rest of Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado. To our surprise we had a good connection on the iPhone with Pandora the entire way. We were both much happier since now I could listen to my music on the radio and he could listen to his on the iPhone.

Yet another reason why I won't travel without my handy iPhone.

My only complaint about Pandora is that it does seem to repeat the same songs quite a bit. This may have something to do with the way I am using it. Maybe I haven't set it up properly. I often have to select the option that says "Don't play this song for another month.". I think the algorithm Pandora uses needs more interaction from me to tell it what I like or don't like, so I get repeat songs until it receives my input. This is my best guess anyway, but I still really like Pandora. I find myself using my iPod a lot less at home since Pandora is always right at my fingertips at the computer.

---

Jeff Kemp, MileHighTechGuy (Golden, CO), www.jeff-kemp.com.

For more info: 

Jeff Kemp's website:  http://www.jeff-kemp.com

Email Jeff, MileHighTechGuy: jeff@milehightechguy.com

Having an iPhone comes in handy during a blackout.

We live at 7500ft elevation in the foothills of the Rockies in Genesee, a community within Golden, Colorado. On Friday April 17th at 10:30pm our power went out due to the recent 3ft of heavy wet snow we had received over a period of a couple of days.

 

The power remained out for over 27 hours, which meant that all through Saturday until 1am Saturday morning we had no lights, no heat (except for our gas fireplaces), no stove (ours is electric), no refrigeration, no TV, and no land line phone. I'm sure though that the folks at Xcel Energy did their best to get everyone's power back on as quickly as possible.

Amazingly my iPhone not only had a good 3G connection so I could use it for phone calls to alert my family about the power outage, but I was also able to keep up with my email, Facebook, and LinkedIn updates throughout the weekend without skipping a beat.

With my iPhone, even though we had no power and we're buried in 3ft of snow, I was able to keep connected to the world.

An added bonus is that the iPhone gives off a good amount of light,

so I sometimes use it to get around the house instead of a flashlight since it is always at my side in it's handy holster.  In extreme cases when I really need more light I use a free iPhone application that I downloaded from iTunes some months ago aptly called 'Flashlight' that is a very simple full screen of just white that gives off an optimum amount of light, more than say, if you were looking at your email for instance. 'Flashlight' is really handy for giving you the light you need for getting your key into the door at night, or for helping you find something you dropped in the parking lot in the dark.

I didn't worry too much about running down the battery of my iPhone even though our power was out since I knew that if the battery ran too low that I could plug it into my car charger for a bit and it would be good as new. I happen to have a cigarette lighter type plug in my Nissan Xterra that works without requiring to turn on the car's engine.

Another nice feature native to the iPhone is the alarm clock. That comes in handy too when the power is out.

Okay, now that my iPhone and I can't be separated during even a blackout, I'm ready to make one of stupid those commercials where the person says: "I'm an iPhone". Oh, right, that's Microsoft's stupid commercial where they say: "I'm a PC". But you get the gist. Me and my iPhone are becoming 'one'. It's getting kind of scary.

---

Jeff Kemp (Golden, CO), www.jeff-kemp.com.

For more info: 

Jeff Kemp's website:  http://www.jeff-kemp.com

Email Jeff: jeff@milehightechguy.com

Forward your old Verizon cell number to your new iPhone...how to set up call forwarding with Verizon

After waiting a full year I finally have an iPhone (woohoo!). I've had it about a week and I love it! I'm very impressed with it, actually.

My new iPhone even saved me $18 yesterday. I was totally out of toner on my printer. I went to BestBuy to purchase another printer. I remembered that I had received a 10% off coupon from BestBuy in my email, but I was so totatlly out of toner that it wouldn't print. So when I was at the register, in about 30 seconds I pulled up my Yahoo! email, pulled up the BestBuy coupon, zoomed in on it, and showed it the the cashier, asking if they would honor it since I couldn't print it out. The cashier called the manager over, who then promptly approved the use of the coupon, saying that they had the same phone (iPhone). Thus I saved $18 on my new printer that I couldn't have done without my iPhone.

I was reluctant to switch over to AT&T from Verizon, but I felt the iPhone was worth it. You may find yourself in a similar situation...with the question of 'What do I do with my old cell phone and my old cell phone number from Verizon?'

Here is my suggestion...set up call forwarding from your old cell phone to your new iPhone.

The call forwarding feature serves several handy purposes:

1) It allows me to not have to pay the $145 early termination fee that Verizon would charge to cancel my old number. Once my plan with Verizon is up I can choose to cancel it at no cost at that point, or I can keep it.

2) By keeping a separate cell number for forwarding to my iPhone, one that I use only for posting publicly to websites, job boards, and resumes, it allows me to keep my iPhone cell number private for just close friends and family. By keeping my iPhone number private this also greatly reduces unwanted telemarketing calls to my iPhone.

3) Friends that I haven't given my new iPhone number to can still contact me by using the old number they are familiar with (I can pick and choose who to give the new number to).

4) I can turn off my old cell phone, and even let the battery run dead, and I will still get calls that are forwarded to my iPhone. I also never have to upgrade my really old 'brick' cell phone that is on Verizon (I was able to use the 'new every 2' $100 credit to upgrade to a new cell phone for another member of my family who still uses Verizon.

5) I only have to carry one phone (unless I need to carry my Blackberry from work, as I am not yet using the Exchange mode with my iPhone, which I hopefully will be able to do soon).

A few other points:
If I am running over on my monthly allowed minutes with AT&T I can always drop back to my old cell phone on Verizon for a bit (which has plenty of minutes available even with the most basic plan) until I have more minutes to work with on AT&T.

If I want to conserve minutes on my iPhone, and I am willing to temporarily turn off call forwarding and use my old phone, I can use my old Verizon cell phone to talk to other members of the family without using up my minutes due to the 'friends and family' type feature.

I've been doing this for a few years now and it works great...originally I was forwarding calls to my Blackberry, now to my iPhone. The only down-side that I've experienced is that if someone sends a text message to my old cell phone I won't get it on my iPhone, but I find that most text messages I receive on that line are spam text messages anyway, so the up-side far out-weighs the down-side.

Here is a simple process for setting up the 'call forwarding' feature on Verizon...

Verizon call forwarding:

1) Enter *72

2) Enter the 10 digit phone number you want to forward to, plus include a 1 if it is forwarding to a different area code (long distance).

Follow this format (1, area code, 7 digit phone number): # ### ### ####

Example: 1 800 555 1212

(I'm pretty sure it doesn't hurt to put the 1 in the number even if you are forwarding to a local number.)

3) A beep will confirm that call forwarding was set up successfully.

4) *73 turns off call forwarding at any time.

I'd love to hear your comments, especially I'd like to know if this helps anyone in any way.

Sluggish Apple iPhone 3G? We May Know The Culprit

It's been a little more than a month since the Apple iPhone 3G hit the street and users are complaining about one of its biggest selling features: speed. The phone is supposed to operate on a third-generation network, a major upgrade from other networks the iPhone operates on and an even bigger advance over the older Edge network. Unfortunately, 3G iPhone users are finding that their shiny new piece of hardware isn't all roses and faster downloads. One analyst believes the perpetrator of the problem is an Infineon chip.

The iPhone 3G sold more than 1 million units in its first weekend, based largely on the selling point of a faster network. But like the lines anxious consumers encountered at the Apple store, using the phone is taking longer than expected.

Nomura analyst Richard Windsor believes the complaints that have been cropping up on blogs and Apple's own Web site point to something more than an isolated incident.

"There are too many instances on iPhone blogs and Apple's own Web site for it to be coincidence," he wrote in a report dated Aug. 12.

"Furthermore, it is not just the U.S. but other countries as well," he also wrote in the report.

The most common complaint is that Internet speeds have been inconsistent, with a 3G network being available sometimes before users slip back onto a slower network such as Edge.

Windsor believes the problem can likely be traced to Infineon, a German chip manufacturer that provides the majority of chips to Apple for the iPhone 3G.

"We believe that these issues are typical of an immature chipset and radio protocol stack where we are almost certain that Infineon is the 3G supplier," Windsor wrote.

Meanwhile, AT&T, the exclusive carrier of the iPhone in the U.S., hasn't been confronted with the problem. In fact, the carrier has had very few complaints.

"This is not something that's high on our radar screen. It's not something we've had a lot of complaints about," said AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel.

A spokesman from Infineon declined to comment.

---

Jeff Kemp (Golden, CO), www.jeff-kemp.com.

TechCrunch

Apple Sells One Million 3G iPhones First Weekend. Ten Million iPhone Apps Downloaded. - TechCrunch

Despite a few hiccups and stores running out of inventory, Apple was able to sell one million 3G iPhones worldwide across 21 countries its first three days on sale. During that same time, owners of both the new and old iPhone were able to download 10 million apps from the newly launched App Store on iTunes, despite major problems with the iPhone 2.0 software update disabling many people’s phones temporarily on Friday.

That brings the total number of iPhones sold since the launch of the first generation phone to more than 7 million. Apple’s goal of reaching 10 million iPhones sold by the end of the year seems well within reach. In contrast, it took the first iPhone 74 days to reach one million sales, but it wasn’t sold in 21 countries. Apple watchers will be looking for clues about what portion of sales are in the U.S., versus in international markets.

The startup community will be more interested in the download numbers. The 10-million download figure includes both paid and free apps. Apple did not offer a breakdown, but it stands to reason that the free apps made up the vast majority of downloads.

But even if 10 percent were paid downloads, though, and assuming an average price of 4.99, that would be a $5 million weekend. Not a bad start. And it could have been more than that. Seven of the top ten paid apps, including Super Monkey Ball, Cro-Mag Rally, Tetris, and Band, are $9.99. (Coming in at No. 12 is another $9.99 game, Electronic Arts’ official Scrabble, which is also coming to Facebook).

Some of the apps seem to have been rushed out too early, with reports of some of them crashing. So the launch wasn’t perfect. But the demand for the new iPhone and all the apps made for it indicated by these early numbers support the notion that people desperately want the Web and better computing experiences on their phones. Of course, we knew that already.

How Panasonic's X marks the spot - Runway Girl

How Panasonic's X marks the spot - Runway Girl:

"One curious reader asks: 'So, does this mean regular USB - or other non proprietary interfaces - will be supported as well? Is this another apple marketing scheme, or an honest attempt from the aviation industry to integrate personal entertainment?'

It's a good question, deserving of a worthy answer. So I asked Panasonic director, product line management Marshal Perlman to break things down for us (who loves ya, baby?).

Perlman says: 'Our IFE system supports a number of interfaces and the eXport jack only complements USB. In the case of Singapore Airlines, they offer both USB and eXport on their aircraft. This is something that we encourage all our customers to do and our system is easily able to support eXport and USB interfaces simultaneously if so desired by the airline.

'The goal of Panasonic Avionics Corporation in creating the eXport jack was to provide airlines passengers with an easy to use solution for integrating personal entertainment devices with our IFE systems. The alternative to eXport would be an 'octopus' type cable that is less than elegant. The eXport initiative launched by Panasonic Avionics Corporation's R&D team and it is just the one of the many technology advancements that Panasonic plans on introducing."

Photo from Panasonic USB Media Player data sheet.

---

Jeff Kemp (Golden, CO), www.jeff-kemp.com.

Software problems bug Apple's launch of new iPhone - Yahoo! News

Software problems bug Apple's launch of new iPhone - Yahoo! News

NEW YORK - Apple Inc.'s new iPhone went on sale Friday to eager buyers worldwide, but there were problems getting the phones to work.
ADVERTISEMENT

Kenny Pichardo, 24, was the first to buy an iPhone 3G at an AT&T store in the New York borough of Queens, but he said it took the store half an hour to get the phone working.



That boded badly for the approximately 70 people after him in line. Pichardo had camped out overnight to be first.

A spokesman for AT&T Inc., the exclusive carrier for the iPhone in the U.S., said there was a global problem with Apple Inc.'s iTunes software that prevented the phones from being fully activated in-store, as had been planned.


Instead, employees are telling buyers to go home and perform the last step by connecting their phones to their own computers, spokesman Michael Coe said.

When the first iPhone went on sale a year ago, customers performed the whole activation procedure at home, off-loading employees. But the new model is subsidized by carriers, as is standard in the wireless industry, and Apple and AT&T therefore planned to activate all phones in-store.

---

The new phone went on sale Friday in 22 countries. In most of them it was the first time any iPhone was officially sold there, though several countries have seen a brisk grey-market trade in phones imported from the U.S.

Jeff Kemp (Golden, CO), www.jeff-kemp.com.