All Articles by Mike Overbo

Sell Your Not-iPhone

Submitted by Mike Overbo on Thu, 12/20/2007 - 12:43

If you bought an iPhone, odds are pretty decent that you replaced another cell phone with it. Odds are also decent that you kept the iPhone over the other cell phone. Maybe you did, maybe you didn't. Well, as it turns out, you can get a real-time price quote for your old cell phone. Just type in whatever cell phone you want to recycle at the website Second Rotation, describe the condition. If they're interested and you like the price, they'll send you a prepaid DHL label. Voila!

Return of Cheap iPhone Ringtones

Submitted by Mike Overbo on Wed, 12/19/2007 - 15:14

With the news of free ringtones from GarageBand comes excellent auxiliary news: if you coughed up dough for iToner for macs or iPhoneRingToneMaker for windows, they both have updates available that now work with iPhone v1.1.2, something previously not possible. (via)

Consumer Reports Likes iPhone Too

Submitted by Mike Overbo on Wed, 12/19/2007 - 14:15

The iPhone showed up at #1 on Consumer Reports' rating of all Smartphones. It's a slim margin of victory, but it's a margin nonetheless. They list it as the only chosen phone in the media category, and list the T-Mobile Wing, the Palm Treo 755p, and the Moto Q9m for office-type uses. For compact smartphones, they advise the Pearl and Centro. (via electronista)

PC World on Disappointment List

Submitted by Mike Overbo on Wed, 12/19/2007 - 13:31

The iPhone is on PC World's "15 Biggest Tech Disappointments of 2007" list. From the brouhaha I've been reading, you'd think that they think the iPhone is a piece of junk. Nothing could be farther from the truth -- they think it's "wildly innovative." What they're largely griping about is how Apple has handled the iPhone to this point:

David Byrne Interview with Thom Yorke

Submitted by Mike Overbo on Wed, 12/19/2007 - 11:13

Wired has an excellent multimedia interview with Thom Yorke, the singer in Radiohead. They cover a vast array of topics from the changing face of the record industry to Radiohead's experiment with In Rainbows, their recent album that they released online. It's a fine interview, well worth your ears and eyeballs.

Domo Arigato NTT Docomo

Submitted by Mike Overbo on Tue, 12/18/2007 - 14:06

Jobs and other Cupertino functionaries have apparently been flying to and fro in the hopes of securing a carrier for the iPhone in Japan. It sounds like NTT DoCoMo is their first choice, which is interesting as they don't really support a 2.5G network -- NTT DoCoMo's network is pretty much all 3G, so for the iPhone to work on their network, it would have to be 3G. Also apparently in the running is Japan's #3 carrier SoftBank Mobile, who also lacks a 2.5G network.

Wired's iPhone Clones

Submitted by Mike Overbo on Tue, 12/18/2007 - 13:57

Wired has a quick look at some iPhone clones. Clones is probably an unfair statement, since some of these phones are given the clone moniker just by the fact that they share a similar form factor. They award black turtlenecks to each of the six phones based on how well they compete with the iPhone as a clone based on a weird array of subjective criteria that shifts with each clone.

Rolls Dice: 25% and #2 in North America

Submitted by Mike Overbo on Mon, 12/17/2007 - 13:47

It's true, I did find the linkbait. Whatever the charts mean, the iPhone is selling well in North America. Whether or not it's beating Windows Mobile (which it appears to be) or behind the BlackBerry (which it appears to be), the relevant bit is this: it's a close race, it's anyone's game, and the iPhone is doing spectacularly given the amount of time it has been available.

iPhone SIM Hack?

Submitted by Mike Overbo on Mon, 12/17/2007 - 12:07

Wow. Just... wow. It's a mobilewhack day, apparently. They found this video of a person demoing a SonicSIM card 1.0, which shows a person doing some SIM hackery on a jailbroken iPhone. Their method involves cutting the gold parts of your normal SIM card and putting them into a different shell which you then put into your iPhone. It may or may not be legitimate, I don't really know and can't really tell. Here's why:

iPhone Home Speaker Dock

Submitted by Mike Overbo on Mon, 12/17/2007 - 11:49

This is a nice speaker dock system. It was designed by a team of folks that includes former Apple design guru Robert Brunner, who was around during the Newton years. It's a nice-looking piece of kit. There's no price yet, as this is a mockup or prototype of some sort. If they make it affordable it will sell like hotcakes. It's apparently being unveiled at CES in a few weeks.

Duh: Kids Want iPhone

Submitted by Mike Overbo on Mon, 12/17/2007 - 11:42

According to the answers to questions posed of 1175 people surveyed by Peanut Labs, a bunch of 'Generation Y' kids are hot to trot for the iPhone action. The most popular mobile on the holiday present list is the iPhone, and Apple is on the list of top brands (which were Apple, HP, Nintendo, and Amazon). Another interesting nugget is that those kids figured to spend $300 on gadgets this holiday season.

N95 to iPhone Comparison

Submitted by Mike Overbo on Mon, 12/17/2007 - 11:25

Here's a quick N95 vs. iPhone video feature showdown. As you can see above, Dieter of WMExperts confirms he's begun using the Nokia N95 as the little mini-extension to the Smartphone Round Robin. There were a lot of calls for us to try something with Symbian. I hope we give it a full turn the next time around.

iPhone GPS, For Really Real

Submitted by Mike Overbo on Sun, 12/16/2007 - 15:45

figure 1: what it is now and what they claim it will be

Enterprise Top Tens

Submitted by Mike Overbo on Fri, 12/14/2007 - 14:18

Fortune Magazine's Top Ten Reasons That IT Departments Won't Support The iPhone. In other news, Wall Street Journal's Ten Point Rebuttal To That Stupid Fortune Article.

Garage Band Update Brings Ringtones

Submitted by Mike Overbo on Fri, 12/14/2007 - 11:22

Some of the best news that I'll hear all day. If you're using the latest version of iLife and apply the GarageBand update (version 4.1.1), you get the ability to create and edit custom ringtones. They've posted up a set of instructions over at apple.com for anyone to peruse. The blurb you see in Software Update is terse but to the point:

Hacked Emulator Apps Roundup

Submitted by Mike Overbo on Thu, 12/13/2007 - 16:18

There are a bunch of nice 3rd party apps cropping up for hacked iPhones. I haven't been posting them individually since I'm not sure who out here really has use for a SCUMM or AGI interpreter, but I can hide morsels like that inside of bigger articles. I love seeing hacked apps come through that really deliver on the gaming promise of the iPhone.

"Blown Away"

Submitted by Mike Overbo on Thu, 12/13/2007 - 15:52

I saw this blurb on Daring Fireball, and I thought it was kind of funny.

Two New iPhones Next Year?

Submitted by Mike Overbo on Thu, 12/13/2007 - 15:42

So David Bailey of Goldman Sachs, they do a report that says Apple will be making two iPhones next year. One of the iPhones will just be a storage bump, and it will be available in the first half of the year. The other iPhone supposedly will be a newer design, with maybe a new form factor and look and maybe not. He says the new iPhone design...

Officially Unlocked iPhones Not Unlocked?

Submitted by Mike Overbo on Thu, 12/13/2007 - 15:25

UPDATE: this rumor has been proven false by iLounge as of 12/14/2007.

According to a breaking story at CNet site iPhone Atlas, the unlocked iPhones that are available via France's Orange network are not actually fully unlocked. Apparently the "unlocked" iPhones will only work with SIM cards from other French carriers -- one could not, for example, put a T-Mobile, AT&T, or Rogers SIM card in it; only with a carrier that operates in France.

iPhone GPS Hopes Dashed

Submitted by Mike Overbo on Thu, 12/13/2007 - 14:20

The iPhone + TomTom GPS rumor from yesterday has been quashed. Eagle-eyed MacRumors reader thecreativ1 noted the resemblance to an earlier iPod Video fake that was hoaxed; the extra blurriness, and all.

"Don't you guys remember the big hoax about the "real" video iPod??? About how weeks later the guys showed a screencast about how he made the fake....

"Well I do, and the barcode sticker on the tomtom dongle looks an awful lot like the barcode sticker on this notorious fake..."

All Articles by Mike Overbo

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