Pastebot is a powerful clipboard manager by Tapbots that stores text & images copied from your iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad (compatible though not universal yet.). You can organize, apply filters to, and copy clippings to be pasted or sent to other apps, or even to your Mac.

Have you ever gone to a website on your iPhone and it was the type of site that would read much better on a full screen? Or maybe the site is Flash based? With Pastebot and a few “touches” you can paste that long ungodly URL directly to your Mac’s browser. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve used this little utility already.

Pastebot, the “little utility that could”, and does, is only $3.99 on the iTunes App Store. Combine that with the free Pastebot Sync from the Tapbots website and you have a very handy and useful combo.On the iPhone, Pastebot will keep track of every item you cut or copy. It will automatically save 99 items in its “clipboard”. You can name and file any of those items into folders for later use. I have copied all my eMail signatures into a folder in Pastebot, and now I can easily copy any of those back to the iPhone clipboard to paste into eMail I compose on the iPhone.

Saw a site on your iPhone you’d like to see on your Mac? Use Pastebot Sync to be able to paste that URL directly from you iPhone into the Safari URL field. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done that. Want to quickly paste a snippet from a document on your iPhone to a document on your Mac? It’s so easy.

And now that iOS 4 has multitasking, it’s easier than ever to switch back and forth from Pastebot and any other application. On my iPhone this has been one of my most used apps. It’s become indispensable.

Q:

A: YOU CAN’T!

It’s another mystery of life. Why in the world can’t you create a folder in the iPhone Mail app!!?? You can move an eMail message, or a group of messages from one folder to another, but you can’t create a Mail folder on the iPhone. It’s just another of the glaring oddities of the iPhone.

I can understand not being able to do this with a POP account, because iPhone Mail doesn’t sync the mail messages themselves via iTunes. So it would follow, you couldn’t sync newly created folders with moved messages from the iPhone.

One would think though, it could be done with an IMAP eMail account. But it’s just not so.

It’s an enigma wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a burrito …

My only suggestion to all offended and incredulous iPhone user, is to make your voice heard with Apple. Go to the Apple Support Forum and suggest they add folder creation ability there. You can also contact Apple directly and give them iPhone Feedback. Be polite and to the point. Ranting might make you feel good, but anything past “WTF” might be ignored by readers. You can get more folders with honey … if that’s what you’re looking for. Leave a comment here if you care to.

I’ve seen Google send so many people to my blog looking for an answer to this question, I figured I owed it to those folks to give a quick and probably unsatisfying  answer.

Even with its flaws, the iPhone is still my only phone. Don’t think I would want to use another.

With so many rumors flying, no one knew what to expect. Would Steve start with something innocuous, the new iPhone OS (which didn’t happen) or a new iPhone (which also didn’t happen) and then at the last moment …. oh … just one more thing. No. He launched straight away into setting up and introducing the new iPad.

There will be those that will rip it apart for what it doesn’t do. No phone. No Camera. No Verizon. No multitasking. But as a consultant, I need to talk about what it does do. And the possibilities it brings. Oh. And the joy!

Hello iPad: Let’s start with the obvious. It looks like a large iPhone. But it’s not. You can’t make a call from it even with the Wi-Fi and 3G package (unless you have Wi-Fi & use Skype … but that’s just theoretical … I digress). Looking at the icons on the front screen, it looks very much like an “exploded” or “expanded view of the iPhone desktop. Only four icons across, and four in the dock. If more will fit in the dock, will remain to be seen when the first Wi-Fi versions of the iPad ship in 60 days. Though 60 days from today Wednesday January 27, 2010 is Sunday, March 28, 2010. So maybe the 29th? Guess we’ll have to wait for the official date from Apple. Who knows what version of the OS it will finally ship with … iPhone/iPad OS 4.0?

Apple Inside: Apple has taken a bold step in it’s evolution with the iPad. It runs a new 1 Ghz Apple A4 processor. Apple’s chip also includes onboard video processing. No Intel inside. No Qualcomm inside. No NVIDIA inside either. Apple bought P.A. Semi back in 2008. It’s the first time they have used their own silicon in an Apple device.

eBooks: We wanted them. We got them! Plus a new iPad application called iBooks. Like iTunes you can buy eBooks directly from Apple via iBooks. The interface is simple, slick, and well designed. There have been other iPhone books apps that have looked similar, but Apple is not one to shy away from “quoting” another programmers work & calling it their own.

Apple announced partnerships with five major publishing houses, including Penguin, Macmillan, and Simon & Shuster. With more to come. All books on the iPad will be in ePub format, which is the most used open book format in the world. So in theory, any ePub book can be read on the iPad. iBooks is going to be yet another cash cow for Apple … and the publishers. Look out Kindle and Nook.

Mail: Mail on iPad has been redesigned. It’s use of popup contextual menus is well designed. The virtual touch keyboard for composing new eMail looks almost like a real keyboard. It seems that big too. Turning the iPad in landscape gives you a screen with your Inbox and folders on the left. select a piece of mail and flip iPad to portrait, and the inbox goes away and you eMail fills the screen. Sadly I can’t tell you much more than what I’ve gleaned from photos and the iPad Video on the Apple website.

iPod: Dream alert! Imagine if you will, an iPad landscape car dock. Now imagine if you will the ability to use iPad with my car stereo. I could use iPod.app for the first time in iPod history, to see album images on the screen large enough, that I could use as my music interface for my car. In landscape, I would imagine, iPad’s version of iPod.app uses cover stream. No more searching on a single line of text on my “iPod compatible” car stereo for songs buried deep within a playlist somewhere. I may have to build this thing myself if I have to!

It will also be nice to see what iPad developers do with the new screen real estate … all 9.7 diagonal inches. Plus the new iPhone SDK that will give them access to all the new menuing and other iPad specific features. It will be another summer of exciting new iPhone and iPad apps! As of now all current iPhone apps will run on the iPad AS IS. No updating needed. Plus you can run the current iPhone apps in “double” pixel” mode, which makes then fill the entire screen. Pretty thoughtful on Apple’s part!

I could go on about each redesign of each app, but Apple.com has done it best. Whether it’s Safari, Calendar, Contacts, Notes, Maps … they all have been redesigned … and they look and function great.

Now I can’t wait to get my hands on one to test for myself. Apple did a great job of making the entry level 16 GB Wi-Fi iPad only $499.00. I’m like a kid waiting for early Christmas! Oh gee …. is it 60 days yet???!!!

There are some quirks involved with setting up IMAP mail on the iPhone. Especially for those ISPs or mail providers who don’t support SSL (secure sockets layer). The default for iPhone is to create any account with SSL on. Some of the biggest confusion for first time users is how long it takes SSL to be negotiated the first time the IMAP account is set up, especially if your are doing it over Edge or 3G and not a Wi-Fi connection. But even with Wi-Fi the wait can seem like an eternity! And all the confusing error dialogs that are popped up for you to act upon. Hopefully I’ve documented all those situations.

Things you will need:
> Your iPhone
> A working eMail account set up with your hosting company.
> Your eMail account settings written down.
> Patients.

So here we go ….

1. Select “Settings”.

2. Select “Mail, Contacts, Calendars”.

3. Select “Add Account…”.

4. Select “Other”.

5. Select “Add Mail Account”.

6. Fill in account info & save”.

TIP: With most eMail providers, your username will always be your FULL eMail address, unless otherwise noted.

Select the IMAP tab.

Here’s where the “tricky bits” start.

Be certain to enter all information correctly.

Be sure the Host Name for both Incoming Mail Server (IMAP) and Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP) do not contain the “@” symbol and instead use a period “.” as in: imap.yourdomain.com or smtp.yourdomain.com.

Once all information entry is complete select the Save button.

Now wait for iPhone Mail to negotiate your IMAP and SMTP settings with the mail server, depending on the network connection speed … this may take a while.

If your mail provider does not do SLS you will get two error dialogs. One for IMAP and one for SMTP. PLEASE WAIT FOR EACH. No matter how long they take. See steps 8 and 9.

If your mail provider does do SLS, you will get no errors. Unless you’ve typing errors. Move to step 10.

7. Fill in all eMail account information.

8. Error 1: IMAP SSL Certificate error. Press Continue.

9. Error 2: SMTP SSL Certificate error. Press Continue.

Okay. So now there is a new IMAP account on your iPhone. But the fun doesn’t stop there. Depending on your situation there are a few steps that you may or may not need to do. Those will be covered in the next few section.

We will need to also check that the IMAP folders are correctly associated with the iPhone folders for Drafts Mailbox, Sent Mailbox, and Deleted Mailbox.

If your mail provider does not support SSL follow from step 11.

If you mail provider (gMail) does support SSL jump to step 15.

10. Your completed IMAP account.

11. Select your new account.

12. Scroll and select Advanced.

13. Set Use SSL to OFF. Go back one screen.

14. Scroll and select Drafts Mailbox.

15. Select your new SMTP server.

16. Set Use SLS to OFF. Go back one screen.

17. Select Drafts Mailbox.

18. Select your Drafts folder on the server. Go back one screen.

19. Select Sent Mailbox.

20. Select your Sent folder on the server. Go back one screen.

21. Select Deleted Mailbox.

22. Select your Trash or Deleted Items folder on the server. Go back one screen.

When matching up folders on the server, your folder names may not be the same as my folders … but I think you’ll know which are which.

There are only a few other items you can set. But I won’t go into great detail. You can select how long to hold onto delete items. On my Mac, I empty the Deleted Items when I quit Mail.app. On the iPhone I have mine set for 1 day. This way I don’t end up with thousands of eMails taking up space in the Trash on the server.

One other issue you may face. If when you launch iPhone Mail and you don’t see your folder hierarchy you may need to go to the Advanced settings of your account (on your iPhone) and in the field for “IMAP Path Prefix” enter the word INBOX in caps. That should allow you to see all your folders.

Other than that … you’re done! Press the physical Home button on your iPhone and launch iPhone Mail. That’s it.

Finally. You can only have one signature for your iPhone Mail, even if you have several eMail accounts. Hopefully Apple will address this in s future release. But until then, there are some great utilities out there that can get you through. Two of my faves are Pastebot from Tapbots LLC & TextExpander Touch from Smile on My Mac. I may do posts on some of these at a later date.

For now …. go send some mail from your iPhone! Have fun!

Updated: 07.02.09
Updated: 06.28.2009
Updated: 06.26.2009
Updated: 07.06.2010

I have always had a fascination with the idea of developing for the Mac. I guess those seeds were planted “… way back in the days of old” when I was creating custom stacks in Apple’s HyperCard, or creating custom databases in Filemaker. Developing for the Mac, or now for the iPhone, is one of those dreams many Apple Fan Boys and Girls have had. To build that one illusive application that everyone wants. Needs. Must have! Cha ching! Hey … I didn’t say my motives were altruistic.

It was with these thoughts in mind that I went out the other day and bought “Programming in Objective-C 2.0” by Stephen G Kochan and Erica Sadun’s “The iPhone Developer’s Cookbook“. Yesterday I started reading Programming in Objective-C 2.0. To get started I needed to log into my Apple Developer Connection account and download the latest version of the Apple developer tools which includes Xcode, Apple’s programing environment.

While I was there I also registered for the iPhone Dev Center. To do so I had to register with my current Apple ID. I then needed to fill out an iPhone developer questionnaire. With that done I could then download the latest version of the 2.08GB Apple iPhone SDK.

Sometimes things don’t always go as planned …

Somewhere after finishing the first program exercise of chapter 1, I needed to stop and take care of some personal finances. I went to Chase.com and had a look at my checking balance. To my surprise there were two pending transactions for $50.00 each from the iTunes store.

I knew right off … they weren’t MY charges. Immediately I went to the iTunes store and tried to log into my account with my Apple ID. “Sorry Apple ID does not exist.” (or something to that effect.) Now wait! I just used this very same Apple ID to log into the Apple Developer Connection just a few hour earlier. Hmm. Maybe I typed my password incorrectly. Type type type. “Sorry Apple ID does not exist.”

Okay. New tact. Let’s try resetting the password. I clicked on the link and was sent to this page on the Apple website. When I put in my correct eMail address I was told “Account does not exist.” I was livid! Someone had broken into my iTunes account! And they locked me out!!!!! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Like any good investigator the first thing I did was a Google search on “apple id login stolen” … and I got a bunch of hits. One was to a site called “dropsafe”. The post here was from 2006 entitled “Easy AppleID Password & Account Theft“. The second hit I looked at was from a Technorati Discussion which points to this blog post by Marko Karppinen, principal at MK&C, an eight-person software development studio in Helsinki, Finland, “Apple just gave out my Apple ID password because someone asked“. They too had a similar issue with their Apple ID being easily “hijacked” by someone other than the real owner.

With this information in hand, I tried calling Apple. “Sorry. Please call back during our normal hours of business.” I tried calling Chase. “Sorry Our systems are down. Please call our dispute department during normal business hours.” Does no one have 24 hour customer service anymore? It was now 12:30 AM and there was nothing I could do. I went to bed.

Woke up around 7:00 AM and got right back to it. I first called Apple customer support. I spoke to a very apologetic and very helpful agent named Heather Banks. I told her what happened. In our discussion of the the hijack and charges made to my Chase debit card for two iTunes electronic gift certificates, eMailed to the gMail address rosianhotmailcom568@gmail.com, she put me on hold while she spoke directly to an iTunes Store agent. They first wanted to void my account and issue me a new one. I said no. There were too many purchases and computer registrations attached to that account. They finally reset the password, restored my old eMail address & I was able to log back in. Yeah!

I then changed my Apple ID & my password, as well as my “security” question. All was right with the world. Well almost. I was still pissed off, that Apple’s security for handing over anyone’s ID was, using an eMail address, a security layer that includes your birth month, and birth day, and a question of your own devising. The first two things could be found out easily by looking at any of my blogs, my FaceBook account, or my Twitter account. But my question is … did this person know my info from my registering on the Apple Developer Connection, or is someone watching the list of “newbies” and then exploiting their Apple IDs somehow? Too many questions, and not enough security, or answers on Apple’s part.

What is still incredibly irksome is that this has been going on for YEARS!!!!! And Apple hasn’t done a thing to improve the security around their Developer Connection site or getting or resetting a password associated with an Apple ID that is just an eMail address that ANYONE can know or find out. How secure is that???? Not very … evidently!

So I filed a complaint online with the Washington state Attorney General’s office, via a very well done web page. Now I don’t know if this is the under the prevue of the AGO … but by this point … I didn’t care. My next step was to write this post, which will go up on both my blogs, to warn others. Then off to the Better Business Bureau to lodge yet another complaint against Apple for for such lax security. Then I’ll try to write to TUAW, MacWorld, MacNN etc etc and try to get this story out …. yet again!

I’m frazzled. Tired. And feeling violated. I don’t expect some grand mia culpa from Apple. But I am hoping to shed light on this problem, in the hope that others will pressure Apple to act in the best interest of their customer’s security.

Hey … APPLE … are you listening.

::::::::::::::: Joe stepping off soapbox :::::::::::::::

This is a letter I sent to Apple Developer Connection today, via a web form on the Apple website. I figured this way I might actually get something in writing from Apple. They sent a confirmation eMail with a “Follow-up” number. It’s a start to getting some real response from Apple.

I’ll try to keep this post updated as I get more info.

As of right now, I have not been contacted by Apple yet. Maybe tomorrow.

The Good news is, the two $50.00 charges disappeared from my Chase.com online account. Which means Apple must have canceled them, though they still show up in my iTunes purchase history.

Here are the the iTunes Gift Certificates that the “bandit” purchased. Now I wonder if the person is stupid enough to actually cash them, or if s/he did cash them while I was locked out of my account. But then again, I didn’t see any purchases other than the cards. So honestly … what good are the cards, unless someone this person tries to sell them on Craig’s List or something. It makes no sense.

So we’ll see what happens tomorrow, Monday. I really do want to hear from Apple. We’ll see.

Called Apple customer support yesterday (07.01.09) spoke to customer service agent Bob Henderson. I asked him why Apple did not credit back the charges for the two iTunes cards charged to my debit card. He informed me that the procedure was to file a dispute with Chase and then Chase would contact Apple. I also asked him why no one at Apple (iTunes Store, or Developer Connection) has contacted me yet. He said he did not know. I then asked him why Apple has not fixed this gaping hole in password security? He said Apple has been looking into it (yeah right), but if I’d like to write an eMail to him outlining what I’d like to see happen to make things more secure, he’d be happy to pass it along to “the powers that be.” I’m in the process of doing this.

On the Attorney General front …

Got a reply back from the Washington State Attorney Generals office in response to my filing a complaint against Apple. Color me amazed!

Now we’ll see what will happen. This may be part of the reason no one from Apple has contacted me. Or not. I’ll tell you this post is getting a LOT of traffic. Don’t know what that means, other than people are interested.

I’ll keep adding to this post unless, something major happens & requires me to start a new one.

New Post: My Hijacked Apple ID … continued …

You have to love these guys. They are modern day heros. Now Apple might think contrary, but you have to admire the Dev-Team’s vibrato. Their stamina. Their commitment. This disparate group of programmers, hackers, telecom industry workers, et al, from all over the world, doing what Apple should have done all along. Make the iPhone open to any and all GSM networks around the world. There might be those who would brand them thieves and hacker-thugs. But I commend them.

Having been an early adopter of hacking my iPhone, I am in awe of these guys. They have taken the task and turned it into an art form. They’ve taken the time to find the vulnerabilities of the iPhone and the OS to deliver their payload through any available vector. And then they wrap what use to be a terminal command line nightmare, into the slickest Mac and Windows applications I have seen so far, to accomplish the task. Thank you all for the hard work you do. And thanks to Apple for not trying to rain on the Dev-Teams achievements.

I spent maybe 30 minutes total this morning using PwnageTool and iTunes to get my custom 3.0 .ipsw file built and onto my iPhone. Once that happened, the Pwnage payload did its “magic” on the iPhone by auto configuring itself. While this was going on I Tweeted about it. (Okay I’ve become a TwitterNerd or perhaps a TwitWit now). Then I did a restore from the backup I did before starting all this, like a good little iPhone citizen should do. While that was happening I made my Peet’s coffee and breakfast. I knew it would take a bit of time to load all my iPhone apps, music, etc back on the phone.

The next step is to get all my Cydia apps and hacks loaded … WinterBoard, Five Icon Dock, Open SSH, BossTools, TMobile Carrier Logos, etc. These things are the icing on the iPhone cake. So now it’s time for me to SSH into my iPhone and load my custom desktop, and dock I’ve created. It’s a job … but someone has to do it.

I know. I know. It’s just a phone. Get a life! But hey at least … I pwn it!

There has been a huge ramp-up for the release, starting long before last weeks “World Wide Developers Conference” (WWDC). The fan-boy blogs and the Twitter-verse has been on fire. But Apple has also been pushing hard too. This is their cash cow, their baby. That and all the iPhone apps that will now have to be updated and OS 3.0 compatible by the OS 3.0 release date tomorrow? We’ll see.

Well actually I have seen. I Tweeted earlier tonight in two separate tweets :

Those #iPhone #apps are just pouring out. I got 4 just today. Seems like everyone is trying to get their apps 3.0 ready. Keep ‘em coming. 10:19:19 PM June 16, 2009 from Tweetie


#app #iphone updates:
iTV http://bit.ly/xiL4J
Amazon http://bit.ly/158j1y
Twitterific P http://bit.ly/VBHkG
Trip Cubby http://bit.ly/o9BS8
10:16:14 PM June 16, 2009 from Tweetie

@MuscleNerd from the iPhone Dev-Team did a live broadcast and demo of “UltraSnow” the new iPhone OS 3.0 jailbreak. You have to love these guys! The software isn’t officially released and already they have a jailbreak written and ready to go for the new OS. You can find out all the particulars on the Dev-Team Blog.

So I’m ready with my 1st-gen iPhone for the Dev-Team to deliver PwnageTool and QuickPwn their two wonderful jailbreak apps … for the rest of us. Oh how I’d love a new shinny iPhone 3G S … but alas … I’m poor. And seeing how I use T-mobile I can’t get a subsidized iPhone from AT&T. I paid full price for my original one. Not again. But then again I’ve heard that before too. I’ll just take a wait and see attitude. I know I’ll get enough of the new OS benefits. But will they be enough? Only time will tell.

So iPhone enthusiasts, fanboys/fangirls & the uninitiated … start your engines! 3.0 is coming! 3.0 is coming!

I’ve been back with T-mobile for almost a month now. I’m a happy camper once again. Who wouldn’t be with an employee plan, compliments of my partner Chris and T-mobile’s Domestic Partner benefits. My iPhone has been lying fallow for that long too. I did bring it back to NJ with me, for my Mom’s surprise 80th birthday party. But it was odd to pack the iPhone, which I loaded with pictures to show all my long lost relatives moments of their lives … and my Motorola Product(Red) SLVR. I knew there would be much “shock and awe” from the iPhone. Most of them never saw the mythical iPhone in person before. But most of them were amazed that I could have these old picture on such a new-fangled device. I got a lot of … “how did you do that?”

But I’m not here to talk of shocking things. Maybe a little awe … but no shock therapy. So it felt strange that I had in my pocket, this lobotomized iPhone and my trusty Motorola Product(Red) SLVR. Almost ironic. Yet iconic. Hmmm I’m getting moronic. But I digress

So I’m traveling with two devices. Why? Because I’ve been (patiently?) wating for the iPhone unlocking hack(s) to materialize. And wouldn’t you know, on Tuessay, they did! And for free! Wow! But wouldn’t you know on Monday I did a ‘buy now’ for a Bladox TurboSIM on eBay. I believe these are even more mythological than the iPhone was.

One method uses just a software hack to unlock the iPhone to be used on other GSM cellphone networks … like … wait for it … T-mobile. Woo hoo! The other method uses a small SIM device that is programmed to fool the iPhone into thinking it is using an unlocked & activated AT&T SIM, when in fact you can use any other GSM carrier you have an account with and a SIM card for. Even carriers in Europe.

The TurboSIM is manufactured by Bladox in Checkoslovacia and sold through thier website. When people found out you could hack the SIM to work on an iPhone, their website was flooded with orders. So many, they had to shut the web store down until they could fulfill the orders they had already taken. Some of those orders finally filtered through to the US. And of course ended up on eBay. Ah … the laws of supply and demand. Some people were paying several hundred dollars for just one TurboSIM. The same SIM that costs $84.00 US.

For those of you who have been following my angst-ridden iPhone saga … I’ve been waiting for this day! And I’m sure you know the answer to … “to hack or not to hack.” Yeah baby I hacked alright! Joe has unlocked his phone and is currently using his T-mobile employee account on his new iPhone!

Everything is right with the world … well at least my iPhone world. I’m sorry Apple but this is the way it should have been all along. Bring your own carrier. But then again … I’m not really sorry.

If a picture is worth a thousand words. Then I’ll say no more.

But we both know that’s not going to happen.

I thought long and hard. Hard and long. And it’s time to say … so long iPhone & AT&T. In past posts you saw how I agonized. Rationalized. Quantified & qualified my decision to procure this object of electronic lust. But lust is not enough. Nor is the iPhone.

In my previous post I was talking about the ‘unholy union’ of the ‘A-twins’ …. Apple & AT&T. This is also a MAJOR deciding factor to lighten my load. I’m sorry but no object is worth over $100.00 per month to have. I don’t mind putting cash into the pockets of Apple & it’s stockholders. But AT&T? A man just has to draw a line in the sand … at some point. Even if that line is after the fact. I just can not stomach the idea of shelling that kind of money out to a corporate behemoth like the Death Star … AT&T. Sometimes you DO have to go ‘through’ something to get to the other side. And now that I’m there …. I really don’t think there’s any turning back.

On Thursday I will have my partner Chris make me a member of the T-mobile family once again. Nope. I will not have all the bells & whistles of the iPhone. But i will have back my beloved Product (RED) SLVR. I won’t have to hack it to get my ringers back on. I won’t have to pay in excess of $1200.00 for JUST A PHONE! God! What the hell was I thinking? I truly was sucked into the Steve Jobs reality distortion field! Sucked in real good!

But now that my mind & my wallet are free … free of AT&T …. I can go back to life not worrying about a measly 900 minutes & 200 text messages. I can go back to having 2000 minutes & unlimited text messages & T-zones. Yippy! I can also spend that extra money paying off my credit cards and such. Sadly though I will sell my iPhone and use a large chunk of that money to buy out my AT&T contact. If I read the fine print correctly … I believe the buy out is $175.00. Though it could be more.

But that’s it. Say good-bye iPhone. You are … Going. Going …. GONE!

I got my first bill yesterday. Or at least the cost was posted … sans invoice. That I might have to wait ten days for, or so the disclaimer said. Imagine my astonishment when the amount before my eyes read …. $229.36!!!!! What the f%*$k!!!! Now I have no reason to complain. There were lasses and chaps out there who’s first iPhone/AT&T bills were in the THOUSANDS of dollars. Adam Aronson for one got a $5,000.00 bill from the Death Star …. AT&T. So I guess I’m lucky?

I know … Joe … shut your pie-hole. You made a choice to be on the bleeding edge. So don’t have a hissy because there’s a crimson tide headed your way.

How is it I can feel bad about owning one of the most technologically advanced phones in the universe? Maybe because that universe also includes the Red Death Star …. AT&T? Somehow it just doesn’t sit right. How is it that the coupling of such ideological opposites can effect me so deeply? Somehow I feel my best fiend has let me down. BUT IT’S JUST A F%*$KING TELEPHONE! I think it’s the idea that someone (Apple/Steve Jobs) who wanted to change the world through technology has partnered with a company that just wants to OWN the world through technology. And in that unholy union (one even MORE unholy than MS & Apple) the shine on the Apple has become a little more lackluster, a bit more turbid.

Surely I over exaggerate. Certainly I am playing with words. I must be.

I certainly am … losing my will to iPhone.