All this talk about battery life of the iPhone got me in a sharing mood, so here are a few of the settings I have been using on my 1st generation iPhone to help you out. These will work on both Edge and 3G phones from firmware 1.0 up to the current 2.0 release.

1. First off, Wifi. If you are not using it, turn it off (obviously). In my experience the iPhone is actualy very good about not using much battery life with wifi on as long as you are not connected to anything, so this may not save you very much. The big thing is make sure to turn off “Ask to join networks” as that will keep you device scanning for one to connect to.
2. Turn off Fetch and Push. Simply stop the automated queries to your mail servers will help save your battery.
3. Brightness. The LCD in the iPhone is very energy efficient, but turning down the brightness and setting it to auto does make a noticeable difference.
4. This is my big one. This has plagued me on every smart phone i have ever owned. Automatic Date and Time. How ridiculous is it that something this simple seems to run down the battery on almost every major smart phone on the market and no one seems to notice? Turn it off, set the time yourself, and see if you notice a difference.
5. Bluetooth. The biggest culprit of them all. This is why I have no issue with the iPhone not being compatible with stereo Bluetooth headphones. Turn it off when you are not using it.
6. For all of my Jailbroken friends out there, SSH is also one to turn off when you are not utilizing it. That is for battery conservation, and also for security reasons (lets face it, most of you out there are still using the default “alpine” as your password).

Boss Prefs is a great Jealbreak utility for putting most of these options under one customizable menu. Try some of these things out. I have had my iPhone since March, and its battery life is still exceptional to this day.

Obituary
Common Sense

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who
has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was
since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He
will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as knowing
when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, life
isn’t always fair, and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more
than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not children are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well intentioned but
overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a six-year-old boy
charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended
from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for
reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the
job they themselves failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.
It declined even further when schools were required to get parental
consent to administer Aspirin, sun lotion or a Band-Aid to a student, but
could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted
to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live when religions became businesses and
criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense
took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar can sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived by three stepbrothers; I Know my Rights, Someone Else is to Blame, and I’m a Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

I was reminded of this joke as a co-worker/friend of mine walked through my office this morning:

Question: What’s the difference between a BMW and a porcupine?

Answer: On a porcupine the pricks are on the outside.

Let me start off by saying I hate the term Pwned, and I hate the name for the iPhone Dev Teams unlock/jailbreak app Pwnage Tool. That being said, it is a great tool for unlocking and jailbreaking 1st Gen iPhones running the 2.0 firmware, and Jailbreaking the iPhone 3G (no unlock available yet).

I am currently restoring my 1st gen iPhone as I am typing this. The process was easy, and Pwnage Tool does all of the work after asking you a few easy (we’re talking Barney style) questions.

There is an expert mode that I am planning on  playing around with later on, but as for now, a quick jailbreak is enough for me.

You can find the latest version of Pwnage Tool (2.0.1 as of this afternoon) at:

http://thebigboss.org/repofiles/nonrepo/PwnageTool_2.0.1.zip

The iPhone De Teams Blog can be found here.

I placed an order for a Eee 901 Linux model today through Amazon even though I have no idea how long it will be until they get them in.
I went with the 901 over all the other currently available “netbooks” due to it’s specs and reviews.
The other few that had gotten my attention included the HP Mini Note (which while impressive spec wise, was burdened by incompatibilities in Linux due to its graphic and wifi cards), the MSI Wind (or it’s Advent clone), and the upcoming Dell E.
I chose the Asus Eee line because it has a good track record with the only exception being the sheer number of variations on each model. Also, this was the least expensive Atom powered laptop, which supposedly “uses just 2.5 watts of power–less than 1/10 of the 35 watts used by an Intel Core 2 Duo processor–for excellent battery management” Here are the specs according to Amazon:

• Internal memory: 20 GB solid state disk
• RAM: 1 GB DDR2
• Processor: 1.6 GHz Intel Atom
• Memory expansion: Slot for MMC/SD(SDHC) cards
• Operating system: Linux
• LCD: 8.9 inches, 1024 x 600 pixels
• Networking: Tri-mode Wi-Fi (802.11b/g/n), 10/100 Fast Ethernet
• Peripheral connectivity: Three USB 2.0
• External video: One VGA
• External audio: One headphone and one microphone port
• Webcamera: Yes, 1.3 megapixels
• Battery: 6 cells, up to 6 hours
• Weight: 2.42 pounds (38 ounces)
• Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.9 x 1.5 inches

I am sure I will not be running the standard Xandros Linux install that comes with it for very long (honestly, I give it about 8 hours max) before I migrate it over to Ubuntu.

Anyway, I will post more later, butas for now, I am off to go see The Dark Knight.

This post is in response to Seven Reasons Why the New iPhone Sucks from DivineCaroline.com. Please refer to this if you need to know what I am talking about.

1.Too expensive to own.

Really? How much does a standard cell phone on AT&T cost with unlimited internet, text messaging, and voice run? AT&T charges $39.99 for the standard voice plan, plus $30.00 for unlimited internet on any 3G enabled smartphone, and between $5 and $20 for text messaging, for a grand total of $74.99-$89.99 per month. No, it is not a cheap plan, but it is exactly the same as every other 3G phone availible through AT&T.

2. Can’t use the GPS like a GPS.

GOOD! I don’t want you driving around with an iPhone in one hand, and a double mocha latte in the other trying to find which exit to get off of on I95 anyway. Turn by turn on such a small device is not my idea of a good time.

3. Can’t tether the iPhone to your laptop.

Yes, there are plenty of phone that can be used to tether, and the iPhone is not “currently” one of them. I say currently because what AT&T doesn’t know won’t hurt them and my 1st Gen iPhone had bean tethered (over EDGE, yuk) to my MacBook using Jailbreak and an SSH connection. Once the 3G  iPhone is Jailbroken, there will be ways of tethering and AT&T will not notice or care. This is not a great solution for everybody, but if you really care about tethering that bad, this will be the only way to go.

4. Still no cut and paste.

Get over it. Apple is working on it, and it is not as easy as everyone thinks. Sure the programing for it is a few simple lines of code, but getting it to incorperate with the UI is a whole other story. So in other words, calm down and wait.

5. Wimpy 2 MP camera.

I would cover the whole megapixel myth here, but I don’t have the patience or time.  2 megapixels is just fine for a phone. 3-5 megapixels is perfect for most point and shoots. In order to get better quality images, you don’t need megapixels, you need a better lense. Better lenses are significatly larger than what is currently in the iPhone. Look at some of the Carl Zeiss lenses in Nokia N-series phones. They are huge, and would take away from the iPhones petite form factor.

6. No stereo Bluetooth.

A2DP Stereo bluetooth is crap and it will suck the life out of the battery twice as fast as the 3G wireless chip in the iPhone. Steve Jobs is not an idiot, the 3G iPhone has some of the best battery life out of any 3G phone on the market and is not going to ruin that over a gimmick like wireless headphones.

7. The list goes on.

Still no Flash player for rich media content (what grudge does Steve Jobs hold against Adobe). Still can’t send pictures in MMS messages, still no native voice dialing, no mobile TV, no replaceable battery, no flash memory card, and on and on.

You can live without flash. I for one am greatful that as I browse the web on Mobile Safari, I am not bombarded by Flash based ads everywhere I go.

I feel text messaging itself is depreciated being that most phones have instant messagers and email, let alone sending anoying MMS messages. If you want to send me a picture, send it to my email. SMS and MMS are just another way for phone companies to charge you extra for bandwith you allready paid for.

Voice dialing might be nice, but I think most people have no problem going without it.

Mobile TV? iPhones have iTunes and a huge selection of TV and Movies so whats the point?

You know the pretty little form factor Apple came up with for the iPhone? Consider that ruined the minute you put an easy access battery cover on the back. Also, have you ever droped an iPhone? I have, and you know what doesn’t happen? The battery, battery cover, and phone do not go flying of in 3 seperate directions. I call that a feature.

Last but not least, memory cards. Why, you have at least 8gigabytes of storage? Is that not enough for you?

I will probably update this a bit more later, but my head hurts now, and I am going to have a beer.

[authors note] I do not have a 3G iPhone only because I am quite happy with my 8Gb first generation model.

A friend of mine sent me this at work, and I found it amusing.

‘We, in Ireland, can’t figure out why people are even bothering to hold an election in the United States. On one side, you have a pants wearing lawyer, married to a lawyer who can’t keep his pants on, who just lost a long and heated primary against a lawyer who goes to the wrong church who is married to yet another lawyer who doesn’t even like the country her husband wants to run.

Now…On the other side, you have a nice old war hero whose name starts with the appropriate ‘Mc’ terminology married to a good looking younger woman who owns a beer distributorship.

What in Lord’s name are ye lads thinking over there in the colonies??

[Disclaimer] I do not currently endorse either Presidential candidates. This is just a piece of humor.

• @eric_so I wasn’t very impressed with Loopt either. #
• @patricknorton Sony has good design on top of over priced, substandard hardware. #
• @gradontripp new or old? #
• I feel my Chumby is being heavily neglected since the iPhone 2.0 update. #
• @gradontripp Way of the Gun, Layered Cake, Fifth Element, Death at a Funeral,…. #
• @gradontripp here’s one you can get free off of Google Video: “Kin Dza Dza”. Think of it as a Ukranian Star Wars. #
• Currently listening to Dropkick Murphys “The Dirty Glass” and updating widgets on my Chumby. Oh, and Tweeting of course. #
• I do not want to be awake right now. #
• My wife doesn’t care much for the alarm music playing on my Chumby this morning. She doesn’t appreciate Gwar “F***ing an Animal” at 5:25AM. #
• Because I am sick of blocking spammers on Twitter, my updates are now protected. #
• http://bit.ly/1lvJXh Chris Nolan is my effin’ hero now. #
• @ZaqM You can’t do anything with the new GI Bill until August 1st 2009. I am in that boat also. #
• I work with some of the most brilliant minds in the country. Too bad they are overshadowed by a bunch of retards. #
• @ejacqui In my town, they ride on the wrong side of the road even if there is a good bike path/route on the other! #
• @happyfunpaul But if we raise the speed limit 30 miles an hour, that will cut down on gas usage in the long run. Dead people can’t drive. #
• http://bit.ly/2pQURD Logitech wireless Wii keyboard to come out in August. Woot! #
• There is an insane amount of Hobo Vagina floating around Twitter right now. I’m not sure I dislike it. #
• Byline the iPhone feed reader does not like to sync over edge. #
• @chrispirillo Glad I already got that one. Cube Runner is awesome. #
• At Macaroni Grill picking up dinner to go. Wife had a bad day, so we are eating comfort food Glad I’m not cooking tonight. #

Great news from Twitter!

We’re excited to announce that Twitter has acquired Summize—an extraordinary search tool and an amazing group of engineers. All five Summize engineers will move to San Francisco, CA and take jobs at Twitter, Inc. This is an important step forward in the evolution of Twitter as a service and as a company.

[via Twitter Blog]

Just thought I would share a few news stories I found this morning. All should be somewhat entertaining.

• Toronto Blue Jays Fans Taunt A-Rod With Madonna Photos (as a Yankees fan, and a New Yorker, I still approve!)
  
• Man cuts off own head with chainsaw
• Women arrested in sex competition