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My iPhone 3.0 upgrade is not going well (Updated 3x)

Update 3 (6/19/09 3:45p): It’s a feature, not a bug. I hate that…

Apple – Support – Discussions – Double contacts? … shows people with similar symptoms. Why I had trouble getting iTunes to disable local syncing, I now don’t know — but I will no longer be spooked by the option to enable local syncing remaining visible. And I will notice the new text which used to say “Over-the-air sync settings can be changed on your iPhone” now says “You can also choose to sync contacts/calendars with this computer.”

I guess Apple removed the either/or restriction on MobileMe syncing. I suppose this could allow you to sync with a home-based MobileMe account while also syncing with a work-based desktop account.

Update 2 (6/18/09 5:46p): I think I’ve fooled iTunes. It’s not “fixed”, but here’s what I did to get back on track:

  1. I created a blank new Calendar and a blank new Address Book group.
  2. I deleted all mail accounts on my phone, along with all their data.
  3. This left a bunch of calendars and contacts *still* on my phone, so
  4. I unchecked “Sync Mail Accounts” (for now).
  5. set my phone to sync Calendars and Contacts to those empty groups I just created, and checked the corresponding Reset buttons. (The idea being that I reset all my data to nothing, the only way I could find to erase just the Calendars and Contacts.)
  6. Then, after the Calendar/Contact sync finished (erasing all Calendar/Contact data on the phone), in a separate sync I re-added the Mail Accounts.
  7. I ejected the phone and disconnected the USB cable.
  8. On the phone, in the Settings for my MobileMe account, I turned on Contacts, Calendars, and Bookmarks sync. I also had to launch the Contacts and Calendars apps to initiate the data being pulled in from the MobileMe cloud.
  9. After that all finished and I had the correct data on my phone, I deleted the blank Contact group and blank Calendar from my Mac (sync cable still unattached) to verify the Push connection was alive and working.
  10. Only once the blank group and calendar disappeared from my phone via a true MobileMe push did I then reconnect the cable to my phone for another sync. iTunes does not show the MobileMe override for Contacts and Calendars, but at least it knows enough and disabled the local syncing.

Let’s hope they address this, altho a quick scan of the Discussion Forums and other online notices seems to suggest I’m the only one on the planet having this issue. Lucky me!

Update 1 (6/18/09 3:09p): Apple Discussion forums are back online. Weird they would go offline right as the download started. Saving bandwidth, or what else…

Original Post
I’m 2 hours into my upgrade and having problems.

Also, why are Apple’s discussion forums (http://discussions.apple.com/) closed? Is it to squash the possibility of an onslaught of negativeness about anything that goes wrong?

My specific problem is that my phone shows MobileMe sync is enabled, but iTunes’ “Info” tab does not agree. As a result, iTunes resyncs my entire Contacts and Calendars every time, despite MobileMe push sync being enabled. I also end up with two sets of Contacts and two sets of Calendar events — one for On My Mac and the other for my MobileMe account.

Notably (or not?), after the upgrade finished, my phone was renamed to just “iPhone”. Developing…

posted by brent - June 17, 2009 in Apple and iPhone. 0 Comments
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Airfoil Speakers Touch app is a great tool for iPhone devs

As I wrote previously, Rogue Amoeba’s just-released iPhone app “Airfoil Speakers Touch” is a slightly baffling piece of software with limited use in practice. I don’t think much of the criticism it is getting on the iTunes App Store is their fault tho, and the upcoming 3.0 SDK features may let Rogue Amoeba finally create what users think this app will do (and what they really want — Airfoil for iPhone!). But, for now, it’s baffling.

As a composer embarking on scoring my first iPhone game, however, I now see a tremendous use for this. Our audio system has great studio speakers, but iPhone music has to be optimized for audibility over the tiny phone speaker as well. Instead of the laborious “export, mp3, copy to iTunes, sync, iPod play” routine, I can simply hijack Live or DP and beam the audio to my phone. Tweaks made on-the-fly are immediately heard.

A phone call will still interrupt the audio with no option to resume, and I still can’t control the host from within the app… but it did just make my workflow much simpler.

posted by brent - May 1, 2009 in Apple, iPhone, Reviews and Software. 1 Comment
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Airfoil Speakers Touch released for iPhone and iPod Touch

Rogue Amoeba has announced the release of Airfoil Speakers Touch, a free companion app for their cross-platform audio streaming tool Airfoil. This app gives any iPhone or iPod Touch the ability to receive streaming audio from an Airfoil app on your local wi-fi network. It’s a free dowload on the iTunes App Store. Airfoil is required and a free demo can be downloaded from Rogue Amoeba. Licenses (which remove the 10 minute time-limit) are $25.

A while back I wrote about my 4-part solution to stream audio across a network and still have your listening count. It’s oddly become one of our highest traffic posts, currently ranking #7 in a Google search for “airfoil iphone“.

My hunch is that most people want a way to broadcast *from* their mobile device to another person’s audio system — a wireless patch cable.

With this app, you still can’t stream *from* your iPod Touch/iPhone in the same way that Airfoil does — it is receive-only. (I guess it would be good for like an office-wide “radio” station (see update below) or something?) Also, since you only receive audio while the Airfoil Speakers Touch app is open, you can’t use Remote to change the song at the music source either.

But maybe if you had one phone running Remote controlling an iTunes streaming thru Airfoil to *another* iPhone receiving…..

'Airfoil Speakers Touch' at the iTunes App Store

Get 'Airfoil Speakers Touch' from the iTunes App Store

I think we’ll have to wait for some of the features coming in iPhone 3.0 before streaming off the phone will be possible. I’m sure if *I’m* getting the Google hits on this, Rogue Amoeba surely is as well and will be on top of things.

UPDATED: I’ve played with this a little more now, and I can’t see much use for it. Perhaps if you were stuck with a crappy PC that had no sound card or no headphones jack, this would give you remote wireless headphones via the phone. And because you have to launch the mobile app before Airfoil can broadcast to that destination, my idea of joining a “radio station” wouldn’t be possible. Using this app out-of-reach of the Airfoil source would just get annoying. Third, a phone call properly silences the incoming music, but that results in audio reverting to the host computer’s speakers… hope that’s okay in your quiet office! Oh, and it doesn’t automatically reconnect (yet?) when the phone call is over.

I love Rogue Amoeba’s apps, but Airfoil Speakers Touch feels like they are just cutting their teeth on the iPhone SDK for when bigger and more useful companion apps become possible.

Previously:

posted by brent - April 18, 2009 in Apple, iPhone, Reviews and Software. 0 Comments
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“Snow Dude” hits the iPhone App Store

Our pal Ben has coded apps that help Spiderman fly and that help cure cancer. Now he’s tackled the iPhone, coding his first app for the Lycette Brothers.

It’s called “Snow Dude“, and it’s available today from the iTunes App Store for $1.99. Check it out!

'Snow Dude' at the iTunes App Store

Get 'Snow Dude' from the iTunes App Store

posted by brent - January 23, 2009 in Apple, iPhone and Software. 0 Comments
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No More iTunes DRM (songs, at least)

Most every song in the iTunes store went “Plus” today, meaning they are double-quality (and size) 256k AAC format and best, DRM free! Songs will play on unlimited iPods, iPhones, Mac, Windows, and unlimited CD playlist burns.

Upgrading is a crummy $0.30 per track, which made sense when a Plus version went for $1.29. But still, it’s only $0.30 to gain a lot of freedom.

DRM does not work. It assumes the consumer is the criminal and only punishes people who actually pay for stuff. People that steal songs get them DRM-free anyway. Kudos to the record companies for finally letting Apple do this.

Click here to be taken to iTunes’ Library Upgrade page, and our pups will get a scoop of food on you:
Apple iTunes

posted by brent - January 7, 2009 in Apple. 0 Comments
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iPhone Remote app + Airfoil + Airfoil Speakers = iTunes Heaven (UPDATED with AirPlay details)

(UPDATED 9/1/10: Apple introduced AirPlay today, the next incarnation of AirTunes wireless media streaming. iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch running iOS 4.2+ can wirelessly streaming of audio, video, and photos to Apple TV as well as other AirPlay-compatible hardware receivers.)

My iTunes library lives on our laptop, but I’m often on our other “big” computer and want to listen to those tunes. I could stream between iTuneses, but I want this listening to count — i.e. increment play counts, let me change star ratings, etc. You can’t do that with iTunes streaming.

But now, with 2 computers, a wireless network, an iPhone running OS 2.0+, four cross-platform apps (3 of which are free), and a little scotch tape, my dream is possible.

  1. You’ll need the following apps: iTunes, Rogue Amoeba’s Airfoil ($25), their companion app Airfoil Speakers, and Apple’s Remote for iPhone
  2. Open Airfoil Speakers on the destination computer.
  3. Open Airfoil on the source computer and select “iTunes” from the source list.
  4. In Airfoil, activate the connection to the Airfoil Speakers computer. (iTunes will launch or relaunch, and Airfoil will establish a digital link to the destination.)
  5. Get your iPhone on your Wi-Fi network
  6. Open Remote, select a tune, and press play!

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posted by brent - August 13, 2008 in Apple, How-To, iPhone and Software. 4 Comments
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Hello World from my iPhone

This is my first post using the new WordPress iPhone app on my new phone.

We got in line at 7:45a at the Soho Apple Store. We had our vouchers by about 9:00a. It took another 2.5 hours to get phones. The actual activation took 4 minutes per phone.

Below is the last photo taken by my Razr:

photo

***UPDATE***
Our friend who left the line around 9:00a with his voucher returned at 4pm and had his phone by 4:10. :(

posted by brent - July 29, 2008 in Apple, iPhone and WordPress. 0 Comments
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