Accessing a Computer Remotely from your iPhone

SoonR is a web 2.0 application that gives you access to your computer from your iPhone.

Let's hope SoonR doesn't follow Festoon into oblivion because right now they are providing a very useful and somewhat amazing service.

To take advantage of this service you need to download a SoonR desktop agent and register using your email and phone number. There is nothing difficult about the registration sequence and the whole process takes less than 10 minutes.

At the end of it you will receive an SMS message containing a password protected link to the Desktop of your computer. During the configuration of the Desktop agent I chose to share a single directory named 'public' , though SoonR claims my information is secure and accessible only through 128 bit encryption. After logging in I was granted read access to the files in my public directory. Nice.

What's even better is that SoonR Desktop agent lets me run selected applications, including Skype from the iPhone. Since Skype to Skype calls are free, and even the Skype to land calls average only about 2¢ a minute, I am really looking forward to using this when travelling overseas.

Stephen Fry Can Blog

Actor Stephen Fry wrote about the iPhone on his blog.

It's a lengthy but entertaining read. Stephen Fry is a bit of a technophile with a long history of buying the latest smart phone. He pans the iPhone's virtual keyboard and the lack of support for custom apps but praises just about everything else.

I made a call on my iPhone.

The most comfortable way for me to make a call on the iPhone is by using those ear plugs with the built in microphone. The sound quality is excellent and people on the other end of the call can hear me clearly. If I am listening to music when a calls come in, a simple squeeze on the built-in microphone pauses the song and picks up the call. Another squeeze ends the call and resumes the music.

The speaker phone is another story. The speaker volume is simply inadequate and even at the maximum volume I have to be within 12 inches of it to hear the caller. It may just not be possible to output much sound with whatever hardware can be packed within confines of the iPhone but when the phone rings it's loud and clear. Strange.

I also like the Apple's Bluetooth device. The interface is intuitive and the sound is clear enough. However, callers report a lot of background noise so, maybe that's not quite ready yet. I am not totally comfortable with the gadget-in-my-ear look but I can adapt.

I was really surprised to learn that I already knew how to put a call on hold and pick up another incoming call. Just press the big red "Hold + Answer" button. Nice. I've not mishandled a single call yet which, given my track record with telephony, is truly amazing.

iPhone eMail Tricks and Treats

eMail on the iPhone is a mixed bag of goodies and gaffs.

The one feature that invariably makes everyone go "ohhh" is when you rotate the iPhone 90 degrees and the screen goes wide in response. This useful feature is available in the browser, in the iPod mode, and with the YouTube video display. But when you try that in the native Mail application it only makes your head tilt as you try to read the text sideways. There is some consolation in that we are given three different text sizes in the Mail application Settings.

The message administration functions are limited to handling one message at a time. There's no way to deal with groups of messages, e.g. Delete All Read, Mark All Read/Unread. There is no automatic message filtering or sorting capability at this time.

Creating a connection to an existing email account is easy, especially if it is with either Y!Mail, Gmail, .mac or AOL. The 'Other' category covers IMAP, Exchange with IMAP enabled and POP mailboxes. The iPhone does handle multiple email accounts easily. You can assign one account to be the default but the number of unread messages displayed on the front panel will still be the sum of the unread messages in each account you've connected.

Each shiny new email connection you create comes with two mailboxes, Inbox and Trash although it appears to be ready to handle at least seven more folders. There does not seem to be a way to create additional folders of your own to organize the messages. You won't see a Sent folder until you actually send a message. An Outbox folder appears when it's time to handle a message that could not be sent on the first try. (Force a retry by restarting the phone.)

You can save a draft of a message and it will be stored in a Drafts folder but getting there is not an intuitive maneuver. While you are composing a message, hit Cancel and you will be offered a Save / Don't Save option. If you hit Save it will appear in the Drafts folder.

If want to clean a message out of your Inbox quickly, try sliding your finger from right to left across message's subject+preview text area. A handy Delete button will appear.

If you need to recover a deleted message open the Trash folder, then open the message, then click the small folder icon at lower right, then click the Inbox folder. (*whew* that could've been easier)

The iPhone will handle a short list of attachments but it's an odd mix that's heavy in a number of file types that only a developer would crave:

.c, .cpp, .h, .hpp, .patch , .diff

Next, they covered bare necessities:

.htm, .html, .txt

Then made a few curtsey's to the MS Office world but notably chose to omit Powerpoint documents:

.doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx

I lean toward believing the gang over at Wolfram Research must have given them one for free. Either that or the Apple employees are passing around Mathematica data files in those chain letters that everyone gets. You can also view a mind map output file:

.m, .mm

The crown jewel, I suppose, is the Portable Document Format File. Yes, that is correct. You can open a PDF file on the iPhone.

.pdf

And while you may have to wait several minutes for it to load, you can even use it to view the iPhone manual ;-)

Username, Password in the Website Address

For me, the most unpleasant surprise with Safari on the iPhone was discovering that it does not offer to remember any passwords.

However, for those few small, private sites that still use Basic authentication I can create a bookmark that includes my login credentials. This is a bad idea. I would not recommend it to anyone else but I do it myself in some cases because it makes things easier. Make a bookmark like this:

http://username@password:www.sitename.dom/

Sites using token based authentication have been giving me mixed results. In most cases, as long as I don't actually navigate off the site or close that instance of the browser window I remain logged in to the site. I can go back to the start screen, do something else and return to the logged on session. There does appear to be a time limit beyond which this no longer works. I have not a found a case of 'Remember me on this computer' failing to work indefinitely so this incarnation of Safari appears to be liberal about accepting cookies.

The most pleasant surprise for me was the way reader.mac.com/mobile handles xml files. The mac.com reader does an excellent job of rendering the feed. If you haven't seen it yet, try this link with Safari on your iPhone:

http://echo3.net/i/links.xml

Another pleasant surpise for me was the mobile version of Reuters news site. It is a compact, appealing layout that handles photos perfectly and easily unfolds into much deeper content.

Here is a very short list of links worth checking out with Safari on your iPhone:

http://mobile.reuters.com/
http://www.google.com/notebook/
http://www.google.com/calendar
http://mail.google.com/mail/x/

When iPhone Applications Crash

iPhone applications crash as gracefully as one could wish. You just find yourself unexpectedly back at the start screen, with all the icons looking up at you innocently as if nothing bad just happened.

The easiest application to crash is the Maps application. While searching for directions to a regional landmark, Maps kicked us back to the start screen several times. Since our search was still in the Recents list it wasn't difficult to try, try again.

Another potential crash point is while editing a Contact, especially when you select the Take Photo option. Since the iPhone inexplicably does not add the pictures taken at this point to the Camera Roll you may simply lose it altogether, along with any changes you haven't saved yet. The crucial moment is just after hitting Set Photo. I watched in dismay as a second hourglass appeared a little below the first and then *swoosh* there I was back at the start screen. A more certain method for assigning a photo to a contact is to take the picture first and choose the Select Existing Photo option.

What's Your Sign? Er, I Mean Ringtone?

Everyone has been in one of those meetings. Profits are down, tempers are heating up, the tension builds and just then someone's cell phone starts playing Who Let the Dogs Out.

As for me, I'll probably stick with the 'Old Phone' ringtone. It's eerie. But evidently a lot of people want something different. According to the research firm IDC:

...230 million wireless subscribers in the United States bought a total of $4.1 billion in data services in the third quarter of 2006... $7.27 was spent per customer on data services during that time, of which ring tones were the most popular paid download... more than a third of all U.S. wireless subscribers to purchase at least one ring tone each quarter.

That's a lot of jingles, but soon, according to Information Week, the iPhone will let you use any of your iTunes songs as a ringtone.

This seems like such a natural feature for the iPhone one has to wonder why it wasn't there from the start. Adding this capability to the iPhone will make it even more attractive to consumers but it probably won't cause much of a dent in the "ringtones for cell phones" business, nor is it likely to help the iPhone supplant the Blackberry. Still, it's a welcome addition.

That Left Turn in Albuquerque

I plotted a course to the restaurant.

Getting driving directions may be the least intuitive thing to do on the iPhone. Add your own address to your Contacts first. It will make things much easier later.

With some help from Google it is easy to find and call a place of business. I opened up Safari and searched for the name of the restaurant and the city. There it was, with the phone number first and it was hyperlinked. I tapped on the phone number and it offered to dial it for me. Who wouldn't love that? As I was making our reservations, I resisted the impulse to say "Yes, table for 6 and I am calling from an iPhone"

After the call, I went to Phone, Recents and added the restaurant to my Contacts list. (When we get there tomorrow I need to remember to include a photo of it. Hey, if you're not going to have fun, why buy an iPhone?)

Adding it to the Contacts along with the address turned out to be a good idea. I found out next that the easiest way to explain a location to the Maps application is to select it from the bookmarked locations. The easiest way to bookmark a location is to select it from the list of Contacts. Got it?

Here is the sequence:

First add the address of the location in Phone, Contacts. Be sure you've added your own address as a Contact, too, as it is much easier to select it as the Start of your trip.

Second, open the Maps application, click the up/down arrows icon in the bottom left corner of the screen.

Third, select the Start and End locations from your Contacts or your Map Bookmarks, or if you like to suffer, try searching for each of them using those really tiny input areas.

Bookmarking Locations the Easy Way: The Maps application pins a label of the location you've found on the map for you and the label includes a blue right arrow. Tap it to see an Info screen which includes an 'Add to Bookmarks' button. Tap it. That was the hard part. Once you've bookmarked both your destination and your starting point things get a lot easier. If you have tried, tried again to establish the location of a place by searching you might also find it in your list of Recents.

Third, tap the Route button. The route is highlighted for you from pin to pin on the map. There is also a List button that spells out the directions for the topographically impaired.

Now the fun begins. Tap the Start button. You will be treated to a visually appealing animated version of your trip right on the surface of the map with the directions spelled out at the top of the screen. If current traffic conditions are available for your area, you can see them by tapping the little car icon on the bottom right of the screen. Even Michael Knight would be envious.

Remember, iPhoning and driving don't mix.

We Have Service

The Apple repair center sent me a new iPhone.

Just to review the sequence of events:

1. Friday evening - I bought a new iPhone, activated it and it worked.
   
2. Saturday morning - The "No Service" message appeared. I spent several hours hobnobbing with the intelligentsia working the support lines at Apple and AT&T.
3. Saturday afternoon - Returned to the AT&T store for a new SIM card.
4. Saturday evening - Support call to Apple. I was assigned a repair order number.
5. Tuesday morning - Received a temporary replacement iPhone
6. Wednesday morning - Fed Ex'ed my original iPhone back to Apple
7. Friday morning - Received a new iPhone from the Repair Center (It has a different serial number now)

I am impressed again. The new iPhone works but I am going to hang on to the replacement through the weekend just in case there is another failure.

Before taking the SIM card out of the temporary iPhone I sync'ed it with iTunes one last time. When I connected the new iPhone, iTunes offered to restore my settings from backup. Except for the pictures in the Camera Roll, the wireless connection passwords and my email account password, everything seems to be in order, even down to weather forecasts for the 6 different cities I watch.

Congratulations, Apple. My iPhone works.

Testing 1 2 3

Just making sure I can update the blog from the iPhone. I need to
remember to make a witty comment about some of the words offered as I
type.