Appletell

Apple has an odd habit of slipping unannounced changes into their updates, and sometimes those updates slip right past us, too. Such is the case with the iPhone’s Mail program. Although sending and receiving e-mail has always been a breeze, managing that e-mail has not. Everything pretty much gets dumped where it wants to get dumped, and bypassing that can be a headache, especially if your e-mail account falls outside Apple’s happy network (MobileMe, Gmail, etc.).

Setting up and managing accounts still isn’t as straightforward as it could be, but working with e-mails once they come in has seen a nice improvement. Before, you had to treat each e-mail as its own entity. If you wanted to delete a bunch, you had to do it one at time, or in one fell swoop. Not good if you had 30 e-mails in a folder and wanted to delete 29. But, if you haven’t checked your iPhone’s e-mail lately, do so now.

Find out why after the break.

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It seems Apple has finally fixed MobileMe’s Mail. David G. is back to give us the news via Apple’s MobileMe Status Page update #3.

We have completed restoring Mail service, including historical messages, to all of the 1% of affected members. Thank you all for your extreme patience during this trying time.

Apple also resolved other MobileMe issues. There was a bug with syncing of contacts and calendars over the air to the iPhone and iPod Touch that was addressed.

Apple will be working on other issues as soon as possible and plans another update to the MobileMe Status page later this week.

Via [Apple]

Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal recently wrote in his column about ten iPhone apps, in the new app store, that he feels are worth checking out. I think it’s a really great “getting started” guide for those who are overwhelmed or otherwise confused about where to start with the app store.

See Walt’s video commentary after the break.

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Just in time for the release of the iPhone 3G in a week, Google has released a new version of its GTalk client for the iPhone and iPod Touch browsers. Google Talk works similarly to the web version, except when receiving instant messages. In this case, the application needs to be open in the Safari browser. Likewise, when you navigate away to another browser window or application, the IM status will be changed to “unavailable.” But, it will revert back to “available” status when you return to the GTalk window.

For its iPhone interface, Google Talk remained faithful to the web version when using your desktop. Most of the features of the desktop version were retained, including quicklist of contacts that you connect with the most, contact searching and managing multiple conversations.

To start using Google Talk on you iPhone or iPod Touch, just point your browser to www.google.com/talk.

Via [Official Google Mobile Blog]

Apple is at it again with their helpful guided tours. This time, that same familiar face in the black shirt is talking about updates with the iPhone 3G and its 2.0 software. You can head over to Apple’s website to watch it, and you can download it for your computer or iPod if your internet connection is too slow to stream it. I watched it myself, and I even learned a few things I didn’t know beforehand.

One of my favorite features this video shows is that users are able to talk on the phone while surfing the internet at the same time. Thanks to 3G, you can now use data and voice features simultaneously.

It appears as if Apple loves making these videos for their customers. They are not only extremely helpful to those who may not follow Apple as closely as others, but they also help bring up the hype surrounding the phone. When users see a video guide on Apple’s site, it may make them more compelled to see what the phone is all about, which may, in turn, lead to a purchase. To find out more, head on over and watch it!

Via [Apple]

The new iPhone 3G hasn’t even been released yet, but seven problems with the new iPhone have already been pointed out by many, all of which have been based on demos and published specs of what the iPhone 3G will offer. We may get 3G and GPS, a way to connect to Microsoft Exchange, and the new App Store, but what about all of the other features that are missing from Apple’s device? Outlined after the break are the seven most prominent issues with the upcoming iPhone 3G.

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The announcement of a 3G iPhone was expected at WWDC, yet the Internet still went crazy when Steve finally announced it for real. Coming in at half the price of the original iPhone with a few more outstanding features (GPS, 3G, etc), why wouldn’t anybody like it? However, one thing Apple left out that sort of disappoints me is the video camera. Not just one on the front that was rumored for video conferencing, but the original camera still doesn’t take video (unless Steve has a late “one more thing” coming). The lack of this feature not only keeps the Instinct’s argument valid, it totally leaves out the option for web conferencing and anything else that can be done with a video camera.

A video camera on the iPhone could be used in endless ways. Imagine taking a quick video and instantly uploading it to YouTube or Flickr Video. With its tight integration with iTunes, your video could easily be moved around your computer and be shown to all of your friends on a beautiful 3.5 inch screen. Although it may not be in the coming iPhone this July, I sure hope it’s on Apple’s checklist of things to add that Steve mentioned.

This post is part three of a seven part series covering the iPhone applications and games announced at the WWDC Keynote on Monday, June 9th.

One of the most anticipated apps for the iPhone was a blogging application. Users got their wish with Typepad, a popular blog host that now runs natively on the iPhone. From your iPhone, you can log in to your blog, write entries, and edit your account. These edits can be done over WiFi or EDGE, so you can be hooked up from almost anywhere. A free trial is available, but this app will cost money.

For more on the new iPhone apps revealed at WWDC, follow the links below.

  • Auctions
  • Push Notification Service
  • Typepad
  • Mobile News
  • Band
  • Modality and MIMVista
  • At Bat

Well, folks, its this time of year again. Tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. EST/9:00 a.m. PST, Steve will be donning the blue jeans and black turtle neck and heading for the stage of the Moscone Center. As this year’s World Wide Developer Conference gets ever closer, it’s time for a rumor and speculation round-up.

For the most part, the speculation this year has hovered around four items:

1. 3G iPhone
2. .mac
3. iTablet
4. Mac OS X v10.6

Read on for all the recent news regarding these and other possible happenings at WWDC ‘08.

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Among the good things brought about by the recently released Mac OS X 10.5.3 is a new feature which enables iPhone users to sync their address book with their Google contacts. It’s a pretty neat application that makes the otherwise daunting task of syncing your contact lists easier to do.

But before you try to synchronize your iPhone address book with Google contacts, it’s always a good thing to back up your iPhone contacts first. That way, you won’t end up having an iPhone that seems like it comes right out of the box with a fresh contact-less address book, in case something goes wrong while your synchronizing. If you’re one of those who don’t need to be reminded about this, then go ahead and start synchronizing now. It’s as simple as going to your Address Book menu, choose Preferences and then hit the Synchronize with Google link. After entering your account and password, the task becomes automatic everytime you sync your iPhone with your Google contacts.

Incidentally, the Google Mac blog wants to inform us that the sync software uses Google Data APIs when communicating with Gmail’s contact. If you are a hard core techie kind of Apple fan, you’d certainly know how important it is for you to know that information.

Read [Google Mac Blog]