Appletell

iPhone users may notice a text message from AT&T today. Although I haven’t yet received it (why are you dissing me, AT&T?), we’ve had reports that AT&T is announcing free WiFi access all across the U.S.:

AT&T Free Msg: Your Apple iPhone now has free AT&T Wi-Fi access at thousands of hotspots nationwide, including Starbucks*. For info, visit http://www.att.com/attwifi.

Being the investigative journalist I am, I did, indeed, visit AT&T’s site. There…

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The iPhone and iPod touch have a pretty good amount of storage space on them, but let’s face it—your music library is likely larger than the space you have on your device. So, you have to pick and choose which songs you want to have with you at all times. That problem must have bugged Simplify Media, because they’ve got an app to help keep you and your music together forever.

The app, also called Simplify Media, lets you stream songs from your home computer and even your friends’ computers; up to 30 in total. All you have to do is download the app for your Mac, Linux, or PC, create an account on their website, and then get the app for the iPhone or iPod Touch.

Jump past the break for details on how to get this app for free for a limited time.

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Yeah, I didn’t think so. Not in the U.S., anyway, says Apple; at least, not without jail breaking your little friend. Though, for a minute there, it seemed Apple was cool with the idea of using your iPhone’s 3G or EDGE data connection over a SOCKS5 proxy.

Late Thursday night I was doing my usual routine—browsing the App Store for new programs that I just can’t live without—when I found myself in dire need of a reality check. Nullriver released a straightforwardly named program to the App Store, NetShare. NetShare creates an ad-hoc WiFi network with your iPhone, allowing you to connect wirelessly to a computer and use the iPhone’s EDGE or 3G data connection.

Jump past the break to learn more.

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A company by the name of iCall is offering the ability to both make and receive free phone calls on your iPhone when in range of a wireless hotspot. What’s interesting about this is that you can also hop on and off of the VoIP service as you enter and leave a hotspot, as shown in the YouTube video (after the break). It also has access to your entire address book on your iPhone, along with a customizable voicemail feature. This application should be available next week when the SDK App Store comes out.

Click through to see the video.

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With the imminent release of the 3G iPhone, I thought it may be helpful to provide some suggestions on what to do with your soon-to-be-outdated iPhone. YouTube user willgorman also seems to be having the same thought. In a recently posted video, he demonstrates how to turn an iPhone into a great little robot.

First, the intrepid DIYer wrote a simple program for the Lego NXT Robot using NXJ that enabled the machine to be controlled by certain colors. Then, he wrote a safari web app using the Google Web Toolkit to provide the color changes needed to control the robot. Once all the programing and building was complete, he put the iPhone on the machine and let ‘er rip using another iPhone to control it over WiFi.

Catch the video after the break.

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Fueled by the recent snowballing of Mac sales and interest in the iPhone’s mobile WiFi platform, this year’s Apple World Wide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) has sold out for the first time in history.  The exact number of spaces that were available was not put out by Apple, but soon after making the “sold out” announcement, they released the following statement. 

“Response to this year’s WWDC has been off the charts and we are delighted with the show of enthusiasm and support from the developer community for the new iPhone SDK. The conference is now sold out.“

There are many speculations as to what will happen at WWDC ‘08, ranging from 3G iPhones to Tablet Macs (the latter taken with quite a sizable grain of salt).  Based on past WWDC history, chances are slim that any new computer designs will be introduced, as those larger announcement are usually saved for MacWorld (small design updates for the Mac line up are more of a possibility).

Luckily for those who didn’t snag a seat at the conference, videos of the session will be on iTunes shortly after for purchase.

Read [Mac Megatsite]

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The New York Department of Education has halted an order on Macs due to a wireless connectivity issue with their infrastructure.  Apple has been hard at work trying to resolve this issue and a fix is expected to come with a new Leopard release, most likely 10.5.3.  For now the machines are being held at a Dell facility in Austin, Texas because of a contract the DOE has with Dell that allows them to handle all of the school system’s tech ordering.  The schools are still able to order and receive machines that rely on a wired ethernet connection rather than wifi.

Apple has apologized in both an email and an Apple product catalog notice for the two month delay.  The company has been franticly working on this issue in hopes of getting the machines shipped as soon as possible.  Hopefully Apple gets 10.5.3 out soon because I have been experiencing wifi issues with my iMac as well and would love to see this problem resolved for everyone.

Via [AppleInsider]

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“Pick of the Week,“ a new program from Apple and Starbucks, will consist of Pick of the Week cards stocked at more that 7,000 Starbucks locations that give customers a chance to discover new music and video.  Simply grab the card while getting your coffee, then fire up iTunes and redeem the song or video of the week.  The first song being featured is Counting Crow’s “Washington Square,“ but don’t feel rushed because Apple says customers will have 60 days to redeem the song from the date it is available.  The companies expect this new program to drive more than 1.5 million downloads every week.

This is the another big announcement coming from these two companies since October 2006, where the iTunes Wifi Music Store was launched that allows users to easily find songs they hear at Starbucks.  Apple and Starbucks seem to really be enjoying their partnership with each other, so it will be interesting to see what else comes from their relationship.

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A new update has just been released from Apple. AirPort Base Station Update 2008-001 was released midday Tuesday and as of this time is not available on Apple’s website.

According to Apple, the update “includes general fixes and compatibility updates for the following applications: AirPort Utility, AirPort Disk Utility, [and] AirPort Base Station Agent.“

With luck, this will fix the Airport issues many have been having with Leopard, but it does not appear to be the update hinted at by an Apple representative yesterday.

Download for Windows, Leopard, or Tiger.

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The new MyLocation feature on the Google Maps application in the iPhone and iPod Touch allow users to find their location. Many thought that this technology only uses cell triangulation to locate where the phone is. However, Apple has partnered with Skyhook Wireless to allow iPod Touch users to find their location as well. Skyhook uses a database of Wifi hotspots to determine your location.

“Every Wi-Fi access point, whether public or private, sends out a signal every second or so, like a lighthouse. We pick up those signals and use our technology to calculate your exact location.“

Skyhook has been driving around North America documenting all the wifi hotspots in both Canada and the US. So far, they believe they have documented 70% of North America, and are planning to expand to Europe and Asia in the future. Also, Skyhook charges a one-time fee for usage of their technology which may have something to do with the $20 fee charged to iPod Touch users for the January Software Upgrade.

Via [Macrumors]

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