While at Fry’s today I saw this iSlice on the rack next to the register.

The irony is so beautiful…

Check out both photos

Alright, it’s only been two weeks since the pricing uproar and now the hacking community is in a tizzy because Apple has basically said, if you hack your phone, we’re not going to replace it if it becomes a brick.

The guys at the “iPhone Dev Team” (which has nothing to do with Apple) said that they will try and restore your phone to factory state so a new firmware update from Apple won’t brick it. Now people are pissed because Apple is seen as limiting their phone.

Um, Apple sells iPhones that work in the US only, as of this writing. If you buy a phone and break the EULA and hack around on it, you assume the risk of bricking it. Period.

In the US, it is legal to unlock your phone.

However, Apple does NOT need to support these customers, and shouldn’t. Why should they replace your bricked phone because you went tooling around inside the guts?

If you want to do something unauthorized to your iPhone, go right ahead. Just make sure you can afford the $399 if you need a new one.

This is no different than accessing designer mode on a HDTV and accidentally resetting the 256 settings to 0 by pressing the wrong key combo. Toshiba will not come out and give you a new TV because you were twiddling with hidden settings you found access to on the Internet.

Don’t ask me how I know about that anecdote.

I finally replaced that TV. Never did get it to look right again.

I’ve been wanting a second Macbook Pro power adaptor for awhile, and the stores just don’t seem to have the new, smaller ones in stock, so I ordered it online. $79. Cool. I have $21 left over.

Comes in 4-6 weeks. Sigh.

Just gave this update to the ole’ stalwart a shot.

1. It told me that my 140gb disk image was not big enough for a clone of a 140gb partition – but I told it I wanted to just update
2. The barber pole never changed to a progress bar
3. I had no idea if it was copying or updating
4. It let me choose my disk image but then said the target was not available, so I mounted the disk image myself
5. After 20 mins I decided to stop it. After another 5 minutes of “Application is not responding” I force quit it.

Wait for someone else to debug this application.

The whole site runs on asp and requires some Windows only plugin. Ok so not only am I shut out as an iPod user, I’m shut out as a Macintosh user. Fine, let’s keep looking.

Unfortunately, those running the Apple operating system on their computers will not be able to play preview clips, stream videos, or download songs and videos at SpiralFrog.

We require you to be running Windows XP or Vista at SpiralFrog for the simple reason that Windows Digital Rights Management is the only standard available for independent music stores like us to protect the songs and videos as required by the record labels’ licenses.

Windows Digital Rights Management is not supported by Apple Macintosh computers. Macintosh supports the AAC Digital Rights Management, but it is closed to Apple’s own use only.

At this time, we’re sorry to say that all you can do is browse our site, but it’s a very good site, and you’ll lots of information about all your favorite artists. So, please… enjoy!

Yeah ok.

Oh look at their FAQ:

How come there’s no cost – what’s the catch?

SpiralFrog is an ad-supported Web site. We sell ads on our pages to advertisers who want to talk to you. And we give the majority of that advertising revenue to the music publishers and labels who own the music you’re downloading.

Bleh!

What happens if I don’t renew my membership?

A couple of things happen if you don’t return to the SpiralFrog Web site and renew your membership every 30 days.

On Day 31, you will no longer be able to download songs or videos from our site, but the music you have already downloaded will continue to play on your computer and portable player for another 30 days.

However, if you choose not to renew your membership after 60 days, on Day 61 all the songs and videos you have downloaded from SpiralFrog will no longer play on your computer or portable player.

Alright, so I have to keep coming to your site and look at ads. That sounds like fun. Not.

You’re not compatible with Apple’s iPod, or the new Microsoft Zune player, right?

We’re not compatible with these devices. However, the songs and videos you download from SpiralFrog will play on any computer platform capable of running Windows XP or Windows Vista, as well as all portable devices or cell phones that play WMA music files and have implemented the Windows DRM support.

Nice! So they use the Windows DRM, and use the Apple-doesn’t-license-fairplay excuse to not play on iPods, but they don’t even work on Zunes! And if Spiral Frog is indeed backed by UMG, UMG is getting a buck from every Zune sold! ROFL.

It appears they only work with Plays For Sure, which as many of you know, is not Zune compatible.

If you’re in for a laugh, check out their board of directors One of them is even in the House of Representatives from Texas. Wow, if any Texans needed a reason not to re-elect this guy. Man he is even involved in voting online. This is starting to get scary.

All I can say is, I’m sticking with my nice, clean, easy to use iTunes Music Store.

Slashdot reports:

“Universal is now offering music through Spiral Frog as free downloads supported by advertising revenue. But according to Daily Tech, the files being offered won’t work on iPods. ‘The move to not allow its content to be played on iPod’s appears to be a clear snub by the Universal Music Group, similar to NBC’s recent move of its television content from iTunes to Amazon.com. Apple has not commented on this development. For many, though, SpiralFrog.com presents an intriguing new business model that may present a legal alternative to file sharing or spending large amounts of money on CDs or paid download services, such as iTunes.’”

So I guess they don’t want to see me DRM free music, they don’t want to sell me Blu Ray movies, they don’t want to sell me NBC content, and now they don’t want to sell me music in general.

I didn’t realize my cash was so unwanted in Universal land. I guess someone else will step up to take it.

Hear that, artists under the UMG umbrella?

I’ve been using my Apple Airport Extreme N router since March. Some things work great, like iChat now functions perfectly.

However, other things, like accessing VPN with SonicWall’s client have never worked and there are still no solutions from Apple.

Now, the damned thing can’t see my printer. Power cycle the printer, unplug from hub, plug directly into router, nothing. I am not rebooting this thing because Elizabeth is using Skype.

Apple requires customers to reboot far too often to fix problems. Apple is not being prudent on fixing bugs with this product, and in some cases are introducing more.

Apple is set to really enjoy a lot of market share, but that means that each and every product has to be a winner. Sadly, their routers have never lived up to the challenge.

If you need a very simple, basic router, that just sends packets, then the Airport Extreme N is pretty damned nice. If you want a product you can rely on to work with all of your internet applications, as well as support all of the features Apple supplies, you might want to look elsewhere. Sadly, every other router seems to suck too.

Come on Apple – Step it up. Make us proud. 7 months is more than long enough to wait for a product that works as advertised.

Update: After several emails with Apple (Some on Sunday!) the issue is resolved!

Apple released it’s rebate for iPhone purchasers today. To prove you are who you say you are, you enter your phone # and your serial number.

However, Apple has cached phone numbers from activation, thus I had to enter my old phone number (I had since ported my Vonage number to the iPhone) and now the text message with the credit coupon went to some other phone (or the bit bucket) heh.

Ooops.

Here is a hidden URL to their feedback page. Ok so it is not all that hidden, but because many applications have a “Send us feedback” menu item, for those that do not, this will help you out:

Apple’s product feedback page

But it has a number of nice features for $40, including chained filters, layers, magic wand, opacity and a very clean interface.

Unlike pixelator which still hasn’t shipped, you can find Acorn at the flying meat website

Elizabeth likes her album art, but iTunes doesn’t let you sort based on the art, so here is an Applescript Application that will create a new playlist titled “Songs without Album Art”

Download

1.0.3

1. Added dialog to inform user of what the application did and reveal the playlist in itunes automatically.

1.0.2

1. Added an error list
2. Exclude “TV Shows” as well as “Podcast” genres

Update: I turned the app into something a little nicer using Applescript Studio, but it is still ugly At least you get some feedback now.

Fake Steve Jobs includes t-shirt with $100 store credit

More power to ya, and thanks!

Open Letter from Steve Jobs

“Apple screwed us!”

“Apple screwed early adopters!”

“Apple screwed recent switchers!”

“Sure prices drop, but this is far too much far too early”

The list goes on and on and on. Some of these comments were found on what I thought were reputable blogs, some by people I respect on IRC. One site even suggested writing the California department of consumer affairs.

Grow. Up. Now.

Apple released the iPhone on June 29. The iPhone was the most hyped product launch, ever. The 8gb model sold for $599. Today, Apple dropped the price an unprecedented $200.

Did people expect Apple to sell it on normal or thin margins? If they did, they are a fools.

Did people line up for hours like I did? If they are complaining, then maybe they did. Would they have paid $899 for the same phone? Probably.

We wanted an iPhone. Bad. We paid for it.

Now some feel burned. I have a theory as to why.

One person on IRC said “I don’t have a ton of cash to burn, I could have used that $200.” Well apparently he did have the cash to burn and burn it he did. He gave it to Apple. Willingly. They didn’t twist his arm. They asked a price, and he paid it.

But now the self esteem kicks in. He’s no longer joe cool on the block. In fact, any schmuck with $200 less can buy one and laugh at him.

That is why people are upset. Being laughed at, poked fun it. It was all good as long as they had the phone that others could not afford. Now more people can and those early adopters are less special.

As Ling would say, “Weee oh weee oh weee oh weee!”

I’m sorry that Billy gets an iPhone for less allowance than others paid, but really, my iPhone works just as well as it did at 9:59am PST today.

I see it in a different light. More people can now afford iPhones. More iPhones should sell. The more phones that sell, the more people we have complaining about the crappy speaker, so maybe it will get fixed in the next model. The more iPhone users, the more software Apple will make for it to drive more revenue. The more people I can call with my mobile to mobile minutes.

If people would leave their self esteems out of business decisions, they would not only be happier about their purchases, they might even smarter about them.

Enjoy your iPhone!

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Changes include:

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BetterHTMLExport 2.3.1 is a free upgrade for registered users of BetterHTMLExport 2