I’ve had my iPhone for about 3 weeks now and I talk discuss the pros/cons and overall thoughts on the phone. I also take a look at Installer.app for hacking the phone and share what’s new in the v1.1.1 update released this week and what is missing from the update as well.

Music this week is “Better Than Me” by Hinder.

 

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Chicago, Illinois - September 26, 2007 - Yazsoft is proud to announce a big iPod Touch giveaway. From Sept 26 thru Oct 31, 2007, they will be giving away a 8GB and a 16GB iPod Touch.

For the 8GB iPod Touch, no purchase required to enter. Simply click the link to enter. For the 16GB iPod Touch, every new Speed Download 4 license automatically gives the user 2 draw entries.

* 8GB iPod Touch (no purchase required to enter). For more information and to enter, please visit our website.

* 16GB iPod Touch (Speed Download 4* purchase required). Every Speed Download 4 license automatically gives the user 2 draw entries.

Winner will be selected by random draw the first week of Nov. 2007. Good Luck To All!

Speed Download is an easy to use, powerful and reliable download manager. It sets a higher standard for download manager innovation, and is expressly designed to be a central, unified hub for almost all downloading and file transfer activities.

Enter here.

I have been waiting for the release of this software for ages. And I do mean ages. I originally heard about this early in the summer or before and have been frantically awaiting the beta period and then the final release. Turns out that release was suddenly, today.

PixelMator is the “next-generation” image manipulation application created on core Mac OS X technologies. I’m super excited to start using it and report back to everyone, but for now you can visit the developer’s website and read all about it yourself. It’s a beautiful and simple application that I’m excited to use!

PixelMator website.

HungryFlix.com is the web’s premiere distribtor of independent movies and videos for iPod, iPhone and Apple TV. The site is now holding an Apple TV giveaway contest. Just create an account before September 30, 2007 and be entered for a chance to win. HungryFlix offers shorts, feature-length films, documentaries and how-to video clips from filmmakers across the globe. The site offers free membership for both consumers and filmmakers and a revenue sharing model for filmmakers and video producers.

HungryFlix.com is the internet’s premiere distributor of independent movies for digital devices such as the iPod, Apple TV, PSP and iPhone. The site is currently holding an Apple TV giveaway. New users can create an account online to be registered for a chance to win an Apple TV unit.

HungryFlix.com offers movie downloads from all genres. All files are DRM-free which allows users to move the content to all their digital devices.

“With HungryFlix content, you can start enjoying a great movie during your commute on the train or bus and then finish the film at home on your computer or Apple TV device,” said HungryFlix.com CEO Brian Andrews. “We feel this freedom and flexibility is a key value that we add for the current generation of movie and media fans.”

HungryFlix offers shorts, feature-length films, documentaries and how-to video clips from filmmakers across the globe. The site offers free membership for both consumers and filmmakers and a revenue sharing model for filmmakers and video producers.

“We hope to continue to help independent producers to get their great content noticed. We have great short films such as the thriller, The Prisoner, and important documentaries like America’s Chemical Angels, which highlights treating our children with behavior modification medications. These films deserve to be seen and we know there is a large audience of iPod owners out there hungry for great content.”

New users can register for an account online at http://www.hungryflix.com. Current users interested in registering for the contest can simply email their current user ID to info [at] hungryflix [dot] com. One entry per person. Contest details are available at the provided address below.

Enter here.

Be warned, I shall rant.

I have an American Express card and have racked up some points over the last few months and thought I might actually redeem them on something in the near future. Since I purchased my iPhone, I have wanted some music videos that are in better quality and might also buy some ringtones if Apple keeps locking out custom ringtones with every iTunes update (separate rant altogether). So, I decided to redeem 5,500 points for a $50 iTunes Card and just entered the code into iTunes to redeem it.

I’m mad.

The first item I knew I wanted was a music video by Rihanna. After clicking the “Buy Video” button, this message appeared.

So, iTunes will only let me purchase songs and iTunes Plus songs. I have $50 of credit in the store, but I can’t apply that to music videos, movies, tv shows, ringtones, or anything else. What good is $50 of songs? It expires in about 11 months, so I might have possibly used 1/2 of it by then….but what the hell Apple? Or is this some kind of weird conspiracy that I should complain to American Express about?

One of the first things I wanted to do after syncing my new shiny iPhone was to add some custom ringtones and little did I realize how big an obstacle this was. I’m not sure how I missed this at all from all the iPhone buzz. I thought you could just add the files to the phone like I’ve done in the past with my Moto Razr, but alas…

So, I’ve looked into a few ringtone adding applications and hacks, but there is one that I really like and got working, so I’ll list the steps here. Tested with iTunes 7.4.1 on Mac.

1. Create an AAC audio file of your ringtone, using something like Garageband, QuickTime Pro, or Audicity.
2. Rename the file’s extension from .m4a to .m4r using the Get Info window on Mac
3. Import that file into iTunes. If all worked, it won’t show up in your iTunes library.
4. Go into ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Ringtones/ and you should see the file you just imported.
5. Rename the extension back to .m4a like it was before.
6. Your ringtone should show up in the RingTones tab in iTunes and will sync with your iPhone.

This method is a lot of work and most likely won’t work with the next iTunes update. So if you’re looking for something easier and don’t want to pay to create ringtones from the iTunes Store, take a look at iToner here. (Mac Only)

Tips fround from Engadget here.

Yesterday was a very surprising day in the Apple community for several reasons, not the least for the ugly new iPod Nanos. But I’m skipping ahead of myself.

First off, there were tons of new products introduced that fulfilled many of the rumors circulating the event. The biggest announcement of the day was the new iPod Touch. Basically, it’s a stripped down iPhone, but not in a bad way. The iPod Touch has the wonderful multi-touch screen that displays video and all your media beautifully and because of that is the first ‘full-screen’ iPod, even though there have been rumors about this for years now. The new iPod Touch also features Wi-Fi, letting you browse the web with Safari and download music directly from iTunes via the new iTunes Wi-Fi Store. You can grab one in any color you like, as long as it’s black and there are 8GB and 16GB versions with impressive battery life.

There were also new regular iPods released, albeit re-branded under the iPod Classic name. These new iPods feature interface enhancements, such as CoverFlow, longer battery life and a new all-metal enclosure that seems pretty sexy. The updated iPod Nano is sadly enough the “fatty” circulating the web a few weeks ago. It is smaller and slim, but because of a bigger display to allow the Nano to finally play back video, it looks really fat. The colors aren’t that attractive either, but they may appear better in person. There are also new iPod Shuffles, available in four new colors.

iPhone Update

The iPhone didn’t see a new product release, but is still causing a stir because of yesterday’s keynote. Because Apple released the iPod Touch, with it’s sleek design, built-in Wi-Fi and multi-touch display, Apple lowered the price of the iPhone by 200 USD. So instead of a 4GB version at 499 and a 8GB at 599, the iPhone comes in a 8GB version at 399. Very impressive price dive indeed, just to keep it competitive with the new iPod. However, this led to lots of very unhappy early-adopter iPhone customers and Steve Jobs released a letter to the public today on the reasons for the price cuts and offering 100 USD in Apple Store credit in compensation to the loyal Apple customers. Overall, a very nice way to deal with an angry/adoring public Steve!

On the iPhone note, if you’re thinking about buying one, now is still a good time. I just orded a 4GB version (discontinued) for 299USD. That’s a steal as I’m concerned, and brand new from the Apple Store, not refurbished or anything. So, in about 24 hours I’ll have an iPhone and I’ll be reporting back to everyone shortly.

Read Jobs’ letter to iPhone Customers