The Storage Architect » ipod Touch

Personal Computing: No iPhone 3GS For Me (Yet)

Chris Evans — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 10:07:07 +0000

With all the hype and news, I feel drawn to a post relating to the new iPhone 3GS. Unfortunately my current mobile service provider is claiming I agreed to a 24-month contract about 14 months ago and without a way to prove it I’m stuck with them until next April. Whilst I mull over getting a second ‘phone, I’ve been looking for opportunities to make my iPod Touch more mobile.

Here’s the solution I found – it’s called Joikuspot and it allows me to turn my current N95 into a Wi-Fi Access Point using the 3G Internet functionality of the ‘phone. Once the software has started, it appears as a Wi-Fi device to my iPod Touch. I can control access to the virtual Wi-Fi AP using WEP with a standard protection key. The software runs in the background, so I can fire JoikuSpot up and put the ‘phone back in my pocket. To see how much data I’m using, I can simply check the status page and see the send/receive byte count.

I managed to use this new tethering solution to great effect, travelling back on the train from London earlier in the week. There are however a couple of drawbacks; (1) the devices get *hot*. This isn’t really surprising as I’m both sending and receiving data over 3G and Wi-Fi at the same time on the N95. The iPod Touch get’s warmer than I’d expect, presumably because the Wi-Fi connection has no power management in place and is blasting out a full signal continuously. (2) battery life on the N95 is signficantly affected. This is also no surprise; the heat generated means the battery is getting pretty seriously drained.

OK, it’s not a perfect solution but it’s a good workaround until I decide how to move forward with a dedicated iPhone. It’s also a great cost saver – I’ve got the 500MB/month in my price plan and the software was only €15,00.

I Hate iTunes!

Chris Evans — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 18:14:00 +0000

iTunes has to be one of the worst applications Apple make. It it truly awful.

I find it incredibly difficult to track where files came from, what’s on my iPod Touch and not, what are duplicates and so on. The poor interface means I have files littered about my hard drive and on my iPod which I can’t be sure I’ve listened to.

For a long time I used a MobiBlu cube. This is a fantastic device. Mine has 2GB of memory, a tiny screen and simple USB interface. By numbering my MP3 podcasts, I could easily see how many I’d listened to and delete them by number. The process worked – the numbering system I assigned meant I could easily change the order I listen to the files. A simple and effective process.

iTunes ruins all that. It insists on referring to the files by their MP3 ID3 tags, regardless of how I rename them. It fails to delete duplicates, it doesn’t let me easily delete files which I’ve moved to my iPod.

I wanted to sort out an alternative to the MobiBlu for the car. I’ve got an iPod connector which broadcasts my iPod on the radio, but obviously it has a standard iPod plug and won’t connect to the MobiBlu. However I’ve also got a standard 3.5mm jack one too – perhaps I should go back to the Mobiblu.

Has anyone seen any competing software to iTunes or do Apple simply not allow it?

Enterprise Connectivity with iPod Touch

Chris Evans — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 20:21:00 +0000

Last year I blogged about my replacement iPaq after my previous one failed. As I said at the time, it was dull, dull and more dull.

Earlier this year I bought an iPod Touch while in the US. It is a wonderful device. The screen is fantastic, the quality of the applications is great and the video is so watchable. Unfortunately, email integration with my Exchange Server was only via IMAP. The integration worked fine, however it didn’t integrate my calendar or contacts. For a while I used the notes application until I jailbreak’ed and installed a to-do list application, although it wasn’t that good.

Now I’ve installed version 2.0 of the ‘Touch software (following on from its release on the iPhone). I have full Exchange integration and the ability to install applications (Omnifocus for time management being the first).

Finally my ‘Touch has become indispensable. I can’t see anything else on the market to touch it (no pun intended)! Now I have a problem…do I invest in the new iPhone….