iPhone

So it’s no secret that we’re moving back to the US in April. As can be expected, I’m starting to think about all the logistical things that we’ll need when we get there, particularly mobile phones. Right now, Bex and I both have unlocked iPhones. We are prepaid customers with Blau.de, a German MVNO of E-Plus. We spend probably something like a combined €40 a month for prepaid access on our phones. It costs us €0.09 for outgoing calls to…

So in the wake of this iPhone tracking data scandal I did what a lot of people did — download the app and track my own data. My map is plotted here: Now, I got my iPhone in February 2011 in California. I have no data for the two weeks I was in California, nor the layover in Dallas/Forth Worth airport. Nor do I have any data showing my trips earlier this year to Hannover, Budapest, and two weekends ago…

So I get that people want the iPhone. I get that it’s a really sexy, really popular handset. I’m not convinced that I’ll buy one just yet, but I signed up for T-Mobile’s email updates about it, and just yesterday got this: But seriously T-Mobile (Germany’s exclusive iPhone provider), do you really need SEVEN different plans? In fact, there’s so many, that they need two pages to fit them all. Here’s the first four: I won’t go over all of…

I’m a few days behind on this one, but FP Passport has a link to a new announcement for a new application that “will allow users in Iran to download and send content to [Voice of America]’s Persian News Network with their iPhones.” I don’t really have much to add beyond what David Kenner aptly wrote: I’m sure that this initiative was begun with the best of intentions. However, there’s only one problem — oh, who am I kidding, there…

Thanks to Yola, I’ve just discovered the exact iPhone application that I’ve been looking for! Enter: California Farmers’ Market Finder. It does everything that I want to in a farmers’ market app: sorts by day, locates the markets nearest me, plots them on a map — and it does it for the entire state! Thanks PasoTours! In fact, based on these guys’ blog, it appears that we had the same idea around the same time.

The French business magazine Challenges is reporting that Orange will be selling the world’s first legally unlocked iPhone for somewhere around €999 (that’s about $1,400) later this year. Or €399 with a subscription, of which Apple gets a 30 percent revenue share. The iPhone apparently is going for $680 in grey markets in Thailand and about $400 – $600 on Craigslist. I unlocked my own for free.

Since I unlocked my iPhone last week, various friends have asked me if it is, indeed, legal. My impression was always that it technically wasn’t under the DMCA, but I was heartened when I found this exemption ruling from late last year: The Librarian of Congress, on the recommendation of the Register of Copyrights, has announced the classes of works subject to the exemption from the prohibition against circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works. Persons making…

Macworld: By Cyrus Farivar If you’re one of the million people who’ve purchased an iPhone since the end of June, you probably signed up with Apple’s exclusive carrier in the U.S., AT&T, when you activated your phone. That means your iPhone identifies itself to AT&T’s network using an AT&T SIM card, a smart card that’s located in a small tray between your iPhone’s sleep/wake button and its recessed headphone jack. But what if you’re planning a trip to Europe and…

Booya! I finally got my iPhone yesterday and spent last night and this morning figuring out how to GSM unlock it — letting me use my T-Mobile SIM card with ease. How’d I do it? I’ll have a forthcoming article for Macworld explaining soon, but until then, you can read this guide and thank the good folks at ModMyiPhone.com. I followed their instructions — but after three failed tries, I installed AppTapp before doing the faux activation, and that seemed…