iPhone Insurance

Another question from an iPhone using client - should I take out insurance?

Insurance being something of a closed book to me I asked what he was insuring against. He said he was worried that he'd lose his phone, have to buy a new one AND pay the monthly fee on the unit he lost.

I did some digging and was pleased to be able to correct one misconception. According to O2 you only need replace the handset. You don't have to continue paying your 'old' contract and a 'new' one. This being the case the extent of your loss is £269.

That being the level of risk I started looking for a policy and wasn't much surprised to find all the policies came in at about the same cost - £8 per month. For a private consumer that's going to mean he buys himself a new handset in about 34 months, if as a business user he can claim back the VAT, that would be 29 months. At first thought a rather expensive policy.

I asked myself how much the iPhone Mk5 would be in 18 months time? A lot less than today's price I'm sure. And how many times have you lost a phone anyway - me, never. I also rang my own insurance company who suggested if the phone was mine it should go on my contents policy.

So I rang my client back and explained the situation. What a hard life insurance salespeople must lead, this potential buyer quickly decided this was one policy he could live without.

iPhone Battery Problem

Another call for help on an iPhone (they're coming thick and fast these days). Battery won't charge.

Did some digging prior to site visit (Kensington, very plush) and found this could be due to a software glitch. Sure enough the iPhone didn't show it was charging but found evidently it was. Downloaded the latest iPhone software which makes things better and in some cases is a cure.

With the new software installed I noticed the opening screen showed a flat battery but Safari showed a full charge. Other applications seemed to have a different view of the state of the battery. The phone was hammered over internet connections and YouTube downloads and the battery held good, and recharged at the end of the session.

Another complaint from the client was exceptionally slow internet access. Found the device was latching onto a neighbours wi-fi connection, with a poor signal and slow transfer. Swapped to another open wi-fi and speed improved significantly.

iPhone and Email

If you're struggling with getting email operational on your iPhone I sympathise. Over the last week I've been trying to configure an iPhone for a client and it hasn't been easy. So. let me tell you a story. Once upon a time there was client.

Client is highly mobile, both by profession but also for the short term by home. Having just moved out of his old flat he's living temporarily in another in central London prior to relocating to a new home. So, no permanent internet connection and the iPhone seemed ideal. First problem - you can't register an iPhone unless you can connect via broadband but I'll skip that one.

So there I am, in flat, trying to connect to client's BT internet account. Several hours later, no connection. Decided to give up on that. Persuaded client that he could live with another email address and so went to Yahoo to get an identity he could use from the phone. Yahoo is one of the providers pre-configured into the iPhone, so what could go wrong? All you have to do is enter three variables, and wait while the setup is validated. Error message. Try again (and again and again) thinking I must have typed in the password wrong but everytime it refused to validate the account. Some hours after the start of a simple job (with client naturally losing confidence in me) we've achieved nothing.

Will this thing handle mail at all? I tried my own email account (Gmail), another pre-configured option on the iPhone - and had access to my mail in seconds. Went to Yahoo.com via Safari and could see client's account, so I was sure the account name, password etc were accurate. Decided to ditch Yahoo and get a Gmail account. Thankfully Safari allowed me to do that. Went back into the iPhone Settings menu to add the new Gmail account, just a few entries, and pressed the save button. As with Yahoo the iPhone goes away to validate the email account. Or not, which is what it did. Except this time Google actually gave me a meaningful error message - I needed to switch on Pop email in my Google account preferences. Thanks Google, some feedback I could understand.

So back into Safari to attend to the message, which is done via the options settings in Gmail. Just click on a couple of links - except I couldn't get the iPhone's Safari clicks to activate the final link on Gmail. Incidentally doing this highlighted how excruciatingly slow the iPhone can be, it was painful. So there I was, no response from the iPhone and no broadband from which I could talk to Gmail. Thankfully my son Tim works in London, for an American technology company and answered my call. He activated clients Pop settings in a few seconds. Bingo, we finally had email on the iPhone, and a happy client.

That's more or less the end of the story, except an update from the Apple store in Lakeside. I asked one of their people if he was aware of a problem configuring the iPhone to use Yahoo mail. He wasn't but did an internet search to find an answer. We found a post suggesting that the Yahoo setting should not be what the iPhone default and manual says, but should be something like "pop.mail.yahoo.com" amd "smtp.mail.yahoo.com" instead. This makes more sense, but its undocumented and leaves me with the feeling either that I'm the first person to try to connect to a Yahoo account from an iPhone, or that Apple haven't tested this here in the UK (scary).

Tintavision - R.I.P.

Sometimes I'm asked what I was doing before I launched podServe, our CD ripping service. Well I had purchased a franchise from a company called TintaVision and was trying to help people overcome dyslexia. Although the service was good and I greatly enjoyed helping people to read better getting involved with TintaVision was without doubt the worst business decision I have made.

Even so it was with some sadness that I learnt TintaVision had gone bust. I worked with some great people, particularly the team at CCPD in London, but the stirling work at the coal face was let down (in my opinion) by some of the worst management I've had the misfortune to be subjected to. Most of the time I felt that those who should be taking us forward had completely lost their way, and ours with it. Eventually these mistakes catch up with you.

I particularly feel sorry for the many people who now won't be helped by the TintaVision process. If you are an ex-TintaVision person please feel free to contact me, it would be nice to keep in touch. Unless you were one of the management in which case ....

Activating Apple's iPhone

Last week a client asked me to source one of Apple's new phones. I checked out the Apple website to see what had to be done, spoke to my local O2 store and set about the task.

I expected a typical Apple experience. Smooth, slick, simple and fool proof. This was not what is delivered and we spent a day of immense frustration.

First, you can't pay by cash. Strikes me as a bit odd, but not as odd as the lecture I got from the salesman about what I needed to register the iPhone. Judging by his tone I was getting the impression he didn't much relish the task of selling the iPhone. I was quizzed on whether I had a bank account, but at least I was told clearly that the monthly line rental charge had to be made to a bank account. Why, when virtually everything else I buy can be charged to a card (including pre-pay phone top ups and landline calls), can't the iPhone calls be charged to plastic?

Second is the activation process itself. I started this from the clients office, armed with his bank account details. As I went through the process I found I had to create an iTunes Music Store account. My client has no intention of buying any music from the store, but you can't move on through the process unless you input some account details. No, not bank account details, this has to be plastic. So immediately you have split financial personality. I rang O2 to see if this is really necessary and after the frightful mess of the automated attendant system eventually spoke to an Apple man. No way round it, you have to create an iTunes Music Store account and give O2 and Apple your card details.

Faced with no other option I put in a credit card, followed by their business bank account details. Pressed the next button. Did the phone burst into life? No, I just got a screen saying O2 needed more time to do a credit vet.

I thought no worry, while we're waiting for that I'll set up the rest of the phone's features. Could I do that? No, pending the answer to the credit question the whole phone is locked, just sitting in its cradle charging the battery.

So there it was left late on Friday. One excited client with no operational phone, and I'll have to go back next week to finish off the job. But one of the most puzzling suggestions made to me from another iPhone owner is that once you've started the activation process you can't go back and correct what you've put in (that much is true from my experience) - the only way round it is take the phone back to O2 and change it for another.

Not my best Apple experience.

iTunes Alternatives - Alive and Well

When I set up our CD ripping business, podServe, I looked at several ways of ripping CDs. In the early days MusicMatch did the job. When it arrived iTunes was a breath of fresh air. But from the beginning there have been other ways of getting music on, off or around your iPod. Some were vital in the dawn of the iPod era as some of us were running Windows ME (remember that?) and Apple's offering only ran on XP or their OS. Those were the days. Awful.

For a trip down memory lane I went back to some of the alternatives - were they still there? Did they still work? What's new?

Well, the market for iTunes replacements appears to be thriving. One of the first we tested was Ephpod (www.ephpod.com). This runs on Windows and offers a browser / explorer type of interface which some people might prefer. It also supports 'reverse synchronisation' enabling you to recover tracks from your iPod and load them back onto a PC. This is a vital function when your hard drive crashes or your laptop gets stolen. This product is available from ephpod.com.

In my opinion the market leading podServe saving product is XPlay 2. I have lost count of the number of times this little treasure has saved my bacon or that of a client. Not only can you recover tracks from iPod to PC but you can use Xplay to play music from your iPod through your PC, much as you do with iTunes. You can also recover from drive errors. This is the best (by a nose) $30 I have spent in the last four years - you can invest at mediafour.com.

Hot news - coming soon is XPlay 3, which will add album art functionality (find & install) and significantly integration with Windows Media Player & Media Centre. We'll have to wait until next February so line up patiently behind me with around $15 as an upgrade fee.

Much as I love XPlay I think my most impressive investment was Mike Matheson's iAlbumArt. Great product, outstanding support (I swear Mike never sleeps) and a brilliant way to add album art. $10. Fabulous.

The other product that has stood the test of time is Anapod Explorer - from redchairsoftware.com. Windows still, with a simple drag and drop style of operation. They've kept pace with iPod facilities with added functions to synch photos and the like. Anapod is now a family of products with a maximum price of $30.

One Anapod module is CopyGear. As the name implies this enables you to drag music back from iPod to PC. But - Redchair have released a version of this module to run on Macs. I think they were the first to do this and a very handy utility it is too at a modest $20.

One of my clients loves another iTunes alternative (it came bundled with some diving goggles containing a waterproof MP3 player) is Media Monkey. You guessed it, mediamonkey.com, and there's a long features list albeit Windows only. Price points are free and $20 for the Gold version. Media Monkey offers CD ripping, an album art lookup facility plus a sleep timer feature.

Finally - revolution is afoot in the shape of Floola.

Take a look at floola.com where you can download this cross platform (Mac & PC) system. It's another drag & drop alternative to iTunes, but .....

You can install Floola on your iPod and run it from there, meaning you can run it on any PC. Brilliant.

You can also export your iPod library to HTML files. I'm planning to make use of that very soon. Hop over to floola.com to download Floola for yourself or read more.

Secret Services - That's podServe

Almost choked on my cornflakes - that could be me. Some months ago I was approached by Cary Whitley as she was compiling a new book. She was reviewing services for people who in marketing speak are cash rich, time poor. Our CD ripping service (read all about it at http://www.podserve.co.uk) was up for inclusion. I'm pleased to say after further talks our service has been listed.

So there this morning is an article by Judith Wood in The Daily Telegraph reviewing 'Secret Services'. Conceitedly I scanned through to see if podServe CD ripping service got a mention, but pride comes before a fall and we didn't get a mention in the Telegraph. Reading the article more closely (I'm not a bad loser) I was fascinated to see the basket of services we're among. I didn't know you can hire a handbag (www.be-a-fashionista.co.uk) or get a company to swoosh out your wheelie bin. I did know there are people who'll assemble flat pack furniture for you and I was pleased to see Ten UK mentioned in the side bar as we've had many of their clients using podServe over the last four years.

If you're looking for a copy of Secret Services by Cary Whitley and her company Fab Publishing, go to www.fabpublishing.co.uk or call 0870 443 0035. If you want to go direct to our CD ripping service we're at www.podserve.co.uk

MP3, MP4, GPS, USB - Where does it all come from?

From time to time someone contacts me because they think I sell MP3 players. Actually I don't but I recently came across a young lady who works for a company that does manufacture these items, along with MP4 players, USB items, digital photo frames, GPS units and so on. So, if you're looking for this type of technology in bulk contact Sandy Zhang via her company's website - http://www.taiwantrade.com.tv/honlitw

iPod Touch Springs Into Life

One of the things I like about my CD ripping service (www.podserve.co.uk) is the chance to play with new toys, and today it was the iPod Touch. A client had invested in one while on an overseas trip and plugged it into an HP Windows PC expecting it to synch music and videos.

Result - nothing. First the iPod Touch began to charge so the unit was functioning, then it appeared in My Computer as a photographic device. I was called over to try to work some magic. A quick look at the PC verified the situation being as reported with no new iPod icon in the iTunes source pane. My first thought was to install the latest version of iTunes, despite my clients belief that this was not going to solve the problem. Acording to the client iTunes update had been run when the new device was plugged in - just a matter of days ago.

"Humour me" I said, and loaded the latest iTunes from my USB drive. It took ages to load, so we made small talk about the wonders of technology, until finally the new iTunes had taken root. Instant succes, I appear to be a minor techie god, the iPod Touch starts to synch as required.

Client mainly wants video content so to check it works OK we go to the Apple site and download a couple of movie trailers. "Wow" says client (actually using another word with one more letter) at the image quality. "Can we get on the internet?' We could, in just a few seconds. I was amazed to see the iPod Touch found more wireless networks than the PC and one was unsecured, so we clicked our way onto the worldwide interweb. It was great, fast, cystal clear and easy to enlarge the page image. Client immediately notices how much better this is than BlackBerry.

Moral of the story - if you're having problems with an iPod Touch (or any other iPod for that matter), make sure you have today's version of iTunes not just what you think might be recent. Don't assume for the sake of a few minutes downloading.

Second moral - if you want to play with cool toys set up a CD ripping service in London.

Brilliant Stereo Sound That Follows You Across the Room

I’ve got a new best friend. It’s cool white, very discrete and called Dias. Thanks to Dias for the past week I’ve been listening to some great sounds while I work or unwind.

Brilliant sound is what Dias is about. I like a good stereo sound, over the years I’ve invested a lot in audio equipment and music CD ripping is my business now. But getting a good sound here, while I work, is difficult so I love the sound I get now. Yes, the quality is high – very high – but that’s not the main thing. Thanks to Dias I get a great stereo sound wherever I am in the office.

Incredibly Dias stereo sound follows you round the room.

Just think about that. Like me you’ve probably tried speakers attached to your PC, or maybe driven by your iPod. You probably set things up so you get the best sound where you sit, but then when you move, you lose the stereo. Not with Dias – now, my stereo sound really does follow me round the room. Doesn’t matter which PC I’m working on (I rip CDs using six computers), doesn’t matter which end of the office I am, standing up or sitting down, the same great sound.

I’ll try to describe the quality of the sound from Dias. The first thing that struck me is that it’s loud. Some music just needs muscle, rock for sure but a lot of classical music just is loud. An orchestra is loud, and there’s no point in trying to relive an orchestral experience when you can’t make the windows rattle.

Dias, if you want, is thumping loud. Wind up the bass and my wooden floor does overtime transmitting the low notes. That brings me on to the next thing I noticed. Perhaps it’s best described as detail and I hear it in two ways, First, with a good bass setting the music isn’t lost to a dull thump. Dias delivers the bass I love without smothering the rest of the music. Second, there’s a lot of fine points in sound that Dias delivers brilliantly. Sometimes that’s high notes, but I’ve also noticed (I love live recordings) its often little things like a shout from someone in the audience or an aside to another musician, this new system brings out music data I’d expect to hear only on much more expensive systems.

Great at the top, solid at the bottom and faithfully reproducing everything in between. It’s hard to describe what I hear but Dias conveys emotion. Maybe I should call it a warm sound, maybe it’s a human sound quality rather than an overly technical rendition you get with some computer generated sound. Thanks to that emotional quality the Dias is easy to listen to and doesn’t leave you feeling strained. Dias is a good colleague at work and a relaxing friend indoors in the evening.

Where does Dias stack up among the competition? Well, most of my clients connect their iPods to Bose units and Dias can hold its head up in that company. The sound is every bit as good. Both Bose and Dias have that effortless quality people love, plus a handy credit card style remote – all the sound settings are at hand plus a mute button when the phone rings. Subjective comparisons are hard to make but I’d give Dias the edge over Bose because it generates sound over a larger area and is better at carrying that sound round the room.

I’d love to explain how Dias stereo sound follows me when I move and does so without the traditional two speaker system, but I can’t. Try the Dias website – www.diasmusic.com. I’ll just tell you what you get. The biggest of the three ice white units generates the bass and has a black knob labelled ‘spatial level’ which is what does the clever bit – getting stereo in effect from a single speaker. This box can be hidden out of the way, at the moment it’s living under my desk.

Next is the small white satellite unit with speakers at the front and on either side. By the clever use of sound from these outlets Dias generates the great stereo. Because the sound is outstanding anywhere in the room, the location of this unit isn’t as critical as you’d expect in a good stereo. When I set the system up I played with its location but the Dias sounds good wherever the satellite sits. There’s a docking station for my iPod (which charges the iPod while it plays). The cabling is simple to connect and long enough to enable you to locate the units where you want them.

Finally the small remote control. I put my iPod into the dock, hit a playlist and using the remote got the sound I wanted within a couple of minutes. I tweaked the spatial sound knob and found half way round worked great and I’ve left it there. You can use the iPod dock as a sound source – with the new iPod having such a massive disk all your music would be at hand – or connect your computer’s sound card to listen not just to music but internet radio or sound streamed from websites. If you connected this to Apple’s AirPort Express, or a Roku unit, you’d have a brilliant distributed sound system.

That’s my new friend, my best friend. If you love music check out Dias. If you’re interested in digital music check out how Dias makes sound, it’s just so much better than the old two speaker approach. If you’re thinking of pumping sound round your house, check out Dias. If you’re thinking of Bose, check out Dias – sounds better and its £100 less expensive. Dias should be your new best friend too