You would think that the head-honcho of one of the US’s premier technology rags is fairly proficient with the latest gadgets and doo-hickeys. Especially those gadgets that he actually uses everyday. You would think that, and you’d be wrong. Kevin Allison, of the Financial Times, has reported that, “Chris Anderson, the editor-in-chief of Wired, the US technology magazine, has revealed he was hit with $2,100 in charges for using his iPhone on a recent foreign trip, thanks to a glitch that led him to be charged each time the mobile handset automatically refreshed his e-mail inbox.”

So, here’s another case of a roaming iPhone causing a major, multi-thousand-dollar headache for a faithful AT&T (NYSE: T) customer. Or is it? It’s widely known that you should disable data-roaming on your iPhone when traveling abroad to ensure that just this type of data roaming charge does not occur – or at least subscribe to a global roaming plan. Further, Mr. Anderson was even contacted by AT&T customer service to advise him to be careful when using his iPhone in China, as it might lead to costly roaming data charges. Funny, we can’t recall any reports of AT&T calling any non-technical writers to warn them of costly roaming charges.

But, the ridiculousness doesn’t stop there. Wired’s top-editor had to specifically call AT&T in order to enable his iPhone for roaming use in China, so he can’t even argue that he didn’t know about roaming issues with the iPhone.  “He said the bulk of the charges were due to the fact that his iPhone was set to check his e-mail account for new messages every 10 minutes. The Wired editor said that he receives ‘hundreds’ of e-mails every day. ‘This is a phone that I wasn’t using,’ Mr Anderson said. ‘I was simply walking around with the phone in my pocket,’” according to Allison. Right, you weren’t using it, but it was set to automatically check your email. It’s hard to pinpoint who is more dim-witted here – Anderson or Allison.

So, is this another case of AT&T being incredibly callous and overcharging their loyal customers? Or is this a case of a possibly-staged story with skewed facts – FUD?

We’re going to leave it to you to decide, you probably already know where we stand on this one…

[Via: FT]

It looks like all that pioneering in the world of native iPhone applications hasn’t gone unnoticed by the higher-ups at Cupertino. Delicious Monster’s Lucas Newman, developer of the first-ever native iPhone application Lights Off, has been tapped by Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) to join their iPhone SDK development team.

The iPhone SDK, as you should well know by now, is due out in February 2008, and to make sure that the release is timely and fully-developed, Apple is looking to bring on some true talent. What better recruiting pool than the group of iPhone hackers that managed to get native applications ported to the iPhone without the aid of an SDK? If you can fly a plan blind, you can surely fly with full instrumentation and clear visibility, right?

Kudos to Lucas Newman for the new, glitzy job. Make us proud!

[Via: iPhone Atlas]

In an effort to grab hearts and minds of the iPhone owners and to get some press attention along the way, Intuit has announced they will be launching web-based version of its popular personal finance application Quicken specially tailored to fit the screen of the Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s handset. If everything goes according to the plan, iPhone and iPod Touch users will be able to manage their personal finances while on the go. The software company will offering the new service for as little as $3 a month, which is a bargain considering how much you can save if you use it wisely.

Naturally, the iPhone version will lack some of the functionalities desktop version provides to the users, but Intuit wows the application/service will remain useful. Now, it would be nice if they could also optimize their web app for other devices running Windows Mobile and Symbian mobile operating systems…

[Via: Reuters]

Ok, so first we got reports that unlocked iPhones coming out of France’s Orange network were actually only kind of unlocked. You see, the iTunes-based unlocking method for Orange iPhones still requires Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s blessing to roam free on non-Apple-sanctioned networks. It looked like Orange and Apple had colluded to give unlocked-iPhone customers a semi-unlocked handset – one that could work on any non-Orange network, as long as the network was within French borders.

Then we heard Orange’s rebuttal. Orange spokesperson Louis-Michel Aymard publicly announced that unlocked iPhones from Orange would work just fine on any network – even those outside of France. As any unlocked phone should do, the unlocked iPhones were stated to only require an activated SIM card from any GSM  network operator and the phone would be fully functional, save for any network-specific features like Visual Voicemail. We were somewhat skeptical of Orange’s announcement, but hey, they publicly said that their unlocked iPhones were truly unlocked – who are we to doubt a might corporation?

So, that brings us to today. iPhone Atlas, the originators of all this country-locked hoopla, posted a follow-up that seems to confirm those initial reports (and basically calls Orange a big, fat liar). It turns out that the unlocked iPhones aren’t exactly country-locked to France – they’ll accept foreign SIM cards. However, these unlocked iPhones seem to have been crippled when it comes to actually using the phone as, well, a phone. Calls, SMS text messages, recent call lists – they all seem to either crash the iPhone outright or cause it to revert to the screensaver.

What does this all mean? Well, Orange isn’t exactly a big, fat liar. These unlocked iPhones do accept non-France SIM cards and even lock onto foreign cell towers. But, what good is signal acquisition if you can’t even check a text message? Apple had better get their unlocked-iPhone business in order, or risk a ton (more) of bad press. We wouldn’t put it beyond good ole’ Stevie to have intentionally crippled these unlocked iPhones in order to force other carriers to agree to revenue kickback models. “Of course you’ll have iPhone exclusivity, I made sure all those French unlocked iPhones won’t work right anyway” – too far fetched, or just possibly possible?

[Via: iPhone Atlas]

File this under “we’ll wait and see,” but it seems Jobs&Co are in Japan negotiating with the leading carrier in the second-largest economy – NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM). According to the Wall Street Journal Asia, Steve has met with DoCoMo’s president, Masao Nakamur, and is currently pushing him to accept the revenue sharing deal. The story goes on suggesting The Steve is also in talks with Softbank (OTCPK: SFTBF) in an unlikely case (according to WSJ) DoCoMo pulls out. We’ll see how this goes and whether Japanese can say no to Steve’s pitch…

[Via: Engadget]

Software unlocking solutions for iPhones with firmware v1.1.2 and above are resistant to software unlocking efforts. The iPhoneDevTeam has released the source code for their AnySIM software unlocking solution in hopes of getting a fresh perspective on circumventing software-based obstacles to unlocking iPhone v1.1.2 firwmares.

So, what’s an eager-beaver iPhone-hopeful on a non-Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)-sanctioned network to do? While software solutions are out of the question, there are SIM-based unlocking methods available. For example, you can use the SonicSIM and StealthSIM unlocking solution to make your iPhone compatible with that “foreign” wireless network.

The SonicSIM hack seems to be the successor to the TurboSIM from way back when. SonicSIM works by tricking your iPhone into thinking that an Apple-sanctioned SIM card has been installed. Check out the video below to see how this method works. (There’s been talk of this method and the accompanying video being fake. Anyone out there able to confirm as much?)

StealthSIM is likewise a hardware-based unlocking solution and leaves your iPhone’s baseband radio code intact – making future firmware updates possible without the threat of turning your iPhone into and iBrick. The installation instructions are pretty easy to follow, and for $90, it’s competitively priced.

[Via: iPhoneWorld]

Our hearts be still! What you see here is the rendering of partfoundry’s commercial GPS module for the iPhone – encased in a stylish plastic enclosure that should make it a little easier on the eyes. The partfoundry GPS offering has been branded as locoGPS (location and GPS, get it?), and, by the looks of the rendering, has slimmed down on partfoundry’s prototype GPS module.

The $89 locoGPS is still slated for February of next year, just in time for all those third-party developers to make use of the official Apple iPhone SDK and craft the GPS navigational software that partfoundry is betting on.

Hit the vid below to see the partfoundry locoGPS prototype gettings its nav-on with that SiRF STAR III GPS chip.

partfoundry

The thing about the iPhone’s virtual keyboard is that it takes a bit of getting used to. The only way to really get comfortable and effective at typing on the on-screen keyboard is practice. Like they say, “Practice makes perfect.” Actually, we’d have to amend that idiom to reflect that “Perfect practice makes perfect.” After all, if you just keep practicing the wrong things, you’ll just keep making the same mistakes.

Enter TypingWeb.com’s iPhone typing tutor. The web-based typing tutor gives aspiring iPhone typers a training regimen to help train those fumbling fingers type quickly and accurately without the aid of hard-keys. Point your iPhone to TypingWeb.com and sign up for an account. It’s fast, it’s easy, and you’ll be a better iPhone-typer with just a few practice sessions.

We’re already pretty fast on the iPhone’s keyboard – to toot our own horn – but there’s bound to be a lot of you out there that could use a bit of practice on the soft-keyboard.

[Via: TUAW]

Here’s a little update to our previous report (from iPhone Atlas) that iPhones unlocked by France’s Orange may still be locked to carriers within French borders. iLounge has gotten word from Orange spokesperson Louis-Michel Aymard. We’re going to go with the official claim and believe that unlocked iPhones are truly unlocked for use on any network around the world.

Orange clarified the unlocking issue by stating that “Once legally (through Orange Customer Service) unlocked, the iPhone will operate with any SIM card, including foreign ones. But some applications like ‘Visual Voice Mail’ may not work abroad.”

It’s basically what an unlocked iPhones should be – fully functional as a phone and  internet-tablet on any network around the globe, without a functioning Visual Voicemail feature.

Anyone out there have any personal experience with an Orange-unlocked iPhone? We’d love to hear from you, drop us a line.

[Via: iLounge]

With the TomTom GPS iPhone module’s future in serious doubt, it seemed like the beautifully huge multi-touch screen in the iPhone would never see its full glory as a GPS receiver. Lo and behold, partfoundry has taken up the task of bringing a legit iPhone GPS plug-in module to market. We’re hearing that a February 2008 launch in in the cards – just in time for the iPhone SDK. The partfoundry GPS module is set to deliver 16 channels of satellite positioning and will work with any GPS navigational software that you choose.

Of course, this means that partfoundry will be looking to third-party iPhone software developers to bring a workable GPS navigation application to market – but with a healthy dev-community already in place and the SDK slated to come out soon, we’re not worried about that part. What we are worried about is that hideous looking module you see above. A nice sleek cover is a must for anyone outside the geek-chic crowd.

Partfoundry is taking pre-order for $89, so if you just can’t delay that need for gratification, head on over to their site and order yours today.

Check out the video of the partfoundry prototype in action.




partfoundry