Refreshing the iPhone Tips & Tutorials Page

Since last July I have loosely been maintaining a tips and tutorials page for the iPhone. The page is basically a categorized list with some helpful links to popular web apps, how-tos, articles and hardware accessory stores — all for the iPhone.

In light of tomorrow’s rumored “iPhone! iPhone! iPhone!” keynote announcement, and the upcoming release of OSX iPhone 2.0, I figured it was time to update the page. But with your help please.

If you know of a link or two (or three) that you think would fit in, please send it on by emailing me at sbnet@mac.com.

Thanks in advance.

- Shawn

The Ideal .Mac Service -

Me on .Mac last August:

Right now, the only hook for .Mac is the syncer.

Kyle Baxter on .Mac -

The iDisk access concept is pretty smart, but even if the only thing we get tomorrow is over-the-air synching of our iPhones, I will still be a happy customer.

WWDC Predictions

To be honest, I have read only a little of all the rumors and hype around the Net regarding all this Monday’s WWDC keynote. Not because I’m not interested or excited, but I’ve just had other things to do.

Since I am relatively uninformed and have no inside sources, I thought it only logical to give my two cents on what we may or may not see at WWDC. And besides, everyone else is doing it.

• iPhone: I am hesitant to believe we will see a 3G capable iPhone released and available to buy next week. Announced or talked about? Absolutely. But I’m not convinced it will be in stores before this Fall.

  On the other hand, I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see a price drop and/or a refresh to the current iPhone model. Maybe an increase in storage capacity, a fix to that annoying headphone jack and one more thing.

• iPhone Software Update: I’m still holding to the ‘sleeper agent‘ mentality I adopted after watching the iPhone SDK announcement in March. There is a lot of potential within the current iPhone which Apple is still unveiling. Right now, as far as Apple is concerned, it’s all in the software. I think the software update will be the most exciting news.

  I think Steve will brag on - and then release - the 2.0 software update. It’ll probably be available right after the Keynote (which means a whole lot of people will be pounding on the server and we won’t actually be able to get it until 24 hours after the keynote).

  Also, I’m sure we will see some 3rd party apps available on the iTunes store as well. Come on App Store.

• Laptops: I will be surprised if we don’t at least see a refresh to the MacBooks and MacBook Pros, though I doubt we’ll see a whole new lineup just yet. They seem very much overdue for an update, but it also feels like the main push at WWDC next week is going to be software, not hardware.

  Of course that’s not to say Apple won’t release a whole new line-up

• .Mac: Speaking of software, .Mac has long been Apple’s would-be golden ticket to a fantastic Mobile/Home synchronization platform thingy. The potential of .Mac is so un-tapped, and I think everyone is ready to see it updated.

  The main update feature I’m hoping for is a better synching option between my MBP and my iPhone. Primarily over-the-air synching.

  Will the name get changed to Mobile Me (or something like it)? Probably. If they’re going to make a massive overhaul to the service, it would be just like them to give it a new name. Similar to when they made the move to Intel: PowerMac became Mac Pro; PowerBook became MacBook Pro; etc…

• Snow Leopard: Sure. Why not?

To wrap up, my gut tells me the main push next week will be software related, with some hardware refreshes (and maybe some price changes) to accommodate.

‘You Don’t Have to be a Horrible Amateur’ (PDF) -

7 Type Rules for Amateur Designers

If you want professional results…hire a professional.

But that doesn’t mean you have to be a horrible amateur. There’s no excuse for being below average, is there? Here are six more tips.

505hp Dodge Viper-Powered Jeep Wrangler -

Sweet Mercy:

8.3litre Viper motor, 48RE auto tranny, Rubicon Rock Trac transfer case : Currie Iron Jock Dana 60 axles, 5.38 gears, ARB rear and Detroit locker front : PSC power steering assist, high steer, heavy duty tie rods : Huge SRT10 brakes front and rear, American Racing Cartel wheels 20×8.5 : 39.5 Swamper Irok tires

UPDATE: It looks like someone from AutoBlog saw it on eBay and posted about it first. Then someone from TechBlog saw the AutoBlog post and so they posted about it themselve. Then someone else from 2dayBlog saw it on TechBlog and posted it.

My point being: The auction is over (it was last Fall) and the most pictures are on AutoBlog, so I’ve changed the top link.

Seth’s Blog -

I inadvertently got my wife hooked on Seth Godin last week when I ordered some of his books off Amazon. She saw me reading Permission Marketing and asked who in the world would put a picture of their bald head on the cover of their book.

I told her the guy is a great writer, and has awesome ideas. They’re the kind of ideas that may never apply to you, but you’re glad you heard them, and you hope the right person does hear them, because you know it will make the world a little bit better.

One of my favorite posts (one that after I read it, I had the exact reaction described above) is this one on McDonald’s dipping sauce:

99 people out of a hundred take one or two packets of sauce. One guy takes 20. This is infuriating. You lost money on this guy. He’s a pig. He probably hordes the sauce and uses it on his eggs in the morning or whatever.

Title Case Plugin for WordPress -

This is a PHP port/WordPress adaptation of John Gruber’s title case code. Once activated, it will automatically filter post titles as they are output and put them in proper Title Case

And for the Ruby or Python (see comments) users, check out Dan’s thread.

Forget ball-bearings, it’s all title cases these days.

British Teen Suffers Painful Shark Attack in His Bedroom.

“Hey Sam, how’d you get that scar?”

(via the Wife)

Jonathan Ive :

The word design is everything and nothing. We think of design as not just the product’s appearance, it’s what the product is, how it works. The design and the product itself are inseparable.

From a phone interview with Claire Beale, post his recent D&AD Black Pencil awards.

Design Will Define You (Whether You Embrace It or Not)

Joshua Blankenship:

If design doesn’t show up on our radar until the end of a project and we see it as nothing more than the icing, we’ll probably get a pretty looking, icing-covered poop cake.

That quote doesn’t sum Joshua’s article at all, but I had no choice but to quote the poop cake sentence.

From his interview with Chris Bowler comes this awesome observation by Dan Benjamin regarding people’s ability to develop and design -

It’s possible to deeply understand code, databases, Photoshop, CSS, and even be able to write very well, but it’s the skill you practice on a daily basis, what you spend the bulk of your time doing, that you build up expertise in.

I didn’t quote the whole statement because you should read the interview.