I went to MacWorld 2010 in San Francisco on Thursday.  This being the first year that Apple wasn’t going to be present, I wanted to see if the show would be better or worse that what I saw last year.

Being a relatively new convert to Macs (and an iPhone user since July 2008) I don’t have a lot of experience with the show.  I did attend last year and was planning on attending in 2006 until a health issue derailed those plans.  So, I really only have the one year to compare with this year’s show.

As my friend and uber Mac geek Ira Serkes puts it: “It was iPhoneWorld, not MacWorld”.

And I would have to agree.

There were tons of displays on iPhone apps and accessories.  And tons of booths selling massage, chairs, luggage, clothing, bling and a myriad of things that made me go “hmmm”.

But, precious little software or hardware that was specific to either my iMac or my MacBook Pro.

There was one ray of sunshine, however.  VMWare had a booth there and I stopped in to see them.  I was having an issue with the VMWare upgrade that I did on my MacBook Pro and was hoping that they could shed some light on the issue.  While I was waiting to speak with Amitabh Chakrabarty (The guy who knew the answer for me) I was asked about my usage of VMWare Fusion and was subsequently videotaped giving my answer (Maybe I will finally get discovered by Hollywood!).

After the taping and after the Q&A with Amitabh, I was offered a mystery coupon good for 5%, 10%, 50% or 100% off the purchase of VMWare Fusion 3.  You simply go to their online store, place an order and then put the code in at checkout to see what discount you will get.  Or, you can opt for a guaranteed 15% discount.

Since I already have a license for all three of my Macs, the coupon wasn’t worth anything to me.  But, then I thought of you!  I asked him for some coupons to give away on my blog and he gave me three.

So, here is the offer, On Monday (2-15-10) I’ll pick three people who leave a comment on this post and tell me why I should give them the coupon to receive one of the coupons.  I’ll base my decision on the quality of your comment.  In other words, a one line “I want one” comment is simply not going to cut it!

Since the coupons expire on February 19th, you’ll have to get on this right away!  The retail price of VMWare Fusion is $79.99, so depending on the level of discount you end up with, this could be worth $3.99, $7.99, $39.99 or $79.99.  Or you could take the guaranteed 15% discount, in which case the coupon is worth $11.99.

Not a bad deal for a few minutes of typing is it?

Copyright 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 - All rights reserved - http://RealtyTechBytes.com Did you know that I have arranged for readers of my blog to receive licensed software for free? And that there is something new everyday? Click on the link to go to the blog and look for Give Away of the day in the sidebar.

My impression of MacWorld 2010 (and a deal for you!)

In the first part of this series, I told you how I came from the PC world to the Mac world.  In the second part I told you about the “gotchas” that are part of the process.  This week I want to tell you about why it’s all worth it.

Aside from the very obvious design factors that Apple brings to the table, why would I want to pay more for a computer from Apple than I would for one that runs Windows?  There are a number of answers to that question, but I’ll start with security.

You KNOW that you have to run anti-virus software on your PC don’t you?  And you know that you have to keep it updated daily, don’t you?  And you know that if you fail to do that basic preventative care that you WILL get an infection don’t you?

I don’t have to do that with the Mac.   I do run antivirus on the PC portion of my Mac, but I run the free program AntiVir.  I don’t need expensive AV products on that virtual PC because I ONLY use it for WinForms and MLS access.  Every thing else is done on the Mac side of the fence.  Some people say that it’s only a matter of time before virus writers learn how (or take enough interest in doing so) to write Mac specific viruses.  I don’t really agree with that thinking as I believe that the UNIX operating system that OSX is built on is inherently a safer system to run.

The Macs also have Time Machine built in.  Time Machine allows me to connect an external USB hard drive to my Mac and it will create a backup of my hard drive and then every time ANYTHING changes on my computer, it adds the change to the backup.  It keeps the backups in a format that allows me to find anything I want going back as far as the capacity of the drive will allow.  And it does so in the typical easy to figure out and use Mac interface.

Speaking of the Interface, it is truly easy to use.  Apple has a very complete and nice series of videos on it’s website that you can look at when you need to learn something new.  Most everything is intuitive and I haven’t been stymied for long when trying to figure out something new.

It comes with some pretty amazing software that handles my email, web browsing, contacts and calendar items.  Of course iTunes and the whole iPod (and iPhone) experience on a Mac is so much better than on the PC side of the world.

I purchased Microsoft Office for the Mac so I could get Entourage, which is the Apple equivalent of Outlook.  Guess what?  It’s better than Outlook!  I use it to connect with my company Exchange server.  All of my company email, contacts and calendar items seamlessly sync with Exchange.  The interface is easier to use than the one that Outlook provides.

I also purchased iWork 09 which gives me Pages, Numbers and Keynote, the Apple equivalent of Word, Excel and PowerPoint.  Although Word and Excel are more powerful than Pages and Numbers, Keynote beats PowerPoint hands down in terms of what it can do and the ease of doing it.  I paid $129.00 for it and that allows me to install it on all three Macs.  Try that with MS Office for Windows.

I believe that the agent of the future is going to have to learn to communicate using video and audio in ways that we don’t use today.  Video and audio emails are so much easier to accomplish using the Mac than they were on my Windows PC.  The hardware and software on the Mac is designed to work with each other and it shows in the ease of use.  Said differently, it just works, every time.

Putting together multi-media presentations can be described as fun when done on a Mac as compared to doing the same thing on a PC.  I often work in Keynote, save the completed presentation as a movie, drop it into iMovie, create a soundtrack in GarageBand, take the sound track and drop it into iMovie with the Keynote file and create a movie with sound and graphics that can be uploaded to a video sharing site on the Internet or emailed to clients.  All done by dragging and dropping…

Finally, there is less clutter on my desk.  The iMac is fully self contained.  There is a power cord, an Internet cord, a keyboard cord and the cord to my external backup drive.  Everything else is built into the iMac.  No more separate display and big clunky box.

So, for all of those reasons, this is one PC guy who is now a Mac guy.  How about you?  What are you running?  Mac or PC?  And why?  Let’s hear from you.

Copyright 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 - All rights reserved - http://RealtyTechBytes.com Did you know that I have arranged for readers of my blog to receive licensed software for free? And that there is something new everyday? Click on the link to go to the blog and look for Give Away of the day in the sidebar.

True Confessions of a Windows user in a Mac World – Part Three

Last week I confessed that I am mostly a Mac guy these days and told you how that happened to me.  This week it’s only fair to tell you that the journey was not without issues, some of which are still with me.

The most obvious thing that I had to deal with was learning a new operating system.  Mac OSX is NOT Windows.  Things that I had grown used to in Windows either are done differently or not all in the Mac.  I am very dependent on the right mouse button in the Windows world.  In the Mac world it is not used that much, although it is supported.  The iMac came with the “Mighty Mouse” which can do both left and right clicks, although the right click feature is turned off by default.  Once you know the trick it’s easy to turn on, but I didn’t discover how until after I had purchased a standard two button USB mouse at the office supply store.  Oh well.

The other “gotcha” is that most of our Multiple Listing Services need Internet Explorer 6 or 7 in order to have the availability of ActiveX controls.  That’s a fancy way of saying that the MLS relies on some additional software that will only run on Microsoft Windows.  Back in the day when the old school MLS software providers were developing MLS software, ActiveX seemed like the way to go.  Today they could also accomplish what they need to do by using cross platform methods like Java.  Will they do it?  I don’t know, so if you are on your local MLS committee start moving for the change.

Also, our friends at WinForms (ZipForms) require ActiveX controls so that their FormsViewer software will work.  CAR Directors take note!

Both of these would be deal killers for real estate agents wanting to use a Mac if it wasn’t for the ability of Macs to run Windows.

If you recall, last week I told you that I started my wife off with Parallels on her iMac.  This worked reasonably well, but she did have the occasional issue with something not working quite right and I was often called upon to solve some obscure problem.  So, when I got my MacBook Pro, I installed VMWare Fusion and when I got the iMac, I did the same.  I eventually took Parallels off and installed VMWare Fusion on her iMac as well.  Anybody want to buy my Parallels license?

So far, for both of us, VMWare has proven to be the more stable of the two products and is the one that I recommend.

Neither of these products is free however.  You will need to plan on spending another $79.99 for VMWare (Parallels is priced similarly).

You will also need a full copy of Windows XP. (Or Vista.  Both will work)  This can be as much as $300 depending on where you buy it.  Then you have to install VMWare and then install Windows.  Both processes can be daunting if you have never done them before.

Additionally, you could “clone” your existing XP or Vista machine using the free VMWare Converter software.  This process copies every bit of your existing machine and turns it into something that VMWare can open and run on the Mac.  It copies XP or Vista and every file, picture, program, shortcut and link as well as any problems that might exist on the PC.  Parallels has a similar program although I never did get it to work.

So, unless you are adept with computers, the setup might best be farmed out to a technician who is knowledgeable and proficient with both PCs and Macs.

Once it is all set up, you now have two computers in one machine.  The native Mac running OSX and the virtual PC running Windows XP or Vista courtesy of VMWare Fusion.

When you need to run WinForms or need access to the MLS, you have to start VMWare and then start the virtual machine.  Windows starts and you can then run all the Windows programs that you have installed.  No problem if you cloned your old PC.  If you didn’t do it that way, you’d have to install Office and any other Windows program you want.  The virtual PC can use the Mac’s Internet connection, printer, speakers, camera and almost any other USB connected device.  Pretty sweet!

In Part Three I’ll talk about some of the reasons why I believe the Mac is the way to go for real estate agents.

http://realtytechbytes.com/true-confessions-of-a-windows-user-in-a-mac-world-part-three/

Copyright 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 - All rights reserved - http://RealtyTechBytes.com Did you know that I have arranged for readers of my blog to receive licensed software for free? And that there is something new everyday? Click on the link to go to the blog and look for Give Away of the day in the sidebar.

True Confessions of a Windows user in a Mac World – Part Two

It’s true. I am now (mostly) a Mac. I have been a Windows guy since 1986 when I bought my first PC, an IBM XT Clone. It ran DOS 3.1 and had an amber monitor. I used that computer to catapult my fledgling real estate business into the top 10% of my office within my first 18 months in the real estate business.

And I never looked back. I went from PC to PC, always getting the latest and most powerful PC on the market. Except for my laptops, I always built my own PCs from components and in the process gained a really in depth knowledge of computers and how they worked. I knew about Macs but also “knew” that they weren’t meant for any serious business. I even rented time on a Mac Classic at the local print shop to learn how to do flyers on it. I was honestly baffled by the mouse and the user interface in general and never went back.

Along the way I obtained three increasingly complex certifications from Microsoft that further expanded my knowledge and cemented me to the Windows platform. Whenever any one new to our business would ask about the type of computer to buy, my answer was always the same, a Windows PC from a reputable manufacturer.

In the last few years though, a crack has been appearing in my Windows armor. It started when Apple announced that its operating system was going to be built upon UNIX. This meant that users of Macs would have better security and stability available to them as UNIX is the operating system used by many large businesses to run their operations. But, UNIX is not user friendly to say the least. The magic that Apple applied was to layer their wonderful user interface over the UNIX background and in so doing, brought UNIX to the masses. The user of a Mac has no idea that they are actually running UNIX. Apple did a superb job on bringing together an industrial strength operating system with an award winning graphical user interface.

The crack widened further when Apple announced that it was going to change the hardware that they used to build their products to the same hardware used in PCs. That meant that the Microprocessor was going to be of the Intel line instead of the Motorola Power PC line. This was huge, in my book, as it meant that it would now be possible to run Windows on a Mac. Up until this point if you wanted to run Windows programs on a Mac, you could do so, but at an enormous penalty in terms of speed, as the software had to “translate” the software into to something that the PowerPC processor used in Macs could understand, and then translate the output back into the Intel based Windows software. This caused these programs to run extremely slowly.

The final split occurred for me when I learned that it was possible to run both Windows and Mac operating systems and all of their programs side by side on a Mac by using virtualization software. Virtualization software by Parallels or VMWare creates a “virtual PC” on the Mac’s hard drive. A virtual PC exists only in software and is invoked by merely clicking on an icon on the Mac. The virtual PC can co-exist with the Mac allowing you to switch between Mac or PC with the click of the Mouse, or it can take over entirely. It can also be put to sleep where it waits to be called to life. When it’s not in use it claims no resources and when it is brought back to life it does so immediately without the painfully slow Windows boot up process.

The Mac can be “taught” that certain things should always be run on the Mac side or should always be run in Windows. If you click on something that should only be run in Windows, the virtual PC starts and the appropriate Windows program runs! It’s like having two computers in one. How cool is that?

So, I began my move to the Mac. I started by buying my wife a 24” iMac in October of 2007. I installed Parallels on it for her and then installed Windows XP Professional (although XP Home would have worked as well for her).

Then in January of 2008 I bought a 17” MacBook Pro for my self and installed VMWare Fusion in it as well as Windows XP Pro. Finally, when my home desktop computer began to show signs of obsolescence I replaced it in April of 2009 with a 24” iMac. I installed VMWare Fusion and Windows XP Pro on it. In fact, I used the software from VMWare to install an exact copy of my old Windows PC on the Mac. Wow! Who knew that you could do that?

So, my move is nearly complete. I still have a Vista Windows 7 machine in my office and my tablet and convertible laptops are XP machines. I just bought my wife a new Asus EeePC 1000HE Netbook, as Apple has not entered the tablet or netbook markets.

So, what is the experience like? That will be the topic of next week’s post! Stay tuned.

http://realtytechbytes.com/true-confessions-of-a-windows-user-in-a-mac-world-part-two/

Copyright 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 - All rights reserved - http://RealtyTechBytes.com Did you know that I have arranged for readers of my blog to receive licensed software for free? And that there is something new everyday? Click on the link to go to the blog and look for Give Away of the day in the sidebar.

True Confessions of a Windows user in a Mac World – Part One

If you are an iPhone or iTouch user and have bratwurst sized fingers, as I do, then you are likely frustrated by the process of typing out any kind of document on the device.

I know that given time you can learn to type fairly quickly with one finger (two if you are really dexterous) and I have actually sort of mastered the art,  but, when I first heard of a stylus for the iPhone, I had to get one.

Although there are several different manufacturers of a stylus for the iPhone/iTouch (a quick Google search will turn up some choices) I liked the look of the Pogo Stylus by TenOneDesign.com and although it is a bit pricey at $19.95 I ordered one.

It arrived last week just in time to undergo rigorous field trials before I left for Maui.  It worked so well that I knew that I was going to keep it after a few short uses.

It comes with two plastic clips (one is a spare) that hug the iPhone and then give you a place to dock the stylus.  Small problem right away…I use a leather case with a built in belt clip to house and transport my phone.  However, 5 minutes with an exacto knife and I was able to modify the case so that I could use the holder with the case!  It works great and although the modified case with the stylus hanging off the side looks a bit dorky, it does work.

Using the stylus is a piece of cake.  The diameter of the conductive foam tip is much smaller than my smallest finger tip, so my accuracy has improved.  If you have ever used a Palm Pilot or Palm Treo, you will feel right at home with the stylus.

At any rate, for the price of a few lattes you can get past one of the iPhone’s shortcomings and improve your typing speed and accuracy as well.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I can see a wave with my name on it heading my way!  Mahalo!

Copyright 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 - All rights reserved - http://RealtyTechBytes.com Did you know that I have arranged for readers of my blog to receive licensed software for free? And that there is something new everyday? Click on the link to go to the blog and look for Give Away of the day in the sidebar.

“We have met the enemy and he is us”…Pogo

This was my first iPhone and I have to admit that I endured the line largely in the hopes that the iPhone would live up to the claims of being able to use ActiveSync to connect to my company’s Exchange Server.  The lack of that ability kept me away from the original iPhone because I didn’t want to give up the convenience of that type of connectivity.  After all, I had a Windows Mobile 6 Smart phone that gave that level of service, and I didn’t want to lose it.

But, Apple was as good as it’s word, and within minutes of owning the iPhone it was busily synchronizing my Contacts, Calendar and email from the Exchange Server.  And I was a happy camper. 

My plan was to run both phones for a few months as I knew that I had a learning curve to deal with, but I was wrong.  I turned off the Windows Mobile phone after a few days and it has been off ever since.  (I still have 6 weeks to go on my T-Mobile contract).  The learning curve was very flat…hardly a curve at all.

I have written about some of the things that I like about the iPhone and some of the things that I don’t over at MakeUseOf.com (You can read that article by clicking here) and that got me to thinking about whether or not I own an expensive novelty item or if it really is a good business tool for a real estate agent.

Out of the box the phone is capable of connecting to Exchange as I mentioned above.  It also “knows” where it is via the built in GPS locater and it can pass that information on to Google Maps.  It has the Safari web browser and a pretty robust email application along with fair Contact management and Calendaring.  So, you might say that it was an OK business tool.  But, factor in the App store, which is where 3rd party developers can sell their wares, and then you start to see the power of this device.  I have selected five apps that I think really make this a great real estate tool.  By the way, although there are apps that you can purchase ranging from $.99 on up to about $19.99, all of the ones I describe below are free!

Remember your trusty HP 12C?  How would you like to have one built into your phone?  For free!  The 12C Lite app gives you almost all of the functionality of the 12C except for programmability and continuous memory.  But for most of us, that is a lack that we’ll never notice.  If you must have that functionality, you can purchase the full version and leave the HP 12C at home.

There are a ton of uses for one of those little digital voice recorders…notes to self, keeping track of important details, recording detailed instructions and so on.  The FREE Ecco Note Lite allows you to record voice notes of any length and play them back later.  Now you can leave another device at home!  

I must use Google 10 to 15 times a day.  Having the Google toolbar built into my computer’s browser is a real time saver.  With the Google app on the iPhone, all I have to do is tap a button and I am right at a Google search page.  Tap another button and I have access to my Google tools such as Goog411, Blogger, Reader, YouTube and more.

Whitepages gives me the ability to search for people and businesses just like I would with a phone book.  But, unlike a phone book, I also get a Reverse Directory Lookup.  Did I mention that this is free?

Finally, the integration between desktop and phone is very nicely done with an app called Evernote.  Evernote allows you to easily capture information in any environment using whatever device or platform you find most convenient, and makes this information accessible and searchable at any time, from anywhere. Everything you put into Evernote is always synchronized across all of your devices.

There are more business apps available, but these five will allow you to move much closer into the realm of true mobility as a real estate agent and at pricing that is truly real estate agent friendly.  I am convinced that the iPhone is a serious business tool that will only get better as new apps are released   What do you think?

Copyright 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 - All rights reserved - http://RealtyTechBytes.com Did you know that I have arranged for readers of my blog to receive licensed software for free? And that there is something new everyday? Click on the link to go to the blog and look for Give Away of the day in the sidebar.

iPhone – expensive toy or real business tool?

Most of the time when I am running the MacBook Pro it is in the Mac environment.  I do this because I am still learning the Mac.  I have spent all of “computing life” in the Microsoft world, so I have had to unlearn a few things and learn some others.  When I need Windows, I just click on the VMWare icon on my desktop and Windows XP opens up with all of the features and programs (and problems ) of Windows right at hand.  But, I prefer to work in the Mac environment because it is a joy to use because of the elegant design, ease of use and the fact that the software and the hardware are actually designed to work with each other.  PC software has to work with a wide variety of different hardware environments and so it does not always play nicely.  As we all know from experience.

There are several name brand manufacturers producing Convertible laptops, Lenovo, Dell, Gateway, Toshiba and Fujitsu.  This fosters competition and prices that are competitive.  It also gives you choices in features.

So, having laid the form factor question to rest, how should I equip a laptop?  What about the operating system?  What features should I buy?  All good questions and I do have an opinion on each of those!

To start with, if you want tablet functionality, either pure or convertible, you have to stay with the PC.  Apple doesn’t have one…yet.

So, is it Vista or XP then?  My preference would be to get the PC equipped with XP Professional or Tablet Edition.  That is probably not going to be possible since Microsoft discontinued selling XP on June 30th of this year.  Retailers are permitted to sell their existing stock of XP but once that is exhausted they will only be able to sell Vista.

Vista comes in 6 flavors ranging from stay away from it, to this is the one that you probably want.  Since you are operating a business, then you need to opt for business class software.  In this case, it’s the choice between Vista Ultimate and Vista Business.  If you get a Tablet or a convertible you will get Ultimate.  If you get a plain laptop, then be sure to get Vista Business and you’ll have all of the functionality you need to connect to corporate servers and do your job.

The Hardware is where there is a lot of confusion.  Don’t be fooled by the ads for sub $500 laptops.  These machines can barely boot up Vista and are so underpowered that they bring a new meaning to the term slow.  Better to opt for a machine that has the following hardware:

• An Intel Core Two Duo Processor – get the fastest that you can afford
• 2 Gigs of Random Access Memory (RAM) This is the minimum for a satisfactory experience with Vista.  More is better!
• 250 Gigabytes hard drive or bigger!  A 7,200 RPM hard drive is better, but a 10,000 RPM drive is best
• 256 MB Video card, 512 MB is better.  This will allow the computer to display superb graphics and video
• A built in video camera and microphone so that you van make Skype calls and send video emails
• Built-in CDR/DVDR drive.  This drive will both play and burn CDs and DVDs
• Built-in WiFi so that you can work from Starbucks or any other WiFi enabled hot spot
• Built in Bluetooth so that you can communicate with your phone and other Bluetooth accessories like printers and headsets.
• Lots of USB 2.0 Ports.  At least 3, more is better.
• A PCI Express slot so that you can add the popular AirCards that will give your PC access to the Internet when WiFi is not available and cellular is.

You can expect to pay around $3000 to $3500 for such a machine, but you should be happy with its performance over its 3-4 year lifespan.

If I were in the market, I would visit all of the major manufacturers web sites and take a look at what they have, keeping in mind the specs I detailed above.  Once I had found a few models that I was comparing I would then visit a shopping site like MySimon.com to see who had the best prices, and from there make my choice.

If you spend the time up front to learn about what is available, then you can expect satisfaction when you finally make the purchase.

As stated above, this is my opinion.  Yours may be different! 

Copyright 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 - All rights reserved - http://RealtyTechBytes.com Did you know that I have arranged for readers of my blog to receive licensed software for free? And that there is something new everyday? Click on the link to go to the blog and look for Give Away of the day in the sidebar.

What laptop should I buy in 2008?

The thought has occurred to me that such a capability would allow me to post more frequently. Ideas come to me frequently, but are often lost by the time I get around to actually writing.

Then I discovered a nifty little app from the iPhone App store called Wordpress for the iPhone, which is free!

In fact, this post is being written on my phone! You can select Categories, set Tags and even insert pictures.

Let me know what you think…is there a future for phone generated blogging?

Copyright 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 - All rights reserved - http://RealtyTechBytes.com Did you know that I have arranged for readers of my blog to receive licensed software for free? And that there is something new everyday? Click on the link to go to the blog and look for Give Away of the day in the sidebar.

Blog with your iPhone

So, what’s not to like?  Well, I am glad that I asked that!  Steve Jobs what were you thinking when you let this device get out of engineering with such a wimpy battery???  I am a power user, so I want to have WiFi, Bluetooth and every other feature enabled ALL the time.  I don’t want to have to turn off a feature when I am not using it.  I want instant on and constant readiness.  The iPhone can deliver on that promise but only for about 4 hours and then it starts the slow nag of death…"You have 20% Battery life remaining, you have 10% Battery life remaining" and so on.

I figured that I should get another charging cube at the Apple store so I could have one at home and one at my office.  Lucky for me I was meeting an Apple Store employee for lunch because 5 days after the phone’s release there was still a line of people waiting to get into the store to buy a phone!!!  There was another line going in the other direction away from the door of people who wanted to buy some other Apple product!  My friend was able to dive into the store and make the purchase and bring it back to me.  Here are a few snaps made with my new iPhone while I was waiting for her to complete the purchase:

Look at all those people in the store!

You can’t see it, but the line goes around the corner for another 30 yards or so.  Not as bad as it was on Friday, July 11th, but this is Wednesday, July 16th!

So, now I can charge my phone at home and at the office, but I am on the road a lot, often leaving my house at the crack of dawn and not getting home until early evening.  On those days I don’t even get to the office.  Obviously some other solution is needed.  Since I also own a Fifth Generation iPod, and since Apple uses the same connector on the iPod and the iPhone, my car charger that I bought for the iPod (are you seeing a trend here?  Steve!  Pay attention, get better batteries!!) works just fine to keep the phone topped up while I am on the road.

But wait, there’s more!  What about those times when I am teaching a class all day long.  Do I need yet another power cube?  No, not this time.  Here is where my iGo Power Adapter comes in.  I have one of the nifty little units that uses two AA batteries.  Those batteries are available everywhere, so I don’t worry about not being able to charge the phone.  I bought the Adapter and the iPhone tip from Radio Shack (Imagine, they are still around) although you can get them online directly from iGo.  Here is what it looks like. 

Click here to go to the iGo page featuring the adapter.  Once you have the adapter, you need to buy a "tip" to connect it to the iPhone.  Here is what the tip looks like:

Click here to go the iGo page featuring the tip.  That’s it!  Adapter and tip are a grand total of $31.00 plus tax and shipping.  And here is the good news about the iGo power adapter…you can buy tips that will allow the adapter to connect to many different devices.  One battery pack can power your phone, your spouse’s phone, your laptop and so on.

So, when all the shouting is done, I needed an extra power cube ($29.00) an iGo adapter and tip ($31.00) and a car charger ($39.00) for a total of $99.00.  Add that to the $299.00 for the phone and the activation and the monthly fee and the belt case and the cool apps that I just had to have from the AppStore, and….does anyone want to hire a recovering tech addict?  I think I need a part time job to help pay for my habit!

No matter what though…it is a cool device and I am glad I have one.  What is your take?

Copyright 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 - All rights reserved - http://RealtyTechBytes.com Did you know that I have arranged for readers of my blog to receive licensed software for free? And that there is something new everyday? Click on the link to go to the blog and look for Give Away of the day in the sidebar.

Sure Cure for the iPhone Battery Life Blues

I had planned to go to an Apple store instead of an AT&T store for several reasons.  Not the least of which was the lack of knowledgeable sales people at the AT&T stores that I had visited in the past.

Another reason was that I had a former employee and friend working at one of the two local Apple stores, and I figured that if I ran into any difficulty with an untrained salesperson that she could step in.

The final reason is that on Thursday the 11th I received an email from our corporate IT manager that contained a link to a forum post that stated that the iPhone 2.0 beta software was not compatible with an Exchange server that used a self generated certificate.  My company uses a self generated certificate in our Exchange environment, so I was half expecting that I would not be able to purchase the phone, since Exchange interoperability with the iPhone was an absolute necessity for me.

Lack of communication with the Exchange server would have been a deal breaker.  I felt that I would have a better chance of making it all work at an Apple store than at an AT&T store.

Since my friend said to me “Come at 10 AM because the lines will be down by then and we will have enough phones” I did not plan on arriving too early.  But, since I was up anyway, I left for the store around 7:30 and arrived at 8:00 AM.

What I found at the Stoneridge Mall astonished me!  There were already around 300 people in line!  Since the Apple store is in a mall, the line snaked from the store, down a line of stores then made a right turn into another corridor then snaked around that corridor and then back up to the original corridor, turned right again and went on for another 30 yards! 

I found the end of the line and took my place.  Pretty soon a young man came by handing out brochures and blue tickets like you might use for a raffle.  He didn’t have a coherent explanation as to their purpose.  I later learned that it was Apple’s way of determining how many people were in line.

Another Apple employee came by and told us that there were over 300 people in line and that once we got into the store that it would take about 30 minutes to make the purchase and complete the activation process.  The guy behind me in line did some quick calculations with me and we determined that we were looking at about a 5 hour wait!  Word of that passed back and forth through the immediate people around us and a few people decided that they could really wait a few days and so they left.  The rest of us settled into the wait.  Those that had books opened them up, some read the paper and others listened to their iPods.

Several hours into the wait, I was around the first corner and was greeted by Apple employees serving Starbucks coffee from a rolling cart…the first of several kindnesses performed by them for the people in line.   Later they came around with bottled water for everyone.

Of course once you start giving people liquids, nature takes it’s toll and pretty soon we were making pacts with each other to save places in line as we one by one ran off to explore the Mall to find the necessary relief!  This opened everyone up to conversation and pretty soon I discovered that the guy in front of me was opening several businesses related to renewable energy, and the guy in front of him worked for the Department of Energy.  The guy behind me was a free lance designer and the guy behind him was a former Navy Chaplain and current minister of a local Protestant church!

We spent the next 3 and half hours talking about everything that you can imagine, my book got put back into my pack and I enthusiastically joined in the conversation.

At about the 3 hour mark I received a text message from my friend who was working inside the store telling me that Apples registration servers and their iTunes servers were down.  I later discovered that they were up and down like an express elevator all morning and into the afternoon!

I read a blog post from a friend in Denver who told us how he was trying to upgrade the software on his 1st generation iPhone only to have the process stall part way through.  Unfortunately for him, the process of upgrading required that the phone be “wiped” clean before the new software could be installed, and the process stalled for him just after the “wipe”.  He spoke with Apple support who informed him that even though his phone was now essentially a brick or expensive paper weight that when the servers came back up that his phone would work again.

Shortly after that I received an email from a colleague in Berkeley, California, who shared a similar experience.  He too now had an iPhone brick!

Needless to say, these events were causing me to rethink the whole idea of getting a phone on opening day!  But, since I was now close enough to almost see the Apple store, I decided to stick it out.

I finally stood at the threshold of the store at 1:30 PM, 5 hours and 30 minutes after I got in line!  I was so excited to be there that I didn’t have the presence of mind to snap a picture, but all I could see were people everywhere!  Half wore the blue or orange tee shirts of Apple employees…the other half were people like me and my fellow line mates.  But, not too many of them were smiling, and truth be told, we only saw a few people leaving the store with smiles, and fewer yet who were actually talking on their new phones as they left the store.  We were wondering what that could be about as we waited our turn to be assigned to a blue shirted Apple employee.

Finally my turn arrived, and the reality of what I had come for was in front of me…did I want an 8 gig or a 16 gig phone?  I wanted the 16 gig phone.  Then did I want a white one or a black one?  I wanted a white one until I actually saw one, then I decided that black was better for me.  Then the credit card comes out and the process began.  I wanted a cool number but what I got was anything but cool.  I was told not to worry, I could always go to AT&T later and have them change numbers for me for $25.00.  I was starting to see why there were so few smiles!

Soon we had to choose voice and data plans.  I discovered that there was no choice on the data side of things, that you had to take an unlimited plan.  And, it seemed that it made sense to opt for the unlimited voice plan as well.  I had studied my current cell phone bills and realized that with my usage patterns that the AT&T unlimited plan made the most sense.

Then it was time to choose my text message plan!  I opted for the $5.00 a month, 200 text message plan.  Pretty soon I was at the point where I had agreed to a 2 year contract at $135.00 a month.  Add to that the cost of the phone, activation fee, carrying case and a 2 pack of screen protectors and I was out over $400.00, and I hadn’t even made a call yet!  Now I KNEW why I wasn’t seeing any smiles!!!

We finally got to the part where I was given the phone and was about to be shown the door when I told my sales person that I wanted to make sure that the phone was truly activated and that I also wanted to try connecting to my Exchange server.  He then shared with me that he had not had one phone successfully activated all day!  (In fairness, I do not know when he came on duty, nor how many phones that he had sold).  I was soon assuaged of any fears that I had because right after I entered all of the required information to connect to the Exchange server. It just worked!  I had my mail, my contacts and my calendar on the iPhone literally within minutes of pressing the final on screen button.  We high fived each other when it all worked as I became his first customer with an activated and working phone.

Since I had my Windows Mobile 6 phone with me, I entered an appointment into the Calendar on that phone and watched with great happiness as the appointment showed up on the iPhone almost instantaneously. Obviously whatever glitches that there were in the beta software had been cleared up.

So, I broke the mold and smiled on my way out the door as I telephoned my wife to tell her that I had joined the iPhone parade!  It had only taken 6 hours and ten minutes from the time that I arrived at the Stoneridge Mall until I was walking out into the parking lot…I have never  waited for 6 hours to spend over $400.00 dollars on anything in my life before and I hope that I never get so caught up in the hype again.

So, as I write this, I have owned the phone for almost 48 hours and it truly is a fine device.  I have learned quite a bit about it in the intervening hours and will share some of that with you in future posts.  Do you have an iPhone opening day story to share?  If so, please leave a comment.

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