If you have issues with syncing your iphone takes forever and ever, try connecting your iphone directly to your computer instead. that should take care of the issue.

Read more at wired

So what i did was that i registered myself to a new email adress. just made up a name, then i choose where is the US he should live and found an zip code. Then i registered to Apples Store, then i tried to sign in to iTunes store in iTunes.
When i was about to log in i choose “redeem“. Then i could registered with “none” as payment option and i was in.

Found some intresting applications this way, f.ex.
last.fm – client to stream music trough last.fm
google – search client that searches the iphone and internet

also found Mtelnet (a telnet client) and klick (a flickr client) but not sure if those are available only in US store or european also. anyway i recomend those if you are looking for such applications.

Not sure yet if im gonna set up my old P3 600Mhz machine as a gateway yet or if im gonna run with the regular router/AP. anyway, plans are to setup VPN and some other services on it also. With VPN i can access my home network from my iPhone easly or from my laptop at work.

so far ive installed:
apache (with php)
mysql
firefly (daapd)
samba
postfix/exim

So we will see about the rest when i get arround to it, been quite busy at work in the last couple of weeks. Perhaps i get arround to buy a new quadcore cpu and setup a new server now that vmware has decided to release ESXi software for free to compete with f.ex Microsofts virtulization software.

we will see how it goes. if i try ESXi, i will most likely write about the experience.

There is a bundle of applications in the iTunes store and the number increases every day. Now i live in Norway, atm im registered to the swedish iTunes store (but thats another story). Ive downloaded a handful of applications to my iPhone.
They are as follows:

Facebook – facebook app
Wordpress – wordpress blogging app
Palringo – IM client
NetNewsWire – RSS reader
Shazam – nice app to id songs
hitta.se – phonebook for sweden
Remote – remote control itunes or apple tv

im still looking for an ssh client and some other apps. hopfully i will find or they will be released soon.

here is how i installed it on by ubuntu LAMP server

Preparing your system

First of all install ID3 tag support (so mt-daapd can read mp3 files)

sudo apt-get install libid3tag0

Now install mt-daapd using the following command

sudo apt-get install mt-daapd

Configuring mt-daapd

Configuration file is located at /etc/mt-daapd.conf, so make your changes there and test this file using the following command

sudo mt-daapd -f

Also you have to remember to add the Avahi Daemon to your startup scripts with the following command

sudo update-rc.d avahi-daemon defaults

that provides mt-daapd the Apple ZeroConf services (also known as “Rendezvous” or “Bonjour”). Otherwise your iTunes machines won’t be able to discover the mt-daapd server even thou the server itself is running properly.

To enable smart playlists you have to use the administration WebUI with http://localhost:3689.
Now it will prompt for the username and password as admin and your password setup in mt-daapd.conf file

now if it only i could get the iphone to work with this service.

Must say its an enjoyment to use the phone, the touchscreen is very responsive and easy to use. The menu system istself, or the lack of one, is very easy to use. No more advanced boring menus to get lost in. Ive always disliked the menus on windows mobile and symbian phones. Here you just push the application you want to start and it starts. all ready to go.

The homescreen is packed with 4×5 icons, and you can have several homescreens. you switch homescreens simply by dragging the finger across the screen to slide the paralell homescreen into the display. On the button of the screen there is kind of a dock with 4icons wich doesnt change when you move between homescreens.

The multitouch screen is very useful f.ex when surfing the web with safari. you can easily zoom in or out by using to finger and drag them towards or away from eachother. also scrolling is very enjoyable by dragging a finger across the screen to move the webpage up or down.

The phone has several applications built in like sms, calendar, contacts, maps, youtube, photoes etc etc. You can also easly download new applications from the iTunes Store, tho this you can only do in iTunes on the computer or when the phone is connected to a wireless network. mostly because download applications on 3g/EDGE can take lot of time and be costly.

Many people dislike that the iphone is so intergrated with the itunes software but i think its relativly normal. many other mp3 players also have some kind of software to administrate the music, and the iTunes software is very well put together. You can download music, tvseries, trailers, podcasts, applications and much more directly from the iTunes store. Tho the store uses drm (fairplay), now noone dislikes drm more than me but almost all music corporations demand drm built into the music beeing sold on the internet so there is almost no way out of it. But apple has begun to sell DRM free music, read more here

but now im going abit off-topic.

Over to network connectivity. The iphone has built in wlan, bluetooth, EDGE and 3G. though the bluetooth can only be connected to wireless headsets or speakers. Luckily it has wlan so its not that big of a deal, atleast my opinion. Ive been using wlan excessively the last few days. ive also tried the 3g surfing while beeing bored on the bus to work and surfing the web is actually an enjoyment, speed wise.

Well i think that is enough for now, my general feel for the phone is very good. no regrets that i bought it. Ill write some more later..

First impression of the phone is very good. it doesnt way to much. the change from aliminium back to plastic doesnt make it lack any quality. the phone has a handful of buttons. the homebutton, powerbutton on the top, and volume up/down and mute on the topleft side.

In the package there was the sim cartridge ejector, acadaptor and manual.
The acadaptor was actually both acadaptor and an usb cable used for datatransfer and charger when connected to the computer. very nice design. The acadaptor had the same basic design as my old powerbook acadaptor but there was a small difference in the plug so i couldnt use the cord from my powerbook to the iphones acadapter incase i needed a longer cord for it. maybe it works better with the new macbooks?

anyway ill write more later about the iPhone later when ive started to use it.

After a couple of hours of trying now and then i finally was able to order my own iPhone 3g 16Gb (black). the order process was relativly painless and i recieved an email with confirmation on the order. it said that i would get it with in approximatly 5work days.

so, now i just wait…