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Well once again it looks like AT&T is in the process of shooting themselves in the foot when it comes to their iPhone customers.  These people are the ones most likely to buy a new iPhone and they are going to charge them $499 instead of the $299 for an upgrade.  What a slap in the face to all of the people that have supported AT&T in the past.   I seem to remember this being an issue last go around when swapping from the iPhone to the iPhone 3G.  You would think AT&T would have learned not to piss off all the Apple fanboys out there.   All I really have to say is fuck you  AT&T!!!

Well,  after I blasted AT&T yesterday about customer loyalty it seems I have to give them a reprieve on that.  Once I finally got into the store this morning at 8:25am (got in line at 6:30am) to pickup my iPhone 3G I learned that if you have an iPhone currently you did get the nice pricing of $199 or $299 for the 8gb or 16 gb models respectively .  That actually made my day after thinking I was going to get raped for $500.  I was pretty much in and out of the store in about 20 minutes but heard some unsettling news upon leaving.  Apparently, they only got about 40 iPhone 3G’s in that particular AT&T store.  They had only 2 – 16GB models left and about 13 – 8GB models.  That means only about half of the remaining line was going to be walking away with an iPhone today.  To completely top that off I also have heard that around 9:30am the iPhone activation servers basically stalled out due to the amount of activations occurring.  This left people waiting in lines for even longer peirods of time.  Some stores did decided to sell the phones unactivated and allow people to go activate them at home with Itunes.  I am sure those people didn’t make it out of there without the fabulous 2 year contract though.  All in all I am impressed with the 3G.  Coverage in the Charlotte area seems pretty decent so far and the GPS is neat.  The biggest improvement to either iPhone however is the APP store.  There are some really neat applications out there for free and even cooler ones that may cost you a little bit.  If you don’t have an iPhone and think you may want one I would have to say that now is the time to get it.  The prices are right and the new software / hardware features are well worth it.

The new iPhone 3G is going to be released upon the world in T Minus 17 hours and counting. Are you iReady? AT&T in there infinite wisdom released info late last week to help get new and current customers “iReady” for the new iPhone 3G.  It appears that if you are a current AT&T customer you are basically going to get screwed on the new iPhones cost, $399 for 8GB version and $499 for the 16GB version.  If you are a new customer you do however get the nice advertised prices of $199 for the 8GB and $299 for the 16GB version.  I have also noticed on my own account that I had a discount upgrade for new phones of $100 off and no $18 upgrade that has now been changed to specify that this doesn’t include iPhone.  What a bunch of bullshit AT&T!!!  I don’t think that AT&T has heard of giving out customer loyalty benefits at all.  If not that then they must know they have any existing customer who wants a new iPhone 3G over a barrel and are going to take full advantage (anyone in the mood to be raped in the ass).  Of course even though I am bitching I will be in line by 7 AM tomorrow ready for my raping.  If you are considering becoming an AT&T customer and wanting and iPhone 3G make sure to check out the iReady link.  You will also want to check out the 3G coverage maps just to make sure you know what you are getting in your area.  It looks as if the 3G areas have been expanded a little since last I looked.  I noticed Fayetteville, NC and Hope Mills, NC actually look to be 3G covered now.  What do think about all this iPhone 3G hype and your dealings with AT&T?

There has been some general information released from AT&T about the cost of the unlimited 3G data package for the new iPhone.  The rate looks to increase from the starting $20 of the iPhone 1.0 to $30 dollars for the new 3G version.  If I had to guess they will probably tier this plan up by $10 for each step in the text messaging addon just like they did with the previous iPhone.  That means basically just add $10 bucks to what you are paying now and you should have a pretty close guess as to the cost increase for which ever plan you are currently on.  Before running out and purchasing the 3G iPhone howerver I would suggest taking a look at the 3G network map on AT&T’s website.  It looks as if many cities that have current EDGE coverage do not as of yet have 3G coverage.

Well the long wait and all the speculation is finally over with. Apple has announced its 3G iPhone today with shocking prices. The 8 gb model will sell for $199 and the 16 gb model will sell for $299 with a release day of Friday, July 11th, 2008. The new iPhone will now of course be able to use AT&T’s 3G network as well as have a built in GPS.  Apple also talked about the new iPhone firmware 2.0 due to release around the same time if not same day as the iPhone 3G.  This will now give the iPhone many new feature via download on the iphone store.  More to come as it is released.

I just received an email from Apple letting me know that my 1 year warranty is just about up on my iMac.  Of course in the email they are quick to make note that I can still get an AppleCare Protection plan for my computer at a nominal fee ($169 for the iMac).  Are these plans really worth it?  In the past these types of warranty plans have all seemed very limited in what types of things they would repair or replace for you.  BestBuy sell these plans with most of there electronics and I have always shyed away from purchasing any of them.  What do you think?

Well,  I figured I would give an Apple Time Capsule a try for backup and storage among other things.  Its on order at the moment but should be here soon.  From what I have read you can backup to this device wirelessly.  Time Capsule has a built in 500 GB or 1 TB server grade hard drive depending on the model that you purchase.  The device is also a complete wireless N router with 3 - 1 Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports, 1 Ethernet WAN port and 1 USB port to allow printer and external storage attachment.  When it comes in I will update on how well it works with OS X and Windows.

I finally broke down and bought one.  God help us all I am starting to go Apple!!

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Ok I had to get on here and vent for a minute.  This has been a incredibly bad day.  So far today alone I have had issues with connectivity to work via our VPN.  Debating whether this issue is due to my equipment or something else on RR’s end.  Next I was going out to the store getting in the car at the house I break the clip on my work blackberry.  It gets worse.  While leaving the store and getting into the car I had both the blackberry with the newly broken clip and my Iphone in my pocket and I hear crunch.  I have now also shattered the screen on the Iphone.  Can things get much worse today.  Ok time to get on the phone with apple to see what I have to do about getting the screen replaced on this thing.    So much for that hard to break screen.  GREAT!!!!

Ok so I got my copy of Apples new OS Leopard today and everything went fine with the install.   The OS as a whole is very nice with some very neat features in it.  Everything seems like it was really thought out and the OS seemed liked it was properly cooked before release.  There were no install bugs and all my previous apps seemed to work fine still.  Now for the disappointing part. I get into Ichat to play with the feature I really really bought the thing for and its gone. They striped the R2D2 Hologram effect out of Ichat.  I know this is trivial but it was one of the things that got me interested in purchasing the thing.  As state above I am very disappointed and feel let down by Apple with this whole experience.  Why show something in the WWDC2007 Keynote as a new feature and then take it out.