PC Updates: How did a beta of Windows 7 Service Pack 1 sneak past me? I must have been vacationing too much this summer. You can find it here. Use at your own risk.

Norton Internet Security 2011 is about to be released this week they say. A beta good till Sept 27 is still available from http://www.symantec.com

Free iPhone 4 Case: Finally received my Free iPhone Case (A Belkin Shield Micra). It's one piece Clear Plastic so it covers back and edges. SO the Shiny Stainless steel external antenna is shown.

Mac Pro: Today I placed an order for the new Hurd-Papermaster model of the Mac Pro.

iPhone Jailbreaking: The Library of Congress has just ruled Jailbreaking the iPhone legal. I remember my first smart phone, a Treo 300. Having software from anywhere and anyone with no restrictions can be a disaster. Manufacturers publish SDKs so software publishers will know how to properly write software that doesn't conflict with the Operating System or each other. With no restrictions, publishers may (and often do) give in to the temptation to take shortcuts (ie use protected memory they shouldn't, or directly address the hardware rather than going through the operating system). Apple strictly enforces its' SDK rules, and won't allow improperly written software to be sold in its App store; and as a result you NEVER hear of the iPhone crashing. The Treo however didn't have that discipline and after loading a few 3rd party applications, would often lockup, or need to be rebooted so it could refind the Sprint network, after losing it. No such grief with the iPhone. So even though I could gain some additional functionality (ie Tethering) by Jailbreaking, I have zero intention of doing it.
Here's a news story with more downsides of Jailbreaking.

Free iPhone 4 Case: I just ordered mine from Apple. They designed a very nice iphone application that uses your iTunes Account to know who you are. Details here.

Case for iPhone 4. I just ordered a case for my iPhone after earlier buying and then returning cases to ATT and to BestBuy. The one I ordered is a Griffin Reveal, recommended to me by a former NASA colleague. Based upon temporarily using 3G Griffin hard shell polycarbonate cases shoe horned onto an iPhone 4, I believe this will at least 80% reduce the antenna problem. Read about it here:

iPhone 4 issues: If you hold the iPhone 4 in a normal way a
right handed person would, in the palm of your left hand, thats "Wrong".
But even Steve Jobs holds it that way. Steve's answer
"Don't hold it that way". Such total arrogance.
Not the Apple I knew and loved.
Lots more pictures of Steve and others in Apple's ads here:

iPhone 4: Just got my iPhone 4 yesterday, older iPhone 3Gs will be sold on eBay. Used the
Free App Speedtest.net, and got the following results from the ATT 3G Network.

Download Speed >3000 kbps

Upload Speed >1200 kbps

Not too shabby. None of the problems reported online here:

Off to Barcelona, and a new iPhone when I get back.

Buying an iPhone 4: Since the AT&T stores are shut down for ordering, I just ordered my iPhone 4 online at Apple.com. It's now listed as "Ships by July 14". I didn't want to wait any longer, or I wouldn't be eligible for "best pricing" next year, as initially one is eligible for reduced pricing after 17 months in contract at AT&T, but in the past 2 years ATT has shortened it to 12 months for anyone that would have had to be be in iPhone contract for 13 to 17 months.

ATT is the BP of Phone companies: Obviously cutting corners in the wrong places when for the 4th year in a row its computer systems crash when trying to authorize orders for iPhones on the first day of sales of a new model. And to add insult to injury ATT wants to charge you an $18 activation fee for this unacceptable service level?

3-D TV : My best TV only does 1080i, and its certainly not capable of showing the new 3D. Then new 3D TV sets cost double what non3D TV sets cost, manufacturers trying to pull in extra bucks from early adopters. I'll pass for now.

However, last night at 2:28 AM CDT, DirecTv updated my HR24 HD DVR Receivers firmware to version 0x3e0 from 0x3da , and it is now 3D capable.

DirecTv: I've been a DirecTv customer for 13 years, and especially liked the years where I had a TiVo DVR from DirecTv. They currently broadcast ~150 full time National Channels in HD, far more than Dish or Comcast, but 2 months ago they turned off HD broadcasting using MPEG2 which uses 50% more bandwidth than MPEG4 which they now use for all HD broadcasting. The one TiVo model (the HR10-250) that received HD broadcasts was thus crippled, and although DirecTv offered to replace it with a model capable to receiving MPEG4 HD broadcasts, I held out for their current top-of-the-line model, the HR24. I'm glad I did. While the HR24 doesn't have a User Interface as simple and elegant as a TiVo, it performs better than their earlier HR20, HR21, HR22 and HR23 models. The HR24 feature set is listed here: I like its larger hard drive, and it has capability to use SWM (one cable to feed two signals rather than two) and DECA (allowing that one cable to also carry Ethernet. While it doesn't change channels as fast as a UVerse receiver, in all other aspects it's better. My HR10 has now been sold on eBay.

DirecTv claims a TiVo MPEG4 unit will be available in about 6 months. But they've lost all credibility on that score, as that promise has been in effect since September 2008.

Flying to Europe: I'm flying to Barcelona at the end of June, and hope the current lack of issues there from volcanic ash is the case then.

Good Luck flying to Europe: Here is a nice map
showing the spread of the ash:





Double click on map to enlarge.

Click here for a list of airports and their status.

Twitter Security: As with Buzz and Facebook, default Security settings open you up to the whole world and can create bad situations. Read the following for suggestions here.

Facebook Security: The New York Times recently had an article on how to secure your account so you're not giving out information to everyone that you hadn't intended to. Read it here. Other takes on the subject are here and here.

QUICKEN 2010 - On Tuesday August 14, 2007, I blogged on the literal impossibility of moving MS Money data into Quicken 2007. I am thrilled to report (especially with MS Money 2008 being the last Version of MS Money) that its now transparent and trivial to convert an MS Money data file into Quicken 2010. One clicks Convert, waits a couple of minutes and its done. ABOUT TIME.

Google's New "BUZZ" will Invade your privacy:

Read This, then

IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY:

Log into GMAIL

In upper right hand corner, select Settings

On next page on right most menu item, select Buzz

On next page for "Display following lists", select lower button "Do not show these lists on my public Google profile."


Click on Save changes

FINISHED!

No ATT U-VERSE for me !:
Turns out the U-Verse whole house DVR is no such thing. In other than the room of the DVR one can not perform most standard DVR functions while watching live TV, particularly Pause or Rewind.

ATT wants to charge $7/month for dumb receivers after the DVR. DirecTv charges $5/month for addtional DVRs, so if 3 rooms are wired up, with ATT I could record 4 programs, only 2 of which could be HD. With DirecTv, I could record 6 programs at once, all of them HD.

I could never get confirmation of the promotions attached to my account, and too many folks have posted on the web that ATT tries to cheat them out of promised promotions. I could never get written confirmation that my Install would truly be free, and my DirecTv wiring would be left intact.

Then had I wanted just U-Verse Internet and Phone, all promotions would drop off, and I was promised at least a $149 Install fee. Not acceptable.

I was particularly annoyed at the heavy migration of ATT Call Centers to third world locations with unintelligible agents.

It was unacceptable to have so many customer support offices keeping "Bankers Hours". Basically ATT still thinks it is and/or acts like it is a monopoly. Luckily it is not.

So I have cancelled my U-Verse Install