Should Carriers Have Exclusivity on Handsets

Jarrett Rush of The Dallas Morning News posted the short post in the Opinion Blog of the newspaper web site titled, Should AT&T be allowed to be the iPhone’s exclusive carrier?. This sparked 65 comments on the newspaper web site, several hours ago it made it to the front page on Digg, which collected 191 more comments; as of this writing.

The last comment on Digg being mine, which I had copied here as I did not have enough time to edit my original comment.

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Review: TweetDeck for iPhone

TweetDeck LogoI had been using Twitter for since 2006 and the iPhone since its initial release in 2007. Through out these times I had been searching for the ultimate Twitter client on the iPhone and on my Mac.

Before I can get into the review of TweetDeck for iPhone, I have to provide some context. To understand this I must first explain my personal requirements.

My requirements for a Twitter client are quite different from the average Twitter user, but they should be very similar to most people in my situation. I personally do not believe in gaining as many followers as possible for my personal Twitter account, but more the quality of the people (peeps) I follow. Of course, that’s another story for the company Twitter accounts I manage. As a result the timelines for the different Twitter accounts I manage are huge and the updates fly by very fast.

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MMS With iPhone 3.0 On iPhone 3G [Updated]

iPhone 3G With 3.0When I the create the post, To iPhone 3G S or Not?, I was not able to enable the MMS function on my iPhone 3G.

Before I explain how to enable MMS on an iPhone 3G running the iPhone 3.0 firmware, let me explain my context.

My iPhone 3G is the officially “SIM unlocked” version of the iPhone 3G directly from Apple Online Store Hong Kong. It capacity happens to be a 16GB version. I installed the iPhone 3.0 firmware “Golden Master” version onto my iPhone.

The following applies to any carrier situations, no matter whether the carrier in question is an official carrier partner with Apple in the country.

[Update: 12:10, June 18, 2009]
Added MMS settings for PCCW. Please note that these settings had not been tested on the iPhone. Please leave a note in the Comment section if you’re a PCCW customer and tried it on your iPhone 3G.

[Update: 13:01, June 18, 2009]
Thanks to reader Jon for pointing out the typo in the MMSC for Smartone-Vodafone.

[Update: 14:01, June 18, 2009]
I just received some news from Smartone-Vodafone that contradicts the information I received from them in two separate occasions, which is the fact that they do not charge their customers for receiving MMS.

The latest information is that they will charge HKD0.04/KB; a maximum of HKD12.00/MMS, to receive MMS.

This comes back to my original point I always had with MMS, the technology will not get wide adoptions and acceptances by consumers until the carriers remove these ridiculous pricing.

I for one will not use it!

I encourage all to not use it and ensure you do not pay the fees to show our disgust.

[Update: 17:11, June 18, 2009]
Thanks to reader Karay who pointed to a person calling himself “markmall_hk” on UWants.com, I have now updated the MMS settings for all mobile carriers in Hong Kong.

[Update: 01:10, June 20, 2009]
Added settings for CTM in Macau.

[Update: 01:20, June 20, 2009]
Thanks to reader Niels for the China Unicom 3G settings in mainland China.

[Update: 01:30, June 20, 2009]
Thanks to reader Ju for confirming the settings for PEOPLE.

[Update: 15:10, June 20, 2009]
Thanks to reader Todd for confirming the settings for CSL

[Update: 22:00, June 23, 2009]
Thanks to the folks at iPhoneHacks.com we now have a set of instructions for our US friends who are stuck with AT&T.

[Update: 12:15, June 24, 2009]
Thanks to reader Filipe for supplying the settings for CTM Macau non-prepaid SIM card customers.

[Update: 16:00, June 25, 2009]
I just double checked Smartone-Vodafone’s web site and it clearly states that “3G SmarTone-Vodafone customers” can receive MMS for FREE.

So I do not understand why the previous Customer Service representative claims that I have to pay the HKD0.04/KB when I clearly told her that I was on a 3G plan, plus she had my account opened in front of her.

[Update: 12:00, June 26, 2009]
Added the instructions to enable to the “Cellular Data Network” option within the Network settings pane.

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Movie Review: Duplicity

Poster

My Rating: 2Stars

This evening I saw the movie Duplicity at UA Cinema, Time Square, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Another one of the movies from my Must See Movies list.

I always enjoy movies with Julia Roberts and this one was no exception, but she was the only one any good. I never liked Clive Owen and his movies and I think this would have been a better movie if the cast were different. George Clooney and Brad Pitt would have been much better choices as Roberts’ partner in the movie.

It is a movie about corporate espionage between two rival corporation. Where Roberts and Owen are playing both sides for their self gain.

When the movie begins; actually during the first 15 minutes of the movie, you may be lost looking for the plot to begin. This is not surprising as you are dropped in the middle of a story about two spies. It is not until two thirds into the movie that you get the whole plot and back story. I guess this was the writers’ way of keeping suspense for a very weak plot.

If it was not for Roberts I would have given this 1 penguin like I did with most other Owen’s movies.

Rating Legend:
5Stars Not to be missed
4Stars Wait for the DVD
3Stars Buy from iTunes Store
2Stars Rent it on iTunes
1Stars Waste your time elsewhere

Online Identity

Facebook LogoToday shows the need for online identity.

At 00:01 (US EDT) Facebook began allowing people to choose their own “vanity” URL for represent their accounts on Facebook.com. Facebook served and completed 500,000 requests in just 15 minutes.

Being a web guy, of course I got mine at 00:01

If you’re reading this post and had not already chosen your own “vanity” URL, you may be out of luck. Unless your name(s) or desired Username is very unusual.

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To iPhone 3GS or Not?

iPhone 3G imageThe question that many are asking themselves after Apple’s keynote announcement on Monday (June 8th, 10:00 US EDT) is, “should I upgrade to the new Apple iPhone 3GS?”

This is a reasonable question to ask as rumors of the cost of the new iPhone models are in the USD600 and USD700 range without a new 2-year contract with the respective carrier.

Many of you know, Apple also made available the “Golden Master” version of the iPhone firmware 3.0 to its developers for testing. This software when released will be free to all existing iPhone and iPhone 3G users.

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Do Not Install Safari 4 [Updated]

Safari LogoIf you rely on 1Password daily and does not want to use beta class software, I would NOT recommend installing the final release of Safari that Apple released last night (HKT).

The Safari 4.0 final version broke the 1Password plugin for Safari and the previous hack does not work.

The 1Password veresion that works with this version of Safari is the latest 2.9.19 beta 2 (build 7499), which according to the developers is a “final candidate”. So if you’re not the type who is comfortable using beta software, then you should not have too long to wait before 1Password 2.9.19 final is released.

[Update: June 9, 11:27 HKT]
Just received an update from Agile Web Solutions, they had finalized 2.9.19 and brought it out of Beta status. So it is now safe to upgrade to Safari 4.0 even if you use 1Password.