I ended up purchasing the Flip Clock (Pic above) and the Night Stand (pic below) app. But the first thing I noticed was that the dimmer function wasn’t actually a dimmer function. What it does instead is just to make the graphics opaque letting more black background through. The screen is still just as bright. Black isn’t black. So it’s still too bright, very annoying. Also, the dimmer function on Night Stand is super buggy. The double tap to dim is very nice — but it doesn’t work. Well, it works once out of a hundred or so tabs.

On the Flip Clock app, the navigation’s all messed up. Muy bugg-o. And the dimmer is not a dimmer, just an opaque-er. And I decided after some usage that having a built in alarm was overkill. I just use the iPhone “repeat daily” alarm. Flip Clock doesn’t have an alarm, Night Stand does. Also, I like the design of Flip Clock better, and it supports the iPhone alarm including snooze, sooo… Flip Clock it is.

All this ranting to come to a completely unrelated point. While reading reviews I come across a comment by some moron saying (in Swedish) “Hey, stop writing comments in English, it only shows up in the Swedish iTunes store!”.

So Mr. Smith moves from Somewhere, CA USA to Sweden because he very much likes to work at the Royal Institute of Technology, he purchases an iPhone, he finds himself an application he likes and feels he wants to contribute with feedback to the nice developers, but oh… oh no!… my god, he doesn’t speak Swedish yet. He was so busy spending 10 years becoming a professor in whatever-ology that he forgot to learn Swedish to please ignorant Swedes!

Or Ms. Mgundu from some obscure country I have yet to learn of seeks refuge from persecution, makes an effort to speak her mind in the only language she masters enough to feel comfortable using making a public comment, and the highly enlightened Swede strikes again.

Ok, all very much not likely, but you get my point. Peoples rush to judgement pisses me off sometimes. Actually, people pisses me off sometimes in general. Stupid people always pisses me off. Obviously, he/she masters the English language enough to understand comments in English. Either that, or he had someone else write up this angry comment for him to post. But that would just be plain stupid. Oh wait, that was my point, he is stupid. He did however follow up with a warm and fuzzy comment and a 4/5 rating. How nice.

English is the second language here, it is beyond “likely” that anyone who owns an iPhone and is browsing the App Store, can understand comments written in English. Maybe he/she wanted to make sure his/her commented was understood by the developers so they can make use of it.

I actually got caught in the whole country catch 22 in the Apple store when I moved back to Sweden from the US. I had a song that the payment didn’t go through for, and when I noticed, I didn’t have the American credit card anymore. Couldn’t pay for it with a Swedish credit card because my account was american, and I couldn’t switch to a Swedish account because I had an unpaid song. Paypal to save the day. See my reasoning? American moves to Sweden + Swedish credit card = Swedish Apple Store riddled with moronic comments.

My plan was always to purchase some sort of protection for my iPhone 3G, and when I noticed how my first iPhone 3G was scratched, if ever so little, even though I took great care of it, I was on a mission during my wait for the return of the iPhone. It was no easy task. I didn’t want a bulky pouch or leather casing, so my list got pretty narrow rather quickly.

So I read all the reviews, and I watched all the instruction videos and learned from other peoples success stories and failed attempts with their feedback and conclusions and the whining and the crying and joyful dancing. I finally decided to go with a combination of the ZAGG invisibleSHIELD Apple iPhone 3G Back protection and the BodyGuardz for Apple iPhone 3G Front protection (Screen only), and a micro-fiber cleaning cloth of course. I decided not to go with the ZAGG invisibleSHIELD front due to the orange peel effect reported by so many all over, and who likes oranges on their iPhone?

I placed my orders and waited and waited (the overseas shipping way), and finally after a few weeks they arrived a couple of days apart. So, all that was left was to actually install the bastards. Which would be the hard part from what I’d learned from all those reviews. I decided to do it in my server room, figured it’ll be the safest way to escape dust particles. And just to be on the safe side, I cleaned the room before I started.

Get this: As I opened my ZAGG invisibleSHIELD, I noticed (see photo below) that the spray bottle had been disassembled. I can only assume that the stupid customs have opened it and poured it out. I got so mad, there is no limit to how much I despise the customs, both the US customs and the Swedish customs. I have had my share of encounters with them both, so even though I can only write this off as a purely coincidental incident of bad luck, I still hate them. I got to keep the BodyGuardz spray bottle intact, so I decided to take my chances hoping it would work just fine with both protective products.

I decided to start with the front, installing the BodyGuardz cover. I figured I had a practice run to fail since you get two covers from BodyGuardz, so if I mess up, I’m still all good. Wouldn’t want to fail and have to order more and wait another whatever number of weeks, no no.

All ready to go. Spray fingers, spray cover when removing it from the paper, apply, align. Align. Re-align. Align.

Cover is on, wet and aligned. Time to squeegee the wet and bubbles out of it.

OK, I squeegee the hell outta that thing. I was afraid I had oversqueegeed, as you can see all the scratches in the cover. But I decided not to freak until I had waited 12-24 hours like the box said, depending on conditions like weather, humidity, temperature bla bla equals wait. So, I waited, like the good geek I am.

And while we wait, let me just tell you. The micro-fiber cleaning cloth from BodyGuardz, which states it is lint free… is not lint free. Not by a long shot. Sure, the lint is micro-fiber sized, but there is lint. There is lint I tell ya! I just got tired of replacing micro-lint with micro-lint polishing that thing over and over again, so eventually I just went for it and hoped for the best.

Installing the ZAGG back protector was no easy task. Well, removing it from the paper was the hardest I think. And guess what! I ran out of application solution! Go figure… Stupid customs. I did however manage to make due with what I had left, I pfft, pfft, pfft desperately, and I got it in place. Slightly crooked, but still. And I had to skip the tiny guys that goes on the top and bottom because of it, but I’m still happy. To be honest, I just want to make sure I have the screen protected. Everything else is just bonus.

So to summarize, I’m happy. Not too impressed by the ZAGG back protector. Yes, I did installed slightly crooked, but still, there are quite a few gaps where I’m certain the protector will get peeled off and dirt will get stuck and create an ugly dark edge. However, the back of my iPhone 3G is protected, and that’s fine. The front protector by BodyGuardz however is a different matter. I am very impressed by it. All the scratches are completely gone and there’s practically no orange peel. It’s sleek and barely noticeable, and feels very able to protect my phone. I can not even touch the screen light enough for the phone not react. I don’t think there is any loss of operability what so ever. One thing I’m not sure what to think of is the tiny jack in the BodyGuardz screen cover. I didn’t cause it, it was like that straight out of the box. Very odd.

It took me about 5-10 minutes each to apply them, but like I said, the back result is a bit crooked, so I could have put a little more effort to it. But it wasn’t very hard or time consuming. The wait for it to dry was worse. Also, I squeegeed the back as I went when applying, like the video below said. And lastly, yes, the BodyGuardz application solution works for ZAGG invisibleSHIELD, at least it did for me. As far as I know. Maybe it’ll fail me in a month or two.

I do notice a slight bulky feeling, but really, it’s what… Like 1-1.5 mm? I’m happy! The grip is better, my iPhone is protected and it’s barely noticeable, at least the screen protector. And functionality wise, the screen is 100% perfect. I still have a few tiny bubbles on the back, but they’ll likely disappear after a few days. What more can you ask?

This is the installation video from BodyGuardz:

And the installation video from Zagg:

I had to send my iPhone 3G for repair/review last week because of a dead pixel. Well, the pixel wasn’t completely dead, it was more like a walking dead, a pixel zombie if you will. It started right out of the box, when I noticed a pixel was just green (see photo below). A green pixel just sitting there, mocking me. And then… It went away. Go figure.

I spoke with the sales lady at the local Telia store (yeah right, like I have a local Telia store… I have to make an hour drive to find one) on the phone, and she said that because I have such a drive to make each time, she would hook me up with a replacement straight up, so I don’t have to drive back and forth. But by the time I got there, the pixel had gone away, and I had nothing to show for.

So I went back home, went on with my life in a normal paste, and then the pixel went green again. So I ran to get my camera and took a bunch photos and shot some videos to have as proof, so I could have the iPhone replaced, and then called the Telia lady back up and told her all about it. She said that the photo proof would do just fine in case the pixel goes away again (which it did) and I drove over there once again.

But now, for some reason, her promise of a replacement right there in the store, had become null and void. Just like her promise of a loaner, which she promised me before the instant replacement deal, for the 14 day wait to get the iPhone back, and I got slightly ticked off. But I kept my cool as one does, and I gave her my iPhone 3G with its limp pixel and went on home preparing for the wait and to use whatever phone I had lying around (I landed on the Sony Ericsson K750i). And today, a mere 8 days after I took it to the store, I received a text message saying my iPhone was returned from the undead.

Though earlier than expected, it was not a moment too soon. I have missed it so. Productivity went down, and the feeling of being naked went up by the hour. Welcome home my friend. The worst thing about this I think, is the fact that the iTunes Backup application does not remember placements of application icons, so now I have to rearrange the whole thing. That’ll set me back a while. Also, WEP/WPA keys isn’t stored in the backups, which I suppose would be considered more secure than actually storing them, but with no copy/paste… it’s a bitch. I truly, truly despise having to type WEP/WPA keys. Email passwords aren’t stored either. All good, I wouldn’t wanna have them stored.

Oh, one more thing for you to consider if you’re returning/selling your iPhone. Resetting it to default, meaning erasing all the data and settings and what not, took roughly two flippin’ hours! I had not expected that, so standing there in the store, I had to tell the nice lady I’d get back to her after a few cups of coffee at the nearest coffee shop. Which turned in to a very nice lunch, yummy taco pie. Good coffee. Good company.

Aww snap! Steve Jobs is not holding a keynote at Macworld San Francisco 2009… Apple announces that this year will be the last year Apple attends the Macworld Expo and that this keynote will be delivered by Philip Schiller, senior VP of Worldwide Product Marketing.

I suppose there might still be announcements of new products and product upgrades, but if Jobs isn’t announcing them… Where’s the party at then? There are so many rumors out there now, an upgrade for the Mac Mini which I wrote about not long ago (some speculative specs), iPhone Nano, which you have to admit would be cool beans and of course the speculation of an Apple Netbook, even though they already have the Macbook Air.

I’d love to see an update for the Mac Mini, but right now, I’m not sure what to expect. I’d hate to get my hopes up and then get nothing, but lets face it… I always have my hopes up when it comes to gadgets. I always expect new things, and wait/hope/wish for stuff to come out even before the slightest hint of any rumors appear.

Well, no matter what, I think we can safely expect December 24th, or 25th, whenever you celebrate christmas, to come and that we get to sit by the window looking out for the fat man in the red suit. Hmm, well, if that’s how you do it. Man, you can’t really describe christmas in an easy, generic fashion, can you? Oh well, please don’t hurt any bunnies, they don’t like it.

With all the updates Apple has been pushing out lately, I can’t but wonder… What about our little friend the Mac Mini? Many are talking about the lack of information. Speculations are thriving, and rumors suggest that there might be something going on. Maybe. Something. But not now. Jesus Diaz at Gizmodo.com states “two major retailers in Europe have confirmed to me that they can’t order any more of the little computers. While this could signal an updated model coming in, they have been told by Apple to expect no more of it.“.

Intel suggests (”Intel”… Mac… , I know, I’m so sneaky. I should get a job at the CIA) that no updates are to due before Christmas, that their “Holiday line-up is set”, terminating previous rumors about the Mac Mini and the iMacs would be updated before the holidays.

So from what I can tell with the information/rumors presented, we are not to expect anything exciting under our trees this year, given that Apple isn’t just playing us… But I doubt it. I have to say, I can definitely see some interesting boosts to this Multi-Purpose desktop machine. The server/media center/workstation/carputer that it is. Maybe a SSD… Some reports say that the new Mac Mini could be available with two SATA HDDs and no optical drive, now with the Remote Disc technology was introduced with the Macbook Air. Interesting option say I. What else could they have up their sleeves? Too bad G-Technology discontinued their G-Mini.

Some things just makes you happy, when life gives you treats, just like on Christmas. When Google launches applications like this… It makes me happy. I can’t do more than agree with Mr. Wauters, it is stunning.

You can even tilt your phone to change your viewing angle to see mountains in 3D! The application also includes geo-located Wikipedia articles, which you can choose to display or hide (it can get cluttery) as well as geo-located photos from Panoramio, all geographically related to what you’re viewing.

Say you search for a company, and you view information about that new Pizza place you’ve heard people talk about, but you have no idea where it’s located. Just click the address and Safari takes over and you can get directions. Just like that.

If you’re just feeling a bit confused about where you are, or if you want to check out your surroundings, you can just make use of the My Location feature, to show your current whereabouts in the real world.

Read more at the Google Earth’s Lat Long Blog and be sure to check out the video below. It shows how amazing this application really is.

Intrigued? Of course you are, you are after all a mere human being, are you not? Go straight to iTunes App Store and try it out for yourself! Language availability lists 16 different languages, so there’s a good chance you’ll be happy.

Direct link to Google Earth in iTunes App Store

You need Flash player to view this video.

Watch the video at apple.com

The 17 inch MacBook Pro didn’t get the same make over, which is a shame. But who knows what Apple have in store for it, maybe it’ll be a later push.

I was so happy when I read Michael Arrington’s article over at at TechCrunch about how Mike Schneider have developed an application called TouchType (webpage link, iTunes link) , which allows you to type in landscape mode when typing emails. This was a given built-in feature for me and I was so disappointed and frankly even more surprised when I discovered it was not.

The price for this nifty software is a puny $0.99, so be sure to try it out! I wonder if Apple could ever take an idea from a guy like this and implement it into the platform. Wouldn’t be nice to the developer in question, but probably appreciated by the end users. Although, I doubt Apple did not think of this, there must be a good reason why they didn’t implemented this from the beginning. Otherwise they’d just be plain dumb if you ask me. Anyway, kudos to Mike Schneider.

Via TechCrunch

The Google Street View is a fairly new addition to Google Maps where the user can view panoramic images as if they were standing on the street, able to pan and move around where ever the images are available. Google Street View is a feature that ships pre-loaded in the T-Mobile G1 by HTC, that features the Google made platform Android. This is exciting news to me, I feel this feature is a real treat for all iPhone users.

The ability to turn off auto-correction for keyboard has been a wanted feature for a while, and it seems the voice got heard. Yet another user feedback action from Apple.

Lastly, the Japanese emoji icons feature could be a move from Apple to increase sales in Japan, where the success of the iPhone has been moderate. It’s a popular feature amongst Japanese mobile devices.

No word from Mr. Steve Jobs as of yet as to when we could expect to get our hands on the new iPhone 2.2 software.

Via MacRumors.com

Apple decided to drop the not so popular iPhone Developer Non-Discloser Agreement. Hopefully this will attract even more developers to the iPhone market. The timing of the announcement is suspiciously convenient as the T-Mobile G1 was announced recently, which features the Google made platform Android, released under the open source license. To me, this feels like a good response to the customers feedback, and also perhaps a necessary strategic step. Not that I think developers would simply stop developing for the iPhone, but it definitely makes the platform more attractive and might result in even more high quality applications.

Apple announces:

We have decided to drop the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) for released iPhone software.

We put the NDA in place because the iPhone OS includes many Apple inventions and innovations that we would like to protect, so that others don’t steal our work. It has happened before. While we have filed for hundreds of patents on iPhone technology, the NDA added yet another level of protection. We put it in place as one more way to help protect the iPhone from being ripped off by others.

However, the NDA has created too much of a burden on developers, authors and others interested in helping further the iPhone’s success, so we are dropping it for released software. Developers will receive a new agreement without an NDA covering released software within a week or so. Please note that unreleased software and features will remain under NDA until they are released.

Thanks to everyone who provided us constructive feedback on this matter.

Via AppleInsider