Wordpress just released a much anticipated app for the iPhone that let’s you manage a blog from the phone. This is the first post and I thought I would post an appropriate picture of Megan and I because she is in Boston for two weeks as a counselor for the Oxfam non-profit organization.
We all know Valleywag is over the top. $1,237 for the true cost of the new 3g iPhone is incorrect. He doesn’t take into account only incremental costs as it’s not fair to assume you never had a cell phone before this and you were not paying anything before.
I will pay $179/yr in incremental costs and here is why:
• Unlimited data plan: I currently pay $20; now I will be paying $30 for a network 2x as fast. Net $120/yr.
• Text messages are not included in the new plan. Net $60/yr.
• Mobileme ($99/yr) will be a “nice to have”, but Funambol has already announced their sync app is ready to go for launch. Net $0/yr.
• My voice plan will not change. Net $0/yr.
• The cost of the 3g iPhone is $199. I have a bid on my 2g for $200. Even If I do decide on the 16gb, I shouldn’t count that because I have 8gb more of portable storage. Net -$1.
It obviously will be different for other people. If you are switching from another service provider that cost could increase by a pretty hefty amount. I also understand that FamilyTalk plans are being forced into higher rates as well. This same thing happened with the 1st generation iPhone as well…people are still amazed to find out I only pay $70/mo for service (which is $12 more than what I was paying for a SLVR) because rumors were flying around saying it would cost $120/mo just for service alone.
UPDATE: trackTapp has become my 2nd iPhone web-app to be featured on Apple.com in 2 months (but it only lasted about 14 hours before Apple replaced my spot). tipTapp was featured and now has an avg of 530 visitors/day. If you got here from Apple.com, please leave a comment on what you think of trackTapp (you can leave anonymous comments).
My Sunday project lasted 16 minutes into Monday. Oh well.
trackTapp is alive. After looking for an application that would let me track my packages on my iPhone and coming up empty I looked into what it would take to just build one myself.
These were my demands:
• Save tracking numbers (I would hate to have to type those 48 character long numbers in with my iPhone everytime)
• Easy interface w/ few details, but quick access to full details if needed
• One screen for all carriers
I did find one app that you had to use with a jailbroken phone - unfortunately the app didn’t work when I tried it with my tracking numbers. Next.
trackTapp : http://www.sixteenseven.com/tracktapp
Some of the code that I used is specific to the iPhone, so if you’re using a regular browser (especially Internet Explorer) the page might look a bit ugly or not even work. I promise you…it does. If you want to try it out but don’t have anything being shipped in, it does work with old tracking numbers as well so search those emails for an old order!
You might also find my other web-app useful as well:
tipTapp: http:/www.sixteenseven.com/tiptapp
I put together a tip calculator that is as fully featured as a tip calculator can get, but I think is simple & easier to use than any of the current tip calculators available for the iPhone.
http://www.sixteenseven.com/tiptapp
- Offline access (iPod touch does not have EDGE, so this is the only way they can actually use a tip calculator in restaurants without WiFi)
- Input your own tip percent
- Tip rounding: Up/Down to nearest dollar, Round total to nearest dollar, make the total a palindrome ($28.82; use it to quickly check against your credit card statement)
- Save settings (online access only)
After I get data from a good chunk of visitors I will know the majority of settings that users are saving so I can change the offline-access link to default to those. Developers should really be offering this solution on any web-app that they can. All you really need is to copy all your html/javascript/css (make sure the css or javascript files are not linked, but integrated in the site). Paste all that html-goodieness into this utility (select the base64 option) and it will give you the link that you need for offline access.
Here are the sites that have listed the app. They are in order of the combined 3,000 visitors they’ve sent my way in that past 4 days.
http://www.apple.com/webapps/calculate/
http://iphoneapplicationlist.com/category/businessfinance/
http://www.appsafari.com/category/calculators/
http://iphonematters.com/article/featured_iphone_app_tiptapp_389/