I’ve been meaning to post this for awhile, and I’m really glad Thom blogged about it today. I’d like to introduce you to Thom Allen. Thom’s a great programmer and a good friend of mine that I met through the blogosphere and Twitter. Thom actually lives just down the road from me practically.

Thom reminded me the other day that he too is a Facebook Developer and is open to new projects. Thom’s very capable and I’m sure would do well for your next Facebook project. So if you need a Facebook Developer (I’m pretty booked right now, but hey contact me too!), Thom would be a great choice to get the job done.

If you are a Utah Facebook Developer and would like me to feature you on the site, give me a ring!

Thom Allen inspired me to take some pictures of my blogging station. Looking at some of the others out there, mine’s not quite as simple. I guess when it comes down to it, the Mac in the middle is all I really use to blog, but everything else plays such a large part in the content of my blogs that I thought I’d include it. Some of the pictures are a bit blurry, but in them, you’ll see 3 laptops (a Linux, a MacBook, and a Windows laptop), a Windows Vista (64-bit) desktop, a Ham Radio station, a picture of my wife, an iPhone, 2 scanners, and a printer. I should have also included the Digital Rebel XT I shot the pictures with (that I forgot to turn on my flash or use a tripod obviously) as well, as that has been used in several of the posts I’ve written. For your enjoyment, here is my blog station - how many bloggers can say they have a Single Side Band Ham Radio Tranceiver as part of their set up?:

I was setting up a development account today for Facebook, and came across the below code. It looks like Facebook is adopting reCaptcha. I’m glad to see larger sites adopt this - it is a great way to give back to the community and I think will do wonders for the transcription of archive.org documents.

DigitalThom pointed out earlier today that you can’t comment on a mobile phone because of the ReCaptcha on this site. I’ll try to look at that and see if we can get that working so you can comment from your cell from now on.

I was in the Apple Store today, and was having a really hard time finding help just getting a copy of iWork I wanted for my laptop. I usually don’t ask questions at these stores and generally know what I want - I’m an easy sale. The thought came to me as I was standing in a really long line of customers that Apple could solve this with a simple solution.

Most of the customers taking up associates’ time were just asking simple questions about their Macs, or what type of Mac they should get, etc. What if Apple were to offer a commission to their customers for every sale brought to the Cashier resulting in a customer helping another customer? I would be happy to stick around longer personally just for a little bit to help other fellow customers if I was given an incentive to do so.

Using this method would ensure the easy sales like me were taken care of, and those with just questions can get their questions answered by those actually using the product. We had a whole group of fellow geeks standing around in the store today talking about our iPod hacking experiences - I’m sure we could have been put to good use. This solution could apply to almost any electronics store, and I’m sure could save thousands to millions of dollars in employment fees and customer satisfaction.

Many of my loyal readers recognize the strife I have with the iPhone. Its elegant, sexy interface is alluring, yet as it draws you in it immediately pushes you away like a magnet, turned the opposite direction in reverse polarity. My goal in buying an iPhone originally was to figure out how to write apps for it. With its AJAX browser interface it seemed not too complex an interface to actually use as a development platform. However, as I mentioned earlier, I bought it, and immediately returned it because I realized that first, I had no way of using my wonderful T-Mobile plan rather than being locked into a 2-year contract with AT&T, and second, the iPhone DOES NOT support 64-bit operating systems at the moment, and I’m not about to downgrade my OS for a simple phone.

So I just recently had the opportunity to buy a MacBook for my daily business efforts and Facebook development. I have owned Macs in the past, and find them ideal development desktop environments because I get the best of almost 3 worlds, the Mac, Unix, and Windows through Parallels. It’s an ideal testing environment for a web developer.

The same day I bought it (yesterday), it was announced that finally a free unlock solution was available to free yourself from AT&T. Finally, I was in an ideal situation to buy an iPhone, try it out, review it, hack it to my T-Mobile, without having to switch carriers or downgrade my OS to an inferior architecture. I know, I’m a hypocrite, but all along I’ve really just been trying to make this work and Apple just wouldn’t let me!

I’ve realized my belief in that is completely wrong. I now totally understand why Apple is locking people into AT&T (why no 64-bit support, I have no idea)! You see, Apple knew people would unlock their phone. They know us developers way too well. Yes, we would complain and gripe, but Apple knows we all secretly love their products.

The issue is, Apple needed carriers to embrace and support their phone to make it big and “cool” in the market. Scoble says all you need to be cool is a small group to promote the heck out of your product. Verizon actually turned them down in initial deals. GSM I belive is a better network worldwide, so I believe they started seeking out partners in the GSM market. AT&T was the biggest US partner so they worked out a deal with them, which was a huge bonus for Apple, as they had exclusive marketing rights at AT&T stores all across America.

You see, Apple knew people would complain about being locked into one provider. The thing most people are neglecting (including myself) is that Apple knows their customers. They knew developers would soon hack the OS - it is a UNIX OS after all, and while they would have to protect their agreement with AT&T and try to patch the hacks, developers would always get around that until AT&T caved and let them just leave it open to the hacks. The iPhone would expand into other markets, and voila, Apple has T-Mobile and other GSM providers without even trying!

I hacked my iPhone last night. I now run my iPhone on T-Mobile, no contract, and excellent customer service! I have a shell prompt into my iPhone. I can ssh and SFTP into my iPhone. It was actually unbelievably (with a few quirks) easy to set up! Will Apple update it in the future? Probably, but you can also bet hackers will quickly have a new hack to keep it unlocked - there is no way around it, and Apple knows this. They built the software to make working around the hackers hard! I find it very hard to believe this wasn’t part of their underlying business strategy.

I mentioned this earlier, and only learned about one other Utah Facebook Developer. Today the question was raised again as someone contacted me, looking for Facebook developers in Utah. I only had one person to refer them to. Are you a Facebook developer? If so, please comment below and I’ll send you referrals!

As for other alternatives, if you are a business owner looking to launch a Facebook application and are looking for a Utah-based Facebook developer, I suggest choosing a good developer, and having them learn Facebook as part of the spec for the project. Any good developer should be able to learn Facebook in not too much time. Frankly, most Facebook Developers I know are in entrepreneurial mode right now, as there is simply too much money in this area to pass up!

I have yet to see this on Techmeme or elsewhere - feel free to Digg it up! It looks like as of this morning, iPhoneSimFree has announced their list of vendors, which have begun to take orders for the iPhone unlocking software. This is a pure software unlock that is set to release your iPhone from Cingular to use on any Cellphone network.

The software begins in the US at $99 from Wireless Imports. However, from their T’s & C’s it says:

“Please be aware you are purchasing software that will be installed on your computer which will unlock your phone via wifi. In the event Apple comes out with a new firmware upgrade which will lock your phone again you hereby agree that Wireless Imports nor its vendor will be held liable or responcible for unlocking your handset again. If your handset becomes locked you will be charged to unlock it again. “

Hmmm…$99…for something that isn’t even guaranteed will work for much longer, I think I’ll pass for now. Based on the above text you will need to pay $99 each time they release an update to bypass any of Apple’s efforts to re-lock it. I’m willing to almost guarantee that will happen, too, so purchase at your own risk. It also looks like software that’s to be shipped - not sure if a downloadable option will become available.

You can see the list of vendors selling the software at:

http://www.iphonesimfree.com/cgi-bin/iphonesimfree/engine.pl?page=buy

For me, I think I’ll wait for a T-Mobile version (that supports 64-bit) iPhone.

I blogged in fury yesterday about my experience of buying an iPhone and not being able to even use it. That iPhone is now sitting on my desk, calling to me, “use me!…use me!”. I can’t turn away from it. So…pretty. So…alluring. Must…resist…temptation. I’m very tempted now to hold it until the unlocking software comes available for purchase. I’m also very tempted to downgrade my Vista to 32-bit so I can just use it. Apple - see what you’re doing to me! I’m entrapped in the throws of your merciless marketing schemes! What do you think? Is it worth my sacrifice just to use an iPhone? Or should I return it to the store on Monday?

Okay - I admit. I just barely turned it on. I still hate it! More on that in a minute.

I decided today, for some business reasons (trying to learn how to develop for an iPhone) to go out and buy an iPhone. Yes, I’ve read all the articles and did my research before-hand (see my previous articles here and here). I knew there was a chance I’d be switching to AT&T and footing around $100 for an early termination fee (which I was going to try a few tricks to get out of). Frankly, that didn’t matter to me because the iPhones are now cheaper than the new Treos, and to me it made it worth it. Plus, it was a deductible business expense!

Well, I’m definitely having buyer’s remorse and will probably (if I can give up that alluring, shiny screen I can’t get past the first screen on) be returning it on Monday. I don’t see how anyone could be using these things!

I opened it up - very nice, pretty packaging that Apple is known for. Inside was the beautiful, sexy iPhone calling to me. “Activate me! Activate me!” it said. The minute I removed the packaging it knew to turn on (magic!). What do you know - it said “Activate me!” right there on the screen! (okay, something to that effect) I press the button that says “Activate me!” Nothing. I start pressing buttons. Nothing. I soon realize that you need to connect it to iTunes to get it working. I’ll get to that in a minute.

I mentioned I hated it before turning it on - that’s still true. Before even opening it, I know very few people that just love AT&T. In fact, I don’t think I know anyone that does. Some like it, lots hate it. I love T-Mobile, so I DO NOT want to switch to AT&T if I don’t have to. Not just that, but they lock you into a 2 year contract! Why risk getting stuck with horrible service for 2 years when I’m already in a wonderful, loving relationship?

So I started surfing around the internet for unlock solutions. I had heard this was now possible, and figured I’d now start researching it. After all, I had already unlocked my T-Mobile MDA and upgraded it to Windows Mobile 6 - how hard could it be? It turns out you either a) need to open up the case, pull out a soldering iron, risking explosion and other mishaps - not to mention voiding your warranty in the meantime, b) buy a custom SIM card and perform a few software updates (ok, that’s an option), or c) wait for a new software hack by iphonesimfree that they are saying they will start selling as a download on their site soon. Cool - I’ll just wait for option C and I’ll be able to keep it with T-Mobile, right?

Well, wrong. It turns out I can’t even use the thing.

I decided to follow the instructions and hook it up to iTunes. iTunes popped up, and said “Please connect iPhone to a computer running a 32-bit version of Windows XP (SP2) or Windows Vista.” What? I recall no warnings about this by the sales people. I see no large print signs warning users of this (this is a big thing, right? I mean 64 bit is all computer manufacturers are making now isn’t it?). So I decide to upgrade iTunes to 7.4.1 to see if maybe it’s fixed in there (after all, everything else in iTunes works great on Vista 64 bit!). I start the install process, it downloads the files, and all of the sudden I get an error saying, “Errors occured while installing updates.” I try multiple times, with the same error - does iTunes itself no longer support Vista 64 bit? Are they moving back in time? What gives Apple?

Apple, I think I may just consider a Zune after this experience.

It seems Twitter is down, again. There is a “302 Found” page saying “Found. The document has moved here.” I imagine it will be back up again soon, but it would be really nice for them to notify their users of the status of these outages.