Receive your boarding pass on your mobile device
July 25, 2008
NEW! As of July 10 you can now receive your Electronic Boarding Pass on your Apple iPhone or iPhone3G when you do a Web Check-In.
Now, when you use Web Check-in online at aircanada.com, you can choose to receive an electronic boarding pass on your cell phone or PDA (personal digital assistant such as Blackberrry or Treo) on select flights*.
It’s easy. The next time you check in online from any computer, you’ll be asked to enter the number of the mobile device where you’d like your boarding pass to be sent. Just enter your mobile number to receive two messages directly on your cell phone or PDA, enabling you to pass through security and board your flight…paper free!
Don’t have access to a computer? You can check-in directly from your mobile device using our mobile check-in service at mobile.aircanada.com. Remember to visit a baggage drop off point prior to security screening if you have any baggage to check.
Still prefer a printed boarding pass? Just select that option when you check in online, or visit an airport kiosk to print a back-up copy of your boarding pass if ever you need one.
Very cool! It looks something like this (censored):
I suppose they would just scan it like any normal barcode.
A mail server crash and unexpected fiber-optic line problems are the latest in a long string of hiccups that have soured the launch of Apple’s new MobileMe internet service and recently left some subscribers without email access for as many as five straight days.
Apple’s support forums are rife with complaints from affected users, many of which are just as frustrated with the company’s poor communication over the matter as they are with the service outage itself. Several also doubt an official assessment of the scope of the problem posted to the MobileMe support site, which states that only 1 percent of subscribers have lost access to their email.
“I know at least 10 people with MobileMe and all of them have not had access to MobileMe mail since last Thursday or Friday, including me,” one subscriber told AppleInsider. “Now either it’s just a coincidence that everyone I know is in the 1 percent, or Apple is flat out lying.”
AppleInsider | Server, connectivity problems add to Apple’s MobileMe woes.
Tsk tsk. I briefly mentioned a little problem Apple was having with MobileMe web apps when they launched it last week. That was fine because users, myself included, were able to access email, calendar and contacts through other means (desktop, iPhone, etc). However, this recent issue is something else. Fortunately, I am not included in the “1%” but I know at least one person who is. Five days without email access is unacceptable!! Some use this service for business purposes. At $100/year, you would think Apple would at least have a backup server.
For eight years, Arnold Kim has been trading gossip, rumor and facts about Apple, the notoriously secretive computer company, on his Web site, MacRumors.com.
Arnold Kim, founder and senior editor of MacRumors.com.
It had been a hobby — albeit a time-consuming one — while Dr. Kim earned his medical degree. He kept at it as he completed his medical training and began diagnosing patients’ kidney problems. Dr. Kim’s Web site now attracts more than 4.4 million people and 40 million page views a month, according to Quantcast, making it one of the most popular technology Web sites.
It is enough to make Dr. Kim hang up his stethoscope. This month he stopped practicing medicine and started blogging full time.
My Son, the Blogger – An M.D. Trades Medicine for Apple Rumors – NYTimes.com.
Hey, it’s arn from MacRumors! I had no idea he was an MD. I just assumed it was his full time job. How the heck did he manage med school and the blog at the same time?! It seems like he’s constantly updating the front page (and he’s always in the forums).
iPhone 3G, the day after (playing with 3G and GPS)
July 19, 2008
The biggest selling point of the new iPhone is its 3G capabilities so I thought I’d run it through its paces to see just how fast it really is. In short, it was well above my expectations!
The left is 3G and the right is my home Wifi connection (you can also tell by the icon next to the carrier’s name).
I had to run some errands in the morning and thought I’d test out the GPS! This is me in the parking lot.
More details after the jump.
Cool iPhone Apps
July 19, 2008
So naturally, I’ve been playing with my new toy throughout the day and have discovered some cool applications from the App Store. Just wanted to share a few:
Twinkle: Twitter + photos + location aware = awesome!
Shazam: You let this application listen to whatever music is playing in the background (in my case, a song in iTunes) and it will identify the song within 12 seconds. Its accuracy is amazing. This would be useful if you wanted to know the name of the song playing on the radio, in a cafe, etc.
iPhone 3G goodness
July 18, 2008
It’s here! It’s here! My iPhone 3G arrived today. I was told it would arrive during the first week of August (which would have been too late), so I was pleasantly surprised to have received this little package today. I chose the white version because it’s less prone to fingerprint smudges, and it’s a little more exclusive (only available in 16GB model). It looks great too!
Without further ado, the white iPhone 3G. Photos taken with the Nikon D80.
3G is much faster than EDGE and approaches Wifi speeds. My 6GB data plan will come in handy.
Black and white. My zebra phone.
Front.
Back.
More gratuitous shots on my Flickr (or after the jump).
Apple Admits MobileMe Snags, Gives Free 30-Day Extension
July 16, 2008
Apple’s MobileMe service hit so many snags during its launch period that Apple have just issued an email apology to members. Saying “The transition from .Mac to MobileMe was a lot rockier than we had hoped,” Apple’s apologizing with a 30-day membership extension for free to anyone who was a .Mac member with an active account as of July 9, 2008 and new MobileMe members who created accounts on or before July 15, 7:00 PM PDT. Details can be found on the Apple support page here. The email also apologizes for the controversy over the speediness of “push” services, and says that Apple’s not using the term until it really is “near-instant on PCs and Macs, too.”
MobileMe: Apple Admits MobileMe Snags, Gives Free 30-Day Extension
This is why Apple customers are so loyal. Apple has consistently shown outstanding customer service and goes out of their to show a little appreciation.
The MobileMe issue was really quite minor so this was a bit unexpected. As for push, it works between iPhone/iPod touch to MobileMe (and back) and MobileMe to Mac/PC (but not back, 15min delay), so proper push implementation would be nice. I didn’t get this email (yet) though!
Would you pay $1 a day to do this on your phone..
July 14, 2008
- Browse the internet anywhere, anytime
- Read the news, check Facebook, chat on MSN
- Send and receive emails instantly
- Check stocks and make trades on the go
- Check the weather report
- Get directions using Google Maps
- Lookup any phone number or address using Google
- Stream music and video
- Update your blog…
Apple Sells One Million iPhone 3Gs in First Weekend
July 14, 2008
Apple Sells One Million iPhone 3Gs in First Weekend
CUPERTINO, California—July 14, 2008—Apple® today announced it sold its one millionth iPhone™ 3G on Sunday, just three days after its launch on Friday, July 11. iPhone 3G is now available in 21 countries—Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and the US—and will go on sale in France on July 17.
“iPhone 3G had a stunning opening weekend,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “It took 74 days to sell the first one million original iPhones, so the new iPhone 3G is clearly off to a great start around the world.”
I wonder how much Rogers sold this weekend.
iPhone OS 2.0 Unlocked
July 10, 2008
IPhone 2.0 Unlock: iPhone OS 2.0 Unlocked
The new iPhone OS 2.0 software has been unlocked and jailbroken. It was released just hours ago and it has already been cracked by the iPhone Dev Team. The first one took a couple of months, but this one was actually unlocked before Apple released it to the public. And you have had the proof in front of you all morning.
Damn, that was fast. Can’t wait to play around with 2.0!
Rogers caves on iPhone 3G plans, offers up 6GB for $30 a month – Engadget
Those kind, gentle Canadians have been oh-so-politely demanding a few heads on sticks ever sinceRogers’ super-spendy iPhone 3G price plans were announced. Well, apparently their cries have been heard, and now Rogers is launching a promotional offer along with the iPhone of 6GB of data for $30 a month — not quite unlimited data, but close enough — which can be added on top of any regular voice plan. The promo will be available for iPhone buyers who activate with a three year contract before August 31. Also, perhaps in a bid to dispel some nasty rumors about a major iPhone shortage, Rogers will be hosting 8AM launch day events at six Rogers Plus stores in major Canadian cities, complete with a free breakfast. Mmm, breakfast.
Yay! Though I should point out one important restrictions. This only applies to “in-market voice plans”. Basically, if you have a grandfathered plan, you will have to change it. Still a pretty good deal to me. A pretty drastic change just two days until launch.
iPhone news roundup. Tuesday!
July 8, 2008
Spat with Rogers leaves Canadian Apple stores without iPhones
Apple, disgusted with Rogers Wireless for dumping egregious service plans on would-be iPhone 3G buyers, has decided that its Canadian retail stores will have no part in helping the carrier market the new handset to customers, AppleInsider has learned.
As a result, Canadian Apple Retail stores won’t be selling the new 3G touchscreen phones come Friday, representatives for the Cupertino-based company said during a private conference call on Monday evening. Instead, it will be up to Rogers and its partner Fido to lock subscribers into steep 3-year contracts that require a minimum monthly payment of $60 for just 150 minutes, 75 text messages, and 400MB of data.
Hell hath no fury like Steve Jobs scorned.
Apple allegedly sanctioning Rogers for iPhone rates
After raising the ire of its customers with what are believed to be overly expensive iPhone 3G plans, Canadian provider Rogers Wireless is allegedly being punished by Apple with fewer shipments.
Blogger Daniel Smith claims multiple sources, including a senior Rogers representative, claim that Apple has diverted a significant amount of its initial iPhone 3G Canadian deliveries to Europe in retribution for the carrier’s steep rate plans, which at similar prices offer a third fewer minutes and limited data compared to AT&T.
No one messes with Steve Jobs and not pay the price.
Dude Where’s My Car: G-Park iPhone App Lets the Forgetful Bookmark Their Car
Park your car and tap “Park Me” to take a GPS reading; on the way back, hit “Where Did I Park” for turn-by-turn directions back to the whip. It’ll work for first-gen and iPod touch users (although not as well, I would imagine) via Wi-Fi and cell-tower positioning but 3G users will get turn-by-turn directions via GPS. Sure, you could just drop a pushpin in Google Maps, but part of the charm of these apps is going to be the simple execution of simple ideas, Xbox Live Arcade style. I recommend just remembering where you’ve parked.
These cool applications are the reason I love my iPhone. Now, if only they can track where I left my keys..
iPhone Can Replace Laptops for Majority of Computer Users
There’s a dirty little secret among iPhone users that Apple (AAPL) would rather keep quiet. For the majority of users, this devise can replace your laptop. I refer to the iPhone as a devise, because calling it a smartphone is condescending to the technology. It’s much more than a phone. It still surprises me that analysts compare Apple’s device to other phones. There is no comparison. Having the ‘real’ Internet in your pocket with the ability to surf the web with touch screen technology was the single biggest surprise from round one of iPhone. Using the widescreen video ipod has been cool, downloading songs over WiFi is great, scrolling through visual voicemail has been revolutionary but the elephant in the room has been the Internet capability.
The difference between surfing the web on an iPhone vs. a Blackberry is like the difference between real gold and fools gold. Blackberry users search the internet only out of necessity; iPhone users surf the web like they do on their laptops. Google found this out during their last round of collecting mobile search data. iPhone users search Google 5,000% more than the nearest competitor. “We thought it was a mistake and made our engineers check the logs again,” Vic Gundotra, head of Google’s mobile operations told the Financial Times. Keep in mind, all of this browsing has occurred on the slow 2.5 EDGE network with only a few million iPhone’s in service. Once the iPhone goes 3G on Friday, along with the international rollout, mobile web browsing is going to reach some astounding figures.
Very true. I’ve used other web-enabled phones in the past and they don’t even come close to the Internet capabilities of the iPhone.
Dictionary: Fanboy Is Now a Real English Word, Says Merriam-Webster
Yes, it’s official: you now can be a fanboy by the power of Grayskull and the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, which says the word is now part of the English language. They arrive a little late, because the Oxford English Dictionary in Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard running on my Apple iMac 24″ shows it, and so does the dictionary on my Apple PowerBook 17″—running Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger—and also the automatic orthography corrector in my Apple iPhone.
The built-in Oxford dictionary on my Mac defines fanboy as “informal derogatory an obsessive male fan (usually of movies, comic books, or science fiction).”
I read an unhealthy amount of Apple/iPhone related news. It’s not even 9am yet.
Bell undercuts iPhone plans with unlimited Instinct
July 3, 2008
globeandmail.com: Bell undercuts iPhone plans with unlimited Instinct
The smartphone that has been hailed as “the iPhone killer” by online pundits is coming to Canada on Aug. 8.
The Samsung Instinct, which has many of the same features as the Apple iPhone, differs from the iPhone in one major way: Its monthly price plan, which will dramatically undercut the iPhone plan announced last week by Rogers Wireless.
A subscriber can buy the Instinct for as low as $149.95 and then pay less than $40 a month for a modest voice plan accompanied by an unlimited data plan on Bell’s high-speed data network.
In contrast, Rogers Wireless’s cheapest iPhone plan costs $60 per month, and includes only 400 megabytes of data.
$10 unlimited data on EV-DO (excluding voice). Damn it Rogers! Get it together.
I hate it when they label something the [insert Apple product] killer. It never is.
10,000 Canadians petition for iPhone rate relief
June 29, 2008
FORTUNE: Apple 2.0 10,000 Canadians petition for iPhone rate relief «
It’s taken more than a year for the iPhone to make its way across the world’s longest undefended border, which may help explain why so many Canadians are upset this weekend.
On Friday, Rogers Communications (RCI) — Canada’s largest mobile carrier and the only one with a contract to sell Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone north of that border — announced the details of its voice and data plans. They struck some would-be customers as unreasonably high and unnecessarily restrictive, especially when compared with those in the U.S. and the U.K., and thousands of angry Canadians have made their feelings known in various homegrown websites, including eh Mac,GeekCulture, and blog.r4nt,.
But the largest and most pungent protest is a petition whose original name was unprintable, but which can now be found at ruinediphone.com. Its stated goal is to gather 10,000 names — accompanied by to a letter to Steve Jobs — by July 11, the date when the iPhone 3G goes on sale in Canada. By Sunday morning it had already gathered more than 10,400.
Rogers totally mucked it up. The best part is how they include voicemail but force you to add the $15 value pack filled with useless crap just to get caller ID. What’s also great is the unlimited access to Rogers/Fido wifi hotspots… that is until you realize there are only two hotspots in Vancouver.
BTW, the Fido iPhone plans are a tad better because evenings start at 7pm and they bill by the second.
Update:
Globe and Mail article – 16,000+ names and growing fast
Update x2:
Think Rogers iPhone plans are unfair? Try living in Sweden
Just my luck! Though I should point out that they actually have an unlimited data plan for $33 in Sweden, which is what the big fuss is about. If you consistently go over your alloted data on Rogers (not very hard on 3G), it will easily cost much more than Telia’s plan. Oh, and Telia allows you to use their cheaper non-iPhone plans as well, unlike Rogers.
Barack Obama Reveals His iPod Playlist
June 29, 2008
VH1.com : Bruce Springsteen : Barack Obama Reveals His iPod Playlist: Jay-Z, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen … And Sheryl Crow? – Rhapsody Music Downloads
We’ve already learned that President Bush’s “iPod One” is loaded with songs from Van Morrison, George Jones, Joni Mitchell and the Knack. And we’re not sure what is on Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain’s MP3 player (if he has one), but a revealing peek at Democratic candidate Senator Barack Obama’s iPod reveals a playlist that ranges from jazz to hip-hop, pop and roots rock.
For a candidate who has already shown that he knows how to brush the dirt off his shoulder, it’s no surprise that Obama’s playlist includes some Jay-Z tracks, but according to an interview in the new issue of Rolling Stone that hits stands on Friday, Obama is also a big fan of Bob Dylan, Sheryl Crow and the Rolling Stones.
“I am troubled sometimes by the misogyny and materialism of a lot of rap lyrics,” he said, praising Jay-Z, Ludacris and hip-hop impresario Russell Simmons for being “great talents and great businessmen.” “But I think the genius of the art form has shifted the culture and helped to desegregate music. … It would be nice if I could have my daughters listen to their music without me worrying that they were getting bad images of themselves.”
Jay-Z is one of my favourite hip hop artists. +1 Obama!
Though to be honest, I really wouldn’t be surprised if “his playlist” actually comprised of songs carefully selected by his campaign manager to appeal to various demographics. Politics is dirty.
