iPhone to Launch in UK?
Update: iPhone is set to launch in the UK on November 9, 2007 with 02, the leading service provider for the UK.
Via Apple.
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On September 18, Apple has scheduled a “special event” at its London store on Regents Street.
The invitation reads the cryptic “Mum is no longer the word,” and while we’re all not exactly sure what that means, the event has begun to draw lots of speculation.
In most minds, as well as my own, the iPhone will be launched at this event. But there could be a hundred other reasons for this as well.
What You Won’t Get With an iPod Touch
One Million & Growing…
Last Monday, Apple reported selling their millionth iPhone.
In response to the exciting event, Steve Jobs noted that the iPod took just over two years to sell one million products while the iPhone took only a mere 74 days, just under two and a half months.
And with the price slash from $599 to $399 for the 8GB model and discontinuing of the 4GB model, the sales are expected to grow exponentially.
On a side note, I was at a local Verizon store with a friend yesterday to buy her new BlackBerry 8800, and the sales associate had nothing but bad things to say about Apple and AT&T…yet asked to play with my iPhone every chance he got.
It was quite amusing to say the least.
iPhone Credit: Piece o’ Cake
All I did was go to the store credit page; I entered in my number and the phone’s serial number and I receive a text message with a six-digit passcode. I entered in the passcode and printed my store credit.
It was that easy.
Exactly What I’ve Been Looking For
Update: I guess they’re out of business.
Whether it’s a matter of lack of time or skill, this is the answer. For an affordable $200, Wordpress Coders takes your design, codes in xHTML Strict 1.0, and integrates into the latest version of Wordpress. My search is over.
I’ll be back with an update of how it was to work with them.
Nokia’s iPhone Attempt
I knew it wouldn’t be long before there were knock-offs but I never thought it would come this soon, and be so pathetic. Patent attorney anyone?
A Nice Surprise…
After hearing about Apple’s decision to cut the 8GB iPhone price down to $399, I was a bit miffed. And even as I read on about their reasoning, I still felt like I was, in a way, being punished for being an early adopter of the iPhone.
That is, until right now, when I read Steve’s open letter to all iPhone customers.
Everyone who bought an iPhone before the price break will be receiving a $100 store credit in the mail.
Well done Mr. Jobs, well done.
Apparently There Are Stupid Questions
So, this past Tuesday, at a Q&A in Cupertino between Apple and assorted reporters, a guy named Bob Keefe got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to ask Steve Jobs a question.
PAUSE.
Just think for a second if you had a chance to stand up in front of Steve Jobs and ask him any question about Apple, Macs, anything, what would you say?
Now, does the word “stickers” come in to play at all? Yeah, it didn’t for me either.
Apparently it did for Mr. Keefe. He stood up and asked why doesn’t Apple put those [horrible] Intel Inside stickers on their Macs.
I’m sure as the crowd went into a roar of laughter, Mr. Keefe realized he may have made a slight boo boo. But I bet he didn’t realize the response he would get from the blogosphere.
Josh Gruber (of Daring Fireball) jumped on him first. MacUser threw in a few punches. And then MacWorld finished him off.
And the worst part, as is the case with anyone who does something stupid and then gets mad that people talk about him behind his back, is he whines about the “Cult of Mac” and writes with no regard that it might have been a stupid question.
I couldn’t care less. I didn’t read about this on Josh’s site and get pissed. It was for me what it was for most others, a good laugh.
New Apple Keyboard
Thin, shiny and silver. Beautiful.
Staying Sane With Stylesheets
Most of the xHTML/CSS websites I’ve done have been small and generally easy to manage, but after recently launching a large scale website, I’ve begun adding anything and everything I can do to keep the pages organized.
First, comment your stylesheets. Keep the global styles and page resets at the top with a comment declaration like general or global. Then begin the structure styles. Finish with the footer.
Second, use the “cascading” concept of CSS to your full advantage. Contrary to (semi) popular belief, you can declare styles early in the stylesheet and change the same elements by adding altered styles below it. It’s especially helpful if you’re forced to use a commercial grade content management system that uses global stylesheets that are hard to access. You can concatenate changes to the same styles by adding them below the original.
And finally, one of the most useful organization elements I’ve begun using is a concept most of us have been doing for years in our html pages: Tab in elements that belong to a section of the site.
For example, say you create a page wrapper and then put everything inside of it. Chances are you will tab once, put in the div and ID, then tab again and begin inputting the elements that are held within.
Now apply this tool to your stylesheets. Create your sections first, then add your paragraph, heading and link styles for that section by tabbing in once or twice below the enveloping element.
Hopefully these few tips will help with creating large (and small) scale sites while maintaining your sanity!
Anyone else have any other ideas?
Google is Right about SEO
If you have ever tried to “optimize” your site, I guarantee two things happened. First you went to a ton of sites to try to learn how, one being Google’s Webmasters Tools & Guide. And then, second, it didn’t work out so well.
Maybe it’s just me but almost every site I’ve tried to “rather-quickly” optimize for search engines has nearly or completely failed. That’s not to say that I don’t make search engine friendly designs and write SE friendly copy, but it just didn’t seem to be enough.
That brings me to a month and a half ago. I developed a new home remodeling/window replacement website for a company in my area, Elk Remodeling. The new site refreshed their old site’s unprofessional and overall boring look and feel. And that was all fine and good, but the SERP tracking proved to less than exciting…so they hired me part time to just make tweaks and add original, SE friendly content three times a week.
Let me tell you, Google is right.
I add, on average, five or so pages every day I work on the site; and I tweak between 15 and 40 pages as well. Elk Remodeling is now at the top for hundreds of search terms…the exact terms they wanted and needed.
I didn’t pay any large SEO firms to “optimize the site,” we’re not paying for placement and we’re only using AdWords sparingly. It’s the new, orginal, SE friendly content that’s doing it.
I know many sites (even small sites) get much more than this site is but I have to say, even with the numbers we had in June, this truly blew me away.
Google Maps for Your (not i)Phone
Google has relaunched a new style of the 411 we’ve grown to know and hate…
Another Thought on the iPhone
Without dwelling on the fact that I haven’t written on here in months…I bring you the inevitable iPhone post…
When I went to buy the iPhone, all I could think about was holding it, checking my email and then going on the web. Then all I thought about was writing on here about it afterwards.
But I made sure to give myself a week so that I could truly write about it instead of just shouting off different “yays” and “woo hoos” as I wrote this post.
The first thing I wanted to do is write about the experience: how long I didn’t have to wait, talking to and getting to know the equally anxious people around me, the cheering and consecutive high fives as I ran into the store and how big my smile was when I left. And while that’s all true…it was a total experience…you’ve probably already heard it twenty times.
So let’s get down to it…
The phone itself took about 10 minutes to activate online. I have to say it was one of the easiest and most pleasant activations I have ever experienced. No crying babies, no back cramps from hours of standing and no lines to further wait in. Sitting at home, syncing the phone and setting it up was a breeze.
The phone itself (once Verizon finally released their grip on my number) began improving my daily life immediately. The maps interface on the road is great, I just search for an address or business and it gives me everything at my fingertips. The web displays exactly how it’s intended, and my phone is nowhere near dial-up (as everyone claims) with or without wifi.
The iPod is just an iPod; the cover flow doesn’t really do it for me. I think the best part about the iPod is just the interface of the phone, being touch-only.
I do have a few favorites though…
I love the fact that it rotates in Safari based off of the position it is. I love how the keyboard is dynamic based on the task at hand. And, while small in comparison, my favorite of all is that the phone turns off the screen when the receiver is to my ear.
All in all, the purchase and transfer to AT&T has been a breeze and completely worth it. But enough about me…what do you think of your new toy?
Apple.com: Redesigned.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen Apple overhaul their entire design scheme. Seven years to be exact.
Maybe it has something to do with their upcoming release in October of Leopard, the evolution of Tiger. Personally, I liked the old design tremendously, but I have a feeling the new design is going to grow on me.
Not to mention, there’s eighteen days until the launch of the iPhone. With 3 million iPhones ready and 300 temporary AT&T employees hired for crowd control, it should be very interesting. I’m excited to say the least.
Oh! I also forgot to mention that Safari 3 is available for public beta for both Mac and PC users.
Anyone Need a Joost Invite?
I’ve been using Joost for only a few days and I’m already hooked. This is definitely going to effect the future of television as we know it.
If you need an invite, just leave a comment with your email address or just email me at derek [at] derekdavis [dot] org.