slamboard

I am yet again using a catchy title that may or may not fit my post. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act came to my attention in relation to the recent unlocking of an iPhone for the purposes of using with a T Mobile account. According to general consensus, this act is LEGAL.

What is unclear is whether it will be legal for commercial enterprises to sell unlocked iPhones or software that allows users to unlock the devices themselves.

I am not familiar with the details of the iPhone user agreement and any warranty that might come with an iPhone. One thing Apple could do to reduce the incidence of hacking is to make a press release illustrating what possible adverse effects it might have. I wonder if it would be legal for Apple to unhack the phones when they are brought in for battery replacement? They could call it a repair.

George Hotz, if that is his real name, headed up a team of hackers that figured out how to unlock an iPhone and operate it using a regular T Mobile sim card.

The hack is supposedly easy to replicate and the directions are being given out freely. What has George gained from the 500 hours of work that he and others put into this?

He made a recent blog post announcing that he is trading the original unlocked iPhone for a Nissan 350z automobile and 3 iPhones. The founder of a wireless aftermarket company is getting the iPhone.

I did not know that there was a fake Steve Jobs blog. I was always a fan of Puppet Tom on MySpace, so I imagine that I would find the fake CEO thing kind of entertaining. I may take a look back through it even though the mystery is no longer there. It turns out that a Forbes editor was writing the blog. Here is the post from the actual fake blog acknowledging the blowing of the cover and such.

I admire people who have what it takes to take a running joke and run with it.

Just prior to the release of the iPhone, I participated in a promotion that promised a free iPhone to the best video. That particular promotion has been very quiet ever since. I am scared to even ask about this prize because I suspect that the answer is, “Yeah, we were just getting to that..and the prize goes to NOT MARTIN!!!”

So, despite my great sense of entitlement, I have been quietly waiting to see if they are ever going to give away an iPhone.

But, I digress. This post was going to be about Apple stock falling on the release of news about a steadily decreasing demand for iPhones. The business story is mostly about great expectations. The sales performance of the device is actually in line with more conservative observers.

Whenever I have a post that talks about an issue related to the iPhone, I almost immediately get an incoming link from what must be a reblogger.

Here is an example of a typical reblogger:

http://www.seodata.com/seoreblogger/

I think that these links should benefit the PR of my site, but I am not sure whether it does very much. If it proves to be beneficial, I might as well just blog constantly about whatever happens to be cool and eventually I will be cool. The Internet seems to get more like Junior High every day.

I just read that the cost of service for an iPhone in Canada could be over $200 per month, based on the service pricing structures that are presently in place with Rogers. I found an old announcement from Rogers with regard to their plan to be the exclusive provider.

The latest speculation about iPhones in Canada is that consumer demand and insistences from Apple with force the price of service downward.

Nobody is going to read my blog today unless I am talking about the iPhone. Just about every blogger on the planet will be posting about the iPhone, so my comments will be lost in an ocean of commentary. Ironically, I have just arrived at the point of not caring anymore about the iPhone.

I’m sure it is very nice.

iPhone will have the largest screen of any phone ever. iPhone will have an operating system with the intuitive seamless feel that Apple is famous for. iPhone will not make you feel a deep sense of personal fulfillment. Well, it might… if you are Steve Jobs.

I just read that one function of the phone, making a phone call, takes several steps. That is being pointed to as a disadvantage. I am not so sure that it is. I lend my phone to the kids when they walk dogs for the local SPCA. Once a jumping dog managed to press the call button three times while it was in my kid’s pocket and a call was made to my house. My son was at home and apparently had a 2 minute, 50 cent conversation with a pocket. I like the slide to unlock feature of the iPhone. I wouldn’t be lending any future iPhone to my kids when they walk dogs.

I have to wonder if there will be a blip on the graph that tracks absenteeism for white collar workers?

The iPhone are to begin there journey from store shelves to consumer pockets this afternoon.

I will not be in any of those lineups. I am not a sheep. Also, I don’t have $500 cash on hand.

I entered a contest to win an iPhone. Part of the requirement was to make a YouTube video showing an obsolete phone being either creatively destroyed, or else used for an unconventional purpose.

I couldn’t destroy my phone. I am personally offended by the phone destoying videos. These phones contain some very persistant toxins that are harmful to the environment. I am trying to minimize my carbon footprint. One thing that I will do is keep my old phone until it is so outdated that it cannot be used to make a phone call. I only use my phone for making phone calls.

I noticed that some of the phone smashing videos may have featured fake phones. That’s ingenuity. I think that if I don’t win an iPhone I will buy a toy one this December. That way I can enter another contest a few years down the road an make a video on whatever replaces YouTube where I smash my ‘iPhone’ creatively in hopes of winning whatever is way cooler and newer than the iPhone.

You can find instructions and a download to make your own fake iPhone at the iPhone Blog.