Year 2007 Expires on December 31st at Midnight

Despite all efforts to hack the flow of time, the “year 2007” expires on December 31st at midnight. Teams of hackers are still working on cracking the encryptions to prevent “year 2007” from expiring. Unfortunately, their efforts so far bear no fruits.

If you are affected by the expirations, please do not panic. Upon the expiration of “year 2007”, “year 2008” will automatically activate and resume any tasks carried over from “year 2007”. If for some reasons, you found out that other people in different part of the world were already upgraded to “year 2008”, please do not panic. That’s because you’re living in a different time zone that is a little bit behind the time. As a matter of fact, numbers of part of the world have already had “year 2008” activated at the time of this writing.

Q: Would I need a new serial number to upgrade from “year 2007” to year 2008″?
A: No. You don’t need any serial numbers at all.

Q: Is “year 2008” backward compatible with “year 2007”?
A: Generally yes. But remember to date anything with “2008” instead of “2007”. Let alone using “2009”.

Q: Where do I sign up for year 2009 beta testing?
A: Unfortunately such beta program has not been announced yet.

Q: I love “year 2007”, and I refuse to upgrade to “year 2008”. What can I do to stay with year 2007?
A: In a way it is a mandatory upgrade. You can pretend that it’s still
year 2007, but it’s going to be hard to interact with everyone else. There is one other extreme solution, but I won’t get into that; let alone recommending or condoning it.

Q: Will year 2008 performs better than year 2007.
A: Results may vary. It also depends on what happened in
year 2007.

Q: Will my love life be better after upgrading to year 2008?
A: Can’t answer that one. You’re on your own, buddy!

Q: What kind of warranty does year 2008 come with?
A:
Year 2008 comes with a limited lifetime warranty; the lifetime of “year 2008”. It’s guaranteed to run until December 31st, 2008. It also comes with guaranteed upgrade to year 2009.

Q: Can I get full refund if I don’t like year 2008?
A: You’ll get full refund of the amount you paid for purchasing the
year 2008. Basically you’ll get refund in the amount of nothing.

Q: I think I like year 2008. But can it run Linux?
A: You dirty unbathed Linux Hippie!

Q: Should I buy an iPhone along with year 2008?
A: Should you? Buy it if you want it. I’d suggest to wait until Steve Jobs is done with his annual Keynote at MacWorld San Francisco. If you’re recently given a T-Mobile Dash after you dropped and broke your Treo, just wait and listen to me!

Year 2008 is expected to be the time of many events, which some of them are carried over from year 2007. In the world of technology, many events are scheduled to take place in year 2008. Confirmed events to take place shortly after year 2008 activates are CES and MacWorld San Francisco.

According to many rumors, speculations, analysis, and pure imaginations; the followings are expected to be announced at MacWorld San Francisco 2008:

  • iPhone announcements. Second Generation iPhone with 3G network support?
  • New Mac announcements. New MacBook, MacBook Pro, Mac Pro, and Mac mini?
  • Updates to Apple TV with more features.
  • iTunes movie rental.
  • More DRM-free music on iTunes Store.
  • New Apple software. What could it be?
  • iPhone software updates.
  • More news on iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK).
  • Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard update. (10.5.3)
  • A new device from Apple. OK, this one can be classified “made-up”. Take that, Apple!

to be continued.

iMaginary Rumor: iPhone SDK is Coming Along Nicely

October 17th, 2007. Apple announced the iPhone SDK will be made available sometimes in February 2008. According to a completely made up source who allegedly is working for Apple on the purported SDK, it is coming along nicely. As a matter of made-up-fact, select companies are currently working on porting their apps to the iPhone. An iMaginary Apple employee sent a picture of a working iPhone with unlikely third-party-apps installed.

Until the actual announcement of iPhone third party apps, please take this picture with a boulder of salt. TAKE THAT, APPLE!

SDK'ed with third party apps

Create Ringtones for the iPhone using GarageBand

Apple has finally added iPhone Ringtones creation support in GarageBand 4.1.1 (build 248).

GarageBand - Share to Ringtones

Requirements:

  • Mac OS X
  • GarageBand 4.1.1 or later
  • iTunes 7.5 or later
  • iPhone with software version 1.1.2 or later

A subtle Disclaimer from Apple:

With GarageBand 4.1.1 you can export your original song, your original audio recordings, or use Apple Loops and iLife jingles to create a custom ringtone for your iPhone.

That means that you can not should not use any copyrighted songs. What if you have the permissions from the copyright holders or the artists or the composers?

It is clear that Apple does not want to get sued by the Record Labels.

What about iPhone users with Windows? Well, they still can create their own Ringtones using any audio programs and use the .m4r method (read the instructions here).

For more informations, read the Apple Support Article here:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307108

and also this one:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1036

Apple: iPhone and iPod touch Software 1.1.2 is Available Through iTunes

Apple has officially released iPhone and iPod touch Software 1.1.2 through iTunes.

Previously, the Software Update was only available on Apple Download server, during iPhone launch in the UK and Germany.

How to add your own custom made ringtones to the iPhone:

  • You need iTunes 7.5 and iPhone Software 1.1.2
  • Encode the file into 128kbps AAC, smaller file size is preferred. I use GarageBand to edit and convert the audio file.
  • Rename the file extension from “.m4a” to “.m4r”; for Mac OS X “Get Info” the file, then change the extension name there.
  • Add the now “.m4r” file into iTunes, preferably have iTunes to copy the files into the library.
  • Connect your iPhone, go to the “Ringtones” tab, and check the ringtones you want to send to the iPhone.

more on this.

iPhone Software 1.1.2

iPhone Software 1.1.2
UPDATE (2007.11.12): It is now available through iTunes. Connect your iPhone, launch iTunes, and “Check for Update”.

There is no radically new features added in iPhone Software 1.1.2 which is now made available on Apple’s software download server.

iPhone Software 1.1.2 (160.1MB) | iPod touch Software 1.1.2 (157.9MB)

Custom ringtones are separated from standard ones.
PLUS: You can use the .m4r method to add your own custom ringtones to the iPhone.

How to add your own custom made ringtones to the iPhone:

  • You need iTunes 7.5 and iPhone Software 1.1.2
  • Encode the file into 128kbps AAC, smaller file size is preferred. I use GarageBand to edit and convert the audio file.
  • Rename the file extension from “.m4a” to “.m4r”; for Mac OS X “Get Info” the file, then change the extension name there.
  • Add the now “.m4r” file into iTunes, preferably have iTunes to copy the files into the library.
  • Connect your iPhone, go to the “Ringtones” tab, and check the ringtones you want to send to the iPhone.

There is now iPhone battery indicator on iTunes (tested using iTunes 7.5).

iPhone Software 1.1.2 - Power icon in iTunes 7.5

Right after iPhone Software Update or Software restore, the iPhone is flashing “Slide to Unlock” in different languages (French and German).

more to come….

AppleInsider: iPhone Software 1.1.2 is Available but Not Yet on iTunes

AppleInsider reports that iPhone Software 1.1.2 has been posted on Apple’s download server. It weighs in at 160MB.

I am restoring my iPhone software to version 1.1.2 as I type this.

For those who jailbreak or unlock their iPhones are recommended to wait until more info surfaces regarding this update. Apple is expected to patch numbers of security holes found in iPhone Software 1.1.1, which one of the exploits is used to jailbreak the iPhone.

More to come.

iPhone Software 1.1.2

Apple Releases iTunes 7.5 and QuickTime 7.3

As anticipated, ahead of November 9th, 2007 iPhone European release (France, Germany and UK), Apple releases iTunes 7.5 and QuickTime 7.3 today. It is likely that Apple will release iPhone Software update on the 9th if not earlier. Based on reports from the UK, the iPhone Software will be updated to version 1.1.2 to coincide the European iPhone premiere.

iTunes icon small QuickTime icon small

Both iTunes 7.5 and QuickTime 7.3 can be obtained from Apple Support Downloads or Apple Software Update:

11/05/2007

QuickTime 7.3
This release is recommended for all QuickTime 7 users.

iTunes 7.5
This update includes numerous enhancements and is recommended for all iTunes 7 users.

About iTunes 7.5
iTunes 7.5 features the ability to activate iPhone wherever service is offered and support for Phase, a new interactive music game designed exclusively for iPod nano (third generation), iPod classic, and iPod (fifth generation). This release also includes bug fixes to improve stability and performance.

Apple Software Update icon small