i believe that all of the iPhones are being released at 6pm, so I will make this post for then.  So fess up…who got an iPhone?  Who stood in line only to be disappointed?  If you DID get an iPhone, make sure you give us a link to your blog so we can see pics of you loving it.  Sound off!

It’s too late for me, save yourselves.  I recently bought the AT&T 8525 (which I do love), but I’m struggling with the corporate big brotherness of AT&T.

This article lays it out pretty clearly…they ARE watching what you download.  They WILL find you.

"AT&T is going to act like the copyright police, and that is going to make customers angry," she said. "The good news for AT&T is that there’s so little competition that where else are the customers going to go?"

So…you iPhone junkies that are just about to drop 6 bills to get the ultra-slick squawk box…does this information slow you down at all?

BTW, I use Zune Marketplace for ALL of my downloads, so I get everything I want legally and quickly.  This policy doesn’t personally affect me, but I am POSITIVE it will affect some of my readers.  You know who you are.

I upgraded my phone today from the Cingular 8125 to the AT&T 8525.  I’m pretty excited about it.

It has the same design idea but is much more streamlined.  More buttons (which is good IMHO) and a rounded case.  It’s what is under the hood that got me to switch.

The 3G data stream is in theory much, much faster than the old system.  It should reach low-level DSL speeds.  So far I haven’t seen that to be the case, but I’ve only had it for a couple of hours and haven’t really put it through the ringer.  Also, the TeleNav on board GPS is excellent.  I haven’t figured out how to sync it up with my Bluetooth yet, but it should do so okay when I am not so tired and can actually put two thoughts together.  It will give me real time driving directions via audio and map.  I’m pretty excited about that feature (we’ll see how the maps are in Mexico…heheh…)

The upgrade to a 2MP digital camera is nice also, although I’m not a heavy camera user.  Maybe I will become one.

Here is the sweet spot for me…the price I got it for.  When I called in they said it would be full retail because I was only 8 months into my current contract.  When I went to the store I got it for much less than that (thank you salesman who shall remain unnamed in case you were playing games with the system).  Once I sell my 8125 on eBay, the total package will have cost me about $50.  Not bad for a new phone.  Not bad at all.

Michael was kind enough to hook up direct push right away, so I’m fully mobile after very little work.  How sweet it is…

I love technology.  I don’t think that is much of a secret to any of my readers.  What is surprising to me is how many of my readers aren’t utilizing much of the technology that is available to them.  So here is my life of the “hot 5″…apps and hardware that you should be using.

1. SpinVox.  Yes…SpinVox is the great tool in my bag of tricks.  What does it do?  Simple…when you call my cell phone and I don’t answer, it forward your call to my SpinVox account instead of traditional voicemail.  Your message is then converted to text and sent to me via email.  I love this.  I get a lot of calls when I’m in meetings (how do you always know to call me when I’m in a meeting?) and send it over to my phone.  Now I don’t have to write down messages, they are already transcribed for me.  This is the best!  NOTE: I received an email from Mark Harris from SpinVox just a few days ago telling me that they are now finished giving away free SpinVox accounts, and that future accounts will be available directly through US mobile carriers. 
2. Google Reader.  This is a blog feed reader, an RSS interpreter. How can I follow 100 blogs daily?  Simple.  Google Reader.  Basically it works like this: most blogs have what is called really simple syndication (RSS).  You can tell Google Reader to “subscribe” to an RSS feed from a blog, and then it shows up all on one page.  So instead of bouncing from blog to blog, you go to one page and read them all.  It saves me so much time…I couldn’t keep up without it.
3. ScrubIt.  This is a free DNS white list service.  Huh?  Okay, it means that it takes out bad websites before they reach your computer.  I have this installed at home (along with some other safety features) so that I can feel fairly comfortable with my family surfing the internet.  When an objectionable page is found, instead of displaying the page you get a “This page has been scrubbed” message.  If you have kids at home this is a must-have
4. Windows Live Writer.  This is a recommendation for my blog-writing buddies.  Windows Live Writer recently released their second beta, and it’s pretty nice.  Have you ever been writing a post online only to lose everything you wrote?  Yeah, me too.  It’s very frustrating.  With Live Writer you can compose everything offline and post directly to your blog.  It includes every tool you need to write your post.  In many cases it is easier to use Live Writer than the blogging service.  For example, it’s not intuitive in TypePad to insert a link that pops up in a separate window.  With Live Writer it’s easy.  Same with adding pictures, tables…you name it.  This is a great tool.
5. KatMouse.  Okay, this is a silly little app, but it saves me valuable seconds hundreds of times a day.  With KatMouse instead of having to click into a window to make it “live” so that you can use your scrollmouse, you can simply roll over the window and scroll.  Huh?  Yeah.  Seriously, I love this.  I put this on my list of top 5 because I realized that I would be aggravated without it now that I do have it installed.

Okay, that’s my list.  I actually thought of several others, but I’ll leave it at that for now.  If you have any “this makes my life so much better” apps that you think should be on here, feel free to leave a comment.  Cheers.