home and office computer support for D.C., Virginia & Maryland
While there is a free solution for printing from iOS using a printer connected to a Mac, Windows has a good paid solution from Collobos called FingerPrint 2. If you’re looking to print from your iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch, this is a simple solution that costs $19.95.
made2dock makes some pretty good docks for the iPhone 4/S called dock-IN-case. There are these two models (Original and Slant) and a desk model that fits neatly in the cable hole in your desk. All models are heavy and well made. The Original is a bit heavier making it easier to pull out of the dock with one hand.
What really sets this dock apart are the sizing options to fit many different sized cases and bumpers.
No Apps
The original iPhone can only be updated to run version 3.1.3 of iOS. This means that the vast majority of apps in the iTunes App Store can not be loaded onto the original iPhone. It would be nice if Apple allowed developers to keep old versions in the App Store for people with old devices. But since they don’t, it’s great that you can jailbreak the phone to allow many apps to run.
Jailbreak Steps
I followed these instructions from iPhoneBlogr. This not only jailbroke the phone. It also unlocked the phone so that it could be used on non-AT&T carriers, especially useful if I want to use the phone when traveling abroad.
Then I restored the phone in iTunes using Whited00r 5.1.
Whited00r gives you a new app store with a links to older working versions of Skype, Twitter, Facebook, etc.
Conclusion
Performing the jailbreak can be a little scary for some people. But if you have your iPhone 2G or original iPod Touch in the closet or ready to go in the trash, give this a try. They are still good devices if you make the Whited00r updates.
If you travel internationally, it’s nice to be able to put in a local-country SIM card for Internet and calls. This is far cheaper than International Roaming.
AT&T won’t do it
I just confirmed with AT&T that they changed their policy. They no longer unlock the SIM card on iPhones, even for customers in good standing for over a year. Compare this to Verizon that will unlock a phone after 3 months.
So if you are buying an iPhone and travel internationally, don’t chose AT&T as your carrier.
It’s been an exciting week of product announcements from Amazon and Apple. Decide who does a better Steve Jobs impersonation.
Amazon Kindle Press Conference – September 28, 2011, New York, NY
Apple Special Event – October 4, 2011, Cupertino, CA
