Some of us spent a long, hot Friday standing in line and all we have to show for it are our new iPhone 3Gs. Rich Mogull offers his first-weekend impressions of the 3G and iPhone 2.0 software, while Jeff Carlson examines why people would spend hours in line for a cellular phone. Plus, Jeff discovers a way to send SMS text messages from the iPhone for free using the new AIM application. Apple, not content to overwhelm its servers with those releases, also activated the MobileMe service in fits and starts; Glenn Fleishman looks at how Apple nearly scuttled the job, but seem to have righted the ship. In news not related to the iPhone, the U.S. Justice Department ends its investigation into Apple and Steve Jobs over backdating the company’s shares (which still leaves open civil and SEC suits), Joe Kissell explains how sparse bundle disk images are the wave of the storage future, and Adam teases his sweet tooth with custom-printed M&M candies.
Who knew you could now print photos on custom M&M's? Well, you do now, but good luck getting a photo to print well in half the size of a dime.
The Justice Department reportedly ends its criminal investigation into Apple's stock backdating affair. A civil action by the SEC remains against a former executive.
Rich Mogull braved the lines on Friday to get a new iPhone 3G. After a weekend of testing (and driving), he shares his impressions of Apple's new toy.
Apple biffs its transition from .Mac to MobileMe, with the Web interface mostly dead for two days. They planned this wrong from the start, and botched a difficult move. But it eventually kicked into gear.
Feeling gouged by the absurd pricing of SMS text messaging? Using the AIM application under the iPhone 2.0 operating system, you can send text messages for free.
So who was crazy enough to wait in line on the first day of iPhone 3G availability? Jeff Carlson, who reports on the experience of hanging out with 400 other close personal friends while Apple's servers imploded.
A new disk image format introduced in Leopard is backup-friendly, because it doesn't require huge files to be backed up when only a small change has occurred. Now we just need more developers to catch on.
Notable software releases so far this week include iPhone 2.0 and iPod touch 2.0, iTunes 7.7, Apple TV 2.1, Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac 2, GraphicConverter 6.1.2, PDFpen 3.4.2, 1Password 2.6.5, Safari 3.1.2 for Tiger, and AirPort firmware 7.3.2 for all Apple 802.11n routers.
TidBITS took a week off, but our readers didn't stop talking. This week's topics range from the iPhone 3G and iPhone 2.0 update to replacing the battery on an old Mac laptop.