Yes, after three years of having a rubbish phone (well rubbish after three years), I splashed out and bought an iPhone on O2’s £45 tariff which gives me 500 minutes and 500 texts a month, with unlimited Internet access. I’ve had it two weeks now, and am pretty used to it. There’s some things I really, really like about it, and some things that annoy me a bit…

Things I really like

• getting my e-mails anywhere – it’s just weird. And pictures and HTML e-mails work fine on it too
• being able to access the proper Internet – not just rubbish text based sites
• the iPod on it is amazing – the screen is great for video, and being able to flick through albums with your fingers is great too
• having an iTunes store in your hand is dangerous!

What isn’t great

• not being able to send texts to more than one person at a time is a bit annoying
• the memory isn’t massive at 8GB, particularly if you’ve got a lot of video
• unless you’re on wi-fi the Internet isn’t amazingly fast, but it’s certainly fine for sites like BBC News and Facebook

Overall, I’m really pleased with the purchase. Yes, it’s expensive, but I see it as kind of a treat to myself. I think it’s going to take a bit longer to get used to though – it’s just not like any ‘phone I’ve had before. The lack of a physical keyboard is the biggest thing I think I have to get used to, but I’m already pretty fast at typing on it.

O2’s tariffs for the iPhone feature unlimited wi-fi access through hotspots run by The Cloud. The only problem being that when I bought my phone they only had one hotspot in the whole of Northern Ireland. They did recently say however that they are in the process of adding hotspots in Northern Ireland, so hopefully Internet access will become a bit faster when I’m out and about…..

Please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can’t wait any longer, I totally want one now, I need one now, and my current phone is now a two and half year old piece of junk!!!!!! More on the story here.

However, I’m not going to believe it until I hear it from either Apple or O2, as previous rumours had suggested it was Vodafone and T-mobile that were going to be carrying the ‘phone in Europe.

Hopefully the fact that The Times are saying it’s O2 means it’s a bit closer to the truth!

Check this out! It’s called The Flip, and it’s a neat little video camera. I have to admit, I bought one. It comes in two versions, storing either 30 minutes or 60 minutes of video on its internal flash memory. The one I bought (60 minutes) is $149.99. The 30 minute version is $119.99.

Now while its quality might not win any awards, it isn’t bad either. It’s perfect for You Tube or any video on the net, you can hook it up to your TV as well, and the video is suprisingly watchable. The sound is ok too.

The great thing about this as a video camera is that it’s incredibly portable, and there are no cables. The USB connector for your PC or Mac just flips out of the side. And all the software you need to do rough edits or take still grabs is actually on the camera – just connect it to your computer, and you can install the software straight from the camera, meaning that you can take it anywhere, and edit anywhere too.

I’m still putting it through its paces, and have had some problems editing footage in Final Cut Express, but hopefully I’ll get those ironed out. While it’s certainly no match for the Sony Z1 we use at work, at roughly £75 compared to £1,899 for the Z1, it’s not that bad a deal!

If you don’t know what the fuss is about, check out this cool unofficial ad (via One Digital Life) or the iPhone site itself.

Magnetosphere is a cool visualiser for iTunes – one of those little display things that reacts to your music when you turn it on from the View menu.

It’s free, and available here for Macs and Windows.

Via One Digital Life.

My sister Ailse got a new laptop this week – her first Mac, a Macbook. I’ve had a Mac for a while now, so I helped her set it up with some stuff that I think is pretty useful, but which you might not know about if you’ve just got your first Mac. Here’s what I helped her out with….

• transferring her music off her iPod onto her new computer – check out Senuti – it’s free, but make sure you follow all the instructions!
• how to copy DVDs onto your iPod – use the free software Handbrake, and the excellent guide to how to use it here
• a free virus scanner – Clamxav. Ok, so viruses may not affect Macs, but you want to avoid passing viruses received by e-mail onto your Windows friends
• Flip4Mac – the Mac version of Windows Media Player is no longer updated or supported by Microsoft, so if you want to watch Windows Media Player files on your Mac, best grab this download, which has been made available for free from the Microsoft site

One thing Ailse didn’t want to use at the moment, but which I quite like is Audioscrobbler (scroll down the page). Sign up for free to Last.fm, download Audioscrobbler, and everytime you play music, it’ll upload that tune to Last.fm. From there you can find people that like the same kind of music, and therefore discover (and listen to) new bands that you might like.

If you’ve just got a new mac, and it’s your first Mac, check out Apple’s Mac 101 guides. And if you’ve got a Mac and think I’ve missed something, leave a comment!

It is basically a microphone which plugs in to your iPod. But (and this is the clever bit) it also removes the vocals from the track on your iPod and then plays the backing track and your voice through your stereo (either wirelessly or with a cable). Neat! I love karaoke, so I will be checking it out properly when I get home. Obviously the only drawback is you don’t have the words, but if you know the songs, that shouldn’t be a problem. Thanks Ailse!

My other sister Jill had a party at her flat this weekend to celebrate Ailse and I arriving from the UK. Everyone got quite drunk and played Taboo and Jenga. There was no dancing! Jill made lots of delicious food though, and everyone seemed to have a nice time which is the main thing.

I’ve spent quite a lot of time in Starbucks this week. The picture above is of my sis Jill outside her Starbucks at Westvillage where she lives. We went there yesterday for a coffee. There are two interesting things about it:

• when Series 2 of Prison Break was filming, a lot of it was shot in Dallas. Some of the cast were staying in my sister’s apartment block, so she would see a lot of them in Starbucks!
• secondly, when we went in yesterday there were 30 people in the Starbucks. 24 of them had laptops and were typing away. I think that’s a bit crazy.

CBS News has a great video (above) which shows off the iPhone and all that it can do. Check it out – if like me – you can’t wait to get your hands on one yourself! The Guardian says that the ‘phone could be available in the UK by October. Still too long to wait

Via TUAW..

What on earth is this you ask. Well, it’s a Slingbox – a little box which sits underneath your TV. Plug it into your digital, Sky+ box or Tivo, and connect it to your broadband connection. Then you can watch and control your TV / digital box from any computer with an internet connection.

Just think about it – it’s a quick and easy way to watch TV on your laptop in your bedroom (if you have a wireless network) or you can catch up on your recorded TV while you’re away on holiday (I’m thinking it would save me having to watch endless re-runs of Law & Order when I’m in Dallas because there’s nothing else on). Well maybe that’s a bit harsh. I’m a bit partial to a bit of Judge Mathis.

Anyway, it’s just landed in the UK at PC World, with a price tag of £179.99. It’s currently only available for PCs, but Mac software is promised for later this year. It’s very tempting, but I’m not sure I’d use it enough to justify that rather hefty price tag.