Deposit a Check using an iPhone

As a freelance writer, I receive most of the payments for my services online, but every once in a while, I get a check in the mail and have to go to the bank to deposit it.

It would appear that USAA bank is removing any reason for me to go to the bank with an iPhone app that allows me to deposit my checks virtually. All I need to do is take a picture of the front of my check with the iPhone, then turn the check over and snap the back of it. Once I hit e-send, the money is in the bank.

Of course, I don’t have an iPhone, and that is the case for many others. Another limitation on this new paperless service is it is currently only available for active-duty military personnel. I guess that just makes sense, doesn’t it? How can someone stationed in Iraq make a run to the bank?

In case you are wondering, the user of this service is required to destroy the check or, if nothing else, write “VOID” on it. If it were me, I would check just to make certain that my funds made it to the bank before I do something like that.

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Smartphones Less Than $100

Budget smartphones for business users are now a reality. In fact, you can get one heck of a powerful smartphone for as little as $50 these days (with a two-year contract).

BlackBerry Internet Service, Google Apps, and Microsoft Exchange's over-the-air account synchronization mean you don't necessarily have to invest in expensive extra servers to power your budget smartphones. And BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and Symbian Series 60 phones can all be centrally managed. Depending on the infrastructure, that means an IT department can disable the built-in camera, control which applications are installed, encrypt company files, and wipe data from a lost handset.

Whether you're a manager or business owner wanting to keep your employees connected while on the go, or a freelance consultant looking for a cheap way to stay in touch with clients, here's a roundup of the best low-cost business smartphones, sorted by carrier:

AT&T

Apple iPhone 3G (AT&T)

$99.99 (with two-year contract)
The iPhone 3G has excellent Microsoft Exchange connectivity, letting you sync up your calendars, contacts, and e-mails with your corporate server. And no matter what kind of business you're in, there's probably an app for that.

Nokia E71x (AT&T)

$99.99 (with two-year contract and $50 mail-in rebate)
The Symbian-powered E71x is an excellent mobile office due to its powerful Web browser, built-in Office document editing, and Microsoft Exchange support. It's also just plain handsome to look at.

Samsung Jack SGH-i637 (AT&T)

$99.99 (with two-year contract and $100 mail-in rebate)
The Samsung Jack is a near-perfect blend of 3G and Wi-Fi radios, good voice quality, Windows Mobile messaging, and sharp executive styling. It could even tempt a few consumers, too, if they don't like the (identically priced) iPhone 3G.

Sprint

BlackBerry Curve 8330 (Sprint)

$49.99 (with two-year contract and $100 mail-in rebate)
The Curve 8330 is beginning to age in the face of RIM's newest handsets like the Tour 9630 and Curve 8900 on other carriers. But the 8330 still scores with its built-in GPS, excellent voice quality, and stellar push e-mail—and you simply can't beat the price.

T-Mobile

BlackBerry Curve 8320 (T-Mobile)

$74.99 (with two-year contract)
The BlackBerry Curve shows up on a lot of "best of" lists due to its ideal blend of power, features, and (lately) low price. The Curve 8320 is particularly interesting due to its $9.99/month unlimited Wi-Fi calling capability on T-Mobile. That can mean hundreds of dollars in savings over the course of a year for each employee (at least if they talk where there's a Wi-Fi signal).

T-Mobile Dash (T-Mobile)

$49.99 (with two-year contract)
Let's be honest here—the Dash is simply old. Compared with newer Windows Mobile handsets, it's sluggish. But it does run Windows Mobile 6 and offers all of the usual Microsoft-related benefits at a very low price. Plus, it's exceptionally slim and light for a slab QWERTY smartphone.

Verizon Wireless

BlackBerry Curve 8330 (Verizon)

$49.99 (with two-year contract)
The Curve 8330 on Verizon has somewhat fewer features than the Sprint version, as it lacks an IM client and mobile TV support out of the box. But it's still a compelling choice—especially at this price.

HTC Ozone (Verizon)

$49.99 (with two-year contract)
The HTC Ozone offers a comfortable keyboard, and there's plenty of Windows Mobile power underneath the hood. This is also a true world phone, with both CDMA and GSM compatibility, and Verizon lets you unlock its GSM SIM slot if you've been a customer in good standing for 60 days.

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Turn your iPhone into a touch pad

The free JumiMouse app turns your iPhone into a roomy touch pad controller.

You've probably heard of Mobile Air Mouse, the clever app that turns your iPhone into, well, an air mouse. (It's currently on sale for $1.99, by the way.)

JumiMouse is a bit different: It turns your iPhone (or iPod Touch) into an oversize touch pad, complete with left and right mouse buttons, tap-and-drag support, and so on.

The free JumiMouse app turns your iPhone into a roomy touch pad controller.

Why would you want such a thing? For starters, JumiMouse could take the place of a laptop touch pad that's worn and no longer working properly.

It could also solve the common problem of accidentally grazing the laptop touch pad with your thumb, causing the cursor to jump and your document to get messed up. Just deactivate the touch pad and use JumiMouse instead.

Finally, JumiMouse is an ideal replacement for netbook touch pads, which are notoriously tiny. The iPhone screen is ginormous in comparison.

JumiMouse communicates with your PC via local or ad-hoc Wi-Fi. To use the app, you must first install the free Jumi Controller utility. It's currently compatible with Windows XP and Vista (32-bit). I tried it with Windows 7: no go.

On a Vista system, JumiMouse was a snap to set up. My iPhone immediately detected the server, and a tap later I was controlling the cursor from my screen. Everything worked perfectly, and I detected no lag between my finger movements and the cursor.

At first I was disappointed by the lack of options for things like pointer speed and size. But it turns out that Windows recognizes JumiMouse as hardware, so all you do is hop into the Control Panel and tweak the standard Mouse settings to your liking.

This is a fabulous little app for anyone looking to control a PC--for any reason--with an iPhone or iPod Touch. Amazingly, JumiMouse is free.


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Reasons iPod Touch Owners Shouldn't Upgrade to OS 3.0

With all the hoopla about the iPhone 3GS's speed, what about its little non-cellular brother, the touch? I took a second-generation touch, (reportedly sporting a 533-MHz ARM processor, versus the 3GS's 600-MHz chip).

I ran the touch through a battery of performance tests before and after the OS upgrade from 2.2 to 3.0, and compared the results with those for the iPhone 3G and 3GS.

	iPod Touch/OS 2.2.1	iPod touch/OS 3.0	iPhone 3G/OS 2.2.1	iPhone 3G/OS 3.0	iPhone 3GS/OS 3.0
Boot time from start	19 seconds	29	34	47	20
Load weather app and refresh weather	1.7	3.3	7	4	1
Download the 99 cent app "Benchmark" by Matt Matteson and run it	100	100	100	100	489
Load Twitterfon and refresh Tweets	5	6	16	18	6
Load NYTimes app and refresh articles	7.5	8	13	22	8
Load expedia.com (Wi-Fi, no 3G	12	13.2	15	17	8.7
Load Bejewelled 2 to menu	7.5	8.2	Not tested	11.7	4.4
SunSpider JavaScript Benchmark 0.9	103.6	37.4	Not tested	42	16.7

Though JavaScript performance has tripled, the new OS 3.0 adds a good chunk of time to startup the devices. And despite the much faster JavaScript performance, web pages load slightly slower in OS 3.0 than in 2.2. Mobile analyst Sascha Segan and I consider that it's clearly to do with graphics and layout rendering rather than JavaScript. I'm surprised the browser isn't faster in general, the way Safari 4 is on the desktop.

The takeaway from this is that you probably shouldn't bother handing over ten bucks to Apple for OS 3.0 if you're a touch user who wants faster performance. If, on the other hand, cut-and-paste, Spotlight search, and streaming video apps like MLB At Bat are things you can't live with, you have no option other than to by the new operating system. You should also feel good if you're a second-gen touch user who likes to run apps: you're in better shape, performance-wise, than iPhone 3G owners!

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Beware of Magnetic Cases with the iPhone 3GS

Yep, I've succumbed. After waiting since 2007 for the iPhone to come to T-Mobile or Verizon, I've pulled the trigger and ordered a shiny new iPhone 3GS during the first wave last week. Never mind that it took until Wednesday of this week to get to me, but that's another story.

I acquired a few holster-style cases from various sources, and I can tell you this: the Compass/Magnetometer in the iPhone 3GS does not like magnetic closures on the cases. I first used Speck's odd but very protective SwitchWay case, and after using it, I found that I had to recalibrate the compass every time I took the iPhone out of the case. I also used a no-name holster that I'd used with an iPod Touch, and that also garnered the same results.

The no-name case uses two magnets to keep itself shut, and the SwitchWay uses four magnets (it can be worn vertically or horizontally). Apple's support docs have warned against using magnetic cases since the iPhone 3G last year, but I'd used the no-name case with the first generation iPhone while I tried it out back in 2007 with no ill effects.

According to a review on iLounge.com, the SwitchWay was redesigned with a Velcro closure, and I'd certainly recommend one if you like a holster for convenience. In any case, I'm off to the Apple Cube to get a DLO HipCase, which I know has Velcro.

I should point out that calls, emails, and text messages came through fine in any of the cases, magnetic or not, so that's not an issue, but it is exceedingly annoying to have to re-calibrate the Compass everytime I needed to use it (including in maps). It also took progressively more time to reclaibrate the Compass the longer I kept the iPhone in the magnetic cases. Buyer Beware!

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Activate tethering on iPhone without jailbreaking

During the WWDC keynote, AT&T was strangely absent from Apple's list of carriers that will support tethering in iPhone OS 3.0. AT&T has since explained that it will support tethering later this summer, but many iPhone users are champing at the bit for the added functionality.
(Credit: Apple, Inc.)

If you're one of the eager masses, use this how-to to enable tethering on any iPhone running iPhone OS 3.0--without jailbreaking--on a Mac. (Other blogs have reported Windows tethering steps; please see our links at the end of this piece.)

Difficulty level:

Medium

What you need:

>Mac OS X 10.5 or later
>Download this carrier settings file from gizmodo.com and double-click it to mount it in Finder
>iPhone OS 3.0 (7A341) Gold Master final release for iPhone (see below note)
>First prerelease version of iTunes 8.2 (download link)
>Final release version of iTunes 8.2 (download link)

Notes:
iPhone OS 3.0 will be available to all iPhone users on June 17.

Standard disclaimers apply here. Please read your contract terms of service carefully before proceeding to ensure that you are not breaking your iPhone carrier agreement. Also, while these methods have worked for most people, we cannot guarantee that they will work for you, and you must make these modifications at your own risk. If you do not feel comfortable making these modifications to your phone, we urge you not to try.


Setting up tethering for your iPhone Uninstall iTunes 8.2 Mac

1. Drag the Application iTunes from the apps folder on your Mac to the Trash.

2. Launch Activity Monitor from Applications/Utilities and kill the iTunes Helper process.

3. Go to Finder. Navigate to your ~/Library folder and delete the iTunes folder at ~/Library/iTunes.

4. Navigate to ~/Library/Preferences, locate the following three files, and drag each one to the Trash: com.apple.iTunes.eq.plist, com.apple.iTunes.plist, and com.apple.iTunesHelper.plist

5. Empty the Trash

Install iTunes 8.2 prerelease Mac

6. Install the iTunes 8.2 prerelease you downloaded.

7. Connect your iPhone with iPhone OS 3.0 software loaded on it to your computer with the standard USB sync cable.

8. Once the iPhone is connected, go to the Device Summary page in iTunes.

9. While pressing and holding the Option key on your Mac, click the Restore button in iTunes

10. Browse to the mounted carrier settings file you downloaded and mounted above and select the ATT_US.ipcc file. iTunes will now perform an upgrade on your iPhone and display the following message:


Set up tethering on your iPhone

11. Launch the Settings app on your iPhone and go to General and then Network while your iPhone is still tethered to your computer.

12. Locate "Internet Tethering" and turn it on.

If tethering is successful, you will see a message that is similar to the following:


Go into Preferences Network select the adapter as displayed above, and you'll see something similar to this as it becomes active:



Your iPhone will display a blue background banner on different screens to indicate that tethering is active and running as shown below.



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Fixing a cracked iPod Touch screen

The iPod Touch is one of the sleekest, most advanced portable media players on the planet. Unfortunately, it's also one of the most fragile. With one side covered entirely by a thin pane of glass, a single careless drop is enough to turn the iPod Touch into nothing more than an expensive paperweight.

To protect your investment, Apple offers a one-year, limited warranty on its iPods, with the option to buy an extended Apple Care warranty. But on the day CNET Associate Editor Antuan Goodwin dropped his first-generation iPod Touch face-down in a parking lot, he was out of warranty and out of luck.

A cracked iPod or iPhone screen is really a lose-lose proposition: you either pay someone upwards of $100 to repair it, or shell out for a new one. To Antuan's relief, I offered a third, less expensive option: DIY repair.


I had some experience replacing iPod batteries and messing with electronics, so I offered to do the iPod repair myself, so long as Antuan understood there was a good chance I would irreparably mangle his iPod. I found the replacement glass on iFixit.com for $50, along with detailed, step-by-step instructions on the repair.

I won't lie to you: the repair wasn't easy. iFixit correctly cautions that the repair is "Very Difficult," involving lots of delicate parts, and, at one stage, requiring a hair dryer and an oven mitt to remove adhesive from the iPod's metal frame. What iFixit doesn't tell you is how fascinating it is to crack open this remarkable and densely packed little gadget, or the satisfaction of repairing your own stuff.

To inspire others who may be considering a similar repair, I've put together a video featuring some highlights of the repair.

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Migrate Your Palm OS Data to the Palm Pre

If you're a Palm Treo, Centro, or PDA loyalist, here's how to move your life over to the Palm Pre.

Palm Pre Whether you're a Palm person or not, you've probably been salivating for months now over the Pre's slick design, slide-out QWERTY keyboard, and multithreaded webOS. And finally, the Palm Pre ha hit stores. If you already have a Palm device, transferring your life over to the Pre won't be a simple, one-step process, however. That's because the Pre uses Palm's brand-new webOS, so none of the old software—including Palm Desktop, HotSync, and third-party apps—is compatible out of the box. Our guide will show you how to move your important data, including media files and even Palm OS apps, over to a shiny new Pre.

Move your documents, MP3s, and video files

If you used your Palm OS device to store media files, you'll be able to do the same with the Pre. It connects to PCs and Macs with a USB cable as a mass storage device, so you can move files on and off the handset easily. There will also be an Amazon client for buying MP3 tracks over the air. And now that the iTunes Store sells DRM-free AAC tracks, those will also play natively on the Pre.

How to move raw PIM data into the Pre native apps

Since the Pre works with Google Calendar and Contacts, you can export your Palm Desktop PIM data—or your local Outlook data—and then import it into Google's cloud. From there, the Pre will live-sync with Google as well as Outlook, and even your Facebook contacts. The Pre will also synchronize with at least one Exchange account out of the box. Palm will soon unveil more information about migrating data if you want to go straight from a Treo to the Pre without involving a Web portal.

Which new Pre apps replace old Palm apps?

Sprint TV will run natively on the Pre, and looks much nicer here than on other Sprint handsets. The Pre will play sideloaded videos out of the box, so there's no more need for TCPMP downloads. For travel info, FlightView lets you track the current location of flights around the U.S. by route; it, along with Google, will be enough to replace Handmark's Pocket Express. In addition, Pandora, Amazon, TeleNav-powered Sprint Navigation, and NASCAR will have native Pre apps. Better yet, Pandora runs in the background, which means you can listen to Internet radio over the built-in speaker, or a wired or stereo Bluetooth headset, while performing other tasks. Finally, DataViz is expected to introduce a compatible office suite, since Documents To Go has been a top-rated Palm OS stalwart for years (and even came burned into the ROM in later Treos and Centros).

Run Palm OS apps on your Pre

Anyone with treasured third-party Palm OS apps should check out MotionApps Classic. It's an aftermarket emulator that will let you run old programs at about twice the native speed of a 312-MHz Palm Treo 700p given the Pre's upgraded hardware. Classic contains the entire OS, including the preferences screen. Like other apps, Classic can also run in the background—meaning you can open a Palm OS app, shrink the emulator-plus-app combo to a card, move it aside, and then start another task in webOS. Not only that, but you can use the Pre's hardware QWERTY keyboard to enter data into Palm OS apps. (You can finally ditch that LandWare GoType keyboard.)

Which old Palm apps are compatible with Classic?

At press time, MotionApps was still updating its application compatibility list. There are over 30,000 of 'em out there, so it might take a while. Still, even graphics-intensive games like Bejeweled 2 will work. Already, other Palm OS apps that work in Classic include Pocket Tunes, Kinoma Player, Oxford Dictionary, Agendus, SplashID, SplashPhoto, Pocket Quicken, Astraware Sudoku, eReader, and Google Maps. Even vertical apps like Epocrates, a medical data tool, will work when running in Classic.

Move your apps

Using a USB cable, you can drag any PRC and PDB files over to the new device. You should follow PreCentral's advice and rename your current Palm OS backup folder to something else. Then, HotSync your old Palm OS device. This way, the system will create a brand-new backup directory that contains only the latest apps that are actually in use. Then plug in your new Pre, open the Classic folder, and copy programs and relevant data from the old device's backup folder into the Pre's Classic folder.

What if your software has HotSync ID–based DRM or is otherwise HotSync dependent?

The Classic emulator comes with a utility that will let you use an arbitrary HotSync ID to get any Palm OS software running that requires one. Essentially, you can "clone" your older Palm OS device on the Pre—without having to repurchase any third-party apps. HotSync itself doesn't work in Classic, though, which could be a significant limitation in some cases.

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