The Digital Dad

Woohoo! Promotion day! No longer will I mire away in the blue-collar nomenclature of Network Technician. Nay! For today I rise up as the university’s first Wireless Network Engineer. Ta-da! Not much in the day-to-day will change, but my email sig is already teh upgraded. Plus, the salaried nature of new position vs. the wage rate of old means no more time-sheet bubbles ever! Woohoo!!!

Ooh, ooh. Bonus! Not only did my voicemail get played first on episode 792 of CNet’s Buzz Out Loud, but they named the episode after my extempore exclamation, Odin’s Beard!

So the new iPhone 3G arrived today. I had ended up upgrading the wife to the new phone since her account was eligible. The plan was then for me to take her iPhone 1st gen and finally switch our numbers so I had the new phone. AT&T store lady assured me they did that all the time.
True. They do switch numbers all the time. But not between iPhones. Apple has the big brother no-no on iPhone swapping. I think it’s a piece of their ” don’t buy iPhones to unlock and re-sell deal. So Missy’s enjoying her new iPhone 3G and I’m rockin’ last year’s model. But hey, at least I got some kind of iPhone. I’m just glad the whole process is said ad done.
Oh, and the MSU discount doesn’t apply to the iPhone at all, FYI. Just one more thing…

I know, weird headline, huh? But according to this article an AT&T store in New Jersey who wasn’t one of the fortunate few to be able to sell iPhones has been handing out articles from crackberry.com and PC Magazine about why the iPhone is inferior to other smartphones. Sour grapes anyone? Hilarious!

So there’s no iPhone just yet (It’s coming.), but I did manage to upgrade my iPod touch to 2.0 and have been experimenting with some of the cool new features. By far the greatest new trick is the Remote app. It turns your iPod/iPhone into a remote for the iTunes app on your desktop. And it’s not just some dinky dink stop/start/play this song next deal. No, no. There’s search, playlists, a volume slider, a real-time progress slider, and cover art for everything you’re scrolling through. It’s really slick.
Now pair that with my Airport Express portable AP’s remote wireless speakers feature and I’m upstairs on my iPod playing songs from my laptop downstairs through the speakers in the bedroom. Now that’s wicked.

Number 21 in line. They had 20 in stock. Suck.

It wouldn’t have been quite so bad if every one of my coworkers hadn’t gotten theirs. Even the guy who just bought one because the rest of us did. (He actually asked, “What’s 3G?” THIS FROM AN I.T. GUY!!!)

It is, however, of slight amusement that none of their respective 3G iPhones are working yet. In fact, almost none of the iPhones sold today worldwide are working yet. Thanks, crashy iTunes Store. Ah, well. I’ll get my new iPhone 3G eventually.