Apple Mac HQ

Ever since the App Store launched, I’ve been wondering how application updates would work. Today I found out.

As I opened iTunes when I got home, I noticed something new. There was a “1″ beside the Applications icon in my iTunes sidebar, much like the indications that you have new podcasts (see below).

Clicking the Applications icon takes you to a page showing the applications you have installed. In the lower right hand corner, you’ll see a link with a notification that you have X number of application updates available.

Click the link and you’ll be notified which applications have updates. Click the Get Update button, or the Download All Updates button, and the new version will be downloaded. The next time you sync your iPhone the updated application will be installed, or so I thought.

The process was going well until iTunes went to sync my applications. At that point I received the below error.

Even though the error seemed to indicate that the application wasn’t updated, a quick check of the application version on my iPhone indicates that it did update. It’s somewhat ambiguous to identify who is to blame for the error. Is it Apple or Evernote? Either way, I hope they work the kinks out of the process.

Without a doubt, the Remote application from Apple is one of the coolest programs I’ve seen in a while. Remote allows you to control iTunes and Apple TV from your iPhone or iPod touch. All you need is the Remote application, an iPhone or iPod touch (with the new 2.0 software of course), an iTunes library or Apple TV, and a wi-fi connection.

After downloading the Remote application (iTunes link), launch it. Click the Add Library button and follow the on screen prompts. This involves the same access code process that is involved with attaching a iTunes library to the Apple TV. After you have correctly entered the 4 number code into your iTunes or Apple TV, you should see the contents of your iTunes or Apple TV in front of you.

Like using the iPod feature on your iPhone or iPod touch, clicking the links at the bottom will change the view of your library. Tap though to the appropriate file and it will start playing in either iTunes or your Apple TV, depending on which you are connected to. If you want control another library, just go back to settings and add another. It’s a simple tap of the screen to choose which library you want to control!

When I first installed the application I actually laughed with amazement. The ability to control the media in my life with my phone is simply amazing. If you’re currently playing something in iTunes and open Remote, it will automatically bring up the currently playing track on screen. When you are controlling a video, it will show one frame of the video on your screen instead of the album art like it does with a song.

In conclusion, this needs to the the first application you load from the App Store on your iPhone or iPod touch. I’m simply amazed it’s free!

What a day it has been for iPhone owners new and old across the United States. At 8AM in each time zone across the United States, the iPhone 3G was in the hands of Apple fans. And for some of them, the phone actually made calls. For countless others however, they left AT&T or Apple stores with an expensive paper weight.

Unless you’ve been underground for much of the day today, I’m sure you heard that Apple and AT&T had some “issues” with iPhone activations. In fact, that story is the headline story on CNN.com as I type this.

In addition to the activations by those buying the new iPhone 3G, anyone updating the 1st generation phone to iPhone 2.0 Software also had to reactivate their phone as part of the upgrade process. Can you guess the approximate time that the iPhone 2.0 Software was officially released? Yep, about 8AM EDT. But wouldn’t that make 6 million iPhone available for updating at the same time the entire East Coast was beginning their iPhone purchases? Why yes it would.

As you might have guessed, Apple ran into some problems. In fact, my iPhone experience went something like this:

9:15AM – “Oh, software 2.0 is out, I can update my 1st Gen iPhone now”.
9:45AM – “Sweet, iPhone 2.0 installed”
9:50AM – “This sure is taking a while”
9:55AM – we could not complete your iTunes Store request – error -9838; “That can’t be good”
9:56AM – “Crap, I can’t even use my phone!”
10:10AM – Ok, mass iPhone activation problems at home and at AT&T and Apple stores
1:15PM – “I should try again”
1:45PM – “OK, I’m giving up until I hear for sure that someone has actually gotten their phone activated”
4:15PM – “Zonks, my iPhone is activated and restoring from backup!”

So all total, about 7 hours of having an iBrick. I guess it could have been worse right? Not sure how but….ok, time for bed.

The wait is over, the iPhone 2.0 software has finally hit iTunes. iTunes 7.7 was released early Thursday morning, one of the precursors to iPhone 2.0. Earlier today, it was discovered that you could download the 2.0 software before it was available in iTunes. Then later, the App Store (iTunes link) went live in iTunes. Prior to upgrading, I already started downloading applications!  For those waiting (like me), you can now hit that Check For Update button and have your iPhone running the same software as the new iPhone 3G.

What are you waiting for? Update!