God love refurbished deals and T-Mobile Edge networks with unlimited data plans.Update: I got the iPhone on Friday (March 21), and after 10 minutes of software hacking (thanks, ziphone.org!), and inserting my SIM card from t-mobile - I was up and running with a fully-functional* iPhone!I’ll be uploading (to Youtube, Zimeo, etc) a five-minute tutorial video with screenshots, etc. sometime this week.* by fully-functional, I mean every service except the Visual Voicemail, a specific AT&T-only feature (I don’t need it since I’ve never used it, so calling my own voicemail works fine for me - had to call in yesterday, don’t mind continuing to do so today).

I use some Mac-based desktop tools to compress videos for my iPod Touch and my Mac’s at home (Mac Mini to HDTV). I’ve found that a little compression never hurts, and some tools need to be doubled-up to get the job just right.For example, below are two screen shots of the movie Oldboy. I converted the DVD* (I own) to MP4 format using HandBrake. using the iPod Touch/iPhone preset in HandBrake, I was delivered a 944.3MB video file. Not too bad, but I think I can do better. Next, I fired up VisualHub, and also using an iPod Touch/iPhone preset, I further compressed the video, resulting in a 498.8MB video file, which if viewed on the iPod, won’t show much noticeable difference in quality.While the desktop quality can be seen in the screenshots (guess which one is half the file-size?), the iPod’s smaller native screen make the smaller-sized video ideal. I get the filesize I want, and the video plays like a dream.Here’s the spec’s for the two compressed videos:HandBrake:File Size: 940.8 MBDimensions: 480 x 208FPS: 29.97Data Rate: 1083.8 kbits /sFormat: H.264 Decoder, Millions, AAC Stereo @ 48.000 kHzVisualHub:File Size: 485.56 MBDimensions: 480 x 208FPS: 29.97Data Rate: 559.37 kbits / sFormat: Apple MPEG4 Decompressor, Millions, AAC Stereo @ 48.000 kHz* Please do not use the tools I mention above to pirate DVD’s or any other content. You are harming the music and video and entertainment industry of profits that - beyond the private planes and bullshit executives can afford - put food on the table of thousands of grunts (writers, grips, makeup artists, developers, designers, interns…) just like you and me. I’ve always been a staunch believer that personal use is fair use, but distributing pirated materials really hurts - and it’s illegal. I wouldn’t put the link to United Hollywood on my blog if I didn’t believe that people deserve a fare share. You won’t get copies of my iPod videos, so please don’t ask. Torrents count, too, people.

Update: If you look at the homepage (or sort by the iPhone category) you’ll get some more updated posts on the iPhone progress (and my success/failure at some features). 

So Macrumors.com reported the other day on some leaked Apple iPhone sales literature, highlighting the glaring disabilities of what should be the world’s most-capable phone.The largest injustice to me is the lack of support for MMS messaging (multimedia). Since I use a Blackberry, I only use MMS (in place of SMS) about one-tenth of my messaging time. Even so, my simple Blackberry supports the sending and receiving of MMS messages while the OS X, wi-fi and EDGE enabled iPhone does not. Adding insult to injury, the iPhone includes a 2mp camera!Further frustration comes from the keynote yesterday where Apple announced their “support” of developers, only to ridiculously pawn “support” as “your development will be through Ajax and Web 2.0″ as Web pages using the Safari browser.To me, that’s not application support, that’s a continuation of a browser experience on a small platform. I had high hopes for developing an OSNAP.net application that tied into the camera, the maps, and the wi-fi/EDGE capabilities, but now it appears I’m stuck in a browser environment. Shoddy if you ask me when the phone has been advertised as a full version of OS X device - a mini-Mac, if you will.Many tech-savy people I’ve spoken with about the iPhone have said they’ll wait for a version 2 of the iPhone before deciding on a purchase. It is their hopes (and mine) that Apple will make suffucient changes to the phone’s experience, and either more plan options - or ideally, more carriers - will appear.So, my recommendation: Like myself, I’d recommend you wait for a revision 2. The price may be lower, more carriers available, and some missing features may be introduced. Another good reason to wait for a revision 2? If the iPhone doesn’t get the support or saturation necessary, then you might end up with a lackluster (if not expensive) hunk of plastic that’s no longer supported by your carrier - it wouldn’t be the first time Apple or a cellphone provider dropped support for their devices.

.NET training continues, today with Master Pages. It’s an interesting concept, but I’m not sure I agree with the whole Content well idea.At the same time, Mac Rumors is running a feed (text w/ some camera-phone snaps) of the Apple MacWorld keynote.I’m addicted. I want one now, today, right this minute.And a better photo:Update: I don’t usually dream about existing technology (it I have a technology-based dream, it’s usually an OSNAP.net problem, or another coding issue I’m trying to solve on yet-to-be-launched applications), but last night I had very vivid dreams about the iPhone. Perhaps it’s because Justine and I watched the keynote last night before bed, or maybe it was my real excitement over developing applications for the device (I can’t wait to get live show listings into this device, alongside video and audio as well as maps - sure it’s all stuff I can do on the Internet now, in a full browser on a desktop, but for a rich mobile experience, the iPhone is the way to go!).