Just a quick note (and Google bait) to help others looking for a solution to the ‘Expected specifier-qualifier-list’ error message.

For me this happened as I was adding CoreData to an existing iPhone project, the quick answer is that even after adding the Framework correctly you have to update your *_Prefix.pch file to include the Library.

Please see Here for details.

Photographer Chase Jarvis published a book called The Best Camera Is The One That’s With You. All the pictures in the book were taken on his iPhone. The premise is that the ‘best’ camera is the one you always have.

With apologies to Mr. Jarvis, I would like to suggest that The Best Computer is The One That’s With You. For me that is my new Macbook Air.

I bought it as a refurb from Apple’s website, it is small and light enough that I can carry it around and don’t really notice it. The multi touch trackpad is so much better then my old Powerbook’s single touch trackpad.

In addition, using my tethered iPhone to get Internet access lets me be online anywhere. No more scamming WiFi signals.

There are some short comings; only one USB port and no built in Ethernet jack. But those are minor gripes.

Of course it is the best computer for me because I am always able to get online and do a quick bit of work and ‘good enough’ that I am actually productive.

Want to use an existing mp3 file as a ring tone for your iPhone?

In a few steps you can.

1. Choose your song in iTunes, right click, choose ‘Get Info’.
2. Under the ‘Options’ tab there is a ‘Start time’ and ‘Stop time’, edit your song so that it plays only what you want. Don’t worry you can undo the Start and Stop times when we are done.
3. Click ‘Okay’ to save changes to your Start and Stop times.
4. Right click the song again and choose ‘Create AAC Version’. This will create a new file and add it to iTunes. You should see it right below your old file.
5. Right click the old song and under the ‘Options’ tab reset the Start and Stop times.
6. Right click the new song and choose ‘Show in Finder’ (or equivalent PC option).
7. When you find this new file, rename the extension from m4a to m4r.
8. Now delete the new file in iTunes, right click on the new file, choose ‘Delete’, then ‘Remove’ but choose to ‘Keep File’.
9. Now drag your .m4r file back onto the Library icon in iTunes.

You’re done!

Reminder: make sure you are syncing your ringtones to your phone.

My dad’s ring tone is now Yakety Sax, I figure Benny Hill would be proud.

(Tested on iTunes 9.0.1 for OS X.)

Taking the VIA train from Toronto to Smiths Falls gives me the chance to test out the iPhone tethering.

So far pretty good, only a few dead zones one big one near the Darlington power station and Edge only zone at the Port Hope VIA station.

Having internet on the VIA trains isn’t new, they have wifi, but it is nice not having to worry about it.

UPDATE: Huge Edge section from Port Hope to Cobourg, gah.

UPDATE 2: Edge from Cobourg to Belleville.

UPDATE 3: East of Belleville picked up 3G again, I think coverage is good if you can see the 401 from the train

March 17th 2009 Apple has scheduled a Preview of the iPhone OS 3.0. I am looking forward to it, mostly that it will jump start my own iPhone development efforts, but also that they will address a few ‘gaps’ in the platform and built in apps.

First, I want to say that the v2.0 OS and iPhone is one of the best mobile platforms out there. The big caveat is that if you type a lot, you are better off with a Blackberry. But it has the better web browser, app support and it is and ipod.

So what could make it better, here are my top five:

1. Cut and Paste. Nuff said.
2. Back ground apps, the notification api never showed up.
3. Mail.app, landscape keyboard, would seriously close the typing gap in email
4. Mail.app, expunge when deleted, at least an option to do so.
5. Update Springboard to handle more apps. Nice problem for Apple to have, that people are struggling with Application managment.

I don’t really care that much about Flash, MMS or Bluetooth, but they would be nice too. Totally selfish list, lets see if Mail.app gets some love in this release.