Connect iPhone to laptop. A few error messages resulted:

The iPhone cannot be synced. The device has timed out.
The iphone cannot be synced. A folder was specified instead of a file.
iTunes could not back up the iPhone because the backup sessions failed.
Add as new iPhone.
Restored it to factory settings. Resync ….. the iPhone cannot be synced. The device has timed out.
Unplugged iphone. Try again. The iPhone cannot be synced. A duplicate file name was specified.
Hm. According to iTunes, my 16GB iPhone has 2GB used and 2GB free. Unplug.
iTunes cannot read the contents of the iPhone. Go to the Summary tab in iPhone preferences and click Restore to restore this iPhone to factory settings.
Hm. Go to IPhone, no preferences, so reset all Settings.
Try to restore from late June… iTunes could not restore the iPhone because the backup session failed.
Try to restore from early June… iTunes could not restore the iPhone because the backup session failed.
Try to restore from April .. iTunes could not restore the iPhone because the backup session failed.
Add as new iPhone. Good grief. It worked. I now have an uptodate empty iPhone.

The suspense builds… will it add everything back.
Apps = yes
Movies = yes
Music = in progress.

For real suspense, I’ll try to sync it again tomorrow.
Anyone want to lay bets on whether it will work?

One of the guys at work said not to use the third-party pack of five, available at the Optus shop across the road.

So I went to see what else they had.

The only other offering, was something called Maclove. A plastic film that also had various decorations, and matching wallpapers you could download from a site.

Given that my temporary film, cut from the package the iPhone ad come with, was wearing out, I chose the Maclove. $10.

Got it home, and for the life of me, couldn’t peel it off.

I hate the risk of breaking things, particularly “hardware”, so I went to see if there was a website. Yes, to show me how to peel a sticky cover off. I just didn’t want to rip the wrong part.

Google showed me maclove.eu.

It sucked. Check out this screenshot:

The Flash dropdowns completely covered the one part of the page I wanted – how to stick it on.

So I peeled off the sticky bit, and held the cover in my hand. The bit with the decorative feature.
Strange, it wasn’t adhesive.
Did I put it on wrong?
What I have would be useless without the hard case (that I bought separately), to hold the film in place.

Am I having a blonde moment?

It had been relatively cool until now. Useful when I couldn’t find the soccer field on Saturday morning, great for my Tetris addiction, trendy SMS conversation display, and such fun to play with, finding new applications to install.

Then on Sunday I installed a bunch of apps I was really looking forwards to. Shazam, to identify music, IM to instant message, and Mbox, to receive my faxes on my iPhone. Plus Sydney traffic reports. Really useful stuff.

Suddenly the majority of third-party applications failed. They would open for a second, and automatically close.

There are two noticeable threads about this disgustingly common problem:
the high profile Chris Pirillo blog
and the Apple support thread iPhone problems.

Possible causes include the latest version of iTunes (I’m on 7.1.1.11), the version of iPhone (I’m now on 2.0.2), interrupting a synch (I swear I didn’t), having multiple iTunes accounts (I’ve only had the one).

Others suggested DRM problems, or applications with customisable settings on the iPhone (eg Facebook, Mbox). So I deleted those applications.

Still no luck. Would have been reaaallly useful to see the traffic reports this morning, after a garbage truck turned over on the Harbour Bridge. After 30 minutes to go 3 blocks, I got off the bus and walked to Neutral Bay. Beat my bus, plus the one before it.

If my iPhone apps were working, I could have learnt Italian, instant messaged people at work. But no, the best I could do was login to hotmail and send an old-fashioned email.

A lot of very unhappy people on the Apple thread. Combined with the lack of video camera on the iPhone, it really turns it into a common object.

I am not recommending iPhones to my family. Wish I hadn’t tied myself to a 2 year contract now. It really stinks.

The guys at work have just got new trendy phones, and have been experimenting with all the bells and whistles: camera picture resolution, connecting to the web, redirects and more.

I had walked into a Vodaphone store the other day and casually asked if my phone could connect to the web. The assistant gave me a scrap of paper with a number to ring, which I promptly lost.

So tonight I went to Google, searched for “nokia australia web settings” and found the Nokia Asia Pacific page. I followed the prompts, and presto, it sent me three SMSs with the settings required. I just had to save the SMSs. Then I followed my phone menu, and actually connected to the Vodaphone Live page!

Amazing. It actually worked first time.

Now to learn how to upload photos from my phone to Flickr. Andrew’s already done it. Apparently the Nokia N-series phones have a one-click upload to Flickr. But mine is an old 6670. So I had to download the Nokia LifeBlog software to my PC, and then install the application using Nokia’s PC Suite.