By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

I commented on this earlier - I was concerned that the in-store activation would take a long time, or worse, totally fail. Looking at how complex it was going to be, it seemed obvious. And now real-life experiences show I was right.

With the first iPhone, you could simply walk into a store, and walk out with it - no activation. Activation was done at home via iTunes. The in-store activation is designed to reduce hacking. After all AT&T’s monopoly on the device is definitely a good thing for them.

While Apple said the process would take 15 - 20 minutes, it was taking upwards of 30 minutes, and you can see the lines wouldn’t move as fast as last year.

Not only that, the demand for iPhones is so high, Apple has confirmed that the iPhone activation servers have now crashed under the load and are down. Buyers are, at least for now, being sent home without activated iPhones and have been told they should activate at home … much later, it appears.

The word from AT&T:

We have had reports that customers attempting to download new iTunes 7.7 software to their new iPhone may get an error message saying “page not found.” We have reported this issue to Apple. While Apple works to resolve this issue, we are asking customers to sync their newly activated phone later at home.

Of course, since we know the activation process includes unbricking the phone (see my earlier story), that part still needs to be done.

Ah, yes, the joys of being an early adopter.

Update: BTW, if you want to update your original iPhone to 2.0, you might also end up with an issue because of the server problems. Recommendation: wait until this all sorts itself out.

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

For some reason, Apple felt it necessary to remind us on Thursday that the iPhone 3G launches on Friday (via a press release). At the same time, however, iTunes 7.7 became available, and you can already access the App Store using it.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be directly linked yet. You can still, for now, access it through this link.

And, if you know where to look, you can already download iPhone software 2.0. According to MacRumors, a reader found this link by digging through Apple’s XML files.

Naturally, if you want to play it safe, you might want to wait for the official release. Heck, you might want to wait longer than that … based on how often updates to various gadgetry result in a SNAFU, right? I generally recommend that users wait for the dust to settle, but of course this is a highly desired software upgrade.

Reports are the upgrade has worked fine on some iPhones, but of course your mileage may vary.

Right now there are 27 pages of applications (though many of them are games, but also - many of them are free).

Now about that iPhone 3G line …

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

It hasn’t even been a year since “Fake Steve” Jobs was revealed to the world, as Daniel Lyons, a senior editor at Forbes magazine. The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs was a parody of the Apple CEO, which became almost required reading in Silicon Valley, at least until Lyons was outed.

However, as Lyons moves from Forbes to Newsweek, he’s also decided to leave his alter-ego behind. As Fake Steve said on his blog:

I’m sailing away

My goodness I am so high it’s not funny. Apologies for all the confusion lately and much love to the many folks who have written in asking, Dude, what the hell is going on with the blog? There’s no big scandal or anything. It’s just I tried to add a new permission for “Real Dan” to post some items on the Fake Steve blog and somehow “Real Dan” gained admin privileges and Fake Steve appears to have been wiped out and is unable to log back in. Not sure if this is Google screwing with me or if it’s just the meds — I’m thinking it’s the latter. I’m so pumped full of chemicals right now that most of the time I can’t remember my own name. Iulia and Natasha are looking into the Blogger situation but at this point it probably doesn’t matter.

Just FYI, I’ll be launching a new site under my own name in the near future. Should be next week. I’ll announce it here as soon as it’s ready and provide a link. I hope you’ll come check it out

Fake Steve gained quite a following, with even Steve Jobs himself reading the blog, saying

I have read a few of the FSJ things recently, but I thought it was pretty funny!

For those who can’t get enough of Fake Steve, there’s Options: The Secret Life of Steve Jobs - A Parody, and The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs (long and short versions).

Farewell Fake Steve; we will miss you.

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

Rogers has been criticized over the service plans it announced for the iPhone 3G (and that’s putting it mildly). On Wednesday they announced a new data plan that can be added to existing voice plans, with 6 GB of data for $30. While not unlimited, it’s significantly better than the 2 GB maximum plan previously announced.

In their press release, Rogers said:

In anticipation of iPhone 3G launch on July 11, Rogers Wireless today announced plans to open the doors of select Rogers Plus retail stores across Canada in advance of regular hours. Starting at 8:00 am July 11, Canadians will be able to purchase the new iPhone 3G at special launch day events to be held at six Rogers Plus stores across the country. Be among the first in Canada to get the next generation iPhone 3G and have the choice of a 6GB data plan through a limited time promotional price offer.

Yes, you read that right: limited time promotional price offer. You only have until August 31st to sign up for it … with a three-year contract, no less. It should be noted that the data plan isn’t limited to iPhone users.

I spoke to a Rogers representative, who clarified for me that while the contract will only be offered from July 11th - August 31st, it will run the length of the contract. After that: good luck renewing it.

We Say: Better? Yes. As good as elsewhere? Not really, and whether or not those running the multiple petitions around the Web will be happy is questionable.

By Alice Hill
RealTechNews

I guess this one isn’t a shocker when you think about it, but the venerable school yearbook is heading for the history books. With a high print cost and the connectivity of the Internet, students are skipping the bound volume.

“After more than a hundred years of publication Purdue University, in Indiana, has published its last yearbook, as has nearby DePauw University. McKendree University is the oldest college in Illinois. Although the university still publishes a yearbook, the print-run is a mere 150 copies, only half of which are bought by students. Being on the staff of the yearbook used to be considered prestigious: now only eight students show up for the job. The downturn in print publications has also hit magazines for alumni. These, for instance at McKendree, are increasingly being replaced by online editions.” Source: Economist

We Say: Makes sense, but finding an old yearbook in your attic and leafing through some very funny pictures is a classic moment. Will online yearbooks last that long?

By Alice Hill
RealTechNews

Kodak just announced the first 50 megapixel digital sensor, the KAF-50100 Image Sensor and today Hasselblad has unveiled the first camera to use the new chip. No word on pricing yet, but the Hasselblad H3DII-50 is definitely the sharpest camera on the market.

What does 50 megapixels mean? Consider this: with a 50 megapixel camera, if you took an arial photo of a 1.5 mile wide field, the sensor could zoom in and detect an object the size of a small notebook computer. Which of course begs the question - do we need this?
Source: Ubergizmo

By Alice Hill
RealTechNews

I fly every week and it’s grim business. The last thing you want to do is make getting through security any more drawn out than it already is. But for a vicarious laugh, here’s a tote bag we’d love to see coming off the x-ray belt.

The Xposed grocery bag features the makings of a meal + a handgun. And the tote features a bottle of Jack Daniels and brass knuckles. But the disclaimer says it all: “Note: Not recommended for Airplane Carry-On.”

Xposed Xray Tote
Source: Baronbob.com via Twitter

By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews

When I login to Gmail, I always leave the “Remember me on this computer” checkbox unchecked. Why? I don’t want to get into the habit of checking that checkbox, as what would happen if I would make that selection and leave a public computer with myself still logged in. That would be a problem. Until now, anyway.

Gmail is rolling out a new feature. Typical of such roll-outs, it will be gradual and may not be available yet on your account.

If it’s available, you should see something similar to the above at the very bottom of your inbox. You’ll see information about the last activity on your account and whether it’s still open in another location.

Obviously, this is a great way to find out if someone has hacked into your account (as has happened to me previously, though not with Gmail), but it doesn’t give you all that much info. However, click the Details link, all you’ll see a lot more (below). More