I’ve just put a new battery in my cycle computer and I’ve done a quick ride for calibration purposes to check that I’ve entered the right wheel size.

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Returning from my hols I was in fine spirits and with a tan, and what I’m sure is a six pack behind my belly from all the holiday exercise, I accidentally volunteered to participate in “The Great Tour”. More specifically I am doing stage 49 – Porthmadog to Machynlleth, an outing of 92km with an ascent of 2061m (I thought Wales was flat).

Preparations have begun with digging the bike out of the garage. Its an old Diamond Back Topanga that has seen the best part of 20 years but it was well spec’d in its day and is still better than a load of the cheap bikes sold in Halfords so I trust it will carry me home.

I’ve just done a couple of rides to get into the swing of things. A quick trip via the stables takes me on a 5.5m ride which seems a nice distance to keep replication until I step things up (not that I have much time). I have been trying out some iPhone apps to update Twitter on my progress. I tried iMapMyRide but every time I got a push message the App dropped to the background and on starting it again there was no resume despite what their webpage said. I lost two rides. Very frustrating. I’m about to try http://www.abvio.com/cyclemeter/ which has no supporting website but can Tweet routes on Google maps. I’m interested to see if the auto update function works well as that would be good on the day of the ride.

I’ll update you on my progress (or lack of).

I’ve had a steady stream of Tweets and photos posted via Twitter but its been a while since I’ve put anything meaningful down in the form of a blog post, how rude of me. In my defence I have been quite busy lately and the periodic Tweet is all I’ve been able to muster. That and the accessibility of Twitter especially with the new spit and polish Tweetie 2 on my iPhone. Its an all but perfect app but for push messaging and, frustratingly either by omission or my ability to find the feature, a way of automatically updating my profile location. The push gap has been filled with Boxcar which does what it says on the tin – almost. It is pushing fine from Twitter but for some strange reason refuses to push out Facebook comments. I know that it should because I have had some push messages from a stupid Facebook app that was leaving messages in my notifications area. I was quite hoping I could get comments pushed as I often don’t see them till I’ve been sent an email (I don’t check Facebook regularly and my Facebook status come from a link to Twitter) and that’s usually quite a time after the comments been left. Of course everyone who keeps leaving comments should just learn to reply to me on Twitter. Note to self, Tweet that last bit to Facebook so they know.

In other iPhone news Jayne poured milk in her 3G (don’t ask) so now she’s back on the 2G which stuffs my plans up as she will want the upgrade due Jan/Feb on the original contract. She’s already dropped comment about how nice a white iPhone would be. The upshot is that I have to be even more precious with my 3GS. I am doing everything I can to the extent that its lovingly wrapped in £50 worth of finest Argentinean leather courtesy of a Vaja case. If you’ve yet to see the Vaja cases they are well worth a look if even just through curiosity. They can be fully customised when you order although you will find that some of them end up in three figures. Mine is black outside and red inside (of course) although I really fancy a yellow one with two yellow stripes – very Kill Bill.

Over the weekend I gave the previously mentioned apps a good testing. The Sky Sports app is one of the slickest apps I’ve ever used. The interface is sublime with lots of little animation touches that make using it a pleasure. However I have to go hats off to iFooty Plus who’s push notifications just started to get better and better with all sorts of awesomeness going on. First I got basic score updates. Then i got notification of matches starting with Emojis, then the goal updates not only had Emojis but also details of how the goal was scored. I’d recommend any football fan to go and buy it now.

I’ve reinstated the obligatory Manchester United wallpaper on my iPhone, I’ve entered my teams in the Premier League Fantasy Football and I’ve installed my footie apps to help track things.

I bought Man United Chants which is a bit crap but it was only 59p and I liked the icon on my ‘footie page’ of my iPhone. I also bought iFooty Plus. I’ve had iFooty (free) on my phone for some time and its an excellent app but the plus version adds push notifications on goals. I would have bought the iFooty World Plus version that supports the Champions League but the version with push is still awaiting app store approval. I’m not sure how much use the Sky Sports app will get but it was free and is really slick time will tell. Finally I have a link to the Fantasy Premier League site. They have touted a mobile site but I’ve yet to see it. When they release it I’ll give it a try else I’ll buy an application that I saw that interfaces with the site. It looks a bit bland but if its functional its worth a punt.

I just have to wait for the games now, and more specifically tomorrow when our boys kick off against Birmingham.

So having had a false half mile start I cancelled the workout I was on and started it again with a nominal mile as I was following the treadmills 20 min workout, not the Nike+. I got going again and checked my pace, pressing the home button, to find that while the voice told me I was x miles in the corresponding number on the display matched what she said but was displaying Kilometres. I did a screen shot after the 1 mile was up but after I’d done it it reverted back to miles. The screenshot showed miles too. Must be a glitch in the system.

One disappointing thing that doesn’t seem to be on the iPhone is the celebrity voices acknowledging personal bests, etc. I’ve not heard any yet so I’m assuming they aren’t there. Its either that or they are staying quiet because I must try harder.

At least I’ve christened the new trainers.

I’ve often said that the additions to the iPhone in 3.0 and 3GS are so subtle you often struggle to list the new features when someone asks. It is usually the case that you end up using a new feature and then realise that it wasn’t there before. I think that’s kind of the point. It is organic development in the sense that it feels natural.

One that snuck in under my radar was Nike+ integration. I only spotted it while digging around in the Preferences. I’ve not used my Nike kit for a while having lost my old Nano (which was bought purely for the Nike+) to Emily when she lost her own iPod (again, kids eh).

I have a personal trainer who visits me weekly and has often criticised my old beat up trainers. I guess that this is a good excuse to get some new ones. I feel a trip to Decathlon coming up.

I have however had had a problem with similar names. No matter how much I tried to pronounce Jayne Smith it always came up with James Smith. It wasn’t until I realised that the leading S of Smith was causing the problem and causing Jayne to sound like James. The solution was very simple. Instead of saying “Dial Jayne Smith Mobile” I just said “Dial Jayne Mobile”. Luckily I don’t have any other Jaynes in my phone, or Janes for that matter but if I did I suspect that at that point I would be told of the multiple matches and I could clarify with a full name in the knowledge that James Smith was no longer in the possible results.

I didn’t find any instructions on voice control in the box but the following is available on the Apple support site.

Call someone in contacts:
Say “call” or “dial,” then say the name of the person. If the person has more than one phone number, you can add “home” or “mobile,” for example.

Dial a number:
Say “call” or “dial,” then say the number.

Make a correction:
Say “wrong,” “not that one,” “not that,” “no,” or “nope.”

Control music playback:
Say “play,” or “play music.” To pause, say “pause,” or “pause music.” You can also say “next song” or “previous song.”

Play an album, artist, or playlist:
Say “play,” then say “album,” “artist,” or “playlist” and the name.

Shuffle the current playlist:
Say “shuffle.”

Find out more about the currently playing song:
Say “what’s playing,” “what song is this,” “who sings this song,” or “who is this song by.”

Use Genius to play similar songs:
Say “Genius,” “play more like this,” or “play more songs like this.”

Cancel Voice Control:
Say “cancel.”

For best results:

• Speak into the iPhone microphone as if you were making a phone call. Or use the microphone in the included headset.
• Speak clearly and naturally.
• Say only iPhone commands and names, and numbers. Pause slightly in between.
• Use full names.

By default, Voice Control expects you to speak voice commands in the language that’s set for iPhone (the General > International > Language setting). The Voice Control settings let you change the language for speaking voice commands. Some languages are available in different dialects or accents.

Change language or country:
In Settings, choose General > International > Voice Control and tap the language or country.

Voice Control for the iPod application is always on, but for security you can prevent voice dialing when iPhone is locked.

Prevent voice dialing when iPhone is locked:
In Settings, choose General > Passcode Lock and turn Voice Dial off. Unlock iPhone to use voice dialing.

Earlier in the week it was my daughters birthday and this was the weekend of the planned party. Following the party from hell that was my sons 17th where the house got trashed by gatecrashers I’d made sure I was on the guest list. The plan was to kind of keep out of the way which I thought would entail staying in the kitchen. It was a nice day so I’d set up a couple of ‘chillout’ tents and filled a paddling pool with cold water for the drinks. Pretty much everything they needed was outside with little need to venture into my kitchen domain.

On the music side I got a little creative and for the first time really took advantage of the iTunes DJ. I’d thoroughly recommend it to anyone with the necessary kit. I had an old set of Yamaha 2.1 computer speakers that have quite a punch with a good sub. I connected these to my Airport Express which then appeared in iTunes as remote speakers. We’d set up a playlist of music for the party and used this as the source for the iTunes DJ. We left the MacBook safely locked away upstairs and connected to iTunes using the remote app on the iPod giving us full control of the playlist. The best bit is that there were other iPods and iPhones who could guest in and see what was playing and request tracks or vote for tracks in the playlist which would move them up the order of play.

I have a mate who develops iPhone apps and I occasionally do some graphic design for him on icons, etc. I suppose because of that you could officially class me as part of his team and a developer also. Anyway this opened the door to the 3.0 beta and I’ve been living with it since March.

There are still a few features that I need third party support or account activation on such as Push notification, peer-to-peer, in app purchases, third party accessories and MMS but I can impart my experience and opinion on what I have seen.

The 3.0 for starters isn’t a groundbreaking update in the way 2.0 was. Its more polish and much has been made of how only Apple could make cut and paste a main feature. However it does fill many holes and improve of a number of features that keeps it ahead of the competition.

The cut and paste does actually work really well and I have used it a number of times. It is easy to take for granted after having it for a while. I’ve used it mostly where I want to chuck web page text back into a google search. Funnily enough i only found the shake to undo the other day by accident when I dropped my phone

The landscape keyboard has increased my texting speed on SMS and its nice to have that option consistent across more apps.

I’ve only used the spotlight search once to try it out. I tend to forget its there. You can browse to the left of the home screen with a swipe or from the home screen, press the home button which will take you to the search. I think its the nature of the phone in that the stuff I would search for is either notes or contacts so in each case I would tend to go direct. Its not like a computer where I have a load of documents to search.

Having just mentioned the notes, this is one of the biggest features for me. Note synching. I have loads of notes mainly because my memory is shit and to finally have them sync is a godsend. Its the little things with 3.0 that make the difference and its also nice to see public calendars sync also. However I would have liked tasks. As it is I’ve resorted to the Things App both on the iPhone and desktop. It was nice to see Things winning an Apple design award the other day as it is a great app.

What else deserves a mention? I turned shake to shuffle off as it shuffled my music once purely by putting the iPhone in my pocket a little more forcefully than usual. I don’t use the voice recorder much although I have tried it and its nice to see the voice notes sync with iTunes.

A final thing on 3.0 is the find my phone feature. YOu have to have a MobileMe sub for it to work and you then can enable it on your phone. It went live the other day so I tried it last night. I logged onto MobileMe on the web and withing a few moments it told me exactly where my phone was, on the desk next to me. I had the option to make my phone bleep (even if set to silent) and to send a message. I typed in “Give me my phone back, you bastard” and within a few minutes it was displayed on the phone with a beeping noise. What was also nice is that having confirmed that it had been displayed I then got an email.

“Dear MobileMe member,

The message sent at 6:02 PM on June 10, 2009 has been displayed on Martin’s iPhone at 6:06 PM on June 10, 2009:

Give me my phone back, you bastard”

That’s pretty much it. If you have any questions I’d be happy to answer them but you’ll know yourself by next Wednesday. Just in time for the next podcast no doubt.

It was interesting to see people agonising over the options. What they often fail to say is that most 3G owners who upgraded from the original iPhone are in an 18 month contract. I know that mine expires in Feb 2010 and I have seen that £35 customers only get the option for a 1 month early upgrade. Jan… f*cking fantastic.

The suggested option is to get a PAYG, but at that price?! I do have a further option as my wife uses a PAYG sim in my original iPhone and she is spending upto and in excess of £35 on credit so I plan to sign her up for a contract, put her sim in my 3G and have the 3GS for myself (its only fair.. I will have paid £270 odd).

I do however keep stepping out of the Apple “must have” hypnosis. What will the 3GS really give me?

Video. Nice but I rarely used video on my phone pre-iPhone

Compass. It may make Tom Tom more accurate, but isn’t Tom Tom still going to be available on 3G (even if slightly less accurate – my Go700 doesn’t have a compass does it?)

Battery life. Mines ok as it is. Its regularly on a cradle and having turned off pull mail every 15 mins my battery capacity has increased ten fold. Those who want me NOW! send mail to my MobileMe push account or SMS me.

Faster processor. Mines fast enough and I can’t think of a 3G app that suffers from speed to any great degree.

Better camera and auto focus. Happy with the one it has now. If I want a better shot I’ll break out the Nikon.

Tethering. On O2′s prices? Don’t take the piss!

I think I’ve just talked myself into keeping my money in my pocket. What else am I going to spend it on now?

Oh, and don’t forget to sign the Twitter petition

I saw iBlogger mentioned in my news feeds today and since I’m still waiting for an iPhone version of MarsEdit I thought I’d give it a go especially as it has a number of features over the basic WordPress app that was released some time back now.

First impressions are good. It certainly looks nice and does what it says on the tin.

I’ve been very happy in my work recently and my commute takes me right through the heart of cheshire but the best bit is that I never hit any traffic of note and that I do see is brushed aside once I open up the 3.2 V6 that is shoehorned into the front of my little roller skate. That said I really need to get rid of it. The petrol is costing me a fortune. Besides that I always know when its time to change cars, usually when washing them becomes a chore and you realise that you haven’t cleaned it in over a month.

I think that a lot of my state of mind can be summed up in wanting a fresh start. A lot of my troubles over the past 18 months have been resolved and I’m looking to put that behind me with a clean sheet. It is funny how these things spill over in a number of directions as I’ve just been sat staring at iTunes thinking that I need some new music. As Mr. Ant said, mine seems to have lost its flavour. I have played with the Genius function of the new iTunes 8 and it seems to do a really good job at digging out stuff that I like but haven’t heard for a while. If I can now extend that to the music store perhaps I can find that new playlist I’m yearning for.

On the subject of iTunes 8, it did facilitate a firmware update on my iPhone to 2.1. I’m yet to give it a full test drive in as far as the improved battery life but i am hoping that it sorts out the recent problems I had with the phone locking at the Apple logo. I’m almost sure it was linked to a dodgy 3rd party app as it happened every time I tried to delete a number of novelty apps left over from the App Store launch when I went for pretty much every free app available.

In other areas the kids are back to school. I say school but one of them has started college. James is doing media, film studies and photography. It never amazes me how it never gets any easier or costs any less with kids. No sooner has he started but he needs a digital SLR camera. I remember when all he needed was a HB pencil, a rubber and a pencil case. That said I’m sure I can have more fun with an SLR than a pencil. I bought a Nikon D60 and i fully intend on putting it to use myself at every opportunity. The opportunities to do so are increasing too as there is a good bit of design work coming my way and while I’m happy with the stuff I’ve been producing lately I did have a knock back with one of my favourite designs in recent times. They wanted me to remove one of the key elements which was frustrating as it was the bit that made it work. But as I said to a colleague I’ll just bank the design for my own use as I liked it so much.

And that pretty much wraps it up for the moment and brings us much more up to date than we were yesterday. I wonder what tomorrow brings.