After some considerable research on the iPhone tariffs, mac forums and UK carriers I have concluded which deal is best for my circumstances.

I am currently on the O2 Simplicity SIM (1month rolling) for £20, which includes 300 mins, unlimited texts and unlimited data. Picture messages are charged at 20p each. And 0845 calls are charged at 35p per minute.

This plan works for me but was only meant to be an interim solution until the new iPhone 4 was launched. However, with many providers (including O2 and Vodafone) putting caps on data allowance of 500mb and 1GB respectively you may end up paying extra for your data use each month. For example, I consider myself a heavy data user by streaming radio, using maps and surfing over 3G, often pegging over 1GB per month – not that it matters while I’m on a ‘unlimited data’ package.

So basically get one of these Simplicity deals before O2 replace them – I’d advise before 24th June 2010. O2 are offering my current Simplicity ‘iPhone’ SIM for £5 off each month if you sign for 12 months. So that’s 300mins, unlimited texts, unlimited data, all for £15 per month.

What more, if you’re new to O2 Simplicity, currently get £25 from Quidco. This changes from promotion to promotion – when I signed to Simplicity, O2 paid £70 Quidco for the pleasure.

Now the new iPhone uses MicroSIMs, it looks like O2 will swap your current SIM over (maybe for a fee), or alternativly you can cut your current one with a pair of sharp scissors or scalpel.

One more thing – once you sign to this you still need the new iPhone 4 – that’s the bad news – it’s £499.00 for the 16GB or £599 for the 32GB.

Now you have to just have to decide if it’s black or white??

‘The demos here show how the latest version of Apple’s Safari web browser, new Macs, and new Apple mobile devices all support the capabilities of HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. Not all browsers offer this support. But soon other modern browsers will take advantage of these same web standards — and the amazing things they enable web designers to do.’

Have a look around for yourself here

Do you ever get annoyed that your music in your iTunes library has an old broken link? Well this little AppleScript will search your iTunes library and delete any of the alias’ that don’t have a music file attached to it.

Nice and simple.

1 – Open Apple Script Editor (start typing AppleScript into spotlight)

2 – Copy and paste the below code into your new window and click Run

3 – Save the script for using again in the future

tell application “iTunes”

set thePlaylist to library playlist 1
set musicFiles to the file tracks of thePlaylist

repeat with mf in musicFiles
--the name of mf as string
set hasLoc to ""
if (the location of mf as string ¬
is equal to "missing value") then
try
set comment of mf to the comment of mf & ""
on error number errNum
delete mf
end try

end if
end repeat
end tell

Designers Toolbox has a useful set of iPhone Interface elements for you to design your application with.

Download the PSD now

Freehand Icon to match your new CS4 range of apps. Download here

BUG #5
If you’ve freshly installed Apple Snow Leopard (10.6) and Freehand won’t even open – then this will help you. The new OS can’t handle the older Activation/Registration panel Freehand uses on first launch.

Therefore you need to copy over your Registration file from an older Leopard machine.

1) Open Freehand on Leopard (OS 10.5)
2) Goto > Help > Transfer my licence – Agree
3) Open Freehand again > Activate – And Quit
4) Copy your registration file from /Library/Application Support/Macromedia/ into the equivalent Snow Leopard folder. Open Freehand on Snow Leopard.

If the above doesnt work for you – you’ll need a Volume Licence Serial. (This is not the preferred solution but Adobe has left the Freehand user no option if they do not issue maintenance updates to Freehand)

1) Download this ZIP
2) Copy the registration file to /Library/Application Support/Macromedia/ in Snow Leopard. Open Freehand.

Snow Leopard arrived yesterday. I’ve installed this on my spare MacBook for testing purposes and thankfully not yet on my work MacBook. With some further twitter research, it appears I’m not alone. Adobe is actively working with Apple to fix the below bugs – but if I were you, hold off updating for the moment.

BUG #1
Firefox 3.x crashes when using it’s download manager. specifically Adobe’s Software updates.
Solution – Use Safari until an update from Apple

BUG #2
New Apple font ‘Menlo’ crashes CS4 when you attempt to use it.
Solution – Delete this font

BUG #3
Unable to drag images from Safari directly into another application in the Dock. Be it Photoshop, Word or other.
Solution – Wait for update from Apple

BUG #4
CS4 Photoshop crashes particularly during Open and Save operations. CS3 also crashes if you try opening CS4 created files.
Solution – Wait for Apple update.

Pre-Order now on the Apple Store. It’s packed with loads of fantastic new features – and at a bargain price of £25, or as low as £8 if you’ve bought a Mac after 6th June.

It’s goes on sale on the 28th August, but this has to be some of the worst software packaging I have ever seen. (ok, perhaps not the worst, but I expect more from Apple). They really had it on the money with Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5). The holographic cover might have been a little overkill but I though it looked great and summed up all the terrific features of the OS. The iconic ‘X’ has now been ditched for a simple stock photo and the new OS packaging looks like something straight out of the 80s or National Geographic software library – just look at that CD label! – it appears that little or no effort has gone into concepts for the OS branding at all.

Now where’s my Apple contact, I want the 10.7 packaging brief…

That’s right, tether your iPhone to your Mac/PC by simply installing a config file. Point your iPhone at this site http://help.benm.at

No jailbreaking required, no warranty is voided and no extra costs from O2. Pay monthly customers use the O2 vertigo option. Please use with caution. You can always remove it later “Settings” -> “General” -> “Profiles”.