Even better, when I hadn’t seen any mention of a forth-coming upgrade on PictureCode’s web site after Aperture 3 let me know it would have to run Noise Ninja under 32-bit mode, I emailed them to ask about their plans.

Not only did Bill Smith, their senior programmer, get right back to me, letting me know a release was imminent — he attached a beta version of the plug-in.

How cool is that?

Just a heads-up to anyone out there using a similar set up to mine:

• 2008 Mini Cooper Clubman
• Y-adapter 30-pin plug (to USB and AUX-IN)
• 1st generation iPod touch
• iPod OS 3.0

This combination doesn’t work. So far, I’ve been unsuccessful in downgrading my iPod to OS 2.2.1 (haven’t tried the DFU mode that some have suggested — see the Apple thread linked below). The result is that the iPod has a really hard time connecting to the Mini (it has routinely taken 10 minutes to connect), and then disconnects the first time it changes tracks (either by skipping to the next track or by letting the first track play to the end).

I’ve been in touch with Mini about this. My local dealer didn’t know about the problem, and the support people at Mini said they’re pretty much at Apple’s mercy on issues like this (which is about what I expected; Apple’s legendary secrecy extends to third-parties supporting their products).

Hopefully there will be an update from Apple and/or Mini that addresses this issue.

• USB Information from Mini.com (PDF)
• Mini/iPod touch Apple Support thread
• NorthAmericanMotoring.com — a short thread

Also, for what it’s worth, Mini told me that while the iPod touch isn’t supported under OS 3.0, the iPhone 3G is. The iPhone 3GS isn’t, though, so guess who upgraded their iPhone 3G to a 3GS this weekend…

Ah, technology…

Apple now dominates the mobile web in the U.S. with a 48% market share

I’m not sure why this surprised me. I think the key is that they point out how Apple has made devices that people want to surf on. I certainly would never have bothered with my previous Motorola pos. It was barely possible to make a phone call with that thing…

Some of the applications in your iTunes library were not installed on the iPhone blah blah blah because one or more errors occurred.

Then it gives me the full list of apps, usually a dozen or more, and a link to a KnowledgeBase article: Troubleshooting applications purchased from the App Store.

Despite the good suggestions in that article, it seems the only one that ever works for me is deleting the apps from the iPhone, re-”purchasing” them (which does not involve paying for them again) and reinstalling them. Which is a pain in the ass, frankly.

Experts Revive Debate Over Cellphones and Cancer, by Tara Parker-Pope, June 3, 2008:

What do brain surgeons know about cellphone safety that the rest of us don’t?

Last week, three prominent neurosurgeons told the CNN interviewer Larry King that they did not hold cellphones next to their ears. “I think the safe practice,” said Dr. Keith Black, a surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, “is to use an earpiece so you keep the microwave antenna away from your brain.”

Worth a read.

And despite the iPhone 3G’s strong opening-weekend sales, Rockfeld noted that technology research firm IDC predicted that Windows Mobile will continue to outsell the iPhone 2 to 1 in the consumer market by 2012 and in the business space by 9 to 1.

‘So you can see the hype versus the reality,’ he said.”

Where by ‘reality’ he means ‘wild-ass guess’.

‘Digital Manners Policies’ is a marketing term. Let’s call this what it really is: Selective Device Jamming. It’s not polite, it’s dangerous. It won’t make anyone more secure — or more polite”

Best argument for open-source software; now what about open-source hardware?

Rogers’ Canadian iPhone 3G Voice & Data Packages

I wonder how many Rogers executives…

1. start their evenings at 9 pm?
2. only spend two hours a month on the phone?
3. would ever pay $2 to listen to shitty ringtones?
4. would ever send 10000 text messages in a month?

Plus, if I pay another $15, I can get Caller Ring Trax! What a deal!! Only $2 for a shitty selection of shitty music at exorbitant rates! Where do I sign up?

(Via TUAW.)

June 28 update:

I think we’ll see the following announced tomorrow:

• Another price drop, but more modest than last time; I’m thinking ~$75
• Storage increase: 16, 32 and 64 GB models
• Video camera capability for conferencing and uploading to YouTube and/or the rumoured-to-be-rechristened .Mac
• International launch of iPhone in 2-line-press-release countries (like Canada) this summer; I’m thinking late July
• Screen size will be unchanged
• Battery life extended
• GPS on iPhone: sure, why not? Not for iPod touch, though…
• 3G? I can’t bring myself to give a shit about cellular networks, since the companies are all radically overcharging in Canada, so I have no opinion on this, except everyone else expects it…
• Apps like Email, Notes, etc., will work in landscape and portrait mode, making typing easier
• App Store to launch tomorrow

On a sidenote, I got a phone call from Bell this week, asking me if I was happy with my cell phone, pointing out that my package was okay since I wasn’t going over my alloted minutes, and letting me know that I could switch to any cellphone I wanted and get $150 off my renewed contract. I resisted the urge to ask for an iPhone.

I’ve had a cell phone for years now, and this is the first such call I remember. The timing is interesting, coming less than a week ahead of a possible new iPhone release and new competition from Rogers.

June 9 update — here’s my report card:

• Another price drop, but more modest than last time; I’m thinking ~$75 — I was $25 short; not bad, though
• Storage increase: 16, 32 and 64 GB models — unbelievably, wrong; I thought this was a safe prediction
• Video camera capability for conferencing and uploading to YouTube and/or the rumoured-to-be-rechristened .Mac — wrong; no partial marks for .Mac becoming MobileMe.
• International launch of iPhone in 2-line-press-release countries (like Canada) this summer; I’m thinking late July — not bad; off by less than 2 weeks. Staff at a Rogers dealership told me they’d have them for Christmas.
• Screen size will be unchanged — score.
• Battery life extended — score.
• GPS on iPhone: sure, why not? Not for iPod touch, though… — score.
• 3G? I can’t bring myself to give a shit about cellular networks, since the companies are all radically overcharging in Canada, so I have no opinion on this, except everyone else expects it… — I’ll take that.
• Apps like Email, Notes, etc., will work in landscape and portrait mode, making typing easier — partial marks; apparently Calculator now has extended functionality in landscape mode (becoming a scientific calculator in that mode). No word either way on other apps that I’m aware of…
• App Store to launch tomorrow — a miss, unfortunately. I suppose I should’ve seen this coming; despite the possibility of being banned from the store, I find it hard to believe that word hadn’t leaked if the store were going to launch today.

So, 6.5 out of 9: 72%. They were pretty conservative predictions, though, to be fair.

Apple appears to be making room on the iPhone for flash memory, which means an end to Apple’s standoff with Adobe that’s kept iPhones from easily viewing a plethora of Internet videos…

You know, confusing hardware (flash memory) with software (Adobe Flash) like this is the kind of mistake one might expect minimum-waged electronics sales staff to make — not someone writing tech columns for Dow Jones Newswires that get picked up by money.cnn.com…

(Via Daring Fireball, of course.)