Finally - a reason to turn my HP gigundanormous scanner into a doorstop.

There are already services that do this and don't require a special application or anything to download. I've written about both of them in my blog (www.TheWirelessWizard.com/tips) but you can go directly to their web sites:

Pinger - www.Pinger.com

Jott - www.Jott.com

Porsche Boxster: MAC MAVN

I've been using Quickeys successfully for years to do exactly that - and a whole lot more. It's expensive, but it is the one single utility application that does so much that it has become the very first thing that I install on a new or reformatted Mac. I highly recommend it.

Also, for example, I've set up a Quickey that allows me to do what this post talks about without touching the Terminal or command line. It simply copies the URL from a web page, switches back to Mail and creates a live link of that URL in any text that I've selected. Very easy, and works flawlessly every single time.

For those who keep asking about insurance I suggest they look into SquareTradeWarranty.com - I have insurance on both my iPhones (and some other devices) that was reasonably priced and covers for three years. You can use a coupon code today of "TAXRELIEF" to get a 30% discount. My coverage cost $35 for the three year period on the iPhone and, just as a point of comparison, $9 for a 3G RAZR that I purchased for $100 on eBay.

I have no interest in the company - my only interest is in helping people track down decent insurance for their devices... it took me a while to locate SquareTrade so I thought I'd tell others about it.

Chump change, dudes. I'm now at 13,000 rollover minutes.

Yes, I know, I might be on the wrong plan. However, I just dropped my landline and added another two people to my family plan.

See the story in my blog about dropping my landline, or how went completely wireless and loved it, here:

http://www.thewirelesswizard.com/tips-tricks-shortcuts/2008/3/4/going-completely-wireless-and-how-i-did-it-part-1.html

Furthermore, the next plan down (1400 minutes/month, I'm now on the 2100 minutes/month plan) is too little - we average about 1600 minutes/month and the overcharges would add up to more than the extra $20/month I pay for the extra 700 minutes on the plan.

Also, did you know that when you reduce your plan on AT&T that they only let you carry rollover minutes to the new plan equal in amount to the number of minutes per month on your new plan? For example, if I dropped my plan to the 1400 min./month plan, I'd lose all of the rollover minutes I have except 1400 minutes.

Finally, I can tell you for a fact that I use my phone much, much more for email, web browsing, SMS, calendar and address book than I do for regular phone calls. Let's remember this about the iPhone:

It's not a phone. It's a computer that makes phone calls.

I've been using SimplifyMedia for months with great success.

I'm an experienced Mac user but am stumped here. Is there any way to change iCal's default behavior of making each newly created event duration 60 minutes? (It's not in the preferences.) I book a lot of 15 minute phone calls using iCal and don't want the default time block set for an hour - I'd rather be able to modify it (maybe via a Terminal command?) to either 15 or 30 minutes. Thanks.

This would be extremely valuable to me but doesn't seem to work consistently. It does, in fact, occasionally initiate a sync when running this command from the terminal. However, there doesn't seem to be any pattern to the consistency (or lack of it). I've tried it with iTunes running and with it inactive, with new information to sync and with none, with the iPhone selected in an active iTunes window and not, etc. The result is different almost each time.

When running the terminal command I do get the tone from the phone indicating the initiation of a sync. If the phone is sleeping (e.g., the screen is dark) it does light up the screen momentarily. If the phone is awake (view all icons on the screen) then I hear the same tone but the sync does not get initiated.

Occasionally, it _does_ work. As I said, though, there's no discernible pattern to it.

This could be a valuable function for me as I use my iPhone as my primary phone and keep it in the cradle on my desk. When I remove it to make or receive a call and then replace it in the cradle it goes through the syncing cycle.

(Yes, I know I can turn off the "Automatically sync when this iPhone is connected" option. That is, in fact, what I want to be able to do - I want to leave that option OFF so that the phone does NOT sync every time I put it in the cradle. I want to be able to command the system to sync the phone on demand; I'll either create an AppleScript or Quickeys sequence for it.)

Are there any Terminal jockeys out there that can help troubleshoot this? I am running the latest version of the Mac OS and the latest update of iPhone software (1.1.3 - excellent new features, by the way).

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry, folks, but you're not getting it. The folks on this forum represent about .00001% of iPhone (and other Apple products users). If you think for a nano-second that the majority of the iPhone-owning population would even consider downloading a hacking application, tinkering with the innards of their phones, risking software problems, etc., to save a buck or two for a ringtone you're absolutely nuts.

Wrap your arms around this: Not everyone is a geek. Some people would rather spend the cost of a latte on easily getting a ring tone onto their phone instead of having to go through the gymnastics to do it themselves.

I've been starting businesses in the wireless industry for 25 years (see my blog at http://www.TheWirelessWizard.com) and can tell you that what people are willing to spend their money on never ceases to amaze me.

Just my 2 cents.