We’ve been getting a bunch of hits for people looking for availability. As wetwired is not apple we couldn’t possibly take the time to go to every ATT store and Apple store and keep up with that stuff but because I posted about what stores had stuff when I or my buddies were in the buying process the questions keep coming.

The best method to find out availability is to go here. This is the Texas iPhone availability page that gets updated nightly. It does not include the ATT stores but you can be willing to bet that its just as sparse. Right now the best method is direct shipment to get a phone.

I can tell you that one of our old posters has given up looking for one and just ordered direct shipment.  The store salesguy explained that the lead time is 7-10 days but usually its a lot quicker.

This is a two-for-wednesday.  It would have been Tuesday but yeah… coding problems.

Number one:  As you can see wetwired has the new look that we promised.  I’ve been working on coding this for a while and given that I hate coding for wordpress, I think its turned out reasonably well.  There are slight issues with the sidebar and different browsers.  I’ll be continually working on it to try to address the issues that crop up.   Incedently if anyone is good with wordpres and divs and this stupid widgetized sidebar and can figure out why the twitter stuff loads 5 different ways from sunday on every browser, please let me know.

Number two: Wordpress 2.6 has been released.  This means new features for us, and maybe for you.  I tested slightly on our sandbox to verify all hell didn’t break loose and I’ve now updated wetwired to this latest version.  Let me know if you see something broken I might fix it, or I might laugh in your face.

Neil Patrick Harris (NPH), Mr. “snort coke of a strippers titty,” himself has a new online show. Dr. Horrible.  Its pretty damn funny.  Dr. Horrible is created by Joss Whedon, you know the guy that brought us Buffy and Firefly. 

During the WGA strike Joss Whedon started writing a three part musical series for the internet. Each of the three episodes will be approximately ten minutes each.

Co-writers for the internet feature are Joss’ brothers Zack and Jed and Jed’s Fiancé Maurissa Tancharoen . The writing and shooting have been completed and the series is now in post-production.

“It’s the story of a low-rent super-villain, the hero who keeps beating him up, and the cute girl from the laundromat he’s too shy to talk to.” says Whedon.

“Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” will star Neil Patrick Harris as Dr. Horrible, Nathan Fillion as Captain Hammer, Felicia Day as Penny and a cast of dozens.”

From http://doctorhorrible.net a message from Joss Wheden:

At last the time has come to reveal to you our Master Plan. BEWARE! Those with weak hearts should log off lest they be terrified by the twisted genius of our schemes! Also pregnant women and the elderly should consider reading only certain sentences. Do not mix with other blogs. Do not operate heavy machinery while reading this blog. You must be this tall to read. ‘Kay?

It is time for us to change the face of Show Business as we know it. You know the old adage, “It’s Show Business – not Show Friends”? Well now it’s Show Friends. We did that. To Show Business. To show Show Business we mean business. (Also, there are now other businesses like it.)

ONE WEEK ONLY! AN INTERNET MINISERIES EVENT!

“Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” will be streamed, LIVE (that part’s not true), FREE (sadly, that part is) right on Drhorrible.com, in mid-July. Specifically:

ACT ONE (Wheee!) will go up Tuesday July 15th.

ACT TWO (OMG!) will go up Thursday July 17th.

ACT THREE (Denouement!) will go up Saturday July 19th.

All acts will stay up until midnight Sunday July 20th. Then they will vanish into the night, like a phantom (but not THE Phantom – that’s still playing. Like, everywhere.)

Update: The Dr Horrible Servers Crashed because of the amount of people checking this out.

Wetwired Radio Presents: our eleventh podcast. In which we present the uncut versions of the Second Amendment discussions from the last Podcast. This is a shorter podcast than the latest ones have been, and a bit more serious in nature and tone.

Listen to this via iTunes or directly below.

Out.

 

 Wetwired Podcast: Episode 11 [20:47m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Ok this is cool.  It is web/iphone app made for iphones to track metro buses- although not setup as an application yet to install (that’s coming soon),  and the graphic for it is kinda blah.. Actually I’d make it look more cool for them if they were interested. 

Below is the email I got, while I don’t make use of the metro in austin (not for lack of trying), I am sure there are many out there that could use this.  I live in round rock - no bus service. Boo for me, yeah.

Dear Blogger/iPhone User,

 

Thought you might be interested in this iPhone webapp for tracking Austin Capital Metro buses:

 

http://www.me2bus.com

 

This began as a quick project for us, then we decided to finish and share

with the public.   It was submitted to Apple’s website today.  Enjoy.

 

Sincerely,

John Erdner

Founder Nfomedia Inc

http://www.nfomedia.com

Anyway, pretty cool, I’d actually love to see this expand to other cities - being a frequent travler being able to explore a city without renting a car is always nice.  I wish I would have had this in Brussels a couple years ago where we ended up taking the wrong bus and went into the country.

On my macbook I have SSL setup to use for my godaddy hosted email account.  Aparently iphones don’t like SSL much.  Useful tip, if you have a www.godaddy.com hosting account for your domain and/or email - turn off SSL for both your outgoing and incoming.  This sorta sucks because you loose that added layer of security, but hey, its not like email is really secure anyway - if your doing business you’ll be using exchange and that is through a VPN, but personal email… oh well. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/i_love_the_slow_loris/2646424593/

I’m sure she was changing her huggies after that.

First off, they had some this morning.  Apparently there were multiple rumors flying around about apple telling stores not to sell anymore because of the itunes server issues.  This morning though, the apple store had some in stock.  The Lakeline mall did not nor did the store near there in Texadelphia.  But, a few scattered AT&T stores near Parmer/35 and also near the domain/arboretum did have some.

One of our readers “superman” went this morning to be number 16 in line at a store and talked to a guy who was 2 away yesturday from getting one and had he arrived 5 minutes sooner he would have got one today.  That has so got to suck to wait for 6 hours and still have nothing to show for it.

As far as my own iphone goes - last night I was able to activate as soon as I got home from work.  iTunes backs up your iphone, syncs of contacts if you have that setup on your apple computer - syncs with mobile me, and then syncs any applications you’ve already downloaded.

One of the cool features (and slightly scary): Sitting on my couch in the corner of my house and then clicking on the maps - finding my location and having the blue dot right on the corner of my house where I am - with the satalite hybrid picture of my roof.  I also like the twitter plug in - it allows you to show pictures really quickly to others.

Thinking about getting one now? Forget about it.  At least thats what friends of mine have been told now by the very unhelpful AT&T people.  I got mine, but I also waited outside at 6am.  I was number 73 at the ATT store on 1431.  I have to say the people there were much nicer than the A&TT workers at Lakeline Mall.

While some store actually received shipments today, apparently they can’t sell them today.  All AT&T is offering now is direct ship which is 7-10 days.    But let me explain what the AT&T people were trying to do to keep you inline and to make you buy today regardless of stock.

I got back to my office and my co-worker decided that he wanted to check at lunch to see if there were any left - since we had heard there was another shipment coming in today.  We decided to hit up Lakeline Mall AT&T store.  We walked up, the line was short and they took 2 people at a time into the store.  Out front was a greeter so we asked how many they had left - she said that she can’t give out their stock.  We said, ok well should we wait or will you be out of stock by the time we wait - as it could have been over an hour of waiting only to find out that its 7-10 days.  She said that she couldn’t give out the stock.  So after more questions and a bit of waiting we saw a shipment be delivered by Fedex.  My co-worker decided to ask some more questions and come to find out they couldn’t get into that shipment today and the other slightly more helpful AT&T worker alluded to the fact that he most likely would not get an iphone today.  But, they are trying to keep people standing in line so they can make their numbers for the day.

All in all pretty sucky for him - then again he also has to pay $400 because he’s already an AT&T customer.

Now you may ask, “How do you like your new iphone?”

Glad you asked.  I wish I knew but the itunes servers are dead and we can’t activate them.  The AT&T store couldn’t do it, and as of right now I’m still not able to activate my phone.

I almost bought an iphone last year.  But the cost of breaking my contract with sprint, and the thought of a faster, better, iphone a year later managed to keep me from pulling my instant gratification card out and just buying one.  This year is different.  I let my Sprint contract expire.  As you saw from the previous post my attempts to get att support to be helpful have failed miserably.  But, in the morning I will be heading out to a local att store to pick up a phone.  Rumor has it that each store will  have 40 8gb and 40 16gb iphones with more to arrive mid-day.  Apple stores supposedly have 300 or so and more to be delivered tomorrow as well.  In Austin, I’ve been by 2 stores this evening, my buddy praxis has been by 2 stores and our other buddy Hector has been by 2 stores - all say the same thing and all of them are free of apple fan boys camping out.

Tomorrow, I’ll be up early with my laptop, camera, and lawn chair (if needed) to find the best store to pick up my iphone.  Really I’m just looking to be one of the first 10-20 or so to ensure I get one in the morning, and since Austin has lots of att stores and 2 separate apple stores I think I’m ok.  I’ll take some pictures while I’m there and post when I get a chance.

Let’s just say they are more than helpful useless.  With today’s technologies and methods of being efficient.  AT&T is succeeding in throwing up more red tape and paper pushing in an otherwise normal business transaction. (Names changed or blotted out to protect the wicked)

Thank you for your patience! An AT&T sales representative will be with you shortly.
You are now chatting with SXXXX, an AT&T sales representative.
SXXXX: Welcome to AT&T online Sales support.  How may I assist you with placing your order today?
Pylorns: I would like to know if I could do the credit check for the iphone online instead of going into a store.
SXXXX: No I am sorry Pylorns that is not available online. You would have to order a phone and plan to see if you are eligible.
Pylorns: SO, going into a store would be doing the same thing then right?
SXXXX: Yes, that is correct.
Pylorns: Ok, if that is the case then would I actually be buying the iphone and not receiving it until Friday?
SXXXX: No, you would have to order another phone to see if you are eligible.
Pylorns: Why would I want to order another phone when I want to buy an iphone. Your website says to do a pre-qualifying credit check
Pylorns: Reduce your wait time on launch day, July 11. Visit the AT&T store where you will purchase iPhone 3G today for a pre-qualifying credit check.
SXXXX: Yes, you would have to do the credit check at an AT&T store.
Pylorns: And by doing that am I buying a phone prior?
SXXXX: No, you would just be checking to see if you are approved.
Pylorns: So you can’t do that online though?
SXXXX: No, I am sorry the only way to do it online is through an order process.
Pylorns: ok thank you for your time.

I remember, with a certain degree of nostalgia, the days in high school when you would turn on MTV and be rewarded with over produced, under lit videos that revolved around good music. It was in a fit of this nostalgia that I turned on MTV the other day in order to see if, maybe by chance, I might catch one of the videos that meant so much to me way-back-when.

Instead, I was assaulted by a bisexual woman with bad skin, named after a hangover, and telling me my hair was too short.

This rubbed me the wrong way, and I was reminded of an article I wrote a number of years ago that listed some simple pleasures that have fallen by the way side that I miss.

I was compelled to compile another. So here goes:

1) I miss MTV. Since this is the thing that spawned my interest in writing this article, it deserves to be first on the list. Once upon a time, MTV played music videos. See, that’s how they got their name: Music Television. Now they play Top Stories, celebrity news and reality TV shows. (That’s directly from their website, by the way) Where did the music go? I assure you, Tia Tequila has nothing to do with the MTV that I remember.

2) I miss the fucking Commies. Communism was fantastic, if for no other reason than the country was united in our hatred for them, and there was a clearly defined menace to our way of life. John Wayne HATED pinkos. We may have had our differences, but we were together on this issue. Now, we have the terrorists. And grant it, they are probably a far more dangerous enemy than the Reds, but they are nebulous and ill defined. Our country is left a simpering, whimpering pile of marys, and we really can’t agree on anything.

3) I miss Ronald Reagan. I think Reagan’s corpse could do a better job of running the country than anyone we have currently running for office.

4) I miss elections where the candidates stood for something. I can’t stand “Madison Avenue” candidates. You should believe in SOMETHING, if you are running for office. Your opinions should not be defined by market research.

5) I long for a time when debate was important. I’m not naive enough to think that your appearance and your connections didn’t matter, but so did your opinions. Lincoln stood on a stage and debated with Stephen Douglass until they could no longer stand. Hundreds of people saw it, and told their friends. Back then an audience was limited by how many people you could fit in a field. Now the audience is the whole world. Don’t we owe it to ourselves to put at least as much effort into it when we are reaching tens of millions as when we could only reach a few hundred at a time?

6) I miss the days when I could work a whole day without my feet hurting.

7) I miss a time when women knew where to stand when you opened a door for them. To extrapolate that, I miss a time when women were ladies. They could partake or not partake of chivalry as they saw fit, but none the less they appreciated the effort.

I miss $1.25 a gallon gasoline. (But in my defense, who doesn’t)

9) I miss that feeling I used to have that the world contained endless possibilities, and that the future would be something that none of us could have dreamed of. (The last part was right, if not for the wrong reasons)

10) I miss sit-coms. Sure, there are one or two out there of note, but reality TV rules the roost.

11) I really miss not caring about the consequences of my actions. That was fun!

12) I miss old friends that are lost to us now. The great ones: the world was full of more vivid colors when they were in it.

13) Occasionally I miss my virginity, but not today.

14) I just missed a deadline for a project at work while I was typing this up.

So tell me, what do you miss?

Wetwired Radio Presents: our tenth podcast. In which the new theme music is introduced, our heroes are rejoined by our cohort in Wetwired East, Beerslinger has a “very special” moment, recent political events are discussed along with idiots getting their heads cut off, and general merriment is made.

Once again, this one is for adults. Listen to this via iTunes or directly below.

Out.

 

 Wetwired Podcast: Episode 10 [42:27m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Many of you know that what is up on this site now is a temporary holding pattern for a fresh design.  Our artist has finnally finished up the new logo.  So without further ado: