Free iPhone

It probably didn’t come as a surprise, but Steve Jobs has announced that the iPad will not be able to share the iPhone’s connection. The announcement was actually just a direct answer from Jobs to a Swedish fan who emailed him directly with the question.

iPad-iPhone tethering wasn’t expected, but it was hoped for; no handheld Apple devices currently have the ability to receive a tethered connection, unless connected to a computer.

It is also unlikely that this feature would be enabled in any future updates as a 3G iPad would solve the problem.

Yet another reason not to buy the 1st generation iPad.

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• Hey Steve, can the iPad tether with the iPhone? (engadget.com)

So, if this site still has any readers you will have noticed that I haven’t bothered with any new posts for some time. For this, you can blame google. For whatever reason (one that they won’t share with me), they have decided that this blog is bad, and should be penalised.

I first noticed something was awry back in November, when the 3,500 visitors a day I was used to, suddenly dropped to about 200. As most of this site’s traffic is generated from Google searches – this was the first place I looked for the reason.

Strangly, at the same time (almost the same day in fact!), Google decided to increase the PR of this site to PR4 – so they think it is fairly trustworthy, it had sitelinks for numerous keywords, and was being picked up by the blog search (displayed in a seperate area on the Google search results), yet they hit me with a penalty – and a pretty severe one at that!

To give a an example or two, this site was the number 1 search result on Google for “Free iPhone Blog”, “Bejeweled Blitz Cheat”, and a few other terms. Try those searches now – and see where I am. Hint – start looking on page 5 of the results.

How do I know this is a penalty and not just poor SEO? Try a search  for blog.freeiphone4me (this site, without the www or .co.uk bits), again, you’ll find us on page 5. Then try the same thing for the main domain “freeiphone4me”, and you’ll also see it buried down on page 5.

So, Google has definitley hit this site with a 5 page or 50 place penalty, but why? and which site is the problem, the subdomian (this one), or the main domain? and how do I find out? and how do I fix it?

I have tried the usual things -

Removed the majority of internal links between the domains

No-followed most external links

Removed a few link-exchanges

I even refunded a $600/year sponsor and removed their link

I have asked google (via webmaster tools) to reconsider this site on 3 occasions, but each time nothing changes.

So, what else can I do to rid myself of this Google penalty?

Is Apple about to redefine computing with the much anticipated iSlate in the same way it already has for the mobile phone with the iPhone, or the humble music player with the iPod?

If the rumours, speculation, and evidence are anything to go by, the iSlate will be announced in January.

The rumour that Apple engineers are working on a new handheld touchscreen computer have been circulating for some time. Known in the industry as simply ‘the tablet’, it is hoped the device will enable video streaming, downloading and reading books (bye bye Kindle), listening to music, running Apps…the list goes on.

The rumours the iSlate will be announced in January have hit a high not seen since the release of the iPhone in 2007. Shares in Apple have soared in the last few days in anticipation of a ‘major product announcement’.

Apple has so far remained tight lipped about what the major product announcement will be, but an Apple insider let slip to The new York Times that “Steve is extremely happy about the new tablet.”

The blog MacRumours.com revealed that Apple had bought the rights to the iSlate.com domain name.

The cost of the iSlate is as much of a mystery as every other detail about the newest device from Apple. That won’t be a concern for regular readers of this blog who will all be awaiting the release date with baited breath so they can order their free iSlate and be among the very first iSlate owners.

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It is now official that there will be a Google Phone coming soon. Not just a rebranded HTC, this is the real deal; a 100% Google branded, sold and supported phone – and it’ll be called the Nexus One.

How this will affect the iPhone’s supremacy will be seen over the next 18 months or so – Google has a long way to go to match the runaway success of the iPhone. But they do have a track record of doing things well, as we all know from their success taking over the internet search sytem, web based email, and now their delve into social networking with Wave.

It is fully expected that the Google phone will incorporate all of these features at some stage, and much more

The phone will come loaded with at least a Google Navigation tool, and the new Google Googles.

How much?

The biggest question on my mind at the moment is how much the Nexus One will cost. To be successful as the newest and greatest smartphone on the market Google are going to have to do something a bit special. an they rely on some clever feature to make us buy their phone over an iPhone, or even a Blackberry with its new app store feature.

The only reason I would buy a Google Phone would be if it could match the iPhone in terms of features and applications AND be cheaper. Much in the same way as I haven’t binned Firefox for Google Chrome, I won’t be ditching my iPhone in favour of the Google phone unless it can offer me something much more financially.

Will there be a Free Google Phone plan? I hope so, and think that may be the only way for Google to make their mark on the World of smartphones in a real way. The Android is dead, but the Google phone could well be king.

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So the day has finally come – the freebiejeebies car competition draw will occur in less than an hour – at 12pm on Sunday 6th December.

I have two entries as I won 2 Golden Tickets through the weekly draws, so I at least have a slim chance of winning. Others have a much better chance at winning the car though as I know of at least one person with 7 entries.

Good luck to all – the winner be be announced later today and will take delivery of their brand new Ford Fiesta soon afterwards!

Edit (07/12/09) – Massive congratulations to the winner Ben Harris who I believe has elected to take the car rather than the £5000 cash alternative.

Also congrats to the three frebiejeebies competition runners up, who each received £100.

Winner: Ben Harris

Runners Up: Amy Firth, Jamie Barrett and Rob Kirkup