The hoards of people attempting to activate their brand new iPhone 4S have overloaded AT&T’s activation servers, resulting in some users receiving error messages saying “Could Not Activate iPhone”, followed by the message details:

“Your activation is still pending. You will receive an email notification once your activation is complete.

We’re sorry. There was a problem connecting to the server. Please try again later.”

Making it beyond that, many users are stuck at a screen that simply says “Activation” with the spinning wait cursor, alongside a message of “It may take up to 3 minutes to activate your iPhone.” In some cases, users have reported seeing that message for hours, not just minutes. Even attempting to activate through iTunes can result in the error message.

Possible solutions to “Could Not Activate” iPhone error:

• Using your prior iPhone, dial AT&T’s 611 hotline and talk to a human for manual activation
• Visit AT&T’s online activation web page here and try to activate through the web
• Email AT&T Customer Care directly: attcustomercare@att.com with your account number and contact number and request direct activation
• Tweet AT&T Customer Care at @attcustomercare (they will probably tell you to email them)
• Simply wait it out and try again later when AT&T’s servers catch up to demand

The activation trouble is reasonably widespread in the USA, and there are multiple growing forum threads on the matter already. Currently, CDMA providers such as Sprint and Verizon do not seem to be undergoing any problems activating phones.

This is the second hiccup this week due to immense demand of Apple’s latest and greatest releases. The first was a series of “internal error” messages related to installing iOS 5, the most prominent being Error 3200 and 3002.

If you want to buy an iPhone 4S, here’s where you can find one today.

Those who have upgraded to iOS 5 have probably noticed that little Newsstand icon is unable to be moved to a folder, and like all other Apple iOS apps, it can’t be deleted. Well, a little tip from The Coding Massacre has made the rounds that shows us how we can force the Newsstand app into a folder under iOS 5, thanks to a bug in iOS. The downside is that if you then try to access Newsstand, springboard will usually crash.

Due to the buggy nature of this tip, if you have any plans on using Newsstand to read magazines or newspapers on your iPhone or iPad, this is not recommended. Also, you have to be quick.

• Grab any two apps and create a new folder, this is where you’ll be storing Newsstand
• The moment the apps are moved to the folder and the new folder animation is activated, drag Newsstand into the folder

Assuming you were quick enough, Newsstand will now be in that folder. As previously mentioned, this can often cause unstable behavior when accessing that folder and Newsstand, so don’t be surprised if Springboard (the iOS dashboard) starts crashing afterwards.

It’s a fairly safe bet that iOS 5.1 will fix this bug and allow Newsstand to be moved around without resorting to such tricks.

You probably know by now that pre-orders for iPhone 4S sold out for Apple and all the carriers, meaning there is a several week delay before an order placed online will be delivered to you. But you can still get one if you got to a local retailer…

Your best bet if you want an iPhone 4S right away is by going to a local store. Every past iPhone and iPad launch has resulted in huge lines and sold out inventory, straining the availability until supply finally catches up, with the case of the iPad 2 this took several months. Supply between stores is often inconsistent, but the price of iPhone 4S is the same at every launch partner, all require subsidies at this point as the unlocked version isn’t available until November.

Here’s where you can buy an iPhone 4S, but if you want to get your iPhone 4S, be prepared, and know where to shop!
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By far one of the best features of iOS is wireless syncing and backing up, as the name implies it allows you to wirelessly transfer apps, music, books, contacts, calendars, movies, photos, everything you had to use a wired sync for, but it’s done through the air.

As long as your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch is even vaguely new, it will support wi-fi syncing, but you do have to set it up and enable the feature.

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If you’ve installed a modern version of OS X and rebooted or ended up at the lock screen, you may have noticed that a new “Guest User” account appears at the login screen.

This is not a full guest user account, if you select the Guest User option at login, the Mac will restart to a secured Safari-only version of the OS with access to the internet. So what’s the point of this? It turns out this is part of setting up iCloud in Mac OS X, specifically the “Find My Mac” feature. The Safari Guest User allows someone to get online so the Mac can be located, but prevents the Safari user from accessing your files and applications.

We’re going to highly recommend keeping the Guest User Safari account enabled so that if you happen to lose your Mac, or if it’s stolen, it could easily be tracked down. Nonetheless, here’s how to turn this off if you don’t need it for some reason.
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One of the subtle changes in the Mac OS X 10.7.2 update is the ability to drag files and folders between Desktops and Full Screen apps in Mission Control. All you need to do is grab a file or folder and start pulling the item off the screen in the direction of the Desktop or app you want to bring it to. There’s a brief second of resistance to prevent accidental dragging, and then the desktops rapidly switch over.

For instance, now you can drag and drop a folder into the Full Screen Terminal app and it will print the directory path as usual, or you can drag images from one desktop into another with Photoshop open. This is a great little addition to boost productivity, although if you drag an item into the Dashboard Space it’s fairly useless.

The drag and drop addition was briefly mentioned in the release notes but with all the excitement surrounding iOS 5 it was easy to overlook nearly all of the changes to OS X 10.7.2, other than iCloud of course.

iOS 5 can already be jailbroken thanks to the iPhone Dev Team’s quick release of a new version of redsn0w (0.9.9b7). This is currently a tethered jailbreak, but an untether is in progress.
Redsn0w will work to jailbreak iOS 5 on iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 CDMA & GSM, iPod touch 3rd & 4th gen, and iPad 1. Not supported yet are iPhone 4S and iPad 2 devices, due to their use of the A5 CPU.

Before getting started, download iOS 5 and update your hardware, keep the IPSW around, but also be sure to have updated to iTunes 10.5.

Download redsn0w 0.9.9b7

You will need redsn0w 0.9.9b7 to get started, download it now for Mac (v 0.9.9b7 here) or for Windows (direct download links)

Jailbreaking iOS 5

• Launch Redsn0w and choose the “Jailbreak” button
• Connect the iOS device to the computer and turn the hardware off
• Enter DFU mode by holding down the Sleep/Power button and home button together for exactly 10 seconds, then release the Power button but continue to hold the Home button for another 15 seconds. You will get a notification from Redsn0w informing you of the device being in DFU mode
• Point redsn0w to your iOS 5 IPSW file (older version)
• Redsn0w will now perform the jailbreak, the newest version does not require you to have to point to any IPSW files because it downloads them directly from Apple
• Choose “Install Cydia” and proceed with the jailbreak

Now you need to boot the iOS device tethered to get Cydia to load:

• Open redsn0w again
• Click on “Extras” and select the iOS 5 IPSW you downloaded in the previous step
• Back at the Extras menu, click on the “Just Boot” option and follow the on screen instructions to boot into the jailbroken device

Your iOS device will automatically reboot as jailbroken, you can confirm this by looking for the Cydia icon on your springboard. As previously stated, this is a tethered jailbreak so you will need to connect your iPhone, iPad, or ipod touch to a computer and boot it with the assistance of Redsn0w if the battery dies or you shut it down for another reason. This is easy to do, just launch Redsn0w again and choose “Just Boot” again from the Extras menu.

While many users have reported trouble free updates to iOS, others are running into a variety of errors in the process. One of the more common is “Error 3200” or “Error 3002”, the fix for that is fairly simple and we’ve already covered it but nonetheless the error has plagued enough users for it to become a trending topic on Twitter.

As the day has progressed though, more and more error messages are popping up, everything from “An internal error occurred” with no number, to “An unknown error occurred (3004)” or with a wide variety of other error codes, ranging from 1600 to 3200.
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A fair amount of users have ran into “Error 3002” and “Error 3200” during the iOS update process with iTunes. It’s not entirely clear what’s causing this, but we have provided a solution that should work for both Mac and Windows users to resolve the error message so that you can update your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch as intended.

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Apple has rolled out iCloud, the cloud syncing service that automatically syncs all your content to all of your devices, be it an iPhone, iPod touch, Mac, PC, iPad, whatever. It also includes things like Find My iPhone and Find My Mac, in addition to several web apps that let you get your Mail, Contacts, and Calendar while on the go, via any web browser. It’s an awesome service, it’s free, and you don’t want to miss it. Here’s how to set it up from any iPhone, iPad, or Mac:
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iOS 5 has just been released by Apple. The hotly anticipated update brings a variety of major new features to the iOS platform, including Notifications, iMessage, wireless syncing, iCloud support, Twitter integration, Reminders, in addition to over 200 overall feature updates or enhancements.

You can update to iOS 5 through iTunes, plug in your device and launch iTunes and you will get an update notification. Be sure to backup your existing iOS installation before proceeding.

Download iOS 5

Other than updating through iTunes, you can also download iOS 5 IPSW directly from the links below and install the firmware manually.

• iPhone 3GS
• iPhone 4 GSM
• iPhone 4 CDMA
• iPhone 4,1 (4S?)
• iPad
• iPad 2 WiFi
• iPad 2,2 – GSM
• iPad 2,3 – CDMA
• iPod touch 3G
• iPod touch 4G
• Apple TV2

Build number is 9A334, these links are hosted on Apple’s servers, if you are having trouble downloading IPSW, right-click and choose “Save As”.

Apple TV 2 has also been updated, but is technically on iOS 4.4 with a custom build of 9A334v.

iOS 5 is compatible with iPad, iPad 2, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 CDMA & GSM, and iPod touch 3rd and 4th generations. iOS 5 also marks the first time that the CDMA and GSM builds of iOS are the same version. All new Apple hardware including iPhone 4S will ship with iOS 5 pre-installed.

Apple has released the second update to Lion, Mac OS X 10.7.2, the build is 11C74 The focus of OS X 10.7.2 is on bringing iCloud support to Mac OS X Lion, and also includes Find My Mac and Back to My Mac features. You can learn how to setup iCloud here, it’s very easy.

Download Mac OS X 10.7.2

Download from the Apple  menu and “Software Update” or use the direct links below to grab it from Apple:

• OS X 10.7.2 Client Combo Updater
• OS X 10.7.2 Client
• OS X 10.7.2 Server
• OS X 10.7.2 Server Combo Update
• Lion Recovery Update or Apple Support
• Additional download links will be posted as they become available

The update will likely be bundled with OS X Lion on the Mac App Store in the near future as well.

Release notes are as follows:
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iPhone 4S reviews are rolling in, and we’ve gathered a roundup of some of the early ones. Unsurprisingly, the reviews are overwhelmingly positive, making note of the new iPhones specs, speed, camera improvements, iOS 5, and of course, Siri.

ThisIsMyNext offers a solid great review with tons of pictures, giving the device 8.6/10 overall:

If you’re an owner of an older iPhone, or someone looking to switch to an iPhone from a different platform, there’s never been a better Apple device to buy. The iPhone 4S is an astoundingly good phone.

TIMN/The Verge also has the best video review for those with low patience, it’s just shy of 3 minutes and covers the essentials:

SlashGear goes in depth with the 4S, but also covers tons of iOS 5 features. They praise maintaining the iPhone 4 body and focusing on the internals instead:

Wisely resisting the urge to change design for the sake of change, Apple has focused its attention where it will count the most: creating a longer-lasting smartphone that takes better photos, runs apps more smoothly and helps people efficiently manage their mobile lives whether they’re within cable’s reach of their home or office or otherwise. Meanwhile, Siri proves that the company still has what it takes to deliver game-changing functionality.

There will undoubtedly be smartphones with faster processors, or more megapixels to their cameras, or high-speed 4G connectivity, or bigger, better resolution displays, but it’s difficult to imagine any of them competing with the joined-up ecosystem Apple now offers. Challenging the iPhone isn’t just about creating one single, better smartphone, but a portfolio of consistent products and services. The iPhone 4S may look the same as before, but it arguably represents just as much of a shift in the industry as the original iPhone ever did.

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Ever wonder why Steve Jobs always wore a black mock turtleneck and jeans? Thanks to his upcoming biography, Steve Jobs, we have an answer. Here’s the fascinating excerpt:

On a trip to Japan in the early 1980s, Jobs asked Sony’s chairman Akio Morita why everyone in the company’s factories wore uniforms. He told Jobs that after the war, no one had any clothes, and companies like Sony had to give their workers something to wear each day. Over the years, the uniforms developed their own signatures styles, especially at companies such as Sony, and it became a way of bonding workers to the company. “I decided that I wanted that type of bonding for Apple,” Jobs recalled.

Sony, with its appreciation for style, had gotten the famous designer Issey Miyake to create its uniform. It was a jacket made of rip-stop nylon with sleeves that could unzip to make it a vest. So Jobs called Issey Miyake and asked him to design a vest for Apple, Jobs recalled, “I came back with some samples and told everyone it would great if we would all wear these vests. Oh man, did I get booed off the stage. Everybody hated the idea.”

In the process, however, he became friends with Miyake and would visit him regularly. He also came to like the idea of having a uniform for himself, both because of its daily convenience (the rationale he claimed) and its ability to convey a signature style. “So I asked Issey to make me some of his black turtlenecks that I liked, and he made me like a hundred of them.” Jobs noticed my surprise when he told this story, so he showed them stacked up in the closet. “That’s what I wear,” he said. “I have enough to last for the rest of my life.”

This clip was mailed to Gakwer by Walter Isaacson himself, the author of Jobs biography.

“I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it.”

That is what Steve Jobs said in his resignation letter from August, and now, despite his passing, we’re starting to understand why. Citing sources within Apple, the DailyMail says that Steve Jobs carefully planned out four years of new products for the company to release. They specifically cite new iPod, iPad, iPhone, and MacBooks, and while these items are highly anticipated, they aren’t terribly surprising.

So what should we really expect from Apple in the years to come? We can get an idea by looking at a recent piece by TechCrunch, citing an unnamed but “veteran” Silicon Valley CEO who says that Apple has 5% of it’s non-retail workforce devoted to chip design and architecture alone:

“Steve Jobs told me he has 1,000 engineers working on chips,” he said. “Getting low power and smaller is the key to everything.”

Why so many engineers on chip design? And how might low power and smaller chips translate into new products?

“form factor no longer becomes an issue,” explained the Silicon Valley CEO

Going further, TechCrunch quotes their own MG Siegler from a few months back, who was told by sources that future Apple products will “blow your mind”:

It’s the longer roadmap that should really be the grand finale in the Jobs’ fireworks show.

Talking to sources in recent months, there has been one common refrain: that the things Apple is working on right now are the best things the company has ever done. These are things that will “blow your mind”, I’ve been told.

All of this adds up to quite a teaser, and so the future of Apple very well may be Job’s final “One More Thing…”.

Apple has released iTunes 10.5 in preparation of iOS 5 and iCloud. The latest version is a major update that includes full iCloud support, in addition to the highly anticipated Wi-Fi syncing feature, which allows anyone to sync an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iTunes wirelessly as long as they’re on the same wifi network.

iTunes 10.5 is required for installing and using iOS 5.

Download iTunes 10.5

There are several ways to get the latest version of iTunes:

• Download iTunes 10.5 directly from Apple.com (Windows & Mac OS X)
• Check Software Update in Mac OS X
• Update directly within iTunes 10.4

If you choose to download through Apple, keep in mind that you don’t need to fill out an email address, and you can just click on the big blue “Download Now” button to get iTunes.

The release notes attached to Software Update are as follows:

What’s new in iTunes 10.5

• iTunes in the Cloud. iTunes now stores your music and TV purchases in iCloud and makes them available on your devices anywhere, any time, at no additional cost.

• Automatic Downloads. Purchase music from any device or computer and automatically download a copy to your Mac and iOS devices.

• Download Previous Purchases. Download your past music, TV, app, and book purchases again, at no additional cost. Previous purchases may be unavailable if they are no longer on the iTunes Store.

• Sync with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iOS 5.

• Wi-Fi Syncing. Automatically sync your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iTunes any time they’re both on the same Wi-Fi network.

For information on the security content of this update, please visit: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.

Stay tuned, iOS 5, iCloud, and Mac OS X 10.7.2 are soon to follow.

If your Mac OS X desktop quickly turns into a cluttered mess of files and folders while you work, you’re not alone. The busier (or less organized) you are, the quicker this accumulates, until finally the Finder is so covered in files that you can barely see the wallpaper. Sometimes mine gets so full that I just hide the desktop icons so I can deal with them later, but that’s not necessarily the best solution.

This is where Clean steps in, the free app automatically moves files from your desktop to a specified location, which are then grouped by day or month. You can set it to run once a day or once a week, or you can force it to run at any time just by clicking the “Clean now” button.

Download Clean from the Mac App Store (free)

What if you have a really important file or folder sitting on your dekstop? Give it a Finder label and set Clean to ignore labels, it’ll stay there while the rest are swept away into your previously chosen destination. A great use case is to create an alias to the folder that you are sending all the desktop files to, and give that folder a label so it stays put, that way you can quickly access all your organized and tidied up files directly from the desktop.

Clean is a simple timesaving app that is a must have for anyone who fears desktop clutter, plus it’s free, highly recommended.

Ever wonder why the iPhone has a 3.5″ screen while the Android world is off pushing into greater and greater dimensions? Dustin Curtis theorizes that the reason iPhone continues to have a 3.5″ screen is so that nearly everyone can use the phone one-handed, because their thumbs reach nearly everywhere on the screen without trouble. Curtis put together the graphic shown above to demonstrate this, comparing thumb accessibility on an iPhone with its 3.5″ screen vs a Galaxy S II with a 4.2″ display, which he complains is too large. As demonstrated, large portions of the Android screen are inaccessible one-handed by his thumbs, and presumably for many other individuals as well.

Touching the upper right corner of the screen on the Galaxy S II using one hand, with its 4.27-inch screen, while you’re walking down the street looking at Google Maps, is extremely difficult and frustrating. I pulled out my iPhone 4 to do a quick test, and it turns out that when you hold the iPhone in your left hand and articulate your thumb, you can reach almost exactly to the other side of the screen. This means it’s easy to touch any area of the screen while holding the phone in one hand, with your thumb. It is almost impossible to do this on the Galaxy S II.

Furthermore, John Gruber of DaringFireball suggests that Apple could have chose a 4″ screen a long time ago, but decided on the 3.5″ display sometime in 2006:

Bigger is not necessarily better. Apple decided on the optimal size for an iPhone display back in 2006. If they thought 4-inches was better, overall, as the one true size for the iPhone display, then the original iPhone would have had a 4-inch display.

These are interesting thoughts to consider, but personally I’d be surprised if Apple never went to a larger display on the iPhone. I think a 4″ screen would be more than usable by nearly everyone, assuming the devices border was thin enough to easily reach beyond the border (remember the edge-to-edge screened iPhone rumors?).