1. Create a contact named “Blacklist”. We don’t care about all the details of the contact, just that it has a recognizable name and is a place to store number. I make this a company contact with the name of the contact as just “Blacklist”.

2. Give the contact you created the following picture, or any other ugly picture you desire.

3. Next we want to assign that contact a custom ringtone, but first we have to get that ringtone to your phone. The ringtone I use is one called “silence“. Click to open it with iTunes or download it and put it in iTunes.

4. Now that you have the contact created and the ringtone in iTunes, sync your iPhone.

5. Almost there, just go into your Blacklist contact and set its custom ringtone to be the one you just uploaded.

6. Finally, add any caller you don’t want to talk to or whom you consider a spam caller to the Blacklist contact.

There you have it! That’s right, the phone is basically ringing, but no sound is made. We can’t stop it from vibrating, but no noise will be a clue that you don’t want to talk to this person. The screen will also have the custom picture we assigned above.

In brief, the pros and cons of this method are:
Pros – Free and easy
Cons – the phone will still vibrate, you have to know a number to block it, and you can’t stop them from leaving messages

Now as I said before, there are a few alternatives. In short they are Google Voice, jail breaking your iphone, or AT&T’s Smart Limits Wireless Parental Control.

Truthfully, I like Google Voice, formerly Grand Central, the best. Any caller that I haven’t specifically registered in Google Voice automatically goes to the voice mail and my phone never even rings. The only thing I get is an email or text telling me there is a message – if they left one. This service is free, professional and has lots of other benefits such as call routing. I love it because If I am unsure about giving anybody my number, I give them my Google Voice number.

As for applications to do call blocking on a jail broken iPhone, there are quite a few. I have not jail broken my phone, and won’t be, so I don’t have any real recommendations to make here. From what I have seen though, they don’t work much better than the blacklist contact method described above.

Finally, AT&T does have a service called Smart Limits Parental Control that an additional is $4.95 per month. This service offers parameter setting such as: time of day their phone can and cannot be used, number of text and instant messages per billing cycle, dollar amount for download purchases (ringtones, games, etc.), amount of Web browsing usage allowed per billing cycle, and the ability to block/allow specific numbers that can be called or text messaged (incoming and outgoing). This could be useful for more than parental control, such as in a small business, but I personally don’t want to give AT&T any more money than I already am.

So there you have it, my way and a few other ways to keep annoying callers from bothering you. If you have another method I would love to hear it. Let the information flow!

Soghoian being the author of this book is significant for two reasons. First, he is the product manager for AppleScript. He has been using and working with AppleScript for years. Simply put, nobody knows more about what AppleScript can do that Sal Soghoian. Second, he is a great teacher. If you have ever heard him speak at a conference or maybe seen one of his podcasts on MacBreak Work, you will already know this. If not, you are in for a pleasant surprise. His style is light and friendly without being causal and silly. He has the rare ability of making technical subjects easy to read – and not a cure for insomnia.

AppleScript 1-2-3 is a large volume of nearly 900 pages that is broken down into three broad sections. Starting with the absolute basics in the first section, Sal and his co-author Bill Cheeseman, take you through the fundamentals of scripting with plenty of examples and explanations. The second section takes what was gone over in the first section and expands on it. This second section goes into more tools, tips, and methodologies to make your scripts both easier and more powerful. Finally, the third section of the book takes you through specific examples of fully working useful scripts that you can use, modify, and make suit your own purposes. This section give you a strong toolbox to start you on way scripting.

Many people who move to the Mac lament the fact that they can no longer use their trusted MS-DOS batch files. The truth is that Apple’s AppleScript is much more flexible and powerful. The problem is, as with using VBScript in Windows, there is a bit of a learning curve to unlocking the real power. This book is the answer to that problem. From automating repetitive actions to performing complex series of actions, the power you need is there. This book can help you harness that power.

What is my secret painless backup method? One word, Mozy. Mozy is a remote backup service that works on Windows or Mac. Basically it backs up your data to the cloud. Yes, the famous Internet cloud we all keep hearing about. The software is a quick download and is simple to install and setup. And here is a real cool thing – it is free for up to two gigs of data. Yup, if you are just going to backup a subset of your files, it is free! And if you want to backup more or even all of you data, it is only about $5 per month for as much space as you need.

There are both pro and home versions of the Mozy software, so if you are looking at backing up an office environment they have you covered. And, heaven forbid, if you ever need to do a restore you can do it over the Internet to the same machine or to a different machine. If you have backed up a huge amount of data they can even just send you a physical copy of the data instead of having to download it all.

I’ll tell you the truth. I use Mozy because it works and it is kind of just a “set it and forget it” solution. I don’t have to swap tapes. I don’t have to worry about taking something off-site, and I don’t have to fear that the backup media or disks might get stolen and compromised. Everything is stored securely far away from here so I just let it run.

Again, there is a totally free version for up to 2 gig of storage, meaning there is no reason not to try it. So please, backup your files. If you don’t use this, use something. There is absolutely nothing worse than losing your work, your taxes, your financial records, or your prized family photos and knowing that you could have prevented the loss.

Oh, and if you want help with all those other lifestyle issues… check out ZenHabits.

I was personally debating whether I was going to put MS Office on the new MacBook I am buying. This answers that question. In addition to the normal Office features, including Entourage which is the basically Outlook for the Mac, this special media edition includes Microsoft Expression Media. Expression Media is the program that used to be known as iView Media Pro before Microsoft bought them. It is an excellent document and imaging cataloging and retrieval program. Think of it as iPhoto on steroids.

So, there you have it. So far our of all the Black Friday previews I have seen, this is the big winner. And, by the way, Happy Thanksgiving!

[Update: 12/01/08] Please note that this deal has now ended. Sorry!

Ok, so now on to the list…

On the Macintosh

• Email – GMail and iMail
• Browser – Firefox. Still can’t get used to Chrome.
• Office – iWork and Google Docs on web so no location worries
• Twitter – Tweetdeck or Tweetie – depends on how much “work” I am doing.
• Contact Management – Apple Address Book, mainly for the sync to iPhone
• Calendaring – iCal with Google Calendar, again, mainly for the sync to iPhone
• Music – iTunes (of course), Pandora, Last.fm
• Remote connect – CoRD internally, for external support GoToAssist Express
• Backup – TimeMachine locally, Mozy to off-site
• Newsreader – Google Reader
• Text Editor – Smultron
• Photo Editor – Photoshop Elements
• Utility – Parallels so that I can run Windows.
• Diagraming & Flowcharting – OmniGraffle
• Instant Messaging – Adium
• Database – Filemaker Pro

On Windows

• Email – GMail and Outlook
• Browser – Firefox and IE a far distant second
• Office – MS Office 2010 and Google Docs
• Twitter – web client, no 3rd party software
• Contact & Calendar Management – this is really a Mac task, but if I have to, Outlook
• Music – iTunes, Pandora, Last.fm
• Remote connect – RDC internally, external is GoToAssist Express
• Backup – Backup4All, Mozy to off-site
• Newsreader – Google Reader online.
• Photo Editor – not using one at the moment
• Diagraming – Visio
• Instant Messaging – Pidgin (used to be called GAIM)
• Database – Microsoft Access
• Antivirus – Microsoft Security Essentials

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for other programs to use please let me know!

So, here is the ad…
“Be the first to experience this brand new software. Create visually rich, engaging content for virtually any media – print, web, interactive, video, audio and mobile – using the tightly integrated tools and services of Adobe CS4. Express yourself in exciting new ways and trends. Buy now and get exclusive discounts and freebies, only from The Mall With It All – MacMall.”

First a bit of history. I have been using the service for a little over three years since back in the good old .Mac days.  The main reason I signed up originally was not for the email or web service, but for the synchronization. I really liked it because I could enable it on multiple machines and then have my bookmarks, accounts, and contacts synchronized between the various machines. Additionally, I could use iDisk to have a file area that I could access from those machines at different locations and that was also backed up “to-the-cloud.”

Fast forward a few years and we are at the MobileMe era.  One of the main changes for me though is that I know use Firefox as my main brower and with that I use FoxMarks to keep my bookmarks in sych between not only various Macs but also Windows machines. I also use GMail as my main email, so I access that from anywhere and don’t need to synch it between various machines. My contacts are still and issue, and MobileMe does keep them in synch, so that is good, but I rarely use iDisk any more. For files I either keep them on a USB memory key I keep with me or just stick them up in a temporary storage area on my website. For the few documents or spreadsheets I like to have available, I use Google Docs. Again, it means they are available anywhere and I don’t have to synch. Nothing like having your travel schedule and agenda up on line and being able to share it if you want!

As for calendaring, most of my calendar is kept on our corporate Exchange server so that is a totally seperate thing. I have been trying to decide where I will keep my calendar if I leave my current work situation, and most probably it will be Google Calendar. The nice thing about both MobileMe’s calendar and Google’s calendar, is that they can be published and shared with other people. My bias is that Google’s method is easier and more direct, but I think that is just because it was designed from the ground up as a web based public-enabled calendar.

Now, the iPhone does add a wrinkle to this and it makes me look at MobleMe again.  Email works great between GMail and the iPhone, but unfortunately neither calendar or contacts sync over the air.  The alternative is to sync the Google Cal and Contacts to the physical computer and then sync that to the iPhone manually. This is probably fine for most people. There is also a good mobile / iPhone interface for the Google calendar, so that makes things even easier.

The real deal stopper for me for complete conversion to the Google word is contacts. Simply put, Google doesn’t store them well – ie, just a “name” not first name and last name. And no details. So for mailing lists, mail merge, business use, etc… you really need to use a different app. Anybody who need anything approaching CRM or a client database has to, absolutely has to, use something else.

Now, I don’t know whether you use a Mac or a PC.  My main machines are Macs, but I use both. I use them both extensively. Some of this really does depend on your platform of choice though. A MobileMe account is much more useful for a Mac person that someone who uses Windows.

Finally, I don’t use the web galleries and publishing much on MobileMe. I have done it a couple of times just to try it out and see how it works and gain experience, but I have a websites with WordPress and galleries and such so I just don’t have the need. And I have tons of space there, so the amount of space MobileMe offers me is not that big a deal.

So, there you go. Lots of opinion and not much advice!  I hope this helps in some way, and if you have any questions – specific or general – I will be glad to try to answer.

My final thought is this, my account is up for renewal in two months. Will I renew?  I simply haven’t decided yet.  Sorry!

Think about it.  Without syncing you can listen to that huge 80 gig library of music stored on your machine back home when you get stuck in the airport. This works with iTunes on the Mac and both iTunes and WinAmp on Windows PCs. You can then stream that music to your iPhone via WiFi, Edge, or 3G.

Additionally, if you install the client on another remote machine, you can also listen to the music from there.  So say you have a big hard drive at home with tons of music, well install the client both at home and at work. Then you can listen to your entire home library while at work. Really good stuff, and the software is both simple and free. Word is that they may price the iPhone client software at $3.99 after the first 100,000 copies are distributed.

So, give Simplify Media a try – while it is still free and legal!

Note: I originally thought this would stream both music and video, but unfortunately right now it is music only. We can always hope though…

Who else is going to be there? And the big question – how early do we need to start lining up? Damn I wish I hadn’t placed my iPhone order last Saturday.

But anyway, for those of you who store your music and videos in iTunes and want to know how to back it all up, Apple has posted an article on just how to do so. iTunes 7 offers a new way to back up your iTunes library, playlists, and iTunes Store purchases (including Applications purchased from the App Store) for safekeeping. The Back Up to Disc feature saves your media to a blank disc (CD or DVD) and once backed up, iTunes can use your backup disc(s) to automatically restore your iTunes library. If you have iTunes 5 or 6, click here. Note that this is for both Windows and Mac computers.

I don’t need to tell you that you should be backing up your entire computer and all of your documents, but if you want to know just how to backup iTunes, this is a great article. But please, backup everything. External hard drives are quite inexpensive these days and make backing up quick, easy, and painless. For a few examples of them, look here or here.

The other article for you Apple users out there is one on how to synchronize Microsoft Entourage, Mac Office’s Outlook counterpart, with your iPhone or iPod Touch. I have posted that full article on my site at MacDeveloper website. So, if you are using Entourage and want to sync up, be sure to check that one out.