Just found out, you're not limited to preset drop pins, you can create your own drop pin, drop them anywhere, and look for that StreetView icon. If it is not greyed out, that means Street View is available at that position you have dropped a pin onto.

For example, look around Disneyland Anaheim California. Drop a pin on any of the main roads, marked by a solid yellow line, and your new drop pin becomes your Street View point. Tap the Street View icon, and start travelling away!

Some roads are smaller, and not traversed by the Street View car, hence no Street View available. You'll get a better chance sticking to the larger avenues, highways and boulevards.

That post sorta brought a huge "!" mark on top of my head.

Was at a meeting today with my investment advisor, and after all the necessary work done and set aside, we talked about the iPhone, because I noticed she is using one. In my excitement, showed her the 2.2 Aifontriji, and she was excited about its features and the stability of the system on the whole, while on 2.2. She was complaining on SMS lag, and Safari booting her out to Home screen. Her unit is an Aifonej by the way. Took a look at her About page, and it was 1.1.4!

Blurted out that she should update hers to the latest firmware, so that she could have stability and use Street View, which she liked very much. Did not realize, until now, from those simple sentences, Nokia, that 2.2 on Aifonej = LOCKED! Thank God I stumbled upon this realisation, thanks to this. Otherwise, I'd be in a pickle because she's already excited to had me do her firmware update for her, but I asked her to back her phone up before we can proceed any further.

Thanks, Nokia!

That is good to know,but I think I'd let her stay out of this cat and mouse game until things have settled down. Dont want to mess up her Aifonej.

Grab a drop pin. Drop it on the map. Once dropped, check if the Street View icon is lighted or greyed out. If it is greyed out, it will not be available at the area you have dropped that pin onto. If it is lighted, tap that icon, and the view will "drop" to that drop pin, and you can "360" around that area you pindropped. To navigate further up or down the road you pindropped, tap the arrow on the yellow-highlighted line. Your position will be moved accordingly.

Popular areas, are already premarked by other Google Street View users with drop pins that have Street View on them. Try search for " Apple Fifth Avenue New York", "Times Square" or "Paris". The drop pin at Apple store on 5th Avenue in New York is cool, but at the present moment, the view of the glass cube is blocked by a stupid UPS truck! I hope the Street View car will do another pass at the area and at less busier times.

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Nov 23 2008, 11:59 PM

As long as you don't see the Street View car doing its rounds around your local areas, Street View will not be available. Some folks in the States are lucky(or unlucky, depending on how you see it) enough to have the car photographing their residential area to be included into Street View, they can even trace down their virtual journey on Street View right up to their front lawn and driveway!

When I say unlucky, some of the photos are pretty intrusive in terms on privacy. For example, a poor guy got his pictures taken by Google Street Car while he passed out on the sidewalk after being drunk drinking the past night! If you voluntarily offer your mug to be taken for Street View, that is pretty much fine, but for this person, it may more than a little embarrassing.

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Nov 24 2008, 12:09 AM

Don't blame Beijing or Hong Kong for it, some countries are pretty sensitive when it comes to taking pictures of their areas. Privacy issues and security matters rank differently between countries.

Malaysia? Our government does not even care if Google Map even work around these parts, so don't hold your breath for Street View here.

And I thought I was overhyping myself, at least I'm not alone in finding the awesomeness of Google Street View. Kudos to you too bro for not trivializing this, it is a major addition. Even in the seclusion of your geekish home, you can "travel the world".

Stick it to GSM/non-3G first.I get the same errors too, and turning it off fixes that. After that, it latches on to the 3G signal and stays out of error since. Don't have to guess what condition my Aifontriji will be.

I go out to and fro from my place to KLCC almost routinely when I can, and I never fail to turn on Safari web browsing when I can while the bus tracks its route to KLCC. I do notice that on certain areas that were previously running fine with signal strength while in 3G, recently have been getting signal fluctuations. So it may be the telco itself, as I do not change any configuration on the Aifontriji itself, my apps and settings have stayed the same for the last two fortnight. If you eliminate changes by the user, hence errors contributed by the device itself, what is left is the service provider. I believe this is so.

There are no other external variables towards this, as I do not jailbreak mine. Usage patterns have been fairly the same with Safari browsing and Map tracking before 2.2 arrived. Even the routing have been the same, since the bus route remains the same.

Take it what you will.

This post has been edited by stringfellow: Nov 25 2008, 12:28 AM

The "Automatic" is also set on mine, it is only for the retrieval and selection of the service provider. Especially around my place, there are blind spot which requires either moving away from them while in 3G mode, or switching off 3G and staying within GSM network only.

Maxis? Not to insinuate anything, but I've heard many cases such as those from the Maxis side of things. Celcom is not better either, but I'm happy that all I need to do is turn off 3G to rectify the problem. Funny thing is, it is only in my master bedroom. Once I move to the verandah, everything okay again. Maybe too much radio waves flying around till the Aifontriji is suffocated trying to latch to the right radio wave?

I use them for work too. Google up Foreflight, FlightPlan, myE6B, Units and VelaClock, or search through iTunes Appstore for them. I need them for work, gives me the edge even before I'm at the briefing, especially Foreflight.

No. I don't jailbreak.

I'll wait and see if I can get it legitimately proper on my Japan trips, Softbank is one of the roaming partner I get there. Otherwise, not a big thing that I'd risk jailbreaking for.

Something for you and me to ponder on, listen to the song and what it says :-

Took a look at the next month roster, very festive!

First of all, on the first of January '09...........back to Auckland, baby! Will be doing a few iPhone 3G purchases, for close friends and relatives.

Next would be a ho-hum Melbourne, but the company's good.

Coming after that is Sydney-Brisbane run, so FINALLY will get the chance to visit Sydney's official Apple Store! Not to mention, a quick Brisbane/Gold Coast visit.

And on the later days of the month.........Paris! Damn, it has been a while since the time spent in Parc Disneyland. Should be draped in season's decor since it is proper winter at that time. Hope they have the Wishes fireworks then.

Pardon the OT guys, but it's been a while since my last Auckland and Paris trip. Too excited here!

Carry on with the discussion.

Sure thing. What casing you're after?

This was reported earlier on via Macrumors, that some of the iPhones that are unlocked via unlock codes from telco carriers gets locked back. The best solution is to tell your friend to inform the Australian telco that he had bought the phone from to again forward the unlock codes via iTunes again. Otherwise, they may want you to bring it in so that they can do that again.

This is the reason why Australian iPhones are not high on my preferred list. Having to retrace your unlocking history with a telco is troublesome to say the least.

Out of curiosity, you like things dangling off your iPhone/iPod? Would'nt it be cumbersome?

Yup, I know what it is. The thing is, that dongle will be dangling out of your iPhone, plus unless supported, your headset+dongle combo may not even work on answering and receiving calls. The whole dangling thing destroys the aesthetics of the iPhone itself.

Unless you're buying a proper high-end wireless BT headphones, having the sound piped through those tiny earphones will produce dsappointing results. Trust me, I've been there. Even when I am in the position of doing this setup you plan to, with my DR-BT50 headphones, I chose not to, the audio fidelity is lost unless the player properly complements the headphones (a.k.a they are made to work with each other, like the DR-BT50 + NWZ-A820 combo).