The iPhone experience, phase one

iPhone, originally uploaded by mo_mughrabi.

Yes, finally i got my hands on one of those. I was very thrilled to start using the new iPhone from Apple. At first, the phone looks incredibly elegant and fun to use. Any who, until now I've come up with a list with features i like the most and i hate the most.

Lets start with the ones I like the most
1. Amazing keyboard for typing messages.
2. Rich graphical interface.
3. Great video player - Resolution-wise - & cover float view.
4. Huge storage space for your movies to carry around.
5. Easy to setup mail services.
6. Installer to Add/Remove applications.
7. Amazing Alarm system.
8. Youtube application for streaming live videos and searching youtube database.
9. Synchronize perfectly with you Mac address book, Calendar..etc.
10. Since its based on Unix its allow you to install most the unix famous applications as HTTPD, SSH server/client, perl, php, python..etc.

Now the ones i don't like
1. Runs out of battery quickly.
2. Cannot forward SMS nor you can send to multiple recipient at a time.
3. Cannot customize the email checking process.
4. Cannot configure your own ring tone accept through iTunes store.
5. No google maps support for the middle east.
6. Cannot use the bluetooth to send/receive nor connect to your Mac.

Well, this is all for now.. I'll try to post more about the experience in general. Until then, thanks for reading and if you have any concerns about the iPhone please don't hesitate to post em up and I'll get back to you.

Using Mac OS X - Terminal as FTP client

Mac OS X - Terminal, originally uploaded by mo_mughrabi.

Many people don't realize the power of having access to command-line prompt. Recently, Apple has released all its Mac OS included an access to the command-line and since Mac OS is a Unix based this makes all the difference.

Now, if you want to use the terminal (shell, command-line) as your FTP client there is few things we should demonstrate here.

First of all, you will need to know the following information in order for you to access the FTP server. Host name (Domain name or IP address), username & Password. Now, Open your terminal and write to following command:

ftp kwtmac.com
Connected to kwtmac.com.
220 FTP Server (A+Net) ready

In the next step you will be asked to enter you username then you will be asked to enter the password. Once you get the below message that means you are logged in:

230 User mughrabi logged in
Remote system type is UNIX.
Using binary mode to transfer files.

here are some useful commands you can use once you are logged in:
1. ls = can be used to list the files within the directory.
2. pwd = will show you your current location
3. cd = will allow you to get inside and outside folders.
4. get = followed by the file name, this will download the file from the FTP server.
5. put = followed by the file name, this will upload the file to the FTP server.
6. lcd = this will allow you to specify the directory where you want downloaded files to be placed and uploaded files to be picked up from.


I believe an example will help to understand better, lets say we have a folder "TEST" and there is this file "mo.php" you want to download and then you want to upload "info.php" which is on your desktop.

cd TEST
ls
get mo.php
lcd /Users/Mughrabi/Desktop
put info.php
quit

This basic steps will allow you to access your FTP server, list files and folders, browse in and out from folders and download/upload files. Enjoy using your built-in command line interface and if you have any further questions please feel free to put them on.

UPDATE: Another copy of this blog entry is posted on kwtmac.com ( http://www.kwtmac.com/2007/10/08/using-mac-os-x-terminal-as-ftp-client/ )