A friend called and needed a referral, rather than turn on the speaker, search my contacts, and read the number aloud I said I would send the info. Later, I went into the iPhone contact list, searched for the target contact and got ready to commit the number to memory to include an SMS text* and then noticed a button: “Share Contact.”   (I have yet to adjust to the fact that iPhone now has copy and paste)

I touched “Share Contact” and iPhone attached a VCF file, the standard format for contact info, to an email.  Cool, I thought, and started typing my friend’s name and clicked on his email address when iPhone brought it up in the list an then touched send.  On the other end, when my friend clicks on the file to invoke his email client, e.g. Outlook, Entourage or Mac Address Book and then he’ll have all the info just that easy.  And since this friend has trouble keeping track of numbers, maybe he won’t call for that one again, but that probably hoping too much.  

Then I wondered, but had a strong suspicion about, what would happen if I opened the VCF attachment on the iPhone.  As I suspected, when I touched the file and iPhone opened it and asked if I wanted to add it my contacts.  

So, if you have MobileMe and an iPhone, you can have people email VCF, open them on iPhone to create new contacts which will sync through MobileMe and be on your Mac when you get back to the office.  See Paperless Express Step 1.  

When I added the OS Law Center as a contact to test this, I thought neither “work” nor “home” email was appropriate so I made a custom label.  That’s easy too.  While viewing a contact, touch Edit and then the desired item and then the label under it, then touch “Add Custom Label”  

FYI: The callout on the main image are just standard PDF commenting tools.  Acrobat opens image files too. Getting the images back on the web takes a few more steps and if anyone is interested I’ll demo that too.  

*My friend also has an iPhone and I was going to use SMS text because iPhones recognize phone numbers in text messages, which can be called with a touch. He got the iPhone based on my recommendation and thanked me for it. I also recommend the Mac and Fujitsu ScanSnap with the same result.  These products are so good that recommending them is like picking low hanging fruit grown on the neighbor’s farm.
 

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I am a strong proponent of data and feature centralization, I always prefer to have as much data and as many functions concentrated in the fewest places.  I like to websites that are also blogs, video galleries, and intranets, which is why I develop my own sites.  I like operating systems with powerful native software, which is why I use a Mac.  And I like a phone that is more than a just phone, which is why I like the iPhone.  Computers and websites are not terribly difficult to backup and relativity speaking carry a low risk of loss.  But concentrating data on a mobile phone is a different matter.  

The new iPhone 3.0 operating system now has a feature that allows MobileMe subscribers locate the phone on a map, make it play a sound, display a message across the screen and wipe all the data remotely.  Lose the iPhone, log onto to me.com and have I play a sound, even if in silent mode.  If you can’t find it, display message and maybe a passerby will help get it back to you.  Worst case, wipe all the data and if you find it latter just restore it from the backup in iTunes.  

MobileMe, formerly .Mac, is Apple’s online service that includes a suite of services normally associated with servers. It costs $99 per year and, I think, well worth the price because, among other things, it keeps contacts, calendars, and email, synced between computers and the iPhone.  Enter a contact or appointment on the iPhone and it shows up on the Mac.  One of my clients, who is running Macs in the office, has his secretary enter events in the office to have them appear on his iPhone; a handy feature for a guy always in court. MobileMe opens up other opportunities for convenience and security that I discuss in the step 1 of the Paperless Express and others that I’ll give it a comprehensive treatment in Step 5 of that series.  

I think the new data wipe and phone location features are a good addition and lend a good bit of piece of mind as more data can fit in increasingly small areas. These features are located in the settings area of MobileMe account, which requires that you enter your password again after the initial log in.  Turing on the data wipe and find my iPhone is just a matter of flipping the switch located in Settings- Mail, Contacts, and Calendars- [select your MobileMe Account] flip the switch.  Also be sure to make data Push on the “Fetch New Data” box, you’ll run across  along the way,  it’s just below the list of email accounts.

Also, don’t forget to turn your pass code lock and set it to auto lock in shortest amount of time you can handle.  I find that have the phone lock itself immediately is a bit annoying but more secure; I use three minutes.  Passcode lock is located in Settings – General – Passcode lock.  

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Apple just released the iPhone 3Gs and a new version of the iPhone software 3.0.  They each deliver new features and one of the things that all iPhone users now have available directly from Apple through the new 3.0 software is the Voice Memos app.  While there are several voice memos apps available in the Apps Store, and the one I used was pretty good, like most things Apple does, this included App looks and works a bit better than most.  It’s also free.  

With Voice Memos you can record, name, and attach descriptions to each memo. Once recorded each can be trimmed, imported into iTunes, or more likely, emailed directly from the iPhone.  I always thought carrying a recorder would was a good idea but always forgot to take it along.  Now, with he iPhone,  there is no need to remember.   Of course, the same observation also applies to a video camera, iPod, calendar, map, address book and several thousand other things and all the information on the internet.

The problem I have found with modern technology is not the lack of capability but figuring out what to do with it and then remembering that it is there to help.  Making that calculation in such a way as to alleviate the need to remember seems to be the trick.  Having an iPhone concentrate so many things in one place is a step in that direction and one I certainly recommend.    
 

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