Stranger Joins The 21st Century

For my birthday a couple of weeks ago, BE splashed out and got me one of these:


How cool is that? I kind of started coveting iPhones when I found out about the baby apps, but I mostly got over it with time.

Let me give some context here. For one thing, I'm pretty much a technological idiot. Fortunately, a gorilla (or a 3-year-old, for that matter) can easily work an iPhone because all you have to do is poke the screen to make it go. For another thing, I've never felt any compulsion whatsoever to have the latest gadget. Prior to getting the iPhone, I'd never owned, or even touched an iPod or any other iProduct. I still buy CDs and I'm fine with that. I still have a big box of cassettes in my parents' basement that I've had neither the time nor inclination to convert to digital, and my parents are probably less fine with that than they let on.

Once I'd unlocked the mysteries of iPhone syncing and gotten over the annoying qualities of that word, and once I'd quit wondering why it has to be called "syncing" instead of "loading" or some other term I'm already familiar with, I downloaded the free lightsaber app. Then I managed to get some music into the iPod bit, and then I found some free apps for babies and grown-ups. After that I found a bunch of ridiculous ringtones that no one but people like me who are easily amazed would actually use in real life. My favorite is the Muzak Imperial March from Star Wars.

Stuck in another generation, anyone? Also my kid has a Beatles T-shirt and knows all the Beatles' first names as well as which Beatles are no longer with us. We're working on surnames. The sad part is that the Beatles aren't even my generation. Star Wars is a stretch because I was 4 when the first one came out, though I remember going to see it in the theater. I thought the movie was all about the droids.

So far, LE thinks the iPhone is his. BE is intensely jealous. Turkcell wouldn't give him one because he paid his bills late a few times. Punished! BE can use the iPhone whenever he wants but LE is allowed only closely supervised contact with no booger fingers. The iPhone actually causes more tantrums than providing distraction from tantrums and I don't want it to get punched or thrown like my old phone, which required some special treatment just to make it so you could hear the other person speaking.

So. After a couple of weeks of heavy topics around here, I'm appealing to my dear readers for lighter iPhone-related information because I'm definitely in the Dark Ages with this one, and whatever I read on the Internet about it just gives me a headache.

First, when I initially got the iPhone I was able to access YouTube through the app or whatever it is that came with the phone. Then suddenly I couldn't anymore. Why is that? How can I get it back?

Next, what cool apps can you recommend?

Thanking you in advance. I'm off to curl up in bed with the iPhone for a few rounds of free Mastermind.