Archive for the ‘Apple’ Category

iPad Reviews

A collection of early reviews. I will update as I find them:

Apple iPad (Wi-Fi) – PC Mag
Looking at the iPad from Two Angles – NY Times
Laptop Killer? Pretty Close – Wall Street Journal
iPad is pure innovation - Chicago Sun Times
Sure, the iPad is cool – but is it a real computer? – Chicago Sun Times
iBooks is worth the price alone for iPad as ebook reader – Chicago Sun Times
Marvel iPad app shows promise for digital comics - Chicago Sun Times
The accessories make the iPad close to complete – Chicago Sun Times
Verdict is in on Apple iPad: It’s a winner – USA Today
It’s an app world, and it could swallow all computing – USA Today
Apple’s iPad: The Mothership Prepares for Launch – Time

The iPad and Books

Books in the age of the iPad
An excellent and thought provoking essay, by Craig Mod

iPhone Radio Apps

The antenna got ripped out of our car a few months ago, leaving me without a functioning radio to use during my daily 1+ hour commute.

Now this isn’t such a big deal normally. I own an iPod and an iPhone, and I’ve been loading them up with podcasts for years, listening in the car via an FM transmitter. The transmitter still works (the antenna isn’t a big deal at close range), but sometimes you still want radio. Fortunatelly, the iPhone has several excellent options.

AOL Radio

A solid choice…good sound quality and it stays connected pretty consistently. The downside is that there isn’t much choice available. (12 Sports stations, nationwide.) It’s also free, which is nice.

WunderRadio

Much larger selection, and it handles different kinds of streams (MS-RTSP, MMS, MP3, AAC) you can also browse web pages while listening, should you want to. It seems to drop signal a bit more often, and it’s $5.99, but I consider it a “must-have” for its flexibility.

iheartradio

3 high-value iPhone apps…recommended.

An open letter from Steve Jobs…

Posted today at Apple:

Dear Apple Community,

For the first time in a decade, I’m getting to spend the holiday season with my family, rather than intensely preparing for a Macworld keynote.

Unfortunately, my decision to have Phil deliver the Macworld keynote set off another flurry of rumors about my health, with some even publishing stories of me on my deathbed.

I’ve decided to share something very personal with the Apple community so that we can all relax and enjoy the show tomorrow.

As many of you know, I have been losing weight throughout 2008. The reason has been a mystery to me and my doctors. A few weeks ago, I decided that getting to the root cause of this and reversing it needed to become my #1 priority.

Fortunately, after further testing, my doctors think they have found the cause—a hormone imbalance that has been “robbing” me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy. Sophisticated blood tests have confirmed this diagnosis.

The remedy for this nutritional problem is relatively simple and straightforward, and I’ve already begun treatment. But, just like I didn’t lose this much weight and body mass in a week or a month, my doctors expect it will take me until late this Spring to regain it. I will continue as Apple’s CEO during my recovery.

I have given more than my all to Apple for the past 11 years now. I will be the first one to step up and tell our Board of Directors if I can no longer continue to fulfill my duties as Apple’s CEO. I hope the Apple community will support me in my recovery and know that I will always put what is best for Apple first.

So now I’ve said more than I wanted to say, and all that I am going to say, about this.

Steve

About time he said something, in my opinion.

There’s no way this should work, but it does…

Apple’s “App Store” is loaded with cool little applications for the iPhone and Apple Touch, but one of my favorites is “Shazam“.

If you hear a song and you’re curious as to who the artist is, you simply take out your iPhone and turn on Shazam and after a few seconds of listening, it returns with the Title, Artist, and Album. The information is saved to your “Tag list”, and you have the option of buying the song on iTunes or pulling up related videos on Youtube.

I’ve tried to stump this application with obscure songs and music from scratchy radio stations, but it seems to be foolproof. Simply incredible.

Paul Frank iPhone Cover

The monkeys are cool, and Lauren can’t keep her hands off of it, but this is the one I really want …

Still looking.

In other news, I purchased a new Macbook.

Yes, it’s black, which nets me a 250 gig hard drive and little else. But the matte finish is drool worthy. The lcd on our 12inch iBook died on us, so a replacement was urgently needed. I’ll be taking this on my trips coming up at the end of the month.

After a week of use I can say that it’s easily the finest laptop I’ve ever owned. This thing just rocks. I use Spaces heavily and have most of my apps mapped to different desktops. I think I have 8 spaces running on it at the moment. Lightroom, Ecto, and even World of Warcraft all run very well. Love it.

iPhone SDK

On the heels of yesterday’s iPhone announcement, I’ve signed up to be an iPhone developer.

Why? I have no idea. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to build anything presentable to the general public, but it promises to be fun to play with. Downloading an early version of the SDK now.