17 posts tagged “apple”

Based on Veronica Belmont's post regarding a Wordpress plug-in to make your blog iPhone friendly, I have installed this on my blog The Standing. It looks to have worked pretty good.

I decided to create my own t-shirt in honor of Steve Jobs.

After using the iPhone for a few days, I thought I would share my thoughts, both good and bad, regarding the phone.  Also some links for those that have an iPhone to make their experience better.

First, I will start with some issues.  A few things that I have found that could be better or included.  Since everyone else is talking about no 3G, no GPS and no flash drive slot, I will not include these.

1. Only can sync or not sync - no manual abilities as with the current iPods.  I prefer to manage what is added and what is deleted from my iPod and have done so since my first.  iPhone does not allow this option.
2. No easy multimedia messaging.   Just have to email pictures to friends.  Not an elegant work around.
3. No chat.  Can use SMS, but will cost if you do not have an unlimited plan.
4. The phone is kinda slippery.  I suggest getting a skin to protect the iPhone as well as make it easier to hold on.
5. Not able to use the virtual keyboard in widescreen mode any time.  Only in Safari.

Now Some things I really like.

1. Unbelievable screen.  You have to actually experience it in your hand to understand.
2. After viewing completely any video (video podcast, TV, Movie) it asks if you want to delete to free up space right there on the iPhone.  Do not have to connect with iTunes.  Love it!
3. Battery life.  I have had no issue what so ever.
4. Virtual keyboard is not that bad.  The more I use it, the faster and more accurate I get.  I like it.

Finally a few links.  For some online applications being developed for the iPhone, here  are a couple of sites to start at:

iPhone Application List
Top 25 Web Apps for iPhone - Rev2.org
Barcamp iPhone Developed Apps

Unfortunately, at the time of purchasing the iPhone, there were not many accessories.  Here are some links of good places to find a new cases, covers, skins, etc... (updated July 31, 2007)

http://www.case-mate.com
http://www.speckproducts.com
http://www.senacases.com/Brands/Apple-iPhone-Cases
http://www.myincipio.com
http://www.dlo.com/
http://www.griffintechnology.com/
http://belkin.com/ipod/
http://www.ebcases.com
http://goincase.com/
http://ifrogz.com/
http://www.vajacases.com/
http://www.marware.com/site/Home.html
http://www.zcover.com/
http://www.iskin.com/
http://www.i-luv.com/iLuv/
http://www.vajacases.com/
http://www.contourcase.com/

I have recently had a situation regarding my Macbook that caused me to make my first appointment and visit with a Mac Genius at my local Apple store. Long story, short, I dropped my Macbook and the Superdrive started to make a grinding noise whenever it was accessed. The body of the Macbook was also distorted around the slot for the Superdrive.

When I met with the "Genius" and told him the story, he did nothing with my Macbook. He only looked up the cost to replace the drive and said it would be over $800 to fix. Hmmm. $800 is a bit much so declined his offer. My thinking was to just purchase an external DVD drive or take it to a 3rd party authorized dealer to see what they would charge.

After some time, I decided to take my Macbook apart just to see the extent of the damage. After a couple dozen screws - almost all different sizes - I had my Macbook apart and saw that some plastic clips that hold the exterior body of the Macbook to the interior had come off, with one of them jammed sideways in the Superdrive. I took each of these plastic clips and reattached them correctly and rebuilt my Macbook. Even with never taking a notebook apart or looking up how my Macbook was put together, I did all of this in under 15 minutes. And guess what. My Macbook AND Superdrive are as good as new.

Cost? $0. Thanks for NOTHING Mr. GENIUS.

For details, check out www.macrumorslive.com

Apple Store is offline – Means Hardware or Software release??

Started on time – AMAZING!

EA Games back on Mac - Command & Conquer, Battlefield 2142, Harry Potter, etc... July release dates.

300 new features in Leopard.  Showing 10:

1.    New Desktop (new menu bar, dock, "stacks")
2.    New Finder (new sidebar, better network and shares, cover flow view for any folder, pdf, slideshow, keynote presentation or even computer, built in search and smart searches, one click for 'today' stuff, .Mac integration to find and browse your other Macs)
3.    Quick Look (View many type of files without opening application)
4.    64-bit top to bottom.  Will run 32-bit or 64-bit apps side by side. 1 Version of Leopard only.
5.    Core Animation (simple to use, easy to ad to apps, layers, GPU acceleration)
6.    Boot Camp (built into Leopard, run Windows at native speed)
7.    Spaces (multiple desktops, group apps in spaces, move apps between spaces)
8.    Dashboard (New widget-Movie Times – search, preview and buy via Fandango, Safari will make widgets from web pages easily & customize them)
9.    iChat (better quality, tabs, Photo Booth effects, iChat theatre – show iPhoto slideshows, Pdfs, video, presentations, etc… anything that works with Quick Look, and last, Backdrops)

1 Hour Down.

10.    Time Machine (back-up in a simple way to an attached hard drive or network drive, can back up more than one computer, preview, restore 1 file or multiple files or entire Mac, can search backup via Spotlight and view via Quick Look)

Demo's can be found on the Apple Website HERE.

Shipping in October
Pricing:
$129 Basic Version
$129 Premium Version
$129 Business Version
$129 Enterprise Version
$129 Ultimate Version

Only 1 version of Leopard with everything on it.

One more thing….

Safari – Version 3 runs on Leopard, XP and Vista as well.
Showed speed benchmarks. Safari vs. IE vs. Firefox.  Of course Safari beat them all (claimed twice as fast as IE and 1.6 times as fast as Firefox).  
Demo’d Safari on Windows vs. IE.
Public beta’s released today.

One more thing…

iPhone ships June 29.  18 days away.  
What about Developers?
How to allow developed apps and keep secure?
Full Safari engine on iPhone.  
Ajax and Web 2.0 apps can be written easily to the iPhone.
Can go live on June 29.
Can build website looking just like the desktop application giving same feel as desktop application.
Demo – Head of iPhone Software had trouble typing on iPhone!
Google building apps this way for iPhone.

Keynote over – No Hardware or Software announced for Apple Store?  Why is it offline?
Oh, new look... great.

I highly recommend that you go over the the All Things Digital website and view the video of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates getting interviewed.  All of the video's are great, whether just Steve Jobs (below) or both Steve and Bill.  Take a gander.

Ever have a Mac stolen?  Did you get it back?  Orbicule's Undercover will help you retrieve your stolen Mac.

 
This looks like a great product for those with Mac notebooks.  Take a look and read the true recovery story on the web site - it is pretty funny and cool.

Now that I have multiple Macs in the house, I was looking for a simple, cheap method for Remote Desktop.  Apples solution is a bit expensive for my blood, and then I heard of SpyMe on a podcast.  Can't remember which, may have been MacBreak Weekly.

It is very simple to install on each Mac and provides an excellent solution at a fraction of the price.  Only $15 for 3 computers.  If you have multiple Macs, you have to try this.

I can not wait until Cerulean Studio's releases a Beta of Trillian Astra.  It looks really clean and according to their website, much faster.  You can find screenshots at BigBlueBall.  And I hope this ad is true.  I have wanted Trillian on my Macs since I got my first.