these are my words.
Technology
Technology
Why the iPhone 3GS is not a must-buy
Jun 8th
Apple launched the 2009 edition of the Worldwide Developers Conference with two big announcements – a launch date for the much-anticipated iPhone 3.0 operating system, and the new iPhone 3GS hardware. While the new OS is a must-have for any iPhone owner, the 3GS is more like a hardware version of a .1 release and not a must-buy.
The new 3GS is promised to have improved performance that will outpace the processing power of current-release iPhones, but the tangible hardware-exclusives are not worth the unsubsidized price-point current 3G owners will have to shell out.
3GS owners will have a built-in compass (ummm…), built-in video recording, editing and upload (something that admittedly has me drooling, but is also a first-gen release), and a new 3MP camera (again… for serious pics, I’m using my REAL digital camera and not a phone). That leaves improved performance of apps like Safari, Mail, etc. as selling points, and THAT is not enough to make me want to upgrade.
Come OS3.0 day, iPhone 3G owners will effectively end up with brand new phones – complete with landscape keyboard in key apps, push notifications, tethering, MMS, new APIs which will equal hot new apps, and more. For a guy like me who tweets, checks Facebook, ends the occasional e-mail and surfs the web a bit, OS3.0 will be all the upgrade I need… for now.
So – how long should one wait to upgrade hardware? I don’t know about you, but I’m waiting until:
- video editing gets a solid point revision
- I can’t run 3rd party killer apps on the 3G hardware
- iChat and iSight come to the iPhone
- a major OS overhaul which requires new hardware
- my current phone breaks (knock on wood, this won’t happen in the next 25 months)
In short – to all my iPhone 3G friends… wait! 3GS may be faster and have a couple of new bells and whistles… but I don’t believe it is necessary to change hardware just yet!
Sent from my iPhone 3G. 
+J
Twitter SMS back in Canada?
Feb 19th
Developing…
I was sitting here doing some reading when all of a sudden my cell phone beeped signaling a new text message. Looked down — it was from Twitter!
It’s been about 2 months since Twitter discontinued outbound SMS messaging to Canadian cell phones because of high fees being charged back to Twitter from the providers.
Apparently I’m not alone. A quick search shows others are getting messages now too.
If you are — which provider are you on? When did you get your first message?
I’ll start… Sasktel and 6:23pm CT.
Tuesday’s Digital Finds
Feb 3rd
To start off with, my buddy Tim Stone at C95 was blasting this in his office the other day while working on music logs.
The group is Justice. The album is called Cross. Yes… it’s 4 years old. Far be it for me to pretend like I’m discovering it… but it sounded awesome. The whole album is solid and I am now officially a fan.
Also on the interwebs, a TV show I used to watch when I was much younger (oh… in my early 20s) has now found a new life online. MTV’s Undressed was kitschy to some, sleazy to others, and just plain fun for folks like me. The story lines are hilarious… the acting is so-so… and the show is solid. One episode per week is now being posted at UndressedTV.com.
Finally, as you might have gathered by now I’m a huge fan of Twitter. Well, now you can track my stats (and those of others) — seeing just how often we tweet, and what we’re tweeting about. Check it…
That is all.
+J
The Frozen Show – Episode 5
Feb 2nd
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Diggnation #1
Jan 18th
On Monday, episode 3 of The Frozen Show hits. Brian and I finished editing last night… and it’s far and away the best episode yet. Be sure to check it!
In the meantime… I thought I’d share this with you. All the way back to July 1, 2005 — the very first episode of Diggnation. Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht look SOOOO much different here! What is really impressive, though, is how the premise and format of the show has remained reasonably unaltered over the show’s four year run so far.
Check it…
+J
Seven things Apple should have announced at Macworld
Jan 6th
Apple’s Phil Schiller took to the stage of San Francisco’s Moscone Centre on Tuesday to announce a number of updates to the Apple product line. While many additions are welcome (DRM-free iTunes, 3G music downloads), there are some things Apple didn’t announce which I think would be serious upgrades to the company’s offerings.
1) Flash support on iPhone. Adding Flash support is a double edged sword for the Jesus Phone. Upside is that we all can enjoy services like Hulu (in the US) and other flash-based media streaming services. Downside is the bandwidth that might get consumed as a result. Might get REAL easy to use up a 6GB data plan…
2) Cut & Paste. I haven’t really gotten on the cut-and-paste-on-the-iPhone bandwagon until I started using Twitter real heavily on my iPhone. Simply put… Posting URLs inside iPhone-based Twitter clients is painnnnful.
3) TV room killer. Yep… Boxee is pretty cool. But DVDs are so passé. As much as I want to be all-Apple-VOD, I might want to pop in a Blu-Ray disc every once in a while. And I might even want to watch Anderson Cooper on PVR at 2am. Apple TV has a great interface… But it needs a take-three to get it right.
4) Multitouch in the home. I want multitouch on my next iMac. Period.
5) Better TV lineups in Canada & abroad. It isn’t fair that our US friends can toss away cable and live off Apple TV and Netflix on the 360 and we’re stuck watching 3 year old catalog shows from Comedy Central. Really… “Strangers with Candy” and “Stella” weren’t *that* funny.
6) Sideways mail on the iPhone. Really, I shouldn’t have to turn to third party software to make mail typable in landscape mode.
7) iMovie for not-dummies. The traditional, broadcast-standard timeline approach to editing video is not hard to learn or understand. Stop trying to reinvent the wheel! And rename the damn thing! It should be a product line : Final Cut Home, Final Cut Express, and Final Cut Studio.
Oh… And one more thing…
Wireless sync between iTunes and iPod Touch/iPhone. That would SO rock!
But all that will have to eait until (hopefully) the next Apple “event”…