Tomorrow, June 17th 2009, Apple servers will probably crumble under the huge amount of downloads when the iPhone 3.0 OS release is published. The hype around the new operating system for Apple’s Jesus phone is big. For the first time since the iPhone was released the phone will offer more standard features, features as we know them from competitor phones. Basic features such as BlueTooth and MMS.

I have been playing with OS 3.0 GM since almost a week now and must say that I enjoy the update. Sadly Apple’s phone will continue to be a crippled device and make my colleagues laugh at me whenever they want to share pictures or multimedia files with me.

Apple, get your act together and offer me decent, fully compatible BlueTooth features!

Unlike many you will not hear me complain about the update prices, I do tend to use my phones longer than only 12 months. I still am bound to a contract and to be honest it makes more sense to me to wait some more months than to upgrade immediately. If I buy a car now and the manufacturer updates the model next year, I will not buy the new one the day it comes out either.

What I do expect from my Jesus phone is to finally be able to connect to other phones and share files. I am aware of the possibility to send photos via email, or MMS at final last, but I also want to be able to finally send/share my music library. I did understand why BlueTooth was no option as long iTunes DRM’ed was, but now iTunes is DRM free. And many of us paid to upgrade our media to DRM free format.

I really wonder if these basic features are asked too much, especially now the new model, iPhone 3GS with video camera comes and even a compass on board has! I do not really care about a compass or voice control, what I want is fully fledged BlueTooth, FFS!

Claims about Steve Jobs’ health and the decision of the shareholders to re-elect the Apple Board throw a weird shadow on new releases and their _special_ features such as yesterday’s iPod Shuffle update.

With every new release it seems as if the actual Apple team decides to develop less and less for Joe Average but once more opts for their own little nice, a nice of hardcore fanboys and adepts.
The iPod Shuffle headphones conundrum and choice for the glass screen for the MacBook, as well as the decision to drop FireWire on the MacBook and the solitary position of the 17″ MacBookPro seem a clear message to its userbase.

Could it be that Steve Jobs has accepted that his days as CEO are counted but wants to leave Apple, Inc. leaving a battlefield behind: at one side the shareholders who obviously expect that Apple tackles the larger market now and from the other side, the products Steve Jobs and his team want to develop.
Why would Apple decide to launch the new iMac with the small keyboard and lock itself out of the corporate culture, the world of spreadsheets?

Will the new, planned, joint single Blu-ray license be the next step of separation? Can we expect an update to the MB and MBP or will only the MBP receive a BD-RW update after summer?

Their is no doubt that the corporate structure of AAPL split is at this moment. Shareholders obviously want the company to grow, continue it’s market share growth, but does Steve Jobs have the same aim? Does Jobs want to become the next Dell, biggest computer manufacturer and seller, or continue to develop high quality niche market products for a small group of users?

One is sure, Apple lately has decided to take things in own hands again and continue to force the user to be restricted, and _follow_ as Christopher Breen notes

But I’m not the target buyer for this device. If you walk along any city street, ride a subway or bus, or wander through the local gym, you’ll see that nearly everyone uses the stock Apple earbuds. It’s not that their ears are any more ideal for these things than mine, it’s just that most people don’t care or know any better. This is what I got, this is what I’ll use.

And what they get is what Apple decides they get, is what Steve Jobs decides you get. Get on with it.

Until the re-election of the Board.

It doesn’t help when competitors try to ride the design and functionality bandwagon and “try” to be an iPhone too. Hmm.. Actually that may be the key. I think they’re all planning to be iPhones, that way when everything is an “iPhone” then there is no iPhone. Reminded me of “The Incredibles” actually… when everyone’s a superhero, then no one is!

It’s a vicious iPhone Cycle… you buy the expensive phone, get hit with expensive phone plans, buy software for it, get frustrated that these are expensive too… and for what? coolness? Ah, I’d rather save up and buy something I’d need more… like a laptop… or something that will pay for itself. A better productivity tool. Yeah, the iPhone is a lesser productivity tool… IF you need a phone, get a phone… period. OR get someone to buy you an iPhone if you really want it… and let THEM pay for everything it needs.

I am not quite surprised that this webpage has come live. And there are those who feel the way I do. Take this survey from MSN to see if you NEED an iPhone to punish you this year.

I dare you to give me an iPhone and I’d blog about how I hate it more! (tongue in cheek)

(photo credits: Maclife)

“Every year in the United States, Americans buy, use and throw out billions of batteries. The demand for batteries can be traced largely to the rapid increase in cordless, portable products such as cellular phones, video cameras, laptop computers, and battery-powered tools and toys. Because some types of batteries still contain toxic constituents, such as mercury and cadmium, they can pose a potential threat to human health and the environment if improperly disposed).” – from US Environmental Protection Agency

The Solar Pot (designed by Korean Jangho Kim) is nothing to sneeze at. Simple as the next solar re-charger, it does drive a viable point at illustrating how the simple activity of recharging your batteries (versus throwing them away) helps mother earth grow healthier each day.

We all talk about gadgets here… but hidden therein our marvelous toys is a serious issue to consider. Geeks, we as consumers have the power to steer developments of great and environment-friendly merchandize… let’s unite and make it happen. (which makes me wonder, seriously, if fruit-named gadgets are eco-friendly? hmmm.)

After all, what is the greatest gadget like if we have no planet to enjoy it in.

As you’d expect, the community has something to say about that. Fairly good-natured from what I’ve read, but then this isn’t Digg.

Now the fee ($1.99/£1.19) isn’t exorbitant – let’s face it, you splashed out on an iPhone in the first place – but it seems a bit strange that there isn’t a decent web app for the service given that so many other online tools do.

Nice bit of marketing with the “take a picture of yourself with a newspaper and a spoon” idea but only five people got the benefit of that. Meanwhile, the developer will likely get a headache from everyone who thinks it’s their right to have a bug-free app because they paid for it. Good luck, 280north. Mind you, only one person has posted a review on the iTunes app store so far, which in itself is surprising.

Apparently there’s going to be a free ad-supported version in the future (called iReddit Lite, perhaps?). What’s funny is that 280north’s first application was a browser-based slide show generator, so they can build them.

I wasn’t paying attention at FAceBook before, but was slowly being drawn to checking out my page when my high school buddies caught on FAD and was crazily tagging/adding everyone. I have F.A.D. and am not ready to say “I”m a survivor”. I don’t want to loose it. :)

John continues that some have GAD (Google Addiction Disorder) or TAD (Twitter Addiction Disorder) or LAD (Linux Addiction Disorder). Haha… I’m positive with all of those! Oh my, is there a cure? Do I want the cure?

What will the next one be???

I don’t particularly follow the mobile phone market unless they are made of Lego blocks, but yesterday I followed the releases over at MWC. Mainly to see what Windows 6.5 would look like and in the hope of more information around the Palm Pre.

For once I must admit that the Redmonders finally got something right with WM6.5. The honeycomb setup for the phone’s homepage looks attractive and most of all usable. That must be a first for Microsoft!
Even though the background of choice too dark is and Windows Mobile still fugly looks with the humongous status bar and its icons, it certainly looks thousand times better than any open source attempt, because no matter whether as full blown distro or on a phone, Tux products always manage to look horrible thanks to their love for thick borders/line on everything.

Obviously nothing beats the looks of today’s most popular and loved phone.

Much has been said about the 7 different editions Windows 7 will be released in. As usual this was a typical example of bloggers complaining just to complain. Things actually are much simpler and we here at Forever Geek will simplify the choice for you and explain why Windows 7 needs different editions.

There are only 3 versions that matter for the consumer

And one probable nuisance for most bloggers.

The most important editions are Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Home Professional. Microsoft has decided to drop the Business label for the XP-known Professional label in a try to simplify the choice for the customer. Differences between both editions are almost the same as in the XP era with Professional having all the features from the Home edition, plus network capacities (join a Windows domain), group policy based management tools, Remote Desktop host capabilities, network-based backup features, and support for the Encrypting file system.

As with XP you will decide for any of those depending on if you run a small network or not. These two editions will be the ones you find on the shelf (in the Western world) and more than 90% of the users will opt for any of those. It’s that simple.

Home Premium edition will be installed on almost all of the PCs you buy at the retailer. I certainly hope that thanks to the Windows Anytime Upgrade program there will be the option to buy your PC with Home Premium or Professional for a supplementary fee. I can perfectly imagine a first login screen with ‘Did you purchase the Professional upgrade? Enter your key here‘ option.
That probably just is wishful thinking from my part.

As with Windows Vista there will be an Ultimate edition. This version is only available on the OEM market or as an upgrade and is nothing more than the Enterprise edition (mainly better encryption options) for the home or small business user.

These are basically the only versions which the regular user will have to work with, chose between. If it weren’t for one edition which will be pushed on users with netbooks.

Windows Starter. Windows starter is restricted to the OEM market and comes with features such as missing Aero UI tweaks and limited to 3 simultaneous applications. For most netbooks users this will be enough because most of time all they need is their web browser, Outlook in the background and maybe an Office program or a media program. But bloggers will grab the occasion to complain about the restriction to 3 programs and the incompatibility with our NADD. Still I think for a majority of the netbook market this edition will be good enough and will have to be good enough as it will come with almost every netbook with Windows.

The last two editions are actually of very little concern for the Western market as they won’t be available to the consumer. Windows 7 Home Basic will only be available to emerging markets and Windows 7 Enterprise is only available for volume license customers. One surprise with the Enterprise edition is that it contains all the features of the Professional version, even the Media Center. As a former system administrator in a building with more than 3000 network clients I certainly wished Enterprise came without Media center, just like Vista Enterprise, because most employee procrastinate too much already. *big grin*

So is this line-up that difficult? Maybe if you can’t decide between these 3 versions, yes Home Premium is what you need or just stay away from the computer.

Should Windows 7 have gone the same way as Mac OS X, only 1 version?

Maybe, although I think there should be a difference between the enterprise and home market (see above). We have seen the disaster with Windows Vista and ‘Vista Capable’.
There is no doubt that for many older computers Vista Basic was the ’saviour’.
In the era of multiple computers at home there should have been no Home edition and it is perfectly imaginable that the installation process has a built-in feature-checker, installing the appropriate version. But imagine the bitching! Mac users (and I have become one of those) are a special breed and they have a much bigger tolerance to errors than most other users. And I still want to see the first Mac network with 3+k network clients.

When I think of my own PC habits, rarely ever do I use less than 1.2GB of RAM in Vista (Enterprise). So yes it would be sensible for me to feature restrictions when on less powerful machines.
Actually I think there should be one more edition: Starter Professional. A Windows 7 version for netbooks without the 3 simultaneous programs restriction and with network capabilities, but without Aero and without Media Center. The perfect option to give to any employee, whether on a netbook or on their desktop PC.

It’s “The Gurus” vs. “The Genius Bar” too in the customer-service representatives arena.  We can expect pleasant Microsoft smiles from BestBuy.  These gurus will be answering questions about PCs and Microsoft products, as well as giving demos of how the company’s products work together.  Basically like Apple’s “Genius Bar”.  

I hope this little game plays well into giving consumers the benefits of competition.  I like Apple, I admit, but sometimes it’s just too expensive.  If Apple could scale down it’s price, even for a little bit, I’m sure they’d securely grasp or even increase the pie they have.

The Internet has changed the way we work, the way we interact and the way we learn. Here I’ve put together a list of five ways I see the Internet having re-invented the learning process.

1. Information about everything and anything, readily available
The two biggest contributors to information access are Wikipedia and Google. While both receive plenty of criticism for inaccuracies or for rewarding bad information, there is no doubting that on balance, they both do a good job of making authoritative information easily accessible. This makes the initial stages of research go much more quickly and can be a spring board to find the sources to go in more depth. Plus, with Google, we now literally have access to thousands if not millions of living experts in various fields.

2. Free software makes work more efficient and productive
With the Internet, there are now boatloads of free or open source software for students to help with research, collaboration, communication and everything in between. Free software gives us the opportunity to learn new skills, and get hands on with our projects. The best software helps people do things that weren’t even possible in the past. Plus, it makes jobs that were hard in the past, accessible to everyone.

3. Online learning tools customize the learning experience
New, more dynamic learning tools are available online then ever before. Everyone has a different method of learning, and different tools tap into different learning styles. Plus, learning has never been more engaging and interactive. Sure, sifting through the good ones from the bad ones is a chore, but that becomes much easier thanks to lists like this one from MakeUseOf.

4. You can get educated from the comfort of your home
First of all, there is self-study. People use the Internet all the time to listen to free lectures, read free books, take free classes and everything in between. But now, more than ever, people are actually doing their full college education online. As more reputable colleges enter the online fray, more employees will see online degrees as legitimate, and more students will avoid the hassle of commuting or paying room & board. Online learning adds an amazing amount of efficiency to the education system by removing various inefficiencies like traffic jams, walking between classes, and accommodating the lowest common denominator. Plus, you get to customize the amount of time you put into learning based on your own learning patterns.

5. Plagiarism and laziness
A list about how the Internet changed education couldn’t be complete without reference to the negatives. In my experience, the biggest negatives about the Internet are that it removes structure from the learning process and encourages laziness. Obviously, a self-motivated person can overcome these obstacles and reap all the rewards that the Internet provides. However, on average, I suspect that most people are like me and inclined to the principle of least action. The Internet provides so much information about any topic that we might be inclined to not take the time to understand what we are researching. Even worse, we might be tempted to simply copy someone else’s ideas. This isn’t bad just in principle. It’s bad for the learning process. Why? Because learning requires understanding, and understanding requires engagement. Plagiarism is a short cut that undermines the process of learning.

Ryan is the co-founder of The Firewall Blog.

I really love it when technology pushes itself up and up the style scale. Thanks to a lot of consumer reviews and focus groups, it seems like LG is improving both in form and function. THe LG Prada was a little less than a parade, good start though. But the LG Prada II… now that’s more like it. Check out the features as LG Prada II specs will include:

- Quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900). WCDMA 900/2100, 7.2 Mbps HSDPA connectivity
- 3″ WQVGA 400×240 px TFT touchscreen
- 5 megapixel camera
- front camera for video calls
- Wi-Fi b/g connectivity
- USB 2.0, Bluetooth
- Full HTML browsing
- FM-Radio
- TV-out
- microSDHC memory card slot (up to 8GB)
- slide-out QWERTY keyboard

Quite a catch eh? 5MP camera dudes! A lot of these features aren’t available on the iPhone even. There’s a catch though, the price (!) is $816… ouch! Let’s seen, what else could I buy for $816… a dining set, a good comfy couch, new set of tires… LG, c’mon, be practical. We love what you put in it, but if we can’t afford it… bleh…

Not long ago Yahoo ended one of its supposedly relationship with a tech giant (Microsoft). Well, now Yahoo has yet again ended another one, now with Google. I was listening to Loaded with Natalie del Conte and found out that Yahoo and Google ended their ad sharing contract. You have to applaud Yahoo for trying its best to make strong partnerships, unfortunately these just didn’t work out. What’s fortunate though is that Yahoo hasn’t dug deep (I think) to invest in deals with Microsoft and Google. Yes, potential revenue was lost, but better than losing what you have now… right? So try again Yahoo… maybe Apple? Creative? Sony? Toshiba? You’ll hit a homerun or at least first base soon.

The contract started June 2008 but was held off for about 3-4 months to give ad regulators a chance to review it, making sure fair is fair… but after the agreed season hold-off, they just decided to part ways. Google has given a good statement on their blog, right here. And Yahoo!’s statement… right here.

Well I think these giants just have to rule their own turfs… good or bad? I’d say both, but it seems that status quo is what both Google and Yahoo wants now, at least.

I took out my big crate of cassette tapes (that maybe carries about 300 tapes), and plugged in an old Pioneer tape deck to my home theater/audio setup at home and went back in time.

The simple act of opening a cassette case, taking out a tape, plopping it into the deck, manually pushing the deck in and pressing play is so old-school but it brings back so many memories. I remember the first tape I bought (a used copy of The Police’s Synchronicity) played on a very small and dinky bright red (it was the 80s!) Sanyo radio/tape recorder with just one speaker. It was a time when I was still getting hits and misses with my blind purchases because you can’t usually listen to tapes first at the stores near my home and I hardly have access to info on many bands (no internet, remember?). I still have those tapes and I still can’t listen to them because the music is just so bad.

I remember swapping tapes with friends and making mix tapes that I listen to in my daily two-hour commute to university and using a very hefty and utilitarian Sanyo tape recorder that I think was the basic model they had then.

A lot of has happened between those analog years and now. But analog will still be there to transport me to those wonderful years.

This from BusinessWire:

Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile) today announced the installation of 22 charging stations at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP). Out of the 22 charging stations, 18 of the 8-1/2-foot-tall stations have been installed inside Lindbergh Terminal Concourses A, B, C, D, E and F, along with four additional stations located in the Humphrey Terminal.

Boy it sure does look like Samsung is gearing up to be a friendly icon in terminals. With the holidays coming, and alongside with it frequent air travelers coming back home to family and friends, it’s no wonder that the big boys are making sure they’re visible where it matters.

This is exactly the kind of market engineering I’d like to see more of. Be there when people need you and they’d surely remember who was that product and what was that service too.

Tech blogs worldwide are getting news of this and aside from the raves… a few boos I’m also echoing. Charging Kiosk design, poor. I’d hope that there was a lever adjustment for table height or something… specially for the physically handicapped.

But hey, in summary I’d give the Samsung guys a thumbs up. I hope more would follow your awesome pulse to serve! :)

Grand Theft Auto 4

Grand Theft Auto 4 has been pulled from the shelves in an unprecedented move in Thailand – after a teenager confessed to the murder of a taxi driver that was allegedly spurred in by him playing the game.  The 18 year old is accused of stabbing the taxi driver to death and attempting to drive away his cab, with the body in the back.

In what appears to be a voluntary reaction, the biggest video games publisher in the country – New Era Interactive – has told retailers to stop selling the game.  It is apparently due to be replaced by another title, though what this is remains to be seen.

Thai newspapers say that the teenager (who has not at this time been named) was arrested whilst trying to steer the cab backwards out of a Bangkok street.  Police claim that the 18 year old confessed to the crime and murdered the taxi driver after he fought back to remain in control of his cab.  The crime carries a maximum sentence of the death penalty.

Bangkok police Captain Veerarit Pipatanasak said: “He wanted to find out if it was as easy in real life to rob a taxi as it was in the game”.  There are actually conflicting reports at this point, with some papers quoting the police officer as saying that the teenager wanted more money to play the game (illogical as a console game requires a one-off purchase), whilst others have reported that the parents of the accused stated that he is a “good quiet boy”.

Either way, it is yet another bad news day for video games, but more to the point a tragic murder that could have been avoided.  I’d be wary of putting any labels on the case as the reporting has been less than clear, but what I will offer is that surely, surely the accused, if guilty of the crime, is legally insane?

By this I mean that anything could have acted as a trigger to his actions – but in this case his particular obsession proved to be Grand Theft Auto 4 – a game with a sense of self-parody, that does, however, feature a significant aspect of violence to it.  This case doesn’t have the hallmarks of the tragic Stefan Pakeerah murder (whereby at the time many newspaper reports incorrectly reported that the killer owned the game, when in fact it was the victim who owned it), but it does have the same air of people searching for reason.

Sometimes, in cases like this, perhaps there isn’t a reason that can be found, beyond the fact that on very rare occasions something can trigger in the minds of certain people.  Something that allows such people to transcend acceptable societal norms and go so far beyond them that there isn’t any recovery – that they can’t be simply put back into society after 10 years.  When you blame a game, a film or even some music for your actions then something is already terribly wrong.

In searching for answers, I’ve no doubt that Thailand’s Culture Ministry will get their wish and push through tougher regulation on games like GTA 4.  This will include stricter age ratings and limits on the amount of time that users can spend in arcade game centres.

Is game related violence on the rise?  Is it getting worse?  I’m not sure I’m qualified to answer that question.  What I will say though that is if more people are playing games, more will cite them both in popular culture and as a rationale for their actions.  Whereas at one point it was commonplace for the office to consist of chatter about last night’s soap opera, now people are just as likely to mention World of Warcraft.

For the majority of people, this won’t cause a problem.  For the few, however, with chemical or hormonal imbalances in their brains and who are prone to suggestibility it just may.  Does that mean that I think videogames can spur people on to horrific acts?  No, and this Thai teenager, if guilty, should be punished.  What I do think however is that we don’t appreciate how someone with an addictive personality (or any other kind of disorder) can become attached to an entertainment form and what it may give them.