Well, I just made my first iPhone call.That’s no biggie to hundreds of thousands of people in the US, of course, but the iPhone has not yet been released in Canada.Mike Skovgaard, a buddy at work, has been buying them in the US and taking them up to Canada to unlock them to work with the Rogers and Fido cell networks. He’s already done it with a few, and showed me his latest. Apparently, Mike was only the third person in Canada to unlock the iPhone.So, review in one paragraph or less? Awesome. Cover flow is great, voice quality is excellent, phone usability is amazing, photos are really cool, Google Maps is incredible, etc. etc. Everything just works, and everything just works the way you think it ought to work.Love it, can’t wait for it to “officially” come to Canada.
Apple is getting its ass sued off over the iPhone.I’d like to write a scathing critique of modern idiots who buy things they haven’t researched and then blame others for their idiocy, and an equally damning tirade against companies that produce nothing, add nothing, and do nothing but think up obvious ideas, patent them, and then suck blood out of other companies … but I just can’t sum up the energy.Instead, I’m going to list all the Apple iPhone lawsuits I can think of … and ask you to add any others in the comments.
- Battery lawsuitsApparently, there’s three of them now.
- Roaming feesI agree, roaming fees suck …
- Keyboard patentSome guy dreamed up something, and now he owns it forever? Interesting. Even more interesting, because he’s currently in jail for fraud!
- CiscoOK, this one’s over … but Cisco did file a lawsuit over the iPhone name
- Any more? I’m sure it’s just a matter of time …
Job warehouse Monster has had an ongoing security nightmare, with hackers infiltrating the database and pilfering usernames, passwords, and email addresses with which to launch phishing attacks.The worst part? Monster doesn’t know how bad the problem is! From an email sent to me this morning (note the bolded portion):
As you may be aware, the Monster resume database was recently the target of malicious activity that involved the illegal downloading of information such as names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses for some of our job seekers with resumes posted on Monster sites. Monster responded by conducting a comprehensive review of internal processes and procedures, and notified those job seekers that their contact records had been downloaded illegally.The Company has determined that this was not an isolated incident. Despite ongoing analysis, the scope of this activity is impossible to pinpoint. Monster believes illegally downloaded contact information may be used to lure job seekers into opening a “phishing” email that attempts to acquire sensitive financial information. This has been the case in similar attacks on other websites.
Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.
These are the options if you want an Education Week subscription:
As you’ll quickly see, you actually pay more to get the online version than the print+online versions. Probably has a lot to do with advertising revenue and subscription counts.
Major rip-off … and it isn’t doing trees any favors either.
Apple’s scheduled a Steptember 5th special event: “the beat goes on.”It’s obviously about iPods. My guess is that Apple’s now ready to take the next step. More to the point, the marketplace is finally ready for Apple to release the next evolution in iPod: mobile computing.You already see it in iPhone. And we know that OS X is underpinning future iPods.iPods have been carrying our calendars and notes for years. But it’s always been the sideshow, the off-off-Broadway down-the-lane-to-the-left non-attraction.I think the new iPods are going to take a huge leap in functionality. iPhone’s seamless reading of PDFs, Microsoft Office documents, and more will be part of the iPod experience.It’ll still be the entertainment hub – music, movies, podcasts – that it is. But it’s going to take the next step to a mobile computing platform that includes some of what we currently think of as “business” functionality and some of what we think of as “consumer” functionality – especially games.It would not shock me if concurrent with this unveiling of the new iPod we have an “iSDK,” a software development kit for iPhone and iPod.You read it hear first.
I’m on vacation for two weeks, so posting has and will continue to be light.Last week the whole extended family was in Osooyoos, BC, for some lake and sun and family time. This week I’m working around the house on a major landscaping project with Allan blocks, and next weekend we have something special planned with some families from church.Adios, and see you soon.
Dan Knight of Low End Mac fame has a well-researched article on the abandoned Apple office suite AppleWorks, which used to be ClarisWorks.Most of it I’m taking with a bit of a grain of salt, since I know Dan is a keep-my-old-computers-til-they-rot kinda guy, but he makes a number of good points, and one very important one:
However, iWork isn’t AppleWorks. It’s not an integrated word processor, database, spreadsheet, paint, and drawing program. It’s much more like Microsoft Office, where Word and Excel are separate programs that can work together.And while iWork can open PowerPoint, Word, and Excel files, for some reason Apple has ignored compatibility with its own AppleWorks program, which is used by millions upon millions of Mac users on both the Classic Mac OS and OS X.I know Steve Jobs has a general disdain for things not created on his watch, and he’s allowed AppleWorks to languish, but if he wants Mac users to migrate to new hardware and iWork, he needs to make it easy to convert .cwk files into iWork documents and spreadsheets
An import function … that would be useful for people who have documents in AppleWorks. I know I have a few on my home computer.
From Roz Savage, who rowed across the Atlantic ocean and is now attempting the Pacific:
I believe that if you don’t keep pushing the boundaries, keep expanding your comfort zone, your comfort zone actually gets smaller and smaller, until you’re shrink-wrapped in such a tiny comfort zone that you can’t move, you can’t achieve anything, you can’t grow. And so I keep pushing, keep developing, keep evolving. I keep showing what an ordinary person can do when they put their hearts and minds and souls into it.
The kids all got their medals today from the Fraser Valley Regional Library summer reading club challenge.Aidan, when he came home with his, said now he’s got his first medal “so he can feel like a winner.”
Smart article on changing your browser’s useragent to gain access to pay sites:
Ever wondered why Google returned search results that lead to sites that require a registration? How did Google index the site without a registration? Many sites want their site indexed in Google to receive more hits, so they allow Googlebots in. Because of this reason we can take advantage of this. All we have to do is disguise ourself as a Googlebot and many sites will let us in without registration.
I was planning to do exactly that with an online learning site I built in 2000, but the feature got lost on the cutting room floor …
If anyone’s still following the SCO/Linux trials these days, SCO just lost bigtime.Having briefly met and known SCO CEO Darl McBride, I was interested enough to check out SCO’s website. Clicking on the News link was amusing …
Apparently there hasn’t been any good news in 10 months.
Verisign is driving me nuts emailing me and phoning me. Just to make it perfectly clear:
- I don’t want your PDF white papers on internet security.
- I don’t want your SSL certificates.
- I don’t want your emails.
- I especially don’t want your phone calls from “sales executives.”
Hrm … now that’s off my chest I feel marginally better. Until the next call starting off with “Hello, this is $salesguy calling from Verisign. How are you?”Worse than I was before you called.
MediaTemple (my host) just released an interface to control your entire hosting account via iPhone.Pretty cool.A little trendy, but I can imagine this being extremely useful when on the road. To be honest, I bet it’s easier to use than their current control panel, which I’ve never been able to fully understand.Now we just need Wordpress for iPhone.
Just got this email letting me know this photo of mine with a CC license is being used in a map/guide to Vancouver. Cool!
Hi John,I am delighted to let you know that one of your photos witha Creative Commons license has been selected for inclusionin the newly released third edition of our Schmap VancouverGuide:Science WorldIf you like the guide and have a website, blog or personalpage, then please also check out our schmapplets -customizable widgetized versions of our Schmap VancouverGuide, complete with your published photo:http://www.schmap.com/schmapplets/p=18955080N00/c=SE28031505Please enjoy the guide!Best regards,Luke Ritchie,Managing Editor, Schmap Guides
I want the new iMac.
I want the new iPhoto.
I want the new iMovie.
I want the new GarageBand.
I want the new Keynote.
I want the new Numbers.
I’m not really impressed with iWeb.
Not too sure about .Mac yet.
I don’t really have a need for Pages – Word is good.
Best new iPhoto feature
Better organization of photos. Events is just brilliant … we have 14,000 photos and they’re just a complete blur. Events makes sense, and it’ll be a major enhancements. I called my wife down for that chunk of the demo, and it passed her keenly tuned BS filters. She even said “cool” a few times.
Best new iMovie features
Movie library just like photo library: one of those things that is obvious after Apple does it. Creating a movie in minutes: very needed, and very awesome.
Still needed: easier podcasting
I still think Apple needs a better podcasting tool. GarageBand is not the obvious place to go for podcasting, and it’s still not super simple and easy there, AFAIK.
Welcome to Sparkplug 9, John Koetsier's blog on technology and social media.
