A New Dawn

Image by Yutaka Tsutano via FlickrWhile everyone else is looking at the dire disaster happening in Egypt these days I am focused on what is really important: I ordered my Verizon iPhone yesterday!

Yes, that's right, yesterday, even though ordering is supposed to only be available today.

Well, the official start time for the pre-orders was 3am EST, Feb 3 - today. 3am is midnight here in California. I signed in about 15 minutes early, suddenly, after only 5 minutes of waiting, the screen came alive and said I could now order. I completed the the whole thing before midnight which means I ordered on Feb 2. People in Hawaii are probably saying "What's the big deal." But I must have been one of the very first to order.

What really annoyed me is the site said it would ship on Feb 10, when it goes on sell for everyone in the retail stores. How annoying that I will get mine the same time as everyone else, a whole week from now. Checked my order today and it said "Already Shipped." I was amazed, what does it mean? No company was named and no tracking number so I'm thinking it hasn't really shipped, but it would be great if it did - it would mean I'd get the phone tomorrow since I got free next day shipping.

I'll just have to wait and see if it shows up tomorrow. Fingers crossed!!

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Antennagate

Image via Wikipedia

I don't own an iPhone and never have, that's because I'm with Verizon where I have no dropped calls or reception problems at all in the last ten years.

Steve Jobs showed everyone how other smart phones had the same problem, that it's perfectly normal. So I took out my VerizonBlackberry Storm and covered it with BOTH hands in multiple places to see if I got a drop in bars. Nothing. I completely covered the thing with both hands and it never went down from 5 bars at all.

I think it's clear that it's ATT that's the problem, which is why I don't have an iPhone. The rumor is Verizon will have them in January 2011 if that is true then I will get one. Works out perfectly for me since my contract is up in November.

I think I will wait a month, after it comes out, though, to make sure there are no major problems.

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The New iPods

The Classic and Shuffle remain the same, the Nano becomes a Mini Me of the Classic, which I think is an excellent idea. For those on a limited budget you get the full iPod just with smaller disk space. The 4 GB is $149, the 8 GB is $199, and you can watch videos.

But the really cool one is the iPod Touch. Looks just like an iPhone only slightly shorter with the full touch screen and WiFi. You can even download songs from the Apple Store if you have a WiFi connection. And they are working a deal with Starbucks to sync their music and WiFi with what Starbucks is playing in their store. Hear a good tune while buying your coffee? Just whip out your iPod Touch and you are immediately on a WiFi connection to the iTunes store where they will let you know automatically what song is playing and you can buy it with just a touch. Surf the web with Safari, too. Runs $299 for an 8 GB, $399 for a 16 GB.

They still aren't doing enough, though. This is the perfect opportunity for them to turn it into a full blown PDA with notes, calendar, games and things. They have half of that now and the touch screen for easy maneuvering and typing, why stop with it half full? Still, I don't own an iPod and don't need one (especially if it isn't a PDA). Darcy has one but after spending $299 just last Xmas I'm certainly not getting another one now, especially since I just spent a fortune on 2 new iMacs. Someday they will make the iPhone good enough, as well as AT&T good enough (and cheap enough) and I'll put away my Palm and LG flip phone. For now I'll just wait and see what develops.

Touch Screens

There is a short little article in Time Magazine on the idea that iPhone is going to create a revolution by turning computers into touch screens, making the mouse obsolete.

Odd article since it starts out looking like it's going to be all about the iPhone then suddenly ends up being mostly about Microsoft's Milan. Which I really didn't mind since I'd never heard of it, looks very interesting. Think of basically a coffee table with a computer in it that you can operate with your fingers. One example was to place your cell phone with a digital camera in it on the table and all the pictures you've taken suddenly show up on the screen and can be passed around to people sitting around the table, that would be cool. Makes me think of Tom Cruise in Minority Report.

But I wonder how great an idea this really is, after all, touch screens have been around for 30 years and haven't caught on at all, except maybe in bars. Seems far more appropriate for the iPhone, excellent for something small and hand held but imagine having to move your arm across a coffee table to use your computer, you'd get tired fast. And you'd have to be really paranoid about anything messing up the screen, which I would think is a problem for the iPhone as well. I'm a big Palm fan but you can't use one without putting a screen guard on it or the screen gets worn out really fast.

But I'm always a contrarian, I don't use a mouse I use a Wacom tablet like any good artist should. What I want is an iPhone but with a 21" screen and only a little thicker, that has a color Wacom tablet across the front and a complete Mac inside and you have to use a pen, not your finger. Wacom does make a 21" tablet with a color LCD screen but it costs $1,800 and you still have a buy a Mac to plug it into, too expensive and not mobile enough. Someday they will have it, but not yet.

One Great Blog

The name probably looks intimidating but don't let it bother you. This is what it means: "Ballard (1981) coined the term "pharyngula" to refer to the embryo that has developed to the phyolotypic stage, when it posesses the classic vertebrate bauplan." The tag line under the log, in case it's too small to see is: "Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal."

See? Very simple. This is a science blog run by a biology professor but is really much more of a social commentary about the state of America today.

Take this interesting article which is about why you have to register with the government to buy a chemistry beaker in some states but any idiot can buy a gun without registering it at all.

Or this one: An almost biblical curse about a very tragic case of inbreeding in a small Mormon community that believes in polygamy.

This one is about Paul Hill, who murdered an abortion doctor outside his clinic:

" Behold, Paul Hill Days.

A couple of deranged Christian organizations are planning to send their members to Milwaukee, Wisconsin at the end of July to thump about like a gang of gumbies, bellowing about what a good man Paul Hill was. God's man. A hero. A martyr.

And to crown this exercise in lunacy and poor taste, they're planning a reenactment of the murders."

It's truly amazing that there are people who think it's a good idea to celebrate a murderer, and that reenacting the murders is a fun day.

The whole blog is filled with these gems and is really worth a look. Back in the day the hippies used to say that our society was sick, they were right but we were downright sane back then compared to America in the 21st century.

I'm sure glad the iPhone will be out soon to cheer me up, though I probably won't be getting one for a couple of years, since I just signed up for 2 more years at Verizon with 2 new free phones. Hopefully in 2 years the iPhone will be even better, more affordable, and - wishful thinking - Cingular will have become a provider worth having. Or maybe a competitor will come up with a phone almost as good that sells only for Verizon. Sounds like a great idea for Palm or LG, because right now Cingular would have to pay me to use their service, and if it wasn't a whole lot of money I'd still turn them down. Which means I can be bought but I'm not cheap.

The New iPhone

This is just about the coolest thing Apple has ever done, and that's saying something. It completely revolutionizes cell phones and even mobile computing because this is really like having a small Mac in your hand. But the most revolutionary part is the touch screen, I see a time in the very near future when touch screens on laptops is the standard.

Unfortunately, I'm not going to get one. Apple foolishly signed up with Cingular until 2009, who has a terrible reputation for service. I don't know of anyone who likes them and several who don't. I just checked out Consumer Reports and their most recent report is this month with a survey showing Cingular and Sprint fighting for last place with Verizon taking top honors. I have Verizon now and have had it for two years and have never had a dropped call and rarely any problems at all. As cool as the iPhone is the most important thing is getting - and keeping - a connection. And right now I can sign up for another 2 years with Verizon and get a $100 credit for a new phone, which means I can get a Chocolate for free right now instead of waiting until June to spend several hundred dollars. I'll probably wait and see if any terrific new phones come out of the CES show going on right now in Vegas, maybe there will be something to rival the iPhone.

But Apple more than hit one out of the park this time, this will be bigger than the iPod, I'll just have to wait a bit.