total.pardo

Apple has released iPhone 2.2 Software Update which contains many bug fixes…

Apple releases iPhone 2.2 Software Update

yeah, more google in your iphone.  great for your privacy.

1. tabbed browsing from within the application

2. one handed navigation on the keyboard

3. all podcasts are auto-downloaded, for that matter, all SOUND is downed

4. off line sync - to catch up when there is not internet connection

5. three finger posting to this blog via ecto (WHY, why, why would google NOT allow this?)

6. iphone action is good - i miss the scroll -by marked as read.

7. anonymity - i am tired of google knowing everything about my reading habits. now, all netnewswire will have is a fake name - userxxxx

this is really a slick application. i am sad the windows version is not a full featured as the mac one - just another reason to stay on the mbp for everything…

fts@  http://tinyurl.com/66h2ly

MacDailyNews Take: “How about spending $300 million to create an OS that isn’t a derivative, counterintuitive, bloated, spaghetti-coded mess?

have you seen these new ads?

not for anything, but i am using vista on a few machines still - and, maybe it is just me, being technical and all, but i am not having the stark, raving mad issues that these adverts from apple purport people as having. this one is just down right vile:

i am a huge mac/apple fan, and i am using my mbp to write this post, but man - apple is becoming more like m$ every damn day. these kind of vitriolic ads make it difficult to be happy with apple. where are your corporate ethics, steveo?

i completely agree with barkings on these three points. everyone hoped, as well as a few people i work with, that the laptop would come down a bit - especially since there is a recession on and there are still people out there that want in on the mac world. the firewire is puzzling - maybe jobsco believes usb 3.0 is going to blow it away.

i read their adverts - made for standards that don’t even exist yet (or something to that effect) - not sure i agree on that. since you are cutting out standards that exist and are widely used.

i have to admit, i am kinda glad these MB/P are somewhat of duds. having bought a reconditioned 17 incher this past june, i would have been way angry if this refresh was more significant from a hardware perspective.

Anticipation for the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros was especially intense this year. With such high expectations, a certain degree of disappointment is inevitable. When the new machines were unveiled on October 14, Mac-watchers praised their newly designed aluminum cases, graphics and Intel processor updates, MultiTouch glass trackpad, and reduced environmental impact. However, there has been surprise at three aspects of the new MacBooks (not MacBook Air or Pro):

1. Price. There were rumors that Apple would release a MacBook for $800. Instead Apple repackaged a white 2.1GHz MacBook with Superdrive and is selling it for $999. This is the lowest price ever on a new MacBook. Still, it’s the old design which has upset some people. Personally, while I always wish for less expensive equipment, I am content with Apple’s decision to do this. The $999 MacBook is sweet machine, even if it does not have the new aluminum case. It does, however, have a FireWire port, which brings me to…

2. No FireWire port on the newest MacBooks. This means no use of older DV camcorders. No use with FireWire-only hard drives.

3. Glossy Screens. Online, people have been vociferous against the transition to glossy screens. However, I know from experience that the average person who comes into our stores likes they way they look and prefers them over the duller matte screens. The new MacBook has an awesomely bright, crisp display that seems to minimize reflections.

[From Thoughts on Apple's Newest NoteBooks]

i am not sure if you have noticed, but there are a good deal of “updates” available on a regular basis for your favorite iphone/touch applications.

now, free or not, i get a bad feeling whenever i see an update available.

not unlike the recent debacle out of lionhead studios in regards to their reliance on “patching” to add co-op AFTER THE RELEASE of the game, i am concerned these developers are releasing half baked products in their rush to get to market and get the dollars flowing.

(and, in today’s economy, why not, right?)

i can’t imagine a simple application like sportstap needing almost bi-weekly updates. why?

is the developer adding functionality? are there copyright issues? how fully qualified is the testing on each new build? will this be the update that bricks my iphone?

maybe someone can chime in and set ol’pardo straight…

TUAW alertly reports:  http://tinyurl.com/3qpxkf

Long-time TUAW readers know that I’m a fan of geocaching, and that I wrote a post about using the iPhone 3G for geocaching back in July. At the time, there were no true geocaching apps available for the iPhone 3G, so I talked about how to use the software that comes on the phone to find hidden caches.

Since July, a number of apps have appeared (Geopher Lite and iGeocacher to name a couple), but I’ve been holding out for one from Groundspeak, the folks who first started up Geocaching.com back in 2000. While listening to my favorite podcast, Podcacher, this morning, I heard co-host Sonny talking about the upcoming release of the "official" geocaching iPhone app. When I returned home from a walk I was tracking with TrailGuru, I visited Geocaching.com and read the details in their online forums.

The app has been submitted to the App Store, will cost US$9.99, and will initially allow iPhone owners to find caches near them, look up trackable items like travel bugs, save cache information for use when outside of phone network range, and limit results to save bandwidth. The next version will provide the capability to log found caches while in the field.

Be sure to check out the Geocaching.com forums for more screenshots.

i visit geocaching.com all the time, and an app like this would be nice.  the price point is very high, considering the value of the GPS data with it not being as accurate as geocachers would like.

i really wish you could demo these apps.  reviewers are not always accurate.

fta@  http://justanotheriphoneblog.com/wordpress/2008/09/25/quick-declaration-i-love-stanza/.

It’s been a real PITA trying to get back into reading. I used to read books fairly often when I was in high school, but the habit just kinda withered away and died when I got more PC and console games. This is going to sound ridiculously pathetic, but I actually get annoyed by having to hold the book up and turn the page. Yes, I realize I sound like a spoiled digital brat.

Luckily for me there’s Stanza. For the low low cost of $0 cash money I get an incredible ebook reader on the iPhone that even does wi-fi syncing of books from my PC. I’ve already read four books on the iPhone and am just loving the experience. You can swipe or tap to switch pages, you can edit text size, and you can even lock the orientation (something I wish I could do in Safari sometimes). The wi-fi sync is as simple as opening the desktop app, opening the book you want to sync, and then loading up Stanza on the iPhone to download the file to the device.

If you haven’t tried Stanza from the App Store for your eBooking needs, I highly suggest you give it a shot!

Their website is here, and you can find their App easily enough through iTunes.

i couldn’t agree more.  i am on my second free book and i cant believe how easy the app is to operate and move through pages, as well as how easy it is on the eyes.  the number of free, as in ZERO cost, books there is in their marketplace is staggering.  take the reading material with you on a phone seems nerdy yes but it saves on weight, time, cost – everything that is lacking these days.

i guess i wonder when the gravy train ends.  will there be a purchasing portion to this application?  will books be available for download at cost?  time will tell.

for now, enjoy the gravy – get the app and read away those idle moments.

photo posted from my iPhone

i added a speck cover and a moshi palmguard to pardobook.  results?

much easier to carry this beauty around without as much worry.  no heat issues.  tracking on the mousepad the same as before.

all in all - a required investment.

the cover does make the mbp a bit thicker but it is very light.

fta @

http://www.jetplanejournal.com/2008/09/itunes-8-first-impressions/

The visualizer was also updated, as rumored, but isn’t much to write home about in my opinion (who even uses visualizers?).

Overall iTunes 8 seems like a pretty solid update, even if it’s a bit light on new features. The Genius is pretty cool though and even the iTunes store integration is fairly discreet and doesn’t feel intrusive.

i completely agree with the author adrain thomas in regards to the full release being solid but light on new features.  i turned a corner on my original impression of genius bar – the genius playlist is VERY valuable for those of us that have a large collection of mp3s (and, at times, not even certain what we have in that library) and want to find connections to that music based on our preferences/tastes.  adrian is right about the itunes store integration – but i still feel the genius bar is “amazon recommends” – sell me more, with the emphasis on impulse purchase.

btw –i don’t use visualizers either – the new default one is cool for approximately 17 seconds.

so far, the genius playlist is not entirely accurate – but i think this kind of comparative analysis will only get better (hopefully apple included heuristics to allow the genius to get “smarter”).  here is what the genius spit out after it chewed on the “Theme from Mission-Impossible” by Clayton/Mullen – picked entirely at random:

i found two songs on there that i did not know about that i really liked.  to me, that’s value – all i needed to do was select a single song and itunes 8 did the work.

it took a SIGNIFICANT amount of time for my two vista desktops and my MBP to run through the setup process – for 150GB of music.  (i dont store all of it on my MBP – just a subset of the favorites.)

time will tell on the “solidness” of this version change from a stability perspective.  i was happy to see last.fm did not break upon the upgrade.  not rolling out the iphone firmware upgrade at the same time as itunes 8 was a good step – but from the user perspective disappointing.  come on friday!

from TUAW:

I expect the Genius feature will only improve, especially as Apple big brothers all our personal music collections but for now I’m so totally not dropping Last.fm any time soon.

is it me or is the genius bar just another genius way for apple to suck more money out of my wallet?

i don’t get it - i thought the idea of it was to suggest similar songs in MY library - not what songs i need to purchase to complete an album or that might sound similar that steve’s geniuses think i should buy from them.

meh.

from tuaw:

The rumors were mostly right: iTunes 8 includes a new feature called "Genius" that allows you to "rediscover your iTunes music." Genius works by matching music with your listening tastes. The Genius interface looks similar to iPhoto and works similar to Pandora (or Last.fm).

go down your upgrade asap!

update:

i am all installed with no issues.  looks nice and the genius playlists are interesting.  need more time with it to see if there is value.

at left is the new logo in the genius sidebar.

no iphone love until friday.  predictions are massive battery life improvement and other fixes.  we’ll see.

American football fans are a serious bunch when it comes to supporting their team, so not being able to stay up on the action is not an option. With that in mind, Plusmo has brought a new application to the iPhone called Pro Football Live.

The thing that makes this application different is that it combines up to the minute football coverage with social networking features. For instance, you can chat during the game and boo or cheer a play using a button on the iPhone screen.

Pro Football Live also provides scores, game schedules, breaking news and pictures from the game. You can configure the application to just your favorite team or multiple teams.

And the company knows a thing or two about football. One of the major backers of the company is hall of famer Ronnie Lott.

The application is free to download and use.

fta @  http://www.macworld.com/article/135419/2008/09/football.html?lsrc=rss_main

http://www.iliumsoft.com/site/iphone/upgrade.php

finally, the app i use every day has twice the value – sync to the iphone from a file source.

thank you, ilium.  it took forever, but is well worth it.

from MacUser by Derik DeLong

Valleywag has pulled a section out of a Kara Swisher interview with Sergey Brin, one of the Google co-founders. When asked if she has tried it, Swisher tells Brin she hasn’t because of a lack of a Mac version.

He then tells her “It’s embarrassing.” and “I run it in VMware on my Mac.” You’d think that the founder of the company wouldn’t be reduced to that. It gives me hope that the Mac version is a priority with Sergey waiting for it and “asking about it every day”. He then suggests a matter of months. Just in time for Christmas or Halloween?

you think?  no excuse.  should have been release with at the same time.

a quick look down the feeds this morning yielded this grand nugget of disappoint:

fta @ http://www.macworld.com/article/135236/2008/08/iphonepassword.html?lsrc=rss_main via macworld

Private information stored in Apple’s iPhone and protected by a lock code can be accessed by anyone with just a few button presses.

The iPhone, like most mobile phones, can be locked with a four-digit code, but where other phones in their locked state only permit calls to emergency service numbers such as 911 (in the U.S.), 999 (in the U.K.) and 112 (throughout Europe), a locked iPhone can be used to make a call to any number.

However, that’s not all you can do with a locked iPhone running the latest version of Apple’s software, 2.0.2.

Pressing the emergency call button at the unlock screen, followed by two taps on the home button, takes you to the iPhone’s private ‘favorites’ page without the need to enter the unlock code. If the owner of the phone has favorite entries in their address book containing URLs, e-mail addresses or mobile phone numbers, then those entries can be used to launch the browser, mail application or SMS (Short Message Service) software and gain access to private Web favorites, e-mail messages and text messages stored in the phone, again without entering the unlock code.

i’m sorry but this is regular jackass huge.  crayon eating ass clown huge. lets see how apple responds to this.  there needs to be something i think very soon.

Gizmodo has a video if you can’t stand to read about it.

UPDATE: Commenters are noting that if you set your Home button to access something else (like iPod functions) you won’t be able to get to anything else. So it’s a kludge, but better than the alternative, I guess.  THIS IS NOT ACCURATE!