This won’t be an in depth review, since I think there’s enough of those out there. In that area, I highly recommend Engadget’s very in-depth iPhone review. They claim that it’s “the only review of it you’re going to need” and I think they are almost right.

I’d add that John Gruber’s iPhone First Impressions post over at the awesome DaringFireball blog is a great supplement. (Arguably, Mr Gruber is an Apple fan and an outspoken one at that. However, do not be mistaken. There’s no blind faith and he’s far from an uncritical apologist. All those qualities together make him my favorite Mac blogger.)

So, anyways, here goes:

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Ok, so I have an iPhone and I needed to try posting to the blog via the WP admin page.

That’s what this post is. I’ll post another with my iphone thoughts tomorrow.

On Wednesday, I went up to MacWorld in SF, like I do every year. I was pretty happy to see it was bigger than the last couple of years. The Expo expanded back across the street into the other hall at Moscone. I was also quite happy to see that the iPod accessories, while still over-represented, weren’t necessarily the majority of the booths either. It seemed like it was definitely headed that way last year.

There was one iPhone on display, with throngs of people gathered around it, snapping pictures with their now humbled phones in an odd form of obeisance. I think I could almost make out the sound of the iPhone laughing at them from within it’s popemobile-like glass case. There are enough pictures of the phone on the web, so I only took pictures of the crowd. That was more amusing. I will say, however, the phone is thinner than you might think.

There were a lot of the normal attendees, both exhibitors and familiar faces. My friend Smittie remarked about how you see certain faces year after year, even though you don’t know who they are. It would be kind of funny to greet one like a long lost friend, until he or she, inevitably, does not have the same level of recognition of you. Then it would just be sad.

One company that had some cool Mac casemods had one that was all white, which they invited people to write on, with their provided markers. I found a square centimeter in which I could leave my mark. I opted to write my monicker, instead of peeing on it. I thought that would be rude.

I ended the day at the live Diggnation taping. There was a massive crowd there, and we didn’t find where the taping was happening in time to have good seats. The show was pretty good, even though I think I only heard about 4 out of every 5 words. (You can follow most of a conversation with only 80% of the words, but sometimes you miss something crucial in a punchline.) No worries, though. I’ll catch the episode when it comes out to see if I missed any crucial jokes. heh.

Any how, pretty good MacWorld, but I gotta say: Highlights were all Apple and Diggnation. Next year, I expect to see cool iPhone accessories.

Apple announced iPhone today.

It makes one wonder what the fuck all the other phone developers have been doing this entire time.

Oh yeah, waiting for Apple.

PS: On a personal note, I’m even happier to be VerizonWirelessLess now. Piss off, VZW.

First, I’d like say that I’m happy that the OnMac.net competition was won before Apple announced Boot Camp. I’m glad we didn’t steal the wind from the community’s sails. That would have sucked.

Second, it could be coincidental, but AAPL jumped up significantly and it looks like it was due to the Boot Camp announcement. This makes me happier than the first thing. That was really more of a warm fuzzy, anyways.

Third, let me clear up the “we” in the first paragraph. I didn’t work on Boot Camp, and didn’t know it was coming. (Yes, we keep shit secret from each other at work. Yes, it’s that tight. Yes, it makes it harder to do things.) So, for me, it was a pleasant surprise.

Enough with the meta-commentary, now, on with the actual thoughts on the matter… Read more »

Work pb setup, originally uploaded by r3v||cls.
I was trying to describe the funky laptop holder I have for my powerbook at work, and I figured a picture was easier. A thousand words and all that.

Also a nice opportunity to use the camera in my new phone, so I can see if it’s better. Also testing emailing to Flickr and posting to the blog.

Thrilling stuff. This is a lovely example of the imagery that fills my day. Heh.

(Third retry… mucking with the formatting template.)

There’s a buncha “Happy Birthday, Apple” posts on varies blogs n’ sites, but I think Mike Evangelist said it best over on his blog:

Via Writers Block Live:

Here’s to the Crazy Ones:

Here’s to the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY APPLE!

I hope you stay ‘crazy’ for a long time to come.

Every story has its heroes and villains, and the history of Apple Computer is no exception. The world’s most lickable computer company has seen its share of good guys and bad guys during its 30-year history, and sometimes, the goodie is also the baddie.

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I’m not sure exactly who Pete Mortensen is (a quick google search reveals only a couple of wired articles, but nothing else) and so I don’t know what he’s been privvy to. No idea if he’s ever worked at Apple, but I expect he hasn’t. So, I’m assuming this article is written from the perspective of an outsider.

It’s an interesting read, and he comments on some folk that often don’t get much press, and that’s cool.

However, while he gets some of the easy calls right (Hero: Woz, Hero: Jonathan Ive, Villain: Spindler) I think he’s off base on a few others.

Gil Amelio should either bear both titles, or neither. On the negative side, he just wasn’t Apple material. He didn’t get it. He had a big fat golden parachute. He was, however, pivitol in the turning point that eventually removed the word “beleaguered” from the front of the Apple name… he bought NeXT and that resulted in the return of Steve Jobs.

Calling Jeff Raskin a false idol is a little harsh. He was part of the original four person Macintosh team and that’s worth something.

Michael Dell shouldn’t even be on the list. He’s not a villain in the Apple story… he’s motivation. A reminder never to become boring. Oh, and he’s good for comic relief occasionally.

The biggest mistake on the list, speaking as someone who was there at both Apple’s lowest times and the-future’s-so-bright phase we are in now, is an omission. Leaving Fred Anderson’s name off the list is a complete disservice to Apple’s story. He may not have been responsible for glitzy products like the iMac or iPod, but in his 8 year stint as Apple’s CFO he kept the company alive through the roughest waters it’s ever seen… even when we didn’t have a CEO. I fucking salute him.

Anyways, I have some other comments about some of the folks on the list that are still at Apple; but those are reserved for private conversations. :)

PS: If you’re into Apple History, and would like to read the stories written by the people who were there… check out Andy Hertzfeld’s Folklore.org.

Yet more TV-related shows have debuted on iTunes in the US, this time from HBO’s globally successful series, ‘The Sopranos’ along with other HBO shows such as ‘Big Love’, ‘Rome’ and ‘Entourage’.

I’m glad to see HBO coming aboard the good ship iTunes. However, I wish they’d get both feet on deck. Right now, one’s still on the dock if their planning not to offer full shows. Not only did Showtime, along with other networks, beat HBO to the punch… they had the follow through. In other words, HBO’s biggest competitor, Showtime has full length versions of their content (from dramas and comedies to boxing) and HBO plans only to offer TV-related shows? Snippets and shows about their shows? Meta-content?

Come on, HBO. If you don’t think you’d make money off of selling the full length shows, you’re not paying attention.

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Today, I got a chance to go and listen to the iPod Hi-Fi, the other produce we announced on the 28th. It sounds fantastic. It actually looks pretty cool, in person, as well. (I know a lot of people have differing opinions on the aesthetics of it, but that’s a taste thing… and yours doesn’t count here.) It’s also ridiculously easy to set-up, of course. The price-tag… well, let’s just say this thing has a limited target market, eh?

The cool thing, though, was that I got to go listen to them the same way that they were presented to the press on Tuesday. There were four rooms built inside two of our very large conference rooms (Garage I&II, for those in the know). These four rooms were completely furnished and set up to display how the products (the mini was also on display) could be set up in a bedroom, kitchen, living room and homeoffice. Serving suggestions, if you will.

The folks that put it together did a good job. There wasn’t a single hint of the old room(s) there. There was fresh carpeting, molding, yadda yadda yadda. The living room, complete with 36″ flat panel tv, couches, etc was much nicer than my real one. The kitchen? The kitchen was not only nicer than my kitchen, it was nicer than your kitchen.

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