Woz is looking forward to using Leopard and likes the idea of third-party apps for the iPhone. Laptop Magazine has a long interview with Woz and he says, “I am really for the unlockers, the rebels trying to make it free. I’d really like it to be open to new applications. I’d like to install some nice games. Why in the world can I not install a ringtone that I’ve made?” We are with you Woz! Check out Laptop Magazine for the entire interview…
Archive for October, 2007
Received Apple Wireless Keyboard Today
I ordered the new Apple Wireless Keyboard last Thursday and it arrived first thing this morning! This new wireless keyboard is just superb. The feel and touch of the keys is very smooth. Its basically the keyboard layout and keys from the MacBook. Its very small and very thin and sleek. Its actually so compact that you could easily take this keyboard on the go with you along with your MacBook or MacBook Pro. Now, if they can just take the Apple Keyboard (USB) and make it Bluetooth.
PED3 Rotating Stand for iPhone
Recently I discovered a beautiful stand for my Apple iPhone. I had been working at my desk and just laying my iPhone down when syncing it to my MacBook Pro. Always making sure that it either stayed in the leather CaseMate case or I would rest the iPhone on a microfiber cloth before laying it down. The problem is that it just didn’t look esthetically pleasing. So I searched around looking for iPhone stands. I came across the ThoughtOut web site. There it was. The PED3. It was an angled stand similar in shape to the base of the Apple Cinema Displays but in black. I was sold.
At first you realize that this is a pretty heavy stand. Its an all steel construction with a baked on coating. It has a slot in the back that is used for cable management. There are seven rubber coated metal grips allowing for full use of ports and controls and rubber feet to keep it from moving on your desk. It has two angled positions to make it the right angle of view for your height. It rotates infinitely 360 degrees so that you can see the iPhone in landscape or portrait view. Best of all, its made in the USA!
The cost is a bit high at $39.99 but then again, you get what you pay for. ThoughtOut makes other Peds for other devices as well. I give this accessory, two thumbs up. They did a great job with this product.
Free Ringtones Again! iToner 1.0.4 is now out!
Ambrosia Software just now released the new version of iToner (v1.0.4) which is not compatible with Apple’s iPhone firmware v1.1.1. I upgraded my version and synced my iPhone. It works just like it did before. Great job guys! Check out the new version at:
Apple Will Release an iPhone SDK in February 2008
Steve Jobs today announced on the Apple Hot News site that they will make an SDK available in February 2008 for the iPhone and iPod Touch. This will be announced during Macworld 2008. You can see his full announcement on the Hot News site.
How Ustream.TV May Save My Mom’s Life
The time frame is October 2006. My mom had seen countless doctors about concerns she had with her body. The doctors always said nothing was wrong with her but we should do this test and that test. Basically I think they just wanted to extort money from her via various tests and scans. Finally, my mom flew back to the mother country of Argentina. There she showed her results to her physician. Right away he suspected cancer. After further review, that is what they found. They then performed the necessary surgical procedures and removed the cancer. This was thankfully done without the use of chemotherapy.
She then had a recovery period to deal with which would takes months. During that process, she did get a few infections and had some additional surgeries. Each surgery postponed her return date to The States. As of now, she has one last surgery to be done. Depending on the outcome, she may be able to return to The States within 30 days or as much as 90 days.
Obviously you can image the depression that can set in trying to deal with this ordeal. Not to mention the expense on the entire family. I have had to fly there a couple of times and my father, at least 3 to 4 times. It also makes it difficult for the rest of the family to see her. This is where Ustream comes into play.
Around the beginning of April, I was on Chris Pirillo’s web site and noticed he was testing out a new service he wanted to implement. Ustream.TV. I watched him during his initial broadcast which included the breaking news of the large earthquake that hit Acapulo, Mexico. He was there live, talking to techies in Mexico as events developed. Interviewing survivors. Coverage by Chris was instant and the national news didn’t pick it up until the morning. We stayed connected for hours and have been glued to his live feed (http://live.pirillo.com) ever since.
This made me realize that I can do something for my mom with this service. To keep her hopes up and maintain a positive attitude, I decided to put together a solution that would allow family members to all communicate together, in real time. The design was pretty easy. I sent a web cam to my kids in North Carolina for their Windows XP machine, I sent my spare Apple Mac Mini to my father in California along with an iSight camera. I then sent a web cam to my sister in California for her Windows computer. I setup my MacBook Pro with a Ustream account and had been playing with Ustream for a few weeks, creating a mashup site of various streaming feeds in the Chris Pirillo Community. That then gave me the idea of creating a mashup for the family to use. I own and operate an IT company (Cadco Systems, Inc.) so I setup a site on my web server and embedded all the Ustream feeds for each family member. This now gave my mom a single page where she could hear, see, and talk back to other family members via Ustream’s service. This made my mom very happy and should give her the push she needs to fight on. Thank you Chris Pirillo and thank you Ustream.TV for your help.
Tags: ustream, streaming, video, health, chris pirillo
iToner v1.0.3 Beta Coming Soon!
With the release of the latest iPhone firmware (v1.1.1), iToner no longer functions and thus you cannot add your own ringtones to the iPhone. Ambrosia Software’s president, Andrew Welch, posted a statement about where the latest iToner release stands. Its good to see that they are doing everything possible to get iToner working again for their customers. He stated that a Beta release of iToner (v1.0.3) will be coming out very soon.
TFTTF Beanbag Tripod
Hello fellow photographers. I had Lee Caligiuri make me a custom beanbag with TFTTF logo but this time in Nikon black and gold. I also had the zipper installed on it. It is great! I went to my local craft store and purchased the filler. I used 100% polypropylene pellets which ran about $6.99. The bag works great and is not heavy at all. Thanks Lee for the great workmanship. I highly recommend this beanbag.
Pictures of the beanbag are available at my Flickr site:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cadco/sets/72157602233986595/
Tags: tripod, beanbag, photography, digital
Unlocked iPhones Could Have Irreparable Damage
A press release came out today that states unlocked iPhone could have irreparable damage. Since the firmware is modified, any update that Apple releases to incorporate new features, could make the unlocked iPhone a brick. This unlocking also voids the warranty. Apple plans on releasing a new update to the iPhone firmware some time later this week. This update should not cause any problems with the application hacks out there but will effect unlocking.
Apple iPhone Themes
I just added some new themes to my iPhone. Thanks to SummerBoard, now you can easily add themes using the AppTapp mod to your iPhone. SummerBoard is an extension to the iPhone’s SpringBoard. The one I am currently using is the Leopard theme which mimics the up coming release of OSX for the Mac.
