Tech Dork - Thoughts, Observations and Ruminations of Inveterate Technology Geeks

Good Week for Tech

This has been a spectacularly busy - and fun - week in the world of technology. Highlights of the week include the Apple hardware announcements, Ping, Gmail priority inbox and Twitter app for iPad. Given that I've been prety busy at work, I'll need the weekend to really get my head around it all.

In regards to Apple, the iPods were cool, but I will likely pass. I have enough iPods to last me a lifetime. I did order the new Apple TV, but only because the price point was affordable. If it was more than $99, I would have passed. Not sure what's really new here, but I guess we shall see. I look forward to comparing it against Google/Logitech TV later this fall (disclosure: Logitech is a client). 

I only got Google Priority Inbox today, so too early to tell. My first impression is that it is very cool, but mostly benefits power users. My Gmail account is my secondary account, so not certain it will be as relevant to my needs.

Apple's attempt at social media - Ping - is kind of cool, but somewhat rudimentary. I think it will quickly iterate and add some pretty neat functionality. For now, though, it's rather staid. That said, I need to spend more time with it.

Lastly, last night's news was the debut of Twitter for iPad. In many respects, it resembles Flipboard, though at first glance - and like Ping and Priority Inbox,  I need to spend more time with it -- it is not as intuitive as I would have thought. But, it's clearly pretty rich in functionality and well thought though. Again, I need the weekend before I can offer detailed commentary.

Nevertheless, an exciting week in the world of technology. Color me a happy Techdork.

Apple Event Tomorrow

So, what do you all think we will see/ Post your answers prior to the Big Announcement in the am.

I generally don't get too excited about the music related announcements, because the iPod lineup doesn't really excite me any more. I have my music stored in my iPhone and I have my Nano for working out and that pretty much does the trick for me. I'd be excited about the Touch if I wasn't an iPhone/iPad user. And I can't see any new functionality that could compel me to buy.

What I am really interested in is the new Apple TV. If the rumors of a $99 price point are true, that would be worth looking into, though I'd need to understand how it differs than my existing unit. If it's build on iOS and has TV-focused apps, which I suspect will be the case -- that is compelling.

The other thing I long to see and which is way overdue -- immediate availability of iPad 4.0 software. That would make my day.

Last noteworthy item; if you haven't already seen this earlier, Apple will be livestreaming the even, so I don't have to spend my am jumping from blog to blog. This is something I wish they did years ago, but I guess better late than never. 

Anyway, should be an interesting morning. At a minimum, Apple announcements never fail to entertain.

The Rise of Location Based Services

In the world of technology, location based services - think Foursquare, Gowalla and now Facebook Places, are all the rage. In my opinion, this emerging category is full of promise, but today's offerings miss the mark in terms of delivering meaningful value.

I've been using Foursquare since its early days. At first, it was strangely fun; checking in to various locales in exchange for achieving "Mayorships". Even my kids (who I am proud to say are emerging Tech Dorks themselves) were getting in on the action. Meanwhile, though, explaining all this to my non-tech friends was beyond embarrassing -- never have I felt so dorky (in a not so good way). That being said, it was oddly addictive -- for a short while. After a few months, it started to lose its lustre and now several months later, I've essentially stopped using the service altogether. 

Why? The gamesmanship of it all was fun, but there was really no value from my own personal standpoint. And if you're going to be a lone app among many in my mobile device, I'm learning that there needs to be some measure of value if you're going to cut through the clutter.

In my opinion, value in the world of location based services comes in two fundamentally simple forms; special deal offers from retailers that really stand out (and Foursquare is starting to get there on this front) and helping facilitate random meetings with friends, who just might be at or near the same locale.

I think the latter is where Facebook Places (which at first appearance seems somewhat rudimentary compared to Foursquare) has potential, due to the relative size of my social graph compared to Foursquare. 

So, I guess we will see. I think if this space were to take off - and if I was betting man, I would bet that it does, if for no other reason than the fact that smartphone market is exploding -- it will do so much sooner than later. Should be interesting to watch.

Early Impression of MacBook Pro

So, I have had this MacBook Pro for about three weeks now. It was time; after 2.5 years, my Air was on its last legs. So far, all I can say is that I am as impressed as hell. It seems to be the entire package; it's good looking, relatively light; fast as hell and has lots of capacity. Not sure what ore you could ask from a laptop. In fact, I like it so much that it makes me wonder what the hell I've been doing with an Air all this time. I think my big mistake with the Air was that I tried to make it my primary work and at home computer. Bottom line is that it simply does not have enough horsepower to be a primary computer. It's a perfectly decent travel laptop (though the Pro isn't really THAT much heavier) but at the end of the day, dare I say that in certain respects it's a glorified netbook. 

Anyway, I don't want to seem a hater because it (mostly) served its function, but again, the MacBook Pro blows it out of the water from virtually every perspective.

The Case of the Sparkly MacBook Pro

Well, isn't this something? Literally every time I remove my charger from my brand new MacBook Pro I get a big spark. Anyone have a similar experience?

(download)

Sent from my iPhone

Tech Dork Strikes Yet Again

So, My MacBook Air era is fast drawing to a close. I think the final word after nearly three year's of use is that it's a very nice laptop that is awesome for traveling. Beyond that, though, it has a number of deficiencies that I think outweigh its utility. It needs more memory, bigger capacity and a few more freaking ports. One USB port was an interesting experiment on Apple's part and I can see why they put that out there, but it is just a tad too minimalistic. So, I traded size for depth and got a 13" inch MacBook Pro. I haven't used it nearly enough to offer an expert commentary except to say that it is lightning fast relative to the Air. I'll definitely offer up thoughts after I've had a chance to take it for more of a ride. Funny, while I'm always excited about a new, cool piece of technology, I found myself far more excited about the iPad and iPhone. I think we've reached a point where a computer is a computer and it is quickly losing it's luster. Which is exactly why Steve Jobs is driving innovation with new products such as iPad. Anyway, on a different note, thanks in part to my partner in arms, Michael, I'm also using this as an opportunity to straighten out the mess that is my iTunes library. We will see if even a tech wizard such as Michael can figure this out.

     
Click here to download:
Tech_Dork_Strikes_Yet_Again.zip (186 KB)

Sent from my iPhone

Most Excitement Development in Mobile Handheld Market? It's Probably Not What You Think

I've been working in the technology sector for many years now. During that time, I've seen a lot of trends and hot markets. But I've personally found no market to be more interesting than that of the mobile smartphone space. I was a very early Blackberry adopter and you can probably track the market back to around 2000 but I think this market really took hold with the introduction of the iPhone in July of 2007.

During that time there have been so many interesting developments it's hard to count: the emergence of the app ecosystem; the fast ascent of Android, the rise and fall and rise and fall of players such as Microsoft, Nokia, HTC and Motorola. It's been a fascinating market to watch and it's nice to see such ferocious competition, because in the end it has benefited us, the consumer.

In my opinion, one of the most exciting and under appreciated developments has occurred over the past month. That development has been the emergence of a longer life battery. This, for me personally has been a killer app and it's long been at the top of my product feature wish list. 

The common denominator behind all these disparate devices is that they are made for mobility, but their utility is severely hampered when you need to charge the damn thing every two hours.That was a major frustration of mine with the iPhone (and iPhone 3g, and iPhone 3GS) -- until now. Having used the iPhone 4 for just about a month now, I have to say that the battery is excellent. I can now travel without having to keep one eye open for an open plug. 

What's more, I have recently read that the battery in the new Droid X is also much improved, as is the battery in the new Samsung series (Captivate, et al) that has been garnering terrific reviews. It took long enough and I hope we see even greater improvements but it's nice to see such great - and somewhat unexpected - progress. The loser in this all though? The Sprint EVO. Aside from being the first mass market 4g phone, I think it's historical mark is going to the last of the much ballyhooed "super phones" that also features a super crappy battery. Too bad for Sprint, too, because everyone loves a comeback story. Hopefully, they will get it right with their next iteration, though i suspect power consumption of a 4g network poses its own series of challenges.

One of the Coolest iPad Apps to Date

Flipboard, a new app for the iPad, was released to much fanfare earlier this evening. I've been playing with it for about an hour so far, and I have to say that it just might be the most exciting and interesting iPad app I have seen to date.

It's easy to understand when you see it, but a bit hard to describe. Essentially, it takes your Facebook and Twitter feeds and renders them into a (social) magazine format that you can flip through and read much like you would a traditional magazine. It's an app that truly leverages the power of the iPad in every respect. I have read that they plan to release on other platforms, but this thing looks just magnificent on the iPad. Without being too dramatic, because I certainly still need to spend more time with it, I think Flipboard (which is a free download btw via iTunes store) marks a very significant step forward in the evolution of the digital news platform. I will write more on this over the next few days, but if you have an iPad, be sue to download this pronto. 

Predictions for Apple's iPhone 4 Press Conference on Friday

Our main boy and fellow Tech Dork Dave M made what I consider to be a spot-on prediction of what will go down on Friday when Apple finally addresses what many are calling a recall-worthy media frenzy around the now infamous death grip reception issue of the new iPhone 4 (an issue that, thankfully, neither Tech Dork member has experienced first hand, no matter how hard we try to replicate it). Dave says:

Here's my call if I'm Steve Jobs.

We think iPhone 4 is the best iPhone ever and the best phone in the world. There is the issue we've acknowledged (signal strength calculator). Lots of noise out there re: signal loss.  All phones have a very similar signal loss problem when held a certain way, particularly in low signal areas. 3GS has it too but no one ever squawked about that. Kind of funny, actually. We've really scrutinized the iPhone 4 issue and realized that the antenna should have a non conductive coating on it. We're fixing that. Phones rolling off the line ALREADY HAVE this coating. We don't think this problem really effects the experience of anyone who already owns an iPhone 4. Reception is still better than the 3GS. BUT we realize that people are getting all worked up and media is in a feeding frenzy. Our goal is really simple, to make the best products. So, if you have an iPhone 4 and want it swapped out for a new one with the coating, we'll do that. Not a full product recall because we don't believe that is warranted. But you can swap out your iPhone 4 for a new one with the coating anytime, free of charge, without a fuss if you want. We're serious about being the best and don't want this media nonsense getting in the way so we're removing the issue. Plus here’s a few stats about how millions have been sold and less than 1/10th of 1% have been returned. iPhone has highest satisfaction of any phone, etc.

Unsaid: fuck you media.

Let’s see how accurate this is, and in the meantime, who’s going to re-up if they have the opportunity to get a slightly less-shiny new iPhone due to the presence of a new non-conductive coating (but one with “better” reception)?

 

iPad Camera Adapter Kit

In all my years of being am Apple Fanboy, I have never found a product as difficult to find as the iPad camera adapter kit. Not sure exactly what's up with that, but this is one difficult ass product to find. Would certainly be interesting to know why, through I suspect it simply has fallen to the bottom of the supply chain heap.

I finally gave up getting one from the Apple store and ordered online. It took more than a month to get here but it works as advertised - its basically plug and play - and is a must have in my opinion, for any iPad owner, especially considering how well photos render on the iPad. Sent from my iPad