Jeffzilla

Wordpress 1.0 for iPhone and iPod Touch was just released on iTunes. So far, it seems to be working well. I’m composing this post on my 8gb iPod touch. The installed app had no problem interfacing with the XML-rpc of my wordpress 2.6 blog backend. Additionally, it gives me full access to all of my old blog posts… A nice touch.

For version 2.0, I would love to see integrated, optional GPS location posting, comment moderation, and link creation - with URL copy/paste from Safari!

Why make software for an increasingly dwindling market - the 1st generation (EDGE) iPhone. Instinctiv is a new company that’s making iPhone software that purports to predict what you want to listen to based on a number of factors, and the smartly shuffles your songs accordingly. But it only shuffles your own songs. Only the music you have on your phone at that moment. No network listening.

I can see how this would appeal to iPod Touch and 1st generation (slow EDGE) owners, but, since the 1st Gen iPhone is no longer on sale, that group is starting to dwindle. On the new iPhone 3g, with speedy fast 3G network connectivity, is Instinctiv really necessary? (Or, does it have a viable future?) Why not just listen to real, genuine Pandora radio, if that’s the experience you’re going for? Although it’s not out yet, I’m almost positive a real, native Pandora radio application will be released for the new iPhone 3G, which will (or, should…) use not only the iPhone’s wifi connection, but the 3G cell data connection as well.

Better yet - ever shared with a friend a Pandora station you’ve made? Cool to be able to listen to the same batch of songs, no? How about allowing iPhones running the Pandora radio application to synchronize their stations, so two iPhone listeners can listen to a synchronized Pandora station? Why not push this feature to the standard browser based web player too? It might get dicey for the music licensing, but would be cool nonetheless.

(Seen on TechCrunch)

The possibilities for the more open, developer-friendly iPhone 2.0 software just keep getting better, especially on the speedier iPhone 3G. TechCrunch reports that Qik just announced that they are coming out with an iPhone application, to allow users to stream live video direct from their iPhone. Pretty cool feature, and that will also mean that the iPhone will now be able to capture and record video, since Qik records your video streams.

They’re not the only ones doing live streaming, and I hope sites like Ustream.tv and Mogulus.com get on the bandwagon for over-the-air streaming too. Especially considering Mogulus’ capabilities for real-time mixing of multiple video sources, it could make an intensely robust control studio for remixing and re-broadcasting multiple live remote video streams. Live-mixing/streaming the next Tumblr Rock Band jam from multiple roaming cell-connected audio/video sources? Sure.

**Update - Max Haot, of Mogulus, just informed me via comments that Mogulus is actually already integrated with Qik, so users can do live mixes of multiple remote video streams - awesome!

How about “Geo-tweeting”? Automatically posting geo-tagged updates to Twitter via iPhone 3G’s GPS chip, cell data coverage and wifi coverage? Maybe a Google Maps geotweet maps mashup?

Needless to say, I’m very excited about the new iPhone 3g, and can’t wait to get my hands on one and try out the GPS, high speed data, and new applications. Regarding iPhone 3G’s features - I’m dissapointed that there is still no native picture messaging, iChat AV integration or video capture. However, I’m hopeful that 3rd party software developers will be able to fill this gap - an all network IM client that could get on AIM, Yahoo, MSN, Jabber, GMAIL, IRC, Skype, Facebook and Myspace instant messenger networks (who sometimes share the same protocols…) would be fantastic.

Would it be possible to get super accurate gps reading via multiple gps readings? Use iPhone 3G’s internal GPS and Bluetooth connection to connect to a secondary, external GPS, maybe even one with WAAS land-based location accuracy augmentation? That, coupled with data network access could make for some nifty scientific, surveying, research and field applications…

Finally, the obvious application for a phone paired with gps paired with camera - automatic photo geotagging and upload. Flickr already supports geotagging and uploading via email (as well as third party apps). I’m almost certain this will be coming out of the gates soon after iPhone 3G launch, and almost certain I’ll be using it immediately!

I just read over on Gizmodo, by way of Macrumors that the AT&T/Starbucks wifi access deal is starting up offering free Wifi internet access to iPhone customers. Sounds great to me - IF I actually had an iPhone. I do, however, have a Macbook Pro, with the latest version of Safari, Apple’s speedy fast web browser.

Can I get leverage the iPhone deal to get free wifi on my Macbook Pro?

One little known feature of Safari is the “Develop” menu bar. You can use this option to change the User Agent Safari presents. I think that by changing the User Agent of Safari to “Mobile Safari 1.1.3 - iPhone”, I could trick the Starbucks router into giving me free wifi. What do you think?

To enable the “Develop” menu, go into Safari’s preferences, then advanced, then check the box next to “show Develop in menu bar”. Then, when you go back to using safari, you’ll see a Develop menu in the menu bar. Open that menu, and under the “User Agent”, select “Mobile Safari 1.1.3 - iPhone”.

I haven’t directly tested this yet, but it would be great if it actually worked! Anyone had a go at this yet?

**Update Update**…. 

The timestamp doesnt lie. I reported it first. Just saw over on Engadget and and Macrumors Forums they are also reporting the same hack for starbucks wifi access with safari by switching the user agent. Did they get it from me? Who knows.. but look at the timestamps.. I put it up first! Wheee…

Instant Messaging while on the go - It’s increasingly more essential, yet with many current software/hardware offerings, increasingly more frustrating. 

I carry a Blackberry Curve 8300, which has its strengths and weaknesses. The hardware is actually decent, well built, good screen etc. The software, however, is absolutely worthless. It honestly feels like a 1st try beta version. There are random menu items where they’re not needed (example: “call voice mail” option in the camera options menu - why?!?!), and the UI is so un-optimized that despite reasonably powerful hardware, the thing still crawls doing the most basic tasks. One of those basic tasks, which you’d think the curve would be able to do easily is instant messaging. The Blackberry Messenger does work well, but not everybody has a Blackberry - probably for the better. I use AIM and gChat mostly. While there are decent clients for both of these networks, when running either one of them, it causes the rest of the phone to grind to a halt - text takes 5 seconds to come up after you’ve typed it, and it takes till the 4th ring for the os to catch up and allow you to actually take a call. Amazing how they could actually sell a product like this.

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Recently at the Beet.TV Executive Summit in Washington, Wall Street Journal writer Walt Mossberg spoke on the convergence of computer and TV entertainment, internet bandwidth, and the importance regulation/deregulation from the top.

I’m with Walt on this. The critical step for converging TV and computer content/entertainment, and allowing us to take the next step in rich content delivery, communication, and integration is bandwidth. Insuring that access to network bandwidth does not become more metered, restricted and taxed, and that it becomes increasingly more plentiful and open is critical.

Also in this talk, Walt foreshadows the release of the 3G iPhone in the next 60 days - I’ll be the first in line when it does come out! As for bandwidth and 3G - I think that when the 3G iPhone does launch, AT&T seriously needs to get their act together with the 3G data network throughput - having all those users able to browse the web, directly download/stream media, and use other data intensive applications (iChat AV?) is going to put a serious strain on the network.

Here’s the video of Walt Mossberg speaking on Beet.TV about broadband speed, rich media, and the iPhone.

It’s great that the industry is finally getting on board with the Apple+Nike tech partnership, and starting to work the technology into gym equipment. I’ve been using the Nike+ situation since day one, and it’s motivating to have as much data as possible available to me when I run.. both at the gym, and out on the street.

One thing I would like to see them start integrating is a heartrate monitor. Currently when I run, I use the Nike+ kit, with a Marware pouch to hold the transmitter on my Saucony shoes, and a slightly older Nike heart rate monitor strap. Wearing the heartrate monitor is useful, because it allows me to guage how hard I’m working. Also, with some of these newer iPod and usb enabled Life Fitness treadmills at the gym, they will automatically adjust the incline and speed to keep my HR in check. Cool. It would be even better, though, if the Nike+ reciever attached to my iPod could listen to my heart rate monitor strap, and give me not only info on my speed, but also heart rate info along side it. I think being able to compare those two metrics would give me some interesting training insite.

Integration of incline data would really boost the usefulness of the system. It’s already able to be recorded by the treadmill, so why not add it to the tracked information for Nike+? Speed+HR+Incline would be killer. Pushing it one farther, how about using the Google Maps integration on the Nike+ site to extract terrain elevation data, make an elevation profile for any particular run, and sync that up along side all the other run data? With Google adding more and more terrain data to it’s maps, this could become possible very soon.

What about official course pace data integration? I wore my Nike+ kit during the most recent 2007 NYC Marathon, and it was great to be able to see my splits throughout the race. What would be even more valuable, though, would be if i could get a chart of the pacesetters splits, and then compare myself to that - I’d be able to see where i was slacking, and where i was pushing it unnecessarily. Combine that with overlays of the course terrain, speed and heart rate, and you’d had a complete view of how things went.

clipped from www.nikebiz.com Nike + iPod Experience Coming To A Gym Near You BEAVERTON, Ore. (4 March 2008) – Nike (NYSE:NKE) and Apple revolutionized the way people run with Nike + iPod and now the companies are redefining the way people work out by bringing the Nike + iPod experience to gyms around the world this summer. Nike and Apple are working with major gym equipment manufacturers such as Life Fitness, Precor, Star Trac and Technogym to make their cardio equipment Nike + iPod compatible so health club members can easily track workouts on cardio equipment like treadmills, ellipticals, stationary bikes and stair climbers. Nike + iPod users will simply plug in their iPod nano into the equipment at the start of their workout to automatically record their progress. Users can then connect their iPod with their computer to upload the workout to www.nikeplus.com

Update*** Just heard that Samsung and Adidas are pairing up to compete with Nike+Apple. Pshaw, yeah, right…. not even going to stand a chance. How can Nike+Apple beat this? Simple - enable the Nike+ kit on the iPhone. Plus, with the new iPhone SDK freshly out of the gates, imagine the possibilities of developers being able to write their iPhone sports apps which utilize real-time feedback from the Nike+ shoe sensor, iPhone’s built-in accelerometer, light meter, cell tower-based GPS, wifi localization, and cellular data connection. Throw in a 3G iPhone with true GPS and broadband data in June, and you can start to see the possibilities. “Tune Your Run”? For now maybe. but next up will be “Broadcast Your Run“

I’m officially calling the format war finished. Blu-ray has emerged as the clear winner, thanks to two deciding influences - the studios and the porn industry.

The major windfall for Blu-ray from the studios was Warner Brothers’ decision to go blu-ray exclusive.. just the thing that the industry needed to help sway the tide. Before Warner’s decision, it was almost evenly split, and besides the technical factors, the big differences were content and pricing. I think that blu-ray has always had better content, but hd-dvd was still hanging in there because they were able to sell their players cheaper. Now, despite the still less expensive hd-dvd players, blu-ray has over 90% of the movie studios support, which will ensure a win on the format. And regarding pricing? Blu-ray hardware will continue to become less expensive, especially as they introduce new, cheaper player components.

Next up, the porn industry…

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Yes, I’ve heard all the nay-sayers out there, ripping on the new, glorious Macbook Air. You’re saying that it has no user replacable battery, no firewire, no optical drive, is too flimsy, yadda yadda.

Yeah well, that’s not the purpose of the Macbook Air. You want to do intense mobile HD video editing? Ok, that’s exactly what the Macbook Pro is great at! Do-everything-ok basic work computer? That’s the Macbook. The Macbook Air is sleek, thin, lightweight, and powerful. It cut’s out all unnecessary bulk, to offer a platform you can easily travel around with to perform basic work tasks. I ask myself, how often, when I travel, do I REALLY need a dvd burner, firewire 800 ports, etc? Not often. Yes, I understand some people work in industries where they need that - Go get a Pro. The bulk of my work is surfing the web, working with MS Office, chatting, video conferencing, and listening to music. The Air seems perfect for this.

Regarding the non user replacable battery. Meh… I only have one battery for my 15″ Macbook Pro, and I’ve rarely been in a situation where I’ve needed to go for more than 4.5 hours using my computer, away from a plug. Charge up in the airport, hack out some work on the flight, re-charge when you get to your hotel room that night. Perfect.

And what about movies/music etc? No optical drive? I haven’t watched a movie directly off a dvd in years! Pretty much all of my on-laptop computer watching comes in the form of watching mpeg movie file backups of the dvd’s I own. No messing with shuffling disks around, and when I want to watch a movie, I just load it up instantly from my external HDD. And if I’m going on a trip, I’ll just move a few movies over the the internal HDD before the trip. Also, with the iTunes store now offering both movie purchases and rentals, in HD nonetheless, who needs to lug around an optical media drive everywhere? (yes, I know optical media is not dead, and I’m a huge supporter of the Blu-ray camp, but that’s another discussion…)

For networking, the Air supports 802.11 A, B, G, and N. N wireless is fast. In fact, I believe its speed definitely faster than any internet connection I will ever be on, and most likely faster than most LAN’s i’ll be on. No, it’s not gigabit ethernet, but really, when am I using all that speed? Especially on a portable. For streaming video off of my wirelessly connected Time Capsule, it’s perfect.

Finally, no, it’s not going to be flimsy. Full disclosure, I haven’t handled one myself, yet. However knowing Apple’s historically excellent and solid build quality, I’m sure this thing will be solid. From the pictures, it looks like it has a solid edge bevel, akin to the iPod Touch’s edge… and a metal casing similar to the iPod classic. The hinge will be rock solid, and just like my apple keyboard, although it’s extremely thin, I don’t think you’ll be able to bend it easily.

So, there’s my take on it. It will be a great computer for road warriors, commuters, or trendsters who want a powerful, capable, but minimal computer for home/lifestyle.. perfect to sit on the couch with at night and check email and chat, perfect to catch up on the latest new music on Beatport, or tv shows on Hulu.Time will only tell how well it’s picked up, but I’ll surely be down at the apple store asap, to give it a quick handle.