Kyle LeBoeuf

As noted earlier this evening, Apple is holding a media event tomorrow to showcase the upcoming OS 4 for the iPhone.

I’ve been combing through all of the big rumors this evening and this is what I want to see the most:

1. Multi-tasking: This one’s a no-brainer. Apple is running out of excuses NOT to have this in the iPhone. Jail-breakers do it and it doesn’t kill their battery life that much (and if it does, so what? I want mutli-tasking!)
2. Orientation Locking: The iPad already has this feature, though it’s through a switch. Seems like it would be easy just to add a setting in the software that disabled it. I use my iPhone a lot when I’m laying in bed and would love to be able to prevent it from flipping around automatically.
3. Unified Inbox: This one was pretty much confirmed from “the man” Steve Jobs himself. I want to be able to view all of my inboxes at once I want to, like I already do on my Mac.
4. AT&T Tethering: I know that it’s very unlikely but this would be nice. Come on you guys, you promised this to us LAST YEAR!
5. UI Refresh: The iPhone UI has remained largely unchanged since it debuted in 2007 with the original iPhone. Some updates to bring it up to speed with current trend would be nice. Especially…
6. Customizable Home Screen: Yes we have this already with the iPad. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to change the background on our home screens?

Find out what Apple is up to with OS 4 by following the live blogs like gdgt.

Apple sent out media invitations to a private event showcasing the 4th version of the iPhone OS this past Sunday.

Typically for these events, the bigger tech media outlets such as Crunchgear, Engadget, and gdgt will have live blogs of the event. I personally plan on using gdgt’s live feed. It’s the cleanest and least cluttered. Good pics too.

Link to gdgt’s live feed for tomorrow is here. Check it out.

Wonder what’s next for the iPhone?

Guess we’ll find out tomorrow.

In case you live under a rock, the iPad was released today. I got word that my local Apple Specialist was carrying it and had demo units so I made the drive down to check it out. Here are my first impressions:

IT IS INCREDIBLE!!

That sums up my first impressions, but I’ll go into it in detail:

1. The display is gorgeous. The built in 9.7-inch screen is stunning. It renders the colors and images very very well. This is definitely the ultimate visual media consumption device.
2. The iPhone OS and multi-touch interface translates almost perfectly to the larger display: Since it’s an updated version of the iPhone OS, the iPad is entirely touch-based and this works well for the device. Performing tasks or browsing through apps and features on the iPad is a breeze.
3. The keyboard is terrific. When rotated into landscape mode, the iPad keyboard is pretty natural, really only slightly smaller than keyboards found on Apple’s MacBook laptops today. I found it really easy to type large amounts of text.
4. One of the best features by far on the iPad is the new Safari. I love using Safari on my iPhone because of the ease of the touch interface. The only problem I have with it is the tiny size. The iPad solves this problem thanks to its full-sized display. I can view websites such as the NYTimes and the full version of Facebook in full-resolution. Videos (non-flash) play within the browser window, rather than popping up the video player over your browser window like it does in the iPhone. All of the features that you are familiar with on the iPhone when it comes to browsing is all here on the iPad, just way WAY better.
5. There are ton of little odds and ends that bring huge improvements to the iPhone OS. One of these features is the ability to lock the orientation of the device into a single mode. This allows you to maintain a normal orientation (portrait or landscape) when you’re laying on your side. You can also change your home screen (think desktop wallpaper for the iPhone OS) background and have more then 4 apps for quick access at the bottom of the screen.
6. One of the coolest features is the “Photo Frame” mode: If you lock the iPad and go to the lock screen, you’ll notice a little picture button the bottom right next to the “Slide to unlock” bar. Touch this button and iPad instantly converts into an automatic photo frame slideshow, complete with iPhoto like transitions between slides. Interesting feature.
7. The iBooks app is nice: The iPad includes a copy of Winnie the Pooh for your reading pleasure, and it gave me a chance to play around a little bit with the iBooks application. The pages are very easy to read and the text is very clear, though I imagine that prolonged reading on the iPad’s LCD display will cause some slight discomfort. You can rotate the iPad and move between looking at a single page or two pages at a time (like an open book).
8. The Mail app on the iPad is terrific: It will instantly be a fan to many business types and other people who are use to mail formats like those found in applications like Outlook. When in landscape, mail takes on a very Outlook like appearance, with your inbox being in a column on the left and a full preview of the email being shown in a reading pane on the right. When viewing emails in full size in portrait mode, your inbox can be access via a popup menu that appears when you hit the inbox button in the upper right.
9. The device definitely has a different feel to it in terms of handling and weight: At 1.5 pounds, the iPad can be awkward to hold in one hand, which is required if you wish to use the device if you’re in a standing position, or if you want to hold it upright like you would a book. But it feels very solid, and I don’t necessarily worry about bending or breaking the device when I hold it.
10. Overall, the device is a pleasure to use: The demo units that the reseller had were not loaded with very many dedicated iPad apps, so there were many features on the device that I did not get to explore, but just from what I’ve seen so far, the device is absolutely amazing.

This device is going to change everything. After using it and sitting down at my MacBook Pro to type up this article, I already feel a little sad that I am not typing it on the iPad. I didn’t get to try out everything that I wanted to. For example, I wanted to spend more time with the Pages app. I also wanted to sit down and take a good look at the some of the iWork apps. I got a chance to play around a little bit with the Pages app but I really didn’t get as much with it as I had liked. My dad went out and picked up a 64GB model at Best Buy, so I may get more opportunities to play with it tonight. I’ll update this post with more impressions.

Can’t wait till the day when I can finally get my own.

Kyle

So, Apple announced the iPad at a media event Wednesday and, as usual, the whole internet has blown up over the device. Unusually though, it seems that there is a very significant portion of the population out there that feels like there is no use for the device.

I’ve seen some pretty scathing editorials from websites such as Gizmodo, and Engadget, these websites all have a difficult time of determining a use for the iPad.

I disagree with about 60% of the tech pundits when I say this. I think the iPad is awesome. I think the tech pundits need to stop gabbing about its lack of multi-tasking/flash support and look at one thing:

Who really cares about multi-tasking and flash support? I mean really? The iPhone and iPod Touch has become prolific, and you don’t hear the average joe complaining about the lack of multi-tasking and flash support. The average user really doesn’t care. Flash support is something that is going to become moot over the next couple of years with the advancements in HTML5, and I imagine that eventually Apple is going to open the doors to multi-tasking, so in the end, it really doesn’t matter.

Everyone and their mom is going to want one of these. They want to be able to browse the internet from their couch without worrying about the complications that are involved with dealing with a full fledged computer. It’s less of a hassle to use an iPhone OS-equipped device to browse the internet. Just touch and go. No worrying about settings or configurations, or which browser to use. It’s simple.

One writer for Gizmodo put it in a good way: “The iPad is the Gadget We Never Knew We Needed.”

I think this thing is going to take off. And for all the people laughing at Apple for coming up with something like the iPad,  I think Apple is going to get the last laugh.

All the way to the bank.

In case you live under a rock, Apple released some new products today:

Re-designed Macbook: Polycarbonate unibody design, borrows design elements from the MacBook Pro line, but still maintains its low-end feel. Also contains the 7-hour battery. Multi-touch trackpad, mini-displayport. Specs: 2.26 GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB RAM, 250GB HDD. $999. Competitive and awesome.

Re-designed iMac: Two new models: 21.5-inch display and a whopping 27-inch display. Wow. Minimum 3.06 GHz dual-core processor, quad-core options available on the 27″.  These things are legit. 16:9 Widescreen resolution. 21-inch model comes with a 500GB HDD, 27-inch comes with a 1TB HDD, upgradable to 2TB. Oh, and get this, it comes stock with a wireless keyboard and the new “Magic Mouse“. Oh, and the 27-inch sports input support! So you can plug in your HDMI source directly into the iMac. Nice. Starts at $1199 for the 21.5-inch, and $1699 for the 27-inch. Quad-core 27-inch models starting at $1999.

Updated Mac Mini: The Mac Mini saw some speed bumps, featuring a 2.26 GHz processor for the low-end, and 2.53 GHz processor for the high-end models. Both models also saw a bump in memory capacity, 2GB and 4GB  for the low-end and high-end, respectively. Interestingly, Apple also introduced a Mac Mini Server, a 2.53 GHz, 4GB Mac Mini, which substitutes its built-in super drive for an additional hard drive, allowing it support 1TB of storage (through its two 500GB hard drives); it ships with Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server. Users who need optical disk capabilities can either use the Remote Disc feature pioneered by the MacBook Air, or use the MacBook Air USB superdrive. The Server model sits at $999.

Magic Mouse: Apple replaces its wireless Mighty Mouse with the multi-touch sensitive “Magic Mouse” (name change likely resulted from the patent recently granted to another company on the “Mighty Mouse” name). Its hard to explain its features in text, but there’s a video on Apple’s features page, to hit the link on this paragraph to check it out.

There were other updates that were supposed to be dropped today (including new Airport products) but they haven’t shown up yet. Apple could’ve pulled them at the last second. We’ll see what happens. (Update: Apple did, in fact, update the performance in the AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule by adding a better antenna).

Kyle

Update: Most of the internet has yet to catch on to the fact that Apple released a new Apple Remote. Not very big news, but its worth noting.

Last Tuesday, I got my iPhone 3GS. The verdict? I love it. Its an amazing entertainment device and productivity tool wrapped into one. I can make notes on-the-go with applications like Evernote with my iPhone, and view them later via automatic syncing on my MacBook Pro. I can transfer photos to my Mac or view PDF documents and other files over-the-air using the Dropbox application. These are just a few of the uses I have had for my iPhone over the past week.

Even though I love the iPhone and think it’s an amazing device, I do have a few caveats, majority of which have to do with AT&T. The first of which is the signal on UL campus. While walking along Johnston St. to McDonald’s yesterday, I watched as my signal bars did this dance that went from 1 bar, to 3 bars, to 5 bars, to 2 bars, to 4 bars, to 5 bars, and so on. Whenever I’m actually walking through the campus I will go lengthy periods of time without getting any signal at all. This is especially true when I am sitting in class:

No signal on my iPhone

Other caveats I have include the battery life. It stinks. I used to be able to go 2 days with my blackberry before it needed to be charged. I’m lucky if I make it through 5PM on the same battery charge, must less a whole day.

Other than these minor hiccups, I love the device. One of the coolest toys I have ever owned.

Now, about that data bill…

Kyle

I saw an article on Lifehacker today discussing the hardware and software they use for their work.

The article inspired me to discuss my own gear that I use in my day-to-day work.

Basics:

• Firefox: I am hard pressed to find a tech enthusiast who does not use Firefox. It’s simply awesome. Extensions include: FireFTP, Greasemonkey (and a lot of scripts), Facebook Toolbar (favorite extension, seriously), and Adblock Plus
• Windows Live Writer: I use WLW for all of my blogging, because it’s simply an incredibly powerful, free, WYSIWYG blog publishing application. I can manage all of my blog accounts from one tool. It handles photo uploads, drafting, and tagging, all locally. Awesome.
• Microsoft Office: Yes, I am a purist. Most of you think I probably suck because I don’t use a whole bunch of open-source software, but I’m just not into it that much. I use Word for a lot of my writing and Outlook for email/organizing.
• iTunes: Again, most of you will laugh at me because I use mostly proprietary software solutions, but I think in the case of iTunes, I have a good reason to. A ton of people use iTunes for music organization and jukeboxing because it’s dead simple (the fact that it’s integrated with the best portable media player on the market doesn’t hurt either).
• Twhirl: One of the greatest Adobe AIR applications in existence, as well as one of the best Twitter clients in existence. Simple to use. Also works with a few other networks. While your checking it out, follow me.
• AIM: Now I don’t really have a good excuse for this. The only AIM client I really like is iChat. Unfortunately, I don’t own a Mac.
• MediaShout: MediaShout is a powerful, easy-to-use worship presentation software package used for churches to make flashy presentations with video backgrounds and smooth transitions. Comes with a song and bible database. Able to make changes to presentations on the fly.
• Photoshop: An indispensable application for any guy who runs web sites.
• Dreamweaver: Dreamweaver is good for more than just web design. I use it to edit PHP scripts and pages (such as wordpress files) live on the server, without having to use a text editor and reuploading.

OS:

For the most part, I just stick with Windows Vista Business. There’s some features of Vista that I really like, including the new search/indexing features, and Flip3D.

Hardware:

Under normal circumstances, I have three machines that I use on a regular basis. They are:

• Laptop: Dell Latitude D420 w/ 1.06 GHz single core processor and 1 GB of RAM. Nothing fancy, but it gets the job done. This is my most used computer. I am always on this thing. The greatest asset to any student or techie on-the-go
• Desktop 1: A Dell Inspiron desktop bought on the cheap at Wal-Mart. Works just fine, plus it came with a 22” monitor. A 2.6 GHz AMD processor with 2 GB of RAM and a 500 GB hard drive. I’m all set
• Desktop 2: A gateway PC with XP media center and a sick 512 MB Radeon Graphics card. While not technically mine, as it resides at the BCM, I use it for most of my media-related work.

Webapps:

• Google Reader: I think this is one the greatest web applications ever made. It’s a powerful tool for aggregating RSS feeds and I can access it from anywhere and with anything with a web browser. I occasionally use ReadAir, a desktop RSS reader that syncs with Google Reader and uses an Aqua-like interface. Built for Adobe AIR.
• Gmail: I am slowly but surely using the gmail interface more and more rather than using the IMAP interface in Microsoft Outlook. Awesome webapp.
• Flickr: One of the first Web 2.0 applications and the best one for photo organization. I use the Flickr Uploadr application to upload and organize photos from my desktop. You can see my Flickr profile here. I also use an AIR app called DestroyFlickr to browse Flickr from the desktop.
• Facebook: Probably the most visited site by me personally, ever. I practically live on Facebook (I dig the new design by the way). You can add me here.
• Twitter: I’m a big user a fan of Twitter. What better way to quickly communicate with my friends? You can follow me here. As stated above, I usually use the Twhirl application on my laptop. I often use the new interface called Tweenky when I’m on another computer. Tweenky is a Twitter client that uses a Gmail-like interface.
• Last.fm: I use Last.fm to track of my listening habits, mainly with the “scrobbling” feature, which keeps track of the songs I play both in iTunes and on my iPod. Check my profile here.

Peripherals:

• iPod Classic: I’m not quite sure what I would do without this thing. Die? I have an iPod interface on my stereo deck in my car. Sweet. My iPod also doubles as an external hard drive. You know, so the space doesn’t go to waste.
• Shure SE110 Sound-Isolation in-ear phones (Black): Before I really started getting into audio and music stuff, I never really made a big deal about headphones. Ever since getting a hold of these, I will never go back to cheap headphones again. Ever.
• Microsoft Wireless Optical Notebook Mouse 3000: I’ve had this cheap mouse for three years and have only had to replace the batteries twice. An awesome mouse, and one of the best selling.

Self-Assessment

I love proprietary software. Why? When something breaks, you usually have a number to call, where you can get professional, helpful support. Money has it’s benefits. The problem with a lot of open source software, is that when it breaks, you usually have to fix it yourself or seek help from the community. This may not be that bad of a thing, but it bothers me, and I am entitled to my own opinions. For the record, I so like a few open source applications, like Wordpress…

by: Kyle [at] kyleleboeuf.com