The Life and Blog of MacGeek Pro

AT&T here in Lincoln, NE (and Omaha, I presume) flipped the switch on 3G this morning, bringing mobile broadband yumminess to my iPhone 3G. What can I say so far? It’s fast. Not quite as fast as using WiFi, but very, very close. This will be handy when out and about in Lincoln. When I am at home, I will probably still connect to my home WiFi.

However, I am resolved to keep my iPhone running on 3G for a little while in order to test performance. Mainly, I want to observe the hit on battery life, since Apple says using 3G may affect that. I noticed after using 3G for about three hours today, I had knocked my iPhone down to 80% battery. For some perspective, though, I was using my iPhone constantly during that time, instead of the occasional glance every 20-30 minutes. 

I am very glad AT&T rolled out 3G here in Nebraska. I had inquired last month at my local AT&T store, and the representative said it should be up and running by Thanksgiving. Looks like that goal has been met. I have to say, with all the griping I have heard people say about AT&T, I haven’t had any problems with them. Well, other than they are nonexistent when I travel to South Dakota, my homeland.

I’ll add updates if I find out anything noteworthy in the next day or two.

Original iTalk

Many a moon ago, I had a nifty little recorder for my third generation iPod (my first beloved iPod). I used in college to record any presentations I did and lectures. Back then, the iPod had a connector next to the headphone jack called the remote port. This little recorder was called the iTalk by Griffin Technology, and it used the remote port to interface with the iPod, instead of using the brand new (at the time) Dock connector that we are all so familiar with.

This was a great little device, but there was a fatal problem when I upgraded to the fourth generation iPod a year and a half later—the new iPod ditched the remote port. Apple had chosen to favor the superior Dock connector over the remote port, thus making my iTalk useless.

Griffin eventually released the iTalk Pro, which they still sell, for use with the Dock connector, but I never upgraded. Because Griffin was still a fairly small company back then, it took some time for the new product to come to fruition. In that time, I lost my taste for recording.

iTalk

When I bought my iPhone, I wondered if there would be an application that would utilize the microphone to record conversations, speeches, etc. Today I found my answer. Griffin has released iTalk Recorder [App Store link] for iPhone (and the second generation iPod touch) on the App Store.

This is a very polished app that is much more intuitive than the old iPod’s built in recording options. iTalk for iPhone allows you to title a track, select between Good, Better, or Best recording quality, and allows you to append further recording onto any previous recording. Even playback of the recording is pretty, as it mimics the iPhone’s Visual Voicemail interface. You can also delete a recording fromt he device if you no longer need it.

 Another gem Griffin has added as a compliment is iTalk Sync, a desktop application for Mac & Windows (Windows version coming soon). iTalk Sync allows iTalk on your iPhone to transfer files through your local wireless network. I used this app to transfer a test recording, and then used iTunes to convert it to a more bandwidth-friendly AAC file, and I‘ve uploaded it for your audio sampling pleasure. Nevermind, WordPress wasn’t cooperating, and I got frustrated. The app takes nice recordings, trust me. ;)

Well, that pretty much sums up my review. I give the app 4 out of 5 stars. Also, for a limited time, iTalk is free in the App Store. No word on how long this deal will last, nor how much it will cost when the offer has expired.

You may remember July 11, the day I bought my beloved iPhone 3G, as the day Apple had a lot of applesauce all over its face. The company had a really, really bad day. 

Between the simultaneous launch of the iPhone 3G, iPhone 2.0 Software, the App Store, and MobileMe, quality control went into a tailspin and smoked the Earth, leaving a stinky, black crater. iPhone activations were slow, the App Store was full of buggy apps created on a beta SDK, MobileMe was a complete mess (and its features are still incomplete), and the iPhone 2.0 Software was extremely glitchy.

Compared to the original iPhone launch a year prior, the iPhone 2.0 felt poorly designed. Many, including myself, think Apple just bit off more than it could chew, and when the dealine hit, Apple choked. 

One week ago, Apple released the iPhone 2.1 Software. When I wrote my first review of my iPhone, I waited a month, hoping things would get much better. Well, I only needed a week with iPhone 2.1 to know my verdict. This is what Apple should have released on July 11. 

The iPhone works much better as a phone. Granted, I didn’t have dropped calls prior to 2.1, but I often had noise interference—which is now gone. Bug fixes? Heck yes! Scrolling long lists (like playlists or contacts) is completely smooth now. My apps (even 3rd party) either don’t or rarely crash anymore. In the past week, I have only had one app crash, and I am pretty sure it did so because I tried forcing it to do more than it was capable of. 

Here’s the unexpected fix, at least in my opinion: Improved battery life. My battery life was pretty good before 2.1. It was better than my old Motorola RAZR. And the iPhone even does web browsing! After 2.1, though, my battery life became outstanding! I’m very impressed. I no longer feel like I have to give my iPhone a quick charge in the early evening.

I still think Apple rushed the 2.0 software out the door before it was ready. 2.1 is the caliber I expect of Apple, and I expected it on July 11. iPhone 2.0 wasn’t completely terrible, but it definitely didn’t have the “Apple Polish” I’ve come to know and love throughout the years. 

Now the iPhone lives up to being the best mobile phone ever created.

One month ago, I stood in line with all the other crazies, and bought an iPhone 3G. I had been planning to write a review straight away, but my anniversary and the birth of my son occurred within days of getting the iPhone. Since an entire month has gone past, I feel very comfortable in giving a well-informed review of the iPhone 3G. 

Initial Impressions

My activation process experience was bittersweet. Apple’s servers had melted down by the time I was able to sit down with a Genius. Therefore, I was given the option to take my iPhone home to activate it. I happily took that option, as it meant my iPhone was not unboxed before my eyes by someone else.

I quickly went down the block from the Apple Store in Omaha and got a coffee at Scooter’s Coffeehouse. I found a nicely lit seat and began the unboxing process. 

After the unboxing I tethered my iPhone to my MacBook to begin the activation process. This is where things fell apart. I was, naturally, experiencing the same thing as everyone else in the nation. iTunes’ servers were still the equivalent of molten lava. So I packed up my things and made my way home to Lincoln, with the hope of iTunes cooperating within the hour.

Yeah. Right. I was finally able to activate 3 hours after I arrived home. I took a nap to pass the time, if you care to know. I mean, come on, I had been awake since 4 a.m.

After activation was complete, things ran swimmingly. iTunes restored all my settings, notes, etc. from the backup of my iPod touch, which I must say, was a nice touch (har har).

After all 10 GBs of data synced back over, I gave it a spin. Phone calls were crisp and clear, which is by far the most important thing. Visual Voicemail is a godsend—I don’t know why phones haven’t had this! All other aspects of the phone performed quite well and up to expectations. 

GPS in Maps is extremely accurate. I am hoping that a future update will bring turn-by-turn directions much like my Garmin. 

Of course, one of the killer features of the new iPhone (or rather the new iPhone OS) is the App Store.

App Store

The App Store is downright cool. Third-party apps definitely fill the gaps (mostly) that Apple left. I have only downloaded 9 apps: 8 free, 1 paid. 

• Twitterrific Premium - My favorite Twitter client from the Mac comes to the iPhone. The premium version is sans advertisements, but there is also an ad-supported free version.
• Facebook - A nice portal to the biggest timesuck ever. :)
• AIM - Everyone clamored for an instant messaging app when the first iPhone was released. I have to admit, I thought I would use this more, but I don’t.
• Exposure - A nice interface for viewing photos from Flickr.com.
• Now Playing BoxOffice (currently unavailable) - This app gives you movie ratings and local showtimes. Unfortunately, it was mysteriously removed from the App Store. Rumor has it that it is relaunching soon under a new name: Now Playing. Now Playing has been released on the App Store.
• Remote - This nifty free app from Apple allows you to remotely control your iTunes library or Apple tv from your iPhone. This is probably the most well made app on the App Store right now.
• PhoneSaber (currently unavailable) - This app taps into the iPhone’s accelerometer to enable motion sensitive lightsaber sounds. It was removed from the app store due to copyright issues, but will return as an official Star Wars branded app soon.
• Tap Tap Revenge - An addictive Guitar Hero inspired game. And free to boot!
• WordPress - An easy way to post a quick blog entry from your iPhone to your WordPress blog.

Glitches and Fixes

The initial iPhone 2.0 software wasn’t without its glitches. I experienced many sudden app crashes (both Apple’s and third party apps), and general sluggishness in scrolling lists and typing. Those were the chief glitches I noticed.

Recently, Apple released the 2.0.1 [and now 2.0.2] software, which has greatly reduced the app crashes and obliterated any sluggishness I had previously experienced.

Summation

Overall, I am greatly overjoyed with my iPhone purchase. Having the Internet in my pocket, along with my music and my phone, all in one handy device is amazing. Gone are the days of always needing multiple gadgets with me all the time. Now all I carry are my wallet, my keys, and my iPhone.

It is no secret that social networks are the “in” thing. Social networks keep you in touch with other people. Mainly, I think they serve as a way to give new insight into the people you know. Facebook and MySpace probably the most well-known networks. I don’t use MySpace, mainly because it is just a jumbled mess of crap cluttered. Since the advent of Facebook Apps, Facebook has a slight tendency to be a little cluttered, as well, but not nearly as flagrant as MySpace.

As you know from my previous post about Facebook, I use it mainly as a way to keep tabs on current and old friends. However, the type and amount of information presented by Facebook gives me the larger bullet points of events in friends’ lives. It isn’t all that personal.

Flickr is a photo (and now video!) sharing site and is probably my favorite social network of all time. That’s a little biased though, as I love photography. Also, I can’t say I know (as in actually have met) too many of the people I keep in touch with on Flickr, because very few of my “real life” friends or my family actually use it. I like Flickr because photography is something I enjoy and the site allows me to find people who have similar photography styles and interest, while also exposing me to different styles of photography.

Recently, though, I have come across a new (well, new to me, at least) type of social networking. And that is the micro-blog. There are many, and the one that reigns supreme is Twitter.  Now, I could write a few sentences trying to explain, but the video embedded just below does just such a darn good job of it.

See? Wasn’t that a great video explanation? Twitter is incredibly fun. I find myself tweeting (we call posts on twitter “tweets.” Keep up with the lingo) just about everything. I say Good morning when I awaken, I announce when I am hungry and going to find food, and I tell everyone what I’m watching on tv. Hmm, I just remembered that I taped Battlestar Galactica last night and haven’t watched it yet. See, I could tweet that.

I encourage you to give Twitter a shot. It’s cool. If you join, Follow me.

P.S. If you join I highly recommend downloading and using a desktop client. I use Twitterrific for the Mac, but there are Mac/Windows clients such as twhirl.

To my surprise, I logged onto Flickr this evening only to discover that Flickr has added video uploading! It’s pretty cool. There are some limitations:

• You must be a paid Flickr Pro member. ($25/ year, totally worth it. I’ve been one for two years!)
• Videos must be 90 seconds or less. (If greater than 90 seconds, only the first 90 seconds will play.)
• Videos must be 150 MB or less. (And that’s that.)
• Videos must be “safe”. (i.e. Not pr0n.)

I think these parameters are all valid. The Pro status makes sense, because a Pro membership gives you unlimited upload space, and video is the bane of hard drive space.

Also, I am more likely to shoot short little videos and call it good. I am not much of a video person. For me, YouTube is fun to watch videos, but I won’t make videos for that site, because I am not part of the “social network” on YouTube.

On Flickr, I have many contacts, friends, and family. It is in the top three of my social networks. Those are Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter. In that order.

Flickr, well done. This came as a total surprise, and it rocks!

Readers, embedded below is my first Flickr video. Bon appétit.

Time Machine is one of the—if not the—killer features of Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard. Basically, all a user must do is attach an external hard drive, and every hour Time Machine makes a snapshot backup of your system. The beauty of this software version of a Flux Capacitor is if your hard drive fails in your Mac, you can restore your system. You don’t lose all your movies, photos, and music. Photos especially are important, as they are irreplaceable. I hope that you make regular backups of those at least, even onto optical media.

The next great thing about Time Machine is the fact that you can recover individual files from time periods past, even if you’ve deleted a file. For instance, you trash and delete a presentation that you thought you were done with. Three weeks later a friend asks you if you could do that presentation for their organization. Crap, right? No. Just fire up the Time Machine and get up to 88 mph! You can go back three weeks and pull that one presentation back to the present.

 This came in handy for me last night. I opened iTunes, and someway, somehow, the library data file got corrupted. iTunes couldn’t remember how I organized all my music! And since I have been using iTunes since v. 1, I have a lot of playlists that would take me hours or even days to recreate. Well, I opened up Time Machine and browsed back about 3 hours, to when I know iTunes was still working just fine. Restored. Presto! iTunes wasn’t puking all over itself anymore.

Apple, kudos to you for making Doc Brown’s technology not just something of the movies.

If you want to watch a funny ad about Time Machine, go ahead and click on the picture above. Enjoy!

If you are reading this blog, and haven’t figured out that I am a Mac user yet, well, you might be a dunce. That said, those of you who are PC folk have been primarily driven to choose between two web browsers: Microsoft Internet Explorer, which comes on your PC by default, and Mozilla Firefox, the open-source alternative.

Now, I have long propagated Mozilla Firefox to my friends who use Windows because I have found it to be more secure and faster than Internet Exploder Explorer. On the Mac front, however, I have been a long time Safari fiend, even though it didn’t work with many Web 2.0 sites such as Google Docs, Google Calendar, or the much beloved Blogger. For those Web 2.0 sites, I would resort to using Firefox, which feels very much like a Windows app in a Mac world. Firefox has just never felt like the Mac experience, and it is quite slow on the Mac.