Which Phone Was In Your Pocket?

10 Jan

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Happy birthday, iPhone! Jason Snell wrote a great piece about the iPhone’s launch five years ago at MacWorld Expo. Gruber chimed in, talking about how far ahead of the competition Apple was at the time and arguably still is. He then linked to a photo of the phone that was in his pocket when the iPhone was announced:

That got me thinking about which phone I was using at the time. It was a Motorola KRZR, a recent upgrade from my Motorola V710C (the phone Jack Nicholson uses in the Departed, coincidentally). Neither phone was fast, small, or feature-rich, yet each cost between $100-200. Just think – spending that much cash on a phone when signing up for a three-year contract now nets you a BlackBerry, an Android, or an iPhone.

Those phones were also very much locked down. The carrier controlled which features were enabled. The software was not upgradable. I remember reading about some serious issues with each phone, but I was stuck with the software that was loaded on them when I purchased them. That just sounds so archaic now.

A year later, I remember calling TELUS the next after it was announced that Rogers would be carrying the iPhone 3G and they were trying to sell me on the Samsung Instinct. I thought about it for about a second before asking them to cancel my account. I got the iPhone 3G, which I loved, but spent two unhappy years with horrible Rogers service before coming back to TELUS to get an iPhone 4. For my money, the iPhone has been the best phone on the market since its release. There have been some serious competitors, but none have toppled the iPhone’s dominance, especially when it comes to user interface, easy of use, and the ecosystem of iTunes, App Store, OSX, etc.

It’s been a fantastic five years of technological innovation, and the iPhone really started the revolution. The winners are the users – we now have phones that we can perform software upgrades on, we have a multitude of incredible apps that make our lives easier, and we have beautifully-designed, easy to use phones.

So, which phone was in your pocket in January, 2007?

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Logic Pro 9 Now On the App Store for $199.99

9 Dec

logic

Logic Pro is Apple’s professional audio recording and sequencing software. Apple bought it from Emagic back in 2002, and it has since become the DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) of choice for many recording engineers. I personally love the interface and I chose it over competitors like Pro Tools, Cubase, and Audition.

Before today, the Logic Pro 9 bundle was $499. The main application, along with the huge library of loops, is now available on the Mac App Store for only $199.99. The MainStage app, previously a part of the bundle, is now available separately for $29.99.

The download itself is just a hair over 400mb. The 19gb of loops are available as in-app downloads. This is a great way to do things. The app downloads quickly, and if the user wants the loops they can download them separately.

The reduced cost is in line with Apple’s other Mac Store offerings, including Aperture (which dropped from $199 to $79) and Final Cut Pro X.

This is a slightly unexpected move, as Logic has not been updated since January, 2010, when 64-bit support was added. Many predicted that a new version of Logic would launch soon. This move seems to nix that notion, unless they plan on offering the new version as a free upgrade to existing users, which isn’t likely.

Here’s hoping its move to the App Store means there are some updates on the horizon, particularly bug fixes and better Lion performance.

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RIM’s Nosedive

22 Nov

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The story of RIM and its iconic BlackBerry devices reads like a fairytale – complete with a dramatic twist that leaves the hero in a sticky situation. It all started out so great. RIM essentially created the smartphone market, cornered government and business customers with its innovative network and technologies, and then finally began releasing phones for the masses. Then the competition woke up and started breathing fire.

Unfortunately, the co-CEO’s (yes, they share the CEO moniker – just about the only company in the world that has this arrangement) have not been up to the battle. That is most likely because the battle is not with one specific dragon or evil maniac – it has almost become an inward battle, with the company unable to get out of its own way to bounce back and be competitive.

Once the king in the government and business sector, RIM’s share has declined and the iPhone now commands the lion’s share of business users.

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Review: ReFind for Mac

4 Oct

ReFind

ReFind makes it easy to get to your most-used folders on your Mac with just a few keyboard strokes. It’s a bit of a power-user tool, but if you find yourself navigating to the same folders time and time again, ReFind could make your life easier.

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VW Freedriving Tour

18 Aug

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On Sunday, August 7th, I attended the VW Freedriving Tour at Exhibition Park. I had received an e-mail a few weeks prior inviting me to drive any VW I wanted on a closed course with an instructor in the passenger seat. Heck yes.

I started with the Tiguan, and found it a bit underpowered. It didn’t have a great feel to it. It was also my first trip around the course, so I was cautious as I learned the turns.

Next up was the 2.5L, 5-cylinder Jetta. This thing has a beautiful, throaty roar and it handles very nicely. I would seriously look at this car as my next vehicle, although the interior quality has taken a turn for the worse with the latest batch.

I saved the GTi for last. Now this is a pocket rocket. What a great little car. Once our Passat dies, I really want to pick up a GTi or at least a Golf as my daily driver and hand over the Santa Fe to my wife. :)

Here are some videos of me on the course!

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iMac 1998 vs. iMac 2011

17 Aug

imacs

Technology is improving at an exponential rate. It really is insane.

Back in 1998, Steve Jobs announced the new iMac. The internet was just starting to explode. The iMac was the first desktop computer for the home to really take advantage of the internet, and allow regular people to create multimedia.

In this video, Steve waxes poetic about the incredible specs of the machine. Apple had found that the biggest screen people wanted was 15″. 32mb of RAM was overkill. 4gb of hard disk was a cavernous amount of storage space.

Below is a table I created comparing the 1998 baseline iMac with the 2011 version. Note the crazy percentages and remember that not all processors, RAM, displays, hard disks, etc. are created equal, so the increase in speed and efficiency is even greater than these percentages.

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iOS vs. Android

20 Jul

iOsvsAndroid

Several months ago, I wrote Part 1 of what I thought was going to be a 4-part series comparing the HTC Desire to the iPhone 4. Those other three parts never got written. Here’s why.

The HTC Desire HD was announced soon after that post, so I thought I might wait until its release to compare all three. I also quickly realized the HTC Desire did not hold a candle to the iPhone 4. With such a small amount of internal memory, the phone became very sluggish once apps were installed. The ability to transfer apps to the SD card came with a software update, but the process does not work for every app. There is too much required of the user to move apps and try and clean up the phone’s memory. If you install even just a few apps, you can easily fill the phone and get low memory warnings.

This is the complete opposite of the iOS experience. A big benefit most Android users talk about is the ability to insert extra memory, usually SD cards. Please tell me what good this is if you cannot move all of your apps to the card? I could not use the Desire as I wanted to because I kept hitting a wall with the internal memory.

Though the Desire is a great phone, the limitations of its hardware have really showed. The Desire HD fixed a lot of these problems, but its size and other software and wifi issues have made it a non-competitor as well. I dumped the HD for an LG Optimus 7, and more recently an LG Optimus Black. I still have yet to use an Android device that would really sway me from using an iPhone.

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RIP White MacBook

20 Jul

RIPMacBook

With the launch of the new MacBook Air models today, Apple has removed the venerable white MacBook from its online store.

It will, however, live on for now as an option for educational institutions, presumably while stock lasts. There is only one model, a 2.4ghz Core2Duo affair with a 250gb hard drive and 2gb RAM for $949CAD. The only upgrades available are 4gb RAM and a 500gb drive.

Screenshot from Apple Store for Educational Institutions

The white MacBook replaced the iBook line. The MacBook line took an odd turn as an aluminum model for a short time before Apple created the MacBook Pro line to replace the PowerBook series.

Kind of strange to have MacBook Air and MacBook Pro without a MacBook. Will either line drop their monikers and become the new MacBook line?

Though the MacBooks had a few issues from time to time, they were huge sellers for Apple, and they have served many people, especially students, very well.

I don’t see the 11″ MacBook air as a replacement though, and that is the only laptop model in the same price range as the white MacBook.

An interesting, if predictable move by Apple.

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My Photography Workflow Pt. 1: Import to Editing

3 Jun

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Earlier this year, I registered my photography business, fadetowhite photography. I have been messing around with photography for as long as I can remember, and I finally started taking it seriously a couple of years ago. Moving from hobby to paid gigs presents several challenges and brings added costs. The financial costs have been mostly covered by the income, but the time costs are the biggest struggle. Juggling home, work, hobbies, and paid photography means I need to streamline as much of the process as possible.

In this first post of four, I will detail my current photography workflow from import to basic editing. In the subsequent posts I will touch on HDR, retouching, sharing, and I will also talk about a few of the other tools I use to stay organized. All of this helps me concentrate on the photography, and spend as little time as possible on the time-suckers that take away from enjoying the craft.

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BlackBerry PlayBook: First Impressions

18 Apr

PlayBook

My PlayBook arrived this afternoon, and I’ve been fiddling with it nonstop. It feels great in the hands, seems well-built, and is pretty darn snappy for the most part. In this quick post, I’ll talk about what I love, some things that need work, and some things I hope get better very soon. The PlayBook launches this week, and it is well-poised to take a portion of the huge tablet market share. Let’s see what works, what doesn’t, and what needs to change if RIM is to be successful:

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Netflix and Canadian ISPs

29 Mar

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When Netflix launched in Canada last fall, it landed with a bit of a whimper. The selection of titles was minuscule, especially compared to the US version. There was some confusion with the Wii player – at first you had to order a disc that would need to remain in your Wii if you wanted to access Netflix, but before mine arrived in the mail there was an app in the Wii store. Finally, there were some streaming and quality issues out of the gate.

Within a couple of weeks though the selection began to improve, and it is now expanding each day, adding newer content like current TV series Mr. Sunshine, hit movies like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and some great archives of TV shows like Arrested Development.

I complained about the quality at first, and spent a few minutes on the phone with some very helpful Netflix people. They explained that the streaming quality slowly improves while you watch, and usually within five minutes Netflix figures out the optimal settings and you will then be served the HD feed if your connection is fast enough. When you first start up a movie, the quality isn’t great so it may be a bit of a turn off. Rest assured that most of the titles do substantially increase in quality as you watch.

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Windows Phone 7 Review

16 Nov

Windows Phone Logo

I’ve had the chance to put a a Windows Phone 7 device (an LG Optimus 7) through its paces for the past week, and it’s been a fairly positive experience. Microsoft has done their homework for the most part, and the operating system is a joy to use. For a large number of smartphone users, particularly new users, WP7 will meet their needs and provide a great experience. The OS isn’t perfect, however, and there are a number of issues that prevent it from being 100% usable for me.

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Apple’s Lion & New MacBook Air

7 Nov

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Apple hosted an event a couple of weeks ago. They teased some features from their upcoming OSX update called Lion, talked about the new iLife ’11 suite, and they announced a new MacBook Air. Reviews of the keynote were mixed, but most people found it to be fairly ho-hum. I had no expectations, so I pleased with the event, though I do agree it wasn’t earth-shattering. First up, the new OS update:

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Aperture Update 3.1

20 Oct

aperture

I’ll post my thoughts on the “Back to the Mac” event soon, but I just wanted to get this info about Aperture out there.

Apple has updated Aperture to version 3.1. Here are the software update notes:

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Apple's "Back to the Mac" Event – Wednesday!

18 Oct

back-to-the-mac

Several times a year, Apple holds events to announce new products. Recently, most of these events have focused on iOS and its related devices. I’ve seen several people comment in forums and articles about the lack of focus on the Mac and OSX. It looks like Apple has heard some of those complaints. The title for tomorrow’s event is “Back to the Mac.”

It seems Wednesday’s event will focus solely on the Mac, and that’s welcome news to many. The teaser image seems to feature a lion. Could this be the next iteration of OSX? If so, what comes after 10.7 Lion? Isn’t the lion the biggest of the big cats?

So, what kinds of things can we expect or hope for tomorrow? Let’s take a look at the rumours and hopes floating around out there:

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