If you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple of days, the new iPhone 4 was released last week and some “bugs” came along for the ride as well. The most popular bug that has been dubbed “the death grip” drops the phone’s signal quality when held with the left hand, covering up the internal antenna.

Well, the folks at Nokia wasted no time to take shots at Apple by throwing up a blog post outlining all the different ways you can hold its phones without any signal loss.

Nice job!

Click the link for the full story

How Do You Hold Your Nokia

Bit.ly Shows Off Their Revamped Site
image via: InterAwesome

Those of us who are heavy into sharing links via social networking sites should be pleased to know that the popular URL shortening site Bit.ly has done a revamp that includes automatically shortening URL’s (before you have to click ‘shorten’), and adding more functionality like quickly searching your short link history and recovering deleted links. They’ve also added more real-time tracking and analytics so you can obsess over how many people are clicking your links up-to-the-second.

Google Touches Up Desktop & Mobile Search Pages
image via: BloodHoudBlog.com

Google has added a left side search optimization bar to both its desktop AND its mobile search page. It’s similar to the current bar at the top of the search page that has the ‘image, web, videos, etc. options; but with more options that will enable you to further zero in on the actual results you were looking for. It reminds me of the Bing search engine by Microsoft, or eBay’s search options. Either way, I think it’s a nice addition, especially to the mobile page. You could for instance narrow your search without repeatedly changing your initial search words.

Scribd and Opera Jump on the HTML5 Bandwagon
image via: andyuk.net

You could say it has been a rough couple of weeks for Adobe seeing as their Flash product that has pretty much been a web developer’s must have to bring media content to the web has been loosing support in favor of HTML5, the new web language. HTML5 isn’t fully adopted and integrated yet, but recently, Apple slammed Flash and is NOT adding it to ANY of it’s mobile devices, and Microsoft sees a bright [web] future with HTML5 and is making plans for future developments around it. Slowly but surely, more and more companies are following suit. Next on that list is media sharing/publishing site Scribd, and mobile web browser platform Opera.

Scribd says it doesn’t need Flash because its content isn’t really heavy enough to need a powerful web plug-in like Flash, and Opera said that using Flash on a mobile device was similar to cooking an egg on the concrete in the sun. So both of the them are endorsing HTML5 and as a result, delivering another blow to the future of Flash.

Apple Fanboys/girls Need Love Too!
image via: Cupidtino

The new site Cupidtino (a mash-up of the ‘Cupid’ & Cupertino, CA where Apple’s HQ is located) plans to be the “hook up” site those in love with their Apple Products. In addition to just provide a place for Apple fans to date, mate, and birth entire Apple families, members will also have access of exclusive social and location-based apps for the iPhone and iPad.

I will leave you with a quote from Techcrunch, that I happen to cosign:

“On the other hand, making sure that Apple fans only date other Apple fans is a good way of stopping them from spreading their Apple fan genes to the general population, I guess. So maybe this site isn’t all bad.

That's my site...and my thumb

*In my typical, nonchalant attitude*

“It’s cool”

The wifi version has been out a little over a month and the 3G version just dropped last weekend. I decided to wait for the 3G because I knew I would be in places where free and open wifi would not be available. So I had to ride the bench while seemingly everyone else got to partake in the “firsties” enjoyment.

But my time came, and my iPad (32GB) hit my door last Friday at 1pm – Shout out to FedEx.

So instead of giving you the same features/benefits type of post everyone else has done already, I will give you my quick observations, and go into what I have done thus far with my new toy.

Observations:

- A little heavier than I thought it would be…but I like a little junk in the trunk
(see: Erykah Badu’s ‘Window Seat’ video)

- I find myself cleaning the screen often
The gadget just looks good, and the finger smudges seem to “stank it up”

- Photos, music cover art, videos and movies all look gorgeous
Nothing witty to add, just stating fact

- I think it’s cool that iPad-specific apps have settings you can change in the global settings menu in addition to app-specific settings in the app settings menu
(That makes sense in my head)

- I would like to have access to the file system
I have OCD when it comes to organization

- 50% percent of the time, the camera connection kit works 100%
I could only get the USB dongle to work and not the SD card slot version.

- AT&T 3G is just okay
But I already knew that

- I thought the lack of Flash and multi-tasking would be noticeable, but it actually isn’t
*Crosses fingers for HTML5 and a download of OS 4.0 in the fall*

- Mrs. Tech hates it
*Just wait for the “newness” to wear off sweetie*

Having said that, the first thing I did (after being forced to hook it up to a computer for basic setup) was look for iPad apps. The iPhone apps are okay on it, but I paid for an iPad, not an iPhone…so I’ll wait (step it up devs!). I went to sites like Gizmodo and TUAW to look for apps they recommended. The apps I decide to download are:

FeddlerRSS – RSS Reader
PrintCentral - Wireless printing
SplashID – Password Manager
Dictionary – Do I really have to explain?
Zinio – Digital Magazine Reader
Dropbox – Cloud Storage
Pandora – Streaming Music
Netflix – Instant movies and Queue Control
PDFReader Pro – PDF Reader
Photobucket – Online photo storage/sharing
Craigsphone – Craigslist…but nicer
eBay – Buy and sell stuff
ABC Player – watch ABC shows
Twitterrific – Twitter Client (just barely edged out TweetDeck)
Evernote – Online note storage
WordPress – Blog control
Wikipanion – Wiki stuff

Most of the above apps are free, and there are only a couple of paid apps. But none of them are more than 10 bucks, and they are WORTH IT. If the two of you who read my blog have some suggestions, hook a brotha up.

Next up was getting my email accounts, contacts and calendars set up. I use Gmail & Google Apps for all of this stuff so it was pretty easy. The only hitch is that the iPad can only synchronize ONE set of calendar/contacts via Google Sync. There are ways around it, but I’m cool for now (don’t mind going to the web for the others) and I’m hoping Google/Apple will resolve this on their own.

In the meantime and in-between time, I reorganized my iTunes Library and just synced my playlists instead of trying to sync my entire library. I also bought a movie or two (‘Aliens’ and ‘Transformers: The Movie’ (the cartoon version) just to see how they would look – Those are my two all-time favs, and I was impressed. I will be researching ways to put my movie collection (as a copy, not for resale – take that piracy!), so if you have any tips, let me know.

Last on the list was firing up the AT&T’s 3G service. Like I said before it was just “okay”, but I didn’t expect much. I just wanted it to get the job done, and so far so good. I only signed up for the 250mb plan, and based on my current usage, I could stand to upgrade to the unlimited plan. But I am gonna hold off because I feel my usage will stabilize after I get the hang of the device. Set up was a cinch and it is all done in the iPad setting menu, no registering or logging into a website to get started. You can also view your usage there as well.

So there you have it. If you have any tips, tricks, guides or comments about the iPad feel free to drop me a line.

Note: I did NOT write this entire post from my iPad…just in case you were wondering.

Not directly, but Microsoft has come out in support of HTML5 instead of depending on Adobe Flash for video content on websites. Microsoft joins the already major group of companies and sites (including Apple, Google, etc.) that are moving to push HTML5 into the mainstream.

This does nothing but make Adobe’s Flash platform less desirable for web developers looking to create “The future of the web” – Dean Hachamovitch who is the head honcho of Internet Explorer says that future is rooted in HTML5.

So it sounds like Apple isn’t on some “The world will do what WE say” stuff. Microsoft jumping on the HTML5 bandwagon to me, says that Jobs, in his Flash tirade last week, has a legitimate argument for his reasons for supporting HTML5. If Apple AND Microsoft AND Google says it’s okay, it’s okay…right?

What do you think?

image via: What-if | What-if

Went to the mall to look for a plain white button-down polo shirt and ended up with some “goodies”

The countdown has started

…I doubt it – Not the part about this being the new iPhone that’s supposed to drop this summer. I doubt the fact that it [iPhone prototype] was “lost” in a bar somewhere, and found only for the rights to be sold and I’m assuming bought by Gizmodo, for their breaking story. My guess is that this is an ingenious way for Apple to create some buzz, so they very slickly (I made that up) let the phone out into the wild in hopes that this exact thing happens – somebody finds it and leaks it to the highest bidder.

*All speculation for the sake of posting a story, so deal with it*

But Gizmodo did some research in addition to completely taking the phone apart, and thus, claim this is a real iPhone 4G prototype. So since they believe it, I do too (Sorry Erykah, but imma go with groupthink on this one), so I’m gonna post some of the new design features:

- Front-facing camera (for video conference calls, chats, etc)
- Back camera WITH FLASH
- Larger battery
- Smaller screen but higher resolution
- Completely flat back, as opposed to the current slightly curved one, with aluminum border

There is some other stuff, but the above are the best new features in my opinion.

The reasons why they think it’s a real phone is because the phone was actually reported lost, and before Gizmodo could get a chance to play with the phone’s OS, Apple remotely killed the phone. The phone also had a plastic casing around it to disguise it as an iPhone 3GS.

But again, I think this was a carefully crafted scheme by Apple to accidentally on purpose get the word out on it’s new device “But I ain’t the one to gossip, so you ain’t heard it from me”

To get more pics, vids, and details on why they think this phone is the “real deal”, visit: gizmodo.com

…Or RUMORED to be doing about it – Just about ALL of this is just a bunch of speculative rumors, but when has speculation and rumors that ever stopped anybody?

First, let’s get the main and most popular reason why I haven’t jumped on the bandwagon yet:

The Low Down:

1. Their stuff is expensive. They provide a good product for their fanboys/girls loyal customer base, so they have every right to be handsomely compensated. I just haven’t been able to convince the CFO of the family (read: Mrs. Tech) to shell out the dough for “research”.

If cost wasn’t an issue, then another issue is that…

2. I am currently on contract with “Big Red” (rhymes with “Horizon Fireless”), and it doesn’t expire until December. Once my contract is up, I would consider a switch to AT&T and their dreaded “You don’t need to talk to anyone right now” network capabilites. But word on the street is that AT&T is ramping up their network to compete with a rumored new iPhone version the COULD work on Verizon’s Network…which seems to be more stable. This works for me in two ways – 1. If I decide to switch to AT&T, the network should be improved. 2. If Verizon does get a decent iPhone version, I may not have to switch at all. Well, actually 3. Since I have preorded the 3G version of the iPad, so I REALLY want AT&T’s network to get it’s act together.

Now I can feel all the geeks breathing down my neck ready to jump on me with a knee-jerky “You know you can “jail break” your iPhone and use it on T-Mobile right?” reactions. Me being a geek myself, I would be intrigued to do so, and I probably wouldn’t have any trouble freeing up an iPhone from AT&T. And I wouldn’t be worried about voiding out any warranty or dealing with Apple customer/tech service with a jail broke iPhone – i’m a geek, so I would figure it out. My response would be “I shouldn’t have to jail break my phone to use it properly”. Not down playing the ingenuity and “workaroundability” (I just made that up) of folks who have figured out how to crack an iPhone. It just aint THAT deep for me. That and…

Cost and a sucky wireless network aren’t the ONLY, albeit good reasons why I have shyed away from an iPhone. I am currently using a BlackBerry, and I enjoy being able to hop in and out of apps (Opera Mini, UberTwitter, Viigo News) at will.

3. With the iPhone, or the new upcoming iPad for that matter, Multi-tasking is a no-go…for now. It was speculated that Apple passed on the ability due to a drain on battery life. But it seems as if Apple does listen to it’s customer base if the rumors about the upcoming iPhone 4G and that it’s operating system will add multi-tasking are true. Since the iPad will run on a similar OS, my hope is that I get a two-fer: Both the iPad and iPhone will finally get on board with the rest of the mobile technology world and give us multi-tasking.

5. The only other issue I can think of with the iPhone is you can’t view Flash content, which most people scoffed at Apple for not adopting. Since most websites use Flash for video content, you can see a bunch of holes on websites where videos would normally appear if you are trying to view them on the iPhone, iPod Touch, and the new iPad. Steve jobs on several occasions has stated that he doesn’t like Flash so none of these gadgets use it.

Apple’s workaround: HTML5 – The upcoming improved world wide web coding language than gives developers the ability to script their own multimedia user interface (more control over content). One can assume that Apple is betting on the idea that HTML will free up web developers to do what they please with their media content. With the addition of the iPad to Apple’s arsenal, and the so far good response from consumers, Apple and it’s products, could be the catalyst for more companies to adopt the improved web language and rush it from currently being a just a “draft”, to a reality – YouTube, Brightcove (who might just boost Apple’s video capabilities) and a host of others are already working on modernizing HTML5, so look forward to that reality sooner than later.

Hulu is using Flash, which sucks, because I watch it when I am work when I can’t catch my shows on network TV – more after the break:

Like I stated earlier, right now, just about all of this is speculation, so who knows what’s gonna happen. Add to the fact that BLACKBERRY IS THE NUMBER ONE SMARTPHONE SELLER IN THE WORLD, and add to the fact that and I am creature of habit, and my BlackBerry works just fine…pretty well actually. Also, I am pretty sure RIM is not gonna stand idle and let Apple control all the current hype surrounding their products. Or let Android surpass it with their new found popularity and handsome app offerings…and a HUGE name like Google behind them.

RIM does have it’s work cut out for it is they want to keep me (among others) as a loyal customer (my wife and just about my entire family uses a BlackBerry, and I’m the techie of family, so where I go…)

- RIM’s web browser is sad at best – which I have found my own workaround with the Opera Browser for smartphones until the rumored (yes another rumor) BlackBerry WebKit Browser comes out.

– RIM is getting killed in the app department – folks like the ease of use in apps and to my knowledge, they are not that complicated to create (“Thinkin’ of a master plan, Cuz ain’t nothing but sweat inside my hand…”), and Developers are leaning towards Apple, then Android, then BlackBerry as their platform of choice.

So by the time 2011 rolls around, all of these speculations and rumors should be laid to rest, and it will be clear if I, according to this article, am one of the 40% of BlackBerry users who want to switch to an iPhone. – That number seems high, but when has numbers and statistics ever stopped anybody?