512 Pixels

Ever since The Jetsons, every child dreams of flying cars. Well, our dreams are coming true. Engadget:

We’re definitely psyched to hear that the “roadable aircraft” went airborne in a super-secret test flight that took place in the early hours of March 5th at Plattsburgh International Airport. The vehicle left the ground for a good thirty-seven seconds, traveling some 3,000 feet. At a press conference today, the company’s CEO Carl Dietrich remarked that “with this achievement, Terrafugia has set the stage for personal aviation.” Which, considering how folks light up I–95 on an average workday, might at first blush seem somewhat unsettling – but to each his own, right? According to the company, more than forty people have put down the $10,000 deposit for the new aircraft, which – if all goes according to plan – will be hitting the road sometime in 2011.

Hit that link for some video that will make you giggle like a schoolgirl.

A friend of mine recently had a bright blue pixel show up - and stick - on his iPhone 3G’s touchscreen. He told me about it, and I recommended he go to his local Apple Store and see if the Genius Bar would swap the device, as it is still under warranty and had no damage.

In the past, they would have simply swapped it, but instead, a Genius took the phone into the back room and replaced the glass (which includes the LCD display) while he waited.

When my friend asked about it, the Genius told him that this was a new trial program - that only some Apple Stores were able to replace the glass as an individual service part.

The program seems to be an option only for defective screens - not ones broken due to accidental damage.

The paperwork from his Genius Bar session shows the following under “Repair Estimate” and “Parts and Service:”

Item Number: 601–5093    Description: iPhone 3G Display Replacement

While the extent of the trial isn’t public, it’s a good thing: customers can get their phones serviced quickly and without the hassle of having to load their data on a new iPhone.

It’s good for Apple, too: the program should save Apple money on the refurbishment of defective iPhones.

Via @danfrakes: a NCAA bracket based on the median salary of the schools’ graduates.

Memphis loses in the first round of this bracket.

Ars Technica:

According to the iPhone dev team blog, the 3.0 OS firmware is jailbreakable on all devices. They have not yet issued a 3.0 jailbreak, but signs are promising for a release sooner than later. A jailbreak would open up the iPhone’s Unix chroot jail, allowing read-write access to the entire file system. Doing so on the iPhone lets users install BSD Unix tools, the Debian APT package management system, and OpenSSH.

Together, these tools provide a powerful suite for any iPhone developer, as they offer access to the same Unix tools as you’d find on a Mac. You can monitor your processes, look directly at the files in your sandbox (and edit them if necessary), and interact directly with the iPhone system. Many developers have built scripts and command line utilities that further enhance the iPhone-end of development.

As I’ve said before, I think Ars Technica spends way too much on jailbreaking and hacking iPhones, but this is an interesting argument - and one that might just hold water.

In my recent interviews with Cornfedtech, I discussed the origin of the name “ForkBombr” and neglected to tell the whole story, as I was just reminded of by Kevin Lipe. Here’s the crux of the matter:

Well, I have to admit that “logic bomb” sounded cooler to me, but I figured “Fork Bomber” would make a better blog title. I was right. This was about the time that Flickr and a few other “Web 2.0” sites were first starting to pop up, and they were all missing vowels from their names. I figured I’d be a smart aleck and call my blog “Fork Bombr.**” The site went live. Eventually I got a tumblelog and decided to move Fork Bombr there. I got a hosting account and registered the domain name a couple years later and started blogging there in the summer of 2007.

[…]

Meanwhile, I was talking to Stephen, who I’ve said in other posts was my boss while I was at Apple, about the domain name forkbombr.net and he said he would like to buy it from me if I didn’t want it anymore. It was about to expire anyway, so I sold it to him for the price of one lunch at the Memphis Pizza Café across the street from the Apple Store.

Eventually, both of us found ourselves no longer working at Apple, and we both started blogging again, building new sites and templates. I started here at The Killer Poke ( neé Halt & Catch Fire) and he started at Fork Bombr, building a cool template and awesome site there in the smoldering ruins of my bad, barely-read blog. At this point I think it’s important to point out that this isn’t sour grapes over web traffic or popularity—Stephen has very consciously positioned himself as a Mac journalist, because that’s what he’s good at, and that requires a lot of traffic, while I’ve mainly been entertaining myself here at The Killer Poke, writing for my own enjoyment. Traffic is not what I’m after.

Kevin’s right — I neglected to tell that part of the story in my interview.

Transparency is good, and is something I always strive for here. So here it is: Kevin Lipe Was The Brilliant Genius Who Thought ForkBombr Was A Good Blog Title.

And I bought the domain for some pizza.

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**When I took the domain, I changed the name from “Fork Bombr” to “ForkBombr” — removing the space between the two words.

Reuters, via Wired:

New features in IE8 include right-clicking on addresses or other Web features to go straight to a map or put into a blog or other website, which Microsoft calls an “accelerator”. Users will also be able to put in keywords in the address bar to recall sites visited related to that word.

The new browser also has enhanced security protection, for example warning users if they are about to download something from a site known to be a source of malicious software, or “malware.”

Progress is always good, but the majority of people will use the browser installed on their machine out-of-the-box. Hence, Internet Explorer isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Ars Technica:

This agreement is likely to remain in place until 3.0 is released to the public. And, like the previous NDA, it makes about as little sense. Yes, the agreement prevents most public discussion of the new iPhone features but it does nothing to protect Apple’s intellectual property rights from being discovered by competitors. Anyone can walk off the street, download a copy, and take a look.

What the NDA does is provide a barrier to discourse: no how-to articles, no books, no public forums, no public code samples or open source development. You are limited to talking to other developers at Apple’s forums in the special pre-release section. The forums are pleasant, but with Apple employees acting as moderators, they are hardly a hot spot for honest, forthright discussion.

It does seem silly.

CNET writer David Carnoy’s posted a piece on the tech news site yesterday titled “Without Steve Jobs, is Apple Sony?” In short, no, it isn’t.

But that’s too short of a post (and frankly wasn’t much fun to write), so let me elaborate on my answer. Here’s a bit from David’s article:

…no one could replace Steve Jobs, pitcher extraordinaire, a Sandy Koufax on the marketing mound, if there ever was one.

The fact is, no one can create a reality distortion field like Jobs. And ultimately, I said, that’s what Apple would miss most, especially after Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, Phil Schiller, hadn’t done much to inspire the faithful with his ho-hum keynote speech at MacWorld 2009.

The classic “Steve Jobs = Apple; Apple = Steve Jobs” train of thought. Boring and wrong. Here’s some more:

While the new releases may be a step up from Apple TV, which just hasn’t been able to find a broad audience, they’re not the iPod Nano or a new MacBook or iPhone OS 3.0. But what’s a little disconcerting is how the products, particularly the Mac Mini and iPod Shuffle, landed with a bit a thud. Sure, they got a ton of publicity–and publicity is good–but a lot of it ranged from neutral to negative.

You have to wonder whether if Jobs had been had been on the mound, they would have gotten a better reception. Sure, the good tech pundits are supposed to ignore the marketing hype and deliver the unvarnished truth, but when Jobs presents, there’s often a halo effect on the products. When he pitches, the story is not only about the products but also about the performance itself.

So, in a nutshell: Steve Jobs’ presence during a product launch makes that product better. Not only is that just another variation of the aforementioned argument, it’s pretty naive.

Not to mention it’s insulting to the teams of people who work for months to get those products to market. Steve Jobs doesn’t speak great things into existence - no matter what David Carnoy wants to believe.

The product would have the same flaws. However, after he got through accentuating its strengths, the flaws might not seem so great. Or they might not seem like flaws at all! That’s the beauty of the reality distortion field–and a good changeup.

Holy crap, David, please stop. You’re hurting me. And the baseball analogy is wearing thin.

Here’s some more:

So how does Sony fit into all of this? Sony is also known for having beautifully designed products. But it’s hit a few slumps in the past few years, and one of its big problems is not having a Jobs-like pitchman (or pitchwoman) to give those products the spin they need–and deserve.

Yes, the pitch does have something to do with the press’ initial reaction - but over time, the products speak for themselves. If people buy a shiny bag full of poop, they may like it at first, but at the end of the day, they will realize it stinks.

I’m not discrediting Sony’s achievements. The company has some fantastic products. But Apple’s branding is far above and beyond any other company’s. Sony had that in the 80s and 90s with the Walkman brand, but they never capitalized on it or used it to catapult the company into something bigger and better (and more popular) than portable tape players. Apple used the Mac (and iTunes) to grow the iPod, which in turn brought people to the Mac. The iPhone has just added more fuel to the fire.

Sure, Steve deserves credit for some of the popularity (and obsession) the brand enjoys, but people love their Macs, iPods, and iPhones. And that’s what keeps people buying them, year after year, recession or no recession. Here’s the closer on his arguement:

As for Apple’s future, the easy thing to say is that it’s still quite bright–with or without Jobs … But we’d be wrong to underestimate the power of the reality distortion field. Good products only get you so far.

So no, Apple isn’t Sony. Not at all. It’s about the products, and when it comes to products, Apple is on top.

Here’s a quick rundown of today’s iPhone OS 3.0 announcements, via Mac Rumors:

- In-App Purchasing: Allows developers to sell additional content from within applications. Highlighted uses include magazine subscriptions, eBooks, additional levels and items for games. - Peer-to-Peer Connectivity: Find other devices running the app via Bonjour over Wi-Fi of Bluetooth. Good for gaming, but also other applications for sharing data. - Third-Party Accessory Apps: Allowing accessory manufacturers to create applications to interface with their hardware accessories. - Push Notification: Rather than using background processes that hamper battery life, utilize third-party server to push badge, text, and audio alerts from applications. - Turn by Turn : Apple will allow developers to use CoreLocation for turn-by-turn GPS directions. - Cut, Copy and Paste: Available across all apps. Shake to undo or redo. - Landscape keyboard: Available in all key applications, including Mail. - MMS : Picture messaging now available. - Voice Memos: Record notes, lectures, interviews, etc. - Spotlight Search: Available across all applications. Systemwide search available from main home screen by flicking to the left. - A2DP Bluetooth *: Support for stereo bluetooth headsets.

Not a bad day at all. Tethering is built-in as well, but Apple is leaving that up to the cell phone providers to work out the details. The OS will be out “this summer.”

No hardware announcements were made today.

I was dead wrong about being “no beta of the 3.0 software.” There is, and if the developer page ever comes back online, I’ll be playing with it.

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*This will not use the built-in Google Maps app - developers have to bring their own maps.

**Not available on the first generation iPhone.

After teasing consumers back in January, Dell has launched its new Adamo notebook today. Here’s how Dell describes the machine:

- Measuring only .65 inches, Adamo’s ultra-slim profile belies the powerful features within.

- A tough, machined-aluminum chassis is graced with elegant detail.

- The 13.4-inch 16:9 HD display with edge-to-edge glass offers an integrated 1.3 megapixel web camera.

It is clear that Dell wants some of the market that Apple has created with the MacBook Air - expensive, thin notebooks.

In a way, these are on the opposite end of the spectrum from netbooks. These machines have the same footprint as a regular 13-inch notebook, but are thin, light, and somewhat pretentious. And pricey - the Dell starts out at $1,999.

Tomorrow, Apple executives are going to get on stage and unveil the third major revision of the iPhone OS. Here’s what I’m expecting:

1. Copy and Paste. This is a must, and is one of the most asked-for features ever. (90% chance of happening)

2. New SDK Tools. Granted, I’m not sure what this would entail, but a few things come to mind - mainly hooks to the calendar info. The SDK currently offers no 3rd party access to the calendaring abilities of the iPhone OS. (90% chance of happening)

1. Email Search. Please, please, please let this happen (80% chance of happening)
2. Tethering. It will be an add-on to existing AT&T plans, and users will pay handsomely for it (60% chance of happening)
3. Major UI overhaul. The original scheme worked well when we all had just Apple’s apps and a few webclip icons. Something’s gotta give with the iPhone’s main screen. (50% chance of happening) [Note: It’d be nice to have some info on the unlock screen as well, but I don’t see that happening.]

I’m probably wrong on a lot of the above, but I’m sure we won’t see the following:

1. New hardware

2. A “public beta” of the firmware

We’ll all find out together tomorrow, of course.

The TweetDeck team is adding Facebook integration to their next version of their Adobe Air-based application:

…you can click on the Facebook icon at the top and, once you have signed into Facebook and given TweetDeck authorisation, this will add a new column full of each of your friends most recent status update which updates automatically once a minute. From here you can email the update out to anyone, tweet it out over twitter, view the users online status and if they are online right now click on their name (or the green online status indicator) to open Facebook chat right within TweetDeck.

Pretty cool, and it further shows that Facebook is really, really wanting a piece of Twitter’s pie.