So i did it.

I got the new iPhone. i told myself that was not going t o, that it was too important for me that the Android operating system was more open and available to more manufactures and therefore better, more diverse, and was going to take over the planet and crush apple to dust as Microsoft did to the apple II in the late 80′s and early 90′s however i did it anyway. this Jewel like shiny piece of glass and metal is just too shiny for me to fight it with any reason or meaningful explanation that i can conjure.

while i still think that the eventuality of apple loosing the battle against the more open platform is coming and Apple will face it someday soon. (I’m guessing around the release of the next iPhone next July the signs will be very hard to dismiss.) i think that for this round i will stick with them. not out of a driving need to fit in but the polish, durability and feel of the iPhone in this generation is really hard to ignore. the device feels like what it should. the competitors offerings feel like toy cars all plastic and clicky… they are on the whole not even close to the quality feel of the iPhone. infect, when holding the new 4G in one hand and a Vertu (Nokia’s premium brand of phones available in materials like solid gold and solid platinum) phone in the other you would probably prefer the iPhone over the Vastly more expensive phone not only because it works better but feels equally if not better constructed.

I’m certainly not a fan boy for apple just for quality design and innovation. i have a Toshiba laptop as opposed to an Apple MacBook, and a Windows Home Server instead of a Apple TimeCapsule.

in essence i think that this is more like a competition, apple keeps winning every year however each year more and more teams are getting to compete. eventually someone else is going to win and i don’t see Apples way back into the contest once that happens.

iPhone user 23,200,276 signing out.

Great Laptop, wish it was more durable., I have a T115 and i love it. I had an ACER aspire One with the Atom N270 processor and the battery only lasted for about 3 hours. (half way from ATL to LAX which was unacceptable.) As i make 6+ hour flights all the time i needed something with the battery power to get it done. The T115 really meets my travel related needs. The battery lasts at least 8.5 hours each time i have used it. The ergonomics of the 11.6″ form factor are almost the same as my full sized laptop. (my ACER was the 8.9″ 1024×600 screen resolution was trying at times…)

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This is a video of me presenting our scanning product at the Vision Expo West conference back in October 2009. don’t Laugh…

Just over one year ago Apple announced the App Store and told developers that their new platform was going to offer developers the ability to make applications that could do almost anything! As we sit here a year later we now know that is not the case as Apple rejects apps based on what can only be described as murky rules that change based on what apps are submitted such as in the case of Google’s VOIP app.

After speculation that AT&T asked that Google’s app not be allowed onto the app store the matter is being further investigated by the FCC. None-the-less this is not sitting well with the one demographic that Apple should care the most about. iPhone owners…

There are countless blogs spewing rants about Apple and how the company rejected an App offering a feature that they were looking forward to. This creates unrest in an otherwise extremely loyal base of customers. Even worse is the moths of development that many of the coders have spent on working on apps that seemingly meet Apple’s rules only to get rejected for what seems to be emotional reasons on the part of Apple and their partners.

Now enter Microsoft, with a new way for angry and confused iPhone developers to recycle their code by porting their software to windows Mobile. This move from Microsoft allows them to play catch up with other mobile platforms and creates good will with App Store developers by allowing them to salvage months of work and effort spent on software previously rejected by Apple. Microsoft has also announced that their app store offering will be available for older versions of Windows Mobile giving cross-over developers access to a new user base of over 30 million windows Mobile devices.

So i guess we will see if this move from Microsoft enables a change of heart in Apple’s hard line dealings with App Store developers…

read more: Microsoft Courting iPhone Developers — Windows Marketplace For Mobile — InformationWeek.

brandflakesforbreakfast

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Ok, i am a bit smitten with the new round of wireless, Bluetooth stereo headsets coming out. especially ones that offer high quality background noise reduction like the pair in the image below from the good folks at Jabra. However so long as the iPhone does not support playing audio through Bluetooth i suppose i will have to watch as the new Jabra HALO headset drifts by into the hands of better equipped consumers running WINDOWS MOBILE! sheesh.

Jabra introduces stereo Bluetooth headset, speakerphone | CTIA show – CNET Reviews.

As my poor little Jawbone 1 ages and begins to fall apart i think that the only acceptable replacement for it will have to be one of the sleek new modles that are coming out from Plantronics (As i think that hte new Jawbone is a bit girly…)

-Joe

For those of you out there that have not been watching the iPhone Bluetooth development team for the past few months they have really made progress and are approaching the completion of their Bluetooth app for the iPhone. This app is planned to add the missing Bluetooth sigs to the iPhone such as AD2P (high quality Audio), OBEX (file transfer) and perhaps even DUN (dial-up networking). Drop by their site and download a copy of SweetTooth their GUI interface for the first phase of the Bluetooth hack. it is available now for those of you with jailbroken iPhones via Cydia Installer.

Cheers!

Visit their site at: http://ibluetoothproject.com/

I sat through a great forum tonight. The speakers were Mike Haines of Facebook.com, Malcolm Faulds of BzzAgent.com and Ainsley TeGrotenhuis of CNN.com. all of them did a great job describing how their companies offer more value to their customers than a traditional marketing effort while at the same time reaching more people and better targeting the specific consumer that a brand is trying to reach. Listen to this video to hear what each of them had to say!

They talked about the use and reasoning for why Social media works in todays marketing landscape. have a look at the video i took via my iPhone and please feel free to comment!

-Joe

Thank God is all i have to say!

I purchased the iPhone 3G to replace a Treo 750 the weekend that it was released. Since then i have experienced a love/hate relationship with the shiny, thin and ultra sheek iPhone. I really miss the ability to invite an attendee to a meeting using exchange e-mail (And dot even get me started with cut and paste…) however those features while convenient, are not essential to my everyday life. The two un-excusable features that are missing from this ultra modern cutting edge piece of hardware to me are:

A decent Bluetooth Stack.

Tethering.

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The other day I was surfing around on the net on my new Acer Aspire One and found the coolest hack for it over at Tnkgrl’s Website this hack was aimed at one of the few Achilles heels of the Acer Aspire One “no Bluetooth.” Now, granted it is easier than ever to get Bluetooth working on a laptop with Bluetooth dongles getting smaller and smaller however if you want to keep the exterior of your laptop clear of debris and use a mouse or perhaps tether with your cell phone you need to find another way. This is where the following hack comes in to play!

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