Best Buy fired this man?!

I'm sorry, but this is hilarious, Apple zealot though I am.  Best Buy, apparently, disagrees, since they fired the video's creator, a BB employee.  See if you can figure out why (I can't).



I think the Stephen Hawking voice emulator deserves a Webby. Or at least a Golden Globe.

Sign documents on the go from your iPhone

Zosh iPhone application video demo from Joshua Kerr on Vimeo.

Zosh has just released an iPhone app that allows you to sign PDF documents. From your iPhone. And date them.

I'm sure there will be privacy concerns, which the company should address through a well-crafted and well-implemented user service agreement. But this really is technology that is long overdue, and is the implementation of e-signature technology that we've been expecting since the year 2000, when President Clinton signed that act into law.

Goodbye, fax machines. And good riddance! (J2, and fax makers everywhere, are you paying attention?)

Google Nav kicks payware apps in the nads

Google just announced a FREE beta version of a turn-by-turn mobile GPS navigation app, with voice and text input. Right now, it's just for Android OS 2.0; iPhoners will have to wait. (Incidentally, this is another reason that, contrary to my earlier post, Android phones will gain momentum, ugly though they may be.)

Attention Garmin, Tom-Tom, and AT&T Nav: "My name is Google Montoya. Prepare to die."

Here is a good review of the sexy new Palm Pre.

I was a Palm Treo 650 user for a couple of years, and had much love for Palm after they acquired the BeOS operating system, which later became the PalmOS. The Treo had many great things going for it out of the box, some of which have been missing even in the iPhone3G (though the new 3Gs covers 99% of them).

Sadly, Palm fiddled while it's market burned, spitting out new smartphones in quick succession- the Nokia N- line, dozens of Windows Mobile devices, the new Android-based PDAs, and of course, the iPhone. Now they are back, with what purports to be a great phone. Even better for all smartphone users (including us iPhonians) is the $99 all-you-can-eat plan from Sprint. Sprint's network ranks third in the U.S. behind Verizon and AT&T, but it appears that the combo of a sexy, functional new Palm smartphone, plus a (relatively) low monthly data plan is pressuring AT&T and others to reduce their prices, too. That competition is great for everyone.

Let's hope it's not too little, too late for Palm.

Android lives on

OK, I was wrong when I declared Google's mobile phone operating system Android to be DOA.

Like everything Google does, Android has improved. Google's "release it now, and improve it later" strategy has been effective for everything from it's venerable search engine to Gmail, Calendar, Picassa, Google Docs, Google Books, and all it's various Labs programs.

Now the hardware makers are stepping up. I am a hardcore Apple iPhonatic. But I love Google's apps, despite the occasional worrying cloud outage, I think Google rocks, and I trust them with my data, at least as much as I trust any ginormous corporation.

The one trump card that Apple currently holds for me is iTunes, and the associated iTunes store, which not only syncs my phone to my computer, but also connects to my TV. I could probably find ways around the TV, what with all of Netflix' hardware parnters, and other devices that stream data from my media computer to my tele, but buying and syncing music (especially podcasts) is a big deal for me.

Now, if Google opens a store to compete with iTunes, either partnering with or competing against Amazon, well, then, look out. I might just have to jump ship.

What would be a great store name for Google? How about "The G-Spot"?

(Sorry.)

Steampunk iPhone?

No, wait... make that just plain "punked" iPhone.

Cube-dwelling colleague Eduardo Mena introduces his new "iPhony", which he used to gain access to iPhone Alley here at the office. Sneaky fox!

Upon second look, it's amazing that we were fooled by the dust-covered, doorless, AM/FM/Cassette tape boombox, state-of-the-art, circa 1981. And that phone- a prepaid Circuit City (r.i.p.) talkie, it's held on by Scotch tape!

Oh, how could we have been so blind?

Now, if this isn't a great reason to own an iPhone, I don't know what is.

Robert Dugan, I'm looking at you.

iPhone training available

Since I purchased my first-generation iPhone in 2006, (and my 3G phone last year) I have learned an awful lot about the device, and how to make it a productive part of my personal and business life.  I can show you the same tips and tricks.

The iPhone has replaced the following items that I used to carry:

• printed maps
  
• watch
  
• business cards
• calendar
  
• wallet photos
  
• to-do list
  
• voice recorder
  
• iPod (which had already replaced my radio, CDs, and other MP3 players)
  
• paperback books
  
• camera
  
• day planner
  
• laptop computer (for 95% of my travel)
  
• diet tracker
  
• time sheets
  
• phone (duh!)
  
• shopping list
  
• restaurant guides
  
• travel itinerary
  
• Rolodex
  
• USB thumb drive
  
• calculator
  
• expense tracker
• mileage log
• personal ID info (family SSNs, passwords, etc.)
  
• personal journal
• business receipts
• language guides.

If you would like to learn how to maximize your iPhone's potential benefits, email me.  I will be happy to provide personalized training for you, your friends, business, or non-profit group, at reasonable rates.

 

Get the heck outta here!

OMG! Have you seen this yet?!

Hardware APIs for the iPhone will enable all kinds of cool, useful, Star Trek-like devices, like the kind forecasted by this guy. And this device API may be useful for a little app that I'm writing, too. The Device is almost here.

New features
Some highlights from the OS3 demo video:

• Spotlight Search across ALL apps on the entire phone, including:
  -iPod
  -Contacts
  -Notes
  -Calendar
  
• Search Email, and continue search back on the server, if result not found on the iPhone
• Cut, Copy, Paste across all apps
• Notes Sync
• Hardware APIs
• WiFi auto-login
• Stereo Bluetooth (A2DP)
• Anti-phishing and Auto Fill on Safari
• VPN on demand
• Peer networking via Bluetooth and Bonjour for auto-discovery (no pairing!)
• CalDAV and calendar subscription support
  
• Undo
• Landscape keyboard on all major Apple apps
• Voice Memos
  
• Send photos, maps, vCards, audio files, and more via MMS.

Dead phones walking: Android (DOA), Windows Mobile, PalmOS, Symbian. And all "netbooks."

Holy cow, this is big. Not just big for Mactards like me, but big for mobile computing, and the way we think about it. Think mobile:

• medical records
• fitness measuring
• password valut (already here)
• smart wallet (who needs credit cards???)
• passports
• car maintenance records
• car computer interface
• smart home controller
• mobile server that plugs into dumb terminal (keyboard, monitor, mouse and extra storage), either at home, work, hotel, or client site.

800 Million Downloads in 2 years
Remember Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's rant about developers? Guess what, Steve? Apple's got 'em.

iPhone: Lifestyle Companion

I was just thinking out loud to some friends how cool it would be if one of those heart rate monitoring straps you see people wearing at the gym, or while running, could talk to my iPhone, and keep data on my workouts and activity. After all, Apple already has partnered with Nike for running stats.

But if this post from March of 2008 is right, then Apple is waaaaaay ahead of me, complete with patents. So much the better. Now, if they would just hurry up and release it, I would buy it! This is the kind of useful, easy tech that really improves lifestyles. Not just pretty accessories, but functional (and pretty) accessories. And with the new iPhone OS 3.0 SDK out, I expect big things from iPhone apps in the months to come.

IBM missed the personal computer revolution, which Microsoft rode to dominance. Microsoft missed the Web browser revolution, but recovered in time to dominate again. Now a third platform- smart phones- is rapidly emerging as the new mainstream. Palm was there first, then Nokia, then Microsoft. But it is Apple who has (1) developed the sexy hardware that everyone wants (the iPhone), and (2) opened it up to third-party developers, the same way Microsoft did. It was those third-party developers that helped MS entrench itself in the PC world; but they have been slow to react to Apple's one-two-three punch of iTunes, iPhone, and App Store. And Apple continues to innovate rapidly, hardly giving competitors a chance to catch their breath.

Google's Android OS and Microsoft's Windows Mobile have the best chance of catching Apple (Symbian will die on the vine), but I think they will remain as far behind Apple as the Opera browser is behind Internet Explorer.

If these patent rumors are true, it will be the straw that break's Android and WinMobile's backs.

Jailbreak

I've really been wanting to do this for two years.

The instructions for jailbreaking your iPhone are getting simpler and more foolproof (in my case, idiot-proof), and Apple's factory reset provision makes it a safe bet if things go horribly wrong.

The apps listed in this teaser are exactly what might convince me to spend 30 minutes (I'm guessing) jailbreaking my baby:

• Use your iPhone as a 3G modem with your laptop.
• Record video using Cycorder.
• Unlock your iPhone installing a simple program, so you can use a pre-paid card when you go out on vacation instead of paying outrageous roaming charges.
• Follow speech turn-by-turn directions in a GPS program.
• Copy and paste (yes, copy and paste).

Cue the "scary anticipation" music, please...

One step closer to Star Trek

Question:  What's more impressive than the iPhone?  

Answer:     The iPhone hacking community.

The video here demonstrates a movement known as "mainstreaming," which, in this case, is all about making the iPhone a true mobile computing platform, by enabling it to connect to an external keyboard.  The magic happens via Bluetooth, so you have a tidy, wireless connection, but it requires a jailbroken iPhone.  Don't ask me if it works; I don't have the cajones to jailbreak my phone.  But thank goodness these guys do.

"What about an external monitor for the iPhone?" I hear you say.  You mean, like your high-def LCD TV?  Already here.

This puts us one step closer to Philip Greenspun's ubiquitous Device, and that much closer to the Star Trek communicator. 

Google keeps bringing the heat

Google just announced Tasks for mobile devices, including the iPhone.

ToodleDo's otherwise excellent iPhone app and Web service, which replaced my ToDo app, which replaced my OmniFocus app, may have just been replaced.

Yes, I do get tired of spending time and energy to divine the "ultimate" app for my purposes. But some of that is just the cost of doing business, and my feeling is that the effort will pay off in the end with slightly increased productivity, and greatly increased peace of mind. Part of the appeal of these apps to me is the "external brain pack" factor, which allows me to quickly offload my vagrant thoughts onto a more permanent medium. That medium used to be a lined sticky note stuck inside my daily calendar/journal thingy. It was a good, flexible, and simple system, which has been surprisingly hard to beat. But it was also not traceable, and it was hard to track both new, unprocessed thoughts, and sorted "to dos" all in the same space. It became unwieldy after a while. Capturing new to dos electronically, with online sync, is a little more sterile, but a lot more scalable and reassuring.

The new service is still buggy, as you can see in the below photo, so I'd give it a month or two. But after that, look out.

iPhone ebook reader

I've been wondering about getting a Kindle, especially in light of just having moved my heavy, boxed-up book collection to a new house. Ouch, my back! But the $400 price tag is a real barrier for me, and the utility of having just one mobile device for phone calls, contacts, calendars, Web surfing, iPod (music, movies, audiobooks), and various other data and applications is hard to give up.

The iPhone's answer to the Sony eBook Reader and Amazon's Kindle is Stanza, an application which allows eBooks of various formats to be saved natively and read on the iPhone, even without an Internet or network connection. It also allows direct downloads from many different publishers. But the form factor for reading is smaller than the Kindle or eBook Reader. So the question remains: To Kindle, or Not to Kindle?

The author of this article makes an excellent point:

[T]he ebook is software and I have little doubt that I’m right about this. There will be some people who are prepared to buy a Kindle (or the Sony equivalent) in order to have a device that’s purpose-built for reading books. But if you can get equivalent functionality from an iPhone or iPod, then you’re not going to be happy to pay over $300 for the Kindle just for the privilege of buying ebooks. If ebooks were difficult to read on the iPhone/iPod then Stanza would already be dead in the water, but that’s not the case.

There’s already a Beta version for Google Android and one will likely be developed for RIM. There are also versions for the Mac and Windows...

So for a time there were purpose-built wordprocessing devices, but it quickly became obvious that word processing was a software app, and the word-processing devices went the way of the dodo.

Amazon missed a golden opportunity to leverage both their brand and the popularity of the iPhone (and Google's Android, for that matter) by not launching an ebook reader application of their own. They could have totally pre-empted Stanza. But now they have allowed Stanza to get a significant market jump on them in the software e-reader market, one that may be too much to oevercome.

I think I'll stick with my iPhone and Stanza for a while, thanks, Amazon.