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iApp Review – Procamera

I got an email a few weeks ago, asking me to take a look at ProCamera. Sure why not, I’d love something that was better than the built in app, and GorillaCam came just shy of the mark for me. ProCamera (iTunes Link) might be it.
Procamera has an impressive list of features.

Steady Cam
timer
autosave
full rez zoom
virtual [...]

My take on the iPad – Might as well join in

Despite what my more fervent fanboi friends think, I don’t hate the iPad.

As the organizer of a conference for iPhone developers, I can’t wait to see what they do with the iPad. I can’t wait for panels on the differences, etc.

This post isn’t about that. This post is about me as a techy, power user consumer. The exact person the iPad isn’t for.

Alex Payne captures my thoughts on this really well. From a Flex Developer standpoint (Yeah that’s right hater, Flash!) I think Doug sums it up well.

I’m not gonna lie I let the rumor mill wind my expectations up more than I should have.

How Dell can survive and truly compete

The topic turned to Apple of course, the Apple tax, and what it means, and Dell.

We all agreed that we pay more, but where Dell and HP, and windowz peeps use the term in a negative, we see it as paying for a more awesome product, that is the sum of it’s parts not the parts. The whole spec comparison has been done to death. Apple gear isn’t RAM, HDD, glossy screen, etc. It’s the whole package, the OS, the industrial design, the hardware, and the overall feeling of owning something that retains value, isn’t plastic, and does what you want.

We got to talking about Dell (not sure why we focused on Dell, we probably all owned a few so they’re familiar)

My thoughts on TUAWs iPhone Wishlist

Make sure to check out TUAWs, What we want to see in iPhone 4.0 post. It’s an interesting read. What struck me the most was that most people want things, they have to know Apple (Steve Jobs) will never, ever do,

1. Status light. Never gonna happen. Blackberries have them, iPhones won’t. I admit I’d love to know without waking my phone up that I’ve got new emails, SMSs or voicemails. What I think Apple MIGHT do is a lock screen that’s actually useful. The Jailbreak community has done it, and it’s very nice. I can see message counts, even weather, etc. All without unlocking my phone.

Looking Forward, Looking Back

It’s been an interesting year. More so than normal years. It’s also the end of a decade, so I’ve got some thoughts on that too. Fair warning. This is a longy.

Decade first:

in 2000 I worked for a company that was basically an IT Staffing firm that decided to get into software. I worked internally on a web app that would (in their terms) revolutionize staffing. I bailed, they failed, it was 2000, that happened a lot to a lot of people and companies.

I spent most of the 2000’s as a programmer, first doing ColdFusion, then moving to Flex. It never occurred to me to try out M$ tools, or any other. I liked Macromedia (Now Adobe) offerings and stuck with them.

Follow up to Netflix on my PS3

I wanted to post a quick followup to my previous post about streaming Netflix on my PS3 via a disc they send out.

It’s as shitty as I said.

My free disc arrived and I figured, you know what, I’ll try it out, maybe I’m wrong, it happens from time to time. I wasn’t.

The interface is craptastic. You load the disc like any other, it spends some time connecting, then it brings up a nice little screen with an alpha numeric code, that I have to plug into my Netflix account. Too bad my laptop was upstairs doing something so I had to commit it to memory. Lame. I know it would have been extra work on Netflix’s part, but it would have been an awesome gesture if they could have pre-registered the disc they sent to my account “Welcome John, here’s your instant Queue”

The browsing is about as simple as it could be, a linear horizontal display of movies. You have to just scroll left and right through the list. That’s it.

No bells, no whistles.

Boxee it’s quite nice!

in the meantime, it’s been nice to catch up on shows on Hulu (when it doesn’t freeze mid show), and stream some Netflix movies. I looked at Plex, but the Boxee interface was more friendly. To that end, Nicole has already used Boxee, liked it, and managed to navigate to watch things, without me in the room, that’s a huge win for Boxee.

Stream Netflix on my PS3… Via a Blue Ray disc?

I’m not even sure where to start with how retarded this idea is.

I mean, I can stream Netflix in Boxee (post on that later), sounds like Windoze media center can stream Netflix. Roku boxes can stream it. Hell I can stream it on my Macbook!

So why is it that the only solution Sony and Netflix could come up with was a Blue Ray disc, that launched BD Live to access Netflix and stream the content? Really?

Why not a separate device that plugs into the PS3? Maybe a special modem? maybe a USB dongle that acts as hardware key on some software solution?

I don’t care if the disc is free or not, I don’t really see it as being worth the headache of 1. not losing the disc, 2. keeping it unscratched, and 3. putting it in every time I want to use it just to watch a movie.

I think I’ll stick with the other better solutions for now.

Sony/Netflix, please try again.

Sprint Mifi Review

It’s common, if anecdotal knowledge in downtown Denver that during Rockies home games, the AT&T network pretty much collapses (sad, but true). You’ll have full bars, and can’t complete a call or open an email. I’ve taken to carrying the Mifi in my pocket or backback (as the case may be) and having it on the whole time and letting that serve up data for my iPhone. Voice is a little trickier, but Skype solves that issue, if I REALLY need to make a call right then. Sad, but hey, it’s a nice back up plan, since AT&T can’t be relied on.

Is Apple just Anti 802.11N?

Airport and Airport Extreme devices are 802.11n, so are Apple laptops. So why not the handheld devices? The only thing I can think of is, power. Since Apple certainly doesn’t mind putting it in other devices.

But is it that big of drain? It’s not like iPhones are exactly long lived on battery as it is. Why limit their wifi speed?

just a random thought, but it occurred to me that 802.11n isn’t new, draft n devices (including the aforementioned Apple ones) have been around for a while, and now that it’s ratified, what’s holding Apple back?

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