Procamera has an impressive list of features.

• Steady Cam
• timer
• autosave
• full rez zoom
• virtual horizon
• pro grid
• compass
• Digital zoom

Here’s a zoomed in pic and a regular to compare.

Zoomed in

Regular

I was really impressed with the zoom, it’s digital of course, but NOT complete crap.

One of my favorite features, and what really lost it for Gorillcam, background saving.

Once you a take a picture, the UI bar turns red, you can take more pictures, and use the app like normal, but until it’s green it’s saving in the back ground.

As long as you have auto save turned on, just keep taking pictures.

I’ve actually moved pro Camera to page 1 of my homescreen, and the built in cam app is on the last page where Apple’s unremovable apps live.

Pros: Saving in the background. That’s huge.  The horizon is nice too. I always try to offset me horizons when I take pictures

Cons: None that come to mind, it’s a great app. i love the feature set, and the functionality.

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.

I was expecting

• iPhone OS – Got it
• Cellular plan of some sort – Got it
• affordable – sorta got it. based on features it’s murky but it’s not $2000, so that’s something.
• Ability to run more than one iApp at it’s native size in a window – Nope didn’t get that
• A USB Port or two – Nope
• Some type of awesome MobileMe integration that would allow me to download files on my iSlate straight to mobileme where I could consume them on my real computer. – Nope, not even close, and MobileMe still sucks, not even an upgrade to it.
• Flash – nope. Though I wasn’t surprised. Apple controls the playground, and in true bully fashion has no reason to stop.

That’s it. The camera everyone wants might be fun, but i don’t use the one on my Macbook, so…

I can survive without the USB ports, since clearly apple doesn’t like us to have access to the guts, that’s livable.

No multitasking is a deal breaker. Let’s be clear, I have an iPhone, I have a Macbook. If I want the “Real web” I can look at it on my macbook which is nice and light. If I want the Apple version of the web, I can use my iPhone.

Assuming I got the device I wanted, I never in a million years Imagined I’d leave my Macbook at home. Clearly I wouldn’t leave my iPhone at home either. I’d cary the tablet for when I walk around, or just need to do some lightweight work. I’d carry with me at conferences for note taking and controlling the mac mini’s on site if they need it. etc. it’d be a utility device. I could stream music, and work on my keynote for Wednesday, I could fire up IM and not be away from it, ditto for twitter. I’d basically be free to roam and not be tied to my laptop at the registration desk.

When I was going out and didn’t need my laptop, i figured my iSlate would be with me. Heck I could toss it in Nicole’s purse, or just hold it.

It’s not (yet) the device I want.

I admit, my hopes were pie in the sky. From the vitriol flowing out of twitter the last few days, I’m not alone. It’s almost like the Jets vs. sharks scene in West Side Story. The die hard fanbois are rushing to the defense of Apple and the iPad and those dissappointed and even angry are rushing to call it names, and shout how Apple has failed them. I say them because while I’m sad it’s not the device I want, I have no doubt it will sell like mad and people will love it. Fanbois will love it because it’s in their contract. Normal consumers will love it because it’s simple, doesn’t do anything but surf the web and send email, etc. My mom truly is the perfect candidate for this device.

I agree with Alex that it seems that Apple is turning down a path, where hackers and power users aren’t welcome, and aren’t their core business. They’re truly turning consumer. This is good, great, but also bad.

Good because I want Apple to succeed, I truly love their products and industrial design (though I hope they ditch shiny backs on ipods. Clearly Steve jobs has had his finger prints burnt off to not see the smudges the rest of us see, or he has a Eunuch to operate his iPod and iPhone for him). Bad because as Alex says, they’re turning their attention away from what (I think) they’re all about. Apple was founded by hackers, Apple survived a long time on hackers, and tinkerers and power users.

Lately all their devices are less and less hacker, tinkerer, power user friendly. I’m sure plenty of self proclaimed power users will say otherwise, running Photoshop all day, with other apps open, does not a power user make in my mind. Open Terminal, hack your shit! Change settings via bash, etc. That to me is a power user.

That’s not possible on the iPad.

Hope in the Jailbreakers

I think the iPad has huge, huge potential. I think those folks that are angry have forgotten one key thing, the first version of most Apple gear is just meh. the first iPod, not so hot, awesome by the standards of the day of course, but compared to what iPods can do now. no.

The iPhone 2g when it was released had no apps but those Apple provided. Had no MMS, had no (long list of things, some still on it)

the OS wasn’t that great, the features weren’t that great, etc. the iPhone 3GS is quite a different machine. More powerful, more feature rich. I bought my 2G iPhone when the 3G was released, on Ebay. i didn’t fully jump on the bandwagon of iPhone until the 3GS. That was when it was a device I could use and like, outside of my fanboiism.

The Macbook Air had issues with it’s CPU cores, etc. Macbook pros mooo’d. There’s plenty of history of first gen issues. nothing major and Apple fixes them, but it’s common that the first run is to get the bugs out. Apple will make the iPad better. Perfect? no, but I hope it is eventually something I’ll want as a consumer.

P.S. Fanbois, please refrain from commenting on why I’m dumb for expecting something other than what I got. I’m sure you got exactly what you expected, you’re buying 4 of them the moment the site allows it, and you and Steve are on the same wavelength and this device is 100% the most awesome revolution in computing. I’ve heard it all before and it doesn’t add to the discussion. You have a blog, use it.

I would like to know what everyone thinks about the iPad in the least fanboish ways possible, what will you use it for, what do you think it’s strength is, other than, of course being Magical

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)

We agreed, Dell (from now on, when I say “Dell” it means all PC makers) was competing with apple on product, not narrative. Slapping leather on a laptop, does not a MacBook Pro killer make. Adding replaceable colored skins, ditto.

What we all agreed is that the issue isn’t competing on hardware, it’s competing on the package. It’s a plastic crappy flimsy laptop running Windows. Sure Dell has tried to go Linux before, but the mistake they made was in choosing an off the shelf Linux distro. Maybe they wrote a few drivers for their hardware (I surely hope so) but that was it.

Wrong approach.

It’s amazing how many Apple product-killers fail to deliver because they fail to see the package, and try to kill the gear.

Mac’s run *nix. I know that, Dave and Jake know that. My mom doesn’t. Nicole doesn’t or doesn’t care. Hell I don’t care.

Where Apple went right, and Dell wrong, they took BSD, and made it user friendly. The average user never opens console, NEVER NEVER has to compile a driver from source, etc.

Throwing Ubuntu on a Dell laptop… isn’t the same as throwing OS X on a Mac laptop. Dell missed the mark, but not by much.

What should Dell do? abandon Windows, devote time and money to taking Ubuntu or something else, and making it theirs. Yes it’ll cost a metric buttload of money, and time. Dell will have to stand by their convictions, and help show why choosing their OS is a good idea for their customers. OS X had Classic mode, it shouldn’t be hard for Dell to offer a mode that will run Office. Apple didn’t offer iWork for a long time. Apple owners had to use Mac Office. M$ isn’t stupid, they’ll be mad, but then they’ll make an Office version for Dell OS. Or Dell writes one. Shit, Pages isn’t Word, but it’s got what most people need out of a word processor. The rest of Word is crazy one off fluff, that bloats the app and adds value to 1% or less of the install base. (guessing)

When I say Dell has to stand by their plan, that means after 6 months or a year, they can’t scrap the idea, run back to Microsoft, and make nice. It’s gonna take time. They need to spend that time doing 2 things.

1. Sell the hell out of Dell OS. It’s an uphill battle, but NO ONE likes windows. Given an alternative that did what Windows does (not the shit no one cares about, the important things), wasn’t bloated, wasn’t full of crapware, etc. People would choose that alternative. BUT it must be stable, it must not need the user to know that the console exists, and it must be supported. It’ll need drivers, it’ll need the regular apps, it’ll need a way to run old windows shit. It’ll need a wizard to help convert people from windows to Dell OS. it’ll need the same experience Mac converts get.
2. Improve the Dell OS. Show that it’s not a one off. within 6 months, release an update that’s more than a bug fix. Throw in a few new features. Add some Sizzle, but add a bite or two of steak too. Showing your fledgling user base that you’re committed will do wonders. They’ll know you’re in the game to win, and not “Testing the waters”, and they’ll become the cult of Dell.

That’s it. That’s the secret sauce Dell is not seeing. That’s the trees in the forest. It’s not a better laptop with better specs. it’s not leather or wood. It’s not Aluminum unibody, it’s the narrative, and the experience. Windows will forever taint both, and Dell will never compete.

So that’s it. That’s the secret, that so many get (Apple owners) that so few get (PC makers, M$, Etc) that would make PC makers competitive.

Apple didn’t get to $50bil over night, you can take your 8% share and bank on that, Apple is banking with Money. (Please leave the “iPod is supporting it” out. Yes the iPod is the huge money maker, and uh, hello the iPod follows the same model. Dell DJ? what? what’s that? exactly)

That was our coffee talk :) I might have missed a thing or two or glossed over but that was the gist.

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.

2. New design casing. We’ll see this. I was really really surprised the 3GS didn’t get a new look, but suspect that was because it was rushed out the door as a “Make the iPhone usable, competitive” fix more than a truly new model. Apple loves to give new versions, a new look, it makes the fanboys feel special when they’re device is clearly different, newer.

I’d love Apple to go back to aluminum like the 2G, but suspect that ship has sailed. I think people that are crying for thinner are both dumb, and drinking too much Jobs Koolaid. Thinner is not always better. There I said it. I’m sure the legions will hate me, but whatever. When thinner comes at the cost of performance, and/or options. it’s not a win. The Macbook AIR, pretty. Pretty useless unless you’re a traveling journalist maybe. i want something I can feel in my pocket, that I know is there. That when I hold between ear and shoulder, know it’s still there.

I do think the 4G, HD, 3rd Gen, whatever Apple decides to call it, will look different.

3. Front-facing camera. Maybe, but the iPhone isn’t a paragon of battery life. Making it useful for video conferencing would 1. kill the battery even faster, and 2. further cripple AT&Ts craptastic network. video conferencing sounds awesome, and everyone seems to want it, I don’t know why? Is anyone doing it on their other phones with front facing cameras? Are we all dying to video chat while we walk? I think the demand is simply a “How cool it would be” thing, that has no real world value to anyone.

4. LED Flash. Will they? I dunno. Tough call. Again, the iPhone isn’t a marathon runner when it comes to battery life, a flash will not help that situation. Would a flash be nice? Yes. I’d love to have a camera that was even partially useful. The Autofocus is nice, and I can use my camera at all now, but a flash would be a nice add.

5. 5MP+ Camera. You know what. buy a frakkin digital camera. They’re light, they’re not that much money. It’s a phone first. I don’t want my phone to be my primary camera. When I travel I carry a real camera. My phone’s camera is for quick, “look it’s Ronald McDonald in a cow parade” pictures I’m posting to twitter. Sorry, I can’t get on board with phones as primary cameras. Get over it folks.

Let’s keep the acceptable camera, and use the space/battery/processor for better purposes please.

6. OLED Display. I guess. i honestly don’t care.

7. 64GB Storage. Maybe, I suppose, more storage is nice. I often really have to work to fill my iPhone to capacity. I don’t like to watch movies on it, when i travel because when I get off the plane I’d like to make calls. I don’t use it for music, since I have several iPods, and an older iPhone. I certainly don’t need 64gb for apps and games. I don’t even like Myst.

I am however a feind for storage. So I’d take 64gb in a heartbeat, but I wouldn’t give up something more useful for it.

8. 802.11n – Hellz yeah. but from what I understand it’s a battery issue. I’m not really in favor of anything that makes my iPhone LESS usable. Most days it’s fine, I’m near an outlet, but when I’m not, is when I NEED my phone. I’d love 802.11n, really truly I think it’d rock, and I’m guessing we’ll get it sooner or later.

9. RFID. Neat and sooner or later I think most things will have it. But I don’t see the point? POS, sure, but what good is a phone that can do POS transactions, when no registers can? Pay at the pump key fobs go away? what else? what real world, actually useful use case exists?

10. Multi-ouch casing. SHUT THE FUCK UP. Are you insane? I’m a fan of KISS, let’s not over complicate an already over complicated device. How about the un-utilized area just be screen? home button on the side? Will we be weaving runes on the back of the case as a gesture to launch apps? Let’s not go there. Please.

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.

I was my own boss several times as an Indie contractor, and was a cube monkey several times. Each (except one) was a good experience, a ton of fun, and formed lasting personal and business friendships.

I bought my first house in Perris CA, and my second in Riverside CA. Both were awesome in their own ways, despite being an hour or more from where I worked.

Most importantly, I met my wife Nicole.

We met thru a mutual friend whom I used to work with years past, and she was currently working with (Props to Scott Dunn for the intr0)

We moved to Denver. We were supposed to move a few months after meeting. Before I proposed, even. She had an opportunity to come out to Denver, and I had no major ties to CA. That opportunity dried up, and re-emerged 6 months later, and here we are.

We bought a house in Highlands Ranch, before we realized what Highlands Ranch was. 2 years after that, we moved to downtown Denver.

I started a conference that was supposed to be a one off, just for kicks event. It’s grown to be 3 distinct events, a few one off events around the world here and there, and my full time job (more in 2009)

2009

I’ve gone full time, totally dependent on 360|Conferences for income, lost a business partner, brought Nicole into the business, learned how to use Quickbooks, stopped writing code, just to name the big ones.

Going full time with the conference business wasn’t part of the plan, not in 2009 anyway. I was at EffectiveUI as the Community Evangelist, sadly a position, not enough of the company was on board with. When i left, I decided, well if the conferences are going to support me ever, they might as well start now. Since taking the job at EUI, i had stopped writing code, well I wrote a little, building small apps for internal/sales use, but by and large, i had stopped being a full time developer.

So I jumped. Eyes wide open.

All in all it’s been what I expected, stressful, awesome, a struggle, the best decision (Next to marrying Nicole) I’ve ever made.

Tom leaving was a shock in many ways, though I suspected we wouldn’t stay partners thru 2010, I just wasn’t sure how it would come down.

Our approaches to business are too different. When we’re “on”, we’re “ON” a totally creative innovative powerhouse. When we’re “off”, we’re “OFF” sadly we were off more than on.

After dealing with the shock and other feelings associated with going from partnership to “just me” basically, i had to learn to use quickbooks. That ain’t fun. I’m fairly comfortable with book keeping but quickbooks is a kludge IMHO. But oh well it’s what we’ve got. I’ve paid a book keeper to clean the books up, then I’ll take 100% ownership of that.

What am I looking at for 2010?

360|iDev will over take 360|Flex as my biggest event. Short of Adobe being more supportive of it’s third party developer eco system that is. If they figure out how to make third party developers thrive on their platforms, 360|Flex will grow. 360|Flex will and does rock, but there’s a distinct lack of love for third party tools built on and around Flex. That will be HUGE.

Apple may not give them love, but they at least don’t hinder their third parties.

360|Mobile, which was the ill-fated InsideMobile will grow and become it’s own thing. I’ll keep it small, but the non apple mobile space is hot, and quite frankly exciting, I can’t wait to see what’s going on there.

360|Whisperings will reach critical mass. Of the small amount of content on the site right now, it all sells monthly. A few purchased only, but something. The day I write checks to the authors, will be a huge day for me!

I’ll have a reliable, livable income coming from conferences/events. The business will reach an as yet unattained level of stability.

I’ll spend more time with Nicole, we’ll do more fun things, travel more, and enjoy life and each other’s company even more than we already do.

I really want to see The Flex Show grow. jeff and I love doing the show, and I want to see more the Flex Community get involved.

i’d like to do some more Denver community stuff. Ignite Denver is going strong, and I hope 2010 sees it grow and become a staple of the community. I really want to see something eventwise around literacy. A Festival of Books, something.

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. Even on my connection which doesn’t suck but isn’t an OC3 or anything, the cover art took a while to load, so I was scrolling through blank images.

I suppose if you don’t have a media center machine (I’m running Boxee and it’s Netflix app is awesome, by comparison), or a laptop you can connect to your TV, then this method is better than a poke in the eye with a spoon. Otherwise, wait for the Disc in the mail, or for Whatever exclusivity Netflix gave Xbox (stupidly) to expire.

I figured, why have perfectly good Mac Mini’s sitting around, when, like the PS3 I can use them around the home/office until event time.

To that end, we now have a nice little Boxee entertainment center. I’ve actually been an admirer from afar of the whole Mini as home theatre set up, since about the day the Mini was released. It just seems like the perfect box for that.

However, while I had fun in my youth as a hacker and building things, tearing them down, etc, I just don’t get into it now, I didn’t want an Open Source DVR that required Linux, and a keyboard, etc.

Boxee is a nice, pretty darn consumer friendly package, that works with the Apple remote, but even better, there’s an iPhone app. I wish the app was a bit more secure, if my neighbors get a boxee set up, or even get the free app, I can see problems arising.

HOWEVER

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.

I hope the Hulu issue ends up being resolved, and Hulu doesn’t screw things up. I’d pay for hulu, but only if I don’t need a separate app. Boxee is nice, it’s all in one.

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.

I originally looked for a broadband hotspot I could use my extra AT&T SIM with, but alas, the only option I found was for sale overseas and shipping, and conversion to Euro’s well put it out of my price range (Still looking for a device to use that SIM in, not really a netbook guy, so don’t offer that up :D ). Luckily our sprint cards were upgradeable. Well one was. the other was free to cancel so we did.

Now we share the mifi and whomever travels gets it, and when we travel together, well we can both use it.

It’s an awesome little device. We used it this past weekend in Vail. The hotel had wifi, but hell if we could find it. Every SSID was locked, and no one provided us the password. Mifi to the rescue, power it up and bam, surfing along just fine.

As much as I’m a fan of public wifi it’s just not reliable. Either the coffee shop router is unplugged, maxed out, or “I don’t think it works” or worse, NOT FREE. So I don’t bother. Sit down, fire it up. iPhone can use it, laptop can use it, hell someone I’m sitting with can too. I don’t have to worry about the guy next to me streaming pandora, or the girl in the corner using Skype to conference call, etc. I have my own 3G connection. Sure it might not be as fast as a hardline, but it’s always available, and ready.

Pros:

• Super portable
• Doesn’t waste a precious (On a unibody Mac) USB port
• Doesn’t require stupid drivers or apps
• easy to set up and connect to
• did I mention super portable?
• The controls interface (web site) is really easy to use
• You can run it on AC power too, so if the battery dies you’re not SOL. I haven’t tried running it off, USB power yet.
• Biggest Pro. I’m AT&T Proof. (See below)

Cons:

• Not sure if it’s Mifi or what, but sometimes the iPhone and Macbook, don’t immediately see the AP, even when it’s on and ready to go. They seem to forget that they’ve used that AP before. Possibly an IP thing? Kinda lame sometimes to have to re connect.
• Battery life. 4 hours with 1 isn’t so bad, but it goes down with each connection

AT&T Proof?

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.

Ready? I’ll leave the

Then it occurred to me, the iPhone 3GS, not 802.11n either.

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?