johnwilker.com

Why I bought an iPhone 3GS

I’ve got my 3GS (no space any more in the name) now. It’s great.

I just got it, literally, a day ago. No I didn’t rush out to order one at WWDC after the keynote. I didn’t go wait in line at an Apple store, or any other variation on fan boy-dom. Oh and I could have, because I nver bought a 3G and bought my 2G on ebay, so I’ve been contract free for a while.

No longer.

I wasn’t sold on the 3GS. for one thing, it’s still aesthetically ugly IMO. It’s plastic, which I don’t like. I don’t like it because plastic feels crappy. I don’t like it because when the 2G came out, Apple made a big deal about plastic sucking and the aluminum body being so nice. I agree.

I’m bummed that Apple (in a move very unlike them) didn’t change the outward appearance at all. Typically apple makes new models look a big different (I suspect so that the fanboy, early adopters can feel special, and be visually better/apart from the masses), if you sat a 3G and 3GS next to each other, you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference (it’s not impossible).

What sold me, wasn’t the compass, the voice dialing, event the stereo bluetooth. It was the speed.

I read that it was (roughly) 54% faster than the 3G. That’s pretty substantial. It’s also got more system RAM, and more graphics capabilities.

I might have been ok with sticking with 2G and EDGE (or buying a 3G on Ebay), but Apple has made it clear to developers, that supporting iPhone OS 2.2.1 isn’t in the picture, they need to build apps for 3.0, which means apps that will be expecting more system RAM, better graphics, and faster CPUs. Things I didn’t have, and wouldn’t have in the 3G.

Plus as Tom and I do an iPhone developer conference, we figured one of us should be keeping up with the Jone’s, in this case our developer community.

So I own a 3GS, and it’s about what I expected, wicked fast, making the iPhone that much more an actually useful device. I’m sure next summer Apple will roll something out, and I’ll have to skip it or pay through the nose since now I’m back in a 2 year contract, but oh well.

Tags: Apple, Conferences, iPhone, Technology

The Creator of the eBook is wrong

I’ll admit, I had no idea who Michael Hart is. But he’s wrong. Over on the Project Gutenberg blog he says the eBook reader will never take off, and lists some reasons why, in his mind he’s correct. (I’m sure there’s no bias as the founder of PG) I’m going to debunk them based on my own world view. (Be warned, his list is long and wordy, even before I add my two cents)

There are several reasons people will not buy a dedicated eBook reader, and some of them a very powerful reasons that cannot be argued with via any intelligent reasoning rationality.

First: the new generations are used to screens the size of Nintendo GameBoys, grew up on them.

Not sure what generation he’s talking about. Sure my neice and nephew are both Nintendo DS freaks, but they have a real computer at home. My mom asked me if she should get an iPhone and stop having a computer, my answer was no. There’s no way I would sit for hours playing aroudn on the internet on an iPhone, I know my mom couldn’t. She’d be blind before the next iPhone was released. I don’t own a netbook, and I sold my Nokia N800. my iPod Touch and iPhone are both great, and both run the Kindle app, and I use neither.

Second: the new generations also think screens on cell phones are just fine, and most of those are now even larger.

I’d argue that “just fine” is more along the lines of don’t know any better. I’d also argue that when a kids gets in front of a netbook or laptop with a more usable display, with WAY better resolution, they’d feel the same way I do. iPhones rock for quick look up, waiting room internet goofing around, etc. but I’m not going to sit o my couch, with my iPhone up to my face to work through emails or tweets even.

Third: the new generations have always got the paperback editions as much as the hardbacks, so they don’t have the same nostalgia for Look And Feel of those as do people who stared reading a while before paperbacks became very acceptable.

Fourth, Fifth, etc. the alternatives. . . .

This is completely bunk. I’m one of those paperback generation types. I don’tbuy hardcovers unless I either a. can’t wait for the paperback or b. want to show off a nice hardbound book on my bookshelve and get a few +1 book geek cred points.

I love the feel and smell of books, even paperbacks. I’m sure scribes loved the feel and smell of parchment, and olden day mathameticians loved the feedl of abacas beads, and slide rules. Times change. To bring a more relevant example up. CDs, and DVDs. Many folks love to have them lined up nicely in huge shelves, they like to read the jackets, look at the cover art, absorb every iota of director commentary. Yet iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, et al. are still doing pretty darn good. Times change, and whether we all want to or not, we change with them, it’s kinda silly to think in 20 years books will be common place. They’ll be antiques.

Fourth: most people don’t realize it, but many cell phones also come with WiFi built in so the unit is basically a small Kindle to start with! You don’t even have to have the phone activated to use the WiFi functions, which usually have a pretty normal browser, text reader, and such in them to start with, and also accept any numbers of third party programs most eBook readers have already heard of, no need for me to pitch them.

Clearly Mr. Hart has never tried to exist on WiFi alone. It’s far from ubiquitous. Heck broadband penetration in the US is near the lowest in the world if I recall, what makes anyone think Wifi will be different. Sure Indie coffee shops offer free wifi, sometimes it’s craptastic or doesn’t even work, but ya it’s free. Other times you can prey on people who don’t know any better than to lock their AP down.

I actually started out thinking the same thing Mr. Hart does. I bought an iPod Touch, had no music on it, and it was my ‘baby tablet’ or as I called it my iNewton. I carried it everywhere for about a month, then I gave up as most places I went had no wifi.

Fifth: many PDAs are also available that do an awful lot of the same things described above at a much lower cost than a Kindle, Sony, etc.

Sure, very true, and a lot of people will use those devices, prefering the jack of all trades master of none device. If you’re willing to make compromises, a PDA screen (usually no more than 3×2ish) will work, you can read a ‘page’ of text every 4-5 changes of the screen, with anywhere near useful fonts, and come talk to me after a marathon rainy saturday book reading exercise, or a long wait at a doctor’s office.

By that logic, we’d all own motorola razors, because they too have basic internet browsing, messaging, and actually have video and MMS messaging, unlike the iPhone, which contrary to that thought, is doing quite well in the market.

Sixth: if the largest cell phone screens would not do, even the iPhone, Curve, etc., there are all the new netbooks coming out that should get the job done in any number of ways as far as an eBook presentation goes, from reading out loud, dozens of programs to choose from to read or to listen via text to speech, etc.

See above. Sure you can squeeze all kinds of other uses into devices. A netbook also makes an excellent door stop when opened halfway, but why not use a door stop? A newton 2100 can run a basic webserver, costs way less than a rack mount Dell, why not use those to serve websites all over the world? Sure those are extreme examples intended to be silly, but they’re not far off you have to admit.

Seventh: in all the history of electronics the dedicated products, those that do only one good thing, rather than the integrated products, are never known to sell very well.

To quote fake Steve Jobs, “Dude, I invented the friggin iPhone. Have you heard of it?” But way before the iPhone was the iPod, it played music. It didn’t have an FM radio built in, it didn’t record audio notes, it was a music player, and mostly still in, unless you’re one of ‘those’ people who watch movies and TV on a tiny mostly square screen. Sure the multi taskerdevices are nice and 90% of our world is made up of those devices, but the other 10% are uni taskers, that do their single task REALLY well. Oh yeah there’s Zunes, and Rios and whatever else, that have tried the multi tasker route, how’s that worked out for them?

It’s like buying a HiFi that has one box for FM and one for AM, another as a pre-amplifier, and another as an amplifier, another bass or treble controls box, etc., versus one box for all.

Not to be mean, but the examples alone point out to me, that Mr. Hart is simply dated. Funny that some one so attached to ‘old ways of live’ would have invented something so game changing as eBooks, but hey, we all have our moments. I mean really? A HiFi?

Why would someone spend the same amount of cash on a Kindle/Sony as on a netbook or a laptop?

Speaking strictly for myself, here’s why

• I wouldn’t take a netbook/laptop to the gym, my Kindle is on the eliptical with me each day.
• I can’t read my laptop/netbook while taking off and landing. Some say I’m probably not supposed to with a Kindle, but no one has said anything, and since the power output is only in changing the page, and tiny to boot, I’d argue airlines rules have to change (separate post).
• I never carried a book in my laptop bag, except when traveling. Now I cary a few dozen or less all the time.
• I can’t compute on myMacbook in direct sunlight, reading would be out, but I’ve enjoyed my Kindle on my deck more than once.
• I can toss my Kindle around, drop it (just did this morning) and pick it up and never worry it’s harmed, I can’t say the same for my laptop/netbook
• I can read (and have) for hours on my Kindle. My eyes get sore/tired when I read long blog posts on my disply. And it’s a nice display.
  

The Kindle isn’t portable enough to be the more take along kind of item than a netbook/laptop.

I can’t imagine anything more portable. It weighs almost nothing, is the size of a Moleskine.

It would appear that ONLY the person who has an awful time reading would want a Kindle, simply, and truly, just because of the variable fonts & and the new X2 being about to read out loud, or the kind of person who just wants to have a lot of the latest toys and doesn’t care about price to benefits ratios and the like.

I’d say the converse is true, the only person who doesn’t want a Kindle/Sony is the person who doesn’t read much now, so the cost makes no sense, or the person who wants to crack open a hardback, recline in their lay-z boy and put a 45 on the turn table and enjoy ‘their’ reading experience, enjoying their anacronistic lifestyle.

Eighth: there are simply not enough Kindles to really change the eBook environment.

There weren’t enough iPods for the recording industry to care about when they launched either.

Just think about how many eBooks there are now, millions of eBooks given away in average months just from gutenberg.org.

Nothing against PG, but really? some of us like more modern reads.I mean PG is great, and I’ve got some classics on my Kindle just so I can have them when I want, but really,some of us are reading books published this milennia.

iTunes had its first million selling tune about a year ago, really only ~1 year after getting a shakedown cruise over with.

If every person who has a Kindle or a Sony buys the same book, only by adding their combination of sales will they manage a million seller, and that is not likely to happen anytime soon.

This I can’t argue with, but I think Mr. hart overlooks the underlying truth. Reading isn’t a big deal any more. Literacy is frighteningly low. People are “too busy” to read I’ve had people tell me to my face they wish they had the time to read. To which I typically say if it’s important you make time, same as anything else. Is surfing Digg, more important? It’s not a reflection on the Kindle that there isn’t yet a 1 millionth book sold, it’s a reflection on American literacy.

How long before Amazon or Sony comes out with a new model that won’t read all the previous book entries on the old models?

You mean like when VHS replaced BetaMAX? Sure Amazon/Sony could release a new device that can’t read their old formats, but that’d be kinda retarded. Anything is possible, but I hope they’ve been watching Apple. My Kindle 2 in 5 years may not get any firmware update love, but neither does my 1st Gen iPod color. But it still plays music like a champ.

How long before the first Kindle and first Sony are antique collector items rather than a real, live and well-used eBook reader?

Time will tell, but they’re electronics, so it won’t be long. Same as netbooks of today, will be cute children’s toys in the not too far future. I mean really, does Mr. Hart think that the netbooks and mobile phones he thinks we’ll be using will be around forever, not to be relegated to the antique pile? Where’d I put my Handspring Visor anyway?

This is NOT going to happen with eBooks from an assortment of other sources that have been here for much longer than Kindles or Sonys; the very first Project Gutenberg entry is still readable on any modern machine, the only thing is that a file from that era had only capitals if made on the normally available equipment of 1971 but it still works, and looks just the same now as the files downloaded on the first full day of eBook pioneering, July 5, 1971.

Is anyone even going to pretend that Kindle and Sony will even read their own proprietary files 38 years from 2009?

This is the crux of the issue. To Mr. Hart it’s clear eBook is text file. Sure 100 years from now .txt will likely still be a valid format, much like sheet music is. But who can play an 8 track? Mr. Hart is comparing the eBook as a ‘thing’ to ebook readers. Which is like comparing music to iPods. Sure the Kindle may be gone in a few decades, so will the iPod, but the medium won’t. Books and music will still be here.

And just the same as we can still play wavs, mp3, etc, we’ll be able to read eBooks, because the creative/intelligent companies will offer backwards compatibility or like iTunes, “convert your x format to the new Y format” Sure formats die, happens all the time, and I frankly hope Amazons DRM dies like the iPod’s. But it took time, I’m patient (not really, but can be when I have to be)

Sorry this was so long, but it really irks me when people get traction for their thoughts, by writing such meaningless biased crap. It’s as if chicken little had a blog.

There’s more to Mr.Hart’s ramblings if you’re so inclined, I literally could have put his whole post into mine, and picked each thing apart, but frankly ithink it would have been moot, after debunking his list.

Tags: eBooks, iPhone, iTunes, Kindle, Steve Jobs, Technology, Writing

The Kindle needs an iTunes app

Amazon quietly roled out kindle.amazon.com the other day. It’s a pretty cool but only slightly useful idea.

It’s a cool idea, you login with your amazon account and can see your Kindle content, mostly.

I’ve been thinking on this for a while and I think (I hope) that kindle.amazon.com is Amazon’s first step in ‘killing it’ as the kids say.

A lot of people have said, myself included, that the iPod alone wasn’t the winning solution, iTunes was a huge part the success. library management that works flawlessly with the device. The Kindle needs this, like yesterday.

The Kindle UI is craptastic, and there’s no way to manage content. iTunes is the secret sauce for the iPod/iPhone. you don’t need to keep all your stuff on the device, or manage it from the device. There’s an easy to use, clean interface on the desktop to manage all your media, then you sync what you want. It’s all contained and orderly and easy to manage.

The Kindle has nothing like that. You manage your media on the Kindle itself with basic “Remove from device” functionality, which puts (purchased) content into the archive, which Amazon stores in the cloud. You can pull archived content back into the Kindle, but that’s it. It’s on or off the device.

What about stuff you put on the Kindle yourself? You’re SOL. User created content can’t be archived, it can only be deleted. Sure you can keep it on the computer in a folder somewhere and when you plug the Kindle in you can copy it over again, but that’s janky to say the least.

kindle.amazon.com comes close, allowing you to manage your Kindle library (except you can only see it, not control/change anything) and see your annotations… on purchased content only. Content you’ve put on the device is notably missing. Meaning annotations you’ve placed on ebooks you loaded yourself are still tricky to retrieve/make use of and only available on the Kindle itself.

If Amazon really wants to nail the eBook reader market, they need to realize what Apple did, a device alone, while awesome, isn’t the solution. The desktop client that makes it easy to manage your library is a must. It might be too much to ask, but it’d be nice if the me@free.kindle.com functionality was built into the desktop app so I could convert my PDFs etc on my own and sync over USB.

I think the first company to launch a nice and easy to use eBook reader (the Kindle MOSTLY fits the bill) AND desktop library management application will be the winner. Until then, the race isn’t won and I hope Amazon doesn’t drop the ball at this important point in the eBook race.

Tags: Books, Business, iPhone, iTunes, Kindle, Technology

This is why Journalists suck

I’m writing this on my personal blog because it’s my view not Tom’s and not 360Conferences. (I really hate that disclaimer)

We just got back from a really successful 360|iDev, it rocked! iPhone developers are a really cool group of folks. I’ll be writing up my thoughts on the conference in another blog post, but wanted to rail on journalists for a second. I won’t lie, my irritation is self serving.

I wrote to TUAW and iLounge a good month and some change about our iPhone developer conference, no reply. No biggy, we were unknown, they could care less. Done.

Then we got an email from a reporter at the Wall Street Journal, asking for a press pass to 360|iDev. She was interested in talking to Jay Freeman about Cydia. We extended our warm welcome, hoping that as “Beat reporter for iPhone” an iPhone developer conference (first of it’s kind since O’Reilly pulled the plug), put on by developers would be interesting. Turns out no, that’s not an interesting story.

As far as we know the reporter never showed at the conference (We work the reg booth, we’d know).

Jay announced that the Cydia store was coming at 360|iDev, it’d be here Friday after the conference (3/6). What really irks me, is that TUAW, Engadget, iLounge, and the WSJ can’t be bothered to mention where the announcement was first made, just that it was made.

Don’t get me wrong, Jay is the rock star! I’m this much closer to jailbreaking because of his work. Like I said my annoyance is purely self serving, but it is part of the story. “At a developer conference in San Jose, Jay Freeman announced the imminent launch of the Cydia Store.”  Props to Jay, keep up the good work, making the iPhone better!

Update: Tom’s Guide at least got it.

Tags: Conferences, iPhone, Journalism

iapp review – Arcade Bowl from Skyworks

This is a first for me, I gotta admit. Some one actually wanted me to review their iPhone app! How cool is that!!

SkyWorks Arcade Bowl (iTunes Link), is pretty fun, I must admit!!!

I really wish the iTunes store allowed trial ware. I might not have bought this cool game without knowing it was cool up front. There’s just too much risk, however since the developer gave me a code, that problem was solved.

That said, I actually would rather have reviewed the app without being given a code, but the iTunes store experience is not designed that way. Which really sucks, offering scant room for a description, and only a few screen shots it’s hard to determine if an app or game will be worth the money.

The game play is pretty straight forward, place finger to get ball, swipe upwards. The angle and force dictate where your ball will end up, very straight forward.

The graphics are really crisp, after playing tower defense, I was really impressed by the level of detail, the band on the ball, the shadows, etc are very well done.

It took me a while to figure out how to turn the sound off, the settings are not as clear as I’d like. I’m used to there being an ‘options’ button, when you launch the game. It took me a while to spot the i even though it’s normal on many apps, I guess I’ve just gotten used to the more game like ‘options’ button.

Options are light, which makes sense, it’s not a very complicated game, two music tracks, two volume sliders. Done.

When you start the game (where I expected the ‘options’ button, you’re presented with 4 buttons. normal game, progressive game, and two high score buttons, one for each game time. Oh and the aforementioned i, that’s it, very simple and clean UI.

The one thing I found a bit annoying, was the large add for the other games on from the developer, I mean I (in theory) paid for the game, so seeing ads, even ads for the same game maker is kinda weak, IMO. Show ads, make game free. Charge for game, show ads. I love Tower Defense, it was free and shows an ad at the end of each level, and even requires you to click the ad to save your game, genius!

I’m not sure now which of those John are me, let’s just assume it’s the one in the number three spot :)

Arcade bowling is definitely worth the 1.99 the developer is asking. Having now played the game for several long stretches at a time, including the progressive game, it’s worth it! Fun game!

Tags: iPhone, Review

Apps with silly physical gestures, STOP IT!

Ok it’s getting silly now. Yes the iPhone can be shaken to select a restaurant, etc, etc. But does that mean every damn app some one writes, needs to support being shaken, blown into, etc?

First it was stupid wag my phone at yours to trade contacts, now it’s stupid tones to transmit a contact?

Maybe next someone will use the camera to sync like the Timex watches used to. 8 bit screen strobing, ftw!

I mean aside of the fact that the beepty booping like an old modem would get old fast, what happens in a busy restaurant or at a conference?

“Everyone! Please be quiet, I’d like to send Steve here my contact info, but my gimmicky eCard app needs to warble at his iPhone a bit. It’ll just take a minute.”

I think if someone said that at 360|Flex or 360|iDev, I’d throw my shoe at them, and ban them from ever attending again.

I mean really? That’s the solution? I’m not sure what’s worse, warbling or shaking phones at each other.

Tags: iPhone

iPhone App Review HP iPrint

I stumbled across HP iPrint (iTunes Link), and thought it was pretty cool. I don’t have much need to print pics from my iPhone, but it’s nice to have the option.

The two things I don’t like are that; it defaults to 4×6, it’d be nice if I could pick what size I want. Also it doesn’t seem to detect my 2600n, the iTunes description says it will detect Bonjour printers on the network, but that doesn’t seem to apply to my 2600n.

The print quality is nice, but that’s more printer than app, and my officeJet 7580 ain’t a photo printer.

It’s a nice tool to have should be out somewhere (parents house, etc) and want to zip off a print out of a photo.  Plus it’s not just pics from the camera, you could take a screen shot and print it out to make notes on, stuff like that. Anything that’s in your camera roll, is printable.

It’s free so it’s worth a price, just in case you have a need.

Tags: iPhone

iPhone App Review – i Heart Radio

Nicole told me about iHeart Radio (iTunes link), so I figured I’d try it out. From what I gather, radio stations all around the country are teaming up to provide radio over the internet. I’m guessing it’s to combat the likes of Pandora, though I can’t imagine the RIAA likes the idea, but since two apps can’t run on the iPhone at the some time (yet), there’s little risk of the dreaded piracy.

The app is pretty straight forward, the app presents you with a list of local cities, all cities, your favorites, etc.

There’s four buttons at the bottom; Stations, Favorites, Tagged Songs, and Shake it.

One nice thing is the tagging of songs, you’re listening to the radio and can tag the song to buy in iTunes, pretty handy.

The app is a bit crashy, if you’re listening to a station, and go back to the stations list or the favorites, it’s as likely as not to kill the app. It’s very much a versions one app, but still pretty well made. The UI is pretty clean, although the playing button, looks like a checkbox, so it took me a while to figure out I could stop playplack.

I know it’s cool that the iPhone has the accelerometers but really, every app does not need to be shake friendly. UrbanSpoon, ok maybe, but really, do I need to shake my iPhone to pick a radio station? Is anyone that bored or starved for content that they’ll explore the radio freqs from across the US? Even if you find a kick ass station out of Boca Raton, it’s not like you can listen to it in the car or at the house. But oh well the fad will hopefully pass.

It’s a cute gimmick, but like I said, really? The Utility of the thing, just not seeing.

Overall, great app. It’s nice to have my favorite local stations, I’m hoping 100.3 shows up as well, but 93.3 will hold me over.

Tags: iPhone

Solution: iCal, gCal, and iPhone. A happy threesome

If you followed my previous post about wanting to trade my Kingdom for a way to sync my iPhone, iCal, and gCal, you know that the current situation for an iPhone owner, with a gCal account is pretty much W.E.A.K.

the blackberry definitely one ups the iPhone in this category.

While I’m not 100% happy with my current solution (Thanks commenter Toby), it’s the best solution I’ve come up with so far. My environment is convoluted for sure, but can’t be unique.

Toby pointed me to nuevaSync, which let’s you sync a gCal account through an exchange gateway, which you can then sync to the iPhone. Unfortunately the iPhone can only handle one exchange sync, no idea why.

So I’ve got 2 way Sync from gCal to the iPhone through nuevaSync. Then since I like using iCal when on my mac, or not connected, i use Google’s new calDav support to have 2 way communication between iCal and gCal.

ok mostly there. gCal is my hub, and iCal and the iPhone can talk to it, and get updates back and forth.

Unfortunately since I’m using my single exchange connection for nuevaSync, I had to disconnect from my EUI account. Solution, just as convoluted.

I connected my iPhone directly to the mail server via IMAP, and have entourage (blech) syncing to iCal in an Entourage, which then, mostly, sometimes, will make it up to the cloud that is MobileMe.

I can only imagine what kind of trouble I’d have if I was trying to sync contacts across all these services.

So there we have it. A mostly good solution, to a really stupid problem to have. Thanks Apple, this kind of stuff reinforces why RIM is the business choice still.

Tags: Google, iPhone, Mac

My Kingdom for a calendaring solution!!

I can’t be the only person in this situation.

I’ve got an iPhone, googleCalendar, and iCal/MobileMe.ANd a headache the size of Denver, maybe Los Angeles. The easy solution between iCal and gCal, is easy now that gCal supports calDav. However mobileMe doesn’t sync calDav calendars, so my iPhone has no calendars.

I’ve been using busySync, but that requires me to run it on a machine, which is ok, but then the failure point is that machine, and if I’m traveling with a different machine, well unless I leave it running, no sync-y. That’s a no go.

I found an Applescript, that comes pretty close. It takes my calDav calendar and copies it to “John Wilker iPhone”. Two problems; 1. it doesn’t sync recurring events, and, 2. it doesn’t allow me to add events to my iPhone cal, to be copied back, it’s a one way deal. So that’s kinda whack. But that could be livable.
I won’t even go into Entourage (EffectiveUI’s calendaring). I’m resigned to manually copying my work appts over. So Be it.

So what’s everyone else doing? Surely I can’t be alone! What’s everyone using to make gCal and an iPhone talk? Why does it suck so bad!?

Help me please!

Tags: iCal, iPhone