Yeraze's Domain 3.0

So, I figure it’s about time to do the quick review.  I was one of the lucky people to get an iPhone 3g on release day, after a short wait in the line outside.  I got the 8Gig version, and i’ve had it for a few weeks now.  I even had the perfect opportunity to test it as 2 days after I bought it I left for a week in Seattle for the HPCMP User’s Group Conference.  So I spent that week trying out various bells and whistles, and since then I’ve pushed it even further.  So, what’s the verdict?

What I like:

• The App Store - The ability to download apps and install them on the phone is great, and ability to do it for free is fantastic.. The ability to get useful and fun apps that actually look like desktop software and not like old VT100 terminals is the real impressive part.
• GPS & Location Awareness - The ability to see your location on google maps at pretty much any given time is great, especially if you’re a traveler (This feature saved my butt several times in Seattle).  Pull up maps, let it find you while you type in "borders" and then you get a blue dot where you are, and red dots showing all the nearby borders bookstores.  And lots of other apps are location-aware too, so you can Geotag your photos or Tweets.
• Data - Lots of phones have data support, and lots of them have websurfing ability, but (in my knowledge) the iPhone is the only one that rivals a desktop.  I almost never use my laptop or desktop anymore, since I can use a real browser (complete with AJax and JavaScript support) on my iPhone.  It integrates perfectly with Google Mail (unlike Blackberries), and everything works seamlessly.

What I don’t like:

• Instability – The new iPhone 2.0 firmware is simply buggy.  I’ve had the keyboard wack out on me several times, thinking it’s horizontal when it’s vertical, or simply disappearing.  The only solution i’ve found: reboot.
• Location problems - The GPS isn’t terribly accurate in urban areas, I’ve had it "lock on" (no blue circle, just a pin) and then float up to 2 blocks while i’m standing still.  Also, the location features seem to simply "stop" sometimes, and the only way to get them working again is reboot.
• Signal Strength – The iPhone doesn’t seem to have a very good antenna.  My friends with Razr’s often still have a bar or 2 while i’m staring at No Service.
• No background apps - To preserve battery life, Apple doesn’t allow any App Store application to run in the background.  This makes Instant Messaging a no-go, unless you JailBreak.  Hopefully this won’t be much of a problem when the new 2.1 firmware with Push Notifications comes out.
• Poor Camera Quality – the CMOS sensor on the camera is slooooow. This makes taking non-blurry photos almost impossible.
• Battery Life - yeah, it’s all over the net.. Read it there.. synopsis: Charge daily for usage around home, Charge 2x daily when traveling.

But, it’s still simply a fantastic device.  Being able to send/recieve email anywhere, use twitter, surf the net, see my google calendar, update Sandy, listen to music (either iTunes or Pandora), GPS Locate, get Directions, etc.  It’s simply fantastic.  I highly recommend it for anyone.

[tag:iphone][tag:review]

While I was at UGC08 in Seattle last week, I got the chance to do some reading. Here’s the 2 books I finally knocked off my list:

First I read Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.  It’s a story set in the future after a devastating attack on earth by the "Buggers", an alien insectoid race that nearly killed us all.  The only way we survived was through the legendary attack of one man.  Now we leave under constant fear of another invasion, so the government analyzes and recruits potential soldiers at very young (single digit) ages, and puts them through intricate battle games to prepare them for war.  The book is the story of one exceptionally talended kid named Andrew "Ender" Wiggins.  It’s a great book with a several good twists toward the end.  There are several sequels to the book, but I’m not sure if there is really any temporal order to them.

On the flight back I read William Gibson’s Neuromancer.  It’s an interesting cross between Blade Runner and Snow Crash, a distant future where the "Matrix" ( a virtual world ala the MetaVerse) is the core of all computers in the world.  A former elite hacker who fell victim to a virus that shattered his nervous system is recruited by a strange man to pickup a new terminal and do 1 more job.  But it all spins out of control when he figures out who his boss is working for, and meets the other people involved. It’s a very dark book, with alot of far-fetched lingo and ideas.  It’s a great sci-fi run through various exotic locales on earth, in orbit, and in the "Matrix".

I’ve heard alot about both books over the years, they’re both considers somewhat "required reading" for SciFi buffs. 

[tag:book][tag:neuromancer][tag:endersgame]

Last night, Laura and I went to see The Dark Knight at the local Malco.  1 word: AWESOME.

Heath Ledger’s performance is everything they say.  His character, the Joker, has fantastic dialog and monologues, which you have to attribute to the writing staff.  But the mannerisms, the voice, the laugh,  that’s all Heath Ledger, and he does amazingly well.  From the initial "Pencil Trick " all the way to the final showdown, he’s an psychopathic anarchist with no regard for anything but chaos, and it’s completely believable.

The one actor I have not heard much about is Aaron Eckhart who plays Harvey Dent, Gotham’s new District Attorney.  He has an equally impressive showing as he slowly turns from Gotham’s White Knight into Two-Face. 

The entire movie is fantastic, and a great sequel to Batman Begins.  Plus, it’s got trailers for Watchmen and the new Terminator Salvation movie starring Batman himself as John Connor. 

[tag:batman][tag:movie][tag:darkknight][tag:heathledger]