t-minus 500 or so hours
Yeah, reserved one this morning. The very second I awoke. No, not getting it delivered, going to make the trek to the store and pick it up all personal-like. It's more fun that way. You know, because you can make silent fun of all the sad geeks waiting in line.
From, um, the line.
plants vs zombies vs my iphone battery
Plants vs. Zombies on the iPhone is
all sorts of awesome. I played the game quite a
bit on my PC, but it's a natural fit for portable
fun on a touch screen device. That said, it also
kills batteries. I play lots of iPhone games, but
this is the first one to drain my battery twice in
one day.
Of course, I've got a feeling that's because of its
addictive nature, and not necessarily because it uses
more juice...
Also, hot damn at the $2.99 price.
happy day
OMG, my day was just
made. The "This American Life" iPhone app (iTunes link) is simply amazing...
It has every show ready to stream (nearly 400 of
them!) plus tons of extras, and it starts to play
instantly over 3G. Instantly. Not sure if
I've ever made a better $2.99 purchase. :)
the kindle factor
I just started thinking about what the iPad means for the Kindle, and the Kindle Store in general. I have a Kindle, and I love it. It's a super great reading machine, but that's pretty much it. The e-book functionality of the iPad (called iBooks — a similar name as the precursor to the MacBook), on the other hand, is just one of the device's many capabilities.
But, again, focusing on these machines solely as e-book readers, they both still have clear strengths:
iPad / iBooks Advantages:
- Full Color
- Larger Display
- Faster Screen Refresh
- Swipe to Turn Pages
- iTunes-like Book Store
- Potential for Comic Books
Kindle Advantages:
- E Ink Display
- (Way) Better Battery Life
- A Better Selection of Books at a Lower Price
- More Durable
I can't emphasis the awesomeness of E Ink enough; I'd much rather read a long book on the Kindle screen than an LCD, color and nifty touch-related animations be damned. The Kindle screen really replicates paper, and I can stare at it for hours without strain. Something I doubt I'll be able to do on the iPad.
Then there's the kicker: the Kindle App.
If Apple allows Amazon to create an iPad version of this application (which they might have to, seeing how they previously approved the iPhone / iPod Touch one), what's to keep Amazon from replicating the same visual appeal of the iBooks application, and linking it to a much larger and better-priced store? Even though the iBook experience (store and reader) is more tightly integrated, Amazon still has the Kindle name and the size / price advantages of the Kindle Store.
I personally hope to see a Kindle reader on the iPad, mainly for color versions of certain textbooks I have (which don't fit that well on Kindle's small screen), and also to create some real competition to hopefully drive down e-book prices in general (seriously, electronic books don't have the printing, shipping, unsold stock and returns that eat away their printed cousin's bottom-line, pass on the savings to consumers).
Either way, I'll be curious to see how this affects the e-books landscape — which is a little funny, especially when you take in account Steve Job's public dissing of the Kindle's "flawed concept" a couple of years ago...
the pad
Will I get one? Heh, lame
question.
First thought: Neat! Sure, the iPad is a large iPod Touch with a
slightly horrible name, but I'm starting to think
it could be something to eventually replace my
laptop... I mean, it's smaller and way lighter,
and easier to carry around (you know, between
rooms or meetings). Plus, aside from a few
caveats, it can do nearly everything I use my
MacBook for these days. Well, more or less.
Key MacBook functions easily replaced by an
iPad:
- Web Browser
- Music Player
- Instant Messaging (with Beejive app)
- RSS Reader (with Byline app)
- Reminders (with OmniFocus app)
- iWork Document Creation (with keyboard dock)
Stuff I wouldn't be able to do without new or advanced apps:
- Blog
- Watch Hulu / Netflix
- Upload pictures to FTP
Stuff I'd never be able to do:
- Handbreak
Yeah, aside from the lack of a DVD drive, there's really nothing stopping my future iPad from completely replacing my laptop, and the size / weight differences might make the switch just that much easier.
Or, at the very least, it'll be a great machine to read web stuff while on the couch / in bed.
Hot damn I love technology...
(less than) 12 hours away
Hot damn I'm hyped for
tomorrow morning.
Also, please let it be cool.
yay!
Sure, it’s not as exciting as a full OS upgrade, but I’m looking forward to a few of the Snow Leopard’s features (exchange support, mostly) and the keen “newness tweaks.” Plus 7 gigs of freed up space, always nice!
Also nice? $29 and free release date delivery. Mmmm... Friday.
evolution
Wow. Space Invaders Infinity Gene is the best iPhone game I’ve played. By far.
I beat it last week, but I keep finding myself coming back to try out different music track levels and the like, and I’m amazed by the amount of stuff I’m still unlocking. It’s such a seemingly simple experience (hell, it was originally a “normal” cellphone game in Japan), but the “retro” visual style works perfectly, the relative touch control is top notch, the music is grand and the unlocking system (with the ability to return to older levels with new weapons) is fantastic and deceptively addictive. Not to mention fun. Very, very fun.
Loved the opening, loved the ending. Hell, loved the whole thing. Go buy it.
better
Crystal Defenders surprised me twice.
The first time was right after I bought it, when I realized Square was pretty much screwing iPhone (and iPod touch) owners over with a super shoddy “port” of their cell-phone-turned-iPod “tower defense” game. Instead of adapting it to the iPhone screen and interface, they instead just pretty much re-released the iPod game, and added a super crappy control scheme that emulated the scroll wheel input. Lame.
Then the second surprise happened today, when my phone alerted there was an update for the game. And not just any update, but one that made this title an actual iPhone experience. Now supporting an optional landscape view and full touch control (with some general visual enhancements to boot), Crystal Defenders is finally what it should have been from the beginning. Which means I’m now just annoyed at Square, instead of pissed. Yay!
Before
(Note the harsher sprites and horrible
interface)
Now
(Much, much, much nicer...)
myphone
After several false-starts, I finally stood in line long enough to pick up a new iPhone yesterday. Three hours, in fact. On a Sunday morning. When I left I counted over 40 people still waiting - nuts how this still hasn’t calmed down.
The nice Apple store employee seemed a little happy while he was setting me up - “Ah, thank god,” were his exact words while we were transferring my account from an old iPhone to a new one. “Been crazy?” I asked, trying to make small talk while he was tapping away on his handheld computer. “You wouldn’t believe...” he responded, not looking up. All-in-all it took five minutes once I got into the store, he said it could take up to 30 minutes (or more) when setting up a new account. Yikes.
Anyways, the phone is rad. I don’t get 3G at the house (which has always had spotty reception), but since I’m on WiFi there it doesn’t matter. Everywhere else I tested it’s golden. Love the speed, and the GPS is way more accurate than I expected, especially while moving - starting to believe the 2.1 update might really allow for true turn-by-turn.
The all plastic feel is great, and I love the new curved molding - the phone seems a little smaller and lighter because of it. Noticed the decreased battery life already, but I’m planning on picking one of these up, just in case. Overall, very happy - both with the phone itself and the fact I finally got one.
breather
Recent Things:
Beat MGS4 last weekend. Such a game for the fans, and since I am one, oh my god - wonderful. I haven’t been this thrilled and moved and shocked by a game in many, many years. It was a perfect ending to a powerful series, and it made me a happy person to have followed it since it’s conception.
Also, the bonus disc is great. I haven’t watched the “external” reflection video yet (which I hear is amazing), but the “internal” one made me laugh. It’s great to see a company as talented as Kojima Studios having surprisingly similar “issues” as we’re having now. Ah, game development.
Downloaded the database, which is surprisingly addictive. Only about 40% through, and I’m already appreciating this series even more.
I still haven’t bought a new iPhone, was more excited
about the software than the hardware, but that’s about to
change. Super love the 2.0 upgrade, and the app
store is amazing. But now I need more speed -
downloading new RSS feeds through NetNewsWire (the over-the-air
syncing is so great - especially how it
auto-updates read-status on other devices when you
get new feeds) or updating the “push” features in
MobileMe is noticeably laggy. Gah.
omg please hurry july 11th
Image from Engadget
New iPhone? Very cool. Can’t believe the price. Very
happy with the new features. And the App Store is going to be a nice
place, especially for games.
But I’m almost more excited about MobileMe - .Mac has sucked for a while now
(or, at the very least, has been very stagnate),
and this is the perfect solution. Love the push features, and it finally makes
email on the iPhone not completely ass.
July 11th can’t come fast enough...
neat things
I also got this:
OMG it's huge. Like, Bible huge. Yikes, this is going to take a while to really get into...
And this:
Wow. Much, much, much faster than the previous version. With "previews" on, it doesn't pause to load when quickly skimming pictures. Yay! Looking forward to trying out the other new features as well...