Rumors
Rumors in Technology, Current Events, Business and Local Events
General iPhone 2.0 impressions.
The first few days…
So far, so good. I was one of the early (stupid?) adopters of the 2.0 software release last Thursday (7/10/2008) and was the victim of a rebooting/freezing/freak of a phone. As Friday rolled around, and it was announced that the leaked version was 3G iPhone ONLY…well.. Guess it was a sign to invest a bit more time in the actual firmware upgrade. Shame on me for being impatient… I should know better…
Fast forward to Saturday, when I went through the fairly arduous procedure of resetting my phone, downloading the new software, reinstalling it… all while crossing my fingers, dancing around my chair 3 times and chanting a ceremonial chant. Everything seems to be kosher now, and after completing the AppleTV upgrade to 2.1, the new Apple Remote.app is working great!
Battery life seems to be a touch better. My phone is about 4 months old, and to gain battery life at this point of it’s life cycle is a nice benefit. The phone seems to navigate a bit faster, also. But, there are two shining stars of the 2.0 upgrade.
One is the long overdue update from .MAC to MobileMe.
After updating both my Mac Pro and Air with the MobileMe/iTunes/Quicktime update, everything seemed to sync more reliability. I haven’t noticed much of a speed bump, but having my iCal/Address Book and Safari bookmarks automagically push out to my iPhone over the air vs. USB docking/syncing is a VERY nice upgrade.
However, the biggest shining star is Apps! Apps! Apps! Some of the most useful applications in the iTunes - iPhone Apps gallery are completely free. I have had a few hiccups, such as when an iPhone .app simply returns to the Home screen randomly. In most cases, data is not lost and the app is smart enough to return me to where I was upon relaunch.
Overall, I believe the update is worth the hassle, that should be far less of a problem for those who wait on the official process to propagate throughout their setups. I am forgoing the upgrade to a 3G phone at this point, except perhaps a premature, catastrophic end to my current iPhone, as the new features haven’t been compelling enough to separate more money from my wallet…yet. As the GPS/Social networking apps gain more momentum, the more precise GPS may prove useful. However, until they implement copy/paste, or some other new functionality (3rd generation?), I will be skipping the 3G/2nd Generation iPhone. Pick a cheap 1st Gen up on eBay…better deal!
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Apple iPhone v2.0 round-up
There are alot of articles floating around regarding the new Apple iPhone to be released on July 11, 2008. Here are a few of my favorites:
- “Top 5 Reasons Why I’m Not Upgrading to iPhone 3G” from the theiphoneblog.com
- “Latest iPhone SDK agreement limits GPS software capabilities” from Ars Technica
- RUMOR: “iPhone Application Store to open on June 27th” from Ars Technica
- “iPhone 2.0 to finally get Flash!” from theiphoneblog.com
- “Interview with The Woz regarding the 3G iPhone” from laptopmag.com
History of health inspections for Marion county/Indianapolis establishments
The Indianapolis Star just published a new tool that enables you to search the Marion county/Indianapolis food inspection records of resturants, pubs and other establishments.
How does your favorite establishment stand up? Kinda scary that some of my favorite places did not do very well.
Sphere: Related ContentDoS attacks gone wrong
Over the weekend, Revision3 suffered an illegal and illegitimate denial of service attack for running a valid bittorrent tracker they use to distribute their own content.
At what point does the MPAA/RIAA simply go to far? This seems to have been an illegal attack by a company hired by the MPAA/RIAA to take down illegal bittorrent tracking sites. However, it looks like they focused their DoS servers at a legitimate site that ended up costing Revision traffic (i.e. $$$$).
As someone that has been responsible for running some popular public sites, it is difficult enough to fend off all of the spammers and botnet attacks. It is considerably more difficult to fend off a well funded company designed for just such attacks, with the technical wherewithal to make it hurt.
I hope Revision3 gets some satisfaction out of this incident, and this sort of practice remains in the realm of illegal activities, no matter who is controlling the purse strings and lawyers.
Sphere: Related ContentIndy Pub Crawl
A great time was had by all for my birthday on the Mass Ave Pub Crawl on April 26th… Thanks to everyone for showing up and making the night so memorable!
While surfing today, I ran across another Indianapolis pub crawl coming up in June.
Check it out.. sounds like fun!
Sphere: Related ContentEngaged, mistress and married
Three women: one engaged, one married and one a mistress, are chatting about their relationships and decided to amaze their men. That night all three will wear black leather bras, stiletto heels and a mask over their eyes. After a few days they meet up for lunch.
The engaged woman: The other night when my boyfriend came over he found me with a black leather bodice, tall stilettos and a mask. He saw me andsaid, ‘You are the woman of my life. I love you.’ Then we made love all night long.
The mistress: Me too! The other night I met my lover at his office and I was wearing the leather bodice, heels, mask over my eyes and a raincoat. When I opened the raincoat he didn’t say a word, but we had wild sex all night.
The married woman: I sent the kids to stay at my mother’s house for the night. When my husband came home I was wearing the leather bodice, blackstockings, stilettos and a mask over my eyes. As soon as he came in the door and saw me he said, ‘What’s for dinner, Batman?’
Thanks, Jeff!
Sphere: Related ContentIndianapolis tops list of most sexually satisfied
In one of the most shocking studies of the year, Indianapolis has topped a list of Sexually Satisfied Cities.Seems sort of surreal…. ;)
Apple: Market Share and Profits rise
Looks like Apple is doing just fine, thank you very much. The old days of 4-6% market saturation are long gone.
Stone Temple Pilots to play at Carb Day
The Stone Temple Pilots have been named to headline the Indianapolis 500 Carb Day festivities. After having Kid Rock here last year, it will be a welcome change. 
This is consistently one of the biggest parties in the city and is usually a fantastic time. 2 years ago, the IMPD was a bit aggressive at early intervention by Taser, but last year seemed to be a bit more subdued.
Looking forward to it this year with the unification of the IRL and Champ Car series. Should be a very competitive and enjoyable race.
Sphere: Related ContentWal-mart (and others)
I’ve never really thought about this, but it is fairly annoying to have to show your receipt on the way out the door of big box retailers. Basically, they assume you are guilty until you prove yourself innocent. Here is an interesting story of how Wal-Mart treated one of it’s customers.
Next time I go to one of the Big Box retailers, I’m going to see how far they push this issue. It is kind of ridiculous that right after my purchase I have to “show my receipt”. What does that prove anyway? If I were a shoplifter, wouldn’t I have the item stuffed in my pants or something, anyway?
Just more reason to shop with locally owned merchants. At least they don’t make me feel like a criminal when I leave.
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From Mad TV.
IRL and Champ Car Update
With the recent announcement that the Indy Racing League (IRL) and Champ Car World Series (CCWS) have finally came together as one series, there have been a number of releases about races and teams. Here are some of the recent stories:
- Release from the IRL home page
- Conquest announces a 2 car team for the new unified Indy car series
- Full line up for IRL?
- Making the IRL/CCWS merger work
- Robin Miller from Speedtv.com interviews Tony George and Kevin Kalkhoven
- No race in Cleveland this year
There is a news conference regarding unification scheduled for Feb 27, 2008 that will be carried live on indycar.com.
Looks to be a great season for the IRL!
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So freaking cute!
Workstations at Starbucks
Had to chuckle when I saw this video. It reminds me of the day when coffee shops were “Cyber Cafe’s”, which was only a few years ago. Interesting how people think it is so weird or funny now. Enjoy!
Sphere: Related ContentIRL and Champ Car back together..at last!
Looks like the open wheel unification may be the real deal. Open wheel racing is some of the most exciting racing on the planet and the long overdue merging of the two series will only increase the competition and excitement. It will be wonderful to see some of the races come back together, including Long Beach and Edmonton.
Maybe this will be the year that Indy Car and open wheel racing makes some headway against the NASCAR juggernaut.
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