Infinity and Beyond

CNN has a pretty exhaustive review of the 3G iPhone.  They essentially cover every aspect of the design and all the features of the phone, including what is new, what is improved, etc. etc.  The general verdict from the review:

 So should you buy an iPhone 3G? If you haven’t bought an iPhone yet, and have been holding out for a new model, now is the time. If you’re a current iPhone owner and you’re yearning for a faster cellular network, then you should take the plunge.But if you’re an iPhone owner who won’t use 3G (or can’t; check your coverage at AT&T), then you should stick with your current model. The iPhone 2.0 software update provides Exchange server support, third-party apps support, and many new features without the added cost

Some other take-aways and comments from the article:

• The 3G version weighs ever so slightly less than the original
• The screen is the same size but has a few more dots per inch (163 vs 160)
• CNN says the white is not their “cup of tea”–but I think it’s the one I’m going to get.
• As Uncle Steve mentioned in the 3G announcement, the headphone jack is now flush–no more stupid adapters to buy.  However, I had heard there was a color-changing ring which would indicate if the phone had been submerged in water which surrounded the headphone jack–is that still there??
• A SIM removal tool is included in the box!
• A dock is not!! BOOOO.  $30 for a dock?  That sucks.
• Exchange Server support built-in.  But according to the AT&T reps I’ve spoken with, that’ll cost you $15 more for an “Enterprise Data Plan” in order to enable Exchange syncing.  I’d like to see if this is truly the case.
• CNN dogs on the ability to only sync with one Exchange server…but I’m pretty sure my Windows Mobile 6 device can only sync with one Exchange server.  But, you can use third-party tools such as Plaxo to keep multiple accounts and programs in sync (I sync my Outlook on my PC and my iCal/Address Book, etc. on my Mac in sync this way).
• The iTunes Wi-Fi store sadly only works over Wi-Fi–you can’t use the 3G connection to buy songs.
• Still no Flash.
• Parental controls–seriously?  Gah…if you don’t trust your kids enough or are that worried, don’t buy them a damn iPhone.  Your 12-year old doesn’t need one.  They need whatever free model you can get from your carrier which allows them to call, and if necessary, text.  When I worked at the Apple Store, I can’t tell you how often irate parents would come in and moan about the price of various iPods that their kids HAD to have, and how many folks came in and became belligerent when they found that their son/daughter smashing an iPod in the door of the car was NOT covered under warranty repair.
• Still no: multimedia messaging and video recording–but perhaps a 3rd Party app can fix this??
• Interestingly, you apparently can’t email a calendar appointment, or transfer files–you have to email them.  Does the iPhone not have a disk-mode like my iPods?

All in all, a very favorable review from CNN.  That being said, there are still some things missing from the phone, though Apple could probably fix a lot of them with future software patches.  I’ll certainly be buying one soon, and ditching my clunky AT&T 8525.  What’s the point of having a slide-out keyboard if it doesn’t work half the time?  And why pay for Opera Mobile 8.65 in order to get a “usable” browsing experience on WinMo, when you get (at least from my tests) a hands-down richer experience with the iPhone’s built-in Safari browser?  Although I will be giving up the ability to take awful, grainy, over- or under-exposed video clips.  Ohh well.

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Engadget has a story about a woman who’s camera was stolen in Florida.  What the thief didn’t know was that the SD card inside her camera was actually an Eye-Fi card.  It’s a sweet piece of technology I myself own and enjoy using.

The card somehow manages to squeeze 2GB of memory and a 802.11 transmitter inside the card.  When the camera is powered the card (using simply the internal battery of the camera–and to no noticeable detriment so far as my usage has shown) automatically looks for a wireless network to upload your pics to your computer (if a sync point was set) or your favorite social networking site(s).

My Eye-Fi card automagically uploads my pics to my Facebook account for instance.  So too did this lady’s card, uploading images taken on her vacation, and after her camera was stolen, to one of her sites.  One of the photos included a clear enough shot of the thief himself to allow the woman to contact police, who were then able to track the man down and recover the stolen equipment.

I just wish this card existed 6 months earlier than when I received mine, in which case it may have helped me to recover the Nikon D70 that was a beloved graduation gift from my mother.  Sadly, this was not to be, and I’m rocking a Nikon D80 now so I can’t completely complain, but still, kind of an unintended but pleasant use of the Eye-Fi card.

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OK, so Starbucks started their partnership with AT&T to provide free wireless Internet in Starbucks stores nationwide.  The rules for getting this free wireless access are somewhat complicated.  It all depends on…well, a number of different things.  There is a giant FAQ if you’re interested in all the details.

But essentially it boils down to this:

• If you purchase a Starbucks card with a minimum balance of $5, and sign up for an account through Starbucks and (I think) and AT&T Wi-Fi access account, you can have up to 2 hours of wireless coverage per day at a single location.
• This will last for a month, at which point you have to use your Starbucks card again in order to continue the service for another month.

 -or-

• If you have a qualifying AT&T High Speed Internet, U-Verse, or Wireless account which includes the AT&T Wi-Fi Basic Service, you can get the wireless service without purchasing and using a Starbucks card.

If you don’t want to buy a Starbucks card and you don’t have AT&T service, you can purchase a 2-hour block for $3.99.  Current subscribers to the Starbucks/T-mobile deal will continue to have their same access.

Also, the service isn’t entirely free, as you have to give up some of your personal details to AT&T and Starbucks, and if you’re using the non-AT&T-subscriber method, you’re subject to up to four emails a year from AT&T.  Which isn’t much admittedly, but most coffee shops I go to don’t even ask me for my name to get wireless, unless they need to write it on my cup.

So on the one hand, having a two-hour limit is nice to keep customers moving through the store, it still is a number of hoops to jump through, and allows Starbucks to monetize on your Internet usage.  I’ll likely still go to my local shop down the street when I’m looking for a place to work on my laptop for an hour or two, knowing that I won’t have to worry about where my Starbucks card is, if I’ve used it in the last 30 days, etc. etc.

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At the Westminster eForum on Web 2.0 held in London, the VP of Legislative Affairs at AT&T stated that by 2010 the Internet will have reached it’s max capacity.  This is, of course, with out billions in dollars worth of upgrades–$55B in the US alone, and $130B globally.

The idea of the Internet maxing out seems a bit far fetched to me.  Specifically, this quote made me think that the problem might be getting blown out of proportion:

“In three years’ time, 20 typical households will generate more traffic than the entire Internet today.”

Really?  My neighborhood is going to generate more traffic than the entire Internet?  I find this really hard to believe.  And a statement like that makes me doubt everything else Cicconi talked about.  Perhaps if every appliance in my home is downloading full-length HD-quality movies, plus bonus features, and streaming porn, and making video calls to other appliances down the street, and running their own stock markets and research projects.  But at least at this time I don’t forsee my toaster actually taking up that much bandwidth.  And is AT&T going to provide me a reasonably priced 1Gbps pipeline to my house?  Probably not.  Even if they do provide such a pipleine I doubt most homes would pay the price for it.

Some who heard the speech felt that Cicconi was in a roundabout way advocating for bandwidth shaping and prioritizing their Internet traffic (i.e. slowing down or restricting users who are downloading movies via file sharing sites).  Cicconi of course claims that’s not the case, and with good reason given Comcast being put in the hot seat over that issue.

I think it would be interesting for the big providers to publish some data on their current capacity levels–most people aren’t maxing out their bandwidth all the time. But I’m curious to know what level of usage on average the companies are actually seeing.

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Seattle.gov appears today to have been hax0red by some hax0rz.  It now appears as Seootle.Gov, all dressed up in Google’s colors and allowing you to Seootle Serach or just click the “I’m Feeling Silly” button.

Quite well done in my opinion.  It’s fun to see a government entity showing a little April Fools’ day humor.  That being said, I wish they’d expend this much energy on things like fixing the atrocious online billing system.  But I digress.

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Thanks to Ezra Klein.

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