When Will Apple?

sharing a ride with fellow iphone users… and non iphone users too

2008-11-18T17:42:02Z

A new iPhone app from Avego will help users trace their comute route and find people with a similar path to share a ride, basically car pool 2.0, using the app and internet to find people willing to ride with you… The app will also keep track of how far the passanger needs to travel and gives you direction to the destination… And from what I saw in the demo video looks like it keeps tab of the cost too… here is the video

Interesting idea… We’ll soon see a fleet of “taxi” drivers with their iPhones… riight

Storm coming on the 21st, maybe iPhone 2.2 rumored date is right?

2008-11-14T18:12:07Z

The new blackberry storm is coming out on November 21st. So maybe apple will be releasing the iPhone 2.2 firmware on the 21st to steal the spotlight from blackberry. I think this would be a great move on apple’s part and pretty funny too. Either way the sooner I get 2.2 the better

NBC’s Chuck webisodes sponsored by Microsoft, WTF?

2008-11-12T05:14:00Z

Normally media outlets such as TV and radio have to be careful what they say about other companies as they may be current or future sponsors. So I found it quite odd to see a Chuck webisodes being sponsored by Microsoft, or more specifically Microsoft Windows. You can see the webisodes and the Microsoft adverts on the Chuck page. I mean Chuck is the same TV shows which boast the iPhone as much as they can, includes at least one macbook per episode, and took a blatant jab at microsoft’s Zune MP3 player just a couple weeks ago…right?

Oh and PS, Chuck is back using a first gen iPhone. It’s kind of hard to see because of the sneaky black case, but you can definitely see the silver metal underneath the case.

iPhone 2.2 firmware coming out on November 21?

2008-11-11T23:14:49Z

iPhone Hellas [via AppleInsider] is claiming that the new iPhone 2.2 firmware will be released on November 21st. They cite a “reliable” source, but who knows what that means. It has been about the same amount of time since 2.1 beta to release, so I think this is possible. Also, if they put out some nice new features it could be a good push to have before the holiday season. So although I’m not confident in this exact date, I do feel like we will see it sooner rather than later…probably before the end of November.

UPDATE
Even though I haven’t heard of this site, Gizmodo claims iPhone Hellas to be a reliable site, so maybe this date is going to turn out to be the real deal.

apple store dadeland, grand opening!

2008-11-09T02:40:29Z

The latest apple store to open was in my own backyard, dadeland mall in Miami, Florida. The turnout was better than I expected with all the doom and gloom about the economy and such. The line stretched back pretty far and held until about an hour after the doors opened. The free Ts lasted about the same.

So here we go! 5…4…3…2…1!

More pictures after the break!

The lucky ones towards the front of the line…

…the line continues…

…and the not so lucky end of the line guy

Welcome to the Apple Store, Dadeland

You would have thought high five guy was first in line…he wasn’t

I swear apple pumps their employees full of caffeine (or something stronger?) before big product releases and store openings! Extreeeeeeeme!!!

Hey look, Miami-Dade police, just like on Dexter. At one point mall security walked up to check out the situation…I was tempted to tell him that the guys with the hand guns had things covered, but I controlled myself

Free tshirts, get them while they’re hot!

Here’s mine!

And a little while after the opening we have this…we are still in a recession right?

People checking out the cool stuff

Macbook pros

Got to love the airs, too bad I can’t afford one

The standard nano-chromatic display we have all come to love

microsoft following apple in adopting webkit?

2008-11-08T17:13:13Z

Appleinsider is reporting that Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO, said in a developers conference in Australia that they might consider adopting WebKit as the rendering engine for Internet Explorer. But looking at Microsoft’s history with it’s browser, when or if this will happen is any one’s guess.

As you may or may not know, WebKit is an open source framework on which a web browser can be developed. And many developers have chosen to use it as their foundation, examples are Apple’s Safari, Google’s Chrome, and many other mobile browsers. If Microsoft indeed chooses to adopt the framework as their next rendering engine it will usher in a new era of a more standardized web. And that is good news for us web developers.

As web developers, we spend a lot of extra time tinkering with tricks and techniques to make Internet Explorer do something other browsers can do natively. Just imagine if we didn’t have to do that. We could use that time to do more useful things, like having a beer or watching a movie. Or maybe, just maybe we could use the extra free time to bring more innovations to the field.

But for now this is all just some hopeful thinking…

mythbusters evens the score on the iPod for zune fans

2008-11-07T14:13:31Z

Well even though this is an apple site, we like to keep it as fair and balanced as possible. In order to make up for the recent NBC Zune bashing with Chuck and then the next day with Conan O’Brien we bring you a clip of the latest MythBusters. This clips involves a ballistics dummy, an iPod, and an AK-47. The guys were testing a myth based on a report from a soldier being saved by his MP3 player while in combat.

One interesting thing I have noticed with MythBusters in general is their lack of product placement. You will see in the clip they refer to the iPod the whole time as an “MP3 player”. I’ve also seen them cover up the MacBook on the inside of the MacBook and the logo on the back. They do the same for their dell laptops, even though anyone with half a brain knows what they all are.

Here is the clip, but I warn apple lovers this isn’t easy to watch, but the Zune fans will enjoy it immensely!

wake me up before you gogo…inflight wifi comes to AA

2008-11-06T19:50:23Z

As I’m sure you know inflight wifi has been a hot topic this year and has been available on one of the largest US airlines, American Airlines, via Gogo for a several months now. It is only available on select flights, but I’m sure in the next 12-24 months this is going to be huge. Miami (MIA) to New York (JFK) is on that short list so it looks like I need to go visits 5th ave apple in the big apple again! Gogo is only available on AA, but will soon be coming to Air Canada, Delta Air Lines, and Virgin America.

So how does this technology work you ask? Well Gogo’s parent company Aircell has special cell phone towers that have their radio signals directed up to the sky’s above instead of along the ground. Special receivers on the underbelly of the aircraft receive this signal and then distribute it inside the aircraft via traditional wifi. [more info on wiki]

The speed seems to be similar to the speed we get with your 3g connection on the iPhone (while standing still that is) based on a test flight Walter Mossberg took back in June of this year:

On my test flight, download speeds varied from 266 kilobits per second to about 1.4 megabits per second, with the most typical speeds hovering between 500 and 600 kbps. Upload speeds were between 250 and 300 kbps. I found that most of the tasks I tested, except for streaming video, felt smooth and normal.

My question is how well does it work when there are more than a couple people connected at one time? If the main pipe is about 600kbps and you share it with 20 other people on a packed plane that’s going to bring it to a crawl. Hopefully in the not too distant future these speeds will be increased, but still this is a really great start!

Oh, almost forgot…don’t get your hopes up for unlimted in flight calling on this connection though, VoIP services will be blocked. Honestly though I doubt with these connection speeds it would even be possible anyway.

Here is a snippet of the AA press release:

Gogo® Inflight Internet is now available to customers for $12.95 on select flights between New York (JFK) and Los Angeles (LAX), New York (JFK) and San Francisco (SFO), & New York (JFK) and Miami (MIA) on American’s Boeing 767-200 flights.

Each paid Gogo session includes full Internet, VPN, and email access. From the sign in page, you can also access AA.com, The Wall Street Journal Online and Frommers destination guides. Cell phone and Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) services are not available.

The supported devices page list the iPhone at the very top right next to the Curve.

And it should work with any laptop including Safari on Mac OS X.

mophie juice pack 3g finally shipping after many delays!

2008-11-06T16:29:14Z

I thought I would never see this in my lifetime, but the mophie juice pack 3g is finally starting to ship out! Just got my email alert (below) that it’s is on the way…and hey, look at that, it shipped one day “earlier” (rolls eyes) than was showing on the site. I will be reviewing this after I’ve had a chance to put it through the ringer, so check back later this month for that.

Past post about this delayed 3g juice pack release:
mophie juice pack 3g release delayed…slightly
mophie juice pack 3g shipping November 7th for preorders before september 9th

indecision 2008 live special, everyone has a macbook!

2008-11-05T05:12:03Z

In Comedy Central’s Indecision 2008 live special it seems that everyone has a macbook. Looks like Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert are rocking the Air and the rest of the staff sporting the new macbooks. Wonder how much apple paid for this product placement?

Also, Steven Colbert had his macbook pimped with a giant C around the apple logo.

Here’s a clip