iPhone

Television production used to be pretty straight forward. You had huge, heavy cameras three people pushed around. In the control room you had sliders, and magically the signal went over the air.

At home you turned on the set. Had dinner (families ate together then) and a half-hour later the tube was lit and you watched the Sid Caesar or Lone Ranger show. It was so cool. For years we all went to the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) show and the behemoths of the industry dominated the floor. Big, sexy, expensive cameras. Big, gorgeous, expensive control panels. TV sets, big/bigger, gorgeous, expensive.

Then the cable and satellite folks emerged with "a better TV experience." Once you got tired of over-the-air only shows then they "offered" you 50-100 fantastic channels for $100 a month. Suddenly our wife could watch HGTV, daughter could watch the gut-buster infomercial, and son could watch Telemundo (he's practicing Spanish and the skirts are short).

According to Nielsen we started watching more TV -- 4 hours, 34 minutes a day in 2006-07. Not bad for the producers, network, cable operators, advertisers. Read more

So what do you do? Buy a new iPhone? Do you stand in line at the Apple Store and deliver a sad "puppy-dog face" and cross your fingers that the stars are shining on you for a new device to be given to you? What do you do? When I say broken, I mean physically broken. If there are some internal issues, and the iPhone is less then 90 days old your sad face might produce results.

I searched online, and of course I mean searched in Google for "iPhone Repair." Then the most amazing thing happened, the top result, iPod Juice was whom I chose to repair my iPhone.

The service from this company was awesome. It was as if they too owned my iPhone and wanted to repair it, and return it as quickly as possible. I tend to judge many companies I buy products from on their packaging. The reason I look to the packaging as an identifier in quality is because you look at someone's home by they way they present their home with curb appeal. An online company does this with their packaging. Apple has great packaging. Amazon.com has efficient, clean packaging. There are more, and you understand why I look to packaging, because the owners of the company made that decision. The owners of online retailers are proud of their company, and Milliamp LTD has pride in ownership with iPod Juice. Read more

March 17, 2009—Apple today previewed its iPhone OS 3.0 software and announced the immediate availability of a beta software release to registered developers. The iPhone OS 3.0 beta release includes an updated Software Development Kit (SDK) with over 1,000 new Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) including In-App Purchases; Peer-to-Peer connections; an app interface for accessories; access to the iPod music library; a new Maps API and Push Notifications. Apple also announced over 100 new features that will be available to iPhone and iPod touch users this summer including cut, copy and paste; MMS;* landscape view for Mail, Text and Notes; stereo Bluetooth; syncing Notes to the Mac and PC; shake to shuffle; parental controls for TV shows, movies and apps from the App Store; and automatic login at Wi-Fi hot spots. The iPhone OS 3.0 beta release will also include a new Voice Memo app and expanded search capability for all key iPhone apps, as well as Spotlight search across the iPhone or iPod touch.

“The new iPhone OS 3.0 is a major software release packed with incredible new features and innovations for iPhone customers and developers alike. It will keep us years ahead of the competition,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing.

The iPhone OS 3.0 beta software and SDK include over 1,000 new APIs and are available today for all iPhone Developer Program members to use for development and testing of their apps for iPhone and iPod touch. Included in these APIs is the ability to leverage the incredible purchase model of the App Store within apps. In-App Purchases will allow developers to offer subscription content and provide the ability to sell new content and features in a simple and secure process. Developers can also more easily create peer-to-peer games for iPhone and iPod touch by using Bluetooth.Read more

March 4, 2009 -- Amazon.com, Inc. today introduced "Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch," a new application available for free from Apple's App Store that lets customers enjoy over 240,000 books, including 104 of 112 New York Times Bestsellers, on the iPhone and iPod touch using Apple's Multi-Touch user interface. Amazon's new Whispersync technology saves and synchronizes a customer's bookmark across their original Kindle, Kindle 2, iPhone and iPod touch, so customers always have their reading with them and never lose their place. Kindle customers can read a few pages on their iPhone or iPod touch and pick up right where they left off on their Kindle or Kindle 2.

"We are excited to bring the new Kindle application to Apple's App Store and think customers are going to love how easy and fun it is to read their Kindle books on the iPhone and iPod touch," said Ian Freed, vice president, Amazon Kindle. "Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch is a great way for customers to catch up on their current book wherever they are, like in line at the grocery store or between meetings."

The Kindle application for iPhone and iPod touch lets customers bring their Kindle books with them wherever they go and takes full advantage of Apple's Multi-Touch user interface. With the new Kindle for iPhone and iPod touch application, customers can: Read more

You can forgive the news reporter who mistook President Obama’s Shaka wave for a sign to call him during the inauguration. The connected candidate -- who took communications to a whole new level -- would have expected a text message or email…not a call. Doubt if his new phone number is in the phone book anyway!

Mobile phones have come a long way since Motorola’s Cooper showed off his analogue brick back in 1973. Since then they’ve gotten smaller, cheaper, cuter and more a part of your personal identity…just ask the kids.

They:

• take photos
• check email
• watch videos
• browse the web
• use GPS (like they get lost between home, school)
• download stuff
• listen to music
• take videos
• download ringtones, screensavers
• play games
• text, IM
• make calls…tons and tons of calls

But to us they’re still phones. Read more

Map reading is an all but obsolete skill -- especially in the younger generation -- due to the wonderful invention of the global positioning system or GPS. The global positioning system has made driving simpler for the most part, but it isn’t flawless. What technology does and what it is supposed to do often varies. Let us examine the success and shortcomings of the GPS system both in car and on phone.

Many simple GPS units dedicated to direction and nothing else can be pretty directionally challenged. The inaptly named Never Lost is well known for disregarding any construction and attempting to lead travelers onto closed highways and streets. Users can get very frustrated, and very lost, indeed.

However, anyone who has ever used two or more brands of GPS can tell you that the same destination does not always mean the same directions. Cloud cover can even cause a loss of any directions at all. The more dependable models (where cloud cover is concerned) tend to be those built into cars or on cell phones. Read more