Digital Devices for the Digital Student

Well this is a bit of a surprise. Engadget is reporting that iRiver (amongst other numerous releases) will be shipping a 3 inch touchscreen phone to America in 2008. I can't decide if I am happy or not about this device's apparent release.

Here is a rundown of what the phone will be running under the hood:

--Linux Based interface
--4 Gigs of Flash memory
--Rhapsody music service integration
--2 megapixel camera with video capture technology
--GPS
--Mobile TV
--Adobe Flash Support

The iPhone can match the GPS solution with the apparent release of Google's My Location software (although it is not going to be extremely accurate for a while). The 2 megapixel camera is nice, but the iPhone can handle the video capture with a few nice programs (namely one from Monster) once jailbroken. I have never really seen a personal need for mobile tv, but it is a nice feature. Here is the one that has me steamed, Adobe Flash Support. Why in the world is the iPhone still not capable of handling Flash content? I sure hope that the upcoming SDK does something about this because I want my Flash content.

Video and information courtesy of Engadget

With Macworld 2008 fast approaching I'm going to take a misguided educated stab at predicting what we will see coming out of Steve Job's magical Keynote:

Safe Bets

--Gen 2 iPhone-- This one is a pretty safe bet in my opinion. I don't think that the new iPhone will be available the day of the Keynote. Best guess is that it will be out in the May, June time frame. I'm going to roll the dice and guess that Apple will be able to integrate 3G without too much battery loss, increase the capacity to at least 16GB of internal storage, and jack up the price to the $500 ceiling for the top model. Here's where it gets interesting. I think that Apple will be keeping the 8GB first Gen iPhone (with EDGE) around and lowering the price to $299. I don't think that they will drop the line when stock runs out of the older model either (not until next year). Think about it, if Apple wants to get a real hold in the Cell Phone market, wouldn't they want to have an entry level device and a Pro? Props go to me if the naming scheme goes to iPhone Extreme and iPhone Express.

--Mac Pro update-- Honestly, not one that gets me jazzed up because I simply can't afford one of these super towers. Processor update, Blu Ray support (burning?), New Design?

--Penryn Introduction-- I am fairly confident that Apple will start shipping most of their computing devices with the 45 nm Penryn processors for the new year.

Not Inconceivable(.....that means conceivable)

--Sub-Notebook Solution-- I'm not as sold on the whole UMPC idea that some people are claiming that Apple will roll out with, but the rumors are well documented regarding a Sub-Notebook. My take is that Apple will go with a 12 inch 'Macbook Mini' sans optical drive. Stretches include Solid State Drives (which are coming in droves over at CES) and colors other than white, black, and silver.

--iCar-- Ok, not a whole new car-line by Apple, but Macworld would be the perfect place to demo some upcoming integration with cars. VoiceOver Utility gets the nod (and a much needed face lift) as the weapon of choice for controlling your iPod and iPhone in your new Jeep or VW. Oh, and look for Google to get in on the party.

It is High, it is Far, it is.......a bit of a reach

--Merging of the Mac Mini and Apple TV-- Last night, Bill Gates took a nice little slap at Apple with his quip "This isn't a hobby, we take this seriously" regarding content distribution for TV and internet entertainment around the house. Apple needs to do something about the Apple TV, why not integrate Leopard and bundle the wireless keyboard/mighty mouse to boost sales? Problems include making the Apple TV idea cost too much for the users.

Ok, a month between posts is too long and CES has got me all fired up to chatter about gadgets so here is a quicky for you to take a peek at.

This little sucker is called the Aigo, an Intel based, Linux run UMPC. Apparently, Intel does not roll out Linux based products often, but this one looks to be a pretty neat device. Speculation Intel states that this device will rock Wi-Max along with its sexy touch screen, but the burning question is not "Will it Blend?" rather, "Does it have an Integrated Microphone so I can call people using Skype?"

I'm asking this for two reasons: One, there is no way I am going to drop upwards of $500 for a device that will be an addition to my current iPhone solution. Two, the iPod Touch can make phone calls over Skype with a little elbow-grease.

Now is it just me or does this Menlow based Intel offering look a whole lot like Nokia's N810?

Still, UMPC = U M Pretty Cool

Well well well, it finally happened. We've heard various rumblings of Universities mandating that students purchase certain types of cell phones and laptops, but this one really hits home.

According to the Daily Collegian, The College of Education at Penn State will be "forcing" its students (starting with the current Sophomore class) to purchase Macbooks (to the sweet tune of $1,534) in order to get into the elementary or kindergarten programs. They claim that the laptops will be used for podcasting and iMovie projects and that students will not be allowed to continue their education without having the device in their possession.

Shame on you College of Education. We all know that I will be the first person to steer someone towards a Macintosh and I support the College of Education doing something like this, but this is the absolute WRONG way to go about implementing the program. I have no clue as to why the college is doing this when there are labs full of perfectly good iMacs available to these poor (literally and figuratively) college students.

Think of it this way. You come into a College/School like Education, or Music, or Architecture which takes all 4-5 years of being in that institution from day 1. You know your field uses a Mac, but you get a high level PC because thats why you enjoy and you figure that you can use the school's Macs for your projects. Now picture being told "Your Laptop doesn't have iMovie '08 (a difficult piece of software as it is, thank goodness for the '06 Download) so you have to purchase a new one". Most college students purchase their laptops (the desktop is all but dead to us) thinking that they can use them for 4 years and get another one once they leave.

If you want to make it a requirement for students to have Apple Laptops TELL THEM WHEN THEY JOIN your College! Don't give me the excuse that you absolutely have to implement this program right away. Don't tell me that students need these mobile computers to do in the field podcasting and videography (trust me, i've tried it, you don't). If you want to do this program, do it right and tell your incoming Freshman that it is a requirement so that they don't "waste" their money on something that works for them, even if it is Windows.

Don't get me wrong, I love my iPhone just the way it is. I do miss my 3rd party apps, and the possibility of having them all actually work (as opposed to how some interacted with my iTouch) is very very tempting.

I found a nice little app called iFuntastic last night while doing my 2:30 AM internet surfing. I found a wonderful googledoc discussing iPhone hacking that states that what I want to do is possible with the OOB 1.1.2 Firmware. I'm kind of worried about this one because I have heard of bootloader problems with OOB 1.1.2 etc. but what kind of technology freak wouldn't want to test this for others?

Fingers Crossed

On Monday (dubbed the Day of Liberation) I turned 20. This was the first time in a number of years that my Birthday fell during a school day due to the proximity of Thanksgiving, so my wonderful parents decided to celebrate with me a few days early.

On Saturday morning, they called me down to open a huge box which, short story shorter, was filled mostly with bubble wrap, tissue paper and an iPhone. Needless to say, I was in a state of disbelief when I opened the package. After some very odd proceedings at an AT&T store (post coming soon) I was able to activate my iPhone without a hitch.

This brings me to my short review of the device. In the 6 days that I have used it, I have to say it is easily the best device I have ever used. The Google Maps integration (and now GPS-like technology), iChat-esk Texting, integrated camera, and Mail.app use highlight the elegance of the phone. Even the EDGE Network can't sour my delight over this as Safari renders most pages in seconds.

But what is my favorite part of having an iPhone? This one was easy, it has to be the 2 earbud calling system which lets me make calls without having the phone up to my ear. The greatest part is when passers by stare at you, seemingly talking to yourself while listening to an iPod. Not going to lie, I have purposely made calls downtown just to see the reaction (and facial expressions) of people who see me doing this, only to watch their jaws drop when I pull out the iPhone to end the call.

Strike up the Band! On Monday, the Daily Collegian reported that Penn State will be giving our Favorite Cisco VPN the boot as part of PSU Wireless 2.0. I had heard rumblings of this about 3 months ago, but I wanted to hold my tongue because of the sensitive nature of the topic (and the fact that I had no evidence aside from conversation/speculation).

Allow me to start off by saying "Bravo Penn State", thank you for finally seeing the light. Obviously, I attribute my favorite Facebook Group and the 46 Heros members as being the catalyst of the change. In all seriousness, this is a long overdue and much welcomed change. With UMPCs, iPhones/iTouches, and countless Wifi enabled Cell Phones coming out or already on the market, Students, Faculty and Staff should be able to enjoy wireless freedom at (at least) University Park soon.

A few days ago, Apple released its first ad for the iPod Touch. This one was created by a student, nice to see that Apple is reaching out to the Users for commercial advertising, who better?

Now to the point of this post, the Touch ad uses the same music (courtesy of Ms. Kelly Clarkson CSS) as a very strange Microsoft ad touting the Zune, released last year. All I have to say is "Are you Kidding Me?" kind of like our good friend Kevin from NBC's The Office.

Apple iPod Touch

Versus

Microsoft Zune

Are You Kidding Me? I will take Safari over Wireless Sending any day, especially if a Lion tries to eat my arm after sending me a song that I can listen to for a limited amount of time before I have to purchase it.

*Update* So apparently I am an idiot. I assumed that the iPod Touch search (beginning of the ad) was for Kelly Clarkson because she was the one singing on the commercial. Dumb me, the group is actually called CSS and Kelly is certainly not a member. CSS (Cansei de Ser Sexy) is an independent group out of Brazil who is making a good bit of noise in the music world. And no, I do not wish they would change their name to the Cascading Style Sheets.

If you don't know me, chances are that you probably don't know about a bitter situation that occurred now 3 years ago between myself and the University of Maryland School of Music.  Back in 2004-2005 I applied for the UMD School of Music thinking that I was a sure fire acceptance for the program.  My real targets were Penn State and Oklahoma, but I decided that being in state I would give UMD a chance too.  Long story short, Penn State and Oklahoma fought over me while UMD decided that I was not good enough for their music program. Thankfully, I ended up where I wanted to be at PSU, but the thought of the rejection still stings from time to time.

Up until now, I have neglected to give UMD any credit whatsoever, but this weekend I visited College Park for Homecoming and I was able to use a friend's UserID on my iPod Touch to get on to a Maryland Wireless Network.  UMD uses a 2 tier wireless system, one that requires a secure VPN connection, and another that utilizes browser based authentication.  Maybe this could be a solution to getting iPhone/iTouch devices working on the Penn State Network. 

I never thought I would say this, but well done UMD.  Keep up the good work.