As of May 15, 2008, I have switched to the Apple camp. Yes, that is what I mean. Yes, I am now a Mac user. Here are the specs with a few added on specials:

15.4″ MacBook Pro with Multitouch
2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU (Penryn)
2 GB PC5300 DDR2 RAM
200 GB Hard Drive
nVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT with 256 MB VRAM

22″ NEC Widescreen display
Apple Wireless Mighty Mouse
Apple Keyboard

Even with the awkwardness of getting used to OS X’s interface, I have found that Apple has indeed made their product remarkably user friendly. Not only is Leopard’s Aqua UI stunningly beautiful, so many processes occur without you knowing when you’re setting stuff up that you almost feel that it knows exactly what you want. Yes, I have had an application crash a few times, but compared to Windows, OS X Leopard is very resilient. Moreover, it does so much for you but it is still so fast. I have installed Quicksilver, the ever-handy keyboard-oriented launcher application, but it does not at all seem to drag the system.

On a small sidenote, I have setup Boot Camp and thus have a OS X Leopard and Windows XP dual-boot setup. Though the ingroup bias extant with being a Mac user is developing quickly, I still need Windows for some purposes. However, I have found that many of the hardware features (like multi-touch and my bluetooth mouse) do not work well with XP. There are certainly at times more steps needed to set up things in Windows when compared to Leopard. But in any case, at least everything works great for the time being.

Before I get started on my rant, a few things first. I know that I have not been here for a long time. The past few…months (I guess), have been quite hectic, busy, and critical. The worst of it is over and I think I have more time on my hands now to get back to work updating this blog and gallery, both content-wise and software-wise.

Anyway, there has been a stir caused by the announcement and beta-release of the iPhone Software Development Kit by Apple. Since the iPhone and the subsequent iPhone sans phone aka iPod Touch were released, the hacking community went straight to work bypassing the restrictions Apple has been widely known to put in their devices. Thus the iPhone/iTouch Jailbreak scene was born with a focus on unlocking restrictions and allowing users to install applications and greatly extend the capabilities of both devices, unwilling to wait for the release of the official SDK that Steve-o promised soon after the release.

Now, the SDK has been “released.” With a subscription fee, one can gain access to developer tools to create applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch that one can distribute through the so-called “App Store” either for free or for a price. Sounds great? But, as always with Apple, there is a catch.

Unlike the free-for-all development in the Jailbreak community, Apple has placed several disenchanting restrictions on software development with the iPhone SDK. These restrictions include prohibiting more than one app from running at the same time, prohibiting 3rd-party API’s, and restricting distribution to the “App-Store.” Although the last is somewhat understandable, it is ironic that they would not allow more than one application to run at the same time as one of Apple’s major selling points of the iPhone/iTouch is the multitasking abilities of the mini-OS X that these devices run on.

As a result, I can safely conclude that the Jailbreak community will not die, as some have feared. On the other hand, the release of the SDK may actually bolster the movement. In any event, we will see when the final SDK and the 2.0 software that allows for SDK-created apps to come in June.

~DC

It would seem that somebody who recently bought an iPhone would exclaim as if God appeared to him and granted him free passage to Heaven regardless of whatever else would happen in his life.

I originally would have felt this way if I hypothetically burned about $500 to get a hyped-up, nice-looking phone that cannot record video, cannot IM, and lacks many major features other smart-phones have. While I was, and still am, impressed with the visual appeal job Apple put into the iPhone, and into their other products, the features it lacks and the still-not-so-reasonable price relative to the features and quality, does not make the current iPhone worth it. Yes, it has multitouch; yes, it has an accelerometer; yes, it looks nicer than most other phones; yes, Steve Jobs said that it is the best thing in the world; however, I am not going to invest in it just yet. Feature-wise, it is utterly shadowed by phones such as the Nokia N95.

However, I do admit that the iPhone is revolutionary in the development of smart-phones with its multitouch technology and such. As time goes, cameras, phones, portable media players, and PC’s are converging. I will be getting a smart-phone next summer and if Apple can greatly improve the iPhone and make the price more reasonable, I might consider one.

~DC