Digital Impulses

iPhone 2.0 Released

So.

Like the other 11 Bazillion blog posts that will be made about the news coming out of Apple's WWDC 08 today, here is a summary of what Steve Jobs unleashed upon the world today:

First the new iPhone:

Pros:

• 2 models: 8GB and 16 GB
• Price: 8GB = $199 and 16GB = $299
• Maps with full-on GPS (Yes! Yes! Yes!)
• 3G speeds on the AT&T 3G Network
• All plastic back available in two colors: BLACK and WHITE
• Flush microphone jack

Cons:

• Camera untouched: Same 2.0 Megapixel camera (major letdown)
• No front-facing camera
• No way to record video
• No Video chatting via iChat
• No new iChat client
• No UNIVERSAL Search function
• Only 16 GB capacity mentioned so far
• No mention of having added support for cut and paste

iPhone 2.0 software update:

• Support for MobileMe
• Contact Search in the iPhone (Finally!)
• App Store to purchase, download and install 3rd-party applications on the iPhone
• Better email management (support for mass delete)
• Email attachment viewing support
• New Scientific calculator (launch the calculator and rotate the phone to launch the new calculator)
• Additional Language support: Full dictionary support for 20 additional languages, with more to follow, I'm sure.
• Support for MobileMe
• Full-on support for Exchange in the Enterprise

So, in a nutshell we have:  New iPhone, 8 and 16 GB,  3G speeds, integrated GPS, two colors, support for MobileMe, App Store, Exchange Support and all of this for HALF THE PRICE.

Nice!  Apple has once again just ROCKED the Cellphone industry.  It is a good time to be alive, folks.

The birth of Zeus, my new 24" iMac

So.  Unable to wait any longer before unpacking and setting up the Apple iMac that I would christen Zeus, I arrived home from work determined to clean up some stuff in my office to allow a table to be used as the official 'Unpacking Area' for my brand new iMac.

Having cleared out the area that I needed for Zeus to come to life as it were, I proceeded to open the box and locate the items inside.  As usual, it was pure Apple porn.  There was a white box that contained the keyboard, mouse and documentation (including some software DVD's), a power cable and the computer itself.

After struggling for a bit to get the computer out of the box, I did finally and I was surprised at how heavy it was.  thinking back on it, I really should not have been that surprised, considering that it is an ENTIRE computer all in one enclosure.

Once I had everything out of the box and realized just how truly elegant and simple this beast was going to be to configure, I placed it smack dab in the middle of the desk that was previously occupied by my now-evicted Vista franken-box that I built about 2 years ago.

It was all cake after that:  Plug in the power cable, attach the network cable and plug in the various USB docks and cables that would be in faithful service to Zeus after being relocated from my Mac Mini.

Below is a picture of Zeus in his full glory:

So, now comes the fun part: figuring out the most efficient way to transfer my data from the Mac Mini over to Zeus.  Fun times ahead, for sure.

Zeus Arrives: 24" iMac is mine, Baby!

So.

After much haggling and negotiating (including the turning over of all income tax checks for 2008), the wife and I arranged for me to receive an early Father's Day present in the form of completely tricked out 24" iMac from the Apple store in Manhattan Beach, at the Manhattan Village Mall.

I waited around on Memorial day for my wife to get home from work and then she eventually prodded me to go ahead and skip on over to the Apple store to make the purchase. Of course, I had already scoped out the configuration that i wanted on this bad boy and decided on the following:

• CPU: 3.06 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
• SCREEN: 24" Glossy widescreen LCD
  
• RAM: 2 GB 800Mhz DDR2 (I will purchase an additional 2 GB somewhere else, much cheaper than Apple sells it for).
• HARD DISK: 500 GB Serial ATA.  (My current Mac Mini has a 300 GB External Seagate and I have an additional 500 GB external Seagate HD waiting (unopened) in a box on the floor next to the Mac Mini.   that will give me a grand total of 1.3 TB of local Hard disk space attached to this machine).
• VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS w/512MB GDDR3
• SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
  
• Airport Extreme
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
  
• Apple Mighty Mouse
• Apple Keyboard
• Accessory Kit

The way I figure it, this is a machine that I need to use for a minimum of 3 years.  So, I went ahead and maxed out the CPU speed and available video card because those are the 2 items that I cannot upgrade easily.  I can always up the RAM and the hard disk size is unimportant becuase i Have TERABYTES of local hard drive space available to me in my local network.

All of my decisions were confirmed by the local in-store Mac sales rep and he sold me the machine as we configured it on an existing IMac on display inside the store.  Once I had decided on the configuration, he went to the back of the store to get the machine and told me to just wait up front at the register to go ahead and pay for the beast.

Also, with the purchase of the machine, I picked up a subscription to .mac for $69.00 (a $30.00 discount off of the retail price).  When I registered the .mac subscription, I was told at the .mac web site that my account would be upgraded (the extended subscription will kick in, in other words) when it expires in October of 2008.

Walking out of the store with this tricked out iMac, I was surprised at how heavy it was.  It was quite the trip back to the car to put it in the car and drive back home.

Now to disassemble and retire my piece of crap, 30-month old built from parts Vista box and clean up the desk where it was to allow the GLORIOUS ZEUS to take his place as the rightful king of my local office network.

God, I can't wait to set it up and put it through it's paces.  This is BY FAR, the fastest machine I have ever owned.  MUCH FUN to be had ahead,I predict.

YES!

Buying Aperture 2

This evening, while having dinner with my family at Olive Garden in Manhattan Beach, I walked over to the Apple store at the Manhattan Village Mall and picked up Aperture 2.

I paid $215.42 for the full version and got a little red sticker put on the box that said "lucky you". 

I look forward to installing the software on my Mac Mini tomorrow and putting it through its paces.  I am a little worried at just how well this software is going to run on my Mac.

We'll see.

Apple releases 16 GB iPhone and a 32 GB iPod Touch

Earlier today, Apple very quietly and unceremoniously released an updated (in terms of storage capacity) iPhone and iPod Touch.

• The new 16 GB iPhone will retail for $499
• The new 32 GB iPod Touch will retail for $499 also.

Both units are available for immediate purchase from the Apple Store.

Upgrading my iPhone to firmware version 1.1.3

So. 

Apple just announced a boatload of new features for the iPhone this morning doing Steve Jobs's 2008 MacWorld Keynote and I could not wait to get home to upgrade my phone.

Sat at my Mac Mini, fired up iTunes, clicked on check for updates and got the notification that "a new firmware lease (v. 1.1.3) is available for your iPhone".  The upgrade process completed with nary a hitch and I am off to explore the shiny new toys that have been added to my phone.

More later as I put the new software revision through its paces.

Instaling Mac OS X Leopard (10.5)

This afternoon, after "The Interview", I decided to dedicate a few hours to installing Mac OS X Leopard.  Unfortunately, seeing as to the problems I had with iPhoto '08 earlier this year, I was very hesitant to start the upgrade without making absolutely sure I had backed up completely.

After much indecision and research of Mac backup programs, I just made sure that my iPhoto and iTunes library were indeed safe on my external hard drive and just plunged ahead with the default 'Upgrade Install'.

All in all, although it took a long time (over 90 minutes), the install itself was utterly painless.  I booted with the Leopard DVD, clicked a couple of buttons, answered a few questions and let the install do it's thing.

I returned to my Mac Mini about an hour and a half after it started the install and I was presented with a beautiful Leopard desktop, ready for me to explore and test.

I spent the next few hours going through the new features and making sure my hard disk(s) and the data thereon had survived intact and it had.  Everything was working as it should and nothing was out of the ordinary.  The install completed seamlessly and with nary a hiccup.

Score one for Apple in my book.

A trip to the Manhattan Beach Apple Store: Buying Leoaprd OS X 10.5

Just got back from picking up a copy of Leopard OS X 10.5 from the Apple Store in Manhattan Village Mall.  I decided to take the plunge on some very positive reviews from Leo Laporte on the TWiT Netcast network.

I bought the single-user, $129.00 copy and will be installing it either tomorrow or the day after, with Thursday being most likely, as tomorrow is Halloween and I will be going trick-or-treating with the kids and my siblings after work.

I am really looking forward to putting Leopard through it's paces.

RAM Upgrade kit for my Mac Mini

So, I just went to Crucial.com and purchased a 2GB RAM upgrade kit for my Mac Mini for a very reasonable $59.99.  With tax and expedited (2 business day shipping for $6.99), the total came to $71.39.

I had no idea RAM was so inexpensive. If I did, I would have upgraded the RAM on my Mac Mini months and months ago and avoided the frustration of getting the dreaded "Spinning Beach Ball Of Death" whenever I launch more than 1 or 2 apps and try to switch between them by tapping Cmd-Tab on the keyboard.

Regardless, I took the plunge and bought the RAM in anticipation of the coming of Leopard OS 10.5 which will be released by Apple tomorrow night at 6:00 P.M.

I think I am going to go ahead and follow one of the on-line Mac Mini RAM upgrade tutorials and do the RAM install myself rather than taking it into an Apple store and having one of the Apple Geniuses do it for me and paying through the nose for it

New Keyboard and Mouse for my Mac Mini

I just finished installing the Microsoft Wireless Laser Desktop for the Mac that I purchased earlier today with the gift cards that I got from my mom and sister for my birthday.

I drove to the Apple store in Manhattan Beach after work and after some looking around, I determined that this keyboard and mouse combo was just what I needed, since I have really never liked the "Mighty Mouse" that I got with my Mac Mini last December.

I can tell right away that I am going to be much, much happier and productive with this new optical mouse than I was with the Apple Mighty Mouse.

I have to admit that I found myself rolling over to my Windows machine whenever a long session of typing or web surfing was called for because I simply did not look forward to navigating with Apple's mouse.  I should have made this move a long time ago.

10 months of being uncomfortable on my Mac was retarded.  Now I know for next time.