Greg In The Desert

Apple announced their worst kept secret, their Apple tablet computer called the iPad. It’s exactly what what it was rumored to be, a oversized iPod Touch. The iPad will run all the apps the iPhone and iPod touch will run but it’s missing a camera and GPS. Apple says they got 10 hours of use out of it, it will come with WiFi but a 3G cellular data option is available (and unlocked).

I think every rumor, including the prototype pictures at engadget and interview with McGraw-Hill’s CEO and President (Update: McGraw-Hill might have been punished for making the comments about the iPad before it was released), were all sanctioned by Apple. It was just enough to keep the hype and Steve Job’s reality distortion field in place but not enough to actually reveal the device.

I can’t imagine I will purchase an iPad as soon as it comes out (which is not for another 60 to 90 days) I do hope that parts of it make it into Apple’s laptops before my next laptop purchase. I also was hoping for an iPhone OS 4.0 and iLife 2010 announcement.

I have been patiently awaiting the arrival the the new Quicken for Mac product. The Unofficial Apple Web Log says the Quicken Essentials for Mac (formally Quicken Financial Life for Mac, formally Quicken for Mac) is actually, finally available for pre order. It will be released February 2010. Yet, It cannot do the one single thing that I need it to do.

3. Can I pay my bills within Quicken?
While you cannot pay bills within the product itself (“direct bill pay”), you can track your bills and make sure you have enough cash to pay them when they’re due. A few alternatives available include using Quicken Mac 2007 or using the bill pay functionality on Quicken Bill Pay.

Downloading transactions from my bank is a huge time saver, but paying them directly within a single application, using several banks, is a even bigger time saver. So much more that I’m wiling to suffer using a crappy three year old application to do so. As far as I can tell, iBank doesn’t do this.

It does every thing every other financial app on the mac does, just not as good and doesn’t include the feature that I use Quicken for the most. I wonder if I will have to wait another three years for this to get added back into the product.

The official Iron Man 2 trailer is available on Marvel’s YouTube and Apple’s Trailer’s site.

Apparently, they trailer is so good that they are going to make a movie out of it. It is due to be released 7 May 2010.

Can anyone familiar with the comic books tell me how close these two movies follow them?

An article on Gizmodo about how Apple tracks down leaks is very interesting, assuming it’s true.

“Apple has these moles working everywhere, especially in departments where leaks are suspected. Management is not aware of them,” he told me, “once they suspect a leak, the special forces—as we call them—will walk in the office at any hour, especially in the mornings. They will contact whoever was the most senior manager in the building, and ask them to coordinate the operation.”

F-Secure makes anti-virus software. F-Secure would like you to be afraid of computer viruses so you will buy their software. In the case of the iPhone there are reports of Viruses only for iPhones that have been jailbroken, or modified in such a way that any software can be installed.

“Apple hasn’t been too interested in developing antivirus solutions for the iPhone, because there are no viruses, which of course, isn’t exactly true.”

He said that recent worm outbreaks targeted jail-broken iPhones, and suggested that Apple wasn’t interested in protecting these, as it didn’t approve of jail-breaking to begin with.

“So our recommendation is to avoid jail-broken phones, because it will weaken the security of a phone, whether the iPhone or any other device,” he said.

Apple doesn’t want you to Jailbreak, F-Secure doesn’t think it’s a good idea. But yet, they still want you to be scared.

“Apple is doing a good job of keeping everything in its own hands, but the fact of the matter is that if you are an end customer who bought an application not from the app store, something could happen,” he said.

I don’t completely agree with Apple’s review process for application on the iPhone but they are doing what they intended. I feel pretty confined that no one will access my iPhone without my knowledge. Perhaps the solution for F-Secure is to sell software for jailbroken iPhones through Cydia.

Monday was the big day when Apple had the their annual World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) and made some hardware and software announcements. Though there were a number of new and expected things I was most interested in the new iPhone.

The new iPhone 3GS doesn’t look different from the old iPhone 3G except there’s an “S” added to it’s name to denote speed. This is not really all new phone but an improvement to the current phone model:

• Faster processor
• More memory
• 3 Megapixel camera with autofocus
• Video Recording
• Includes a compass

The two features that prompted me to buy the iPhone 3Gs is the 32GB of memory (over the 16GB in my iPhone 2G) and the addition of the compass.

There has been some controversy for existing owners of the iPhone 3G and their inability to get the subsidized price of $300 off the list price ($499 for 8GB, $599 for 16GB, or $699 for 32GB. I actually blame Apple for this, they should have announced the normal price for the iPhone 3GS then noted that carries may offer subsides prices. AT&T is doing nothing different with the iPhone in terms of free upgrades to phones that they would do with any other phone. I do agree that the new iPhone models are expensive without the subsidies.

I can’t complain about AT&T too much. I get the subsided price for the iPhone 3GS but I did pay $599 for my iPhone 2G so AT&T never subsided me in the first place. AT&T recently placed a new tower near my house so I am no longer in a cell signal black hole. I get a full 5 bars at my house all the time. Clearly they are working on improving their coverage.

The other complaints about AT&T is their inability to provide multi-media messaging service (MMS) and using the iPhone as a modem (tethering) when the new iPhone launches. It’s pretty amazing that AT&T can’t get their act together in time and clearly aren’t ready to handle dealing with the type of users that use the iPhone.

I pre-ordered my phone through Apple’s well done iPhone ordering site. I’m thrilled that Apple promises delivery of the new iPhone on Friday June 19th, the day of launch. I don’t have to stand at in any lines and I’m guaranteed a device.

Hardware aside, the big improvements will be with the software. iPhone OS 3.0 is to be released on the same day the new hardware launches and has more improvements that any new hardware. It works on older iPhones and will be free. The Golden Masters have already leaked onto the internet and the reviews have been good so far.

• Artist In Residence Programs – Did you know that most of our National Parks have an "Artist In Residence" program? Each park has different stipulations as to what it entails, but all you need do is to type in a search for your favorite National Park and look for the program within their site. Even if there is none listed on the website, you might want to contact the park directly since information posted to these sites rarely happens in real time.
• CL Sues SC AG For Declaratory Relief – craigslist has filed suit against SC AG Henry McMaster in federal court in South Carolina, seeking declaratory relief and a restraining order with respect to criminal charges he has repeatedly threatened against craigslist and its executives.
• American Thinker Blog: Letter from a Dodge dealer – On Thursday, May 14, 2009 I was notified that my Dodge franchise, that we purchased, will be taken away from my family on June 9, 2009 without compensation and given to another dealer at no cost to them. My new vehicle inventory consists of 125 vehicles with a financed balance of 3 million dollars. This inventory becomes impossible to sell with no factory incentives beyond June 9, 2009. Without the Dodge franchise we can no longer sell a new Dodge as "new," nor will we be able to do any warranty service work. Additionally, my Dodge parts inventory, (approximately $300,000.) is virtually worthless without the ability to perform warranty service. There is no offer from Chrysler to buy back the vehicles or parts inventory.
• The cactus bees are here! « mistress beek – At least in Albuquerque, the docile European honeybee hasn’t totally edged out our natives. The prickly pear cactus in my yard has just started blooming which attracts bees from the genus Diadasia, also known as cactus bees.
• The 7 Hotdogs of the Apocalypse – Instead, doom will come stuffed with cheese, wrapped in bacon, fried in oil, stuffed in a bun and topped with sauerkraut, mayonnaise and lard.

  The streets will run pink with hotdog.

• Project MKULTRA – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia – In 1973, CIA Director Richard Helms ordered all MK-ULTRA files destroyed. Pursuant to this order, most CIA documents regarding the project were destroyed, making a full investigation of MK-ULTRA impossible.
  In December 1974, The New York Times reported that the CIA had conducted illegal domestic activities, including experiments on U.S. citizens, during the 1960s. That report prompted investigations by the U.S. Congress, in the form of the Church Committee, and by a presidential commission known as the Rockefeller Commission that looked into domestic activities of the CIA, the FBI, and intelligence-related agencies of the military.
• News : New movie to be filmed in Rio Rancho – Rio Rancho Observer – Shooting is set to begin June 10 on “I was a 7th Grade Dragonslayer,”

  Included in the shooting will be scenes at Rio Rancho Mid-High and on some Southern Sandoval County Arroyo Flood Control Administration land, she said. A warehouse in Albuquerque will have additional sets used in the filming, which is expected to be completed by July 10.

  Wendie Malick (“Just Shoot Me,” “Dream On”) and Leah Thompson (“Back to the Future,” “Space Camp”) have starring roles. The children’s roles were being cast this weekend; there will be opportunities for local extras.

• Meet My Chickens: the continuing story of Chickenzilla – Homegrown Neighbor here. My chicken Whitey, a.k.a. Chickenzilla, has been laying some wonderful eggs lately. Of course, she is a meat chicken, not a layer. I think of her as a "rescue" chicken.
• Muzi Software – Main – Torrent feature to be removed from latest version – Apple has asked to have all features related to torrent queuing be removed from the next version of Trackr, or have the app pulled from the app store. Unfortunately, the next release of Trackr, which will be submitted to the app store tomorrow will no longer be able to work with torrent RSS feeds.

My Canon G9 died on me and I had to revert back to using my Canon Digital Rebel EOS (1st Generation). Last week images I started uploading into Aperture started showing as red boxes with the message “Unsupported Image Format”. This was occurring with both RAW files and JPEGs.

I checked the Apple Discussion Forums and found “Unsupported Image Format” is a common issue. There were several solutions such as restarting Aperture and rebuilding the library, none of which worked for me.

I tried other programs and found Graphic Converter would download the images with minimal problems and sometimes complain it can’t download some. Image Capture.app downloaded the images but there would be nothing in the download directory. It appeared to be a system level issue.

I realized that I added something new to my workflow a few weeks ago: a USB hub. When I connected the camera directly to the USB port of the computer the images would download just fine. It would seem that the image files were corrupt when Aperture tried to download them off the camera.

Apple had their shareholder’s meeting today. Forbes has a transcript of the event. I found this part particularly odd.

Next person is complimenting company for beautiful products. Wishes Steve well. Singing happy birthhday to Steve..EVERYONE singing.

It’s especially strange since Steve Jobs did not attend the meeting. I’m not sure I would sing along.

Yet one more Superbowl related movie trailer, the rebooted Start Trek movie to be released this summer. Be sure to check out the HD version on YouTube.

Apple has all of the Superbowl theatrical movie trailers on their website.