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.

As I try to get back into posting interesting iPhone applications, I am still surprised at the amount of crap that is available to the iPhone store. Mac users always complained that sure, Windows has a more software available to it but most of it is crap. I think that is true with the iPhone.

The Wordpress App is not one of those crap applications (that is, is you have a Wordpress installation you can use it with). I’m not sure why they created an all new iTunes entry for the 2.0 app when both the 1.0 and 2.0 apps are free.

Although I find the iPhone to difficult to write entire blog posts on, the Wordpress app is great for creating basic drafts that get me started, fixing existing posts and managing comments.

Wordpress 2 is available on the iTunes store for free.

WordPress 2 is the only iPhone app that lets you write posts, upload photos, edit pages, and manage comments on your blog from your iPhone or iPod Touch. With support for both WordPress.com and self-hosted WordPress, users of all experience levels can get going in seconds.

What’s new in version 2.0:

- A new, more efficient user interface that makes it faster to switch between comments, posts, and pages.
- Various user interface refinements and bug fixes
- New Comments interface, with Gravatars and the author URL shown in the comment list
- Passwords are now stored in the keychain
- Posts are now automatically saved and restored if network connection is lost during publishing
- Added persistence, so the app re-opens in the blog you last used
- Added an interface for manually entering the XMLRPC endpoint for non-standard setups
- Fixed rotation-related visual glitches
- Fixed errors where malformed XML prevented access to XMLRPC endpoint
- Fixed edge case where local drafts were sometimes not saved
- Fixed the order of photos so that they’re displayed in the order they’re uploaded

For support, please visit our forums at http://iphone.forums.wordpress.org — we aren’t able to respond to support requests submitted in an iTunes review.

• Percentages are the Way You Think | Bad Money Advice – Imagine that you have decided to buy the latest, totally cool and sexy, iPod. It retails for $200. You are about to pick it up at a shop near your home when you hear that all the way across town a store is running a one-day special promotion, selling this iPod for only $100. It is a 90 minute round-trip drive, but you gleefully head off to score your bargain iPod. Unfortunately, after a while you realize that the iPod is not attracting nearly the number of members of the opposite sex that you expected. So you hatch Plan B, an even more totally cool and sexy convertible. The dealership near your house will let you drive it off the lot for $50,000. But then you find out that another dealership, coincidentally next to the place where you got the bargain on the iPod, will sell it to you for only $49,900. Do you make the same trek across town to save $100 on the car? Most people would not, even though they would to save the same $100 on the iPod. Because people are idiots.
• "Dr. Brown" – USCIS conducted a special naturalization ceremony last week for a man we’re referring to as Dr. Brown. Why was the ceremony so special, and why aren’t we using his real name? Well, Dr. Brown is the first nonimmigrant to become a citizen of the United States under the pilot Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI) program. MAVNI allows nonimmigrants to enlist in the Army and apply for citizenship even though they do not hold permanent resident status. So, Dr. Brown was the first, and his story is pretty incredible.
• Heavy metal cure for constipation – Around the World – Austrian Times – Dr Cristina Bontescu, spokeswoman for the local hospital where he turned up at the emergency unit, said: "He was a bit drunk and said he had been eating cherries that had left him badly constipated. He said he had a few drinks to dull the pain and then came up with the idea of poking a hammerhead up his backside in the hope of sorting out the constipation. "But the hammerhead got stuck and then he came up with the idea of using a second hammerhead in order to try and get out the first – but then he lost the second one as well."
• WikiLeaks victorious over corruption report gag order – Wikileaks – According to statements made to the London Times earlier this month, the UK intends to suspend the Islands' constitution and take direct rule–with the support of British Navy–something that has the press of other British colonies in the Caribbean and Atlantic, such as Bermuda, aghast.
• Male cats are lefties – Like their human owners, cats also use a preferred hand to complete complex task. But unlike humans, who are mostly right-handed, felines are split right down the middle, with females preferring the right paw and males favoring the left.
• Bosch DareDevil Spade Bits – Review | Tool Snob – ToolSnob.com – The primary difference between the DareDevil Spade bits and your standard spades bits is this little threaded nub up at the centering point. Once these threads catch (which they can't not do), the bit is actually pulled into the wood. This happens with so much aggressiveness that we practically felt in danger of dislocating our shoulder while drilling holes. The body of the spade is also contoured so that the shaved wood doesn't clog up the hole and bog down the bit. The pointed spurs are additionally designed to minimize blow-out (which is better than most spade bits, but still considerable). There's a lot going on with these little bits.
• ABQJOURNAL NEWS/METRO: The High Price of Driving and Talking – In addition to a fine of at least $100, people cited for using the phone while driving get hit with the same fees and court costs as with every other traffic citation that involves the court — about $85. Last week, Albuquerque police wrote more than 300 cell phone citations during an eight-hour crackdown and have written thousands since the ordinance took effect.
• Strange! Humans Glow in Visible Light | LiveScience – The human body literally glows, emitting a visible light in extremely small quantities at levels that rise and fall with the day, scientists now reveal. Past research has shown that the body emits visible light, 1,000 times less intense than the levels to which our naked eyes are sensitive. In fact, virtually all living creatures emit very weak light, which is thought to be a byproduct of biochemical reactions involving free radicals.
• Review: Navigon MobileNavigator North America | iLounge – The good news: in tech industry parlance, MobileNavigator “doesn’t suck” as turn-by-turn driving direction software, at least when it’s used under the right conditions. First, you need to have your iPhone 3G or 3GS mounted or held continuously near a window in your car, or be lucky enough to have a vehicle with a roof that doesn’t impede the device’s access to GPS satellites. Second, you’ll probably want to connect the device up to a car charger of some sort, because running the app and the GPS will eat up your iPhone 3G or 3GS battery. And third, you’ll want to make sure you can locate the physical address of the place you’re planning to visit, just in case. More on that in a moment.
• FBI captures Top 10 fugitive in Wyoming – The Denver Post – One of the FBI's "Top 10" fugitives was captured in the southern portion of the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming today, after nearly 15 years on the run, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation office in Denver. Edward Eugene Harper, also known as Ed Harmon, was wanted in the alleged sexual assaults of two girls, ages 3 and 8, in Hernando, Miss., in 1994.

iHome Remote brings an 3rd party Indigo interface to your phone as a stand alone application. That’s interesting because there is a iPhone application available from developer of Indigo, Perceptive Automation, for free.

Why purchase iHome Remote? The official free app only works with 4.0, if you don’t want to pay the upgrade fee from 3.0 to 4.0, iHome Remote will work with 3.0. iHome Remote doesn’t have access to action groups but it does have access to Scenes which the official app does not. iHome Remote is $8.99 from the iTunes App Store.

Have you ever wondered if you left the lights on at home? Do you want to have everything just so before arriving home?

Used in conjunction with Indigo on your Mac, iHome will allow you to control your home lighting (Insteon and X10) using your iPhone or iPod Touch from anywhere.

** This app requires the Indigo Control Server from Perceptive Automation to be running on your Mac to work and is compatible with either version 3 or the soon to be released version 4 of Indigo.

FEATURES:
- View the status of your home lights and appliances
- Control lights and their dim level
- Turn appliances on and off
- Execute Scenes/Action Groups
- Access your home from anywhere
- Insteon and X10 control

Both Insteon and X10 allow you to add automation to your home without any rewiring required.

Insteon is a new standard in home control, which features true bidirectional communication to ensure that your iPhone knows the status of what you are controlling.

With iHome and Indigo, you can have full remote control of your home!

This guy is developing a GPS device that connects directly to the docking port of a iPhone or iPod Touch. It’s interesting to see his first giant prototype compared to the current version he has working now.

He will need a 1000 preorders to make the first production order and I suspect a jailbroken phone.

Check out this video of StyleTap, a PalmOS Emulator on the iPhone and iPod Touch. This is a proof of concept via PalmInfocenter.

Back in 2005 I bought a iHome (now called a iH8 model). It was the first real ipod compatible alarm clock radio. After a little over 2 years of usage, I think I can give a verdict: Don’t buy one.

First problem is the often complained about back light. It’s bright even at the lowest settings. The entire screen is backlight instead of just the numbers. Second problem is the somewhat confusing button layout. Including the buttons on the very back related to setting the time. Finally the fact the the thing breaks over time is the main reason I cannot recommend it.

My iHome’s back light stopped working over 6 months ago. I could live with that. About a month ago all the buttons stopped working. I cannot control a ipod, though at least it still charges one. My one data point doesn’t do it alone. A little over a year ago a friend bought one. It too has also no longer is able to control a iPod, although it is still able to charge it.

That’s two data points, enough for me to say the makers of the iHome have a quality control issue. I’m looking forward to purchasing the Sony XDR-S10HDiP HD Radio with iPod dock this summer.

My Palm TX and my iPod Photo are dead to me. literally. I think the batteries in both of them no longer hold a charge.

It started with my Palm TX about a month ago. One minute it would work and the next it wouldn’t despite the battery showing a full charge before. Charging via USB wasn’t helping it, I hooked it up to the wall wart charger which allowed it to operate for a few minutes.

My iPod Photo only lasts about 30 minutes on a charge. The battery indicator will indicate that it’s mostly fully before it dies. Last year it would go a whole 8 hours.

I’m a person who lives off his PDA. Being without it for the last month has left me lost and naked. I’m not adjusting to life without it very well. I never listened to the radio with thanks to my iPod. Now I’m having to adjust to life without either. 16GB iPhone: where are you?

iTunes 7.3.1 is suppose to fix this issue.

I would not recommend downloading iTunes 7.3 unless you absolutely need to. I was greeted to this error: “The iTunes Library file cannot be saved. An unknown error occurred (-50)” after iTunes attempts to upgrade the library. It seems every version of iTunes has some problem or another after install, but this is the first time I’ve had some such error.

Apple’s message board indicates that many people on Mac OS X and Windows are having the problem. I see a few people who have a large library and have the library on a external hard drive as I do, but it’s not clear that this is the cause. What seems to be the cause is some sort of permissions issue. Possibly. Hopefully Apple gets this one fixed soon.

Update 07/01/07 10:54 AM: There’s suggestions to use this Apple tech note to recreate your library. The only problem with this tech note is it will delete any customizations in the library, like ratings and playcounts. I’m going to revert my install to iTunes 7.2 until Apple comes out a fix.

Update 07/02/07 12:29 PM: MaxFixIt is covering the iTunes error now. They have several suggestions including checking for iTunes add ons, Disabling APE for iTunes and restarting in safe mode. I tired all the suggestions and none of them worked. I’m going to play with Tiger Cache Cleaner and see if it will clean up anything.

Update 08/02/07 5:55 PM: Fixed! I removed most of my podcasts, most of them were video podcasts. Once of them must have been screwed up in the iTunes database.

Update 07/06/07 3:49 PM: I re subscribed to some of the podcasts, video and audio, since deleting them all. So far there’s been no problem with any of them. They are syncing with my AppleTV and my iPod. I didn’t add them all though. There maybe some that I didn’t add that maybe causing the problem.

If you don’t like the idea of deleting all of your podcasts, try deleting a few at a time. Starting with the video podcasts. Be sure you delete the whole podcast, not just the individual episodes.

I primarily listen to my music collection through my iPod. I don’t care what Apple says, the shuffle feature of the iPod (and to a lesser degree iTunes) does a poor job of preventing the same Artist from playing randomly. Even with the the scheme I came up wit here, my iPod still played 3 songs from Metallica in a row the other day. These methods do a good job of addressing the issues.

I start off with master playlist called “Filtered”, it’s filtered for genres. Second playlist is “Filtered – 4 Stars + Played”. This ensures that songs which are rated have actually been played. I ofter will rate new songs high but not really listed to them (I have another playlist for new songs). The next playlist is “Filtered – 4 Stars + Played last 14 days.” Finally I’m to my primary playlist, “Filtered – 4 Stars + w/o last 14 days.”

Unfortunately the iPod does not automatically update these playlists, they only get updated when I sync my iPod with iTunes. At one time “The Stroke” had 2x as many plays as any other song, I like that song but not that much, this does a reasonably good job of reducing this effect. I’d prefer to have a playlist that removes, say the top 10% of played songs, but iTunes doesn’t have this option in the filter lists. This also doesn’t prevent the same artist being played in a row.