Update on the iPhone 2.0.2 patch

Well after two days (has it been that long?) I've got some more observations about the latest patch for the iPhone.

1. I'm still getting an improved battery life, and it's pretty significant difference.
2. Applications are once again displaying the 'Crash to home page', they don't really crash the phone, but a few (about 3 out of the 50 I have installed) just are not runnable on the phone.
3. Keyboard has definitely improved in terms of it's delay while typing.
4. Haven't really seen a difference in the connectivity, although I really wasn't having an issue with dropped calls and data connections.

So all in all, it's definitely a two thumbs up patch. I'm looking forward to the patch that will fix the few apps not starting, and Steve Job's announcement about that fix coming next month.

iPhone 2.0.2 patch

Well I have to say that after using the iPhone 3G with the 2.0.2 patch for half a day I have a few observations:

1. It appears that I no longer have the application not launching bug anymore. This would be awesome if it's fixed in my phone. It's been a quirky annoyance.
2. The keyboard is definitely more responsive in all applications.
3. Battery life APPEARS to be better, normally it would be much lower by this time.

Stay tuned for more results as I continue to use my iPhone :)

Things update

Well turns out that there really wasn't anything wrong except in how the installation from iTunes was working....

Seems like it wasn't, even though I had downloaded the new version, it showed the new version in iTunes, it never got onto my iPhone. Updated it yesterday on the phone, then got home and tried a sync and it is SLICK.

It doesn't need to connect to iTunes (that's restricted by Apple) instead it communicates directly to the application running on my iMac, and it is FAST!!!!

This morning I'm stuck waiting for my iPhone to sync yet again, for some reason it's feeling the need to re-install ALL my applications, I have no idea why it has to do this, but it's taking forever :(

Microsoft insists on Free iPhone apps?

Yes, it seemed unusual at first reading but when you think about it, it definitely makes sense.

The more ways there are for people to hook into XBox Live, the better that is for Microsoft. Insisting that the apps are free just increases the desirability of XBox Live. Of course the fact that to use it and access it you have to have an XBox Live account and pay the subscription fee doesn't hurt at all.

And if anyone can tell me how to get OFF the XBox newsletter I'd greatly appreciate it, I've been trying for 3 years now to get them to stop sending me that blasted newsletter. No matter what I've done the sucker just keeps showing up day after day after day.......

New version of Things

Things is a program written by Cultured Code that allows you to keep track of tasks with an eye towards the GTD method.

I've been using the Desktop version for a few months now, and was excited when they released the iPhone version. The only thing that had been missing was sync functionality between the desktop and iPhone.

They released 1.1 of the iPhone version to Apple last week, and it showed up on the App store this morning. After a frantic download and install, I tried to configure the sync between my desktop and my iPhone, but alas, my iPhone wasn't visible. WAIT, what's this, both my desktop and my iPhone must be on wireless before I attempt to configure.

More frantic configuration changes to both my desktop and iPhone, both on the same wireless network, but still no appearance of my iPhone in the Things Desktop sync configuration.

Time to hit their forums and see if anyone else has seen this, or possible fixes for it. I can't WAIT to get this working, it will really make things much easier for me.

Raleigh Code Camp

It's that time of year again, just got an invitation to the Raleigh Code Camp.

Last year I did a presentation on the Sharepoint Designer, this year I'm trying to decide if I want to make a presentation. It is tons of fun, but it does require a bit of preparation. The biggest question for me is what would/will I do a presentation on.

I'm a big believer of sharing what you've learned, and if I consider it from that perspective it becomes pretty clear what I should present on. It would be something to do with the Agile processes we've put into place here at my work.

I'll definitely be giving it some thought this week before I make a decision on whether I want to present or not.

Stay tuned!!

Apples iTunes App Store

There seems to be a lot of discussion lately about the Apple iTunes App Store. A lot of people are upset because Apple has control of the distribution of the application, they can not publish an application if they decide to, the SDK is too restrictive on preventing developers from sharing ideas and solutions to common problems.

I am split on it, with myself siding slightly in favor of the App Store. Yes, I do agree that there are some issues with it, but I think overall the benefits right now do outweigh the drawbacks.

1. Yes, Apple does control the applications that are available on the store, and to me this is a good idea to ensure that the applications are not going to cause problems on the iPhone. The biggest drawback I've seen so far is that the review process seems to be really not that thorough, in fact I kind of wonder what they are actually doing. I've had a few apps that are totally blowing up my iPhone due to memory leaks. I've NEVER seen memory errors before, but after recent updates to a few apps I have. I've deleted the apps for now until they are fixed.
2. One big plus of all apps coming through the app store is that it's easy to check for updates, and if you lose an app (or accidently delete it) it's simply a matter of redownloading it and installing it. You don't have to keep track of serial numbers or activate the apps.
3. The review process for apps is painfully slow, I've seen several apps take almost 2 weeks for an update to be released after being submitted. After number 2 of apps having memory leaks, or outright crashing constantly, I again wonder what the review process consists of.
4. I agree that the SDK should be modified now that the new 3G and Version 2 software has been released, I'm honestly surprised that it hasn't yet, and I'm holding out hope that it will be coming shortly.

For the most part though the app store has been a very pleasant and seamless experience for me.

Price comparison of PC's vs Mac's

Very good article comparing the price of a Mac (all the various models) with a comparably equipped PC.

http://technologizer.com/2008/08/14/are-macs-more-expensive-lets-do-the-math-once-and-for-all/

A few things I like about this article, he chose a middle of the road Mac for each model type, he picked 3 different vendors to compare with for building the PC versions. He also answers the most common questions about how he went about his test, and also the details of how the various machines were equipped. They all couldn't be EXACTLY the same because there are some differences between the machines in what's available.

Summary (if you don't want to read the entire article, but I recommend you do, it's got a lot of good information)

Macbook - Comparable in price to the PC versions (less than $100 difference)
Macbook - Base Model, stripped PC laptops are cheaper (I disagree with some of his points on this one, specifically battery life and performance, giving an advantage for including works is questionable) btw this is the version I have, and the biggest issues he pointed out HD size and ram, I was able to upgrade VERY cheaply.

The next sets of comparisons will be interesting, stay tuned :)

Hypermiling (kind of)

I know there's been a lot on the news about hypermiling, and I won't go into it here, but I decided to give it a little bit of a try.

Basically what I did was went exactly the speed limit, tried to slow down and accelerate more gradually.

Honestly I expected to see a MINOR increase, but the results really surprised me.

After two fill-ups I've gone from 19 mpg, to 24 mpg which is a significant jump. I'm pleasantly surprised by the results, and I'm definitely going to continue it. This adds up to an extra 60-70 miles per tank of gas.