The Same Old Story, My Thoughts On iPhone 4

Okay, I just want to start by being clear, I haven’t actually used the iPhone 4 yet. Older models of iPhone I’ve gotten a chance to get hands on with for a short time thanks to friends and in-store demos. But due to the fact the iPhone 4 was just released a matter of weeks ago I haven’t had a chance to test it out yet.

However I doubt a lot has changed, we’re talking Apple here, any changes they make consist primarily of making things slightly prettier or two microns thinner and adding features other products have had for several years, while simultaneously ignoring problems they refuse to acknowledge, which is most of them.

So because of that, this post is probably going to be shorter than normal. Which I’m happy about because I’m sick of spending several days writing thousand-or-two-thousand-word blog posts.

Anyway, the iPhone 4. From what I know it’s the same as the iPhone 3Gs with a few changes in design. New features include a front facing camera, perfect for video conferencing or even vlogging…you know…if you’re into that sort of thing; and a higher resolution display, you know, if you like watching video while the display is resting on your face. I assume the processor’s faster because that’s always the way of things, and you know, the design, I like it, it looks good, I might buy it if they ship it in iTouch form and I got $200 to burn, which I don’t because I’m poor.

Finally, one important feature of the iPhone 4, if you touch the outer edge on the lower left corner, you will lose your connection. Continue reading

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Apple Won’t Let Itself Get Flashed

So the latest news out of Apple, they won’t let Flash go on their iPad. Now this is old news. Apple wouldn’t allow Flash on the iPhone and the iPad is just a giant iPhone anyways, so not having Flash available should come as no surprise. However it seems people were shocked because the iPad had more power and could probably handle Flash, plus it works better as a video watching device and most video on the web is Flash-based. So some might think it seems odd that Apple would deny a program on their device that would seem to be perfect for it.

Now everyone knows I’m not Apple’s biggest fan. I will never buy one of their products, primarily because I think it’s badly designed, but also because I hate their business practices. But today, I will defend Apple because I honestly see why they are doing this. Continue reading

Pets, Playstations and PDAs…and Keyboards and Bitching on Apple

Ah, tax season. The time where we spend a few hours to fill out a few forms to discover if the government owes us money, or we owe the government money, and how much. I recently filed my 2008 tax return because I’m lazy and should have done it a year ago, and it seems I’ll be getting over $300 which includes retroactive GST payments. So I have three options, I can either put the money in savings for a rainy day, spend it on something useful, like food, or spend it on useless shit. I think you know what I’m planning. Continue reading

Freedom ’90…to Upgrade

So Apple has these new ads, featuring news of the Windows 7 release and people saying they are switching to Mac because: “If we have to move all our stuff why not move to the computer that’s number one in customer satisfaction.” Which is a perfect demonstration of Apple’s new marketing strategy: Make shit up.

Now why do I say that? The ad itself makes a good point, if you have to upgrade, the effort is the same whether you go to Windows 7 or Mac OS X. Well kind of, except they fail to mention you also need to repurchase all your software for the Mac platform. But my problem is where they say: “have to”…you don’t have to do anything.

People sometimes forget: upgrading is an option. You don’t have to upgrade your system, and you need to realize if you do decide to upgrade, it’s not something you do during your lunch break, it’s something you devote a weekend to, and if your not good with computers, it’s not a bad idea to let a friend help, and generally, it’s not a good idea to upgrade at all.

This isn’t indicative of Windows, if you decide to upgrade your system you need to ask why. Why upgrade unless you need to? Especially considering these things cost money. Continue reading

Apple Sucks, Part 1: Pretty Doesn’t Mean Better

In the Shield offices at college we use Macs exclusively. I recently asked Chris if we could get at least one Windows machine in the office, he said no because our industry uses Macs. So I am more or less forced to use it. Now as one would expect, I have standard user privileges, I am locked out of adjusting many features and the console. But even taking that into consideration I notice something. Despite Apple’s advertisements, despite the aesthetic appearances, and despite the word of my peers praising the platform, the Mac just plain sucks. Continue reading