10 Apr 08 Twinkle, Twinkle Little Starr
Okay, as you all very well know I am a fan of Twitter, the 140 character micro-blogging platform. I also am a fan of the iPhone. Well until now I have been using Twitter via SMS and getting about 1,000 people’s updates via text message….that is until today.
A new iPhone app (for jailbroken iPhones) was launched today called Twinkle. This program reminds me of look and feel of my favorite Twitter program, Twitterific. It auto-updates every few minutes (keeping in accordance with the Twitter API), shows your @’s and Directs with a nice highlight and icon…but here’s the sweet part. It is location aware, so it can help you find people who are twittering anywhere from 1-252,000 miles from you. This uses the iPhones “Locate Me” feature built into Google Maps.
I will be using this great new program, and you should too, over the next few days to see how well I like it, but as of now I think it is the first thing which could totally replace Twitter SMS for me (which last month I had over 100,000 sms’s). Check some of the screenshots after the jump.
28 Feb 08 New iPod touch ad
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APljiV5HQhw[/youtube]
I really think this is my favorite iPod ad of all time. The song perfectly fits the ad, and it is very well put together.
Tags: Apple, apple ad, iPod, iPod touch, touch
11 Feb 08 Starbucks pulls a “Nick”
There have been many things that I’ve done which people have described as “pulling a Nick” (for example the method on which I got my iPhone for practically free). In switching to the iPhone, or rather the BB Curve then iPhone, I made the switch away from my long time carrier T-Mobile. I enjoyed the 24/7 customer service, selection in phones, etc, but iPhone was just too tempting.
While I was a T-Mobile customer I also paid for the Starbucks/T-Mobile Hotspot access at $20/month. When I made the switch to AT&T I got a 3G Expresscard/34 AT&T wireless modem from my MacBook Pro (both of which were stolen, yet I’m still paying for the modem). I canceled my T-Mobile hotspot access at the same time, and enjoyed the freedom of my modem. The irony is that I would still end up in a Starbucks most of the time on my laptop, but now using my 3G modem, which produced slightly slower speeds then the Starbucks/T-Mobile access.
Well Starbucks has pulled a “Nick” and made the switch over to AT&T as of today. Now the change will happen at the store level by the end of the year, but now that I live in one of the most connected areas of the country, I anticipate the change over in the San Francisco area to be quick.
The deal offers a lot of new and cheaper options. Previously it was $9.99/day, $19.99/month for T-mobile customers, and $29.99/month for non T-Mobile customers. The new pricing plan is $3.99 for a 2 hour block for AT&T customers and Starbucks card holders. Every Starbucks Card holder will get 2 free hours a day as well. In addition, anyone with AT&T DSL service at home (which I recently got) already enjoy free wireless access at AT&T hotspots, and thus the addition of Starbucks will expand the network they have access to.
I can’t wait for this deal to finally be finished and all the stores converted over. Now I just need to get a laptop again, so I can enjoy the atmosphere and aroma of Starbucks while surfing the web.
P.S. If you work at Starbucks, you will get free unlimited access to the wireless access, just another perk of working at the largest coffee shop in the world.
05 Feb 08 SuperDuper v2.5 with Side-By-Side Backup
SuperDuper! is famous for being one of the best backup solutions for years now on a mac. Until today, ironically Super Tuesday, there hasn’t been a version updated for Leopard. The new version 2.5 is out and it can perform side-by-side backups with Time Machine.
What does this mean? Well you can have a fully functional, bootable backup on the same drive that your Time Machine backup is performed. This is great for people with large 500gb, 750gb, and 1tb drives that are being used as a Time Machine Drive. Granted you will sacrifice space for Time Machine, but having a bootable backup can be priceless in a time of need.
It is a free program, but some of the advanced features like scheduling run you $28, which is well worth it.
Tags: Apple, apple backup, backup side-by-side backup, bootable backup, free, os x, osx, side-by-side, software, superduper, time machine
05 Feb 08 16gb iPhone & 32gb iPod touch
Well ever since the 16gb iPod touch was released last September, you knew Apple had it in the works to release a 16gb iPhone. Today just so happens to be that day. They also have increased the capacitity of the iPod touch to double it’s previous maximum capacitity, bringing it to 32 gigs total.
The price seems to of stayed the same for all of the previous models, with a $100 premium for these new models. They are available today, and show only a 1-2 day processing time for shipping from the Apple Store online.
Look for me to be selling my iPhone online soon, I really could use the additional space on my iPhone.
Tags: $100, $499, 16, 16gb, 32, 32gb, Apple, apple iPhone, apple iPod, iPhone, iPod
