Technology
I will be writing about new technologies as I find them.
Jul 28, 2008 by Nor Sanavongsay
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It wasn’t that long ago when I bought an iPhone. A year and a month ago today. I was one of the fools to stand in line. I waited for an hour… which wasn’t so bad if I didn’t have my 2 year old daughter with me at the time (she’s three now) and did not get an iPhone! It was at the AT&T store near my house. After that frustration, I took my daughter home to go potty. It was 9pm at the time. So, not feeling fulfilled for the night, I had the urge to call the Apple Store Woodfield just to see if they had any iPhones left. Luckily for me, they did. Plenty of them! So I hopped into my car and went and got one!
A year passed. New iPhone is out. Yay!!! as most people would think (me for one). I went to same Apple Store to go wait in line with a friend of mine and saw a HUGE line. There was no way I’m going to wait in THAT line. I met up with another friend of mine who had been in line for three hours! and he wasn’t even that close to the door. So, I decided not to wait and went to grab dinner with my friend at Stir Crazy. I waited a week instead at my own leisure for the darn thing. I was going to purchase one for my wife anyways, because she needed to update her five year old motorola. I went to the Woodfield store again on July 19th and still, iPhone 3Gs were out of stock. The Apple Store employee told me that the Deer Park store just had a shipment in. Deer Park was only 20 minutes away so, I hopped on my car and went. Waited for an hour to get two iPhone 3Gs. Decided to get one for myself and see what all the hype is about.
I ended up activating the phones at home, because I did not feel like taking up the other people’s time. Once activated, I did not feel the warmth that the first iPhone gave me. With the first iPhone, I felt like I was one of the elite. The first to get into the modern age of phone technology. The proud few who, two months later overpaid for the iPhone nonetheless, loved the phone. The metal casing was nice; it felt expensive and well worth what I paid for. The iPhone 3G on the other hand, had a plastic casing, felt light, and hate to say this but “cheap” even though, it was 300 dollars. The commodity was not there. Everyone was getting one which is excellent! but, now the elitist feeling is gone and I no longer feel special. LOL
Three days later, I took the phone on a trip with me to San Diego, for a friend’s wedding. I was going to test this sucker out to the max. I used it just as much as the first iPhone and was very disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, the new technology is great; 3G speed and GPS. But, they are such battery hogs. We found ourselves many times without a phone and had to do an emergency recharge at restaurants or where ever we can get an outlet. I highly recommend getting a phone charger for the car if you will be traveling a lot with the phone. Other than those two technology enhancement, I don’t see anything else improved. The software is the same on both the first and 3G. So at this point, I don’t see any real reason for me to upgrade to the iPhone 3G so, I will be returning this bad boy to Apple tomorrow.
Jun 26, 2008 by Nor Sanavongsay
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Late Thursday, Apple released beta 8 (build 9m2199) of its iPhone/iPod touch software developer kit while beta certificates issued before June 9th also expired. The beta, a 1.25 gigabyte download, includes iPhone firmware version 5a345 and according to sources, improves stability as well as mentions a developer-only version of iTunes 7.7, which developers can use to “install iPhone OS Beta 8 on your Apple devices.”—from www.tuaw.com
iTunes 7.7 makes my iPhone more “remote”. I can’t go into much more detail than that as I do not want to lose my privilege as a developer. For those waiting for iPHone 2.0 release, i’ll be one of the first to say that it will be quite worth it. Who else is ditching their old iPhone for the iPhone 3G on July 11th?
Jun 14, 2008 by Nor Sanavongsay
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ChordC - Connecting People With Chords, formerly a Flash Desktop Application, Chord Conquering, is now a live interactive website. This initial release brings with it a slew of exciting features not found on the CD. For one, members can interact with other members and share songs or tips on guitar playing. If you have a band and looking for members, this would be a great place to start. Or if you are the greatest guitar player and want to join a band, sign up for a free ChordC profile. This site is definitely not for people who know absolutely nothing about a guitar. The basic knowledge of chords and tabs are required.
Future release of the site will include all of the features found on the CD. The people who’ve bought the CD will find that this free web based upgrade is a wonderful addition to their guitar playing reference library. There will be sound attached to each chord, so that you will know what the chords sound like when you’re strumming along with it. Another nice feature of ChordC is the ability to find chords that you don’t know the name of. For instance, lets say you are strumming freely and found a sound that you like; you can go to the site and put in the fingering and find the matching chord. Widgets run the web, that is why we are working on a few of our own. Expect to see an iPhone version as well as a facebook application for ChordC.
If you would like to find out more about the site, come on in, we’re now open. Sign up for a free profile and rock on. So what are you waiting for… go conquer those chords!
Jul 02, 2007 by Nor Sanavongsay
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Was it really worth the wait? I would have to say heck yea. I’ve been playing with it over the weekend and I can not put it down. I’m a web designer so I live on the internet. Anywhere I can get WiFi access, I’m giddy.
Friday June 29 3:30PM
I was waiting in line with my 2 year old daughter (sorry Amily for putting you through that). We waited at the AT&T store in Carpentersville for an hour and a half. Amily did not like that one bit. Finally, we were near the door and I was sure I’m going to get it that day. The store guy came out and said they were sold out, but we can order it and get it before the store. Bogus! I was so mad, but I signed up anyway, just in case they run out at the Apple store. After that, I took Amily home, so she can rest for a bit. I called the Apple store in Woodfield and they said they still have a couple left and there was no line. I packed Amily up, who was already set to go to bed. “Where are we going daddy? I want to go sleep!” she said. Sorry, sweetie, daddy have to get the iPhone today.
Friday June 29 7:30PM
We headed off to Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, IL. Went to the Apple store and saw that it was still packed with people. We went through the path leading up to the iPhone at the genius bar and saw a wall full of iPhone. I was surprised and happy to see a ton of iPhone still left.
Friday June 29 9:30PM
We went back home to activate the iPhone. It was a simple process which took 10 minutes. Most of the time was itunes accessing the AT&T account and sending the information back to the iPhone. They made it very easy for people to get activated, which is typical of Apple. I’m glad I don’t have to call any AT&T person to activate my phone this time. I’m going to have to say, I’m really satisfied with the purchase.
Friday June 30 4:00AM
Still playing with the iPhone.
You can take a look at my iPhone gallery on my facebook (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=4901&l=a2d36&id=500018071).
May 07, 2007 by Nor Sanavongsay
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Graphic linked from Apple’s website.
It has been awhile since my last post, but after learning the new policy at Apple, I just couldn’t help but write about it.
I have been supporting Apple and their products ever since I got into using computers. They make quality products and stand behind them. I don’t mind paying the premium price for their product and this new policy change makes me want to support them even more. You can read their full statement here.
Jan 09, 2007 by Nor Sanavongsay
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This thing is AMAZING!!!!!!!!! I want it now, but gotta wait til June. Gosh! This phone has been in the rumor mill for over 2 years. Now that it’s finally arrived I’m glad I didnt buy into the other “smart” phones that are hell to use.
Apple totally reinvents the phone here. I mean the technology that is packed into this little thing is mind blowing.
Check it out for yourself.
Jan 05, 2007 by Nor Sanavongsay
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I was 9 years old when Beverly Hills Cops came out in the theaters and that same year my uncle bought me the Atari 2600 system. Pac-Man was was hot! Nothing close to the arcade version. Annoying sound effects and blocky characters. I could not be beat when I’m playing pac-man with the Axel F theme in the background.
My cousins and I use to stay up all night playing video games no matter if it’s the school season or summer vacation. We could not stop playing our Atari system. I remember one night we were up playing pac-man of course, either that or Pong, we were taking bets on who will have the highest score. The loser had to sleep in the basement for the night. Being the scardy cat that I was, I was determined not to lose. Each person gets one game play and the lowest score loses. Finally, my turn was up. I stepped up to the joystick with sweaty palms. A little heat flash through my body. I was set and focused on winning. 20,000 points to beat. I was missing one thing that could hype me up. Where was my Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack cassette tape (not CDs at the time, kids)! Who hid it? I was freaking out. Then I remembered I hid in my underwear drawer so no one would take it. I had Axel F theme pumping. My blood was circulating. No one can stop me now.
I was down to my last guy and 2,000 more points to go and the song was almost over. I can do it. The song was over. 1,000 more points to go. I got hit by the ghost. I’m dead. Did I make it? Urrrrghhhh I thought I lost. 25,000 on the screen! Alright!
That was a fun moment from my childhood. Of course, I will never achieve what this guy did.
Points are exaggerated from my blurry memory of the 80s.
Jan 03, 2007 by Nor Sanavongsay
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I was playing around with the iTunes Music Store (iTMS) last night and discovered that I can browse music from other countries. After an hour of excitement and contentment, I discovered that I can’t buy any of the albums or song that I’ve been searching for. ARGGGGGGGGHHHH! sucks. Turns out, I need a credit from Japan if I want to buy music from Japan iTMS.
With all the technology and blah blah they’ve been hyping. Why can’t they let us purchase from other countries or why even show us that we can look at other countries? Can’t they do the currency conversion or is it something deeper? If anyone can tell me please so.
Dec 29, 2006 by Nor Sanavongsay
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The Desktop
Leopard, Apple’s new operating system, is making it’s way to the hearts of all Mac lovers. It’s tag line “Advancing the world’s most advanced operating system.” Will it live up to its hype? Steve Jobs and Co. has a way of hyping up and making their products shine.
Time Machine
There are some great new features coming to the OSX. Where was Time Machine when I lost all my files when my hard drive crashed a few months back? This new app backs up everything and I mean everything. It’s got a nice 3D interface where you are able to go back and forth in time to retrieve your files. Pretty darn nifty if you asked me.
Spaces
Another nice little app I will be looking forward to is Spaces. I only have one monitor but have a hundred windows open at once. Spaces allow you to have multiple work space on your desktop. You can move from one space to the next at the click of the mouse. You can have one for working, You can have one for emailing, and one for internet. All the while be able to move easily between those created spaces. There are however, nice little apps that you can use until the release of Leopard. They are VirtueDesktops and Desktop Manager. I use Desktop Manager, it’s great, try it and let me know what you think.
..and 300 more features!
All images are linked from Apple.com
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