I was just at the AT&T web site and saw they now offer a SIM card only option where you can use any GSM phone you want. Of coarse there seems to be some SIM Compatibility issue with some phones and a two year contract is required. What 2 year contract is required!

To me, this seems like a great idea and step in the right direction because this phone locking business has to stop; however, the excuse for the two year contract was you used to get the phone subsidy (phone at a discount). To me, this seems more like one step forward and two steps back.

Link

I just recently bought a MacBook Pro because I can put Windows on it having two laptops in one. Mac and Windows. The first time I booted windows after the BootCamp installation I freaked out because there was no way to right-click.

Well, it took me about a minute to figure out a quick way to do it. I assumed this would not work but because you install Mac drivers after the Windows install I decided to try. To my amazement, right clicking works with the touchpad just as it Works while in the Mac environment.

All you do is touch the touchpad with two fingers and then use a third (I suggest thumb) to get the right click functionality. I am very thankful of Apple to think of this in Windows because windows users are lost without a quick way to right click. We just need all those options!

So thats it! Two fingers on the touchpad and another to click. This will get you the right click functionality if you are in the Mac environment on a MacBook or MacBook Pro or if you are using Windows with Bootcamp on a MacBook or MacBook Pro.

Happy Clicking!

Some people ask me what type of MP3 player to get for themselves or for their kids. Usually, the question is, "should I get an iPod Nano or the iPod?" Most people are tempted to go with the full iPod because you just get more storage for the price.

My answer is: Depends on what you are going to do and how you are going to treat it. If you are getting the MP3 player for you kid or are going to use it while you are active, ie. the gym or jogging, you want to go with the Nano; but, if you are going to hoop it up to your car or use it while on a plane or home, go with the full blown iPod.

I have mentioned this sometime before but it is because the Nano uses flash memory and the full size iPods use a hard drive. MP3 players with flash memory have no moving parts and tend to take a beating much better than a music player with a hard drive. The full size iPod has a mechanical magnetic arm inside that can easily break when dropped hard enough or numerous times. Yes, when you think of price per GB or Gigabyte, the Nano is going to be much more money than the full size iPod but chances are it will last much longer when used by an active person or a child.

I just bought a Canon HG10 which is a pretty nice consumer High Definition digital camcorder that records the video onto an internal hard drive.

What I did not think of, which I cant believe but it happens to all of us, is that HD camcorders record in AVCHD format which is ahead of its time right now. AVCHD stands for Advanced Video Codec High Definintion and it is basically a format that most High Def Camcorders have adopted to compress the files. The only problem there is just about no software that will make that video be viewable on your personal computer. As icing on the cake, if your main computer is Vista x64 (64 bit), you are really in trouble.

The Canon came with some junk from Corel that did not give me the options I wanted to edit my video. In fact, it would not even install on my 64 bit machine. I hear the only other option for Canon’s is the Pinnacle Suite but they have not ever been a recommendation by me. Just not what I am looking for. Ideally, I would want Adobe’s Premier Elements to work but it wont. I have heard there may be an update so I will keep looking.

My solution:
Good thing I have a brand new MacBook Pro with iLife 08. iMovie took the video off of my camera with no extra software, it just worked the first time. It looks like Apple’s Final Cut and Final Cut Express will also work. Ok, ok, I now see why the movie industry is still on Macs. So now I will import the movie files from the camcorder onto my mac and then transcode them into a format my 64 bit machine reads and then I can just pick and choose quite a bit of software that will work with the mpeg4 codec for example. I think I will go with Premier Elements 4.

Conclusion:
If you run any Windows X64 machine, forget about AVCHD for now unless you want to do what I do. If you own a 32 bit version of Windows, you might want to use the software your camcorder came with and then transcode the files into something else, and then move it to your favorite movie editing program. If you own a Mac, upgrade to iLife 08 and you should be good. For more advanced techniques, try our Final Cut Express. So what is my point in all this? The computer and software industry is still not ready for AVCHD, if you buy a High Definition Camcorder that uses AVCHD, prepare for your favorite video editor not to work and prepare to do some work to get your movie edited.

I just updated my iPhone to the new version 1.1.3. There are some very cool features but we are still missing some well needed features.

What we got:
-Ability to make web sites booked marked on the main screen. You can now bookmark a web site and add a link on your main iPhone screen. Cool I guess, makes it easy for me to get to Google quicker.
-Ability to move icons. This is nice.
-Pinpoint yourself on a map and some other cool mapping features. You can make a pinpoint in real time with your actual location and map yourself somewhere.
-Ability to send a single sms message to multiple recipients. Nice.
-Windows 64 bit support. Finally!
-Apps. The SDK will be released soon and we will be seeing cool software.

What is still missing:
-Copy and Paste. What is Apple thinking. We need a way to copy and paste right away. I suspect that we would have this if it were Apple’s choice but I suspect there is no way to create this on their touch screen without it affecting the way their current touch system works. Although there must be some way because any Windows Mobile phone can do this.
-Video. We still have no video. All Apple has to do to is make the software tell the camera to take more pics in succession. No hardware modification needed.
-Microsoft Exchange Server support. I think there is no way we will get this but I would really like to see real Exchange support not this imap junk.
-Voice Dialing. We are still missing voice dial. I hope some company creates this with the sdk.

That is all I can think of right now. I cant wait to see some of the cool software from people from the sdk.

Disclaimer: I have not owned or seen the MacBook Air. I am basing this on the specs that have been published.

First of all, I should say that I hope I am wrong. I really want this product to succeed. I would consider the MacBook Air a "pusher." By "pusher" I mean it pushed technology. We have seen Apple push competitiveness in technology with the iPhone and I would really like to see laptops be smaller and do more. The Air is just too early before its time.

Why the MacBook Air will fail:

1. The price. I have been waiting about 3 months for MacWorld before I bought a notebook. I ended up buying a MacBook Pro because I received much more for only a little less money. I think this is too expensive for kids and just not enough stuff for business.

2. The hard drive. Did anyone notice Apple went to one of the slowest hard drives possible today. They did that for size but if I had my way, I would go 7200 rpm in my notebook. I settled for 5400 in my Pro but I would not go to 4200 in the Air. You might remember the Air is available with a solid state hard drive which would make me want the notebook but not for an extra $1,000. Yes, $1,000 extra for a 64GB solid state flash drive.

3. The Ram. The ram does not look like it is able to be upgraded. This is not good for a computer. I would argue that 2 GB of Ram is more than enough for this computer given you get a 4200 RPM hard drive but I would eventually want the ability to upgrade. Some software may eventually in the future require more than 2 GB of Ram to run smooth.

4. The Windows compatibility. This is only a suspicion because it has not been tried yet but how will Windows work on this computer. Obviously, this point is mute for most Mac Fanboys but I am a Windows user. How do I know that Windows will work at all with this new touch pad. Im sure and I hope I will be proven wrong in a few weeks after someone tries to install Windows.

5. The expandibility. I could not survive with one USB port. I suspect eventually USB will work wirelessly just as Bluetooth does now buy we are a long way off from that so I think people are going to need more than one. No express card slot. How are any businessmen going to put their wireless modems in these notebooks. Firewire. Hello! I thought Apple was big on Firewire. No Ethernet, they are really going far with this wireless thing.

So after badmouthing the Air, I would like to tell you why I hope people catch on because if people buy, it will force other manufacturers to focus on improving their technology.

1. The chip. I cant believe how small they got this thing. This may be too early but, this technology can be used to make really powerful mobile phones and smaller laptops.

2. The solid state hard drive. I can not spend $1,000 for only 64 GB. Even if it will take a beating and be faster, it is just too much money. I hope that the cost will come down as more and more companies and consumers look into solid state hard drives. These drives should help battery life too. They are just too high right now, I hope Apple succeeds and the price comes down.

3. Keyboard. Finally a ultra mobile computer with a keyboard I can type on. Screen is not too small either. Nice to see 13.3 rather than 11 or 12 inches.

4. CD Rom technology. I love the fact that you are able to borrow and Windows or Mac CD rom drive from a computer in the same network. What a smart idea but if you travel, plan ahead of time.

Conclusion: The MacBook Air is just ahead of its time. No kid want to rely on his parents computer to do anything so they are going to go with a regular MacBook over the Air because of the expansion ports and CD rom. This is most likely the same reason for business people. They are going to need a place to put their wireless modem, so they are going to opt for the MacBook Pro. To be honest, you can get a pretty good MacBook with a whole lot more features for the same price as the Air. Personally, I think if Apple could get the Air’s price point down to around $1,100, they might have another iPhone success and Im sure it costs less than that so what’s the problem? I dont know what they are thinking but I really think the price is too high for what you get. Hopefully I am wrong. I want the Air to be a success.

So after hearing the new iPhone update was going to be released today I was happy. But I was filled with so much anticipation. Steve Jobs never mentioned anything about Windows 64 bit compatibility.

So I updated my iPhone firmware on a 32 bit machine. Then proceded to update iTunes on my 64 bit machine. (I hacked the current 7.5 version to work on my 64 bit-it was easy not really a hack) So as I went to the Apple site to upgrade to 7.6 I noticed that something said it was compatible with 64 bit machines. This was great I thought, my itunes wiill now officially work with my Windows Vista 64 bit machine but what I really hope for is the iPhone to work too.

Well, guess what? It did. The iPhone has some really cool new features and it now works with 64 bit versions of Windows operating systems. Well, I have only tried it with Vista Ultimate 64 and none others. Not sure about XP. If someone has XP x64, and the iPhone, please leave a reply.

ars technica is reporting the FCC is finally looking into Comcast throttling certain types of bandwidth. Comcast is said to block some bitToirrebt activity and other types of packet shaping. I dont have Comcast but this should not happen. Comcast is going to far. Read the full article here. Link

With Steve Jobs’ Key note only a few hours away, here are my predictions for the 2008 for it. I have no knowledge of anything. These predictions are all guesses (or what I would like to see).

Macbook Pro gets:

• Solid State Drive option,
• Upgraded Core 2 Duo Processors
• BlueRay Burner or reader (I really hope for this)
• Bigger standard Hard Drives

Mac Book gets:

• Bigger standard Hard Drives

iPhone gets:

• Updated iPhone to get High speed AT&T High speed that is. (wont be ready for a while)
• Update current iPhone memory to 16 GB standard
• Some sort Starbucks iPhone relationship will be announced.
• The new version 1.1.3 will be realeased.
• There will be great focus on the iPhone.
• The iPhone will be compatible with 64 bit Windows systems. (I demand this!!! I need this!!!)

Mac Mini:

• The mini gets a redesign.
• The hardware is upgraded.

Others Predictions:

• Something regarding integrated wireless technology will be announced.
• Possibly a new ultra mobile touch screen Macbook!
• At least one new hardware product will be announced.
• A new service for movies is announced.
• iTunes adds a service, probably the one above.

I just read on the blog www.appletell.com that they have a really reliable source that the Mac Book Pros will have solid state hard drives in them. I am glad I did not buy a MackBook Pro for Christmas. I have been waiting for Macworld to buy one and all the bloggers are making me think I was smart to wait.

What are solid state drives? Why is this good?

Well simple, if the hard drive in a notebook were flash memory, which has no moving parts, (the memory is stored on computer chips instead of a tradition hard drive with mechanical parts), they should be able to take a beating. Laptops have an issue of dying because if you drop one (and they are more susceptible to being dropped) you chance damaging the hard drive with all of your precious data. Your odds are much better that the drive wont break as easy with solid state. This idea suggests that the drives will last much longer but I am not sure about this since flash memory usually has a limit of read and writes, that is they might wear out sooner than the tradition hard drive.

Well either way, I cant wait to get a new laptop. I will be getting one soon and I hope to be able to try out one with solid state drives.