Recently in iPhone/iPod Category

You may have heard that I don’t do iPhone or iPad development at this time. That said, it’d be silly to not keep track of what Apple is up to with the platform they care for most." ...

• Upgrades to software for laptop and desktop machines hadn't all but died in the last several years.
  • Cases in point:  Where is iLife 2010?  (Apple made a big issue of rewriting iLife 2010 from the ground up, but only for the mobile platform!)
  • Where is iWork 2010?  (Apple made a big issue of rewriting iWork 2010 from the ground up, but only for the mobile platform!)
  • What happened to iMovie on the iPad?  Where did it go?
  • When Apple finally came out with an upgrade to Final Cut Studio, the new feature set was anything but substantive.
  • Now there are rumors all over the net that Apple has laid off over 40 people from the Final Cut Studio software team.  This can not be good as it probably indicates Apple is abandoning one of the most powerful production tools it ever developed!
  • How many years have we suffered with Aperture 2?  Finally, Aperture 3 is released, but many users are reporting huge issues with the program's basic operability and stability.
• What of any significant improvements in laptop and desktop hardware?
  • Cases in point:  The "new" iMacs have been plagued with screen problems and shipping was completely halted for a time while the issue has hopefully been corrected.
  • It blows me away that I bought my 2 x 3.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon computer about 1.5 years ago, and today Apple doesn't even sell a machine as fast as this "old" computer!  The fastest machine on their site is a 2 x 2.93 Quad-Core Intel Xeon computer!  What's with that?!  Their hardware is getting slower?
  • Where's the innovation in hardware?  Apple has been the leader for years!  With many of the new HD DSLR and video cameras sporting HDMI access, why hasn't Apple added this to the hardware line up?  Instead, my computers today have fewer high speed data access ports than they did 2 years ago!
• One company control of my media access?  Increasingly my heart is saying, "Absolutely no!"

Related articles

• Apple's Desktops to Disappear Eventually? (tastyslate.com)
• Is Aperture 3 sucking up memory? (macworld.com)
• Apple Looking to Bring iPhone OS to More Devices (mashable.com)
• Conspicuous by Its Absence (timtyson.us)

This is dubbed as the team's first step in its mobile platform development.

On Tuesday, the President's technology team released its first iPhone application, appropriately dubbed The White House. The app features blogs, video, photos, newsroom briefs, and the ability to watch live broadcasts over 3G or Wi-Fi."

[Source: The White House releases news, streaming app | Software | iPhone Central | Macworld.]

You know what I love the most about the AT&T application that allows you to report a problem with the AT&T network? When there's an actual problem: a dropped call, a call that will not go through, no signal at all, etc., you can't get the network to work properly to use the application to report it. So you wait until you get to a location where you get functional service again. Therefore, when the GPS data is transmitted with your trouble report, it's not the location where the problem actually happens. So, I guess all of the areas around network problem spots get really good service! The problem spots don't improve at all.

At least $5 billion, and perhaps as much as $7 billion. That's what it would cost AT&T to match Verizon's current level of investment in network infrastructure and, presumably, match its performance.

According to TownHall Investment Research, AT&T (T) spent about $21.6 billion on its wireless network from 2006 through September 2009. Meanwhile, Verizon (VZ) spent $25.4 billion. That disparity in investment, says TownHall Investment Research analyst Gerard Hallaren, has caused AT&T's network to perform poorly compared with Verizon's, particularly as it struggles to meet the data demands of devices like Apple's (AAPL) iPhone.

Making matters worse, AT&T invests more in its wired infrastructure than in its wireless network. Though 57 percent of the company's operating income comes from wireless and only 35 percent from wired services, wireless gets only 34 percent of the capital expenditures, while wired receives 65 percent."

[Source: AT&T's Mottoes: "Profit Over Performance" and "We've Got You by the Calls".]

I've been trying to do a better job managing my weight. The clothes are starting to get uncomfortably tight, and I'm too cheap to buy any more--especially at a larger size.

I started shortly after the new year. My goal: lose two pounds a week until I reach my target. I input everything I eat and when I exercise into Lose It!, a free app, for the iPhone, I'm using to manage my goal. I'm now in week three, and for the past two weeks I've been on target. Now that gets me excited to stick with it!

So the iPhone controlled AR.Drone I blogged about earlier (last week) is real. They were showing it off at the CES last week. Here is a video with Robert Scoble talking about it. He say's he will buy one if it comes in under $500. (Jeeze, I guess I would too.)

The new iType, which will be out mid year, is a full size keyboard and charging station for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Cool. I like.

The company will also offer a 2 octave full size piano keyboard for the devices as well.

I guess I'm still a kid at heart! I'm not sure the Parrot AR.Drone is for real if for no other reason: the WiFi signal strength is a huge limitation. The signal just doesn't go as far as this video gives the impression it goes. And WiFi signals are not that portable. You can't just create a network in an open, empty field. And forget ever using AT&T's "fastest" and smallest 3G network! Even if AT&T opened access for this type of data transfer, their network would choke before this thing ever got off the ground.

But the idea is way cool.

The Fake Steve Jobs, Dan Lyons, has responded to AT&T's claim that his proposed Operation Chokehold is "an irresponsible and pointless scheme to draw attention to a blog."

Lyons’ responded, noting that the company has made over $10 billion in profit over the last nine months, and has seen wireless data revenues soar 80% over the last eight quarters, while dropping its capital expenditures by 30% over the same period"

(Via: Spat between Lyons, AT&T poses iPhone outage threat | iLounge News".)

Is this true? Are revenues and the user base at AT&T soaring because of their monopoly on the iPhone which is creating greater demands on their network while capitol investment in that same network is substantially dropping as a result of their maximized profit-taking? If so, this is a problem for AT&T--and a big one. It smacks of that whole corporate greed thing again which caused the banking sector to spiral out of control.

When the public perceives a company has a consistent and unfair imbalance between what they charge and what the customer gets for that fee (value), that company has a real problem. Then for the company to threaten to charge even more? AT&T would be better served if they stopped blaming customers who want to get what they are paying a premium to have and provided more customer value with less corporate profit taking.

Wouldn't he have walked into a tree when he was sending it to and from Twitter? But for just a buck, why did half the people who rated it go off the deep end?! Jeeze, people. Calm down already!

Recently, the Fake Steve Jobs blog proposed AT&T customers engage in "Operation Chokehold" to attempt to send AT&T a clear message since AT&T is threatening to end the unlimited data plan for iPhone user who actually use it (a lot).

Subject: Operation Chokehold

On Friday, December 18, at noon Pacific time, we will attempt to overwhelm the AT&T data network and bring it to its knees. The goal is to have every iPhone user (or as many as we can) turn on a data intensive app and run that app for one solid hour. Send the message to AT&T that we are sick of their substandard network and sick of their abusive comments. THe idea is we’ll create a digital flash mob. We’re calling it in Operation Chokehold. Join us and speak truth to power!"

(Via The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs : Operation Chokehold.)

AT&T seems to blame their lackluster network performance on these iPHone users who are using what they are paying a premium to have.

Naturally AT&T, in its inimitable style of making bad become worse, responds stupidly.

Cult of Mac reached out to AT&T for comment on the proposed action, and the wireless carrier unsurprisingly noted that it was unimpressed with the tactic, calling it 'totally irresponsible'.

We understand that fakesteve.net is primarily a satirical forum, but there is nothing amusing about advocating that customers attempt to deliberately degrade service on a network that provides critical communications services for more than 80 million customers. We know that the vast majority of customers will see this action for what it is: an irresponsible and pointless scheme to draw attention to a blog."

(Via AT&T Unimpressed With 'Operation Chokehold' Proposal to Strain Cellular Network - Mac Rumors".)

This isn't about a blog. This is about a company with some serious issues.

Apparently, a lot of people despise AT&T. I just don't think they get the whole customer service thing. They only seem to want "reach out, reach out and" (remember that tune from the giant monopoly?) take more money from their customers so they can pay some PR firm to attempt to make everyone thank them for doing it.

We are entering a new age of cool! Apple's iPhone is a game changer!

The bike wheel contains all you need so that no sensors or additional electronics need to be added to the frame and an existing bike can be retrofitted with the blink of an eye. ...

By using a series of sensors and a Bluetooth connection to the user's iPhone, which can be mounted on the handlebars, the wheel can monitor the bicycle's speed, direction and distance traveled, as well as collect data on air pollution and even the proximity of the rider's friends. ...

The Copenhagen Wheel is part of a more general trend: that of inserting intelligence in our everyday objects and of creating a smart support infrastructure around ourselves for everyday life... The Wheel has a smart lock: if somebody tries to steal it, it goes into a mode where the brake regenerates the maximum amount of power, and sends you a text message. So in the worst case scenario the thief will have charged your batteries before you get back your bike."

(Via MIT’s big wheel in Copenhagen.)

In one of life's supreme ironies, AT&T today posted an iPhone app that allows you to report substandard service. That's right folks. Got a dropped call? No reception? AT&T Marks the Spot [iTunes link] is designed to get that info to your favorite cell company so they can act on it.

Let's see... I don't have any reception, so I pull out my new AT&T app to notify them of the problem. Doh! No reception to do that. And the app even nicely brings up a GPS map showing where I am. The GPS signal is much more reliable of course.

(Via: TUAW post--AT&T offers app so you can report crappy service. Huh?

I think I'll pass on this app, unless, of course, they put me on their payroll. I get tired of beta testing apps and now being asked to troubleshoot networks!

After hemorrhaging bad PR and making a no-win situation as bad as it could possibly be, AT&T dropped the lawsuit, which they were destined to lose, against Verizon. Verizon, in a gesture of kindness, dropped their countersuit against what I consider to be the big, bad, mean, money grubbing machine: AT&T.

AT&T succeeded in making the Verizon "There's a Map for That" advertising campaign a larger than life success!

I am shocked! [Said tongue in cheek!]

The annual survey of wireless customer satisfaction from Consumer Reports hits the streets this week and it doesn't have much good to say about AT&T. In a canvass of more than 50,000 readers spanning 26 U.S. cities, the organization found the carrier had the lowest customer-satisfaction rating in 19 cities surveyed; Verizon ranked highest

link: Consumer Reports: AT&T Cellphone Service Last in Customer Satisfaction | John Paczkowski | Digital Daily | AllThingsD

My dislike of AT&T has been no secret on my blog. Others have shared similar disgust both in my blog's comments section and in personal email.

To recap just a single reason AT&T has earned my ire: Because AT&T will not offer me the tethered wireless internet connection* my iPhone supports, I have a Verizon wireless card that allows me to surf the internet on my laptop. (AT&T didn't even offer this service for Mac users when I purchased the Verizon card!!!!!) I have yet to be in a location where my Verizon card does not get a robust signal. It always works flawlessly!

However, I can't begin to recall all of the places where my iPhone's AT&T signal did not exist at all or was so unspeakably sporadic (full signal one second and no signal the next, resulting in a dropped call and no internet connection) as to make it useless, or it connected to AT&T's slower, creeping, crawling Edge network.

From my vantage point as an end user, Verizon's network is vastly superior and more expansive when compared to my experiences with the AT&T network. My only gripe with Verizon is that they have been rumored to have turned down Apple's proposed iPhone deal when it was first offered to them. Foolish, foolish choice! They could have all but killed the monolithic AT&T!

Cingular then accepted Apple's offer only to then get bought by the giant AT&T that had previous been dismantled as a violation of anti-trust law.

Whatever did happen to those laws?!!!!

This week, Verizon filed a sarcastic and defiant response to the lawsuit earlier this month alleging that Verizon's "There's a Map for That" ads falsely assert that AT&T has major gaps in its wireless coverage. In Verizon's response filed with the U.S. District Court for Northern Georgia, the company eschewed standard legalese and instead launched into a bombastic broadside against its rival.

"AT&T did not file this lawsuit because Verizon's 'There's A Map For That' advertisements are untrue," said the introduction. "AT&T sued because Verizon's ads are true and the truth hurts."

The response then went on to taunt AT&T for the small size of its 3G wireless coverage.

"Verizon Wireless has invested billions of dollars since 2004 upgrading nearly its entire network across the continental United States... and today covers five times more of the United States than AT&T's 3G network," it said. "Despite the far smaller size of its 3G network, AT&T has spent tens of millions of dollars making its 3G network... the centerpiece of its national advertising."

Verizon's "There's a Map for That" ads typically show AT&T users struggling to use applications on their mobile devices while Verizon customers happily watch live streaming videos. The ads then display maps that show the total geographical reach of 3G coverage for each carrier, with Verizon's map showing a far larger area of the country covered by its 3G service.

AT&T has not disputed that the maps used by Verizon in its ads are accurate. Rather, it has accused Verizon of misleading consumers by implying that AT&T has no wireless coverage in large parts of the country, when in reality parts not covered by AT&T's 3G HSPA network are still covered by its 2G EDGE network. However, in Verizon's ads the company clearly marks the maps as "AT&T 3G Coverage" and "Verizon Wireless 3G Coverage."

link: Verizon ups the smarm, mocks AT&T | Phones | iPhone Central | Macworld

Live streaming video???!!! Where's that AT&T?!! Why are you not providing iPhone users with that service AT&T?!!

AT&T just needs to stop pocketing all of that cash from iPhone users' absurdly high billing plans, and start investing it in provided a vastly improved network. But no! Of course not!

The day Verizon kicks off full support for the iPhone will be the day this customer drops AT&T in less than a heartbeat, even though AT&T will extort its $200 cancelation fee--a small price to pay for no longer supporting AT&T's corporate interests over their customers' interests. AT&T probably knows I will only be the first of millions of iPhone customers to do so and therefore, I'm guessing, chooses to pocket the cash while they can rather than invest it in an improved user network experience. I'm guessing they've done the math, and it appears to be all about profit for AT&T.

And the PR firm that came up with Verizon's "There's a Map for That" advertising campaign is completely brilliant! It's so effective on so many levels it has AT&T crying foul. Hopefully it will also be a catalyst for forging a partnership between Apple and Verizon sooner rather than later. AT&T is indeed the weak link crippling the iPhone user experience!

*Tethered wireless internet connection: The iPhone has the ability to automatically connect to my laptop wirelessly when it is physically near (within 30 feet) the laptop and seamlessly, without the user having to do anything, allow my laptop to surf the internet through the iPhone's connection to the cell phone carrier's network. Astoundingly, considering how much money iPhone users pay for their service plans, AT&T currently refuses to support this feature! I suspect they refuse support because their network is, as Verizon has clearly pointed out, inadequate for the task.

Everyone knows I'm a technology addict. Therapy would be far less expensive.

So I have purchased a new Withings scale in the hopes it will motivate me to eat more healthfully and exercise more often. (Since I've added the insulin pump, my A1C is in the normal range, but I have gained 20 pounds over the past 3 years and just feel fat.)

The scale measures your weight and your BMI. It tells me how many pounds of my weight are fat. (Dreadful) It sends my weight to my online profile and my iPhone so I can see a graph of how well I am proceeding to my goal. I could even share my graph here on timtyson.us, but... well, how to say this succinctly... not a chance in hell!

Actually, though I really want to lose 20 pounds, I'm just barely outside a normal weight (a mere 2 pounds) for my height, and my fat mass is within the normal for my height range. I suppose the reason I'm not happy with my weight is that my lean body mass is near the bottom of normal for my weight. So I need to have more of my weight be muscle mass instead of fat.

The new scale looks very sleek and works amazingly. I stand on it for about 10 seconds and get a digital readout of total weight, lean mass weight, fat mass weight, and BMI. Within a minute the data is on my iPhone and online profile. Very cool.

I must confess to being among the first to purchase the new scale in the United States. Withings has been selling them abroad for some time now and just opened up the US market.

Scale Rating: Tim Likes!

The storm has passed, meaning we had a slow steady rain here all day. It was wonderful. I so miss the long, dark rainy days of the southeast!

At sunset I went to the Pacific and shot these two little videos with my iPhone. You can't tell how dark and thick the clouds were, or how interesting the fog was. But it was still great fun! Very few surfers as the waves were extreme for these parts! The currents around the pier had also washed away the beach in a most unusual way.

I have the basic news apps on my iPhone: AP, the New York Times, NPR, even the Wall Street Journal. I've had the CNN site bookmarked on my phone until today. I deleted it after purchasing CNN's new mobile app for the iPhone. It's the best news site application I've seen to date--complete awesomeness!

The app only costs $1.99. As a friend of mine pointed out, however, you still have to suffer with advertisements on the paid application. Sad. But at least I don't find it nearly as intrusive as CNN.com's video ads before every video. [By the way, I've found a way around that!] On the iPhone app you only get a still image ad while the video loads. And I'm delighted you can watch live newscasts and video over WiFi, 3G, and Edge! (It's about time, AT&T!)

Turning the phone horizontally gives a very nice coverflow slideshow for news events and videos all based on category. Touch the picture to flip the image and reveal the barebones basics of the story with a link to watch or read if you desire.

My CNN provides immediate access to news, weather, and traffic based on your physical location and on any locations you setup to monitor. The news stories link to local media.

iReport, shown at the bottom of this post, is probably my favorite, not because of the content, but because of the concept. In this section you can view featured iReport articles or video. But what is really impressive: Submit. The user can submit photos or video right from the iPhone. So if you find yourself in the middle of a news-worthy event, you can shoot it and upload it to iReport on the spot. Very slick! CNN even offers some suggested assignments for iReporters.

Other nifty little features remain undiscussed. I like the new CNN app, a lot. The designers did a great and thoughtful job.

We will see about the "best possible user experience."

We've been working for the past several months to prepare our systems and network to ensure the best possible experience with MMS when it launches - and that launch date is: September 25 for iPhone 3G and 3GS customers. MMS will be enabled through a software update on that day.

[From An Update on iPhone MMS for our Mobility Customers]

Apparently so! What? They can charge iPhone users an outrageous premium for their cell data plans, ludicrous amounts for their text messaging service, provide us with a crappy network, and then claim that had no idea iPhone users would want a network that worked with all of the features the iPhone affords?

This is as ridiculous as Delta Airlines making me sit on a plane for 90 minutes while they fuel it up. They had no idea planes need fuel before they checked it out of the hanger and allowed passengers to board it?

How typical of corporate America. Lying, greedy thugs with management that is rotten to the core! Yet another reason for Apple to make the iPhone available on other networks!

As part of a larger New York Times article discussing the problems some iPhone users are having with AT&T's network, AT&T CTO John Donovan said the company has had a hard time keeping up with data demand. "It's been a challenging year for us," said Donovan. "Overnight we're seeing a radical shift in how people are using their phones," he said. "There's just no parallel for the demand." The report states that the company has delayed its rollout of MMS multimedia messaging for the iPhone, and has postponed computer-to-iPhone tethering as well, although it's unclear whether the delays will last past the end of summer, as previously announced for MMS. Finally, AT&T states that the majority of the roughly $18 billion it will spend this year on its networks will go towards upgrades and expansions to help meet the demands placed on the 3G network.

[From AT&T seeing 'radical shift' in cellphone usage | iLounge News]

In the wee hours of this morning, around 4:30AM, I had my first experience with augmented reality. No, I wasn't dreaming or doing drugs. This was the real thing, just augmented!

"What is augmented reality?", you ask.

Let me explain.

I love Yelp, an application for my iPhone. Yelp is a social network in which those who participate share information about businesses. I first learned about The Veggie Grill through Yelp. Hundreds of people had eaten there, had liked it, had rated it highly, and wrote glowing comments about it. So I tried the restaurant, and now it is one of my favorites in LA.

The new version (3.0) of the application has a hidden feature. Apparently fearing the trolls at the Apple iTunes App Store wouldn't approve this new concept because of the jackasses at AT&T, no one knew the application had "The Monocle!"

Yes, it's sort of like a one-eyed Oracle. You launch the new version of Yelp on your iPhone and then shake the phone violently. After two attempts, the screen welcomed me to "The Monocle!"

Now, I hold my iPhone, running Yelp's Monocle, up in front of me and peer through the screen, which has activated the camera and shows me, on the screen, what is actually out in front of me--reality. As I move the iPhone around in 3D space, overlays appear in the direction of restaurants ahead of me in that direction--augmenting reality in real time with overlaid information. I just follow.

I can touch any of the overlays, which contain a name and up to a 5 star rating to get detailed information about the restaurant. The Monocle guides me to the location I choose!

This is nothing short of radical!

Imagine the day you walk in front of a restaurant and the Monocle shows you the menu. Or, you walk by a store and the Monocle shows you the sale items inside!

While appreciating their search functionality, I've been rather ambivalent about Google. But in recent days, I've decided it's time for me to explore other options aside from using Google exclusively for so many things.

Yesterday I went to demonstrate setting up a free Blogger account. Now Google requires the user give Google a cell phone number to set up a free account! This isn't an option. Claiming the need to reduce spurious blog accounts, if you want a Blogger blog, you must give Google a cell phone number. Google will send that number a code which then must be input to continue the setup process.

This makes me angry.

How dare they!

But it gets even worse!!

Quoted directly from Apple's response to the FCC, Apple claims that one of the reasons the Google Voice App (which would allow iPhone and I think iPod Touch users the ability to place phone calls from their device without using AT&T, a corporation I loathe) was rejected from the iTunes App Store:

In addition, the iPhone user’s entire Contacts database is transferred to Google’s servers, and we have yet to obtain any assurances from Google that this data will only be used in appropriate ways. These factors present several new issues and questions to us that we are still pondering at this time.

What?! I wonder if the end user would have even been aware of such a devious action?! Oh it would probably have been buried deep within the bowels of some user agreement 99% of us just click "I Accept" without reading.

In my mind, this is despicable conduct.

Yes, Google has become too big, too powerful, and is collecting too much information. I no longer trust them.

What did you notice? Supposedly this is for real on the MotoCzysz E1pc: the iPhone plugs in to become the dashboard. Source: Gas 2.0

Source: Apple's support page

• You pre-order an iPhone on the Apple website but then have to wait in line with the hundreds of others who just walk up to buy a phone. Why bother pre-order the phone then?!
• You download and install the new OS 3 on your 3G only to learn that any number of the new features in the OS don't work on the 3G, only the 3GS. Why didn't Apple indicate the features that only work on the 3GS before a user downloads and installs it?
• Have you figured out how to turn on "Find My iPhone?" Good luck. It's like going on a safari into the bowels of the phone. And then, just where is it on your MobileMe account? Just exactly where you thought you would find it... Yeah, right!
• The Apple faithful are letting the company get away with acting as if the new 3 megapixel camera is excellent? The first digital camera I bought in 2002 was 4 megapixels! Give us a really good camera, guys! (The focus features do rock.)
• You're an existing iPhone customer? You just thought you were going to upgrade for $99 or $199 or $299 or $399 or even $499. Get ready to hand over your first born. AT&T is going to rob you blind.

In a post earlier this month I mentioned how I hate AT&T. Today, in the airport on the way home, I heard a woman talking about how badly she wanted an iPhone, but she absolutely refused to have AT&T service. Good for her! The man sitting next to her said, "Yeah, AT&T are absolutely criminals. And I know. I work for them." He went on to elaborate.

After listening to him, I really hate AT&T even more!

AT&T and the Ma Bell monopoly... Hmm...

I recall the difficulty my grandmother had attaining her phone service after my grandfather died, and she moved into a maintenance-free apartment. The newly split up phone company set the stage for innovation but confused and frustrated her simple efforts to get a phone. In "the old days" you just made a call providing the new address and date of move. But in the days of divesting upheaval, she bemoaned the difficultly of just getting a physical phone, a phone line, a wiring service plan, deciding on the calling feature set, picking a calling plan... I recall seeing in her face how difficult this was for her at that time in her life.

I dabble a lot in the digital world, but I suspect that the changes I will be forced to confront when I am the age my grandmother was when she was trying to wrangle with new phone service, will be far more daunting. I already find myself more frequently and more intensely annoyed by the onslaught of digital noise in my life, by the rapid upgrade and update paths, by the latest digital venture. I seem to spend increasing amounts of my energy abating distractions. The younger crowd finds this all so energizing. I am increasingly put off.

This morning (or would you call it tonight) I read this thought-provoking and well-written article in the Wall Street Journal by Steven Johnson. For those who love to read physical books, this digital transition may well put you in a completely different world from everyone else. Will it be a better world of greater clarity, insight, and meaningful possibility or just more overload, more fragmentation, and more disengagement? Will this inevitable transition bring greater wisdom or simply the micro-monetization of the word. Yes.

Hopefully these little citations will entice you to read the entire article, linked at the bottom.

...the book's migration to the digital realm would not be a simple matter of trading ink for pixels, but would likely change the way we read, write and sell books in profound ways. It will make it easier for us to buy books, but at the same time make it easier to stop reading them. It will expand the universe of books at our fingertips, and transform the solitary act of reading into something far more social. It will give writers and publishers the chance to sell more obscure books, but it may well end up undermining some of the core attributes that we have associated with book reading for more than 500 years. ...

Every word in that library will be searchable. It is hard to overstate the impact that this kind of shift will have on scholarship. ... Imagine a software tool that scans through the bibliographies of the 20 books you've read on a specific topic, and comes up with the most-cited work in those bibliographies that you haven't encountered yet. ...

[With the eBook reader] the bookstore is now following you around wherever you go. ...

... an infinite bookstore at your fingertips is great news for book sales, and ... the dissemination of knowledge, but not necessarily so great for... attention.

... print books have remained a kind of game preserve for the endangered species of linear, deep-focus reading [thinking??]. ... when you sit down with an old-fashioned book in your hand, the medium works naturally against ... distractions; it compels you to follow the thread, to stay engaged with a single narrative or argument.

The Kindle [an eBook reader] in its current incarnation maintains some of that emphasis on linear focus; it has no dedicated client for email or texting... No doubt future iterations ... will make it ... easy to jump online...

As a result, I fear that one of the great joys of book reading -- the total immersion in another world, or in the world of the author's ideas -- will be compromised. ...

Google will begin indexing and ranking individual pages and paragraphs from books based on the online chatter about them. (... every page reads all the other pages.") You'll read a puzzling passage from a novel and then instantly browse through dozens of comments from readers around the world, annotating, explaining or debating the passage's true meaning. ...

... a permanent, global book club. As you read, you will know that at any given moment, a conversation is available about the paragraph or even sentence you are reading. Nobody will read alone anymore.. ...

Increasingly, readers will stumble across books through a particularly well-linked quote ... instead of an interesting cover on display at the bookstore, or a review in the local paper. ...

Imagine every page of every book individually competing with every page of every other book that has ever been written, each of them commented on and indexed and ranked. The unity of the book will disperse into a multitude of pages and paragraphs vying for Google's attention. ...

... citation will become as powerful a sales engine as promotion is today. ...

... will undoubtedly change the way books are written, just as the serial publishing schedule of Dickens's day led to the obligatory cliffhanger ending at the end of each installment. ...

Individual paragraphs will be accompanied by descriptive tags to orient potential searchers; chapter titles will be tested to determine how well they rank. ...

For centuries, we've had an explicit system for organizing print books in the form of page numbers and bibliographic info. All of that breaks down ... The Kindle doesn't even have page numbers ... because the pagination changes constantly based on the type size you choose to read. ...

... until we figure out a standardized way to link to individual pages ... books are going to remain orphans in this new [digital] world. ...

Readers will have the option to purchase a chapter for 99 cents, the same way they now buy an individual song on iTunes. The marketplace will start to reward modular books that can be intelligibly split into standalone chapters. ...

[Source: How the E-Book Will Change the Way We Read and Write - WSJ.com]

This would force me to upgrade to a new model!

Everyone knows how much I love my iPhone. It's an indespensible appendage to me. And the iPhone just keeps getting cooler with an increasing number of awesome apps becoming available at the iTunes Store.

One such cool app is Fitnio. It's simple and powerful. Using the GPS to track you, the device computes how fast and how far you run (in my case, walk) and cycle. Based on your height and weight, it computes your BMI and calories burned. Way cool.

I love to walk and cycle along The Strand as often as I get the chance. Now, I know how far I've walked (avg: 2 miles) and cycled (avg: 9 miles). I walk at a very leisurely pace (avg: 2.4 mph) while soaking in the peacefull yet powerful energy of the ocean. When I bike, also at a leisurely pace, I average 9.5 mph when I have to walk the bike through a congested pedestrian area and 10.4 mph when I get to just ride uninterrupted.

Fitnio is just fun!