Neither Twitter nor Facebook seem to be working this morning. Anyone else having a problem?
Also NMK is loading slowly at times. My brother John told me yesterday that this is a constant problem for him. Anyone else having continuing problems loading NMK? Normally it comes up in a few seconds for me.
“If you receive a text message on your iPhone any time after Thursday afternoon containing only a single square character, Charlie Miller would suggest you turn the device off. Quickly.”
I’ve cut back my Facebook friends to just immediate family. If this means you were unfriended, please don’t take it personally.
Ars Technica reviews the updated Public Radio Player. They begin:
Public radio’s existing iPhone app was already cool—it allowed listeners to hear public radio stations from across the country on their phones, live. But the new version of the Public Radio Player, released this weekend, adds an incredible new set of features that provide a glimpse at the future of “radio.” Welcome to the on-demand, in-your-pocket future, today.
Today only, Carina Software, one of the premier publishers in the field, is giving away Mac, PC, and iPhone versions of their software for next to nothing. It’s in honor of today’s 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. On the iPhone, they are free, for the PC and Mac version, US$00.01.
. . .OK, what can you do with this software? Well, just about anything to help you under the stars or to plan a night of observing. The software picks up your location from the GPS, and of course the date and time. It will display more than 300,000 stars and 30,000 deep sky objects (clusters, nebula, galaxies). You can see the night sky from any location on earth, and on any date you choose, even going back or forward centuries.
The software also contains NASA images, and work from other astrophotographers. Amazingly, if you have a computer controlled telescope, like a Meade, Celestron, and some other less well known brands, SkyVoyager will soon be able to wirelessly connect to it and steer to objects you select on the iPhone.
TUAW has more details and the link.
Free is good. Normally it’s $14.95.
The iPhone has proved to be rather adept at replacing other pieces of hardware. The combination of portability, a big screen that allows it to mimic any interface and an open (ish) App Store means that we are continually surprised at what people can make it do.
Today, it’s the turn of the bicycle. It turns out that many of the geegaws you might buy at the LBS (local bike shop) are already available as downloads from the iTunes Store.
This morning, hundreds of Amazon Kindle owners awoke to discover that books by a certain famous author had mysteriously disappeared from their e-book readers. These were books that they had bought and paid for—thought they owned.
. . .You want to know the best part? The juicy, plump, dripping irony?
The author who was the victim of this Big Brotherish plot was none other than George Orwell. And the books were “1984” and “Animal Farm.”
I did get my 99¢ back, though.
“As these photos show, people did not simply incorporate radio into the existing framework of their lives. They actually altered their behavior to accommodate the technology.”
The Lens Blog at NYTimes.com has five amusing photos of early radio portability.
First mistake: Eating Bing cherries while using the laptop.
Second mistake: Letting a sloppy cherry pit fall onto the laptop keyboard.
Third mistake: Setting the laptop on the floor.
Fourth mistake. Forgetting that ants can find anything anywhere.
What does one do with a slightly ant-infested laptop?
“Charging your iPhone while in certain carrying cases may generate excess heat, which can affect battery capacity. If you notice that your iPhone gets hot when you charge it, take it out of its case first.”
I suppose this would apply to iPods and any phone.
I woke up around 6:15 this morning and by 6:30 decided to check in on the U.S. Open. I was able to watch the Woods-Cabrera-Harrington threesome live on my iPhone (they had a 6:06 tee time, Mountain Time).
Opting for juice and coffee, I’m watching them now, live on the fourth hole, on my iMac.
TV coverage begins at 8.
The U.S. Open has a free iPhone/iPod app with scores, video, course map, etc.
Walt Mossberg has everything you need to know about the new iPhone and iPhone software.
Update: The find my iPhone feature (with iPhone 3.0 and a MobileMe account) is pretty freakin’ cool. You sign-on to MobileMe from any browser, send your phone a banner message (like call me at such-and-such hotel), an optional signal that will sound on the phone even if the phone is locked (so the cab driver hears it from the back seat), and there’s an option to delete your data from the phone.
All over the world people are monitoring unfolding events in Iran via the internet, where an apparently decisive election victory by the incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is being challenged on the streets.
Although there are signs the Iranian government is trying to cut some communications with the outside world, citizen journalism appears to be thriving on the web.
Here is a selection of popular links, many of which have been written from a particular point of view but – when taken together – provide a wide range of perspectives.
BBC NEWS has the links — blogs, flickr, Picasa, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook.
As Tom Johnson, the blogger formerly known as FunctionalAmbivalent, posted on Facebook this morning, he:
feels like he’s watching a revolution on Twitter and Facebook. Iran is erupting, and unlike Tienanmen Square, the authorities can’t hold the information in. Too many cell phones with video; too much redundant web access. Who knows what’s going to happen? No one. But we’re going to see it live, unfiltered by the media. This is amazing!
NewMexiKen blog post titles are now posted at Twitter — @NewMexiKen.
“No obvious Star Trek, Star Wars or Harry Potter names have been snapped up. We’re hoping that someone picks up at least Voldemort, because the owner could never tell anybody what his page is named.”
Alas, facebook.com/Voldemort has been taken.
Social Media Venn Diagram Tee.
Thanks to Nora for the link.
After examining some 300,000 Twitter accounts, a Harvard Business School professor reported last week that 10 percent of the service’s users account for more than 90 percent of tweets. The study dovetails with recent analysis by the media research firm Nielsen asserting that 60 percent of Twitter users do not return from one month to the next. Both findings suggest that, thus far, Twitter has been considerably better at signing up users than keeping them.
After a few weeks of reading celebrity tweets I have (again) stopped using Twitter. There’s better stuff to read. (See the next post, for example.)
Apple may need to reconsider its new product announcements.
Apple keeps new products a secret and then make a presentation to keynote techie conferences, like today. The problem is, with so many bloggers, the speculation and rumor-mongering runs rampant for the weeks leading up to the event. Like Christmas, there’s almost no way the reality can match the wishes.
Disappointment seemed much in the air during today’s event, despite many product improvements and price REDUCTIONS.
BTW, the new iPhone software (available next Wednesday) has a potentially important feature. If you lose your iPhone and are a member of Apple’s MobileMe, you will be able to locate your phone (on a map) from any internet browser. The software will tell you where the phone is, send a message to the phone (with a sound signal that can be heard even if the phone is muted). The message will tell how to contact you. You can also, if you wish, delete all the private information on the phone (that is, you can delete it remotely). Should you get the phone back you can restore the data, of course.
UPDATE: For existing iPhone 3G owners an upgrade will require a new two year contract and an $18 activation fee, plus a surcharge of $200 if you upgrade before eligible. (It appears eligibility for an upgrade occurs at 17 months, or at least that’s true in my case.)
If you’re a new customer off the street the phones will be $99, $199 and $299.
Push your cursor to the edge to scroll.
Another possible New Yorker cover drawn on an iPhone. Click, you’ll like it.
“But the iPhone’s name is a marketing trick; it’s really a mobile computer that I occasionally use to make crappy phone calls.”
Exactly. And if I lost mine today, I’d drive directly to the Apple Store to buy another. Best toy ever.
Manjoo’s article, BTW, is about addictive iPhone/iPod touch games.
Majoo: “Since the iPhone’s games go for a buck or two a piece, they’re not much of a risk, and many follow the recipe for great games once put forward by Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese: They’re easy to learn but difficult to master.”
These are my thoughts about Twitter. Yours may differ.
I have a Twitter account and I find there are folks worth following. Currently I particularly like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (@kaj33) and Bill Simmons of ESPN (@sportsguy33). I’m also following Levar Burton, Kevin Spacey and Jerry Brown, among others.
I do not myself post anything on Twitter. Any thought I have worth sharing takes me more than 140 characters. For example, on NMK I’ve usually said why I think a link is worth your time (and often given you an excerpt). I myself hate being given a link without any commentary, and I don’t think you can provide worthwhile commentary in 100 characters, which is about all that’s left to you after the url of the link.
And I understand the need to use tiny URLs on Twitter, but I hate them. I almost never follow the links because I want some idea of where I’m going with my click before I go, and tiny URLs give you no idea. This just compounds the problem of lack of commentary. You’ve got to sell the link pretty hard to get me to click when I have no idea where I’m going, and frankly almost no one can do that in 100 characters.
I was talking to an intelligent and informative retired Air Force officer on the plane the other day. He was using so many acronyms that even I (after 30+ years of federal service) had to occasionally stop him and ask what such-an-such meant. Twitter is pretty much that way. Some good stuff, but too much figuring out. Briefer is not always better.
But, as I said, your opinion may differ.
The mophie Juice Pack Air is a rechargeable external battery concealed inside of a protective form-fitting case for the iPhone 3G. It offers you the full protection of a hard-shell case while providing almost twice the battery life of the iPhone alone.
Its ultra-thin, lightweight, low-profile design houses a rechargeable 1200mAh lithium polymer battery for up to 270 hours standby time. The case allows USB charging and sync with iTunes as well as full protection for your iPhone 3G.
$79.95 at the Apple store. Or for a couple dollars more from Amazon.
Mophie Juice Pack – Case and Rechargeable Battery for iPhone 3G
Available for iPod touch, too.
Mophie Juice Pack – Case and Rechargeable Battery for iPod Touch 2G
