IT"S NOT HERE YET!!!! I was up early today, mainly cos I was waiting for a phone call from National Windscreens as to when they could replace mine.. Monday it seems :/
But I was hoping for an early delivery of my spanking new iPhone 3G (just logging into O2 now, to try and track it). It's a horrible empty feeling that Apple induces in people. I feel for all those people who are queing outside the various stores, especially those who are at the back of the line and could well not be going home with an iPhone today. I'm guaranteed one, but I don't know when today I'll have it (it should be today!!!)
Having just checked My O2, the order tracking doesn't work. :(
To try and satisfy my cravings, I've created two ringtones using Garageband and the instructions at TUAW and downloaded 3 free apps from the store.
Ringtones
- Friend is a Four Letter Word - Cake (this is what's on my current Nokia)
- Sonne - Rammstein
Apps (iTunes Links)
So far holding off on the PhoneSaber and Moo, although I'll probably buckle. Also on the cards at the mo is AIM, although early reviews don't look good, needs push.
Speaking of 'push' that's quite a big thing, I'm gonna see how well the basic POP handling is for my email before considering forking out for Exchange server or MobileMe.
Expect more ranting while I wait, then gratuitous unboxing photos/video when it arrives.
HURRAH! It seems (as I can log in to My O2, they're billing me and apparently shipping an iPhone 3G 8Gb Black to me), that I'm getting an iPhone tomorrow!!!!
So yes I went with the 8Gb model, and yes a lot of people are probably groaning at that, but for me I didn't see the need (at the moment) to splash out on the 16Gb model, I've no intention of ditching my 80Gb 5th Gen iPod (or 60Gb iPod Photo). I don't want to waste my phone's battery by listening to music on it for hours, although the larger screen for video is tempting, so I'll have to see how that goes.
And as you may have noticed I'm on the £45/month contract, a little higher that I really wanted, I would've preferred the £35/mnth one, but as I'm a tad strapped for spare cash, the £45 tarrif, means FREE 8Gb phone, rather than paying £99 up front (although If I could've afforded it that's what I would've done), the other thing is I will still be slightly better off on this tariff than I am on my current Orange one.
So, I need to transfer my number, go out and buy a car charger and holder, and wait....
[edit]
Ok not just waiting, I've also upgraded to iTunes 7.7 on my MacBook, I need to clean up my address book as well, there's probably a couple of other things to do n all.
Yep, nearly.. FINALLY.. time to get me an iPhone. July 11th is approaching, I've "registered my interest" with O2, I'm past the end of my Orange contract (happened a couple of months back, just as O2 reduced the 8Gb iPhone price, something didn't smell right then, despite how tempted I was, so I held off.. cheers me), and I'm all set for 3G iPhone goodness (all being well with credit checks and the like!!!).
So, I've started looking in a little more detail at the available apps, after all the iPhone functionality is good, but I want more from it.
iPhone 2.0 can display all manner of Office docs, so that's ok, but you can't create/edit any. now I don't know if I'll actually need to, but I may well consider Google Docs as a possible solution. I don't currently use them, so I'll have to try them out on here first.
The GPS side of things will also be an interesting one. I'm hoping the iPhone will save me having to buy a separate SatNav device (such as a TomTom 520T that I've been considering), I don't think that the standard Google Maps will suffice, so I'll be waiting to see what TomTom's software's like, but I'll certainly give the standard system a go in the mean time on upcoming jobs (with printed directions as well, just in case!!!)
Web Apps
First stop on the App train was the Web Apps page and there's a fair few on there, including Virtual Panda...but I'm steering clear of stuff like that for the time being (no doubt I'll play some sort of game on it at some point), I'm looking at what is actually going to be of use to me, in the same sort of way I'm looking at Facebook apps. So...
Obviously, I use FB a fair bit, so this is a no-brainer, it's also a bit odd to me as to how it classifies as an 'app' rather than just an iPhone optimised page. (to be fair that's pretty much just what the Web Apps are though)
This seems interesting, a simple tape logging app, which could be quite useful, however, having thought about it a little more, possibly TOO simple, what could be great for quickly and easily logging tapes on the fly, could be a complete waste of time as there appears to be no way to export the data. So if I did want to log on loc. perhaps a Google Docs approach would be better, i'll def give it a go though.
I'm not sure if this is THE Twitter client that people are using (there's probably a Jailbreak app out there), but looks ok, the other options are simply going to twitter.com via Safari, or seeing what Twitteriffic on iPhone will be like (I've switched to twhirl on the desktop now though)
It's specific to camera work, not sure if I'd actually use it, but work knowing it's there.
This is pretty awesome, I can definitely see myself (at least one of my friends has already been using it) referring to this reasonably regularly, you can select the camera, bear in mind this is for video cameras, everything from the Canon GL up to the Sony F23.
Similar to the above, but geared more towards stills photography by the looks of it, unfortunately I couldn't get the site up to investigate.
Another reasonably handy app, a little ugly compared to the Digital Heaven widget, and to be fair, I'm probably more likely to use the widget as it'll be on to the edit station, but maybe I'll be in PC world, wondering how big a hard drive I need for location digitising... you never know.
This isn't in the web app list, but they've recently announced the iPhone compatibility and it's an interesting service.
I haven't seen any other "productivity" apps that I think would give me any better functionality than the existing iPhone functions (for what I need), feel free to suggest tho.
Native Apps
So next up, the App Store, this hasn't launched yet, but there's various announcements on line (specifically I've been checking posts on tuaw.com)
Okay okay, I said no stupid apps, but we're talking Lightsaber's here!!
(possibly Tube 2) Uses the Location functions of the iPhone, tells you your nearest Tube station, then you can plan a route to where you want to go. While this does seem ok, quite useful, possibly quicker than consulting my trusty tube map leaflet, for an app that will probably be charged for there does seem to be a lack of functionality/features. Post Code search? Service updates? option of actual tube map rather than overlay?
Nothing else has sprung up yet, ebay app possibly.
Jailbreak Apps
Now I don't intend to jailbreak my phone unless there is a 100% absolute need to, I'm hoping any actual useful apps will find their way to the App Store. Many developers are complaining about not being accepted, ok Apple are limiting the initial numbers, fair enough, the other thing I think is there's a lot of crap apps out there. However...
Yes this would be useful, if you combine it with other apps for using the files that are on your device. Good news is that they're working on an SDK version.
Notes looks a little weak for typing any serious text docs, so we're between Google Docs, but if you're offline or no signal (out in a field or something) A handy text editor would be nice.
An IM client for iPhone, supposed to be pretty good. Would I use it? I don't know, I use AIM, but would I need it on an iPhone?
Yes, play NES ROMs on the iPhone, tempting, very tempting, but very against what I'm trying to do app wise!! And I wouldn't jailbreak my phone for it.
So, I keep looking, no doubt more will come to light once the App Store is up and running and I actually have an iPhone and am using it on a regular basis.
Thoughts?
Some grabs taken from the Facebook profiles of 3 people.
I mean really???! How many of these even have an actual USE? How many of these actually GET USED??I've been gradually looking for useful apps to add to my profile, and religiously blocking any attempts to get me to send a hug, bite someone, buy a drink for, etc etc etc. It's like having to deny millions of random bands on MySpace all over again!
So far this..
Is my block of apps on my profile. In order L-R and down...
- Education & Work
- Some basic profile info I include
- My Web Profiles
- A handy little app that allows you to create another 'app block' style panel for links to your other profiles online
- Video
- Because I want to upload videos every now and again
- Notes
- Linked by RSS to this blog, so updates are automatically shown on FB
- Digg.com
- Shows my recently Dugg stories on my profile (although I think this has been superceded by a better one that displays them in my Feed, don't think it's the same thing)
- Pages
- For things I WANT to support or keep tabs on this is it. It's pretty much like embedding MySpace into your profile.
- Photos
- Cos it's the law, and FB's implementation of photos is actually pretty good (could do with bigger albums tho)
- Posted Items
- Actually handy to share general links every now and again (even tho some might be shite)
- Movies
- Because I like movies and this is a good way of sharing thoughts on the ones I watch (in tandem with the blog), and the quizzes are quite fun too.
- Wall
- I'd probably put this as the most useless one of the lot (that I've got), there's better ways to communicate within FB, but at the same time it's used every now and again and I just can't give it up.
Not shown on there is TwitterSync, which (when Twitter sorts itself out), automatically updates my FB status with the most recent post on my Twitter feed. Groups and Events, both standard FB apps and useful in their own right and Revision 3 Player, which I'm gonna remove cos I forgot I had it.
Now after all Facebook is a SOCIAL network, and part of being social is having fun, so I'm not really knocking all the shite apps entirely, if people enjoy the whole Vampires vs Werewolf thing, knock yourselves out! And Scrabulous etc have proved pretty popular.
I just don't understand why some users have SO MANY apps installed, I can't see how they're using them all, they make the profiles load slower and the privacy issues must be all over the place! Also how come there's the demand for what are essentially the SAME BLOODY APP, just with different bells and whistles? Is that what were devolving to?
END RANT (for now)
A couple of quick thoughts on the new iPhone...
Still no MMS?!? WTF?!? WAAAA!
Any chance people can STOP going on about MMS?!?
Oh yeah MMS is so great, costs more than a text (over plan), limited file size and formats, I don't think I've ever sent anything useful via MMS, just stupid shit.
Apple won't support MMS because they'll go with email instead, which is better and I can still send stupid shit on it, and at the end of the day, a crapload of people will have iPhones, corporate have BlackBerry, a primarily EMAIL based device and all the other manufacturers will be playing catch-up!
Quit it already!
Any chance people can STOP going on about MMS?!?
Oh yeah MMS is so great, costs more than a text (over plan), limited file size and formats, I don't think I've ever sent anything useful via MMS, just stupid shit.
Apple won't support MMS because they'll go with email instead, which is better and I can still send stupid shit on it, and at the end of the day, a crapload of people will have iPhones, corporate have BlackBerry, a primarily EMAIL based device and all the other manufacturers will be playing catch-up!
Quit it already!
GPS!! Hurrah!!!
Until you're in a no mobile signal area and it can't refresh the Google Maps! :/
Have to wait to see what 3rd party SatNav stuff comes out before that's 100%
Apart from that roll on July 11th cos I'm getting a new iPhone!
Ok, went out earlier, got the 14 cards
Feeling a little aprehensive... after all, as I mentioned in the previous post, the last 14-card-combo didn't end too happily, although this time it's 14 of the same type.
Well I had to go through 10 sequential cards (the numbers are on the bottom right of the card) before hitting a winner with a value of £2, the only winning card in this lot.
Still in the game tho, let's see where this £2 leads... probably nowhere.
So far, over two rounds of the "game" I've put in a total of £4 and played a total of 61 cards, 58 pig ones and 3 of the £100,000 ones. All the winning ones have been pig ones, so for that card...
58 cards played = 46 lose + 12 win (1 in 4.83??)
Highest winning so far was on the first lot, being £20, and accrued winnings (which doesn't work but hey) of £61.
Or minor gambling addiction, you decide. Well don't, because I already know the answer. ;)
It's not an addiction per-say, just too much time on my hands I think, anyway... I decided not to vlog this one, I think you've endured enough of me scratching for now, so here's just the words and pictures, but not together in a magical moving form (unless you blink really quickly and shake your head).
So, at the end of the last installment, I'd been left with a single card winning £1, well that one lost. Damn, so ends the streak and I put it down to the 3 different cards that I took on the last lot. I'm not bitter tho.
That card was part of a mass scratching between myself and three others (Jim, Carrie and Vic), various cards were scratched, mostly the pig ones and a few Indiana Jones ones, there were a couple of wins that got exchanged for more cards and then subsequently lost, but that's the nature of the beast.
So starts a new round. I went to the shop, spent £2 on 2 pig cards and one of them won.
10 more of the same please
The positive energies worked thank you!! Out of these 10 cards 4 of them won..."HOW MUCH?!" I hear you scream in moist anticipation...£14!! True it's not the £8,000 yet but I'm still in the game, this time a combo of 2x £1 (sequential cards btw) a £2 and another £10 pig. Now I should go right out and get some more in the hope that I don't skip any of the cards on the roll, but that ain't gonna happen tonight, so I'll probably get them tomorrow.
My concern is that we're now into the same situ as before, 4 cards winning £14, does this mean I'll only be able to get 11 of pig ones again? Will I miss out on the big win? What of the odd card I saw the shop assistant put to one side before tearing me 10 fresh ones of the roll? Will I ever cash in a card? When will I find something better to do?
(again if you're on Facebook click "view original post")
Ok, here it is, what did I do with that winning card?
(for people seeing this on Facebook, you'll have to click "view original post" up there, cos there's a video here)
Let me know, comments here, twitter, facebook wall, youtube, email, text, branded guinea pig
Not many additions, but it's been updated with a few bits from the past month.
Not sure about the Twango.com/Ovi encoding, but thought I'd give it a go.
Be sure to check the website, also updated and thouroughly iWebbed until I learn better CSS n stuff.
Well it's pretty normal actually, although I shall endeavour to reuse that post title when I do something worthy of it. In this instance I've just spent a few days on a corporate gig, shooting a few interviews and then cutting them together with a load more footage shot by myself and others, a load of photos and some funky music.
What's great about jobs like this is, you're working with friends in a reasonably relaxed, yet productive environment, and can end up in not the usual places for work, such as editing in a conference room (above).It does seem a bit of a haphazard layout up there, and I did comment on the fact that the table looked more impressive the other day, but at least today everything was working pretty well.
Day 1 of edit, FCP sees the DSR-25 deck, but refuses to do anything with it.
Day 2 of edit, FCP refuses to acknowledge the existence of the replacement DSR-25.
Day 3 of edit, FCP happy in it's fluffy-comfort-blanket of the DSR-11 (Matt now happier knowing he can playout)
Surprisingly, the cheap 500Gb USB2 HDD that was used for this job (not my choice, but read on) held up pretty well (I think it's a Seagate), I was getting soooo angry with it to begin with, only mildly frustrated with it about 2/3 of the way through and slightly shameful about the remarks I made about it towards the end.
We've decided to rename it the "FTL Drive" (read:BSG) as I kept having to wait for it to 'spool up' all the time.
The other thing I realised is how badly I need to upgrade my PowerPC version of FCP to an Intel Native/Universal one, I'm sure half the performance issues would be solved by this (that and an 8-core MacPro maybe), the hobnobs made things slightly better tho ;)
The other thing that this editing setup has going for it, is despite cutting on my 1.83 Macbook with a USB HDD and a random assortment of other stuff, there's a projector in the room, which day's 1 & 2 (non-working decks) had the timeline and canvas on and day 3, had a projected output preview, NICE! (Although as there was no r/c for the deck we had to live with the timecode and DVCAM displayed on the screen, I think the client was ok with this)
Anyway, a good job, well done, now hopefully the AV guys will make it look all pretty when it's projected at the event. :)
Above you can see a picture of my current "office", you can also see that I need a new one, as the dining table is not the best place to be, although slightly more comfortable than being cramped upstairs in what I shall now affectionately call "the stationary cupboard".
Some points of note:-
- Dirty MacBook, Twitteriffic and Pownce constantly open in the background (or foreground in this pic)
- A Wafer Thin (in an Allo Allo French accent) ham and salad cream Petit Pain (roll)
- Orange Squash
- Losing lottery ticket (three "lucky" dips, one number circled)
- Notepad, 2008/9 diary which doesn't start until June!, Accounts book
- HMRC form for becoming Self Employed (did it online tho)
- P45
- Mobile phone (not ringing)
- Confirmation letter for the "Becoming Self Employed" workshop at Horsham tax office
- Some nasty nasty Potpourri stuff
This is what it's all about, living it up, cold calling, downloading PDF's (when the links on the HMRC site ACTUALLY WORK!), and figuring a game plan.
Pownce it!Just got back from a top notch Villareal gig at The Albert in Brighton, one of the songs played being "The 7th" which I did the video for ;)
Pownce it!You can't afford to um and ah about taking jobs, cos someone else will have it.
Why was I umming and ahhing (!?)? Well because there was a potential job for Mon-Wed next week, I was free Mon & Tues, but got plans on the Weds, so i said, I'd check about weds and get back within the hour.
Checked about Weds, stuff was still on but I decided that I should really take the job if it was offered as I'm still building initial contacts, phoned back, around half hour later and the job's been given to someone else. Damn.
Fair enough, I'm not kicking off about losing the job, shit happens, but at the same time I think being a little more ruthless with my decision making is in order, especially at this stage, which brings me to the next point, why is everything cropping up at once?!? At the same time how worried would I be if *nothing* was coming my way!!
(dum dum dum) Another on bites the dust.
Kinda (but unintentionally) following on from my previous post about Stage6, I received and email the other day about VideoEgg..
Dropping like flies eh? It seems, much like DivX behind Stage6, VideoEgg will continue to operate, producing online advertising content aimed at social networking and online communities, which actually sounds quite interesting. Although far too much to read right now as I've spent all morning reading up on how to sort out my tax and capital allowances, none of which is making a great deal of sense, but I'm buggered if I can afford an accountant at the mo!
Pownce it!A simple bit of contact spring cleaning gone awry??
Really?!? Somehow I don't think I'll be pressing that Merge button! Why won't you show me the problems and let me select which ones I want merged? No because that would be FAR TOO CLEVER! What is this? WINDOWS?!?!?
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