tech

Watch it on YouTube (shot with my iPhone 4, using an external Lavaliere microphone)

Click here to view this image in its native resolution (which is incredible, on the iPhone 4).

[Required reading: Apple iPhone 4 Antennas... (by AntennaSys, Inc.)]

A lot of people have been mentioning how horribly terrible the iPhone 4's 3G antenna seems to be, due to an issue that has affected somewhere around half of iPhone 4 users (according to this MacRumors poll) so far.

Wanting to see this issue for myself, and knowing an iPhone 4 is on its way already, but will be delayed another week, I went to my local Apple Store, and tested five different iPhone 4's. All five exhibited the exact signal loss problem: If you grip the iPhone rather tightly with your wrist pressing against the lower-left corner of the iPhone, the 3G bars gradually diminish to zero, and the signal is lost.

Introducing... reviews by me!

For the longest time, I have wanted to share some of the research that I do to pick the best product for my needs, and some of the thoughts I have on a product days, weeks, and months into using it.

I am somewhat of a fanatic about purchasing once, and using an item to its fullest extent—never overbuying, but also never settling for something that works half of the time (I guess that's a big reason I'm always a Mac... though I do see utility in a Windows PC or Linux workstation for some people).

Posted over on Open Source Catholic: Celebrating the Holy Mass from an iPad. (Original story on WDTPRS; please comment on the OSC post linked above).

Boston, MA - August 7, 2010. (Catholic New Media Conference Details | Registration).

I'm there.

"We're living in a different world today," Microsoft Vice President Tami Reller said in an interview with CNET News.

The world is a lot different. That's for sure. It's not the same world that Bill Gates successfully launched Windows 95 into, causing a great stir in the world of personal computing. Anti-Microsoft prejudices aside, I don't know if Microsoft knows this 'new world.'

It's a world where flashy and appealing advertising, and a 'hip' CEO makes your software and hardware seem cool (e.g. Apple). It's a world where free as in beer is the norm, and things don't have to be perfect, but if they work okay and solve problems, people stick around (e.g. Google, Twitter). It's a world where office and work communication and collaboration are no longer tied to a certain computer or operating system—it's all done online (e.g. everyone but Microsoft).