iPhone version 1.1.1

iPhone Software
Version 1.1.1

WARNING: Apple has discovered that some of the unauthorized unlocking programs available on the Internet may cause irreparable damage to the iPhone's software. IF YOU HAVE MODIFIED YOUR iPHONE'S SOFTWARE, APPLYING THIS SOFTWARE UPDATE MAY RESULT IN YOUR iPHONE BECOMING PERMANENTLY INOPERABLE. Making unauthorized modifications to the software on your iPhone violates the iPhone software license agreement, and the inability to use your iPhone due to unauthorized software modifications is not covered under your iPhone's warranty.

This version of the software includes additional new features, bug fixes and supersedes all previous versions.

New features include:

• iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store
• Louder speakerphone and receiver volume
• Home Button double-click shortcut to phone favorites or music controls
• Space bar double-tap shortcut to intelligently insert period and space
• Mail attachments are viewable in portrait and landscape
• Stocks and cities in Stocks and Weather can be re-ordered
• Apple Bluetooth Headset battery status in the Status Bar
• Support for TV Out
• Preference to turn off EDGE/GPRS when roaming internationally
• New Passcode lock time intervals
• Adjustable alert volume

For feature descriptions and complete instructions, see the users guide for your iPhone at:
    <http://www.apple.com/support/manuals/iphone/>

For more information about iPhone, go to:
    <http://www.apple.com/iphone/>

To troubleshoot your iPhone, or to view additional support information go to:
    <http://www.apple.com/support/iphone>

For detailed information on Security Updates, please visit this website:

This is straight from the software install agreement page in iTunes.

Microsoft Unveils Internet TV Beta for Vista Media Center - Paul's SuperSite blog

 

Microsoft Unveils Internet TV Beta for Vista Media Center

Some interesting news from a Microsoft press release:

On the morning of Sept. 28, 2007, U.S. users of Windows Vista Home Premium edition and Windows Vista Ultimate edition will find a new feature inside Media Center: the beta release of Internet TV. This new feature will allow people to enjoy a range of television and video content on their PCs and TV sets without a TV tuner in their PC. This streaming video content will be supported by an advertising platform provided by YuMe and will be available to viewers for free.*
The content available in Internet TV comes from MSN Video, with more than 100 hours available at the start of the beta period, including the following:

• Full episodes of TV shows such as the critically acclaimed “Arrested Development”
• Full-length music concerts by artists such as Chris Cornell, Snoop Dogg, Elton John, Pink, John Mayer and the Pussycat Dolls
• High-quality movie trailers from major movie studios
• The latest news segments from MSNBC
• Sports clips from FOX Sports

Internet TV has been designed for both the TV and PC screen, and features high-quality video optimized for broadband streaming. Viewers can enjoy these high-quality videos on Extenders for Windows Media Center, including Xbox 360 consoles, as well as PCs running Windows Media Center in Windows Vista (available in Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate).

Neat. We'll have to see how annoying the ads are, of course.

Thanks Paul...

Halo 3 Initial Thoughts

I just finished the game last night.  It took me two days an an estimated 6 hours.  I must say I am impressed, if not blown away.  The visuals in this game are amazing.  Some complain about the length of the cut scenes, but as a personal preference, I enjoy the feeling that I am playing a movie.  As far as game play, well it is Halo, and Halo has always been pretty good.  After getting over the initial balance configuration and controller scheme changes, Halo 3 fits like an old glove. 

The end of the game is a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy, and not to be accused of spoiling, make sure you watch through the entire credits like you would for Halo 2 and Halo CE. 

There is a sense of relief that this story like is completed and after the story is over it is nice to be able to focus on the multiplayer aspect of the game.  While I haven't had enough time to fully explore the many possibilities of the multiplayer experience, I can say that my initial reaction is positive.  It feels like Halo, but it is obviously more polished.  I have confidence that Bungie didn't let the complaints of Halo 2 and the data from the Beta go to waste. 

While the Halo series is all about the multiplayer, the replay value of that aspect of the game is yet to be seen.  Will it be able to keep the level of interest that Halo 2 achieved years after launch?  Time will tell but it looks like Bungie has put together a good product all around. 

Halo 3 Released

Well, I preordered my copy at Best Buy because of a promotion that caught my eye so I am sitting here right now with no Halo 3.  BB opens here in around 1 hour and 15 minutes so until then I will wait.  I will post some kind of mini review after I beat the story mode, and then again once I get used to the multiplayer.  I have heard mixed reviews as of this morning and I am anxious to see for myself. 

Apple Lock-In Spells Trouble

Apple.  Love the company or hate it, it is growing in popularity fast. While I love the style of apples devices (aside from the extremely ugly mac book pro), I would never choose to use a mac as my primary computer for many reasons that I will not go into here.  That isn't the topic here.  The personal computing market is still dominated by Windows, and probably will be forever.  The music, or more appropriately, the music player, market is controlled by Apple and its iPod's, iPhone, and iTunes.

Not only does Apple have a monopoly over this market, but it practices lock-in techniques that some would consider to be borderline illegal.  Sure, Apples practices as far as its media players are concerned came about well before it developed the kind of dominance that it enjoys today.  That doesn't mean that Apple is free from the same kind of Anti-trust laws that got Microsoft into trouble years ago.  The truth of the matter is that now that Apple has asserted itself as the leader in the digital music realm, it has to start acting like the monopoly that it is. 

Lets look at the facts.  You got to your local Best Buy and pick up the new iPod Nano.  You take it home and you have tons of music files, and movies and such that you are ready to put on your new beautiful device.  What do you have to do?  You cant even get the thing to hardly turn on without plugging it into a computer running iTunes (Apples digital media jukebox).  You cant just drag you files to the device, and it is very likely that the files you do have are not compatible.  Apple has made sure that in order to have the best iPod experience without having to bend over backwards, you should be using their program, with their file formats sold at their store.  iTunes itself is buggy on Windows, so there could even be some attempt to make the iPod work better on a mac than a PC.  As with any Apple product you need to buy 10 other things to make it work the way we would like it to work in the first place, unless you are a dedicated Mac fan-boy, you don't want to own every overpriced Apple accessory on the market to make things just work.  Want to get your media content to your living room, as is the trend these days?  If you are using iTunes you have but one choice, Apple TV.  Now Microsoft has learned from its mistakes in the past.  Media Center, Microsoft's Apple TV/iTunes equivalent has the new extenders such as the Xbox 360, and guess what, they are open to developers.  That means more competitive prices and therefore more consumer friendly devices.

Apple on the other hand doesn't have to worry about consumer friendly prices, because it is the sole developer for most of the devices its consumers need.  Take for example the new iPhone.  I wanted to go and get a nicer set of headphone for mine only to discover that the headphone jack is only shaped to fit Apple headphones.  It is this kind of scary trend that Apple has gotten itself caught up in out of ability and greed.  In the end, we will see Apple in court, just as any monopolistic company before it.  Just as Microsoft has had to tread softly given its monopolistic qualities over the PC market, Apple will soon learn that its stylish, closed system world is going to be rocked because in the end, the consumer is protected by law, and no one cared how pretty the new iMac looks. 

Halo 3 News: New ViDOC

 

"The long-awaited pre-launch ViDOC is here and it focuses on oft-discussed features Forge and Saved Films. In addition to being available on Xbox Live Marketplace for download, the ViDOC is also available for download on the Interwebz.

WMV Large here

WMV Medium here"

 

This is probably the best ViDOC to come out of bNET since the conception on Halo 3.  It shows some really amazing stuff and a lot of actual game play while explaining in great detail the feature sets for save films, and forge.  You can use the links above or get it on your 360 marketplace. 

Blog Moved to New Home

Well, I have moved the actual technology blog from its original home in Live Spaces to this location at http://tech-zine.blogspot.com/. I will be working on getting a custom domain name soon, but I think it is more important to get this blog up and running.

I hope people like the new design.

Apple Nightmare

So one of my families iPhones has been acting up. No big suprise given it is a new technology (and an apple product - CRASH DIFFERENT ;) So we take it up to the local apple store... Big mistake. I had heard tales of the horrors of the Apple store but had never personally experienced until now.

As we entered the fruit lovers paradise we were greeted by no one. After 10 minutes of standing in what seemed to be the line we realized that the idea of a customer service line was just one more fully functional standard Apple felt it must reinvent.

We soon realized that in the Apple store world it was necessary to stalk busy clerks until they were for a split second freed from one customer and then attacked by the next. Now that we had reeled in our apple "genius" we asked what we had come to ask. It was no suprise when our clerk us no idea why the phones battery would not stay charged( clearly a bad battery). The apple associates, refusing to believe their beloved company could produce a malfunctioning part, argued out irrational theories. It was 15 minutes later that they put their racked their brains of apple intelligence (if there is such a thing)together they came to the conclusion of ... A bad battery!

However the long and irritating journey was not over yet. To a desk we went. I was informed that the station's mac book had locked up. Not unexpected but annoying just the same. Surprisingly it took only 1 more mac and 15 more minutes to finish what should have been a 10 minute ordeal in the first place. Total time spent in the midst of greatness: Over an hour.

That last sentence really sums up the apple store and apple in general. Pretty on the outside, but slow and unproductive on the inside.

What the apple store is supposed to look like:

What the apple store is actually like:

YouTube - Microsoft Surface Parody

I thought this video was extremely funny. I'm not poking fun at Microsoft's new "Surface" computing, I think this sort of thing is the future, but nonetheless it is entertaining to take a dry humor look at this new tech.

Apple - iPhone - Store Credit

This is finally available. Here is the quote from Apple's own website:

If you bought your iPhone before August 22, you may be eligible for an instant $100 electronic credit toward the purchase of products at the Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store. See the terms and conditions below for more details.

To receive your credit, follow these three easy steps.

Step 1: Identify your iPhone

To confirm eligibility, simply enter your phone number and iPhone serial number in the fields provided.

Step 2: Enter your access code

You will receive an SMS text message on your iPhone containing the access code to redeem your $100 credit. Enter your phone number and your access code in the fields provided to generate an electronic store credit.

Step 3: Get your $100 Apple Store credit

You will receive a $100 electronic store credit to purchase products at the Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store.

The link to "get started' is here. I personally going to hold off until some better head phones are release before I redeem mine.