Tag Archive for 'internet'

iPhone this, 3G that.

Everyone’s talking about it. I might as well contribute a little bit.

I sold my iPhone.

I realized something: I don’t need a revolutionary Internet communication device. Not when I have the Air. More on this later.

The iPhone was a splurge even when I got it. I had to get on the bandwagon, being the Apple ahemfanboyahem I am. And at the time, I made this move only after the $200 reduction in price.

What? Did you think I was some crazy Machead? Heh, I don’t think I would have spent $600 on the iPhone. I even bought a refurbished 8GB one for $350, and even though about going down to the 4GB model for $250.

So I sold it this week for $280. I was happy to have an extra $280 to save. Until… the next one?

Maybe, maybe not.

There are a couple reasons for and against the next generation of the iPhone. But 3G doesn’t matter for me as much as some of the other people. Why?

Since I am surrounded by wireless Internet (finally, at my apartment also) and almost always carry my laptop (the Air is finally a true “lap”top… runs much cooler…), the need for a device to be always “on” is already fulfilled somewhat. Now, that is not to say that the iPhone isn’t ridiculously easy to use. I miss when my iPhone would vibrate to tell me I have an email message: It’s a new level of notification when there’s a tactile response to something that happened online.

3G map from AT&T

This is a map from AT&T’s site. See that blue? That’s where the fun is. See where it isn’t blue? Not so much love. Here’s a clearer version of that map, brought to you by the Wacom tablet.

3G map, modified by yours truly

Sidenote: I hope to use this tablet more in the future.

If not 3G, then what else? Bring on the Muzak.

Of course, I loved the fact that the iPhone represented one less thing to worry about.

Before iPhone:

  • Keys
  • Wallet
  • iPod
  • Phone

After iPhone:

  • Keys
  • Money Clip (I upgraded in this department as well: Less bloatware… in my pants.)
  • iPhone

The fact that the number of things in my pockets went from a dizzying four to a much more manageable three is huge.

The problem started happening when I realized the iPhone earbuds are pretty much trash. I’m was on my fourth or fifth, and just gave up to buy a much sturdier, bass-friendly clip-ons.

IF the new iPhone has a non-recessed jack like everyone’s raving about, then I’ll be much more inclined to get one. I’m okay with taking out the phone out of my pocket to take the call. I do it anyway because…

Sidenote: Audible iPhone Notifications

Someone write this program: Make the iPhone “tell” me audibly who is calling. That way, I don’t need to take the thing out of my pocket to see who it is.

I guess you could just pick up the call, but I tend to just start in mid-conversation with people I know. (If you know me, you know what I’m talking about.)

This doesn’t have to just stop with calls. Do it for songs, too. Artists, titles… And also, make it so that you can talk to the iPhone: have some kind of voice command to skip to next album or previous song.

I think I’m getting too far ahead of myself. Or maybe someone brilliant is working on it.

Camera. CAMERA.

Camera is soooo important for me. I don’t have a digital camera, nor will I get a point-and-shoot one. I stopped wearing a watch (to tell the time, to set an alarm) because the cellphone made it irrelevant. I stopped carrying a music playing device because the cellphone made it irrelevant. And so, seeing this pattern unfold, I have decided to take a firm stand on this.

It’s only time until America catches up with the rest of the developed world and create some hot cameras for their phones. the iPhone camera wasn’t too bad. But the kicker was that, even better than certain point-and-clicks, it had online capability out of the box. I could post to flickr by email (or if you’re l33t and have it hacked, through some apps) immediately after I shoot the picture.

The lick-able user interface

I really don’t feel like I have to argue the fact that no cellphone UI comes close to the iPhone UI.

I’ve used Nokia Ericsson (some free brick phone), Motorola (v505), and Samsung (d807) phones. All trash in terms of UI (although, I like sliders, so the d807 still has a place in my heart).

By this alone, I should be re-buying the phone. I love good UI almost too much. I also hate bad UI completely too much.

So… Will you get it on the 9th?

The rumor around the blogosphere has it getting released on the 9th. Probably on stage. I’ll probably have to take off work to sit there on Apple’s site to grab it if I decide to get it.

But really, I’ll just do it like last time. I’ll go to the nearest Apple store that has it in stock, mess with it, and then buy it… sigh I guess it’s just a matter of time, isn’t it.

Start your “Josh Kim iPhone purchase date” pool now.

Is This Thing On?

Twitter needs to start being more stable, or I’m going to start throwing chairs.

This afternoon, Facebook was a little spotty too.

And EDGE was down for my iPhone today.

MY WORLD IS CRASHING! AHH!

Well, at least, I’m not in the middle east. Not because of the warfare (well, that’s beside the point), but because of the Internet outage over there.

Relient K and Shutdown Day? More like… Shutdown 1.5 Days

Chicago. Ah.

Inadvertantly, I kinda celebrated Shutdown Day a half day early. Supposedly, today was supposed to be a day without using the computer, at all.

For me, this happened because I was without Internet. You see, without Internet, my computer ceases to be a computer in a lot of ways. I can’t check my email, talk online, check my feeds… I need my data!

I finally drove over to Panera near Woodfield for some lovely wireless bits.

Now I probably have like 300 stories I have to wade through (Google Reader, why don’t you tell me the exact number and NOT “100+”… what, is it that CPU intensive to give me the right number?) I have about 10 emails I have to reply to (lengthy… ahhhh!). Posts upon posts to write…

Here are some post ideas I have right now, sitting at Panera.

Mae at House of Blues

  • Relient K Concert (with Sherwood and Mae) at House of Blues
    • The Actual Event: Whoo hoo! First non-classical concert ever!
    • RIAA and Music: I thought this topic through while they were playing their new songs, the ones that I didn’t know.
    • City of Chicago: How INSANE it is to drive in the city
    • 14 Year Old Girls: DAH. “Sadie Hawkins Dance! Mood Rings!” still rings in my ear…
      • I always thought Relient K was more geared towards college kids… huh.
  • Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston
    • How incredibly awesome it is
    • How amazingly the author Jessica Livingston could have easily been Josh Kim
      • She writes… the Intro. The rest of the book is basically her asking questions at the founders of each respective company covered in the book. I could have asked those questions, and typed out 450 pages. Heck, I’d probably type that sucker faster…
      • Meh, maybe she asked the right questions… we’ll see as I keep on reading
    • How much I want to write a review PER CHAPTER
  • Consulting
    • How I keep mistyping “consulting” as “consluting”… ew…
    • Things I’ve learned with the clients I’ve had in the past
    • How I want to grow it: How to create an effective portfolio
  • Blog
    • Categorizing vs Tagging: I think I’m getting it…
    • Redesign process: How to effectively design a Wordpress Theme

Yeah, insanity.

I have a feeling, April is going to be insane.

Are you guys wondering “I mean… dang, Josh Kim… how much more insane can it get”?

You’ll see.

That’s One Phat Pipe!

I normally don’t link to straight posts without adding some kind of value to it, but this is just something that made me laugh. From WTF.com (No… now it’s “Worse Than Failure”)

A Really Really Phat Pipe

If you really could download at 1.22×10E37 MB/sec… more like… 1.22×34 GB/sec… Tera… Peta… Uh, I don’t know, that’s really stanking fast.

Think of the size of the truck that would be needed to handle such a load… but wait, it’s not a truck you just dump something on… it’s actually a series of really phatty phat phat tubes! (And yes, I actually didn’t know there was a wikipedia article on this… Yikes…)