medgirl2001's blog

Multitasking and iPhone 4.0

2010-04-09T12:16:00.002-04:00

As we all know, yesterday Apple announced multitasking as part of the upcoming iPhone 4.0 software update. I have already read a read a lot of criticism that this isn't "true" multitasking. Apple did announce several of the 3rd party multitasking features that many have been hoping for - streaming Pandora and other radio apps in the background, GPS apps operating in the background (they showed TomTom and Pandora running at the same time), letting downloads/uploads continue with apps that aren't the foreground app, allowing Skype to function in the background, and so on.

So what's missing? Well, another facet of multitasking in iPhone 4.0 allows "fast app switching," which allows a background app to exist in a saved but not active state. When the user chooses to go back to that app (through an elegant new UI feature), it will start up right where it left off. According to Apple, 0% of the CPU is required in maintaining the app in its quiescent state, allowing battery life and CPU cycles to be preserved. Technically, several apps aren't actually running at once, but can be called up quickly without having to exit back to the home screen and re-opened.

For those who feel this isn't really multitasking, I would ask you to think about what multitasking really means to you. I'm a person who likes to have several things going on at once. On my desktop, I may have a Twitter client open, Mail, several web windows, perhaps my calendar, and more. Back when I used to play online poker, I would often have several poker games active at the same time. The truth, though, is that it's impossible to take in and interact with all of that information at the same moment. It's really just "fast app switching" from one task to another. There is an argument that that type of behavior actually makes us less productive - for example, the sound notifying us that a new e-mail has come in is a distraction from whatever task is at hand. Even when we decide not to look at the message immediately, some attention is taken from the active task, decreasing efficiency.

Right or wrong, however, we like to have the ability to multitask. I'm sure we all have our reasons, perhaps deluding ourselves into thinking we are more efficient that way. In my case, a lot of my desire to multitask is impatience. With online poker, for example, I quickly bored of waiting for others to take their turn. I enjoyed the challenge of having to think quickly with more than one active game. I was always a better online poker player than a live action poker player, since patient observation of your opponents is far less crucial online. Players tend to hop in and out of games more frequently, there are no facial expressions to read, and timing of play is more uniform, so devoting a large amount of attention to observation is largely wasted. (In live poker, observation is of course an essential part of the game, but the action can move mind-numblingly slowly at times).

My reasons for wanting multitasking in the iPhone, with the exception of some special cases like streaming radio and GPS apps, are similar. We do not yet live in a world where phone hardware and network speeds are instantaneous. I get bored waiting for Words with Friends to connect or waiting for a web page or Twitter stream to load. Ideally, I would like those tasks to happen instantly. Since that is not possible, what I really want is fast app switching so I can do something else and go back to the task when complete.

Will the new iPhone multitasking accomplish this? I think it remains to be seen, and may depend on the developer and the app in question. If Words with Friends pauses in its interminable uploading while I'm doing something else and then I just go back to the app to continue waiting, it will not help. If the app can complete its task while I do something else, I will be thrilled. The programming details are over my head, but my take on Apple's presentation is that "pausing" an app is one approach, but some apps will have the ability to continue uploading/downloading in the background. It will likely be up to developers to make the right decision for their particular app.

Security through obscurity

2010-02-08T18:14:00.004-05:00

Recently on a discussion board that I frequent, several members were hit by a nasty little virus that they got from an Adobe Flash ad. The ads were served by a legitimate company and appeared on a legitimate web site, but malicious code was embedded in the third-party ads, presenting a malware notice for a “virus cleaner.” Of course it was nothing of the sort, but rather an unpleasant bit of malware that wreaked havoc on users’ systems, taking hours to remove.

During the course of the discussion about this virus, it was noted that Macs were not affected. A Mac user might see the initial notice (I did myself), but there was no danger to a Mac system. This discussion quickly devolved to the usual back-and-forth between the rather smug Mac users and PC users who sneered that Macs were not really any safer than PCs, but rather protected only by “security through obscurity” since almost 100% of virus/malware threats do not affect Macs, rather than by any sort of computing moral high ground.

I am not going to get into a discussion about the relative advantages and disadvantages of the architecture of OS X and Windows as they relate to security. Let us assume for the moment that OS X is inferior from a security standpoint and/or that Apple is lax about security threats (both arguments made by Mac detractors). I would still argue that even if OS X has large, gaping security holes, the risk to its users is far, far lower than it is for PC users, even those protected by religiously updated anti-virus and anti-malware software.

Consider this analogy to real viruses that affect human beings. Let’s say there is a very deadly, highly contagious strain of an Ebola-like virus causing a hemorrhagic fever. In Scenario A, there is a vaccine for it that is usually effective. In Scenario B, there is no vaccine or cure for the destructive virus, but it only affects hedgehogs. Which scenario would you prefer?

Obviously, Scenario B is the way to go, if you have a choice. Vaccines, whether against computer malware or actual living viruses, can fail. If people choose not to get or update their vaccines/antivirus software, the population as a whole is at increased risk. HHV (Hemorrhagic Hedgehog Virus), on the other hand, does not affect human beings, whether or not they take precautions against it. While it may be security through obscurity, and could be viewed as dumb luck rather than any moral superiority in its beneficiaries, it is still a far better situation.

For Mac users, it’s a condition that may not last forever. If Mac market share continues to increase, security threats undoubtedly will as well. Even now, no computer user is immune to phishing scams, identify theft, and the like. For the moment, though, flying under the radar, while perhaps not the most valiant of defenses, is a highly effective security strategy.

Using Citrix with Mac Safari

2010-02-08T14:09:00.005-05:00

Citrix doesn’t play well with Safari on a Mac. Apparently Citrix still thinks that Macs should be running IE5 (there’s a blast from the past), because in order to use Safari with Citrix, you have to “pretend” to be using IE.

To do this, you have to enable the “Develop” menu in Safari, which is hidden by default.

Run Terminal and type (or copy/paste):

defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeDebugMenu 1

Hit enter. Now open Safari. The Develop menu should be there now. Select one of the IE browsers under User Agent, and now Citrix should be satisifed that you are actually running a Mac.

In actual practice, Firefox is still a better option for Citrix Mac users, since with Safari you will have to select the User Agent everytime you want to use Citrix. Safari goes back to its default user agent settings when you close it.

Citrix on Mac: A Fix for SSL Error 61

2010-02-08T14:08:00.003-05:00

The IT department where I work changed the certificate for remote access via Citrix this past weekend. Wheras previously I had no problem accessing the VPN using Citrix via Firefox on a Mac, it suddently stopped working.
I got the following error:

SSL Error 61: You have not chosen to trust “Network Solutions Certificate Authority,” the issuer of the server’s security certificate. Error number: 183

This was a puzzling error. I checked my certificates under Firefox and it seemed to be correct. The certificate appeared in my Keychain. I tried adjusting the Trust settings for the certificate on Keychain, but that had no effect. No one at IT was able to help me because they don’t have much Mac experience. A Google search showed that this is a fairly common problem that can affect several different certificates (the one listed above is the one I had a problem with). Unfortunately, none of the answers I found got me all the way to a fix. I thought I would post my solution here to see if it helps anyone.

1. Go to Keychain Access and find the certificate that is a problem (for me it was Network Solutions Certificate Authority, but it could be any of a number of certificates).

2. Export the certificate to the desktop (right click/export) – it will appear as Network Solutions Certificate Authority.cer

3. Go to the Citrix folder on the Mac and look for a keystore/cacerts folder.

4. If the folder isn’t there, you will need to create it. To do this, go to Applications/Citrix ICA Client. Create the folder keystore (Right click/new folder). Within that folder, create the folder cacerts. The path will be Applications/Citrix ICA Client/keystore/cacerts

5. Copy the certificate exported from Keychain earlier (Network Solutions Certificate Authority.cer) to the Applications/Citrix ICA Client/keystore/cacerts folder. Some sources say you need to change the extension to .crt (so in the example, this would be Network Solutions Certificate Authority.crt), but that didn’t work for me. The .cer extension did.

Now you should be able to access the VPN through its usual website on Firefox.

For reference, I am using Citrix for Mac, version 10.00.603, and Firefox, version 3.6 on Mac OS X, version 10.6.2 (Snow Leopard).

Review of Lines, a Disney Wait Times app from TouringPlans.com

2010-01-31T21:17:00.001-05:00

There are several Disney World wait times apps available now for the iPhone on the App Store, some for free and some for a fee. They vary in quality in terms of user interface and features, but they all suffer from the same limitation. Their usefulness is almost entirely dependent on other people using the same app in the same park on the same day. On a busy day, there may be several people using the app at the same time. On the other hand, there may not. Or there may, but those people may have reported a wait time for a ride hours before you want to ride it. It doesn’t do you much good to know that the wait for Space Mountain at 10 am was 30 minutes if you want to ride at 4 in the afternoon.

Lines Beta addresses this limitation, resulting in an extremely useful app. Lines was created by the people at TouringPlans.com who also write the popular Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World. Lines allows users to log in and submit wait times, which are then visible to other users. Lines goes far beyond other wait times apps, however, in also displaying estimated and forecasted wait times. So for example, if no one has posted a wait time for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, there will still be estimated information about waiting time and fastpass distribution times for that ride for the current time as well as throughout the rest of the day. These estimates are derived from the substantial data the TouringPlans.com people have collected over the years. They are guesses, but highly educated ones.

The Lines creators also use the information submitted by users. With other wait times apps, I have often felt it is a bit futile to submit waiting times which will be out of date almost as soon as they are submitted. With Lines, the data entered by users can be used to refine future estimates, making the app even more accurate in the future. The developers have added a little incentive for users to submit times by awarding “badges” such as “Early Bird” for submitting times during the first hour a park is open or ”Park Hopper” for submitting times from more than one park in the same day. The top time submitter for a given ride has their user name displayed on the ride’s page. These are fun and often humorous little ways of acknowledging submissions and encouraging more in the future to see what badges the developers have created.

So how good is Lines in actual practice? I had the opportunity to try it out at Walt Disney World last week. Overall, I was impressed. The estimates and forecasts weren’t always perfectly accurate, but they were generally very close. It wasn’t particularly crowded when I was there, but there did seem to be quite a few people submitting wait times, which was great. Having an idea of waiting times and likely fastpass distribution times was invaluable, particularly at the Magic Kingdom. At Epcot, there are large boards with wait times and fastpass times set up in a few key locations around the park, but at the Magic Kingdom, that information is much harder to come by. Knowing in advance that Space Mountain fastpasses are gone and the wait is 70 minutes, for example, saves a long trudge from Adventureland to Tomorrowland just to find out that information.

The user interface is clean and simple. Within a given park, times can be viewed alphabetically, by time, or by land. When submitting a wait time, the user can submit times for the standby line as well as fastpass and single rider lines if available, all with one submission. Some additional information is given as well, including park hours and Extra Magic Hours, a crowd calendar, and best/worst parks for the day. A 10 day forecast is also available for viewing crowd information for upcoming days.

While Lines works on an iPod touch (or any computer with the Safari browser for that matter), it requires an iPhone for full functionality, simply because WiFi is not widely available in the parks. There are several places in the parks, particularly in certain queue areas (Soarin’ and Nemo come to mind), where an AT&T 3G signal does not reach. This means that submitting wait times or viewing updated wait times won’t be possible until the device is back within range of a wireless signal.

Lines is a web app, meaning you do not purchase it through the app store. It works through the Mobile Safari browser on the iPhone. On the iPhone, the user goes to the address http://m.touringplans.com to bring up the app. The app can be bookmarked to the home screen by pressing the “+” sign and selecting “Add to Home Screen.” The app will then appear as an attractive icon with all of a user’s other apps, indistinguishable from apps purchased from the App Store.

Lines does require a TouringPlans.com account. Initially Lines will be available with a free account, but the developers plan to make it part of a TouringPlans.com subscription, which costs $8.95 for a year (50% off with purchase of one of the 2010 Unofficial Guides). The developers have plans to offer Lines on other mobile platforms in addition to the iPhone in the future.

Lines is a terrific addition to the Disney apps currently available for the iPhone. After using it for a couple of days, I found myself using Lines over any of my other wait times apps, and finally deleted them. What sets Lines apart is its ability to predict waiting times. This valuable information allows the Disney visitor to avoid standing in lines as much as possible.

Review of the iSkin solo FX SE

2009-11-22T13:08:00.003-05:00

I have tried a lot of cases for the iPhone. I have been on a bit of a quest to find the perfect case. Most recently I tried out the iSkin solo FX SE, available for $34.99 from the iSkin site.

The solo FX SE comes in three varieties, clear, black, and pink, while its cousin the solo FX comes in purple, red, orange, blue, and green. I have had trouble finding a pink case that I like, in a shade that isn't too obnoxious, so I was eager to try this one out.

The solo FX SE is easy to put on and remove from the iPhone, but it also has a snug fit, with a nice seal around the edges that should hopefully prevent dust from getting in the ridge around the screen. The case itself is a rubbery material somewhat reminiscent of those jelly shoes from the 80s. It has a nice feel in the hand, however, with the texture on the back keeping it from being too slippery. The iSkin site informs us that the case is treated with a substance called "Microban" to "inhibit the growth of stain and odor causing bacteria." That sounds good to me, especially in this age of H1N1.

The case is well-made and fits correctly over the ports. The on/off switch and volume buttons are covered. The keys are a little bit difficult to press in the case, requiring a firm touch to activate. The camera, headphone port, and docking port are exposed. The opening for the headphone port is perfect for the headphones themselves and works with my Monster cassette adapter for my car, but another cassette adapter that I have does not work with this case because its cable attachment is too large.

You can see through the back of the case to see the Apple logo, a feature I love. It always seems like a shame to me to have a beautiful device like the iPhone completely covered by a case, so it's nice to be able to see the phone itself.

Overall, I like the case for its attractive design and protective features. For $34.99, I think a case should be excellent, and this one does not miss the mark. The case also comes with screen protectors with a mirror-like finish when the device is off. I have not yet tried the screen protectors, as I currently have my favorite Power Support Anti-Glare screen protector in place.

Pros:
1. Offers good level of protection without adding bulk.
2. Attractive.
3. Antibacterial!
4. You can see the Apple logo through the case.

Cons:
1. The buttons are a bit difficult to press.
2. May not work with all accessories requiring headphone port.

Verizon and the iPhone?

2009-11-15T15:51:00.001-05:00

Apple rumors are always flying, and the iPhone/Verizon ones are among the most popular. While I'm sure Apple would love to tap into the Verizon customer base and sell more iPhones, market share alone has obviously never been Apple's sole motivation. They currently have a pretty sweet deal with AT&T. Once the iPhone is available for more US carriers, they are not going to be able to command the same subsidies from the carriers.

That said, Ralph de la Vega, AT&T's CEO, has himself implied that the iPhone won't always be exclusive with AT&T. I am sure it won't. But there are a few big stumbling blocks that still have to be overcome to get Apple and Verizon to play nicely together.

This rumor states that they aren't exactly close to churning out CDMA iPhones:
http://www.tuaw.com/2009/11/12/rumor...zon-nowhere-n/

I think more telling, though, is the series of ads Verizon has put out lately attacking the iPhone.
"There's a map for that" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCbYTrYD5y8) and "Misfit Toys" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JgrBtn8XdU) go after AT&T more than the iPhone itself, but the "iDon't/Droid Does" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e52TSXwj774) commercial goes directly after the iPhone, which can't be making Apple happy.

This post points out that the new Droid ads running in Sports Illustrated go after Apple policies, and maybe even Steve Jobs himself:
http://www.theiphoneblog.com/2009/11...et-steve-jobs/

These ads are entertaining, but it seems like a strange way for Verizon to woo Apple. I wouldn't hold my breath for a Verizon iPhone by summer, although to be fair, with Apple, you never know.

Twitbit for iPhone

2009-07-27T19:31:00.008-04:00

To my knowledge, Twitbit is the first Twitter client with native push notifications built in. This feature works well, allowing you to receive notifications for @mentions and direct messages with badges, alerts, and sounds. You can customize this for the type of notification you want to recieve or choose to get all three. Another unique Twitbit feature is the Trending Topics - in addition to the standard current trending topics, you can also see daily and weekly trends.

Twitbit's interace is clean and intuitive. Unlike some other clients, it allows you to see not just how many people are followers of/following a given user, but who they are as well. You can start/stop following, send direct messages, and retweet. You can see geographic location for a user and tap the location to be taken to Google Maps to see the location on the map. This is a nice feature, but unfortunately its placement on the screen is too easily tapped accidentally while trying to see a user's profile, taking you out of Twitbit to Google Maps inadvertendly, which is frustrating.

There are a few features I would love to see in future updates. The inline web browser works nicely, but it would be nice to be able to use it in landscape. I would like the capability to block/unblock from the app. Retweeting uses the format (via @user) rather than RT @user. This is a personal preference, but I would like to at least have the option to use RT @user, since it's the more common format I see on Twitter. Also, when you post a tweet, it takes you to the top of your timeline, which is annoying if you were just writing a quick reply and want to keep your place in the timeline. And finally, at times the interface seems sluggish. It can take a long time to load the timeline, and following threads in a conversation can be slow.

Overall, Twitbit is a solid Twitter client, with the added benefit of native push notifications and a novel implementation of Trending Topics. With a little tweaking in future updates, Twitbit has the potential to be a strong competitor in the crowded fields of Twitter apps. Whether or not it will replace my favorite Twitter client, Tweetie, remains to be seen.

UPDATE:

Twitbit's latest 1.1.0 update goes a long way towards fixing several of the issues on my Twitter client wishlist. You can now change the retweet format to the more popular RT @user. The browser works in landscape, which immediately puts it ahead of browsers on other clients like Tweetie and TweetDeck. You can even rotate the screen to allow you to read and compose tweets in landscape. Twitbit will hold its place in your timeline, so that you come back to unread tweets rather than starting from the most recent tweet. Posting a tweet still puts you back at the top of your own timeline, which is unfortunate. The too-easily-clicked-upon geographic location, taking you out of the app to Google Maps, is also unchanged. But overall, the updates do an excellent job of improving the functionality of Twitbit.

MobileMe - A Review

2009-07-03T16:05:00.009-04:00

In my quest to find an alternative to Hotmail, I have been using the free trial of Apple's MobileMe. MobileMe got a lot of flack when it was released almost a year ago. The launch was accompanied by some significant issues, including two weeks during which people weren't able to receive e-mail. Recently, however, it seems that many of the bugs have been worked out, so I decided to give it a try.

So far, I'm happy with it. MobileMe offers several services. The first, which was my main concern, is the e-mail service. MobileMe offers the IMAP protocol, so I can use it with any IMAP capable client, including Apple Mail, Entourage, Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Mobile Outlook, and of course Mail on the iPhone/iPod Touch. That achieves my main objective, which allows the creation of folders and the synchronization of mail across multiple platforms. MobileMe has the added benefit of allowing push e-mail on the iPhone, with e-mail "pushed" to the phone as soon as it arrives. So far, the only options for true push e-mail on the iPhone are MobileMe, Microsoft Exchange, and Yahoo (though with push notifications enabled in iPhone 3.0, hopefully some others will be following in the near future). MobileMe also has a web-based interface, although that has some issues (more about that later).

MobileMe has a calendar and address book feature that allow push calendar/contacts to your iPhone and desktop programs, as well as the web interface. This is great - if you make a change on, say, your calendar on the web, that change will immediately be reflected on iCal and the calendar program on your iPhone. It is also supposed to work with Microsoft Outlook. While the integration with the Mac programs was seamless for me, I had some issues with Outlook. I believe the problem came down to the different ways Outlook and iCal were handling groups (for contacts), and different calendars (e.g., home, work, etc.). The programs seemed to understand those things differently, resulting in some quirky behavior. I really was just trying it out on Outlook, so it wasn't worth it to me to keep struggling with it. My take on it is that calendar/contact synchronization works well with iCal/Address Book or Outlook, but is a little quirky when trying to use both at the same time.

MobileMe has a photo/video gallery as well. I use Kodak Gallery for my photo needs, and plan to continue to do so, since I can order prints with them as well as share my photos with others. But I did try the MobileMe gallery for video. I have been pleased with it. I can take a video on my iPhone 3GS, upload it to MobileMe, and send an e-mail to family and friends letting them know I am sharing it, all without using my desktop computer. Your friends can then click the e-mail link to your gallery and view your photo or videos on their desktop (or on their iPhone/iPod Touch). I set my gallery up with password protection for privacy, so I let my friends know what the user name and password are when I send them the e-mail. You can also upload photos/videos on your desktop, or through iPhoto on a Mac. The web interface for the gallery is attractive and it works well with PC or Mac. I tested it out with my mom, who isn't that tech inclined, and she had no trouble with it.

Some other features of MobileMe include iDisk, which allows you to upload large files to the server (or "cloud") and download them on other computers. An iDisk app for the iPhone is rumored, but not out yet. The amount of storage offered with the basic package (20 GB for mail/gallery/iDisk combined) isn't really enough to back up all my files, but it is a nice way to share files with different computers.

With the recent update to iPhone 3.0, MobileMe has been advertising a "Find my iPhone" feature. From the web interface, you can have MobileMe locate your iPhone by GPS. You can send a message to the lost phone, asking to be contacted. If hope of getting it back seems to be lost, you can also remotely erase the data on your phone, so at least your personal information won't fall into someone else's hands.

The web interface has some quirks. It does not support all browsers. It is supported for Safari 4 and Firefox. It will work with Internet Explorer 7 and 8, though you get a warning message that it may not work quite right. Unfortunately, it doesn't work with Internet Explorer 6. Now, you may ask, why would you want to use it with a browser that hasn't been the current version of IE in three years? Well, for some of us, we may not have much choice. My workplace only has IE6, and they are not real keen on having other browsers running on their system. That means I have no option to use the MobileMe web interface at work. I'm not that concerned about the other features, but I really want to be able to get my e-mail.

Luckily, I found a couple of workarounds. I am able to use Firefox on the computer in my office (though not with other computers I use). There is also a version of Firefox, Mobile Firefox, that can be run from a USB flash drive, DVD, or, in my case, from a virtual drive I have access to on my server at work. Mobile Firefox is about 20 MB. It's an older version of Firefox, but it is compatible with MobileMe. There is also a service called Mail2Web that allows you to check any web mail service that offers a POP or IMAP protocol through their website. The interface isn't particularly attractive, but it does work as a way to get your MobileMe mail on IE6.

I am only a few days into the trial, but I like the features of MobileMe. MobileMe offers many of the functions of Exchange as well as several additional features. It has the advantage of not requiring me to put my personal calendar, contacts, and e-mail on my Exchange account at work. They offer a 60 day free trial. After that, it is $99/year for an individual plan. Amazon.com, however, offers MobileMe licenses for about $65. That comes to about $4.60/month for 14 months (2 months free + 12 month license). For the features offered, I think that's pretty reasonable.

Microsoft ruining Hotmail; time to find another e-mail service

2009-06-05T21:54:00.009-04:00

Rumors have been coming for a long time that Microsoft was planning to end the httpmail or DAV support on Hotmail. For those not familiar with the protocol, it allows Hotmail to synchronize with various desktop e-mail clients such as Outlook Express and Entourage. Microsoft actually sent out a notice more than a year ago that they were planning this, but, presumably after an outcry, they held off on it.

Now the time has come. Microsoft is discontinuing DAV altogether starting in September. If you want to use Hotmail on Outlook Express or Entourage, you will be forced to use it via the POP protocol, a woefully outdated way of using e-mail in the year 2009. POP does not allow any use of folders on the server, so while Hotmail on the web may offer "ever-growing" storage, forget organizing those gazillion e-mails into any kind of folder system, because the folders you create on the web, and the e-mails they hold, will not be visible on your e-mail client. Moreover, doing anything with your e-mails on the client, such as deleting them, will not be synchronized with the web. You have the choice of downloading all e-mail to the client, thus losing the ability to access it from any other device, or you can "leave messages on server" and be faced with many duplicate e-mails. Neither option is very appealing.

Hotmail via POP is also going to require you to use port 25 for your outbound e-mail. Many ISPs block port 25 due to its abuse by spammers, so you may not be able to use Hotmail's outbound e-mail server at all. For many users, there will be no sending mail with Hotmail from your desktop.

Microsoft's explanation for all of this foolishness is that DAV is an outdated protocol. That may well be, but POP is hardly a modern upgrade, despite the spin some of the Microsoft support personnel are putting on it on the support forums. With legitimate options available these days (IMAP, Exchange, Mobile Me), that allow folder synchronization, few would willingly choose POP. We live in a different era than the one that gave rise to POP. In the earlier years of e-mail, many people accessed their e-mail from one computer only, so POP worked just fine. Now, however, people may use several different devices to access their e-mail. Personally, I use a computer at work, more than one computer at home, my iPhone, iPod Touch, and a Windows Mobile phone. I want my e-mail to work on all of those devices _and_ to stay synchronized. Technology these days makes that a reasonable expectation. The Hotmail web interface, like that of many services, is not an appealing option, particularly on mobile devices. One of the reasons I have been a loyal Hotmail user for eleven years, including paying for a premium account, is that, of all the webmail services, they provided the best functionality with desktop e-mail clients.

So who will be affected by this?

1. If you use Hotmail on the web only, don't worry about it. It doesn't affect you, even though Microsoft sent you the same e-mail, which has caused hundreds of posts on their support forums from people who don't understand why they got the e-mail telling them their Hotmail was going to stop working.

2. Outlook Express users are out of luck. POP only.

3. Same goes for Entourage users. I can sort of understand discontinuing support for Outlook Express, since it is not a current Microsoft product, but Entourage 2008 certainly is.

4. Windows Live Mail users - does anyone really like this program? Well, if you do, you're in luck, because it will work for you. It uses a proprietary Microsoft protocol called "Delta Sync" to allow synchronization. Microsoft wants to force Hotmail users into Windows Live Mail's clunkier (even the name is clunky), decidedly less clean, interface, when Outlook Express worked just fine. I guess this makes sense for the company that decided Vista was an upgrade to XP. Windows Live Mail isn't an option for Mac users.

5. Outlook users can use Hotmail by installing a program called the "Outlook Connector" available from Microsoft. I have tried this, and it does appear to work, leaving folders and synchronization intact. Which leads me to wonder why this can't be an option for Entourage users since Entourage is, after all, a Microsoft product.

6. For Outlook Mobile, I have no idea. It wasn't mentioned in their e-mail and has received minimal discussion on the support forums.

Interestingly, the one platform which may not be affected is the iPhone. I use an app called mBox Mail, which is designed to allow the use of Hotmail on the iPhone, and the developer informed me that this app does not use DAV, and will still work after the switch. In an ironic twist, this may be the one feature that will cause me to keep Hotmail, since I love mBox Mail, and actually prefer it by leaps and bounds to the built-in Mail app on the iPhone. It is rumored that they may make a Mac version of the app, which could be enough to get me to stick with Hotmail. Quite ironic that I may stick with Microsoft's Hotmail in order to use a 3rd party e-mail client for Apple's iPhone.

So for now I am going to hold off on changing, although I spent quite a while today switching many online accounts to Gmail. Gmail thankfully allows forwarding, and for the time being I still have it set to allow forwarding to my Hotmail e-mail. But I am going to be prepared to leave Hotmail if Microsoft doesn't change its mind, or if mBox Mail doesn't have a good Mac client in place with enough lead time before September so that I can get my folders switched over to another service while I still can.

Will it be worth it to upgrade to the new iPhone?

2009-05-30T11:12:00.007-04:00

Well, the first question is, will there be a new iPhone coming out this summer? I think almost certainly the answer is yes, although we aren't going to find out for sure before WWDC on June 8. The next question is, will there be anything about it compelling enough for existing AT&T users to upgrade from an iPhone 3G? Users of the original iPhone got a pass when the 3G came out, and were eligible for upgrade pricing, but they had to pay a full, non-subsidized price for the original iPhone. No one knows yet what AT&T will do, but it seems unlikely they will let 3G users, who by July won't be any more than a year into their two year contracts, get a fully subsidized new iPhone. It's possible there may be some discount, but it's likely to be an expensive purchase under most circumstances.

So being that I would fall into that group of those who will be paying a hefty price for a new iPhone, I have been following with interest all of the speculation about what it might include. I didn't have an original iPhone, but the difference between EDGE and 3G would have made that upgrade worth it to me, even without any other changes (I am reminded of that any time I am in an EDGE-only area). Will there be any killer features like that with the new phone?

Some things that seem likely:

1. More storage, with 16 GB and 32 GB models

2. Faster processor

3. More RAM

4. Video (but this may be possible on the iPhone 3G as well after the 3.0 software update. The hardware is capable of it already, as jailbreakers will attest)

5. Better camera

6. Magnetometer

Some things that would be great, but haven't received as much buzz:

1. HSUPA

2. 802.11n

3. Better battery life

Silly, but fun:

1. Glowing Apple logo on the back (like on a MacBook)

While all of those updates would be nice, I'm not sure any of them is all that compelling in terms of convincing the average iPhone 3G user to shell out big money for a new iPhone. Many of these are under-the-hood improvements that will not lend themselves as much to marketing, especially because Apple is always a little sly about letting anyone know the actual processor speed and amount of RAM in their devices.

Many updates should actually be part of the 3.0 software available for existing iPhone users. Cut/paste may not be exciting, but it is necessary. MMS, push notifications, possibly video and tethering - all of those should be accessible without getting a new device.

Apple may be feeling a little heat from the Palm Pre (although it's hard to see the Pre as a true competitor to the iPhone when it is limited to a smaller network like Sprint's), and they are going to want to create strong buzz. People will expect a lot out of the launch of a new iPhone after the phenomenal success the first two models have enjoyed. We will have to see what they use as the hook with this new device, whether it is touting it as a video iPhone, playing up the speed improvements, or focusing on some as-yet-unmentioned feature.

WDW Dining Disney App Update - A Review

2009-05-20T20:53:00.005-04:00

The WDW Dining Disney app from VersaEdge Software has had an update! This app is not an all-purpose tour guide; it's a reference just for dining. It includes all of the on-property Disney restaurants, divided into categories by theme park, Downtown Disney, and each Disney resort. Selecting a category such as Magic Kingdom brings up a list of all the restaurants in the Magic Kingdom with their location, whether or not they participate in the Disney Dining Plan, and a price range. Selecting the restaurant brings up menus, type of restaurant (table service or quick service), whether or not it participates in the Disney Dining Plan and, if so, for how many credits, and whether or not it's eligible for the Tables in Wonderland Discount, type of cuisine, and information about reservations. From each reservation-eligible restaurant, you can select the option to call the number right from the app (iPhone only). Beyond this basic information, you can also find out information about things such as which characters are generally present at character dining experiences.

With the latest update, you can now see a picture of the restaurant, which is a welcome addition. Dining menus have been updated as well. The app itself has had some cosmetic changes in colors and appearance, with a nice fresh feel.

Some features could use a little tweaking. There is no map included. The restaurants are organized alphabetically, so if you are looking for a restaurant in, say, Tomorrowland, you have to scroll through all of the Magic Kingdom restaurants to find what you want. Having a map feature would allow quicker access to restaurants by geographic location within the parks themselves.

Overall, though, for $0.99, this app is a great buy. The organization is logical, and the information useful. The information included is all on the Disney website, but as anyone who has tried to navigate the Disney website knows, it's not always the quickest way to find out what you want to know, and certainly not when on the go. I actually find this app a better way to do dining planning even when I have access to a computer because you can quickly and easily switch from one restaurant to another without going through the maze of options on the Disney site. When looking for counter service or snack locations, it's wonderful to be able to access the menu without trudging across the park and standing in line, only to find out they don't have anything you want. And for Disney Dining Plan customers, as many will be during the upcoming Free Dining promotion, it's nice to have a quick reference to find out where you can use your dining credits. I would strongly recommend this app for Disney travelers.

Using Disney touring plans on an iPhone

2009-05-15T22:05:00.004-04:00

Lots of savvy Disney travelers these days go in with a strategy. Yes, it takes some of the spontaneity out of the experience, but if being spontaneous means standing in line for hours and hours, I'll go with a little planning. But carrying a stack of touring plans around with you all day can be a little inconvenient.

Again, the iPhone can solve your problem. If you are a subscriber to the Unofficial Guide's touring plans, or are using one of their free sample plans, here's how you can bring it with you:

1. Go to the website and customize a plan for your date of travel.

2. Save it as a .jpg to your computer.

3. Put the plan, now a picture file, in whatever folder you use to sync pictures with your iPhone/iPod touch (I have a folder for that called, creatively, Mobile Pictures).

4. Now you can view your touring plan on your iPhone in the Pictures app. You can rotate it and zoom in and out just as you would with any picture.

5. No more paper necessary!

Come and Trip It

2009-05-15T21:48:00.003-04:00

I've recently discovered the website TripIt, which is an online travel itinerary planner. I was planning a trip for eight people, with everyone having slightly different travel plans, confirmation numbers, etc. I started to try to make an Excel spreadsheet to make sense of the madness, but then I found TripIt, and was very impressed. It's a free service that lets you enter your travel info and make an itinerary, complete with all the information you need for your trip - transportation, dinner reservations, events, etc. You can add pictures to personalize it. It even lets you forward confirmation e-mails to the service, which them automatically includes things like your flight info or hotel reservations in the itinerary. You can then export your plans to Outlook or as a vCard. You can share your plans with the other participants online, and let your fellow travelers make their own adjustments. This solved my problems for the trip, and I had fun adding pictures and details to it.

TripIt has a mobile site as well, which you can use from your mobile phone. They recently came out with an iPhone app, which is free and a nice addition. It's a little buggy in the information it presents, and it isn't as complete as the main site, but it gets the job done when you need to have quick access to your travel plans. It sure beats digging confirmation numbers out of your suitcase when you're trying to check in at the hotel!

Update:

The recent update for the TripIt iPhone app has fixed several of the bugs, such as only including some of the travelers for a given event. It is still a simplified version of what is available on the complete site, but that is understandable, given that it is a mobile app.

Touring Disney World with the iPhone/iPod Touch

2009-05-15T19:48:00.006-04:00

With all there is to see and do at Disney World, the iPhone can be a helpful touring companion. UPinPoint has released an app for each park, Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom, as well as for Downtown Disney. These apps are maps, including the attractions and restaraunts, with a little blurb on each. For attractions, they include whether or not it is a Fastpass ride, the length of the ride, and any height restrictions, as well as links to Wikipedia and AllEars.net to find out more. For restaraunts, they list meals served, counter v. table service, and have links to more information. A nifty feature of these apps is GPS (iPhone only), which allows you to find your location on the map. I tried this on my last trip, and it did work, though it was a bit buggy. What seemed to help was first opening Google Maps to get a GPS fix on my location, and then opening the map app. It was then much quicker at finding me. The apps also include current park hours. These apps can be used without an active internet connection, which is good for all you iPod Touch users who may not be near a WiFi access point. You will need internet to connect to the Wikipedia and AllEars links, but the basic information is there.

I was pretty impressed with these apps, especially at a $0.99 price point, but they have since disappeared from the App Store. I e-mailed the developer, who told me they are planning a re-release in mid-June. They didn't give much detail. I wonder if there may be some adjustments necessary to make them work well with iPhone 3.0? I will definitely be keeping my eyes open to see what they have to offer this summer.

I also use the WDW Dining Disney app. This program has every restaraunt in the Walt Disney World parks, as well as the resorts. Full menus and prices are included. If the restaraunt participates in the Disney Dining Plan, that is noted. The telephone number to make dining reservations is featured prominently on the main page of the app, and on the iPhone, clicking it will open the phone to make the call. For $0.99, it's a great value. As a vegetarian, it's nice to be able to check what's on the menu at a given restaraunt before treking all the way across the park to find out there's nothing but hamburgers. It's also helpful for seeing who's part of the dining plan and doing all the advance planning required these days when you're making your reservations 90 days in advance! This app also works without an active internet connection.

Another interesting app isn't for Walt Disney World, but for Disneyland. It is called the Disneyland CA Planner. I haven't tried it, but one feature that looks interesting is that they include current wait times. This would be tremendously useful if it works, but of course requires participation of users to keep it updated. With a device as the ubiquitous as the iPhone, however, that's not an unreasonable expectation. They currently do not have a version for Disney World, but they say they are working on one, which they hope will come out June 15, so stay tuned!

Hotmail on the iPhone - Review of mBox Mail

2009-05-15T18:32:00.003-04:00

Using Hotmail with an iPhone is a bit tricky. Understandably, Apple and Microsoft don't go out of their way to be compatible when it comes to Hotmail. Hotmail is unusual among web-based e-mail services in that it works via the httpmail protocol. This has some similarities to IMAP when you use it on clients like Outlook Express, in that it keeps things synchronized - if you delete something on your e-mail client, it will be deleted from the Hotmail server and vice versa. Folders are also kept synchronized. I have grown fond of these features, since you don't need to worry about what you've downloaded where and what has been left on the server. For those of us who use several different computers, but don't necessarily like checking their e-mail on the web, it's a decent solution.

Unfortunately, the iPhone's built-in Mail client doesn't support httpmail, so there was no way of getting Hotmail on the iPhone (aside from the decidedly inelegant solution of going through the Safari browser). Hotmail recently opened itself up to allow POP access even to those with free, non-premium accounts. That change allows Hotmail to be used with the iPhone's built-in e-mail client by POP access, which is a big step. Unfortunately, the POP mail format has a lot of negatives. The biggest being that when your e-mail is downloaded from the server, it's not available on the server anymore. If you select to leave it on the server, it then is a hassle to delete the mail you're done with. And forget folder synchronization.

The solution I found that has been working well for me is an app called mBox Mail. The price has varied on the App Store, but was recently decreased to $4.99. I think I paid almost twice that, and I thought it was worth it. mBox Mail is a separate mail app, so it doesn't work through the native iPhone app, but it does let you keep all of your Hotmail synchronized, and supports all of your folders. It allows typing in landscape, which is a bonus, and in a recent revision included an in-line web browser to view links from your e-mail. It supports using your Windows Live contacts or your contacts from the iPhone Address Book itself. It also now supports multiple Hotmail accounts, for those of us who just can't get enough Hotmail.

The one feature that is lacking is support of push e-mail. There is a workaround using text messaging that I haven't wanted to get involved with. I am hoping that will be remedied in the near future when iPhone 3.0 comes out. That would make this app just about perfect for me. I wish they would release a similar app for Mac OS X, because it could offer a viable alternative to Entourage for Hotmail users.

Thoughts on making the PC to Mac switch

2009-05-15T18:00:00.004-04:00

Just as some background, I would consider myself pretty tech-savvy, though Mac users are often stereotyped as clueless regarding computers. I have no fear of reformatting hard drives, editing the Windows registry, etc., etc. I am very careful with maintaining the computers I own. Several of my friends turn to me to fix stuff when it goes wrong on their computers, although I do have a Wolf I turn to at times when I can't figure it out. I had always been very anti-Mac. My only experience using one was for a class I took in, I believe, 1996, and I was far from impressed at the time. That was comparing Mac to Windows 3.1/early Windows 95, which were no great shakes themselves, so that's how little I liked Mac, and I never before considered getting one.

Then I got an iPhone. I will preface this by saying that I was an absolute iPhone hater before. I thought, who do these people think they are, thinking that Apple invented all of these features, when Palm Pilots ten years ago could do a lot of it, and Windows Mobile phones can in fact do much more, and have been around for ages. But I got an iPod Touch, and then had the chance to get a refurb iPhone at steep discount, and I was sold. It's true that it _can't_ do everything, and it is annoying that Apple is so proprietary about allowing certain features (video recording, etc.) that the hardware is perfectly capable of. (Yes, I know jailbreaking addresses a lot of this, but I haven't done that yet). The interface, however, is so quick and intuitive that I stopped caring that my WinMo phone has a faster processor and a hardware keyboard, and a gazillion other things it can do _if_ you are willing to spend hours tweaking it, editing the registry, etc. The key thing for me is that I actually enjoy using my iPhone. It's just fun to use in the way my Windows Mobile phone will never be. I still keep it because it's great for things like tethering, has HSUPA, and some other things, but otherwise I am switched completely to the iPhone. (You also can't ignore the marketing genius of Apple in getting people to develop for it and centralizing the sale of the apps. While WinMo programs exist for many things, finding them is a lot trickier).

So when it came time for me to look for a new laptop, I considered getting a Mac for the first time ever. I have been putting it off for a while because I don't want to mess with Vista. My hope with getting a Mac was that it would have those almost intangible features that the iPhone has that make it so enjoyable to use. And I was not disappointed. It's not perfect (all the keyboard shortcuts annoy me more than anything else and I desperately want my delete key back), but overall, it is intuitive, quick, and fun to use. The operating system is so much less obtrusive. It seems to run "leaner" for lack of a better word. I was prepared for the usual hours and hours it takes getting Windows set up from scratch the way I want it, and I was amazed by how it just, well, worked. It did take some time since I was switching myself over to several new programs, testing a lot of features, and so on, but overall it has been surprisingly pleasant. No need to do a clean reinstall of the OS and set up all the drivers. No need to uninstall a bunch of preloaded crapware that Dell and others give you as a "bonus" when you get a new computer. And McAfee has never touched my system and left all of its little bits of messy software all over the place, which is enough to make me think it was all worth it right there. The software that comes with it is full-featured and very good, so I didn't have to straight away start looking for new photo/video/DVD editing software. My big fear with Mac was that I wouldn't be able to tweak everything the way I like it because it wouldn't allow it, but what ended up happening was that I really didn't feel the need to do much tweaking. It just works.

I did install XP Pro on a partition of my Mac, and that was the only hassle involved in setup. That really wasn't the fault of Microsoft or Apple, but rather the tricky issue of needing to change CDs during installation from an optical drive during the DOS part of the installation, which I found isn't actually possible. Luckily there were ways of "convincing" the computer to accept my (legally purchased) copy of XP, so that's done. It then took forever doing all the updates, installing antivirus/spyware protection for the Windows side, etc., but that was no surprise. The dual booting thing and running XP in a virtual machine both work perfectly, so I can run the couple of legacy programs I need and some games I didn't want to give up. That part was a little tricky, and probably not worth it for the less geeky user, but if you are thinking of making the switch except for a couple of Windows programs, it can be done and works well once it's set up. Now that Macs use an Intel processor, running Windows is the same on a Mac as on, say, a Dell.

I think Windows of late suffers from the same problem that Windows Mobile has. It feels the need to accommodate so many old pieces of software for so many people, and doesn't want to leave anything out, but what's left is clunky. You can do everything, but not necessarily in a way that is smooth and easy. I think that was understandable in 1999, but not anymore. With how advanced hardware has become, there's no reason for things to be slow, lag, and crash. We should be past that. Apple on the other hand, will stop supporting things, and that has its downside. But the upside of it is that what they keep will work well. I will remain open-minded in the future, and if Windows 7 turns out to be great, I will give it a chance, but for now, there is nothing in Vista that I want any part of.

As far as price goes, at the lower end, Apple is definitely more expensive, no question. But for what I needed, I knew I wanted a high-end video card, lots of RAM, etc., etc., and I ended up paying about the same as I would have for a similarly configured Dell. I did get a refurbished computer, which saved a lot, but with the warranty being the same and Apple's excellent reputation when it comes to refurbished products, I didn't think that was taking much risk. But it is true, if you just want a very basic system, you will pay a premium with Apple.

Anyway, I just wanted to offer the experience of a very long-time, tech-savvy Windows user who has happily made the switch, not because I don't know how to make Windows do what I want it to, but because I'm sick of fighting it and I want my life to be easier.