Vision through iPhone
I have created a photography blog to post all photographs taken with iPhone. Check it out here.
iPhone makes quick astronomy
I’ve always wanted to get into astronomy since the late 1990s but could not make it due to busy schedules (yeah lame excuse, I know), lack of mentor, not having a clue how to find and identify objects in the sky, etc.
Then, last night I stumbled upon an iPhone app, SkyView which uses Augmented Reality (AR) to reveal the current positions of planets, stars, constellation, satellites and even the International Space Station (ISS)!
I demonstrated the wonder of the app to my kids outside our home just now. Although the sky was cloudy, we could still see the moon so I used the moon as the reference. SkyView accurately revealed the exact position of the moon on my iPhone screen. Tonight, we found a lot of constellations, including Virgo which was behind the moon. Next to the moon was Saturn, as illustrated in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Virgo, moon and Saturn.
Not too far away from our moon, we found three satellites, the COSMOS 1536 (below the moon), COSMOS 1975 (slightly above the horizon but behind the apartment and MIDORI II (ADEOS-II) (further to the right of the moon). See their illustration in Figure 2, 3 and 4 respectively.
Figure 2: COSMOS 1536
Figure 3: COSMOS 1975
Figure 4: MIDORI II (ADEOS-II)
Beside these, we also found the Hubble space telescope and the ISS (International Space Station). Both of them were below the horizon and behind (or under?) our house!
Figure 5: Hubble space telescope and ISS
The SkyView app is a great iPhone app for astronomy hobbyists and perfect education tool for both parents and kids. It’s certainly worth investing. It costs only $1 and there is also a stripped down version which is free.
Android is a dirty phone
Android has been regarded as a savior to those who hate to be controlled and tied down by Apple’s strictly guarded iPhone. It is also one of the competitors closest to iPhone. While Apple’s latest iPhone 4 has a new feature called “FaceTime”, the Android on the other hand gets Sex.
FaceTime is a feature to make video call from iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 over Wi-Fi. No special account or screen name is required to make video calls. Therefore, users can forget about Skype and Apple’s iChat AV. Certainly, FaceTime is a great aide for people with hearing impairment and mute to communicate using sign language.
There are plenty of sex/porn apps for Android devices. There is even an adult-exclusive app store called MiKandi to cater such need. Now the store has reached a new milestone, introducing the first live adult web-cam streaming app for mobile devices called Sex Live Chat. You can read the story here. With live sex chat, you can watch the party on the other side engaged in some actions, and vice versa, if you like to. I will let your imagination run wild.
It is pathetic for a brilliant mobile platform to resort to sexual elements to promote its use. This greatly contrasts with Apple’s iDevices where you can find a wild variety of education apps along with useful business and productivity apps, etc, more than you can imagine.
As a parent, I will invest in iDevices for my kids and never an Android device. The latter is well analogized to the pest in our household.
iOS 4.0.1
Yesterday, Apple released iOS 4 update, which was one day before its press conference. The iOS 4.0.1 has obviously made the signal bar look taller. According to various media and blogs, the update is reportedly to have new software (new formula) to calculate the signal strength and to display it more accurately. Read here and here.
The above screenshot shows the signal bar on my iPhone 3GS with iOS 4. By comparing with the screenshot below, it is obvious that the signal bar (especially bar 1 and 2) has become taller.
At the same location (my desk), I covered the back of my iPhone 3GS with my palm, the signal would drop 1 to 3 bars after about 22 seconds. After updating to iOS 4.0.1, I repeated the test. The signal bar would reduce 1 bar after more than 25 seconds.
Well, this is a very low tech test and is not accountable to conclude that the new software in iOS 4.0.1 has displayed the signal strength more accurately. Anyway, there is a huge difference before and after.
Increase your productivity with iPhone apps
My first PDA was PalmPilot Professional (photo to right) produced by U.S. Robotics (later as Palm, Inc.). I bought it in 1998 but I did not use it often due to limited apps. My use was restricted to Calendar, Address and Todo. It was a huge hassle to purchase apps for PalmPilot because there was no single app store like Apple’s App Store. Commercial apps for Palm Pilot at that time were hard to come by. The device went dead during a flight from KLIA to Taipei transit via Singapore on September 11, 2001. I guess it was fried by ESD (electrostatic discharge) while I walked on the carpeted corridor in Changi airport terminal.
Two years later, I bought a Sharp Zaurus SL-5500. It ran Zaurus and OPIE GUI environment. The Zaurus SL-5500 was Sharp’s first PDA to run Linux. Linux was the main reason I chose Zaurus. It was fast and colorful (at that time). It came with a couple of useful apps and desktop sync software. Syncing to a desktop running on Linux was good. After using it for a few months, some commercial apps which I bought, began to crash more often after I updated the operating system. I gave it up after a few attempts to restore the original operating system. Here is the photo of Zaurus (I managed to find its charger) with iPhone lying beside it. Well look at its size! The iPhone 3GS is half the thickness of Zaurus.
The other drawback of the Zaurus is its retractable physical keyboard. The keys are too small for my fingers and typing is real pain. So, BlackBerry with physical keyboard is totally out of the game. Here is the picture of Zaurus with its keyboard and iPhone with the virtual-touch keyboard for comparison:
I was tempted by HP and Toshiba but, hey, they ran on Windows. No way! In early 2008. I purchased a 2nd generation, 32GB iPod Touch. I was immediately captured by its charms. In December 2009, I got a 32GB iPhone 3GS. My response was: “Damn! I should have gotten it earlier.”
Both PalmPilot and Zaurus need stylus to tap on their screens. If you lose your stylus, you need to buy a new one. iPhone is more convenient because everything is manipulated with your fingers. Apple’s innovative multi-touch screen gives more user experience and more operability to the device.
All I can say, I have never used other PDAs like I use my iPhone. I mostly use my iPhone in my work (especially) and for fun during leisure (social networking, music, games and etc.) Here are some apps I use to boost my productivity while I am on the move and even at my desk.
Paymo is a free online time tracking and billing service. With a small fee, user can upgrade the service for unlimited users and invoices. I use Paymo to track my time spent on various projects and business/work related activities. The Paymo free iPhone app works in both online and offline mode. When I am out to support my clients, and/or having business or technical meeting and discussion, I can easily track my time with this tiny useful app.
With design based on the concepts and techniques described in David Allen’s book, “Getting Things Done”, OmniFocus for iPhone is a powerful to-do app that let you stay focused in whatever you are doing or trying to complete. The app is priced at $19.99 which is a little bit on the high side. I was hesitating for a while because of the price. After using it, I will say, “Save your money for OmniFocus and forget about other to-do apps.” Before this, I was using Things and I am still using it. The only reason I want to keep Things is that it allows assigning teammates to your tasks. OmniFocus is more comprehensive than Things and it let you stay focused in getting your jobs done, which is most important. Besides, you can sync your data via MobileMe, Bonjour, WebDAV server or locally mounted disk on your Mac. Personally, I think it is worth the investment.
Things is an easy-to-use to-do app priced at $9.99. It’s a good alternative to OmniFocus if you are on a tight budget. The price tag of $9.99 is considered quite high especially there are some free to-do apps, but to do a good job, Things will be above average. Unlike OmniFocus, syncing can only be done with a WiFi at your local area network where your Mac is running the desktop version of Things. One feature which I don’t like is its ability to assign more than one tag to your tasks. Too many tags confuse me.
Evernote is a free online service which let you save your ideas in the form of texts, voice memos or photos. You can save a web clip or PDF. Syncing between multiple devices and Macs over the Internet is a breeze. I use it while I am writing computer codes to note down what I have done and new ideas that come along. You can tag your documents for easy retrieval later. If you would like to enjoy a larger storage and monthly usage bandwidth, you can upgrade the service to Evernote Premium for $5 a month or $45 a year. Evernote is a good companion for notetaking while you are working, engaged in meetings and discussion and even at leisure.
Invoice2Go allows me to issue invoices on the go without a notebook or desktop computer. With it, I no longer need to go back to office to issue invoices. It saves me a lot of time from traveling back and forth between office and clients. Just email the invoices to your clients and you can make the delivery right away. For only $9.99, it saves you time and gasoline.
Dropbox is a free online storage service. You can take any file with you on your iPhone to meetings. Your co-workers or clients can drop files to your Dropbox and you can pick them up anytime, anywhere on your iDevice or Mac, provided they are connected to the Internet. It also allows you to share your files on Facebook or Twitter via link. By getting your friend to sign up you can earn 250MB of extra free disk space (up to 8GB) for every new account created. Click here to sign up.
Rumors Around iPhone 4
There were rumors before Steve Jobs launched the long awaited iPhone 4 during WWDC 2010 early this month. Apple, Inc. is probably the only company in the world that is able to spur worldwide thrill about its products, especially iPhone. Just look at the number of people eagerly queueing for hours to receive their pre-ordered iPhone 4 last week.
No single person or thing is perfect. Soon after people got hold of their new iPhone, there came the reception problem. The antenna of the new iPhone 4 is located at the bottom left corner of the phone (away from the user’s skull/brain), which is a clever requirement forced by FCC. By holding the iPhone in your palm will short-circuit the antenna and the signal will be attenuated after a few seconds. Some people have even experimented on this issue so well that they have concluded that the signal (and call) will be totally attenuated within 10 seconds.
Then, there is even a Steve Jobs sham on Twitter spreading unofficial information that Apple may recall iPhone 4. And then a legitimate news media (read here) has fallen into this takeoff.
Since Steve returned to Apple and started to revamp Apple’s product lines, there have been constant stimulations and endless excitement and rumors you can religiously look forward to for every 3 months. Even if you are not an Apple user, you will be affected as well.
I am fascinated by the propelled rumors and how Steve Jobs deals with these grapevines. Steve Jobs is undoubtedly the CEO of 21st century!
Flash of the titans
Apple’s decision for not to implement Adobe’s Flash into iPhone OS has turned Adobe-Apple relationship sour. In an open letter from Steve Job, he has written clearly about Flash’s weaknesses and a firm stance against Adobe’s Flash. I absolutely agree with Steve based on my experience with Flash. I would say: “Flash is nice to look at, but is a nightmare to have it!”
A week or two before Apple published Job’s open letter, I learned about an open source Flash project called Gnash from Twit. You can listen to the podcast here.
I really don’t believe in develop-once-deploy-everywhere development concept. I am more a native application guy because I only believe in native performance without relying on third party software components to run the applications. My experience with Tweedeck served as a wonderful example.
Tweetdeck was developed using Adobe’s AIR and Flash technology and is a develop-once-deploy-everywhere kind of application. Its user interface on the Mac really sucks. It looks more like a Windows application rather than Mac’s native Cocoa application. One thing annoyed me was that I had to upgrade Adobe’s AIR whenever it became available. I feel happier for not running Tweetdeck now.
A Java application has its downsides as well. It too depends on Sun’s JVM (Java Virtual Machine). Java has never become an implementation language in my software development career. Only recently when I began to involve in web application development, I have to work with JavaScript. The experience is awful, in my experience.
It is understood why Adobe is so furious about Apple’s decision not to allow Flash on its mobile platform. The reason is obvious: Adobe loses its grip on Apple’s mobile devices and has been discounted in Apple’s mobile computing gameplay. But Apple is not an easy-to-squeeze apple, it is huge and capable.
Apple has been working on an open web standard HTML5 and Apple’s own version of Flash, Gianduia. With HTML5, Apple’s computing platform becomes even more open, unlike otherwise as Adobe claimed. Both are exciting new technologies which I would like to implement to the web application I am developing.
I will write more about HTML5 and Gianduia when I have found time to research more about these two.
iPhone is good for business
As I promised earlier in an article that I would write about my experience of using the iPhone. Well, here it goes…
I got an iPhone
If you have followed my blog, you must be aware of how I criticized about iPhone and Apple’s aggressive strategy with mobile carriers in my article, “iPhone is in Malaysia!” I have also been going around telling customers and friends that iPhone is not as useful as it seems and is more a toy to attract young generation.
Well, I admit that I was wrong. I am developing a cloud/web-based MIS (Medical Information System) which enables patient to be able to view certain information and interact with the clinic/doctor from anywhere. Likewise, it also provides doctors greater mobility and still are able to care for their patients while they are away.
After reading articles (on Apple’s website) how iPhones help hospitals in the U.S. to provide better healthcare at lower cost, I decided to build the MIS with iPhone support. I based my decision on these reasons:
- Ease of use. I have been toying/using around with an iPod Touch for a few months and I find that it is easy to navigate/use. iPod Touch is essentially an iPhone without the phone. You get what I mean.
- Beautiful UI. Apple is well known for its brilliant UI (User Interface) in Mac OS X and iPhone OS. Nothing else comes closer to it.
- Security. All applications must be approved by Apple and be signed with license keys issued by Apple. Apple’s iTunes Store is the only place to download applications. I can be rest assured to have less (or none) headache about spooky applications from unreliable sources. Of course, there are jail broken iPhones which do not play by the rules but I am not too worried about that.
So, I went ahead ordering one last week. Last night, I went to Maxis center to collect my 32GB Black iPhone. It is such a beauty.
Give me a couple of weeks mingling with it and I promise you I will write about my experience.
iPhone is in Malaysia!
The long awaited Apple iPhone 3G has finally arrived in Malaysia. Apple’s website announced its arrival today and Maxis has begun informing its customers via SMS a few days ago. I was in joy receiving the SMS and quickly went to Maxis website to check out the details.
The iPhone 3G that makes you drool...
I was truly disappointed after reading the details on Maxis’ website. The selling price is very high and apart of this, Maxis locks you in with either 24 months or 6 months contract. The worst thing is that if you breach the service contract or choose to opt out before the contract matured, there is a huge penalty awaiting you ahead.
We have paid so much for the iPhone with our own pocket, why is there still hefty monthly service fees and contract commitment?
Is that another dirty Apple‘s trick?
Nokia 6300 – Review
After 3 months of using my Nokia 6300, (read about why I acquire a Nokia 6300 here) I think I am able to write a fair review about it. Aesthetically, the phone is beautiful. The thickness is just nice, not too slim but slim enough to be put in shirt pocket and nice to hold in the hand. The metallic covers give a sophisticated feel and look.
The phone has all the basic functions if your main objective is to make and receive calls, SMS and MMS. No 3G. The 2MP camera takes crisp photos if you ever need to take some photos to record certain events. Very handy for image recording.
The screen is bright and clear, color is vivid. The phone comes with nice original Nokia theme but I preferred something to look more sophisticated. I downloaded the FM digital clock theme.
The phone has all the basic functions of a real phone with applications such as Address Book, Calendar, Notes, To-Do List, Timer, Stop Watch and Alarm Clock. I choose this simple phone because I do not need 3G and video call, although they are very tempting. It will be a waste to pay more for 3G and video call which I don’t require often. Furthermore, the 3G speed in Malaysia sucks!
The battery lasts for 5 days (max) on me because I do not use my phone often. Most of my communications are done with emails, Skype and iChat on the computer which essentially cost next to zero. If you are busy with your phone whole day, I guess the battery will not last a day.
The Nokia 6300 is Bluetooth enabled. Perfect for me to sync with my Mac which requires a little hacking. To sync with Mac, please read here.
The latest model, 6301, looks exactly the same except that it is WIFI enabled. Again, it is another unnecessary spending because WIFI hotspots in Malaysia really sucks! If you are using it with your home WIFI, I don’t see any reason for not having a computer which can outperform the phone in terms of web browsing and email.
To rate it, I give it 9.5 out of 10! It is a nice phone to own. Give it a try.
Nokia 6300
It has been a week since I lost my Sony Ericsson K700i. Choosing a cellphone is always a chaotic headache. So many models! I had been a Nokia fan before I switched to Sony Ericsson 3 years ago. The most important feature I wanted for my phone is the Bluetooth sync feature which allows me to sync my Calendar, To-do, Address with Mac OS X. That was the main reason I chose K700i.
Another criteria is that I want a phone to look like a phone. The 6300 has got a classic phone look after Nokia releases so many garbage. Deciding on a model is never easy. I listened to many live user experience from friends and relatives and even youngsters who own phones as a hobby. Reading comparison and comments on Internet is never as good as listening to real people talking straight out of their minds.
Apple’s iSync and Nokia do not support this model for syncing via Bluetooth. I did some research and found the 6300 is using Nokia’s Series 40 software and there are many similar phones have been supported. I need to do a hack to iSync so I referred to the following sites:
- Koos Kasper.nl: How to iSync a Nokia 6300
- dabgotra.com: Nokia 6300, iSync, and Contact Photos…
By following Koos’ hacks, I managed to setup Bluetooth link and iSync away in less than 2 minutes. Now, my 6300 is populated with so much data from my Calendar, To-do and Contact. I have yet to try dabgotra’s hacks to iSync contact with photos.
I lost my cell phone
I had to go to one of my client’s outlet at Sentral Melaka to service their IP camera. When I arrived at the outlet, I received an SMS from LA followed by a phone call from Richard. He asked me lot of questions about his insurance claim and also to thank me for providing assistance and information about his insurance claim. I remembered clearly I put my Sony Ericsson K700i which I bought in 2005.
I was a Nokia user before switching to SE because I read about how seamlessly SE K700i syncs with Apple’s Mac OS X applications via Bluetooth. The SE K700i is a very nice phone with many features I love about. One of them is K700i can be used as a remote control for Apple’s Keynote presentation software. The control is via Bluetooth as well.
Soon when I realized it was not in my waist pouch, I quickly dialed the number using another phone. The phone had been switched off. Total silence. It’s gone! A phone which has been my friend for almost 3 years is now gone.
I went back to the outlet after taking Dmitry from school and the staffs told me they didn’t see it. Disappointed.
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