iPhone 2.2 Firmware Update Available Now - No Cut & Paste Yet

In case you don't know, the new Apple iPhone 2.2 Firmware is out today, as well as the iTunes 8.0.2 update. Go download it NOW, because the new features are impressive. I'm totally bummed there is no CUT & PASTE yet though.

Here's a list of the new features.

• Enhancements to Maps
  • Google Street View*
  • Public transit and walking directions
  • Display address of dropped pins
  • Share location via email
• Decrease in call setup failures and dropped calls

• Enhancements to Mail
  • Resolved isolated issues with scheduled fetching of email
  • Improved formatting of wide HTML email
• Podcasts are now available for download in iTunes application (over Wi-Fi and cellular network)

• Improved stability and performance of Safari
• Improved sound quality of Visual Voicemail messages
• Pressing Home button from any Home screen displays the first Home screen
• Preference to turn on/off auto-correction in Keyboard Settings

BlackBerry Storm Review Roundup

The BlackBerry Storm, Verizon and RIM’s answer to Apple’s iPhone, reviews are in. Here's a cheat cheat of the most important ones. Is it an iPhone killer?

• Walt Mossberg. The Wall Street Journal. BlackBerry’s Storm Presses Into the Touch-Phone Fray: Mixed positive. He likes the high-res camera (which does video), the replaceable battery, the push e-mail, the ability to cut-and-paste, the corporate security features and Verizon’s 3G network — an improvement over AT&T’s. He misses Wi-Fi, however, and he’s not particularly fond of the so-called SurePress touchscreen. “The feature does provide a more reassuring confirmation that a key has been struck or an icon has been clicked than the mere visual feedback one receives from the iPhone. But neither I, nor any of the several BlackBerry addicts I asked to try it out, considered typing on the Storm’s keyboard to be very similar to using the keyboard of a traditional full-sized BlackBerry.” (link)

• Joshua Topolsky. Engadget. BlackBerry Storm review: “The selling points are easy: the phone is gorgeous to look at and hold, it’s designed and backed by RIM (now almost a household name thanks to their prevalence in the business and entertainment markets), and it’s packed with features that, at first glance, make it seem not only as good as the iPhone, but better. The only hitch in this plan is a major one: it’s not as easy, enjoyable, or consistent to use as the iPhone, and the one place where everyone is sure they have an upper hand — that wow-inducing clickable screen — just isn’t all that great.” (link)

• Daniel Dumas. Wired.com. RIM’s First Touchscreen Device Almost Eclipses the iPhone: “WIRED Click screen is a revelation for touch compatible devices. Converts iTunes to BlackBerry media without breaking a sweat. Included GSM card means the Storm is a true globetrotter - it can work in virtually any foreign port. Photos, video, and text pop like Ice Cube’s AK (on a bad day). Posh fit and finish look rich enough to buy YOU dinner. — TIRED OS lag on a piece of hardware this gorgeous is unacceptable. Scrolling through menus is jagged, slow, and pokey. Accelerometer sometimes takes a good 5-10 seconds to orient itself. Lack of Wi-Fi is lame. Verizon’s totalitarian control over the Storm’s OS is even lamer.” (link)

• Yardena Arar. PC World. BlackBerry’s Storm: Awkward and Disappointing: “The decision by Research in Motion to differentiate the Storm by giving its capacitive touch screen a mechanical component (the entire screen functions as a button for confirming selections or initiating actions) turns out to be more confusing than helpful. Ultimately, the Storm’s touch interface feels like a failed experiment. — It’s too bad, because the Storm has some nice features and makes a great first impression.” (link)

• The Boy Genius. The Boy Genius Report. Verizon BlackBerry Storm review: “The good thing is that this is, afterall, a BlackBerry, and once you get past accepting that there will be some hiccups, it’s really not all that bad. It’s a great phone, a very good device for email, a really good media player, and a decent web browsing machine. You’ll just have to decide what your priorities are in a mobile device and see if the Storms meets that.” (link)

So what do yo uthink? Is this the BlackBerry for you? Is it an iPhone killer?

Personally, until RIM/Blackberry can effectively handle multiple IMAP email accounts - including folder management - it's dead to me.

Mozilla Launches Fashion Your Firefox and Makes It Easy to Customize the Browsing Experience

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – November 18, 2008 - Mozilla today released Fashion Your Firefox®, a new Web application that enables Firefox users to customize their browser based on their interests and online activities. With Fashion Your Firefox, add-ons that fit people’s online lifestyles are organized in easy to discover ways and are available for installation in just a few easy clicks.

Fashion Your Firefox presents add-ons in activity-based categories that make them easy to find and install. Add-ons are tiny pieces of software that add new features or functionality to Firefox, letting people customize their browser to meet their tastes. There are currently more than 1 billion downloads of Firefox add-ons.

Categories in Fashion Your Firefox include:

• Shutterbug: View and share pictures and videos online
• Rock Star: Listen to music while surfing, working, emailing or researching online
• News Junkie: Get the most up-to-date news and weather
• Shopaholic: Shop and take advantage of online deals
• Digital Pack Rat: Keep track of favorite sites, bookmarks and blogs
• Social Butterfly: Share, bookmark, and e-mail web pages via an array of social networking & bookmarking sites
• Finder and Seeker: Find and make information on the Web more relevant
• Decorator: Apply browser themes
• Executive Assistant: Organize online activities

“One of the best parts about Firefox is the amazing richness of our 5,000-plus free add-ons,” said Mike Shaver, vice president of engineering at Mozilla. “We’re excited to introduce Fashion Your Firefox because it makes it even easier for people to discover useful add-ons that make the browsing experience better and more personal.”

“StumbleUpon helps millions of users discover new Web content based on their interests. With Fashion Your Firefox, we look forward to introducing personalized Web discovery to a much larger audience,” says Garrett Camp, co-founder and chief architect at StumbleUpon.

“Firefox’s robust add-ons platform allows us to create the most dynamic and intuitive media navigation experience, and we’re very excited about the mainstream potential of the 'Fashion Your Firefox' release,” says Josh Schwarzapel, a co-founder of Cooliris.

“At Foxmarks we improve the online experience for consumers by keeping bookmarks in sync and accessible across multiple computers, anytime, anywhere. Fashion Your Firefox helps us connect with Firefox users in a personalized way,” said James Joaquin, CEO, Foxmarks.

For more information about Fashion Your Firefox and how it can help customize your browser, visit www.fashionyourfirefox.com.

Steve Jobs Flipping off IBM (Pic)

Check out this great picture of Steve Jobs flipping off IBM in the mid 1980s. A rare moment captured. It looks like a picture of a picture.

Ubuntu to get prettier than OS X?

Word on the street is that Ubuntu is going to get prettified in the near future.


Well, maybe not that prettified.

From the original article:

When Mark Shuttleworth, the man behind Canonical/Ubuntu, made the comment that Ubuntu should be prettier than Apple OSX in near term I got excited - the man was absolutely right. It doesn’t matter how customizable and operating is, or how good can you make it look with some effort if it does look bad out of the box. The out-of-the-box experience is the key to reach the average users, and if that is not aesthetically pleasing a lot of effort is needed to win the user back. Interestingly Ubuntu with their orange/brown themes and very basic Gnome looks is possibly the worst looking distribution out of the major players. So here comes release 8.10, the Intrepid Ibex - a first step to the direction of making Ubuntu look good? We’ll see about that…
....
Unfortunately the Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex does not live up to it’s name. It lacks any ground braking changes, innovation in design or brave new approaches on the visuals and usability.

One of my biggest complaints with Linux is the lack of a truly streamlined desktop experience. Each developer takes their own route for user interface and "prettification". This mean inconsistent menus, strange window behaviors, and even conflicting theming options that seeming to fight each other for control. I'm not a n00b, I've been running Linux for over 8 years now.

The real problem is, to impose usability standards on applications goes against the open-source grain of exploration and creativity in problem solving. There is no Steve Jobs to force developers into doing it in any particular way, and developers don't want that either. End users are another story.

I'd also argue that "pretty" is not vital to an OS, but usable is. Therein lies the rub for me. Until Linux runs Photoshop natively, it's usability as a desktop for me is dimished. Also, OS X has the pretty interface and the BSD based functionality to make it a daily driver operating system.

That being said, all of my servers are some flavor of linux.

So for now, I'd say embrace Linux for what it is - a user-friendly distribution with serious horsepower under the hood for power users. If you haven't tried it, and you are a Windows user, you should. Immediately. For OS X users, your mileage may vary.

Sony XPERIA X1 gets reviewed!

Engadget has just reviewed the XPERIA X1, and it looks like a phone worth having. The only issue is the Windows Mobile operating system.

In almost every other way, though, the XPERIA X1 shines. The battery life is stellar, the browsing in Opera is delightful, the VGA resolution is drool-worthy and the integrated camera isn't too shabby, either. This here truly is a case of matching up the pros and cons with your specific needs and determining which list outweighs the other. Now, if someone figures out how to get Android up and running on this thing, we wouldn't say a "wholehearted recommendation" would be too far from the realm of feasibility.

Read the entire XPERIA X1 Review at Engaget.

Parallels 4.0 released for OS X - DirectX support and 50% faster

Parallels today announced the availability of version 4.0 of Parallels Desktop for Mac, a product that currently enables more than 1.5 million users to run Windows, Linux and other operating systems side-by-side with Mac OS X. This new version of the Parallels Desktop for Mac improves OS integration, performs up to 50% faster and incorporates a range of security, backup and power saving features to give Mac users a truly easy, fast and powerful desktop computing solution.Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac introduces support for DirectX 9.0, DirectX Pixel Shader 2.0 and OpenGL 2.0, providing fast video performance, while the Adaptive Hypervisor dynamically allocates resources to meet user needs. The responsiveness to all applications is further enhanced as the virtualization engine has been optimized to consume 15-30% less resources than previous versions.

Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac addresses two other primary user concerns: security and backup. The software offers users peace of mind through Parallels Internet Security powered by Kaspersky for anti-virus, firewall, scanner, recovery, filtering and identity protection as well as Acronis True Image Home backup and restore and Acronis Disk Director Suite. These three additions to Parallels Desktop represent $175 in extra value along with a more complete user experience.

With more than 50 new features, additional highlights include a redesigned user interface with quick access to all VMs, additional Screenview modes, Clips for screenshots, Speech Recognition, Security Manager, Safe Mode, Shut Down Mode and Over 45 Supported Guest OSs.

Availability and Pricing
Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac is available in English and localized versions will soon be available in Chinese, Czech, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Polish and Russian.

In-depth information on Parallels Desktop 4.0’s new features and major improvements, as well as videos and screenshots of key features in action, are available at www.parallels.com/products/desktop.

What if The Matrix ran on Windows XP?

Freakin' Hilarious.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

BlackBerry Storm Price set at $89.99, Delayed Due to Software Glitch

According to Gizmodo the BlackBerry Storm's original November 14 launch date has been delayed again because of a "software glitch". The good news is the price looks very competitive, and it is going to be in direct competition against the iPhone for business users. The price will be no more than $89.99 for companies with a 2 year contract.

It appears that Research In Motion and Verizon are feeling the heat as the iPhone keeps pushing up in the enterprise.

It will be available for $199.99 with a two year contract. For companies the price will be no greater than $89.99, also with a 2 year contract.

The new release date is November 23. Delayed due to software. We should have final pricing by Friday this week, should have amendment ready by next Wednesday.

The global rate plan and data tethering will probably be rolled into one code. Test devices will be available next week.

Pricing has not been set for consumers though. Looks like an interesting phone to say the least.

Best Obama street art I've seen today - Barack Obama as a Chicago Bull

Barack Obama as a Chicago Bull, how appropriate. This one is a few blocks from my place in downtown Denver, and was so good I just had to share it with the interwebs.

It's amazing to me how Barack Obama has inspired so many artists to rally on his behalf. Certainly John Kerry and George Bush never inspired this kind of grass-roots following and adoration.

RIM Blackberry Bold Review

PCWorld.com has a full review of the Blackberry Bold that is pretty revealing.

The BlackBerry Bold 9000, Research in Motion's formidable contender in the 3G market, has finally arrived. And though the Bold boasts a sleek design, a sharp display, and high-speed connectivity, it fails to impress in other areas--particularly, its call quality and its camera's image quality. As enticing as this phone is, its faults may prevent the Bold from justifying its steep price tag (the phone costs $300 with a two-year AT&T contract, and $680 with no contract).

Read the whole article here. I think I'll stick with my iPhone.