I F*CKING HATE ITUNES!

Apple may have the iPod, and the iPhone but what they don't have a decent product to synchronise the music/videos/etc.. to these devices.

You may have seen my earlier posts on how much I hated iTunes, and on the Windows platform I have found a decent alternative called Media Monkey. But, on a Mac I don't have many choices and have been left to use iTunes.

Just to give you an example of how bad iTunes is, I was trying to sync some videos on my iPhone and I tried for an hour with different methods (e.g changing different settings, dragging and dropping, making a play list etc...). But then I realised this, iTunes has the following options:

• On the Summary tab, under options it has check box to say 'Sync only checked songs and videos'
• On the Music tab, it has a check box called 1) Sync Music, 2) Include Music Video
• On the Movies tab,  it has a check box called Sync Movies 

Now, in order to sync the videos, which was in the Movies section in the Library, I had to check all of the options in order to get the damn videos on the iPhone. 

I want to know, where on earth does this make any sense ? Why do you need to check all these options? Why can't I just drag and drop the files into the device ? Why can't this just be simple to use ? Why is iTunes so crap ? 

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Want to compare text files quickly ?

Have you ever been in a situation where you have two similar text files and you cannot tell what the difference between the two are ?

Well the folks at dotfork have made an application to help you, check it out.

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What to do with a BIN file on a Mac

I've managed to acquire a BIN and CUE file from a recent download and I couldn't successfully mount the file in finder. I've used BIN files in Windows systems without any problems using third party apps such as daemon tools, but Mac seems to have left out this option for some reason.

Some of the forum suggestions included using software called Toast to mount the device, or to use Burn  to burn the BIN image to a CD and then mount it and then rip it to ISO.

Well after searching around I've found a little app that can get this into an ISO format to allow us to easily mount the image. The program is called AnyToISO, and it is a simple little application which allows you to select from a number of different image formats and to output to a ISO image.

If you are facing a similar predicament, then please check out AnyToISO.

Hope this helped!

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Iphone 4 launching in Australia

I received an email from Optus, a mobile/broadband carrier in Australia, stating that since I had registered to be notified about iPhone 3G (not 3gs) several years ago, they wanted to let me know about the iPhone 4 release.

Hmmmm... so what is odd about this ?

First, I registered for iPhone 3G release in Australia about 2 years ago, not last year. Last year iPhone 3gs was launched. The assumption that Optus has made that I might be interested in the latest iPhone 4 is a long one... very long one.

Secondly, it would have been good if they had double checked their records. If they did do that, they would have found that I am a customer as a iPhone 3gs plan with another year left. Is Optus going to let me get out of the contract ? I doubt it. Shows how little Business Intelligence that Optus has.

Third, reaching back to records 2 years ago may be a sign that Optus is thinking that with the bad publicity of the new iPhone they need to get the word out to as many people as possible.

Thanks for letting me know Optus, I think I would have let you know if I wanted to be informed about the iPhone (like how i registered to get a notification of the iPhone 3g). Regardless of this, I actually can't see why a iPhone 3gs user would make the move to iPhone 4.


Last year, you registered with us for updates on our Apple iPhone 3G launch. So, as an avid iPhone fan, we thought you might like to know that the incredible new Apple iPhone 4 will be available to buy at Optus from 11.59pm this Thursday 29 July.

Switch on the iPhone 4 with a new
Extreme Cap Plan

Click Here for the full range of iPhones and incredible new plans.

Stock is limited, so get in quick!

How to get your hands on an Apple iPhone 4.

1. Go Online - optus.com.au/iphone from 11.59pm on Thursday 29 July. PLUS get an exclusive online bonus until 31 August

2. Call us - 1800 507 308 to speak with our customer service team from 8am on Friday 30 July

3. Go in store – to a ‘yes’ Optus shop or retailer from Friday 30 July or register to attend our special midnight launch on the night of
Thursday 29 July

Optus stores opening from midnight
		Sydney – Optus ‘Yes’ Shop George Street
		Brisbane - Optus ‘Yes’ Shop Queen Street
		Melbourne - Optus ‘Yes’ Shop Bourke Street
		Perth – Optus ‘Yes’ Shop Murray Street

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The word of the year is... ecosystem

Lately I've seen many articles, companies use the word 'ecosystem'. This must be the word of the day/month/year.... 

definition: 
n.
An ecological community together with its environment, functioning as a unit.

Tech sites/companies are the most common users of this word now. 

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Jailbreaking is ok by us

Here is an interesting article by Ars around the recent announcements around Jailbreaking. For years many people have "Jailbroken" their iPhone in order to install the apps they want, without the 'BigBrother' approving it, and to modify the phone the way you want.

Only recently has Apple agreed to give users the ability to change the wallpaper and multitask. This of course has been made available to anyone who has chosen to take the risk and to jailbreak their phone. But all the while, anyone who has jailbroken their phone risks their warranty and any support.

So why does Apple choose to take this stance when this ability is available on their laptop/notebook series? Well, I'm not entirely sure, considering that changing your wallpaper is harmless, and it is a sign of individualism.

But Apple is not alone in this, what you may not know is that the Android is built similar to the iPhone. Many of the concepts are still there and this is called 'rooting' or gaining root (super user) access to the phone.

It is a shame that these makers have taken this approach, I hope in the near future and especially anyone who takes a linux variant provides the user with the true power of linux. Long live freedom of choice.

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I need a tablet... or do I

Suddenly, Apple has changed the market for portable devices. If you've been awake and alert watching the tech market, you would have seen the incredible rise of Apple through portable devices. Apple were never the first in the market, but they ensured that they set themselves apart from the others and took strong hold and became the leader.

So with the iPod and iPhone as undoubtedly the leading devices in their areas, Apple has recently released the iPad. With sales sky rocketing, and every man and every dog climbing over others to get their hands on the new device, you may find yourself asking should I take the leap ?

To me the iPad is basically laptop/notebook, minus the keyboard and add in the 'walled gardens' of apple. If this is all that it is then what is the point of the iPad. The marketing team at Apple have said that it is revolutionising the market and making books digital, so would you really want to pay >$500 for device that can help carry your library where ever you want ? Is this worth it.

The iPad, along with the ease of digital books, also gives you the ability surf the web and a great store of apps... So is this worth >$500 ?

I would be someone who would get the latest and greatest devices on the market, but for some reason I'm really holding back with the iPad. Why? well the main reason is that I have several computers, laptops/notebooks, and an iPhone. With all these devices is there a really need for a device that bridges a gap between the iPhone and my MacBok Pro ? Apple thinks there is.

With my MacBook Pro i can surf the web, edit my files, edit my pictures, watch movies on line, but it is not portable enough to carry with me all the time. My iPhone is taken with me everywhere, it is convenient, it plays my music, and it surfs the net (and makes phone calls). But the screen is sometimes too small. I sometimes miss the bridge between the two, and I'm looking for an actual bridge. What I mean by that is, I want something that can perform operations tasks like my MacBook Pro and be in a tablet format. This means that it can surf the web, save files localy, has access to a range of apps... But unfortunately this is still not on the market.

So before you take your leap on to an iPad, the question that needs to be asked is 'do I need it, does it bridge the gap'...

Well the very next day that I post this, ars runs a story on Class Action Suit against Apply by iPad owners

Thanks

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How to download eBooks for the iPhone without iBooks

Well, if you have your personal book collection that you want to take with you just like your music/dvd collection, then your answer is simple... get them on your iPhone. With the introduction of the iPad and kindle, several companies have released have gone into this market to give you digital copies of your library and more.

So what happens when you already have purchased a book and you simply want a digital version, well the answer is simple, download it.

Here are some simple instructions on how you can achieve this from http://www.drinkmalk.com.

Remember, you should only download what you own...

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Double Take!

Well with the WWDC 10 coming up this is something that is great to watch :



http://video.allthingsd.com/video/steve-jobs-onstage-at-d1/162F122B-2500-4BF8-8240-C8D1A603A816

Just makes you wonder whether Apple is actually on the ball on what consumers want.

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Megavideo Audio out of Sync ?

I noticed that after I got my MacBook Pro that the Megavideo's audio was out of sync, sometimes up to 5-10 seconds. Sometimes, when the lag is only about a couple of seconds you can let it slip by not focusing on an actors lips, but when the lag is greater than a couple of seconds it makes it impossible.

Usually this is due to a codec, on a windows machine it's quite simple, download the latest version of K-Lite codec pack and 9 times out of 10 the problem is solved. If that didn't work then you can get a codec detection program and try and hunt for that codec.

With a Mac, however, it was not as easy to get a codec pack. But, I have done some digging around and I think there is a possible way to solve this on a Mac:

1. Download and install Perian
2. Download and install VLC Media Player

By installing both of these, and moving away from the clunky QuickTime player I was able to get my video/audio in sync. 

Hope this helped. 

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How to change your Mac's Computer Name

I just went and picked up my new Mac, which was kindly replaced by my insurance company after water damage. I used to have a MacBook Air, but after experiencing the lagging performance of the Air when ever I tried to use intense apps such as Lightroom etc... , I decided to get something with a little more grunt.

Happy to say that the Air is actually more expensive than some of the other MacBooks, this is because of the portability factor with the Air. So, since the insurance company offered a replacement at a particular price, the macbook pro that I purchased came about the same price (I had to pay an extra $50).

While I was getting he computer registered on my home network, I noticed that the Mac defaults its' name to a long string of text. So I hunted around to change the name, and surprisingly it was in the spot that I would not have thought to look at:

1. Open System Preferences
2. Select Sharing
3. Update your name 
4. Close the window

Done!

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UBUNTU 10.04 is out

Well you may have seen that Ubuntu 10.04 is out, with all its great features which the Ubuntu's site doesn't mention that well.

This is something interesting, when you type in Ubuntu in google this is the first image that is presented... interesting.



When ubuntu first came out, several years ago, a friend of mine came over to my place with a stack of CDs and gave me my fist copy, it was being handed out at our UNI. My first impressions of the first Ubuntu, was that it wasn't going to last in a heavily crowded distrib scene of Linux.

I've been pleasantly surprised since then of how many people now use Ubuntu over any other distrib.

I use Ubuntu at home for two reasons: 1) as a server, 2) as a media pc.

I'm firing up VMWARE to check out what the latest version has to offer.

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Port Forwarding with NetGear DGN2000

Port forwarding within the DGN2000 can a be two step process if you are looking to customise the rules. DGN2000 comes with a bunch of common ports and services, but if you are looking to stray from the common ports (which is sometimes the best thing to do) then follow these instructions:

First create your own service.

From the left hand side menu click Services, then click on Add Custom Service.

Enter the Name, Type, Port Range (read the help section which is displayed on the right hand side for information on each field)

Click Apply

You can see your custom defined service within the list of services, then once your ready to apply the rules for the service click on Firewall Rules on the left hand side menu.

Click on Add under the Inbound Services section  

Select the Action

Enter the IP of your machine to forward the packets to under Send to LAN Server

Keep the WAN Users to Any

Click on Apply

There you have it, the port has been successfully forwarded to your custom service. 

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Belkin Belkin, I thought your service was good but it turns out your product is shit!

This post is about the problems that I have been having with my Belkin Wireless N Router. 



Last year I purchased a new wireless modem router combo, and decided to go with the the Belkin range purely because it looked good. It had been working perfectly for about 8 months, and then it suddenly started to drop the connection. At first the connection was being dropped occasionally, and I didn't really notice it until I started to review the logs. 


At first I decided to contact my ISP thinking that they were dropping the connection to free up the service to others, they confirmed that it was not them and then asked me to check with my telephone provider. I did this as they had suggested, and I had a technician come out to inspect the line. The technician showed me that it wasn't the line that was causing the issue, but left the diagnostic equipment at my property overnight to collect the data (this was only because I was the last job). After reviewing the diagnostics results I was satisfied that it wasn't the line. 


So, after confirming with my ISP and Telephone Carrier that it wasn't them, I was baffled as to what it could be. I then realised the only other equipment was the modem. I should say at this point that the modem I had prior to purchasing a Belkin was a Netgear modem (no wireless) - which was an ugly white thing. 


I contacted Belkin, which sounded like an overseas call centre, who ran through their check-list and also updated my firmware to the latest firmware. The modem then didn't drop the line at all for about a week, I was quite satisfied with the results. A week later, the connection started to drop out again, except this time it was a lot more frequent than before. The connection was dropping out from being every 1 hour, to 5 mins, to within a minute of being online. 


I was seriously pissed off and contacted Belkin again, the operator went through the same check-list and said that they had to escalate this to a level 2 technician. A couple of days later the technician called me and requested my address, and said that they will be in contact with me. I later realised that they had shipped out a new modem to me, I was really satisfied with the outcome - but a little annoyed that they didn't tell me that they were shipping out a new modem. 

Now with the new modem, the connection has started to drop out AGAIN. Not only that, but it cannot manage multiple users sharing the bandwidth. For example, if my house mate decides to watch a clip on youtube then I will be locked out. I called Belkin again regarding this, and the operator that took the call went through the same check list and said that they had to pass it to level 2 technician. I still haven't received a call from Belkin about this, it has been over a month now. 



Overall, this has gone for about 5 months since I first noticed the line dropping out. As you can imagine I'm not very happy with Belkin and their product. I feel that the product is overpriced for poor quality product. Yesterday I had enough with Belkin and decided to go and purchase a new Netgear DGN2000 modem to carry me through for a couple of months till I can get a stable modem. Since plugging in the Netgear DGN2000 I haven't recieved a single drop out, and the modem comes with QoS which is great since I can now manage the traffic. 


Belkin if you reading this, please return my calls. 


Thanks

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apt-get on iphone ? Wanna know how ? Install package 'aptitude' from cydia

Some of you who have come from 2nd Gen Iphone, or OS 2.0 or below (which is Jailbroken ofcourse) might be wondering what ever happend to apt-get command ?

Well, if you are like me then you've probably been searching high and low... the answer is simple. What you will need to do is :

1. Launch Cydia
2. select search
3. enter 'APTITUDE'
4. select the aptitude package > Install > Confirm .... voila!

Hope this works for you!

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Scratched Iphone ? there's a fix for that

I know that most of you guys reading this would have applied a case of some sort on your brand spanking new iphone. Whether the case is still on the iphone now is probably a different story, eh ?


Well you're not alone, I'm in your position. When I first got my iPhone 3Gs I left the original plastic protection for about 1-2 weeks till I got my case from ebay. It was one of those plastic cases that protected the side and back and clicked on nicely to the iphone. The front was meant to be covered by a clear plastic stick on, but I didn't get around to applying this.

Now I don't have that many scratches on my iphone, purely because I'm careful in making sure that the phone is not in the same pocket as the keys - left pocket for the iphone and right pocket for the keys. But somehow, with all these measures that I have taken to try and protect the phone from scratches I have still managed to scratch it ... slightly.

If you are in worse position than me, then you should check out this forum post which explains how to fix it.

When I had the 3G, I bought the ZAGG Invisible shield. Oh boy was that a mistake for two reasons:

1. It is nightmare to get it on... and it doesn't cover the phone completely. There are still gaps, small gaps. 
2. The corners which are a little annoying, end up sticking to fluff in your pockets and don't end up sticking to your phone... in the end you are left removing the whole thing.

Hope this help...

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Books that are Apps

I downloaded my first Book as an App, and this is major selling point for the new iPad, so I thought I would try this out.

I was disappointed and feel that this is not worth it.

I'm planning to travel to europe, so I decided to download the City Guide by Lonely Planet, I decided to get this via an app because I am going to go to several countries and couldn't afford the weight of paperback books. My expectations of a book as an app is that it would utilise features of being an application etc.. After purchasing the city guide, I felt that it hardly used the features of being an App. It offered some basic GPS location etc... where you see what is around you. Granted that this is a nice feature, but what I was disappointed about was that the book/app contained very little images and it was hard to read.

In fact I have found other apps, that are offered for free that are 10 times better than the lonely planet.

Now the problem is that I have downloaded the application, used it, found that it is rubbish and I am stuck with it. Most of the application in the App store work off micro payments, which means that you can sell items at small prices and if someone doesn't like it then they are only out by a small amount and the author still gets paid for the usage. However, the problem with the Lonely Planet book/app was that it is retailing at the same price as the hard copy. If this was only offered as a hard copy this is how it would have turned out:

• Make a trip to the mall to a book store
• Go to the travel section, look for the books about places I going to go to
• Flick through the books, read the sections that interests me (not sections that someone else decides)
• Compare different books to see which one suits me (keeping in mind that some people may actually prefer the way that lonely planet sets out its book).
• Pick the one that I want, most likely not the lonely planet book.

Now when people wonder why anyone would jail break their phone, some will say it is to be liberated and to be able to customise the phone the way that they want. Others will say that they want to try out an application before committing to it.

Thanks for reading...

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Upgrading from 3.0.1 to 3.1.2...jail breaking at the same time

As you may know, I have been trying to figure out how to move on to Firmware 3.1.2 safely from 3.0.1 without screwing up my iphone. Undoubtedly you may think that there are plenty of tutorials available online, and I acknowledge this. What I was concerned about was that I used a particular method to jailbreak my 3GS, which I can no longer remember (i think it was purp1erain, or something). Never the less, there are a number of articles describing the dangers of jail breaking an iPhone and Apple had also made a statement stating that it is not worth the risk.

So with that in mind, my $1200 investment had to be secure and hence my angst in making sure that i was doing everything correctly.

For anyone that is in the same position as me, I hope the following will help you.

I have now successfully upgraded my firmware from 3.0.1 to 3.1.2 and have jail broken my iphone. To do this follow this tutorial that I used from www.redmondpie.com.

Basically this is what I did:

1. I downloaded Pwnage tool 3.1.4, click here


2. I downloaded firmware version 3.1.2, click here


3. Backed up my iphone data:
   
   
   • Connect your iphone to your computer
   
   
   • When the Iphone icon appears, right click (or CTRL + Click) and select Back Up
   
   
4. Once this is backed up, open pwnage tool and follow the steps in the guide from redmondpie.com
5. After you have successfully completed jail breaking your iphone, if your iphone was previously unlocked(which means that you can use any carrier and it is not locked to a particular carrier), then make sure that you unlock it. This had caused some tears for me since after the jail break, I could not make calls until I had unlocked the phone.
6. Once you have done all of this, open up itunes and allow it restore the information from the backup that you made earlier.

Unfortunately, the downside about jail breaking and getting applications from third party sites is that after the upgrade you need to hunt them down and re-download them. Sometimes, the links are broken etc... I guess this is a small price to pay for the convenience of having the freedom of a jail broken phone. From now on, I think I'll backup my IPAs even the ones that I downloaded via Installous, I'll write up a post about this once i have done this.

Thanks

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Safari updates

After a lot of reluctance I decided to update Safari, actually this was by accident and I selected Safari when I meant to only select iTunes. This is part of my jail breaking adventure of version 3.1.2.

Anyway, after the update I noticed a new feature which appears when you open a new tab called Top Sites. At first glance this looked neat, it showed all these sites that I had frequented in a thumb nail... a thumb nail of what seemed to be the last page I had viewed....

I'm not sure whether this is a good thing or a bad thing right now. There were a couple of sites which I didn't realise that I frequented that much to make it into my "Top Sites". I would love to see someone who frequents porn sites, imagine that...

One thing that did concern me was that it showed my facebook page logged in, it showed my netbank page logged in, it showed my gmail account... logged in. Of course this is only just an image of some sort, and the account is not accessible like that. But it did show quite a lot of detail if you did Control and scrolled up to zoom into the cursor.

I managed to find a way to turn this off using a command line, so to execute this you will need

to open Terminal and enter the following (and then press enter of course), you may need to close safari and re-open it to work:

defaults write com.apple.Safari DebugSafari4IncludeTopSites -bool NO

If you decide that you want to re-activate this feature, just simply change No at the end to a Yes.

Thanks

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Upgrading and Jail breaking from 3.0.1 to 3.1.2

Well it seems that the IPA file that I have been trying to get on to my iphone requires 3.1+, unfortunately since my last jailbreak I've left the firmware version sitting at 3.0.1.

Now, 3.1.3 has just been released by Apple around the start of this month. But apparently this is nothing special, unless you have had previous issues with it. Also, a proper firmware patch is not available yet. But it looks like a loop hole has been found. Now it's just a matter of time I guess.

Anyway, I'm not getting much luck in getting information on upgrading from 3.0.1 to 3.1.2 in one go, and jail breaking it. There is a lot of information on the net about jail breaking, with many tools, tutorials, and promises. Some of these even contradict one another. So, it feels like I need to filter the fiction from the facts.

If anyone can assist in answering this, please do... need help with this one.

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Installing IPA files from PC to Iphone without iTunes

I've been trying to install a custom IPA without much success. No matter which tutorial that I followed, it all seemed to get a point where iTunes was involved. However, my issue was that I didn't want to use iTunes on my laptop, because it wanted to wipe everything (remove all the apps etc...).

I thought, there has got to be a way without having to use iTunes. Surely since the iphone is connected via usb or by ssh wifi, we should be able to install the IPA. Initially I used Air Sharing app to move the IPA from my computer to the iphone. This wasn't successful at all.

The good news is that, after reading countless number of tutorials/guides/forum posts etc..., I have found a method that suited my situation which I can share with everyone:

Since I had already jail broken my iphone, I had Cydia already installed and I had installed Installous (let me know if you need instructions on how to do this). Also, you need to make sure that your iphone is connected via WiFi.

1. Open Cydia and goto Selections (tab) > Networking > OpenSSH > then select Install
2. Download and open up a SFTP client (an FTP client that can connect via SSH). Since I was using a Mac I downloaded Cyberduck to use as my SFTP client. If you are using Windows then you can use WinSCP.
3. Using your SFTP client, login to your iphone: The server address for the iphone can be found in Settings > Wi-Fi > select the blue icon of your network and the IP address of the iphone can be found there. The login name is root and password is alpine. If this doesn't work then you may need to google this.
4. Once you have connected to your iphone, navigate to /private/var/mobile/library/Downloads. Copy your IPA file to this directory, this is the directory where installous stores the downloaded IPA files.
5. Go to your iphone and launch the installous app, then go to the Downloads tab and select your IPA file to install. You should be able to install this like any other IPA file.

Anyway, I hope you find this useful.

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The Time magazine iPhone app

Today I found the great joy of using the Time magazine's iPhone app. I've always been a fan of Time magazine, and have also thought of the magazine as reputable. But I have to confess that to date I haven't purchased a single magazine, I've only read bits of the magazine from friends and assorted coffee tables.

With this app, and the stories that it delivers to you make my train ride to work a lot more enjoyable.

I've tried some other news apps and have found their articles to be very brief. Whereas the Time magazine is offering full articles.

Fantastic, great work!

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Nexus one

I just saw the nexus one from google and htc. The specs of the phone look amazing, and it certainly comparable if not better than some areas of the iPhone.

At the same token, there's a key note just around the corner... and you know that Apple will not want to loose any market share. The rumours about the next gen iPhoneis that it will contain a multicore processor and a removable battery. But these are only rumours, which I hope will come true. If you remember that the iPhone 3gs, didn't really add much of a wow factor to the iPhone, since the OS added the functionality which was an upgrade.

I'm not an Apple 'fan boy', nor am I an Apple hater, I'm just a lover of technology. What I liked about the last several years of apple's resurgence is that they came out with technology with a bit of flair. I haven't seen any other company take it to the edge as well as Apple.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that technology that is released with a bit of flair will attract people to it. What's easy on the eye will be easy on the back pocket. What I saw from nexus one was anything but that, the specs look great such as the size, removable battery, removable memory, open operating system with plenty of API for developers to play with etc.... With all that said and done, at the end of the day the only ones who will know or like those features is the techno nerds... Like me. But for the greater public what they are interested in is the eye and simplicity . I don't think nexus one brings this to the table, the next generation of the phone might introduce some lessons learnt from htc and google.

My main gripes about nexus one is

a) some features of the phone is not easy to use as a phone. Keeping in mind at the end of the day the nexus one is meant to be a portable device, so you will need the functionality to work quickly and smoothly. Applications need to be well designed and not have every single functionaliy that you may use once in a blue moon, instead have the functionality that you will use every day. Android contains features, a lot of functionality, which leaves little for the developers. It also has functionality that had complex transitions which made it a little slower.

B) most of the functionality needs to be able to be operated with a single hand. Given the voice control was great.

C) the look... The look ... The look. Have I sad it enough in his post? Well if you haven't got the point yet, the nexus one is ugly! Enough said.

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