RSS
 

Posts Tagged ‘MobileMe’

Review: iOS5 for iDevices

12 Oct

iOS5

This update, a free update for most iPhones, iPods and iPads, (the exception is iPhones older than 3GS which do not support this update) is slated to be released later today and is by far the most incredible, feature rich update to the iOS devices thus far. Of course I say this every year with every new major update but the truth of the matter is they just keep getting better and better. The impending release of the iPhone 4S this coming Friday is relatively small news in my opinion compared to this release as virtually every new feature it sports is because of iOS5. Per usual  has worked long and hard to provide us with great new features and show us clearly why they are the best of the best when it comes to smart phones. This OS was in beta a lot longer than they normally do for iOS, perhaps because of all the great new features that really needed to be tested. Per usual I have been with it since the beginning. For those of you wondering what happened to all the app reviews this summer, that is a major contributor. Given that I had the beta I felt it unfair for the most part to give negative app reviews for issues which were likely the fault (or at least possibly the fault) of the beta os. Now that it is finally here, go on over to iTunes and install iOS5, you won’t regret it!

Read the rest of this entry »

 
Comments Off

Posted in iDevices, iPad, iPhone, iTunes, Technology

 

Ignore The rumors for that is all they are!

27 Mar

I know it is tempting to listen to the rumor mills about what is up and coming in  land, I too once use to follow them actively and completely. However the fact of the matter is that the rumors are RARELY true. Sure a few of them get it right every now and again, and I hear it time after time from people around me, ‘this is the same source that successfully predicted the iPhone 4′. Believe me, I know, when you are throwing out hundreds of rumors each one contradicting the last it is easy to eventually get one right especially when someone accidentally leaves your product in a bar. At the end of the day these are all just rumors and one thing I have learned about  over the years is this: no matter what the rumors say, no matter what I want or expect to see, what ever it is that Apple has planned will surely outshine anything I could have hoped for. I’ve seen it year after year with every recent product release including each of the iPhone, iPod and now iPad models, every time people speculate about what this release will bring and every time, Apple releases something far better, but different from what the speculators stated would come.

Remember something, just because some well known news organization states that  will or even MUST release a specific feature with their next release, doesn’t mean that Apple is actually required to do anything. Far too often I see speculators talking about things they believe will be apart of the next iPhone or the next iPad and then when the actual product is released they get mad at Apple for screwing up. Likewise people speculate that a product or update will be released by a certain date and when that doesn’t happy they say that  missed their deadline. Apple is not beholden to news organizations or rumor mills. They have no responsilbity to meet the expectations set out by these groups of people and in general you’d be wise to avoid them as well.

There is a lot of speculation going around right now about the upcoming iPhone, updates to MobileMe and even the iPad 3. NONE of these things have yet been announced by  nor will I believe any of the rumors until  actually does make their announcement. So when I hear people talking about  having to delay the iPhone 5 release or even hear them talking about a June release date all I can do is laugh because NONE of you know anything about that until  makes their announcement.

 
Comments Off

Posted in iDevices, iPad, iPhone, Technology

 

I am an Apple Geek

21 Mar

I am an  geek, that much is obvious, I obsess over my apple gadgets and of course generally I must have all the latest and greatest. At home it is just my wife and myself yet we have more apple computers and toys than a normal household of 4 would. My co-workers have taken notice to this obsession and even have placed bets on my ability to go without apple gadgetry. I personally like my devices too much to indulge them, but recently a co-worker made a video based on his experience with me that is oddly quite accurate and so I wanted to share it with all of you. This video is inspired by my recent 25 hour wait in line (and camp out) for the iPad 2 *WARNING: BRIEF OBSCENE LANGUAGE AND INAPPROPRIATE CONTENT*:

 
Comments Off

Posted in Apps-iPad, Apps-iPhone, iDevices, iPad, iPhone, iTunes, Technology

 

Review: The All-New iPad 2

12 Mar

The iPad 2 (Prices vary by model)

As I am sure you are aware, the iPad 2 was released to the public yesterday, March 11, 2011. The widely anticipated release has put in our hands the best iPad on the market. As a matter of fact some reviewers have said that with the release of the iPad 2, it becomes the only tablet on the market. I too was there to purchase the iPad 2 yesterday and now that I have had sufficient time to use it, play with it and try things out I can give you a fair assessment. Of course many of you would probably expect me to give a perfect rating simply because of my obsession with . The truth is that I fully intend to give an unbiased rating, not because I love , but rather an assessment of how the device truly works.
Read the rest of this entry »

 
8 Comments

Posted in iDevices, iPad, Technology

 

Review: iMovie (iPhone)

24 Jan

iMovie (Apple inc. $4.99)

If you’ve ever used iMovie on your Mac, you know how wonderful of a tool it really is. In fact with the release of iLive ’11 iMovie is now better than ever before. After having used iMovie on my Mac, I was looking forward to using it on my iPhone as well. I must say that upon trying it on my iPhone I was quite disappointed in how little it actually does for me. I expected to be able to do a lot of the things that I can do using my Mac, even if not as much. Unfortunately the app doesn’t do nearly enough. This is not a universal app and currently it only runs on an iPhone 4.

Now I am not exactly disappointed with iMovie on my iPhone and I definitely don’t regret my purchase, so don’t get me wrong. I do enjoy using this app and am happy I bought it. I just wish they would update the app to add in a few more things. The app does have a lot of benefits and I have seen a lot of examples online of people who are making full length feature films all on their iPhones. iMovie for iPhone allows me to edit and create a full movie right on my iPhone even if the interface is a bit tedious. After making that movie I can publish it to various destinations including YouTube and MobileMe. It is a lot of fun to shoot videos on my iPhone, assemble them together into something I have created, and then send that off to family and friends. When combined with a few other tools on the iPhone I find I can do most things I need to.

In addition to iMovie I also use other tools such as Sketches 2 which can be used to create images with text (for credits or other text in your movie), and then I can also include audio files from my iPod library. I find that to properly create a full video I have to go through several encodes in iMovie, exporting each and then re-encoding to get it all just right. One big problem I have found with iMovie is that videos I did not shoot on my iPhone are not available for working with in iMovie. I also wish there were more templates to work with, right now there are only 5 and that is quite limiting. It would be nice to have a few additional features such as the ability to add on multiple audio tracks.

Read the rest of this entry »

 
Comments Off

Posted in Apps-iPhone, iDevices, iPhone, Technology

 

Review: XMarks (Universal App)

04 Jan

XMarks for Premium Customers (LastPass FREE) Universal App

I am shocked that this app is so substandard! I really expected a lot more from the makers of XMarks and quite frankly am very disappointed in this app. The app itself really provides no value whatsoever (to me). In order to use the app, you must subscribe to an annual premium service at $12/year. When you pay that fee, that entitles you to use the app. I am a subscriber but NOT for the app and I definitely think that if this is the best they can do for an iDevice app that they shouldn’t even bother! This is a universal app and the app functions identical on both the iPhone and iPad.

The service itself, XMarks, is a great service! I have been using it since 2006 as a means of not only backing up my bookmarks but also keeping them in sync between many devices. Back in 2006 I had a crummy windoze machine that would crash regularly and require regular installs of the OS. Consequently I sought out ways of ensuring things like bookmarks could be easily backed up and restored. Xmarks does a great job of this, storing your bookmarks on their server allowing you to easily restore them or keep multiple machines in sync. They then branched out to a password service as well although I never tried that as I use 1Password for that. As I moved over to the Mac world I have accumulated more devices and this has particularly become handy. Now all my bookmarks between my home machines and work machines stay in sync. Furthermore I have MobileMe syncing bookmarks between safari on my home machine and my iPhone and iPad which means ALL of my devices stay in sync with one another. Whether on my iPhone/iPad or laptop, if I bookmark something, that bookmark carries over.

What disappoints me about this app though is that it is nothing more than a way to view those bookmarks. Considering I already have a way through Mobile Safari on my iDevices, this is essentially useless. I can open the bookmarks with an in-app browser, but beyond that there is nothing more I can do. I thougth I’d at least be able to modify the bookmarks, reorganize them, delete them or move them around. Unfortunately none of that is possible through this app, all I can do is view them. Now with all this in mind, I suppose if you don’t have a way to sync your bookmarks to your iDevice then perhaps this may provide some value to you, but again that value is very limited. The premium service comes with a few other benefits but for the most part the idea behind it is a way to keep them in business. I rely heavily on this service and would hate to see them go. A few months ago they announced they’d be shutting down due to lack of funds. Fortunately they were bought out by another company who is now offering the premium service as a way to stay afloat. The value of the service itself is worth the annual cost to me. But the app is worthless.

Read the rest of this entry »

 
Comments Off

Posted in Apps-iPad, Apps-iPhone, iDevices, iPad, iPhone, Technology

 

Review: BeejiveIM (iPad)

18 Dec

BeejiveIM for iPad (Beejive, Inc. $9.99)


I hesitate a little bit with this app, while I really like it and find it very much worth the cost, it is hard to recommend that you purchase an app with many other free or cheaper alternatives out there. Furthermore, this is not a universal app, so if you intend to use it on both the iPad and the iPhone you’ll need to purchase it for both. That being said, I have never once regretted purchasing this app. Not only have I not regretted it, but even after purchasing it for the iPhone, I went on to purchase it for my iPad. I definitely am happy that I purchased it for my iPad and now find my self rarely even using it on my iPhone.

The things that make the iPad great really make this a winning app, the iPhone version is very similar (looks different, but similar in features and functionality), but I find myself only using it on y iPhone when I am on the go and need to stay connected to IM. often times though when I am on the go, I don’t want to stay connected. My iPad on the other hand allows me to me use this IM app as if I were on any computer. And since typing on the iPad is fairly easy, it is very easy to communicate using this app. More than once while watching the game on a lazy Sunday afternoon or while I am relaxing in bed, I have engaged in a conversation with some one very easily and without getting out my laptop by simply using this app.

With the release of 4.2.1, this app is capable of multitasking although since beejiveIM really came out with one of the first implementations of push notification (that I saw), multitasking really isn’t necessary on this app. Prior to push notification, they solved the problem by sending an email notification of IMs to your Push email account. With push notification you can leave the app anytime without worrying about receiving your messages. As soon as one comes in you’ll receive the notification. With multitasking, you can go back into the app exact as you left it. Of course that is just one of the many small things that make this app great. There are many benefits that this app carries which cause me to choose it over the other IM apps so I’ll outline for you what I think are the most important characteristics of this app:

Read the rest of this entry »

 
Comments Off

Posted in Apps-iPad, iDevices, iPad, Technology

 

Review: iOS 4.2.1 (iPhone and iPad)

22 Nov

The long awaited release of iOS 4.2.1 is finally here. If you have not yet upgraded I encourage you to do so, it is absolutely worth the update. I have been using it on my iDevices for several months now and am so use to the features that when I touch a device without iOS 4.2 I am uncomfortable with it. I cannot imagine going back to a time when I did NOT have multitasking on my iPad. I have been reluctant to speak about iOS 4.2.1 until now because, as a developer, I am under NDA. Although some may take that lightly, I do not. But now that it is released, I can speak freely about the features that this update brings.

The majority of new features by far are on the iPad as this is the first update to the iPad with 4.x. That being said I will likely focus the majority of this post on the iPad version, but needless to say, this update brings a unification of the iPad and iPhone versions of iOS 4.x so just about everything you will see on the iPad is something that will now be (or already is) on the iPhone. That of course means all the benefits that we have seen with iOS 4.1 on the iPhone are now available for the iPad (finally!!) Additionally, all the new features such as AirPlay and AirPrint are now available for all devices that support them. The iPad just became all that much more useful in my opinion. Never fear Jailbreakers, my understanding is there is already a Jailbreak available for 4.2.1. It shouldn’t be too hard to find more information about that subject on the interwebs.

Read the rest of this entry »

 
Comments Off

Posted in iDevices, iPad, iPhone, iTunes, Technology