iphone 3gs review

i've been an iphone user now pretty much since they released the first model in america and i've never looked back. it's quite weird how different it feels to other phones i've had in the past. the general mobile phone rule is about a month after you buy a phone the next generation of models come out that look cooler, have more features, better camera, are smaller, lighter, faster, better... but even since i bought my iphone in 2007 i haven't wanted to change to a different phone. sure other phones do the same stuff (arguably better in some cases). other phones have better cameras, replaceable batteries and probably plenty of other features. but overall nothing seems to handle everything as well as the iphone and this is mainly due to it's app store and it's ongoing firmware updates from apple.

i was happy enough with my first generation iphone and probably would have stuck with it alot longer had i not lost it at this years reading festival moshing. so it was time for an update so i figured i might aswell push the boat out and grab a 16gb iphone 3gs. when it was first announced it was definitely an update i could have skipped and waited for the next generation model but being forced to upgrade i'm pretty happy i did.

the main updates were the massive speed increase (it's really noticeable), improved camera, video recording, 3g internet speeds, voice control, gps and it's built in compass (to orientate google maps). so a pretty decent upgrade really, and overall this thing is pretty fucking great.

essentially this thing is just catnip for geeks.

and being a geek i love that i can use this thing for pretty much anything, anywhere. i can check my email, facebook, twitter (and take pics or videos to upload to these) keep up with rss feeds, watch youtube, check web sites, ebay, play games, find out where i am/what's around me, use as a sat nav, listen to music/podcasts, watch movies/tv shows, check train times, the list goes on.

obviously computers have been able todo pretty much all this stuff for ages but having all this on something pocket sized i just find really cool. infact for a few tasks i'm actually starting to prefer using my iphone over my laptop. some things really do just work better on the iphone. like checking train times for example. i can open up the national rail app, have it find my location and all the nearest train stations and all their train times (and which ones are late). it's just quicker and easier on the iphone than on a pc.

... oh yeah the iphone can also send and receive texts and phone calls!

another couple of useful apps i've started using recently are evernote and read it later. you can use both whether you have an iphone or not. both offer a similar service to the google stuff i mentioned in my useful web apps blog post a while ago but these seem superior (mainly 'cause google won't integrate it's services into google chrome).

the main advantage to using these tools is the changes you make are synced online so they are always up-to-date from wherever you access them from. anyway here's a couple of vid's to show what they do.




yeah she was kinda annoying but that was the best vid i could find to sum up what evernote does. but it's pretty useful and completely free so give it a go.

some thoughts on windows 7

this week i made the update from windows vista to windows 7 on the work laptop and overall it does seem pretty good. who'd have thought windows vista could have been improved upon! i should note that i did the update option as opposed to a complete reformat, 'cause i'm lazy like that. the update process took about 4-5 hours but overall there seems to be a pretty good speed increase in booting up and shutting down (which kinda is expected as vista is pretty much the slowest operating system there is).

i've been using it now for a few days and it does seem a definite improvement (again not difficult coming from vista). since buying a macbook (for home) i'm pretty converted to mac os x and given the choice i'd much rather be running that, but from what i've seen it looked pretty complicated to get it installed on most normal pc's and i'm just not that bored enough to get into it that much. so for the time being windows 7 will have todo.

so being a mac user i do like the new windows 7 taskbar 'cause microsoft being microsoft has attempted to copy the mac os x dock. the new windows taskbar takes up much less space and just looks alot nicer. one feature that seems to have been left out is stacks (a mac os x feature) that allows folders placed in the dock to be opened so you can access more from one icon on your dock. there seem to be a few apps out there to get around this and the one i'm trying out is called standalonestack2 (catchy name i know). it's compatible with windows xp, vista and 7 so may be something you wanna check out anyway. for more info and to see it in action check this out.

another cool thing i noticed about the new taskbar is when your copying files it shows the progress bar in the background of the icon. so you can see when your files are done copying without having to minimise everything else.

another slightly changed feature is the "gadgets". basically they are little things you can add to your desktop to get in the way (like a clock, calendar, local weather, news headlines, etc). in windows vista these were limited to the left or right side of your screen but now you can just throw these anywhere on your desktop. it's a useful feature to have if you actually use them but still doesn't compare to the infinitely better mac os x dashboard.

another "big" feature added to windows 7 is the resizing of windows. if you want to compare two websites side-by-side you can just drag the window to the far left or right of the screen and it'll resize it to fit half the screen. once your done you just drag them back and they return to their previous size. kinda cool i guess.

given the few days i've been using windows 7 these seem to be the most noticeable and stand out features - so far anyway. i'm sure/hope there's more under the hood but it definitely seems a worthy update from vista (but then so was windows xp...). it really should be a free upgrade from vista but any way microsoft can make more money they will, and if they can confuse people with all their stupid different versions at the same time all the better. seriously, is anyone gunna make sense of this:

but i guess for the time being this is a free and worthy update from vista so i'd recommend doing it (especially if your already on vista, but maybe if your on xp too and fancy a change). obviously backup your shit first - just incase.

now here's a quick video on microsoft's innovation in windows vista :)

charles trippy's vloggity vlogs?

ok so while browsing youtube i accidentally found one of charles trippy vlog videos (a vlog is a video blog if you hadn't already guessed). this guy has basically decided to keep a kind of video diary for 2 or 3 years, filming and uploading a new video everyday. for most people (including myself) doing this would be insanely boring but i don't know how this guy gets away with seemingly not having a day job (unless this vlog is already paying for itself... or he's just on holiday on the videos i've seen) but after watching a few of his entries i'm a converted fan.

[update: i caught one of his ustream's the other night and turns out he is actually being paid to make youtube videos... pretty sweet gig]

every video of his i've seen so far has always been fun, interesting, cool and funny so i'd say it fits the bill perfectly for something i'd like to post and share on my (primitive in comparison) blog.

here's a preview vid for you to see what you think. in this one he visits the google hq, the empire state building and nintendo world - all in a days "work" for charles trippy which warrants muchos cool points in my book :)

check out and subscribe to his youtube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/user/CTFxC

or head to his own site at http://charlestrippy.com - he's on pretty much everything: twitter, facebook and even has his own iphone app to keep you updated on his transpirings :)

why twitter?

i've been meaning todo a twitter post for a while now so no time like the present right? i've been using twitter now for a few months. i was reluctant at first but after reading the twitter experiment blog post by david pogue i decided to get involved and start using twitter - and i really like it. but it seems difficult to get new people to get involved, and i can see why. the first thing they always say is it's just another facebook status update and on the surface it's easy to just look at it like that, but when you actually start to use it properly you might start to like it more than facebook (as i now do). however they are difficult to compare as i have different uses for both facebook and twitter.

facebook is mostly good at what it does, keeping you in contact and updated on what your friends are up to, sharing photos/videos, creating events, etc but over time it seems to be getting bloated with useless crap. i don't care about your mafia wars update. i can see why you'd join a group and become a fan of a band you like or event your interested in but i don't care if your a 'fan' of laughing or joined the group 'i need money' ... who the hell doesn't and who doesn't like laughing! it's getting ridiculous. this is somewhere twitter prevails. as soon as you read something by someone your not interested in you can just un-follow them. this instantly kills any spam. plus twitter doesn't even have adverts (how many web sites can say that these days?).

once your on twitter you should get a desktop app for it 'cause they are just better than using the web site. these allow you to get instant updates from the people you follow. you can set them up to update as often as you like and they give you a small msn style popup when new tweets are received. probably the most popular is tweetdeck. you can download it windows, mac or iphone for free via their website or the app store. one of tweetdeck's coolest features is the ability to create search columns. so if i wanted to keep up to date with say half life 2 episode 3 just create a search column and you'll receive live updates from anyone whose tweets contain 'half life 2 episode 3' - even people i don't already follow.


tweetdeck is good and has most of the features you need from a twitter client but i find it does take over my screen a bit too much for my liking so i use twhirl. it uses a smaller window and actually displays incoming tweets as they come in on the bottom right of your screen. twhirl is available for windows and mac on their web site.

i should also mention tweetie which is a good app on both mac and iphone. you have to pay for the full version but you can download a free version on mac with adverts but there are loads of different twitter apps out there so just search around and use the one best suited to you.

one of the most useful features for me is just having live updates from web sites i visit regularly. basically you can use twitter as an rss feed from news/games/movie sites, anything your interested in and receive updates as soon as they go onto their web site.

then there's obviously celebrities. alot of tv and radio shows now are using twitter as a way to communicate with their audience. it's also pretty cool following people within the industry, like someone working on the effects in a film or working on a game still in production.

i mainly use it for sharing links. it's just easier to put something i want to share on twitter than individually sending everyone i know an instant message. plus on twitter it'll reach more people because twitter is open to everyone (not just people you know like on facebook).

anybody can search twitter for anything. any topic you want to see what people are talking about. if you want to see what people are saying about a certain film, or a specific web site or event you can just search and see what people are saying about it. you can also use hashtags which work in the same way. you basically put a # in front of a word which then makes it a searchable link. if you see any weird words with a # before them check out wthashtag.com - it's like a wikipedia of hashtags and will tell you what they mean.

anyway that about covers everything i wanted to say on twitter. it's not for everyone but it is for me, so i recommend you give it a go. i guarantee there will be plenty of people/web sites you'll want to follow - so if your not already, get on twitter.

podcast playlist

well i've managed to add some cool new mp3 player widgets to the sidebar of the blog now. one of them has replaced the flashplayer for the band covers (which i've also added a song to) and i thought i'd use another to share any other cool audio goodness i find online. don't worry i won't have them autoplay when you visit (cos i hate that, yes i'm looking at you myspace!).

i figured i'd start by just sharing some podcasts i listen to, which at the moment mainly consist of adam & joe on 6music.

if you havn't seen or heard any adam & joe (where the HELL have you been for the past 10 years!) give them a listen and see what you think - it's one of my favorite podcasts. if you are already a fan of their current 6music podcast you should definitely listen to their old xfm podcasts still avalible for FREE on itunes if you haven't for whatever reason.

another favorite is the ricky gervais podcast. these are probably the funniest podcasts out there so i can't recommend them enough. the first series is also still free on itunes so give them a listen when you've got time. they've done about 4 more series since, which they started charging money for (but they can be found online elsewhere if you look hard enough).

now a couple for lost fans. first one is kinda obvious: the official lost podcast. the shows executive producers damon lindelof and carlton cuse answer questions sent in from lost geeks. being a pretty big lost fan i'm interested in any extra clues on offer from anyone working on the show so this is all good.

the official podcast is good for most casual lost fans but if you wanna get really hardcore try listening to the o.d.i lost podcast. these are some pretty big lost geeks who will analyze any and everything from the show and also share some interesting theories. if your hardcore you should like, if your casual or just not a lost fan this is probably not recommended :)

that'll do for podcasts for now. try out this weeks adam & joe podcast in the sidebar on the right and keep an eye out for any new stuff i add to the playlist.

what podcasts do you listen to? leave a comment below or @reply me on twitter.

in an unrelated matter, celebrity deaths have been all the rage this week so for no reason here's jeff goldblum, he will be missed:

new iphone announcement

yesturday apple made some new annoucements at their worldwide developer conference keynote about some of their upcoming products. you can watch the full presentation here.

they started out with some new macbook updates adding an sd card, firewire 800 (the apple fans cheer at the weirdest things, this was one of them lol), better screen, better battery and some other stuff. after that a guy with an annoying accent showed off some of the new features from their next major operating system update snow leopard. most of it looked pretty sweet and i still think mac os x leopard is the best operating system around at the moment so i'm looking forward to the update. snow leopard is due out in september and apple is only charging $29 to upgrade to it, which will make it extremely hard for microsoft to compete with windows 7 (unless it's a free upgrade from vista - which it should be anyway cos vista's just shit).

after that they moved on to show off the features of the new iphone 3.0 software which adds loads of new features for all iphone's and ipod touch's. they're finally adding copy & paste, a landscape keyboard in all text entry apps and tethering to your computer to use your iphone as a modem to get online wherever you are. one of the features i was most impressed with was the 'find my iphone' service for if you lose your iphone - check it out:

then the big annoucement that the apple fan boys were waiting for - a new iphone called the iphone 3gs (the s stands for speed). time to get my bullet points out, aww yeah! new features include:

• an upgraded camera - still only 3.2mp tho, but the pics they showed off did look pretty good.
• video recording - with ability to upload straight to youtube.
• all the insides have been upgraded to increase speed all round.
• built in compass - so the iphone can rotate maps to the direction your facing.
• voice control - allows you to give your iphone voice commands to phone people, play songs, etc.
• available in 16gb and 32gb versions.
• and it's the same size as the iphone 3g.

the iphone 3gs does seem cool but i don't think they've upgraded enough to warrent me paying for a whole new contact when alot of the features are still coming to my iphone 2g with the 3.0 firmware - but then it took me a while to come round to the iphone in the first place, but now i'll buy almost anything if it's shiney and made by apple:

useful web apps

few posts in now, i'm doing better than i thought i would at blogging. the web's pretty useful as it is, but i find myself using these services more and more so figured i'd pass them on.

first up here's a few google services you may not have tried or heard of. most people probably use more than one computer every day/week/month so you want to be able to access the same stuff on all the computers you use. cloud computing is gunna become more and more popular so might aswell jump on the bandwagon now. if you find something of interest at work and wanna take a better look at home later a useful tool is google bookmarks. basically it's a list of favorites you can access from any computer once you log into your google account (which everyone has by now right?). another advantage of using this is if your computer does go pop and you lose everything at least this way your bookmarked porn site's are safe :)

along with this you also have google docs (free ms office online basically) and google notebook - which i find myself using alot. i guess all this is pretty useless if you only ever use the same computer, but if you don't (like me) hopefully you'll give them a go and like them.

ok enough google ass kissing.

free youtube to mp3 converter

you know when you hear a new song you like and wanna get it on your ipod. this ones a good way to go. once you know the artist and track name (probably through shazam or another phone alternative) chances are the song your after is on youtube in some form - i mean c'mon what isn't these days. point your browser here and download this free app for windows. once you've installed it just give it the url of the youtube video with your song and it'll download and convert it to mp3 - perfect!

songza

this ones another music related one. if your ever been on someone else's computer who has either no music or just an awful taste in music head over to http://songza.com. it allows you to create playlists of youtube videos. so instead of going track by track of all the songs you wanna listen to you can just go here make a small playlist and leave it on shuffle. ideal!

anyway, that'll do for now. if you know any other cool online services like these that you find useful gimme a shout.

iphone apps

with the itunes app store getting alota downloads everyday and new apps being added all the time there's alota useless crap but i figured i'd do a quick post on the apps i like and use the most. i doubt everyone reading this actually has an iphone but if your considering getting one you might be interested. so let's get started...


i'll put a link to a video of each app in the title so you can see them in action. the videos aren't mine but they'll give you an idea of what the apps like. if you wanna give them a try just search for the title on the app store (obviously).

field runners - this is one of the first games i really liked on the iphone that turned out to be really addictive. it's a basic tower defence game where you have to stop these little guys from getting from one side of the screen to the other by building turrets to stop them for as long as you can. there are loads of similar apps (one being tap defence which is free) but this one is the best i've tried.

sway - this ones kinda difficult to explain and is much better just to see in action. you basically control each of your characters arms with your left and right thumb and have to swing around the level to get to the end. it's one of my favorites on the iphone at the mo and couldn't be done on anything other than an iphone.

scoops - last i checked this ones actually free on the app store so definitely give it a try. i started playing and was instantly addicted. basically you've got an ice cream cone and you need to move it around to collect scoops of ice cream and avoiding the fruit. my current high score is 160060.

zenbound - again this one you kinda need to see in action. the object is basically to wrap a rope around diffenent 3d shapes. wherever the rope touches the shape it becomes coloured. the idea is to colour in as much of the object as possible using a set length of rope. might sound boring but the touch controls and accelorometer make it work really well. very unique game that i was impressed by anyway.

rolando - if you liked locoroco on the psp or ps3 then this one's for you. it's almost exactly the same really but the main difference if the controls. you basically select the character you want to move by touching them onscreen and then tilt the iphone in the direction you wanna go. different characters move around differently and generally the object is to collect fruit and get all the characters to the end of the level.

sudoku grab - there are quite a few sudoku apps on the app store but this one impressed me most. as usual they come with a load of puzzles with the app but this one actually allows you to use the iphone's camera to add more puzzles to your iphone - and it actually works!