The new notification system is my overall favorite feature. I was getting a little jealous of friends with Android phones that were able to see all of their notifications and local weather conditions on their lock screen. Now I can enjoy the same, without a jailbreak.

iMessage is a killer feature for me, as I don’t pay for unlimited texting from AT&T. It is really awesome! My dad, brother, and I had a 3-way iMessage chat going this morning for an hour. It was great and only added to my excitement. The camera app loads faster now, which is a welcomed enhancement for everyone. The new Mail app is great. I’d recently been using the Gmail mobile webpage in Safari, but now Mail supports flagging of important messages in the app and it has worked really well so far.

Some new iOS features are more hidden and subtle, but certainly a step forward. I’m also happy that iOS5 will now offer small over-the-air updates instead of one hulking download; something that Android users have had enjoyed for a long time.

I don’t really care about WiFi syncing or iCloud at this juncture. I chose to not enable any iCloud or WiFi sync features in my phone setup today. Some day in the future, I may flip that switch. For now, I mainly charge my phone on my computer, and I don’t need wireless syncing or cloud storage since I’m plugging it in already. My computer will continue to handle updates and backups for now.

The new iOS, combined with overhauled versions of Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and Google Voice this week have made my phone feel like a brand new toy. I use Google Voice a lot, and the new version that Google finally released this week, while no more attractive, is noticeably more responsive now, and integrates fully with the new iOS5 notification system.

I’m happy with all the upgrades. So much so that I don’t feel in a hurry to upgrade my phone hardware. I am eligible for an upgrade to the iPhone 4S per my mobile contract, but I am rather content with the phone I already have. I may get a wild hair one day and buy a new phone at some point, but I am happy with what I have for now. All of the new goodies have made it feel brand new again.

One of the greatest leaders of our time; a man who changed the world.

“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.” – Jobs, 1993

That aside, I have a complaint that the Apple TV doesn’t allow me to actually fully login to my Flickr account. The Flickr integration merely points to one’s public Flickr account, and displays the photos and slideshows accordingly. That is fine and dandy, and the display is quite beautiful, but it only works so long as the photos in one’s library are all “public” photos.

My cousin brought this to my attention. He wanted to look at a photo set on his TV that I’d recently posted, but he couldn’t because I’d set the photos to be private (friends/family only). He cannot view them on his TV because he cannot log in to Flickr directly from his Apple TV box. I tried this myself, and he is correct. Even I can’t see my private photos on my own TV. Crappy!

I have the Flickr iPhone app and it remains permanently logged in to my account, allowing me to browse all of my photos, private or not, as well as upload photos, and manage my account fully. The iOS TV software on the other hand, isn’t a collection of apps, but integrated operating system features. Flickr slideshows and photo browsing is a built-in OS feature, take it or leave it. It does not allow you to log in or tamper with your Flickr account in any way. Grumble.

I went to the Apple support site to write them a nastygram about the Flickr integration. I wasn’t able to find a direct email address to contact them, but a search of the Apple TV discussion board revealed over 27,000 posts about Flickr. Many people have complained about this very issue, some dating back years ago when the first generation Apple TV was introduced. Therefore, the company must be aware that some users want to be able to log in to Flickr directly and see their private content.

I don’t know if it is Apple or Yahoo that is limiting this, but I wish the situation would be remedied. Like now.

The problem is that to do so, I have to tap Settings, tap General, drill into Bluetooth, then slide it on or off. This doesn’t sound like a lot of trouble, but it gets cumbersome if you do it every other day.

I propose creating a single icon that toggles Bluetooth on or off. I could add such an icon permanently to the dock and tap it once to enable it, then tap it again to disable it. The icon color will indicate the current state (as well as the usual Bluetooth indicator in the menu bar.) I think this is a brilliant proposal and will help everyone extend their battery life.

This is likely possible if you jailbreak your phone. I don’t wish to do that at this time. This is something that should naturally be included in the operating system. Last week, I actually wrote Steve Jobs an email demanding this very feature be added to the next version of iOS. I have serious doubts that my email will ever be read by anyone. I’m including that email, shown below.

Steve, I’d like an easier way to toggle bluetooth on/off in my iPhone. I hate digging through Settings/General/Bluetooth. I want an independent icon for bluetooth that I can tap like an on/off switch. How about adding this addition in the next iOS update? Later.

I have a suggestion for Apple regarding the next version of iTunes. Instead of packing more features into iTunes 10, I think they should simply fine tune the application in much the same way they did with Snow Leopard. Personally, I don’t want any more features than iTunes currently offers. I would, however, like to be able to download tiny point-release updates to the software without being forced to download the entire 130 MB application every time they change one line of code. Why haven’t they made this happen already? I think this should be the focus of the next version. Bigger isn’t always better, and iTunes has grown big enough as it is.

There is an awesome YouTube video of a user demonstrating the new features of iOS4.

The new Mini is now encased in aluminum, matching the design of the iMac. It has access to the computer memory underneath the machine. The power supply is now inside the machine, unlike older models which carry a power brick. An HDMI port is now included! The new computer also sports a faster processor, graphics card, and more.

I like what I see. I’d love to have one!

Countless tech blogs are buzzing with this news today, so I have no need to go into detail about the new features. You can read those details elsewhere. I will say that the iPhone 4 OS (now called iOS) is going to be released for free to all users on June 21st. As a 3GS user, I’ll surely benefit from the new operating system upgrade. That said, I’m not sure if I’m all that crazy about the new name “iOS.”

I’ve provided a few links to a some tech blogs for news about the new iPhone 4. These links will age quickly, as more will be written in time.

• Apple iPhone Page
• ArsTechnia
• Engadget
• Macworld

Opera Mini is touting faster speeds and more features over the built-in Safari browser for the iPhone. That said, I don’t see any speed improvement in my experience. As for the extra features (such as tabbed browsing), they all serve to make the Opera interface look too cluttered. There are simply too many buttons, options, bells and whistles. It looks as if they tried to cram all of the features of a desktop application into an iPhone app. For me, that strategy just doesn’t work for a mobile device. The screen real estate for the actual web page is cut in half by all of Opera’s interface clutter.

I applaud Apple for relaxing their tight grip on third-party web browsers. If you’re interested in Opera Mini, then by all means, give it a try. As for me, I’m going to stick with the ease and simplicity of Safari. Any speed increase for Opera is negated by the fact that I hardly ever use a web browser on my iPhone to begin with. On the whole, I honestly don’t see use in Opera taking off for any platform. I doubt Apple does either, which is probably why they accepted the app in the first place.

The highlights of the new version are multitasking and folders. Yes, actual multitasking of up to seven apps at a time, from the reports I have read. Hooray! I cheer that on, but I can’t honestly say I need multitasking on my iPhone. For iPad users, this will be a must-have.

I was hoping to hear an announcement that Verizon will be getting the iPhone later this year, but there is still no word on that, despite years of endless speculation. Maybe someday!

Criticism of Flash reached a head last week when Apple announced their new iPad. As everyone knows, the iPhone OS does not support the Flash Player. Apple’s lack of support for Flash on their mobile devices is quite deliberate. The general consensus is that Apple hates Flash and wants to use the iPhone and iPad as weapons to try to kill it. This irks me.

The exclusion of Flash on the iPhone and iPod Touch is understandable, but I believe that the lack of Flash support on the iPad is a huge mistake. I don’t want to buy the iPad, but if I were interested, the lack of Flash would be a deal breaker for me. Far too many websites rely on the richness that Flash provides. Sure, YouTube videos play on the iPhone and iPad via H.264 video support in a dedicated app. However, web video isn’t the only area where Flash is popular.

Websites for musicians and restaurants are two areas where web designers lean heavily on Flash. One can complain about that fact all they want, but it is a reality. I personally have no problem with it whatsoever.

In addition, most all of the web-based games on the Internet are played within the Flash Player. Think of the gaming destinations Pogo, Kongregate, Farmville, etc. People enjoy playing these games. To simply not include them in a product that is designed to browse the web is totally unacceptable.

Flash has been a standard on the web for a very long time. More than a decade ago, it brought static web pages to life with animation, sound, and interactivity. I’m tired of hearing the growing calls for the format to be abandoned.

The anti-Flash camp contends that the Flash Player is a slow, buggy resource hog, often hitting 100% CPU usage and crashing web browsers. I have never noticed this on any of my computers. I can stream Flash video and multitask on my aging machine without issue. In fact, I have a decade old IBM Thinkpad that sports a Pentium-III processor with 512 MB of memory. That Thinkpad plays Flash perfectly fine, without struggle, overheating, or 100% CPU usage. When you consider that modern computers have dual and quad-core processors, what difference does it make if Flash is heavy on system resources?

To conclude, I have no problem with the Flash Player. I’ve never noticed it slowing down my computer or crashing my web browser, even once. In my opinion, Macromedia and Adobe have historically done a pretty good job at maintaining the Flash Player across all platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux, and Solaris. It is ubiquitous, and it just plain works. So I say this to everyone who is bitching and moaning about the Flash Player: Get over it. If you don’t like it, uninstall it. See how great your web experience is after you do that.

The problem I have is that this isn’t a tablet computer. It is basically a giant iPod Touch. I already own an iPod Touch, and I don’t need a larger one. The iPad runs the iPhone OS. I want to see a tablet that runs full-blown Mac OS X and is a fully functional computer, complete with USB ports. I thought an Apple tablet would have Mac OS X at its core. After all, Apple invested a lot of time in writing Snow Leopard (10.6) to use less space and system resources. I figured all of that work would have coincided with developing a product like the iPad.

The iPhone OS, as it exists in version 3.x, does not allow multitasking (beyond the iPod feature and push notifications). That seems very limiting on such a large and capable device as the iPad. In addition, there is no Adobe Flash for the iPhone OS. Steve Jobs said that the iPad delivers the “best” web experience. How can that be true if it doesn’t have Flash? What about all of the Flash-heavy websites out there, not to mention all of the fun Flash games on the web? Also, the majority of online video streaming today requires the Flash Player. The only videos you’ll end up watching on the iPad are those you rip into iTunes yourself, YouTube videos, and those you rent or purchase from the iTunes Store. Of course, I am aware that the future HTML5 is going to eventually provide video streaming without Flash, but that isn’t quite reality as it exists today.

As for the rest, I can say that the iPad looks pretty. I do think there is too much bezel around the frame, however. I’d like to see the screen reach all the way to the edge. This device would be great for college textbooks. Little was said about that during the product announcement, however. The iPad should have a camera for video conferencing, and the lack of one is a little puzzling. I imagine that the next version of the device will add a camera. I’m also surprised that we didn’t see a 128 GB version of the iPad.

On another note, I was also disappointed that while doing their iPad product announcement, Apple did not announce the rumored multiple carrier support for the iPhone, or any mention iPhone OS 4.0.

It will be interesting to see all of the apps that will be developed for the iPad. I believe the product will be a success for Apple, but it falls short of a game-changing announcement, in my opinion.

I probably sound like a crazed Apple fanboy, but it matters to me, being the Mac, iTunes and iTouch user that I am. Apple is the center of my computing world today. Hooray for OS X. In my opinion, it’s the best operating system on the market.

• apple.com
• apple.com/macosx

First off, many of the new features in OS 3.0 are specifically for the iPhone hardware. This includes things like video editing, camera-specific updates, MMS text messaging, GPS navigation, and more. As a mere iTouch user, I can’t access any of those features.

Secondly, my iPod Touch (2nd gen.) cost more out of pocket than an iPhone! iPhone prices are subsidized by the wireless carrier (AT&T in this case). You can now get one for as low as $99, or $199 for the new iPhone 3GS. The iPod Touch costs more than either of those!

Considering that, and more, the new operating system should have been free for Touch users too.

I have been a diehard Firefox user for years, on all platforms. I have even been using the latest beta release of Firefox 3.5 for a few weeks now. Despite my loyalty to Firefox, I am won over by the new Mac Safari 4. It is draw-dropping fast. Even on my aging Mac Mini, Safari blazes at lightning speed. Pages pop on my screen with such lightning speed and elegance, it has to be seen to be believed. Safari 4 is hands down the fastest web browser I have ever used. That is no exaggeration.

In addition to increased speed and efficiency, Safari 4 has other new features. Most notably is the new Top Sites view. Using this view, I can see (on a single page), a beautifully arranged collection of live thumbnails of my top dozen most visited places. Top Sites is very elegantly designed, complete with a 180-degree curved screen view, even sporting reflections and shadows. I don’t know how often I’ll actually resort to this new view, but it is downright gorgeous, I have to say.

Firefox, with its giant library of browser extensions, is nearly impossible for me to neglect. I use several Firefox extensions that have become invaluable to me over the years. Despite that major obstacle to my complete adoption of Safari, I can’t help but be lured by the extreme speed and polish that Safari 4 now has to offer. Wow!

This needs to change, and now. And while Apple is adding that preference, extended the automatic Bcc option to include an address that is not limited only to myself. And furthermore, the mail checking intervals could use some more options than the paltry list that is currently included in Mail.

I don’t have an iPhone. I think they are fantastic gadgets, but I don’t want to spend that kind of money on a phone. Nor do I need all of those extra features. I already have a digital camera, a video camera, iPod nano, and Razr v3 cell phone. Personally, I don’t want to use my phone to take crappy pictures, play games, surf the Internet, and listen to music. How much battery life could I possibly have to left talk on the phone after I’ve been using it for everything else?

Read the AppleInsider article.

I love iTunes, and I frequently buy the iTunes cards at places like Target, so I load up on downloads. Despite having credits from those gift cards, I’ve bought my last two albums from Amazon. You browse the music just like any other Amazon product, and use a batch downloader that they provide to get your music (For Mac and Windows). After that, the 256k MP3 files are yours to do as you please. Sweet indeed.

Until Apple offers the same, I’m afraid I’m going to have to continue buying music from Amazon. It’s a shame on Apple’s part, considering iTunes is such a big player. If others feel the same way that I do, they are going to be in trouble some day if they don’t turn this around.

The following is my advice to Apple: Apple is riding so high today, with both the iPod and iPhone’s superstar product status. Considering that Apple and Intel are now all hugs and kisses, I would like Apple to turn the Mac OS loose for anyone to use on any Intel platform. Once 10.6 is ironed out, they could throw down the gauntlet to Microsoft and take Windows head on with the PC desktop market. The top exes at Dell have even said that they would sell the Mac OS to buyers, if Apple agreed with fair terms.

Considering my own Mac Mini is “Intel Inside”, I feel like anyone should be able to run it. Why does Apple want to fight it? Apple’s computers will still sell on their own awesome design merits. Still, I don’t think they’ll do it. Perhaps they suspect that Microsoft would yank their long-term commitment to future Mac versions of Office if they did this drastic maneuver. Who knows.

Rumors had once gone around that Apple may pull the plug on the Mini. That would be a shame, considering it is the most affordable Mac you can buy. It’s an inexpensive way for iPod/iTunes users to try out the Mac side of computing. After all, that is what reeled me in. Macs are a very different world to some Windows users, and potential switchers are put off by the high price of the Apple brand. The Mini is a cheap way for anyone to experiment with the Mac.

While I’m glad that Apple is upgrading the Mini, there is a giant gap between the Mini and the extremely high-end Mac Pro. I wish Apple would design a desktop computer that falls somewhere in-between. One that doesn’t come with a screen, as the iMac does. That gap in their desktops is a glaring omission in their product line.

Apple has updated its Mac Mini computer. I own a Mini, having bought it at the end of May. Since then, the Mini’s processor has been upgraded to a 2.0 Ghz Intel Core Duo 2 processor and 1 GB memory now comes standard (I paid extra). The hard drive option has been increased to 160 GB as well. I had read some online predictions that Apple would not be continuing the Mac Mini line. I am very happy to know that this isn’t true. It is truly a fantastic machine and is worthy of more attention. I absolutely adore mine.

Last week also saw the release of iLife ’08 and iWork ’08. Both sound like worthy upgrades to already exceptional software from Apple. I am not going to detail those now, but you can read all about them on their website. There has never been a better time to switch to a Mac. Also remember that the new Mac OS 10.5 Leopard will be out in October!

Mail is a great mail program, so don’t get me wrong, but I am used to using Thunderbird. I appreciate the “Smart Mailboxes” that Mac Mail offers. That is a great feature. I just got fed up with photos and videos appearing embedded in my outgoing mail. I had to type around a video box that moved on my screen as the text area grew. I could find no way of turning that off. Plus, the Mail program offered little in the way of options. Automatic mail checking intervals were either 5, 15, or 30 minutes. You can’t alter those presets. It is take ‘em or leave ‘em. That is a moot point, but an example of what I mean about options.

Thunderbird on the Mac, just like in Windows and Linux, shows an attachment box in your composition window, listing the files that you are sending. Thunderbird also gives clear indications as to what it is doing when fetching or sending mail, whereas Mail does not seem to offer many details. These aren’t the only reasons that I like Thunderbird more than Mail. Both are great programs, but I like Thunderbird’s wealth of options and its themes and extensions capability. I was, however, quite disappointed to find out that there is no way of importing contacts from the Mac OS Address Book into Thunderbird. This needs to be made possible in future versions.

I’ll continue using Thunderbird for my email on my Mac. I installed the newest version (2.0.0.4), and am very happy with it so far. But I admit that I will miss the Smart Mailboxes and paper airplane sound that I heard when using Mac Mail. Still, it seems as though I’ll have to continue to use Mail for interfacing with iPhoto, at least.

That said, I still mostly use Firefox on my Mac. Safari is indeed very fast and capable (I have version 2.0.4). It has everything I need, but I still prefer Firefox. I have several Firefox extensions that I rely on. Not to mention the fact that for some reason my visual post editor in WordPress doesn’t work in Safari. I do use Safari on a few sties, like Pogo, where I have to run Java. Java applets seem more stable going through Safari. When the final version 3.0 of the browser is out, I’ll definitely download it.

I have added a new category to the blog. This is the first post to the Mac category. Also, while this post is still hot, expect a lot of new Mac and Apple related material from my del.icio.us bookmark feed on my Links page.

I know Apple lives up to a high standard by working “hand in glove” (as they put it) with the hardware (which they also produce). But why not license it to quality manufacturers and, if they so decide, not offer it as a box on the shelf? For example, the Windows Media Center Edition 2005 is technically the latest release of Windows XP, on media steroids. You cannot walk into Best Buy or CompUSA and buy this OS on CD. It only comes pre-installed on new computers sold by participating manufacturers. If Microsoft can do this, then so can Apple. Apple can set a minimum level of PC performance required to effectively run their flagship OS smoothly, and poof, everybody can have an affordable machine running the splendor that is their operating system.

I certainly cannot ask them leave physical PC business, because all of their hardware products are so very sleek, stylish, and cutting-edge. They make some fantastic products and always get top rankings for customer satisfaction the PC magazines I read which conduct these surveys. Apple just needs to open the flood gates and really widen their software business. I suppose they already have, by making more applications in recent years, notably the iLife and iWork for the Mac, as well as strengthening their iTunes and Quicktime offerings. I think they can broaden their appeal by actually appealing to the masses instead of a niche audience, as they do now. The mass success of iPod, iTunes, and their surprising deal with Intel has put them back on the map, and on the path to broad consumer appeal. They need to embrace it by offering their goods and services to a wider audience.

Every young adult wants an iPod, and to use iTunes, both of which are the best of their kind. Apple is in a position today to rattle the computer industry with this bold move. A victory of such, and Apple may finally reverse their market share, which has suffered ever since their poor decision not to license their platform to outsiders back in the 1980s, opening the door to for Microsoft to run the world for the past 20 years.

But since using my new 512 mb iPod, I can see why it is above and beyond its rivals. Sure, the Shuffle doesn’t have a screen, but its simplistic abilities and size were my primary reasons for wanting this particular model. The player just plain works, and works well. Managing my music library and playlists is so brain-dead easy with iTunes that I can’t imagine going back to using any other software. It is so smooth and slick, it makes others in its class seem clunky and complicated.

The iPod has a few noteworthy cool things that I doubt you’d find in other players. For instance, if you are playing music and your headphone cord is pulled out, it automatically pauses the music for you. The built-in rechargeable battery never needs to be swapped out; only charged with a powered USB port. The device also doubles as a portable storage drive for any kind of data, not just music files. The onboard USB plug gives you freedom from having to search for the right cable to connect the iPod to the computer all the time.

Overall, I am very satisfied with it. Now that I am a proud iPod owner, I have moved up to the ranks of the elite class of music lovers. I can wear my white earbuds with pride.