Storyist
Company: Storyist Software
Price: (Download + CD) — $69.00
(Download Only) — $59.00
http://www.storyist.com/
With Apple’s continued success with artists it’s no surprise that an abundance of writing tools are written for the platform. Storyist is a unique tool that really takes advantage of OSX and is geared towards creative writers. Storylist is an organization tool, word processor, and format template for novelists and screen writers. But the question that I ask myself when confronted with one of these organization aids is, will this be better than a standard spreadsheet?
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As we celebrate the introduction of 3G to the Apple iPhone we need to allow ourselves to take the good with the bad. Unfortunately the way Apple got the price down to $199 for the 8GB phone harms the end users as well as the company. So lets take a look at the true cost of a $200 iPhone 3G.
1. No more activation though iTunes
The innovative way the original iPhone allowed users to activate, choose a service plan, and swap over an existing number though iTunes is no more. AT&T will now require that you activate your new iPhone during your purchase. Apple stores will be equipped with the ability to do the activation, but this is taking a step backwards in terms of how the iPhone innovated the mobile service. I you plan on camping out get ready to wait though the 10 – 15 minute activation time per customer before you get your iPhone out of the store.
2. No Online purchases
This is directly related to number one. Because AT&T now requires in store activation users cannot order iPhones online at Apple.com or AT&Ts website. This will inconvenience and might even harm some potential iPhone users who might not be able to get to an AT&T or Apple Store.
3. Apple will loose revenue
So maybe if you don’t own Apple Stock you don’t care how much profit Apple makes. But there are those out there who are gambling their money on iPhone 3G being a huge success. Well, because of the deal that Apple has struck with AT&T they will no longer be getting money monthly from iPhone customers. Instead that money will be going to pay off the hardware and pass the savings onto the consumer. A good thing for the consumer, but Apple making more profit also means that they are able to do more innovative things with the iPhone. Including how much weight they though behind the Application Store.
4. Penalties for not activating your iPhone
For collectors out there who might want to add a iPhone 3G to your ever growing collection of unopened shiny apple products or grandparents who want to put a phone away for your grandchild to open on Christmas day, you are out of luck. If you do not activate your phone with AT&T within thirty days you will be subject to some sort of penalty. What that penalty is hasn’t been decided yet. But Reuters is reporting this after talking to AT&T.
5. Increased monthly cost
AT&T will increase the price for unlimited iPhone data plans by $10 when you upgrade to a 3G model. This increases the cheapest individual iPhone plan to $70.
6. Apple charging for future updates
According to Apple the reason they are forced to charge iPod Touch customers for updates, but not iPhone users, is that it’s an accounting…. thing. Gaining a monthly revenue from iPhone customers gives them the ability to add features to the device for free. Now that they are no longer getting monthly checks from AT&T free iPhone software revisions might be a thing of the past.
Getting the hardware down to the $199 price point has put Apple at the mercy of AT&T. A year ago it was Apple who was giving the orders. This change must have come after all the lost revenue AT&T suffered from unlockers who purchased iPhones and activated them with other providers or just smuggled them out of the country. Apple customers now have no choice but to stay with AT&T. Some people who get good AT&T service will be fine with this, those who do not are going to be very bitter. These factors aren’t a deal breaker for me. But they are evidence that Apple has bent over backwards dealing with AT&T to get what they wanted. With as little as four years of exclusivity remaining I hope this deal works for the remaining arrangement. If it doesn’t then AT&T might take steps to hurt the consumer, and Apple, even more.
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When the iPhone was released I doubt that any single piece of technology had as much coverage in the history of journalism. It came to the point where even the biggest apple fanboys were sick of hearing about the iPhone.
I think we can all agree that’s exactly what the rumor mongers have done to the 3G iPhone. Since the day the iPhone was released the complaints over no 3G, the begging for 3G on the iPhone, and the rants about why people would never buy a non-3G Internet device have been constant. Well, the rumors towards the 3G iPhone are making me sick. I love my iPhone and I’m always excited about seeing new iPhone news. But the level of speculation and coverage on a device that no one outside of Apple has any real information about is starting to drive me nuts.
But when we really look at the facts, we don’t see any solid evidence that Apple will release a 3G iPhone. I’m sure the phone is coming. At this point with all the speculation and obvious interest in a 3G iPhone not release one would be public relation suicide. But no one from Apple has ever confirmed or denied the existence of a next generation iPhone.
Instead what we have are vague statements from AT&T claiming that all of their devices will be 3G by the end of the month. We have blurry photos and specs from people claiming to have handled the device. We have blanket statements from journalists like Walt Mossberg about the date of the release of the next iPhone. None of this is substantial evidence, but blogs; news sites; and Apple fanboys take these bits of information and shout them out as proof of the second coming of the Jesus phone.
The strategy of secrecy that Steve Jobs enforces with an iron fist is getting the iPhone more coverage than it ever would have had Apple simply come out six months ago and told us exactly what to expect when they release the hardware revision of the iPhone. I get caught up in the rumors and the obsessiveness in the community as much as any other Apple fan, the constant coverage of the iPhone last year is what caused me to go out on June 30 and hand $600 over to Apple with big grin on my face.
While the positive side of the constant Apple coverage only goes so far. There is also potential harm it does to the company when an over hyped product is released and falls short of expectations. The Macbook Air suffered from this exact problem. With the tiny bits of information that trickled out before Macworld Expo 2008 every Apple fan who wanted a sub-notebook had their own vision of what the Macbook Air was going to be. Only a small percent of those prospective customers walked away satisfied with the Air, and the Air ended up being one of most resented Apple product since Jobs return. Granted the Air was targeted at a very small market and is selling well, the rumors might have built up expectations too high and cost a few sales from people who had a picture of a very different product in their head.
The positive side to rumors works as a benefit to Apple with the smoke and mirror effect. The 3G iPhone is pulling so much attention that as we work towards WWDC we might see a brand new, completely unexpected product come out from Apple that will shock the entire community. Apple did this with the Time Capsule at Macworld Expo 2008, they used the Macbook Air rumors to hide the existence of the Time Capsule until Jobs demonstrated it during the keynote. The Time Capsule wasn’t an atomic bomb of a release but the 3G iPhone is getting so much focus in the media that Apple can secretly release something brand new that will take the community by complete surprise. The long awaited successor the newton? An Apple Tablet? The new version of .Mac? New Macbooks?
After complaining about Apple rumors I’m not going to start any new ones in this article. But for anyone who has used an iPhone imagine a much more powerful, 3G enabled device about 1.5X larger the the current form factor. If your mouth isn’t drooling you aren’t an Apple fan.
Whatever happens in the coming months with new product releases I’m sure many in the apple community are going to watch, drool, and go into debt while Steve Jobs works his magic on that stage if we get the ultimate 3G enabled, GPS, video conferencing, magical phone or not.
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invisibleSHIELD for the Apple iPhone
Company: Zagg
Price: Full Body Coverage $24.95, Front Coverage $14.95
http://www.invisibleshield.com
The iPhone is a unique device compared to Apple’s other portable media players. The iPod is rarely handled by the user. The most of the interaction the user has with the iPod is to press play and then put it back in your pocket. The iPhone wants to be used.
The design of the iPhone is important to the entire experience, and using a bulky case robs you of a large piece of that experience. The invisibleSHIELD protects your iPhone without limiting its functionality. It won’t protect your phone from blunt trauma but the invisibleSHIELD will help keep your phone looking like new.
The InvisibleSHEILD for the iPhone comes in two different versions; a whole body set or just the front piece. The material is tough enough to make the front only version the best screen cover available for the iPhone, but the real value is having the full body of the iPhone protected. The full body shield comes with a complete front and back pieces for the phone, a rubber applicator, and a tube of the application solution.
When opening the product and being faced with the task of applying the shield, I grew very nervous during this step. The idea of using liquid to position the shield scared me. I was going to spray my $600 phone with a liquid? The front piece is the easiest to apply and set in place. The back gets a little tricky because it includes pieces that have to fold around the corners of the . The shield itself is extremely adaptable and after each end is down it’ll conform to the shape of the phone within about an hour. Don’t worry about the sides of the phone not being down exactly flat or moving out of place. As the shield dries it sets itself in place and morphs to the shape of the phone.
The small pieces of the Shield are frustrating to apply. There are two thin strips for the top and bottom silver borders, and four tear drop shaped pieces for the corners. I made the mistake of placing the small pieces over the larger portion of the shield, so it overlaps and creates a small bump on the side of the phone. The place where I managed to line the shield up correctly, on touch feels like it’s a single large piece of plastic.
The whole iPhone feels like a single piece of plastic is covering it. I wouldn’t be surprised if you handed me an iPhone with the invisibleSHIELD applied and told me that you had the iPhone dipped in plastic. I’m trying to avoid using the word plastic. The invisibleSHIELD is not made of plastic. It’s made from a material developed by the Defense Department to protect helicopter blades in flight.
The material is ultra thin and impossibly strong. But at the same time it’s adaptive to whatever you put it on. It stretches easily (which is how I managed to overlap some pieces of the material) but wants to grip to the surface that it has been applied too. After applying it I left one unsightly air bubble on the back of the iPhone. I attempted to use the applicator to smooth it out but failed, so I just ignored it. After a few days I noticed it was starting to shrink. After a couple weeks the former bubble is a barely noticeable tiny bump in the surface of the shield.
I’ve tested and used some iPhone cases in the past and found all of them to be bulky and all of them to harm the usability of the phone. It was not as fun to even hold the iPhone with the extra bulk applied. The invisibleSHIELD does not suffer from this. In fact it might have the exact opposite effect on the phone. I think the shield enhances the usability of the iPhone.
The shield gives the phone a much more grippy fee, making it much more substantial when placed on surfaces. I’m able to leave it the center console in the car and not worry about it falling. Setting it on a normal table and pushing the phone around gives the feeling that it’s better anchored to the table.
I’ve seen videos from YouTube.com of people taking keys or knives in an attempt to slice the invisibleSHIELD. I tried to scratch the shield using my car keys, a steak knife and a pocket knife. Rubbing the point of the key against the shield did nothing. The small indents that were left vanished shortly afterwards. The steak knife lightly pushed into the side of the shield left no marks. The pocket knife was able to leave permanent marks in the shield, but none that were visible unless caught by the light at the right angle. When I tried the pocket knife on a standard screen protector it sliced clean though.
After a few weeks using the shield I feel that my iPhone is safely protected from everyday use. The shield is clean and barely noticeable. I put my friends to the test by handing them the phone to show them a website, and then after asking what they thought of the new case. Everyone I tested didn’t even notice that a case is on the phone. The most important part of the invisibleSHIELD is in the application.
One of the corner pieces has fallen off and lint is getting under a few of the edges because I didn’t line up the shield exactly as it should have been aligned. Other than the difficult application process the invisibleSHIELD is a must have case for every iPhone sold.
NBC Universal and News Corp. invested heavily in the new online video service Hulu in an attempt to take control of their digital media. NBC pulled their media from iTunes late last year fearing Apple’s continuing dominance in the content distribution space. But NBC is missing the point of digital media and Hulu will always fall short as a solution for digital distribution.
Looking at Hulu, it is a very impressive service. Although still in closed beta I was able to sign up early and get an invite. The selection is very impressive with NBC offering over 70 shows; that’s right 70, and 37 networks signed on the amount of content will keep anyone busy for a very long time. Brand new shows become available on Hulu about an hour after the show has finished airing in Hawaii. Already it has a massive amount of content, new shows are available much sooner then they are on iTunes, and it’s all free. Where could Hulu possibly fall short?
AppleTV Take2
Company: Apple Inc.
Price: $229 for 40 Gigs, $329 for 160 Gigs
http://www.apple.com/appletv/
Steve Jobs did something during Macworld Expo 2008 that Apple customers have rarely seen him do. He admitted that he might have, maybe, made a small mistake in the AppleTV. The result is the free to download software update dubbed AppleTV Take2. The update changes the AppleTV from a simple bridge between your iTunes library and your television and turns the device into a much more powerful tool.
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The year is 1997 and Steve Jobs has returned to Apple and the confusing Mac product line is in the process of being streamlined to a few simple options. Apple required a replacement for the Performa series; their consumer targeted computer line. In May of 1998 Apple announces the first in their new line of Consumer targeted Computers, and the iMac is born.
The iMac is what many consider the rebirth of Apple. The colorful all-in-one PC was a huge hit in the market and breathed new life into the company. The tan boxes Apple had been sporting for twenty years were gone and a new design element was introduced in the product line. There was one thing lacking from the iMac that most users believed was important, and I’m sure it caused many possible customers to turn away from Apple at the time. The iMac did not have a Floppy Drive.
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With the release of Leopard comes the integration of a workspaces program into the operating system. With this feature being bundled with Leopard it will have many people asking the question, “What do I need this for?” a question I asked myself before I began using a pre-Leopard workspaces program called Desktop Manager. I fell in love with it to the point where I had to get the Google Desktop on my PC just so I could take advantage of Workspaces.
The benefit is especially powerful on a Macbook, where the screen resolution has a maximum limit of 1280 x 800. This resolution proves to be a powerful disadvantage when compared to the normal resolution on my desktop of 1600 x 1200. I was limited on the Macbook and it drove me insane. Desktop Manager solved that problem, and now Spaces will solve the problem for the millions who have and will upgrade their systems to Leopard.
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This seems like it’s turning into more than an elaborate joke.
In my AppleTV Review one of the weird features that Apple left out was the ability to buy movies directly from the AppleTV. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who found this an inconvenience.
MacRumors is reporting that with the announcement that iTunes will offer movies for sale the same day the DVD is released also brought the addition of a “buy” button to the AppleTVs iTunes interface.
Following Apple’s announcement that they would be offering iTunes Movies for sale on the same day as the DVD release, they quietly added the ability to buy movies directly on the Apple TV.
Prior to this, the Apple TV could only be used to rent movies, not buy them. Instead, the customer would have to buy the movie on their computer and stream/sync it to their Apple TV. With the quiet addition of the “Buy” button, customers can instead buy movies directly from the Apple TV, which will later sync it back to your iTunes library. This had been a curious omission given that television shows and music could be purchased directly on the Apple TV.
This pushes the AppleTV a little step closer to becoming a all-in-one media center.
I haven’t been a fan of the 3G iPhone rumors up to this point. Mostly because they have been streaming in non-stop since the day the original iPhone was released. However, with the evidence that Apple is about ready to release the 3G iPhone I can’t ignore the rumors anymore. One month before WWDC is enough time for the FCC to approve the device, so I believe the iPhone will be announced tomorrow.
Making this prediction so close to the date will limit the amount of backlash I’ll get when I turn out to be wrong, but here is enough evidence to convince anyone:
US Apple Store is out of iPhone:
AT&T now lists and new iPhone model:
(Thanks to Macrumors)
New firmware now has a 3G enabler:
(Again, thanks to Macrumors)
Does all this point to an exact date? Could AT&T’s new option and the Apple Store running out of stock happening at the same time just be coincidence? They could, but the chance isn’t that great. I look forward to tomorrow, and we’ll see what Apple has up its sleeve for the iPhone release and for WWDC. This is going to be a huge year for Apple.
Author of the most famous podcast novel of all time J. C. Hutchins has released his supplementary short story collection “Obsidian”. The 7th Son Trilogy was a huge success and will be seeing it’s first print run this year. Hutchins has decided to open the world of 7th Son up to some of the biggest names in Podcast fiction such as Michael A. Stackpole, Scott Sigler, Mur Lafferty, Matt Wallace, Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff, Christiana Ellis, Evo Terra, Dan Klass, Wichita Rutherford, TD-0013, George Hrab, Soccergirl, and the cast of The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd.
The first story was given to the pioneer of Podcast fiction Tee Morris who told the story of a man desperate to get back to his family as the blackout grips the country and all the technology he had come to relay on fails him.
Along with the podcasted fiction is also a collection of fan generated content that will be featured by J. C. Hutchins as the Obsidian project rolls along.You can now view some of the 7th Son: Obsidian Blackout Videos at the youtube channel. You’ll see accounts of the fictional blackout that is the focus of Obsidian told from the point of view of the people who were trapped in it, like the internet loving Marigold:
I’ll continue to watch the project unfold as it uses the unique media resources that the internet provides to create a single massive multi-medium collaberative project.
Visit J. C. Hutchins website for more information about the 7th Son Trilogy, or jump over to the Obsidian page to learn more about this exciting project.
Repost from Time Travel is Awesome
Mozilla has pretty much been the saving grace for the internet for the last eight years. I’ve been a user since at least 2001 and I don’t think I can change browsers even if I tried. Today is the official launch of Firefox 3 and they are attempting to break a world record for most software downloads in a single day. Help Mozilla reach this goal and try out the new version of the best free internet browser in the world.
I’ve been hard on AT&T since the iPhone 3g announcement back in June. But today gives me good reason to be bitter. iPhone in store activation has become, as I predicted, a disaster.
Apple is somewhat to blame for not releasing the 2.0 firmware until 9:15EST, an hour after stores opened on the east coast. Now every store in the United States plus the hardcore iPhone first gen users are all pinging the iPhone activation servers at the same time.
After updating I waiting for the phone to get though to the activation servers for an hour, in the mean time my phone became a brick and I was without a phone, unable to leave for work on time, and unable to call work and tell them I would be late (making up a non-iPhone excuse in the meantime)
But now everything seem to be going fine. I have the 2.0 software installed and it’s restoring my music and videos to the phone. I’m sure people less eager to update won’t have the same problems but for someone who was excited as me to get the 2.0 software (the wait yesterday killed me) this is a disappointment.
I hope those poor Apple Fanboys who are standing in line get out of the stores with their iPhone 3G sometime this month.
After three years of development the third version of the free and open source word processor OpenOffice.org has been released, and the best new feature: Native Mac Support! Previous versions of the application required X11 to run but version three will run without aid on all Intel Macs.
I’ve been an OpenOffice.org user for about six years now after refusing to use the bloatware Microsoft calls a Word Processor. The feature that make OpenOffice.org powerful is its ability to read and write to a huge number of formats including Microsoft Word files up to the 2003 version of “.doc”; with version 03 adding the feature to read Word 2007′s “.docx. format. This is especially helpful for multi-platform users, I’d love to use Apple’s Pages as my primary Word Processor but with how much I relay on Windows it just isn’t practical. It is free to try and comes highly recommended. Jump over too “openoffice.org” for more information and download links.
From Wikipedia:
“OpenOffice.org was originally derived from StarOffice, an office suite developed by StarDivision and acquired by Sun Microsystems in August 1999. The source code of the suite was released in July 2000 with the aim of reducing the dominant market share of Microsoft Office by providing a free, open and high-quality alternative; later versions of StarOffice are based upon OpenOffice.org with additional proprietary components.
The project and software are informally referred to as OpenOffice, but this term is a trademark held by another party, requiring the project to adopt OpenOffice.org as its formal name.”
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