Archive for September, 2007
Next Entries »iPhone ringtones now available through the iTunes store
Monday, September 10th, 2007Just as I was heading to bed I connected my iPhone to sync and charge for the night when iTunes informed me that the ringtones feature of the iTunes store has gone live. Not many of my tracks supported ringtone creation, but one of my old favorites (Bytecry by Weevil’s Drunk on Light album – the OS X 10.4 intro music) was eligible so I decided to take the plunge and convert it.
After clicking through an obnoxiously long EULA I was able to click “Create Ringtone” to begin the process.Once clicked the main ringtone authoring pops up. The ringtone authoring interface allows you to select how long you want your ringtone to be (up to a maximum of 30 seconds), and position where you want the start and stop of the ringtone to be within the track. There are also fade-in and fade-out options to help the ringtone sound smoother as it comes to life on your precious, shiny iPhone.
After previewing my ringtone to my hearts content I clicked the “Buy” button and was charged the ass-raping $0.99 for a track I “already owned”. It’s a pity that Apple decided to cash in on the multi-billion dollar a year ringtone market – offering them for free on any track you own would have been a great differentiating feature for the iPhone.
It’s as easy as Steve made it sound in his keynote address – making my ringtone took less than 4 minutes including a fair amount of fussing around with the preview to get it just the way I wanted it. A quick sync later and now my phone erupts into a glorious chorus that’s far more unique and “me” than any of the included by default iPhone ringtone. Hazaa!
Just a little housekeeping
Monday, September 10th, 2007I did some general housekeeping tonight on Futurist Now. I upgraded to the latest version of WordPress, and to a newer version of VeryPlainText. I applied some of the hacks from the old version of the VeryPlainText theme, but made a few other minor typographic tweaks. I’ve added a few new categories and back-added a few posts into them, but that’s mostly a move to help for some future planned expansion.
Overall not much has changed but just in case let me know if you see anything broken on the site and I’ll be glad to take a look at it – you can just leave some information about what you saw and what browser you are using as a comment.
My Twitter updates for 2007-09-09
Sunday, September 9th, 2007- The onslaught of Red Dwarf continues relentlessly. #
- I find it interesting that SMS texts drain the battery faster on the iPhone than wifi or EDGE does. #
- Eating brunch at the B&O with some friends. Mmmm Beni Thai Crab Cake Benidict!!! #
- Getting ready to go on a photowalk. #
- Home from the photowalk, diving into photoshop now. #
- Oooh! Some of the photos from todays walk came out really nicely – I’m quite happy with them: http://tinyurl.com/2z5y3h #
- I’m considering putting together a collection of my photos, chosen and reworked for iPhone wallpapers. Anyone interested? #
It’s cold out here, no kind of atmosphere…
Saturday, September 8th, 2007I’ve actually been enjoying myself quite a bit the last few days. My project shipped at work, and although it was a rough couple of days it’s done now and I’m feeling much more relaxed as the result. From Friday night through to this fine Sunday afternoon I’ve been distracting myself with the Red Dwarf Complete Collection on DVD. I’d always loved the PBS Red Dwarf telethons as a kid, but am discovering I must have missed episodes as particularly some from the later seasons I hadn’t seen before.
Today I woke up early for brunch at the B&O with Brien (mmm Beni Thai Crabcake Benedict!) and then to go for a photo walk. I had to pick up some food for Skype so I decided to start out in my car and after picking up the food went back to my perennial favorite location to shoot: the conservatory.
My favorite shot of the day – a backlit palm frond in the conservatory. I actually shot it specifically with an iPhone wallpaper in mind (and tried to frame it correctly for the overlays at the top and bottom) and am quite pleased with the results. You can check out the iPhone specific version here, and the rest of the shots I liked from todays walk can be found here in my Flickr archives.
“Sunlit frond” by sparktography
Steve Jobs: PR ninja
Thursday, September 6th, 2007Not only can he keynote like a rockstar, not only can he make the right technology and style choices to please consumers, and not only does he understand and connect with his customers but Steve Jobs knows how to make brilliant business moves. Yesterday he rocked the digital media ecosystem by releasing a whole new line of iPods for the holiday season, but he also dropped the price of the 8Gb iPhone by $200 and dropped the 4Gb iPhone entirely. This move will help move units and solidify Apple’s place in the cellphone marketplace early and strong.
Unfortunately a lot of early adopters were a little peeved to have paid a $200 ‘early adopter tax’, but again Steve managed to turn this around and make it into another business gem: in an open letter to iPhone customers he has promised a $100 store credit to all early adopter iPhone purchasers. This move not only appeases the early adopters, but will help capitalize on the iPod/iPhone halo effect (many Mac switchers introduction to the world of Apple has been an iPod) by encouraging more new-to-Apple consumers to spend a little more money. Yes it’s $100 that Apple won’t make in profits, but how much do you want to bet that a majority of these new customers are so impressed with their iPhones that they go the extra mile and put the $100 credit towards a new iMac, Mac Mini, or Macbook and give OS X a spin as well. Given the margins Apple makes on their computers a $100 hit cuts into profits in the short term, but will likely increase profits in the long terms as more and more consumers “join the Mac club” and help grow the Apple user base.
Bravo Steve, bravo!
The iPhone: laptop competitor?
Tuesday, September 4th, 2007
I just sat down to watch another episode of the Planet Earth on HD-DVD, and reached for my Macbook only to discover its battery was entirely dead. In thinking back I suddenly realized that whereas once I used both my iMac in the bedroom, and the Macbook in the living room on a day to day basis I haven’t actually touched my Macbook in well over a week. Strangely my iPhone is to blame!
Back in my Windows Mobile days I treasured the mobility offered by my cellphone – being able to check my email and do basic web browsing is a modern marvel indeed, but the experience was clearly that of a cell phone – second rate at best when compared to a full blown computer with a big screen and full-blown keyboard. While checking a movie time on the go was possible (and useful) with Windows Mobile and Symbian devices it simple wasn’t the fun, easy experience one looks for in a portable computing experience.
The iPhone makes it easy to browse the full blown web and communicate quickly without getting in my way that it’s overcome the arms reach barrier and become my device of choice for quick internet tasks even with my perfectly serviceable laptop sitting next to me. Since both devices can accomplish the task with similar ease why reach over and open the laptop when the iPhone is already in hand, just begging to be used. The overcoming of the arms reach barrier has reached further than my living room – I now find myself doing almost 50% of my personal communications via my iPhone.
One might say that not reaching for the laptop is the heights (or depths) of laziness, but I’d much rather point the finger at the wonders of engineering that Apple managed to cram into their diminutive ultra-portable computer, the iPhone.
Is the iPhone honeymoon over? It’s more than two months later and I’m still writing blathering blog posts about how great it is, so I guess not!
Parenting: like father like son
Tuesday, September 4th, 2007Skype has unfortunately joined his father in the wonderful wide world of adult dental woes. Recently Ken and I were playing with Skype and threw a ball which he lunged to catch – face first into one of my condo’s walls. He hit the wall hard enough with his nose to break the wall, and unfortunately himself as well. One of his tiny front (adult) teeth got knocked loose and it knocked him for a loop for a bit. The next day he seemed fine other than the tooth being a little loose, and today it fell out completely.
Funny timing given that I had a tooth extracted just last month, and two root canals today – it’s almost like a bonding experience. Luckily for Skype he seems pretty much unaware of his plight and is back to his normal self. This has been a particularly emotional parenting moment for me given how many problems I have with my own teeth – something I can really identify with, and love on him for.
Now if I could just condition myself to forget about my own dental problems I would be set. Ignorance is bliss!
Bioshock dream
Monday, September 3rd, 2007
I’ve actually had quite a nice Labor Day weekend so far. This photo is unfocused, just like me – Today I thought I would use my day off for some photography but felt uninspired and unfocused. I didn’t really get any shots I loved, but somehow this one called out to me for some posting love. The processing I gave it was highly inspired by my latest fling: Bioshock.
On Saturday morning Brien and I went to Northgate to buy copies of Bioshock and I ended up spending most of the weekend playing it. Bioshock a very amazing game – I normally hate/suck at first person shooter games, but Bioshock does a great job of minimizing the twitch factor, and making combat much more strategy oriented. The game features a terrifying dystopian 60′s feel and genuinely manages to feel scary at times – best enjoyed in the dark with the 5.1 sound cranked.
Much like my favorite game Oblivion, Bioshock lets you play your way – creeping in the shadows or all out combat, it’s your choice. I love the Plasmids (magic in most games, bio-engineered superpowers in Bioshock), and find that they add a rich element to the game. Surprisingly for being a shooter I use almost no guns – my plasmids and the wrench you get in the opening scene carried me through much of the game.
“Sparky in a dream” by sparktography
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