We all know now that the iPhone 4S is a world phone, but there are no upgrades to speeds for CDMA users, and Apple made it clear that HSPDA+ will for now keep up with LTE speeds in the keynote. There may not be a LTE iPhone until AT&T sees a significant upgrade to their pop counts for LTE coverage and as we can see AT&T seems poised to milk HSPDA+ for as long as possible. Will this cause a rift between Verizon Wireless and Apple or is there an iPhone 5 in the works despite AT&T’s coverage gaps. Users upgrading from a 3GS will get a lot of value especially if they reside on AT&T’s network.< !> CDMA iPhone 4 users may wish to just stick with what they have for a few months until we see what the rumor mill can shake loose.
iTunes Match Coming Tuesday Oct 25th?
*Warning Unverified Rumor*
<grainofsalt>
We have received an anonymous tip that iTunes Match will come out next week on Tuesday October 25th. While the rest of iCloud launched last week, there were many problems with the system being overloaded. Apple probably delayed iTunes Match due to the intensive processing they will have to do to build up everyone’s playlists that subscribe once it’s release. We were also told that likely the service will be rolled out for the US first then other countries in a staggered fashion.
</grainofsalt>
*Warning Unverified Rumor*
iPhone Upgrade Advice: 3G/3GS Upgrade, 4G Wait
If you’re still on the fence about upgrading your iPhone it may be for good reason. Many Verizon customers wanted a LTE enabled iPhone which many of the Android phones already have as a service, although with poor battery life. The iPhone 5 may be a LTE model, but it’s anyone’s guess when that comes out. I believe that the iPhone 5 will be just a radio refresh to include LTE sometime early next year. This would be done to avoid the backlash of the 2G to 3G conversion Apple made in a few months after the iPhone 2G was released.
If you own a iPhone 3G or a 3GS, then it’s a good move to upgrade, IOS 5 will bring some new features, but performance always lags on full version upgrades. If you have a iPhone 4 and it works great for you already, then have fun with IOS 5, and wait it out. Especially if you have to pay expensive upgrade fees because you only have had it for a year or so.
iCloud’s iTune’s Match Feature Missing
iCloud and iOS 5 launched today, but notably iTunes Match was a missing feature. On October 12th Apple released iTunes 10.5.1 beta which is another test of the iTunes Match feature so it seems there are still problems that need ironing out, or it is possible that this is a final test of the system before they release it publicly. Considering how slow the servers were today, Apple must have known to possibly delay this feature a few days to allow the iPhone 4S release etc to go through first before committing to a large data flood created by the release of this feature.
Only time will tell.
Answers to AppleID iCloudID Confusion
If you’re like me and share an iTunes account with my wife, but also have me.com addresses for both your phones contacts etc I have finally found a definitive answer on setting up iOS 5.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4895
Essentially go to settings > iCloud and use your me.com username (After converting it), and for iTunes you go to Settings > Store and used your iTunes ID there. Same for Mac. Settings Me.com use your iCloud info, and in iTunes use your iTunesID for your iTunes.
So you keep your iCloud individuality, but your iTunes are kept separate so they can still be shared with the family.
iOS 5.0 Released
I’m just now finishing my upgrade to iOS 5.0 on my 4G and waiting on the sync to finish, takes about an hour once the code downloads. Servers are giving failure, just click again once you click ok to acknowledge the alert. It will download eventually.
A Macbook Pro Dock That Does Not Bite, Byte-Dock
Techne Industries Ltd. has come up with what I consider an improvement over other docking stations. The Byte-Dock is a docking station for your MacBook Pro’s in all sizes. It features all the ports you need such as front USB and audio in/out ports, and on the rear there is FireWire, DisplayPort/Thunderbolt, Ethernet, and USB. It is very stable even with a 17″ MacBook Pro which I tested by smacking it around some until it was about to go over. It felt sturdy enough for those in California that they don’t have to worry about the shaking sending their precious MacBook Pro into the floor. Insertion and taking the unit out worked great and was easy for anyone, and the best part (It’s Black!) it matches your AV equipment. Unless you’re some white freak who has managed to come down with a full set of Apple white products of course.
Certain Baptist Church To Picket Steve Jobs Funeral
I’m not going to name this church they get enough exposure already, but I actually got a good piece of spam today which let me know these awful people are going to picket the funeral of Steve Jobs. There’s an article about it on IBTimes News which talks of it. The irony of which is that they use their iPhones to preach their hate messages on Twitter.
I ask that anyone who can be at Steve’s funeral show up and outnumber these cowards and show them that Americans are tired of this behavior. They’re bullies and nothing more and we need to treat them as such. I would ask our overseas friends to complain to their MP’s about this with the hope that if any of these cowards were to go overseas they can be held accountable for their hate speech if possible. I do not appreciate their abuse of freedoms that soldiers current and former like myself sacrificed much to protect, they spit on the efforts of countless men and women before any of us were born.
Update: Looks like Steve’s funeral was Oct 7th. It was a private affair so these loons did not have a chance to be there. However that does not stop their hate messages online. Time for a twitter bomb?
Steve@Apple.com Should Live On
I really think as a tribute to Steve Jobs that all Apple CEO’s should occasionally respond to steve@apple.com emails. Apple would never be where it is today without Steve and as a way to have one part of his legacy live on is to keep the responses to Steve@apple.com going.
Steve Jobs 1955-2011
My third story is about death.
When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I’m fine now.
This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope it’s the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960′s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.