lather rinse repeat

ohhh sad keanu… (via thylifedestroy)

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 11:57:30 -0400

ohhh sad keanu…

(via thylifedestroy)

Lunch on the water…

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:29:54 -0400

Lunch on the water…

Man I cannot wait for this game!! August 10th! Scott Pilgrim...

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 10:30:00 -0400

Man I cannot wait for this game!! August 10th!

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

It’s a bit cloudy, but still beautiful

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 15:15:17 -0400

It’s a bit cloudy, but still beautiful

Dinosaur Comics - awesome fun times!

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:58:29 -0400

Dinosaur Comics - awesome fun times!

monkeyknifefight: (via annahinks)

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 18:04:00 -0400

monkeyknifefight:

(via annahinks)

iPhone4 vs HTC Evo (via Louis Harboe) I swear, my last post...

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 20:01:58 -0400

iPhone4 vs HTC Evo (via Louis Harboe)

I swear, my last post about the iPhone 4.

Trying out CameraBag with my iPhone 4

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 13:01:42 -0400

Trying out CameraBag with my iPhone 4

Hitler Upset With The iPhone 4 Antenna Issues - michael's posterous

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 18:53:59 -0400

Hitler Upset With The iPhone 4 Antenna Issues - michael's posterous:

Yeah… I know, but, its classic.

iPhone 4 Adventures Everything I’m going to say about the...

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 15:59:00 -0400

View from my terrace taken with iPhone 4

View from my terrace taken with iPhone 4

View from my terrace taken with iPhone 4

View from my terrace taken with iPhone 4

iPhone 4 Adventures

Everything I’m going to say about the iPhone 4 is something you’ve heard before, but I guess I’m going to say it anyway. I haven’t bothered taking actual photos of the phone because 1) I suck at taking “good” photos, and 2) you can see gorgeous photos of the new phone everywhere. So, above are some sample untouched photos I took with the phone.

Getting the phone

I never wanted to wait in line. I tried pre-ordering from the online store for hours and the iPhone Apple Store app for hours and hours. When it became clear I might never get to pre-order, I decided to make a reservation at my local Apple Store, which happened to be the Fifth Avenue Apple Store. Alas, I never was able to pre-order, so off to the huge Cube I went.

I dragged my good friend Justin to the store around 4 am. There were of course two lines, and the reserved line had at least 100 people on it already. An employee said that at that time the regular line was already one and a half avenue blocks long.

The time passed quickly thanks my trusty iPad. We sat and read the reports of all the others on twitter who were also waiting on lines all over the world. Over the next couple of hours both lines got longer and longer. There were plenty of video cameras. We sat and waited until around 6 am, when Apple Store employees started sifting through our line to confirm our reservations. Unfortunately Justin did not have a reservation (he was just super nice and keeping me company), and was asked to leave around 6:30 am. As we got closer to 7 am, the crowd got more lively and all sorts of free stuff was being given out, bagels, cupcakes, t-shirts, etc.

Right before 7 am, a ton of Apple Store employees appeared from Cube and began clapping. Lots and lots of clapping. There was a countdown, and finally, they started to let people in!

I was in the second wave of reserved line-waiters to be let in. There were plenty of very peppy Apple Store employees, along with many video and photographers inside the store. A super nice Apple employee grabbed a few Bumper Cases for those of us waiting to buy with our phones so we didn’t have to (I really don’t think we could) get off the line to grab them. It looked to me like they only had black Bumper Cases.

Finally I was called over, and another very nice Apple Store guy confirmed the reservation for my phone. I chose to let the him activate my phone in-store hoping to avoid any possible issues activating my phone later in iTunes at home. Activation took about five minutes. He seemed to think turning off all cellular data would speed up activation, so if you’re having issues waiting for AT&T to push your phone through it could be worth trying.

All told, I left the Fifth Avenue Apple Store with my iPhone 4 before 7:30 am. I texted and made calls on it with no problem as soon as I left the store. I put in my mobileme account on my way home, and I had all my contacts/bookmarks/etc synced up before I got home.

While getting up at 3 am sucked, I’m happy I did it. If I had gone to the store at 7 am, who knows how long I would have had to wait on line. Also, since it was still dark out, it was warm, but certainly a livable temperature. I am very happy I didn’t have to stand there all day.

Antenna & Cell Service In General

Since the Apple Store guy offered to put the Bumper Case on my iPhone for me, I’ve had the bumper on for almost the entire (very short) time I’ve had the phone.

The whole don’t-hold-it-in-your-left-hand thing did happen with my phone in my apartment today when I tested it without the Bumper case this morning. However, it didn’t happen when I tested it without the Bumper case briefly yesterday. I have a feeling it has a lot to do with where you are and how the AT&T service is there in general. Something may also be up with how the phone is reporting bars in general, they may be overly sensitive.

I have a feeling Apple will have more to say about it. I’m guessing I’m going to end up being reimbursed for the Bumper case I bought. I also think we’re going to see an update that makes the bars less sensitive.

The real test will be seeing how it works around the city, which I’ll be doing a bunch this weekend. I’m cautiously optimistic.

Build

Obviously this is a great looking phone. Coming from a 3GS, for me, it feels fragile, even though I know its not supposed to be. I pre-ordered an Invisible Shield that arrived a couple of days before I got the iPhone, so I put that on last night before my first night on the town with the phone.

Display

The display is simply stunning. Everything you’ve heard about it is true. Text is incredibly clear and precise. Updated apps look beautiful. Old apps just look awful. Really awful. Its impossible to describe just how gorgeous it is. I think you get the point.

Photography

I have notoriously poor photo-taking abilities. You can see some sample untouched photos at the top of the post.

Etcetera

I already miss having a jailbroken phone, mostly for SBSettings and of course Winterboard. I’ll probably jailbreak as soon as its available.

I like iOS4’s folders much more than I thought I would. They are very very useful. I’m still trying to work out the best organization and still just trying to get used to opening them quickly. I’m sure my hands will get used to it very quickly.

Holy crap, fast-app-switching/multitasking is fantastic. Everything is so smooth and instant. It is such a pleasure to use.

My iPad feels like its sorely missing out. I can handle not having a retina display. But I do miss folders and fast-app-switching. Even with a jailbroken iPad that uses backgrounding and iPhone ProSwitcher, its just not the same.

So, there you have it. My brief thoughts on the new iPhone 4, that are just like everyone else’s. Wee!

.whee!

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 12:49:22 -0400

.whee!

The regular line at the 5th Ave Apple Store (I am on the shorter...

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 06:54:19 -0400

The regular line at the 5th Ave Apple Store (I am on the shorter line for those who reserved iPhones).

First Thoughts On The Vaja iPad Agenda Case (While Also...

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 15:23:57 -0400

First Thoughts On The Vaja iPad Agenda Case (While Also Mentioning The DodoCase)

I received both my DodoCase and myVaja Aenda Case yesterday. Yes! On the same day. I know, I know. I have only managed to spend a significant amount time with the Vaja case. The DodoCase is also lovely, and I will write more about it soon.

Its really really lovely. I got it in a black olive/cream combination.
The photos I took are terrible. I will take better photos next week when I have my camera.
While its not as thin as the Apple case, it is the thinner and shorter than the DodoCase.
The leather is soft, and the whole case is lightly padded. Its very nice to hold in your hands.
The two stands in the back are super handy. I forgot to take a photo of them. Will take one next week!
Besides the two different stands, the cover also acts as a stand when the two stands aren’t quite what you were looking for.
Because its handmade, it has a couple slight imperfections, but nothing that noticeable. For instance, the pebbling of the cream stripe is quite softened on one end.
The one major downside to the case is that the top and bottom edges are almost completely bare. However, at this point, the case case is so lovely that I’m willing to overlook it. No matter what case I use, I know from years of using apple products that the dock-connector area will always end up a little scratched. The majority of the top area of my iPad, since I have one with 3G, is a black material that I don’t think will scratch as easily as the aluminum.
Ok, so waiting 35 days sucked. Along with the super steep price. But, so far, it was totally worth it. Depending on how the whole Apple Bumper case is, theres a very very good chance I’ll end up getting a Vaja Case for my iPhone 4 when I get it next week.

The highlight of my day: my new makeup case for my purse.

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 23:30:00 -0400

The highlight of my day: my new makeup case for my purse.

Mmm… Yummy!!

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 22:35:59 -0400

Mmm… Yummy!!

Classic from last week’s 30 rock! I don’t know who...

Tue, 18 May 2010 12:00:00 -0400

Classic from last week’s 30 rock! I don’t know who made the image.

For absolutely no reason at all, a screenshot of my iPad home...

Sat, 15 May 2010 20:25:00 -0400

For absolutely no reason at all, a screenshot of my iPad home screen.

The view from my apartment’s balcony. (taken by psql)

Fri, 14 May 2010 15:23:21 -0400

The view from my apartment’s balcony.

(taken by psql)

Quick iPad Notes

Sat, 08 May 2010 00:43:00 -0400

So I received my 3G iPad on Friday. I thought I’d post some very quick thoughts on it. The gist of it is that I absolutely love it.

So, on to the notes.

3G and GPS. I happened to receive my 3G iPad the day before I was going on a long roadtrip. The iPad with 3G and GPS performed perfectly, and we were able to track our trip and get to our desintaiton and back with no trouble at all. It was super impressive.
Reading is simply fantastic. After being a NetNewsWire user for many years, I simply stopped using RSS this year. I hardly visit websites to read for fun anymore… I simply forget to. Because of the crazy number of feeds I’m subscribed to, reading RSS on my iPhone, with no matter what app I tried, was slow and cumbersome at best. NewsRack for the iPad changes all that. The speed of loading tons of rss feeds is so much faster. I have to remember to try NewsRack for the iPhone, too, but really, iPad RSS is so much better than iPhone RSS.

As for reading books, the iBook app is good, but the Kindle app is fantastic. The black background mode actually makes the idea of reading a book on a screen feasible.

Same goes for news. While the New York Times app is lovely, the USAToday app is just plain awesome.

As for weather… Wow. I’ve tried a few different weather apps, and they’re all great. I have no idea which I like best.
Writing isn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but it isn’t perfect either. I have a much easier time with the keyboard than I anticipated, but I am certainly not a real typist on this thing just yet. I wrote the bulk of the notes for this post on my iPad, but then moved over to my MacBook Pro to flesh out some of it.

The writing apps out there for the iPad are really beautiful and will make you want to do all of your writing on it…

Sorted is the only todo list app I’ve ever liked for any platform. Its simply gorgeous.

Simplenote is of course my ideal notes app, uses it’s lovely widescreen layout and syncs up perfectly with it’s iPhone counterpart and Notational Velocity on my Macs.

Pages is really a full featured text editor. Makes me dream of TextMate for the iPad…
Logmein is a dream on the iPad, especially if you’re someone manages multiple macs. I’ll never have to reach for my MacBook Pro again when wanting to do anything on my Mini that is hooked up to my tv.
Browsing the web is also fantastic. The funny thing is there is little reason for me to use Safari to visit many of the websites I visit the most due to the fact that they simply all have their very own iPad apps. Really all I need is the Tumblr iPad app, and I’m totally set.
I just haven’t had the time to try out that many games yet. But I can say that Strategery is the only war-time strategy game (or whatever you call it) that I’ve ever enjoyed… its great!

So… those are my very quick thoughts on my new iPad… what do you think?

this photo is literally killing me with cuteness. (via jeremy)

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 10:35:58 -0400

this photo is literally killing me with cuteness.

(via jeremy)