Marianne Schultz

the musings of a geeky girl

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Gadget-dreaming

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Only a few more days until the iPhone goes on sale! I am way too excited for my own good. I’m hoping that actually getting one (knock on wood that I can get one on release day) will stop the iPhone-related dreams I’ve been having. Yes, I’ve had dreams about the iPhone. You can stop laughing now. No, I am not in therapy, nor do I plan to seek any.

I tend to have very vivid dreams about things that are on my mind, so this is not out of the ordinary for me. And it’s a trait that I don’t enjoy after seeing a scary movie, since nightmares are usually the result.

So, you want to know what my “worse” iPhone dream was? I was at a mall waiting in line on release day. Somehow, there were chairs outside for people to sit on, and the woman in front of me had her purse and other stuff on the chair next to her. I asked her if she could move it so I could sit on the chair, and she refused. I said a few choice words to her, and others in line chimed in “on my side” and she finally moved her stuff. Then, we all got into the store. I snagged a salesperson right away and asked for an iPhone. He went over to a display and brought one back to me. As I looked at the package, I realized it was only an iPhone model, not a real one. I complained to him, and he laughed at me, saying it was funny. I was incredibly upset and went to another salesperson and complained about what he’d just done. That salesperson immediately handed me a real iPhone, while the first salesperson was still laughing behind me. And then I woke up.

Huh. Maybe I do need therapy.

Oh. My. God. Fabulous iPhone video on Apple’s site!

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Wow. Check out this video on Apple’s site. I’ve wanted an iPhone since they were announced, but this just makes me want one more. It does more than I was expecting (Microsoft Word and Excel documents can be viewed) and is just about the perfect device with just everything I want in a cell phone. There are just 2 things that my Palm currently has (thanks to 3rd party software, nothing from Palm itself): an ebook reader and an encrypted password-keeper application. Now I just need to hope Apple officially makes it possible for developers to create real applications for the iPhone, not just web-based ones…

WWDC thoughts

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As the name of my site implies, I’m a big Apple fan. While at work today, I tuned into coverage of the WWDC keynote (thanks to live coverage from www.macrumors.com) to learn the latest announcements as they were made. I’m anxious to get my hands on an iPhone (go ahead, call me a fangirl! Sticks and stones and all that…) and rumor had it that there would be some iPhone-related announcements made today. Of course, I’m also looking forward to Leopard, and related news on the next version of OS X is also welcome, not to mention any other new product or update announcements.

(As an FYI, I’m planning on doing a review of the iPhone when I get my greedy little gadget-loving hands on one, specifically in comparison to the Treo 680 I currently use.)

I’ll defer to other sites to provide solid summaries of the announcements, but here are my thoughts on some of what was revealed today:

Leopard features
• I like the new look and functionality of the Finder and the Dock. I’m not horribly excited about these aspects since I manage just fine in Tiger with the way applications and documents can be organized and searched (Spotlight is brilliant). One thing I’m very surprised at is the integration of BootCamp – didn’t see that one coming. I don’t really have a need to run any Windows-only applications, but this is handy feature from my perspective, and I look forward to see how it works in reality.
• I should note that the features I am most looking forward to were demo’d at last year’s WWDC – the upgrades to the Mail and Calendar applications will be very useful to me on a daily basis. Spaces is nice, but this is a feature I’ll have to use personally to see if it will be truly useful for me and what I do with my Mac.
• I do like Widgets, but I don’t use them terribly often (though if I had a Mac at work instead of a dull and utilitarian Lenovo ThinkPad, I probably would check Widgets a lot during the day).
• I do use iChat quite a bit, and tabbed chats in Leopard will be welcome. I have run several chats at one time, and managing multiple chat windows takes up desktop space, so this update to iChat will be welcomed by me. Now, I don’t video chat with anyone at all – few of my friends and family have a webcam in the first place, not to mention a fast network to make it practical and enjoyable. The PhotoBooth effects in iChat will not impact me one way or another at the moment.
• Time Machine is another feature I’m looking forward to. I do back-up using Carbon Copy Cloner (an excellent application you can find here), but I’m not as disciplined as I should be about doing it regularly and consistently (I usually remember just before I’m heading out of town and want to make sure my Mac is backed-up in case something happens to it while I’m traveling).

Oddly enough, I’m not an early adopter when it comes to software. My particular geek drug of choice is hardware, and I have no problems buying a new gadget as soon as possible. I do plan to upgrade to Leopard, but I may not do so until it’s been out for a few months or so (at least until the first update is out via Software Update).

Now, Safari for Windows – that is interesting. I do like Safari, though it does have some quirks that irritate the bejesus out of me (why oh why can’t I sort my bookmarks alphabetically automatically?). Regardless, it beats Internet Explorer hands down, and I do think I’ll be installing it on my work PC despite the “do not install any unapproved software” ban my company’s IT department has dictated…

Woo hoo – now onto iPhone stuff!
• Hey – it will go on sale at 6:00 pm on 6/29? Is that Eastern or Pacific time? Hold up (wait a minute) – does this mean I won’t be able to buy one in a local store until that time? Or is that the time they’ll officially start shipping if you order online through apple.com? Wait, Steve, I need more clarification on this one!
• Well, one of the rumors about opening up iPhone software development to 3rd parties is kind of true. I’m sure building web apps for the iPhone is not exactly what people had in mind. But, it’s better than nothing, I suppose.

Well, I’m disappointed there was no more news about the iPhone. One rumor about more .Mac integration with the iPhone was definitely one I was excited about and hoping was true. Another was an increase in storage since flash memory prices have gone down. But, alas, no dice.

The Apple online store was down for the duration of the keynote – for a few moments after the keynote, I thought this might be for them to add the iPhone to the online store for pre-ordering (yes, I know they said they wouldn’t do this previously, but a girl can dream, can’t she?), but it turns out they updated the store look and feel to match Leopard, including the cover flow view already present in iTunes. Darn.