Shiny new iPhone

John is the proud owner of a shiny new iPhone. And not just because of the "hype." Anybody who knows my cell phone usage will attest to the fact that I've always chosen practical phones that delivered the best solution and value, and that I've always kept my phones until they fell apart. I passed on the RAZR because it didn't add any new functionality (just smaller form factor), and passed on the Treo and Blackberry smartphones because I have not had a pressing need for slow and flaky internet access when Google SMS has served all my mobile information needs just fine. However, since AT&T and Cingular merged about 2 years ago, I've been shopping for a new phone because all 4 phones on our family cell phone plan are using old SIM cards on the legacy network. We can't get many AT&T/Cingular features until we upgrade to new SIM cards on the new network, so I've been waiting 2 years for a good time to upgrade.

The iPhone, is the phone I've been waiting 10 years for. All other phones on the market suffer from, in my opinion, an engineering atrocity...they all have keypads. Keypads, in general, are useless. Phones are primarily used for making and receiving phone calls, and with the advent of cell phones and built-in address books, almost nobody actually dials phone numbers anymore. How many of your friends and families' phone numbers do you remember by heart? Probably only a handful, because you call everybody from the address book. Therefore the keypad is just wasted space when it could be a soft-keyboard only when you need to call a number not already stored. Wasted keypad space means all other phones on the market are either twice as thick, twice as long, twice as heavy, or have a screen half as big as it could be, depending on what your priorities are. The iPhone is the first phone in the US market that does an acceptable job at eliminating the wasted keypad. And contrary to reports that the soft keypad is wonky, it actually works pretty well, and gets easier as you use it more. I certainly don't find it any harder than Carrie's Blackberry, the keys are actually bigger. If they're too small, you can flip the screen, and the keys get twice as big (almost full size)! Thanks to no keypad, it's very compact. It's as long as my old Motorola V551, as thin as Carrie's Motorola RAZR, and less wide than a Blackberry. There's been plenty published about people's thoughts. Here's some of my own thoughts from a real-life tech person that you all know:

- Multi-touch, multi-orientation screen: Revolutionary interface makes navigation a pleasure. "Flicking" is very intuitive for scrolling, and squeezing and stretching to zoom makes a much larger effective screen area that's easy to move around. Combined with the screen that automatically switches between portrait and landscape when you flip it, makes the photo browsing application the best I've ever seen or used (and I've used them all).
- Cell phone: Best cell phone I've ever had. Super complete and easy to navigate addressbook (includes all details from Outlook Contacts, including notes and birthdays). Visual voicemail is revolutionary (pick and listen to voicemails like you read your email). SMS texting interface is revolutionary (displays like an IM chat window, so you can follow the whole thread). Touch screen interface makes it trivial to conference call, swap calls, un-conference, check menus, use speakerphone, all in-call. A counterpoint, however, is that AT&T still has its head up its butt. It took me a full week to get my phone (despite promises of 1-2 business days). And it took over 3 hours and 5 agents over the span of 3 days to get the phone activated, working correctly, and the rate plan set up properly.
- iPod: Eliminates the need to carry my iPod-mini. Apple is right that it's the best iPod they've ever made. Works iPod functionality like any other iPod, except that you can now scroll through your albums by album art like in iTunes, very pretty. Perfectly integrated with the phone...songs fade out when a call comes in, the included headphones even have a built-in mike to answer the call...music comes back on when you hang up. It uses the same iPod interface as all the other ones, so the docking station, car chargers, USB cables I have now are all still useful.
- Portable video: Eliminates the need to carry my Creative Zen Vision M (a video iPod like hard-drive based video player). With 8GB of storage space, I have enough room to carry a dozen full-length DVDs with me to watch on the airplane. The beautiful 3.5" 16:9 320x480 screen is more than big enough to enjoy movies on the go, and "airplane mode" allows you to turn off the radio devices to watch on the plane. Battery life is up to 7 hours when watching a movie, so plenty of time to be entertained.
- PDA: Eliminates the need to carry my Palm Pilot. With auto sync'ing to Outlook Contacts and Calendar, I have all my business information available at all times. The Contacts sync'ing is impeccable, though I do wish I had some more control over the sync. It currently pulls all your contacts from Outlook, I'd like to filter it by Category (personal, business, etc.) Also, to be fair, I haven't gotten the calendar sync to work correctly yet. iTunes (the way you sync everything) currently does not handle recurring meetings nicely and bombs. [UPDATED 07/26/07] iTunes now syncs the calendar correctly. In response to numerous support calls, Apple posted several troubleshooting steps, a re-install of iTunes fixed it for me. One hopes a fix for this is coming. iTunes has been smart enough to realize that I only want Contacts and Calendar from my work laptop, and that I only want music, photos and video from my personal desktop.
- Web device: It's the only smartphone with a full-featured web browser, so you can read webpages as they are designed, not just the watered-down mobile sites. And it has POP3, IMAP and Exchange access to hook into mail systems. I use gmail, so it hooks up to that decently, albeit slightly wonky, because gmail isn't a traditional mail service. I don't need my work email, so I haven't tried that yet. Web browsing over the cellular EDGE network is adequate, though painfully slow. But the iPhone hooks into Wi-Fi networks as well (unlike most smartphones), which speeds it up exponentially. There isn't a chat application though, which frankly, sucks. It's a big gap in the device functionality to not hook into AIM, Yahoo IM, or MSN messenger. Not a deal breaker since the SMS interface is so good (and 200 messages/month are free), but not real super. The SMS interface displays text messages like an IM window, which makes it much easier to track a conversation. Currently though, the iPhone does not support MMS. Which means no sending and receiving picture messages, oddly enough. You can email them back and forth, but the POP3 interface is a bit wonky, and means you can only communicate with email accounts (not most cell phones).
- Customization: There's some interesting glaring omissions in the iPhone's functionality which may be fixed moving forward. Though you can use any photo for contacts and wall paper, the same is not true for ringtones. So far you can only use the built-in ring tones (which all kind of suck), even though you have a whole library of mp3's loaded on the device. Also, there are no 3rd party applications available yet, though Apple has said they plan to open it up. [UPDATED 07/25/07] An application has just been released that converts mp3's to ringtones and lets you push it straight to your iPhone. Trick. It actually works! Also, 3rd party applications are starting to appear...most are enabled via Safari, but at least one legitimate iPhone binary has been published and works. +1 for the iPhone.
- Wow factor: This is, without question, the coolest device on the market. It's cool to look at it, cool to play with, cool to use, and cool to show off. It's public awareness is so pervasive that nobody is ambivalent about it. Every single person is aware of what it is, and either loves it or hates it. Which makes it very exciting to be a part of.
- Price: The iPhone service is just another $20/month for the unlimited data plan (and include 200 SMS messages), which is actually less than most carriers' Blackberry plans for smartphones. The voice service will work with any existing AT&T voiceplan (which I've been a customer of for 8 years). For $599, the hardware price is a little steep for a cell phone. But it integrates a cell phone, an iPod, a Zen, a Palm Pilot, and a web browser all into one. It's really more of an ultra-mobile laptop than a cell phone. And seeing as I haven't bought a new computer in 13 years, this seems like a long overdue purchase.
- Summary: Overall, I'd rate the current iPhone a 8.5/10.0 (UPDATED 07/25/07). It has the potential to reach 9.0/10.0 if it fixes a few things: Outlook Calendaring, IM client, ringtones, 3rd party apps.

Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta

As many of you know, I am an avid Xbox gamer. And as all Xbox owners know, Halo is the killer app for the platform. Halo 3 is launching in late September, but for the last couple of weeks, some Halo fans have had the opportunity to beta test the multiplayer part of the game. It's been a riot, the game is a ton of fun. There have been some very memorable games, one of which was a perfect game I had. I didn't die, my team cleared our objectives perfectly without giving up a score, and I led the entire team to victory. With Halo 3, there is a new "saved videos" feature that allows you save your game and watch it later. I've posted this perfect game on YouTube so everyone can share in my glorious victory. :)

1,100 miles

Well, I'm finally home from my East Coast tour. Home-basing out of the Philadelphia metropolitan area, I drove all over the eastern seaboard this week, braving heavy rains, snow, high winds and storms. In total, I logged over 1,100 miles on my little Pontiac G6 rental car, across 7 different states. You can actually see from the map just how wide ranging my travels were. I kind of miss the GPS lady in my trusty Hertz Neverlost navigation system...

Dover Township, NJ

Ever since Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle came out in 2004, I've had a craving for those delicious little cheeseburgers. But unfortunately, just as in the movie, the hallowed grounds of White Castle restaurants are very elusive...existing in only a handful of states in the northeast and midwest. Thanks to the power of GPS navigation with integrated phone books, I was able to find a White Castle relatively close by to my driving route today, only 2 extra hours out of my way. Seems long considering my original destination was only 30 minutes away, but it's more reasonable when you consider this is the closest I've been to a White Castle in 3 years. A long drive through the Jersey countryside and a couple hundred miles later, I had my hands on those delicious cheeseburgers that made Harold so heady that he became a new man, and that made Kumar finally realize his life purpose.

Southampton, PA

My original plan was to visit Steph and JJ in Southampton last week, but Steph up and had her baby instead. So we rescheduled for today... I got a chance to visit them at their beautiful new house in Southampton, hang out with Kaden (their 2 year old in the picture), get some home cooked grub from JJ's mom, AND watch Planet Earth over FiOS on their shiny new plasma HDTV. The 6-day old peanut was funny to watch, but I decided that bath time was my cue to exit and head home.

Philadelphia, PA

I was sitting around with Dave and Heidi this morning (in Fairfax, VA) having breakfast, and we were chatting about what we felt like doing today. Since the East Coast is getting hammered by a Nor'easter right now, we decided the best thing to do would be to head over to Philadelphia to get some delicious cheesesteaks. 2.5 hours later, we arrived at Pat's King of Steaks, where the cheesesteak was invented by Pat Oliveri in 1930. (Note Dave's drink in picture, we are not at Pat's.) Dave, Heidi and I all had a very delicious cheesesteak at Pat's, but noticed that there was another restaurant across the street called Geno's. Though Pat Oliveri was the first to put chopped up steak on hoagie rolls, Joe Vento of Geno's was the first to actually put cheese on such a sandwich, the key ingredient in said sandwiches. So Dave and I looked at each after finishing our sandwiches, shrugged, laughed, and then headed across the street to have another cheesesteak at Geno's. lol. Heidi, of course, just shook her head, not so surprised. We also ran up the stairs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (like in Rocky, the original movie), saw a secret Freemason meeting at Independence Hall, checked out the Liberty Bell, and cruised around the very unique and very cool sports complex (with venues for the Phillies, Eagles and Flyers). Good times on a spontaneous day trip before I dropped the two of them off at the train station to send them back home.

Fairfax, VA

After aforementioned ridiculously long drive down south, I've arrived in Fairfax, home of very good friends, Dave and Heidi. I get to hang out here for the weekend, catch up on 8 years of life, stay in their beautiful home, and do some sightseeing. Fairfax is a pleasant suburb just out of Washington, D.C. ("the District"), and apparently a pretty good central location for us to cruise around to fun places nearby. We headed into Arlington for lunch today to hit the Hard Times Cafe, a cool little chili joint here where Dave got some Chili Mac (pictured), and Heidi and I got chili dogs. YUM. Also got to visit Georgetown, see the waterfront (complete with a regatta and rowing teams, just like in the movies!), the historical landmarks in "the District," and grab dinner at Zatinya, a cool tapas place downtown. Good times.

Long Island, New York

After an epic raging bender in Manhattan, I figured I'd head across the river to Long Island and visit Yo, who's hanging out there for a few weeks after interning in SoNo, but before heading home to California. Just a quick visit to the L.I., because my final destination today was Fairfax, VA, near Washington, D.C. The GPS unit in the rent-a-car said it should have been just over a 4 hour drive. But due to the bender from the previous night and me getting a slightly late start to the day, I didn't get out of Long Island until almost 5pm. On a Friday night. With only one route available to get off the Island. I discovered NYC traffic, took me 3.5 hours just to get out of New York City. In total, nearly 8 hours to get to Fairfax. Thankfully, 5 Red Bulls later, I made it awake and alert. And kept Heidi up long enough to get some Taco Bell. Yum! No, the picture has nothing to do with Long Island, but I didn't end up taking any pictures out there. But I did like this picture that I took while walking around in Manhattan.

Manhattan, New York

After the customer meeting in Philly, my first stop on the whirlwind is Manhattan, New York, home of Forster. And what else would Forster and I do with only one night to hang out together? Party! The included picture on the left is the two of us after about 20 beers each. Forster: "Yeah, I'm about done with this." Wei: "Time for Indian food!" The beers were a great idea. The Indian food...less so. When we finally turned in at 6am (after getting Indian food and then watching some Team America), I crashed out to treasure the 2.5 hours of sleep I would grab before arising to tackle the next day.

Malvern, Pennsylvania

Today, I'm out in Malvern, Pennsylvania for a customer meeting with Unisys. This kicks off a week-long East Coast tour where I'll be cruising around and visiting friends, while getting ready for another meeting with Unisys next week. Malvern is a suburb about 45 minutes northwest of Philadelphia. The weather here is 45F and rainy. Makes me miss the absence of weather in California. Rain is so inconvenient. Then again, with temps this cold, it means the salsa and wine that I brought for friends will stay fresh without a need for refrigeration. lol.

It's alive!

Haven't had much to post about lately. Did recently discover a clever website related to the Xbox 360. Because Xbox Live provides a persistent on-line interface for the Xbox, 360voice.com has linked into the service to breathe life into Xbox 360's. Check out the blog being "written" by John's Xbox: gtdroptop

All NZ/Oz Photos Posted

Unfortunately, despite it's slick interface and useful tools, Picasa and Picasaweb just didn't have the storage capacity to hold all of our vacation pictures. So I've moved them all back to my regular location on Snapfish. We've now posted all of our New Zealand and Australia pictures on-line in 3 different collections. Check them out and enjoy!
- New Zealand
- Sydney
- Uluru and Cairns

Photo Album #4 Posted

I've posted the fourth album from our trip, this one is from the few days that we spent in Ayers Rock/Uluru. A very mystical place in the middle of the desert, we got a real feeling for what the Outback is like, and a good taste of Aboriginal culture. Some pictures from our 5am sunrise walk around the base of Uluru...a 5 hour hike where it was 120F in the shade. Pictures here: Uluru

Master sushi chef

So, I hear a friend of mine has MAD skillz at making sushi. Alas, I can't share this deliciousness with everyone, but you can virtually submit your opinion here: Sushi chef

Photo Album #3 Posted

I've posted the third album from our trip to the South Pacific. This one includes 135 pictures from all over Sydney. There is everything we saw in the city, at the various wildlife parks, the sunny beaches, the famous Blue Mountains, the Sydney Opera House where we saw Handel's Messiah, and the Sydney Harbour Bridge which Carrie got to climb. The photo album is here: Sydney

Ben in town for skiing

John's brother, Ben, is finishing up med school and will be spending the next couple of months in Taiwan on a hospital rotation. Since he had to fly through San Francisco anyway, he was able to swing an extended layover in the Bay Area to do some skiing. There wasn't much snow, but we still had a great time. Our friends Kevin and Lora joined us on the slopes at Sugarbowl as well. In the picture, you can see Ben and Carrie sporting their stunna shades.

1,000 little Dixie cups

I have to give the guys credit, they came up with an original idea. To be honest, I would have felt unloved if I came back from sabbatical with no prank waiting for me, I just wasn't expecting something quite this messy. My first day back in the office was started off by discovering 1,000 little Dixie cups on my desk, all stapled together, and mostly filled with water. And my co-workers, being the cost-conscious people that they are, made sure to save a few pennies by buying the cheapest cups available. Which meant that by the time I arrived, the cups were already starting to melt and leak everywhere. Let's just say that it was non-trivial to get my day started today.

New snow in Jackson Hole!

Carrie flew out to join in the fun in Jackson Hole over the weekend. Carrie's arrival also means an upgrade in accommodations from the Hostel to the luxurious Teton Mountain Lodge
(4.5 stars), new snow (3 inches) and warmer temperatures (+16F).

K2 Apache Recon All-Mountain Skis

Details: 174cm, radii 18.0, sidecut 119/76/105mm, fir/aspen core, traditional shape
Average retail price: $649
Conditions: Jackson Hole (Wyoming) sub-zero overcast, 3 inches of fresh powder in 24 hours.
Terrain: Groomed intermediate trails with soft chalky snow on top of hard ice, 3-6 inches accumulation of soft fresh over hardpack.
Review: This ski has clean graphics, in line with K2's tradition. I was however, very disappointed by their performance. Spent all day on the intermediate and advanced groomers, which chunked up through the day as the top layer was pushed off, and then new snow started building up mid-day. Granted, they were shorter than previous skis demo'd this week, but that should have made them more responsive. Instead, they felt clumsy and unresponsive. The Recons were light enough to turn pretty easily, but they carved poorly, and had a hard time holding their edge. Unlike the Volkl AC3's which were very confident in all conditions, the Recons were all over the place in the wide range of snow pack.
Score (scale of 1-3): 1 - Hated these, expected more from K2, would not buy them.

Pwn'd!!

The diagram you see in the picture articulates the details of just exactly how this narrow chute pwn'd me today. Granted, it's my own fault for turning into a gnarly looking chute on a low-snow coverage day, but who would guess that a marked trail on the map would be so hairy, or that the stream running straight through the middle was still running, despite the -10F temperatures?
1.) This is where my right ski nose-dived into a soft spot under the hard crust and popped off.
2.) This is the imprint of where my head was introduced to the hardpack after I was launched out of my right ski. Notice, no trail between points 1 and 2, that's all air-time, baby! (Loving my new helmet at this point!)
3.) This is where my body impacted after rotating over my head, creating the bounce for my next air.
4.) This is where I landed for the slide along hardpack before coming to a rest where the picture is taken. Notice again, no trail between points 3 and 4, more air-time, baby!
5.) This is the arduous climb back up to point #1, where my ski was. It's about 30 feet from my final resting place to my ski. Took about 25 minutes, because it's a 45+ degree slope with only a thin crusty layer of the snow, and 5 feet of soft stuff underneath. Kind of like trying to climb in quicksand.
And that's only one of my adventures today. Also came face first with aforementioned freezing cold stream, rode every single lift on the entire mountain, took the 4 lifts and 45 minutes (now that the tram is closed for replacement) to the top peak of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, experienced JHMR's famous 4,400 vertical foot top-to-bottom run (20 minutes, all black or double-blue runs), and rode a couple of JHMR's famous super-steep runs.
Took two days and some adjustments to my boots, but finally got my ski legs back and got to see everything this mountain has to offer.