Yes, it’s true. I waited in line for an operating system. But then again, this was not just any operating system… it is an Apple Operating System, something truly worth looking forward to, every time. Originally, I wasn’t going to wait in line for Leopard like I did for my iPhone, but as it turned out, I was doing training our youngest Kidology Team Member and decided it would be fun to do with him, so we went and got in line!
Chad and Karl – Mac Nerds, and Proud of it!
We got in line with several hundred other Mac fanatics… many busy on their iPhones, and were happy to see we were close enough to get the free t-shirt!
Me with my free Apple Mac T-Shirt!
The Apple Store employees are a hoot. Literally! They cheered for each group of 10 that were allowed in forming two lines that you passed through to enter. You kinda felt like Moses walking through the Red Sea. The enthusiasm was a little silly – but it made it a fun event. Come, on! Who would cheer for the lastest version of Windows… that’s more like, “Well, OK, I guess I should upgrade, the version I have stinks and is riddled with problems, maybe the new one will be better, at least for a little while. How much is it gonna cost me? Sigh. Ho Hum. A new Windows operating system.” But with a Mac, you just know it will be loaded with cool practical stuff that actually does what it claims.
Happy Mac Fanatics!
Soon we were back at Chad’s installing our beautiful new operating system. Chad’s installed in just under 1.5 hours. I did a full erase and install to get a clean start with the new OS and mine installed in under an hour. But of course, then I had to re-install my software, and restore Mail, Calendar, Address Book, Bookmarks, Preferences, Music, Pictures, data, etc. But after all the stuff I install and uninstall, I like to use an OS upgrade as an opportunity to start with a clean “out of the box” machine.
Mentoring sometimes means sharing Mac tips!
By the way, I gotta tell ya, I was meeting with Chad to train him on some projects, but I love young people because I left learning a ton too… (like try this: apple-option 8 and then use apple-option + or – to zoom in or out on your screen, and move the mouse around! Just do apple-option-8 again to go back to normal!)
If you don’t have a Mac, you know I recommend it… and I won’t even go there now. If you do have a Mac, Leopard is sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!
It’s outtathisworld!
UP-DATE: (sent to me by Chad)
If Microsoft had designed the iPod packaging. (This is too funny and too true)
July 11, 2007 at 11:18 pm · Filed under Family, Luke, Mac
Yes, this is Luke with his laptop… granted, an old dead one, but he loves to sit and play with it… I wonder who is trying to be like? (picture is months old, fyi)
Well, tonight as I was putting him to bed, I told him the following bedtime story, and thought others might like it as well, this is the short blog version. His version was drawn out and had the benefit of character voices! ENJOY!
The Tale of the Three Little Piggy’s and Big Bad Wolf Hacker
Once upon a time there were three little pigs who all worked in the Internet industry. One day, they heard a rumor that a terrible hacker, known only as the Big Bad Wolf Hacker, was sending out a virus that could do critical damage to a personal computer! The three little piggies were scared!
“I’ll download a free virus protection tool!” said the first little piggy.
“I’ll install Norton Anti-Virus!” said the second little piggy.
“I’ll buy a Mac” said the third little piggy.
And sure enough the Big Bad Wolf Hacker hacked and he hacked and he broke into the first little piggy’s computer and deleted all kinds of important files! The devastated piggie ran to his friends house, but just as he got there he heard his cries! Yes, the Big Bad Wolf Hacker had hacked, and and he hacked, and to got access to the second little piggy’s computer, and not only did he delete critcial files and steal important data, but he installed spyware and adware and slowed the computer way down. They ran together to the third little piggy’s house and as they entered they heard laughter! He was busy making a video in iMovie, burning it to a DVD with iDVD while listening to music in iTunes and surfing the Internet, and although the Big Bad Wolf Hacker hacked and he hacked and he hacked, but he just couldn’t hack into the Mac, so he tried to climb into the house to install a virus manually (even though he would need the administrative password to do so) but as he climbed in the chimney, he fell into a boiling pot of stew, and the three little piggy’s ate until they were full all playing on the Mac into the wee hours of the night, because, well, Macs just work, and they never get viruses, or spyware, or adware, not by the hair of their chinny chin chins. And they lived happily ever after.
The End.
Luke playing on a PC that the Big Bad Wolf trashed!
Reviewing the iPhone will be an ongoing process, so rather than post multiple posts, I will just keep updating this post when I have new information, feedback, or gripes. So far, I am so incredibly impressed, I know that some will ignore my review as being too positively biased… but I will try hard to find bad things to keep the skeptics and Mac haters happy, as much as I can. As I have often said to my Mac-attack friends, I am a big Mac fan, but I am an honest one. I have ripped on my Mac online, so I don’t only say the positive – it’s just that there just is so much more positive than negative. And that is the truth.
REVIEW OF FEATURES: (will update)
TEXT MESSAGING: Not only does it look sweeeeet, and typing easy with the intelligent keyboard, looking people up is a snap, but there is a COOL feature. If you get a Text Message, and the phone is off. Not only will it notify you that you have a message, but it will simply give you the message and the sender in a pop-up so that you can see the message even without unlocking the phone and going to the SMS area to read it. If someone is sending you a quick answer, with a glance you can see the message and you are done.
CALENDAR: Scrolling through events is easy and visually wonderful. Day and month views are great too. Setting reminders and alarms is nice, especially the secondary alarm. For an appointment to meet a friend this week at a movie at 4:45pm, I set a reminder for 3:45 and a secondary at 4:00pm – the first I was in the middle of a conversation and hit ‘ignore’ – but on the second one, dismissed myself to make the appointment. That was cool.
PHOTOS: Man, this is amazing. The images seems a clear as a monitor. You can flip through with a flick of a finger, and the image rotates ALL FOUR ways if you turn your iPhone this way or that. Zoom in, or e-mail the picture you just took in seconds. I sync my favorite albums on my laptop, as well as “Last Roll” so I always have the last roll I imported with me.
CAMERA: Obviously, with no flash, it is best outdoors or in a well lit room, but it takes nice pictures at 2 mega-pixels. The shutter is slow, so blurs are easy to get:
HERE ARE SOME PICS TAKEN WITH THE iPHONE WITH COMMENTS: (click images for larger view)
Takes nice outdoor pictures.
Shutter is slow, so fast moving objects can get distorted.
The button to take the picture is visual on screen, not a “real” physical button, so it is very touchy (pun intended) and accidental pictures are common, and if you aren’t very careful, you push the iPhone when you push the button, and get a blurry picture, so you really have to concentrate on lightly touching, not pushing the button, keeping your finger close the button so you won’t tap, but not so close it senses your finger and takes a picture. Not dificult, but takes more concentration than a camera with a physical button. The location of the button so low on the screen makes it a little uncomfortable to hold and click, but that’s minor.
Lighting can be a bear, even in the sunshine, without a flash to fill in, but easily fixed in iPhoto – here is a picture as the iPhone took it (above) and here it is after iPhoto lightened it in one easy click:
YouTube: Wow, this is a time waster. Fun, but you could quickly lose a lot of time watching videos, but hey, if you are stuck somewhere, its like having a TV you can turn on and search for something fun.
Positive: you can easily and quickly find and watch YouTube videos on your iPhone and bookmark the ones you really like.
Negative: the audio doesn’t seem to always match the video, but I’m not sure if that is an iPhone issue, or YouTube issues, as I don’t use YouTube much even on a computer. The search also seems limited, I searched for “Conan Late Night ILM” on the iPhone (after a friend recommended it) and it said no results on the iPhone, but on YouTube it comes right up.
It also makes me nervous having so many kids with iPhones, as the content is often a concern – but then, I know kids are online viewing YouTube, it is a fact of culture, but now kids can watch stuff on their phone when no one is around to filter or supervise.
YOUTUBE UPDATE: (from Apple article) To achieve higher video quality and longer battery life on mobile devices, YouTube has begun encoding their videos in the advanced H.264 format, and iPhone will be the first mobile device to use the H.264-encoded videos. Over 10,000 videos will be available on June 29, and YouTube will be adding more each week until their full catalog of videos is available in the H.264 format this fall.
STOCKS: Looks cool. Google is selling at 530.38 (up 7.68) and Apple at 121.26 (down .78!) but that’s all I can tell you, not a feature I’ll be using unless I have stock someday! I only have time to invest in my family and the Kingdom.
MAPS: Simply incredible – and screaming fast! Put in your address and see your house from space, and zoom back to the whole earth. Then zoom into the middle a Africa and look for some huts if you want. I showed my gramma the Great Wall of China this evening. When I showed her how I could zoom into her house she said she will have nightmares tonight! Downside is, it only saves the places you typed in, you can’t navigate to somewhere and then bookmark that location. That is a little frustrating. But basically, it is Google Earth on your phone, and no slower than on the computer. This is the best thing to show kids. My nephew wanted to wave and see himself from space!
WEATHER: easy, simple, sharp and updates within seconds of going to view it. Six day forcast at your fingertips any time. not bad.
CLOCK: World time with the ability to have multiple times, I have Chicago, Manila and Melbourne on mine. If that wasn’t cool enough, it adds Alarms, Stop Watch, and even a count down timer and of course, choose your alarm sound from the ring tones. (too bad you can’t pick a song in your iPod music!)
CALCULATOR: simple, so surprises or perks… M+,M- and MR/MC is as fancy as it gets. Oh, well.
NOTES: These note pads look neat, yellow lined pads. (Text doesn’t line up with the lines) The font is friendly and casual. But no formatting at all, and your notes are displayed most recent (or recently edited) at the top. I wish I could rearrange the order of the notes. If all you need to do is write a note, this works. The only real “feature” is a nice one though, click and it will open as an email ready to send to yourself or someone, so you don’t have to copy and paste into an email. (which is good, since you can’t copy and paste anything – see CONS)
SETTINGS: You simply have to poke around in here, lots of features and settings, I’m still experimenting!
NOW, THE BIG FOUR:
PHONE: I heard lots of negative about AT&T, but other than having to change my cell phone number after eight years, I find nothing to complain about. My calls are clearer, my signal stronger, and merging two calls is a snap. I can stay on the phone and still use all the other features. (I was on Verizon)
My bluetooth works perfectly, and connects instantly. (My family and friends hated my bluetooth – my wife says my greeting was, “hi, this is karl, hang on, I’m trying to get my bluetooth to connect) Now if I have the headset on, it pops up three choices: HEADSET, iPHONE, SPEAKER, and if I choose headset, it is just there, instantly in my ear!
The EDGE network, while slower than the G3, is SCREAMING FASTER than what I had on Verizon on my Treo, so I feel like it is light years ahead of what I had before. If G3 is faster, I’ll be impressed, because this is fast! I got no signal in an elevator in the center of a building, but other than that, I’ve had to signal issues, and since it dropped AT&T and automatically connected to any trusted WI-HI networks, at home and work and many other places, it is on the wireless Internet anyway.
MAIL: This is my favorite! View, read, delete, respond as quickly and as easily as on the laptop. Typing is a little slower, but I expect it to get faster as I get used to it. And I set my settings to delete from server if I delete from Inbox on iPhone, meaning it will never end up on my laptop, so I can do email when I am out, and won’t have to delete twice. If it is something I need to do on laptop, just leave it alone on iPhone and it will come into laptop. And you can limit your mail to 25, 50, 75, 100 or 200 messages so they will disappear as time goes on with the ‘real’ messages being on your computer. But nice to have that reference with you. I won’t have to take my 17″ laptop with me so much now.
SAFARI: FINALLY the actual real Internet on your phone. Zoom, rotate, and surf easily. Have multiple windows open, and keep them open all day if you want. There is no flash player so Kidology.org header doesn’t appear or the welcome screen to my novel site, or other flash sites, but that is minor, and usually not needed. I can blog, and log into admin sites as well. Still need to see if I can blog a picture using the iPhone. If I can do that, I will really be excited for the reporting I’ll be able to do on the road.
iPOD: This just rocks. For one thing, finally an iPod with built in speakers! And if you have an iPod, you just have a cooler one now. I have 984 songs and 23 videos (two are full length movies, and a few TV shows).
================== CONS (what I don’t like)
NO TASKS. My biggest disappointment with the iPhone is that they completely left out any tasks, or to-do lists. I LOVED that on my Palm and it is a part of iCal, so I don’t get why that was left off. My guess is because it has to work PC and Mac, and I know my Mac and Palm struggled with syncing tasks. I am really hoping a widgit or third party solution comes soon. In the meantime, I am using the web-based TaskAnyone.com and finding it very helpful, and easy enough to do on the iPhone.
NO COPY / PASTE This is a huge oversight in my opinion, many tasks take longer because you can’t copy and paste. Palm had shortcuts which were awesome and you could make them anything you wanted. They need to find a creative way to allow users to have their own keyboard short cuts and copy/paste is really needed!
NOTES: They need to beef this up. I’d like to be able to change the order of the Notes just like you can the order of your Favorites in Phone.
TWO / THREE CLICKS TO DO A PERIOD - I wish period and comma were on the main keyboard, but you have to hit symbol key, then period/comma, and then symbol key to get back to typing, so a period is three clicks. UPDATE: if you hit space after a period/comma it goes back to ABC automatically, but it is still a paid do to puncuation. They should just make the space bar smaller and put period and comma on the main screen.
DOESN’T WORK WITH ALL iPOD SPEAKER SYSTEMS. The iPhone does not work on my car iPod player (that goes through the radio), at all, even though it will dock and charge, just won’t play above a marely audible level. Also, it gets a “this isn’t supposed to work with this” message in the one in my bathroom, but works fine after I put it in airplane mode. (at it’s suggestion)
RESOLVED ISSUES: (will update)
NO CAPS LOCK – found a way to enable it in Settings.
Oh, and let me end with this. Someone posted a picture of a smashed iPhone on Kidology (with the screen still working, fyi) – but I must tell you this, at a picnic this week, I took my iPhone off and put it on the blanket with my keys, etc. to protect it, and later an upper elementary boy stepped on it hard, and it didn’t hurt it a bit. (the boy, therefore, was allowed to live) So, it is a pretty durable device! Not that I want to test that, but I was impressed!
BUGS/CRASHES/ETC.
Here I will log actual problems that I experience with my iPhone:
# = number of times this has happened.
3 / Google Maps “Crash” – not sure if it is a crash, interuption in wireless service, or what, but sometimes when you are in the middle of map surfing the iPhone just suddenly returns to the main menu. The first time I thought I must have bumped something, but the next few times I could tell I didn’t. And it doesn’t ‘remember’ where you were, so if you want to return to that place, you have to start over. Rating: annoying
1 / Safari Crashing /Freeze – one occurance, but happens 3 times. I was loading my blog to show my wife my iPhone review, and ironically, the page would get 80% loaded and then go to home screen. On my fourth attempt, it froze, but restarting the iPhone fixed it. (hold down both buttons for 6-7 seconds, like resetting an iPod) Then the page loaded quickly. My Wi-Fi was on one bar at home, so it might have been a slow connection? Rating: concerning
1 / Freeze and Scorch! - This was new. I plugged it into the syncing/charging cable and attached to the computer to sync and charge, and then set it down and forgot about it. After blogging (the one above this one!) I picked up the phone and about burned my hand! It had frozen, screen still on, and was HOT. A reset did the trick, but ouch, it was overheated big time. Possible causes, it was playing music when I plugged it in, I was curious if the music would stop, it didn’t at first, but then I got distracted, so I’m not sure how long the music played. (Actually, I stepped away for a bit.) After the reset, there was a 20% battery warning pop-up. Maybe that popped up when I plugged in with music playing? Anywy, just reported when things go weird. Rating:Ouch
So far, these are not alarming – it is a computer, and they are prone to need a reboot occasionally. It seems “go to home screen” is it’s default, which beats a freeze or error message. Kinda funny, because it makes you first assume human error.
June 29, 2007 at 9:46 pm · Filed under Mac, iPhone
Well, I am finally home, and my iPhone is all set up! My new cell phone number is…. ha! (yeah right!) But if you know my old one, call and I’ll give ya the new one.
At 6pm they took down the black window coverings so you could see giant iPhones hanging in the windows with a countdown. After 6pm they were full screen demos. I want to know how to get one of these for a desk monitor when the promotion is done. Maybe I need to get a job at an Apple Store just long enough to get one of these for home!
Luke even got in line with me for awhile, but not for long. As a new walker, he wanted to roam the mall with mom chasing behind.
There were security guys everywhere! I don’t know if they thought there would be mob action or what, but they were on patrol. I think this was a big deal for mall security. But they did a good job of keepin’ the peace!
This dude took his job very seriously. Many people tried to get a smile out of him, but he was stone cold serious with this “Just try and jump that line buddy and I will Rodney King you!” This guy is on his way to being a state trooper, but I hope he never pulls me over! But eventually, I got through the intimidating line of storm troopers and got inside…
Here is Greg presenting me with my iPhone!
GREG! If you do actually come to my blog and read this, leave a comment, you are famous now!
When I caught up to Luke and mom I saw Luke window shopping (pacing) so I surprised him by sneaking into the store. See his delight when he spotted Daddy’s iPhone!?
REVIEW PART ONE: I plan to do a review soon, but I want to actually experience the phone a bit first, but I will start by saying the activation process is easier than promised, and took under one minute. Syncing was a cinch too – and I already have all my addresses, contacts, 4GB of music, both volumes of Clone Wars (for Luke), tons of pictures (like last import automatically), Podcasts I’ve not yet listened to or watched, and one movie.
I called Sara for my maiden call and easily called my sister at the same time, and merged the calls for a crystal clear conference call and listened to them talk to each other on the speaker phone.
I went to the web and it spotted my home Wi-Fi and was on in seconds, and after entering my POP e-mail infomation, I am not exaggerating to say that in SECONDS all of the messages in my inbox on my laptop appeared in my inbox on the phone. I set weather to Wauconda and got a five day forcast in seconds, and then google mapped my address in Maps and in seconds was looking at my house from space. Almost creepy fast! So far, NO iGLITCHES… just an amazing phone! I will review in more detail after I use it for some ‘real life’ work (and play).
June 29, 2007 at 2:35 pm · Filed under Mac, iPhone
OK, I am now in line at the Apple Store…. I went to Northbrook Court, a smaller mall hoping for better luck after a friend TMed me from Woodfield (Chicago areas biggest mall, in fact the largest in the country where i usually go) and told me the line is over 50. I’m guessing I am near 100th though I haven’t counted. I am in the third section. Sara and Luke are coming to hang out and shop, and more importantly, to feed me. Sara was also bringing me a chair but the mall won’t allw you to sit in a chair! The woman in front of me has a chair but can’t sit in it! she has to sit on the floor (in a dress) with her chair folded up next to her. What’s with that? Maybe it could be a weapon! But wait, it makes a better weapon folded up and is more likely to be used by an enraged woman against a stupid mall guard. So wouldn’t it be safer just to let her sit in it?
Anyway… so here I am, sitting on the floor with two and a half hours to kill until the store opens, and then who knows how long to buy the phone. I’ll keep ya posted, this is my last day posting from my Treo. (which I was never able to do on blogger, but on this new wordpress blog I finally can)
send me a TM at karlonthego@kidologist.com to encourage me if you want. or leave a comment.
UPDATE: Sara has arrived and I asked her to count the people in front of me….. (drum role)…. ok, here it is, I am number 97 in line! So my guess was pretty close! She also took the picture above.
As I mentioned I already mentioned here, (see Why Wait?) I’ll be getting an iPhone the day they come out – THIS FRIDAY! I’ve been looking forward to the iPhone since before I knew it existed. A dedicated Palm user since 1998, I have even taught workshops on how a PDA can enhance your ministry. I loved my Palms and have owned nearly every one as they came out, but as the company was sold and bought back and sold and split and merged it lost it’s vision, diluted its brand, and failed to stay cutting edge. While no other phone or PDA really passed Palm in the PDA race, many joined it in the lead, most notably the Blackberry.
Since switching to Mac in February of 2004, I have marveled at how easily and seemlessly everything Apple is – the slogan “it just works” is not just a slogan, it is reality, with few exceptions. Most of those exceptions being when trying to use a Mac with non-Apple technology, and nothing has been more painful for me than getting my Palm devices to work well with my Mac. My treo 650, one of the best “smart phones” on the market today, has not been able to live up to its potential on a Mac. Not only do I miss the functionality of Palms, but I miss how integrated technology was with my life and how organized and on top of details I was when I was relying on my Palm for personal organization. Now my Palm Treo is just my phone, address book, and a copy of my calendar, far less from the time when I managed tasks, edited document, and wrote my entire novel on my Palm Pilot.
Since being on a Mac, I’ve asked many times when Apple would create a PDA and the answer was always, “never because of the Newton.” (I own one that a friend gave me. It may have failed, and was huge, but is an amazing device that was then too far ahead of its time!)
But soon my wait is over. On Friday, Apple is finally selling the iPhone, and it is far more than a PDA or a Phone. The best review I have read that is both positive and honest is here.
My plan was to go Friday AM before the mall opened and wait in line all day, but an important appointment came up that I just can’t say, “Sorry, but I need to be in line all day for an iPhone” to, so I will be in line by 3pm for a phone that goes on sale at 6pm. But the Apple Store has said that they will stay open as late as necessary to serve everyone who is in line when the store closes! So it seems I will be going home with an iPhone on Friday, and will certainly post a review soon. The activation video shows how the entire process of setting up a phone has been revolutionized, so you can just buy the phone and go home! No more being in the cell phone store for hours. (unless you are waiting in line to buy one!)
TIP: Never tell your brother your phone is water proof!
Because when I was out to lunch with my sisters this week, that’s exactly what my older sister did… so of course I answered, “Really? Can I see it?” And dropped it into my water at Red Robin.
Here is my sister’s phone half submerged!
Now completely submerged!
View from the top!
Comes out dripping, but working!
Even works open and with an incoming call!
A toast to a water-proof phone!
OK, for those of you who have to know more, check it out:
GzOne Phoneand, no, I am not buying one. The next phone I buy will be an iPhone!
Easter 2006 was a day that was very significant in our little family. While we took Luke into our home on April 1st last year, it was on Easter Sunday one year ago that we met with the birth mother and she made her final decision to give him to us. And then the legal adoption process began. Since that process ended in December, we’ve been enjoying our life as a little family at the beginning of this Adventure called Parenting!
See how he has grown! Here is last Easter:
Karl, Luke, and Sara – Easter 2006
Now he is a cool little dude who can crawl, climb stairs, and stuff Cherioes down the heating vents!
Ready for Church on Easter Sunday!
A man comfortable in front of a camera!
And then the Easter Bunny arrived! Oh, how embarrassing, er, I mean, exciting!
Yes, that is me, dressed as the Easter Bunny. (blush) But in my defense, it was not my idea! My older sister handed me the costume just minutes before the family Easter Egg Hunt and says, “put it on” and what’s a dad to do? Let pride get in the way? So I put it on for the children.
Luke finds his first Easter Egg!
Somebunny Gets Bunny Ears from a Bunny!
This is my older sister, the one responsible for the rabbit costume, so of course, when we posed for family pictures, I just had to give her bunny ears!
Last photo of Luke with a clean white shirt on!
As usual, Luke’s favorite part of the day was eating. Second only to smearing his food all over the tray!
Grandma not too old for video conferencing!
Luke’s Grandma and Grampa joined the gathering via Skype for a bit and got to visit with all their grandkids, and Luke’s great grandmother!
Luke kissing an older woman!
Luke has learned to kiss lately and Grandma was happy to receive many! It was a very nice day of family, and food and relaxed fellowship. Too many black jelly beans later, I need to head to bed!
Easter Bunny Bunch Before Lunch
EASTER THOUGHTS
(since it’s not about the bunny!)
I love Easter for many reasons. First of all, it is the holy day that brought hope of new life! It is now also the day our family went from two to three. Both are reasons for joy and optimism.
For Easter my wife gave me a new book by Max Lucado titled, “Every Day Deserves a Chance” and it is so encouraging, I’m only a few chapters into it, but I highly recommend it already. It is a book about chosing hope over despair every day, no matter what you might be facing in life. He starts by pointing out that the familar verse, “This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it*” is not just about the good days, like today, it is about EVERY DAY. “This is the day” is TODAY. It is a day the Lord has made, no matter what “Today” might be like or what challenges or trials it may contain, and we are to rejoice “in” it. Not after it, not even through it, or if it goes our way, but in the midst of it, we are to find joy. He ends chapter one with these words:
“The next time you are mired in a bad day, check your outlook with these three questions:
1) What do I feel guilty about?
2) What am I worried about?
3) What am I about?
