A long 3 day week
Tuesday was sickly.
Wednesday was busy.
Thursday was unproductive and I poured hot coffee all over myself.
Today is Friday, so it’s all good.
What is Gimp? A free graphics program like Photoshop. I used to be a Photoshop user back in the days when I did multimedia. Photoshop just got too expensive for my tastes. As it turns out, I wasn’t the only one that thought so.
So if you like to take digital photos and would like to play around with the pictures using a professional tool, download and try Gimp. It’s free, it’s open source, and it works. That means that after you invest the time to learn it, they’re not going to triple the price. Did I mention you can use it on Windows, Mac, and Linux?
Here’s what Gimp for windows looks like.
A new version of Blender is out.
And their server is down. Go figure; I linked to it anyway. But it’s supposed to have a all new interface.
What is Blender and what can you do with it? Blender is FREE, open source 3D animation software. As in Toy Story. That kind of 3D animation.
I’m not saying Toy Story was done with Blender. What I’m saying is Blender is a tool that lets you do 3D computer animation like Toy Story.
How good is Blender? Check out this video – it was done with Blender.
Nintendo is going to release a new console that beefier than the XBOX 360, the PS3, and the Taco Bell Doritos Tacos.
Oh, and VMWare announced the open source project Cloud Foundry.
Have a great weekend.
White iPhone 4 available soon!
I love the Apple marketing look and feel. The “glossy white plastic” meme embodies Web 2.0, high tech, and style all at the same time. Combine that with dancing silhouettes and you have a formula for an iconic corporate image that’s as easily recognizable today as the Coca Cola logo.
Interestingly enough, Apple’s “brand” is more of an emotion. An desirable emotion seemly just beyond the grasp of the consumer. Part cool, part different, part “living the dream”. Apple’s marketing strives to show us what technology is about. It’s not about the technology, it’s about using the technology.
Apple is so much better than Android manufacturers at selling the genie in the bottle.
It’s like the emotion you have as a kid after seeing a movie you really enjoyed. You walked out of the theater wanting to carry the emotion and feeling with you; it inspired you.
In the end. I think that’s what Apple markets and sells. Inspiration.
Until Android manufacturers can find something better to put in their bottle, Apple will retain their dominance in the smartphone market despite Android’s growth. I’ve been wrong before, but until owning an iPhone is not the status symbol it is today I don’t see this changing.
So, if you want to own a little bit of that Apple inspiration in a bottle; soon you’ll be able to. The white iPhone 4, in all it’s THX 1138 glory will be available soon according to reports. The LA Times equates the White iPhone to unicorns and Loch Ness.
It looks to be fantasy no more, Bloomberg is reporting it will be available in a few weeks after a 10 month delay. Bloomberg also flat out says Apple won’t be unveiling the new iPhone in June. It doesn’t, though, shed any new light on the unspecified manufacturing trouble Apple experienced with the White iPhone 4, other than a brief mention of a sensor issue. Either way, this ought to spur some fresh iPhone sales.
Top 5 iPhone 5 Features from the rumor mill!
Well, after a stormy weekend and some mild gastrointestinal acrobatics, I limp back to my blog today. Recently, my friend told me I was too negative when it came to the iPhone. He told me I never posted anything positive about it. I pointed out to him that you have to read my blog every day, because I had indeed posted positive things about the iPhone.
I don’t hide my preference for Android, and if you read my blog you should certainly pick up on that. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t absolutely love the iPhone and the iPad. To clarify, what I don’t like are people who act like it’s the only choice or who ignorantly attribute the platform as the only or the first one to do this or that.
In the end, the iPhone and the iPad are incredibly cool, user friendly products that revolutionized the industry. The ability of Apple to execute the vision of these devices and to successfully market them should be taught in universities everywhere.
So, speaking of execution; we’re on the cusp of the iPhone 5. So here are my top 5 rumors about what the iPhone 5 will have.
1 NFC
Mobile payments will rely on NFC (Near Field Communications) in order to function. This little feature will enable the iPhone to act as your personal digital wallet. You’ll be empowered to whip through lines to get tickets. Cult of Mac is (exclusively) reporting that Apple is working on remote computing via NFC pairing.
Be sure and keep your transactions safe! Here are four tips on that.
2 Fixed Antenna Issue
This is great news. When the iPhone 4 came out people started complaining about the poor signal strength. The iPhone 4 had a very slick design that wrapped the antenna around the outside of the phone. Unfortunately, if held a certain way, the signal would drop.
This issue carried over to the vPhone (the Verizon iPhone) as well.
In the iPhone 5, this is rumored to no longer be an issue thanks to a new Antenna design.
3 Super Thin
This would make sense. The iPad 2 raised the bar when it came to thin tablets. My iPod touch is wafer thin. To me, thin is in when it comes to phone because you carry them all day. Tablets, not so much of an issue.
If iPhones were as thin as the iPod touches, that would be so incredibly cool.
4 4G
Please, give us 4G on the iPhone. LTE is becoming the 4G platform of choice in the US, when even Sprint building out an LTE network.
iPhone + LTE speeds = a whole lot of win.
I don’t think I need to elaborate on this, and I think it is an absolute certainty that the iPhone 5 will have this. What would be a surprise is if they went ahead and put WiMax in it as well as LTE. That way you could get data from providers like Clear Networks.
5 3.7 or even a 4 inch screen
A bigger screen. This would be extremely nice. Some smartphones out there sport large screens. Steve Jobs once said these phones represented the ‘Hummers’ of the smartphone market. Those ‘Hummer’ smart phones now account for 24% of the market.
Well, the rumor is that the iPhone 5 will have a bigger screen. An edge to edge screen or larger size and high resolution will make the iPhone’s additional real estate a must have feature.
All in all, the iPhone 5 should improve on the the iPhone does best and fix where it has fallen short. It very well may be the epitome of available smartphones when it comes out.