DailyTechTalk

About 4 weeks ago, I posted a blog entry talking extensively about Adobe CS4 application information specifically regarding Adobe Bridge CS4, Adobe Photoshop CS4 and a few other tidbits about Flash. Well, the general release date an Adobe Employee told me was around November. It looks like the cat is out of the bag. I just received this from a tipster:

On September 30, 2008 we will share a broadcast of “It’s Going to be Brilliant” with Shantanu Narayen announcing Creative Suite 4, and Johnny Loiacono leading demos of the key features of the new Creative Suite products.

Also on hand we will have some of Adobe’s Experts showing off some of the new must have features of CS4.

We are doing this with 6 other bay area usergroups so it is going to be big.

The date and time? September 30th at 6PM California Time at Adobe’s San Francisco Headquarters. More info. Click Here.

Episode 9 of DailyTechTalk Show is up. Today’s show, I cover:

1. iPhone 2.1
2. Hands on with the iPod nano
3. BlogWorld 2008
4. Yoono
5. Docx vs Doc
6. Chrome Messenger Bags

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This is an awesome video made by Ben Walker about Twitter.

This email was sent to me by a friend:

He simply made the subject line, “What it’s like to use Vista :)”

This actually is as inspiring as it is offensive and ignorant. This guy is still my friend but the email was pretty hurtful for a few reasons. The first is that the depiction is highly inaccurate. Actually, the past month of using Windows Vista full time has been extremely positive. I grew up with Windows 3.1 and in 2001, I switched to Macintosh as version 10.1 was released. In November of 2005, I got a job at a Windows IT company working on Windows XP in a technical atmosphere and mastered the operating system. On January 23rd of 2007, Windows Vista was released to retail stores and I performed an in-place upgrade from Windows XP Professional to Windows Vista Business and haven’t looked back.

There were issues initially but not as many issues as those that plagued Mac OS 10.0 or iPhone OS 2.0. Windows Vista’s issues primarily involved hardware compatibility but those were worked out within the first couple of months. I fell in love with Office 2007 and my two favorite applications were OneNote and Outlook. Windows Vista’s search functions, sidebar, Aero and sidebar really wowed me. It actually inspired the following articles:

1. The Vista Experience
2. Windows Vista is Freakin Cool
3. Looking Forward: Windows Vista

I actually wrote a dozen posts that month about how much I was loving the new OS from Windows. I used the OS full time until June of this year when I made a move across country to San Francisco. The Mac OS was my OS @ home for blogging, writing, creating podcasts and collecting photos. I have a Dell running Windows Ultimate at the apartment here that I use for playing videos and music on Windows Media Center. The only Mac I owned was a MacBook Pro running Leopard.

It took 3 months of managing my digital lifestyle on my Mac to yearn a switch back to Windows. 1 month ago, I wiped the Mac OS from my MacBook Pro and installed Windows Vista Ultimate. It’s been fun, more organized and problem free.

The reason for this entirely long preface is because I wanted to show something. The stigma around Windows Vista is fake. Windows Vista, if maintained properly, is a stable and usable operating system with great compatibility with every bit of hardware and software available. I manage hundreds of emails a day, Twitter, RSS feeds, 4 blogs, edit video & photos and stay connected with all of my friends. Windows has been a great friend to me and the only thing I miss about the Mac OS is the iLife suite of applications. Everything else about Apple’s OS can be done on Windows. The next time I get an email about how Windows sucks and Macintosh rules, I will lose it and you can consider us no longer friends. Using Windows Vista is not like using drugs. I don’t need your help breaking the habit and my choice of OS is not damaging to my lifestyle or health. Let’s stop with this bickering and simply use what we want to use in peace. I’m through with this arguement.

Our buddy Sam Levin over at App Minute took some amazing photos this weekend of glass art with his iPhone. I didn’t believe it at first until I saw that Flickr identified the camera as an iPhone. Quite amazing in my opinion.

Sam Writes:

I visited the Dale Chihuly Art Exhibit this past Friday at the de Young Museum of San Francisco

Chihuly is one of the world’s top glass art sculptors. His works have been featured across the US as well as around the world.

I decided to purposely NOT bring a digital camera and only use my iPhone 3g to see what type of photos I could shoot.

Check out his photos

BlogWorld 2008 is September 20-21st which is this coming Saturday and Sunday. I’m going to be there on business and looking to meet up with readers and friends. If you have a blog, then even better. There’s a lot going on over the weekend but I have some cool stuff that I’ve been working on and it’s time to show it off.

We can meet for coffee or sit down for lunch (my treat) and discuss blogging, social networking and communication. Don’t worry, it’s not a pitch. This is also going to be an awesome opportunity to meet my readers and make some real face time with people who follow this blog. If you’re going to BlogWorld, ping me in the comments or email me and we’ll plan something.

I arrive Friday at 5PM and fly out late on Sunday night. There’s plenty of time for us to hang out and talk technology / social media.

Over the past two years, I have taken steps to divide my writings across a few different sites. This time of year, my coverage of Macworld is too much for the Windows users that read my blog so I created MacworldBound. If you are a Mac user and interested in attending Macworld Expo this January then I suggest subscribing to the RSS feed and keeping up with it. The blog isn’t for casual Mac users that are looking for news out of Macworld but is intended for people going to Macworld and have questions.

If you are planning a trip to 2009’s Macworld Expo then it’s a good place to bookmark.

Since moving to The iPhone 3G, I have expressed extreme displeasure with the device. The iPhone 2.0 software was slow, buggy and failed at everything that I wanted to do. I was telling everyone close to me that I was willing to trade my iPhone 3G for a Blackberry Curve or 8830 phone. That’s quite a statement and I was standing by it waiting for an offer to make the trade.

I was hesitant to install the recent 2.1 update but made the leap just 48 hours ago. The result? An iPhone with the speed, reliability and battery life of the first generation model. I’m so happy with the iPhone these past couple of days that I’m ready to stick it out and stay iPhone. More people complain than offer positive feedback but I’m thankful of Apple’s progress with iPhone 2.1 and every issue I had was resolved with the latest update.

Today was the release of iPhone’s 2.1 software from Apple. I just a few moments ago installed the update but my cutting edge girlfriend took the leap early this morning. Here’s a screenshot of her thoughts on the update after using it for 12 hours.

I was 1st on Google a long time ago when I ran MyPersonalGetaway but when I switched the name to DailyTechTalk back in July of 2006, my page rank hit the bottom and I had to start from scratch. My status as Adam Jackson that had been built up since 2003 was totally scrapped.

I’ve been the number one adamjackson on Google for a while but I was always 2nd for Adam Jackson. It’s nice to be on top again.

Episode 8 of DailyTechTalk Show is up. I talk about my quick trip to Florida (I got the cold), Apple’s new iPod lineup, Parties and events in San Francisco.

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As many of you know, I run a blog called “Macworldbound” and it’s only a year old this month. MacworldBound is the place for Macworld Expo visitors to learn everything about expo. If you’re a first timer or seasoned Macworld Alumni, the blog is for you. Macworld Expo 2009 registration just opened and I’ve already posted over 25 blog entries at MacworldBound with news, updates and info for everyone interested in attending Macworld. I hope you check it out and subscribe to the RSS feed.

http://macworldbound.com/

Fastmac sent us their new iV charging system and Liana and I tried to install the iPhone 3G in the unit but it wasn’t fitting. She tried her original iPhone but it didn’t fit due to the Invisible Shield that’s installed on her phone.

When she tried removing the shield, after 9 months of having it on the unit and the shield left a sticky residue and actually tore off the iPhone antenna cover. Watch the video below.

Episode 7 of DailyTechTalk Show is up. I chat with Louie who is a Nokia N95 user and we compare the Symbian based Nokia to my iPhone 3G.

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iLounge rocks. I’ve said it many times. When it comes to gear from Apple and other three parties, they analyze the hell out of it and share that info with the world. They didn’t fail us when a post titled, “Eleven Things You Didn’t Know About the 2008 iPods.”

It’s really a fantastic read. check it out.

Episode 6 of DailyTechTalk Show is up. I sit down with the guys from Yoono and discuss social media, their Firefox sidebar, the new Yoono sidebar for Internet Explorer and Social Media Camp. This was posted 2 weeks ago via iTunes but I haven’t added it to the site yet. Enjoy.

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Watching Steve Jobs’ “Let’s Rock” presentation from yesterday and I can’t help but notice that Steve is getting old. According to my calculations, he is only 53 years old but is certainly showing his age while presenting these products. Steve has always been a geek 2nd and a businessman first. Despite not being a total geek, he was very intimate with the products being showcased but since 2007, I’ve seen Steve using more cue cards, having more issues with controlling the iPods and clearly staring at the prompter to see what’s up next.

It may be memory loss with a combination of shaky hands but he is certainly getting older. Many CEOs can run a company and don’t do public hands on presentations of the products but Steve has a very visible role at Apple so each time he comes on stage we are watching his every move. If Steve was to remain in his office at Apple and not make public appearances from this day forward, I’m sure talk about his weight loss and signs of aging would never be brought up but when Steve takes an iPod nano and fumbles with the click wheel skipping over a few songs while reading the instruction card, it’s obvious that he’s not young anymore.

Steve even brought Phil Schiller up to play some games on the iPod Touch. Steve tried to pinpoint a specific song on the iPod nano and skipped over it back and forth a few times. He lowered his glasses to read instructions on a card on the table and the entire presentation, he was staring at the prompter at his feet to see what was coming up next. There were many obvious pauses in the presentation and when it came time to read off the iPod Touch pricing, he didn’t even know what it was and paused for 5 seconds to review the pricing prior to hitting the next slide.

Commenters will say that I’m being overly critical and I should leave him alone. I’m just saying that yesterday’s presentation did not force me into a reality distortion field at all because Steve wasn’t the smooth salesman that he used to be. The excitement and buzz of attending a Steve Jobs keynote was lost and now it’s just an old man showing off products that are targeted to people born in the 90s. Sorry Steve. I love Apple and the beautiful products. Your position as CEO is critical to Apple, Inc. but maybe it’s time to step down and let someone else take over the presentations from here on?

I’m extremely thankful that Apple is consistently releasing updates to the iPhone 2 software to improve stability and resolve issues. The latest update for iPhone should be out this Friday but there are a few websites linking directly to the download link. As a responsible blogger, I’ll keep these links to myself for now. Apple said that these updates will be released on Friday so it’s best to wait until Apple’s official release of the software.

Early reports are saying that these are the change notes for the software:

-Genius Playlist Creation
- Dramatically reduced backup time to iTunes
- Improved email reliability
- Faster installation of 3rd party apps
- Bug fixes involving hangs or crashes of 3rd party apps
- Faster loading and searching of contacts

I’m still having issues with GPS and reliability / slowness and that’s not mentioned in the change notes.

Apple held a special event dubbed, “Let’s Rock” today at The Yuerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco. I was going to attend the meeting but there were conflicts with scheduling but I didn’t miss much by not attending the event other than witnessing Steve’s awesome presentation skills.

Steve took that stage at 10AM local time to revise and refresh every iPod, make some announcements and release iTunes 8.0. iTunes 8 packed some new features, the iPod classic got a price drop and the iPod Touch received a slight redesign and some extra features that bring it on par with iPhone 3G. The big news was a new iPod nano. The iPod nano is Apple’s highest selling music player since its release and the new design adds a wider screen for better movie viewing, an accelerometer, more colors and a new design that’s thinner than the previous nano.

It has been a while since Apple has made me say “wow.” The last time Apple truly amazed me was when the MacBook Air was released in January of this year and the original iPhone was announced in January 2007. Lately, changes have been progressive and not revolutionary but there are some specific details from today that I think are pretty cool. You might want to read Apple’s Press Releases from today if you aren’t familiar with the announcements.

The iPod nano finally goes video with a widescreen display. I haven’t confirmed if the screen is true 16:9 aspect ratio but Apple does some very inventive things with the new screen real estate. Turning the iPod nano sideways changes to coverflow mode and videos all play in landscape mode for the best possible viewing experience. While browsing for the next song, the current playing song shows in the bottom 20% of the nano’s screen. The new nano has a glass screen which might not be a good thing but certainly makes for a more crisp picture when viewing photos and movies. The nano comes in 8 colors and 8 or 16 gigabyte capacities. I’m sure it’s a retail nightmare to stock 16 different nanos to a few hundred Apple Stores but all of those choices should equal many more sales for Apple.

The iPod Touch is the same thickness as before but the edges mimic The iPhone 3G as they taper down to nothing on the edges. The back is still stainless steel which means scratches will remain highly visible. I am extremely happy that Nike+iPod integration is built in to the iPod Touch because the only reason I keep using my 1st generation nano is for the Nike integration.

iTunes 8’s killer feature is the genius playlist that works like Pandora but for music that is already in your library. I can assemble 25 - 75 songs just like a particular song or artist that I like and iTunes puts it all in one playlist. It also shows songs that are in The iTunes Store that I can purchase to make my playlist complete. iTunes 8 also adds support for HD television episodes which is going to be awesome but HD episodes only play on your computer and not the iPod or iPhone. Apple also announced that NBC is back on iTunes which completely rocks. I personally thought NBC was dumb for ditching Apple last October and it’s nice to see them back in business.

That’s all for Apple news today.

I’m here at Might in San Francisco and I’ll be liveblogging as long as the battery lasts. I’m using the Netshare app to pull 3G data rates from my iPhone. Feel free to Digg this as I post content and updates from ROFLThing

Here’s the schedule:

5:30. The Star Wars Kid
6:10. Ben Huh (i can has cheezburger)
6:50. Sean O’Steen (fail whale fan club)
7:30. Fred Turn of Stanford University
8:00. Open Bar nd time to dance!

Star Wars Kid Story:

Started in 2003. Went to Kazaa and spread like wildfire.
File was originally named “jackass_starwars.wmv” Andy renamed it “starwarskid” and posted it to waxy.org.
After 10 days, the blog post received 1 million pageviews that day.
They tracked down the kid and interviewed him.
A fundraiser to help the kid out to get an iPod as a thank you for the laughs and they raised $4300 dollars. It was being downloaded 500K a day.
30 of waxy.org’s friends were hosting the video from him.
The downloads equaled 2.3 terabytes of downloads.
Links to: pennyarcade, fark, metafilter, slashdot and wired news.
It took the media 3 weeks to discover the meme and continued for 6 months.
go here to download the 1.6 gigabyte apache log. In July of 2003, the kid’s parents filed a lawsuit against the kids that posted the content.
Waxy.org founder shipped the iPod and other donations to the star wars kid and thought it was over.
The meme continued spreading through pop culture in video games and TV shows.
Starwarskid is the most viewed viral video ever (900 million times)
The first viral video was dancing baby and then “all your base” also showing the “metalica drummer” which was a guy doing airdrumming.
Before the internet, Memes were localized.