For the Price of a new Mac Mini…

My curiosity got the best of me this afternoon and I found myself wandering into the local AT&T store to check out the iPhone. The first thing I noticed was all the iPhone accessories they had a whole rotating rack full of goodies. I was waiting on the rep who was helping another customer and since I was in no hurry I took a quick look around the store to see if I could espy the object that got me there in the first place. I noticed that there was no demo model on the floor but being that this is the iPhone I thought the reps had stashed it in a secret place and can whip one out at any moment. No such luck. The rep informed me that they didn’t have a demo model and won’t be getting one until sometime next week. You see that was the main purpose of me going there in the first place to have a look at the demo and play with it a little before I even think of plopping down any hard earned dollars which I didn’t have to plop down anyway but I was determined to go check it out for myself and see what all the big to do is about. Anyway I asked the rep a few more questions and I was informed that if I was a go-phone customer that they would transfer my number and all that without charging any activation fee so all I would have to do is plop down money for the phone itself. So I walk in, pay $599 plus tax and take the device home (assuming they had one in stock) end of story. So that’s $599 plus 8% tax which come out to $646.92. Interesting that an entry level Intel Mac Mini costs the same if I ordered it from Apple and ~ $46 less if I order it locally with my Alumni discount. So for the price of a Mac Mini I can have a phone that connects to the internet and allows me to play video and audio… I still think that its a bit steep a price to pay and still plan on waiting until all the hype calms down and they release generation 2. BTW the iPhones were sold out yesterday and they got another shipment in that was sold out again by the time I got there today so that 2-4 weeks waiting time on the Apple store makes a lot of sense.

Checking Up on the AT&T Line

So today is i-Day or iPhone Day if you want to call it that. After work I went to check to see if there was a line at the nearest AT&T store. I drove all the way across town and swung around the little mall and noticed a line was starting to form. There was some blue tape on the side walk of the store indicating where the line should be formed and all looked quite orderly and quiet. I should have snapped a picture but forgot my camera. One thing that I noticed was that most of the folks standing in line were young and was wearing black at least the ones in the front of the line were wearing black. I decided to swing the car around and go home coz as it was just 5PM I wasn’t about to wait in line for an hour for a phone that I’m not prepared to purchase. Its not that I don’t want to eventually get an iPhone its just (1) I’m waiting on revision 2 when some of the initial bugs have been worked out and (2) It will cost me $ 600 for the phone (no point getting the 4GB model if the OS takes up 700+ MB), the cost of a 2-year contract plus $36 activation fee + tax. I can get get a Macbook Pro (which I need more) for the sticker shock. So… I looked at all the young folks waiting in line and swung my car around and moved on. Sucks to be a responsible grown-up sometimes huh! I didn’t check the other store to see what the line was like there. Tomorrow I’ll go to the store again to play around with one at least. Not buying just checking to see if I want to add it to my birthday list. I got my first iPod by having my friends chip in… Will see if this is what I want to do for next birthday or not.

MS Touchscreen laptop demo

I have to say that I’m quite intrigued about the products leaking out of Microsoft’s Live Labs of late. First I got a look at Surface that yet to be released $10,000 (not a typo) touch screen table computer aimed at the business market. Then I got a chance to see photosynth at the NYS geospatial summit now they are showing off a demo of a laptop with a multi-touch display. This was just a matter of time. Looking at all three products I can’t help but thinking that I’ve seen this stuff before. First off Surface looks a lot like a gigantic table iPhone (at least the interface). Even the way the album covers were shuffling around looked a lot like cover flow to me. The zooming being done both there and in the laptop demo also looked a lot like the iPhone zooming. Photosynth looks a lot like some of the stuff demoed in Core Animation and to some degree time machine. I know its different but that was what I thought about when I first saw it. I find it interesting also that Microsoft is releasing info on all these projects now before the iPhone releases. Its as if they said hey the iPhone is cool but look what we’ve been cooking up in our labs. I think the folks in Redmond is realizing that once the iPhone has been unleashed on the World there is no turning back… people will expect this type of interface on their computers too. I can definitely see Apple plowing right ahead and incorporating the same/similar multi-touch technology that’s in the iPhone now into their computer products. Perhaps the iPhone was just a test to see how the masses would react. New multi-touch laptop from Apple in the Fall perhaps? Hey maybe Microsoft will beat them to the punch

Microsoft’s Surface

Enamored with Microsoft’s upcoming surface computer? Then this video is for you. I was in stitches and thought that the video hit up some good points. If you have no clue what I’m talking about then check out the surface videos and info. The thing looks like a gigantic table iPhone to me but then again you can’t really pick it up and put it in your pocket can you? Great ideas but the targeted market are businesses not the average consumer like myself. Oh unless you have 10K to shell out for one. For those of you wanting to get your hands on some of this technology now do yourself a favor and line up at your local AT &T on June 29th.

Apple’s Laptop Tech Support Ratings 2007

Last year laptop mag rated Apple’s tech support at the top of the heap this year not much has changed. Apple’s laptop tech support still received an A grade. The only other vendor that also received an A was Gateway. I’m glad for that because I recommended one of those to a friend of mine (she didn’t want a Mac so I could not force her). Nice to know that the tech support at Apple is still one of the best… so when I consider getting a Macbook later this year I know I’ll be in good hands if any problems should crop up.

NYS Geospatial Summit

I’m still a bit tired from from attending the NYS Geospatial Summit yesterday. Truth is I didn’t get much sleep the night before and I had to wake up early and drive 42 miles to the Welch-Allyn Lodge in Skaneateles Falls. I must say that it was a beautiful setting for a beautiful subject… The speakers for the summit included a wide array of folks with Jim Lorenz (Virtual Earth Sales and Marketing) from Microsoft going first and Michael Jones (CTO of Google Earth) finishing up a bit after 5 PM. I took lots of notes that I’ve yet to transfer but here are some first impressions from the summit without getting into too much details First off, the top three speakers that I enjoyed in order were:

1. Derrick Crandall, American Recereation Coalition
2. Adena Schutzberg, Directions Magazine
3. Erin Aigner, The New York Times

Derrick started off with a quote at the beginning of his presentation that both made me laugh and think at the same time: “this is not 3D rendering, this is the real thing” (after showing some nice pictures of the outdoors). He spent a great deal of time informing us that the average child today spent 6.5 hours in front of a computer and told us about some of the challenges and successes that his organization faces in getting children and people in general to participate in the outdoors. He informed us of an eye-opening book “Last Child in the Woods.” I suggest checking out the outdoor recreation website for planning some fun outdoors this summer with friends and family. The recreation.gov website also have some interesting info and links (You can even reserve campsites at national parks). Derrick definately challenged me personally to take some more time away from the computer screen and enjoy the outdoors. We have some beautiful parks here in Upstate, NY.

Adena gave us a good overview of where we have come from in the geospatial agency and some ideas of where we are going. I won’t rehash here because she covered a whole outline. In short, I remembered five trends that she gave (w/out my notes):

1. Data is everywhere and usable
2. Maps are fast and exciting
3. 3D is everywhere for everyone so we can all go flying
4. The public has become more data and map aware, or smarter about data and maps (there were some contention on this point)
5. New geospatial companies are starting to pop-up overnight

She also mentioned Google Timeline and Map View which I haven’t explored before today. Adena also made some sobering remarks at the end of her presentation to the Geospatial Professionals in the audience. She basically, said that if current geospatial trends continue there will be fewer Geospatial pros and more geospatial users in our society. This would mean most of us in the room could be out of a job in the not too distant future but as a geospatial pro I’m a bit more optimistic about the future. I think we will find ways of reinventing ourselves or just grow in new ways.

Erin’s talk was pretty cool in my opinion. Not only does she make some nice looking maps but she makes them for the New York Times. I have to admit that I don’t currently have a subscription but now I’m looking forward to her maps in the latest copy (I plan on going out for a little walk and getting one on Monday). Honestly, I’ve never really thought that much about the maps in newspapers before. I never stopped to think who made them and the process of getting them there. I often though someone at the paper just bout the maps off a company or got it for free or just used it to support the particular story. Now I realize, due to Erin’s talk that there are professional cartographers who are employed by these Newspapers to acquire data, manipulate it cartographically to support the story and that they are under the same time crunch as the reporters in some case more of a time crunch. The worst thing is that sometimes they work all day on a map and it gets cut from the story… Youch! It was a very eye-opening presentation and I must say that Erin is especially skilled at what she does and I’ll be picking up the New York Times on Monday to see that map that she mentioned.

One more thing before I get my relaxation on… I noticed that Jim Lorenz’s slides packed as much info on each slide as was possible. They looked an awful lot like Bill Gates’ slides. After reading this article on the Presentation Zen Blog, I have to say that this was “tickling me” the whole time I was sitting there. His overall presentation was good though an I thought that he had one of the most informative presentation in terms of what is company is doing geospatially. He also introduced us to photosynth (need Vista or XP to try it, Mac Users can view videos here) and dropped a bit of surprise about ArcGIS 9.3. In contrast, Michael Jones from Google grabbed his MacBook Pro, plopped i on the stand and raced through his presentation. It was a good presentation but he was talking so fast i could not understand half of what he was saying. To my delight he used Keynote instead of Powerpoint for his presentation and his slides were pleasing to the eye not over-crowded with info. He showed some interesting mash-ups and people were making with Google maps (including the one in the picture above - a mash-up of the lat/long coordinates that Angelina Jolie has tattooed on her arm which corresponds to the birthplace of each of her children). he then moved on to Street View which I had just showed off to a co-worker in my office on Thursday. There were at most three of us in he audience who had seen it before his presentation. I head about it on a blog I read on account of some concerns about privacy issues. I liked Adena’s comment about privacy something like “we have none so get over it and move on. ” There were a few jokes about some guy who was using the highway as a public restroom (complements of Street view). One demo that strucked me was “Eyes on Darfur” if you haven’t seen it yet give it a look. It will open your eyes and perhaps your heart as well.

All in all it was an interesting and informative summit and I’m glad that I woke up early in he morning and drove all the way there. I also met some people in and outside my area that I haven’t met before and I’m glad to have had the chance to attend this year. The $75 was well worth it and I’ve used the wine glasses we received as gifts more than a few times since then. I would recommend this summit to anyone in the NYS area in the geospatial profession for next year. Your brain will be swimming with all that information afterwards but its worth it to exercise the ole noggin once in a while.

Finally a Date

No I didn’t finally get a date but the iphone has finally got a release date of June 29th according to the new iphone ads. Strange that June 29th happens to be the same day that prints for my major project is due so no calling in sick for me. I wouldn’t do that over a piece of gadget anyway. I’m sure there will be plenty for all of us. Funny today I came across an iphone case from some company called Case-Mate whilst browsing through the latest copy of Macworld magazine. Anyway, I liked the third commercial the best affectionately, titled “calamari.” I have to admit that after seeing Pirates of the Caribbean 3 last weekend I had a craving for seafood all of a sudden. What is with that? I got a kick out of the commercial though apparently I’m not the only one that this happens to. In my case though its probably not too fair coz seafood is like the only meat that I can digest properly thus the only meat that I eat. Other than that its vegetables and tofu lots of tofu. Nice to see that the suspense is over maybe now the blogs will calm down until after the phone is actually out and folks have gotten their hands on them. If I get one at all it will probably be release 2. While watching these adds it was really eerie to think that a lot of the features of the upcoming Microsoft surface will be in the palm of your hand. Its like Microsoft took the iphone made it 30″ and mounted it in a table (Check out this photo).