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They’re calling it "iDay"

I won’t even bother going into the details about today being the official launch of the iPhone, because unless you’ve been locked in a closet for the past 4 weeks you already know! Yes, the lines started forming yesterday at many locations such as the AT&T stores in major metropolitan areas. As I’ve said before, I’m not a camper and don’t believe in spending the night outside just to get a new gadget. However, it’s hard to ignore the buzz and anticipation. So I took the day off and decided to cruise the area and check out the happenings. I have an AT&T corporate store less than one mile from my house. I went there first and there were only 3 people in line as of 1:45 PM today.

Not much of a wait yet at this AT&T store.

 

I only counted 3 chairs so far. Smart move to come here as opposed to the Apple Stores.

The AT&T stores close at 3PM today and reopen at 6PM when the iPhone goes on sale. I then headed over to my local Apple Store in Troy Michigan and things were a lot different. I see the line the minute I walked into the mall. It snaked around the corner from the Apple store which is about 200 feet away. I estimated anywhere from 75 to 100 people in line at 2PM. So far everyone seems upbeat and civilized. Most people brought their own chairs or pads to sit on the floor. I was lucky enough to have friends that volunteered to hold a place in line (at the 30th spot and they even managed to grab a bench) for me even though they aren’t buying iPhones for themselves. Now that’s what I call friendship!

This is the beginning of the line…

 

The Apple store closed at 2PM. They’re hanging black vinyl so that we can’t see what their doing in the store to get ready for 6PM.

A little less than 4 hours to go… Expect a full review here once I get one and get it up and running…

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Thanks for coming out last night

I wanted to take a moment to thank all of you who came out last night to my Adobe Photoshop CS3 presentation at the Somerset Apple Store. The American Society of Media Photographers were the organizers for this special event and I want to thank Brendan Ross for setting this up. I also want to thank my buddy Joseph Grey for grabbing the shot above. We had a great group of photographers as well as some folks that were new to Photoshop. Since this presentation was just about Photoshop I had more time to drill down into the new features of Bridge CS3, Photoshop CS3 and Photoshop CS3 Extended. The Somerset store has recently been remodeled and provided a great venue for this type of presentation.

Of course I’ll be back at the store later today for the other big event 🙂

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Adobe ships Lightroom 1.1 update

Adobe has shipped the Photoshop Lightroom 1.1 update which is a free update to all Lightroom 1.0 users. Although this update is modestly called 1.1, it really packs in quite a few useful features beyond the normal bug fixes. This would be a 1.5 update by most other software standards. I’m really happy about this update because it incorporates two of the features that I wanted most and really pushed for. The first one is a little checkbox in the image import dialog box that allows you to Eject your Memory Card after the import is complete. It was always a pain to have to remember to go back to the Finder to do that before. Now it happens automatically. The second one is actually one that most would not encounter. I actually store my images on my Mac OS X Server. It’s a dedicated Mac here in my home office that we all access. It gets backed up daily, etc. etc. While Lightroom 1.0 had no problem with this setup and referencing the images there, the problem came in when it was time to delete an image. I would go through a shoot rejecting the images I didn’t want to keep and then when I went to actually delete those rejects Lightroom would give me an area because it was unable to move those images to my local trash. Now in Lightroom 1.1 I get a dialog box with the option to delete those images immediately. I couldn’t be happier!

The next big feature is one that I didn’t ask for personally, but now I’m really glad it’s there. The Lightroom Library is now called a Catalog. This means that you can have multiple catalogs (only one open at a time though). This is important for me because it also allows you to export images to a catalog (complete with previews and edits) and import catalogs. So now when I import images while out on location using my MacBook Pro, I can do the work on the plane ride home. When I get home I can move the images to my server and then export that catalog and then import it into my desktop Mac Pro. This way both computers will have access to the same images with all the edits. Having this option really makes multiple computer workflows so much easier.

Lightroom 1.1 also incorporates all the latest enhancements from Camera RAW 4.1 including support now for over 160 different Camera RAW formats. There are tons of other subtle changes that will greatly enhance your use of Lightroom. Don’t walk, but run over to adobe.com and download this must have update.

If you would like to see this update in action be sure to check out tomorrow’s episode of the Adobe Creative Suite Video Podcast.

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iPhone rate plans and activation details announced

 

iPhone week is in full swing and today Apple/AT&T announced the long awaited rate plans and activation details. As suspected you’ll buy your iPhone from either Apple or AT&T and go home and activate it via your iTunes account, major credit card and social security number. I think this is brilliant as it will certainly keep the lines moving as people just pick between the two models, pay and leave the store.

Apple has released details of the service plans that will be available for the iPhone. Three special monthly plans are available:

– $59.99 for 450 voice minutes
– $79.99 for 900 voice minutes
– $99.99 for 1,350 voice minutes

All three plans include unlimited data (email & web), Visual Voicemail, 200 SMS text messages, roll over minutes and unlimited mobile to mobile calling. Plans have a $36 one-time activation fee and are two year contracts. Family plans and Rollover minutes will are also available. In addition, any standard AT&T service plan may be chosen. Existing AT&T customers will be able to upgrade their existing plans for as little as $20 more per month.

Apple® and AT&T Inc. today announced that iPhone™ users will be able to activate their new iPhones using Apple’s popular iTunes® software running on a PC or Mac® computer in the comfort and privacy of their own home or office, without having to wait in a store while their phone is activated. Activating iPhone takes only minutes as iTunes guides the user through simple steps to choose their service plan, authorize their credit and activate their iPhone. Once iPhone is activated, users can then easily sync all of their phone numbers and other contact information, calendars, email accounts, web browser bookmarks, music, photos, podcasts, TV shows and movies just like they do when they sync their iPods with iTunes.

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CS3 Tour – New York – Live!

I’m here in New York at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel which is the last stop on the CS3: Creative License Tour. We have over 850 people registered for this event. I’m here with my colleagues: Sebastian Distefano – showing the Design Premium Suite, John Schuman – showing the Web Premium Suite and Kevan O’Brien showing the all new CS3 Production Premium Suite. I love New York. This two day event started out with some really interesting pre-conference breakouts before the main event this afternoon. Be sure to check out the new CS3 logo’d items introduced in LA and here.

I’m posting this blog entry live using Adobe Contribute CS3 during my keynote address.

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iPhone – unanswered questions

The iPhone is only days away from going on sale to the public, but I still have lot’s of unanswered questions. Apple has “leaked/announced” a few more tidbits like the fact that it will now have up to 8 hours of battery talk time, an impressive 250 hours of standby time and it will have a glass protective, more scratch resistant screen instead of plastic. Also we now know the 12th icon is for YouTube (which will be interesting to see how that works over Edge). However, I’ve been waiting to get more details and I can’t believe that Apple would expect everyone to buy an iPhone without disclosing the full specs first. As I think of a new question I jot it down in my notes. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:

 

Bluetooth
Does the iPhone have Bluetooth hands-free car support (download address book to car)?
Can it be used for DUN – use it as a wireless modem to your MacBook, PowerBook, etc.?
What’s the compatibility like with non-Apple headsets?
Can you Redial/Answer from non-Apple headsets?

Is Bluetooth syncing of Contacts, iTunes, etc. possible?

Phone
Does it use a SIM card that is user accessible? (rumor has it as NO)
Does the iPhone support voice dialing?
Will there be a VoIP solution for making calls while on Wi-Fi?
Can I use iTunes songs as ring tones (mp3 or AAC)?
Can I assign ring tones to contacts?
Does the iPhone support Address Book categories?

How is it for one hand operation?
Is there a single button speed dial feature? (looking at the tutorial, it takes at least two taps to speed dial)

Calendar
Does the calendar have Alarms?
Can I add/modify calendar entries from the handset?
Does it have multiple Calendar support from iCal?

Notes
I assume this will sync to the new Mail app in Leopard, however what other notes programs will it sync to?

iPod
Can I listen to music over Bluetooth?
Can I sync music from one computer and contacts/calendar from another?
Will iPod games work?

Web/Internet/Email
What happens when you visit a site that has Flash content?
Does it have connectivity to MS Exchange servers beyond IMAP?
3G support (when? and will my version 1.0 phone be upgradable to it?)
MMS support? – rumor has it as NO.

What happens when you click a link to download a file from a website?

Will there be .Mac integration?

Why no .Mac “push” email. It really seems odd that they would choose yahoo mail for this over their own solution instead of both.

AT&T
What will the data plan(s) cost?
Rollover minutes/family plan?
Can you put it on a corporate plan? – rumor has it as NO.

Do I have to activate it on the spot? – rumor has it as NO, you bring it home and do it remotely

Other
Is there a GPS option, coming?
Does it have an Alarm Clock?
Does it have a World Clock?
Can I use my own sounds for alerts other than ringtones?
Does it have Unit conversions in the Calculator?

Most of the above questions come from my use of other smart phones. So these are the little things that I’ve become accustom to that I would like to know if the iPhone has? Apple has posted this 20 minute guided tour that shows you how to use an iPhone. If we don’t find out before the 29th, I will certainly give a complete review and answer these questions after the 29th. I’ll be in line on the 29th, but camping is not my thing. So we’ll really see how many they actually have in stock on day one?

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Leave no iPod shuffle behind

It’s no secret that there is a BIG business in iPod accessories. One of the biggest markets is iPod cases. I look for useful practical cases that do a good job in protecting my iPods and also make it easy to carry them. I didn’t really see anything that I liked for the second generation iPod shuffle until I ran across the Mophie Bevy. This iPod 2g shuffle case is designed to put your iPod shuffle on your key chain. It also allows you to wrap your earbuds around it too. It’s very light weight and does a good job of keeping the iPod from getting all scratched up on the front, although the back is still exposed. The Bevy also doubles as a bottle opener. Sure, why not?

Thanks to the Bevy, I always have my iPod with me. The Bevy goes for $15, is available in multiple colors and is available from the Mophie site.

The guys at Mophie put together this video as they shipped their first batch to Apple in Cupertino for evaluation and consideration for the Apple Store:


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CS3 Tour – Live in Hollywood!

I’m here in Hollywood at the Renaissance Hotel which is the seventh stop on the CS3: Creative License Tour. This is one of the two day events. We have over 800 people registered for this event. I’m here with my colleagues: Sebastian Distefano – showing the Design Premium Suite, Abbas Rizvi – showing the Web Premium Suite and Kevan O’Brien showing the all new CS3 Production Premium Suite. The LA crowd is lively and in the groove. This two day event started out with some great pre-conference breakouts before the main event this afternoon. This evening we have more breakouts and activities including the InDesign Users Group.

I’m posting this blog entry live using Adobe Contribute CS3 during my keynote address. I hope to see you in New York.

Also check out some of the CS3 Logo’d Wearable Gear that was unveiled at this show.

 

The view from my hotel room. It’s the famous Hollywood sign.

This facility was awesome and we presented to a standing room only crowd.

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More iPhone details/hype

For a product that is a mere 11 days away from shipping, Apple has not released very many final details. However, today Apple Announced that the iPhone would have up to 8 hours of talk time. Now we’re talking (ooh that was bad, I know).

 

June 18, 2007—Apple® today announced that iPhone™ will deliver significantly longer battery life when it ships on June 29 than was originally estimated when iPhone was unveiled in January. iPhone will feature up to 8 hours of talk time, 6 hours of Internet use, 7 hours of video playback or 24 hours of audio playback.* In addition, iPhone will feature up to 250 hours—more than 10 days—of standby time. Apple also announced that the entire top surface of iPhone, including its stunning 3.5-inch display, has been upgraded from plastic to optical-quality glass to achieve a superior level of scratch resistance and optical clarity.

“With 8 hours of talk time, and 24 hours of audio playback, iPhone’s battery life is longer than any other ‘Smartphone’ and even longer than most MP3 players,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’ve also upgraded iPhone’s entire top surface from plastic to optical-quality glass for superior scratch resistance and clarity. There has never been a phone like iPhone, and we can’t wait to get this truly magical product into the hands of customers starting just 11 days from today.”

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Charge your MacBook Pro batteries externally

Newer Tech Intelligent Battery Charger and Conditioner

 

I’ve always been a fan of external notebook battery chargers. I like being able to roam around the house on battery power. When the battery gets low I put the computer to sleep, swap out the battery, wake and keep going. The problem is that I haven’t had an external charger since the original Titanium PowerBooks.

Newer Technology to the rescue!

Newer now makes an external battery charger that can charge two MacBook Pro batteries at once. This new Intelligent Battery Charging Station is great. I got it and setup was very easy. Basically just plug it into the wall and place your batteries on it. One of the two slots has a "Recondition" button that actually drains your battery and recharges it for you. This is a good thing to do every now and then even for your Lithium ion batteries. Another good use for this charger besides being using it home is using it when you attend a seminar. Often times wall power is not very accessible from your seat. However, you can go plug the charger in at the wall and charge one battery (or two) while you have one in your MacBook Pro. The Newer Tech Intelligent Battery Charging Station goes for $149.95 at OWC. Newer Tech also makes them for MacBooks, iBooks and PowerBooks too.