As of right now I am writing this blog post from my new I pad. It takes a little getting used to but I am blown away by how well this device performs. So far I have installed quite a few apps and I am loving all of them. My goal is to replace my Macbook Pro that I normally use at school to lighten my load. I am not expecting to be able to do everything but basic web browsing and note taking should work great. I think it’s going to be pretty easy to do. Here are the apps that I am enjoying so far.

Desktop Connect:

By far my favorite app on the device. I am able to control Linux boxes, Apple Machines as well as Windows Machines remotely. This is a RDP and VNC remote desktop app. I really like the mouse control, you don’t directly control the mouse it’s different, but nice. Another cool feature is the auto-discovery of Windows and Apple devices that are advertising remote connections. All devices that are available show up on the left hand side.

Netflix:

I have never seen Netflix work so flawlessly. Within 30 seconds I was logged in and my movie was playing, almost instantly. The Netflix streaming catalog is growing every day. I was able to browse TV shows and Movies without any lag or slowness.

WordPress:

The next one was a tuff decision. What app would I use to keep up with the Twitter universe?
My first instinct was to download tweet deck. I was un-pleasantly surprised when I clicked on a link and I could not navigate to the Webpage. (It does work in portrait mode)

Twitteriffic:
This is a pleasant upgrade from Tweet Deck, it even makes cool bird sounds when its launched. It’s like pretty much every other Twitter Client you have access to a timeline with all your friends as well as re-tweet and reply. I really like the simple and easy to use interface.

Real Racing HD:

Everyone that I demo this app for is blown away by how well the device handles the game and how stunning the graphics are. The game play is solid although I would like some more control over the game. All you have access to is the brake, not the accelerator. Overall the game is a 9 out of 10.

As the final days of summer break wind down for many entering College in the fall, both parents and students are looking for the perfect laptop that is going to carry them through their studies (and all of those important videogames and iTunes downloads professor-assigned documents and downloads).

So needless to say, I’ve talked to a fair share of both students and parents, and want to help anyone else out with a few tips.

1. Apple or Microsoft?

When you talk to a fan of either brand, they’ll immediately tell you that their preferred system is the best – I personally use both, having a MacBook Pro and a Dell Latitude E6400.  What you need to keep in mind when choosing Mac or PC is the intended use.  If you are graphics-intensive; either by design or by photo or video editing, then a Mac is an easy choice – it is also what I consider a best-fit for those in the Liberal Arts study track, providing a reliable machine that needs minimal maintenance and allows you to get the maximum amount of work done.  However, if you are math or engineering oriented, then a PC may be the best machine for you – sometimes proprietary software just works better on a PC than it does on windows via mac.  Cost makes the biggest difference when comparing these two common operating systems – Mac machines can be twice as expensive up-front.

However, when looking at costs, look at longevity as well – Mac machines can stay current for three times as long as any windows-based hardware – dividing that cost out over a longer period makes the Mac just as affordable.

2. Battery Life?

While most people assume that all laptops are created equal in this regard, very little is more important to a College student than how long they can go on their laptop without plugging in to charge.  When considering sitting through both indoor and outdoor classes, study sessions, or even working outside – battery life always factors in.  Most consumer laptops sold through Bestbuy and other vendors like RadioShack/ The SHACK and Walmart all ship with a standard battery that is good for about 3 hours with VERY light usage – this usually means with the wireless card switched off and the screen so dim that you can barely read it.  Solution?  Look for laptops with available extended batteries, like Dell’s Latitude series (orderable with a 9-cell 4 or 5 hour heavy use battery), Apple’s MacBook Pro line – with between 7 and 8 hours of battery life between charges, or an HP with an optional ‘extended battery’.

3. Brains (Processor)

With so many different configurations of computers out there, and all of the software available, how do you decide what ‘brain’ the computer needs?  Well, for starters, stick with an Intel or AMD dual-core processor (AMD uses X2 and Intel calls them Core Duo).  The better processors?  Probably Intel’s Centrino line of laptop-optimized processors.

Avoid Celeron processors like the plague. Just do it.

4. What about RAM?

Well, RAM allows you to multitask on your computer, so the more RAM you have, the more you can do and the faster you can do it.  As of today, I wouldn’t settle for less that 4GB of RAM in any laptop that I buy (for value, you could live with 2 or 3GB, but you’ll prefer the 4, trust me.

5. Storage?

When looking at laptops and storage capacities, remember what important tv, movie, and music files that college students need to store today.  My rule of thumb is that you should estimate your current needs by looking at your current laptop, and then double it.  Right now the maximum capacity of a laptop hard drive is about 500GB, so reasonably expect to get a laptop with NO LESS than a 250GB drive.

Consider this – a TV show downloaded from iTunes is 1/2 of a Gigabyte in Standard Definition, 1GB in High-Def.  Movies can vary from 2-6GB in size, depending on Standard or High Definition versions).  there are about 160 iTunes songs to 1GB of storage as well (based on 6MB per song in DRM-Free format)

Any other questions?  Feel free to email me at ryanminnick@smalltowngeeks.net

It looks as though Apple has added a few new features to mobile me on the windows and the mac side.  It looks as though they have added features such as video upload to the Mobile Me Gallery. Full Knowledge Base Article Below.

T.J.

I currently have a 1^st gen i-Phone that I use primarily for app development. Whenever Apple releases a new update to there software I have to leave my i-Phone in an un-updated state and wait for the folks over on the i-Phone dev team to find a way to jailbreak the device. They are getting very good at what they do over there, within a week of Apple releasing the new OS, they already have it unlocked and jail-broken. Below I am going to walk you through the process I used to Jailbreak my first gen i-Phone for the new OS 3.0.

Many people are using the new ”pwnage” tool that was released from the Dev team blog. I have built the necessary ipsw that is needed for the jail break (see below). Remember that this is for use with the 2g or 1^st gen i-Phone. Here are the steps:

1. Download necessary firmware from here.

2. Next put your i-Phone into DFU mode

a. Turn off your i-Phone

b. Hold down the power and home button.

c. When you see the Apple logo, release the power button but continue holding the home button down.

d. Open i-Tunes and wait for it to tell you that its in restore mode.

3. Once i-Tunes opens up and tells you that the i-Phone connected is in recovery mode, on the Mac hold alt and click restore or on the PC hold shift and click restore. This will bring up a file explorer where you can find the firmware downloaded above and restore from here.

4. After that your i-Phone will get the custom Pineapple boot logo, and that’s it.

4 easy steps to jailbreak your i-Phone. Also in the install, you will see Cydia and ICY which are the Jailbroken versions of the app store. Browse around there is a good chance you will find some cool apps that you wouldn’t find in the App store. Look for an update for jailbreaking the i-Phone 3g and 3gs in the next week.

Till then

“Carpe Noctum”

Seize the night!

I was just tooling around the inter webs when I came across an article about mobile me. I, out on a limb tried sending myself an email to my .mac account. Without thinking I put down @me.com. I realized this after I had already sent the email. Much to my surprise my blackberry started vibrating. This means that @me.com is already re-directing to your .mac account. Only 4 more days for the real thing. I cant wait. Look for a full review of mobile me coming up next week.

Till then…

Have a good one
T.J.