Apple released the iPhone IOS4 software update late on June 21, 2010. The update took well over an hour to download and then sync up with the iPhone but it was well worth it.
Among the many new features, the new IOS4 update allows for the iPhone to work with wireless Bluetooth keyboards. I took the new feature for a ride and started blogging.
Did you find any other cool features in the IOS4 update? Drop a Comment below and share.
I’d like to send a HUGE thank you to Sugar Jones (@sugarjones) and Kodak. SugarJones.tv hosted a Kodak Zi8 giveaway where the idea for the best (craziest) idea for a video series would win – and I WON!
In case you’re wondering, the idea for the video series is a Zombie show where the zombie is an everyday person doing everyday things … except for the eating brains to survive part.
Can’t wait to create the first micro-episode. Stay tuned!
Apple unveiled its new iPhone 4 device today during the WWDC Conference.
The features that made me most giddy as a vlogger and iPhone nut are:
The front facing video camera allows for video phone calls, what Apple is calling “FaceTime.” Not the greatest name, but a great feature. Apple also finally added an LED light that works as a flash for photos and as a light for video. Awesome!
Hmm, I have visions of live streaming interviews on the go. Let’s get on it, developers!
The coupling of the three-axis gyroscope with the accelerometer will lead to amazing new gaming applications. This combination will also help take Augmented Reality to new heights. By combining the two technologies, the iPhone will have six degrees of freedom.
The “Gyroscopes and Accelerometers Compared” video on the InvenSense site does a good job explaining how the gyroscope + accelerometer work together.
Which features are you looking forward to? Leave a comment and let’s keep the conversation going.
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Assignment: Capture a tweet and display it on your site or blog.
BlackBird Pie is a little script created by @robinsloan at Twitter Media that allows site publishers to easily display tweets.
The usual process for displaying tweets is to type them in then hyperlink to the original tweet. Or, maybe a site will go farther and take a screen shot of the tweet page then crop the image and add a hyperlink to the original tweet. It takes time.
With BlackBird Pie, I was able to capture a tweet by following these steps:
Here’s there resulting tweet:
Don’t just provide value to your customers, provide *irreplaceable* value.
Jesse P. Luna
jesseluna
Quick Notes
Apparently, this script does not work on Tumblr blogs, according to the Twitter Media site.
Review:
We just learned a simple way to reference an individual tweet on our site or blog.
Do you think you’ll start using BlackBird Pie when you reference a tweet? Why or why not?
You can use the combination of two apps, Camera A and Camera B, to allow your iPhone’s camera to be shared on your iPad.
I thought this was cool because this gives the iPad an input device. You can see the iPhone viewfinder on the iPad and you can snap pictures.
This Bluetooth-enabled combo will be much more interesting once the iPad adds multitasking, which is in the works.
Camera A is free and it goes on your iPad. Camera B is $0.99 and it goes on your 3Gs iPhone.
If you decide to try it out, come back and drop a comment.
The iPad will never replace my desktop, but it has already replaced my laptop after just two days.
I love, love, love it!
@JesseLuna said it best: “If HBO was your ‘home box office’, then the iPad is your ‘mobile box office’.”
It’s also a dream for reading, blogging, and managing social media networks on a realistically readable device. (I love my iPhone, but the small screen has its limitations.) I know I will be using my iPad for most of what I do as a non-techie user. I also know I will still need to go to my desktop for large professional projects and probably most photo editing. (More on photos later.)
My setup consists of the iPad, the Apple cover, the Apple Bluetooth keyboard, a stand, and a lap desk. (And sometimes earbuds.) This is perfect for sitting in an armchair. Of course, if I were at a desk or table, I would not need the lap desk. Also, when lounging in bed the stand is too precarious, so I just lay the iPad flat on the lap desk. The Apple cover is made of a grippy rubber material that doesn’t slide around at all, which is awesome.
Being a creature of habit, the first things I tried on my new iPad were all the things I already used on my laptop and/or iPhone: Safari, Gmail, Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, Netflix, Scrabble, Momento, iTunes, Wikipanion, and Notes.
Overall, these all worked as well or better than the on the laptop/iPhone. There are a few tiny glitches, where features don’t work the way I expect, but all of them are software issues, which I’m sure will be addressed by the developers.
Aha! moments:
- streaming Netflix in bed (with earbuds) while my husband sleeps
- stocking my iBooks shelves with free texts thanks to Project Gutenberg
- writing this blog post in Pages which I will later email to @JesseLuna
All of these tasks could be done with some other gadget or device, but before now I would have used a separate gadget or device for each activity.
New stuff I love on the iPad: Pages, iBooks ereader, Marvel comics viewer, Toy Story read-along, NPR, USA Today, and ABC viewer. Gorgeous picture quality, leagues better than my (10-year-old) PowerBook. Super-fast over WiFi. Screen size is perfect for personal viewing. So many options – both media and content!
Stuff I haven’t done, yet, because it isn’t supported: Hulu.
Stuff I haven’t done because I haven’t bought the right app(s): games.
A final note on photos: there is a camera connecter accessory, but I didn’t buy it. I simply took photos with my iPhone, emailed them to Flickr. On the iPad I opened the Flickr app, selected my image and saved it to my Photos, then accessed it from there. That works fine for me.