Feli.pe

Meebo for iPhone

2010-02-19T03:32:37Z

I was just about ready to call this one vaporware.

On monday Meebo released their client for iPhone. They had announced this well over a year ago during the iPhone OS 3.0 preview event saying how they needed Push Notifications to do what they really wanted to do. The first time they presented the app for aproval was last week.

After using it for a few days I am willing to replace my copy of AIM with it. The colors are very light and it feels inviting to type. The client can save and read your history online, this is what I thought even Trillian was missing (on the mac at least, never tried to play with the iPhone version).

My biggest problem with it so far is that it still doesn’t have metacontacts. Hopefully that’s coming sooner, rather than later.

While I’ve been waiting for this App for a while, it has outdone my expectations. The other mobile IM applications have been put on notice… specially the $10+ dollar ones.

Adidas + Star Wars

2010-02-04T05:50:03Z

These look amazing $200/pair might be a bit much though.

Source: StarWars.com

Version Five (preview)

2010-01-31T08:03:33Z

In the past year an a half I have really been updating this site more and more. Sometimes I go a few weeks without updating and sometimes I update too often, but I always think of what can I be posting on the site and how can the site be a reflection of who I am.

I also like a place to show some of my work. I keep trying to get some public projects released, much like the Google Voice Notification script (which is sadly probably way broken now).

I show you part of the header now of what I’m working on, hopefully it will be to everyone’s liking once it’s done.

The Apple iPad, I’m getting Three

2010-01-28T10:45:59Z

As soon as His Steveness announced the iPad I started to make fun of it. The name sounds like a sanitary napkin, the concept is basically “blow up the iPod Touch,” and honestly it just seems like a incomplete device, considering it doesn’t have a camera and the SD card slot (which they knew people would want) is extra.

For me, this would be a second (third) device. I have my iPhone for walking around, I have my MacBook Pro for working at my desk and I’d have the iPad for everything in between like recipes while cooking and looking for stuff on the internet while watching TV. It would definitely be a better device to have by my nightstand if i wanted to quickly catch up with news from bed because at 1.5 lb its still light enough to carry with one hand. The laptop always seemed awkward in bed.

Then he announced the price.

I have wasted $500 on other things that I dont find nearly as useful as I would find having an iPad would be (my original MiniDisk player comes to mind.) I am, however, the fanboy. I will buy this device because I like playing with shiny new toys. Where I think this will be amazing, is in the hands of my mom.

For people like my mom, the $500 price tag and the gorgeous UI makes total sense.

My mom doesn’t really deal with computers often. Her computer was kind of acting up and she decided to get a new one, she got a netbook. Now she has a contract and a computer thats too slow to actually do anything useful. On top of that, it uses Windows XP which is not really a OS that is inviting to the user, you use it because you have to not because you want to.

60 days from now I am going to be getting a iPad in the mail. I will play with it thoroughly and then I will give it to my mom. The iPhone OS is intuitive and she will be able to get things done faster. She’ll learn to love the internet because she wont have to fight with it most of the time. She’ll be able to do e-mail without worrying about getting a virus or forgetting what the email address of her contacts are because everything syncs with the cloud. Most of her documents are on Google Docs now anyways so she can just work right on the cloud with the device and not worry about losing her USB thumbdrive or anything like that. For the longer projects, a cheap bluetooth keyboard allows her to work with iWork and really get presentations and projects done in a flash (She’s a teacher.)

Best of all, there are zero headaches. It just works. There are no configurations that can go wrong, there are no drivers she has to update, there is no way she can accidentally lose information. How do I know this? Because I’ve been using iPhone OS for 2.5 years now and the urge of moving to Android always subsides when I think of that.

I was not impressed with the iPad when I saw it because I didn’t see the possibilities for people who really just want to move on from having to deal with “computers” but cant just use their phones as their main device.

When my dad plays with my mom’s iPad I’m sure he’ll want one too. I’ll hand him the one I got to replace the one I gave to my mom, just in time for me to buy v2 sometime next year.

The Jesus Tablet

2010-01-27T07:29:18Z

Today, Apple’s announcement of a tablet device has many believing that they will finally show something that exonerates the tablet form-factor from being a niche product for all these years. There is, however, one group of people who expect salvation from this device: Print.

With a possible 10″ display and multi-touch gestures, I would love to have this device be on my coffee table. I already have a laptop there most of the time and this would be so much better. This brings me back to the problem of print. If the device is basically a $600 glorified e-reader which doesn’t even do the job right because it doesn’t have an e-ink display, then I don’t want it. I don’t read newspapers, I don’t read magazines. I am subscribed to Wired Magazine, but I mainly read it online through their RSS feed. It needs to do more, it needs to blow me away and not just show me how much I can read. Print needs to understand that while I am ok paying for access to information, eventually it will make its way out. The gatekeepers are gone and any artificial ones they put up just prove that they don’t understand and that they deserve to be irrelevant.

With this said, I am more excited about what might be included in the new iPhone OS (4.0 maybe?) and on the new iPhone model they might announce tomorrow.

If its $600 and amazing, I have the money. If it’s more or just a glorified e-reader, I’ll pass. If its subsidized and needs a mobile contract, then you can just forget I even spent any time thinking about the thing. I don’t need more bills.

AT&T A-List

2010-01-26T19:59:07Z

If you have a AT&T plan that is more than $59.99, you have access to A-List. It is a calling circle feature that allows you to add 5 numbers and get unlimited calling to those five numbers.

This is great, except for the fact that nobody I talked to today knew that this feature existed. AT&T has spent most of their time trying to prove that you can download Luke Wilson faster on their network than on Verizon and no time at all showing you how to save money. Thanks AT&T!

I would also like to point out that if you’re paying $59.99 you could just pay an extra $10 every month for unlimited calling and just forget all about the whole ‘minutes’ non-sense.

Quentin Tarantino Movie Poster Screenprints

2010-01-26T17:38:30Z

These are gorgeous designs for Quentin Tarantino movie posters. All 7 of his films have representations and the screenprints are in a limited edition of 200 each.

Get them here: Ibraheem Youssef

Mozilla dislikes h.264

2010-01-25T16:53:14Z

I agree with the Mike on this one and I think that it is important that there’s a company out there that is trying to get us to find a suitable standard. Sadly this also means that HTML5 does not have a video standard. Apple and Google have put all their eggs in the h.264 basket, they should really get MPEG-LA to come up with better licensing terms for small producers and browser manufacturers. If h.264 is the future of video on the web, they’d have a big win on their belt.

Source: Slashdot

Rockstar Games does a small Q&A session

2010-01-21T22:59:32Z

“I was highly anticipating the release of The Ballad Of Gay Tony, but just found out that it is only on the XBox360. I am certain that I am not the first person to ask this, but how come it wasn’t released on the PS3?” – received via Mouthoff

We know that it continues to be an often-asked question – and believe us, we understand the frustration of PS3 owners like yourself who haven’t been able to play any of our most recent releases. All we can say is that we at Rockstar promise to be very good to you with our releases in 2010. Please stay with us and stay tuned!

I find it so odd that they decided to pick this question amongst all the other ones. I’m going to go out in a limb and say they’re trying to string us along until they’re able to release the DLC on PS3. Lost and Damned was released 17 February 2009, and if we use the same logic as other ‘exclusive’ Xbox360 titles, exclusivity lasts for a year.

Then again, maybe they’re just referring to LA Noire and Agents.

Source: Rockstar Newswire

Google ‘fed up’ with China

2010-01-13T05:44:20Z

People are mentioning that Google is not number one in China (Baidu is), and that they’re using the hacks as an excuse. Considering how huge the market is in China, being second place is still a lot of money. Having the Chinese try to break into your systems after you’re playing ‘by the rules’ is unacceptable. I’m personally glad they’re finally putting a stop to the filtering. If they get shut down, then so be it. Hopefully the Chinese seeing Google leave will make some ask questions about how ’safe’ the Great Firewall is really making them.

Source: Official Google Blog