I’m on the Twitter now

I waz sent a pair of ifrogz Earpollution Plugz for evaluationz (wow that gets tiring), and was surprised at how good they sound. Earbuds in general are a sorry excuse for a decent set of speakers, but there are some that sound pretty good. The trick is getting buds that fit your ears well and block out external sound, otherwise there is no bass at all.

I’ve been using the Apple In-Ear Headphones, which are $79.00 and have good frequency response. I had low expectations of the $15 Earpollution Plugz because of the inexpensive price and frequency response specs that didn’t come close to the Apple earbuds at the low end of the spectrum (i.e., the bass). However, it all comes down to… how does it sound to you?

The ifrogz earbuds are significantly better than the stock Apple earbuds, and for many kinds of music sound just as good (sometimes better) than Apple’s upscale In-Ear Headphones. They’re inexpensive enough that you won’t worry about losing or breaking them, but sound good enough for regular use. They also have the mic and clicker controls for iPhones that work just like the Apple buds.

Can’t go wrong with these.

Drove by the Reston Apple Store’s grand opening this morning hoping to get a commemorative t-shirt, only to find hundreds of people lined up since 6:00 AM!! By 9:30 the line was starting to fill up the skating rink. The store is across from the movie theater, where Eddie Bauer used to be.

I didn’t wait around for my t-shirt-:)

Apple released the iPhone update 3.0.1 to address a recently discovered potential security issue where receiving a text message containing a box character could leave the device vulnerable.

I can’t imagine how anyone could actually take advantage of this, since hackers would not only have to know your phone number, they would also need to know that you have an iPhone.

The update failed the first time I ran it on my 3GS, which I’ve seen before on other iPhones, but the fix is pretty simple. As long as you have a recently synced version of your stuff on your computer, iTunes will let you update the firmware and restore your data fairly easily. This process is not for those easily intimidated by technology… it’s kind of unnerving to see your iPhone wiped out if you haven’t experienced the restore process which is easier than any other device I’ve used.

Second time worked fine, no issues with the update.

I’ve used Photoshop since very early versions, and there are many things it does better than any other image editing application. However, awesome power always comes at a price. Photoshop is one of the most complicated applications to do simple color corrections and other basic photo improvement tasks. The learning curve is steep, and so is the price ($700). This is why Adobe and others make simpler versions of their flagship applications for less money. Don’t get me going on Gimp, I can’t get past the ugly X11 interface. May as well be a Java app.

iPhoto can do very basic photo editing, mostly color balance, levels, etc., but Pixelmator really shines at these tasks for a very reasonable price ($60). The interface is unique, and works quite well. Tools are well laid out and intuitive, and you can do many of the basic functions of Photoshop without having to do a bootcamp training marathon to figure it out.

Graphic arts professionals need the power of Photoshop; for the rest of us, Pixelmator is a better fit.

Looks like you can get it both from Pixelmator and Smith Micro.

My MacBook Pro was starting to exhibit weird display issues, so our Certified Apple Repair guy suggested it might be the NVIDIA graphics processor issue. Sure enough, a quick trip to my local Genius Bar confirmed the diagnosis. The geniuses swapped out the motherboard overnight at no cost.

As I was finishing the paperwork, I glanced at the “for internal Apple use only” checklist they fill out after doing repairs, and was amused to note an item among things like “Removed all test software” that said “Polished Apple logo.” Of course it was checked as having been completed.

No wonder Apple’s customer service is always among the highest in the industry.

I’m still on the fence about Twitter as a lifeblogging tool since I have no interest in publishing every thought that pops into my head and even less confidence that anyone else would find it interesting, but I have found it informative and entertaining to follow certain people such as @Pogue, @jaketapper and @WilliamShatner. In case you aren’t hip to the Twitter jargon, the names after the @ sign are these people’s Twitter user names.

Tweetie on both the iPhone and Mac is a great Twitter client for consuming this odd, vain medium, and I imagine it’s just as good if you’re dying to let everyone know how tired you are today.

Rob Pegorano in today’s Washington Post

The only big exception to this pattern of neglect comes from Apple: the Mail program it ships with Mac OS X. With each new version of OS X, Mail has gained useful features.

Interesting article in the New York Times this morning, written by one of the original architects of the Internet.

A great deal of deliberation and planning had gone into the network’s underlying technology, but no one had given a lot of thought to what we would actually do with it. So, in August 1968, a handful of graduate students and staff members from the four sites began meeting intermittently, in person, to try to figure it out.

Got a “This accessory is not made to work with iPhone” message (WTF??) after lunch today. After further examination, it seems I had gotten some egg salad in the connection port. I wasn’t able to get everything out, so I hope it doesn’t get too stinky!

I doubt egg salad is covered under warranty.