New iPhone 3GS vs iPhone 3G of yesterday.

Well, the iPhone 3G got replaced by the 3GS tonight. In short, better battery life, faster processing, more storage for the same price and a much better camera. Good news for the recession is that the older 3G model will keep on selling at a $100 subsidized price, which is actually very cheap. Soon iPhone will not be a elitist phone anymore…

With the new prices it is becoming a very tough sell for the likes of HTC/Google with their Android phones. Currently the HTC Magic / G2 is going for about R6500 prepaid, which is very similiar in price to the iPhone 3GS when it will be released. The 3G “non S” model will probably drop even more. On the other hand, if Core has anything to do with the import, we might not be so lucky.

iPhone OS 3.0 is coming on 17 June, and the iPhone 3GS is coming on 19 June in the US, 9 July in other markets such as South Africa. If you have iPhone OS 3.0 and want the South African settings for MMS and tethering, get it here.

Check the comparison here:

Elimination

While I would like to say I am impartial to Windows or Mac, I would have to say Apple might have the best marketing department around. After Microsoft’s recent ads involving “regular” people wanting to get a PC and following them to the store, the time has come to put in some perspective:

iPhone wins JD Power satisfaction awards

Apple has been rated the best wireless smartphone in the latest JD Power satisfaction ratings. The different smartphone manuafacturers were rated according to ease of operation, operating system, features, physical design, and battery function.

The iPhone performed very well in all these categories except for battery life. Well, this goes without saying. The typical iPhone user has to charge his phone every night.

HTC came second, with LG in the third spot. Funnily enough Palm was in 5th place, but this will probably change within the next year seeing as the Palm Pre is released, which will be great for competition in this sector. To combat the Pre (and its WebOS), Apple has already released a beta update of its OS, iPhone OS 3.0. The final version will ship in June/July.

The third generation iPhone will in all probability be announced at the next WWDC, which will be on 8 June 2009. Here’s hoping that battery life will improve.

The coolest setup ever

I recently came across Stefan Didak’s website that has some cool photos of his current work setup. He is software developer – but I honestly doubt he needs all that screen real estate. The more interesting part is how he built it – using mounting arms. It is really interesting to see how well organized his space is. But honestly, is it not purely just for intimidation?

Go give it a look – he took photos of the entire setup. But honestly, who buys HP? It sure looks good though. He gets his multi monitor wallpapers from Panedia (unfortunately not free, but they have a freeby every day.) and uses Synergy to use one keyboard and mouse for the multi computer system (which is open source).

Thanx for the tip Globetrotting online

iPhone 3.0 Advance Preview

So it seems Apple sent out a invitation to developers for a special event on the 17th of March regarding iPhone 3.0 Software. While many people are eagerly awaiting on the next iPhone to spill their hard earned cash on, the real beauty of the iPhone platform has always been it’s software, and the modularity of it. When Apple released the iPhone 3G, it instanly made the iPhone version 2.0 software available to users of the older model. This gives the iPhone a feel of it always been new, with new updates every few months.

Even though it is a groundbreaking device, there has always been a few problems that have bugged users – like lack of copy and paste, no MMS, no forwarding of SMS, no multitasking (in 2009, common?!). Hopefully this update will address these issues.

What I want:

Multitasking (or notifications, just get it done)
MMS and the ability to send and recieve business cards
Bluetooth Tethering (read my article on how Apple sees Africa)
Copy and Paste naturally.

Just a pointer Apple – continue to make these software updates available to older iPhone users, otherwise you will instantly lose brand loyalty. Keep the iPhone updatable. Its one of its greatest features.

What tools I use to boost my blog:

Up until about a week ago I did not do anything to increase my blog traffic. It was merely something I used to type out my thoughts, anger, or joy with certain products and services. While it had its share of regular readers, I decided to start marketing the site with a variety of services, and to great effect. So much in fact, that my traffic has grew about 10 times within 7 days. I am not lying. While many of these steps are obvious ones that many people do anyway, I thought I would just list the variety of services I use to boost my blog. Here is all the steps I took to do it, in no particular order:

1) Google Analytics and Webmaster: This is a absolute treasure trove to research your current readers. What browser are they running, where do they live, do they use a mobile browser etc. While you might argue that knowing what browser your reader uses is not that useful, you have to analyse the results. In other words, if 80% access the site with Firefox, and a big portion run a screen resolution of 1600+ pixels, you might deduce that it is people who know a bit, and make wise choices in technology. If they access it from their iPhone, you might want to cater for them with a mobile version of the site. The user is required to enter a simple piece of code to verify that the site exists, which can be found once you register for Analytics. Also, make sure to enter a SiteMap into Webmaster tools which give gives Google better ability to scan all your site pages and headers, which are necessary for search results.

2) Twitter: This is probably the single most effective marketing tool to boost hits on your sites. As long as you can frequently update both your site and your twitterfeed, the two go hand in hand to make immense increases in traffic. Whenever you make a blog post, tweet about it, and then your followers who are interested have a quick link to your blog. Obviously, dont go overboard, otherwise people might just get annoyed with you. Its a fine line.

3) Enter your blog into directories: Examples include Afrigator, DMOZ, Zoominfo, Technorati etc. These sites all keep catalogs of sites that can be easily accessed by people looking for specific topics. So if you believe your blog is of high enough quality, go through the process of registering for the these directory services.

4) Metadata: While Google does not necessarily use metadata anymore for its crawlers, many websites still do. Metadata includes decriptors that can quickly and easily define what your site is about. You need to be accurate with your descriptors, dont go overboard with a ridiculous amount of tags. You need to at least define a page title (for every page), description and keywords.

5) Image alt text: While this will not necessarily boost traffic, it is always a good idea to cater for visually challenged users who use screen readers. Whenever you add a image, make sure you add alternate text (or “alt” text) that gives a short description of the image. These tags are also used by image searching crawlers such Google Images, so make sure your alt text is accurate. Another way to show up in searches.

6) Register for a proper domain: While its cheap (actually free) to hang on to that yourname.blogspot.com or yourname.wordpress.com address, it is definate no-no should you ever wish to properly promote your site. Registering a domain name is cheap, and both blogger and wordpress have options available to quickly and easily make a proper .com name.

7) Reciprocal linking: If you have friends that are into the same things you are, or also have blogs, make sure you link each other in your blogs. This is called reciprocal linking – and is a big component to increase your Google Page Rank. A lot of sites on the web have a page rank rating – basically a way that Google classifies how important your blog is. If your site pagerank is zero, and you link to a lot of your friends, their pagerank will not be increased. However, if the people who link to you is of a higher page rank, it will boost your sites page rank! So if you can get your link on a few sites that are of high quality, it goes a long way towards boosting your page rank.

8) Register your site on feedburner: This Google owned venture makes your site available to the web’s largest community of feed readers, which makes your site accessible to much more people. You can use all sorts of customization options which can all be used to boost your site in very specific ways. Also look at Bloglog which can give users very quick access to your site, and your site is exposed to a wide community of blogs.

9) Monetize your blog: While not all blogs benefit from monetization, I would recommend you use it once your site reaches a certain amount of visitors per day – say 500 upwards. If you start to do it too early, the advertising can put off users who think that your site might be a linkfarm if it is not tastefully done. Wait for your readership to grow, then start very lightly. Most popular example is Google Adsense.

I will updates this list as I come across more effective methods – every day I come across something great which helps.

(After reading this article myself, I cant help but think it looks a bit like a Google advertisment. I will start looking at alternatives, but I just gave examples of services I use myself).

As a tip I would firstly recommend Google Analytics and Twitter. They are the catalysts that can make your efforts into a golden egg…

Easy way to think of the new iPod Shuffle:

After my previous post on the bad design of the new iPod Shuffle – here is something that is a bit easier to understand:

Courtesy engadget

iPod Shuffle 3G – Is it necessary?

Apple just released the new iPod Shuffle. Have to say looking at it I cant say I am too impressed. While we all want brand spanking new gear from Apple as frequently as possible, the previous iPod Shuffle had a almost timeless design that made sense. It was small, its buttons were in the right place and its brushed steel looks were great. Great for clipping on your clothes when exercising.

Every past iPod update had small yet significant updates (except maybe the iPod Classic) that actually improved the product. Not so much this time round.

Now the new shuffle luckily still has a clip, and the brushed aluminium looks. But where are the buttons? The buttons are now placed on the cord (similiar to the iPhone). So the user has to find the little nub on the cable and then remember to click it twice change song, three times to go back etc.

When I am riding on my bike on a single track and I want to change a song, I definately do not want look for the little nub on the cord. I want to know where the buttons are – on my sleeve or wherever. I dont want to click a little hard to find button multiple times. Look at this ridiculous control scheme:

For a company that makes intuitive control schemes like the iPhone and iPod Click wheel, this is a shocker. Also, was size really a issue with old one? It is still remarkably tiny for a music player. Now Apple goes as far as saying it is half the old one’s size. Really?

If Apple actually wanted to make a big shift with the iPod Shuffle, they might consider building the player right into the earphones. Then the size might actually amaze me.

Heres hoping it is more impressive in my hands than what it looks on the website…

My Website

If you are looking for my current website/blog, goto:

http://www.mpieters.com

Review: Lenovo Ideapad S10

After my girlfriend’s HP laptop gave up the ghost, I decided to get her a netbook. Why? Well, based on her usage of a computer a netbook is just simply perfect.

After looking at the top sellers like the Acer Aspire, MSI Wind, Asus eeePC amongst others, I came across the Lenovo Ideapad S10. Now, I have seen it in pictures. But then I saw a stunning red one in person. It just looks awesome.

After looking at its specs I decided to go for it. It has a largish 160 gig drive, a 10 inch LED display, 1 gig ram, and a Atom processor. And also no learning curve of Ubuntu or “flavour of the week” Linux distro. It comes with XP Home. Perfect for her needs. Here is the full specs:

• 1.6GHz N270 Intel Atom Processor
• 1GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz
• Windows XP Home Edition (SP3)
• 10.2″ WSVGA AntiGlare TFT with integrated camera 1024×600
• 160GB 5400rpm hard drive
• Intel GMA 950 Integrated Graphics
• Broadcom 11b/g Wi-Fi wireless and Bluetooth
• 4-in-1 Media card reader and ExpressCard slot
• 3-Cell Li-ion battery
• Size: 9.8″ x 7.2″ x 1.2″ (including feet)
• Weight: 2.64 lbs (with 3-cell battery)
• Price: R5000 (about $500)

It has a shiny metallic red outer casing which looks great, a white interior which give it a very “white stripes” look combined with red outside and black screen . I thought my macbook looks good. This looks so much better. It’s light as well – just over a kilogram. I think this is the ideal traveller’s size – I wish I could use it on days I commute by bicycle.

The build quality is much better than the comparable models by other makes – and to be honest I have always been a fan of Lenovo machines. After using Thinkpads for a long time I was happy to see that Lenovo continued the Thinkpad tank like build. And their ideapad brethen is not far off. The keyboard takes a little getting used too – its small, but at least it is quite rigid. The trackpad is really tiny, and the mouse buttons are in the right places, not on the sides of the trackpad like some other netbooks.

At first I was a little hesitant about the Atom processor. But at 1.6 GHz and hyperthreading ability it might not be so bad. 1 Gig RAM is also too little for my tastes, with the cost of RAM so low these days you should really try to max out the RAM. Which is what I did. First thing I did when I took it out the box is pop in a 2gig RAM chip. And yes, it makes this machine really zippy, and I am really impressed.

Running apps like Office is quite brisk, iTunes runs without problems and videos actually look quite good on the little 10 inch LED screen. Battery life is acceptable – it lasts a little over two hours with wifi on. Now, this is with a incredibly tiny 3 cell battery installed, I assume it will be much more respectable with 6 cell. Maybe it will be its next upgrade.

My niggles? The trackpad is really, really small. But maybe I am just used to my Macbook’s large trackpad. The screen resolution is really small. 1024 by 600 is just too little. I see that the latest HP netbook 10 inch model actually has a 1280 pixel screen. And I dont like to use XP anymore. I would like to see Vista as standard, maybe it will run slow as molasses though. (I think I should just do it. I have read some good reviews on how it runs Vista, and then I can use that SD card slot as a Readyboost port ). Obviously the lack of a optical drive can give people some problems, but you can use drive sharing from a close by computer or just get a external one for about $60.

And when is the last time you used a DVD drive? We have the internet now.

Overall I think this is perhaps one of the coolest laptops I have come across. It is small, light, looks great and has enough ooomph to keep most people happy. What a great little machine. I might have to get one myself.