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Archive for August, 2009
What’s on my iPhone – page 2/10
2 years ago
by manfred
in iPod/iPhone
Today, we move to page 2 of my iPhone application collection. This page contains news sources that I enjoy reading and two important reference sources: Wikipedia and a dictionary. All of these are free to download and rely on their respective backend data sources to populate their information. Using these apps a lot is a bit of a drain on bandwidth consumption, so I tend to use these more when I’m in reach of my home wireless network.
With very few exceptions, all news apps are created equal: access to content that is also available from any web browser, a selection of news stories belonging to various categories, images, video and the ability to comment and interact with other users.
News24 is the mobile portal to the popular South African news site. News on current events with a focus on South Africa but with a fair bit of coverage of important international news.
I’m also always interested in the financial and motoring news provided. The layout is clean and neat and easily navigable.
Visit the News24 website here.
Frequency of use: occasional
My rating (cost and usability taken into account): 3/5
Price: free
iTunes App Store URL for News24
District 9 – aliens in South Africa
I can’t believe I hadn’t hear anything about this movie until this morning, seeing posters and then listening to some podcasts in which this movie was mentioned. District 9 is a science fiction movie directed by South African Neill Blomkamp, featuring unknown actors. I have a feeling that will change – the movie has opened to rave reviews in the USA and will open on the local circuit next week Friday.
I’ve enjoyed watching the trailers and am most impressed and intrigued. It feels odd watching a trailer for a movie shot entirely on location in South Africa – none of those nondescript NY skyscrapers…
Here’s an excerpt from the synopsis on IMDB: the film opens with a documentary-style series of interviews that introduce the situation. Twenty years before, an alien ship is seen coming towards Earth and arrives above Johannesburg, South Africa. It hovers above the city for three months without any contact; eventually humans take the initiative and cut into the ship. They discover a large group of aliens who are malnourished and sick. The aliens are later assessed as apparently being all “workers”, with their leadership mysteriously missing (it is hypothesized that a plague may have wiped out all of the leadership-caste). Grainy footage shows part of the ship (supposed to be a command module) falling to Earth, but nobody has been able to find it, leaving the ship inoperable.
Cannot wait to see this one!
PS3 on a diet
A new version of the Sony PS3 is to be launched overseas sometime this September. The PS3 Slim is much smaller, featuring a space-saving design and promising to cut down on its larger brother’s carbon footprint by consuming about 40% less power.
The PS3 Slim offers built-in WiFi, two USB ports, 120GB hard disk and both HDMI and optical audio output. Blu-Ray drive included, of course. The new PS3 does away with support for third-party operating systems and backward compatibility. No more running Linux or building cheap supercomputer clusters!
At the same time, Sony announced the imminent arrival (though with no specification of a date) of the 3.0 firmware update for the PS3. The firmware update improves the console’s interface with quicker access to certain items and shortcuts to downloads and games. Messaging has moved up to the main menu and is no longer hidden beneath a layer of options. Some avatar icons will be available, as well as new content for purchase.
A new version of the console is great news. As an existing owner of a PS3, it’s of little interest to me, though. Far more important to me is the answer to the question: where the hell is Gran Turismo 5, already? And there seems to be an answer to that too, it seems. According to Blast, Gran Turismo 5 will launch in October – it’s a title I’ve been waiting for since I bought my PSP about four years ago. The same title prompted me to purchase the PS3 with the GT 5 teaser disk in a bundle.
Could it finally be a reality, and how on earth will it stack up against Grid and similar high-octane racing games that have impressed me? Time will tell. I’ll believe it when I see it!
What’s on my iPhone – page 1/10
2 years ago
by manfred
in iPod/iPhone
I took the easy way out with my first post on detailing the applications I house on the iPhone and iPod Touch. I presently have 10 pages of applications on there, with page 10 being a landing pad for things I’m trying out or considering deleting. I’ve downloaded many apps for the iPhone and am constantly adding new ones. If you have an iPhone in South Africa and haven’t yet applied (by fair means or foul) for an account on the US store, you’re seriously missing out on a lot of content.
I’m a bit of a stickler when it comes to organizing the application icons, and I’ve developed my own categorization to help me find things more speedily. Of all the things I want to see in iTunes 9 (or whatever the rumoured new version to be launched September 9 will be) is something to allow me to organize the icons quickly and easily. Currently, it takes a fair bit of time to drag and place icons where I want them.
Page 1/10 is the home screen and contains all the applications I consider most important for daily use. These are the applications I use most often, with the most critical ones stored in the dock: Phone, Mail, Calendar and Contacts.
We’ll skip the standard iPhone applications Settings, Messages, Clock, App Store, Safari, Calculator, Maps and Weather.
NetNewsWire is an RSS aggregator that works in conjunction with Newsgator. Yes, I use RSS even though I’m an ardent reader of Twitter streams. I set up an online account and added RSS feeds to that. Using a browser, native app for Linux/Mac/Windows or NetNewsWire on the iPhone I have access to all RSS feeds I’ve subscribed to.
Reading on any one platform will update my read counts.
What I like best about NetNewsWire is its ability to store clippings of stories I want to remember for follow up later on. Unfortunately, the online interface at Newsgator will no longer be available soon: Google Reader is my next best bet, but NetNewsWire is unaffected and will still work.
Frequency of use: frequent
My rating (cost and usability taken into account): 4/5
Price: free
iTunes App Store URL for NetNewsWire
Bricks and studs. A movie.
Of all companies, Lego has been staunch in resisting licensing deals and Hollywood exposure. Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Sponge Bob are a few examples of how licensing deals saved the company from disaster. With a brighter sales outlook and toys that are becoming more and more popular, Lego is now setting its sights on Hollywood.
According to Variety, the movie will mix live action and computer animation. The action adventure is aimed at families and will be set in an alternative Lego world.
Somehow, I can’t see this working too well…but I’ll probably be one of the first in line to see it if/when it makes it to the local cinema.
Flexible train track
It’s an unfortunate fact that Lego‘s packaged rail pieces don’t contain a single variant of track but rather include two different types in the same box. #7896 contains both straight and curved track pieces. No matter how many of those one buys, there’s simply no way one will ever end up with enough straight sections of rail. Now there’s a solution to the conundrum of having to use many curved segments to extend a Lego railroad: a flexible track.
#8867 contains 64 track elements which are snapped together.
Each element can be used individually, or a number of them can be snapped together as required to created any layout imaginable. Best of all, there is no specific start or end piece: each track element is a piece of track in its own right.
64 pieces strung together can create a railroad segment that is 204cm in length, which is then positioned as required.
A great solution for anyone running the latest Lego RC trains!
iMac with a BackPack
Not specific to the Mac, the CableDrop solution makes organizing and neatening a desk cluttered with hardware easy. For iMac owners, or those with Cinema Displays, the BackPack may be of interest. The BackPack is a small, aluminium shelf that finds itself positioned on the back of the iMac‘s stand.
Out of view, it’s the perfect place for an external hard drive, peripheral or anything else that should be hidden from view or has no space on the desk. The punched-aluminum shelf is clipped to the back of the stand and seems rather stable – anything from a large external hard drive to a Mac Mini can find a home on the BackPack. For those worried about scratching their investment, fear not: the clips and contact points between the shelf and the iMac are non-scratch.
The BackPack is priced at USD 30, but it seems as though there is no way to calculate shipping to South Africa – no availability of this locally yet, then…
What’s on my iPhone – page 0/10
2 years ago
by manfred
in iPod/iPhone
A while back, I posted a rather speedy animation of my iPhone‘s application screens. Here’s the first of many more detailed looks at what each one of them contains.
Since it’s late and I don’t have the energy to write a lot, I’ll start with the easiest of the lot: page 0 of 10. It’s the Finder.
The Finder provides a quick way of finding content on the iPhone, from mail messages to contacts.
Frequency of use: occasional
Price: included in firmware 3.0, hence free.
Next post on this topic to include something useful. Promise 
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