http://travel.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=733455

G

Now blogging at www.techedlive.com

Greg

Well it’s been a bit of a while since I’ve put anything up here, (yeah, yeah, I’m slack, I know) and though oh well, seeing as I’m sitting here doing not much else I better give some of my loyal readers a bit of an update on the Life of Greg.

So, where to start (I guess the beginning is a good place!)

Since the last entry on July 16th, I’ve been backwards and forwards to Adelaide a few times, I’ve had a girlfriend, I’ve ditched a girlfriend, I’ve got a new car (or maybe I already wrote about that… can’t remember), I’ve spent way too much time Scouting and St Johning and right now, I’ve got a bastard of a head cold and I’m sitting at the MCG doing comms for St John at the football today.

So there you go, a quick summary of the past month or so.

On the work front, things seem to be going quite stedily at the moment, no real complaints there. The social aspect of the calendar is some what lacking at the moment, but hopefully I’ll manage to turn that around in the coming months.

The home front, well I haven’t been there much to really get in to too much trouble. I finally got around to fixing my Media Centre PC which blew a power supply over 12 months ago, only to replace it this week to find there were 3 blown capacitors on the motherboard that had also been cooked and therefor the graphics card wouldn’t work either. So a new mobo, ram and graphics card later, I’ve got my newly refirbished Media Centre back up running, this time with Vista Media Centre and I must say, I am quite impressed.

IceTV has had a big facelift both on the Website Front, the Media Centre Front and of course the iPhone front, and with the iPhone application it is now better than ever.

Oh, I better throw in here that I’m pregnant with Jackie Christini’s alien love child, yes, you heard it here first! I just want the baby bonus dammit! I’m just like one of those desparate Frankston single slutty mums (whoops did I say that out loud!). Push out a kid to get me a new TV and my next hit of heroin!

What else is happening, oh, did I mention that I am high on cold and flu tablets? Oh, did I mention that I am high on cold and flu tablets? CQ 40 Meters Over Over! Again, Again,!

Tonight off to Whitehorse Showtime, and tomorrow I think a day doing sweet FA is on the cards. Might head to the gym if my head is feeling a little less clagged up.

Oh well, time to focus on my job.

Ciao.

G

PCWorld put the iPhone to the Stress Test - Click Here!

Greg

Just when I thought it might be a couple of weeks before I’d have to travel again, I copped the 10pm phone call and off I was to Adelaide at the crack of dawn this morning.

Thank god for Qantas Club. I don’t think I would survive the long hours sitting around at airports with out it.

So, to kill the time, It’s time to play catch up on the life of Greg.

What’s been happening you ask? Well to be honest, not a hell of a lot really. Life has been fairly hectic with both St John and Scouts, which has left not much time for anything else. Other than that, finally got my new car… yes yes I know, another new car but hey, you work hard, you play hard

Yesterday I went down to the Melbourne 4×4 Training grounds to put the new car, Toyota Prado, through its paces in a nice controlled environment which was great fun. Pitty I have to clean the bloody thing now.

Some photos will be up on the all new picture gallery soon! (As soon as I get home to upload the damn things! - Kinda ran out of time last night). So follow the link on the right to the gallery to check it all out! You’ll have to bear with me as I’m still setting the whole Coppermine thing up.

It’s really quite interesting to sit here in Qantas Club and listen to some of the absolute shite that people are talking. Quite funny. Wack a few free drinks into someone and it’s quite amazing the conversation topics that come up.

Anyhoo, time to fly. $20 says it’s delayed and I sit on the tarmac for 30 minutes again!

G

I am writing this post as I’m watching the WWDC keynote.

iPhone
Well, WWDC - firstly, iPhone 2.0 software is out! 3 Parts to it.

1. Enterprise Support - Microsoft Exchange Support! Push Email, Push Contacts, Push Calendars, GAL Lookup, and Remote Wipe! Cisco VPN built in! Some great new features!
2. The second big thing with the iPhone launched at WWDC is the 2.0 SDK (Software Development Kit). This is HUGE! Now you as a developer will have access to the source and coding tools to develop a content rich application platform for your iPhones! WOW, this is big!
3. And last but no least, MobileMe

Now going off WWDC for a sec - Looking at the Australian iPhone Website shows that you can only get the iPhone from Optus & Vodafone at this stage. Will Telstra get the phone? Well speaking to an un-named source…. the answer is yes, but they are just playing the cards close to their chest right now.

OK - so the features…..

• Phone
• iPod
• Enterprise Email Support for Microsoft Exchange
• 3G
• GPS
• Web Browsing
• Added Security with two factor authentication and the list goes on…. see here!

Now, back to the iPhone. Pricing here in Australia hasn’t been released. But… going by the WWDC US Pricing…. 16GB $299USD, 8GB $199USD so I would expect to see it here for +$50-$100 there abouts.

The hot word with all the Developers that they had on stage was FREE FREE FREE! So it looks like there will be some cool free apps available for the iPhone. That, and the SDK will be available and very very cool for all!

Ok, so now, out of the box, you’ve got the Exchange Support, so also, Word, Excel and Powerpoint as well as Pages, Numbers etc. A Scientific calculator, Parental Control and heaps of language support.

On the dev front, the app store will be great! Download applications straight to your iPhone. Developers can share their apps, set their own price, and Apple don’t charge hosting of Credit Card fees, but, they do only pass on 70% of the total to the developer, so essentially there is a 30% fee for using the Application Store.

So the next biggest announcement is Push email for those without their own Exchange server - Apple call it MobileMe. All very self explanitory, simply push email, calendar and contacts without an Exchange Server.

So there you have it, 70 Countries, and launched in 22 on July 11th!

Happy iPhoning!

G

To watch the keynote - click here!

What will WWDC bring….? watch the space…

G

So, watch this space, Apple iPhone less than a week away! w00t!

G

With the new release of the 3G Apple iPhone rumored to only be a few weeks away now, it is almost certain that we will see it here in Australia within the next 2 months.

It has been almost certainly confirmed that we won’t have the same problems as the USA has where AT&T purchased the sole rights to the sale of the Apple iPhone which lead to mass hacking to make it work with other providers such as Verizon and Bell in Canada.

Cracked iPhones became the hot must have item on Ebay at first, until people started bricking them after Apple released an update which re-wrote the code in the modem and killed peoples iPhones who had hacked them, but alas, within days, another hack was out and with that the next round of hacked iPhones.

Here in Australia, all three of the major players, (Telstra, Optus & Vodafone), have confirmed that they will be selling the iPhone, so the exclusivity problem sounds like it won’t be a problem. With most exclusive deals here in Australia we have seen Provider Locked handsets which led to a ACCC investigation and now, providers can lock the handsets but have to offer a quick and easy way for a user to unlock the handset to use with alternate providers. Of course, technical limitations may stop you using your phone on alternate networks.

So, I pose the question, with all the hype of the iPhone in the US, will you be rushing out to buy an iPhone?

Rumored so far, 3G, 22% Thinner, Better Battery Life, Unlocked for Australian Providers, 16GB & 32GB models and priced to be about $599 & $799 respectively.

Having played with an iPhone a few times, I must say that the user interface is mighty impressive. Apple really do get their user interfaces right first time every time (Ok, so maybe the f**ked up the Apple TV, but we’ll forgive them for that as now it’s kick arse!). Most people know that I am a big Apple fan, and even being a PC support person in a day to day role, I still use both a iMac in the office and a MacBook for my Laptop.

My concern at the moment is in the business and corporate space where people will rush out and try and replace their Windows Mobile device or Blackberry, which are specifically targeted at the corporate space for the out of office mobility solution, with the Apple iPhone which is very much targeted at the Consumer level offering Music, Podcasts, Video, SMS and a Phone, and at this point in time, there is no Exchange Connector or Blackberry Enterprise Server connector which straight away deters me to be selling them or recommending them in the corporate space.

A hot item in the next few months, and personally, I can’t wait to see what they’re going to do with the product here. Will it be 3G on 2100MHz only or have Telstra convinced them to make it 3G on 850MHz as well for their Next G network?

All will be revealed in time

Keep an eye on the following….
Australian IT - www.australianit.com.au
ZDNet Australia - www.zdnet.com.au
Gizmodo Australia - www.gizmodo.com.au
Apple Australia - www.apple.com.au

G