Chronicles of Nerdom

T-Mobile Acquisition

Austen S. — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 05:34:51 +0000

If you haven’t heard, AT&T recently bought T-Mobile USA for $39 Billion in cash and stocks. This means that AT&T will jump ahead of Verizon as the number one carrier in the United States. The following is my opinion on the acquisition and whether it’s good for the consumer or not.

One thing this transaction has caused is confusion. So many T-Mobile customers asked if they’d get the iPhone soon that T-Mobile added it to the FAQ section. This is also good for both carriers. T-Mobile’s 3G will be greatly improved and AT&T’s 4G will be improved. This also means that AT&T is the only GSM carrier in the US now. There are definitely good things coming out of this, but possibly some bad things. For the consumer, AT&T could raise the (already outrageous) rates.

Chronicles of Nerdom (Take 2)

Austen S. — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 05:27:55 +0000

As you can see, I have had a ling absence from posting on this blog, although I’ve been blogging a bit recently (I’ll import those posts later). Anyway, I’m going to blog here again, I’ll be covering my opinion on the tech news that is important to me.

I hope it is interesting and I’ll see you in the next post. Peace!

iPhone Jailbreaking Now Legal!

Austen S. — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:01:00 +0000

Yesterday a US Court ruled iPhone jailbreaking and unlocking as completely legal, as long as it doesn’t violate copyright laws. So that means that the craked apps in Installous is still illegal, but it means we can now customize out iPhones and put them on any carrier.

Apple, who has always been against jailbreaking, responded today about this new ruling. They say you can jailbreak, but it will still void your warranty. An apple spokesperson said the following:

Apple’s goal has always been to insure that our customers have a great experience with their iPhone and we know that jailbreaking can severely degrade the experience. As we’ve said before, the vast majority of customers do not jailbreak their iPhones as this can violate the warranty and can cause the iPhone to become unstable and not work reliably.

I can see where Apple is coming from on this, but jailbreaking does not make your iPhone unstable and unreliable. I used to have a jailbreak, and sure, it lags a little bit, and sometimes apps crash, but most of that was a hardware issue since I have an iPod touch 2nd Gen. If jailbreaking was so much of a problem, then how come 10% of iPhones are jailbroken?

If you do need have a problem with your iPhone and it’s jailbroken, simply hit the restore button in iTunes to restore to the official version of the firmware.

iPod touch 4th generation

Austen S. — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:55:55 +0000

A little video i made with my expectations for the iPod touch 4th Generation. I can’t wait for it to come out.

A Second Run to the Apple Store

Austen S. — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 04:51:50 +0000

I made a second run to the Apple Store today to get a brand-new iMac. It’s amazing. I may do a review soon since the Mac OS is amazing.

I also tried out an iPhone 4. The Retina display is amazing. I actually thought the display was print and I couldn’t use it. FaceTime is awesome. iMovie for iPhone and HD video recording are the bomb.

I did get the antenna issue but only when I squeezed the sides, which people would only do if they were pissed off.

Anyway, I love the screen on my new iMac. The keyboard and mouse are small and efficient. The OS is amazing. Bottom line, the iMac is awesome. I’ll go into depth on it later, but I just wanted to give you a few updates.

iPhone 4 – The Non-Phone Phone

Austen S. — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 06:56:03 +0000

Since it’s release last week, Apple has sold over 1 million iPhone 4s. Many of those people have been having reception issues when they hold their iPhone 4 like a cell phone since the antenna system us the structure of the iPhone. This happens only when you cover the bottom-left corner of the side of the iPhone. Apple put the 3G antenna at the bottom because people (including me) are worried about radiation from the signal causing brain cancer.

iOS 4 – Upgrade or not?

Austen S. — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 20:40:34 +0000

Yesterday Apple released iOS 4 for iPhone 3G, iPhone 3Gs, and iPod touch (2nd and 3rd gen). Today, I am reviewing iOS 4 for the iPod touch 2G.

First, we’ll cover upgrading. It takes about a half hour on Windows XP machines, but probably around 5-15 minutes on Windows Vista & 7/Mac OS X.

The OS itself is pretty good. I am bummed about multitasking and a home screen wallpaper not being able to be included on the iPod touch 2G version of the OS. I really like the app folders, it really cleaned up my home screen.

The new dock looks really cool and I prefer it to the docks in iPhone OS 1-3 and most of the ones you can get for WinterBoard if you jailbreak your iPod. A reflection was added also. It’s just awesome.

Spell-check is a new addition. YouTube can go portrait. Everything is so responsive.

iBooks is an app that is only available on iOS 4 (except iPad). It’s a convenient addition and I’d recommend it to anyone who upgrades.

Overall, if you relied on a jailbroken IPod touch (MC models, you can check which model you have by going into Settings>General>About) I wouldn’t suggest upgrading. There’s a jailbreak for iPhone 3G/3GS, and iPod touch 3G/(non-MC) 2G but I’d wait for a better jailbreak.

If you can’t wait for iOS 4 and want to jailbreak it, and if you have a non-MC model iPod touch/iPhone, follow this link:

http://redsn0w.com

A run to the Apple Store

Austen S. — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 04:45:15 +0000

Well, yesterday I went to the Apple Store and got to check things out I probably wouldn’t have been able to check out without this store run.

First we’ll start with the iPad. Originally I thought it was a fail and something that is going to fade away quick. Well, it’s not like that at all. The iPad is extremely faster than an iPhone (I thought it would just be a little faster, but no, this runs lightning fast). The web experience on an iPad is amazing. It’s so much easier to type and get around the web. Then there are the games. They are so much more responsive and easier to play because of the enhanced hardware. I like the fact that the home screen can go landscape. Thats the iPad in a nutshell. I may get more in-depth with it a little later, but for now, let’s continue with the news of my store run.

I decided to get an iMac this year from the demo I saw today. A 21.5 inch screen, 3.06 Ghz Processer, 4GB of RAM…WOW! For $1500, the iMac is a great deal.

Continuing on with Macs, I also saw a MacBook Air. I can only say those things are tiny!

The new redesigned Mac Mini is a little beast. It takes up less space than the smallest PC you can buy!

So there is my store run I did yesterday. This post would have been longer if you guys had the time to read it. I will take a look at iOS 4 for iPod touch 2nd Generation on Monday when it comes out. So I will see you then.

Chronicles of Nerdom

Austen S. — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 03:55:51 +0000

Welcome. This is my new blog that I use for sharing my thoughts on technology or life. I know you’re probably thinking “Oh God, this is going to suck” but just stay with me here for a while.

i(Phone)OS 4

Austen S. — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 05:53:00 +0000

Earlier today at WWDC, Steve Jobs unvieled the iPhone 4. iPhone OS 4, renamed iOS will be a free upgrade to both iPhone and iPod touch users, unlike previous major iPhone OS updates.

New features include multitasking, home screen wallpaper, unified inbox, multiple MS Exchange accounts. These are only a few of the over 100 new features

iOS 4 will be compatible with iPhone 3G and 3Gs, as well as iPod touch 2nd and 3rd generations, but multitasking will be unavailable on iPod touches due to Hardware incompatiblity.

Now, about the name change, I really have not much else to say other than “what the @$&%! were they thinking?!” iPhone OS explained what the OS was but also managed to sound cool. iOS on the other hand, sounds like some cheap knockoff of an Apple product.

What do you think?

Apple Website