iPhone 4 vs HTC Thunderbolt... FIGHT!

Its a given that I have been wanting the iPhone since January 2007... so for 4 years now, and saying its a given is actually putting it rather lightly. To give you an idea of how badly I wanted that phone, I can tell you that I distinctly remember being on a boat, in the middle of the sea off the coast of Hawaii, dolphin watching, and looking down at my watch and thinking, "The iPhone just got released on the East coast." Thats how crazy obsessed I was.  Hell, I even bought the thing while in Hawaii, and told my parents I was switching to AT&T no matter how much it would cost me to jump off the Verizon family plan and pay my own way for the iPhone. Three weeks later, as the phone sat in front of me unopened, I realized I could never afford to be on AT&T without my parents support, and so I returned the phone, and vowed to wait until Verizon received it in a few months or so to get it.

4 years later, here we are, and I cant say Im still drooling and slobbering from anticipation. In September of 2007, I picked up the iPod touch, my only savior that helped me weather the storm of not having an iPhone. And every September since 2007, I bought a new iPod that came with many of the features the iPhone was given just 2 months earlier. And so, I continued to wait patiently.

But then Droid happened to Verizon in November of 2009. And suddenly, Verizon had a geek phone to call its own. Not only that, it had a killer app that even the almighty iPhone didnt have: Free Navigation, direct from Google Maps. It even had voice search, voice dial, voice-to-text, voice-anything. And it was insanely accurate. And suddenly the iPhone wasnt the only game in town anymore. The phrase "iPhone Killer" got thrown around a lot prior to the Droid series of phones, as a way of decreeing an upcoming phone that would finally best the iPhone in all ways. The Droid series never got called an "iPhone Killer," yet the phrase stopped getting tossed around as Droid picked up steam, and more and more awesome phones got announced - all on Verizon. I dont think one Droid phone every had a chance of contending with the iPhone, but I think the Droid series may have put a serious damper on the iPhone awesomeness.

I wont spend a great deal of time explaining what a Droid can do, but lets just sum it up by saying that Verizon's first marketing campaign for its Droid was simply, "Droid Does." And it "does" really well.

Source: Verizon

And this week, Droid Does got a WHOLE lot better. Not only did Verizon announce that faster wireless data speeds would be coming to Verizon phones this year, but all the phones announced were Droid phones, and they would be here in the next 3 months. This faster speed is referred to as 4G LTE, similar to what Sprint has with their network. This means I would go from downloading youtube videos or internet webpages at 256kb per second to downloading them at 5MB per second (over 10 times an increase). This is CRAZY fast, and the best part is, Verizon isnt planning on raising their prices. AND its already in my area, so all I have to do is buy a 4G LTE phone, and Ive got instant amazingness in my hand.



One phone Verizon announced this week in particular, has caught my attention: The HTC Thunderbolt. The Thunderbolt look STUNNING (pictured below on the left). Its got a huge touchscreen, a super fast processor, an amazing UI, and its got 4G LTE to boot. HTC's first marketing campaign for this phone even said, "This is not your dream phone. Its the one after that." And from everything I have heard from people who have reviewed this phone, its pretty amazing.

Source: Engadget

So after this phone was announced, I was all over getting it. And then THE VERY NEXT DAY, Verizon announced that they have something else to announce this coming Tuesday the 11th. Why would Verizon hold a second press conference so soon after a major, major one? iPhone, everyone and the Wall Street Journal screamed. Verizon iPhone.

Source: 9to5Mac

Which is actually why we are here.  This morning I woke up to rumors turned reports from credible individuals and journals that YES, INDEED AND ACTUALLY ARE TRUE, Verizon will announce the imminent release of the iPhone for its network on Tuesday, January 11th, 2011 at 11am. Or, 1/11/11 at 11am.

After 4 years of lusting after the Verizon iPhone, my first sleepy, half-awake thought was OMG BREAK OPEN MY PIGGY BANK I WILL NEED PENNIES AND NICKLES NOWWWWWWWWWW IPHONE IZ 2 BE MINEEEEEEEEZ.

Source: The Oatmeal and Engadget

But then after the insane hallucinations of Verizon iPhones everywhere, I started to re-think my decision through the long term. What about the navigation app I use at least once a week with my Droid? What about all the 4G LTE phones that were announced just two days ago (The Verizon iPhone will not have 4G LTE at launch)? What about the HTC Thunderbolt I was already cutting out my kidney for???? This was problematic.

So I decided, like any kid these days, that instead of thinking through my decision in my own head privately, I would blog and publicly record the whole ordeal online.

So here we are. 3..... 2..... 1..... iPhone 4 vs HTC Thunderbolt - FIGHT!!!!!

......

...... ummmm...... on second thought, Im kinda exhausted after writing all this.

Lets just do a pros and cons thingy and call it good.

iPhone:
Pros: Apple, A bazillion neat apps, sleek design, syncs with my iCal, Email, Music, etc Flawlessly, i LOVEEEEE the touch screen keyboard, and have gotten really good at it over the years in trusting it. reliable software, angry birds, attracts quality developers, has facetime, itunes mobile store for buying music when i hear it on the radio, it just works.....
Cons: You cant tweak the software, doesnt have 4G, Id be locked into the iPhone 4 for 2 years before getting the ability to get the new version, Id have to switch over all my stuff from android, no wireless tethering, and id lose navigation and earth and other cool google maps shit.

Thunderbolt:
Pros: 4G LTE amaZing speeds, google maps, navigation, tweak it to my hearts content, free syncing to google.... calendar widget to remind me.....
Cons: big phone, have to use google, doesnt have itunes music store or my music, has trouble syncing my calendars, cant use my r.l@tme.com email account, doesnt have all the cool apps, apps are kinda buggy sometimes, keyboard typing sucks, etc, etc.....

The Good News

Good news. I figured out what that thing you just incinerated did. It was a morality core they installed after I flooded the enrichment center with a deadly neurotoxin to make me stop flooding the enrichment center with a deadly neurotoxin, so get comfortable while I warm up the neurotoxin emitters.

Lol. Man, I love Portal.

But seriously.

I have good news!

Most of you who read my blog know EXACTLY what good news Im talking about. So for all intensive purposes, Ill just go ahead and tell you that the official word I was waiting for became OFFICIAL today. Meaning Im getting exactly what I want, when I want it.

Ill leave vague because no one knows yet..... you know how these things go. The agreement is made, a press conference is called, and THEN the announcement is made public.

So I have to wait for the press conference.  But its exciting!

Until I can officially unveil my cool news to those NOT in the know, heres my favorite new song this week:

Hey, guess what?

...Im back, baby. Good news to come soon!

In Brief: Got the new Xbox 360 Dashboard!

I dont wanna upload shitty pictures of mine, but heres basically what shows on my Xbox now.  AWESOME.

 Be Jealous.

Source: Engadget

Living a Teenage Dream

After all has been said and done, today was super awesome. I was finally reunited with my iPod, and the brand spankin new one at that.  And because my iPod has a camera now, I pretty much recorded my way through the day. How did it all go down?  Read on!

9am. Rolled out of bed and jumped in the shower. Today was the day. The night before, I had asked two Apple stores if they had the new iPods in stock, and both said they had them, and would be selling them at 10am when they opened. So I had ran home and canceled my un-shipped iPod touch order from the Apple website. Why wait to get it Friday when I was DYING without it?

9:30. For various reasons, today was going to be a gay day, meaning my tight jeans from Express, club spanks from Calvin Klein (mirroring ones that Chris wears in a Skins episode), and that cute shirt that I bought from Hot Topic. So I spent a good amount of time getting ready and looking sharp. Hell, I even did my hair, which I hadnt done in weeks. I was getting my life back today; I had to look good when it happened.

9:55am. Right on time, I entered the parking garage in the Boulder mall, and parked. Wallet? Check. I was good to go.

10:03am. I strolled into the Apple store just past opening. I was shocked. There were already 20 people in the store!!! WTF! And Im not counting employees, there were legit 20 customers in the store already. And only one of them was buying an iPod.  I waited behind the one guy buying an iPod for my turn.

10:04am. An agonizing 1 minute later, I finally made it to the front of the line. "64 GB iPod Touch please!" I said. "Oh, sorry," she replied,  "We didnt get any of those." My heart fell out my ass, on to the floor, and rolled away. "Try online," she added. I couldnt speak, there was too much flame coming out my mouth. TRY ONLINE?????? YOU MEAN LIKE THAT ONLINE ORDER I JUST CANCELED LAST NIGHT????  I struggled to maintain my composure as I walked toward the exit, lightening and fire already coursing their way through my rib cage. I managed to catch my breath long enough to ask the concierge for the phone number for the nearest Apple store. This wasnt over. Not by a long shot.

10:06am. I dialed the next closest Apple store and was told I was 6th in line for my call to be answered. I turned on Bluetooth, jumped in my car, and sped off with the Chew Fu Ghettohouse remix of LoveGame blaring out my speakers.



10:18am. Im 5 minutes away from the Apple store, and someone finally picks up. I put back on my sweet, innocent voice. "Hi, do you have the new iPod Touches in stock?" I ask, not being specific yet out of fear for what the answer might be." "Yes," he replies. I continue, "......Do you have the 64 GB version?" Time seems to pause as I wait for his answer, aware that he holds my fate in his hands. "Yes." he says. Im assuming hes making a mistake, so I try to get more details, "How many of these do you have in stock?" "We arent allowed to give that information over the phone," he says, "But I would get here as soon as possible." With that answer, I knew he had them. If one store didnt have any, then any other store would only have a few in stock. I hung up and drove 50 MPH through the parking lot til I found a spot.

10:22am. I rushed into the store, not caring how diva-like my walk had become. I was about to stroke out, I needed my iPod back in my life, and fast. I walked up to the person selling the new iPods. I didnt even manage a complete sentence, "Hi.....64GB iPod please." And then. To my shock and horror, he replied, "Oh, Im sorry, we didnt get any in today." My lungs deflated a little. "But.... But..... I just spoke to someone who said they had them in!!!!!!" I may have been shrieking at this point, which is probably why the manager came over. "Can I help you?" he asked. "Yes!" I said, "I just called THIS STORE 5 minutes ago and someone in the back said you had the 64 GB iPod Touch in stock!!!!!" "Well I didnt see any this morning, so Im not sure who you talked to." he said calmly. I wish I could have maintained MY calm at this point, but I couldnt. I tried explaining again, "I just called THIS store and spoke to someone who said they had them to and to get here ASAP meaning there were only a few in stock, so Im assuming he knew he was talking about!" Finally, the manager got on his radio, and called the back room. "Do we have an 64 GB iPod Touches in stock?" He waited, and listened. "Nope," he said, "Im sorry but we dont have any." I didnt even have time to speak before his hands went back up to his ear to listen to his radio. Then his face looked really confused, and then he looked at me. "Oh." he said, "Apparently the delivery guy just dropped them off. Let me go get you one." I held my breathe. I had been through too much this morning to believe everything was going to be ok. I was going to wait until I had the damn thing in my hands to breathe a sigh of relief.

10:24am. The manager came back out with the 64 GB iPod Touch. I snatched it from him and examined it. Sure enough, it was the right one. THANK GOD, I thought.

10:26am. I strolled out of the Apple store with the iPod in one hand and the receipt in the other. Then I panicked and realized that my iPod was in plain sight and visible to other people. I childishly HID IT UNDER MY SHIRT and exited the mall. I walked quickly back to my car, fearful my iPod would be taken from me. I got in the car, shut the door, and locked it. Alone at last. Finally, I had my baby. Thats when I took this picture:

First time alone with my iPod

10:27am. I started the car, and headed home.

11:00am. I got home, ran upstairs, and grabbed my camera. I tried to record the whole unboxing process.  The I found out iPods are not meant to be opened one-handed. So I ditched the idea pretty quickly, but not before some pretty embarrassing videos of me trying were produced. Im not showing those..... right now, anyways.

1pm: 2 hours later, my iPod had finally synced up. And I had managed to use that time rearranging all my apps. I created enough folders so that I went from 8 pages of apps to just 2 pages. I was pretty happy.  A few more clicks, and my iPod was ready.

1:25pm. I headed downstairs to show my Dad and to compare it to his first-gen iPod touch. But he was busy, and I was being impatient. So I strolled out the door to show my Mom at her office.... 30 minutes away.

2:00pm. I drive up to my Mom's school, where I suddenly realized that Im all gayed out in front of 100 at-risk youth who are all court-ordered to go to this high school. Needless to say, they werent quite sure what the hell I was doing approaching them, and I could tell all the guys immediately felt the need to defend their own sexual orientation in front of their girlfriends. I wont repeat the comments, but its not like I took offense to them anyways.

2:01pm. I made it to my Mom's office. I showed off my iPod for a bit, then I sat down as my Mom handled other work she needed to do. And needing a chance to test out the 720p video recording, I proceeded to record this video below. You can tell I was messing with the focus and lighting a little bit:

2:30pm. Driving home listening to my music, I realize that my iPod now has a mic built in, so I no longer have to search for a different song while driving.... I can just use voice control and tell it what song to change to!  I took a picture to demonstrate:

I squealed with delight after figuring this out. This was going to be the best iPod EVER.

The rest of the day, I just messed with my iPod touch a bit more. Playing games, trying out new features, etc.

5:30pm. I took another few videos, just for kicks.  The first shows me with the front facing camera. The latter shows my parents not paying attention.  Again, me being creepy. Although the look on my Moms face is PRICELESS. I edited that last bit and sent it to my sister.




7:30pm. I didnt get a picture, but my old supervisor called me using Facetime!!!! I wish I had snapped a screen shot so you could see, but alas, I did not. Ill have to grab it some other time.....

Anyways, it was a fun, exhausting day getting my life back in order, and Im still figuring out some cool new tricks to this iPod. Like, for example, I can install RINGTONES on it finally! It used for people call me on Facetime. I can have a ringtone for everyone that calls, so start calling me!  If you have an iPod Touch or iPhone 4, then call me on Facetime using my Facetime-only email address: Ross.Logan@me.com

Comment on Facebook or something if you have any questions about the iPod!

A Clip from The Oatmeal

This is totally me at the security line, like 100%. Especially since I have to dig my phone, ipod, headphones out, then rip off my belt, take off my shoes, fling out my laptop, throw everything on the belt, all while all these people are waiting behind me and pushing me forward. I hate it!

Courtesy of The Oatmeal

By the way, if you arent already reading the Oatmeal, you should be. I literally laugh out loud in a hysterical geeky way every time I read a new post of his. Its simply hilarious and I love it. Go ahead, it will make your day better.

It Aint all Peaches and Cream

So today was a great day. I rolled out of bed at 10am PST, turned on my computer, and started watching the live feed of today’s Apple event on my big screen TV at the foot of my bed. With surround sound, of course. And I had a high quality feed coming in too. The entire event I was simply enjoying myself instead of listening to fuzzy audio and a poor connection from a webcam from someone in the audience.

And it gave me a bit of time to reflect on the announcements today. I wont cover Apple TV, simply because this item still wont be much impact on people’s lives.

However. Apple updated three items… make that FOUR items, that people use everyday and are a part of their daily lives. And I'm just not sure everyone is getting what they really want.

Lets start with the Shuffle. Ok, now this update I get. People like being able to reach for the buttons. So they moves back to a Shuffle that had buttons on it instead of only relying on the headphones remote/mic switch. My dad actually runs with his Shuffle all the time, and had to put heavy layers of masking tape over the buttons on the headphones because sweat kept dripping down into the buttons and then cranking the volume without warning.

Photo Courtesy of Apple

Yea. So, my Dad will be going out and getting the new Shuffle for sure. People just like to have the buttons on their iPod. ESPECIALLY an iPod that is really just for music!

So heres where I get confused. Lets see if we can follow this logic. People. Like Buttons. Ok, Ok, so another words – People like Buttons….. on their iPods…. That are for music. Ok, whoa whoa whoa. We are going too fast now. Lets back up.

People. Buttons. iPods. Music.

And because people like buttons on their iPods…. then why did Apple GET RID OF THEM on the Nano??????

I have been just puzzled all day by this. We are now on the 6th generation of Nano. Last year, Apple outdid themselves and release a LARGE screen Nano that could view VIDEO and also SHOOT VIDEO while till having BUTTONS.

5th Generation of iPod Nano (Last Year's Model)

And then this year, its like…… What???? You decided to do what? Get rid of the buttons, get rid of the camera, get rid of being able to look at videos, get rid of the bigger screen?

Photo Courtesy of Apple

Didn’t you just bring back buttons to a device where people missed the buttons?????? Are you even allowed to contradict yourself on the same day?

I'm just speechless. Am I crazy? Can anyone actually see Apple’s BRILLIANT idea behind this move for their Nano????

Ok, lets move on. The day wasn’t horrible. Actually, for me, it was AWESOME. I prayed for an iPod Touch with a camera, 720p recording, microphone, retina display and faster processor, and I GOT IT ALL! Its like they heard my prayers from last year and finally got with it.

Photo Courtesy of Apple

This is how awesome it is. Are you ready? …..I might not sell my iPod come next September. Why would I need to? I literally now have EVERYTHING I want in an iPod.

We can end their on the iPod Touch. Just know its now the BEST iPod on the market, and that’s that.

Lets move on to the other stink in the pile today – iTunes 10.

All day, I have been excited to use the new iTunes 10. Then I downloaded it. Ping, their new social networking for music application was fun for about 5 minutes. Ill wait till they add in Facebook connectivity.

Photo Courtesy of Apple

Then I started looking around to see what else they had changed. For starters, THEY TOOK ALL THE COLOR OUT. All of it. Every icon is now GREY GREY GREY. I cant even tell what everything is now, as the colors were my cue! And the icon changed as well for the iTunes application as a whole, I have trouble recognizing the new icon after being with the old one for 6 years!

Photo Courtesy of Apple

The whole iTunes just frustrates me now, and I'm pissed.

So nods for the day for Apple – the iPod Touch, and the Shuffle.

WTF moments – The new Nano, and iTunes 10 color scheme.

You win some, you lose some.

How I Conquered the Xbox 360 Slim Hard Drive

Wow, what a wild past couple of days. Ive been cleaning like crazy, trying to get adjusted back to life in Boulder, CO.  But that meant first moving my 19-year old self old OUT of my room before my 23 year old self could move in.

... But thats a different post, with pictures.

Right now I wanna talk about how I am slowly, but surely, conquering the Xbox 360 Slim Hard Drive.

The story starts with me being impatient. My room at home doesnt have an Ethernet port for me to plug my current Xbox 360 into.  That means no Netflix Instant Streaming to my HDTV. However, I could go out and buy a wireless adapter for $100 bux that would make it work in my house, since my house has wireless.

Or I could buy the new $300 Xbox 360 Slim edition that has the wireless adapter built in.

Having money in my pocket, I promptly went out and bought the new Xbox 360 with a 250GB hard drive.

Now that I had my new Xbox, I needed to transfer all my old data from the old Xbox onto the new one.

So I went back to the store and bought a $20 transfer cable. (Remember, Im doing all this to avoid paying for the $100 adapter. Im saving money, right?)

So I came home and transferred all the data from my old Xbox to my new one.

Simple enough right?

Well, not quite. The Xboxs got to talking and decided they didnt want to transfer all my installed games from the hard drive, which is about 50GB of data. Well, that didnt sit ok with me. I was pissed.

I was super pissed. Thats dumb, I thought. There must be a way around this.

So I got to researching, and I found a program that will copy ANY data from one Xbox hard drive to a PC, and then back out to another Xbox hard drive.

So I got to work, slowly moving over all the data from the hard drive.  This first part was simple enough, as the cable I bought from the store was a simple connect one end here, and the USB end to the PC.  Done and done.

Then i went to repeat this process for the new Xbox 360 hard drive, the slim model.

Again, I was thrown a curve ball.

The new Xbox 360 slim hard drive uses a standard SATA port, instead of an eSATA port that the transfer cable uses.  Another words, I couldnt just plug in the new hard drive to the cable.

Oh no. It wouldnt be that easy, laughed my new shiny hard drive.

But a thought occurred to me. This is a STANDARD SATA port. Couldnt I just plug in the hard drive to an external hard drive shell and run it through the USB port that the drive shells come with?

So around the house I went, grabbing every custom made external hard drive I could find, and ripping them apart. After ripping apart 3 of them, I finally found one that would work.

My little... contraption... is displayed below:

Left: New Hard Drive. Right: Old Hard Drive

So as you can see, the old hard drive plugged into the cable as didnt need any mess.  The one on the left, however, the new shiny black hard drive, needed some.... tender loving care.

And this, sadly, was only half the battle. Now I am patiently waiting as each file uploads back to the new hard drive, carefully coding each folder to match the 8 hexi-decimal code so that the new Xbox can read it right.

Its been 2 hours, and Im not even done with the first set of files. There are EIGHT sets of files. Oy vey, I dont even know if this will work yet!

But Im proud of myself though. Even when the Xbox said no, I said yes, and I pushed til I got the answer I want.

Side note: My dad will kinda be pissed when he finds out ultimately it was his hard drive shell I had to take apart for my contraption to work.  Oops. Ill put it back together before I go to bed.

More posts to come soon!  Especially one Im excited to write about dealing with parents hosting drinking parties.  It will very much be a Student Affairs post, and Ill be excited for feedback!

Question: How Did You Make Questions?

So, for the past few weeks, i have been OBSESSED with the Old Spice commercial, Questions.  And I have been dying to know, how did he pull it off!

Well thank goodness my buddies G4 and Attack of the Show, did an interview with the Old Spice dude to get those questions answered!

Enjoy below!

If Lady Gaga came to the Office....

OMG - awesome video @LadyGaga just tweeted about. Check it out below!




Well, Basically: Its awesome, you should watch it.