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One key advantage that Apple computers have over their PC counterparts is the inclusion of iChat.  This pre-installed and drop dead easy to use chat and video chat application is ready to go the minute you get your new Apple computer on the Internet.

To accompany the launch of their sexy Studio line of laptops,  Dell is including a new utility on their Studio line computers called Dell Video Chat which is powered by SightSpeed, a proven video conferencing application I’ve written about before.  The inclusion of this application will bring simple video conferencing amongst the new Dell users and will allow them to interface with friends, family, and colleagues who are on Windows, Linux, or Apple computers.

One competitive advantage SightSpeed brings to the table is their inclusion of Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), the standard VoIP protocol used on the internet and enabling you to make VoIP calls to almost any VoiP user on the globe.

Just for Dell, SightSpeed has a new UI just for the Studio laptops that is redesigned and slick.  Dell Video Chat includes free unlimited video, voice, and text chats worldwide to anyone else on SightSpeed and video conferencing with up to 4 people.

So Apple came out with their new cell phone today - the iPhone 3G, as they’re calling it.  For those of you who don’t know, it has:

• 3G network access
• A new plastic-ey look
• built in GPS

All these features were known as of last week thanks to the blogosphere.  However, the amazing thing to me with the new iPhone is the battery life!  I’m hoping these numbers are close to reality: 300 hours of standby, 5 hours of 3G Talk, 8 hours of 2G (EDGE) talk time.  Outstanding!

These features are all great…they are ones I’ve been enjoying on my Nokia N95 and N82 for about a year now.  Geo-location on photos is awesome and I’m glad my iPhone brethren will finally be able to see where photos are taken and know exactly where they are on a map…rather than 1800 metres of accuracy granted by Google Maps ‘My Location’ triangulation - also known as poor man’s GPS.

As I was talking with Jason Grigsby yesterday, I think location based services are going to be hot. and iPhone’s inclusion of 3G will take LBS to a whole new level.  Take Apple’s Core Location - it tells you who on the contact list of your iPhone is within 10 miles of you.  This will be useful going forward and I am anxious to see what kind of apps devs can write with Core Location being able to be used throughout the iPhone OS.

Peter Ha over at TechCrunch is bitching about the iPhone requiring a 2-year contract.  Um, Peter…the iPhone ALWAYS required a 2-year AT&T service agreement…what’s so new about this?  Anyone who bought an iPhone last year in the US agreed to be contracted (I call it “By the Balls”) with AT&T.  If you know where Peter is coming from, please leave a comment.

The iPhone 3G will be available on July 11 at an opening price of $199 for an 8 GB model.  $299 for 16GB.

I was just reading this article on LinuxInsider regarding the new young workers entering the workforce and how IT groups inside companies are handling their hunger for “Web 2.0″ technologies.  While I agree with the general premise of the article, they highlight Apple and specifically the iPhone.  Here’s as excerpt:

“Not only will the next generation of new hires demand these kinds of collaborative tools, the customers of the companies who hire them will as well. A study by Booz Allen said, “Web 2.0 seems to cut across age and gender and — more importantly to businesses — it influences purchase decisions. The study’s conclusion: “The need to evolve existing business models by integrating the Web 2.0 environment is urgent.”

Apple’s youthful culture is certainly one of the driving forces behind the iPhone and its Web 2.0 support. Once again, by embracing open standards, Apple is driving the technical flow in many cases, especially small to medium-sized business where reports claim they’re gaining market share.”

What “Web 2.0″ support does the iPhone have?  The iPhone doesn’t do any things that are new, it just makes operating advanced features that have existed for a long time on many phones easier.  Such as taking pictures/video and uploading them to flickr/youtube.  Actually the iPhone doesn’t currently do video.

It’s true that the iPhone enables you to get on the web anywhere at almost anytime, but this isn’t Web 2.0

The problem here is that the term “Web 2.0″  is being overused by ignorant people who don’t know it’s meaning.  What is the meaning of web 2.0?  Look here for your answer.

Apple and Cingular came out with a press release early this morning with the iPhone data plan prices. All I can say is WOW that’s cheap!

Briefly, here’s the breakdown.

• $60/month for 450 minutes, unlimited data, 200 text messages
• $80/month for 80 minutes, all the rest as above.
• $100/month for 135o minutes, all the rest as above
• a family plan for $80/month

Man! Now I really want an iPhone! For minutes plus data on Verizon Wireless, who I have now as my carrier, it would be $80 for me alone - not counting my wife’s phone! Verizon is such a rip off and Cingular is raising the bar in terms of expectations on data plan prices.

I’m excited for anyone who takes advantage of this mobile data package.

Hello Verizon Wireless are you listening!? Probably not.

Here is more detail

I seriously don’t understand this. According to this article in the Boston Globe, Cingular (now AT&T, again) is going to charge an early termination fee of $175 if you cancel your service agreement before the 2 years are up. Um WHAT?!

See in the United States, we pay nearly nothing for most cell phones. This is because they are ’subsidized’ by the telcos such as Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and the like. The early termination fee is charged if you leave before your contract is up to cushion the telco from losing money on the subsidy to you. But since AT&T is NOT subsidizing the cost of the iPhone (hence the $499 and $599 price tags) - they HAVE NO RIGHT to charge an early termination fee.

So I guess the moral of the story is - if you chose to buy an iPhone, you better know you’re going to like it!!!

PS As I’ve said before, I wish we had the European model of cell phone usage. They purchase their phones at full price (even if it means paying $200-400 per device) and get pre-paid SIM cards for GSM phones. When I get released from my service contract with verizon, I’m going this route. I’ll find some cool phone I like and just go pre-paid. Service Agreements suck

Yesterday Apple gave an additional option for those considering an AppleTV. It used to be you could only get it with a 40GB hard drive, but as of yesterday you can upgrade it to 160GB directly from Apple. Not a bad upgrade, but the new price is $399!

Wow. I’m an Apple fanboy, but $400 for a little box that plays my iTunes bought TV shows and movies on my tv in crappy resolution? hmm….no thanks!

Technorati Tags: apple, itv, appletv, iTunes, movies, TV

Well it must be happy days at Apple Headquarters today - the iPhone was given approval from the FCC today.  I imagine the June launch date is still intact.  Yay!

Related Article

Technorati Tags: iphone, apple, FCC

Flickr announce a new version of their Flickr Uploadr today for mac.  For Mactel people like me, the old PPC version of the app just wasn’t cutting it.  It was slow and unreliable.  I look forward to trying out this new version tonight!

Technorati Tags: apple, mactel, intel, flickr

My buddy Josh told me about a great new program called PictureSync for the Mac.  It’s an application that assist you in uploading your photos to a bevy of online services including Flickr, WebShots, Kodak, etc.  And yes, it is Universal.

From their website:

“PictureSync is a convenient utility that simplifies annotating and
batch uploading your photographs and video clips to online
services—directly from your albums in image-management applications, or
files, and whilst preserving metadata.”

I’ll be trying this out tonight on my MacBook!

Technorati Tags: picturesync, tinyscreenfuls, webshots, flickr, macbook, apple

Apple Fanboys and everyone else will love to learn this. A Cingular customer service manager has announced that the iPhone will be available for purchase on June 11, 2007!

Very Cool!

for more info, click here

Technorati Tags: apple, puppy