follow up to my iPad predictions

By Josh Highland in hardware, mac, Tech, video

So Apple has announced the iPad. This is a follow up to the predictions  I posted last week.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Msqc7I6rwLo[/youtube]

Things I was right about:

  • Apple will announce a tablet device
  • new version of the iPhone OS, 3.2.2
  • iPad will run on the iPhone OS
  • iPad will run iPhone applications
  • The iPad will have a 10 inch screen (9.7 inches is close enough)
  • 16, 32, 64 gig versions
  • Verizon will not be involved

Things I was wrong about:

  • There will be a new iPhone
  • The new iPhone will have a new camera. The iPad doesnt have any cameras!

RotoPhoto, my first iPhone app

By Josh Highland in iPhone, Josh's Rambling, mac, software

WOW, here I am about to release my second iPhone app, and I realized that I haven’t blogged about my first iPhone app!

“RotoPhoto” is my first iPhone app. It’s a simple tool that allows you to rotate the orientation of a photo taken with the iPhone. The internal sensors of the iPhone are designed to know what direction is up at all times and auto rotate the iPhone camera for you, so no matter the angle you take the picture they are facing up. If you have owned an iPhone for an extended period of time, then you know that the iPhone can get confused when you take a picture when the camera is pointed down or up, and your picture comes out sideways. The iPhone doesnt have any built in facilities for adjusting your photos. RotoPhoto is a tool that fills that gap.

With RotoPhoto you can fix your photos orientation before sharing them with friends.

RotoPhoto is avaliable for $0.99 USD on the iTunes store.

app_store_badge_0708

You can check out http://RotoPhotoApp.com for more information

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIPvURe_AcE[/youtube]

I upgraded my mac!

By Josh Highland in hacks, hardware, mac, tutorials

MacMiniRamUpgrade-22-500x375

A few months ago I bought a Mac mini so I could start to develop iPhone applications. I must say that I am growing to be more of a Mac user then I thought i would be. I purposly bought a cheap Mac to get started with, but I’m starting to regret it. One of the downsides of buying a low end computer is the lack of RAM. RAM is the area of the computer where th.e work gets done. Think of RAM as a work bench. The larger the work bench you have, the more things you can be working on at the same time. It boils down to this, more ram, more speed due to less reading and writing to the hard drive. My Mac had 1 Gig of RAM, no where near enough RAM for a power user/programmer.

Coming from a PC and Linux world, I have build all of my own computers since 1996. I’m comfortable working with computer hardware and the Mac mini is just another computer, except its wrapped up in a tiny package. I did some research and realized that it wouldn’t be hard to upgrade the RAM in my Mac. I found that MacSales.com had some great prices on RAM so I went for it and got 4 gigs worth.

I documented the whole upgrade process, and launched a new website, MacMiniRamUpgrade.com. It’s a Do-It-Yourself site to help inspire and walk people through the upgrade process.

Adding the RAM to my Mac mini is one of the best upgrades I have ever done. So much bang for buck. You should do it also! http://macminiramupgrade.com

Info on the new iPhone has leaked

By Josh Highland in hardware, iPhone, mac

iphonemb717

I have been keeping my ears open for rumors about the new iPhone. Earlier this week, the above image was leaked onto a mac rumors website from a chinese source.

The image above shows a new iPhone model number “MB717LL” with 32GB of Storage. If the poster’s claims are to be believed, the new iPhone will contain the following features:

  • 600MHz CPU Speed (up from 400MHz)
  • 256MB RAM (up from 128MB)
  • Digital Compass and FM
  • 3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus
  • 32GB size
  • No major changes in battery, screen and external casing.

There is no way of telling if this information is correct, but the leaked photos and  information on the unibody MacBook and MacBook Pro also came from the same Chinese website, to they have some merit in my mind.

It’s no suprise that the screen and the physical shape of the device hasnt changed, if it did, us iPhone application developers would be screwed. I think its going to be nice to have a better camera and an FM tuner.

If this is all true, its not a major leap ahead, but I will still be inline to get one. I am guessing that the device will be announced and possibly released at the WWDC (Apple Worldwide Developers Conference) in June.