nathan jara

Yesterday, Apple released iOS4 for the iPhone and several generations of the iPod. I hooked up to iTunes and downloaded the latest update last night. I can say that once completed, which took about 5-10 minutes, I was glued to my iPhone for about the next hour :) The update is awesome. New features like folders and multitasking are done very well and are super easy to implement. I think this is something that continues to impress me with Apple products. The UI design of Apple software and operating systems are impeccable and certainly are tailored for the customers ease of use. The new camera zoom feature is nice along with the ability to designate different background wallpaper for your home screen and main menu screens. Actually, this little wallpaper feature is one of my favorite new additions. May sound silly, but having a picture of my choosing in both places is really cool. I think my other favorite new features is app-switching (a.k.a. multitasking) for applications like Pandora. Now I have the ability to continue listening to my internet radio music and switch over to check a message or email and use the iPod music controls to move to the next song or pause. I’m finding new little things here and there as I continue to use the updated OS. I haven’t found much I don’t like yet.

It was also brought to my attention today that with this latest update, Apple additionally made an update to its iTunes privacy policy, inserting a new section which describes that by accepting the new policy, the user agrees to allow Apple and third-party applications to collect specific location information, as CNET describes in more detail, to enhance application services along with marketing and advertising research, of course. The privacy policy update is a little disconcerting, however, as a user I have the ability to deny any applications from sharing my location information at anytime. In my opinion, this is a much better approach than Facebook has taken. Apple has ensured that I have control when a service is using my information, rather than Facebook deciding for me. Now, this is assuming that all of the information that is being reported back has been expressed by Apple. Still though, I guess this is the internet, so I can’t complain too much :P

On another note, here’s an intriguing trailer for next summer…

Since my previous post on the subject, the Facebook wars go on. Zuckerburg and company have updated the Privacy Settings area once again. This time however, I can say that I’m feeling a bit better about the situation. The Facebook team has definitely simplified things. And giving users the option to select predefined settings is nice. Although, there still is buzz and chatter that the social network still hasn’t fixed anything. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens and who makes the next move.

On a more exciting note, Apple announced the iPhone 4 today. I have to say, it looks really sweet. Sleek and thin design, 5MP camera with flash, front-facing camera, high-res display…it is a beautiful device. If only I was eligible to upgrade now…darn. I do have the new OS to look forward to later this month. Multitasking…mmmm.

I was given a link to a crazy cool website by a family member today. The site is called WolframAlpha. It’s a search engine-ish website that allows you to type in any kind of calculation, measurement, geographical location etc and provides for you a plethora of information about that particular thing. It’s also smart enough to dissect your input if you type your query in particular terms or in question form and make educated estimates when your input could have several different matches. An introductory video is available to provide a look at the power of the website. And if you want it for your iPhone, don’t worry, “there’s an app for that.”

I had a very good time at the first day of the conference yesterday. We sat in on a lot of great discussions and presentations. It’s been very cool to be a part of this jQuery, javascript, web development community. Taking in the whole experience is interesting to think about. Two years ago when I began doing web development full-time, even a year ago, I don’t think I would have said that I’d be attending, traveling, interested in, becoming an active member of a web development community such as jQuery.

Last night, after the day’s sessions, we were able to catch the end of the Penguins game by streaming the game on-line in the hotel room :) Needless to say, I was happy with the result. Then we drove into downtown San Jose to check out the local scene. We ate at a local Korean restaurant called Omogari. It was great! I’ve never had Korean food before. Very tasty :)  Afterward we walked around the downtown San Jose area. One of the main drags, called Santa Clara, has a bunch of clubs, restaurants, bars, shopping centers, stores, etc. We ended up at Gordon Biersch, a restaurant brewery. They had a sweet patio area outside for a nice drink and chat :)

Today’s conference sessions have been pretty good. I’m not getting quite as much out of today as yesterday, but there have been some very useful tidbits. We’ll be finishing up day two in about an hour and a half or so, then we’ll be heading up to San Francisco for a last party night out. Our flight leaves at around 11.30PM tonight. We’ll be flying to Millwaukee, Wisconson then back to Pittsburgh tomorrow morning.

I had a great day yesterday on my first California adventure. Our training day was very successful. I didn’t learn a ton of new things, but definitely solidified many of the things I’ve already learned about the jQuery javascript library. Training finished up right at 6PM and we decided to walk around for a bit. We couldn’t not visit the local American Eagle store along Market St :)  Then we took a drive out to the Golden Gate bridge. Wow. It was very impressive. We got there right at sunset and I was able to take a bunch of awesome shots. We could see Alcatraz island just off the shore too! Sean Connery wasn’t there though. After a chilly visit to the Golden Gate Bridge, we drove back to San Francisco and found a restaurant called Tropisueno. It was awesome. A really cool authentic Mexican restaurant. I had a chicken dish called Pollo Asado which was fantastic. Afterward, we took a stroll through the streets of San Francisco.

We’re at the jQuery conference this morning at the Microsoft Silicon Valley Research Center in Mountain View, California. We just enjoyed our complimentary continental breakfast along with Starbucks coffee. The conference will be beginning in a few minutes. I’m getting excited, haha. It’s very cool to be hear amongst our fellow web development nerds. I’m anxious to soak up the knowledge :)

I’m in San Francisco, California! Can’t believe it. My first time on the west coast.We left work at 430 yesterday to get out to Pittsburgh International. Traffic on the parkway was thrilling. Luckily we got through it somewhat  painlessly. We arrived at the airport at 6PM for our flight to leave just after 7PM. Going through security was just has fun as I remember almost two years ago when I flew to Europe. Take off your belt, watch, shoes, cell phone, laptop and put everthing in the bins as fast as you can. Walk through the scanner then take everything out of the bins and dress yourself again while not holding up the line as 30,000 people are coming throught the line behind you. Anyway we got through painlessly and I found a Subway and scarfed down a spicy italian on wheat. Our flight left right on time and we were on our way to sunny California! (“sunny California” is best pronounced with an Arnold Schwarzeneggar accent.)

The flight was pretty smooth. One funny thing that happened was when my friend was using his laptop with the pull down table in front of him. The three ladies in the seats in front of us were playing Yahtzee and every time the one shook up her dice, it shook the table and and laptop. Pretty funny.

We arrived in Los Angeles about twenty minutes early. And our connecting flight to San Jose was about 15 minutes late so we arrived in San Jose right at midnight last night. We picked up our rental car, a Nissan Altima hybrid, and drove about 20 minutes to our Hampton Inn hotel in Mountain View. A quick check-in and shower and I was out. :)

This morning we grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel and hopped on Route 101 towards San Francisco. Traffic wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be, especially since we were travelling during rush hour. What a beautiful state. I saw some palm trees on the way, some what I now call San Franciscan houses, and rolling California hills.

We got into downtown San Francisco a little before 8AM, parked the car, and are now set up and waiting for our jQuery training day to begin! Everyone has laptops open and we are raring to go. I’m excited to see what I’ll learn. And excited to see San Francisco tonight :)

This video of the newest Photoshop CS5 feature is absolutely insane. It’s so crazy, I almost have to question the validity of the video. The new feature is called “Content-Aware” deletion and fill. It allows you to roughly select parts of an image and totally remove them without having to do any additional touch up work. This feature ultimately takes the place of what would normally be hours of work. I know I won’t be shelling out the bucks for the new Creative Suite, but I’m sure for many designers, this feature alone would be worth it.

Apple announced the release of its newest product this afternoon, the iPad. They (who’s “they,” you say? you know, the people who say things.) have been talking, chatting, blogging, writing and talking, chatting, blogging and writing some more about the mysterious iPad for months now. I’ve read bits and pieces about it along the way, but was never really ‘chomping at the bit’ to finally see the thing. Now that it’s been announced, I have to say that I’m still not ‘chomping at the bit.’ Before I go any further however, I must say, that the iPad, just like any other Apple product, is very sexy. And, it’s REALLY COOL.

I’d been a PC user for many years until about a year ago when I purchased my first MacBook Pro. Once I used it, I was hooked. I’m not sure if I’m a total MacHead, but I’ve definitely “made the switch” without any thought of going back. Since then I’ve also gotten an iPhone, which I love.

With a first look at the iPad, I don’t think it’s that great. It seems like it’s just a big iPhone, without the phone. I don’t think it would be very practical, especially for me. Since I already have a laptop and a mobile internet device, why would I need an iPad that does the same thing. I know that I don’t plan on forking out $500 or more on something that does the same things I can do now.

Regardless what I think, Apple knows what they’re doing. I think there definitely is a market out there for this device. Possibly for those that don’t have a newer laptop, aren’t connected with a mobile device and are looking for something to do email, surf the web, and watch movies on; the iPad would be perfect. Two features that I was really impressed with were the iCal and Contacts apps. They just look sweet. And the way you can interact with your photos? Totally cool. And because it’s a ‘touch’ device, the application interaction is very cutting edge.

About a month ago, I saw James Cameron’s new movie, AVATAR. The iPad reminds me of some of the computer interfaces that were used in the movie. (By the way, if you haven’t seen AVATAR, go, now. And don’t forget your 3D glasses.) The devices the characters used in the movie were all interacted with by touch and gestures, very similar to the iPad. I think it’s pretty amazing that, in 2010, we are seeing technology that is very close to what we see in the movies. I mean how many times have you gone to the movies and thought, whoa, how sweet would it be if we could do that! I think some of those things are getting closer to reality. The iPad is proof.

I still know I won’t be getting one, but…..

….it is really cool. :)