(by GEARFUSE)

(Kupy shows why girls should fall for designers)

(The Obamafy Photo Booth plug-in)

($0.10 for every 10 minutes of charging)

And of course… no more Lively.

Post from: The Gadget Blog

Yes, in less than two hours, Steve Jobs will reveal official details on whatever Apple’s planning to offer the world this time, and most likely updates on current projects. And the noisy Mac-loving minority has made sure that tech writers will hang on every syllable coming from Jobs’ mouth—for the “benefit” of their own readers.

In any case, a significant number of tongues are wagging over supposedly leaked pictures of the new MacBook. And you can bet someone was passionate enough to turn those pics into a clear mock-up for speculation to focus on (pictured above).

Speaking of which, rumors and theories over the upcoming MacBook event have proliferated all over the net. So it’s necessary to honestly, ignore all that noise. I’ll only pay attention if the new MacBook—reportedly styled like the current-generation iMac—fits the power-and-portability setup exemplified by the now-defunct 12″ PowerBook. It’s easy to admit that the MacBook Pro is powerful. Why can’t we have that power in a more handy package?

But that’s just me. What kind of groundbreaking announcement are you looking for? What should Steve Jobs reveal to retain your everlasting faith in Apple? Aside from a new laptop of course? A particular kind of service? Or even a gaming console? There’s no right answer, so feel free to comment away!

Post from: The Gadget Blog

Post from: The Gadget Blog

So we had to let the distortion field dissipate for a bit after WWDC, albeit we did notice how Jobs was under the weather for his latest performance to wow developers and announce the iPhone SDK, iPhone 2.0 software, MobileMe, and the iPhone 3G.

# Is Apple lazy? The 2.0 iPhone software still does not have MMS messaging, SMS forwarding, SMS vCard and vCal support, Bluetooth File Transfer (OBEX?), and video recording. Sure the SDK is out, but wouldn’t it be nice to pave the way for these apps rather than have developers work on this? I did read somewhere that video recording has a hardware component with the camera, so it isn’t easy to just make an app that supports video.

# Apple Push Service is hot. It makes me understand the real reason why they partnered with a telco in the first place. Looks like the roadmap is getting clearer. However though, these are ceteris paribus (all things constant) concepts that Steve was talking about. In other countries, like where I’m from, most of these features are either going to be substandard in experience because of the poor 3G infrastructure – or overpriced 3G schemes. Unlimited data plans can go up as high as the cost of a high end postpaid line —- as an add on to your existing plan! So there you have it. Relevant for the USA. Not sure about other countries.

# MobileMe. I cancelled my .Mac account about a year and a half ago. I figured that I can get the same value for money when it came to the products and services Dreamhost offered. Can you believe it? That’s sacrilege. But yeah, I didn’t care much for the free icons, or the exclusive email address, or the .Mac iDisk. It was great – but I wasn’t willing to pay so much for so little. It’s no secret that .Mac is still trying to find its place. MobileMe seems more of the same, with the added value of allowing you to sync your iPhone 3G as well. That’s great. Good move. But truthfully, I think Apple subscribers have the right to own a MobileMe account for free. It’s not too great to be a paid feature, but it surely does add to the commemorative banner of being an Apple customer. There are several FREE services out there like Plaxo (before they were acquired!) and BlueWhaleMail that can emulate a lot of the current features MobileMe has to offer.

# Ah, iPhone 3G. Still underwhelmed with the new features. Still not Bluetooth File Transfer, no MMS, no SMS forwarding, no video recording. But overwhelmed with the price. I wrote another piece on what a $199.00 iPhone can do to the mobile phone industry.

# If you’re from a country outside the US, you may want to see a post I made on the leaked pricing of the iPhone 3G in Asia from my personal blog. I also outlined how the iPhone isn’t the real product – it’s a kick ass 3G service that still doesn’t exist in most countries. Specs-wise: the iPhone 3G will cost about $199.00 but with a post paid line plan of $75.00 a month. Freaking crazy. And guess what? I’d have to add another $50.00 just to give myself unlimited data access. Would you pay over $100.00 a month for an iPhone 3G plan?

[Image c/o Newscom]

Post from: The Gadget Blog