Multitasking Has Finally Arrived

Apple CEO Steve Jobs delivering his presentation on the iPhone OS 4.0 yesterday
The anticipated fourth version of Apple's iPhone Operating System, dubbed the 'iPhone OS 4.0', was officially announced yesterday. The new OS will have more than 100 new user features, including playlist creation, 5x digital zoom in the camera app, customizable home screen, tap-to-focus for video, auto photo-geotagging, and support for Bluetooth keyboards. But what really got me excited was the one thing that everyone has been anticipating on Apple's smartphone device for years: Multi-tasking.

There's a reason why Apple hasn't been implementing multitasking into the iPhone OS until today, and that was to preserve battery life and performance. Apple has finally found a solution to that with its multitasking feature unique to iPhone OS. Although users are still confined with one app on screen at a time, double-tapping the home button now allows the user to bring up a new menu at the bottom screen that reveals working apps that users can switch to without literally shutting down the current app.

Another impressive feature that I was so excited to hear is the ability to create folders. Now users can organize apps into folders with drag-and-drop simplicity, thus eliminating all the clutter. This also allows faster accessibility to your favourite apps, and with this new feature, users can manage up to 2160 apps at once, that's much more compared to the current 180 apps the iPhone can carry.

Other features worth noting are security and compatibility enhancements for business features, better mail management, iBooks apps, a gaming social network and iAds, a new way of displaying ads in mobile devices without hindering productivity.

The iPhone OS 4.0 will be available for download in June for iPhone 3Gs and in September for the third generation iPod Touch (and yes, it will be for the iPad as well). Unfortunately, owners of the iPhone 3G and older iPod Touches are out of luck as they will not be able to enjoy some of the features (arguably no multitasking), due to hardware limitations. That said, now is the perfect time to get the iPhone 3Gs, though I'm sticking with my iPod Touch until a 64GB iPhone is out.

It's Upgrade Time

Click here for more details.

The Memorial

Watched this late last night via live-feed. It was a really sad moment in entertainment history.

Apple Unveils Snow Leopard

Apple yesterday finally unveiled its latest operating system update, the Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. Snow Leopard will run faster than the current operating system, and will include updates to all of its apps. Apple also announced that the new operating system will launch in September.

“We’ve built on the success of Leopard and created an even better experience for our users from installation to shutdown,” said Bertrand Serlet, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “Apple engineers have made hundreds of improvements so with Snow Leopard your system is going to feel faster, more responsive and even more reliable than before.”

Read the full press release here.

Another Round of Unveiling

Apple has started putting up banners a week prior to the Worldwide Developers conference (WWDC), which runs from June 8-12. The theme of this year's WWDC appears centered around the App Store. The phrase refers to the iTunes App Store that was launched (less than) one year ago, but has seen major success with over 1 billion apps downloaded in the first nine months. The iPhone will clearly take center stage at WWDC with discussion about the upcoming 3.0 Firmware release as well as possibility that Apple will announce a new iPhone.

What else to expect from the upcoming Apple WWDC? The new OS-X Snow Leopard, of course! I'm really excited on this and I can't wait for an upgrade. In other news, Microsoft Windows will release Windows 7 in October 22, that's five months late since I switched to a mac pretty recently. Nevertheless, I'd still install Windows 7 on my PC desktop at home, coz I've seen how sweet it looks. But Snow Leopard has already kept me drooling.

Currently Listening To...

The soundtrack is already out, and their video is also on its way. An excellent tune to get you pumped up on your way to the theatres next month. Talk about psyched. In the meantime, where on earth is Terminator Salvation???

A Whole New Canvas

At these troubled times when I don't have Adobe Photoshop CS4 on my mac, I thought I'd use Pixelmator as a temporary alternative to work on my photos. Not bad, really. The interface is pretty much identical to Photoshop, but it isn't a resource hog, which I like. Sometimes its best not to depend heavily on one photo editing tool.

Longing For a Macbook

I want one... *sigh*

PC versus Mac; an On-going Debate

I've been a PC user since I was 10. Being a PC user for over a decade, it has been part of my life, from the days of MS-DOS till the Windows XP. Despite the typical problems and troubleshooting PC has to go through over the years, I've still managed to get through, and made good use of my computer as much as I could. But ever since my mind's throbbing with Mac-fever, I couldn't keep my head straight, thinking, "Oh, when will I get one for myself?" or "I just feel like I wanna get rid of this piece of Dell crap and get myself a Mac!" But is it really a wise decision?

It all started when I first installed iTunes for my PC. iTunes is a Media Player that generally plays my mp3 playlists in my computer. I've grown to love managing my playlists on iTunes, but what I really dig most is the Cover-flow. How cool it is to actually have cover artwork for your music, it's really intuitive. I completely stopped playing my music using Winamp as a result. Back then when I started using the software, I only used my Sony Ericsson as my portable mp3 player, and I didn't really need anything else.

Then the software actually introduced me on how cool and exciting it was to sync everything onto an iPod. So, yep, you guessed right, I bought myself an 80 Gigabyte iPod Video (Black) soon after that. And since then, everything was good. I loved my iPod so much, and again I said to myself that I didn't need another portable player. The iPod is just right for me. That's when until I found that iPod works much better when running on a Mac. Okay, I wanted to ignore that, because I find that my iPod works fine on my PC. But it got me all worried somehow.

iPod; the only gadget you'll ever need. Also, get the Nano, the Shuffle, the Touch and the iPhone. Damnit, get 'em all!

After months of research, I've learned a lot of stuff I need to know about Apple and their range of 'innovative' products. Could it be that the holy grail of the PC is the Mac all along? I've been asking around for others' opinions. Some say that the Mac is better than the PC, others still say that it's the other way round. I've watched how the Mac-users impressed me with their Macbooks and iMacs, how cool their videos looked after hours of editing, how fun and useful the widgets are, and how awesome the bundled iLife softwares are. There's also been a claim that the new OS X leopard is ten times more powerful than Vista.

So here I am, typing this blog with my trusty Dell Inspiron 6000, whining about how much I crave a Macbook. I've had this craving since early this year, and it's killin me. Everywhere I go, the ads says it all, "Why you'll love a Mac", "Get a Mac", "Switch to a Mac" etc. Even some my friends who have just switched to the Mac loathe about how good their powerful toys are and how better Mac's are compared to PCs. For one thing, here's what I gotta say. Macs are damn expensive! All the ranges of Mac computers and accessories are way overpriced. How do I expect to get one so easily when the prices don't seem to go down?

Despite the problems and issues faced, I still love my Dell, and I'm thinking of upgrading the RAM so I could perform my work better and more productive. If I get a Mac soon, will I be able to do the same chore I'm used to do on my PC? True, the Mac has all the coolest softwares, and what Apple claimed "only the best softwares you'll ever need!" I use PhotoShop for my image-editing work, and Mac's got the system software that'll run PhotoShop much more smoothly. I use Pinnacle for my video-editing, and Mac's got the easiest, fastest and convenient tools for that as well. I love organizing my stuff on my PC, and Mac's got all those and they're much more fun and easier to use. But it all comes to one thing; doesn't that feel like Apple is keeping its users from using third-party softwares? Where's the freedom in that? I love freedom!

Finally, Macs claim that their hardware is a powerful beast. They've got those Intel Processors and the OS X is one hell of a monster truck. But couldn't I do that with my PC? Upgrade my RAM and get a new Motherboard, or hey, why not just get a new one? Personally, I'm no beginner in computers. I realized that the intuitiveness of Macs is for those who just want to get things done easier and 'funner'. I'm tired of complaining and whining. I guess I'm just gonna save up and upgrade my Dell instead. I can still do what I want things done on my PC. All I really need now is just to speed my laptop up, and that's it.

Less troubleshooting, powerful performance, invulnerable from viruses, highly useful applications and an over-all sleek design is what makes the Mac an oh-so-perfect computer. But I'm sick, and my head aches from all the Mac-craving. Sick! Sick! Sick! I'm sick of being a sucker for all the tech-hype! Sometimes you can't always get what you want. I should be grateful of what I have now. At least I could still breathe and blog.