Apple Store Shopping in NYC on Christmas Eve!

It's 4:00pm on Christmas Eve, where are people shopping for last minute Christmas gifts in Manhattan? Where else, other than the Apple Store?

Ashley and I were walking back from Central Park down Fifth Avenue and the only place with a line to get in still was the Apple Store here in downtown New York City!

I guess people waited just a little too long to grab those hot iPhones, iPods Nanos. and iPod touch devices. Either that or are the Genius' at the Genius Bar in NYC that good? You be the judge!

Check out that line everyone, not even Tiffany's (line around the corner yesterday) or FAO Schwarz had a line out side. Up, down the stairs and into the Apple store.

No, we did not get in line and wait. We were on our way to Rockefeller Center! Well, at least there was not a fire at the Apple Store in New York City. (Like San Francisco)

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Fire Incident at Apple Store in San Francisco - 2 Fire Department Engines!

I know that the Apple iPhone is really hot, but it looks like they were really on fire earlier today. At the San Francisco Apple Store at 1 Stockton had a 2-alarm San Francisco Fire Department response to a fire alarm including hook and ladders! The incident, which happened shortly before 11:00am on Sunday morning before the store actually opened.

Ashley and I happened to be walking by to pick up a couple of accessories for her new Apple iPhone 8GB. You can imagine our surprise and the commotion around the front of the Apple Store with the fire alarm blaring. We arrived shortly before the Fire Department made their appearance.

Fortunately, no Apple iPhones, iMacs, or iPods were harmed in the incident. While the store was completely evacuated and two separate fire departments showed up, it appears that the incident was a false alarm. Speaking with an employee a few minutes later revealed that this has happened a couple of times since the opening for no apparent reason.

However, you do know those iPhones are really hot, apparently flammable as well! Below is a video and a couple of quick photos I snapped during the Apple Store fire incident in San Francisco.

Here are a couple of video clips I shot. In the last clip, you can see the firemen leaving, plus the Apple Store employees entering back in so they can open back up and sell all the iPhones, iPod Touches, iPod Nanos, and iPod classics that they can along with a load of accessories:


Picture 1: Second Hook and Ladder arrives to the Fire Alarm incident at the Apple Store


Picture 2: Partial group of San Francisco Firefighters entering the Apple Store to check out the alarm and make sure everything is ok.


Picture 3: Apple employee talks with a Fire Chief about the incident and the progress inside.

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Apple iPhone: Just Wait, Be Patient

With thousands of Apple iPhone groupies and speculators alike already standing in line outside of Cingular Wirless and Apple Stores nationwide, I have one message. Wait to get your Apple iPhone, it is not worth it. Not only is the Apple iPhone already over-priced, but it is seriously under-featured with what you get.

And let's not forget the problems that dogged the early versions of the Apple iPod. There were issues with reliability, screens scratching, and more. You can guarantee as the next couple of weeks unfold wer are going to hear about them. In addition, the phone, while providing a great media, Internet, and provides some wow features -- is missing some very important -- even critical features.

First off, the phone is not 3G or third-generation capabable. That means only the slower EDGE network and really no high-speed Internet transfers. So, who cares if you can view the internet as it is? Without a 3G network, it is useless -- unless of course, you live up in Mountain View covered by Google's WiFi. It's a non-starter for the release.

Then, let's talk about missing GPS functionality. Huge gap here, any decent phone has it now. Being somewhere and being able to get anywhere for a visit, stop, or a bit to eat is a must have in a new product.

Next there is the whole third party software and application support. Things like Instant Messaging, Adobe Flash, and PDF viewing, etc. Basic every day pieces of functionality that you need to have.

Corporate email server integration. Missing, and a big hole where RIM's Blackberry service is dominant. That's a big feature for a lot of folks with the money to afford the device.

Finally, there is the ability to download purchases from iTunes directly to the iPhone. While this goes back to the first point about 3G, it is again a major shortfall in the product. Hard to marry both worlds without it.

So, in a word -- wait until the 2nd generation of iPhones. Do not spend your time our money wait for this product that while having an impressive "wow" factor is 2-3 year behind the other products on the market. It's no Blackberry.

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Apple iPhone coming June 29th....

Today, I continued some more research into the upcoming Apple iPhone and it definitely has me interested. Yes, I am very happy with my RIM Blackberry 8800 - but the Apple iPhone seems to have some features that will even surpass the Blackberry. The only glaring item that seems to be omitted from the Apple's iPhone is the lack of GPS functionality. From the review of their technical specifications on the iPhone there is simply no support for GPS. With the integrated applications and search that we are seeing from Google and others with the GPS integration (Google Mobile Maps - GMM), GPS functionality in a device is quickly becoming a must.

For those interested in the specifications on the iPhone, here are the details:

• Screen size: 3.5 inches
• Screen resolution: 320 by 480 pixels (160 ppi)
• Input method: Multi-touch
• Operating system: OS X
• Storage: 4GB or 8GB
• GSM: Quad-band (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz)
• Wireless data: Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) / EDGE / Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
• Camera: 2.0 megapixels
• Battery: Talk Time, Up to 8 hours; Standby, Up to 250 hours; Internet Use, Up to 6 hours; Video Playback, Up to 7 hours; Audio playback, Up to 24 hours
• Dimensions: 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.46 inches / 115 x 61 x 11.6mm
• Weight: 4.8 ounces / 135 grams

Disclaimers to the specifications:

• 1GB = 1 billion bytes; actual formatted capacity less.
• Talk Time: Testing conducted by Apple in May and June 2007 using preproduction iPhones and software. All talk time testing was done connected to a 1900MHz network. All settings were default except: Call Forwarding was turned on; the WiFi feature Ask to Join Networks was turned off. Battery life depends on the cellular network, location, signal strength, feature configuration, usage, and many other factors. Battery tests are conducted using specific iPhone units; actual results may vary.
• Standby: Testing conducted by Apple in May and June 2007 using preproduction iPhones and software. All settings were default except: Call Forwarding was turned on; the WiFi feature Ask to Join Networks was turned off. Battery life depends on the cellular network, location, signal strength, feature configuration, usage, and many other factors. Battery tests are conducted using specific iPhone units; actual results may vary.
• Internet over WiFi: Testing conducted by Apple in May and June 2007 using preproduction iPhones and software. Internet over WiFi testing conducted using a closed network and dedicated web and mail server, simulating browsing to 20 popular URLs and checking mail once an hour. All settings were default except: Call Forwarding was turned on; the WiFi feature Ask to Join Networks and Auto-Brightness were turned off; WPA2 encryption was enabled. Battery life depends on the cellular network, location, signal strength, WiFi connectivity, feature configuration, usage, and many other factors. Battery tests are conducted using specific iPhone units; actual results may vary. Internet over
• EDGE: Testing conducted by Apple in May and June 2007 using preproduction iPhones and software. Internet over EDGE testing conducted over a 1900 MHz EDGE, using a dedicated web and mail server, simulating browsing to 20 popular URLs and checking mail once an hour. All settings were default except: Call Forwarding was turned on; the WiFi feature Ask to Join Networks and Auto-Brightness were turned off. Battery life depends on the cellular network, location, signal strength, EDGE connectivity, feature configuration, usage, and many other factors. Battery tests are conducted using specific iPhone units; actual results may vary.
• Video Playback: Testing conducted by Apple in May and June 2007 using preproduction iPhones and software. Video content was a repeated 2 hour 23 minute movie purchased from the iTunes Store. All settings were default except: Call Forwarding was turned on; the WiFi feature Ask to Join Networks and Auto-Brightness were turned off. Battery life depends on the cellular network, location, signal strength, feature configuration, usage, and many other factors. Battery tests are conducted using specific iPhone units; actual results may vary.
• Audio Playback: Testing conducted by Apple in May and June 2007 using preproduction iPhones and software. The playlist consisted of 358 unique audio tracks, a combination of content imported from CDs using iTunes (128-Kbps AAC encoding) and content purchased from the iTunes Store (128-Kbps AAC encoding). All settings were default except: Call Forwarding was turned on; the WiFi feature Ask to Join Networks was turned off. Battery life depends on the cellular network, location, signal strength, feature configuration, usage, and many other factors. Battery tests are conducted using specific iPhone units; actual results may vary.
• Rechargeable batteries have a limited number of charge cycles and may eventually need to be replaced. See www.apple.com/batteries for more information.

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Apple iPhone with Improved Battery Life

With the pending launch of the upcoming Apple iPhone in just a little over a week, the good news continues to come from Apple. While I have not yet decided whether or not to give up my Blackberry 8800 device for one of the new Apple iPhones -- the media and commericals around the Apple iPhone have been compelling.



Today's news is that Apple has updated the technology within the battery life of the iPhone and has exceeded initial expectations. Orginally the battery life was supposed to support up to 5 hours of talk time, internet use, or video playback. However, today that has been extended to 8 hours of talk time, internet use, or video playback and up to 24 hours of your favored music playack.

Great news for those of us who like to make it through an entire day without having to charge you device. The only question now is if or how Apple plans to enter the corporate market -- currently dominated by RIM's Blackberry devices.

Are you planning on getting an iPhone? If so, tell me why with a comment.

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iTunes: Why I will not buy anything from the Apple iTunes store.

A couple of weeks ago I came very close to making my first purchase of music from the iTunes store. For some time I have wanted to purchase the Silversun Pickups album Carnavas, but I had not had the opportunity to get to the store. So, one evening I’m sitting at my computer and thought – why don’t I just download the Silversun Pickups album?



I fired up my iTunes version 7.1.1.5 and then I entered the iTunes store to find what I was looking for. I quickly found the album Carnavas by the Silversun Pickups and considered the $9.99 price for the entire album. That is when I paused.

Why did I pause? Because, I quickly realized that the album is only available in the 128k ACC / MP4 format from the Apple iTunes store. That is not a problem if you are just going to listen on your iPod, iPod Nano, or iPod Shuffle with your headphones that came with you iPod. However, if you are going to listen to it on anything else – it is an absolute disaster.

If you have a decent stereo in your car, decent headphones, or any kind of home stereo – high fidelity or otherwise at your house then 128k ACC / MP4 sounds absolutely awful. So awful in fact, that an album like the Silversun Pickups with their intended distortion on the guitar will be difficult to listen to at any decent volume.

When is Apple going to fix this problem? This was initially an issue several years ago during the iPod and iTunes store launches – that the music quality was significantly poorer than CD’s and in some cases even worse than cassettes. One would have thought over the past couple of years, you would have the option to choose higher bitrates in order to get the sound to a reasonable quality that it could be used anywhere.

Apparently there has not been enough consumer demand for them to make an optional, higher-fidelity version of the albums available through the iTunes store. However, I can tell you that this consumer demands it and iTunes will continue to lose sales from me until they can provide at least 256k VBR tunes through their site.

Oh, and by the way, Target is offering the Silversun Pickups album for a buck cheaper in store right now. At $8.99, it’s a much purchase. The price is good through mid-June.

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Coincidence? Apple warns iTunes users on Vista

For anyone who has seen the news on Apple's latest warning, it is hard to believe that this is merely coincidence. That is, on the first weekend of Microsoft's Vista launch -- the biggest weekend for Microsoft in some years -- that Apple warns the new operating system may not work with iTunes. They even recommend that you hold off on upgrading your operating system until the next version of iTunes is released in the coming weeks.

With a release as big as Microsoft Vista, Apple has had months and even years to prepare for this particular launch. It seems questionable that they would have not had a patch or release available at launch. This seems somewhat suspicious, especially if the issues are as severe as Apple suggests below.

Here are the possible problems that Apple suggests may occur if you attempt to use your iTunes with Microsoft Vista:

1. iTunes Store purchases may not play when upgrading to Windows Vista from Windows 2000 or XP.
2. iPod models with the "Enable Disk Use" option turned off may be unable to update or restore iPod software, and make changes to iPod settings.
3. iPod models configured to Auto Sync and have the "Enable Disk Use" option turned off may require being ejected and reconnected to resync.
4. Ejecting an iPod from the Windows System Tray using the "Safely Remove Hardware" feature may corrupt your iPod. To always safely eject an iPod, choose Eject iPod from the Controls menu within iTunes.
5. Cover Flow animation may be slower than expected.
6. Contacts and calendars will not sync with iPod.

In addition, they have posted the following precautionary measures should you want to risk running your iPod with iTunes on Microsoft Windows Vista:

1. Deauthorize all iTunes Store accounts.
2. Enable Disk Use on all iPod models.
3. Uninstall iTunes.
4. Perform a clean install of Windows Vista (Highly recommended but not required).
5. Reinstall the latest version of iTunes.
6. Open iTunes.
7. Choose Authorize Computer from the Store menu in iTunes.

At least for those who are still having issues, Apple has put out an iPod repair tool to help fix some of the above problems:

Customers who have upgraded to Windows Vista and are still experiencing issues playing iTunes Store purchases should download and run the iTunes Repair Tool for Vista after re-installing iTunes 7.0.2. Click here for more information about this tool.

Best of luck with your iPod and Windows Vista if you have already installed it. Otherwise, you may want to wait on upgrading to Vista if you iPod is as important to you as it is to most of us. As I mentioned earlier this week, I am not overly excited about Microsoft Windows Vista. I will wait for the dust to settle!

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iPod - Free space by keeping duplicates off Smart Playlists

With some recent additions to my collection of music, my iPod is finally over its capacity. That meant it was time to prune my library being sent to the iPod to make enough space to fit the new music.

Many of us have albums that include duplicates of our music from a combination of original CDs, Greatest Hits albums, and Soundtracks. So, naturally the first target for reducing the size of the music library was to eliminate duplicates from the smart playlist in iTunes. However, I quickly found there is no easy way to automatically do that. After going to a few sites, I found one technique that works great that I want to share with you.

The basics technique is that you are going to create a playlist of your duplicates. Then, you exclude that playlist from your iPod. Here's how it works:

1. Click on your music library to show all songs in iTunes
2. Then click on View --> Show Duplicates so that all of the duplicates in your iTunes library is show.
3. Now highlight all the duplicates that you do not want on your iPod. Some people prefer to keep the originals, others prefer to keep the greatest hits. This depends on your listening style.
4. Once they are all selected, click File --> New Playlist from Selection and name it 'Dupes'
5. Finally, go to the Smart Playlist for your iPod and choose an additional filter where 'Playlist' is not 'Dupes' and the music is removed creating new space.

I was able to reclaim about 1GB of space on my iPod using this technique. While it will require you to manually update it in the future, it is a great way to eliminate the duplicates from taking valuable space on your iPod!

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