paulhasablog

my overwhelming frustration with itunes continues once again this evening. for what is probably the 5th time in the past year i have had a corrupted library incident that has wiped out my itunes library completely. just opening itunes and seeing an empty song list where 12,000+ use to live is one of the most frustrating feelings I've experienced! all purchased tracks are backed up fine and my mp3 collection is housed fine as well. but the fact that i have to go out and re-subscribe to the 90+ podcast i had and recreate all the playlists i had just kills me! this wasn't so much a concern when i had my 80gb ipod *single tear rolls down face* that i used to back up all my music and podcast on. but since the 80gb is no longer around i've been relying on a sketchy 250gb SATA drive that flips out when it wants to. all i can do is turn off the computer in utter disgust hoping that maybe in a day or 2 i'll feel like rebuilding!

UPDATE: i've got morning after disgust! all of my podcast have been listened to and are outdated. just thinking about what i'll have to re-due, ouch!!

I was commissioned again to do the next book cover for Anitha Jones. I love these projects!!

It's been a long, leak-filled wait, but Apple finally took the wraps off its 3G iPhone. Thinner edges, full plastic back, flush headphone jack, and the iphone 2.0 firmware -- Apple's taking a lot of the criticisms to heart from the first time around. Obviously 3G is at the forefront, but they're also making sure it's available all over internationally, works with enterprises, runs 3rd party apps... and does it all for cheaper. Apple claims its 3G speeds trounce the competition, with pageloads 36% faster than the N95 and Treo 750 -- and of course it completely trounces the old EDGE data speeds.

Battery life isn't getting put out to pasture though, with 300 hours of standby, 8-10 hours of 2G talk, 5 hours of 3G talk, 7 hours of video and 24 hours of audio. GPS is also a go. Apple is using A-GPS, which supplements regular satellite GPS data with info from cellular towers for faster location. (WiFi data is also worked into the mix, which should give users a pretty solid lock on where the heck they are on this planet.) Unfortunately, as expected there's no front-facing cam, and while its edges are thinner than before it's still about a millimeter thicker at the center (12.3mm over 11.6mm before). Apple hopes to launch in 70 countries this year, with the black 8GB going for $199 and 16GB for $299 in black or white. (Both price points require a contract, of course.) Apple will be hitting the 22 biggest markets, including the US, on July 11th.