Freyburg

Yes, pigs are currently cruising through a very, very cold Hades, because Apple is finally releasing the iPhone in Canada, and not only that, it’s the new, improved, 3G iPhone. Due July 11th at Apple Stores, Rogers and Fido outlets, and presumably online. Of course, the potential fly in the ointment of all this mobile love is the big question of what precisely Rogers will charge for an iPhone-centric data plan. I’d like to think the larger opportunity of a game-changing product like the iPhone would jar Rogers to their senses and force them into an unlimited plan for $50 or less…but I’m not holding my breath.

Apple also rolled out Mobile Me, a revamp of the moribund .Mac service which prove to be quite useful (because .Mac certainly wasn’t), and the much awaited App Store, which promises to bring much the same creativity and device-extending goodness as the….uh, jailbreak community has for the last year.

Will I get a new 3G iPhone? it all depends on what Rogers does in terms of a data plan. There’s no point in having always-on connectivity if within a month I’m broke. But if they come to their senses and offer a reasonable rate, I’m most likely in.

I have another article up on Mac|Life, this time about the rebate all Canadians who purchased iPods before June 24, 2004 can claim for a $45 credit from Apple. Do you qualify? More importantly, what will you do with your Apple rebate?

Friday night… an edgy East Vancouver club/gallery/skatepark… after the DJ finishes a two-hour set, the crowd of hipsters eagerly awaits Vancouver’s own faux-Brit powerpop punk bad The Tranzmitors’ live show… and pockets of Internet geeks nervously eye the crowd while checking out… the Microsoft Zune?

If it sounds like a strange scene for a Microsoft product launch, it was indeed, but then, the Zune is an odd product, a hardware device from a (mainly) software company, with hobbled wifi (for limited file sharing only!) and DRM incompatibility with Microsoft’s own PlaysForSure standard for music players.

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It’s about damned time. Though Rogers hasn’t said much else, so we don’t know if this is the rumoured 3G model, or whether they’ll reduce their ridiculous data rates to something civilized. Since I already have an iPhone, I’m waiting to see just how much better the new phone will be…and then we’ll see.

I wrote an article for Mac|Life about the lengths we have to go to north of the border to get and use iPhones. I think Mac|Life deserves extra points for using a flappy headed South Park Canadian as the symbol of our displeasure.

Yes, an Apple IIgs in laptop form. I think I’m in love.

Designer and fellow Vancouver beer n’ tech buddy Dave Shea just had his new Iphone/Touch icons featured on The Unofficial Apple Weblog. Congrats, Dave!

A little recursive, but apparently someone figured out how to emulate Palm apps on the iPhone. Sorta pointless but oddly compelling.

Some rich fella paid over $2,000 for a mint Apple //c off of eBay, and then proceeded to document the unboxing of said beast. The thing I noticed right away is that Apple has consistently had some amazing package design, even in the old days. Plus, the Apple //c just looks damned cool.

(picture by Flickr user Dansays)

My days mostly consist of hanging out in the Podcast Studio and getting my learn on (now that I have a business that depends on such things), so yesterday I checked out an awesome session on green screens for video podcasts, and later got to meet Stu Machwitz, the guy who wrote the DV Rebel Guide. I later made my way (and not without difficulty, San Francisco is pretty but its organizational skills leave a little to be desired in terms of street layout) to the Final Cut Pro Supermeet, which was a thing to behold. There were at least 500 if not more people there, and all of them knew a hell of a lot more about Final Cut Pro than I do. Well worth checking out. I kind of got lost on my way to the event, and dealt with a surly but ultimately helpful cabbie. Still, what would a working vacation be without adventure, uncertainty, and lots of gadgets?