Google Calendar now iPhone & iPod Touch Friendly

Google have updated both its Google Docs and Google Calendar applications. The calendar is of most interest here, in that it has been updated to fit the iPhone screen nicely. Of even more importance is that iPod touch users have been complaining about the inability to add events to iCal on the iPod touch. Well, with some syncing between Google Calendar and iCal, it is not pretty easy to add this functionality. On your iPhone or touch, point your browser here: http://calendar.google.com

iPhone Review - UK get ready, this is the dogs danglies

So I managed to get my hands on an iPhone, and in true Geek style wanted to bring you my first thoughts on the must-have-phone from Apple. Being so keen to bring you the details, you are getting this even before I have had time to take photos of the iPhone. This is the first Apple product that I have ever had that hasn't had photos taken first in its virgin, fingerprint free state. That should give you some idea of how excited I was after opening it.

The iPhone form factor is superb, in fact a lot slimmer than I had expected. The actual screen real estate makes it comparable to the sleeker PDA's available today. The rounded corners make it feel smaller than it actually is. In the hand, it is weighted just right and feels (as Apple products normally do) like a really high quality product. The touch screen definitely needs a screen protector on, so if you are getting an iPhone on November 9th, be prepared and order some protection in plenty of time. The majority of the back is brushed silver aluminium, with a small portion at the base being black. This gives a very luxurious, yet slippery feel, but at least not a fingerprint magnet. The camera, also located on the back is tiny and recessed back into the unit, so again you would struggle to get a greasy finger on it.

Now, when you switch the iPhone on for the first time, make sure you are seated. The screen is just awesome, pin sharp, bright, vibrant, spot on. Only when I had dug a little deeper into the settings did I find it was set to half brightness, so bumping it up a couple of notches had those colours popping. On playback of some video podcasts and a few cartoon videos, I was wowed, for this alone, the device is worth its asking price. If the iPod Touch is anything like this, it will also be just as popular.

The internet worked just as I expected, but doing the double-tap to zoom in, as I had seen in the demo videos, was all the more satisfying. Email was also a very smooth experience, just like a mini Mail.app with all my account settings taken from my Mac and transferred onto the iPhone. Hopping into my car I tested making a few calls and the voice quality was again very good. Back onto Safari and the main let down was the speed on surfing the internet over EDGE. Not entirely Apples fault, but the network does not support lightning fast speeds, far from it. So, I hopped back on the road and headed to a local restaurant that has a Wi-Fi hotspot run by The Cloud. Logging on was really easy and made the internet, email and YouTube a joy to use. So my advice is that you will need to use Wi-Fi if you are a heavy data user, otherwise you will get frustrated. EDGE should be treated as a backup solution.

I have only really covered here my early experiences. My opinion of the iPhone so far is that it is superb. Most certainly one of the most exciting Apple products I have had the pleasure of using to date. When launched on November 9th, it will make a lot of people really happy. If you were having second thoughts, then don't, you will not be disappointed.

Channel 4 On Demand - No Go for Mac

We all know how the BBC iPlayer does not support the Mac platform. What a cheek, especially considering the use of 'i' in the name of their Windows only player. Well, I wanted to search out some content to play on my Mac and a lot of Channel 4 programmes make me laugh (the IT Crowd springs to mind). Well, guess what? The Channel 4 On Demand service is not Mac compatible either, so I emailed them asking for an explanation, here is their reply;

"Unfortunately we cannot say when the 4oD service will be available to users of other platforms, including Mac OS and Linux. The problem is, our content providers (e.g. the production companies who make our shows), insist on using a DRM licensing system.

The DRM (Digital Rights Management) system basically protects the video content from duplication and broadcast outside the UK & ROI. Currently they insist on using Microsoft's DRM, and because of this we can only support Microsoft operating systems.

Linux currently has no such DRM system available and so our content providers will not allow us to support the Linux operating system. Macintosh do have a solution, however the closed DRM system used by Apple is not currently available for licence by third parties and there is no other Mac-compatible DRM solution which meets the protection requirements of our
content owners. Unfortunately, we are therefore unable to offer 4oD and other video content to Mac users at this stage.

We are sorry to disappoint on this occasion and assure you that if changes throughout the industry happen, as we would like, we will ensure the support of other operating systems."

If you require further information, visit http://help.channel4.com/4oD/ - plus I urge you to email them too and ask for a Mac compatible player.

Yet more Apple Store Touchwood Photos

Yes, I know, I know, enough already, but let me explain. I love attending Apple Store openings, and I was so disappointed that I could not attend The Touchwood Centre, Solihull that I had to track down some photos to bring to our readers. This time, thanks to pale_whites of eleganttechnology.co.uk - check out the rest of his Flickr set on the link above.

Apple Store Touchwood Centre Solihull Open Today

The latest of the UK Apple Stores opened today in The Touchwood Centre, Solihull. It looks like a good time was had by all, with free T-Shirts, a prize draw, and a first chance by many to see the new generation of iPods, including the latest and greatest iPod Touch.
Many thanks go to wicker_man gave us kind permission to post a few of his pictures up on the website, you can catch the rest of his Apple Store Opening set of photos here.

Updated version of iPod Touch + iPhone Test Movie

We have now updated the movie that allows you to test the screen on your iPod Touch or iPhone. It plays black, white, red, green, blue, allowing you to check for dead pixels. You can then check for the 'negative black' issue that so many are reporting, along with a gamma/contrast test and a gradient screen to check for banding.

The video can be downloaded here. Then drag it into iTunes or onto your device and touch play.

The new screens were supplied courtesy of http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/small/ - if you go to this website you can also download static versions of the images to load onto your device. There are also some additional test images on lagom.nl that we did not put onto the video, as the compression would have made them not suitable for testing.

Latest EA Games - Now Shipping

If you want the latest and greatest games from Electronic Arts, then head on over to the Apple Store (US only at the moment, UK to follow) and you will find that some are now shipping in 24 hours. These include Command & Conquer 3, Battlefield 2142 and Need for Speed Carbon. Madden NFL 08 and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 are featured, but still showing as pre-orders. Not too long to wait though, I fancy a round of golf.

Apple Store Solihull UK - Opening Sat 22nd September

If you have never been to an Apple Store opening, I urge you to go to one. The atmosphere is great, you get the chance to get a free T-Shirt (first 1,000 through the door), plus you can enter a prize draw to win a Digital Lifestyle Collection, which includes a black MacBook and an iPod Nano. The store opens at 9:00am on Saturday 22nd September at The Touchwood Centre, Solihull. Full details can be found here.

Western Digital Revamp MyBook Hard Drives

Western Digital's MyBook range of hard drives have always been a favourite of mine, mainly due to their reliability, but also they are so damn quiet. Well, they have updated the MyBook range with three new versions, that look a lot sleeker than the old.

The Home Edition offer up three interfaces. In addition to FireWire 400 and USB 2.0, you also get external SATA for mega performance gains.
The Office Edition is the first in the MyBook range to offer up its files online without the need for an Ethernet connection. When you turn on your Windows PCs, the MioNet software makes files and folders available online through USB, so long as your PC is online.
The Essential Edition 2.0 is the entry level of the range, with USB-only for users just needing to add extra storage to their systems.

Pricing
The 320GB Essential Edition 2.0 costs $130 disk and go up in price, all the way up to a 1TB version. The 320GB Home Edition will set you back $170, and again is available up to 1TB. King of the crop, the Office Edition, costs $170 for the 320GB version, right up to 1TB for $380. Available now in the US, but I have yet to track down UK pricing. A handy comparison table is available here.

Crave have video of the UK iPhone Event

We all know by now that the iPhone hits UK stores on November 9th. The event held at Apples Regent Street store to make the announcement was a press only event. Crave took some video footage of the event and have just posted it online. It is well worth a look, so point your browser here.

iPod Touch & iPhone Screen Test Movie

This is a very simple movie that tests the iPod Touch and iPhone screens. It plays black, white, red, green, blue and a nice scale at the end. Check if you have any dead pixels and it your blacks are the correct way around, not displaying the 'negative black' issue that so many are reporting.

In our early findings, having seen six iPod Touch screens, none that we saw had any display issues. So this cannot be something that is effecting every Touch, it must just be certain ones.

The video can be downloaded here. Then drag it into iTunes or onto your device and touch play.