AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud

For starters, I just want to say Game Center is off to a great start and should get better over time. But I would like for Apple to give us a better indication of which games support it. Now. I played my first game. Flight Control. The only unique thing about this now is that I am not just playing to beat my old score but also land as many planes as I can, which I managed to set a personal best. I suppose a little motivation helped considering now that there is a leader board and ranking to consider. Obviously, I was out of my league. I don't see myself landing more than 15,000 planes in one day which someone managed to do. I look forward to exploring the games and Game Center more this weekend and report back from time to time on how I am doing. BTW, my Game Center name is "Sarcast". Looking forward to add new friends if you're willing. Also, I think Apple should integrate Ping and Game Center together somehow. It doesnt make sense to have two separate social networ...

Here are a few still photos taken with the rear camera of the new 4th generation iPod touch. Are you can see, there are places for them but if you're looking for something closer to the iPhone 4's 5MP camera, well, then the iPhone 4 is what you ought to get. The colors seems fine but I am not a very discerning photographer. And I use that term very very liberally. This picture has no zoom. The next one was taken with digital zoom. You can see how awful it is. Again, for general purpose pictures, the iPod touch cannot pass mustard with it's sub-1MP rear camera. But if you watch the videos in the previous post, you can see that the iPod touch provides the user with casual photo capture but very good 720p video capture. It is mainly for folks who don't need an iPhone but want something more than a Flip or their regular phones or gaming devices can do. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPod touch

I took a couple of videos this evening with my iPod Touch. The video is in 720p. I tried to capture as much of the different colors as possible. Remember, I am far far from having any creative bone in my body. So I apologize ahead of time for the lack of creativity, jerky video, and the bad sound. Love to hear from someone with a Galaxy, iPhone 4, or a Flip and tells us about the quality. I mainly bought the touch for quick and fun videos when I go out with friends and families. Eventually, it'll be used as a FaceTime device as well. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPod touch

I've just got the new 32GB iPod touch for a few hours. Haven't gotten to know it well yet. One of the thing that sticks in my mind as I try to clean myself of Steve Jobs' reality distortion field is that this touch is being called an iPhone without the contract. Is it?

I will be visiting the Pasadena Apple store in a bit. And if the stars are aligned properly, I may be the new proud owner of the fourth generation iPod touch. Of course, more than the stars have to be aligned. Through the day, I have seen samples of the pictures and videos taken with the new touch. I have also read about the..ahem...features Apple left out of the iPod touch that they gave to the iPhone 4. 256MB instead of 512MB, no vibration motor, a subpar Retina screen but still a retina screen, smaller battery (granted there isn't a cell antenna the touch has to contend with), and, certainly, the less than 1MP still camera. All those shortcomings will need to pass my standards. I will be grateful for the increase speed over my 2G iPhone as well as the better screen and ability to enjoy all the iOS 4.1 features. And, not in the least, the ability to capture decent 720p video. So in a few hours, I hope to report back with some great news. If not, I'll let on on why I decided ...

It's rare to see Apple and Google working together in any meaningful way like they used to. Well, the combination of Apple's Facetime for the iOS devices and VOIP calling integration into Gmail/Gtalk, though accidental, means we can start the countdown clock to the demise of landlines, telecoms, and wireless providers. Facetime for the iPhone and iPod Touch has the likelihood to transform communication and Internet calling just makes expensive wireless plans unnecessary once it becomes available on Android. Of course, the telecoms and wireless providers can transform and innovate. But I'm not optimistic. Personally, I'm okay with them being dump pipes. More on how Apple and Google are working, again not necessarily together, to end the era of draconian telecoms at Greenjava .

As you know by now, Apple just updated the iPod lineup. Well, I'm just gonna briefly talk about the nano. As squarish as it is, the 6th generation iPod nano with multi-touch is just a precursor to something better next year or the year after: an iPod Touch nano. With the smaller body, the new nano is definitely an update, but not necessarily an upgrade. For me, I'm going to be picking up a 16GB 5G green iPod nano from Amazon and forgo the 6th gen squared body multi-touch iPod nano. Why? Well, first, it's $20 cheaper than the 6G nano. Plus, you can still play video and has a video capture, even if it is not the greatest quality in the world.