Today, for those of you who don’t know, there was an iPod event. While not a whole lot of the event was geared towards the iPhone, the smallest section of the Stevenote nearly made me wet myself.

Before I go on just let me say that I don’t speak as a fanboy. I don’t simply like Apple because I can. There are clear reasons for my Apple preference. I used PCs, I’ve seen the alternatives. I know how Zunes (don’t) work. The fact is, Apple has an unprecedented attention to detail, and they back it up with awesome support. I have literally never had a good tech support experience…Except with Apple. Every company makes mistakes, but Apple is the only company I know who has a near perfect record for fixing things they royally screw up (when I say “near”, I’m looking at you, mis-contorted mini-bluetooth keyboard of doom and suckiness).

So based on their track record, I’ve always trusted that over time Apple would work out all the things I’ve come to hate about my iPhone. I figured 2.1 would address the words of them: random app crashing, and the overall instability that occurs when you have a lot of apps (like I do). But I had no idea that Steve Jobs would get up on stage today, and tell me that every single little thing I hate about my iPhone will be no more as of this Friday (well, I shouldn’t say EVERYTHING…there’s still no cut and paste!!!).

No 4-hour-long backups, they’ve revamped that backup system. No starting from scratch at least once a week because my iPhone refuses to boot up after installing one too many apps. He even says there’s going to be significant performance improvements, and significant battery life improvements. Based on the demos, I’m guessing that means faster app installs, but it’s always hard to tell with demos

Another great thing they did with this event today was clearly label the iPhone/iPod Touch as a gaming platform. Apple themselves has finally acknowledged the potential for gaming in their device, and this is groundbreaking for consumers. It means that game developers will be willing to look at it very seriously; and the answer will usually be yes! Take EA for example, they’ve been putting out tons of games for iPhone and doing simultaneous release for iPhone with big names like Spore and Need for Speed! It’s fantastic for us gamers, because we get AMAZING games on the iPhone, and it’s great for them too, because development time is tiny in comparison to other platforms; and yet there is a huge profit potential. Win/Win.

They’ve also made significant progress in making the iPod Touch and iPod Nano more green. I am always all for keeping this world a habitable place! It always baffles me that people label Apple as a non-eco-friendly company. They are a tech company, and nearly every piece of tech has strange chemicals in it. It is true that Apple does some not-so-great stuff, but from where I’m sitting, it’s also true that they are the ONLY tech company actually working towards improving on that front.

Wow, Apple. I trusted in you, and I don’t regret it. Today is a great day. Here’s to one of the finest companies I know.

Hello,
So you guys sure seem to be proud of your decision to support a ridiculously restrictive DRM format. I just wanted you to know a few things, you really should consider them before you move forward.

The first is that, I promise you, piracy will still happen. It always happens. There is absolutely nothing you can do about it. DRM just makes it a pain in the ass for those who purchase it legally, making piracy all the more tempting.

For those of us who don’t have moral convictions preventing us from stealing from a giant machine such as many of your clients, the one and only draw to not engaging in piracy is that it makes it easier on us. When you intentionally include a piece of spyware whose job is to hassle the user through hell and back, it doesn’t make it very easy on them.

The second thing I want to warn you about is that you will make less money. Statistics show that DRM hurts sales (here is one of many articles on this: http://www.joystiq.com/2008/06/24/sins-publisher-stardock-keeps-piracy-in-perspective/). Aside from statistics, I can tell you first hand that I am one of them. I am making you a promise right now that I will NEVER buy ANY of your games that include SecuROM (I make no promises as to whether or not I’ll acquire them, you just won’t make any money off it if I do).

So, I hope you can see now, DRM is going to hurt you dramatically. And for trying to take away consumer freedoms, and putting your concerns of piracy above the will of your PAYING CUSTOMERS, your company deserves to go under.

Thank you
Jt Hollister

P.S. Your ports aren’t very good anyway.

Phil Hassey, a dedicated and excellent programmer who authored the original Galcon, has put out my favorite app for the iPhone so far. The iPhone and iPod Touch are, in my opinion, the ideal platforms for Galcon. Touch controls are simpler and faster than using your mouse, making the gameplay absolutely incredible!

No multiplayer, as of yet, but I have word from Phil that he plans on putting that together later this year — after he recuperates from the porting process!

I would love to see some more controls implemented, but for a first release this is absolutely gorgeous!

Galcon Touch can be had from the iTunes App Store or in the App Store on your iPhone/iPod Touch.

Back in the 1970s, IBM was the biggest computer manufacturer and essentially the monolith that Microsoft is now. In the early days of Apple, Steve Jobs was a software designer and the business side to Apple. They were doing quite well into the early 1980s with their Apple II, which was quickly revolutionizing the world into one of personal computers. With Apple doing well and growing quickly, it was time to expand with partnerships and new staff.

Steve Jobs brough in two new characters that would ruin Apple for decades to come. First was a partnership with small software developer Bill Gates and his company, Microsoft. The other was a new CEO: John Sculley, then CEO of Pepsi Cola.

Bill Gates would soon leave Apple to develop his own company, now privy to top-secret Apple-eyes-only information, such as the GUI that was being developed, which would revolutionize the world yet again, and the newfangled “mouse” that went with it. Bill Gates used this information to catapult Microsoft into the Windows era. But more on that later.

Meanwhile, Steve Jobs was locked in a power struggle with now-CEO John Sculley. Jobs had developed software which would run on the Apple II and turn it into a business machine. Sculley insisted that this so-called “business machine” would canabilize sales of the Apple II. Jobs noted that the business and personal markets were entirely seperate, and that leaving the business market open was not a good idea. He said to Sculley, “do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to change the world?” However, reason does not always prevail, and Sculley won the struggle. Jobs left Apple.

Over the next decade or so, Sculley would transform Apple from what should and could easily have been the world’s supplier of computers and developer of the mainstream Operating System into a small niche company which made its sales only to graphic designers, and less and less of even that as Sculley’s reign continued.

Of course, Microsoft had no such idiot in power to hinder them. They had Bill Gates, who, when it comes to marketing at least, is pure genious. Microsoft grew while Apple shrank, and when they ran out of ideas, they just stole Apple’s already existing ideas. With Apple getting smaller and smaller, people began to think Microsoft actually had come up with many of these ideas, and we approach the early 2000s era where Microsoft is practically undisputed.

In 1996, however, Jobs had quietly returned to Apple, and was beginning to lay the foundations of an entirely new era, one which we have yet to see. In 2001, the iPod revolutionized the world and brough its attention back to Apple. Over the last 5 years, Apple has improved upon their products in ways that give Microsoft nausea.

Recently we have seen changes begin to take place that will lead to a day when Apple finally gets the audience it deserved from day 1. EA has announced simultaneous release for all major titles on Mac and PC. Bungie has announced an end to their exclusive partnership with Microsoft. Apple has an estimated 46% of the high-end personal notebook market share. These are just a few of the things that are happening that will ultimately lead to Apple’s return to world technology authority.

Until that day, I will continue to fight for the cause! Long live Apple, and death to Microsoft!!!