The Difference between the iPhone and iPod touch

As a follow up to my iPod touch review, there are a few additional features missing from the iPod touch OS in comparison to the iPhone. These are: No Edge Network (obviously); No "Notes" application (this may be a bigger deal once Apple allows us to sync this); No bluetooth; Scratch-able rear surface; No external volume buttons or speakers, and no camera.

A lot of people are complaining the screen isn't as good. I don't have a particularly good eye for these things but I put them next to each other and the iPhone did look slightly more vivid.

Anyway, there is a great article giving these differences much more detail than I did at iProng.

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iphone, ipod, ipod touch, MacSparky

Review - iPod touch

I've already explained how my daughter put the squeeze on me for a new iPod touch. Yesterday I took her down to the local Apple Store and we were fortunate to get one. She was so happy. I can't really mock this excitement. I did buy an iPhone on June 29 and I do happen to run a Mac blog. Anyway, after playing with it for a day (when my daughter allows me), I thought I'd post a few impressions.

The form factor really is close to the iPhone except it is much thinner. About by half. The case makers are going to have to get to work. The headphone jack is NOT recessed (yay) and the top power button is moved from the right to the left, which does not seem as convenient to me.

Set up was as easy as plugging it in and choosing which data to move over to the iPod. It is so painless that I should say more but us Apple owners are spoiled that way so we just expect it.

A lot of the iPhone applications are identical. Safari, Contacts, Photos, YouTube, and the Calculator among others. The iPod functions are also identical. I'm sorry they didn't make some of the virtual buttons (FF, RW and pause) bigger. They are hard to hit on the iPhone and also hard to hit on the iPod touch. Other than that gripe, it is the best iPod ever. The video looks gorgeous on it and the menu system is really easy to navigate.

A few things are just silly. You can read your downloaded calendar but you can't add events on it. Huh? Also, there is no email application. We were able to access her webmail with it but an email application would have been nice.

I guess my biggest gripe with it is not the features that are in it but the features that are left out. If you are looking for an excellent iPod, look no further. If you are looking for something more akin to keeping your Mac in your pocket. Take a look at the iPhone.

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ipod touch

Free iPhone Ringtones

Rogue Amoeba has updated its free ringtone maker. I have never really been all that interested in ringtones. How many people really want to hear Madonna from someone else's cell phone while they are waiting to pay for their Big Mac? Moreover, it is ridiculous how much the carriers charge for this stuff. I did, however, play with the Rogue Amoeba program and it is really easy to use. I imported some of my own music. Over the Moon works great for a morning alarm. (Ringtones double as alarm sounds) I'm thinking I'll probably put a few of the Soundtrack sound effects into it too. I know one person who would be perfect for screaming monkeys .. but I won't say anymore on that subject.

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iphone, MacSparky, ringtones, rogue amoeba

Messages on the Go with Jott

I found this great service at Jott.com. The way it works is you set up an account with them and tie it to your phone number. When you then call Jott's toll free 866 number, it recognizes you. You can tell it who you are sending a message too (including yourself) and then dictate your message and hang up. The software converts your message to text and sends it off via email to your recipient.

This is a great task list capture tool. I can add tasks from anywhere and they show up in my inbox for processing into OmniFocus. The service is in beta and free. Check it out and let me know how you are using it.

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MacSparky, productivity, jott

Schoolhouse for Students

My sixth grader has, for the first time, multiple teachers. I was a mess in school as a kid and it took me years to reverse engineer myself into any sort of organization. I'm hoping to help out my daughter and went sniffing for something that would make it fun. I found this great application, Schoolhouse, that really does the trick. It has everything she needs and is fun to use.

The developer explains the application at his website:

"With the ability to sort and organize your assignments, exams, and projects quickly and easily Schoolhouse is a must have for any student on-the-go. The power of smart notebooks allow you to interact with your work as simply as your iTunes library.

Classcasts give the ability to publish your assignments to the web automatically for anyone to subscribe to. A newly redesigned grading system allows you to chart your scores over the course of the term to keep an outlook as you go. All of this works to ensure you will never be in the dark at the end of the semester."

This was put together by a single developer and looks great. As useful as it will be to my sixth grader, it would be even better for those in high school and college.

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MacSparky, parenting, schoolhouse

iPhone Friendly MacSparky

One of the upgrades I made to the website with the new server was a very cool plug-in called iwphone. This allows readers on iPhones to see a customized presentation for the iPhone screen. It detects when an iPhone plugs into MacSparky and loads a different iPhone optimized theme just for them. I was amazed at how easily it installed and worked. This thing is going to take off for all us Wordpress folks.

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MacSparky, wordpress, iwphone, iphone

From Jobs' Lips to Her Ears

So I promised my 10 year old that if she helped out my wife with her internet business over the summer, I'd buy her a video iPod. It worked out. She worked all summer and was a big help. A few weeks ago I said, "Okay, lets go get your new iPod". She says "No." She has been "reading" on the intenet and thinks new ones will come out. Like she has got some inside angle on it all so I'm all ... "Okay ... lets wait" From Jobs' lips to her ears a few weeks later Apple announces the iPod touch. It gets better.

I'm sitting at my desk last week trying to deal with a case when she calls me again. "Hey Dad. They are refunding you $100 on your iPhone. You can use that on my iPodTouch." Welcome to fatherhood. But there is more.

I'm sitting at my desk at 7:30. (Yes .. I work early) She calls again. "Dad, I just got an email. iPod Touch is coming out early."

What a kid.

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apple, MacSparky, ipod, parenting

Downloads Galore

One of the benefits of having plenty of server space is I no longer have to rubber band and scotch tape together ways of getting large fils to readers. I've been doing lots of back-end work on the site the last few days rebuilding links and restructuring pages. It is not completely done but getting closer. The good news is several items are much easier to access now.

Screencasts - All Resolutions, All Day

I now have the screencasts formatted for HD, AppleTV, and iPod and all conveniently available on the screencast page

Humpty Dumpty Revisited

I've edited the Humpty Dumpty entry. That was where I gave the law talk and Keynote to my fifth grader's class. For all those teachers and parents interested in using this, I now have the PDF file, the Keynote and (for those OS X challenged) a clickable quicktime file for the Dell boxes. Who knows, when they see the fantastic Keynote transitions, maybe a few of them will come to the light side. Gone are the days of me sending these files to people via Pando. Now you can find them right here.

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MacSparky, screencast, humpty dumpty, law, education

Keynote Themes Half Off at MacZot

For all of you Keynote pros, MacZot has half off the Keynote Theme FX today. Usually at $59, this package from Jumpsoft has several themes with interactive backgrounds. You can watch a video here and buy it from MacZot for $29 (today only) here.

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Server Transfer Complete!

I decided to change the server Friday night and here I am on Sunday night with the new server live. I'm actually quite impressed with myself. Like all great feats however (and this is a quite an accomplishment for me), there were many people responsible for this happening. Especially the following:

Gabe Wilson
My pal Gabe Wilson, convinced me it was actually possible for someone as clueless about internet servers as myself to pull this off. Gabe also turned me on to a Dreamhost.com which leads to big helper #2.

Dreamhost.com
This web hosting service rocks. They are very cheap and offer tons of bandwidth and storage. Not only that, they increase over time. They are giving me an additional gig of space per week. Most importantly, these guys are super helpful. When I was having that "Oh c*^p, what have I got myself into" moment Friday night, I emailed them and they completely took over. They got my wordpress blog transferred onto the server and helped me through all the tweaks. Quite often my emails were replied to in less than thirty minutes. Frankly, I can't imagine any better customer service.

Darren Rolfe
Darren is my graphics Sensei. The new three column format didn't jive with my old banner. No problem, Darren fixed it in about thirty minutes. If you ever need a graphic artist, or just want to have a fun, go visit Darren at MacWingnut.

The Rest of the Gang
I received some very helpful emails and comments from readers. Thank you all. Also, my family let me spend the day on the couch, watching football, and tweaking the new site. Thanks Gang!

For those of you who read me via RSS please make sure to reset your feed. Now that I've got the basics up I'll continue to refine it a bit. I am also going to be moving the podcast feed to this site and off Podbean. I'm getting requests for different formats of the screencasts (i.e. Apple TV, etc..) Now I have the bandwidth to pull it off.  Anyway, I'll continue to try and make it better for everyone.

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MacSparky, os x, dreamhost.com