http://stream.qtv.apple.com/events/jun/1006ad9g4hjk/1006127iojapsoiujdv_650_ref.mov

The very quick summary:

New iPhone 4 Announced:

- Includes an incredible “retina” display that has 4 times the resolution of the current iPhone.  It looks incredible.   (960 x 640, 326 ppi, 800:1 contrast ratio)

- A4 Processor (this will make things really fast

- The sides of the phone are actually the antennas for reception of the various wireless services

- Gyroscope now included

- Vido Calling – called “Face Time” but currently only supported over wi-fi.  Quality looks really good

- Front facing 1mp camera for video calling

- 5MP Camera and HD Video (720) with Video light and LED Flash

- 40% better battery life – that’s a great thing

- iMovie will be available on the new iPhone for $4.99

New iOS (new name) released in two weeks on June 21st.  Upgrades are free for all users including Touch users.  The new OS has some great new features including better email options and multitasking.

iPhone released on June 24th for the US, and in July for Canada and Australia

I”m very excited as this means I don’t need to be at home to make calls to Canada, however there is a down-side.  Skype will charge for a mobile subscription after August.  No word on how much that will be.  I’m sure given the Skype track record that it will be reasonable.

When iPhone 4.0 OS comes out later next month we’ll also be able to keep Skype in the background waiting for calls while still using the iPhones other features.  That’s a very exciting prospect.

It will be interesting to see just how much data is used on a 3G call. That, ultimately will determine how much use it will get from me with very limited data allowances (approx 750mb per month)

Ubuntu is a free Linus distribution.  The team at Ubuntu have been marching forward for years providing a free distribution of Linux aimed at non profit groups, schools, and geeks. I’ve been following the progress of Ubuntu for years.  I’ve installed every major release ubuntu has put out for the last 10 years, but sadly the experience was always less than polished.  Version 9 was close – very close, but still lacking and far too geeky even for me to enjoy on a daily basis.

A new version of Ubuntu has just been released and I do believe it’s ready for prime time.  10.04 is a LTS.  LTS stands for Long Term Service release.  This means that for the next 3 years Ubuntu will keep it updated and release regular fixes.

The installation was super easy.  I installed on a 4 year old Dell.  It runs beautifully.  Much faster than the previously installed Windows Visa and faster than Windows 7.  It automatically recognized all hardware without any configuration.  It even recognized the Mac keyboard and mouse and all the buttons work they way they should.

It comes with a suite of open source applications for every day use.  Word processing, browsing, email etc are all there.

New in this release is a software store that installs programs with one click (it’s all free of course).  I was also pleased to see that Skype and Boxee are both available for Ubuntu.  They work really well – just like the Mac counterparts.

I fully expected I would reinstall windows after my little experiment but I’m very happy with the install.  It is incredibly stable, easy to use, now includes all the software I would want on a machine like this, and it’s all free!

This computer will make a new life as a little entertainment computer in the kitchen or our guest room. It’s perfect for watching a movie from our networked hard drives or browsing the web.

I summary, there are more than 100 updates to be released in the North American summer. The most significant updates include an integrated mailbox, a new interactive online gaming community, multitasking, folders to categorize apps, a new limit of 2000 installed apps, better control over location aware applications, improvements to push notifications, iBooks, and of course iAd. iAd looks to be an interesting addition to Apple’s services. The 60/40 split for revenue is similar to Apple’s other programs. Ads will be served from Apple, and will feature interactivity and entertainment like no Ads you have seen before. The idea seems to be that when you click on an Ad in an app you are pulled in by something fun and or entertaining rather than just a static image. Clicking on an Ad doesn’t remove you from the application but rather opens on top of the application letting you explore the Ad before returning to where you were.

It’s unclear if this will be intrusive in the App experience or welcome in terms of better quality content. The system allows for game play and interactivity that could make looking at the “Ad” enjoyable.

See the above link for all the details.

Al’s Audio Blog by Al Gauthier   (3213 KB)
Listen on posterous

Posted via email from Al Gauthier

Not only is he restoring her as new, he has photographs of the original owner/builder, and photographs of her being built and finally her launch on May 9th, 1914.

To have these photographs is truly amazing. I am beside myself with excitement to see these photos and to know that I have been part of the history of this amazing boat.

To see these photos take a look at them in my online gallery:

http://gallery.me.com/al.gauthier#100327&bgcolor=black&view=grid