SodaStream - Replacing Pepsi.

I have been trying to kick the pepsi / coke habit for years, with limited success. Most recently this has taken the form of drinking seltzer water drinks.  We purchased a SodaStream and I have to say it's very cool, and I'm doing better than I would have expected.

The first thing to realize is not to bother with any of the drink syrups. If the samples are any indication, they all taste like ass. You can also get the SodaStream on Amazon, but it's probably the same price at your local Bed, Bath and Beyond.

I haven't managed to enjoy a plain glass of Seltzer water yet.  I need flavor.  My current drink of choice is the following:

• Open one package of Citrus Splash crystal light and add the powder to empty glass.
• Add 1 tbsp or less of water  to the glass.
• Swish around trying to dissolve all of the crystal light in the water.
• Add carbonized water to glass slowly. There will be some extra fizzing, but if you're slow it will settle down.
• Add ice.
• mmmmmmm enjoy.

Other flavors of the Crystal light also work well with seltzer water. There are a bunch of recipes on the net that involve natural fruit juices that we plan on trying.  I'd like to cut out the artificial sweeteners that  are used in Crystal Light.

If you try it out let me know, curious to know if you have any good recipes.

iPad Rev 3

On March 7th 2012 Apple announced the latest version of the iPad. I'll call it iPad 3 cause it's easier, but Apple calls it the iPad (3rd generation).  For the record the name change doesn't bother me at all.  You can find a run down of the new features all over the internet. But it boils down to:

• Retina display
• Larger battery and improved graphics processor to support the new screen
• Updated Camera with 1080p video recording.
• LTE / 4G support on AT&T and Verizon
• New software and updated software to take advantage of the new screen.

So... What did I get?  I got the 32g Wifi only iPad 3.  I'm now wishing I had gotten the Verizon LTE version just so I would have the option of using it.  However our iPad 1 had 3G and we used it only once. So for now I'll settle with what I got.  Maybe I'll get it in the iPad 4.

Should you get it? If you don't have an iPad then absolutely. If you have a 1st or 2nd gen iPad, then I dunno, really a personal decision.  I got it cause I like to mess with the new stuff and just because I wanted it. :)

Mini-Review:

• The display is amazing
• I haven't played any games yet that really take advantage of the new graphics processor. However, a few of my drawing programs seem laggy when drawing.  Not all of them, I think this is simply due to the apps needing to draw more pixels, combined with the apps not being updated / optimized for the new iPad.
• The new camera takes decent pics, gonna do some video to play with the new iMovie, I might post something here.
• iPhoto for the iPad is awesome. Gonna delete some other apps.

The new Apple TV has 1080p support now which you can notice depending on the content you are viewing.  The bigger news is the new Apple TV software.  It made the 2nd gen. Apple TV seem much faster.  And the "App centric" interface changes might hint at more Apple TV Apps coming.

Now back to Draw Something...

Scribblenauts Remix

Scribblenauts Remix for the iPhone/iPod is an amazing creative and fun game. Give it a try.

http://www.scribblenautsremix.com

iPhone 4S and Siri

Like a technology zombie I stumbled to my computer and pre-ordered the iPhone 4S as soon as I was able to.  I used the excuse that I'm gonna do more iOS app development and it will be good to have the latest phone for testing.  But, the real reason is that I'm a nut.

Was it worth it. For people with an iPhone 4, probably not.  iOS 5 is a major upgrade that will keep the iPhone 4 users happy for a long time.

The one major reason to get the iPhone 4S is for the camera upgrade. The improved resolution and performance combined with the Camera improvements in iOS 5 are all great reasons to get the new phone.

What about Siri?  It's freaking wonderful. It does a great job of recognizing voice and converting it to text.  And I hope that once it leaves Beta it will become available to more Apple devices (crosses fingers for iPad 2 support).  Apple will most likely add support to many more applications.  Siri's syntax will improve and include many more things you can ask it to do.

Super Easy Custom iPhone RingTones

Using the Macs built-in text to speech functionality it is super easy to create custom ringtones for the iPhone.

You Need:

• A Mac
• An iPhone
• iTunes

Open Terminal and create a ringtone audio file using the say command.

For example:

say -v Trinoids "Incoming Transmission" -o incoming.m4r

Pay attention to the folder you are in when you make this file, this will normally be your home folder.

Now go to iTunes and chose the menu option [File->Add To Library]. Navigate to the file you just created  and select it.  The audio file should be added to the Ringtones section of iTunes where you should be able to play it.  Connect your iPhone or make sure it's on the same wifi network and appears in iTunes.  Select your phone in iTunes and choose the Ringtones section.  Make sure the new file is being synced by choosing "All Ringtones" or "Selected Ringtones" and checking the one you just added.

Now Sync your iPhone and TADA.  The new ringtone should now be available for whichever alert you want to use it with.

For more information about the say command you can use man in the Terminal:

man say

for instance:

say -v ?

will give you a list of the available voices you can use.

Creepy Clay Creeper

Made this a while back for a friend of mine.  No idea why I never posted it on the Blog.

Broken Images

I imported blog posts from our older Wordpress blog, but have not fixed the image links yet - I'll be doing this as I can, so be patient please.

iPhone 4S

Excited about the new iPhone 4S announced yesterday. The changes are incremental and for the most part totally expected.  Better camera, faster processor, iOS 5, and then theres the one more thing, integration of Siri into the OS.  Voice assistance on previous versions of the iPhone felt like an afterthought. The addition of Siri may result in a big change to my daily use of the iPhone.

So, will I get it?  The answer is a very strong YES.  what I should do is wait till my AT&T contract allows me to get the lower price, but what I'll most likely do is take the hit and pre-order the phone on Friday.

Back to full time

Sitting in the Toyota dealership waiting area this morning, thinking about the last two years and my upcoming return to full time employeement.

I still don't regret the attempt at running a personal buisness. I think I could have done better. I think I could have worked harder at it. Most importantly I plan on continuing to work on developing it.

I do think that not returning to my old position after "my year off" was a mistake. However, I'm not sure I would have learned as much if I had not totally comited to it. Our savings has suffered for that lesson, and I have been worried about money more than I usualy do. As a result of this I spent less on gadgets, music, and movies these last two years and I haven't really missed any of it. I do have a long list of items I plan on buying, but I'll space them out over the next year.

I think the hardest part of all this is returning to a normal work schedule and working for someone other than myself. I'm going to have to figure out how to balance the day job with my side buisness. The next few weeks will be interesting.

The Job Search

Well I decided it was time to get back to a regular Full Time Job again. Wish I could keep doing iPhone / and soon iPad development, but that will have to take the role of hobby again. No money in it unless your a big company or you get very lucky.

On the positive side I have already gotten several phone calls about possible jobs.