The World of Scott Mindeaux

Apple’s Bumper Better Than I Thought

So my free iPhone 4 case came in today. I opted for an Apple Bumper. I went this route because I didn’t want to cover the iPhone in a case per se. The bumper was also my least favorite as it just looked like a giant rubber band. Much to my surprise, this “rubber band” was actually good looking, made from good materials and works!

The band is comprised of rubber, plastic and I think metal. Where the volume buttons and power switch are metal, the top and bottom of the rim is made from rubber to give it a grip to whatever surface it is on and the remainder is a shiny plastic. The band fits around the iPhone very snugly. The only pain is that the cut out for the silence button makes it difficult to get to the switch. That aside, i like my case. There is enough of a lip on both the back and front that I can lay my phone down on any surface and the glass itself doesn’t touch the surface. For over a month I have always cringed   I laid my phone down on a table.

Antenna-Gate

So, here’s the deal.

Can I replicate the antenna problem on the iPhone 4?

Yes.

Has it been a problem for me?

No.

Is the drop in bars ever resulted in a dropped call for me?

No.

Do I believe that most smartphones experience the attentena problem?

Not sure, but yes. I’ve have gone on youtube and other smartphones seem to drop bars too.

Will I be returning my phone cuz of the antenna problem?

No.

The news and media has grabbed onto this story and has run with it. Do I think that the stories and the hype blew this out of proportion?

Yes.

Do the problems exist?

Yes, for some. For most others, no.

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Now, I have downloaded the new iOS 4.01 update. I now only have 3-4 bars at home and at work instead of the 5 I had before. I can still make calls, I can still download emails, I can access iTunes – everything I was able to do before. I’m also l0oking forward to my free case!

So here’s the bottom line. Apple has sold 3 million iPhones in 3 weeks, many of which are still on backorder with eager owners waiting. Actual calls logged into tech support and Genius Bar visits is less than .55 % of units sold.  1/2 a percent folks. Additional calls lost on the iPhone 4 over the iPhone 3Gs – less than 1 more than the iPhone 3Gs per 100 calls dropped.

Is there really a huge problem here? Why aren’t there droves of people returning their phones? There has always been a 14 day return period for any phone from AT&T, so where are the returns? Apple will do one better and is offering FULL refunds if you truly are unhappy with your phone. Bottom line, if you don’t want to buy one, no one is forcing you to.

iPhone 4 – A Camera for Foodies?

This is a reprint from my foodblog, Foodie In Disguise…

So as many of you know, I’m a computer geek by day. I thought it would be appropriate to do some testing with the new 5 megapixel camera on the back of Apple’s new iPhone 4. Previous to the iPhone 4 I had the iPhone 3G. With the 3G, I did not have tap-to-focus capability and this camera didn’t perform well in dark settings. Close up photos of food was even more problematic as the camera could not focus. In fact, I purchased a case that had a built-in macro lens (Griffin Technology’s Clarifi Case for the iPhone 3G and 3GS) that I could slide over the iPhone’s camera and take macro shots. This certainly was much better than anything and for almost 2 years I have used my 3G for photos. If you are a regular reader to FID, a good portion of the food photos are taken with my old iPhone 3G.

So, was I excited when Apple announced a better camera? Oh yes. Below in the photo gallery, I selected some photos that I recently took for some recipe testing I was working on for a client. I was impressed by the quality of the photos, especially up close. I’m sorry I don’t have my old iPhone 3G or I would have done some side-by-side comparisons – but honestly, the iPhone 3G would not have been able to get as close as I did with the iPhone 4.

Now, let me say that the photos in this set were taken under better than average lighting conditions. The burger and onion ring shots were taken after sunset with nearby overhead lighting. I will try to take some photos this weekend in deliberate dark locations and see how the pictures come out.

None of the photo’s below had any retouching or brightness level changes done in Photoshop. These are the raw images as they came off the iPhone 4 directly. No digital zoom was used as the iPhone 4 is capable of 5x digital zoom. The tap-to-focus capability allows you to tap on the screen and the camera will focus on that point. Focusing also adjusts exposure and white balance automatically. If you notice in the Endive Taco shows, there is a shot with the blue chips as the focal and the endives as the other focal point. The brightness levels are different as the lighting towards the back of the dish was different from the front.

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I’m quite happy with the photos. Now I use my iPhone camera when I’m out doing restaurant reviews or pictures on-the-fly. I just bought a Canon Rebel XSi and still have my trusty Canon Powershot G2.

Busy Last Few Weeks

Wow…it’s July already! Can you believe it? Where has the time gone? The year so far has had me going up and down and left and right. Work has been keeping me busy but happy to say I finally have some help with a new intern who’ll be helping me out on the Operations side of my job. On the Creative IT side, we are forging ahead with our CS5 upgrades and the experiment with using Subversion to track Flash programming has been a success for the Flash Dev team. We are currently experimenting with using Subversion in a Photoshop environment with a Photoshop plug-in. Have you used Subversion in a graphics setting? If so, write in and let me know how it has been working for you.

On the personal side of things, I have been feeling very tired lately. Ever since my heart scare earlier this year, I’m still finding myself to be very tired. Lately I have been having meals and literally falling into comas. I have a feeling my blood sugar levels are to blame and that I’m experiencing high and very low sugar levels. My insomnia continues to plague me and for the 18 millionth time Doc, its not sleep apnea. The problem isn’t that I’m waking up, the problem is that I cant get sleep in the first place. Like right now, its like 0127 and I’m WIDE awake. I think Tylenol PM doesn’t do a thing for me. Perhaps a visit to Dr. Zamini is in order. I have’t seen my primary care since the heart scare incident a few months ago. Might be time to re-evaluate my no sleeping pill request.

On the foodie side of things, I have been doing recipe testing for work. One of our clients in getting ready to post some recipes online and I was asked to recipe test and to photograpgh the food. Last weekend I spent 2 full days prepping and making the recipes, making sure the recipes work and then take pictures of the recipes for the website. How exciting yes? Despite the long hours, I had a great time. I still have 5 more recipes to get through, but hope to get through them this weekend.

All this food photography has raised my desire for a DSLR camera. I have been taking pictures with my trusty Canon G2 Powershot. Yes it’s old, but I think it takes great pictures. I also took similar photos using my new iPhone4 with the tap-to-focus feature and I have to say that I was impressed by the photos. Standby for a comparison of the smae shots on FoodieInDisguise.com in the next few days.

So I said I wanted to buy a DSLR. Well, I bought one today and its is a Canon Rebel XSi, just the body, no lens. No lens you ask? That’s right. This way I get a good deal on the body and can make a more informed purchase on a lens. A few have recommended this and a few that, but I’m interested to hear from other food photographers on what they use. So if you have a DSLR and can offer some words of advice on a lens, let me know.

Well time for me to try and close my eyes. I will try to keep writing more, I promise.