The World of Scott Mindeaux

Better iPhone Pics with Griffin’s Clarifi

Well despite the beginnings of a sore throat and chills, I was feeling a bit better in time for my 5:00 haircut with Lindsey over at the Crew Salon in the Lab in Costa Mesa. 

Apple had a Black Friday sale going on and there was a new iPhone case that caught my attention. It was on sale today for $7.00 off retail. It’s the new Griffin Clarifi. This sleek case is in black and has a removable bottom for docking. 

One of the biggest gripes I had about myiPhone was the inability to take good food shots for my food blog, FoodieInDisguise. All the photos I would take would be blurry because I was too close to the food. But what makes the Clarifi special is the slide lens that gives your iPhone camera a macro lens. You slide over the lens and you get crisper pictures for close-up shots.

With this lens, my pics are better and show more detail at a closer distance. Below are two examples of before and after shots.

These were taken in low light at a height of about 4 inches from the food. Retail of Griffin’s Clarifi is $34.00 available at all Apple Stores and where Griffin Products are sold.

Chad’s not a Ding-Dong Anymore

Chad’s not a ding-dong anymore and asks if we can hear him now…

Well the FCC approved the buyout of Alltel by Verizon Wireless, making Verizon the largest wireless carrier in the United States.

In the deal, Verizon purchased Alltel for about $28 billion, of that, $22 billion was debt.

I don’t get that part.

Also part of the deal, Alltel customers will continue to enjoy their roaming partnerships for four more years.

Tuesday Roundup

Tuesday was a whirlwind day for sure. It was back to back meetings, more on the budget, inventory stuff, Apple’s announcements and it was also a big TV night for me as well.

To start, Apple released their new iPod Touches, new iPod Nano’s in a rainbow of colors, new colors for the iPod Shuffles and firmware update 2.1 is coming on Friday. iTunes 8.0 was also released.

On TV, I rushed home to watch Fox’s new show, Fringe by JJ Abrams starring a more mature Joshua Jackson and Anna Torv as Agent Olivia Dunham. This show was not awesome or historic, but I am intrigued and will be watching this season for sure. One thing I liked was how they used graphics in the scene to give us location of where they were.

After Fringe, I watched a bit of a new game show called Hole In The Wall. This is based on the Japanese game show of the same name. The premise, fit into the hole of a moving wall without getting pushed into the water. It was interesting. I guess what made it more interesting is that a supposed person involved in the porn industry was one of the contestants last nite.

After Hole In The Wall, was the season finale of Million Dollar Listing. I have come to conclude and finalize in my head that I really don’t like Josh Flagg. Madison finally decided to move on and explore his “gay/bi” side a bit more. Chad and Victoria are moving in together, but it is Chad who is moving in with Victoria in a weird twist.

I actually slept ok last nite. The last two weeks I have been using the aSleep app on my iPhone and I think it works to a degree.

Apple Event on Sept 9

So looks like Apple has sent out invites to the media for an event on Monday, September 9.

New iPods? New MacBooks? What does Apple have in store for us?

Reports on the net say new iPods as the invite sported the oh-so-familiar silhouette synonymous with their iPod ads.

The event will be held adjacent to the Moscone Center at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater at 10:00 AM.

Returning the iPhone to Normal

Well, it was fun while it lasted. I jailbroke my phone on August 16th in hopes of having access to tons of software that I couldn’t get in the App Store. Turns out since the 16th I have only downloaded two pieces of software.

Qik was software that allowed me to stream live video to a website that could be viewed by anyone. The system would even archive any footage I took. There is also an option to “hide” any private videos I may have taken (Yeah..don’t I wish).

The second piece of software was just something to alter the appearance of the AT&T in the upper left-hand corner.

There wasn’t really enough out there to peak my interest. In fact, I ahve been hit with several little problems like App store apps no longer installing properly, weird delays in typing that I didn’t seem to have before. Strange reboots and that weird Pineapple logo that I thought was horrible looking.

So in the next few days I will be wiping my phone and starting from scratch and installing 2.0.2.

Wish me luck!

Phootloose and Phancy Phree

Well I did it. I officially turned off all my Sprint services today. On July 11, I canceled my phone plan when I got my iPhone. One of the most happiest days of my tech life! Today, a few minutes ago, I canceled my USB broadband connection that I also had with Sprint. Both of my plans expire in December of 2008. It was cheaper to just pay the early termination fees than continue to pay thru the end of the year.

So why did I cancel my EVDO modem and the data plan? I don’t need it anymore. With NullRiver’s NetShare app for my iPhone I can now tether my iPhone to my MacBook Pro and get a connection! The app cost me $9.99 in the iTunes App store. I was lucky enough to get it before the app was removed, placed back on and then removed yet again.

There are a lot of rumblings out there that tethering on the iPhone violates AT&T’s limited “Unlimited” data plan. Don’t call it UNLIMITED if it really isn’t. To tell you the truth, I don’t really use the EVDO modem that much anyways. I was paying $59.99 a month for a device that I “maybe” used 2-3 times a month. That’s $59.99 that could be going towards something else.

Getting NetShare setup was a bit of a task, but once done I was getting speeds upwards of 923 kb/s! I was happy. I hope they bring this app back and make it available for people to purchase. One of the best $9.99 purchases I ahve made in a long time!