Trapped in Time

Alupen from Just Mobile ($20)

I love using my iPad for a number of activities, be it reading eBooks, watching movies and TV shows wirelessly from my desktop (whether I’m at home or elsewhere), listening to music, taking notes or sketching out ideas.  For the latter, sometimes your finger just doesn’t cut it. I often find myself having to zoom in to gain greater control of an area I’m sketching or writing, then zooming back out to see the entire thing. Usually the problem is that your finger just doesn’t provide the precision needed to quickly write like you would on paper.

This seems like a great solution, with a well-crafted aluminum shell and a rubber tip that works on any capacitive touch screen (your iPad, iPhone, iPod touch or any other capacitive phone or tablet). I’m gonna try one of these out in the near future and see how it works, but I have a feeling it will improve the usability of a number of apps, and increase productivity on the iPad. Sorry Jobs, but some of us DO want a stylus for things fat finger tips weren’t meant to do on a touch screen.

Some of the last dog days of the summer

Full Moon

Finally, a jailbreak for iPhone 4 is out!  Not only can you jailbreak an iPhone 4, but you can now jailbreak any iOS device (iPhone 3G, 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod touch, iPad)  utilizing this hack.  Simply go to the site, slide to jailbreak and about 2-3 minutes later you’ve got a jailbroken iPhone running with Cydida.  Easy, slick and most importantly, it works!

Today

So the six-course HUM spirited dinner party at Kith&Kin was inexplicably cancelled tonight, leaving us no choice but to gorge ourselves at our landlord’s sushi restaurant, Sai Cafe, instead. Can’t recommend it enough! Following dinner, Floyd and I went comatose together in the Lovesac (Also pictured: Forbin, tucked away on my hip)

A Look Out From Home Base

New Maven Digs

The Pack convenes to oversee burger operation

(Also: loving the camera on my new iPhone 4)

I don’t trust a lot of these surveys, but this one was done by Yankee Group and was worth a read.  Key findings:

• AT&T doesn’t suck as most of us think?  Personally I hate them, but 73% of iPhone owners are very satisfied, while 69% of all AT&T subscribers are very satisfied.
• 77% Percent of iPhone users report they will buy another iPhone.
• Yankee Group says AT&T makes $750 million more per year with the iPhone than if they had any other flagship smartphone.  Pretty obvious why they are trying to lock people in before their exclusivity runs out.
• Only 20% of Droid users say they will buy another Droid phone!  That’s pretty alarming when you can only retain 1 out of 5 users. I imagine part of this has to do with the many inferior models and versions of the OS that are starting to get phased out (see: EVO, Droid X, Nexus One, Incredible)

Gizmodo just can’t seem to get enough of itself, especially today.  Re-revealing the new iPhone?  Yeah, that’s a very realistic spin on things.  I’m still trying to figure out what they revealed that cost them $5,000 $8,000 (yeah they lied about how much they paid).  Sure, they added validity to already existing photos and rumors regarding the new hardware, but those have been floating around from Asian sources for some time. The purely egotistical douchery on display from them is pretty funny, especially considering they aren’t even invited to the event, but will still be live blogging the entire thing under the premise that this event will just reiterate what they already shared with us.

iPhone MiWi app creates a mobile wi-fi hot spot for my iPad

I grabbed the wi-fi version of the iPad last Saturday because I figured I could save some money when a hack came out that allowed 3G tethering.  Well as it turns out, the solution is already available if you own a jailbroke (3.1.2) iPhone.

I’ve created a WEP-secured wi-fi network that I simply joined (once) on my iPad, and now I have full mobile access anywhere I’m at… all for $10, rather than $130 and a change to the design of my iPad.

Sure, there are plenty of hot spot solutions out there from companies like Verizon and Clear, but those all require an additional device and a monthly charge of between $50-$60. In this case, I continue carrying my iPhone just like I always do, but I now can grab some free Internet in the car or on the train with a more productive device.

Multitasking has arrived

Tonight I was searching for tickets to Saturday’s Atoms For Peace (see: Thom Yorke + Flea et al) show at the Aragon, especially in light of the paperless ticket situation.

I gave the Craigslist app for the iPad a spin, and was pleasantly surprised: the user interface is beautiful and makes CL a much more enjoyable experience rather than the ugliness that meets the eyes every single time I visit the website.

This is a great example of how I believe the iPad will begin to redefine the browsing experience and fuse more logical and clean design into sites and experiences that typically were not as intuitive on a desktop.  Tomorrow’s iPhone OS 4.0 announcement looks like it may be bringing an entire web API to the table so that any site can craft a seamless and effortless mobile experience for their users.

toddwickersty:

I love how my iPhone knows mattsimpson

Because there are multiple Matts in The Butter Room (and pretty much everywhere else), within the group my name is always written as a single word. Even Todd’s iPhone knows as much.