Bad Karma catching up?

I just read a blog post at AppleMatters title "Is It Me, Or Has Karma Finally Decided To Settle Up With Apple?" I also went through the comments there and found it strange how so many people seem to be thinking anyone hacking their iPhone being a looser. And that their whining is uncalled for.

What no one there seemed to mention is that until now, NEVER has a software hack rendered your hardware useless. Using undocumented toolbox APIs or finding clever work arounds, does not make your Mac useless in the next software update. Why then with the iPhone?

Apple could also have chosen the path to virginise a hacked iPhone via an iTunes restore. That way all hackers, including myself would be happy. No real hacker is complaining about Apple not doing the right thing by not releasing an API or "supporting" 3rd party applications as of now. Heck, it is perfectly acceptable that every software update even wipes out installed applications, forcing us to reinstall everything.

But to render the phone useless by applying a software update? And for Apple even, not to be able to fix it? Man, something must be wrong?

I fully agree with the article at AppleMatters. Bad PR move Apple. You might be on the clear legally. But you are losing the goodwill of some of your most loyal and vocal supporters. Release an iTunes update that "restores" an iPhone completely to factory defaults including the baseband firmware.

The iPhone Dev Team can take it from there. :) Way to go IPDT.

{ Filed in:  Apple }

  Shashwat Parhi
12 Oct, 02:45 PM 

iPhone. Is this what the world was expecting?

I sat up till 12.30am liast night following the live blogging from macrumourslive.com. I joined in late but didn't want to spoil the fun so started reading from bottom up.

"We are all born with the ultimate pointing device -- our fingers -- and iPhone uses them to create the most revolutionary user interface since the mouse."

It's an iPod, a phone and a Mac OS X device with a touch sensitve screen that fits in the palm of your hand.

It seems Steve Jobs wasn't as excited about even the original Mac as he has been about the iPhone. Yes, Apple is going to call it that, inspite of Linksys owning the name. It's taken 2.5 years in the making and the project was almost scrapped several times during these years because it wasn't simple enough to use according to SJ.

So, is this what you were waiting for? :)

You can read more about it at AppleInsider

Pictures of iPhone Software
Pictures of iPhone Hardware

{ Filed in:  Apple }

  Shashwat Parhi
10 Jan, 12:00 AM 

The New Apple

Steve Jobs announced that Apple iteself will receive a name change. It's no longer called Apple Computers, Inc.

Simply Apple Inc.

Apple has certainly gone far beyond what it started out with, 30 years ago. iPods, AppleTV, the Mac, and now the iPhone. A lot has changed in the past few years. Yet, what remains the same, is their enthusiam with which they go about fulfilling Steve Job's vision. As he quoted Wayne Gretzky in his keynote:

"I skate to where the puck will be, not where it is."

O'Reilly DevCentre Blog has a great article.

{ Filed in:  Apple }

  Shashwat Parhi
10 Jan, 12:00 AM 

Mac World Rumours

MacWorld Expo is tomorrow. The entire blogosphere is crazed with rumours about all the cool gadgets that are to be announced by Steve Jobs in his Keynote. I am really looking forward to Leopard being announced. And the smart phone. And...

For the past 2 years, I have relentlessly sought out any tidbits of Apple news and rumours. It was almost like, if there is anything that is said with the word Apple in it, I had to know. And be the first to know in my circle of friends.

I read every blog I possibly could on Apple related matters and it was immersive in a certain way. Hmm. Why the heck am I talking in the past-tense?

I realised it somehow kills the joy of seeing new products from Apple. I mean, it's still a joy to actually see the thing for real. But for some reason, it does reduce the 'WOW' factor.

So from now on, I will consciously avoid getting too involved in following rumour sites. Let's see how long my resolve lasts.

{ Filed in:  Apple }

  Shashwat Parhi
09 Jan, 12:00 AM