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Yesterday was my birthday, and now I’m 23 years old. This is my first birthday while being married, and it was definitely the best birthday in the past few years. The last few years I’ve spent driving and/or recovering from a long trip of some sort. Indeed last year I was preparing to drive up to New Jersey to get married.

iPhone

I did treat myself to what I consider the ultimate gadget. Remember a few days ago how I was saying I didn’t want an iPhone? Well, I changed my mind. I came to the realization that:

• I don’t use my phone as a modem except for when I’m en-route somewhere, or sitting in an airport. And when I do use it in this situation, it’s generally to email, read news, or chat. Thus, the iPhone would suit my needs. I generally make it a rule to only stay in hotels with free Wifi, so my laptop can connect at my destination anyways.
• The clipboard issue I thought about more, and while I could see what this guy was saying in his review, I realized that my Sony Ericsson doesn’t have a clipboard either (non-smartphone), and I get around just fine with it. Additionally, this is something that could come via software update.
• Programmability — well, I’m busy right now with other things anyways, but I feel reasonably confident that an SDK (even if only for more glorified widgets) will become available within the next few months.
• My iPod nano’s battery won’t hold a charge — I needed to replace either the Nano or the battery to keep my sanity. I’ve been wanting to upgrade to a Video iPod anyways because of the vast resources on Google Video that I’ve been downloading. The Google Tech Talks are a great source of information. If I was going to get a video iPod, there’s $250 out of pocket anyways.
• I hate carrying multiple devices. The appeal of having my iPod and phone as one is very high.
• Your comments of praise also influenced me even more

As of yesterday, I’m a happy iPhone user. I’ve got the 4 GB model. Activation was nearly instantaneous — maybe 3 minutes to go through the entire setup. It truly is a great device. The screen is truly brilliant — on full brightness it is really “too bright.” I find the 60% brightness to be about the right level.

The keyboard works really well. The auto-correct is impressive and works about 95% of the time for me. Two thumb typing isn’t that great for me, as I have huge thumbs, but with autocorrect it was OK. However, I find using my index and middle finger of my right hand while holding the phone in my left works the best for me, and I’m pretty efficient even after just one day.

I love carrying around pictures with me. I could do this on the Nano, but let’s face it — 1.5″ display versus 3.5″ display for viewing pictures… it’s a no brainer that I didn’t use my Nano for carrying pictures.

The recessed headset jack isn’t really that optimal — I need to get that silly adapter, as the in-ear headphones have always bugged me. They’ve always hurt my ears after more than 15-20 minutes of usage, and I prefer over-the-ear headphones.

Overall I’m very impressed, and I can’t wait to see what other improvements are made in the lifespan of this product with software updates.

Other fun

Erin bought me a game I’ve been wanting to play for a while — Tiger Woods 2007 for the Wii. I’ve always enjoyed this series. When Aaron and I were roommates, we would often come home from work to play Tiger Woods on the GameCube while we ate Chinese food.

My first game I was really upset with the controls. I just couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong. I gave up.

After Erin and I went out to eat, I got back and tried again, and I started getting the hang of it. As of this morning, I’m a pro again, and it’s a great game. Using the Wiimote as a golf glub adds a level of difficulty that wasn’t there before, because the analog swing system was very easy to stay consistent with once you got used to it. However, swinging a club requires a lot more effort to remain consistent, and mistakes are still made. It makes it feel more like a real golf game.

She also made me my favorite cake — a German chocolate cake, and it turned out fabulous. I hadn’t had a homemade German chocolate cake in quite a while, and it really hit the spot.

All in all it was a great birthday, and I’m looking forward to next weekend when Erin and I take a trip to Corpus Christi to celebrate our one year anniversary. We have an ocean view suite that’s right on the beach. It should be a lot of fun.

Well, Tiger Woods is calling me for another round of golf. Have a great weekend!

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Found this funny picture on Reddit today. Enjoy.

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I’m sitting here relaxing, plugging away at a project of mine, just having eaten some smoked brisket (sadly bought, not made by me) and watched a movie with my wife. We watched The Fountain, a Darren Aronofsky film. I’ve always been impressed by his films, including Pi and Requiem for a Dream.

I loved The Fountain, but I’m still not sure exactly the full timeline behind the movie. I’m avoiding reading about it simply because that’s part of the enjoyment with his films — realizing how each part is connected is part of the joy of the movie. It’s like a puzzle in movie form.

In about an hour and a half, weather permitting, our city is going to have a 20 minute fireworks show that should be clearly visible from our home. We may venture out though and watch from the park — haven’t quite decided.

So before I close my MacBook and enjoy the rest of the 4th, I wanted to wish everyone a happy 4th of July.

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So Erin was playing Super Paper Mario today, and as I finished up with my current job she was stuck on a puzzle I had solved for her before, but I had never taken the time to solve it correctly — I just messed around until it was solved. I did this when I played it as well.

I cracked open REALbasic and set to work. Ten minutes later, I had a message box with the correct sequence, and tons of brownie points. Here’s the problem:

You have 8 lights, all of them are off. Each of these lights is also a switch that when pressed, not only will the light being toggled switch, several others will also. Find a way to turn on all of the lights.

Here are the boxes, and which boxes they also toggle:

1. 1, 3, 5, 6, 8
2. 1, 2, 4, 6, 7
3. 1, 3, 4, 5, 7
4. 2, 3, 4, 5, 8
5. 1, 2, 3, 5, 7
6. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
7. 2, 3, 6, 7, 8
8. 1, 2, 4, 6, 8

For example, if the boxes are in this state:

and you toggle block 3, you’ll get:

After the cut is the algorithm I chose and the sequence I arrived at.

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Today marks a new step in my life. Today I’m starting a new job.

I’ve had a wonderful and very educating four years at REAL Software, and it’s been a good company to work for. I leave behind many friends and colleagues that helped give me a foothold in the software business, and I am forever indebted to the opportunities that I have had over the years at REAL Software.

Over the past year or so, I’ve become more and more interested in a lot of various technologies that just aren’t that relevant to REAL Software. An opportunity presented itself a couple months ago that after a long period of consideration and discussion I decided I just couldn’t pass the opportunity up.

Today I start my new job as a web application developer for a company based out of Washington D.C. that I will be telecommuting for. This certainly won’t mark the last of my work using REALbasic, and I even have a plugin or two in the works that I hope to release this fall. However, the content on this blog will probably no longer be primarily REALbasic programming, but I hope that you will stick around anyways.

If you’ve had my email address at realsoftware.com, please update your address book to “jon” at the domain of this blog.

Thanks to everyone who has supported me in this decision.

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I’m a big Apple freak. I love nearly everything they release. I have 3 Macs in my house. Yet, I have lost all interest in getting this first gen iPhone.

It all starts with just a little bit of reservation: I always tell myself, “I won’t buy on the first day.” It’s so valuable to hear other people’s reactions.

Then Friday night came, and all the hype was impressive. The issues people had mentioned in the reviews were the only ones being highlighted, and none of them really mattered to me. Net result: I was going to go buy one this weekend.

Saturday came, and I finally started hearing some of the real beefs with the phone. I went back into reserved mode, deciding that on Monday I would probably buy it.

Today came, and I decided that I won’t buy it.

I don’t have the usual gripes to worry about: I’m already a AT&T customer. I have a pretty fresh contract, so getting an iPhone would only lengthen it by a couple months. I’m already paying a little extra for a data plan. So what gives?

This guy has some very real complaints about the interface and phone. The deal breakers for me are:

• Can’t use it as a modem: While I don’t doubt I can get most things done on the iPhone, if I can’t send upload to ftp, ssh into another machine, or countless other tasks the iPhone doesn’t support, it won’t be good for me to use when I travel.
• No clipboard: I didn’t actually care about it until I read this guy’s article and realized that it is actually something I use all the time.
• No programability: This is something that would have let me get over the above two points: if I could program for it, I would get it.

Now luckily two of those items can be fixed via a software update, and I believe the modem one might be able to be as well. Whether or not it will happen, I can’t know for sure. What I do know for sure is that I can keep my $600 in my bank account for a few months to find out.

Anyone reading have an iPhone? Regret it? Love it? Anyone else not buying one, and if so what’s your reasoning?

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