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Adam Running the New York City Marathon

Sometimes you have to attempt feats you don't know you're capable of achieving.

I turned 40 in November 2007, and one of my goals for the year was to race every standard timed distance during the year, including a triathlon and a marathon, neither of which I'd ever done. I've run competitively since my sophomore year of high school, so it's not like I was going from couch potato to marathoner, but I've always focused on the short to middle distances, everything between 1,500 meters and 10 kilometers, and I would seldom run more than 25 miles per week. The prospect of racing a marathon - more than my weekly mileage in a single shot - wasn't unimaginable, but it was daunting, to say the least.

I'm almost done with the year, and I'll be capping it off by running the New York City Marathon on Sunday, November 2nd. Honestly, I'm nervous as all hell. I've trained well and managed to avoid serious injury, but it has been harder and more time-consuming than I anticipated, both for me and for Tonya and Tristan, who had to put up with how my long runs and subsequent fatigue tweaked our family schedule.

Long runs? Before this year, I had run 20 miles once in 1984, and two 13-mile races around 1990. More recently, I qualified for the New York City Marathon with a 1:20:45 at the local Skunk Cabbage Half Marathon in April 2008, and since then I've successively raised the bar on how far I could run, with a 16-mile trail race, an 18.5-mile trail race, an 11.5-mile trail race combined with a 12-mile road run back to my car, and a full 26.2-mile training run on the roads in 3:30:24. Each of those runs caused me significant anxiety beforehand, and it was a huge relief each time I finished, knowing that I could handle each successive distance. (Tonya has been matching my efforts on her old bike, starting from scratch in late May 2008 when we bought a tandem to eliminate car miles driving Tristan to school, and working her way up to riding the full marathon distance just yesterday for her longest bike ride since 1989.)

So, if you'd like to follow me during the New York City Marathon this coming Sunday, there are a number of ways to do it. You can sign up for email alerts that track my progress, or you can watch the race on TV or via the Internet (I suspect the chances of my appearing in the video are relatively low, but it might be fun to watch anyway). There's also an interactive Athlete Tracker that will work during the race, but I can't tell how that will operate ahead of time. And if you live in New York City and would like to watch the race and help cheer me on, I gather it's easy to find a spot on the course to do that.

To track my progress either live or over the Internet, note that I'll be starting in the first wave, at 9:40 AM Eastern (remember that the clocks fall back 1 hour on Sunday for Daylight Saving Time), and I hope to be running between 6:30 and 7:00 minutes per mile, so you can calculate when I'm likely to hit specific points. Although I imagine it will be difficult to pick any given runner out of the crowd, I'll be wearing my traditional race uniform of red shorts and a blue jersey with the High Noon Athletic Club sun logo on the front and back.

My base goal is to finish, of course, with a more serious goal being to finish in under 3 hours. And if I can get down into the low 2:50s, that's just icing on the cake.

I'll report on the race next week, but thanks in advance for any support you'd like to provide, and I hope my efforts can serve as an example of how it's never too late to try to accomplish something that you had no idea was possible before.

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Copyright � 2008 Adam C. Engst. TidBITS is copyright � 2008 TidBITS Publishing Inc. If you're reading this article on a Web site other than TidBITS.com, please let us know, because if it was republished without attribution, by a commercial site, or in modified form, it violates our Creative Commons License.

27.10.2008 22:42:01 - TidBITS

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First Look at Google Earth for iPhone

The iPhone is already pushing hard into the realm of what would have been science fiction 20 years ago, but with the release of the Google Earth iPhone app, it gets even closer. Could you have imagined using a handheld device to view an aerial photo of the Woolworth Building in Manhattan, and then tapping a tiny icon to read an encyclopedia article about it?

For those who may have not have seen it, Google Earth is a cross-platform application that lets you view any location on the planet, zooming in to see satellite and aerial imagery. On top of the primary imagery you can layer other map-related information, such as roads, weather, geo-located photos, and even cloud cover. You can also get find businesses and get directions, just like in Google Maps on the Web.

The free Google Earth iPhone app (which works on the iPod touch as well), offers the basic functionality of the full Google Earth application, though it can't display all of the different layers available in the full application. It can show borders and labels, and terrain, along with geo-located photos from Panoramio and links to geographically related Wikipedia articles. But the app can't display roads, 3D buildings, street view photos, weather, or any of the other layers that can be applied in the full application.

Google Earth for iPhone takes advantage of the iPhone's gestures, so you can pinch to zoom in and out (double-tap also zooms in), drag with a single finger to pan the view, and drag with two fingers to rotate the view. Tilting the iPhone or iPod touch changes the angle at which you view the map. Four buttons around the corners of the screen let you search for addresses, reorient the view to put north at the top of the screen, find your current location, and set options and get help. Searching, though slow to invoke, is smart enough to match against the contents of Address Book and make it easy to select a match without having to type the full address. There's even an option to search for results near your current location.

Performance isn't stunning, but it's amazing that Google was able to shoehorn as much of the full 110 MB Google Earth application into an 8.9 MB iPhone app. I imagine that much of that becomes possible by offloading more of the application to Google's servers, so it's possible that the iPhone app will perform better when connected via Wi-Fi than via 3G or EDGE.

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Copyright � 2008 Adam C. Engst. TidBITS is copyright � 2008 TidBITS Publishing Inc. If you're reading this article on a Web site other than TidBITS.com, please let us know, because if it was republished without attribution, by a commercial site, or in modified form, it violates our Creative Commons License.

27.10.2008 18:25:38 - TidBITS

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Hot Topics in TidBITS Talk/27-Oct-08

Mail Act-On 2 Supercharges Mail Rules -- It's becoming clear that some of the best innovation in Mail is coming from developers outside Apple. (2 messages)

Autocorrect in Word 2008: where? The location of Word's autocorrect dictionary is discovered. 4 messages)

Bizarre Mail icons behavior -- The toolbar icons in Mail disappear for an unexplained reason and then return. Which button is triggering that action? 6 messages)

Tablet iPod Rumored on Weak Evidence -- Given the prices of the iPhone, iPod touch, and MacBook, are we likely to see an affordable Apple tablet device that fits a size between handheld and laptop? 1 message)

Importing Video from a FireWire Camcorder to an Aluminum MacBook -- A reader explains why using an analog-to-digital converter may not be a good solution. 3 messages)

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Copyright � 2008 Jeff Carlson. TidBITS is copyright � 2008 TidBITS Publishing Inc. If you're reading this article on a Web site other than TidBITS.com, please let us know, because if it was republished without attribution, by a commercial site, or in modified form, it violates our Creative Commons License.

27.10.2008 07:08:11 - TidBITS

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Take Control News: Make the Most of MobileMe

MobileMe has become a virtual Swiss Army knife of online services, offering not only a whizzy new "push" data syncing service for tracking calendar, contact, and bookmark info on a variety of devices, but also email services, online storage and file sharing, Web hosting, and much more. To help you make the most of your $99-per-year MobileMe subscription, we've just released the 112-page "Take Control of MobileMe," by Joe Kissell.

Joe starts out by helping you understand MobileMe's features and get set up, and then he dives into the details of real-life projects. In particular, he focuses on syncing - what to expect, what kinds of data besides calendar and contact information can sync, handling problems, and more. The ebook also examines:

• Various ways to use an iDisk for storing and sharing files
• Accessing and updating calendar and contact data on the MobileMe site
• Using the Gallery feature (alone or via iLife '08) to publish photos and movies
• Publishing a Web site to MobileMe's servers
• Enabling Back to My Mac in order to access one of your Macs from another
• Using MobileMe email, via its Web interface, Apple Mail, and an iPhone or iPod touch

You'll also learn what Backup, Apple's free backup software that comes with MobileMe, can and can't do, and get advice on whether it's a good choice for you, especially when compared with Leopard's Time Machine.

This ebook is effectively the third edition of "Take Control of .Mac," and if you own that ebook you should already have received an email message with a free download link or a discount, depending on when you purchased it. If our mail didn't arrive, open the PDF of the latest version of that ebook and click the Check for Updates link on the cover to learn more.

Also, we've just updated Glenn Fleishman's "Take Control of Back to My Mac" to version 1.1. It's a free update for anyone who already owns it; click your Check for Updates link in that book. If you don't own it, you can buy it together with "Take Control of MobileMe" at a discount.

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Copyright � 2008 Adam C. Engst. TidBITS is copyright � 2008 TidBITS Publishing Inc. If you're reading this article on a Web site other than TidBITS.com, please let us know, because if it was republished without attribution, by a commercial site, or in modified form, it violates our Creative Commons License.

24.10.2008 16:21:10 - TidBITS

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Importing Video from a FireWire Camcorder to an Aluminum MacBook

Apple's newest consumer laptop is a package full of shiny power, but it also lacks a FireWire port. That means no FireWire Target Disk Mode, no support for external hard drives with FireWire interfaces, and no support for digital camcorders that have FireWire (or i.Link) ports.

In an email response to a customer who asked about camcorder support, CEO Steve Jobs replied, "Actually, all of the new HD camcorders of the past few years use USB 2." And looking at Amazon's current best-selling camcorders, most of them connect via USB.

However, if you already own a perfectly good MiniDV or HDV camcorder that connects via FireWire, you may not be completely out of luck. Although I don't have one on hand to test this, in theory you can use an analog-to-digital video converter to bring your footage into the new MacBook. (If you own one of these devices, please let me know if I'm off the mark.)

For example, take a look at the Pinnacle Video Capture for Mac ($100). Most camcorders include a composite AV cable that enables you to connect the camcorder directly to a television for playback. Insert the left and right audio plugs, and either composite video or S-video cable, into the Video Capture for Mac hub, which in turn connects to the MacBook via USB.

Poking around online, I also found the ADS Tech VideoExpress ($50) and the Plextor ConvertX for Mac (PX-TV402U) ($229), neither of which I've used.

Obviously, this approach isn't ideal. You're starting with digital footage and converting it to analog, then re-digitizing it in the computer, so I wouldn't be surprised if there's some image quality loss (though I'm guessing it would be hardly noticeable). You also lose device control, the capability to control the camcorder directly from iMovie as you're reviewing footage and importing.

I should also point out that you can also still purchase a new white MacBook with FireWire for $999 or move up to a MacBook Pro, which includes FireWire.

I agree with many others that removing FireWire from the new MacBook is disappointing, but it's also consistent with Apple's outlook for digital video. iMovie '08 is a completely new application that shares little with iMovie HD 6, and it's clearly designed as an editor for video snippets and shorter movies destined for YouTube. In Apple's view, the people who are shooting these types of movies - using Flip cameras or the movie-recording functions of digital still cameras - are the market for the new MacBook. I don't expect Apple to bring FireWire back to its consumer laptop.

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Copyright � 2008 Jeff Carlson. TidBITS is copyright � 2008 TidBITS Publishing Inc. If you're reading this article on a Web site other than TidBITS.com, please let us know, because if it was republished without attribution, by a commercial site, or in modified form, it violates our Creative Commons License.

24.10.2008 02:10:53 - TidBITS

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Tablet iPod Rumored on Weak Evidence

John Markoff of the New York Times is reporting that a source from a search engine has shared log information showing hits from "an unannounced Apple product with a display somewhere between an iPhone and a MacBook."

By itself, that might not have attracted much attention. But during a rare appearance on Apple's earnings call this week, Steve Jobs commented that Apple didn't "know how to build a sub-$500 computer that is not a piece of junk" and - far more positively - that Apple is watching the nascent market for netbooks (small, inexpensive, portable computers used primarily for Web and email access).

Combine Jobs's comments with the search engine logs, and it's easy to imagine an iPhone- or iPod touch-like device with a larger screen. Just because Apple can't build a sub-$500 computer that's not junk doesn't mean they can't build a sub-$500 device based on the iPhone software. Sounds an awful like the device I suggested in "Open Letter to Steve Jobs: In Support of an iPod reader" (2008-03-05), doesn't it?

However, much as I'd love to see an iPod reader and believe that it would be good business for Apple, I'm suspicious of the evidence as given.

A quick scan through my Google Analytics shows a wide range of screen resolutions - 393 in the last month, including a few hits from devices that report pixel counts from 0 by 0 (clearly a audio-only Web browser) all the way up to 65536 by 65536 (must be a custom screen used on the sly by Bill Gates's Mac-using housekeeper). There are tons of hits from devices reporting resolutions between an iPhone and a MacBook. Our traffic is infinitesimal in comparison with that of a search engine, but I can't see how more data would do anything but further muddy the issue.

There are two other things this anonymous search engine could do to glean more information about a particular screen resolution, which I can't do easily. First, they could limit the search to IP number ranges known to belong to Apple, and second, they could examine the user-agent string for anomalous resolutions. Although it's conceivable that Apple would allow prototype devices out on the Internet from within an Apple-controlled IP range, I can't imagine seeing a user-agent string along the lines of "Unannounced Apple Product."

So, I have to say that I'm not buying the rumor, much as I would buy the device if it actually existed.

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Copyright � 2008 Adam C. Engst. TidBITS is copyright � 2008 TidBITS Publishing Inc. If you're reading this article on a Web site other than TidBITS.com, please let us know, because if it was republished without attribution, by a commercial site, or in modified form, it violates our Creative Commons License.

23.10.2008 17:11:34 - TidBITS

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TidBITS Watchlist: Notable Software Updates for 27-Oct-08

• Cocktail 4.2 (Leopard Edition) from Maintain is a significant update to the general purpose maintenance utility. New to this version is the capability to search and delete corrupted preference files, a searchable database of Mac OS system error codes, a list of commonly used network ports, an enhanced procedure for clearing log files, a handful of interface updates, and fixes for various unspecified bugs. ($14.95, 1.8 MB)
• AirPort Extreme Update 2008-003 from Apple "resolves some issues with AirPort connections when roaming in large Wi-Fi networks." It's only for Intel-based Macs. [Update 22-Oct-08: Apple has, for unexplained reasons, pulled this update for now, so it is no longer available.] (Free, 2.2 MB)
• Aperture 2.1.2 from Apple is a minor update to the photo management utility that enhances the print quality of books ordered through the Aperture printing service. The update is available via Software Update or as standalone download and cannot be used for Aperture trial software; you must own the full version of Aperture 2 to update. ($199 new, free update, 48 MB)
• InDesign CS3 5.0.4 Update from Adobe addresses compatibility issues in the page layout program with the recently released Creative Suite 4. According to Adobe's Web site, the InDesign CS3 5.0.4 Update contains fixes regarding "CS4 to CS3 Export to INX (Save Back) workflows... File Size, Hyphenation, Performance, Anchored Objects, Character Alignment, Step and Repeat, Indexing and Table of Contents, Text and Fonts, Dictionaries, Color, Scripting, Import/Export Graphics, InDesign Interchange files (INX), XML, Library files, Printing, and others." The installer also includes the fixes from all previous InDesign CS3 5.0.x updates - which are no longer separately available. A list of issues that have been resolved with the update can be downloaded from Adobe's site as a PDF. (Free, 71.7 MB)
• InCopy 5.0.4 Update includes fixes for Adobe's little-known word processor regarding "Notes, Tagging, Character Alignment, Undo and Redo, Text and Fonts, Dictionaries, Import/Export Graphics, and others," to quote again from Adobe's Web site. Like the InDesign update, the installer also includes the fixes from all previous InCopy CS3 5.0.x updates. You can download a list of issues that have been resolved with this update from Adobe's Web site as a PDF. (Free, 69.9 MB)
• Suitcase Fusion 2.0 from Extensis is a major update to the popular font management utility. With a redesigned user interface and new back end based on Universal Type Server architecture, Suitcase Fusion 2.0 offers improved performance and stability. Changes include Leopard-compatible auto-activation plugins for Illustrator CS4, InDesign CS4, and QuarkXPress 8; a character palette with Glyph Preview capabilities; plug-in-based font matching features; multiple font preview capabilities for comparing type faces; a new core application that runs in the background to offer uninterrupted font management when Suitcase is not active; font organization tools such as auto-classification and Smart Sets; a font search engine, and more. Suitcase Fusion 2.0 requires Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard. ($99.95 new, $49.98 upgrade, 31.3 MB)

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Copyright � 2008 Doug McLean. TidBITS is copyright � 2008 TidBITS Publishing Inc. If you're reading this article on a Web site other than TidBITS.com, please let us know, because if it was republished without attribution, by a commercial site, or in modified form, it violates our Creative Commons License.

23.10.2008 02:41:24 - TidBITS

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iPhones, Macs Give Apple a Strong Q4 2008

Last year at this time, I commented that the Mac had made a comeback as a major contributor to Apple's bottom line after several quarters where the iPod dominated the balance sheets. With today's release of the company's Q4 2008 financial results, the Mac is joined decisively by the iPhone, which, including sales to date, has now surpassed Apple's goal of selling 10 million units during 2008.

For the quarter ending 27-Sep-08, Apple earned $7.9 billion in revenue with a net quarterly profit of $1.14 billion ($1.26 per diluted share). That compares to $6.22 billion in revenue and a $904 million profit from the fourth fiscal quarter of 2007 (see "Apple Sells Record Number of Macs for Q4 2007," 2007-10-22). Sales of 2,611,000 Macs (a 21 percent increase from last year) and 11,052,000 iPods (an 8 percent increase) contributed heavily.

Mind the GAAP -- The big question for this quarter, however, was iPhone performance. In the third quarter of this year, Apple sold 717,000 first-generation iPhones - the iPhone 3G had not yet been released. For this quarter, Apple marked an impressive 6,892,000 iPhone sales (that compares to 1,119,000 in the year-ago quarter). The company didn't break the number down any further, but during the earnings call that followed Apple's announcement Apple COO Tim Cook pointed out that the iPhone's market expanded from 6 countries to 51 during the quarter, and therefore a significant percentage is attributable to international sales. (International sales accounted for 41 percent of the overall quarterly revenue.)

Apple also pointed out that the 6.9 million number beats RIM (Research in Motion), which sold 6.1 million BlackBerry devices in the same period - not bad for the upstart entrant in the market. It's also a larger amount than sales of the original iPhone - 6.1 million - over the previous five quarters combined.

Another aspect of the iPhone to watch is the revenue it produced, which isn't straightforward. Due to GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles), Apple doesn't treat the sale of an iPhone (or Apple TV) as a regular sale, but rather counts the expected income over the life of the product due to the fact that Apple provides free updates after the sale; one example is the iPhone 2.0 software update that was made available to all iPhone owners.

If you count income without the GAAP consideration, Apple reported revenue of $11.68 billion, an increase of 48 percent over its reported $7.9 billion, and net income of $2.44 billion.

(Speaking of the Apple TV, Jobs reiterated that he thinks it - and the category of the "digital living room market" - will continue to be a "hobby" in 2009.)

Looking Ahead -- Despite all the strong financial news, the declining economy figured prominently in the company's conference call and guidance for the future. Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said, "Looking ahead, visibility is low and forecasting is challenging, and as a result we are going to be prudent in predicting the December quarter." Apple expects a revenue target of between $9 and $10 billion and earnings per diluted share between $1.06 and $1.35.

A few indicators fueled this approach. Education sales were down 7 percent from last year as K-12 school districts tightened their budgets, according to Apple COO Tim Cook; that accounts for an approximately 75,000 lost sales of Macs. There was also slowing Mac purchases in the last month as customers waited for last week's MacBook and MacBook Pro refresh, though sales since the announcement have surged.

However, Apple doesn't have much to worry about looking ahead. It has $25 billion in the bank and zero debt, which CEO Steve Jobs said would help the company innovate its way through a rough economy. In fact, Jobs even pointed out that Apple customers' loyalty means they're likely to delay purchases instead of buying a less expensive brand.

When asked about whether Apple would offer its products at lower prices (citing the iPhone and MacBook as examples), Jobs delivered a quintessential answer that reflects the company's overall attitude. "There are some customers which we choose not to serve. We don't know how to make a $500 computer that's not a piece of junk," he said. "And our DNA will not let us to ship that. But we can continue to deliver greater and greater value to those customers that we choose to serve - and there's a lot of them."

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Copyright � 2008 Jeff Carlson. TidBITS is copyright � 2008 TidBITS Publishing Inc. If you're reading this article on a Web site other than TidBITS.com, please let us know, because if it was republished without attribution, by a commercial site, or in modified form, it violates our Creative Commons License.

22.10.2008 03:17:39 - TidBITS

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Android Code Released as Open Source

The Open Handset Alliance, the group that manages the Google-developed and -driven Android operating system, said today that the entire platform has been released as source code and licensed for liberal use. Open-source licensing typically requires that anyone who distributes versions of a project - whether identical or modified - also make the full code base available. Most developers also contribute any changes they make back into a central repository. The first smartphone using Android ships 22-Oct-08 from T-Mobile in the United States (see "T-Mobile's Google Phone Promising but Unpolished," 2008-10-20).

The Android Open Source Project chose the Apache 2.0 license, which allows development along both commercial and open tracks, and either track may involve free or for-fee elements. Because Android uses a Linux kernel as its base, however, that part of the project remains under the GPLv2 license, which has broad requirements that prevent closed paths from forming.

The primary difference I can see between the two licenses is that with the Apache 2.0 license, a developer can add to the work and set their own terms regarding distribution and copyright. All the source from the project up to that point still must be noted with licenses.

Open-source licenses vary widely, with many allowing commercial resale of derived software, and some requiring the release of any code that a developer or firm has modified and then incorporated in a distributed release. These licenses typically affirm intellectual property rights, and assign a chain of rights as the work develops. Apple, for instance, uses FreeBSD for much of the core of Mac OS X; the associated license requires notices of copyright to be attached, but has no mandate to keep development open or contributed back to the root.

The use of an Apache 2.0 license is critical for Android because handset makers and others may want to develop custom versions of Android that their competitors can't simply copy from the code base and use. On the other hand, in order to keep the operating system in sync, most proprietary changes will likely be overlays and modules; otherwise, it would become an unmanageable task to fold in improvements while maintaining copyright separation.

Reports today indicate that Android will likely be used for a variety of handhelds, tablets, and mobile gadgets, as well as a replacement for existing "embedded" operating systems used for devices that aren't computers, like set-top cable tuning boxes. The richness and newness of the platform apparently makes it more compelling than many existing Linux and commercial embedded offerings on the market.

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Copyright � 2008 Glenn Fleishman. TidBITS is copyright � 2008 TidBITS Publishing Inc. If you're reading this article on a Web site other than TidBITS.com, please let us know, because if it was republished without attribution, by a commercial site, or in modified form, it violates our Creative Commons License.

21.10.2008 22:19:53 - TidBITS

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T-Mobile's Google Phone Promising but Unpolished

I've had my hands on the T-Mobile G1 with Google this last week, the first release of a smartphone using the Open Handset Alliance's Android platform - a platform initially developed and still heavily influenced by Google. The T-Mobile phone was made by HTC, a leading Windows Mobile handset maker, and while it has many drawbacks, it shows a lot of potential. The phone starts shipping 22-Oct-08 from T-Mobile in the United States, and next month in the UK. (For more background on Android, see the now somewhat inaccurately titled, "Google's View of Our Cell Phone Future Is an Android, Not a GPhone," 2007-11-12.)

Over at Ars Technica, I wrote up a first impressions article which largely compared the G1 with the iPhone (both the first and second generation models). The G1 lacks a lot of the polish that the very first iPhone had out of the box in June 2007, not to mention the refinements that have come since.

But it's also clear that - given that Android will run on any hardware that makers choose to design, and that Android can be expanded in ways that Apple doesn't and will never allow - there's a lot of room to fix and grow.

The iPhone is a closed platform, with developers needing to use Apple as a gatekeeper for constrained applications. Android, by contrast, is all about openness: open source (not the whole platform yet, but that's the goal), with a commitment by carriers to allow any phone running any software accessing any service. (There are some limits to make sure networks aren't overrun, but the intent is that those limits are slight compared to most current carrier restrictions.)

The components that come with the G1 are quite similar to the iPhone, and some BlackBerry and Windows Mobile phones. The G1 pairs a touch screen with a slide-out keyboard, a combination that's found on very few phones. It also has the laundry list of radios - 3G, GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth - and what seemed to me a very decent 3-megapixel camera with auto-focus. Despite all these components, the G1 and Android currently seem unexceptional, but I don't expect them to remain so. (The touchscreen only allows single finger gestures, by the way: slide and tap, notably. Apple has patents on multi-touch technology, and that might be constraining HTC.)

For instance, a persistent irritation I had with the G1, echoed by most other reviews, was dealing with the orientation of the phone for basic tasks. You can use the G1 in a portrait mode, with the touchscreen and a few buttons dominating the action, or in slide-out mode, with the keyboard exposed and the screen automatically changing to landscape orientation. This part makes perfect sense.

But despite having a built-in accelerometer, no software I used (including the main multi-page screen, which is rather clever) detected changes in motion. If you want to view a Web page in landscape mode, you must slide open the keyboard; and portrait mode requires the keyboard be closed. (I downloaded an application from Market, Google's in-beta and currently all-free software store, that let me confirm the accelerometer was on and active. It was.)

There's more. The touchscreen has no glass keyboard, which is the only way of entering information on an iPhone. So when you're browsing in portrait mode and need to enter even a word or two on the browser, you must slide open the keyboard, which changes the browser's orientation to landscape, and then type in what you want. This is tedious and something I also expect can be easily changed: even if the Open Handset Alliance doesn't opt for a glass keyboard addition, a developer could add such support, or a Web browser maker like Opera could add the feature to a browser they offer as an alternative.

Clearly, adding support for seamless orientation changes will be something we see in revised Android releases for its built-in apps, and it's something developers could add in third-party programs right away.

It's funny how much the initial iPhone seemed like a complete release, even with all the subsequent software releases and the critical addition of 3G to the second model and the App Store for third-party programs. (With regard to the most glaring omission in the iPhone, the G1 does have a copy and paste feature. Alas, I haven't yet figured out precisely where it works! Apparently it's active only within certain text fields and requires a keyboard shortcut.)

Android and the G1 so far seem more like an interesting prototype, and as such a lot of reviewers cut the phone slack in anticipation of what's to come. I'd rather review the phone I have in front of me, but it's easy to see how Google and its partners could move light years beyond this first release by the middle of next year.

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Copyright � 2008 Glenn Fleishman. TidBITS is copyright � 2008 TidBITS Publishing Inc. If you're reading this article on a Web site other than TidBITS.com, please let us know, because if it was republished without attribution, by a commercial site, or in modified form, it violates our Creative Commons License.

20.10.2008 20:22:38 - TidBITS