Brian Minor

Okay, so I have been trying to lose weight for, pretty much all of my adult life and at times I have actually succeeded, but have never had success at keeping it off. So once again I am at it, but this time I have the iPhone and a little app called LIVESTRONG on my side. (And my beautiful wife encouraging me along the way).

I’ve tested and tried around with 5 or more calorie tracking apps for the iPhone so far and I believe this one is my new favorite (beating out the LoseIt App).

The main reason why I believe I love this app so much, is because not only do you get the App for the iPhone, but it also comes with a website login and community (currently not using the community) located at www.livestrong.com. I love the desktop login, because sometimes I just don’t feel like trying to search and keep up with things on my iPhone and it also give me a few other features that would probably just be annoying to navigate if they did offer it on the iPhone.

So far the app is amazing, but there is no easy way to add a food from the iPhone app if it is not currently in their system (you can do it from the site), so far I haven’t really ran into this problem. Their database of food seems to be pretty complete.

I would however, love to hear some of your feedback on this or any other calorie tracker app or website (doesn’t have to be fore the iPhone) that you have tried and loved or hated. So be sure to leave a comment below.

So Google announced a new project called Google Wave. And I gotta say it looks pretty cool. They classify it as “What email would look like if it were invented today“. I do like the look and feel of it. The built in IM features are pretty slick and it has a lot of potential to go future then even Google could probabaly think up (which is why they made it an open source).

The major drawback is that it does rely highly on HTML 5, which if you ask me is a huge issue, being a web developer for 10+ years now (wow I’m old) one of the first things you learn is that people don’t upgrade their web browser and if you site wont work in their crazy old IE 6  then it’s your fault and not theirs. It’s sad and pathetic, but the number version of IE 6 out there is just ridiculous.

Also keep in mind that HTML 5 isn’t supported in IE7 or Firefox yet either. So far IE8 which is still in Beta, Safari 3 and Chrome will support parts of it and of course as always Opera is way out ahead of the pack with the most support of HTML5

I’m sure eventually Google Wave could grow to be something pretty cool. And it will definitely be something loved among the tech savvy crowd, but by the time the rest of the world catches up I am sure there will be something even better a bigger out. Which they will probably not see until the next cool thing and so on. Will this cycle ever end?

If you missed it and want to hang out a watch the 1.5 hour presentation, I have posted the video below. Also be sure to tell me how wrong or right I am about or what you think about Google Wave.

So the Philnote has ended and I personally think it started off strong and then gradually went down hill.

The thoughts below are my own personal belief. So if you don’t agree then either write your own blog post or comment below.

iLife 09 - a well worth it upgrade

iPhoto‘s new Face Tagging/Recognition, and Geo Tagging features alone make me want to buy the new iLife suite. I had actually given up even using iPhoto but the new features are defiantly going to make me give it another shot.

iMovie has become the other iLife app I rarely use, but the Video Stabilization may change that. I say may, because I have used Shakes video stabilization and while I was impressed, it still left me wanting more from it. (never satisfied, I Know)

Garageband. I ‘m gonna learn to play an instrument!!!! Okay, I’m not, but other people with some actual music abilities, can now learn with the new HD Basic and Artist video lessons. And the 4.99 price tage on the Artist lessons seems well worth it.

Now is the section where I would be talking about iWork and iWork.com, but honestly I could care less. I have iwork and I think I have used it twice. Maybe if I was still in school and had to write papers I would be more excited about it, actually scratch that nothing can make writing a paper exciting

So they also decided to release the 17in Macbook Pro. Which feature include everything already talk about a few months ago, but with a bigger screen. Oh and “more” battery life. No offense to Apple, but I am pretty sure if I sat down with the laptop and popped open Final Cut Pro and started editing some HD footage and did some WiFi web surfing and coding during video edits I could probably bring that 8 hour batter life down to 4 tops.

Apple come back to be when I can do everything I want to do on it and only have to charge it at the end of each day. Then I will be impressed! Oh and I Forgot to mention the battery is not removable. I would have liked to have been in that meeting to hit the guy that suggested that upside the head with my old powerbook that stopped holding a charge after a year of use. Okay sorry love not violence.

To finish it off Phil’s One last thing (Guess Steve wouldn’t let him say One more thing) was iTunes and the fact that apple broke down and is allowing a tier pricing system of .69, .99 and 1.29. And that DRM will finally be dead soon, oh and something about the Music Store not working over 3G till now, which I seriously never notice and could care less about (and it’s not just because I still have the 1st gen iPhone).

So all and all I was pretty disappointed in the Macworld, with no mention of the Mac Mini or the Apple TV, to me means if they do get updated anytime soon, it wont be enough of an update to really care about. But what I really want to know is where is my MacBook Wheel! (this weeks TVP edited for family friendliness)

And not that this blog post isn’t long enough I guess Twitter couldn’t compete with all the MacWorld tweets and had to delay postings. I find that funny because they had no problems during the elections which proves once again that mac nerd over power political nerds, which really isn’t saying much I guess.

Anyways so do you agree with me or disagree? Also did you actually take the time to read this entire post?

Yesterday was not a good day for Twitter (or was it). Not only have they been plagued with phishing attempts, but according to Twitter’s John Adams, @netik someone got their hands on Twitter’s Admin Tool’s and was able to change the passwords and email address of 50 largely followed twitter users

This attack included President Elect Obama and Leo Laporte.

Leo was able to do a Qik video while speaking with John Adams about the hack. The video does get a bit choppy here and there, but over all is very informative.

Article/Video Link

I must say I do wonder if this will hurt or help Twitter. I am not much on watching the main news channels, but you would think anything being hacked of the almost President would get a bit of news coverage. And the more coverage Twitter gets the better, right?

So my questions for you today is: Are you worried about your twitter account getting phished or hacked? Post a comment with your answer.

Okay I am going to make this my Tuesday Video Pick, I know it’s nothing funny like the others, but this does have me getting excited. Qik the company that allows you to stream live video from your phone is actually making a legit app for the iPhone.

Currently I have been using the Jailbroken version of the App and it works great, but just the fact that Apple is going to (possible) allow video streaming from the iPhone is a huge step in the right directions. Hopefully this means that we will see more video apps in the near future and possible a better camera in the next generation that is designed to do video and take a better picture.

Anyway the Video is below and it was uploaded by Kevin Rose from Digg.com. Hope you enjoy.

I’m really not a huge MySpace/Facebook fan, never have been and probably never will be, but I do have friends that always get mad at me never replying to their messages.

So then I downloaded the MySpace and Facebook App for the iPhone and it became easier to manage. Both the Apps are better then actually dealing with the main site, but I must say the original facebook app and the new upgraded version has really gotten me using Facebook more and more.

Facebook v2.0 gives you quick and easy access to all the features with only a few taps of your finger. And I must say one of my favorite new features is the ability to upload pictures from the phones library and not just from the camera.

Other new features include:

* Improved Facebook Chat
* Address book lookup
* New, easier to use interface, including notifications and the full news feed
* WritePhoto post on friends’ walls and view their full profiles
* Photo tags (holding your finger down on the photo will show them)
* People search, friend requests and your full inbox/inbox search
* Photo uploading is faster

So if you have the iPhone or iPod Touch this app is definitely worth the update.