Today’s Wall Street Journal held a promising article – one that outlined how the new design of the iPhone 4 will help eliminate one of the previous verions major issues: dropped calls. According to the Journal, “the most dramatic design changes in the latest iteration of Apple’s smartphone, the iPhone 4, is a stainless-steel antenna that wraps around its sides.” That anteanna is doing more than just taking care of your calls, it also handles the iPhone’s Wi-Fi and GPS.

Another reason for the decrease in dropped calls? The new iPhone also puts out more radio-frequency radiation, and I’m not to sure how I feel about that although it apparently meets the FCC guidelines. I also have been very frustrated with repeated dropped calls, sometimes when I’m sitting still! I’d love to believe this has been remedied.

The Journal also reported that “Apple said it took pre-orders for more than 600,000 of its new iPhone 4 on its first day of availability” – insane!! So many, in fact, that it took down Apple’s site for a little bit and orders could not be completed. I read rumors on twitter and facebook that Apple Store employees had begun taking orders with paper and a pen! My word! I haven’t pre-ordered, but I am eligible and will be upgrading to the 4 (I’ve got one of the first 3G models) in the next few months. I’m not interested in being a part of this frenzy, I’ll wait until the next set becomes available.

Cruising through this week’s issue of eWeek, I saw an ad for Spector 360. This software allows your employer to monitor everything that you’re doing on your computer at work.

Everyone visits Facebook a few times a day, or checks their personal email. In fact, some studies have shown that employees who take breaks and do other things during their work day are actually more productive. However, your employer may not think so. This software will not only monitor your behavior, but it will give your employer reports of all of the employees. These reports are filled with info like: Which employees spend the most time surfing web sites? Who is spending time on shopping sites, sports sites or adult sites? Who is arriving to work late and leaving early? Who takes long lunch breaks? What are my employees searching for on Google, Yahoo and MSN?
Time to stop screwing around at work, folks! Or in the very least, limit it!

There have been many creative logos from http://www.Google.com – but today’s was their best EVER. Not only was it an adorable rendition of a Google PacMan game layout – it is playable. I hope they archive this so you can continue to play, but here’s a screengrab:

Wanna scare the crap outta yourself? Enter your name in www.webmii.com.

I cannot believe the remnants of stuff about me that this engine sniffed up from around the web. Almost everything was correct – my work in tv/film, listings of the condo I sold, info entered in classmates.com more than 10 years ago … FRIGHTENING.

People, the stuff you put into your facebook and social media pages truly never goes away. I feel for the younger generation who have hundreds of photos of themselves in front of beer bongs (or worse) on their facebook pages. Ten years from now as you seek jobs, you’re future employers will find this stuff and judge you for it.

Thank god most of my early work online was on private message boards, and super-geeky private SIG systems – not archived anywhere other than on my own personal network or the network of a friend who ran SIGS (we’re talking early 80’s here for me, at least). There’s a lot of very unhappy poetry that, thank goodness, slipped into the darkness of hard drives that are no longer readable and not out there for my kids to judge me on later.

But seriously – learn a lesson here – do not PUT that info online. Tell your friends not to post or tag photos of you on that pole at the local strip house. Someday, you may want to be Miss America.

Sigh. I just don’t know how I feel about this. I love my iPhone. But how useful, really, is a device that says it can surf the web but can’t access anything built in Flash? How ego-centric to iTunes do we really need to be, before we stop being something useful? And for what you gotta pay for this device, it’s glued together and absolutely not upgradeable. It’s like buying a really fancy calculator. You may get some OS updates, and lots and lots if iApps but this is it – this is all this will ever do.

I can tell you this. I’m not buying one. And it’s not because I never buy a version one of ANYTHING, and it’s not because I spend all my money on daycare. It’s because I just can’t continue to support this.

Still love my iPhone. Just not rocking the iPad.

Yes, it’s true – if you’re an owner of a older iPhone (not archaic, just older) you can actually take and record video from your camera using third party software from Qik. You can post it to the Qik site and share it with just your friends, you can also broadcast live!
What a super-cool tool! Did I mention that it’s FREE? Sure, there is a paid service with higher quality video and better streaming, but for quick and dirty stuff and to just have less phone envy – this is the bomb.
It actually works on many different types of phones, not just the iPhone. The list is on their site. http://qik.com/

Though it sounds somewhat like a feminine hygiene product, it was a wondrous day today as once again Steve Jobs stepped up to the stage at MacWorld and announced the launch of the new apple iPad.  I’ve missed him as the figurehead of the company through his illness, and I’m so happy to see him up there again and looking healthier.  As much of an a-hole as he is (yes, personal experience working with him allows me to say this ) he really knows how to bring out the best efforts of the people that work for him.

The iPad looks cool – though like the iPhone when it just started out, there’s not that many apps for it yet – but that will grow, I’m sure.  Get more info about today’s announcement here: http://www.macworld.com/article/145938/2010/01/tabletannouncement1.html

Will I be getting one?  Not at the current price point …

Well, we’ve all been holding our breath for what seems like years (okay, maybe just me) in anticipation of Apple’s tablet computer.  But it looks like Microsoft is beating it to the punch.  Check out today’s post at Brainstorm Tech’s blog, http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2010/01/07/video-microsoft-upstages-apples-tablet/ for a video clip of Steve Balmer’s answer to the tablet.  Not much is know about this device, except that it’s named the HP Slate and it has a multi-touch screen, instant-on capability and appears to be about 1.4 cm thick.

Ah … it just looks so cool.  To think, I started out computing on a green screen computer with no mouse and no software … and my kids are in jetson’s world where you can press a button on the iPhone and google a question audibly for an answer.  It’s damn close to Star Trek, I say!

Now if only I could get a holodeck … Computer, Cancel Program!!

I’ve heard the tales of woe of app developers getting rejected without explanation. Now, I can see firsthand, and so can you, at AppleRejectedMe.com.

My current fave: “I made a time machine app, but apparently Flux_Capacitor is a private API. ARM”

It’s amazing, when I think of how many crappy apps I’ve downloaded (and paid for!) that are buggy or just suck.  I’m very curious how many apps get rejected a day, considering the amount of  junk that rises above the bar and makes it into the app store.

Like to cook? I do, and if you’re like me, you’ve got ripped meal plans from magazines, dozens of cookbooks, and a few hand-written scribbled notes  passed down through the family.  It’s a pain trying to find that one certain tuna casserole recipe when you need it.

Enter the Demy – an electronic recipe organizer that you can fill with your own (2500) recipes, or search through an online database of other users’ recipes via the partner website KeyIngredient.  Made of sturdy plastic with a sealed touchscreen, it claims to be splashproof.  And, it  “only takes up as much space as a 5 x 7 card. S Stand your Demy on end. The screen flips automatically, and it only takes up the space of a 3 x 5 card.”

That alone is my favorite feature, that it has a bright, easy to read screen and that it’s simple to reference while cooking.  It’s frustrating to have to use up massive amounts of scant counter-top by holding a giant cookbook open.  Or worse, to keep opening and closing it reading details.

It’s a little pricey, at $299.95, I expect that will drop in the not-so-distant future.