Filsinger.org

Almost one year to the date I blogged about the iPhone finally coming to Canada.  Now today, Apple announced that the 3rd version of the iPhone will be coming very soon (June 17th to be exact) and has some great new features.  The iPhone 3GS and features some of the following upgrades (along with 3.0):

• Tethering Support
• 3mb Camera
• Tap to focus
• Video
• MMS
• Voice Activation
• Hardware Compass
• Battery Upgrade
• CPU/RAM upgrade

Most of this is old technology, and the iPhone should have had when it launched, but plugged some of the final holes/criticisms of the device.  Now we just need a front facing camera, and flash support built into safari.

The only thing stopping me really from getting the iPhone is Rogers.  It has been said before, but Rogers is the worst iPhone provider in the world.  This is a comparison of the fact that they require a 3 year contract, and they don’t offer unlimited data.  I really hope someday soon the spectrum auction that happened late last year here in Canada will open up the GSM spectrum so more than just Rogers will be able to sell the iPhone.

On another note, ngmoco got to show off their game Star Defense, which is available today, and my company Sculpin QA worked on it with them.  When I first heard about the iPhone 2 years ago, never did I dream the device would pay my bills, and I wouldn’t even own one.  haha.

The one thing that really impressed me today was the application for doctors.  I said to myself “wow we are in the future”.  This app lets a doctor monitor his patients without actually being in the hospital, now it just needs to read alien life forms and be used by Captain Kirk.

The new device comes in at $199 and will have 16gb of storage.  No mention of any new iPod touches, but perhaps that will come out later this summer.  Are there better devices out there?  Yeah in some areas, but it’s the App Store that really makes this device limitless in terms of expandability.  Should be another interesting year.

I have never been a big fan of Nine Inch Nails.  Their music style is close to what I might listen to, but just never struck a chord with my ear, so to speak.  What they do right though is leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else.  I have blogged about how media is changing, new distribution methods need to be found, and if you don’t change how you do business, and adapt to this new force you will die.  Reznor was recently interviewed about his coming iPhone app that lets people have access to a social network of NIN fans, and direct access to Reznor himself.   He was interviewed for a Wired article and this is what he had to say.. and he’s exactly right.

Since then, Reznor has pioneered a new, fan-centered business model that radically breaks with the practices of the struggling music industry. His embrace of “freemium” pricing, torrent distribution, fan remixes and social media seem to be paying off financially even as they have helped him forge deeper connections with the Nine Inch Nails faithful.

It’s something he never could have done before, even on an indie label. “Anyone who’s an executive at a record label does not understand what the internet is, how it works, how people use it, how fans and consumers interact — no idea,” he declares. “I’m surprised they know how to use e-mail. They have built a business around selling plastic discs, and nobody wants plastic discs any more.”

Meanwhile, the entire system that for a lucky few turned those discs into hits — rock radio, MTV, music mags, CD megastores — has crumbled, and label execs have no idea where to turn. “They’re in such a state of denial it’s impossible for them to understand what’s happening,” Reznor says. “As an artist, you are now the market.”(emphasis mine)

I believe you should have to pay for music, but nobody wants plastic discs anymore.  The last plastic disc I bought for myself was 3 years ago, but now I buy more music than I ever have.  I listen to all my music through my iPod or on my laptop at work.  Why would I want a disc that I have to rip and then just put away?  I want music digitally, cheap and fast.  Even today I bought the new Hip album on iTunes and didn’t have to go hunting for it.  Just clicked two things and now I’m listening to it.

I’ll scream on this soap box for a while I think.  Media is shifting, don’t get left behind.  This applies to all apsects of our lives, religion, tv, print, music, video, tourism.  The 21st century culture shift isn’t coming, it’s already here.  What are you going to do about it?

I’ve now worked in the game industry for over a year and right now the annual Game Developers Conference is in full swing.  For those of you who don’t know what GDC is, it’s when all the worlds developers get together to discuss what they’ve learned with others in the hope that someone doesn’t repeat the same mistakes they did in developing something.  New products get announced here as well.  I have followed the GDC for the last couple years, and this year is no different.

One trend I’m following is the discussion around the iPhone and the games made for it.  Right now I believe the company I work for Sculpin QA is the premiere testing studio for iPhone games.  We’ve worked on such hits as Rolando, Super Monkey Ball, Topple, and Diner Dash and learned a lot in the process.  One year ago no one was talking about the iPhone as a legit gaming platform, now indy devs are making $600,000 creating games in their basement.  Just a couple weeks ago, Apple announced OS 3.0 where they will be integrating in app purchases, peripherals, bluetooth, P2P, cut and paste, and a ton more other features.  Their SDK has opened the doors for some crazy ideas, and it’s not going to stop, according Neil Young of ngmoco 148 apps a day are being released on the store.  There are some issues with the store at the moment, but that is an entirely different discussion.  Google is releasing a competing operating system called Android with an app store, but I just don’t think it’s going to be as big as the iPhone.. but that remains to be seen, perhaps i’ll be blogging about that in a year.

In addition this year Twitter has now exploded and a lot of the tech savvy crowed at GDC is twittering most of the events going on.  So by following the stream of things tagged with #GDC, I’m getting access to the latest news without having scour the internet for a good article here or there, it just gets fed right to my feedwatcher.

So, within the next few weeks at Sculpin we will be getting very busy.  I’ve learned a lot in the last year about the difference of between White and Black box testing, assumption that should never be made, questions that should always be asked and how to test to a calculator program

If you are looking for some high quality game testing, or some good discussion on technology and where it’s taking us… look me up. filsinger@gmail.com

I love it when bands push musical distribution boundaries with new ways of delivering free or cheap content to me.  We are in a recession and entertainment dollars are the first to be cut.  We saw some cutting edge deliveries of free music from Radio Head and NIN last year.  Pay what you want schemes, that I think worked out well for the bands.  I went and paid for the Radio Head album, and got my $5 worth.  I really hope more bands cut out the middle man and deliver me cheap good music continuously.  I don’t mind paying for content when it’s quality.

Well today on my twitter stream I saw an article about being able to buy the entire PUSA discography for $3.  I was intrigued, so I checked it out.  Most of my day is spent in the iTunes store and iPhone applications due to my job, so I am always checking out new stuff and this peaked my interest.  PUSA released their entire discography through an application that you download.  So I plunked down my $2.99 and downloaded the app.  I figured there would be at least one catch, that you had to use the app to listen to the songs, instead of your music app on your iPhone or iTouch.  But there are two more catches, that keep from completely loving this idea.  First is that you MUST have an internet connection of some kind.  Me having an iPod Touch only means I have to have wifi connected, and that means on my flight today I will not be able to listen to the music.  Second is that you cannot select specific songs, only albums and it will randomly shuffle through the songs.  These two issues keep me from completely falling in love with this idea.  But kudos to you PUSA for trying something different to get me to listen to your music.  Maybe i’ll go and pay that $0.99 for “Peaches”, so I can have that flashback feeling to 1995 where I was awkward and nerdy.   (maybe i still am… lol ).

If you don’t mind the two restrictions I mentioned, then go and spend your $3. The music quality is fantastic and now I get a full preview of their new album for the price of two coffees.

I just now finally got my iPhone wordpress app working with it’s latest update. It’s great for blogging on the go and I highly recommend getting it. Nothing better then free too.

What it allows you to do is write blog entries right from your iPhone and then they post immediately. It’s my favourite app after monkey ball of course.