This week there is a bit of a difference as it is my report on the keynote speech at Moscone Center last week and, as such, is on the long side. I have no idea how the Database team will cut it; although I do expect it will be cut. Best to use my link and the version on my site.

WWDC: A Confident Apple Introduces new Software and Hardware

I looked at the Post site last week not long after I got back from SF and saw that my article on paid apps for the iPhone was showing "most viewed" [it still is] so my thanks to those readers who made the effort; and I hope it was useful.

On Monday of this week, the Post Business section had a piece on True and the iPhone with one or two interesting items of information that do not match up with what I heard at WWDC.

The True spokesman is proud for example to be able to say that it is introducing a new operating system on Wednesday -- 17 June -- the day of the podcast. But it is Apple not True that is doing this and the keyboard is also an Apple development effected at Cupertino I have been told. Unusually, there is a figure of sales: 50,000 is quoted.

The spokesman, Papon, who is deputy chief commercial officer, also mentioned the new iPhone model, which Phil Schiller called the iPhone 3Gs (I cannot do it with a keyboard but the "S" is in a little box). These are coming, but Papon says next month, while Schiller showed a slide that gave 9 August as the release date here. Oh, well. What do I know?

The iPhone 3Gs is going on sale in the US on Friday this week and we all knew it was a bit faster, but Apple was keeping it secret as to how. Insanely Great Mac report on Anandtech, who have done this before. They had a look inside and explain what it is that makes the CPU faster -- as we suggested a couple of weeks back 600MHz as opposed to the current 412MHz -- and there is also a beefed up graphics processor. CNET news also have a look at this and like the Insanely Great Mac article, link to AnandTech.

With there now being two types of iPhone, some people will want to make a decision as to which is the better buy, especially as they look almost identical on the outside. Tom Yager in InfoWorld has a look at the way users may want to make comparisons and also mentions how the 3.0 upgrade is going to make a tremendous difference, even to users of the current devices, which includes my iPod touch: "you've never seen a firmware update like iPhone 3.0. It re-creates the device" he writes. A strong recommendation indeed. I can't wait.

There were over 11 million downloads of Safari 4 in the first 3 days of its release, including about 6 million for Windows. I rather like the Favourites panel which shows the most visited sites in a semi-circular view.  Note the edit feature to cut out those odd ones that appear early in your use and focus on the important ones.

Press the edit button and two icons appear: X to delete or a thumbtack to fix it as a favourite.  Also, for those with weak vision, note there are three sizes to choose from.

Another useful feature allied to this is the History in which pages visited are viewed in CoverFlow and thus the one you want is much easier to track down than using a text list.

There are two things I don't like: the lack of a progress bar; and the reload icon being to the right, instead of in the toolbar where it always was before. With the beta, this could be changed with some Terminal commands, but this one does not allow that.

Unrelated to eXtensions and the Post articles, I was offered the chance his week to participate in a testing program for the next version of OS X. I did check that the mail was from Apple in case this were some elaborate form of phishing. However, I decided not to go with this not because of the amount of secrecy involved which would probably give me a conflict of interests, but because of some of the things I would have to do to the MacBook Pro in terms of software installed: it is my everyday working machine and I need it to work every day. I will line up with everyone else and pay my $29 (which should be 1,000 baht) in September.

We also hear that the final update to Leopard, 10.5.8 is being prepared.

Rixstep has an interesting and very tongue in cheek article on how to get a Trojan on a Mac. Before you panic, have a look as the process involved is difficult at best and anyone who does go through the entire sequence deserves all they get. The item brings in some interesting comments from other sites and also makes much of the BBC approach to this which seems to be to spread fear first before any analysis. With the BBC's Cluck and their recent sloppy coverage of events here over Songkran, I have lost all faith in what they do, apart from Formula One, and we don't get that here.

One of the amusing events for me in SF was at a dinner Apple held for Asian media representatives, a director who is based in Beijing explained it a couple of years ago when he told us that although there are some lines that Apple does not cross, the corp recognises that the media is needed and there are ways that Apple wants to say thank you. The dinners are times when some barriers are dropped -- not all -- and they are enjoyable: the food and wine are always good.

At the dinner on Monday -- a few hours after the keynote speech -- I was sitting next to Darren Sng whom I have met a few times in Bangkok and who always does a good presentation. He had a new Panasonic camera that he had bought for himself and loved it. As he was explaining its features during the break between courses, it dawned on me that he was breaking the features down into a presentation format: he was selling the camera. When I commented on this, the other Apple personnel said that he always did this. If you want to understand anything, give it to Darren and he will make a tour of discovery. I wish I could get this over to my students.

When the iPhone was first released, despite the common nature of exclusive agreements between phone makers and carriers, there was a rumbling from some US law-makers on the nature of such agreements, although they had never bothered before. Now that the iPhone 3Gs is coming, a group of senators have rehashed the arguments against such agreements again and in the wording of the information carried by the Register, it is clear that this is aimed right at Apple and AT&T. There is apparently a meeting today (Wednesday) in Washington and this matter may well be brought up there. If anything, from what we mentioned earlier, it is AT&T that is the major roadblock.

An email this week told me that an old favourite -- one that I used to use on my Palm -- is now available for the iPhone and iPod touch: Documents to Go. With this we can edit and create Word and Excel documents on the device, as well as work with PDF, Power Point and other formats. There is a desktop application to go with this and file synchronization uses wifi connections. It works on Mac or PC. For those who need to use Microsoft Exchange, there is a business oriented version. Once you register there is an acceptance email, and the link for the download of the desktop application will arrive by email but this is much later. A first look showed me that examining a document on the iPhone is much better than on the Palm: obvious really. The screen makes all the difference. It is also far easier to sync files between the computer and iPhone (or iPod touch).

The basic version is on offer for $4.99 for a couple of weeks, while the business one is $9.99. And the 3.0 update should be available about the time I send the podcast out. I hope my credit card holds out.

This week I also downloaded an app called Love Art which is a viewer for Art from the National Gallery and fairly massive for an app at 207MB. Indeed, I had to reorganise some of the apps and delete some podcasts just to make room. This is gorgeous, and not only do you get a good selection of images but an expert commentary as well.

A point on making room. When I synced the iPhone, iTunes told me that some items on the iPhone were not in the apps section of iTunes and gave me the chance to put them back. As I had wanted them deleted, I declined. Fail-safe?

A point that was made by some after the conference in general conversation was about the difficulty of taking as self-portrait with the iPhone. I have found that if part of my face is reflected in the Apple symbol on the back of the device that is almost right for a face shot. With my nose about centre of the small mirror I can get a fair shot every time.

Apple has released a Java for Mac OS X, update (one for 10.4 and one for 10.5). This addresses a number of issues and is available via Software Update for those who need it. Apple advises that is gives improved reliability, security, and compatibility for Java and that users are advised to quit all web browsers before installing the update.

Apple has also released some more information re the update to Snow Leopard: for those who bought computers after 8 June, the update will cost $9.95 in the US. There is no information as yet about this in Thailand.

An interesting little piece of information came to light this week concerning Quick Time X, the QTPro replacement that will be in Snow Leopard. It may support the playing of .FLV files - Flash. If that is so, MG Siegler on TechCrunch suggests that this may find its way onto the iPhone and iPod touch.

My favourite FTP program, Fetch was upgraded recently and I finally got round to downloading it: not the sort of thing you want to do when you are on the road and it is a critical piece of software. A nice trick is being able to use QuickLook and see what a page or file is like on a site, directly in the upload panel.

"The smoke grenades fit perfectly in the cup holder. . ."

That comment when making a beach landing with the Royal Marines is one of the highlights of one of the funniest road tests I have seen in a long time. We criticise the BBC a fair amount on this podcast, so I need to adjust the balance and this response to a criticism by a viewer that Top Gear did not do road tests of cars like they used to, is a highly tongue in cheek, and impressive example of the fun that can be had with a car: a Ford Fiesta. My thanks to Jeremy Clarkson and the Top Gear team:

Late News

Too Good to Miss

Hold down the option key as you boot iPhoto and you'll see a screen like the one displayed here. Just choose your library (there should only be one) and iPhoto will boot normally.

A fix will be coming soon.

The Unofficial Apple Weblog had an amusing article this weekend on someone's scare tactics with regard to radiation from the iPhone. I mean, we get radiation from all manner of things around the house, but some dork wants to sell something or make himself famous and suddenly the iPhone is the culprit again: this really annoys me. And Chris Rawson of TUAW does a good job of debunking this, or at least taking away the pain. These devices emit non-ionising radiation which is usually accepted to be benign, although the jury may be out on Chris's example of power lines. Rather than the expensive solution of the Bluetooth headset that this doctor is trying to sell, Chris suggests the Apple earbuds will give you quite enough space.

Last week, I was helping someone from Thailand whom I used to teach when he was 7. He is now in his twenties and studying at Master's degree level in the USA. I gave him his first introduction to PCs and he has long surpassed me, which is how it should be. However, last week, after I had fixed some of his writing, he told me that his parents had just bought him a MBP -- his first Mac -- and he was looking at iPhone apps. Another proto-millionaire.

And earlier this week I was contacted by someone whom I met when he was a novice in Songkhla: leapt out of a temple in front of me and wanted to practice his English. He visited my house there with other novices and was impressed by my book collection: he has now written a book of his own and has a couple more in the planning stages. It just shows you how you can influence people.

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