Time to retire my ol\’ iPhone 3G in lieu of the new iPhone 4 that showed up early this morning. Thanks to Lieze, we lucked out and got ours early! I\’m not normally one to get super-psyched (read: stand in line for hours on-end) on the latest Apple product to fall from the tree… but now that I actually have this thing in my hand – I am pretty stoked! The resolution is night and day over my old phone. The video quality is actually very good, and Face Time is a rad feature. It is like having Skype with you in your pocket wherever you go.

Lieze and I have been nerding out all day… and I\’m exhaling a sigh of relief that you can finally multi-task apps. It is about time!

After nearly five brutal years of service… it looks like my trusty ol\’ PPC 20\” iMac G5 has kicked the bucket. I took it into the Apple Store after it failed to boot several times in a row. It would power on, but wouldn\’t \’chime\’, and would rest on a dark gray screen to no avail. It turns out that iMacs have a recurring issue with capacitor caps on the logic board bulging and/or bursting – causing the board to fail. I have a strong sentimental attachment to this machine – because I edited Slide America in it\’s entirety on it. I worked this machine harder than I\’ve worked any other computer – it definitely had a GREAT run.

When I took this machine in, I also took two other 17\” iMacs that David Adams kindly gave me during his office\’s liquidation of old computers. They wouldn\’t boot either. What I find VERY strange – is that both of these machines had the exact same issue. What are the odds that 3/3 iMacs that I have failed because of the same faulty capacitors?

I did some research, and may try and buy new caps and replace all the old ones – seeing as a new logic board will end up running me the cost of a new machine after parts and labor. This is the first hardware issue I have had with Apple computers in my career. Hopefully… it will be the last.

I was curious to see what kind of results I would get if I strapped my iPhone in the e46 and recorded a run using Dynolicious\’ skidpad mode. The data is pretty interesting. I was surprised the lateral numbers weren\’t higher. I suppose if I strapped the phone in the trunk that it would read differently. It is odd that the braking number is so high, because I don\’t use the brakes… ever. I also found it interesting that the car pulled just shy of 1.0 G on accel.

Overall… I think this app is great. The timed run feature is very interesting, and extremely fun to use. More on that soon.

Picked up a nice computer for the kitchen. Apple eMac G4 1.0ghz 1.0gb RAM/80gb HD/DVD-RW/Airport Express. It came with a fresh install of OS 10.4.11, and a slew of software, including Final Cut HD. Not bad for $160.