I recently received a copy of the iGo My Way GPS software for the iPhone.  I have long been a fan of my TomTom stand alone GPS device but I wanted to take a look at some of the offerings available on the iPhone.  This will be my first in a series of reviews of iPhone GPS software.

I will start off by giving a little bit of information on how I use a GPS.  I am typically very good with directions, i don’t need a GPS to tell em where I am going all of the time.  I do of course use them a lot when I am traveling in areas I am not familiar with but as far as day to day usage for me it is as much a trip calculator and a yellow pages as anything else.  I often use the time to destination option on a GPS to make sure I get places on time.  I also use the built in Points of Interest a lot when looking for restaurants and other locations in my general area.  For me those are my two more common uses for a GPS.

When looking at GPS software on an iPhone, one of the most important features is ease of Navigation.  You dont want to have to sit in a parking lot stumbling through an endless row of buttons to find the option you want.  You also want to buttions to be large enough to see from a slight distance in the event that you want to use it with a dash mount.  iGO addresses both of these with their software.  The initial screen presents you with four options allowing you to view the map, select a destination, view your current route, or More to access the settings and musc player controls.  The interface is in no way cluttered and makes using it quick and simple.

The points of interest seem to be very complete.  I have tried using it several time looking for restaurants or gas stations in areas where I would know what to expect and it does an excellent job of picking up everything.  You can easily search for a ay point of interest by using the built in categories or simply searching by name.  When completing text entry such as searching for a POI you are presented with a full QWERTY keyboard which makes entry as easy as it is when sending a text message.  The software also supports landscape operation for even greater ease of use.

When selecting a point to navigate to you can enter an address, select the point on the map, use a POI,  or use of of you pre entered favorites, or select a location from your existing iPhone contacts.  Address entry is simple and quick while the option to select an existing contact makes it easy to navigate to anyone in your existing database of adresses.  It also keeps a history of recent destinations for quick access.

iGo is using NAVTEQ maps so the completeness of the maps is on par with the vast majority of other mapping applications.  While navigating You of course receive voice prompts as well as an excellent array of on screen navigation helpers.  At this price point I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with features like lane navigation and speed warnings.  The 3D view is a lot better than some of the lower quality ioptions I have seen available and the map movement seemed smooth and very precise.  You are also able to do multipoint navigation.

At the existing price point of $54.99 and with features like FREE quarterly map update and lane navigation the iGo My way software is a fantstic product a an exceptional price

iGo My Way on iTunes

destination-menu

keyboard

lane-navigaion

main-menu

media-controls

night-mode

where-am-i

So it now been a little over a year since the beta release of Windows 7.  I have tried to spend a lot of time getting to know windows 7 as well as trying to find its faults.  I want to spend a little time covering my adventures over the past year and maybe give a little insight into what you can expect out of Windows 7 if you have yet to use it.

The Woes of a Beta Tester

If you have ever done any beta testing you will know that it’s not always a great process unless the beta is VERY mature.  I can remember seeing some very early beta releases of longhorn before the release of Windows Vista and it was definitely not a pleasant experience.  The first beta releas of Windows 7, build 7000, was an altogether different story. When I first installed build 7000 I installed it on a new desktop.  My intention was to play with it for a few days and then wipe it before setting it up for day to day use.  I was so impressed with it I actually began using it as my primary machine.  While it did a fantastic job of installing most of my devices during the initial install, there were a few left that I had to address.  This of course was an issue.  At the time there were NO windows 7 drivers available.  After a lot of searching I was finally able to find all of the necessary drivers, or at least something that would work, to get my system up and fully functioning.

So I was running a beta operating system as my primary work machine.  Beyond my driver trouble I ran into some minor software compatibility issue but really nothing of any major consequence. I continued to run build 7000 for the next few months until just prior to the expiration when I upgraded to build 7100 otherwise known as Windows 7 Release Candidate 1.

A lot of people speculated that release candidate 1 was the same version that would ultimately ship as the retail version of Windows 7.  Yes, it was that good.  As a matter of fact I am still to date running RC1 on the desktop machine at my office.  I will be forced to make the final upgrade  before March of this year however as the release candidate will begin its expiration process.  In the end, my use of the beta and the release candidate of windows 7 was amazing.  Not only was it a great opportunity to get a good look at windows 7 before the official release but it was a great chance to help make better a product I have come to really enjoy.

The Pre-order

I have never been a person to get so excited about anything that I would pre-order it.  Windows 7 is the first item that I have ever pre-ordered.  At the time Microsoft was offering a $30 upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium to college students.  I quickly jumped on the offer and ordered it the same day I found out about it.  Not only was this the first item I had ever pre-ordered it was also the first version of any operating system I had ever purchased.    This should give you some idea about the impact the beta versions had on my decision to purchase.  Whether or not Microsoft intended to have this effect on their beta testers or not, it definitely worked on me.  I was sold.

Release Day and Beyond

On release day I couldn’t wait to download my copy.  I know, what a geek huh.  I got to work that morning to find the email with the download link waiting for me in my inbox.  The download, thought large, actually went rather quickly.  After the download was completed I quickly realized the problem with my purchase.  I was expecting an .iso file but instead found myself with a folder containing the install binaries.  Not a big deal, but was it definitely not the most convenient way to release the software.  I took it home that night to do my first install.

The machine I decided to make my guinea pig was my office machine.  While I have a personal laptop and and work laptop, I prefer to use a desktop in my office because it best support my 3 monitor configuration.  It is ia 2.8ghz Pentium 4 machine with 3Gb of RAM and a 10000K SATA hard drive.  It’s probably 5 years old and it’s definitely no powerhouse but for basic wordprocessing and web surfing and other basic tasks it more than fits the bill.  I had copied the files to a thumb drive to bring them home ,but, I forgot it at work.  I downloaded the files again, unpacked them, and started my install.

Since i purchased the upgrade, Microsoft tries to make it as difficult as possible to do a clean install.  I had already backed up my machine so I went ahead and tried the upgrade and figured I would try the clean install later.  It took a while but the install was rather painless.  It’s was after the install that the painful part began.  Windows had managed to find a working driver for every piece of hardware it found.  That was great, the only problem was that in a couple of cases it was the wrong driver and in one particular case, my second video card, I was never able to locate a working driver that would properly support 2 monitors.  After working on it for a few hours I finally gave up.  That machine not been turned on since.  I did however have a much better experience after I decided to use my upgrade on my wife’s XPS.  Like the install on my office PC it found all of the hardware.  I did have to upgrade the video driver to get Aero working but in general it was extremely easy.  I have since done an install on my Dell Mini 10v with a similar experience, it found all of the hardware but one item.

As far as performance is concerned I will have to say that it runs great on my wife’s XPS as well as my Mini 10.  I have heard tales form Microsoft Reps that they have seen it successfully running on hardware as far back as a 1st generation pentium processor.  Not quickly mind you, but it does run.

As far as the look and feel of Windows 7, i would venture to say it is very similar to Vista but more polished.  With the addition of the new task bar and refinement of the many of the Aero features I was more than pleased with the end result.  It was pretty, functional, and still fast.  My only complaint would be speed of access for specific items.  As a Network Engineer I opten am changing IP addresses and other network settings.  What used to be a single click to get into the network properties is not three deep int the network control panel.  While it makes things perhaps a little more polished and harder for the inexperienced to mess things up it is definitely an inconvenience.  I do understand that I am not what microsoft would call a typical user.  With that in mind I do understand the reason many of these items are placed where they are within the operating system.

Conclusion

Now, looking back on everything since the beginning of all of this I can only come to one conclusion.  Microsoft has done a fantastic job with Windows 7.  While anxious to ty it out, I was very skeptical about Windows 7 in the beginning.  I was one of those people that HATED windows vista so bad that I took every machine I had and rolled it back to XP.  To go from that to Windows 7 is a long way but they did it and they did it the right way.  By opening up the operating system with beta releases they welcomed the criticisms of the public and in the end came through with a much higher quality product than they would have otherwise. I will end by saying this, If you have yet to try Windows 7 make it a point to do so,  I promise you will not be disappointed.

While working on a Cisco 3548 we found something a little odd.  Etched onto the board we found the following imges.  The single Buddha was in plain view while the somersaulting Buddha was hidden under a cable.  I have yet to find anything that explains why this is on the board or even what it means but I thought I would share.

[View with PicLens]

So I finally got an opportunity to spend some extended time with the Motorola Droid.  Since it’s initial announcement in October there has been a lot of talk about this phone.  Some want to call it an iPhone killer while others call it the next generation of Smart Phone.  I would call it a great piece of hardware running a quality Open Source operating system.

First Impressions

After unboxing the phone, the first thing I noticed was the weight of the phone.  Though it was heavier than I expected, it was heavier in a good way.  It somehow felt more substantial than the iPhone I have grown accustomed to.  Looking it over, there were three buttons immediately available on the outside of the phone.  On the top you found power and on the right side you find a rocker for volume and a button for the camera.  There were two ports on the phone as well, a 3.5MM headphone jack on the top and a Micro USB port on the left hand side for charging and PC connections.

Sliding the screen to the right reveals a Keyboard and a D-Pad for navigation.  I’ll talk more about the keyboard later.  I went ahead and removed the battery cover and quickly noticed something.  Above the battery was a Micro SD slot with a 16GB card installed.  The 16GB of on board memory was in the form of an upgradeable SD card.  This is a fantastic idea.  This gives you the ability to swap out your card for a bigger card or even have multiple cards.  From a consumer prospective this seems like a great idea.

All in all I really like the overall design of the Phone.  It’s not all sleek and minimalistic like my iPhone but it seems to have a rugged quality.  It is the little things like the way the keyboard feels when when you slide it out, or the coating on the backing of the phone that make it feel like you could use it to kill wild game with.  It just simply feels tough.

The Screen

For me, the screen is one of the biggest parts of any phone and I don’t just mean physically.  A screen can make or break the phone.  In the past I have spent a lot of time using windows mobile phones like the AT&T Tilt and others that were great hardware but the screen was just crap.  Like most of your newer phones, the Droid does have a 3.7″ capacitive touch screen.  This is of course the same type of screen used on the iPhone and others.  It makes for a great interactive experience overall.  It also has good resolution at 480×854 WVGA which provides a crisp, clear image.  The screen definitely doesn’t disappoint.  I found that even the tiniest of print was more than readable.

The Keyboard

The keyboard is the biggest physical attribute that sets the Droid apart from the iPhone.  The unfortunate part is that the keyboard is the worst keyboard I have ever use on any device.  As I previously mentioned, I at one time owned an AT&T Tilt.  Within a couple of days of use I became rather proficient with the keyboard on it.  Same goes with the keyboard on my Blackberry bold.  The keyboard on the Droid however is so bad I dont think any amount of time could make the experience better.  Throughout my time using it I found myself gravitating toward the on screen keyboard which overall provides a much better experience.  If the Keyboard is your main reason to want a Droid over the iPhone or other touch screen only phone, keep looking.

The Camera

I wasn’t terribly impressed with the camera.  I have never been a guy to use the camera much on a phone because most camera phones take such bad pictures.  Though I was hoping for more out of the 5mp camera in the Droid, I quickly figured out it was a typical camera phone.  Even with the 2 LED flash, the pictures often seemed dark.  When taking pictures, the delay between button press and image capture almost always made the images blurry.  In the end it’s a camera built into a phone not a phone built into a camera.  You can’t expect a whole lot.

Battery Life

I was very impressed with the battery life of the phone.  For the first two days I barley set this phone down.  I was using it constantly.  Even through all of that usage the phone would still last through a full business day.  Now i know that you thinking a full business day isn’t that long but considering the extensive usage I think it did pretty well.  After the first couple of days I tried to limit myself to more normal usage and I found myself able to extend the battery life to nearly two full days.  Definitely an impressive performance.

One truly unique feature of the Android 2.0 software was the ability to break down power consumption.  When the battery would reach 20% or less it would give the same obligatory on screen warning as most phones.  The thing that makes Android different is the Power usage chart.  It shows you specifically what processes on the phone have consumed power and how much they have consumed since it was last plugged in.  This brings power management to a whole new level.

The Verizon Network

I live in an area where the cell phone service goes to die.  I live in a small town where reception is good but 3G access is not even an option.  If you get too far outside of the town that I live in the reception is noticeably worse.  As a matter of fact Verizon doesn’t even offer service in my local area.  Knowing this I wasn’t expecting much in regards to network coverage but I have to say I was completely surprised.  When around any larger urban areas, such as the town I live in, the service was excellent.  When in other areas I did get to use the 3G service and it was equally impressive.  I will say that I definitely look forward to the day  Verizon begins to offer service in my area.

The Android 2.0 OS

The Android OS is the future of the mobile OS.  I have used a lot of different types of smart phones over the years and I definitely think that the Android OS is among the most intuitive and easy to use.  The “Droid Does” campaign definitely speaks to the heart of the phone.  I have described it to a lot of people as equivalent of a jailbroken iPhone.  It pretty, its easy to use, and it lets you do anything you want to do without restriction.

The User Experience

As I have said, the phone was amazingly easy to use.  It didn’t take me long to get everything working, including email and other necessities.  Customization is just as easy.  The three home screens are yours to customize with shortcuts, widgets and apps to put all the information you want at your fingertips.  While there is no limit to how you can customize your home screens, you are limited to only three screens.  At first this may seem like a stupid limitation but really it makes perfect sense.  if you used eight screens and filled them with links to apps then you would have the equivalent of the iPhone interface.  That’s not what they wanted to do.  The applications menu is easily accessed fromt the home screen so there was no real reason for unlimited home screens.

I also got the opportunity to use the Google turn-by-turn directions that is built into Android.  While it wasn’t the most feature rich turn by turn navigation software I have ever used, it’s free!  If this same level of app were available on my iPhone at no extra charge I wouldn’t purchase an app.  It’s features like this that make the Droid such a great value and such an amazing phone.

One major complaint I have about the Droid is the navigation.  When navigating through large lists or menues, the screen would never scroll smoothly.  Whether this was a hardware problem or a software problem is was definitely annoying.  It may sound like I am being too harsh but these are they little things that make a phone feel complete.

The Applications

In the end I used the Droid as my primary phone for a full week.  I made all of my calls on it, I texted from it and I sent email from it.  As I said, I use an iPhone as my typical phone so I tried to find all of apps I use on my iPhone in the Android Marketplace.  While they were not all in the Marketplace, all of them had an equivalent if not a version that was better than the iPhone version.  Games on the other hand are a different story.  I play a lot of games on my phone and the selection of games available in the Android Marketplace is extremely limited.

Conclusion

I have to say that I definitely like the Droid.  I have seen a lot of phones that had nice software but didn’t have the hardware to back it up.  Likewise I have seen a lot of devices with great hardware but lack the software to allow you yo do what you want to do.  The Droid is an awesome piece of hardware combined with fantastic software that allows you to do whatever you want.  Though it has its minor flaws I wouldn’t hesitate to encourage anyone to take a look at the the Droid when looking for a new smartphone.  That being said, definitely take the time to give one a look ever you ever find yourself to have the opportunity.

So tonight I was looking into a way to customize the SMS and New Mail tones on my iPhone.  For whatever reason Apple didn’t think this was a setting you should be allowed to change.  After all, Steve knows what you want.  After a few minutes I found a forum post that gave some generalities on how you could do it on a Jailbroken iPhone.  After spending a few minutes tinkering with it I managed to come up with a working process.  I have outlined that below if your interested.

Step 1 – Creating Your Audio Files

You will need to use an .aif file or you will need to use a program to convert your files to .aif.  I downloaded Switch Audio Converter and it seemed to do the job just fine.  Once you have an .aif version of your file,  you need to rename the new file to a file name that corresponds with an existing iPhone system file.  The problem is that you can’t add new sounds  but you can replace the factory sounds.  For example, if you don’t like the “Horn” SMS alert then you can replace it with your own file by using the file name sms-received4.caf. Your phone will indicate that your using the “Horn” SMS notification but it will actually be the sound you replaced it with.  I have included a list of some of the files at the end of this post to help out.

Step 2 – Installing SSH on Your iPhone

To copy the files to your phone you will obviously need a Jailbroken iPhone.  You will also need a enable SSH on your phone.  You can do this by going to Cydia and installing OpenSSH.  Open SSH is a huge security risk unless you change the root password on the phone.  You can do that by doing the following.

Open a terminal session on your Mac.  If you dont have a mac you can use PuTTY, a free SSH client, on your PC.  From your terminal type the following.  I am assuming that 192.168.1.3 is the IP address of your phone.  You will need to determine the actual IP for your device by going to the setting in your phone.

ssh root@192.168.1.3

You will be asked if you want to connect to the device, just type yes.

You will be prompted for the password for root.  The default password for root on an iPhone is alpine. Your now logged into the shell of your iPhone from your compter.  To change the password type the following.

passwd

You will be asked to enter a new root password two times.  If no errors appear everything worked as it should.  Your password is now changed.  Type exit to logout.  Leave your terminal session open, we will be using it again.

Step 3 – Copying Your Files to Your iPhone

To make the copying process easier I moved all of my .caf files to my desktop.  Again, you will need to use your terminal to copy the files to your phone.  There are also GUI alternatives if you are extremely uncomfortable with the terminal.  To navigate to your desktop in the terminal, simply type the following.

cd Desktop

Now to actually copy the files we will use a protocol called Secure Copy.  This tool is built into the the OSX shell.  If you are using windows you can use a tool called WinSCP to do the same thing in an explorer like shell. This command is case sensitive so please pay close attention when using it.

To copy all .caf files on your desktop to the phone use the following command

scp *.caf root@192.168.1.3:/System/Library/Audio/UISounds/

To copy a specific file use a command similar to the one below.  This will have to be modified to specify the file you want to copy.

scp sms-received4.caf root@192.168.1.3:/System/Library/Audio/UISounds/

At this point, if everything went as planned, you should have new notification sounds on your iPhone.  It may seem like a lot of work but once you get the process down it’s actually really easy and I think you’ll find the results worth it.  I have also linked to a couple of the .aif files I made if you want a starting point.

Droid.aif – The sound used on the Motorola Droid Phone

gotmail.aif - The classic AOL “You’ve Got Mail”

iPhone System File Names

Voicemail Tone

Voicemail.caf

Mail Tones

mail-sent.caf
new-mail.caf

Voice Recorder

begin_record.caf
end_record.caf

Camera Tones

photoShutter.caf
begin_video_record.caf
end_video_record.caf

Shake Sound

shake.caf

Call Waiting Tone

ct-call-waiting.caf

Phone Key Press

dtmf-0.caf
dtmf-1.caf
dtmf-2.caf
dtmf-3.caf
dtmf-4.caf
dtmf-5.caf
dtmf-6.caf
dtmf-7.caf
dtmf-8.caf
dtmf-9.caf
dtmf-pound.caf
dtmf-star.caf

SMS Tones

SentMessage.caf
sms-received1.caf
sms-received2.caf
sms-received3.caf
sms-received4.caf
sms-received5.caf
sms-received6.caf

OK, I will be the first one to admit that when it comes to spending money on software I can be a little cheap.  Until Windows 7 was released I had never bought an operating system.  If it wasn’t for finding a great deal on a Windows 7 upgrade I wouldn’t have bought it.  As a college student, or anyone with a .edu email address, you can buy a windows 7 upgrade for $29 by going to http://www.win741.com.  The only issue is that unless you want to pay extra for media you only get a download.  This wouldn’t be bad if it were an ISO file, which is what I thought it would be, but it is simply a file download that extracts it’s self into an installer.  As with any good IT guy I didn’t plan on doing an upgrade without doing a clean install.  I had to jump through a few more hoops but below you will find out how I was able to make it work.

Creating a Bootable Flash Drive

Requirements:

*USB Flash Drive (Minimum 4GB)

*Windows 7 installation files.

Follow the below steps to create bootable Windows 7/Vista USB drive using which you can install Windows 7/Vista easily.

1. Ensure that you use an empty thumb drive or that all of your data is backed up.  This process requires formatting your thumb drive which will erase all data on the disk.

2. Open Command Prompt with admin rights. Use any of the below methods to open Command Prompt with admin rights.

*Type cmd in Start menu search box and hit Ctrl+ Shift+ Enter.

Or

*Go to Start menu > All programs > Accessories, right click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.

3. You need to know about the USB drive a little bit. Type in the following commands in the command prompt:

First type DISKPART and hit enter.  This will enter the diskpart utility as seen below.

Next type LIST DISK command and note down the Disk number (ex: Disk 1) of your USB flash drive. In the below screenshot my Flash Drive Disk no is Disk 2.

4. Next type all the below commands one by one. Here I assume that your disk drive no is “Disk 2”.If you have Disk 1 as your USB flash drive then use Disk 1.Refer the above step to confirm it.

So below are the commands you need to type and execute one by one:

SELECT DISK 2

CLEAN

CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY

SELECT PARTITION 1

ACTIVE

FORMAT FS=NTFS

(Format process may take few seconds)

ASSIGN

EXIT

Don’t close the command prompt as we need to execute one more command at the next step. Just minimize it.

5. Next you will need to browse to the files that you extracted from the Windows & download. I have copied these files to my C drive into a directory called “Windows 7″ for easier access.  The location of your files may be different but you can copy them to the C drive by opening “My Computer” and draggin the files over your C drive.  Below I am assuming that your thumb drive is drive H.  If you are unsure what drive letter to you you can check by looking in “My Computer”.  These directions can also be modified to work with an install DVD as well.  Instead of locating the installer file on your C drive you simply locate them on your installation DVD.

6. Maximize the minimized Command Prompt in the 4th step.Type  the following command now:

CD \ and hit enter to navigate to the root o your C drive.

CD “Windows 7″ and hit enter to navigate to the directory containing your Windows 7 installer files.

CD boot and hit enter to navigate to the boot directory.

7. Type another command given below to update the USB drive with BOOTMGR compatible code.

BOOTSECT.EXE/NT60 H:

Where “H” is your USB drive letter. Once you enter the above command you will see the below message.

8. Copy your Windows 7 installer files to the thumb drive.

9. Your thumb drive is now ready to install Windows 7.  You will need to verify the boot priority in the BIOS before booting to your new install media.  You can also use a boot menu and select your USB media there.

If your media download happens to come as an ISO file, Windows has released a tool that can be used to make a bootable thumb drive.  You can get that HERE.

A Clean Install with Upgrade Media

Once you are able to boot to your new USB media you can begin installing Windows 7 just as you would any other operating system.  The only thing you will need to do differently during this install is ensure that you do not enter the Windows product key.  Instead just continue with the install and we will enter the key later.

Once the install is complete you will need to activate your machine.  To do this you will need to make windows think that you performed an upgrade instead of a clean install.  To do that you will need to edit your registry.

Open regedit with Start Menu Search and navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Setup/OOBE/

Change MediaBootInstall from “1″ to “0″. You can do this by double clicking on the MediaBootInstall item and then change the value in the window that opens.

Close RegEdit.

Open Command Prompt with admin rights. Use any of the below methods to open Command Prompt with admin rights.

*Type cmd in Start menu search box and hit Ctrl+ Shift+ Enter.

Or

*Go to Start menu > All programs > Accessories, right click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.

In the command line window enter the following command: slmgr /rearm

Then hit ENTER and you will eventually see a  ”Command completed successfully” message.

You now need to reboot your computer.  Once it has rebooted you will need to activate it by typing activate in the start menu search box.  Follow the prompts, enter your windows key, and you should be able to activate windows successfully.

This won’t be the answer for everyone but these are the steps I completed to do a clean install.  There are other options out there to do the same thing I have just described here.  If this seems like a little more than you want to tackle I would suggest finding another guide or locating a friend with some computer skills to help out.   Good luck and Happy Installing!

With tonight’s unveiling of the Boxee Beta software came the introduction of something I have been waiting a long time for, the Boxee Box. The software has finally been moved out of Alpha and into beta with some major improvements to the software. They have reorganized menus to be more easily accessible, added a Boxee queue, and dynamically updating TV show directory. These features alone are enough to get excited about. For me however, the icing on the cake was the announcement of the long awaited Boxee Box.

Back of the Boxee Box

◄ Back

Next ►

Picture 1 of 6

Image of the back of the Boxee Box

Designed by the same firm that designed the XBOX 360 and Alien-Ware PC cases, the box it’s self is definitely an eye catcher.  Manufactured by D-Link, it comes with built in WiFi, HDMI out, Optical out, RCA audio out, USB ports, an SD card slot, and built in Ethernet.  It is designed to stream video from local video shares, online video sources, or from directly attached USB hard drives.  The USB ports can also be utilized for use with a webcam or with a TV tuner card.  Of my favorite features is an RF remote for long range use.  With the announced partnership with Nvidia it is safe to assume that the device will come equipped with an Nvidia ION processor through that has not been confirmed.

The group remained tight lipped about the device for now, only saying that there will be a live demo at CES in January and that it is due to be released in Q2 of 2010.  With a price point starting at around $200 I definitly think it will be able to give the Roku box a run for it’s money.  Though it is a little higher in price I definitly think the extra features will be worth it.

The Hardware (What we know)

• 1 HDMI Connector
• 1 Optical Digital Audio (S/PDIF) Connector
• Composite Audio Connectors
• Power Button
• AC Power Connector
• Ethernet Connector
• 2 USB 2.0 Connectors
• SD Card Slot
• (WxDxH): 120mm x 120mm x 120mm

You can watch the Boxee Beta unveiling LIVE tonight @ 7PM EST

“The Boxee Beta will look, feel and behave differently
from the Alpha. It takes into account many of the requests and feedback
we received from users over the past year.

The Beta will feature:

- a completely re-designed look and feel
- improved navigation across the platform to quickly and easily access entertainment
- search for TV Shows and Movies on the Internet & on local hard drives / networks
- queuing functionality to let you save things for later from the web
- shortcuts for your favorite apps, movies, shows, etc.
- and the proverbial “more”"

According to a Wired article Apple believes that a jailbroken iPhone is a threat to national security.  If that’s not a good enough reason to want to Jailbreak your phone then I don’t know what is.  I have jailbroke every iTouch and iPhone i’ve had.  The first question people always ask me about it is why.  My best answer, Why Not?

My first experience in jailbreaking came with my 1st generation iPod Touch.  I will say, it was definitely a scary process.  At one point I couldn’t even get the device to boot properly.  That’s definitely not how I wanted the process to go.  In the end however it was definitely a great learning experience.  Since then I have jailbroken several iPhones and iPods with little if any trouble.

So what is the biggest reason to jailbreak an iPhone?  The best reason I can think of is that I want to be able to use my device how I want to and not how Apple tells me I should.  When your device is jailbroken you have access to the an online store of applications and general device improvements that can go a long way in improving the overall usability of the phone.

To start with I am a Google Voice user.  To hear that Apple refused to allow the Google Voice app into the store is what helped me to make the decision to jailbreak my 3Gs.  Within Cydia, the app directory on a jailbroken device, there is a fantastic Google Voice application called GV Mobile.  Problem solved.

Second I like the idea of being able to stream live video over the network to a service like Qik or UStream.  Apple of course does not allow that because of the bandwidth limitations they implement with all of their apps.  There is however an app distributed by Qik that will do exactly that.  Again, problem solved.

There are also some apps in the Cydia store that are paid apps but I have found they are definitely worth it.  One of my favorites is called 3G Unrestrictor which is an app that lets you bypass the download restrictions and other network restrictions by making your device think it is using wifi and not the cellular network.  This is a great tool to use with apps like the Sling player application and even the iTunes store.

Apple really likes to promote the App Store as a big selling point for the iPhone and iTouch.  Similarly you can do the same with Jailbreaking.  It’s all about the apps.  If your looking for a solution that allows you to not only customize the look and feel of your device but likewise add functionality, Jailbreaking is definitly your solution.

So your probably thinking, “This all sounds great but I don’t want to destroy my phone trying to Jailbreak it.”  That is a valid point.  I can only say that if you are careful and follow the instruction to a tee then you will have nothing to worry about.  These devices are designed to enter a “Recovery Mode” in the event of a problem so worst case scenario you have to default your device.  That’s definitely not a big deal if you backed it up before starting the process as the directions will indicate.  So why not just do it!  Let you inner hacker loose for a bit and try it out.  I will promise you that you will find it to be a lot easier than you thought it would be.

Links to Jailbreaking Resources:

http://blog.iphone-dev.org/ – The people behind many of the cracks and hacks

http://www.iphone-hacks.com/ – Jailbreaking resources

http://www.readwriteweb.com/ – Jailbreak Info

Great Apps:

Qik – Streaming Video from your Phone

3G Unrestrictor – Fool apps into thinking their on Wifi

Multifl0w – Allows you to run programs in the background – Multitasking

iPhoneModem – Allow you to tether with your Phone

Winterboard – Allows you to theme your device

Remember that the Holiday season is a great time to spend a few minutes patching and updating your parent’s computers.  It might seem like an inconvenience but it could cost you a whole lot more time later.