Time for a Branch?

So Apple’s update is in the wild, and its become clear that they’re forcing a choice — at least for the time being. Either you run the latest and greatest, but disappointingly useless Apple firmware v.1.1.1, or you use what the community has to offer based on 1.0.2. Here’s a nice chart that might make the decision easier…
wired-iphone-diagram.jpg
On the “Official” side, you can add a few new shortcuts, and the ability to disable GPRS.
On the “Hacked” side, you can add Assisted GPS, a customizable Home Screen, remote access to your iPhone, and hundreds of games through emulation.
In my opinion, not a tough choice. If Apple so badly wants to eliminate the 3rd party development market, maybe they should give us some decent software for our very expensive phones. I frankly consider their new firmware to be a downgrade.
I think it’s time to spin off a new branch. Apple can do their thing, and continue to release boring, pointless updates that do nothing but offer us a new way to spend money on their DRM-laden music store. The community can continue to develop the software people actually want. Maybe someday they can merge the branch back with Apple’s trunk, but for the foreseeable future, I can find no reason to let iTunes helpfully “update” my phone.

Dream October

I love to travel. Its one of the things I enjoy most in life. You might not think it if you’ve ever been in an airport with me — I may appear to be very stressed or pressured, but neither would be true. I really just have my game face on. Travelling is not something to be taken lightly, and an airport is like a battleground. You have to conquer it! An airport requires a combination of skills… In fact, far be it from me to draw a sports analogy, but I imagine it must be like a football game…
You need strength and a quick wit to push through the lines of defense (in this case, retarded travellers, milling around and bumping into each other, trying to block your path to the goal line).
Composure and charisma to present yourself well to the critical audience (the TSA and other security officials, who are only too happy to turn on you if you make one false move (like trying to bring a bottle of water onto the plane, or reading a potentially inflammatory book.))
And of course, strategy and planning to make sure the whole game day comes together in your favor.
postcard60.jpgIts fitting then, that my almost 2 year hiatus from air travel ends in October with a trip to Wisconsin, the home of the Green Bay Packers. I’ve heard that, aside from the football (if you’re into such things), there’s not that much else that’s exciting about Green Bay, but I don’t care. I get to board a plane, rent a car, and discover a new part of the world. Plus, I get to meet some of my colleagues who I work with every day, but have never actually seen in person.
And literally as soon as I get back from that trip, we hope to be off on vacation. This flight, rental car, and hotel at our own expense — but infinitely more valuable. We’re $200 away from booking our trip, with a full 10% of the cost having been covered by the wonderful people who hit the Donate button to send us on our first vacation in 6 years. We’re staying in a 4 star hotel, on a beach and with 2 pools, renting a convertible, and driving it to a day at Universal Studios. And its just gonna be the two of us (well, us plus the baby in the belly — we were unable to find anyone who would be willing to host our fetus while we went away).
I’m very much looking forward to traveling again (by plane, that is — a little sick of the 8 hour drives)! October is gonna be a FUN month!