Live & Direct from Nowhere in Particular...

Much bigger.

Microhyla nepenthicola - micro-frog from Borneo

I want some. they are adorable. Apparently these micro-frogs breed in vegetarian pitcher plants in Borneo. They are less than 1/2 an inch long.

Though, they aren’t the smallest. That honor goes to a little Cuban frog called Eleutherodactylus iberia that is about 1cm long.

Eleutherodactylus iberia - smallest frog in the world

I entered my book in the photography[book]now competition & the People’s Choice segment has started. Vote for me!

Here’s the book:

UPDATE: Not sure, but it may make you sign in, which means signing up for an account. Grrr. Sorry about that. Still vote for me, but only if you want or already have a blurb account. FWIW, the books are good quality & the software is easy to use.

I actually intended to post this about a week after I got it, but I slacked. Since I’ve waited so long, I’ll go ahead & make it brief & start with the Cons…

Cons

• Of course, everyone knows about the antenna issue. iOS 4.0.1 did seem to make the antenna meter a bit more accurate (now I get about 3 bars max at my house instead of bouncing between 5 & 1), but of course the hardware issue is still a hardware issue.
• Case availability, as usual, is terrible. It’s improving now, but still a bit lacking. Luckily the 3G cases kinda sorta fit. I finally ended up going for a cheap case that is a bit too padded. It nearly doubles the thickness of the phone. This lack of cases is especially bad, considering the ‘antenna issue’.
• Multitasking can be a bit annoying - particularly that non-multitasking apps go to the launch bar too. It would be nice to be able to exclude apps from multitasking so they actually exit when you exit them. There are some apps that just don’t need to be backgrounded.
• Proximity sensor issues - when talking on the phone, the sensor doesn’t always sense that the phone is by your head. This might have improved a little with 4.0.1, but not much.
• Weird audio bug - after using an app with its own volume level, such as Pandora or YouTube, you have to reboot to adjust the ringer volume. This was resolved with iOS 4.0.1.
• They skimped a bit leaving out the microfiber cloth that came with the 3G. Perhaps the oleophobic coating is supposed to make this unnecessary.

Pros

• Seriously fast. This is even more pronounced since my 3G was running iOS 4 and had seemed to be slowing down even before that. Even little things like contact scrolling are noticeably faster. The iPhone 4 may pay for itself just in app launch time.
• GPS seems faster & more accurate. GPS based apps lock on a lot faster than with the 3G.
• FaceTime works great once you turn it on. It seems that some phones default to having it off, others have it on. I’ve used it a couple time now & it’s pretty smooth.
• Text is gorgeous. No, really. Small text on the new screen is amazing. Reading on the new phone is a lot more comfortable than the old one.
• The new cameras are pretty good stuff too. The video quality & photo quality is quite good for a phone. One oddity with iMovie is the inability to split clips. That seems like something that should be doable. Perhaps implementing it in the interface was too much of a challenge. I’m hoping to get it after launch. Along with the ability to put titles over photos. & upload 720p to YouTube.

Those’re the basics. In short, yes it’s worth it. The only long term issue is the antenna debacle. Perhaps they’ll come up with a more permanent solution than using a case. Oh, another thing: Developers, update your apps. Especially the icons. The bundled Apple apps are so much purdier than most of my 3rd party apps.

I tried to watch The Brothers Grimm on Blu-Ray yesterday using the PlayStation 3. I got an error that the video could not be played. That was a first. My PlayStation is up to date & this is nowhere near a recent Blu-Ray. So, I tried to go to the site that the disc label directs you to, BVHEBluray.com, to be redirected to a page of black text on a black background. The black text was just a list of movie titles. There is a link for a text-only version, but of course it’s a page not found.

So, I called. Closed of course.

Then I tried to submit feedback using the link at the bottom of the black page. Upon submitting the feedback I got an error that Safari couldn’t connect to the server. Nice. It finally went on the 3rd try, but now I’m annoyed, so I’m posting this just to let Buena Vista Home Entertainment know how incredibly incompetent I think they are. Apparently Disney sucks a the Internet. And technology in general.

I saw this quite a while ago, but finally getting around to posting it…

via clusterflock.

My first upload to YouTube. Incredibly boring, but I did it all on the new iPhone.

Around a dozen toads attempting to mate in my rain diluted, but still chlorinated swimming pool. I hope they don’t expect their endeavors to be successful. It’s amazing how loud they are.

I’m not looking forward to skimming out all the eggs tomorrow.

UPDATE: I rescued 15 live male toads this morning … 3 dead ones. One of which was the female. :^/ Most of them were in the skimmer. So I had at least 18 out there last night.