Actually, no, the S is for Speed.

We had a personal shopping appointment at the Eaton Centre Apple store today for 8:30. We were there of course early and didn’t get into the store until 10. As our friend RJ said… It was not an issue waiting since since he doesn’t Boxing Day shop… today was his Boxing Day.

I want to say that the Apple Store staff are stellar. Friendly, polite and apologetic for the wait times. And the wait times weren’t even caused by them! Of course, like last year, Fido and Rogers systems were overloaded, down, and the queue to call in was long. But despite this, there was always a smile on their faces, the store was properly staffed, and everyone who we talked to from the Apple Corp representative down to the line organizers were great. They even had various pastries and coffee for those of us in line that was served by the staff.

Once we got into the store and our Genius rep made it through to Fido it went smoothly. I have to note too, that even he was extremely polite and sociable to the Fido rep on the phone, who wasn’t that knowledgeable and who had to have everything explained to him.

So now I have iPhone in hand and I’m moving all my video and music over. I’m quite excited for the 32GB of memory because now I can retire my first generation Touch.

I should note too, that I may was interviewed via iPhone by CityTV before entering the store and on leaving so I may appear on the news as one of the first people to get my hands on a 3GS (although I wasn’t).

It was also a great surprise that Rogers and Fido offered additional discounts for previous owners, so I didn’t have to pay full retail. This was announced last night and we hadn’t heard until we got into the line. So that was a nice bonus!

First impressions… way faster and snappier… I’ll work it in this weekend while I’m at my friends cottage! Take a look at first video here! Probably the first of many…

Now to sell my old iPhone…

When Apple first announced Find My iPhone, the service through mobileMe that allows you to track down your iPhone, people thought that was creepy. Lucky for us, it is all password protected…

Now that 3.0 is launched on the iPhone with push notification, a bunch of new apps are now showing up on the App Store with fun new features. One of the first next generation apps that we added was HeyWAY (iTunes free). It is pretty damn cool, so I thought I would share.

After installing the app, you make all your friends, lovers, boyfriends download it too. You then establish that they are your friend and you want them to find you by sending them an e-mail or using the new Bluetooth connectivity to authorize.

Once you are authorized you will see them in your friend list and this is where it gets fun! At any time you can initiate a request that will alert them using the new Push notification (your iPhone will alert you) asking if you want to send your friend back where you are. If you decide that you are where you say you are, you can agree and they will see your location on a Google map.

The possibilities are endless…

• Let your friends know you have arrived so you can make a grand entrance
• Find your cheating boyfriend/girlfriend (he would be pretty stupid to reply though)
• Find out where your friends are drinking so you can join
• Find your groom on wedding day
• Find your kids after curfew
• Constantly remind your friends that you are in Antigua and they are not

Do you really want to be found? In case you are lonely or want all of your friends to know that you are at that dirty movie theatre down the street, you can instantly send all of your friends your location and they will be notified with a map of where you are.

I think this is a great little app and I’m looking forward to more cool things to come using all of the funky new features of 3.0.

BTW: As of 9:29 Brad was indeed on his way to work… at Rosedale station.

Unlike many other people, I really liked the iMovie 08 application. It was quick and dirty and did the job well. I did miss some of the features, but I also have Final Cut Express. So I was exited to see Apple marry some of the more precise functions with the ease if last years iMovie.

So here is my first video. I’m LOVING the globe animations and they have added some new themes, titles and effects which I will definitely take advantage of.

So take a look at my first video… and in doing so, you’ll get to see where I stayed in Antigua.

Aaron suggested that we visit Momofuku for dinner tonight. We headed down to 2nd and 13th and found the restaurant on the corner. We thought that it would be a dead at 6pm, but it was packed. Luckily we got a seat after 5 minutes at the bar. This was the start of a fabulous meal.

We did the tasting menu ($70) without the wine flight. We stuck to beer this evening. I had some tasty Japanese beer that I had never heard of before in an overly large bottle.

The atmosphere was great; busy but not so loud that you couldn’t talk, with a warm wooden yet modern atmosphere. There is a bar area where you sit cafeteria style. Where we sat ran into the service area so we sat side by side but to the right of Aaron is where the table extended and you could sit across from your dinner partners.

Looking at the menu we opted for the tasting menu. We were told that it was 7 courses, but it actualy turned out to be 8 courses… and fully worth it. I ate things that I wouldn’t normally eat, and everything was fantastically delicious. The food prompts people sitting next to you to ask what you got because everything looks so delectible. Talking to the guys next to us the Bread and Butter ($8) was fantastic since it was served with Lardo and course salt. So they even made that different then the norm.

Overall, the food was fantastic and I would definitely return. I think Brad would have loved it too. We definitely did it right by getting the tasting menu… since we got to try a lot more food than we would have if we had ordered 2 or 3 dishes. Plus a lot of the dishes were rich so the amount you get in the tasting menu was perfect. We really enjoyed every piece of food we put in our mouth tonight!

So here is a rundown of the food we ate… for pictures of the food please click on the thumbnail below!

Course 1

Malpeque oysters with kimchi consomee and crab claws with harissa mayo

Wild striped bass with charred leeks lime purée and pink lady apple

Course 2

Raw Scallop with pineapple and miso broth (Steven’s Favourite)

Honeycrisp apple kimchi withbacon maple labne and arugula

Course 3

Malpeque oysters with kimchi consomee and crab claws with harissa mayo

Wild striped bass with charred leeks lime purée and pink lady apple

Course 4

Scallop with pineapple and miso broth

Honeycrisp apple kimchi withbacon maple labne and arugula

Course 5

Sichuan beef tendongreen mango peanuts

Beef tortilini with gruyere garlic and pine nuts

Course 6

Lamb sweetbreads chestnuts mushroom and radish (Aaron’s favourite)

Ham & pickle plate coffee mayo

Course 7

Brussell sprouts mint scallions fish sauce vinagrette

Steamed buns pork belly hoisin cucumbers scallions

Course 8

Cod with maitake mushrooms turnips carrots

Monkfish savoy cabbage kimchi pastaschio

Course 9

Duck with spaetzl , cheddar brussel sprout

Pork shoulder steak parsnip treviso ramp ranch

Course 10 – Dessert

PB&J concord grapes saltine panna cotta

Pear sorbet pumpkin ganache gorgonzola dolce

Just before bed tonight I thought I would peruse the new updates that Apple launched today. I know many are not happy that there wasn’t an iPhone nano (useless if you ask me) or something wonderful and fantastic that we didn’t know we need until Steve Jobs tells us we do. Earlier today when they said iLife was being updated I thought I was in no rush to get it. Well, that has all changed.

I just went through the iPhoto and iMovie 09 demo updates and I’m pretty impressed.

I don’t use iPhoto, but the Face recognition sorting and the geotagging abilities are pretty damn cool. (I use Aperture instead). I won’t go into too much detail, but it may be worth checking out because like I said, it is pretty neat.

But I am more excited to get my hands on is iMovie. The last version of iMovie ruffled a lot of feathers, but to be honest with you, with my short attention span I like quick and dirty editing. The simplicity was perfect for me to get that travel video on my blog quickly.

With the new iMovie comes a lot more features. The simplicity of the latest version but a lot of the features that were taken out from the version before that. 

One of the features that I’m particularly excited about is the World View. You put in two locations and it will animate a globe with a line that goes from your start to finish point. How cool is that?

You know you can hardly wait to see all my videos with a globe at the beginning?

Apart from the fun stuff, they also added in some editing tools that can be useful to everyone. iMovie will update remove the shake from your video which is a great feature. We’ll see how well it works!

So stay tuned, I’m off on vacation in a couple of weeks and I will be taking some video that will be perfect for all these groovy new iMovie features.

You can see them all plus some videos of them in action at the Apple web site.

Since I’m in the business of web design, web hosting, and providing great customer support, I always have to be connected. So when we travel the first thing I ask is if the hotel we are to stay at has Internet connectivity. Internet can be free, but many times it is not. On our recent trip we paid 19 euro for 24 hours in Madrid, and in Barcelona we had free Internet.

We aren’t light travelers when it comes to technology. I always have my MacBook Air with me and we both have iPhone’s and I have my iPod Touch (for movies). So when we have down time in the hotel we like to be connected. Many hotels, like the big chains, that charge for Internet will bill per computer that you connect to the network. So if I took my laptop and signed up for it paying the 19 euro, in order for our iPhone’s to get access we would need to sign up with each one of them paying a lot more money.

There is a solution for this, the Airport Express. What you need to do is plug your Airport Express into the wall and then plug the Ethernet into the Airport Express. Only at that point do you hook up your computer to the network through your Airport Express. Then you register for the Internet.

The Internet in the hotel will register to your Airport Express device allowing you to share the Internet connection through the wireless network that you just created! So we paid the price, but for that price, we made our own mini network in our hotel room and had instant access for all of our devices.

Another benefit is signal strength. Our hotel in Barcelona, the Soho, boasted free wi-fi internet throughout the hotel. But we couldn’t get a strong enough signal unless we were standing at the door. But they did have a wall jack for Internet so we plugged in, created a network and voila, we now got to use their free Internet and we had strong and reliable service through the wire.

One thing that is good in preparation for doing this is to set up the Airport Express before you leave. It is very easy to do using the Airport Utility and you can set your security and make sure your wireless devices can access the network you set up, so basically when you get there you can plug and go.

With our reliance on wi-fi, it insures we are connected wherever we stay.

You can buy the Airport Express for only $99 from the Apple Store… good deal considering we paid $179 years ago!

And that is not the only use for the Airport Express.

Read the rest of this entry…

Of course if you want a new iPod or Macbook, buy one or three. I am definitely an Apple advocate (if there was any doubt) so this is definitely not an entry to say don’t buy these products. But it is an entry to say, know when to buy one! History has shown that iPods and Mac laptops get "refreshed" at certain times of year. September is normally when iPods get more memory or a new design. iMacs have been refreshed in September too. I think I bought my last two in this month, different years of course. January is also a time when laptops get a faster chip or more impressive specs.

The rumour mill is abuzz that Apple Macbook and iPods are going to be scarce over the coming month(s). Normally this means one thing…new models are on the horizon. Plus, numerous sites are now bringing up rumours about new design changes, take a look at a new rumoured iPod Nano.

So if you are not in a rush to get a new laptop or iPod, wait a bit. See what happens in September as you could be buying something that could be replaced with of course, something newer, better, faster from Apple. And even sometimes a product that is cheaper.

And what fun is buying an Apple product if it isn’t the newest product out there?

I am immensely enjoying my iPhone… the applications make it all worthwhile, the wait, and hassle to get it. There are so many fantastic apps. For example the NY Times app is really cool. It downloads all their articles daily in categories and you can read it offline. Brad will be reading on the subway. There is one that Brad had that I just have to get today. It is called Urbanspoon. It finds where you are using GPS and then you shake and it will give you neighbourhood, cuisine and price range. You can lock any of them so if you just want Breakfast it will show you only breakfast restaurants. Very cool! And you literally shake the iPhone and it spins like a slot machine… so there is a gambling aspect it in too. Once a restaurant is suggested you can click on it to see full restaurant information, map, and reviews. It will be great when travelling in a foreign city.

Right now I have to carry my BB with me too though. Unfortunately, my number hasn’t ported over yet. So my cell phone number isn’t pointing to the new phone. Hopefully it happens this weekend. When Brad moved from Telus to Rogers it took 20 minutes to happen. It has been 1 day already.

[Update] Still not ported yet. Boo. Sunday July 13th.

So I have my iPhone. Currently it is trying to update itself and get set up using iTunes, but since there are thousands of people doing the exact same thing, it is probably going to take a while.

Here we go…

I told Brad he was crazy with a Capital C for wanting to go to Fido at Eaton Centre so early in the morning. I was like, who wants white, and who will be going to Fido?

Well thanks to his persistence and the fact that he woke up early out of excitement got us out of the house at about 6:15. If only he had been a little more pushy… you’ll find out…

[UPDATE] As of 3:10 PM EST I got iTunes to activate and I’m now syncing away. Now I get to play with all of the new applications!

Read the rest of this entry…

It looks like Rogers has caved! I guess so many people bitched and complained that finally the people were heard! Rogers and Fido have announced that they will allow you to pay $30 for 6GB of data if you buy before August 30th. That is fantastic news! It isn’t unlimited, but it sure is better than what they were offering. That almost makes me want to stand in line… Now I’m getting that excitement back again.

Read the press release here.