There are already some sneak peak videos on the Adobe Creative Suite 5 launch site, but those of you who really want to be the first in line to hear about what’s new in CS5 will have to register on the the CS5 launch site. The “exclusive global launch of Adobe Creative Suite 5″ is on Monday April 12, 2010.

Fingers are crossed for some awesome features, and a release date. That said I really hope Adobe has fixed some of the issues plaguing the Creative Suite. Some of the applications feel bloated and slow. Sometimes it’s not only about what’s new, we want rock solid apps that work as flawlessly as possible. It would also be nice if past features were never taken away.

So what’s a new geeky sailor like me to do with all this new found experience and information? Well, share it all on a blog of course, so about two weeks ago I got to work on setting up my new blog. The domain name was the first thing I needed to secure and wow did I get a good one. I don’t know if you have ever tried securing a good domain, but searching for one quickly becomes frustrating. What’s worse is the fact that there’s lots of great domain names out there just being squatted. Put it this way, something as obscure as imhMedia was taken for the .com and I had to register the .net for my personal portfolio site. You can imagine how surprised I was when I looked up windandsail.com and found it was available. It’s a blog about what it’s like to be a new sailor and everything I learn along the way. So without further ado I welcome you to my new blog Wind and Sail.

It’s a new technology that could be dropped into our counter tops, end tables and dressers. Drop your cell phone on your dresser and it starts charging. What about wireless blenders, coffee makers, toasters, you name it. Someday your whole counter top may be a giant charging terminal. Think of what this could do for laptops. Maybe even public areas will have charging surfaces in the future. It really gets you thinking, but the real key is getting manufacturers to build this technology into our devices and have it work seamlessly anywhere. I nominate Apple first.

Check out some of these technologies on Wired and and watch an iPhone get charged wirelessly on Gizmodo.

The plans have also changed and they seem to be less confusing than they used to be. The new base Fido iPhone plan is still 60 dollars, but it includes 500MB of data and unlimited texting. Right now my plan is 400MB of data and 75 text messages a month for the same price. Of course when Fido contacted me to tell me my 3 months of unlimited local calling was over they also said I could upgrade to the new plan for a 25 dollar setup fee. Why do they call it a setup fee? I’m already setup, why don’t they just call it an upgrade fee? I didn’t do it right then, I looked into it first and thought hey the connection fee savings alone will pay for the 25 dollar setup fee in four months. Anyway, here’s the good part, the Fido representative said that they could give me the connection fee credit with no upgrade and I could keep my plan. Since I don’t text much and the data increase is minimal I went for the free credit. I’m sure sometime next year their will be a data boost again, maybe then I’ll bite.

So call up Fido and upgrade your plan for 25 dollars or have them remove the 7 dollar system access fee for nothing. I think you need to call them though, otherwise they will probably just keep charging you the 7 dollar fee.

I’m wondering if these new changes are in response to the new National carrier Globalive which should be on the scene here in Canada sometime next year. There are also a lot of Virgin Mobile advertisements around Toronto attacking system access fees. Whatever it is, I’ll take the savings and increased features anyway I can get them.

So how does Google Earth hold up on the iPhone? Well obviously it’s a bit trimmed down, but still much better than I thought it would be. You can see photos, Wikipedia entries and move around the earth in the typical intuitive Multi-touch way that we are all so used too. You can even twist two fingers to rotate, and if you tilt your device the accelerometer kicks in and allows an angled view so you can see the 3D surface of the Earth. You can also use the iPhones GPS to find your current location on planet Earth. The application runs fairly smooth on the iPhone, but I did notice a few hiccups which sometimes even happens on the full Google Earth.

I have taken several screenshots below. You can also check out the official Google announcement on the Google blog which also has video, but the application is free, so check out the app store and get it now.

Toronto via GPS.

Wikipedia entry via iPhone Google Earth

Mount Everest in all its 3D glory

As geeks we like to talk about toys, gadgets, computers and technology, these are things that make many of us get excited. I know that I am extremely passionate about technology in general; the breakthroughs we are seeing in every area of technology are quite astounding, everything from consumer electronics to curing new diseases, the future looks amazing for some of us. What is also astounding is that in this world of amazing technology there are children starving to death every single day. The future doesn’t look so amazing for them and I can never quite wrap my head around that fact. How can we have so much and yet some other people have so little just because of where they were born? That’s a complex question with many answers, but what you really have to ask yourself is if you can make a difference. Even if it is a once and awhile contribution to a charity of your choice or a long term commitment or volunteering, it could even be as simple as talking to people about the issues and spreading awareness. If we can send people to the moon and make tiny computers that can surf the web and fit in the palm of our hands, then we can end poverty someday, and I hope that someday is in my lifetime.

Awareness

It starts with awareness, so many people aren’t even aware of what is going on in many parts of the world or don’t even care. Yes it’s hard to look at images and video of these places or read about them, but this is real, and ignoring it won’t make it go away. The more people are concerned about this the better the world will be for everyone. So much crime, hatred, violence and war are direct consequences of extreme poverty. If more people care about these issues then our governments will also care, because we are the government and we can push for change. Some countries like Canada will even double contributions made at certain times of the year or during a crisis.

Even if all you do is talk about it with friends or family you will have made a difference. Today some of my favourite blogs have posted some great information on these issues, so I will leave you with a list of great sites to ponder and explore.

• World Vision (You can give one time gifts or sponsor a child)
• ProBlogger – Reflections on Poverty
• Tech Crunch – Help Eliminate Poverty, Make a Microloan to An Entrepreneur
• Google blog – Information on Poverty
• Mashable – 8 Poverty Resources You MUST Check Out Today. No Excuses
• Official Blog Action Day website

On Tuesday, October 14th Apple has invited media to a special notebook event, so the wait to find out if the rumours a true will be over tomorrow. AppleInsider has more details and photos of the laptop.

Techcrunh also has details on the new laptop and CrunchGear will be there for the announcement.

(update: Engadget will have Live web coverage of Apple’s “The spotlight turns to notebooks” event.)

A stupendously stupid idea

With that said, last month someone at SanDisk came up with the not so brilliant idea of selling music on microSD cards. The really strange part is big businesses are supporting this concept. Check out slotMusic for the cheesy video of how you can stick a microSD into your hand held device to transfer the music. Why would I want to do this when I can just download the music from my favourite online store. No waste, no adapters and nothing extra to carry around. There are already a number of sites pointing out how dumb this is from a user experience point of view, but there is another seriously bad taste to all this.

More throw away technology for no reason at all

Right now we are living in times where we can save a lot of garbage from impacting our environment, but we keep coming up with stupid dirty ways to use clean technology. I mean you really have to go out of your way to make mp3 albums have an impact on the environment. This raises the same issues as Esquire’s questionable use of E ink last month did. We have an efficient, affordable, and totally clean way to distribute media, but no we have to come up with a way to deliver this media on plastic, plastic that will inevitably end up in land fills. Sure it’s a tiny piece of plastic, but I’m sure it will come packaged in even more garbage. I will be the first to admin that I could be more green in my lifestyle, but I try not to deliberately create an environmental problem when it is completely unnecessary. I’m all for plastic gadgets, and cool toys, but not ones that are designed to be thrown away in large quantities.

Here’s the real kicker, this music will be DRM free, so basically we have incentive to buy dirty technology just to have DRM free music. TechCrunch has added that each microSD will come with a USB converter further adding to the cost of manufacturing and garbage. These albums will be sold for under 10 dollars supposedly, so I imagine SanDisk expects the cost of manufacturing MicroSD cards to decrease, but the cost to our environment will not.

Many people have pointed out that USB drives are a more practical method of distribution, but again we come back to the needless waste problem again. We don’t need to have our music, movies, books and entertainment in general on physical media. Getting digital media online is easier, much easier. The good news is most people think that this crazy idea will never catch on. The sad part is that it was ever thought up in the first place.

From Apple:

Apple has determined that under certain conditions the new ultracompact Apple USB power adapter’s metal prongs can break off and remain in a power outlet, creating a risk of electric shock.  We have received reports of detached blades involving a very small percentage of the adapters sold, but no injuries have been reported.

Apple has called the program the “Apple Ultracompact USB Power Adapter Exchange program“.

Users with ultracompact power adapters should immediately stop using them until they exchange them for a new, redesigned ultracompact adapter.

In the meantime, they should charge their iPhone 3G by connecting it to their computer with the USB cable that came with their iPhone or by using a standard-sized Apple USB Power Adapter (with fold up prongs) or with a third party adapter designed to work with the iPhone, such as a car charger.

You have two ways of getting a new Apple Ultracompact Super Duper USB Power adapter thingy. You can either order it via the web or take in your current one to an Apple store after October 10th. Your new adapter should have a little green dot on the plug side as shown to the right. I was hoping it would be one of those cool fold up plugs, but it looks pretty much the same, only it won’t suffer “detached blades”.

Check out the full details on Apples official power adapter recall page.

Like it or not here it comes

This week Facebook is in the process of migrating all of it’s users over to the new design whether they like it or not, and right now there is a lot of kicking and screaming going on. Anyone who reads my blog regularly knows I love a good rant, but I don’t really get it this one.

I switched to the new Facebook when it was optional and never switched back. One of my biggest beefs with the old Facebook was how narrow it was. It was smaller than any site I visit and there was really no need for it, it’s not 1999 and there are mobile versions for smaller hand held devices. As for usability, I never really got the old or new design and still have trouble finding things, but I’m not a power user of Facebook. I’m sure if I used it everyday it would become second nature to me as will this new design for all the power users out there.

That said, protests are popping up all over the web over the past few days. Mashable has a list of 10 petitions you can sign and a way to temporarily get the old facebook back. So if that tickles your fancy check it out.

Take a deep breath

Will Facebook bow to pressure and change the design? Highly unlikely, this design probably took a lot of effort and research. The majority of people won’t care, and when you hear numbers thrown around like hundreds of thousands of people hate the new design, take it with a grain of salt. Lets not forget that this is Facebook, one of the most visited sites in the world with over 100 million active users worldwide, a few hundred thousand users is nothing, and even a million users is only 1%.

What I think will most likely happen here is people will have their little tantrum and then continue on using Facebook. Within a few weeks we won’t even remember the great Facebook protests of 2008.