Over the break, I was jamming away to the Bryan Adams -- the best thing to come from Canada since snow -- when I noticed something: I really wish iTunes would go back to putting artists that start with numbers first alphabetically instead of last. It's a great deal more awkward to have Aaron Carter atop my music library than 3 Doors Down.
Also, I wondered whatever happened to Magna-Doodles. They sort of just disappeared. Why do people have whiteboard on their doors and not Magna-Doodles? I can't seem to figure that one out.
The disappearance of Magna-Doodles has coincided with a rise in the number of smartphone users. Obviously, these two things are related. The growth of iPhones and Blackberries has led to a rejection of dumbphones and Magna-Doodles alike. Why is this?
Early smartphones were ambitious jacks-of-all-trades but masters of none as they tried to combine multiple functions only to achieve some awkward middle ground. The result was the electronic equivalent of a spork. I mean, sure, they are great ideas, but in practice they fall short of having the individual implements. But like a pubescent teenager -- I'm not a phone, not yet a PC -- smartphones have done quite a bit of growing up.
Granted, the music player on your Blackbery Pearl probably will not make you forgo your iPod (or Zune), but it is there, along with access to your e-mail, the Internet and sometimes even fancier niceties like GPS and streaming video. Those sort of capabilities available all together make for one pretty compelling package.
The forthcoming iPhone SDK (Software Development Kit) will allow people to write programs for the iPhone and iPod Touch just like they do for computers. This creates a legitimate way for people to turn their phones or music players into portable computing alternatives.
The added functionality of the latest smartphones has also coincided with diversification of the market. Entry-level models like the Palm Centro and Samsung Blackjack II start at $100. At those prices, it is easy to see why more people are opting for smartphones over dumbphones, which can't do more than make phone calls, text and look pretty.
In other news, the newest Betas are here and they are actually pretty sweet. I am talking about software, of course. Firefox 3 Beta 4 is the latest release in a long project that aims to fix many of the flaws that plague Firefox 2, which was not a bad browser to start. However, the new Firefox is a significantly faster, uses less memory and finally integrates into the operating system where it is installed. Mac users in particular will appreciate this. If it weren't for the fact that Firefox 3 is incompatible with most extensions and still has a few rough edges (in my testing, it could not handle certain AJAX sites, like Yahoo Mail), I would say it is ready for mass distribution. With a few more months in the oven, Firefox 3 should be ready to start a new round of browser wars.
Another recent beta is Ubuntu 8.10, "Hardy Heron." This version of Linux is the closest I have seen to something that anyone could use. However, Linux is still stuck solely with a terminal interface, where you type commands for everything instead of using a mouse -- a place Mac OS X and Windows have long moved beyond. Some noteworthy features include built-in Wubi and the sickest default background I've seen in a long time, much better than Apple and its colorful galactic radiation and XP's Teletubby land background. Wubi allows you to install Ubuntu alongside your Windows without partitioning your hard drive. This is a great way for first-time users to try out Linux, because you can uninstall it as easily as you would remove a program from Windows.
Luofei is a staff writer for The Mirror. He's slightly less excited for Beta beta to hit Webster Avenue.
