Definitely the best thing about the new update is the Apps Store, and the fact that not all the apps are overpriced and shit. There are actually free applications, which aren’t half bad. My favourite at the moment is Remote [Apps Store link]. Much like the little white Apple Remote that comes bundled with all Macs, it lets you control your iTunes Library wirelessly. It displays album art and all looks just like the player in the actual iPod Touch. Wordpress for iPhone [Apps Store link] is also another handy app that works much like the TypePad app, also available for free. It lets you manage a multitude of Wordpress-driven blogs from your iPhone/iPod Touch. The only thing I’ve realized is that on my iPod Touch, everything works great up ’til I try and publish my post or save it was a draft, and the whole program crashes — which makes it pretty useless for iPod Touch owners.

One of the things I miss from the jailbroken firmware are the games, since the Apps Store free games all pretty much suck — I want my Solitaire and Tetris back! But hopefully that will change over the course of the coming months. Or then not.

I’ll be going to the biggest annual Jazz Festival here in Finland on Friday. The actual festival spans over a week with lots of domestic and international perfomers playing on various stages inside the festival area. It’s in Pori, on the western coast — hence the name. Santana is playing on Friday and I’ll be going to see him. It’s a pretty big deal in terms of the festival since the last time Santana was there, it was 1988. And it’s been sold out. But I have tickets, yey!

So I’m leaving on Friday morning to spend the whole day there and take in some Jazz. It’s supposed to be a very nice day, as the weather forecast has promised around +20 degrees and sunshine for Friday. Let’s hope they’re correct. Photos will follow on my return.

As the title implies, I went to see the new Indy movie, Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull. I admit I’m a little more than ‘fashionably late’ in seeing it but I’ve been busy — so sue me.

First off, I was expecting a lot from Indy IV. After all, the other three Indys are a ‘movie series’ so brilliant that I can hardly do it justice with words. It’s just a big a part of my childhood as is the NES or MacGyver.

In an effort not to get sidetracked, the movie:

The thing I was dreading the most about the new Indy was, that there’s always a possibility when directors resurrect an old classic is that they try to modernize it. Thankfully, Indy 4 was set in 1957. This time, as time has passed from the previous adventures, instead of treasure-seeking Nazis there are treasure-seeking Russians. And with the exception of Cate Blanchett — who in my opinion wasn’t the most convincing KGB agent, but otherwise a good choice — the comrades were very nicely cast.

The inclusion of a extraterrestrial element to the movie was a little bold, since Indys have had a pretty solid historical backing to the adventures Dr. Jones as embarked on. But for some reason this didn’t bother me (usually I’d be).

As always, a Spielberg movie was of high caliber. The camerawork was top notch and as always, Harrison Ford did a tremendously good job as Indy. You could of course see that the man has aged somewhat, given that the last Indy was in 1989 and even then he wasn’t exactly young :) But nevertheless, it didn’t seem to hinder him. Shia LaBeouf, who plays Indy’s sidekick in this action-adventure extravagance, outperformed himself. He was mediocre in Transformers, even though he was a pretty decent choice for the geeky kid — this time though, he said more than just repeating ‘no, no, no, no!‘ all the time.

I’m not entirely convinced that Steven should make a fifth Indy. There hasn’t even been rumors (I think) about a “Indy V” but I’m just saying, maybe there shouldn’t. The first three were so good that making more might create the “Matrix Effect”, meaning the movie series gets worse and worse down the line. I’m afraid they might do the same thing to Star Wars, since Episodes 7-9 exist as books. But that’s a different story entirely.

So in conclusion, go see the new Indiana Jones if you haven’t already. It’s reminiscent of the old kick-ass Indys of yesteryear. I at least enjoyed myself alot.

I went to get my hair cut this morning, at a rather unsavory time of eight o’clock. I nearly missed the appointment since I accidentally turned my alarm clock off when it rang… but in the end, made it. The actual haircutting was an entirely new experience for me. Half of the time I wasn’t sure whether I was being beaten up or having my hair cut — the hairdresser kept pushing my head with his index finger; left, right, up, down. And it wasn’t a gentle nudge. It was like a cross between a heart surgeon and a boxer. But as a comparison, the man was a wizard with the scissors (ah, what a rhyme). Or to be exact, a knife. Yes, this was the first haircut I had which did not involve scissors (much). He must of spent a good 20 minutes examining the sides of my head to make sure that both sides were of equal length.

But it worked. And now — and I quote — I “look like a modern version of a Swedish tennis player”. Just without the headband and long blond, wavy hair though :) I imagine I’ll be returning to get my hair recut, when it starts to take over my head again. [Pure Hairdressing]

© xkcd.com

Even though the scientists constructing the LHC are among the smartest guys on the planet, they’re apparently not 101% sure about what might happen — which to me sounds like the perfect reason to turn the fucker on! Interdimentional portal and earth-invading aliens? A black hole in the middle of Europe?! Normal matter turning into ’strange matter’?!! Sounds too cool not to try it out. I’m just picturing the news the following day; “CERN scientists apologize: We fucked up. We’re sorry :(”. Of course they’ll need to up an ad in the paper for an opening for a theoretical physicist, preferably with the initials GF… but I guess they’ve already thought of that.

But I guess in the summer we’ll find out, if they get the damn thing finished. Here’s to keeping your fingers crossed.

Check out the WWDC ‘08 Keynote Address.

7 hours, 15 minutes until the WWDC 2008 keynote

Just to let you know ;) [macrumors.com live coverage here]

It’s just under a week until Apple is ’supposedly’ releasing the new 2.0-version of the fabled jesusPhone. The release is apparently going to be global, so everyone can finally join the Apple bandwagon. All silliness aside, I’m looking forward to the new iPhone.

Reason being, my current Nokia is slowly but surely dying on me and needs replacing. And as a feature-lovin’ nerd that I am, I’ve pretty much narrowed it down to either Apple’s iPhone or Sony-Ericsson’s Xperia X1 (christ, that’s a stupid name for a phone). Both will probably be about the same price — around 500€ — and have certain features that I’ve been missing from my current ‘brick’.

The iPhone, granted, has super sex appeal about it and the UI is something out of this world — I’ve got the iPod Touch, which is basically the same device sans the phone-part, and I love it. Also, since I use a Mac, the iPhone would be a pretty smart choice in terms of seamless compatibility.

Unfortunately, what the iPhone makes up with its looks and overall fanboy craziness, it lacks in features. Bare in mind that I’m just comparing the iPhone to the X1, since that’s all I really give a [synonym for sexual intercourse] about. The Sony-Ericsson boasts a very fast HSDPA-connection as well as a much sharper screen (800×400 pixels, whereas the iPhone is ‘only’ 320×480 pixels). The things that makes this comparison especially difficult is that the Sony-Ericsson also has a touchscreen. I was kind of looking forward to dismissing the X1 completely on those grounds but damn it, now I can’t! :)

The X1 uses microSD memory cards instead of a built-in flash drive but that’s not really a plus or a minus. The iPhone loses in terms of megapixels in its built-in camera, but I would imagine that the 3.12MP camera in the X1 is equally shit, whichever way you look at it. An internal GPS transceiver in the X1 is something that gives it major points, as well as the ability to send MMS messages and view flash on websites.

Of course, all this comparing is basically pretty much futile since a new version of the iPhone should be coming out next monday. The thing that really sucks about it is, that then I’ll really have a hard time choosing which phone to buy.

Here’s a technical comparison between the two.

Mostly my time has been consumed by work, which has had me working pretty hard. The continuation of a previous project as well as some issues with old ones have taken a reasonable sized chunk out of my free time. Also, a newfound love interest has kept me fairly busy :)

Otherwise things are mostly how they’re supposed to be. Summer’s pretty much here and it’s already a sweltering 24°C, which is a real bitch at the office. But I’m not complaining, since in a couple of months it will be 7 months of “freeze-your-arse-off” again.

So all is well, no worries :)

Check out this rather amusing Extinction Timeline picture from 1950 to 2050; notice ‘Death’ right at the end :) [click on the image to see the full picture]