Bereninga

You’ve read it right: the iPhone 4 does not upload HD video to YouTube or Facebook. The only possible way to upload HD video is through a computer that has downloaded the HD video from the iPhone 4. Yes, I know, it’s quite disappointing. I felt it first-hand when I tried uploading “HD” video to both of these sites. On YouTube, video is at least uploaded in 320p. On Facebook, the video is compressed so much that the quality pretty much goes to crap. I actually uploaded an HD video to Facebook last night through my Macbook Pro but it still has yet to show up.

Even when I’m on WiFi the videos are left looking pretty sad. I’m actually quite disappointed in Apple for leaving out this major detail, especially in marketing their product. They just happened to leave out that you actually can’t upload an HD video via iPhone 4. Amongst other disappointments, I wonder what other surprises show up. I’ve linked some videos below of video I’ve recorded and uploaded through the iPhone 4. It also peeves me that Facebook labels the video “HD” when it clearly (unintended pun) is not. I can’t even remove the HD label either!

Wow, I can’t even explain how exciting and crazy it’s been in the mobile industry this season! Major players right now are the HTC Evo 4G and the iPhone 4. It’s pretty much like a clash of the titans! I’m assuming that by now there are tons of posts about their specs, so I won’t list them here and I’ll assume that you’ve read about them.

Why is it so exciting? It’s bonkers right now because Apple and HTC are throwing a bunch of lawsuits at each other. Apple and Google are also competing for mobile OS domination. Apple’s equipped with iOS4 and Google has Android. Apple seems to be taking on HTC hardware-wise and Google software-wise, and they seem to be doing a pretty good job.

Right now, Apple’s big player is its new iPhone 4, and HTC’s is the Evo 4G. So are you on the fence? I was. That is, until I saw the Evo 4G at the Sprint store the other day. The size of this phone is just way too big! I could not imagine myself putting this beast in my pocket. Compared to the size of the iPhone 4, the Evo is just not pocket-friendly. Of course, some people might not mind having a brick in their pocket. I have an iPhone 3G and already think that it’s too big for my pocket. This may be considered personal preference, though. Also, I’m Asian, so my pockets may be smaller than yours. I still think that phone size is such a fundamental concept that HTC missed in its Evo 4G, though, so expect me to make fun of you when I see you take out that clunky phone.

You can compare phone dimensions here and see for yourself.

Photo is a screen shot from PhoneArena.com.

Lately, I’ve been using Google Chrome, and I don’t think I’ll be going back to using Firefox or Safari for normal everyday-browsing and here’s why:

• Extensions – The are great extensions out there that make life a little bit easier. The cool thing about the extensions on Chrome is that they appear with one click. Great extensions such as Chromed Bird and 1-ClickWeather for Chrome appear as interactive drop-downs. Ubiquity for FireFox almost provided similar functionality in that users can input commands in a pop-up window that was activated by pressing Command + Space Bar. However, “Labs is currently focusing its attention on other experiments”. You can forget about extensions for Safari because none exist. Sadness.
• Speed – Chrome is pretty lightweight compared to FireFox. It barely takes up memory usage. Firefox is a little heavier. What a fat ass. Safari though seems to be just as zippy as Chrome.
• Tab Behavior – Tab behavior on Chrome is pretty sweet. If you close a tab, it returns you to the last active tab. Safari brings you to the next tab on the left of the just-closed tab. (Argh, that means I have to use the mouse/trackpad again!) Also on Safari you navigate through tabs by Command + Shift + { or Command + … nevermind, this is just as annoying to type out as it is to use. There’s no way to navigate through tabs on Safari simply by Command + tab number. Firefox works like Chrome in that you can use Command + Arrow or Command + tab number, but it also suffers from forgetting your last active tab.
• Video Support – Oh, video support on the web. The format war about online video has been raging on lately and what a battle it’s become! Luckily, Chrome came well-prepared! It supports h.264, Theora AND VP8. All the bases have been covered, right? It looks like the others will have to duke it out or copy Chrome.

So why are you NOT using Chrome?

Today, I found out that most Firefox personas suck and here’s how I found out.

Yesterday, Firefox released 3.6.2. I upgraded as usual and was sent to the Firefox Updated page. I finally gave in to trying out the Personas feature and browsed for about half an hour trying to find a theme that was not distracting and looked seamless with the browsers buttons and input fields.

Here are some reasons why I think a lot of the Personas did not look right:

1. The background image(s) and/or colors were too distracting. Do we read websites with photographs as the background? Various colors in the background just make it hard to look for something quickly and easily.
2. The color of the title bar was too bright or makes the window title hard to read. This may be picky, but the title bar is present all the time and is pretty hard to ignore. I tried one theme that made the title bar text black and the title bar background red. Is this really that enjoyable to look at constantly? Seriously?
   
3. The browser buttons didn’t fit with the theme. It just looks strange to have these gray buttons over a natural Persona or something colorful. The buttons should look like they fit into the Persona or at least share colors that are used.

Unfortunately, I really only found one theme that fit the bill: MozillaZine. Thanks to jrocknyc I was able to find a list of some decent themes. MozillaZine was my preferred choice of his ten, but I may go back to using Themes. I just miss the full integration of Themes. Developers were able to customize fonts, tabs and buttons with Themes. Personas unfortunately only change the background.

Think of it like this: what if everything on my website was the same except the background? It would look silly.

Amazing is the only word I can think of when it comes to describing Alicia Keys in concert. Normally, I’m not one to really put celebrities on pedestals, but now I feel like I can easily do that with Alicia. Last night, I went to the Alicia Keys concert, and I was totally blown away. Opening performances include Melanie Fiona and Robin Thicke, both also very talented. A couple of bonuses of the show were appearances by Beyoncé and Jay-Z. Beyoncé showed up for Put It In A Love Song and Jay-Z made an appearance for Empire State of Mind (of course). Alicia also played a song with a keytar in the shape of a key, which was pretty cool! I don’t know if I could go to another concert after last night because she set the bar up pretty high.

Melanie Fiona

Robin Thicke

Photos courtesy of Angelina Ho.

This video still cracks me up!

If I had to choose one word to describe this game it would definitely be “fun”! Apparently, this game has been out since 2009 but I’ve only heard of it now since it was released on the iPhone last month. I normally am not big on iPhone games, but this one has been in the top 10 paid apps in the App Store for so long that I couldn’t resist just trying it out, especially since it was only 3 bucks.

It was definitely a pleasant surprise. The sound, design, characters and gameplay are all very impressive. The main objective of this game is to defend your house against zombies who want to eat your brain. Your only weapons are special plants that can shoot peas, chomp down zombies and other defense mechanisms. It’s basically a tower-defense type game. My only complaint is that when a lot of things are going on the screen, the iPhone (3G) tends to go down in frame rates. Other than that, it’s so much fun!

My good friend Joe Ferrucci is a photographer who has recently done a job for the famous blog, The Sartorialist! Congratulations, man! The Sartorialist is a well-known fashion blog by Scott Schuman.

As a member of Brightkite, I’ve seen some iPhone screenshots that I’ve usually just looked at but never thought about taking any myself. Anyway, it’s quite simple.

1. Navigate to where you want to take a screenshot.
2. Hold down the home button, and then press the on/off button.
3. The screen will flash after the photo is taken.
4. Navigate to the “Camera Roll” gallery and the screenshot will be there.
5. You’re done!

Simple as cake eh? By the way, this would be a funny little prank to pull on someone when they’re not looking. Just take a screenshot of their home screen and tell them that their icons aren’t working and hand over their phone.

Do you like to fight? Do you have differences with someone you’d like to settle? Do you like watching little cartoon characters beat up each other? Then you’re in luck! My friend Cheryl showed me this site called My Brute. It requires no skill at all.

All you do is create a character, customize it, and go challenge people. Once you challenge someone, the characters fight on their own. The point of the game is to win as many points as you can to get to a higher level. It’s pretty much an RPG. You can gain special skills and weapons to help win battles. Also, if people sign up through your link, you get more XP, and you become their master (insert evil laugh)!

It’s addicting and awesome because you never know who will win. Everything is pretty random; victories, gained skills and acquired weapons are all obtained randomly.

Check it out if you’re not afraid!