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.

In case some of you haven’t noticed, Google decided to make its buttons a little cooler. I like how they grouped each function according to how similar they behaved. The left three buttons are ways to remove the items from your inbox. The next two buttons are interesting. “Move to” is used to label an item and archive it simultaneously. “Labels” just adds a label to an item. What if you want to add more than one label to an item and then archive it? You will most likely have to do it the old school way by adding the labels and then still clicking on archive. Also, first-time users may (or may not) get confused after moving something to a label/folder. In this new interface, the labels act as both a folder and a tag.

Ohhh, did I just say tag? I wonder why Google just doesn’t implement tags and trash the idea of folders. Perhaps it may have to deal with the way Apple Mail handles Gmail. Currently, Apple Mail doesn’t have a label or tag functionality. Apple, do you hear this?

Anyway, I guess we’ll see how well users adapt to the new interface.

Apple today released its Macbook Air today at the Macworld San Francisco 2008 Keynote today. Starting at $1799, you get a 13.3″-display a super-light machine!

Macworld’s banner saying “There’s something in the air”. Now what could that possibly mean? All I can think about is, “Wi-fi is in the air”. Unless Apple is interested in making airplanes, wi-fi is my only guess. The question is: A wireless what?  What’s wireless?

Apple released Tuesday its new Mac Pro. It sports a 8-core processing (two 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors standard, two 3.2GHz option), can hold up to 32GB of RAM, four hard drive bays that can hold up to 4TB, and a lot more goodies. Can we say “insane”? This is some serious machine that might be able to launch your rockets into space. It only starts at $2,799. Show that tower to your buddies, and they’ll be instantly jealous.

Let’s celebrate! Apple’s New York City flagship store is opening today! My co-workers and I are pretty excited since we’ve seen photos of it. We plan to leave a little early today to check us out. Time to nerd out!

This old news, but last week on Wednesday, the Email Standards Project launched. It’s pretty interesting to see how things pan out for HTML emails. At my work, we produce tons of direct emails that go out to thousands of students. I think this project would help make other developers’ and my job easier.

Also, last Monday was Blue Beanie Day. I totally missed out on that. People are supposed to wear a blue beanie (or just a regular blue hat) to promote web standards and accessibility. Hey, I can promote that every day, right?

A new Apple store is opening on West 14th Street this Friday also. So much has been going on! I think me and some co-workers might be hitting up the opening.