JLGoolsbee.com

If I wrote for a newspaper, that would have been my front-page headline… but all I’ve got is this little blog, so no Pulitzer Prizes for me.

But seriously, yesterday was an important day for anybody that likes Apple products and/or mobile phones. Pictured here is the iPhone, Apple’s long rumored entry into the mobile handset market, and it brings with it some pretty unique innovations. I can’t possibly go over all the features packed into this device, but I can tell you it’ll be the thinnest phone with this many features. There’s only one button on the front of the device; a “home” button. All other “buttons” are on the huge touch-screen that covers the front of the device. The touch-screen isn’t quite normal either; it employs a new multi-touch technology that allows you to use two fingers to navigate the display; try doing that with any other touch-screen on the market. But, this isn’t just a phone, it’s also an iPod, with your choice of either 4 or 8GB of storage for your music, photos, and movies (and yes, this thing will play them all). It’s not just a phone/iPod though, it’s also an “internet device,” meaning you can browse the internet through a web browser, or check weather or stock quotes through widgets.

All these features and more make this device a true revolution in the mobile handset market, but it’s the little innovations that make it shine. For instance, a sensor detects when you put the phone to your face to take a call, and turns off the touch-screen and backlight to conserve battery life, and to keep you from pushing any buttons while taking a call. Another sensor detects how you’re holding the device, and rotates the screen accordingly. If you’re listening to music when a call comes in, the music will fade out so you can answer the call, and when you hang up the music will start right where you left it.

Cingular will have the exclusive contract with Apple for the iPhone; it uses a few advanced network capabilities that Cingular and Apple are still hashing out. It will release in June for the somewhat hefty price of $499 for the 4GB version, and $599 for the 8GB version. These prices sound pretty steep, but consider the cost of buying a phone with that feature-set, an iPod with that feature-set, and an internet tablet with that feature-set (I should point out that none of these products currently exist with these kinds of features)… you’d be paying a lot more.

Yesterday wasn’t all about the iPhone though, Apple released another product: the Apple TV (which is the small white box in the picture above; the television pictured is not part of the Apple TV). They previewed this piece of hardware last fall (under the code-name “iTV”), but they’re taking orders now and it will ship in February. The Apple TV allows you to watch, listen, and view all the movies, music, and photos you have on up to 5 Macs or PCs on your television. It connects to the computers wirelessly, using WiFi 802.11b/g or the new (but not quite finished - but almost) 802.11n wireless standard, which promises 5x the speed and 2x the distance of current wireless networks (Apple also quietly released a new Airport Express (a router) that makes use of 802.11n).

Apple also decided to change their name; Apple Computer Inc. is being replaced with Apple Inc., a logical move since Apple is definitely not just about computers anymore.

In other news, surgery recovery is slow; thus, I’m not really looking forward to school starting next week… not that I would be otherwise.

I’ve been extremely blessed when it comes to my medical history; I’ve never broken a bone, I’ve never been really sick unless you count chicken pox, and I’ve never really had a surgical procedure, unless you count wisdom teeth removal as a surgery. Mine was probably closer to one than not, just for the fact that they knocked me out with anesthesia (which is one of my qualifiers for “real” surgery).

However, today I will lose part of my track record in surgery. At about 11am, I’m having a cyst removed. Some cysts are easy to remove, and others are not… mine’s one of the latter. It’s under the skin, and requires surgical removal. It is outpatient surgery; the procedure will take about an hour, I’ll wait in a “recovery room” for about an hour, and then they’ll send me home. Then I get to enjoy 4-6 weeks of recovery… I’m thrilled, really. At this point though (less than 3 hours before surgery), I think if you could just pray for my nerves, that I’d be ok.

It’s time to go.

UPDATE: The surgery went fine (as far as I know; I don’t remember anything), and I’m resting at home - as I will be doing for the next several days.