NVinNYC

I hate SMS, so one of the great announcements of today WWDC Keynote was that Apple would be rolling their own messaging solution, called iMessage, into iOS 5.

Since almost everyone I know has an iPhone, this seems like a nice solution. I’m not the only one excited: Apple Has Finally Stuck A Dagger Into SMS. I Love It.

And for those time when you actually do need to message non-iOS users, there’s free Google Voice. Dear carriers: suck it.

Update: More iOS 5 details from Engadget including some good bits on iMessage.  Gruber also quips:

I’ll cancel my SMS plan as soon as this ships.

(A well-informed little birdie tells me that Apple’s phone carrier partners around the world found out about iMessages when we did: during [the] keynote.)

Now that the new MacBook Air comes with a USB software restore drive instead of optical media, I wonder if we have any chance of seeing non-optical disc based Mac OS X 10.7 Lion upgrades sold by Apple.

Certainly the remote disc option that Apple cooked up for the original MacBook Air should still work just fine for the new Airs, but this solution is kind of clunky and requires a secondary computer with an optical drive as well as a properly configured network.  USB optical drives are similarly regressive.  Instead, think that Apple could (and should) sell a USB restore drive or downloadable upgrade package for Lion.

The first option would would certainly be the preferable way to upgrade a MacBook Air, but it would probably sell well even to users who still had optical drives on their Mac.  A USB thumb drive seems more reliable and rugged than a disc, it should work fine with any Intel based Mac, and would look cool on a key chain.   Apple would still sell Lion DVDs of course, but they could offer the USB drive for a small premium.

The second option for a download would be very convenient, especially to international users where shipping can be slow and expensive. Obviously, this would only work if Apple allowed purchasers to download the software multiple times and run it without requiring burning a bootable DVD, though that should be an option too.

We could see some interesting new Lion upgrade options Apple next summer!

The official adaptation of the designer board game Carcassonne has landed on the iTunes App store. The TUAW Review does a nice job of summing up what’s so wonderful about this game itself as well as the strengths & weaknesses of the iOS adaptation.

I think the developers, TheCodingMonkeys, have really knocked the Carcassonne App out of the park. It’s one of the best examples of gaming on iOS yet. I especially appreciate the ability to play several multiplayer games at once and have the app notify me when it’s my turn to play on any one of them. This enables real pick-up/put-down gameplay that’s perfect for the iPhone on the go. But even if you don’t play with people, the CPU players are pretty good and can present quite a challenge (if you want them to).  Furthermore, despite the fact that it’s only optimized for the iPhone right now, I’ve found the game to be very playable when pixel doubled on the iPad.

The game is on sale for just $4.99 which is a steal for something with this kind of functionality and replayability. That price goes up to $9.99 when the iPad upgrade, which will be free to existing owners, goes live later this year. If you do pick it up, be sure to send me a friend request so we can play some games and remember, “Sharing is Caring.”

For everyone looking for a more detailed review of the iPad; Macworld’s review is one of the best. I agree with most everything in the very detailed write up.

I’m still very pleased with my own; I read a book for a few hours last night on the device and I was very pleased with the reading experience. Viewing HTML5 video on the web is similarly nice; I certainly am not missing Flash support.

The iPad is not a substitute for a full fledged computer with a large hard drive, optical drive, keyboard, and mouse, but it certainly is my preferred lounging computer. Which is to say; I’d much rather use the iPad than a laptop or iPhone when I’m reclined on the couch or laying in bed. This is when the strength of the touch interface and form factor really shine.

I received my iPad today and I’m quite enamored with it so far. It does a great job serving as a little machine that you can pick up around the house to look up information on the web or check an email. Its best use so far seems to be as an ebook reader; I think it will be preferable to paper for just about anything you can find digitally. I even tried reading some PDF scans of magazines and was pleased with the reading experience, though the many full pages of ads were tiresome.

I think the iPad has some nice potential as a gaming device, if the touchscreen doesn’t interfere too much with your game environment. It even might be useful for productivity applications (if you don’t need to use the keyboard too much; I’m typing up this post with the iPad just sitting on my lap but clearly a physical keyboard would work better for longer typing sessions.

Overall I’m quite pleased with the iPad; it’s already more functional than my netbook and it’s a heck of a lot easier & much more fun to use. I think well be seeing them all over the place pretty soon.