Enter the Griffin Reveal Etch. This is a very nice, slim case that has a polycarbonate back and, according to Griffin, the “Reveal Etch adds just a little over a millimeter in thickness to the sides and back of your iPhone.” I can attest that it is indeed very thin and the polycarbonate backing is very attractive and the rubber edges are thin yet wide enough to allow your third-party connector and headset to connect without any difficulties. At the same time, however, the thinness of the surround makes it feel a bit cheap. Still, it is attractive and relatively inexpensive, especially if Apple is going to pay for it.²

More and more options are hitting the market for the iPhone 4. Personally, I am still waiting for a nice compact window mount like the Griffin WindowSeat. They have come out with the WindowSeat HandsFree that looks promising, but I would have been a happier customer if they had simply made an iPhone 4 adapter available. The Satechi SCR-31 is also very promising…I thought it was just a generic holder, but looking again it appears to have an adapter specifically for the iPhone 4. Once I find a solution, I will let you know.

1. The story of this material is really very interesting. Corning invented it back in 1962, but it is only now becoming widely used and a valuable commodity. Being a smart company, however, they held on to it over all these years.
2. NB: You have to buy your iPhone 4 by September 30, 2010 to qualify for the free case.

Google posted an offer to college students a few days ago, saying that they would receive Google Voice invitations within 24 hours. All you need is a .edu email address.

Google Voice is best thought of as a lightweight operator for your own personal telephone exchange. Once you’ve set it up and created a new phone number, you can basically tell the system to direct calls to your various phone numbers (home, work, cell) depending on when they are placed and who they are from. And once you have the dialing party on whichever line you had specified, you can still access multiple controls, such as recording the call or switching to a different line.

Read more…

The original version of Google Buzz raised privacy concerns by — I’m not quite clear on all the details here, so I may be making this up — automatically setting up a social network for you based on your Gmail contacts, then sending out a message to all of them saying, “Google Buzz is so awesome! And nothing about it raises privacy concerns!”

After an initial outcry, Google agreed to change “awesome” to “rad,” and to only send out the message to people who are, according to the company’s top-secret online research, not too worried about privacy.

Very amusing and worth the quick read. Read More http://www.wired.com/underwire/2010/02/alt-text-google-buzz/#ixzz0g1JBrCxK

Google’s Threat Echoed Everywhere, Except China

By ANDREW JACOBS, MIGUEL HELFT and JOHN MARKOFF3 minutes ago

BEIJING — China heavily censored the news that Google would stop cooperating with Chinese Internet censorship and consider shutting down its operations in the country.

I will say, however, I’m not sure how I feel about a device that is only going to run iPhone applications. I can do a lot with my iPhone, but if I’m going to have a device as big as a 10 inch screen I want to be able to do real work on it. Being able to connect a Bluetooth keyboard will be a must and a decent word processor whose files I can open in Microsoft Word or, better yet, NisusWriter Pro would be imperative. Also, a way to do presentations from this tablet would be important not to mention (and it should go without mentioning because it should be an assumption) the ability to take notes directly on the screen to my PDFs, presentations, websites, anything I can bring up on the screen. Obviously my expectations for tablet are far more than my expectations for an e-book reader. And I expect the price will be commensurate.

Remember, it is just a rumor. Image from Gizmodo

But now I am seriously considering getting an Amazon Kindle and here is my reason why: PDFs. Once I realized our office’s photocopier also scans directly to our server I had one of our student workers scan all the articles that I had ever photocopied for research and now our library sends faculty articles directly as PDFs (obviating our need to ever leave the office and actually touch those dirty books, I miss that actually). This is where the iPhone/iPod Touch fail. The screen is just too small to read a PDF decently. Too much scrolling left to right.

So the question is which reader to get. It is not an easy question to answer, however, as Ihnatko points out. As someone who likes Apple products the possibility of an Apple tablet is very tempting. I would still be carrying my iPhone at all times and my MacBook on trips…or would I? Unlike Alex Lindsay, I don’t expect to replace my phone with a tablet, but if it is a well executed device, with a keyboard (or solid dictation implementation!) then it could well replace my MacBook. On the other hand, there already very good devices out there perhaps I should just get one of those. Still, it seems that there are mixed feelings about how well the Kindle handles PDFs.

I would like to ask your help. Do you use the Kindle or Sony Reader (or even the new Nook) for your research? And if so how do you like it?  My brother has been an early adopter of e-book readers likes the Kindle and the Sony each for different reasons, but some don’t seem to like the PDF rendering on the Kindle. So, the jury is still out and may remain so until I just make the plunge and try one or the other. It’s a shame I don’t have a tech podcast that would allow me to request a review unit…

The actual speech training only took about 10 minutes. What I think will take me a little bit longer is to learn all the commands and commit them to memory. What is impressive is that I am able to actually have music on, not loud, in the background and the software is still able to discern my voice from the background noise. (Not that the music I listen to is noise, mind you, but you get the idea.) In fact, I’m writing this post using MacSpeech dictation. After about 40 minutes, however, I realized that the headset is pinching my ears and I actually didn’t need an earpiece. So, I simply plugged in one of my podcasting mics and I’m all set! It sits on my desk just below my monitor and works a treat.

My reason for getting this software is that nowadays I tend to give quite a number of speeches and I find that while writing more academic work is not a real problem in terms of composition, speeches require a different style. I have taken to using the voice memo feature and my iPhone in order to dictate my speech and then sit down and transcribe it myself. Furthermore, I have to admit I’m beginning to get some tendinitis in my wrists and shoulders and the less I have to type and use the keyboard and mouse probably the better.

It really is amazing what the software can do. The last time I tried dictation software was probably seven or eight years ago. Back then I had the headset whose color matched to the iMac of choice costs over $400 (not that I paid for it of course) and took a tremendous amount of work to train the software. In the end it was more trouble than it was worth. By this, is different. Maybe David Pogue was right after all. (And look! David Pogue’s name is even in their dictionary. Somehow I am not surprised.)

Having dictated this whole post, I have to say there aren’t many corrections. Although I still find myself modulating my voice is if you can hear my tone, pitch, and oral italics.

For my test I am uploading an unedited 20 minutes that we recorded in a van while driving Andy Ihnatko of the CWOB (and TWiT podcasts, Chicago Sun Times, etc.) to Penn State for a lecture last year.

Since I am having trouble with the new plugin and in case are interested the direct link for the podcast is here.

If you enjoy technology of all sorts, be sure to check it out!

A while ago I posted my rather inexpensive solution for an iPod clock radio, the Griffin AirCurve ($14.99 at Amazon). I am still very pleased with it but my daughter (who better not be reading this!) who has been using my Specktone Retro speaker will be getting the iHome iP99BR clock radio/boom box. In order to use the Specktone Retro with my iPhone I needed to pick up the Scosche PassPORT USB Home Charging Adapter. This converts the older iPod accessories to allow them to charge the newer iPods and iPhones. I will let you know how it works since I have not received it yet. I am also thinking about getting the iHome iH11BR Alarm Clock with Dock for the bathroom. My wife likes the radio and I like the iPod while getting ready.

So now that I have had my iPhone for about 6 months I have a nice list of accessories that I have found useful and some, not so much. My favorites include:

• Griffin Simplifi Dock for iPod and iPhone, Media Card Reader, and USB Hub in One Device (Aluminum) – This is a nice multi-port dock that I keep connected to my MacPro at work. (TIP: Since I had copied my iTunes library lock/stock/barrel from one machine to the other the iPhone thinks it is the same library so I am able to sync to both machines. Using the Home Share feature of the new iTunes keeps my purchase (music and apps) up to date (but I also occasionally do a wholesale copy).
• Griffin AutoPilot for iPod – After I installed an aux input in my car my brother recommend this charger. It is very nice since the aux cable plugs into the Griffin device meaning that I only have to plug the charger into the iPhone’s dock. I can then control play/pause/next/back with the charger itself. Very convenient.

In terms of iPhone apps there are a few that I use every day and are must haves for me. The main app for Bible scholars is BibleReader from Olive Tree. I know Logos has a new app; I am still partial to BR, not only because it is such a solid and great app, but the folks are so great. I first bought the Hebrew text and NRSV 8 some years ago when I had a Palm device. They did not charge me when I moved to my BlackBerry and then my iPhone! And they have since added some tremendous features:

A few other apps that I use every day:

• Google Mobile App – Free. Much faster than going into Safari and the Voice Search is almost 100%.
• Dragon Dictation – Free. Andy Ihnatko didn’t like it (and FWIW it did recognize many curse words when I tried) but as a self-described shut-in I can see how he wouldn’t realize the usefulness of dictating emails and text messages while driving. Look ma! Hands on the steering wheel! It even has me reconsidering dictation software for my desktop.
• Tweetie 2 – $2.99 One of the few apps I will pay for (I am a cheapskate) but I use twitter a lot, with two different accounts, so this is a core piece of software for me.
• facebook – Free. I am not sure that I need to saying anything more.
• Stanza – Free. Amazon bought this app but so far they have not harmed it. Great reading app and links to online servers where you can find free and for-purchase books. Must have.
• Comcast – Free. As a Comcast subscriber this is a great app. I never use my Comcast email (but if you do you can access mail through here, but why would you?) but I can get my voicemail and check TV listings through this app. The VM is key.
• iBCP – $4.99 I paid for this and I am not sure if it was worth it. I like it and use it and the author has promised to update it with the RCL readings (for free) but nothing so far… It just depends upon your usage and sense of the value of a dollar.
• USAA – Free. You have to be a USAA member (it’s a bank) to use this but man is it cool! I can deposit checks from my iPhone simply by taking a picture of the front and back of a check! Oh, and it let’s you check your accounts, insurance, etc.

There are many, many more that I could put in here that I use regularly (NYTimes, ESPNSportsCenter, flickr [but it still won't let you download your own pictures to the phone], NetNewsWire) but the last one is the new must-have. Mark the Spot is an app from AT&T that allows you to tell them just how bad service is, marking the GPS location of the poor service and sending a note. Of course, if you are unable to get cell service it waits until you are in range (or on WiFi as at my home) to send the message.

Feel free to add your own must-have iPhone/iPod apps and accessories in the comments! (No prize this time, however.)