Robert Hodgen dot com

Posting from the Wordpress iPhone app

iphone — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 23:17:25 +0000

You may have noticed some of my previos posts about the iPhone 3G, but this one is a little different. Basically this is a test post from my iPhone to my blog using Wordpress’ new iPhone application.

I’ve got my iPhone 3G after 5+ hours

Robert Hodgen — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:10:54 +0000

Ok, so I arrived in line at 6:40 am, we talked to an Apple sales person at 10:19 and left at 11:49 with two non activated iPhone 3Gs. The largest holdup was the fact that the activation process took forever and failed. I had two iPhone 3Gs to activate, the first only took about 15 or 20 minutes while the second took nearly an hour due to AT&T activation server issues. Right now I’ve got them both hooked up to laptops waiting for them to activate.

I’m not sure what my total time spent on the iPhone 3G is after you count the fact that I’m going to have to spend more time on it at home. I’m a little disconcerted that Apple and AT&T have not fixed the exact same issue the original iPhone launch had a year ago.

Still Waiting for iPhone 3G

Robert Hodgen — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:40:59 +0000

An hour and a half after the store opened I’m still waiting and have only seen a limited number of iPhone 3G owners leave the store (about 15 to 20 by my count). The holdup seems to be in the activation of the phone, it appears that the activation servers have problems with the heavy traffic. Much like the original iPhone launch a year ago when users reported problems with activation, only this time you’re having to wait at the store for the activation to complete.

There are a ton of demo units in the store and they have all been activated prior to the launch, a few demo games are installed and all free applications are downloadable.

In addition to the activation problems, customers with a “fan” added to their account (an employee discount) are not able to activate the new iPhone 3G at the Apple store. Apple store employees were telling those of us waiting in line with “fan accounts” to goto an AT&T store or to remove the fan status from our accounts.

When I get my iPhone 3G I’ll update the site with details on how long each step took.

Waiting in Line for iPhone 3G

Robert Hodgen — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 11:04:02 +0000

I got here around 6:40a and found a longer than expected line. The line for the iPhone 3G was stretching behind a garbage compactor near to the entrance to International Plaza. See my photos below of the line and keep checking my site for updates.

I’ll be taking photos as I go in and when I’ve got an iPhone 3G. Apple store employees have been handing out water and coffee for people waiting in line.

iPhone 3G Launch Coverage

Robert Hodgen — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 01:01:23 +0000

I’ve just stopped by my local Apple store at International Plaza in Tampa Florida and there are already a handful of people waiting outside even with the launch about 12 hours away. In the morning I plan on waiting in line with the rest of the Apple fans to take photos and hopefully grab an iPhone 3G. Watch my personal site (you’re there) for updates from the line.

For those of you who have been following my Apple-related blog OS X 411, I was there at WWDC08 live blogging the Keynote where Steve Jobs announced the iPhone 3G as well as some other cool stuff (read my full synopsis of WWDC08 here).

The Google Maps Car?

Robert Hodgen — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 22:56:03 +0000

I was driving home on the Polk Parkway one day and saw a car with a funny-looking thing mounted on top of it. I wasn’t sure what it was, but after getting behind them at a toll I saw it was an array of cameras. After I paid my toll I caught up with them and took a few pictures. Below I’ve got a map of where I was, if it was Google taking pictures they haven’t posted them to Google Maps yet.

View Larger Map

These pictures were taken with my iPhone. In the last photo you can see a laptop as well as a better picture of the cameras.

My latest Website

Robert Hodgen — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 04:54:17 +0000

MacBook 411 is my latest project, its a website I started not to long ago and plan on posting some content to about Apple’s MacBook computer lineup. Right now its just a blog, but if it gets popular I may toss a forum on there as well.

The name MacBook 411 comes from The 411 Forums naming scheme and follows my other Apple site, OS X 411. MacBook 411 has an RSS feed and I recommend subscribing to it for the latest news on Apple’s MacBook lineup.

Update to Blue X (1.3.0)

Robert Hodgen — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 22:04:30 +0000

I fixed a few bugs and have them listed below. This is the third major release of Blue X, my Wordpress theme. The major items changed are: the post border is now an image, and archive.php and search.php now show the_content instead of the_excerpt.

Changes:

Full IE6 post border compatibility.
Full post content now shown on archive.php and search.php.

Download Blue X 1.3.0 or read more on Blue X.

WWDC08 is Over :(

Robert Hodgen — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 23:07:01 +0000

The last of Apple’s 2008 WWDC sessions ended today at 3:15 today and the labs are closing at 6:15.

This was my first year attending Apple’s WWDC and it was great. I’ve meet some interesting mac and iPhone developers as well as some Apple engineers. I look forward to attending WWDC next year, and hopefully I will be able to attend WWDC09 as a student, as I did this year.

I’ve learned a lot here at WWDC and I plan on doing some more programming. On my other blog, OS X 411, I live blogged the WWDC keynote and have some more WWDC updates available there as well.

Steve Jobs and I

Robert Hodgen — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 20:38:30 +0000

That “I” being me of course.

After the WWDC08 keynote concluded, Jason followed a crowd of people and managed to grab this picture.

I didn’t get a chance to speak with him, or even shake his hand, but a picture is nice.

Some WWDC Stuff

Robert Hodgen — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:10:36 +0000

I’m at Apple’s 2008 WWDC!

Above is a picture of my badge Apple supplied. Head over to my other site OS X 411 for a live blog of the Keynote as well as more WWDC08 updates.

MacBook Air for WWDC

Robert Hodgen — Sat, 24 May 2008 16:11:28 +0000

I’m preparing for Apple’s 2008 WWDC by getting a laptop (a MacBook Air). Its not my first mac laptop, before it I owned a 12″ PowerBook G4 (which happened to be my second mac), although I got rid of it when I got a 15″ MacBook Pro, which was my primary computer for some time. I got rid of the MacBook Pro when Leopard was released and picked up a Mac Pro. Since then I have been laptopless/without a laptop. The MacBook Air has from what I have seen so far, made a great second computer.

For those wondering, I picked up a 1.6Ghz with the 64Gb SSD, I’m hoping to get maximum battery life out of it. Also, check out either of my two other blogs, OS X 411 and MacBook 411 for stuff I post specific to the MacBook Air (or other macs).

More on WWDC

Robert Hodgen — Thu, 15 May 2008 04:24:54 +0000

As I’ve said earlier in another post about WWDC08, I will be going to this years WWDC under Apple’s Student Scholarship program. A friend of mine is also going, I should mention him because he made the graphic below. Thanks Jason.

It also appears that WWDC08 is now sold out, as Apple’s own WWDC site suggests. Hopefully Apple won’t sell the student tickets .

Update to Blue X (1.2.0)

Robert Hodgen — Wed, 14 May 2008 21:27:40 +0000

Hello everyone, I’ve updated Blue X to be compatible with IE7, I have also added two links in the footer: one to validate your sites XHTML/CSS and a second for Login/out and Site administration.

This release is the third major release, Blue X 1.2.0, download it now.

Changes:

Whole theme has valid XHTML and CSS.
Links to validate your site’s XHTML and CSS now located in the footer.
A link to log in is now in the footer, it changes to Site Admin and log out when a user is logged in.
IE7 compatible.
Misc. bug fixes.

See all the changes on the Blue X project page.

Blue X Wordpress Theme

Robert Hodgen — Fri, 09 May 2008 00:40:21 +0000

In addition to Retro Glass, the Wordpress theme I’ve been using for a while, Blue X is a recent theme I’ve created. I just finished with Blue X a day or so ago, its the current theme running on my personal blog (on May 8, 2008).

Blue X is also available for download, check it out and toss it up on your own blog.

Check out Retro Glass

Robert Hodgen — Fri, 09 May 2008 00:33:42 +0000

Retro Glass is a Wordpress theme I’ve been working on for some time now. I’ve been getting it ready to release to the public (for use on other blogs powered by Wordpress). Today I’m proud to say its ready!

Checkout the Retro Glass page for more information on the Wordpress theme.

Accepted to WWDC Student Scholarship

Robert Hodgen — Thu, 01 May 2008 03:14:54 +0000

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to update my site to say I got accepted by Apple in the WWDC08 Student Scholarship Award. I got an email today, April 30th, 2008 at 9:38:14PM EDT with a code to activate the E-ticket. Good luck to those who applied and are on Apple’s waiting list. For those who were accepted: I look forward to meeting you.

Robert

April Update

Robert Hodgen — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 17:44:17 +0000

I don’t find much time to post anything on my blog anymore. School has just ended and I hope to do more web related stuff over the summer. I’ve got another blog, OS X 411 (OSX411.com), where I post information related to Apple’s Mac OS X operating system and other goodies dealing with Macs. While I’m talking about OS X 411 and Apple, I should mention that I’m planning on attending Apple’s WWDC 08 in June, hopefully as a student.

A Site Update

Robert Hodgen — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 20:10:27 +0000

I’ve been working on other things lately and have not posted much to my personal site. School has taken up a lot of my time and the rest of my time I use to work on other projects. I’ve been working on some themes for Wordpress and several other sites, I feel that one of the themes is ready to be released to the public and a post about that should be coming soon.

Another Mac Background

Robert Hodgen — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 21:51:17 +0000

Last year I made a halloween themed desktop background for the Mac, it had an Apple logo shaped pumpkin with iPod bats flying around. It looked outdated so I decided to make a new one. I’ve got a preview below.

Text link to Download it! (1680×1050, easily downsized to fit most macs).

I’ve compiled it from images from NASA of the sky and various galaxies, then added some lines to mimic the default Tiger backgrounds. Its got a leopard look to it (the Time Machine space background) that Apple seems to be using to promot Leopard. I personally can’t wait for Leopard on the 26th (just a week away!!!) so I’ve designed this background to bring a lil’ Leopard to Tiger.

Update: I’ve just realiszed after posting this, that some of you may like my background without certain features, so I made one with each and you can get them from the list below.

Leopard Sky - A simple plain background (also great if you wanted to add something your self).
Leopard X Sky - The one from above, the basic background with an “X” in the lower left.
Leopard Halloween - The sky background with a centered pumpkin.
Leopard X Hallwoeen - The sky background with a pumpkin in the center and an “X” in the lower left.

I’ve enabled comments for this post to see what people think my background. Leave a comment if you like it! (Hopefully I won’t be spammed like crazy)