Steve Jobs - the aftermath

I'm not sure it's really sunk in that Steve Jobs is no more - to put a materialistic spin on it all, I don't think some of us Apple fans will really get it until the first purely Jobs-less product ships, as we know he was in the wings, so to speak, when iPhone 4S was announced.

However, grief has been expressed in Cupertino, home of Jobs and Apple, and also around the world, in various ways.

One such, which might be astonishing, deeply touching or just touched, depending on your viewpoint, is a picture of Steve Jobs assembled from the parts of a MacBook Pro. The tribute is the work of the designers at Mint Digital.

(that link was down when I looked - otherwise, a large version is here).

But Jobs is still kinda on the case, if another report is even a bit true. The Daily Mail reports Jobs left behind four years' worth of product plans across Apple's product lines, leaving the company well-stocked as it looks toward the future.

If you are near Wellington and you feel the need to commemorate the passing of Steve Jobs, a group of Apple users from Wellington and Palmerston North has organised a Public Memorial Service for Steve Jobs in Wellington.

One of the organisers is Mark Grace, who says Steve Job's energy and creativity contributed to a variety of creative, technological and educational industries in Wellington. "We wanted to do something in the region which both remembered and celebrated his life"

The service will be held on Thursday 13th October at 1pm at the Wellington Cathedral of St Paul on the corners of Molesworth and Hill Streets. If you don't mind celebrating the life of a man of Arabic descent who practiced Buddhism in a Christian setting, this could be a nice way for you to signify his passing. You do it the way that suits you, after all.

Speaking of Jobs' legacy, commentators' damning-with-faint-praise of the iPhone 4S hasn't put punters off. Early buyers seem more than impressed with the new iPhone: Apple has announced it is already officially the fastest-selling iPhone ever, with more than a million preorder sales recorded on the first day preorders in the US.

iPhone 4 sold 600,000 units total in the first day of preordering through all carriers combined.

One of three carriers of the 4S, AT&T, reported it took 200,000 orders in the first 12 hours of availability of iPhone 4S. Apple's online store struggled to keep up with the traffic as pre-orders went live.

The same scenario is due to be repeated - iPhone 4S will launch October 14th in the United States, plus in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

As for New Zealand ... we're off the radar, with one New Zealand-based writer for The Unofficial Apple Weblog (better known as TUAW) writing in an opinion piece that New Zealand was the first country on Earth to sell the iPhone 3G, but we still don't have a date for the latest.

Unfortunately, reckons Chris Rawson, that wasn't the only way NZ distinguished itself during the iPhone 3G launch; New Zealand featured some of the highest handset prices and most expensive plans anywhere in the world.

Amen to that.

"New Zealand lost its 'first kids on the block with the iPhone' crown in 2009, as the iPhone 3GS came out in NZ just under a month after its launch in the United States."

Rawson goes on to discuss the debacle, which I have also mentioned, of the iPhone 4 launch in New Zealand a little over a month after its US debut last year. He thinks this is why we haven't even been mentioned in relation to iPhone 4S. He may be right, in some aspects (we're all guessing) but I am also hoping another New Zealand carrier might get iPhone 4S, as a way of achieving better plans and pricing here at the very least, if not better speeds and coverage. But I'm guessing here, too.

You can read Rawson's whole piece on TUAW.
I quite like an article that explains why the iPhone's screen is so 'small', by the way, compared to some other smartphones. It's not about having a bloated thing in your pocket at all (my concern). No, it's about thumb range.

You see, as Dustin Curtis points out, the iPhone 4's design allows you to hold the device in one hand and touch almost any part of the screen with your thumb. You can't do that with a larger smartphone like the Galaxy S II.

Good point, methinks. Besides, the iPhone 4/4S screen has such fine resolution, it's ore than sufficiently detailed for my eyes.

If I really want to watch movies, there are bigger devices. One's called the iPad.

We're on the verge of the release of iOS5 with Siri, although I don't know if older devices (even the single-core iPhone 4) will be able to handle Siri, the talk app that's making waves. We'll see.

Also, iCloud, designed to simplify synching for millions of Apple users across their Macs and iDevices, although the kind of server hits that's going to lead to rather boggles my mind.

And then there's rugby

Finally, some kicks. Icehouse/Angles-backed Kiwi startup Rush Digital has just released a free 3D rugby goal kicking game for iPhone. Every player gets a personalised short URL to allow them to brag about their high scores on the live world wide leader board - this personalised approach may be a world first in social games' platforms.

New Zealand rugby players bragging? Whatever next.

Get Kicking features a live online leader board that offers players their own unique "getkick.in" short URL to let them share their high scores over SMS, Twitter, Facebook and other social media. The 3D graphics show three stadiums and RDI promises fortnightly additions of stadiums and features.

The game's concept is simple. Players are presented with a rugby ball at varying distance and angle to the goal posts, and players must swipe their touch screen at the right angle and speed to simulate a kick. Wind strength, distance and angles increase to provide the challenge. The game's scoring, and hence player's rankings, increase by getting as many consecutive goals as possible.

Rush Digital will be giving away an official rugby shirt for a team of choice to the first person to achieve the Immortal Badge, which occurs when an undisclosed number of goals is reached.

The game was built on RDI's proprietary smartphone game creation framework IgnitionWare, which has been under development over the past year. IgnitionWare offers complete 2D capabilities, while still being able to provide all the features expected in a 3D framework. It is currently under license by several unannounced partners and has been used for three of Rush Digital's titles.

Visit www.getkickinggame.com for videos, news and leader boards. Follow @rushdigital on twitter, and www.facebook.com/rushdigital to keep informed about updates and prizes.

Get Kicking is available now as a free download for iOS devices via the iTunes store here.

Groin strain will not occur if you follow directions. And the ball will always be in thumb range.

- Mark Webster mac-nz.com