@Hutch, Honest this is what I am doing; I am waiting to buy the BB Thunder in Sept or at least the N96 in October. More information should be available Mid-august and that will help with my decision. Do you really want to buy an iPhone that can't do video, can't use stereo Bluetooth, no tethering in Bluetooth..etc. In the UK and US there are many sites offering DRM-free MP3s for cheap do you want to be stuck to iTunes and software hacks? iPhone is beautiful & desirable but it is still a crippled handset! - Roger Kondrat
Video would be nice. Would it ever be possible on the iPhone? Via a software download? Or does video require hardware that the iPhone lacks? - Hutch Carpenter
Hutch: It is possible and I have no idea why Apple insist on not including it. The Jail broken phones can take video and this will be the sole reason I decide to jail break if I do. - Justin Korn
I used to have (two) N80IEs, the precursors to the N95... Most unpleasant to use phones I ever had, things always crashing, running out of memory, really slow (visible) screen refreshes... Apps loading slowly... Useless browser... - Janek Mann
Do yourself the favour of trying out the iPhone and the N95 both rather than just buying based on spec sheet, as the spec sheet doesn't give you the slightest idea what the phone actually feels like to use. (Yes, I'm on iPhone 3G now and it's a total joy) - Janek Mann
And to address your points... the cameras are crap on all mobiles, but fine for taking notes on all of the recent ones... Apps crash much, much worse on the Nokias... Yes there are interesting apps on iPhone now (to do lists, note taking with online synching, Pandora, ebook readers, Truphone for cheap international calls over WiFi) - Janek Mann
@janek I hear you and I totally agree try them out. @Hutch the man to talk to on the Nokia side is a mate of mine James Whatley, he is on here as whatledydude (actually that is his handle everywhere) and his like Mr (unofficial) Nokia. Ask him for his thoughts and he will have more to say and with lots to back it up as so many will automatically back up iPhone (its cool you know) Cheers - Roger Kondrat
Forgot about the battery life... much, much worse on the N95. The iPhone actually has the best battery life amongst the 3G mobiles at the moment, but the trouble is people use it much more intensely than the other ones (lots of web browsing, streaming video for hours etc). - Janek Mann
@janek your experience is way different from mine. Are you from the US? Did you use CDMA? I use GSM and have had only Nokias for the last 4 years and in Europe I upgrade every year so that is a lot of new Nokias and I wouldn't say what you said. Not challenging you or saying you are wrong just that our experiences clearly differ - strongly. - Roger Kondrat
I have an umbrella cockatoo who's 13 years old now. I started using BlueCockatoo because of her (because I liked the rhyme). My favorite color is really purple, but I couldn't think of anything catchy for that. I've had people from Australia ask me if I were from there because "true blue cockatoo" is apparently a slang phrase there. - Lindsay Donaghe
My name actually isn't my given name but my Hebrew name which I took when I got married. If the experience was life-changing enough for my wife to change her last name, it was life-changing enough for me to change my given name. Also, I've had a life-long hatred of my given name. And, nope, don't even ask (it's not that bad; it's a privacy issue). - Akiva Moskovitz
In middle school, I read The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton. It was my favorite book. The term 'bit faker' was used in the book as Victorian slang for a counterfeiter of coins. ez$ gg son http://bit.ly/1ogSCl - Hao Chen
I originally wrote this several years ago at http://ontarioemperor.tripod.c... - "The Inland Empire needs an emperor. The 'Inland Emperors' are a band signed to a Seattle label. Hence, I am the Ontario Emperor." - Ontario Emperor
I adopted the handle bardo years ago while studying Buddhism. I became fascinated by the term and its reference to transitional states of being. Also used the name DJ Bardo while going through a phase of wanting to be a dance music DJ. Plus, the word itself is similar to my name Brad. As I got more involved online and starting trying to use "bardo" on many social sites, found that it was often already taken so i added my last initial and came up with bardow. - Brad Warren
Roman Totale XVII was my original and preferred pseudonym but it was too tiresome to type and explain to people. It's a line from a song by The Fall. - Andy C
In college, I decided to drop my handle from when I was in high school and start fresh. At the time, I was writing an honor's thesis on Friedrich Nietzsche's doctrine of the eternal recurrence of the same, and one of the big portions of that is the disposition of "amor fati," or roughly, the love of fate. Figured that was good enough, but apparently Amor Fati is some big K-pop star, so I reversed the letters, and got "itafroma." - Mark Trapp
i had to pick a video game handle, which people started calling me in RL. I chose Spin, because i do it a lot. Biking, spin music, PR, spin-out-of-control, head spin, was a pro webmaster in 95 (spin web lol), i can spin doctor, etc... it's a great word with a lot of meanings, all of which i connect and relate to for better or worse. It's been funny to watch people who've known me for years have to adapt to calling me @spin by way of twitter's architecture. I'm reprogramming minds on accident, & that's rad. - Eric Rice
mamund is my yahoo handle. i created it back when there was a six-character limit to yahoo account names[!]. i keep using it as my public handle. kinda nostaligia, i guess. - MikeAmundsen
What an awesome conversational subject! I (kfury) tried to get joy.com 13 years ago but someone was ahead of me in the 4 week line so I got fury.com instead. I usually use 'kfox' as my username but in larger systems it's always taken, so I changed it to 'kfury' which is almost always available. A lot of people think Fury is my last name. - Kevin Fox
My name's actually Brad. A lot of people, from years on the Internet, know me as Spinn. My last name is a Mc name, so Bradley McSpinn seemed to work as convergence of both analogue and digital world. - Bradley McSpinn
I was given the nickname "Haggis" from my friends after I attempted (and failed) at a Scottish accent. They named me "Haggis MacLoyless, the Scotch Bastard", which I then shortened to "Haggis MacBastard" and eventually just Haggis. I think it fits, because much like the dish, I am also full of crap. :D - Haggis
Shey is short for Sheyhu -- my "real" first name. - Shey
i like to take pictures and Ive been on flickr since 2004 , plus since the name John is so boring I went with fotographic . Im a fireman in Canada , near Toronto . - fotographic
I'm with Shey - Yuvi Panda is short for Yuvaraj Pandian, my "real" name. - Yuvi
My two favourite things are books and tech. And I loved the play on words-from bibliotheque to bibliotech! - Evangeline
StriderZ - I used to go by strid3r, because Strider was my absolute favorite game in the world. Then, strid3r became a little too l33t for me and my IRC channel moved to freenode. I stole the Z off Dragon Ball Z and became StriderZ. MicroRahsheen is an obvious play on those tiny toys with the fast-talking sales guy. - Rahsheen Porter
@Evangeline by any chance, have you ever listened to Adam Sandler - They're All Gonna Laugh at You "The Beating Of A High School Spanish Teacher?" - Hao Chen
metaroll is a web service I programmed, with which it is possible to analyze and show the relationship between blogs based on their blogroll interlinkage. So, it's kind of a meta(blog)roll. - benedikt
silas216: Was looking for a handle on AOL way back in the 90's, so I grabbed the nearest book (a Bible) on my bookshelf, flipped it open to a random spot and choose the first name I saw. The number used to be part of my address. - Steven Perez
Hutch and I share a commonality; except I am cma3. - Carlos Ayala
@Hao I was addicted to that CD in high school. I always got a kick out of that one, because my Spanish is terrible. I'll just stick with French, I suppose! - Evangeline
@Bradley A rose by any other name...would still be misspelled by most of the internet! I have to beg someone at least once a week to please, just go with Eve because it'd definitely not Evengalin or however they choose to mangle it. - Evangeline
Any takers on this article? Was hoping to get some dialogue going :( - Roger Kondrat
"Take that wonderful blog of yours and allow one blogger every week to guest star. You stop blogging all together and focus on FF, Twitter, etc whatever means of researching and discussing you like, but no Scobleizer. Your singular goal should be finding the one great blogger every week that can bring something new and amazing to the world." - Hutch Carpenter
supply chain for 3g's seems horked - in stamford, ct i bought 2 iphones for members of my family in 1/2 hr last saturday (total time in line, purchasing & activation which included transferring two verizon numbers)... - mike "glemak" dunn
Consider yourself lucky, Mike! I'm actually happy personally because it staved me off of upgrading. From everyone I've talked to, the thing they love with the new phone is the apps, not the 3G. I like the apps too, but have them on my old phone. I'm hoping to hold out till the 32GB version and crossing my fingers there will be some battery life improvements by then. - Robert Seidman
Am I the only person who looks at this poster and things "planned scarcity?" - Cyndy
We've been fortunate in Seattle, as well. They've had phones into each of our stores almost every day since launch. 8 gigs are easy to come by, followed by the white 16. Black 16s, the kind I just happen to want, are the rare ones. I have a first-gen phone so I'm not chomping at the bit; when I get a 3G, I get one. - Akiva Moskovitz
Cyndy, admit it, you LOVE your iPhone and have secret (not so secret?) joy that they're in demand. You're definitely not alone in that theory. I don't buy it though. If they needed a product to do that with, it's Apple TV! ;-) - Robert Seidman
robert: my other son and i kept our original iphones and don't plan on getting 3g's anytime soon - we like not being on a 2yr contract & edge/wifi has been working fine for us so far :) - mike "glemak" dunn
Wow - won't be able to get that iPhone just yet. - Hutch Carpenter
cyndy: no you are not the only person to "think" that, but i don't think in this case it is by design this far along - i think its more of a mis-management thang - when you go in the stores and see who's buy the 3g its a lot of folks who probably had no idea what the original iphone was all about - these are for the most part second wave adopters from what i've seen... - mike "glemak" dunn
I'm gonna wait a while. Happy with my ipod touch and no AT&T bill. - Bill Sodeman
amazing that there are still lines and shortages over a week later. Although, I feel increasingly vindicated that I waited in line for 3+ hours that first day. - Jason Kaneshiro
Great site! There is a tiny bit of horizontal scroll on my laptop (1024 x 768) - Steve Spalding
Marcos and Steven: thanks for the feedback about the scrolling at 1024x768; we'll get that fixed (always miss something!). Mike: try to, but it's such a backwater airport, no airlines really fly out of it. Mostly go out of Newark. - Mark Trapp
lol - sorry mark i meant mountain bike at stewart - the buffer zone by the airport has an awesome trail system... - mike "glemak" dunn
Haha, ohhhh. I haven't. I wonder how much is left of it, though: they tore through that whole section to create a giant road from the airport to the highway. - Mark Trapp
it's big, one of the best places to ride in the region - mike "glemak" dunn
It seems to be a bigger page and the collapses down; I like the dark green a lot. Blue and Green are the colors that people are most receptive too, but we tend to only see Blue implemented - RAPatton
I believe that it is still true that the page will render faster if your specify the height and width on your image tags. On the about page, things had to move down after the image came down - RAPatton
Thanks guys! RAP: I'll add your dimensions suggestion to the list of changes. The blue proliferation in the web is a means to avoid problems with red-green colorblindness; blue is "safer." We took a chance and went with green because we removed red from most of the site (with the exception of the work pieces that had red in them anyway). - Mark Trapp
The "Featured Project:
NCC Essential Guide to Spot Cable" font gets blurry once it is shown in the marquee position - RAPatton
Like the logo in the top left and the fuller logo cropped, watermarked and at a 45 degree angle on the home page - RAPatton
Like that the contact page has real ways to contact you - RAPatton
Like the thin black line separator at the top - RAPatton
I see the text that should be in the top rotating image pushed down into the featured project in Safari. Need a screen shot ? - Adam Helweh
Thanks for the feedback RAP, I appreciate it. I'll check into the blurry text. Adam: if you can, definitely! - Mark Trapp
No prob, Mark. I liked it, especially the use of Green. I only looked at it in IE7. I did not check it out in other browsers or lower versions of IE. - RAPatton
Very nice design, clean and easy to read. - Haggis
I had a feeling you were in IE, RAP: we've seen similar issues before in IE with text getting funky after transitions. Thanks for the info, that helps narrow it down. - Mark Trapp
IE users are the majority; you have to test it first. - RAPatton
I think it basically comes down to what you're going to use more -- video and photos or web browsing. I'm in the same situation, but I think I'm leaning towards the N95. If I decide to upgrade my phone this year that is. - Shey
I'd hold out for the N96. The N95 is getting long in the tooth now, probably had its last firmware update. Details here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N... with a good comparison between the two. It's palpably better than the N95. - John Samuelson
@John thanks for the tip on the N95. Although they use the same battery, I'm hoping that the battery life on the N96 really is better than the N95 (as reported). My brother has the N95 and it dies on him everyday!! I'm too embarassed to say what kind of phone I'm currently dealing with :) - Jasmin Smith
Thanks John. Good to hear you'd go with the iPhone. Looks like the N96 will be really nice. - Hutch Carpenter
Shey - I can see myself wanting to surf more than take pix. That points me toward the iPhone. I actually have the iPod Touch, and the surfing on that is terrific. - Hutch Carpenter
@John Thanks for the link -- definitely going to hold out for the N96 - Shey
Jasmin - good info re: your brother's experience with the N95's battery. As for being embarrassed about your current phone, you can see what I'm using currently in the blog post. - Hutch Carpenter
I have both. If you need to make video, get the Nokia. If you want to do anything else, get the iPhone. - Robert Scoble
iPhone is nice but for features it could be better to get Nokia. - Daniel Schildt
the iphone is out of stock nationally. so if you're ready to pull the trigger, enjoy that n95. - Carlos Ayala
why choose only between those two? I ended up choosing a BlackBerry... - Marcos Marado
Robert - thanks. That's the gist of what my research found. N95 pix are also superior. But I expect web/email access to be my primary use case. - Hutch Carpenter
N95 has the vastly superior camera, and as Robert says, excellent video. Anything else is blown away by the iPhone, really. If you want mobile surfing then it is just no contest - iPhone is so superior it gives Nokia execs cold sweats. @Marcos - a BlackBerry is a very distant third place, if not running in a completely different race! - John Samuelson
get N82 and UMPC or ultraportable laptop. Neither iPhone nor N95 are good for browsing for any prolonged period of time. So do yourself a favour and get a sturdy candybar from Nokia with xenon flash. - Павел Романовский
Agree w/ Shey - it depends on what you need it for. I got an iPhone because web browsing was more important on the road but the camera and video are definitely superior on the N95. - Sally Church
buy both, give me the iphone, keep the nokia for you :) - Sarah Perez
Sally - I actually have a quote of yours in the blog post. - Hutch Carpenter
Sarah - Ha! That tells me where you stand. - Hutch Carpenter
i have both as well - go with the iphone, if you need a video one get a blackjack or something else. i really don't like the n95. - MG Siegler
Hutch: oh my... *goes off to check in case said something embarassing!* Phew, a polite one ;) - Sally Church
I got a free N95 and absolutely hate it. The UI is almost completely unusable in my opinion. Still trying to find a good use for it. Maybe as a Qix-box. - Kevin Fox
Kevin - that seems to be a consistent response re: N95. Given your design chops, your comment is not surprising at all. - Hutch Carpenter
iPhone hands down except if you want to do live video, then N95 - Duncan Riley
Well it depends on what you're going to be utilizing more. Media? Or browsing? The one thing the N95 DOES have is Bluetooth capabilities and I have a friend who has a foldable portable keyboard and also syncs it with his car's stereo. (bluetooth audio file playability through the car and hands free kit) If you're going to be utilizing it for work (composing/editing documetns) BUT he also admits the Safari beats any browser, hands down. So basically, I think it depends on your needs :) - Mona N
Thanks Duncan, Clint. I'm thinking that access to the web and email is the killer app for phones, more so than cameras and video. At least for mysef, it is. - Hutch Carpenter
Mona - access to information is more my need. I can live with the 2 mega pixel camera. Never tried Safari - been a Firefox guy for a long time (but then, I'm a PC, not a Mac). - Hutch Carpenter
I think it's a question of which brings out your destructive tendencies more. Maybe I am autistic. - Glenn Charles
Hi Hutch - I'm testing out a N95 right now and loving the camera for photos, video, mobile streaming, bluetooth, USB connect but the web browser really sucks. Not loving that part. It works but is like DOS compared to the iPhone. The unlimited data plan is a given for web and streaming and the ATT Media Net which I'm using now is spotty. Lots of dead cell spots but wifi is great when it's available. Thanks for posing the question. You got a lot of good advise here about the pros and cons of each which also helped me with the same decision. - Larry Kless via twhirl
Having owned a N95 since they first came out in Europe, and having a bunch of die-hard apple fanatic friends, I have had a lot of time to compare the two. (even the 3g variant) It really does come down to your type of use. If you want a basic phone that has a good web browser and requires no thought on how to use it, go for the iPhone. If you're any type of power user, you'll find the iPhone to be VERY limited in its features and abilities. I can chat all day about this stuff, but I'll leave it at that. - Louie
Also, RE: the battery life on the N95. The poor battery life was an issue of the very first N95's (the N95-1). It was resolved by a firmware update that greatly improved battery life. It was further improved in the newer versions of the N95 with the switch to a larger battery. The north american version (N95-3) has both of these. - Louie
Larry - thanks for your advice on the N95. Glad other FriendFeeders' perspectives helped. They helped me too. - Hutch Carpenter
Thanks Louie - sounds like you're an N95 fan. I'm definitely not a phone power user..mobile luddite would be more like it. - Hutch Carpenter
Our daughter is 3. As far as she's concerned, she should never have to go to sleep. Sleep is for the weak. She wants to continue playing 24 hours a day. - Denton Gentry
Yep, and then they hit the wall where you can't even talk to them they are so tired. - Cyndy
My son, as we're getting him ready for bed, said "daddy, I'll go to bed if you can tell me what comes after purple" - acedanger
Its an epic battle to get our 3 year old up the stairs at bed time. Strangely though, brushing the teeth, another fight, is like flipping the switch and he bolts for his room. Routine I guess. He knows that after tooth cleansing there is a story coming. - Geoff Longman
Acedanger: Brown of course! following some sort of weird rainbow logic there! - Susan Beebe
Yeah... we had to give up story after teeth brushing... with four kids, bedtime would end up being around 11 since no two kids can agree on ANYTHING> - Cyndy
It was tough to get our older boy to sleep at 3 and 4 but he's become a pro now just in time for Kindergarten. Our one-year-old, on the other hand, won't go to sleep without seeing a DVRed Spongebob episode. - Chris Reed
Weird - I don't remember doing that as a Kid. I was told it was hard (it still is hard!) to wake me up from sleep... - Yuvi
Cyndy - I have 4 year old boy too. The logic you describe rings true. - Hutch Carpenter
Chris, the 6-yr-old boy still doesn't sleep. When he finally does fall asleep, he sleeps HARD, but I swear he doesn't sleep more than 5 or 6 hours. - Cyndy
technically, mine 2yr and 4yr olds are pretty much easy to get asleep (that's my part to care), but we have that crappy "white night factor" - in summer sun gets down really late, and they just ignore all attempts... once it is autumn - everything is fine again. Yes, routine is perfect way to get them asleep. - silpol
What always entertained me about our son when he was little is that he would get so mad when he got tired that he was crying, and he was crying about not being tired! When he was an infant he'd get so enraged when we'd start trying to rock him to sleep that his face would go red, he'd arch his back to get away from our grasp and try to scream but he couldn't even get the noise out of his throat because he was so tensed up. Then he'd just crash (after about 5 minutes) and be completely zonkerd. - Lindsay Donaghe
Yeah, both my sons fight sleep. 1yr old and 5yr old. Both start acting totally ridiculous when it's sleep time and fight sleep tooth and nail. - Rahsheen Porter
That she's trying to get into heaven? (and will be sorely disappointed when she realises she has wasted her life preaching a belief that turns out to have no basis in reality). I subscribe to Pascal's wager by the way lol. - Jonathan Beckett
What part of "ex" does she not understand? - Hutch Carpenter
Now, if she thinks what you're doing in the photo is kinda fun, you'll need to get Dr. Phil on her. - Outsanity
Mona for extra power Large Print version of the bible is my second favorite book to whack things with short of a good hefty dictionary... LOL - Cecil Sandus
omg you guys are ALL kinds of wrong!! LOL - Mona N
I don't think the goat will phase her. Maybe she'll ask if you want a recipe for goat adobo. lmao - Louie
Well, it's time for a FriendFeed BBQ then! - Outsanity
I took a different approach with my microblogging API piece. I asked if he liked the idea, he said yes and I hoped it was not too geeky. I think yours went over better, nice job. - Rob Diana
Thanks Rob - I did run the idea by him a couple days ago. Definitely feel that staying within the "brand" of the blog was important. Didn't want to make Louis's readers go "what is this?" - Hutch Carpenter
Mitchell is totally the friendfeed ninja. He can find anything. - Rob Diana
Hutch, you don't know how helpful this. Thank you!!!! - Mona N via fftogo
Mona, you don't need any help at this stuff. You wrote the book (or you could/will). You went from stage 1 to stage 3 in the blink of an eye. Ok, maybe it will take another couple of blinks, but it's very impressive to watch either way! - Robert Seidman
Robert and Mitch: thank you kindly for your words : ) Hutch's post ROCKS. and Louis is AWESOME for all that he's doing for the FF community : ) - Mona N
"The nephews of Adolf Hitler are alive and well in Long Island, New York. The only American descendants of Adolph Hitler are living quietly under assumed names. In about 40-50 years, barring death by unnatural causes, this bloodline of Adolph Hitler will be severed for all time. The brothers have reportedly entered into a pact that none will marry or have children. This will put an end to the irony and curse of the Hitler legacy in the United States." - Cee Bee via Bookmarklet
I saw this too. I thought they really have guts to have this decision. - Judy Jones via twhirl
A quick check of Zooomr feeds (http://friendfeed.com/public?s...) shows that historically it's only been "published" photos. Either there's a new Favorite function, or Favorites just got added to the RSS feed. - Hutch Carpenter
they are now showing up. The site is currently down though so I cant tell if ther are any other Zooomr changes. - CJPhoto
17 clicks from Louis's blog. Majority of clicks seem to be for old post "How Do Solo Bloggers Break into the Techmeme 100?" - Hutch Carpenter
Ooops. I was curious if you've found out how many people read your guest post at Louis's blog. It certainly got a lot of attention on FriendFeed. - Mitchell Tsai
Ah...dunno actually. Have to find out from Louis sometime (I'll let him decide whether to reveal hits publicly). - Hutch Carpenter
