Thursday, June 10, 2010

Geeking Out

June is just a great month. It may actually be my favorite. Summer gets kicked off, vacations are happening, and above all else two events that I look forward to every year take place.

The first started this past Monday. Every June Apple holds it's annual World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) and for the past four years (including this one) Steve Jobs has used his keynote speech at the beginning of the conference to introduce the newest iPhone. This year's iPhone 4 looks just amazing. It looks pretty much like the prototype that was leaked a month or two back, so we already knew that it was a good looking phone, but the real surprises were in the software. Apple is bringing 720p HD video recording to the phone and with it they're bringing their iMovie video editing software. You'll be able to take video, edit it and then share it via email or youtube right from your phone. They've also added a front facing camera so that you can now do video chat. There were a couple of other features they showed off but a lot of it was re-tread from the OS preview they did several months ago. All good stuff and it makes me want an iPhone really, really badly.

The other event is the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, that starts next week. This is the yearly video game convention where all the major video game companies show off the games they're working on for the near (and sometimes, not so near) future. There's always a lot of one-ups-man-ship involved and it's always interesting to see who puts on the best show. Microsoft will get things kicked off and will probably focus on their motion detection system, Project Natal. Sony will also be talking about motion control and will probably have a lot of games that make use of the Sony Move controls. Finally, look for Nintendo to show of the next version of it's handheld system, the 3DS, that will have a 3D game screen and retain the touch screen aspects of the original DS. There's always a few surprises to, so look for me to be in full geek mode next week.

--Paul

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