• Lots of content, which last a bit longer than the 10 minutes it takes to read the entire contents of the free m-site, cover-to-cover.
• Very pretty, but sadly it’s a bit much for my retro iPhone 3G, which feels like it’s about to die at any moment under the weight of fancy graphics and animations. Indeed this is what I should have come to expect by holding onto this relic.
• The price is right at $2.49 upfront, and $2.49 per month.
• There’s a bit of a glitch (a show-stopper actually) with the subscription extension functionality which no doubt has the development team in post-launch frenzy. We know that stuff can be a bit tricky, especially when the Apple Developer documentation can be a bit lacking, to say the least Pats on the back to the Extro dev team for getting this right first time oniPad & iPhone App Publishing Platform for The Chaser App.

Definitely worth a look, even if you have no intention of paying the ongoing subscription, which probably includes most sticky-beekers, I suspect. It’s worth it just to catch a glimpse of the “future of the news”.

No iPad version, which is a bit surprising because I think the whole world was expecting an iPad version to be unveiled, given their lateness in entering the market, but I’m sure that will be on its way soon. There’s no rush because the number of iPads out there is a drop in the ocean compared to iPhones.

Difficult to compare this iPhone app to The Australian iPad App which, for the record, was a bit of a disappointment in my opinion with its nasty full-page popup ads and limited content. But in fairness, it’s hard to be too critical when you’re trying to re-invent an entire industry while the whole world looks on, waiting and hoping for the pay-walls to collapse spectacularly, paving the way for an eternity of free, high quality, non syndicated journalism.

Sure, we all love our shiny new iPads, and iPad is certainly the flavour of the month. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you would be well aware that iPad does not support Adobe Flash Player. We know that Steve Jobs is pious about open standards, and HTML5 and has said a few nasty things about Flash, but don’t be fooled by this thinly veiled piece of propaganda. This has nothing to do with battery life, processing speed, stability, (or any of those legitimate concerns) it’s about giving the finger to Adobe while the going is good.

(For a quick HTML5 refresher, check out this cute overview)

Don’t get me wrong, I think HTML5 is a great development for the future of the internet, but it’s important to realise it’s promising yet humble place in the technology landscape.

To put HTML5 into perspective, let me try to dispel a few myths…

HTML5 versus Adobe Flash Player Myths

• Myth #1: HTML5 offers the same interactivity, creative freedom and power of Flash Player. HTML5 is at best, a poor cousin to Flash Player for performance and interactivity in any areas outside standard, cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all purposes like video players, map viewers etc. Sure, by now you have probably watched online video playing nicely in HTML5 players, but how much more does HTML5 offer for creative, unique offerings and experiences? Adobe (actually Macromedia) spent a solid decade optimising and improving flash player and flash authoring. Sure, they only recently implemented a respectable programming language (AS3), built a (reasonably) stable authoring environment, provided command line compilation and other run-of-the-mill features for a programming language, but they got there in the end. The very thought of authoring animations, bitmap effects, and 3D in javascript gives me goosebumps. Not to mention performance. By all accounts, if you try to do anything vaguely graphically intensive in HTML5 you start to run into trouble pretty quickly.
• Myth #2: HTML5 is coming soon. Actually, it may be coming soon to the bleeding edge, but certainly not to the masses. Adobe also spent that decade building saturation for their plugin and the unique payoff for designers and developers is that you know what to expect regardless of operating system. Now, should we really bet the farm on browsers fully, consistently adopting HTML5 standards any time soon? Usually we need to design for the bulk of users, not just the bleeding edge. You should expect to write off a good chunk of your users if you rely on HTML5 as your only delivery platform within the next year or two. On a side note, I dread a future where we need to code HTML5 browser hacks the same way we need to code CSS browser hacks today. Not only should we consider end users, we also need to consider the time required for a strong Developer and Designer community to grow for HTML5. And even before then, we need the time to develop decent HTML5 development tools to rival Flash Professional. That’s a long road.
• Myth #3: HTML5 is so much better because it’s free and open. Flash Player is much more open than you think. Did you know that you can download “Flash Develop” (www.flashdevelop.org, a fantastic free, open source ActionScript IDE) and the free Flex3SDK (http://opensource.adobe.com/wiki/display/flexsdk/Flex+SDK) and compile Adobe Flash projects without even needing to purchase any software at all? As Adobe continues to feel the heat, we might expect this trend towards openness to continue.

Adobe is a big, big company with lots and lots of Money
Do you really think Adobe will go down without a fight? After investing literally billions building browser saturation, building a global developer base, out-innovating wannabe competitors such Silverlight, cementing their place as THE dominant rich media advertising platform, I suspect they will find some creative ways of staying at the top of the pile.

The End Game
With Android devices running Flash just fine, pretty soon iPad owners will start to feel like they’re missing out without flash support. With one cheeky OS update, it’s within Apple’s power to grant them the gift of flash.

Assuming Apple does not rule the free world any time soon, don’t write off any hope of Flash support for iPad just yet…

Today, after 10 years, Me and PC have mutually agreed to go our separate ways.

After flirting with an iPhone for a year, it’s time to pledge my committment. So long Microsoft, it’s been real – Hello MacBook Pro!

Since then I’ve received a few messages of brotherly encouragement, although one friend was nice enough to jarringly declare he didn’t believe I could go through with it because “you don’t have the good taste to be a mac person : )” – thanks Stu, I know you’re just saying that to guilt me out of turning back, but there’s no turning back now.

I set about researching where to buy a Mac and the general concensus was that new model Macs never really sell below retail, so you might as well buy it online from the Apple Store of from the usual suspects like Next Byte. Well, I found that a little hard to swallow, so I did a bit of research and it turns out there are a few places where you can pick up a brand new, latest edition Mac for significantly less than retail – I’m not talking a paltry $50 or $100 off, but a sizable discount that would make the effort worthwhile.

And the winner is?

Well, actually there are a few that offer below recommended retail price. but the winner (purely in price terms) was I-Tech Group. Click here for the I-Tech catalogue and see for yourself. For Example, today they’re offering the new model 17″ MacBook Pro for $3042.00, compared to $3299.00 on the Apple store, saving about $250. (The online store may not be as sexy as your new Mac will be, but if you’re after value then you might need to stick it out one last time).

Another notable mention was Mactofront, who was able to offer below retail prices and had pretty good customer service to boot.

If you’re really serious about your haggling, there’s even a few fanatical sites dedicated to telling you where and when to buy a mac to get the best deal like Mac Rumours Buyer’s Guide.

If this is all sounding a bit bargain-basement for your Mac sensibilities, you can always check out Ye Olde Apple Store instead.

Now, if only there was an easy way to buy a Mac in US Dollars instead of Australian Dollars…