Of the millions of people in the world who in some way have touched me – you will alway be someone whom without you ever knowing it has had a tremendous positive impact on my life and my career.  Through your vision, drive and unwillingness to compromise you have inspired me.  Through the products you developed at Apple you showed me that it is OK to lead instead of follow. To think differently and to want more from yourself and those around you.  You demonstrated through your example that if you believe in what you are doing and continue to encourage yourself and others to keep trying, you can accomplish great things!  I will always look upon your contribution to the human race and raw strength from your example.

Thank you Steve for being an inspiration to us all.

Sincerely,

Oliver Siodmak

I don’t usually expect companies to response when I post a comment about their service on Twitter, Facebook or other social networking site.  Hell, I often can’t get a company to respond when I post a message to them directly on their Customer Service web pages or email addresses.  Hertz how ever does a good job of monitoring Twitter and addressing comments (both positive and negative).

In the past when I have had problems with a vehicle they have directed me to the right support option and when I post positive comments (like above) they say thank you.  I respect an organization that makes an effort to “hear” what their customers are saying.

That helps build customer loyalty.

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• Performance enhancements: 3x speed improvements over WiFi & 3G from the previous release
• Soccer: News, Scores & Schedules (by League), Video, & Standings
• MMA/Boxing: News & Video
• Motorsports: News (F1 & IRL)
• Nascar: Leaderboard, Race Details, (including Lineup, Live Race, Track info), Schedule, Drivers Index, The Chase
• Article sharing via Facebook
• Manual refresh button for news and scores
• Over 50 bug fixes

The IBM and FOX teams worked very closely together to significantly improve the app’s performance.  Additionally we have provided additional visual queues to notify the user when the app was unable to download content updates from FoxSports.com.

In addition to performance enhancements and bug fix we now have (say it with me) SOCCER!  That’s right — we now have News, Scores, Schedules, Video & Standings content for SOCCER.  Motor and Nascar fans will also be happy to learn that their content also available in this release.

A special thank you goes out to my development team: Greg Crisp and Mike Jones for their continued hard work and dedication to the project!

As always, I would encourage all of you to download the app and post your comments and rating in the App Store.  The more reviews we receive the better.  Also — please share the App link (http://itunes.com/foxsportsapp) with as many family, friends and colleagues as you know.

The release should be available for you to update on your iPhone or iPad before EOD today.

Additionally, the app is now appearing as #118 of all the free apps in the App Store!

UPDATE:  App is now #99th in the Top Free Apps category in the App Store!

I just wanted to let you know the exciting news that the Fox Sports Mobile v2.0 iPhone app my team and I developed for Fox Sports Interactive Media went live last night.  This FREE sports app provides you access to a wealth of news, scores, video, team and player profile data and an endless supply of stats for over 14 different sports categories.  The app also allows you to follow your favorite teams and customize the presentation of sports.  Can’t go to the game or watch it on TV .. then follow the plays live under Gametrax with play by play summaries and stats!

The app was a custom development effort built using the Apple iOS SDK by resources from IBM Interactive & IBM Digital Media. You can download the app using the following URL: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fox-sports-mobile/id294056623?mt=8

If you already have the Fox Sports Mobile app installed, an update will be downloaded for you when you click on updates in iTunes on your Mac, PC or on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad.

The app is free so if you have access to an iPhone (or iPad) please check it out.  I am also encouraging you to share this email with all your employees, colleagues and family members so they can check out the app as well!

Thanks & enjoy!

OJS

P.S. – For all you DROID fans, an Android version of the app is currently under development and will be released in the 1st Qtr 2011.

Therefore to reduce the time it takes to process (and delete) these fake users of my blog I have decided to close blog registration down for the time being. If you are an existing registered user of my blog your account will remain intact. New users will however have to contact me to have an account added to the system.

This MacBook Pro 15.4″ 2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo has been my primary work machine for the past 1.5 years. I have upgraded both the RAM (3 GB) and hard drive (320 GB). Original display and both batteries were replaced 3 months ago under AppleCare warrantee.

The MacBook Pro specifications are a MacBook Pro 15.4″ 2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo w/:

• 3 GB RAM
• 320 GB Hard Drive
• Dual Layer Super DVD Drive
• Built-in iSight Camera
• Built-in 802.11n Airport Extreme (WiFi)
• Built-in BlueTooth (v2.1.6g8)

Package also includes:

• 2nd battery w/ black battery carrying case
• Mac OS X Leopard installed (disks not included) and upgraded to 10.5.7
• Original restore DVDs
• Apple iLife ’09 installed (disks not included) and upgraded with latest updates
• Original Box and documentation
• Applecare TechTools disk
• Remaining AppleCare service (coverage expires on 11/25/09)
• Speck “see-thru” hard shell case (plastic case that protects your Mac)
• Marware leather wrist rest

The machine is in great condition but does show signs of being used; Command, Shift and N keys are slightly worn, exterior case shows some scratches.

AppleCare coverage includes telephone and in-store Apple Genius hardware and software support.

Reason for selling: Recently upgraded to 17″ MacBook Pro

Check out the auction on eBay (Auction #250467093464)

Unlike the iPhone upgrades experienced by 2G and 3G users over the past 2 years, my upgrade to the new 3G S was simple and quick. After sync’g my 2G iPhone to iTunes (creating a fresh backing up) I was able to connect my new 3G S iPhone to iTunes, select the phone number to move to the phone, activate it and restore all my apps, music, video and data. The restore (about 7.5GB) took about 20 minutes.

The conversion

After the restore was complete I was able to send and receive calls from the new phone! That is a huge improvement over last year. (Your mileage may vary). Another HUGE benefit to me is that I am still able to use all of my 2G iPhone’s features except to make phone calls. Using WiFi I can send and receive calls via Skype, take and upload pictures and of course play music and videos. Rather than sell my 2G iPhone I plan to use it as a spare entertainment device for my son.

When you restore data to the iPhone 3G S there are a few things you need to do update on the device. They include:

• Set email account passwords
• Set Voicemail password
• Reconfigure over WiFi “pairing” for apps that sync wirelessly

Almost everything else worked immediately without any configuration changes. To update over WiFi application pairing check the preferences panel in each application and follow their pairing instructions. For THINGS, which I use daily on the Mac, I was able to simply “un-pair” the old iPhone and configure pairing with the new device.

Should I upgrade?

The challenge of explaining the benefits of the 3G S to an interested listener is that the phone consists of two upgrades; OS and hardware. On the OS side, v3.0 of the iPhone OS provides a number of benefits including support for Cut & Paste and Spotlight search as well as a ton of minor upgrades to bundled iPhone apps (i.e., Camera, Mail, etc.). Application developers also have an amazing number of new features accessible to include in their applications via the iPhone v3.0 SDK. I have been beta testing V3.0 on my 2G iPhone for 2 weeks and the improved OS is a wonderful upgrade (free to iPhone owners) and well worth installing and testing before you decide to replace your 2G or 3G device.

One really nice feature of the v3.0 OS is “Find iPHone”. This is the ability to locate your phone via Apple’s Mobile Me service. If you have an active Mobile Me account, you can not only locate your phone on a Google Map, you can also send your phone a message. The phone will play a tone for up to two minutes with the message displayed as an alert on the screen. You can also remotely erase your phone if it truly is lost. I was able to test the map location feature on the 3G S and the alert message on the 2G (see picture above).

The hardware benefits of the new phone are nothing to scoff at either. The 3G S sports a faster processor and double the RAM. You can also select storage sizes of 16GB or 32GB. Most of the apps I tested load and run much faster than they did on the 2G. The higher resolution camera with “touch to focus” provide better, sharper pictures and the compass is an excellent addition if you use Google Maps frequently. I also noticed a huge improvement in cell coverage on the 3G S. Phone calls that would drop or not connect from within my apartment worked very well on the new phone.

Conclusion

In summary, if you have a 2G phone and you want both the hardware benefits I have outlined above upgrade to the new 3G S. If all you really want are the software benefits, upgrade to the v3.0 firmware and try it out for a week or two. That will be more than enough time to decide if you need the speed the 3G S provides.