Why Isn’t This Guy on the Discovery Channel?

…or at least the Science Channel.The furry bearded guy above calls himself VSauce and he’s very smart. Well, he comes off very smart in his YouTube videos. He discusses a lot of really interesting science topics. Take the scientific portion of Mr. Wizard and mix a bit of Bill Nye the Science Guy and you have VSauce.

Topics range from why we dream to how much the internet weighs. This is exactly what your children need to be watching, not four hours of Sponge Bob. Wouldn’t it be nice if would be nice if television programming were actually scientifically informative beyond the most superficial level?

Source: Reddit

Why the iPhone 4S (iOS 5) is a Step Backwards

Since its inception, the iPhone has sold millions of units worldwide. It provides a simple, streamlined and stable mobile environment to its users, allowing them to interact with groups and individuals around the world through Apps, web services and even games from wherever they happen to be standing.

When Apple first launched the iPhone, CEO Steve Jobs said it was the world’s first true “mobile internet device” and he was right. Sure, there had been other devices that let users connect to the web and perform many of the same features, but the iPhone was the first that gave true access to web services like Google maps, Skype, Twitter, along with a browser that displayed web pages as their designers intended.

Still, even with all of these advancements, Apple continues to fall short in regards to its competitors. Copy/Paste, which has been a default standard in personal computing since the 1970’s, didn’t show up on the iPhones until the 3GS. When presenting the iPhone to the world, Jobs toted it as a mobile email device as well. Email attachments, a huge part of the email exchange between people, often contain pictures, documents, compressed files and more, yet here we are in iOS 5 and we still can’t save many of them natively. Microsoft, a company who has repeatedly made decisions that have placed them far behind the pack, included both the previously mentioned features on their often buggy and crash-a-lot Windows Mobile OS.

My first iPhone was a 3GS and I jailbroke it an hour after un-boxing the damn thing. I couldn’t stand the pre-fab sand box Apple left me in and SB Settings, along with Winterboard and other Cydia Apps, opened up a whole new world to me. Let’s be honest folks, despite all the advancements Apple has made in regards to mobile computing, they just can’t seem to remember to load the basics. Many want the ability to turn on Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth with a single swipe of a finger. Apple forces you to choose either battery life, or journeying through the deep and dark depths of the Settings App. Hope you left the Settings App on the first screen page, if not; good luck finding it without search. The way iOS’s folders and pages work is still reminiscent of PalmOS.

Here we are now with their newest iOS version, iOS5, the stunning spectacular we’ve all been waiting for. “It’ll revolutionize computing”; “It integrates seamlessly with MacOS”, “its got iCloud”. Come-the-frack-on! I still can’t turn my wifi on from the home screen, the notification center is ungodly, (there already several replacement Apps available via Cydia), SIRI, if her server is actually up, takes longer processing what I’ve said than just opening up a browser and typing my question into Google. I swear it’s like someone spending days preparing a lavish, five course, Thanksgiving Dinner with all the trimmings, and forgetting to provide plates and silverware for their guests.

Those are a few reasons as to why my iPhone 4S is sitting in its box waiting on the DevTeam while I stroll around using my 3GS. Yes, I was sold by the dual core processor, updated camera and yes, even SIRI. But after using it for two days, I decided that I won’t take a step backwards just to have the latest and greatest. Apple, your top salesman has left the building, get on it or get used to catering only to those who don’t know any better.

Facebook Screwing the Pooch Yet Again

Mark Zuckerburg does not care about your privacy. Not at all. Over and over, Facebook has chosen to change their privacy policies while you’re sleeping and don’t bother to tell you when you wake up. This irks me so much, I don’t even want to write about it.

Here’s what BGR ahs to say:

This may come as a shock considering how seriously Facebook takes your privacy, but if you’re a Facebook user with one of Facebook’s mobile applications installed on your iPhone or one of several other smartphones, you’ve been robbed. Each and every contact stored on your phone is probably now also stored on Facebook’s servers, as was re-re-rediscovered by Facebook users this past week. Whether or not people in your contact list even have Facebook accounts, their names and phone numbers are likely now in Facebook’s possession. 

Hit the link below to find out how to remove the damage.

Source: BGR, Facebook – Link

Like Free Stuff… Free Broken Stuff?

Picture not related, but isn't Tux cute?

That’s right folks, free stuff! Maybe. ThinkGeek is considering giving away all their junk returns to those that are interested in doing something with them. I’m not sure what we’ll use this stuff for, but we’ll figure something out when/if this gets instituted.

From ThinkGeek…

We have a problem. And it’s growing at a rate proportional to our return pile.

We can’t, in good conscience, resell damaged electronics. And we can’t donate them to charity–the saddest kid in the world is one with a handheld video game that won’t turn on. Garbage, then? Not good for the environment.

Luckily for us, there’s an entire class of scavengers out there ready to pick the bones of our helicopters, keyboards, and interactive t-shirts: hackers, makers, and crafty techy types.

Whether it’s in a school’s technology lab, or a FIRST Robotics team, or your neighborhood hackerspace, we’re betting somebody out there would enjoy getting a box of broken stuff from us every couple of months–and then use the parts and piecesfor good, not evil.

Hit the link here to find out more and sign up for consideration.

The Ultimate Water Training – Pool Sprint Concept

We’ve all unfortunately seen that big group of old people, “working out” in the pool, and tried with all desperation not to vomit all over the place. Seriously, who has ever heard the term Water Training and not had to immediately picture Jessica Rabbit bending down to pick up a penny in order to get the image of old saggy skin and turkey necks out of their heads?

Well now, Finnish designer Pyry Tamminen is working on changing the image of water training all together. He’s created a concept called Pool Sprint that is basically submersible rubber track which allows a runner some traction when wearing special water shoes. It looks like fun

I really hope this concept takes off. Working out in water could be pretty fun once you get rid of those neon colored foam tubes. Why should Astronauts and Science Fair winners be the only ones to work out under water? Imagine, one day we may get to go the gym and work out like this

Pyry Tamminen has made a few working concept models but is looking for investors. You can contact him here.

(via DesignBoom)

Apple suspends Pre-Orders for iPhone 4

Earlier this month, Steve Jobs announced the release date of the iPhone 4 as June 24th of this year and the internet went into a frenzy. Two days ago, AT&T began the rollout of pre-orders for the devise and ended up with packed stores, long lines, exposure of credit card information and a lot of unsatisfied customers. Well after that fiasco, AT&T has pulled the plug on pre-orders for the iPhone 4 and the 8 GB iPhone3GS according to a memo obtained by Boy Genius Report:

Pre-orders for iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS 8GB are Temporarily Suspended

Effective close of business on June 15, 2010, the ability to place pre-orders (new activations, upgrades and exchanges) has been temporarily suspended.  There is a special team that will be manually working all pre-orders from June 15th that were held in a pending status.  Under no circumstances should new pre-orders be attempted in the system.

This suspension impacts Phoenix, Premier, OPUS (COR), and System X (DMDR).

Please stay tuned to future bulletin communications for any updates.

So for all you fan-boys and girls who want to be the first to have the newest iPhone in your circle of friends but didn’t make it to the store on the 15th, it will not be happening. It’s smarter to wait for the first gen bugs to pop up and be fixed before purchasing a $300+ device anyway.

Who Wants a Free Trial to Microsoft Office 2010?

Now we here at Idylum tend to support open source software, but in this crazed Corporate run world we live in, OpenOffice doesn’t always cut it. A few days ago, Microsoft released their newest version of their Office package. You can pick up their Home & Student version for $150.00 here. For those of you (in the U.S.) who aren’t going to drop 150 bones on what is essentially Microsoft’s version of EA’s Madden Franchise, you can get a 60 day, free trial key from Microsoft here. After the 60 day trial is up, Microsoft will nag at you to pay for a purchased registration key and shut down the software. That is unless you use a nifty little bit of software that can extend your trial by 30 days.

Try it out, let us know what you think of the update in the comments.

ATT CEO Doesn’t Care to Hear Your Opinions

As I informed you yesterday, AT&T is going to change their Data Plans to a pay-per-byte format. Well a dissatisfied AT&T customer, Giorgio Galante, decided to get in touch with AT&T’s CEO, Randall Stephenson, via email. No Mr. Stephenson’s email address isn’t public, but if you can’t find it with Google, you probably don’t care much about the data price change anyway. Most would think that an email from an end user to the CEO of a company as large as AT&T would get lost in the clutter, but Mr. Galante did get through and even received a response. One of AT&T’s “executive response team” called and left him a voice mail thanking him for his feedback and then proceeded to inform him that any more attempts to contact the CEO will result in a Cease and Desist letter being sent to him.

Now what did Giorgio say in his email to trigger this response?

Just this:

Thanks for making the switch to a Sprint HTC Evo an even easier decision. I don’t think even Steve Jobs can spin 2GB for $25/month as a good thing for the consumer. I may not use 2GB/month today, but the point of these devices (iPad 3g, iPhone 4G, etc.) is that we’ll be able to do more and your network either can’t handle it, or you’re just trying to squeeze more money out of your customers. The $15/month 200MB plan is just a crappy anchor price that makes the $25 plan look like a better deal than it really is, given that the $30/”unlimited” plan goes away.

Please don’t have one of your $12/hour “Executive Relations” college students call me – I’ve found them to be generally poorly informed (Engadget.com readers know more than they do about AT&T) and they have little authority to do anything sensible.

This is simply a soon-to-be former customer feedback.

Regards,

Giorgio G.

Now that didn’t appear to be particularly nasty or even distasteful. Sarcastic, yeah, distasteful or threatening, definitely not.

In fact, he made some pretty good points. When I called AT&T yesterday to get some info on the story, I had to go through three representatives before I got a hold of anyone who even knew about the change, much less the rules AT&T made for those already contracted. Also, he’s dead on with the $15 a month for 200 MB plan being nothing but an anchor to push customers towards the $25 a month plan.

Now what are the AT&T customers to do? They don’t want or care to hear how their customers feel about the new rate changes. So much so that they will threaten to send C&D orders to anyone who attempts to contact someone at AT&T with the ability to make changes. Lets see how this plays out.

You can check out Giorgio’s full story here:
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

(via Geekosystem)

UPDATE:
Apparently there is more to the story. The email that I posted above was the second email sent to AT&T, below you can read the previous email sent by Giorgio Galante, (or at least what he’s willing to share), below.

I’ve been a customer since the iPhone 3G came out (2 years ago). My current eligibility date for a new phone is sometime in March of 2011. I’d consider sticking around if AT&T bumps up my eligibility date such that I can get an iPhone 4G on its launch day.

In general I’ve not been the happiest AT&T customer (ahem…tethering was promised to be available in early 2009 and finally AT&T is getting around to offering it as an option.) You’re bumping your ETFs to $325 for new contracts as of 6/1. Not only do I spend $80 a month with you on the iPhone, but I also throw another $30/month at you with my iPad 3G.

Android is now becoming a compelling option, and Sprint is rolling out their 4G network. I’ve contacted your customer service department and they’ve stated there’s nothing they can do to change my new phone eligibility date. Fair enough – customer service reps rarely have the authority to make the right business decision.

If you want to keep my $110/month flowing, bump up my eligibility date. Otherwise I will go to Sprint and no longer require any of your services (3G iPad included since the HTC Evo is a hotspot for up to 8 devices.)

Bump up his eligibility date? All of this is over a better price on the iPhone4G? I guess Giorgio doesn’t realize just how much money AT&T loses on iPhone sales.

And Another Tablet Enters The US Market

Today at D8, Dell announced that they will be offering their new portable tablet computer/gadgety-thingy, the Dell Streak – unlocked, via their website in July. If you haven’t heard of this devise at all, Engadget did a review a few months back, here. It’s running Android and seems a bit easier to manage than the iPad or iPed, but still priced at around $500.

(via Reddit)

Who want’s a Lego Printer? I Do I Do

I played with Legos every day when i was a kid. I never got one of those pre-designed kits though. No sir, no directions for me, I used pure creativity, well, that and pictured of what i was attempting to make. Well it seems as though this guy over at B3ta never quite grew out of Legos, (Do any of us? My parent’s just threw them out when they thought I was too old for them), and built himself a printer. Its quite impressive. It’s bricks, a motor or two and a felt tip fraking pen. Ingenious! Not only is it an awesome display piece, it uses the cheapest ink you can get. He’s got it hooked up to a mac, but I won’t take points off for that …this time.

I’m making one for the Linux box.

(via PC Pro)