Read on to get all the juicy details...We will have to wait until November 2010 unfortunately but I'd say it's a wait well worth. In the meanwhile, the current iPhones (except those for which support has been discontinued) will get the 4.1 update immediately which will, amongst other things, fix the proximity sensor issue in the iPhone 4, introduce a new revision of Safari and finally, users will be able to disable the spell checker. As a Portuguese who owns an iPad without a Portuguese spell checker, this comes as a blessing. No, Apple, I don't want you to spell check my Portuguese text with an English spell checker.

Did I get you curious with the new things announced at this Apple event? Well then, keep on reading to get the rest of the story!The iOS 4.2 will bring your normal improvements that come with every release and it will also include this new feature Apple dubbed as "AirPlay". AirPlay is essentially a way for you to stream any kind of content from your iPhone/iPad into the new Apple TV. So that's all for the iOS 4.2 - AirPlay and finally an iPad version. This means we'll finally get multitasking on our iPads. Ace!

Next up were the iPods. Steve claimed Apple had redesigned their whole iPod line-up and so they did! There's this new iPod shuffle that is smaller and comes in all these neat colours. This is basically just a reiteration of the shuffle design with no screen and a wheel with a few buttons to play, pause and skip tracks. The cheapest version will sport 2Gb of internal memory and it will go for $49. No word if there will be versions with larger memory.

The most amazing revamp they did, however, was with the iPod Nano. They got rid of the wheel below the screen and they've made the screen smaller.... and touch capable! The new iPod Nano is now a cute little square with a touch screen. Quite cool! There are two versions of this, one at 8Gb and the other at 16Gb, which cost $149 and $179 respectively.

Finally on the iPod market, Apple has also made the predicted move. They've released an iPhone-4-esque version of the iPod Touch. It now comes with a 5 megapixel camera on the back, a front-facing camera and you guessed it right: Facetime capabilities. The new iPod Touch will also support the AirPlay, as will all devices with the new iOS4.2.

Along with the news for today also came the new version of iTunes. The new iTunes 10 will come with a new logo, as according to Steve it wouldn't make sense to have the CD on it anymore. Considering that the logo had been designed 10 years ago (according to Mr. Jobs) then I'm compelled to agree with him; not that I find the new logo much more attractive, but hey, it's a matter of taste. The new iTunes also brings a social networking service for music called Ping. Apparently, Ping "is not Facebook, it is not Twitter, it's a social networking service for music". I'm still not entirely sold on the idea but the notion seems to be sharing what you're listening to and what you've downloaded. It seems to me this will be Apple's own last.fm, with direct integration with iOS.

Finally, Uncle Steve introduced the new Apple TV. Their new TV box is much smaller than their previous iteration and it will integrate with the AirPlay present on the iOS. Apparently they got some feedback from their customers and the new service will be more rental-oriented and the prices will go significantly down to compensate for this. With the new service you'll get newly released films for just $4.99 and TV show episodes for $0.99 - a bargain, I say. Makes me wish I was living in the US...

The new Apple TV service will also support Netflix streaming which means that if you're a subscriber, you'll be able to stream contents directly into your television. Still on the streaming front, the new iTunes will also allow people to stream stuff directly into the Apple TV, without much fuss. That's a neat little feature that's been around with the XBOX 360 for a while now and Apple has their own version built right into the Apple TV.

The Apple event had to finish on a high note and as such they invited Chris Martin to put on a small show for the audience. Neat!

According to a previous post by the same gentleman, Vibrant support (and hopefully all the rest, by affinity) might be coming to version 6.1. Until this version is released let's just hold onto that thought and pray they are serious about it!

In the meanwhile, maybe you'd like to give one of the Froyo builds a spin?

So you want to give these Froyo builds a try? After all there are already three betas out there so it can't be that bad, right? Well, just read on for a walk through on how to get these builds and how to get them on your phone!For this walk through I'm going to assume you've never flashed a firmware "through the back door" before. Essentially there are two ways of flashing a firmware onto the Samsung Galaxy S. You can either use Samsung Kies which is an application very much like Nokia's PC Suite, or you can use Odin. Odin is a hacker's tool. It's not an official tool by Samsung but instead it's a tool that allows you to flash any firmware you want, as long as you have the files for it. To flash these Froyo betas we are, obviously, using Odin.

First and foremost you should obtain all the files that you need, so here's a list of what you're going to need during the process:

1. Odin - the flasher tool
2. Either the 512 or the 513 PIT file (read after step 4 to know which one you need)
3. You get both the above tools by clicking here.
4. The firmware that you want to flash.

You can get the latest Froyo build at the time of writing (i9000XXJP3) by going here: Rapidshare. Now, as far as the PIT files go, normally you need the 512 file but some firmwares will require the 513. For this XXJP3, you will need the 512 PIT file which you can get from the link on step 3.

After you have downloaded all the files, make sure you UNPLUG YOUR PHONE from your computer.

Now, here's all the steps you need to get to the actual flashing:

1. Turn off your phone and remove your SIM and SD cards.
2. Hold the following buttons at the same time: Volume Down, Home and Power button.
3. After doing the step above, your screen should say "Download mode".
4. Fire up Odin BEFORE you plug your phone to the USB port.
5. Plug the phone with the USB cord.

After step 5, Odin should detect your Galaxy S and it should acknowledge the connection where it says "ID:COM".

When Odin has recognized your phone, you need to load all the files you've downloaded. Keep in mind that the firmware has to be extracted and in it you will find three files: the CSC, the [Modem/Phone] and the [PDA/Code]. Load all the files in their respective slots on Odin and load the 512 PIT file as well. After you've done this, just press "Start" and let it rip it will take a while and DO NOT remove the cable before the process is completed. You will know once the process is completed as Odin will tell you it has finished and your phone will boot back up normally. Keep in mind that the phone will reboot at least once and you should still let it do its thing before it's come to a full stop.

After this is done, just enjoy your new Froyo phone

WORD OF ADVICE: After you've switched to Android 2.2 Froyo, the method I described in my other post on how to root and apply the lag fix on the phone no longer will work. To root and apply the lag fix you will need to use a different method so please, don't try to use that on a Froyo Galaxy S.

ALSO...!: I'm not to be held responsible if you brick your phone in the process of flashing firmwares. I'm just providing some guidance which if for some reason does not work for you, I am not to be held accountable.

Happy flashing!

Apache Derby is a great project with a really nice community of helpful people and it was through Derby that I have participated and successfully completed the Google Summer of Code challenge for two years in a row! It's always a great challenge even to the sharpest mind and most advanced skills because this is an extensive project that has already been around for more than a decade. Over this period different developers have participated on it which adds to the challenge of reengineering and simple engineering of new features when the need arises. I can't say this is a disadvantage though as it is an excellent way of being exposed to actual production code from an IT giant (Apache Derby once was IBM Cloudscape). It's also exciting because the changes that you make will actually have an impact on the thousands of people that use Apache Derby and for this reason all changes have to be done with most care to keep Derby's performance up to the challenge as well as to ensure that all standards are kept.

With this said, I'll just leave here the link to the "historical" vote in the ASF list

http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/db-derby-dev/201008.mbox/<4C6F038C.7080708@sbcglobal.net>

As some of my readers may know, I have recently traded in my Maemo-wielding Nokia N900 for a brand new Samsung Galaxy S. This move was led by several reasons that I am not going to go in detail in this post now but I did it and I was very happy with my new phone. In comparison with the Nokia it was super fast and best of all, it runs Android which is, in my opinion, a great mobile operating system.

Now, all was well until I started hearing about these supposed lag issues of the Galaxy S and I honestly didn't know what it was all about. The phone seemed fast enough for me and I was generally very happy with it. Sure, sometimes it would hang for 2 or 3 seconds but nothing to worrying. I genuinely thought it was just normal hiccups like we sometimes get on our computers.

Everything changed when I decided to give one of the lag fixes a go. I thought "hey, why not?", I had wanted to root my device for a while now so I could just as well go the extra mile and apply the lag fix as well, and boy, was I missing on speed. After rooting and applying the patch everything is just snappy. There's no more hiccups at all and apps just load instantly without any wait at all. For example, when I refresh my inbox using GMail it also takes WAY LESS time than it would before, which really surprised me. Browsing also feels faster and even the benchmarking tool "Quadrant Standard" reports the Galaxy S as being twice as fast as the Motorola Droid X! Actually, with this fix, the Galaxy S is at the top of the food chain with the closest phone to provide even similar results being the Nexus One on Froyo.

So my advice is: apply this patch asap. It will eat 1Gb of your internal memory card but trust me: it's so very worth it. I'm including two videos in this post. One of them teaches you how to root the phone while the other guides you through the actual fix. Just apply them both (first root then fix) and off you go.

If you notice the phone to be faster, please drop me a comment below.

Cheers!

Update:

I know I have the videos below and they're pretty straight forward, but since this post is getting so much popularity, I thought I'd make a step by step walkthrough that will guide you through the whole process of rooting AND applying the lag fix. Let's start with the rooting, shall we?

The next steps are for ROOTING your Samsung Galaxy S (i9000):

1. Download this file: update.zip
2. Plug your phone to your computer and mount the memory cards through the notification bar.
3. Place this update.zip in the root of your INTERNAL SD card. It should be the one with lots of folders. Just place it right in the card, outside any particular folder.
4. Unmount the USB connection through the notification bar.
5. Turn off your phone.
6. With your phone turned off, press the following keys at the same time: Volume Up, Home and Power button. Keep holding them until you see the Samsung Galaxy S writings on the screen, then you can let go.
7. You will be presented with a menu, just choose the option that allows you to flash the update.zip using the volume up and volume down keys. To select the option just push the home key.
8. Wait for the phone to reboot on its own et voilà! It's done!

The next steps are for APPLYING THE LAG FIX onto your Samsung Galaxy S (i9000):

Ok, so I cheated. I'm not going to give you steps for this because.... it's the same as the steps above! So, if you have already rooted your phone, repeat the steps above BUT with this update. WARNING: The name of this second file is update1.zip. You MUST take the "1" off before you copy it to your phone, otherwise it will NOT work! You also need to know that possibly you won't see the ".zip" extension. This is fine! If you don't see it, DON'T add it! It just means Windows is hiding it for you and that's perfectly fine.

I'm still leaving the videos below and in case you have doubts or need more help, drop me a comment below. No registration required! (The comment might take a few minutes to appear as I need to approve them manually)

Rooting the Galaxy S:
~

Lag Fix:

Not all is bad about the iPhone 4 though. The screen is amazing, tantalizing, fabulous, ridiculously fantastic and I might just have ran out of adjectives to describe how "real" it feels to look at such a screen. It's like there's no screen at all and you're just looking at something "real". If you've read my blog, you'll know that by now I loathe Steve Jobs. He's an arrogant prick who bullies his employees and he might as well have been the one who gave the order to go ahead with this design, despite having been warned about the issues it could have. Still, the screen of the iPhone 4 is just... fantastic. It's something that has to be seen in person to be wooed by it and trust me, you will be.

Anyway, enough beating the dead horse with a stick and moving on to more serious matters. I've had my eye on the Samsung Galaxy S for a while now and based on the reviews and videos I saw of it, I was pretty much convinced on getting one. I had a few deals on eBay that I was keeping track of  and I was just waiting for my own phone to sell to then buy the Galaxy. However, what was not my surprise when on the O2 store, I saw the Samsung Galaxy S for sale and it had actually been one of the motives for me to go up to the store: I wanted to try the phone in person just to get the feel of it. I asked the lady if she had one other than that one on display as it had no battery and she went to get one, a BNIB handset, just for me to try. I was impressed with her amiability with this and I had the chance to take a glance at the price tag - £319 it read. I thought to myself that it was a really nice price but it was probably locked to O2, which isn't desirable at all for me. I'm at a point in my life that I might have to move to God knows where and having a phone that's locked to a British network is anything but ideal for me.

The lady came back with the handset and she let me mess around with it a bit. I tried (and failed) to enable Swype, and on a casual chit chat with the O2 lady, I asked her whether the phone was locked and she told me she didn't actually know. Those phones were supposed to be sold on contracts and those are usually unlocked, but she didn't know. She also told me that she was fairly sure they were unlocked, as the box had no O2 branding whatsoever, but she didn't know for sure. After asking a few of her colleagues, none of them seemed to be sure either but at some point, one of them assured me it was unlocked to all networks, and I just knew it: I have to buy this phone. And I did. I made an excellent deal, better than any of the deals on eBay because I get 1 year warranty and in the end it's actually cheaper than anything on eBay.

So, to everyone who's wanting to buy a Samsung Galaxy S, I say try your local O2 shop. Maybe they have a few units like this!

Apple released the iPhone 4 and dubbed it as the best smartphone ever. It was the best smartphone Apple had ever built, it was the best smartphone on Earth and... "there's one more thing... look at the rim. This is also the antenna and is part of some brilliant engineering." (this is more or less what Steve Jobs preached at the iPhone launch). When making this presentation, little did Jobs know (or didn't he?) that this antenna design was going to backfire so gracefully, like a Russian Roulette player who's about to fire the gun against his head for the sixth time in a row. And it did fire.

Jobs can bullshit us all he likes, with statistics and with supposed facts that the iPhone 4 only drops 1/100th more calls than the 3GS but fact remains: the iPhone 4 has a massive flaw that was overlooked by Apple's engineers. This flaw hit all sorts of media. It was on technology websites, on mainstream newspapers and it even hit some TV channels like CNN. Moreover, Consumer Reports in the US went from recommending the iPhone 4 to NOT recommending it at all when they found out (and tested for themselves) about this issue with the reception. After all this bad publicity, after AAPL's shares dropping roughly $30 per share, Jobs knew something had to be done. And so he did, he called for a press conference and they approached the issue of the antenna... in one of the worst ways possible.

At the conference, Jobs' claim was that all smartphones have this issue. Conveniently, they played videos of other phones being grasped firmly in a hand and of how the bars would go all the way down. Conveniently, they were videos. They weren't showing it live, the tests weren't even being done in one of the anechoic chambers that Jobs' claimed to have spent $100 million on to test their phones; it was just someone, holding a series of phones, connected to God knows what operator, and showing how the bars go down. What Apple failed to address however, was the fact that you don't need the so-called 'death grip' to get the bars to drop. All you need to do is bridge the two antennas on the bottom-left corner of the phone. Place your finger on top of it and your call quality will drop dramatically, to a point where the call might disconnect and to a point where you'll have no reception at all. Apple's response, in sum, was: all phones have this problem, the iPhone is not perfect, but here's a bumper anyway to keep you quiet.

Jobs. If you are so confident that the iPhone 4 has no problem at all, why are you giving your customers bumpers that fix the problem? What, wait. But there is no problem, is there? Is there a problem that affects all phones and thus you are appeasing the customers with a solution or is there no problem at all. I'm confused now.

In any case Jobs, I understand you. After the shit's been done you really can't admit to it anymore. You'd take another massive hit to the shares of AAPL and that's bad for business. You also can't do a global recall because that would mean replacing every single iPhone 4 by new models without the issue and that would mean catastrophic losses plus a massive stain on Apple's history. So all in all Jobs, well done. You took the sensible way out. Not the way out that truly has your customers at heart but the way out that is best for everybody.

This way, you will not only know exactly how much you should be eating of each of the wheel's categories, but you will also feel guilt ridden if your t-bone steak occupies the whole vegetable and cereal sections. These plates are apparently still just a proof of concept, but I'm pretty sure you can even photoshop the wheels yourself and have them transferred into normal white plates.

Image after the break.

[daquedesign via Gizmodo]