GEAR: The 4S seems to be doing ok.

Despite people pretending that they were less than impressed with the iPhone 4S over 4 million have been sold in the first weekend alone! Yea, that's a lot of iPhones. It's a new record for iPhone sales and more than double the amount if iPhone 4's sold in its first weekend. Last night I got my hands on one for the first time and Siri was pretty awesome. There were a few times where she either didn't understand me or couldn't answer my question (they were pretty ridiculous). But I even said "I feel like pizza" and she located all pizza in the area and sorted them by distance. Later I asked "I want the best steak in town" and rather than order the restaurants by location she ordered them by rating. Definitely awesome. So good luck if you're trying to get one in the next couple of weeks because they're hot property!

GEAR: Meet Siri

If somehow you didn't already know, the iPhone 4S became "available" today. And by available I mean that unless you pre-ordered it or waited in line outside an Apple store for about two days it actually won't be available. Obviously they're selling like hot cakes so it will probably be a couple weeks before anyone who wasn't chomping at the bit can get their hands on one. I'm hoping one of my friends gets one soon so I can see Siri in action.

GEAR: Stop complaining about the 4S.

Remember when everyone bitched and complained about the changes to the Star Wars movies in the blu-ray set? Remember how two weeks later that same set broke all kinds of sales records? Well the internet bitchers have done it again! Despite some heavy backlash about the absolutely incredible iPhone 4S not being an absolutely incredible iPhone 5, the 4S sold 1 million pre-orders in ONE DAY! Wow. Obviously it already sold out and orders that are placed now will have a ship date of two weeks out. And I'm sure the number of people who pre-ordered just because of Steve Jobs' passing is actually pretty minimal. It's still a big purchase to make. So stop whining everyone, or better yet, whine to Siri and she'll let you know how stupid you are.

For the full story head over to Mobile Orchard HERE!

GEAR: Get your pre-orders in for the iPhone 4S!

Pre-orders for the iPhone 4S have officially begun. If you're like me, the idea of having a phone that takes better pictures than your camera, better videos than your video camera, and has a personal assistant who will eventually probably know more about you than you know yourself, then you think the 4S is pretty sweet! I'm thinking I'll wait until Christmas and see how everyone reacts to it but at this point I'm pretty tempted to get one. It will be interesting to see the effect Steve Jobs' death has on Apple over the next year or so. It's a testament to how incredible of a business man he was that he got the company in order, new CEO and all, before his passing. I'm part of the camp that believes Apple will continue to be as strong as ever and I'm excited for the incredible products they will continue to give us.

Pre-order your iPhone 4S right now HERE!

APPLE: Let's talk iPhone

With the internet buzzing and live blogging over Apple's anticipated reveal of the iPhone 5, Tim Cook states, "Next up is iPhone, this could be the reason why the room is so full today." Shortly after that he starts talking about the iPad...damn you Apple! It's no secret that the only thing people cared about today was the reveal of the iPhone 5. Would it be a complete redesign of the system or just a similar design with some minor tweaks? There were plenty of announcements at the conference titled "Let's talk iPhone" but here's what I thought were the coolest ones:

 - A new "Cards" app is coming in which people can customize their own cards for birthdays, graduation, etc. by adding their own pictures, words, etc. Apple will print it out and send it to you for only $2.99 in the US and $4.99 anywhere in the world...goodbye Hallmark.

 - Over 1 billion apps are downloaded each month from iOS...ya, month.

 - iMessage which is basically BBM for iOS devices is coming and it will send messages to all your iOS devices, i.e. iPad and iPhone.

 - Reminders app will alert you when you are near something you need to be doing.

 - Newstand app will feature GQ, Allure, Vanity Fair, The New York Times, etc.

 - Easier photo taking by double tapping the Home button or clicking the volume buttons.

 - Game Center updating to add friend photos, achievement points, friend recommendations, etc.

 - Tabbed web browsing coming to the iPad and pages can be saved so you can view them instantly on either your iPhone, iPad, etc.

 - iOS 5 will drop on October 12th!


 - iCloud comes October 12th and will store your contently and automatically push it to all your devices. Take a photo on your iPhone and it's automatically pushed to your iPad as well. Also daily backups on the cloud for all devices. Honestly it sounds pretty incredible.

 - Find My Friends will show you where your friends are if they have opted to show their location. Sounds cool to me, except when you don't invite a friend to a party and forget to turn it off...uh oh! It might suck with parents too for you high schoolers. Parental controls included to keep away those pesky stalkers. You can also see where someone is for a limited time, i.e. they're lost trying to get to your house and you can see where they are and direct them...that's sweet.

 - iTunes Match allows you to sync all your music instantaneously whether you've bought it from iTunes or not? Don't quite fully understand this one. But it's $24.99 for a year. It comes at the end of October.

 - Some cool iPod Nano accessories like a wristwatch, automatic run/walk tracker and different clock faces one of which was Mickey Mouse! $129 for 8GB and $149 for 16GB...not bad.

 - New iPod Touches are sweet including a new white model. The new version can run iOS 5 and be plugged in with iCloud. 8GB is $199. 32GB is $299 and 64GB is $399...wow.

 - Infinity Blade 2 is coming to iOS on December 1st. The sequel to one of the best selling games in iOS history. The new graphics look pretty awesome.

 - New iPhone 4S features an A5 chip, up to 2X faster than before with dual core graphics which are said to be seven times faster than previous iPhones. It supports both CDMA and GDS networks which means it will be faster more consistently utilizing two antennas. Battery life is eight hours of 3G talk time, six hours of browsing, nine hours on WiFi. 10 hours of video and 40 hours of music. Features an all new camera with an 8 megapixel sensor which is 3264x2448 (very nice resolution). Videos will be recorded in 1080p. 

 - A brand new thing called Siri makes your phone eerily intelligent and helpful, seriously this thing is absolutely insane. It recognizes your voice and has the ability to answer questions regardless of how they are presented. 
For example, asking "What is the weather today" is the same as saying "Will it rain in Cupertino?," "Do I need an umbrella today?" "What's the upcoming forecast?" etc. 


 - It will answer based on the question asked, i.e. "Do I need a raincoat today?" Siri responds, "It sure looks like rain today." 
 - "Wake me up tomorrow at 6am." Siri responds, "Ok, I set it for 6am." 

 - "Find me a Greek restaurant in the Palo Alto area." Siri responds that she found 14 - sorted by rating.
 - If you have a bluetooth in and you get a text message you can have Siri read the message to you by pressing your bluetooth button.
 - This is insane, you can make an appointment all by talking to Siri and she will set your calendar, clock, etc.

 - Tell her, "Remind me to call my wife when I leave work." Siri asks to confirm and makes the reminder. Siri already knew who his wife is and set up a geofence around work.

 - Tell her, "Define Mitosis." It's defined.

 - This is insane. Honestly what this represents for the future of technology is staggering. This is a phone we're talking about and the things it can do are impressive. Truly incredible technology.

 - PRICE POINTS FOR 4S: $199 for 16GB. $299 for 32GB. $399 for 64GB! Both black and white versions and price is with carrier agreement. 

 - PRE-ORDERS start October 7th and the iPhone 4S hits shelves on October 14th! Available for Verizon, AT&T and Sprint.

And that's it from the "Let's Talk iPhone" conference! No iPhone 5 revealed...yet. But honestly the improvements to the iPhone 4S are so significant it may as well have been a brand new model. Not only is it priced well, but the new features are incredible. Siri may change the way that people do business and it seems that there is only plans to grow in Apple's future.