Goodbye to my Jailbreak...

After a year of having a jailbroken iPhone, I made an important decision tonight.  I decided to upgrade to iOS4 without preserving my jailbreak.  This was a long debated decision, but I decided that it was time.  Since I first jailbroke my phone, several things have happened:

• Google released a pretty darn good web based application for Google Voice
• Apple added a "good enough" multitasking system to the OS
• I decided I would rather have a super stable device than the additional functionality
• I realized that I don't really need most of my apps that I was jailbreaking for

First, Google Voice.  I have had GV Mobile on my phone since it's first AppStore release.  When Apple unceremoniously killed it and did not give me a refund, I felt morally obligated to jailbreak my phone.  I even upgraded to GV Mobile+, the improved version, using Cydia.  The web version is still not as slick as GV Mobile+, but it's good enough for what I want.

Second, multitasking.  I had Backgrounder on my phone, and liked the flexibility of allowing apps to keep running in the background.  This was great when I was exploring VoIP, and running a client on my iPhone.  I could allow it to receive calls, even though I was running something else.  It was also nice for Pandora.  Now, Apple has added a style of multitasking that can support those needs, while managing the scarce resources of the device.  Not quite as flexible, but good enough for what I want.

Third, stability.  With my jailbroken phone, I had *almost* no problems.  It would run great for months without any issue.  BUT... whenever something did go bad, and I needed to restore, it was always a scary process.  No guarantees that my jailbroken status would be preserved without a carefully researched recovery strategy.  Was it a real problem?  No.  Did I want to deal with it everytime?  No again.  When it comes to my phone, I would rather have "dead-simple easy" every time.

Finally, what was the point?  I had a few simple customizations that I really liked, but did I need them?  No.  Was it worth the overhead?  This time, I said "No" to that as well.  Maybe I'll change my mind again, but that's a post for another day.

For what it's worth, the upgrade was fast and painless.  In the time it took me to type up these thoughts, the whole thing finished.  It must not have synched my music from scratch, which is a nice change.  Now it's time to get back to the fun stuff... playing with my "new" toy!

Because I can...

Today, as I was walking through my building at work, I came across a little metal desk in the hall.  Apparently though, this was not any ordinary desk... it had this URL on it: www.chris@thelittlemetaldeskinthehall.com.  Unfortunately, the person who labeled the desk failed to register the domain, so I took the liberty for them.  You can see the desk on-line at http://www.thelittlemetaldeskinthehall.com/.  Maybe some day I can add a live webcam! ;)

Taking the show on the road

As part of my recent retooling theGerb.com, I'm looking at reviving my blog... again. This time, though, I have a new tool in my bag of tricks. Combining my iPhone with BlogPress, I hope to take advantage of downtime to post my updates on the go. So far the app seems to have some nice features, but it's pretty buggy. I will likely be writing a comparison of using it versus e-mail for mobile blogging.


- Mobile post via BlogPress

The Good 'Ole Days

Today, as I was browsing the interwebs, I came upon a little piece of history that really made me smile. Someone is still maintaining a list of cracks for games from back in my college days. I was especially interested to see the write ups for the cracks for Commander Keen 6, and Sid & Al's Incredible Toons. They really brought back some fond memories.

Google Wave and Google Voice Invites

I've been using Google Wave for a couple of weeks, and I finally received some invitations to hand out to others. I have already passed along four of my eight, but if you would like one of the remaining ones, send me an e-mail.

I also just realized that I have three Google Voice invites, if anyone is still looking for one.

Call me...

Well, not really. You can click the icon below to leave me a message though. Just enter your phone number and Google Voice will call you and connect you to my voice mailbox.