The Apple iPad: A Leap of Faith

I think I’m going to buy an iPad -- but it’s going to be a leap of faith.

When it comes to Apple products, I’m not exactly unbiased. I’m an Apple shareholder and have been using a Mac for almost 20 years.

At the same time, I’m not usually an early adopter. The only product I’ve ever gotten as soon as it was announced was the iPod, because it fixed everything I hated about my old MP3 players and I love music.

And even though I was certain when the iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs in January 2007 that it was going to be a game-changer, I waited until the second version before I bought one. As I had hoped, it’s become indispensable to me.


But the iPad doesn’t seem to slot neatly in my life between my MacBook Pro and my iPhone. After much thought the reasons it makes sense for me to get an iPad now are:

• It handles some niche needs well enough to be useful today, and
• It holds future potential as a software and content platform that will be upgraded in the future without needing to buy a new iPad.

What I Would Use The iPad for Now
There are five major immediate uses I have for an iPad:

1. Lightweight travel companion replacing my MacBook
2. Sketchbook
3. Photo review in the field
4. Bedside/couch/travel reader
5. Video and music player

Of these uses, the first two are most important to me and where I think the iPad has some flaws that most likely can be addressed in software. Playing music and videos is an obvious application but wouldn’t drive the purchase for me on their own.

Writing and Drawing on an iPad
What I’ve wanted for some time is a tablet device that I can write on with a finger or a stylus.

For example, at meetings or conferences, I would love to be able to write or sketch notes directly over a Power Point or Keynote presentation, and then be able to save the results digitally with an option for handwriting recognition after the fact.

The iPad clearly is capable of doing this, but even the iWork software as demonstrated seemed to fall short. However, with its thin, light, fast, instant-on, long battery life operation, the iPad could be ideal for this application if Apple or a third-party developer adds some features.

Coupled with a responsive stylus (I’ve been experimenting with the TenOneDesign Pogo Sketch stylus on my iPhone, and while it works I’m still not used to having to push down on it to make a mark) the iPad could replace everything I currently use physical paper for -- taking notes and drawing.


If the stylus can recognize variable pressure I think many artists would make the jump from their Wacom tablets. Look at how many are already creating remarkable artwork on the iPhone and its tiny screen.

My Travel Companion
If the iPad could replace all of the handwritten notes and drawings I make today, its mail, web, and office productivity apps would only need to moderately surpass the iPhone for it to replace my laptop when I travel.

The iPhone actually works great for reading mail and even replying in a pinch, but long emails are tedious to type on the small keyboard.

For web browsing, it’s a marvel that the iPhone works so well, but it’s still like watching a three-ring circus performance through a keyhole at times, so the additional screen real estate would be welcome. I don’t expect Apple to support Flash in the iPad browser but I can deal with that.

But the real advantage here is the speed with which the iPad renders the pages as shown in the demos. If they also create tabs for fast switching between pages, web browsing will be a huge improvement over the iPhone.

For documents, although I have Quick Office on my iPhone, I never use it because it’s too much of a pain to edit tiny documents and to get them on and off the phone. Fixing the latter would require changes on Apple’s part but the bigger screen would go a long way toward addressing the former.

I’d also like to have a quick-entry app for financial transactions on the go that I could import directly into Quicken.

The coup-de-grace (which I think Apple has no intention of doing) would be to sync my iPhone to the iPad instead of a PC.

The Multi-Tasking Red Herring
On the iPhone multi-tasking mostly doesn’t matter, and I’m not sure if it will on the iPad. But, the iPhone OS already does multi-tasking.

What it doesn’t permit is third-party multi-tasking. If Apple ever decided to let non-Apple apps run in the background, this would be a software change they could enable immediately.

In the meantime, given that I already have to carefully manage the battery life on my iPhone, I’m content to let Apple decide when and if they’ll allow third-party apps to run silently behind the scenes. Apps launch so quickly on the iPhone that it’s really a non-issue today.

Reviewing Photos
Last year I bought a digital SLR camera after noticing how much better the pictures I took with my old SLR were than the small point-and-shoots I used the last several years. It’s revived my interest in photography, especially since unlike film, digital photography gives me instant feedback on what I’m doing.

Or rather, it would if I could see the pictures better than on the tiny LCD on my camera. The issue mostly arises because I’m trying to learn how to take pictures in available light (without flash), and experimenting with sports photography (where action requires a fast shutter speed) and depth-of-field (getting blurred backgrounds when I want them, but sharp primary subjects).

I’m finding that frequently I’ll return home after shooting and find that some nice shots are actually blurry once I see them on the big screen. An iPad with a camera attachment would allow me to quickly review the pictures while I still have a chance to fix the problems. Some good editing tools would be nice too (and I think third-party vendors will fill the void here if Apple doesn’t).

Beyond that, the iPad would be a nice way to display my photos for friends and family without needing to lug a laptop around.

Portable Reading Device
After getting my iPhone, I was astonished at how quickly I stopped reading physical books in favor of e-books. Despite the tiny screen, it’s incredibly liberating to have all of the books I want to read with me at all times.

If it’s easy to hold, I can see the iPad as a companion to my iPhone (syncing the page position as the Kindle app does today) for use when I’m reading in bed or on the couch and want the larger form factor. The advantages over other readers are the full-color, multimedia-capable display and its responsiveness (I find e-ink readers annoyingly slow to refresh the page).

What I’d like the most is an option to convert my present magazine subscriptions (Business Week, Money Magazine, and MacWorld) to an iPad-only option. I’d get them faster and have far less clutter in the house. Even better would be if I could import them to my iPhone with an option to read them on the go in full form, text-only, or some hybrid of the two.

The Future
If the iPad is able to do all of the above, it’ll be well worth it to me as a third device. Not insignificant is the contract-less, pay-as-you-go monthly data plans, where I think even when traveling the $15 option will be enough for most of my needs.

Otherwise, the iPad’s strikingly fast processor fixes one of the current limitations of the iPhone, its slow rendering speed for complex web pages and graphics.

But the real power of the iPad is that, like the iPhone, it’s a platform with a powerful software development kit (SDK) and an easy-to-use on-line store for apps, music, video, and now books (and hopefully magazines).

That means that as Apple continues to refine the iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch hardware and programming interfaces, the potential of these devices is going to be limited only by the imagination of the makers of software and add-on devices at Apple and elsewhere.

Today the iPad straddles an uncomfortable line between the iPhone and MacBook. It by rights should be able to fill the role of an ultra-portable MacBook, but here the lack of a USB port is the major omission. There are many people who will never need anything more than an iPhone, iPad, and maybe a big external drive for backups, but today you still nominally need a Mac or PC to sync the iPad.

With all that said, Apple is well-positioned to follow that trend in either direction. In the meantime, I’m willing to take the chance that the iPad will prove useful to me.

Ideally I’ll be able to try one before buying, but I may not want to wait. I may get my wish anyway though since I want the option of a 3G connection and that model will be released a month after the WiFi-only version.
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Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington DC

The central grassy area on the National Mall in Washington DC, ringed by the various Smithsonian museums and monument and normally empty, is filled with tents right now as the Smithsonian sponsors its annual free Folklife Festival.

Each year the Smithsonian Institution picks some cultures from around the world to showcase, with the focus this year on three distinctly different cultures: Wales (or Cymru, pronounced "kum-ree" in Welsh); musical traditions from the Hispanic Americas; and oral traditions of African-American culture.


I made a quick stop there on Wednesday and it was a pleasant diversion, with some engaging musical performances and some interesting foods from the featured cultures. With that said it lacked the sheer ambition of the Silk Road-themed festival of 2002, the last time I attended, which spotlighted a large number of cultures from the Middle East to the Far Eastern Orient with a huge variety of elaborate exhibits and demonstrations.

Welsh Folk Dancing
After quickly scarfing down some Welsh stew and salad, we watched a performance of Celtic music where they talked volunteers from the audience through the moves of a simple Welsh line dance.

This cute little girl went through the dance with an accommodating lady while her family watched from the audience:



Afterwards we went quickly through the Welsh crafts exhibits, where it was interesting to watch Caitlin Jenkins, a ninth-generation clay potter, create a pot in a matter of minutes from a lump of clay on her potter's wheel.


Las Americas: Salon de Baile
The only thing we had time left for was to watch part of a performance by a Tejano band, Los Texmaniacs from South Texas. While I prefer country music, the music had an infectious beat and would have been fun to dance to.

I made a short video from a clip I recorded using the HD video function of my new Canon digital SLR. The song here would have been a fun polka; conjunto is an accordion-based fusion of German polkas with Northern Mexican rancheros.



The Verdict
The Smithsonian Folklife Festival this year has some fun elements and is worth an hour or two of your time, or perhaps more if the exhibits and music particularly appeal to you. Otherwise they make a nice addition to a visit to the museums and monuments on the Mall, depending on the weather, and the food is tasty if a little expensive.

The easiest way to get there is by Metro, as the Smithsonian station will land you right next to the tents.

2009 Smithsonian Folklife Festival
National Mall
Washington, DC
Dates: Wed. June 24 - Sun. July 5 (closed Mon-Tue/June 29-30)
Times: 11am-6pm daily, with some special evening performances after 6pm [schedule]
http://festival.si.edu/

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CF Folks Restaurant in Washington DC

I ran into Washington DC for some sightseeing on Wednesday and I decided to try CF Folks, a small eatery that is only open at lunchtime on weekdays. This quirky place near Dupont Circle serves soup, sandwiches, and salads on its regular menu, but is best known for its daily specials that draw inspiration from different ethnic cuisines each day.


Influences For Each Day
The weekly rotation is currently as follows:

• Monday: Foods of New Orleans
• Tuesday: Latin American
• Wednesday: Italian & Indian
• Thursday: American
• Friday: Mediterranean

Eating At CF Folks
The restaurant has a small covered outdoor patio in front, which is where I ate. Inside the place is dark and somewhat cramped. You can seat yourself and order in either location (a waitress brings the food outside) but you pay inside at the counter.

There's no bathroom. The restroom is next door, going through the lobby to the third floor.


What I Had
A vegetarian Indian dish, Urad Dal (Indian black lentils seasoned with garam masala, cumin, and ginger) served with Saag Paneer (spinach and cheese) and accompanied by a rice and a side salad.

But I almost always like to have meat with my meal, so I also ordered a roast beef and turkey sandwich with Russian dressing. The staff all seemed to find this peculiar and kept asking me if I was expecting someone to join me.

The Verdict
The sandwich was decent but not particularly unusual. I think what makes CF Folks interesting is the opportunity to have a nice fresh meal that changes on a daily basis at a moderate price (the sandwiches run about $6-$7 and the specials are roughly $10-$14). I found the lentil dish to be good but not that distinctive, probably a result of their lack of specialization.

I liked the spinach side dish better because the cheese had a sharp flavor. The salad was also good, topped with a tangy vinaigrette.

The staff is all very friendly and if I lived or worked in the area I'd drop by occasionally for lunch. As it is I came in via Metro, as it's just a couple of blocks south of the Dupont Circle station.

CF Folks Restaurant
1220 19th Street NW
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 293-0162
Open Mon-Fri 11:30am - 2:15pm
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Marathon Deli in College Park, MD

After buying some accessories for my new camera, I wound up at Marathon Deli in College Park, MD next to the University of Maryland campus, one of my favorite spots for gyros.


Then afterwards I took a quick walk around the campus to test out my camera and the sling-style bag I bought to carry it. I was pretty happy with the results all around.

About Marathon Deli
Marathon Deli has been in business for around 25 years, and the original owners were crusty old Greek guys who had a sign under the Gyro Value Meal that said, "Pronounced Yee-Row." A Greek friend introduced me to the place, and though it was my first exposure to gyros it's been my touchstone for this dish ever since.

The gyros at Marathon Deli are a mix of lamb and beef cooked on an auto-doner, a rotating spit from which the seasoned meat is trimmed and then placed into griddled pita bread. What's always made Marathon's version so great is the simple yet tasty combination of onions, tomatoes, feta cheese, tsatsiki sauce, and spices that they top them with.


For some reason, the thin, crisp fries -- hot out of the fryer and sprinkled liberally with Greek seasoning -- also taste better than any I've had elsewhere.

At about $8-$9 for the Gyro Value Meal, it's a typical college eatery -- good, fast, and cheap.

I've also had the Kronoburger there too, where the gyro meat on the pita is topped instead with grilled mushrooms, onions, and melted provolone cheese. But I keep coming back to the gyros every time.

Marathon Deli
4429 Lehigh Road
College Park, MD 20740
(301) 927-6717
Mon-Sat: 10am - 9pm; Closed Sunday

Pictures Around UMD
Here are some of the test shots I took around the University of Maryland campus with my new Canon EOS 5D Mark II, a high-end digital SLR, which I was carrying in a Lowepro SlingShot 200 AW.

In some cases different settings led to dramatic differences in the results, though I have a circular polarizer on order that should make it easier to get good results with outdoor shots.




What a dramatic difference selecting a different autofocus/metering point made in these pictures of the church:




As well as for the sign at the Rossborough Inn:






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Georgetown Cupcake and Good Stuff Eatery in Washington DC

I'm expecting my sister to visit me with my nieces in a couple of weeks, so I've started scouting locations in Washington DC. The twins at 10 years of age are getting interested in museums, and if there's one thing Washington does well it's museums -- world-class facilities that are almost all free of charge.

With that said, I've learned from bitter (or at least disconcerting) experience that kids have only so much stress they can take before they melt down, and they're not real good at managing their own needs for food and drink.


So as part of this exercise I'm trying to find places to eat in DC that would be kid-friendly, ideally relatively quick, and yet tasty. Saturday I explored Good Stuff Eatery (opened by Top Chef's "Spike" and known for their burgers and toasted marshmallow milkshake) and Georgetown Cupcake (which sells specialty cupcakes).

Good Stuff
I started with a late lunch at Good Stuff Eatery, which is on Pennsylvania Avenue on the back side of the US Capitol. Good Stuff was opened by Spike Mendelsohn, a contestant on TV's Top Chef show in Season 4, and according to a sign he derived the name from his grandfather's habit of saying about food he liked, "Now that's Good Stuff!"



I ordered one of the Colletti's Smokehouse burgers (Applewood bacon, Vermont cheddar, fried Vidalia onion rings, and Chipotle barbecue sauce); Spike's Village Fries with fresh thyme, rosemary, and cracked pepper; and of course a toasted marshmallow milkshake.


The burger looks a little unprepossessing but it was really pretty good. The meat was nicely cooked and the toppings added flavor without overwhelming anything. The fries were interesting but a little dense and messy (because of the oil and herbs). I think the next time I go, I'll try the Blazin' Barn Burger (kind of a Thai burger with pickled daikon, carrots, mint, cilantro, Thai Basil, lettuce, and spicy mayo).

What I liked best were the specialty mayonnaises which I used as a dip for the fries: chipotle, mango, Old Bay, and Sriracha (the fiery red chili sauce you see in Vietnamese restaurants).

The milkshake was topped with 3 or 4 toasted marshmallows, and while it was good it was a little too sweet for my taste. I think I'll try a different one next time although the other recommended shake, the Milky Way Malt, sounds like it would also be too sweet.

Georgetown Cupcake
I then jumped into my car to drive to Georgetown, the upscale neighborhood along M Street along the river. Georgetown Cupcake opened up early last year to huge lines for their designer cupcakes. I wasn't sure I'd have time to wait if there was a long line when I got there, but the line was relatively short (only 4-5 customers can fit in the tiny shop at a time).


I ordered a small selection of cupcakes: chocolate squared, mocha, coconut, vanilla chocolate, and red velvet. Unfortunately, because I wasn't able to get them into a cool environment on a hot day, by the time I opened the box the frosting had begun to fall off the tops like a glacier sliding into the sea.



The cupcakes are gorgeous and the frosting is creamy and buttery, but are they worth $2.75 and a wait in line? I think if the line is reasonable it'll be fun to take the kids there, perhaps after eating at Pizzeria Paradiso a few blocks away. And if they run out of cupcakes or the line has more than 20 people, we could fall back to Baked and Wired which is nearby.

The key, as I learned when I took the kids around Dallas, is to manage their expectations. If we go to Georgetown for pizza, I'll just suggest after dinner that we take a walk (if the weather is nice) in search of dessert.

The Verdict
Both Good Stuff Eatery and Georgetown Cupcake are places that would be reasonable to take kids in DC, with some caveats.


Neither is cheap (my meal at Good Stuff cost $18) and Georgetown Cupcake doesn't have any seating inside, so it's not a good place to go with kids if the weather is cold or wet.

Also, while Good Stuff is just 4-5 blocks from the Capitol South Metro station, Georgetown is perhaps 10-15 long blocks from the closest Metro, Foggy Bottom-GWU. So it might be better to try driving there (though parking isn't the easiest thing in Georgetown).

But my goal is to prove that I can eat well in DC even with a couple of kids in tow who are still in the "if it's not chicken fingers, I don't want it" stage. We'll find out in a couple of weeks whether this is hopelessly unfounded optimism upon my part. :)

Good Stuff Eatery
303 Pennsylvania Ave SE
Washington, DC 20003-1148
(202) 543-8222
M-Sat. 11:30am-11:00pm, Closed Sunday

Georgetown Cupcake
1209 Potomac St NW
Washington, DC‎ 20007-3212
(202) 333-8448‎
Tu-Fri 11am-7pm, Sat. 11am-9pm, Sun. 12pm-5pm, Closed Monday
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My New iPhone 3GS: Signed, Sealed, Delivered

My new 32GB iPhone 3GS, which I ordered on-line 10 days ago, arrived at my doorstep at high noon via UPS. I signed for the box, opened the iPhone and connected it to my MacBook. Activation only took 5 minutes.


I then started the process of restoring the new phone from the back-up of my old iPhone on iTunes, a process that took 40 minutes. The new 3GS then restarted, but after that the lengthy process of actually installing my personal apps and data on the phone began and took about 55 minutes.


A small surprise (one I didn't remember from last year) was that the software asked me for permission to anonymously send CrashReporter logs to Apple. Most of my crashes come from the NYTimes Reader; Safari; Maps; and GasBag.


The true test, of course, will come when I actually try to use my new iPhone, but so far this is a vastly more civilized way to buy one.

More later.

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Pixar's Up

I love Pixar's movies for their focus upon the stories, and their craftsmanship and attention to detail. I finally saw their latest release, Up, this weekend, and I found it to be one of their warmest and funniest movies, one I'd rank just behind the Toy Story movies along with The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Monsters Inc., and Finding Nemo.


Last summer's Wall-E, while a tour-de-force technically and for the amazing dexterity of the virtually silent first half hour, was a little too ham-handed in its (admittedly pertinent) eco-message during its second half.

Up, in contrast, has the feel of an improbable 1930's cliff-hanging adventure, with many funny touches and sometimes poignant moments. It was much better than the trailers had led me to believe.

The Story
The story is probably familiar to most people by now:

78-year old balloon salesman Carl Fredericksen (Ed Asner), clinging to his house and memories after the passing of his beloved wife Ellie, is forced by circumstances to sail his house using a huge mass of helium balloons to South America. He's determined to see Paradise Falls, an unfulfilled dream he shared with his wife.


To his consternation he accidentally brings along young Wilderness Explorer Russell (Jordan Nagai), and once they land he finds himself saddled with a talking dog named Doug and a giant South American bird that Russell names Kevin.



There Carl's determination to reach the falls is challenged by a hair-raising encounter with Doug's master, who had equipped Doug and his pack with a collar that translates his thoughts into speech.

Along the way, Carl discovers that he can re-open his heart to his motley collection of companions, and that maybe, his wife Ellie didn't regret not seeing Paradise Falls as much as he thought.

The Verdict
The audience was very appreciative of the movie, including the many kids in attendance. (One cute 3-year-old girl sitting next to me has clearly been inculcated in all of the Disney movies, as she exclaimed in delight during one of the trailers, saying, "Aladdin! Simba! Ariel!" as those characters rolled across the screen.)

Like all Pixar movies there are adult ideas and humor that go over the heads of the kids. Several children were openly puzzled during the opening montage at Ellie and Carl's grief when they find out they can't have children. The behavior of the talking dogs has some jokes that kids may find funny, but only adults will understand.

But the movie is such a dazzling, gorgeous cornucopia of beautiful animation, pitch-perfect voicework, and both action and jokes that everyone can appreciate, that the entire audience is swept along for the ride.


The true test for me is that even though flying a house to South America on thousands of helium balloons is impossible, as is the idea that an old man with a walker can drag it across rugged terrain by hauling on a garden hose, for 90 minutes you willingly suspend disbelief because, goshdarnit, you want it to be possible.

Other Notes

• I saw Up at Arundel Mills' Muvico Egyptian 24 because with so many screens, it's almost always possible to get a seat at the time you want to see a movie. I've read that this theater sells the most movie tickets in the US.
• Like all recent Pixar movies, Up was preceded by a Pixar short, Partly Cloudy. This is a cute story of how baby animals are made by giant thunderheads in the sky and then carried to the new parents by storks. For one unfortunate stork, his thunderhead seems to be intent on making all of the dangerous animals.
• I bought Disney (DIS) stock when the company acquired Pixar, and both Up and Bolt were a test for me of how well Pixar's John Lasseter will be able to remake the famed animation studios. I just watched Bolt on my iPhone during my last trip (using my FastMac iV to supply the battery juice), and that movie was also much funnier and better executed than you'd think from watching the trailers.
• With that said, The Princess and The Frog, shown during the opening trailers (is that an oxymoron?), struck a jarring note with what seems to be over-the-top humor. My only hope is that this movie, too, will be much better than the promotional trailers.

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The Amazing Bandage: Band-Aid Activ Flex

Every now and then a product comes along that, although it fills just a small niche in the grand scheme of things, works so much better than anything else that it has a greatness of its own.

Band-Aid Activ Flex bandages fit into that category.

Simply put, while they're a little bit pricey, they're well worth it because they don't just work better than regular bandages, they do things those bandages can't. They're waterproof and germ-proof, they speed and enhance healing, and they stay on for days.


Like A Second Skin
I keep a few Activ Flex bandages in my sports bag, and while playing outdoor volleyball over Memorial Day weekend, one of the other players, Ian, cut open the sole of his foot on top of a blister he'd gotten the day before.

We used a little water to wash it clean and then some antiseptic wash, and then he applied the Activ Flex bandage. Shortly afterwards he had re-entered the game.

These bandages are both waterproof and seal to your body like a second skin. While they can't take unlimited abuse, they stay on for days under ordinary circumstances and so are particularly good for areas like your hands which are constantly being washed.


Ian's bandage came off partly because of the blister and partly because of the wear and tear from running and jumping on it, but I gave him a couple more and he was sold on them, planning to go out and buy some himself.

Advanced Healing and Less Pain
These bandages were actually first developed for hospitals by Compeed, and Johnson & Johnson brought them out about 10 years ago under the trademark "Advanced Healing." (Competitors have since come out with similar products, but I think these work better.) I suspect their hefty price (about $5 for a pack of 10) discouraged people from trying them.

So a couple of years ago J&J rebranded them as "Activ Flex" with the implication that they would work better for active people. That's true, but they also make wounds heal much faster and with less scarring. Also, the Activ Flex bandages dramatically reduce the pain from the wound.

To me the price is justified because they both work better and stay on for days, so you don't need to replace them anywhere near as often.

Other Products: Blisters and Liquid Bandages
The same flexible, stretching colloidal material has been adapted for other purposes, too. For a while they had a similar scar treatment which I used to fade the scar where a mole had been removed, and they still sell a blister healing product. (I've also used these bandages to prevent blisters from forming, such as when I'm breaking in new boots.)


A different product, but one that also has its roots in the hospital products division, is J&J's Band-Aid Liquid Bandage.

They've revamped this product to make it a simple one-step process with a Q-tip style applicator, as opposed to the former method which required you to squeeze a liquid onto an activator. I'm not sure it works as well for larger cuts, but it seals small cuts very well, and again that's most useful on your hands which flex and get washed constantly.

The other advantage of the Band-Aid Liquid Bandage is that it doesn't sting when you apply it, unlike competing liquid and spray bandages.
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Dining in Portland, Oregon

When it comes to dining in Portland, the city seems to have a relatively large number of good places to eat, and I was most interested in finding places with local character.


I tried a couple of local brewpubs, a "haunted" pizzeria, the airport outlet of a place that claims to be a Portland institution, went to a fine-dining Andean restaurant, and finally did a drive-by of a doughnut shop.


Quick summaries of the places I went to:

Peruvian:

• Andina (1314 NW Glisan Street, Portland, OR 97209): This Peruvian establishment in the Pearl District was by far the priciest and most upscale establishment where we ate. But the food was excellent, ranging from the rack of lamb to the elegant canutos de quinoa y maracuya dessert (cannolis with passionfruit mousse, mango-lemongrass sorbet, and caramel). To my surprise, I also really enjoyed the lime-juice "cooked" ceviche (raw seafood).
  

Micro-Breweries:

• BridgePort Brewpub (1313 NW Marshall Street, Portland, OR): Portland has a number of micro-breweries and BridgePort in the Pearl District was the first that we tried. The beer was good (I had their signature India Pale Ale) and the food was decent. It was happy hour and a lot of the dishes were offered for between $4-$6, which was a pretty good deal.

• Widmer Brothers Brewing Company (929 N. Russell St. Portland, OR 97227): Another microbrewery, but with a German Gasthaus theme in a historic building on the east side of the river. I had the pork schnitzels and spaetzle as well as a weisswurst. I loved the spaetzle (small extruded German dumplings) and the schnitzel was tasty but a bit too thick of a cut. The weisswurst was all right but it was grilled instead of boiled as I expected and they also served it with spicy mustard instead of the traditional sweet mustard. The sauerkraut was surprisingly bland. I decided to try their handcrafted root beer which I liked a lot, though I did also sample an interesting (but very spicy) experimental beer.
  

Korean:

• Number 1 Bento (SW 10th Avenue, Portland, OR 97205): This Korean cart is parked in an open paved lot with about 10 other trailers, which were open for lunch on Saturday. I had some fresh and tasty bulgogi with kimchee and potstickers (though the latter were fried a bit too hard).

Haunted Pizza:

• Old Town Pizza (226 NW Davis, Portland, OR 97209): The pizza here is pretty good if you like it with a lot of cheese and I really liked the hazelnut Italian soda I got at the bar, but the real attraction here is the building, which was built as a hotel in 1880. Old Town Pizza occupies the former hotel lobby and supposedly is "haunted" by the ghost of a lady of the evening who was thrown down an elevator shaft there. Tunnels also lie underneath the building, where sailors were Shanghaied to the dock (perhaps after being dropped down a trapdoor elsewhere on the block, now another restaurant called Hobo's).
  

Doughnut Drive-By:

• Voodoo Doughnuts (22 SW Third Avenue, Portland, OR 97204): I didn't actually sample the famous doughnuts at this downtown establishment because the line was too long and time was short, but I did get a picture of a Froot Loop doughnut. They're supposedly open 24 hours.
  

At PDX Airport:

• Rose's Restaurant and Bakery (Portland Airport/PDX): I ate at the airport location of this local Portland chain. I had their signature reuben sandwich, a huge triple-decker of corned beef, turkey, cheese, Thousand Island, and sauerkraut on rye bread. It was pretty good but a lot of food.
  

Places I'd Like To Try
A couple of other places were recommended to me but I didn't have time to try them.

• Portland City Grill (111 SW Fifth Avenue, 30th Floor, Portland, OR 97204): This Pearl District place supposedly has good food at a moderate price, but the real attraction here is the view from its 30th Floor location. They supposedly also have a nice happy hour.

• Jake's Famous Crawfish (401 SW 12th Avenue, Portland, OR 97205): Opened in 1892 and now owned by McCormick and Schmick's, Jake's is a downtown institution that some say has the best seafood in Portland.

Related:

• A Quick Trip To Portland, Oregon (6/5/09)
• My First Video: Multnomah Falls, Oregon (6/6/09)
  
• Country Dancing in Portland, OR (6/7/09)
• Dining in Portland, Oregon (6/9/09)
• Waterfalls: Columbia River Gorge, OR

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I Want My iPhone 3GS

The rumors were right, and today Apple opened its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) by announcing that a new iPhone 3G-S will go on sale on June 19th (the "S" stands for "speed"), while cutting the price of the current 3G model in half.


It's a pretty significant upgrade, and I've already started plotting how I'll replace ordered a replacement for my less than 1 year old iPhone 3G. While all iPhones will benefit from the simultaneous release of the new iPhone 3.0 OS software, the new hardware offers certain capabilities that aren't available on older models:

• 32GB maximum storage (I have 16GB of music alone)
  
• A much improved 3 Megapixel camera with auto-focus and video
  
• Improved battery life
  
• A digital compass
  
• Voice recognition (including voice dialing)
  
• 2 times improvement in speed
  
• The ability to use the faster 7.2 Mbps HSPA cellular network when available

Everything else being equal, the first three items would have been enough for me to pull the trigger, but these other upgrades are important ones too.

Other Announcements
Otherwise, the most interesting of the new announcements today were the enhanced MobileMe capabilities. Previously MobileMe's primary benefit to me was its over-the-air syncing of my calendar, e-mail, contacts, and bookmarks.

But now Apple has added some remote management functions that allow you to log in to find the location of your lost iPhone, say, to cause it to beep in sofa mode if you've dropped it between the cushions; or remotely wipe the data in case it's been stolen.

Mac OS X Improvements
After finally watching the WWDC video, a couple of other things struck me. First is that every iPhone and iPod Touch in existence is going to get an appreciable speed increase of 2-3 times simply from getting the software upgrade (iPhone OS 3.0, which will be released two days before the 3GS on June 17th).

The second is that it feels as though the optimizations they've done for the next Mac OS (Snow Leopard, due in September for $29) seem ideal for the iPhone, and watching how similar the video editing in the new QuickTime is to the iPhone 3GS video reinforces my suspicion that the iPhone was a big driver for Apple to make the Mac OS much tighter, faster, and smaller.

My Options
I'm not ordinarily a bleeding-edge early adopter. But even though the iPhone 3G remains a great device, this upgrade addresses what for me were the three biggest weaknesses of that model (capacity, camera, and battery).

I didn't expect the camera to become so important to me, but when you always have a camera with you the photo opportunities abound, and of course it's handy when you have a blog. But with the old fixed 2 Megapixel camera, pictures in anything less than direct sunlight were usually blurry and unbalanced in a way that I couldn't correct with post-processing software.

Since I'm in the middle of a 2-year contract, I believe I have three or four main options:

• Pay the "early upgrade" price, which according to Ars Technica would be $399 for 16 GB or $499 for the 32 GB model;
  
• Add a new phone on a family plan ($130/month) and give my old phone to someone in my family;
  
• Wait another 7 months until I'm eligible for the subsidized iPhone 3GS at the 18-month mark, at $199 (16GB) or $299 (32GB);
• Buy an iPhone without a contract (without the subsidy) at $599 (16GB) and $699 (32GB).

I don't think I can wait for the third option so I'm going to look into the first one. If possible, I'll also try to pre-order since waiting in line like the last time is not an experience I'm anxious to repeat. (But that's another story...)

Note that people who bought their iPhones within the last 30 days (I understand that this applies back to May 9th) have a price protection guarantee -- they can get either a rebate or trade in their phone for a new one.

Update (6/9/09):
After looking at the upgrade plans, I decided to order the iPhone 3G S online and have it delivered on June 19th. For the 32GB model it cost me $499 plus $29.94 tax and another $36 that will be billed by AT&T for activation and an upgrade fee ($18 each).



It also reset the clock on my 2-year contract.

I could have have gotten a regular subsidized upgrade in December at the 18-month mark, but this is one of the few times when I'm not willing to wait.

The interesting thing is that among my co-workers, there are at least 3 who plan on getting it right away too (and the wives of two of them want them just as badly, despite being initially cool to the idea of an iPhone when they got the first or second gen models).




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