Well, it's here.

It would have been good to have a couple more billable hours today, but I used my time to follow two live blogs (Gizmodo, Engadget) of the Event That Will Change Everything, while edging ever closer to the slippery slope of the fanboy.  I already have several faded black turtlenecks.  I may  start wearing my jeans without a belt. 

There are a few things keeping me from putting a tent up on Michigan Avenue in front of the Apple store.  The iPad doesn't have a camera.  This would be a great tool for on the go video conferencing via Skype.  It's also not clear whether it can, in fact, be used for VOIP applications.  It's also not cheap.  How much memory is really needed?  It comes with 16, 32, and 64GB at $100 for each bump from base.  And the 3G capability is another big chunk of change, even before adding $15 or $30 per month for service.

The big reason to wait is that this is version 1.  We all know that a year from now, Steve will be on stage showing off iPad 2.0 and It Will Change Everything.

I'm looking forward to an exciting year.  In addition to moving my career in new direction, there's a lot of cool tech that I hope to get my hands on and that I'm working with right now.

• Atlassian Confluence  is a combination of web site, content distribution system, wiki, and content management system.  I'm currently developing an intranet site using it, may be expanding that into an extranet and, maybe too, into a public web site.  Although not open source, it's not too expensive, and has developed an ecosystem of developers and fans who help provide tools and support. For more info, click here.
• iPhone 4 rumors are swirling.  My wish list is a replaceable battery, better battery life, an integrated task list via Exchange Active Sync, and (though it will never happen) the ability to manage music without having to use iTunes.  In the past week, I've seen release dates in March, April, and June.   Whatever.  I don't think I'm eligible for an upgrade until late summer.  And then, maybe there will be a Nexus Two.
• The Apple Tablet is probably the most hotly rumored bit of hardware right now. I don't think I want one, but it would be so cool to have one.  It's yet another step closer to Star Trek.  My real decision in this area this year will be whether to repair or replace my existing laptop computer and, if replacing it, to stay with Windows, go with Linux, or get a Mac.

2010 is going to be a better year, personally, professionally, and technologically.

In an article in the Washington Post, MG Siegler explains what's really going on in the battle for smartphone OS dominance.
 
...Google knows that the Droid isn't an iPhone killer. Instead, it's likely the best device they have so far to kill their real competitors: Symbian and especially Windows Mobile. Repeat after me: Android is trying to kill Windows Mobile, not the iPhone.
 
It's a good read.  Eric Schmidt has been targeting Microsoft for a long, long time.

Google-hosted mail accounts are now fully accessible via Exchange Active Synch (EAS).  This means that Google-hosted email users (e.g., gmail.com and sterndata.com) now have push email enabled for the iPhone.  All that's required is setting up the account as a Microsoft Exchange account rather than Gmail.  Click read more to see how.

It's always a scary few minutes, but my phone has rebooted into OS 3.1 and I've used the latest feature in iTunes 9 to do some housecleaning

Hooray!  AT&T has announced upgrades to its 3G network to HSPA 7.2 in Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and Miami.  According to their press release, HSPA 7.2 can support 7.2 Mbps. Of course, this in itself doesn't help my 3G (no "S")  iPhone.  The important part of the announcement comes several paragraphs down:

The New York Times reports Customers Angered as iPhones Overload AT&T.  Really?  Actually, it's not all that bad here in Chicago, but when a 3G cell gets saturated, data speeds drop to nothing. My big gripe is that voice mail often loses touch with the phone.  I get no indication of a failed call or voice mail until I reboot my phone and it suddenly discovers 4 messages.

I've finally untethered my iPhone from iTunes, at least for keeping my calendar and contacts up to date.  I'm using Thunderbird to manage email, contacts, and calendar, and using Google as a back end to keep it all synchronized between the iPhone, my Linux desktop, my Windows Vista notebook, and Google Apps on the web.

Navigant and TomTom have both issued iPhone apps that provide turn-by-turn directions like their dedicated GPS devices. In today's Wall Street Journal, TomTom says that the app won't cannibalize their GPS device market, and I tend to agree. I'm not going to ditch my GPS for an iPhone app.

The other day, I woke at 4AM from the looking for the classroom dream.  You know the one -- You're in a long corridor, looking in each door, trying to figure out what class you're supposed to be in.  In this one, I remember running towards the building, sort of a cross between the central tower at my high school and a Gothic collegiate building.  As I went through the arched doors, there were corridors radiating off in front of me, with an empty information desk.  I didn't have any notebooks, nothing to write with, and no clear idea of which class I needed