• dean richards on fight night round 4's physics engine
• fight night round 4 announced, marks tyson's videogame comeback

• ea sports release dates: ncaa, madden, fifa, nba live, pga tour

• jeopardy! game trailer

just to stop all this confusion. there is a private closed sony-internal beta going on. no journalists, only employees. this chap obviously does not like being an employee and morte interested in boosting his ego on the gametrailers forums. vips are not yet involved either. as before, we'll be providing more info on the public beta later in the year and i am not going to dicuss the details of what is going on now in any detail. you guys simply have to trust us that we know what we are doing.

• killzone 2: the multiplayer classes
• scee: killzone 2 public beta later this year, journalist invites sent
• hermen hulst: guerilla games placing finishing touches on killzone 2
  

this weekend, fog creek is finally moving into the big new office space we've been working on since last march. these things take forever.

the new office will be:

• twice as big as the old office
• in a better neighborhood
• costing about 5 times as much in rent
• with higher quality finishes
• 50% more aquarium
• a private marble-lined shower
• and adjustable-height desks (for developer ergonomics, of course).

also, thanks to jeff atwood, it will have rock band.

today, the company came down to tour the construction site and pick offices.

haworth didn't come through for me... their moveable walls take so long to manufacture that we're literally going to have to move in without walls and doors, which will arrive about 6 weeks late.

the new kitchen:

i'll have more detailed pictures for you once we get moved in.

not loving your job? visit the joel on software job board: great software jobs, great people.

this week's stackoverflow podcast is up: episode 19.

jeff and i spent some time talking about the home page for stackoverflow. what goes there? what does it mean to vote on a question?

we also talked about aaron swartz's article on how to launch software. big-bang launches can be disasters (viz.: cuil); quiet, gentle launches without announcements where you slowly build can work a lot better (viz.: gmail). will stackoverflow's launch overwhelm our servers and underwhelm our audience?

not loving your job? visit the joel on software job board: great software jobs, great people.

when apple’s iphone 3g came out, i was pretty sure i’d get one. it had all the features i was waiting for. but the lines just weren’t going away.

i searched twitter. for a week, then two, every day brought fresh reports of five-hour waits.

and then the reports of bugs started coming in. the exchange synchronization features weren’t up to snuff, i heard. the phone crashed regularly, i heard. basic operations were painfully slow. battery life was abysmal.

adam curry suggested getting a nokia e71. i had never heard of this thing. nokia? really? for years i had always thought that nokia made chunky europhones that were always just one button short of a usable user interface.

but, no, the more i investigated, the more it seemed that the e71 was a truly credible alternative to the iphone 3g. the reviews coming in from europe were stellar. there was one hitch: it didn’t seem to be on sale over here.

there was one last hope. around the corner from the apple store on fifth avenue, nokia had opened a pricy boutique where they sold unlocked, unsubsidized cell phones, mostly to foreign tourists who invaded new york to take advantage of our banana-republic currency.

“do you have the e71?” i asked.

“i have a demo model you can look at,” the guy said.

it seemed very sleek. smaller than the iphone, all metal, nothing chintzy… with the best keyboard i’ve ever used on a phone.

“they’re not on sale until tomorrow… if we have any left after tonight’s super-exclusive launch party. which is invite only,” he emphasized.

i’m shameless. “how do i get invited?”

“well, um, put your name on this list.” he gave me a blank piece of paper. “and come back at 6 pm.”

which i did. there was a short line of a dozen nokia fans—a somewhat ghetto version of the five hour iphone lines. within minutes, i had my e71, and they even helped me with the arduous task of popping in the sim.

plink! it worked!

i’ve been using it for a month now, and i’m completely sold. this is the best phone i’ve ever had. i love it.

now, don’t get me wrong: i think the iphone is brilliant. the apple iphone is truly an inspired piece of design that pushed the state of the art and then went about ten steps further. if the iphone competed in the olympic swimming tournaments, michael phelps would have just retired on the spot and given up swimming for life.

for many people, the iphone 3g is perfect. i thought that it meant “game over” for all the other handset makers. but nokia is a fantastic company and they weren’t going to give up that easy. their new e71 is a fantastic phone, clearly inspired by the competition, and the game is not over.

there were three reasons i was looking to upgrade.

1. i wanted a phone with a decent mp3 player, so i don’t have to carry two devices.
2. i wanted to be able to use the phone’s internet connection to get online with my laptop on the train out to the hamptons (there’s tolerable 3g coverage on at&t for the first two hours of the trip).
3. i needed great exchange synchronization, not just an imap client. for the last few weeks i’ve been desperately trying to get merlin mann’s inbox zero concept working and you need a great exchange client, not a 1.0 exchange client.

the e71 met most of these requirements. it’s got a decent music player, a built-in podcasting client (so i can download podcasts directly instead of going through my desktop pc), and it’s even got an fm radio. there’s a third party software app called jaikuspot which uses the 3g connection and the wifi in the phone to turn your phone into a mobile hotspot so you can surf from your laptop. when i tried jaikuspot, it kept dropping the connection, so i can’t say that was the perfect experience, but i’ll keep trying.

nokia’s built in exchange synchronization is very 1.0. it doesn’t know about folders, which means there’s no way to get things out of my inbox into an archive folder after i deal with them. this was unacceptable. it meant i would have to go through all those emails again when i got back to my desk. but there’s a third party app, dataviz roadsync, which handles exchange synchronization and does support folders, and that works perfectly.

there are some other great features i discovered when i really got into this phone.

the gps is great fun. it doesn’t work indoors. it doesn’t work in the city where the sky is a distant memory. but it works when you’re out in the country, and it’s really fun to get google maps satellite images showing exactly where you are. that is, if you’re not so far out in the country that there’s no cell reception. combined with the 3 megapixel camera, if you’re really lucky, you can snap pictures and then upload them directly to your flickr account, and the picture will be tagged with its exact location. you have to be pretty lucky for this to work: getting the gps to find enough satellites is not always possible.

the pictures are, um, well, cellphone quality. i uploaded a few sample pictures. it's for snapshots and memories, not photography.

the fit and finish of this phone is amazing. it’s the slimmest nokia i’ve ever seen: smaller in every dimension than an iphone. it feels solid. the keys on the keyboard are really clicky and extremely easy to type with, especially combined with the predictive word autocomplete. (why don’t desktop word processors have autocomplete yet?)

the battery lasts a couple of days under heavy use, and is easy to replace, so i keep a spare around for those days when i forgot to charge the phone.

the call quality is the best i’ve ever experienced. after years of using junky phones i literally did not know cell phone calls could be this good. the external speaker (for hands-free operation) is the loudest i’ve ever heard. the phone will announce your callers by name using a synthesized voice. there are probably dozens of other features buried in here which i haven’t found. i think there’s a second camera in front for video calls but i’m way too old to figure out how to make that work.

the music player is adequate, but not great. it’s amazing how something as simple as playing mp3s is so fraught with minor problems… apple makes it look easy to build an mp3 player, so when someone else tries, it’s always surprising to see just how hard it is to get right. on the e71:

• the sound quality is not quite as good as apple
• it takes too many steps to shuffle music
• you hear unexplained static in the headphones when no music is playing.
• the volume control has exactly ten choices. it reminded me of those old at&t public telephones with three amplification choices for the hearing impaired. you have to choose between too soft and too loud.
• when you’ve listened only to a part of a long podcast, the phone doesn’t remember where you were up to, so if you go back to it, you have to search around for the point where you left off.

the built-in browser was decent, but ignore that… just install opera mini, which is stellar. i still haven’t found a website which doesn’t display respectably on this phone with opera mini. there's a built in gps map application, which always freezes. ignore that, too. the free google maps is better.

this phone is inevitably going to be compared to the apple iphone 3g, so i might as well list the big pros and cons of each.

• the iphone has a bigger, touch-sensitive screen, which makes the browsing experience better. on the other hand, the nokia e71 has a fantastic physical keyboard that makes it very easy to reply to email. this is just a tradeoff; you’re going to have to decide whether the browsing or the typing is more important to you.
• the iphone apps are easier to use and simpler. apps on the nokia tend to have more features (for example, there is true multitasking, so you can listen to podcasts while working on email and downloading web pages in the background, and then you can take a picture without losing a beat). in general i think that geeks will prefer the nokia for its functionality, while the iphone is totally the phone for people who are less technical and don’t want to spend any time setting up their phone and downloading software to get it exactly the way they want it.
• the nokia has a replaceable battery and a replaceable storage card which may make it fit your lifestyle better if you’re a heavy user.

in any case, it’s the best phone i’ve ever had and i’m loving it.

not loving your job? visit the joel on software job board: great software jobs, great people.

“i pass six starbucks every morning on my walk to work. just to clarify, that's counting only the starbucks that are actually on the west side of eighth avenue in midtown manhattan. i think there are some branches on the east side, but that side remains terra incognita for me; for most new yorkers, micro-optimizing the walk to work is a matter of habit, and i have no reason to cross the street. for all i know, the other side of eighth avenue consists of nothing but pachinko parlors and flea circuses. wouldn't surprise me one bit.”

from my latest inc. article: good system, bad system

ps: i've got a new book out: more joel on software is the second collection of articles from the archives of this site.

not loving your job? visit the joel on software job board: great software jobs, great people.

• tecmo president resigns
• tomonobu itagaki slaps evidence against tecmo on second hearing
  

we have a long-standing commitment to supporting the educational needs of minority and female students who are interested in being part of the video game industry. by providing this support to the esa foundation's scholarship program, we hope to allow deserving individuals to further their education and expand workplace diversity within our industry.

• rock band 2
• madden 08
• super smash bros. brawl
• i-play bowling

• it's raining iphones: apple to ship 45 million iphone 3gs in 12 months?
• vlc4iphone v0.9.8 beta: firmware 2.0 support (beta testers only)

i'm not a huge fan of trying to punish your consumer... albeit these people have clearly stolen intellectual property, i think there are better ways of resolving this within our power as developers and publishers.

[piracy] is absolutely wrong. it is stealing. but at the same time i think there are better solutions than chasing people for money. i'm not sure what they are, other than to build game experiences that make it more difficult for there to be any value in pirating games.

• music industry on game devs fighting illegal file-sharers: you're on your own

apple boosted its production plans when initial sales proved stronger than the company expected, says [businessweek's source], who requested anonymity. on launch day, the company expected to build 30 million iphone 3gs in 12 months. apple declined to comment beyond reiterating that it expects to reach a stated goal of selling 10 million iphone 3gs in 2008.

• apple experiences iphone 3g shortage, will launch iphone 3g to 20 other countries
• iphone 3g now jailbroken
• iphone 3g production costs amount to only us 174.33
• apple's iphone 3g sells one mill in three days
  

one of the more frequently used apps i had on my ipod touch prior to upgrading to 2.0 was the simply media application. it allowed me to access my entire music library on my computer without having to transfer the songs and eat up the remaining free space on my measly 16gb ipod touch. that was back in the day when it was only available through installer.app.

it’s a good thing, though, that simplify media is finally available through the app store, and it’s free. i’m not too sure if they’re serious about it being free of charge only to the first 100k iphone users, but nonetheless, i didn’t take any chances and downloaded it immediately. now, i enjoy the same benefits as i did before and have totally forgotten those jailbreaking days of the past.

they’ve added some new a features such as artist info (by last.fm) and song lyrics (by lyricwiki). the album art, unfortunately, is now also updated by connecting to an online database which is erroneous at times probably due to the wrong search criteria. in the past, it would just display whatever album art i had in my itunes collection, but i guess they decided to change it in this latest version.

remote access is still limited to audio files so you won’t be able to watch your favorites tv shows and movies through it. however, you can connect to the libraries of your other simplify media contacts which, in turn, will give you access to more-than-your-average fill of music.

a desktop version needs to be installed first for you to gain to access your library, but that’s probably the most tedious part of the whole process. once you’ve got everything set up and you’re friends are hooked on it as well, get ready to enjoy countless hours of music fun just as long as you’re connected to a network (wi-fi, 3g, or even edge).

it isn’t perfect, but it’s pretty good for the most part, and best of all, its free!

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best buy will begin selling apple iphones september 7, making it the first retailer other than apple or at&t corporate stores to offer the device.

some at&t franchisees are none too happy about this latest deal, since they are not allowed to sell the device themselves. one franchisee i spoke with shared his frustration over the false traffic that the iphone causes. he stated that customers come in looking for the iphone and we can’t sell it.

speculation over why franchisees are not allowed to sell the device seem to go back to apple’s determination to prevent price cuts. apparently, getting franchisees to sign a document promising not to discount the phone is not good enough for apple, which is reaching out to other stores rather than expand on their carrier of choice.

currently best buy sells apple desktop and laptop computers in more than 600 locations, and the addition of the iphone at back-to-school time may well give the big box retailer a leg up on their competition.

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during the design process of the new iphone, steven jobs approached business smart phone users directly and asked them what they would need in an iphone for them to switch.

there were several responses, but more than any other it was the desire for immediate and simple syncing with microsoft outlook. push email was and is a critical make it or break it issue with business customers who need to be able to retrieve their email on their phone and on the fly, without hassle.

apple answered with just such a push email program that works with outlook and that, combined with apple’s new app store, has even die hard rim customers considering switching to the more modern, flashier iphone.

consider that hsbc is considering ending their relationship with rim and opting instead to transition their workers to iphones. this deal, if it happens, will result in a bulk order of up to 200,000 iphones, perhaps the largest single purchase of the revolutionary handset to date.

in addition to getting a great sale, hsbc’s decision to move to the iphone would go far in shifting the public’s perception of the iphone as a business smart phone.

one of rim’s challenges is that its application programming interface (api’s), are not only outdated but are not fully disclosed to would-be third party developers, making it difficult to create exciting applications.

this stands in stark contrast to the apple model, in which developers are provided all the tools they need to produce fully functional applications that get attention. bottom line: apple currently is able to allow for applications to come to market faster than rim.

rim’s blackberry line has long dominated both business and government sectors, but if they wish to retain, indeed grow, such market share, they will have to become far more nimble in the release of new products.

come on rim. get the bold and thunder out there and see if you have what it takes to stand toe to toe with the new and improved iphone.

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though most users are pretty happy with their 3g iphone, there are those who have been frustrated with their purchase due to its inability to manage a stable 3g connection. they may be a minority in the context of the greater picture, but they are, nevertheless, significant enough in numbers to force at&t to accept returns and subscription cancellations.

according to nomura securities analyst richard winsor, the problem may be a bit more serious than just a minor firmware flaw.

“we believe that these issues are typical of an immature chipset and radio protocol stack where we are almost certain infineon is the 3g supplier.”

if this is true, then we might see a possible recall of all concerned products in the near future. this isn’t exactly something new to apple as they have already experienced a similar situation with regards to their laptops. with this looming scenario being a repetition of the past, one begins to ask: is apple sacrificing quality control over profit? we can only wonder for now until further investigation is done on this matter.

how about you? how’s the 3g connection on your iphone faring so far?

[source]

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first there was the google short code for finding local pizza and auto parts stores. semi-cool. then there was free 411. very cool.

but now there is a far more comprehensive and useful application called beyond 411, that integrates directly into your blackberry and creates its own cool icon and instantly makes your life simpler, easier, more meaningful. you have meaning now.

this app rocks, no other way around it. my friend sent it my way today and i’m still playing with it. it’s deeper and more powerful than any single free application i’ve added to my blackberry yet.

you can do searches, from yellow pages to white pages, you can look up driving directions and web pages, and the moment you start typing the advanced predictive text feature presents you with a logical list, a most comprehensive list, from which to choose.

it can even search based on your exact location using gps!

beyond 411 also offers blackberry address book integration which allows you to add results directly to your address book and email searches as a vcard, so you will only have to look items up once.

beyond 411 also offers local price searches via yokel shopping search, local sports, weather and news.

folks, if you are a blackberry user you’re in for a major treat. go to beyond 411 and get your copy today!

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just two seconds ago sandra bullock was all over ryan reynold's balls. but now she has lightened her coif and hopped on over to the set of another movie called all about steve.

according to imdb, sandra bullock plays an "eccentric crossword puzzler" who believes that a cnn cameraman is her true love. then she goes all astronaut stalker and follows him around the country. it's a rom-com not a thriller, so don't get too freaked out.

those red boots are... nice. at least they aren't all beat up like those louboutin's she had to wear last time (although i don't have any, so i can't say much).

sandra's outfit is really starting to grow on me though. for a professional crossword-er she sure looks pretty stylish!

photos: pacificcoastnewsonline

more photos of sandra bullock on the set of all about steve are after the jump.

britney spears is one of 41 actresses included on the official ballot released by the academy of television arts & sciences to its voting members. that means that brit has a chance of being nominated for her guest appearances on how i met your mother for an emmy this year!

i know. calm down. an emmy might mean that britney's back on track. if by some chance it helps inspire her to really get on the straight and narrow path, there will still be plenty of news for you consume about her wild and crazy days.

lynne spears is coming to the rescue! her tell-all memoir is finally going to be released this coming september. the book was originally going to be released on mother's day this year but was postponed when jamie lynn got knocked up.

through the storm: a real story of fame and family in a tabloid world is going to be the story of the hot mess from the inside. i love it! it's going to be so much better than that crap justin timberlake's mom wrote!

photos: flynetonline

more photos of britney spears are after the jump.

tom cruise might have met his match. unfortunately. dr. drew pinsky gave in. the celebrity rehab counselor and level-headed loveline doctor recently gave his diagnosis of tom cruise in an upcoming playboy interview. thank xenu that someone in the medical profession recently gave their professional opinion of that wacky queen! katie's going to need all the documentation she can get for the court battle that will take place if she ever escapes her brainwashing drug regimen!

"a lot of people in the public eye who behave strangely have mental illness we can learn from, and much of it is based on childhood trauma, without a doubt. take a guy like tom cruise. why would somebody be drawn into a cultish kind of environment like scientology? to me, that's a function of a very deep emptiness and suggests serious neglect in childhood - maybe some abuse, but mostly neglect," dr. drew says.

you forgot the closeted homosexuality. that's the shredded cheese on top of this chili! as expected, cruise's lawyer lashed out at drew and compared him to a nazi. for having a medical opinion?

"this unqualified television performer who is obviously just looking for notoriety is so grotesquely unprofessional as to pretend to diagnose tom and others without ever meeting them. he seems to be spewing the absurdity that all scientologists are mentally ill. the last time we heard garbage like this was from joseph goebbels," says cruise's high-powered attorney, bert fields.

drew caved. probably because he knows that cruise has millions and, even scarier, followers. some of them high-powered.

"although mr. field's intent is clearly to slander and discredit dr. drew, under no circumstances is dr. drew making a blanket diagnosis about scientology nor mr. cruise whom he does not know. dr. drew was simply using mr. cruise as an example of someone who is recognizable to help the public understand. again, dr. drew meant him no harm," his rep said in a statement.

tom's not paranoid or anything. i mean, his cars are bombproof, but you never know when someone might throw grenades at his suv. right. *cuckoo sound*

photos: getty images

in "tori & dean: home sweet hollywood" proud new parents, tori spelling and actor husband dean mcdermott, are checking out of the bed & breakfast business and moving back to hollywood. this season features spelling and mcdermott as they buy their first home, celebrate son liam's first birthday, publish tori's first book---and get ready for the birth of their first daughter! season premieres tuesday, june 17th at 10/9c only on oxygen.

the infamous plastic surgery victim known as "cat woman" aka jocelyn wildenstein was spotted prowling the wilds of the airport. can you imagine working security and being expected to allow this woman past? i'd be nervous that whatever disease had done that damage to her face might be contagious and i'd quarantine her ass immediately. i don't need to get some cat-face disease! i have bills to pay and unborn children to one day conceive and then raise!

for more photos of the cat woman, visit bauergriffinonline!

photos: splashnewsonline