With all the talk about the iPhone and everyone chomping at the bit to get one. I wonder if it’s really worth the expense to get one, especially the first generation? For a couple of years now I’ve been looking for the perfect portable device that fits all my needs:

• I take a daily photo with my Casio EX-240 and post it over on my personal site (www.facesofme.com). So I need a device that I can take a decent hi-res photo (2-3 megapixels) with an removable memory card.
• I listen to music all day long, whether it’s at my computer or with my iPod while I’m on the move. So, it would be nice to have a device that could at least old a few hundred songs and makes it easy to sync with my computer.
• I need a phone. I don’t have a land line phone so I depend on my cell phone for phone communication. I usually don’t go over 600 minutes month.
• The device needs to be small enough to fit in my front pocket, comfortably. And, be tough enough to handle regular daily abuse.
• Currently, I don’t check the web on my phone, nor do I use it for email. However, I would like to, especially to look up info on the fly and keep up with important email.
• Ok, so this is the biggie that keeps me looking around. If I had a phone that met all of the above needs, which there are several of them out there. I would need it to have a battery life that equals that of my current iPod or camera. I’d be satisfied with 8-10 hours.
• The last thing is that I need to feel like I’m not getting rapped by my mobile carrier. The perfect plan would be some sort of ala carte that allows me to pick services and hours based on my needs. I currently spend a little more than $45 per month with Sprint and am happy with the price (service is another thing).

So, looking at the iPhone in comparison to what I’m looking for, it doesn’t look to bad. I think there are only two downsides to the iPhone that I can find:

1. The cost, it’s damn expensive, 4GB ($499) or 8GB ($599) and the service plans are more expense than normal.
2. It looks as if apple is trying to force you to use iTune for music and movies. I don’t use iTunes now and don’t plan on starting anytime soon. I want the flexibility to either, manually move media to the phone or sync other software (Winamp or Songbird for example). Unless I’m mistaken, the iPhone is restricting this.

Conclusion- I think when the iPhone hits the stores next week, there will be a mad scramble for the Apple Fan kids to get the phone. There will be a supply issue and I’m sure some will be sold on ebay for twice what they’re worth. But, after the smoke clears, Apple will come out with a second generation iPhone by early next year that’s better and cheaper. Additionally there will be new phones from competitors that will rival the iPhone functionality. I think I’m going to take the wait and see stance.

Techcrunch is reporting that Yahoo CEO Terry Semel has resigned. You can read more at Techcrunch or MercuryNews.com.

I’m sure most of you are aware of the Firefox memory leak problem. It’s been so bad on my computer that I have to shut down FireFox multiple times a day. Even then, with only 6-7 windows open, Firefox can start draining the memory on your computer. This morning for example, I’ve already restarted Firefox once and with 7 tabs open and a few add-ons running ( Allpeers, Colorzilla, del.icio.us, Firebug, ScribeFire, SEO for Firefox, Session Manager, Web Developer, Talkback and Video Downloader) my Firefox memory usage is over 700k. I’ve tried several different adjustments including changing the “browser.cache.memory.capacity” to 16384. Nothing seems to work. With Apple making Safari available for windows, it might time to switch. I think the only thing that’s keeping me from switching is the fact that I’ve become dependent on the Firefox extensions. If anyone has suggestions for fixing the memory leak, I would love to hear it. Otherwise, I think Firefox better get to fixing this problem or they will see their market share dwindle.

Me.dium announced today that they’ve secured a second round of financing, to the tune of $15 Million. You can read the press release here and the CEO’s blog post here.

This latest round raises Me.dium’s total funding to $20 million since being founded in June of 2006. Me.dium reveals the hidden world of people and activity behind the browser, building a new Social Exploration Environment (SEE) for the Web. The funding will be used to build out the infrastructure to support its launch to the general public later this year.

I just wrote last week about Casey Serin and his blog iamfacingforclosure.com and how he announced that he had closed the blog for ever. Well, guess what, he’s back. He promises an explanation soon for why he came back.

The worst site on the web just happens to be one of the most popular.

Zappos.com is closing in on the $1 billion sales club. The online shoes retailer expects to generate web sales of $800 million in 2007, an increase of 34% over sales of $597 million in 2006, and $1 billion in 2008. There’s no wonder that Amazon is trying to get a piece of the action with their new offering Endless.com. It’s amazing the growth that Zappos has experienced  since launching in late 1999.

Read my earlier post on Endless.com

One of my favorite web companies are rumored to be getting a good payday. The BBC is reporting that Last.fm has been acquired by CBS for $280 million. Not bad, however it seems to me that Last.fm could have gotten more, upwards to $500 million. I’m not sure how I feel about an oldschool media company like CBS getting there hands on a company like Last.fm. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

You can check other posts that have done on last.fm, here and here.

Read what other blogs are saying:
BBC
Techcrunch
Valleywag
Mashable

Google adds a cool new feature to their Google maps, “street view”. The street view feature puts you in the middle of the street with a 360 degree view of everything around. You can navigate street view by moving around a little avatar or double clicking on the blue line. Google street view is only available in a few cities, like San Francisco, New York and Las Vegas.

Here’s what others are saying about street view.
GigaOm
Techcrunch
Mashable

Technorati Tags: google, streetview, sanfrancisco

Donald Trump and Mark Cuban have had a few choice words for each other lately. I just read Mark Cuban’s blog and he’s right on point with a few things.

Or best of all, you can go back to NBC and ask for one more season of The Apprentice. Me against You. We let the audience pick the tasks and our teams and we let Rosie O’Donnell and Melania be in the boardroom and decide who wins or loses. I would do it just to see those two sitting next to each other.

I would pay to watch that. Read his full post here.