Dave Hakes' – Maui Life

I’m all about “fixing the problem, not the blame” – but this is too good to pass up – I’m surrounded by parrots who blame President Bush for everything. I’m not a huge fan of any politician, but please! If you’re going to place the blame, make sure you know what you’re talking about!

If you’ll notice, Bush’s name is not mentioned once in any of these videos…

The final icing on this cake was done 8 days after he was elected for his first term…

What I find so funny about this is that not a single person I have brought this up to has any idea what I’m talking about – they have no idea…

Who repealed the Glass-Steagall Act?

Repeal of Glass Steagall, Derivatives & out of control Hedge Funds!

Bill Clinton Admits “I Was Wrong”

Covering up the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Scam that caused our Economic Crisis

“Family” and “Conscience” of Fannie Mae

Hypocrisy run wild. The whole thing is just nuts…

I was recently sent an email asking me if I had any favorite new toys.  I responded, having no idea it would get posted in the company newsletter.  Anyway, this was my email:

“Now that I have the new iPhone 4 – yeah!  Aside from the iPhone itself, and all I can do with it – I’ve already shot and edited a few pretty nice videos with it – there is a variety of toys that I’ve been discovering in the last year or so…
Basically, I’m using my old iPhone 32GB-3GS as my work horse, this saves battery time on my active iPhone immensely.  I mostly use it for playback, walk-in, walk-out, and walk-up – it is the ultimate “Instant Reply”.  I have a nice stand for it – which puts it right where my fingers like it to be – and multiple cables.  The A/V Component Cable for the iPhone and the A/V Composite Cable for iPhone are really nice to have – I can charge the phone while using it for playback (really nice!)…
The best purchase I made recently was the iPad to VGA cable.  When I first saw it, I had to test it.  Doesn’t work with the iPhone 3GS, but it totally works with the iPhone 4.  I burned a 4×3 (and 16×9) Test Pattern into a 10 minute movie and keep it on my phone at all times now…
Why does any of this matter?  Just this last week, we had all of our breakouts going at the same time for the exception of our main ballroom, which was going first thing in the morning.  We had the screens and projectors in the air and everything running to FOH, but there was no switcher available till late night.  We had the speakers placed and run, a 1640 and EQ in line as well.  Problem?  We had nothing else available.  I wanted to tweak the room and had absolutely no gear available to do it…
I took my A/V Component Cable (just using the L/R Stereo Audio) and plugged it directly into the 1640 Tape In – which allowed me to EQ the room (Using “SignalSuites” Pink Noise and Frequency Generators, then tweaking to a few familiar songs).  Then I took the iPad to VGA connector and plugged my iPhone directly into the video feed – I tweaked projectors to this feed (my 4×3 Test Pattern Video) and it turned out perfect (I was extremely surprised).  Later that night, when the guys were turning the room, they didn’t have to worry about ringing out the room or tweaking projectors – I saved them quite a bit of time with gear that fit in my pocket…
I’m also very impressed with many of the new iPhone Apps – but I’ll save that till next time…”

Getting huge requests for my list since my email into Corporate, so here’s for all you Swankers.  There’s more than listed, but these are the apps I use all the time.  Something else to note:  All of these apps work on the iPad too…

iPhone Audio Apps:
iAnalyzerLite – pretty cool for free!
OmniTuner
Shazam
RTA Lite – also, pretty cool for free!
SignalScope – I got the inexpensive one and then added the “Octave Analyzer” to it (it was cheaper that way)
SignalSuite – runs pink/white noise and you can do frequency sweeps to tweak a room
SoundMeter – Made by the same guys who make SignalScope and SignalSuite

iPhone A/V Utility Apps:
Banner Free
Counter
DownTime
iProjector
Party Timer
VideoCalc

iPhone Lighting Apps:
DipSwitch – a must have!
iSwatch – I love this app!
Lampy
Light Meter
ML Finder
myGobo
Zippo Lighter

iPhone Rigging/Lighting Apps:
Caliper – when your not sure of the size of that bolt…
Clinometer – Multimeter took it’s place, but I still use it from time to time…
GoFigureLite
iConvert
iFormulas
iRigging
Knots – the U.S. Navy made this one
Knots Free

iPhone Utility Apps:
Brushes – I use this a lot to make quick plots from rooms I have saved in iPhoto
GlowDraw – nice for quick plots
iBooks – you can put all your user guides in this thing!
iPocketTools 9-1 Pro – has a lot of stuff in it
MultiLevel – awesome!
Notes – comes with the iPhone
PocketCAS
PowerLight – this is awesome!  I don’t carry a flash light anymore!
Sketch

iPhone Weather Apps:
WE DO A LOT OF OUTSIDE SHOWS

AccuWeather
Aeroweather
FreeWeather
iHurricane HD
MKEWeather
MultiTide
Surf Report
tideApp
Tides
TWC
Weather – comes with the iPhone

I’m totally disappointed with this thing. Anyone know if it’s a big deal to turn it back in and have them reactivate our old iPhone 3GS’s?

The only positives with the iPhone 4 have been the (much better) camera, the LED flash/light on the backside and the screen resolution. Don’t get me wrong, these are awesome upgrades from the 3GS, but not enough to make up for the iPhone 4′s short-comings.

In the last month I have been taking strict notes on our (my wife and I) upgrades and those I know who have iPhones (3GS’s and 4′s). It seems that those who recently bought the iPhone 4 without owning a previous iPhone are stoked on their purchase, and I am stoked for them. Those who have not yet upgraded, and still own a iPhone 3GS, have been my control group along with the two 3GS’s that I have not gotten rid of yet.

Those of us who “upgraded” have seen measurable deficiencies in the new iPhone 4 compared to the older iPhone 3GS…

• The iPhone 3GS’s battery lasts quite a bit longer than the iPhone 4′s – I have not changed anything in the way I use the thing, so it’s rather obvious it’s the phone itself
• Reception with the 3GS was adequate, the iPhone 4 reception is terrible. Some may say that this is an AT&T issue, but I have literally been standing next to 3GS users and they have no issues
• Luckily, with the iPhone 3GS, in those places where phone reception was terrible texting still worked (and it worked great). The iPhone 4 has a hard time sending texts due to lack of reception. Again, this has been tested several times standing next to 3GS users as they were doing the same thing – the 3GS iPhone wins over the new one hands down every time
• Even when it does send a text, half the time my recipients do not get it till the issue I was texting them about has already past. This is happening way too frequently with this phone. I would think that this was an AT&T issue, but the iPhone 3GS users standing next to me don’t have the same problem – it’s obviously the phone
• I’ve never had a phone which drops calls randomly, the new iPhone 4 does. Usually, if you’re having a hard time with reception, you find a spot and stay there for the duration of the conversation. Everything is usually good. The iPhone 4 will just drop the signal. I know it’s not AT&T cause the person standing next to me on an iPhone 3GS is having no problems at all – it’s the phone!
• The 3GS download speed via Wi-Fi is way faster than the iPhone 4. I have tested this extensively – there’s no comparison
• Lastly, I have to restart the iPhone 4 quite often (once every few days) cause, well how would I explain it… it seems like the cache is full and it becomes really slow to respond. This never happened with the iPhone 3GS. After talking to other users, it appears to be common for iPhone 4 users only

Anyway, it’s pretty obvious that this thing is a lemon (and I am an avid Apple Maniac). I hate to say that, but “I want my money back!”

OK – everyone is really surprised that I don’t have one yet and they’re always wondering why…

Tell you what: when it runs OSX and has a USB 2.0 port I’ll buy one…

I have an iTouch, and it’s the perfect size for what I use it for. I don’t need an iTouch the size of a piece if paper…

Basically, right now, it’s just a big (expensive) toy. I want something that looks like the iPad but does what my MacBook Pro does. It would be great if they could shrink it a little (to the size of a half an 8.5X11 piece of paper) too!

Anyway, I’m totally not sold on something that is big enough and expensive enough to really do some serious work yet is simply a large iTouch…