September-October 2008 — Vol 30 No 5

Overview

★ Closes the last isolated gap in the 1994-2008 bimonthly-era stretch. Bob Jarecke President ("Three Strikes, You're Out!" Pres Page, 5). Editor Lawrence I. Charters. Design Editor Nora Korc. Photo Editor Richard Sanderson. Copy Editor Patsy Chick. Treasurer Thomas Carlson. Secretary Gordon Nord. ★ Larry Kerschberg listed on the Board as Director (l.kerschberg@wap.org) — consistent with Nov-Dec 2008 (2008-11 — V30 N06) and Jan-Feb 2009 (2009-01 — V31 N01). ★ Jay Castillo also listed as Director (joseph.castillo@wap.org) — already a Director and "the man with the plan" per Nov-Dec 2008. Other Directors: Len Adler, Richard Allen, Jonathan Bernstein, Pat Fauquet, Brent Malcolm, Richard Orlin, Charles Reintzel, Mike Schnieble.

General Meetings at Luther Jackson Middle School (the Falls Church VA venue from 2007-01 — V29 N01 onward): Sept 27, 2008 — Apple's Smallest Computers: the iPhone and iPod touch (Charters + Travis Good present; iPod touch raffle). Oct 25, 2008 — Retired with a Mac? (four 20-min presentations on travel/health/entertainment/staying-in-touch for retired Pi members).

★ Cover story: iPhone 2.0: It's the App Store, Not the Phone (Lawrence I. Charters, 6) — definitive Pi take on the July 11, 2008 iPhone 3G + iPhone OS 2.0 + App Store launch. Charters' thesis: the App Store is the real revolution, not the phone. He cites 10M apps downloaded the first weekend, 500 apps growing to ~1,000 by end of July, every newspaper publishing a "10 best iPhone apps" list. The lead photo on the inside front cover is Comic Life Magiq retro humor — Lawrence I. Charters writing a fake-Tandy-2000 ad atop a Richard Sanderson nostalgia photo. iPhone Everywhere (John D. Barnes, 8). Virtual Travis: Producing My Video Presentation (Travis Good, 9) — meta piece on how Good remote-presented at the Macs in Moscow meeting earlier in 2008. The Macness of Wii (Lawrence I. Charters, 10) — Charters' Wii-meets-Mac home-network piece. Building a Check Register in REALBasic, Part B (Brent Malcolm, 12) — Malcolm's continuing REALbasic series. The end of .Mac, Trojans and Scams (Lawrence I. Charters, 16) — Apple sunsets .Mac → MobileMe transition (Jul 9 2008), Charters covers both the migration mechanics and the round of email scams that piggybacked on it. Exploring Domain Name Service (DNS) (Bill Kingsley, 20).

Club Stuff section: Pi Birthday Party (4). Mac Masters Survey Results (18). The Best of the TCS — Summer 2008 (Bob Jarecke + Dick Rucker, 24). ★ Walt Mossberg and the June General Meeting (Lawrence I. Charters, 28) — recap of the Walt Mossberg Pi appearance on June 28, 2008 (the 30th Anniversary Gala, rescheduled from weather-canceled Feb meeting per 2008-05 — V30 N03). Little Apps: the July 2008 General Meeting (Lawrence I. Charters, 32). Highlights of WAP Board Activities, April 2008 — July 2008 (Gordon Nord, Secretary, 35). ★ Bylaws Changes Approved by the Membership at July 26, 2008 General Meeting (36) — major governance event; Pi formally amends its bylaws (later context suggests this is part of Jay Castillo's Strategic Plan groundwork). June 2008 Retired SIG (Len Adler, 38). June 2008 Graphics Arts SIG: Simulistic! (Vernice Christian, 38). July Programming SIG: A Virtual Experience (Dick Rucker, 40).

Highlights

★ iPhone 2.0 / App Store debut at Pi — Lawrence I. Charters

Charters' framing — that the App Store, not the phone hardware, is what changes everything — is the right call in retrospect. He calls out Apple's "two-strategy" launch (iPhone 3G hardware + iPhone OS 2.0 free upgrade for original iPhone + $9.99 for iPod touch), the developer surge, and notes Apple itself was overwhelmed processing app submissions in the first weeks. This is the Pi's most consequential 2008 tech piece.

★ The end of .Mac → MobileMe — Charters

.Mac (originally iTools 2000 → .Mac 2002) was replaced by MobileMe on July 9, 2008. Charters covers the migration headaches and the scam emails piggybacking on it. MobileMe later becomes iCloud (2011).

★ Walt Mossberg recap (June 28, 2008 Pi 30th Anniversary)

Charters writes the in-Journal recap of the Walt Mossberg appearance at Pi's 30th Anniversary Gala. Mossberg was the technology columnist at the Wall Street Journal — a major get for the Pi.

★ Bylaws changes ratified July 26, 2008

Formal governance event. Read together with 2008-11 — V30 N06 "Jay Castillo, our man with the plan" and 2009-01 — V31 N01 Strategic Plan publication, this is part of the foundational governance work that becomes the 2009 Year-of-the-Pi Strategic Plan.

★ Larry Kerschberg confirmed as Director from Sep-Oct 2008

This issue confirms Larry's Director role one cycle before 2008-11 — V30 N06 (the previously-earliest known reference). His email l.kerschberg@wap.org already appears here.

The Macness of Wii — Lawrence I. Charters

Charters' home-network piece on the Nintendo Wii (which launched Nov 2006). Pi members had embraced the Wii as a Mac-network-friendly entertainment box.

Entities

People: Bob Jarecke, Lawrence I. Charters, Nora Korc, Richard Sanderson, Patsy Chick, Thomas Carlson, Gordon Nord, Larry Kerschberg, Jay Castillo, Len Adler, Richard Allen, Jonathan Bernstein, Pat Fauquet, Brent Malcolm, Richard Orlin, Charles Reintzel, Mike Schnieble, John D. Barnes, Travis Good, Bill Kingsley, Dick Rucker, Walt Mossberg, Vernice Christian Topics: iPhone 2.0 / App Store, MobileMe transition, Pi Bylaws 2008, Pi Strategic Plan precursor, Pi 30th Anniversary References: iPhone 3G, iPod touch, .Mac, MobileMe, REALbasic, Comic Life Magiq, App Store

Connections to other issues

• ★ Closes the last bimonthly-era hole in the 1994-2008 stretch (joining V24 N3 May-Jun 2002, the only remaining inland gap)
• App Store debut here → continued coverage into 2009-01 — V31 N01 and following eJournal issues
• Mossberg appearance recap → previewed in 2008-05 — V30 N03 (rescheduled from cancelled Feb meeting)
• Bylaws changes → Castillo Strategic Plan in 2009-01 — V31 N01 (re-ingested at richer depth 2026-05-27)
• Jarecke "last year as Grand Poobah" referenced in 2008-11 — V30 N06 (he transitions to Castillo mid-2009)
• ★ Larry Kerschberg Director role confirmed one cycle earlier than 2008-11 — V30 N06