Much of what we were expecting happened at the fall Apple event: iTunes has a new Album format, dubbed iTunes LP, and iPods were served up with performance gains and price drops across the board. The biggest news, however, were the changes rolling into the iPod Nano “For Free” exclaimed Apple founder Steve Jobs.

Jobs continued, “On the back of every nano is a video camera and a mic integrated right in, and a speaker as well.”

I have to imagine the makers of the Flip cameras just had a collective bowel movement.

When the iPhone 3GS first came out I have to admit I immediately marched down to the Apple Store in Bellevue and picked it up. What was the compelling feature? (Aside from bigger storage and more speed., which were also lures.) It was the H.264 video camera built in. With a press of a button I can record, trim and upload decent-quality video clips directly to YouTube. This is a feature I use quite a lot, in fact, as I travel around and test new cars. You can see some clips on YouTube here. Keep in mind that YouTube does degrade quality somewhat.

Now, anyone with a new iPod Nano can get (presumably) the same level of video with single-click upload to YouTube after syncing. What that means is that if you thought YouTube was a wasteland of amateur video before, it’s only going to get worse. A lot worse. Voyeur videographers are also undoubtedly rubbing their hands together with glee, as well.

Keep in mind that Apple, which has sold 220 million iPods worldwide. That’s a lot. In unleashing this new model Apple just destroyed the market for stand-alone, solid-state video recorders.  Flip, Creative and all the others better find a way to up their game, because the days of the stand-alone all-it-does is record video is now passed. High-quality video recording will be like having a CD player in your car: it will be expected. If you don’t have that, plus a music player, plus dead-simple use and a large selection of color choices, you’re going to be laughed at.

There’s more to the new Nano, than just being one of the most popular music players in the world. The fresh model also has an FM radio tuner with the ability to do a DVR-style pause (up to 15 minutes), can do voice recording, and it interfaces with Nike+, which is a boon for runners. (Click for full specs at Apple.com) It’s also relatively Green; built with environmental and recycling concerns in mind. What else would you really want in a gadget? Touch screen? Well, true, that would be nice. I can imagine we’ll see an updated iPod Touch before long that finally adds a camera, but that wasn’t announced today.

Many folks were hoping for Apple to announce their upcoming tablet computer today. That would have possibly been a groundbreaking event. That didn’t happen. I would argue, however more mundane, the addition of video recording to the small, svelte, and cheap iPod Nano will have a much bigger effect on society. Let’s watch and see what happens (literally.)

There are a couple things I hate most about travel. For one, it’s emotionally exhausting. Running from the car to the check-in, through security and to the plane. Only then finding that the flight has been delayed. Nothing quite like twiddling thumbs in an airport for a couple hours.

The biggest issue, however, is getting a decent Internet connection on the road. Sometimes my iPhone is in a “hole” or I really need to email a contract to a client, which requires finding a connection for my MacBook. Heaven forbid I should try to do any video streams while mobile.

One would think that the myriad paid or free HotSpot options from TMobile and their ilk would fit the need: fast connections for an affordable price. Well, no. Free hotspots are still sketchy and paid options are really no better. I’ve had 50kpbs “High Speed WiFi” from a Starbucks (TMobile) in downtown Hollywood. It was expensive, too. Further, almost every hotel I’ve ever stayed in has had near useless Internet reliability. If you’re lucky it works long enough to grab email, but for anything else you’d do just as well striking up a conversation with a hair dryer.

In the past I’ve tried USB and Express/34 connectivity cards. For the most part, they’re a fine option for bringing your Internet connection with you. I will digress for just a moment to complain about my last AT&T Express/34 connection card: It only worked in Seattle. Seriously, I would open the computer in airport and use the connection. Get on the flight, land (didn’t matter where), open the computer and get a connection error – even with full bars.  Eventually AT&T’s tech support gave up and just had me return the card.

The downside of the cards and connection sticks is that they only provide the Internet connection for the one computer they’re attached to. That’s a very 1990’s idea: one computer, one connection. Nowadays even digital cameras have WiFi capabilities. (At this rate, it’s only a matter of time before my underwear has its own Twitter account.)

The answer wasn’t long in coming. Earlier this year Novatel released a little card called the MiFi 2200. A few months later my business carrier, Sprint, picked it up. A week later, I was in the Sprint store laying down some cash. (Specifically, $99 for the card and $59/mo for “unlimited” – 5GB/mo – service.)

What is it? The MiFi card is one of brilliantly simple ideas that only comes around once in a blue moon. Like twist-top beer bottles, or the Snuggie. Only this one has blinking lights, a rechargeable battery and it can generate an Internet hot spot anywhere, anytime. Not one connection one computer. But one connection and up to five devices. Any WiFi device. That’s bonkers.

It’s the any device part that really makes this an orgasmic must-have for the traveling techie. Connect an iPhone, Sony Playstation Portable (PSP), Palm Treo, notebook computer, digital camera, or whatever else you have with a WiFi connection.

Testing the MiFi at home in Kirkland

Simplicity doesn’t just apply to the concept and design. It’s dead simple to operate, too. So simple that even a tanked frat boy can fire it up, should the party require it. Press the only button on the card. Once the light comes on: Boom. You have a WiFi hotspot.

Since I have the Sprint version of the card, it naturally uses its high-speed 3G network for connectivity. Sprint calls this the EVO Rev. A, the latest offering in high-speed cellular data. 4G is around the corner, but we’re not quite there yet.

How fast is it? Well, we’re certainly not talking DSL-like pipe, it’s still a wireless connection. But consider this scenario: on a recent trip from Seattle to Los Angeles we decided to do a live show from the road for Driving Sports TV. So, with three cameras in the car, a very hot MacBook on my lap, and just the MiFi card for internet, we webcasted a full 20-minute live video stream as we were driving through the Stockton area.

For a more technical analysis of the performance I recently ran a series of tests in two different locations. I compared the local hardwired connection, AT&T’s 3G speed and the Sprint MiFi. All tests were done using the Ookla speed tool on an iPhone 3GS.

AT&T 3G can be fast

Redmond Office (one block from Microsoft main campus)

T1 -  1161 kbps down, 1448kbps up
AT&T 3G – 1408kbps down, 357kbps up
Sprint MiFi – 1139kbps down, 275kbps up

Kirkland Home

FiOS – 3293kbps down, 1414kbps up
AT&T 3G – 1591kbps down, 83kbps up
Sprint MiFi – 548kbps down, 386kbps up

What I’ve listed here are the best results from up to three tests. Most surprising was how high the AT&T 3G connection was scoring, but for the native iPhone connection it’s only part of the story. AT&T was all over the place: from 341kbps down and 100kbps up to the high listed above and everything in between. This was also on the Friday prior to Labor Day, when fewer folks are jamming the AT&T network with iPhone data. So, on light traffic days, it has the potential to download as fast as a T1. That is pretty damn impressive.

AT&T 3G can also be very, very slow.

The Sprint card, on the other hand, was never able to beat the best AT&T results (not what I had expected, to be honest) in our Seattle-area test locations. Here at least it runs second to the native iPhone cellular data network. But – and this is critical – the connection results were far more reliable and far more consistent. If you want to do any video streaming, remote desktop or anything that needs a strong, consistent signal, the Sprint MiFi provides a better (if not faster) connection.

At the end of the day, this is how I use the MiFi: While traveling I don’t even bother with the hotel connection anymore. I simply throw down the Sprint card and call it good. When my iPhone is having issues finding signal, I use the MiFi as a backup data channel – even used Skype to make a call in one particularly remote part of Montana that had 0% AT&T coverage. And, of course, when I need to use my computer to fix a site, send a report or read icanhazcheezburger.com and I’m not near a land connection, I bust out the MiFi without a second thought.

If you’re not on Sprint and you want to get your own slice of mobile Internet nirvana you’re in luck as Verizon also sells its own branded version. Features are almost identical, though Verizon has disabled the location services on the device for some bizarre reason. (Because they’re Verizon and they do stuff like that, okay?)

In the end, knowing that no matter where my travels take me I’ll always be able to catch up on Penny Arcade and Gawker even makes airports a little bit more relaxing. That’s better living through technology.

Recently, I wanted to buy a book. It was about iPhone programming and it just didn’t seem right to purchase a traditional ink-on-paper edition. I already had a number of different eBook applications on my iPhone, all of which were integrated in one way or another with online stores that should allow me to browse and buy in my underwear, right? The reality was a bit more complicated.

I’m still a bit gun-shy about Kindle (even on the iPhone) with its eBooks being in a format that are unusable outside of the Kindle ecosystem, so I first turned to Stanza. As one of the largest eBook applications around, it has tie-ins to a number of online stores and offers thousands of downloadable eBooks. By “tie-ins” I mean it launches a web browser, and drops me into a standard web store. Not exactly seamless.

After a while, rooting around without any luck, I eventually just went to the publisher’s site to see my purchase options for the book in question. Though many of the other books they publish offer eBook editions for download, it seems the particular book I was interested in only had a password protected PDF edition for digital consumption.

They didn’t list Kindle editions on their site, but those have to be sold through Amazon, so it’s not surprising. Begrudgingly, I launched the Kindle reader app on the iPhone and clicked the “Buy Books” link, did a search and… nada. Seems the book I wanted to buy didn’t have a Kindle edition, either. Natch.

Here’s the pickle: I want to read the digital book on my iPhone. Problem is, the built-in PDF viewer on the iPhone is, well, incapable of reading password-protected files. Furthermore, transferring large files via email (the book was almost 30MB) is less than ideal.

It only took a couple minutes of rooting around on the App store to find the solution. Readdle, the same crew behind ReaddleDocs, also has a program called PDF Expert. As the name suggests it’s a steroid-laden application for opening, viewing, managing and copying PDF files to your iPhone.

Since the book was my primary goal, I went ahead and purchased the PDF edition from the publisher’s web site (this was easy enough on my MacBook Pro),  which I had downloaded only minutes later. I then picked up PDF Expert for $4.99 from the App Store for my iPhone.

If you’re familiar with ReaddleDocs at all, you know that you have three options for transferring files to the iPhone: Through Readdle’s own file transfer service,  Readdle Storage; via MobileMe; your public iDisc or any other WebDav supported server. Unfortunately, PDF Expert isn’t quite as fancy in this department. It only supports Readdle Storage. Thankfully, this is a free option, but it did require me to register at Readdle.com and set up yet another online account. What I don’t need in my life right now is yet one more online account.

After I registered, the rest of the transfer process was quite easy. I uploaded the PDF file to the Readdle Storage system. Then, in PDF Expert I selected “WiFi Access”, clicked the circle-R (this could have been more obvious) and had the complete PDF book downloaded to my iPhone within minutes.

PDF Protection

Once there, the PDF resided in the apps’ Document folder, where I had the option to Rename, Delete, Mail, Add to Zip File or simply open the 26.1MB document.  Upon opening, the PDF prompted me to enter a password, as it was a secured. Easy enough. Though, I would like to have the option to save the password. Typing in a lengthy password every time I want to open the book is less than ideal.

Boom. The book was now my iPhone and looked just like the printed edition. Once opened I had a number of additional options: I could search the entire PDF, copy a segment of the book using copy-paste, navigate the book outline for quick jumps to later chapters, add my own bookmarks, email the whole document, or jump to a specific page number. Everything anyone would really want to do on a mobile device.

Even with large and complicated documents, such as the digital edition of Subiesport, a Subaru enthusiast’s magazine in digital form, rendering was spot-on and the application navigated the file briskly. Turn the iPhone sideways and the document event adjusts itself to fit the landscape view.

If you deal with PDF files either because you want to buy digital editions that work with more than one device, or you just like to kick back with one of the many digital magazines now available in the format, PDF Expert is the best option I’ve used on the iPhone.

But it’s not as good as it could be.

ReaddleDocs is clearly a more refined and thorough application that can also read PDF files (in addition to Word, Excel, Powerpoint and many other formats), though it doesn’t support quite as many PDF-specific options and won’t open password protected PDF files — at all. I would also rather use my existing iDisc account which I have integrated into my desktop, rather than the very simple Readdle Storage system for transferring files to the iPhone. In short, I want all the features of PDF Expert, but added to its big brother, ReaddleDocs.

Looks like I’m not the only one, as Readdle notified me recently that they plan to do just that:

From Twitter – 9/1/2009
Readdle @tekbug We are working on it. ReaddleDocs will become more advanced soon.

I have a problem with the iPhone connection kit in my 2008 Mazda RX-8: it was obviously designed by monkeys. Only something less than human would consider selecting a playlist and song by mere numbers to be acceptable. What does the monkey care if you want to listen to Green Day but instead get Michael Bolton because you selected 5/4 instead of 10/35?! (Not like I have any of Mr. Boltons fine tracks on my iPhone… it was only an example.)

This crazy number song selection system wouldn’t be such a problem if you could just select the tracks in the iPhone’s built-in (and quite good) iPod touch-screen. But you can’t. The downside of tethering to an integration kit is that it puts the iPod controls into a locked mode… naturally assuming the car’s controls are superior (not maddening!)

There is a solution. Use any program but the iPod app to play music, while attached to the integration kit, since only the iPod app locks the control. Simple. This led me to Adaptunes by Alpha Acid LLC. Currently selling for $0.99 in the App store (regular price $2.99), Adaptunes provided not only an interface that made sense and looked good, it went one better than the stock iPod by offering the ability to automatically adjust volume based on current speed.

Since Adaptunes uses the built-in GPS in the 3G and 3GS iPhones to get the most accurate real-time speed measurements, the variable sound function won’t work in a 2G (unless you get a highly accurate triangulation reading — which is unlikely.)

The application is extremely easy to use. Simply select a profile (”Driving”, “Mountain Biking”, etc.) and adjust the high and low volume levels to your liking. The program will remember the slider positions the next time you launch and manage the volume accordingly. When adding songs you can either build a playlist in Adaptunes or select using all the standard iPod options: Artist, Song, Playlist, Genius List, etc.

Downsides are minor. While driving, with the iPhone in a suction cradle, the sliders can be a bit tough to “grab” with the tip of a finger. It would be much easier if the control space was larger. Same for the mode slider. It’s hard to tap in just the right spot in order to flick to the next mode.

For now the application doesn’t do much else. Alpha Acid claims that many more social and GPS-aware activities are being developed for the more advanced version of the program, which will be called Adaptunes+ and be available later this year for a few dollars over the standard version price. These include location-triggered actions, social network interaction and — wait for it — adaptive playlists. Yes, when you’re cruising at 5 mph it may select something mellow, like Barry Manilow’s “I write the songs”, but put the pedal to the metal and it could switch out to Ozzy’s “Crazy Train!” All aboarrrrrrd!

The short of it is that even the basic Adaptunes version is just what I was looking for and then some.