AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud

I managed to get here at the Apple store just after four am. And I am freezing my butt off. But hopefully, this will be the last weekend for me to be doing this. As a matter of fact, this will be the last week I do this. If I cannot get the model I want, I am just gonna order it online. As crazy as this is waiting for a product that has been out more than a month, this will be a memorable moment in my life. I am about three hours until some at the store tells us if we will be able to get the model we want. And then maybe you won't have to read anymore posts about this. Well, not until iPhone. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPod touch

You might know by now that Acer will be selling its new Iconia tablet, 10" running Android 3, Honeycomb, exclusively through Best Buy.  It's basically the same specs as the Xoom except for the looks.  What would you get?  Sticking with iPad 2 or waiting on the Playbook or Touchpad? Let's focus on the WiFi versions of the tablets here since the Iconia is WiFi only.  The WiFi-only Xoom comes in at $600 on sale now at Staples while the Iconia won't be available until later in the month.  And Acer has priced it at a low low $450 with 16GB of storage.  That is $50 lower than the base iPad 2.  But the iPad 2 is the iPad 2, the standard bearer of the tablet market.   Of the three, which should you get?  Or wait? Well, as I mobile fan, I'm gonna be getting a Honeycomb device for sure but when the Xoom came out at $800 with the 3G version, it was priced out of the amount I was willing to spend.  And the $600 WiFi only certainly had me thinking, m...

When Sling Media made available an app for the iPhone and iPod touch it was a game changer as far as I am concerned. With the Sling Pro, I was able to watch television from just about anywhere I can and when I wanted. I know of someone who has hooked up a DVR, a sat TV setup, and some contraption to stream video. And the iPhone app worked well with the iPad. Until recently. There is a separate iPad version of the Slingplayer that requires a newer version of the Slingbox hardware. I don't get why that is? I think it's shameless that the Slingbox Pro that was out only a couple of years ago cannot work with today's iOS player. To say that it is irritating is putting it mildly. And if I wanted to use the regular iPhone app on the iPad or, heck, just on the iPhone, I am forced to upgrade the firmware as well. And I get the feeling that Sling is trying in a very sneak manner to get me to update the Sling. Just a feeling but a feeling nontheless. I think the iOS ...

Here's a post from Daily Wireless that question adding spectrum as the reason for AT&T buying T-Mobile.  Maybe it is.  Maybe it isn't.  Maybe it's related to why T-Mobile is where it is at today and it all goes back to the iPhone as some blogs have suggested when it failed to first acquire the iPhone  Maybe.  I admit it's a little Glen Beck-ish but hear me out.   If the DW post, which questioned (like I did) the reason behind why AT&T wants T-Mobile, is not true, then what is the reason AT&T buying T-Mobile be about?  After all, T-Mobile's 3G network operate on the AWS band, which is why a 3G device that runs on AT&T's network will not work with T-Mobile's 3G network.  The two just don't mesh.  And if AT&T wants to convert T-Mobile's current 3G network into a wider LTE one, that might make sense but it's a lot of work.  Very very messy. So if it's not about spectrum, what's it about?  And after all, T-Mobile's HP...

It's been two cycles where the iPhone has not been upgraded to a higher capacity.  And with the just released iPad 2, the maximum storage capacity remains 64GB.  However, with the just released NAND flash memory, we could be looking at the next iPhone with increased capacity.   If patterns hold, we could be looking at a low-end 8 GB iPhone 4 and a 32 GB and 64 GB iPhone 5 (I like iPhone 4G better).  And it also possible that we can see a midway upgrade with the iPad 2 in the fall or just before Holiday Season with the capacity of the iPad 2 increased.   With the new memory, it affords Apple a greater flexibility than its competitors.  How would you like the  8GB iPhone 4 at $49 or $99?  Or with Apple possibly increasing the iPad 2 storage capacity while keeping the same price points, Apple can add a newer low end model with 16GB for $449 or even lower at $399. And this, as a happy iPod touch owner, I do look forward to a 128GB model.  It'll g...

Interest among kids, rather teens, could make the lines this summer, or fall, things to expect upon the release I'd the iPhone 5. Currently at an all-time high, a survey by a Wall Street outfit has teens ready to march to Apple's mobile tune. I guess the lines are pretty bad now for the iPad 2, I really don't want to see what the iPhone 5 lines are going to be in the US at Apple stores now that Verizon is expected to join AT&T in the iPhone rush (I still don't expect Sprint and T-Mobile have the iPhone this year). Other than positive news about this survey, Apple should actively cater to this demographics. After all, the halo effect from the iPods and iPhones from the youth will mean sales for other Apple products and services. Whether the future is the iPad or the Macbook, or a future MacPad someday, Apple should make sure iOS updates include youth-friendly functions. Twitter, Facebook, or double down on it's own social efforts. Regardless, get ready to wait i...

CNN has a post dedicated to the iPhone 5 rumors on its frontpage.  Maybe I'm nearly the end of my work day and I'm tired so I'm not thinking clearly but I don't think there's anything wrong with that.  Just wanted to note it.  Maybe the mention of "iPhone 5" is a click-bait and I want in on it.  Well, that's what I think why CNN put the post and link front and center.  Seriously.  That or it's really really slow news day and that the impending shutdown of the federal government isn't big enough of a draw (pushed to the left of the website) or that CNN sources doesn't think it'll happen. Whatever the reason, what is not amiss is the fact that Apple's mobile strategy is now mainstream.  Technology, especially mobile tech, is no longer the domain of geekdom but that it belongs to society as a whole.  It's why there are long lines a month after the iPad 2 was launched, why it's sold out everywhere in the countries Apple has laun...

I fully expect for the keyboard to go away one day when someone develops an even better input apparatus to replace it.  Obviously, I'm not that someone so I have no idea what it is.  Can a multi-touch platform capable of displaying a virtual keyboard be it?  I know a lot of people will hate it but I think I can get used to the idea. If you have an iPad or a smartphone like the Droid X or the iPhone that does not have physical keyboard, you're already using it.  Some people like it. Others don't.  I'm okay either way.  I'm faster on a regular keyboard but I grew up using a typewriter.  Lots of kids today will only know about multi-touch, like my nephews. And Apple has been granted patents just to create a virtual keyboard of sort.  And one that could change patterns and shapes to the needs of the user. One of the strange things, years after the various newer generation Star Trek shows went off the air, the glass displays that gave the officer contr...

One of the things I expected from Apple's fresh of the Macbook Pro in March was the exclusion of the optical drive, the DVD reader/burner, with something else that is more aligned with Apple's mobile vision. That did not happen. However, GIGAOM has a cool post for those good with tools and taking apart computers to mess around with. Replace the drive with an SSD. Now, this isn't like the older Powerbooks that Apple used to make in the 90s when you can just swap out one expansion solution for another. It doesn't quite work that way. This solution presented, for someone like me, is like brain surgery. But I am sure many of you can give this a go. The total cost is about $400. At the end of the day, you get extra storage space, speed, and, as the writer said, great for developers. Me, I just like having more room. THE FUTURE. Repeating what I said at the top, I thought Apple would have and could have replaced the DVD drive and use the space for something e...

This is the very first post I've sent from from an iPad 2. Feels and looks the same as any old iPad. Well, except for the camera facing me from the right and the Smart Cover that is propping up the iPad 2 at an angle for easier typing. It's overcast in Pasadena, city about 10 miles or so northeast of Los Angeles. You know, where those Rose Parade is held each and every single year. While this isn't a review, I can say that the screen is very good despite sitting here in the outdoors where I am at at a coffee shop. The overall feel of the screen does seem to be brother than the original iPad with the setting at 50% brightness. Since I've passed along my iPad to my nephew a couple of weeks ago, I thought I would need to get reacquainted with the layout of the virtual keyboard but it's all second nature to me at this point. And I only was able to get my hands on the iPad 2 yesterday, I cannot say just how fast it really is. With the original iPad, it was loaded to the...

iWeb is the way to go for simple folks like myself who want to create our own sites and manage it ourselves.  Apple has made that such easy, albeit a bit more restrictive than I would like.  It's why I also use Rapidweaver.  Now, news come that Apple has patented iWeb for the iPad.  The question I'm sure many are asking is if such an app will ever see the light of day.  Heck, I'll settle for even a glimpse of it in the darkest of alley.  Okay, makes no sense but you know what I mean. I'm hoping Apple will make this happen.  There are a few things Apple has to do to make sure it works on the iPad as well as on the Mac. I've been using iWeb in conjunction with MobileMe to run my Greenjava website, a depository of relevant news on politics, economy, mobile, and coffee.  It works.  Not great but much better than anything that I've come across. But I cannot do that on the iPad.  The thing that is so robust about other web and blogging platfor...