AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud

This week, we learned about Toshiba's newest invention - a 6.1" screen capable of 2560x1600 resolution providing us with a 1.6:1 ratio and nearly 500 ppi (pixels per inch).  Right now, the highest resolution on a commercial device is in the iPhone 4 series and the iPod touch with the Retina display with at 326 ppi. Of course, at some point, the density on the displays will get so dense that it's not going to matter much.  It's why I don't think companies are using their screen resolution as a bragging right (except maybe Apple). Within the next couple of upgrade cycles for screens on our mobile displays and even laptops, the ppi will be so dense that things will look like almost like it is now on paper.  Maybe even better. Some think that this 6.1" screen won't find a home but I don't see why not.  We have tablets ranging from 7" to 10".  And the smartphones go from about 3" all the up to the Galaxy Note at 5".  It...

According to T-Mobile, they did not want the iPhone unless Apple makes one that works with its 3G network.  If you're a T-Mobile customer, you'll know what I'm talking about. See, T-Mobile's 3G network is not exactly compatible with other GSM networks because it runs on a different frequency.  Without getting into the specifics, and the current GSM iPhone can work on T-Mobile's except the user will only be able to achieve 2G wireless speed. However, about one million T-Mobile suffer through this the EDGE speed rather than switch over to AT&T.  Perhaps, because of this fact, T-Mobile figures it stands a chance of going at it as the AT&T alternative and entice everyone else with non-iPhone offerings. According to T-Mobile's senior vice-president of marketing, "T-Mobile thinks the iPhone is a good device and we’ve expressed our interest to Apple to offer it to our customers. Ultimately, it is Apple’s decision. The issue remains that Apple has not...

If you're new to the blog, I'll explain again.  When I was in college, we used to get time off on Fridays to go watch a movie in Westwood (that's right.  UCLA, BABY!!!).  It was awesome...we had the best professor ever. Anyway, I'm continuing this tradition online whenever I could and find a video worth sharing on a Friday afternoon/evening. Today, a 4 minute Angry Bird short!  Enjoy! Come back this weekend for more updates!

I’ve been avoiding posts that has made references to Steve Jobs’ newest, first, and last authorized biography.  I know how the business works.  Someone in the print news gets a copy of it and start blabbing the most important details. Personally, I have the disciple to wait to get it on my iBooks and read it the way Steve would have wanted me to.  Of course, I’ll probably end up buy a copy of the physical book as well. I’m considering just what is the best way to talk about it without pointing it.  I’m sure you like that as well.  I have a couple of ideas.  If you’ve got any, let me know.  I promise to make sure that I don’t spoil things the way these other sites are doing.

Apple and Google as slugging each over like giants that they are and every blow that is thrown, each counter punch, is felt far and wide on all corners of this Earth.  And now, it looks like the mobile war is going to expand a bit.  This time, it's going into the living rooms.  Android 4 will enable users to gamepads while their devices are connected to a TV via the HDMI cable. And perhaps, while Google TV has failed to capture the hearts and minds of the consumers, by enable Ice Cream Sandwich (that's the code-name for the latest Android OS) devices to hook up to the TV and enable users to do more with their devices, Google might have just found a way into the living room. It is also likely that Apple has some tricks up their sleeves.  Apple's Airplay technology enables users to mirror what's on the screen of an iOS device like the iPhone 4S and iPad 2.  However, it requires that the user purchase an Apple TV as a bridge.   So, both companies are looking t...

UBS's Apple analyst is reporting that Apple will sell 42.5 million iPhones in the current quarter.  Yesterday, my sub-amateurish attempt to predict that Apple will do has me believing Apple will sell between about 30.5 to 34.5 million iPhones through the Holidays quarter. How did UBS come to their insane 42.5 million iPhones?  Well, you can go to Barron's to check it out but I would not waste my time.  He basically made a bunch of assumptions that really has no basis.  UBS's current iPhone figure is 28 million.  They are say based on ratio of US and international sales and US carriers reporting users waiting to upgrade their iPhones, Apple will have a 14.5 million iPhone sales upside to their current figure. If all other things stay the same and let's enter this fairyland and assume UBS is right, it would mean that Apple would have nearly $49 billion in revenue this quarter - about a 32% increase above their $37 billion guidance. You know what that sounds...

Transformer 2 from Asus, when it comes out in November, will be the world's first quad-core device - by that, I mean a tablet that has double the core of the current crop of tablets including the iPad 2, Galaxy Tab 10.1, Xoom, and others.  So, I ask you this.  What exactly do you do with all that processing power that you cannot already do on the tablets today?

Siri is has the potential to give Apple and edge in the next computing evolution, revolution if done correctly, but Apple has to move quickly.  I mean it has to maintain the lead the the iPhone gave it in 2007 when the rest of the wireless industry was caught flat-footed. And if what the wireless chiefs at Google and Microsoft said about smartphones not being good digital assistants, I've got a word or two for them:  the mobile revolution we're currently in started with personal digital assistants, you know, PDAs. But back to voice.  Google has a healthy if not overtly static set of commands.  For the last few years, Apple was way behind in those efforts.  With Siri, Apple has shown just how serious it was about not only voice but creating a working and  helpful assistant that gives mobile warriors a new way to interact with their mobile devices. Others in the industry will mistaken that with voice commands.  It's evident in the dismissive attitu...

The iPhone 3GS is more than two years old.  And yet, it continues to wreck havoc on the mobile landscape.  And now, with the iPhone 3GS free with a two-year contract, it is apparently selling so well that AT&T is out of stock. According to AT&T during its financial call, “we have another device that I think is going to dramatically change those people that are on smartphones and quick messaging devices, the [iPhone] 3GS, which is free with a 2-year contract. We’ve seen a tremendous, tremendous demand for that device even though it’s a generation old. And actually, we’re getting more new subscribers coming on the 3GS on the average than other devices. So we also have an inventory sold out on that device.” Yup, out of stock.  And get this.  The iPhone 4 and the 3GS were responsible for more than 56% of AT&T's activations in the last quarter - a quarter that Apple has said which the sales of iPhone were affected by the rumors of pending upgr...

Here is the first iPhone 4S commercial from Apple. Obviously, it's about Siri. It's good but I think it doesn't tell a story like some the FaceTime commercial but it was able to deliver the message about Siri.  You don't hear from Siri until the end of the commercial. Don't have an iPhone 4S and you're on the fence?  Does this commercial convince you? Source:   Mac Daily News , Appleinsider .

I wish I had this when I was in high school.  Checking in, broadcasting my locations to my friends, find out where my friends are, and generally socializing with them over our mobile devices.  I think I was sociable enough when in high school and college that I could get a kick out of this. I started thinking about this when I was using Find My Friends and Latitude with Dave the Mobile Sage, my brother, and a couple of other friends.  It was fun because I trust these folks.  And when my mom gets her updated iPad 2 next week, she'll be able to check up on her adult children to know that they are safe.  Mom are that way and always will be. Obviously, there are times when you don't want people to know where you are at all times so you can hide from them if you like.  The settings for both of Apple and Google's services are easy enough.  What you kinda have to worry about is if you forget to play with the settings. More at Greenjava .

We are starting to see some signs of life with iCloud integration.  I don’t mean just with Apple’s apps like Mail, music, or photostream.  Nor am I talking about Pages or Numbers.  It’s the third party apps that are starting to come out that is interesting and I figure Apple’s iCloud could be huge for the app market. There is Remember the Milk and Goodreader, two apps, that I can think off right off the top of my head.  I’m sure there could be other docs related apps that will take advantage of the storage feature in iCloud. Personally, I’m looking for a way to upload videos that I take. And looking through my list of apps, I can see a few that I would like to have immediately.  I have a few art apps like Brushes and Sketches that I sometimes like to dabble on.  Wouldn’t it be nice to be be able start start something in the iPhone and move it over to the iPad or desktop version? In some ways, I iCloud is an extension of what I already can do wit...

Earlier, I said would come up with my own estimates for Apple's current quarter earnings.  The reason I am doing this is because I want to prove just good or bad my numbers compared to the overpaid Wall Street guys who have been so clueless about what makes Apple tick - they've miss massively by underestimating Apple.  But what's different about this past quarter is that they got ahead of themselves and ended up punishing Apple for it. By the way, you know that guy who stuck with his prediction that we'll seen an iPhone 5 just a day before Tim Cook and company denied him? I focused on this dude because not only was he so boldly wrong, he came back the following week to make more predictions about Apple bringing a smaller iPad to compete with the Kindle Fire. His name, Brian White of Ticonderoga Securities, was off and historically, far worse than his peers. Before, I give my numbers, let's examine White's . Apple earned $28.3 billion - White went with $3...

One of the thing that Apple, under Steve Jobs’ guidance, is its uncanny ability to be so surgical in its where they put their innovative energy and what specific technologies to innovate and bring to the market.  At the same time, this uncanniness also extends to its ability to time it just right to bring the technology to market.  Which brings me to the $80+ billion that Apple has stashed away in various accounts and long/short-term investments. While some companies have caved into pressures to buy back stocks to boost values or to give some of that money back for whatever reasons, Apple has resisted this call.  And as a mobile fan, you have that to continue.  No money for stock buybacks or dividends.  Some today but in today’s heated war in computers and mobile, you want companies to build up huge war chests to go after opportunities. This goes for Google as well as Microsoft.  Google isn’t issuing dividends or giving money back to the shareholders i...

Apple CEO Tim Cook said the obvious during Tuesday afternoon's financial call with analysts:  China is huge.  It is now the second biggest market for Apple outside of the United States.  For Apple, it means sustained growth and greater demand for its products. For mobile warriors outside of China, look for this to influence how Apple and other companies design their porducts to cater to Chinese mobile warriors.  And I think that will end up trickling down to the rest of us.  For instance, the QWERTY keyboard has such an influence on the world that it is difficult to imagine using anything else. Apple has a layout that allows user to write in the Chinese characters with their finger.  I think other companies like Microsoft could conceivably do the same or allow the use of a stylus.  And obviously, dictation with greater access in iOS 5 will move things along.  Google has done quite a bit with Translate, the mobile app that allows u...

I’m not a financial analyst or anything close but I thought I would use today to do some math of my own based on all the data I can find on Yahoo Finance and see if I can make a better prediction than Wall Street. See, I don’t care about the numbers even though I do own Apple stocks (like eons ago just when Steve came back. It was part of a basket of stocks that I never sold and didn’t know I had). I’m in this for the long haul. This is going to help me retire some day.  So, I’ll put some numbers up and we’ll see how close I am three months from now.  I suggest you do the same and see if you're better than pundits and multi-millionaire Wall Street analysts. Truth is, I think your number will be just as valid if not more so than the so-called professionals.

Kobo has announced a new Android-based tablet (the smartphone flavor) that will cost $199, same as the Kindle Fire, but it will be severely under powered with only a 800 Mhz single core chip.  However, these days, specs are not enough to sway an user to one tablet or another. What's interesting about this is an attempt of a social book club.  And here's the thing.  It has a 7" screen with the same 1024x600 resolution as most other 7" tablets.  What's different about its screen is that Kobo claims to use an "AFFS+ display with anti-glare" - same tech used in airplanes.  That was what caught my eyes.  Right now, as you know, tablets are not all that great for operations outdoor. It doesn't stop there.  Free RDIO music stream, games and 15K apps.  Yeah, the Vox has will have more apps than the Touchpad and RIM's Playbook put together. Those are not the only freebies.  As I recall, neither the Kindle or Nook has this kind of material to st...

One of the most unique features I've seen in Web OS (on my Touchpad), is the ability for the user to hit the home button and see all the open cards or apps.  On iOS 5, you can do the same by doube-tapping the home button.  Okay, about the same thing.  It's the same thing on Android.  What makes Web OS, and now with Android 4, is that you can simply flick an app and close it. I like that.  Apple, I like to be able to flip an app and close it.  Shut it down.  Right now, I have to hold down on the app icon that's running, wait until it starts to vibrate, and then touch the "x".  I think it's some Apple copy this feature from Web OS. It's okay.  As far as we know, Web OS is dead.  I don't necessarily want Apple to copy the cards feature.  I just want to be able to hold down on the button and flick the app that I want closed.  Heck, Google is copying this feature from Palm, so, it's not shame.  We'd just be copying Google c...

I imagine more than a few iOS 5 features will eventually migrate over to OS X.  It probably will not happen within Lion's lifetime but it certainly could happen in the next OS update.  So, even with Lion just barely three months old and iOS 5 and iPhone 4S just released, let's examine which iOS 5 features we Mac users will like to see in the next version of OS X. Currently, we have iCloud integration in OS X.  It was a first step that was needed simply because of the iOS update.  Furthermore, you can get that iCloud in its current form is far from the vision that Steve Jobs and Apple has for it.  iCloud is simply Apple's insurance plan to solidify and expand on its Mac-iPhone-iTunes ecosystem. So, whatever new features iCloud will get, I'm sure parity will happen for both iOS devices and Macs.  That's a given. The first iOS 5 feature I like to see on OS X is Notification Center.  Yeah, that's right.  You thought I was going to say Siri, did ...

For the moment, Siri, Apple’s new killer feature, is all the rage and has helped Apple sell over four million iPhone 4S this past weekend. The demo and the word of mouth from Apple, specifically iPhone fans, has permeated through the blog world and has entered the mind-share of the mainstream public. More than that, Siri is still only in beta. For now, some might be able to argue that its abilities are limited. For the most part, I would have to agree. Siri has gained some features that are already available on Android via Voice Actions. And Google will surely double its effort to beef up its own voice feature. And beyond that, Siri can give snappy and sometimes sarcastic responses that has evoked amusement from users. But truly, that is all, isn’t it? If that is the case, why is Siri so popular? Will its use die down over time once the hype is over? More at  Greenjava .

This post isn't dictated but other posts that you've read since Friday were.  And they were dictated on the iPhone 4S.  Obviously, the best feature in iOS 5 isn't on just iOS 5 but on the iPhone.  Siri is only available on the iPhone 4S. And so is the ability to be able to dictate e-mails, messages, and notes. Just as I've told a close family friend, who is an officer at a larger investment bank and hedge fund, if you can talk into your iPhone or any other phone before, why can't you talk to it?  It would not look more awkward than people walking around with a Bluetooth headset, looking like they're talking to themselves. Since I got the iPhone 4S, I've begun a conscious effort to use only on Siri but also dictation.  As a matter of fact, I think this is the first phase in what I think could be contact-less interaction with our technology, not just mobile devices. So, if you've got an iPhone 4S, you really ought to take advantage of this new fea...

By all accounts, those that sanity still, Apple had a phenomenal financial quarter. Apple had over $28 billion in revenue, more iPhones sells any Yuriko, 11 million iPads so, handheld rector sale of nearly 4.9 million Macs. Dad revenue $3 billion more than a $25 billion that Apple had guided analysts last quarter. However, I was not enough for Wall Street analysts. They went crazy and expected more than $29 billion. In fact, Forbes, well look loggers and they expected $33 billion in revenue. That is to be expected from these people. There's nothing Apple, fans, or anyone else can do. Wall Street analysts have for years, quarter after quarters, fail to really understand what Apple is all about. And now, the same Wall Street analysts have failed again. But let's move on. Let's move onto the publications who had been trading in rumors as click baits. Publications like the Wall Street Journal, who have continuously used unnamed sources, to help sell newspapers about Ap...

Today we learned that Apple has achieved 180 million ebook downloads. By most metrics, that is a very big achievement. However there is a lot of details Apple left out that I am not sure that we will ever find out. The reason is because 180 million downloads can mean many things. It could mean 180 million books sold or one book was sold and downloaded 180 million times. Obviously, I think the truth is somewhere in between. What's true is that I bought over 10 books and I think I've downloaded them at least thirty times. Perhaps the truth is that it's somewhere in between. Even with 90 million books so that is quite an achievement. Can Apple really have sold 90 million books? Regardless what's all this does mean is that a lot of iOS users are reading books on their devices. What it also means that e-books is a market that Apple should really really be serious about. For a while, I had expected Apple to see the market to Amazon. I think Apple came to the game ...

Answers, Yes But Siri Is Still Closer To a Toaster Than A Fully Thinking and Sentient Intelligence It's what I've suspected the whole time but is unwilling to face.  Siri may have the answers but it isn't smart.  I think you know it as well.  What Siri, really is, is an app that has the full force of a cloud-based computing network that is trying to "serve" you as it is.   Siri doesn't understand you.  It might look like it does at times because that is the brilliance of Apple.  It's trying to be "just works" mentality to Siri. And in doing so, Apple is hoping that we'll forget that Siri is really lines of programs with brilliant algorithms and, instead, treat it like a digital friend. Don't get me wrong.  Siri is revolutionary and there is a lot to get excited about.  However, it's closer to Tickle-Me-Elmo than it is to Commander Data on Star Trek.  In fact, the Enterprise computer isn't so smart either.   Right now, a lot of peo...

After some considerations, I think it's like that we are seeing Apple trying to get more and more mobile warriors to carry a device with them that is always connected to the Internet.  And the iPod touch, while a great mobile device, isn't the iPhone because it lacks the 3G or any other wireless connectivity other than WiFi.  And WiFi means you can't always be connected to the Internet. It's probably why we might not see Siri on the iPod touch even if Apple does upgrade the hardware.  And this could help push users towards the iPhone 4S and future iPhone upgrades that require an always-on 3G/4G connection.  And this is where the money's at, not selling iPod touches for Apple. And if you don't think Siri and not having an updated iPod touch goes hand-in-hand, consider this.  Had Apple upgraded the iPod touch, it would mean that there is no reason why the touch with the A5 dual-core chip cannot handle Siri. And for those with the iPhone 4, Blackberry, Androi...

There's talk this morning that Apple is looking at a sub-10" screen to add a new tablet to its line-up.  I've been asking for something like this since the original iPad.  No, I've been asking for this since the iPod touch.  Will we get it?

The patent war between Apple and Android device makers will last a while, giving folks on both sides a lot to talk about.  What's interesting in all this is that from time to time, Samsung will trip itself up.  Don't believe me? Here, on Samsung Galaxy Player's webpage, an observant user saw this: This is a screen shot that I captured myself.  So, yeah, it's still there .  According to Electronista  via Daring Fireball , it's been since August. And this isn't the first time.  A few months back when all the rage with the iPad 2 was the smartcover.  Well, just as things started heating up, Samsung started to sell their own smartcovers for the Galaxy Tab 10.1. So, yeah, things don't look good for Samsung now.  Samsung needs to create a task force and go through all their marketing materials and projects they've outsourced and sent out a memos about all this.

I have read online that Siri was having some issues. Though when I gave Siri a try, it did not seem to have any issues. However, I did notice that it seems to have issues understanding what I am saying. I think this is expected. Apple has sold over 4 million iPhone 4S. Even buy Apple standard, that is a lot of iPhones. So we have to keep in mind that maybe Apple did not expect this much traffic in the beginning. More than that, I don't think Apple realize why people were buying up the iPhone 4S. Perhaps, Apple thought people were buying the iPhone 4S for the better camera, faster CPU, and people just upgrading in general. I think the powers that be at Apple totally underestimated the draw of Siri. Furthermore, keep in mind that Siri is still in beta. I think there will is down to be a lot of growing pains. Furthermore Apple will likely increase capacity as well as Siri's abilities. When I was demoing Siri for my coworkers this afternoon, they were very impressed with ...

RIM will compensate customers who were affected by the outage last week with a $100 and more apologies (via  CS Monitors ).  I don't know but I think the pain and trouble that customers went through was worth more than the $100.  I think RIM should have offered an additional month of service as well, to demonstrate that they are seriously apologetic. They need to do more to show customers that they're serious about mobile and that they get it.  Right now, they're far from getting it.  And RIM making it too easy for Apple and Google to steal users away. Way too easy.  More at  Greenjava .

Siri rocks as far as its potential goes.  And while I'm not exactly sure of most of the details of how it works, I think we can safely say that it has a lot to do with servers in data centers that Apple maintains.  Query something and it gets to a gateway, gets crunched, and spits the answer back out to the user. Okay, how would this work in parts of the world where the iPhone is very popular like China where there is a lot of censorship going on?  You know, the Great Firewall of China . Most of our readers kind of take these things for granted.  Whether in China, Iran, any other place where free flow of information is frowned up, to put it mildly, how would Siri work?  To my mind, this could be the first time where Apple will have to decide if it has to clamp down on services or information to avoid getting on the bad side of Beijing. One might say that Apple knows a thing or two about control information.  It does and it is quite good at it.  W...

Apple announced that it has sold 4 million iPhones over the weekend, besting the 1.7 million iPhones it sold last year.  I have a couple of comments and questions about that. First comment.  Wow.  Second comment.  Insanely Great! Now some questions.  Are all these iPhone 4S or a mix of 3G and 4?  And compared to the iPhone 4 that went on sale last year, we know there are more carriers but how about markets? From Apple's press release , it appears this 4 million figure is iPhone 4S only.  So, this is huge.  iPhone 4S only figure. I think Apple came out with this figure so early on because it wanted to dispel any notion that the 4S is a disappointment.  And this is precedent for this. When the 3GS came out, I did not think it was going to sell beyond some minimal growth due to added international carriers. But then, the 3GS did not generate the initial disappointments that bloggers and tech pundits, who had been perpetuating rumors, ...

One other new feature I like is that in the Weather app, there is a new feature called "current location".  It's able to figure out via Location Services where you are and provide you with the current location.  If you enable that, the location if where you're at appears in Notification Center. A lot of times, I'm pretty much just around town but in different parts.  And where I live in the Pasadena and San Gabriel Valley area of Los Angeles, the weather can change pretty dramatically from one location to another. And especially if you're traveling, you probably want to know if before you head out of the hotel what the weather is going to be like.  Local Weather helps.  Of course, if you have the iPhone 4S, you can simply ask Siri which is quicker. But having Location Weather in the Notification Center is a nice touch.

The Notification Center in iOS 5 is one of the newest improvements that Apple made to the mobile experience.  Having said that, a few people still cannot figure out just what it is and how to access it. It's easy but Apple did not seem to have done a good job explain all this to users, just like we had to do with iMessage for you. First when you're in the locked screen, you'll get notifications from messages, e-mails, or other push alerts.  You've seen that in iOS 4.  Nothing too new there.  I never got e-mail alerts in iOS 4 but I'm getting them now in iOS 5.  So, maybe that's an improvement. That isn't the NC.  The NC can be assessed as a pulled-down page when you move a finger from the top of the screen (I usually placed my finger where the time is) and swipe down.  Try it. Cool, eh?  You might see the weather there and stocks.  Here is a screen shot of mine.  I currently do no have any notifications there since I cleared the...

I have come up with one way to help mobile users decide if their current mobile needs are enough. We now live in a culture where mobile computing and experiences are very much a part of our lives. It does not matter if you're rich or poor, use it for personal or work. Mobile needs are the same for just about everyone: student, a wide range or profession, fathers and mothers, just about anyone. Everyone. So how do you know if what you have now is enough? Maybe you've got a low-end Android. Maybe you just upgraded to the iPhone 4S. Or perhaps, you are waiting for the Nexus Prime but the Galaxy S II is already for sale. Then consider this: if the world ends tomorrow, is your device going to be enough to serve your mobile needs? And how will you make that evaluation? Now we need to have a few allowances in such a scenario. We will assume power will be on as will wireless access. But everything else is literally falling apart. Perhaps, roaming gangs are in the streets. Ma...

Google Voice is an indispensible tool for me.  I use it to field calls, screen calls, and, most importantly, I use the SMS feature because I refuse to pay the wireless provider money for sending text that cost them almost nothing. Well, after the release of iPhone 4S, the Google Voice app stopped working.  Crash, crash, crash.  So, if you're like me and on iPhone 4S, well, then, chances are that your app will not work and have not been working.  This was also confirmed by this Electronista post . However, it seems to function perfectly on the iPhone 4 with iOS 5.  Anyway, hopefully, Google works this out.  Initially, I was gonna get set to blame Apple for this but I am not sure Google is really out of the woods as far as the blame goes. We'll just have to see how quickly Google turns this around.  The GV app has been pulled and is no longer available. Source:   Electronista .

According to Slashgear, there is only 3.4 million tablets in use running with Google's current officially sanctioned Android OS, Honeycomb.  Can that be?