AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud

Source:   MacdailyNews ,  Techcrunch . One of the things I find interesting about cloud security and companies that ask us to entrust them with our data is that they only act after something bad has happened.  As in this case with Dropbox where a number of accounts were hijacked.  And only after they were hijacked did they institute some additional security features. My question is where were these security features before the hacking and why only after?  Why not before?  My Google accounts has double authentications and while it's a pain, I feel better about having it.   I think it doesn't matter if you're an Apple, Google, Microsoft, or RIM fan.  Or if you're another cloud customer.  Wouldn't it be better to have more security than not? In the case of dropbox, it appears that one of their employee account was hacked and then that's where the problem started. So, this is what Dropbox will be doing: Two-factor authenti...

Source:   Macworld . Yeah (unenthusiastic).  This morning, reports are popping up all over the pace that Hulu Plus is finally on Apple TV.  Hey, that’s great.  Except the only way to access it is if you pay for shows you can watch for free on the Hulu website. And then even if you decide to fork over $8 a month (that’s about three venti coffee at Starbucks there right), there’s no promise that the show you wanna watch will be available on Apple TV due to licensing terms.  Some shows are "web only". I would not even call the addition of Hulu Plus under such conditions a step forward in cord-cutting.  Let’s see what happens this fall when Apple unveils its Christmas products and hope there will be some changes or additional options to accessing videos in iTunes like renting TV series that you can already do with movies. For now, I’ll stick with my Macbook connecting via HDMI to the HDTV.  More about this uneventful event at Hulu blog .

iPod touch Versus iPad mini – If Both Comes In At $200, What Will You Get? I love speculating and I hope you like it too because this particular one rocks.  If Apple refreshes the iPod touch like we expect, since they didn’t do it last year, and keep it at $199, and they also released the unicornesque iPad mini and price it at $199 to compete with the Fire and Nexus 7, as an Apple fan, what will you buy? On face value, one might simply consider the iPad mini with its 7 or 8” screen to be a better value.  On face value, I’d have to agree with you.  But I’m not sure it’ll be so simple and Apple will make the choice a difficult to make. iPod touch.  To call the iPod touch a phoneless iPhone is really disrespecting what the iPhone represents as a mobile platform that upended the mobile market and really put a lot of innovative juice into a number of markets that had grown stagnant.  The touch was released in the same year as the original iPhone in 2007 but m...

I’ve cut the cord a long time ago.  The only paid service I’ve got is Netflix streaming )and at times, I don’t even know why I have it given the limited content).  Netflix, Hulu, and an assortment of other online video content that is available, maybe you should take a long hard look at your entertainment needs and consider cutting your cord if you haven’t already. Consider this: Google’s Nexus Q has sold out even at the high price of $300.  And the Q is really nothing more than a very expensive device for Android users to stream videos and images onto your HDTV from an Android devices.  Again, at $300 per unit, which is more than Apple’s hobby, Xbox 360, and PS3, the Nexus Q managed to sell out. And speaking of Apple’s hobby, the Apple TV, does a bit more and while it costs only $100, it does have a new function when Apple released the latest OS X.  Rather, newer Macs gained a new function:  Airplay ability – allows users to mirror whatever it is on t...

It’s practically August now.  Well, we’re about 48 hours from August 1st and for mobile watchers trying to decide when Apple will release new iOS devices this fall, it is going to be a feeding frenzy of rumors in the next four to six weeks.  Obviously, the choice is clear for those who are considering switching, buying, or upgrading to a new iPhone:  don’t buy anything for the next couple of months until Apple finally releases the 2012 iPhone, iPhone 5, or whatever they want to call it. That’s for people in the United States and maybe Canada.  The decision could be a little obviously for European customers and definitely harder for Asian mobile warriors because of the way Apple staggers their iPhone launches. It comes down to a couple of factors.  For instance, I needed a new iPhone last summer, 10 weeks before the new iPhone 4S came out and I went ahead and got the iPhone 4. No regrets.  Because I needed it.  I did get the 4S three weeks after ...

I know I am going to get some pushback for this but I think Apple should include Google+ as part of its wider integration with social media and networks. The other day, I talked about the values of "networklets" like Foursquare and Yelp that offer values to users beyond anything that Facebook and even Twitter can hope to achieve at this time (even Twitter has had better success than Facebook). Well, despite Google claiming Google+ having a couple of hundred million users, not many uses it on a consistent basis as Facebook, Twitter, and networklets. However, Google+ works more like a networklets because it is composed of a variety of subgroups of audience and users that geared towards specific interests. Writers, sports fans, tech pundits who following one another, etc.  Artists often share their latest work. This is why I even use Google+ on a regular basis. And this reason alone is why Apple needs to include Google+. These subgroups have strong passions for their causes...

I know I am going to get some pushback for this but I think Apple should include Google+ as part of its wider integration with social media and networks. The other day, I talked about the values of "networklets" like Foursquare and Yelp that offer values to users beyond anything that Facebook and even Twitter can hope to achieve at this time (even Twitter has had better success than Facebook). Well, despite Google claiming Google+ having a couple of hundred million users, not many uses it on a consistent basis as Facebook, Twitter, and networklets. However, Google+ works more like a networklets because it is composed of a variety of subgroups of audience and users that geared towards specific interests. Writers, sports fans, tech pundits who following one another, etc. Artists often share their latest work. This is why I even use Google+ on a regular basis. And this reason alone is why Apple needs to include Google+. These subgroups have strong passions for their ca...

Source:   Blastr . It's been a while since I've explained about our Friday Movie post.  See, back when I was still a TA and a research assistant at UCLA, we used to sneak out on Fridays for after movies.  With premiums happening at the time there and like with about ten or so theaters, you get a wide range of selections of movies. Awesome time.  Obviously, can't do that no more.  However, I've decided to bring this tradition via Friday trailer or shorts.  And this, it's from  Cloud Atlas (wiki)  starring all time favorite actor, Tom Hank, based on a book by the  same title . It's a series of stories that are intertwined and about how it affects. According to Wikipedia, the plot for the novel "...consists of six nested stories that take the reader from the remote South Pacific in the nineteenth century to a distant, post-apocalyptic future. Each tale is revealed to be a story that is read (or observed) by the main character in the next...

When Facebook bought Instagram for like a gazillion dollars, you have to ask why.  I know all the talks out there about how it was a threat to Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg just kinda bought them out because he somehow knew that it would be a huge benefit to Facebook in the long run.  I don't buy it. Instragram was a threat but it's other social networklets (a term I should trademark me thinks) like Foursquare, Yelp, and others that have their own social networks, albeit not as big as Facebook but big enough to be a threat.  And, furthermore, these networklets are much more useful than Facebook alone. Clearly,  Foursquare has figured  out just how it wants to monetize the network of eighty or so million users via businesses paying to show up as recommendations.  Its intrusiveness is the key to winning users over and provides a more measurable tool for Foursquare and its partners on the effectiveness of the campaign. More about Yelp and Path...

Source:   Marketwatch . Woke up this morning to this incredible surprise:  Apple bought a company that specializes in making sensors for fingerprint authentication.  You're like what?  I'm still "like what?". The company is called unsexily Authentec and was acquired for $356 million in cash.   And yeah, after reading a couple of posts in this, I know this is related to security obviously.  For mobile?  Definitely.  It'll be interesting to see how Apple plans in integrating this with the iPhone and iPad which both have a wide enterprise adoption. AllThingsD speculated that there could be something in the works that Apple wants exclusively for itself. This would be my guess as well.  Otherwise, there would not be a need for Apple to also acquire rights to certain patents and such. Reuters goes one step further and figures this could have something to do with mobile payment.  It figures that even with a year or so lead in m...

Source: Blastr . The “last” of the Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises, has been opened just a week ago (amidst the Colorado shooting tragedy) and fans are clamoring for more (I haven’t seen the movie yet but looking forward to it this Saturday!).  And it could be a while before Warner Brothers and its partners get their act together and figure out where they wanna go. Hopefully, gone are those bat-nipples and may they never made a return.  Having said that, don’t worry.  I’m sure WB will continue to feed our insatiable appetite for all things Batman.  And if that’s not enough, maybe fans will get in on the act. Take for instance, this Nightwing take by a fan. How fraking cool is this?!  I love what’s happening and what’s sure to happen.  Technology, a few clips here and there, some ingenious costumers and how-budget effects, and you have more materials for Batverse. Okay, you creative fans out there, give me more of this!

Big news in the mobile struggle this week between Google and Samsung versus Apple isn’t which company sold what or release new products – although Nexus Q selling out at $300 is awesomely impressive (one has to wonder how many Google actually stocked initially).  It’s what happened in the courts and this could have far reaching ramifications in the next year or two. First, a judge ordered a really prejudicial jury instruction in an Apple versus Samsung court case going to trial.  It stated that Samsung destroyed some e-mail (evidence) and that the jury has to assume the destruction of this evidence that could have helped Apple prove its case against Samsung. Oh, and Apple is asking for $2.5 billion in damages.  Not a big deal for Samsung's money printing machine but still, it's about pride, you know? ( WSJ ,  TheDroidGuy ) Second, in a brief filed by Apple, which is very damning, it stated that even Google thought Samsung’s products were too close in resemblin...

I've wondered when the supply and demand for Apple's new Retina Display Macbook Pro will equalize.  And it's happening quicker than I expected.  Others have wondered about the same thing and as Apple shorten the time to get the Retina Display Macbook Pro to about a week, you have to wonder what's going on. Has supply and demand getting closer to equalizing or something more ominous ahead for Apple?  I started on this post over the weekend and there has been some new developments. So, which is it?  Well, Apple reported earnings and, well, things are good but not "Wall Street good".  First, Apple did beat its own estimates.  Second, Mac sales did increase 2% from a year ago.  Together, that's great. And on top of that, Apple only refreshed the Macbook line after the last financial quarter ended.  I reckon that the coming quarter could be huge.  And in the Christmas quarter, it'll be even bigger. However, we cannot dismiss the fact th...

Source:   Macworld ,  TheDroidGuy . Looks like Foursquare is finally making a move to monetize all the data from the check-ins I've helped them amass.  Well, actually, not just me but twenty million mobile users who use the Foursquare app for the Android devices and iPhones over the years.  And this is a winning strategy that is more potent than anyone, even Twitter, has been able to come up with. Exactly because of two things:  location and user willingness to share with Foursquare. See below from my Facebook app.  This what what Facebook lamely came up with. That's right, sponsored likes that I am never going to click on.  It's just awfully lame. On the other hand, Foursquare's more social and mobile network offers a more targeted and potentially fruitful sponsor integration that gear towards mobile users who will actually be able to see value in the recommendations and ads - exactly because mobile users are "mobile" and will go plac...

As some of you may know by now, Apple failed to meet Wall Street's unrealistic expectation for the last financial quarter.  And you know what?  It's a great thing.  Here's why it's great for the company and mobile warriors in the long run. Apple doesn't do things quarter by quarter but more of on an annual basis.  iOS devices are updated on an annual basis.  Macs now has a longer shelf-life than ever before.  Just as the folks waiting for new updated Mac Pro units how long they've been waiting and still are waiting. iOS is updated on an annual basis as it OS X. Oh, even Apple's hobby, the Apple TV, is updated on such a schedule. So, it's clear that there will be quarters where numbers get blown out out of water and quarters where numbers are more muted.  However, by any measuring stick, Apple's disappointing quarters are the envy of its peers on exchanges and competitors.  Wouldn't HP, Dell, RIM, or Samsung want Apple's $7 billion or ...

Appleinsider has a post that Apple has widen its lead over Android in enterprise.  That’s great and all.  However, I wonder if Apple could do even better if it offers an enterprise version of the iPhone.  The reason is that it’s so pretty. And while the iPhone has a first rate design that not even Samsung dare copy, I wonder if it’s too nice. What do you think?  Can Apple make a form factor that some in enterprise can use and perhaps more durable? I think it can be done without Apple having to compromise over design.  Perhaps this is why many rumors in the Web being circulated are about Apple abandoning the glass back in favor of an unibody design. Or if Apple doesn't go this route, it should at least consider enterprise users when designing future iPhones and other iOS devices.

According to  Blastr , this is the full length trailer of Man of Steel.  So, watching it before it's gone.  It might be gone by now...unless it's not. Enjoy! Can't wait!

Source:  The Register . "Bad". That's how Gartner, a Microsoft friendly analyst firm, described Windows 8.  It looks like more and more people will be opting for Windows 7 and wait it out to see what Windows 9 will offer. There's more.  Gartner tried to make the best of it.  Windows 8 could be good on a tablet but definitely horrible as a desktop experience. This will give competitors, well, Apple, a very good opportunity to capture a larger segment of the PC market with its upcoming Mountain Lion which has many new features that both home and enterprise users will really like.  And Apple has retained the familiar look and feel of the Mac OS X even as it lightly peppered a few iOS features as not to annoy users - more like beta testing them to see how well they do. To be fair, Gartner has been  more wrong than right .  Only DigiTimes is worse.

Google argues that the valuable mobile patents that Apple owns which makes the iPhone an “iPhone” should be fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory and subject to standard essential patent rules. I can’t say that I agree or disagree because of the patent system, which essentially lets anyone’s grandmother patent just about anything without really looking into the background of these so-called patents and whether they really are worth patenting. I do know that companies that patent just about everything and everywhere do spend billions upon billions to patent them.  So, who is to say what patent, hence, which features should be licensable by the patent holder’s competitors.  Furthermore, what if a patent holder simply says its ball can only played on its court and nowhere else, it is no one’s rights, a corporation or government, to come and force the patent holder to open up. I don’t know Google’s strategy in this.  Intellectual properties are essential for innovation...

I happened to venture onto this  Reuters post via Huffington Post  about how the super-rich amassed as much as $32 trillion in offshore havens to avoid taxation.  That's quite a lot of money. If you consider just how much taxes various government entities missed because of this over more than four decades.  But this is an issue that will never get resolved but I that's not why I mentioned it. It got me started thinking about the hundreds of millions in Google's case and billions in Microsoft's Bill Gates' case that were spent to help better the human condition, I kinda asked myself if we should do more to support their goods and services. Should consumers ally themselves with a company's products and services that does more to better the world than those of competing companies that doesn't? More at Clouding Around .

I love my iPod touch and do so millions of touch fans.  So, there is no reason to think that Apple will abandon it in favor of the iPhone and/or the iPad mini that is supposed to have about an eight inch screen.  Here's why:  millions upon millions of users opt for it who either don't want to buy the iPhone or cannot afford it and Apple needs it more than ever to fight the mobile market war and the coming living war. I started thinking about this long before I read this iMore post about it.  I guess now is as good as any other time to consider it.  And the iMore post made many points with the writer concluding that the iPod touch will in deed stick around.   For those reasons, I think not only will the iPod touch be around for a long, long time and likely won't go anywhere, it probably will continue to occupy the $200 price point, even experience a slight price drop while the iPad mini will likely start around $250.  There, no $200 iPad min...

Our devices are already smaller and easier to use than a lot of what Captain Kirk or the guys on Star Wars had.  Sure, our "communicators" are not able to communicate with a starship but we could link up with the ISS.  And certainly, with its communication devices or tablets, our devices definitely look sleeker. At first, I could have steered this post towards how we have come science fiction tech here already today but I would like to examine just we are we are from technology that have not been realized yet today that exists only on TV or movies. Let's start with voice commands.  Google voice search is very enticing as is Siri but neither is anything close to Hal or the Enterprise's computer (but Siri does have a better personality than the computer or Hal).  And while Apple likes to talk about the artificial intelligence behind Siri, I really don't know if we are really that close to Hal, the Enterprise computer, or even the computer in War Games as far a...

Source:   MacDailyNews . Here's an interesting  post from NYT  regarding voice commands and recognition and Apple's Siri.  As we well know, Apple's Siri is a significant addition to the mobile experience even if it's not ready for prime time.  I've used it often and it's good enough for the most part. However, many have suggested that Google, which doesn't have a direct competitor to Siri (yet), offers a better voice recognition advantage. The reason is simple:  Google offered a free Google-411 service and voice search that essentially allowed Google to capture tons of voice requests years before Siri came onto the scene, even before Apple bought Siri. It'll be interesting to see if we'll see Siri evolve with better artificial intelligence that what we have now and what we saw at Apple's WWDC demo when iOS is released.  Right now, there is a lot of apps in both Google Play and iOS app store that compete with Siri that delivered results ...

Source:   9to5Mac . For a number of us mobile warriors who are also scifi and comic fans, we’re looking at a weekend of bats – as in Batman, the Dark Knight, Bane of Gotham’s underworld.  This week is when Dark Knight Rises will be released, the final saga to the current arc of Batman story. And you can get that Warner Brothers is going all out to make sure DKR has Avengers like numbers at the box office.  But before we get to that, part of any superhero movie release will be games.  And while traditionally, the consoles and PC get all the fun, today, it’s vastly different as mobile gaming has taken the video game realm by storm. Hence, the Dark Knight Rises game, by Gameloft, is here.  Look for it in your respective app stores. By that, I mean Android and iPhone users only. Here’s a video teaser for the game. What do you think?  For $7 for the movie of the summer, yeah, definitely worth it.  It's unlikely we're gonna get the full mo...

For the rest of the month and, maybe through August, I'm gonna get rid of e-mails on my mobile devices - phones, tablets.  Every device that I've got and only check e-mail at work via webmail for iCloud and Gmail and on the Macbook Air at home.  I think I can save myself quite a bit of space this way. More and more communications are taking place via texts, group messaging apps like Whatsapp, and social networks like Twitter and Google+.  Once in a while, I will get an important e-mail but they are usually not something that requires my immediate attention.  A lot of the more interesting ones that I get daily are from Groupon and Livingsocial. I get notifications about monthly bills and what new comics are out and like the Groupon/Livingsocial e-mails, they can wait. I do occasionally get a mass e-mail for birthdays and evites. These group of mails, too, do not need me to deal with them right there and then. In doing so, I avoid a lot of needless d...

Source:   Macrumors . I think I can safely say that 99% of the mobile warriors who read this blog would agree with me that wireless carriers are evil.  For that 1 out of 100 readers still doesn't think so, get this:  AT&T is looking to see if they can profit off Apple's FaceTime communication over cellular data. For Android, Windows, or Blackberry users, you might think what this has to do with you.  This is an issue that may not pertain to just Apple's FaceTime.  It could eventually affect Skype, Google Hangout, or any other video communication apps.  I've been using Skype over 3G for a while now and I love it.  Quality varies by a wide spectrum for video calls but certainly VOIP works very well most of the time.   So, yeah, if Apple, Google, or Microsoft allows the carriers to reassert control in this matter, we could be in for some very expensive times ahead. Wireless carriers need to know their place in the mobile ...

Source:   TUAW . I want this battery case.  It has plenty of juice and best of all, it looks like something that Batman would use. Again, it's all about the battery life or lack there of in the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S has me considering getting this. This Mophie Juice Pack Pro for $129 packs a punch that is unlike most other more anemic battery cases.  I've help off getting them because they just didn't give me what I wanted given how I think mobile devices, particularly the iPhone, ought to be used. For some comparison to the awesomely long battery life that the RAZR MAXX from Motorola has, the iPhone 4/4S really doesn't measure up.  The RAZR has 3,300 mAh battery while the iPhone 4 has 1420 mAh and the 4S has 1432 mAh.  A huge diff. With this juice pack, the iPhone will have its battery life augmented by the pack's 2500 Ahm.  That'll give the iPhone roughly 3900 Ahm. Right now, we ration power when we know we're going to be away from the po...

Source:   Cult of Mac . Here some light-hearted pics of assorted action figure toys from Woody to Star Wars to even Steve Jobs.  Each with an iPhone and sometimes with an iMac or iPad. Those are just a couple of the ones I like.  More at the link above.  The one below is the best of the lot.  And very fitting...Buzz and Steve together.

Source:   Yahoo News , Treehugger , My Modern . Always love talking about solar and mobile and there is another opportunity with my bit of twist.   Remember the above pic?  It was Toyota's solar flowers to promote the Prius.  And it was awesome!  I don't know if they're around still but Toyota could have and should have build more of them all over.  It was absolutely brilliant and I am somewhat disappointed that we haven't seen or heard more about this or similar concept. Now, New York City is kinda doing something similar.  So far, it has converted 10 payphones into WiFi hotspots for the public to use.  And more will come.   No word on whether this is powered by solar but since it wasn't mentioned, I highly doubt it.  Still, I reckon as more and more of these free WiFi hotspots come online and this pilot program works as planned, I'm hoping other cities will follow.  And there is absolutely no reason t...

Source:   Reuters . First, I didn’t know there was such a thing as Yahoo Voice but apparently, if you use it, you could be a victim of Yahoo’s negligence which has resulted the lost of 400,000 passwords. So, if you think you could be one of these victims, best to do something about it really quickly. This comes on the heat of Sony’s PS network blunder last year and last month’s LinkedIn loss of more than 6 million passwords. Truly, Yahoo doesn’t need this right now and it makes somewhat suspect just whether these companies really have their acts together or know what they are doing.  You’d think after Sony, LinkedIn, and others, companies would be scrambling to do audits on their security.

Source:   Forbes . It used to be that any mention of Apple, the iPhone, and another carrier other than AT&T would have sparked a click frenzy.  It's like gallon of blood dropped into a pool filled with sharks and piranhas.  And this was especially true if the carrier was T-Mobile because it was the only other major GSM carrier in the United States other than AT&T.  As history would show, both T-Mobile's CDMA competitors, Verizon Wireless and Sprint, got the iPhones and T-Mobile is still on the outside looking in. So, let's see if this Apple, iPhone, T-Mobile post will generate interest on par with what it was like a couple of years ago, before AT&T lost the iPhone exclusivity. So, this Forbes post suggested the obvious: Apple should deal with T-Mobile.  I admit I haven't thought about T-Mobile for a long time since the merger with AT&T failed. And I had gained a bad taste for T-Mobile as its customer service quality waned.  S...

Source:   Appleinsider . Looks like Apple is going to hit Google on the desktop too.  At least, on OS X. The weapon of choice could be Maps, Apple's newest app that could only be found on the forthcoming iOS 6.  What interest about this discovery by Technically Personal is that Apple could be sending the market a message.  It means to own more of the mobile and computing experiences.  The evidence is in the coding.   Seriously, after Maps, what else? What we don't know is if Maps will be just an app or can it be access online via a browser like other mapping services like Mapquest or Google's own map.  It is also entirely possible that Maps service will only go as far as iMovie and iPhoto where geo-tagging is used prevalently.  If that's the case, there may be no Maps app, either as a standalone app and/or browser-based, for OS X.   Personally, I love to have Maps come to the Mac.  We've seen many iOS apps making the migration and Apple...

7" iPad Is Likely 7" iPod touch There is talk over the weekend that the speculated 7" display tablet from Apple could have a similar form factor as the iPod touch.  And if you look at the iPad touch, not much has changed since the beginning.  And frankly, I find this form factor to be idea. It'll be interesting to see just how Apple is able to get it work as an iPad because many folks will try to use it in that manner.  It's likely that Apple will market the device purely as a media tablet even if it can do everything the iPad can. Though it's just a naming in terms of marketing, it could have an effect on some people.  Aside from likely being called an iPod, who will buy this?  I mean a lot of folks will.  It will have a devastating effort on the Kindle Fire and the Nexus 7 sales but I'm talking about the demographics and how it will be used.

Source:   Blastr . Sometimes, you wonder if Hollywood (or anyone else) is running out of ideas.  There's a lot of "been there, done that" movies and TV shows.  I think it's why superhero movies are so popular because they're one element of the media (comics) that has not been properly explored and only recently has technology enabled such awesome special effects and 3D.  And if you want original stuff, well, sometimes, you cringe a bit at the idea. Check out this Dinosaurs versus Aliens project that could result in both a comic and a movie.  I don't know...what do you think? The idea behind this project is that what if dinosaurs had more brains than we expected and could stand up against an alien invasion.  So, yeah, they somehow fought off aliens but forgot that big rock in the sky that ultimately wiped them out sixty-five million years or so ago. So, if you're a comic book writer and artist and has come 3D or video kung fu, you could b...

We talk about American exceptionalism all the time.  I happen to think America is pretty special but not in an arrogant way.  Well, in mobile and computing, I think Apple is also very exceptional.  The iOS devices like the iPhone and Macbooks – not just the design.  Not just the software.  And not just the corporate culture.  You have to take in all of that and look at it as a whole. And it is very special. Yes, there is a “however”.  While Apple remains impressive compared to its peers and competitors, I don’t know if Apple done much in the last year to make itself much more distinguished.  Don’t get me wrong.  Apple is still number one when it comes to getting a smartphone that is greatly designed, easy to use, and provides an over all awesome user experience. However, in the smartphone market, I see a lot of companies do things that I wish the iPhone could do.  While iOS has been ridiculously easy to use, it has gotten a ...

Source:   Macworld . This is the first time where a Trojan Horse has slipped into Apple’s walled-garden iOS app store.  Apparently, this app uploads your contact list, with your permission of course, and then processes to text your friends with a malicious link. According the Macworld, the app is still up but I wasn’t able to find it so I think it’s probably not there anymore in Apple’s iTunes store.  Nor is it in Google Play. However, I am not sure how many folks are really affected. It’s seems to be a Russian developer and I don’t know how many folks out there really download that many apps from an unknown Russian developer. This is why app discovery is cool and all but I generally recommend that folks stick with better known developers rather than obscure ones.  That isn’t to say that you should go looking around for cool apps that fit your needs.  Just do a bit of research before you download, install, and use it. BTW, Find And Call had only...

I think it's safe to say that a sub-9.7" iPad is on the way. Those who take Steve Jobs' words as mobile gospel will be in utter disbelief but they'll just have to life with this. This is now Tim Cook's Apple and Steve Jobs did say that the execs should not try to ask themselves "what would Steve do" when making a call. Apparently, with or without Steve's blessings, Apple has decided to release 7" to 8" iPad with a target day for fall of 2012 – just in time for the Holiday seasons. The reason is obviously as I believed Bloomberg was leaked information about it. My culprit is Apple. I started on this post Tuesday morning but the fact that WSJ came out with their own piece suggests not only is a sub-9.7" iPad or bigger screen iPod touch coming, Apple could be worried about an improved Kindle Fire and the Nexus 7 but it also wants to avoid giving anyone else momentum like Amazon got with the Fire. Just as Google mean to stamp o...

Source:   Blastr . We missed Friday's movie clip so we're making it up today with this week's July 4th movie clip.  If you don't already know, we used to go watch a movie on a Friday afternoon during work.  It was okay with my professor and it became a tradition. Well, we can't do that no more so we'll do it on the Web.  And this week's July 4th video clip is an excellent and well-made fan video of Superman!   Enjoy: Bizzaro Classic.  There is the video in the beginning and some behind the scene looks. If you thought that was good, check out Superman Classic also from  Blastr . Have a safe and wonderful July 4th!  And Happy Birthday, America!!!

The next iPhone, the “new” iPhone or iPhone 5, will be one of the most high-anticipated launch of Apple’s mobile history (but isn’t that always the case with each passing year?), and bloggers, analysts, and tech pundits will be spewing out rumors, innuendos, and speculations about what we can expect.  Well, I’m going to chime in at this time:  no NFC. So, if you’re going to expect your next iPhone to be your digital wallet so that you can leave the wallet at home, like I have been wishing for since I found out commuters in Japan can use their phones to pay for fares, then we are heck out of luck. Here’s my reasoning. If the next iPhone’s supposedly bigger screen and new form factor augmented by iOS 6 and a more robust Siri (hoping there could be more than Apple let on during the WWDC keynote) isn’t going to sell the next iPhone, I doubt having NFC will make much of a hay at the launch event.  At most, Passbook will get a mention and a demo but that’ll be about ...

Source:   LA Times . This is it.  As viewing patterns change and new technologies to distribute media comes online an become more popular, media companies and traditional distributors grapple with this reality.  And they know that if they don't adapt, they're going the way of, well, you can pick the analogy yourself.  LA Times is reporting that Dish Network has dropped AMC channels just as a couple new shows were about to be broadcast. Regardless of the politics, greed, or whatever makes media execs tick, this is an opportunity for someone to come in and disrupt things and change just how we viewers can get our favorite channels or shows without having to subscribe to a package of channels and shows we're never going to watch. I put the onus on Apple, Amazon, and Google but I'm not sure they're going to go about this as we would like it. Honestly, I think the shows and movies on iTunes and Amazon are still too expensive for me to buy in bulk except for a ...