AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud

Source:   Techcrunch . It's official.  Given what TC is saying and what Tim Cook said earlier this week at the D10 about Facebook.  Essentially, Tim had some kind words for Facebook and asked the audience, those present during his live interview and those of us watching from the Web, to "stay tuned" about collaboration between Apple and Facebook. When Apple graced us with Twitter integration in iOS 5, it was not surprising that Facebook or Google+ were part of it.  After all, there was some falling out between Apple and Facebook, mostly between Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckie (boy billionaire who lost 40% or so if his net worth since Facebook's IPO), over Ping that left Ping pretty much dead from day one and Facebook looking very much weakened without any mobile strategy to speak of.   As for Google+, well, just one word:  Android.  No way Google+ will find its way into iOS outside of official apps.  No way Google+ will be integrated in...

Greed may be a good thing (thought I disagree), so is fear. It’s a very well-known fact that Apple wants to sell us hardware at a profit margin that its shareholders can respect.  It’s also a very well-known fact that Apple doesn’t want to do anything like owning contents or creating apps when it doesn’t have to – it lets others do the work for it.  However, there is one exception:  when Apple feels threatened. It’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that Apple will be replacing Google Maps on iOS with its own mapping implementation.  Apple has already bought two companies that we know of and I won’t bore you with what they do and how they’ll fit into Apple’s iOS and OS X ecosystems because no one knows for sure yet. And with this new mapping app, Apple will displace Google on hundreds of millions of devices.  It’s perhaps the fear, which has now been realized, that Google went out and bought Android.  In the early days, the fear of being shut out lik...

The headlines today are buzzing with what Tim Cook said about Apple’s TV plans, Siri, and Facebook.  Which is to say that what he said is kinda what Steve Jobs would have said which is to say that Tim Cook said nothing new. There, I’ve said it. On television, Apple is said to be very interested.  Who in consumer tech today isn’t?  Apple TV or Apple HDTV. Or would it be an Apple cinema screen that is 40+ inches and up with Airplay support? On Siri, more to come.  Obviously.  It’s in beta now and we can expect more.  And we want more.  So, this was expected.  It isn’t as if Tim Cook was going to say “nah, we’re done…we’ll have Siri speak Mandarin and then we’re finished.” On Facebook, this is where it’s more interesting.  Facebook wants Apple’s customer data and Apple isn’t keen on providing that.  The issue is who will blink first or some sort of compromise will be struck.  Zuckerberg has shown to be his own man after not be...