AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud

This picture (Tuaw) says it all.  Maybe Tim Cook should have been the one to visit North Korea all along to talk the “Great Leader” down from his cliff.

This is a horribly written article from the Atlantic Wire  comparing AT&T and T-Mobile's new no-contract rates.  We’ll go through the errors and come to the conclusion that the writer or even the AW is bending over backward to make T-Mobile look bad and AT&T, probably a big sponsor for the site, look good. The gist of the post is about how T-Mobile’s new plan is bad compared to AT&T for users and even trying to point out that T-Mobile could end up costing users more.  Let’s start shredding this post apart piece by piece. First, even if the numbers used by the writer is correct, paying a bit more to get out of the thumb of AT&T’s draconian domain is worth it.  That in and of itself is a great advertising tagline.  Fortunately for folks looking at the T-Mobile plans, it’s actually cheaper to go with T-Mobile and AT&T's plans are actually more expensive. Second, the numbers used by AW are wrong because while they’re comparing the same dev...

I think the $99 down payment for flagship and top-selling devices like the iPhone, HTC One, Z10, and the forthcoming Galaxy S 4 is going to be a major hit for users looking to migrate to T-Mobile's new no contract plan.  For the reason that in-depth discussion about T-Mobile's new mobile plans isn't needed here, you're welcome to visit T-Mobile for more information. What the new plans offer is greater transparency about subsidies and where your monthly payments to carriers go to.  In the past, you might pay $80 for plan and get a phone for free, $99, or even $199.  You sign a contract with the carrier and that’s it.  Locked in for two years.  While it might be kinda nice to know the breakdown of your $80, it’s was not something the carriers are obligated to tell us. With T-Mobile’s plans, you know you’re pay, say $60 a month plus whatever amount you owe to cover the cost of the device you bought from T-Mobile for 20 months.  You see where that money i...

I suck at naming names which is why I am not in any creative job or have ever been.  However, the more I think about it, the more I think this iWatch everyone is chiming in about is not a watch at all.  I think it’ll be a small device that is wearable and flexible in terms of where you put it on your person. Let’s call it the iWear . If you want to put a strap to it and wear it like a watch, go for it.  Many folks have done it with the last generation iPod nano.  Dorky looking but Apple didn’t stop you and won’t be stopping you from using iWear like a watch.  Wanna wear it around your neck?  Apple has don’t that before with the first generation Shuffle.  Looks good too.  Wanna clip it to your belt?  Sure. iWatch is too limited.  That’s the whole point.  iWear?  I reckon it’ll spawn a whole new third party accessory industry unlike anything we have been before.  Look for Kickstarter to get inundated with accessories a...

This Motley Fool post , and note that I'm stressing the "fool" part, suggests Google shutting down Reader, which I think is a mistake, is related to a buyout of a pretty big social network.  That company is Twitter.  Fool. There just is no way this would happen.  I can't imagine Google shelling out anywhere from $20 to $25 billion for Twitter.  According to Fast Company, Twitter is worth about $10 billion today and we can see that get closer to $15 or even $20 billion by the time it goes IPO, whenever that may be.  On top of that valuation, any suitor will have to pay a premium over that to satisfy future Twitter shareholders.  It's an expensive buy. Furthermore, after the poor execution of the Motorola buyout, I'm not sure the market is ready for this.  And can you imagine the number of defections that'll occur from Twitter if this were to happen.   This idea is just as bad as if someone suggests that Apple buy Twitter or Facebook or ...

I recently bought a very nice watch that I like very much.  It’s well built, expensive, and only tells time.  It costs more than the Pebble smart watch and will probably cost more than any watch that Apple, Samsung, or anyone else can release given consumer willingness to pay for a smart watch, which isn’t a lot.  If you’re an Apple fan, that’ll be the iWatch.  For Android fans or Galaxy fans, maybe it’ll be the Galaxy watch (and just about every tech giant out there are now said to be working on their own watches).

I just watched the newest World War Z trailer and I’m hating myself for it.  First, I love almost everything I saw and I’m so pumped but I have to wait until freaking June for it. I am still not sure about the undead climbing all over each other.  In World War Z the book, there was no references to anything like that.  I like that out-of-the-box thinking in this regard but I much prefer The Walking Dead type of zombies.  However, it’s not to say I’m not going to be waiting in line to one of the first to watch this at the Arclight (assigned seatings). Now, here are new footages of the Brad Pitt version of World War Z.  And I must say, I’m loving every bit of it. Again, not crazy about the water-life wave of undead coming at you but it does add to the immediacy and feeling of being overwhelmed. Here’s the clip.  Enjoy.

As you know by now, though you may not care or have done ranting about it, Google decided to kill off one of their biggest driver for blog traffic:  Reader.  It's an RSS reader to aggregate, you guessed it, RSS feeds into one place.  I swear by it and I've since moved on to Feedly . However, I think Twitter should pick up the mantle.  I know this is probably not something that Twitter will even remotely consider doing but I think it could work very well given that many tweets are about articles from various news sources or blogs. Or, even create channels which allows tweets to be turned into RSS substitutes.  I've been organizing my "followings" into lists as many of you have already done so for various reasons.  I've only recently given it another look after the impending death of Reader. Of all the social networks that can most act and capitalize on Google's mistake of killing off Reader, I think it's Twitter.  Sure, I've done something ...

Source:   Kotaku . What can we all mobile fans agree on?  SciFi, right?  How about Doctor Who?  Yup.  That's right.  Science fiction is like the neutral zone for all mobiel warriors regardless of whether you like Android, iPhone, Nokia, or Blackberry. What's more, about about two hot twins performing the Doctor Who theme? Enjoy. As a bonus, the twins playing The Walking Dead theme, anyone?

Source:   Tech News Daily . I'm come straight to the point.  Any company should be investigated and fined heavily for allow child pornography on their site.  There cannot be any excuses.  And they have to do everything they can to help authorities catch the perpetrators.  Screw the ACLU. Apparently, Facebook only took down a criminal pornographic video of a child being abused after it had been share 16K times and garnered thousands of "likes" before doing anything about it.  Probably only after users used Twitter and other social media to express their outrage. However, Facebook stated they "swiftly" took down the video after being notified.  Honestly, that's a load of crap if you heard one before.  Swift action would not have allowed so many shares and likes. And that's only part of the story.  In the original link to the story,  a comment for The Independent  (UK paper) stated that there was actually 29K shares and 9...

Source:   PRmac . I use mobile apps for my workout.  For running, doing specific exercises in the gym, and keeping track of activities and diet.  And so why not kung fu? After all there are yoga and other types of physical activities with dedicated apps.  I just had never considered kung fu. App is currently free and downloadable for both iPhone and iOS.

Source:   9to5Mac . You probably have never met Stephen Elop of Nokia.  He’s Microsoft’s viceroy over at Nokia to ensure that they push Windows Phone devices out instead of any running on other platforms, like, oh say, Android. Well, in this video below, he’s the phone throwing the interviewer’s iPhone across the room. Now, you know what he looks like. I reckon this isn’t how a CEO should act or this is going to get mobile warriors excited about Nokia devices.

Apparently, Google and LG are working on their watches to compete with nonexistent watches from Apple and Samsung.  Well, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that Microsoft, Nokia, HTC, Acer, Lenovo, etc. are all working on watches. I don't know how the rumors that Apple is making a watch got started.  I supposed it started when the iPod nano was so small that it could be fitted on a wrist band and be worn as a watch.  It didn't do much except tell time. Then you've got the Pebble watch that got a lot of media attention via its success Kickstarter campaign.  Of course, when I dug deeper, there are plenty of watches out there that has similar capabilities.   I suppose that's how it all got started.  So everyone is making a watch.  Heck, Amazon, too!  I think some of Nike's sports watches that monitor activities can be considered more of a real smart-watch than anyone currently in development at these various tech giants.   ...

Here's here. According to 9to2Mac , Apple has finally enabled a two-step verification for iCloud.  I've been using this for Google accounts and it's seemless.  I know I'll feel mucho better about iCloud now. Right now, Apple's website for Apple ID is up but there's all these weird strings.  My advice is to wait a few hours until the dust settles before sign up for it.  But do sign up for it. The way it works is that you type in your ID and password as you normally do.  You already do this. Then Apple will send to your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad a second code that you'll have to enter to gain access to your account.  Enter that access code and you're in. If someone else tries to log in with your credentials, even if they have the password, without the access code, they're still locked out.

Update:  BBC, how much is your integrity worth?  Hope AV or Samsung pay you enough to stoop this low. Because you'll never get it back. BBC is another media company that has been hit hard by the changing media landscape.  I'm not leaking to the BBC post but I'll link to MacDailyNews that discovered it .  In its post, it said that apple's brand is less inspring these days. When the post went online, it cited a report made by a consultant company called Added Value.  Well, what the post failed to mention was that Samsung is AV's client.  Apparently, folks have pointed that out and BBC has noted it.  However, the post remains and continues the biased reporting. That somehow a survey from AV, again whose client is Samsung, that blasted Apple while lifting its client escaped BBC's editorial process. This process sounds familiar.  Where have I heard this recently. Oh, right.  It reminds me of China's CCTV hit piece against Apple that fai...

Source:   Appleinsider . According to a newly published report from Strategy Analytics, more of a survey than anything else, iCloud accounts for 27% of cloud use with Dropbox and Amazon trailing.  However, I don't know if Apple should declare any sort of victory here. The fact that Amazon is third over all with 15%, ahead of Google at 10%, suggests that a closed system like Apple and Amazon are more able to get their users to sign up for their own services. If you want something amazing about this report, it's that Dropbox is in second place with 17%, ahead of both Amazon and Google.  Dropbox has no support in terms of native OS.  What it does have is an open strategy to allows its services to be used on any PC or mobile device with plenty of app support. For iCloud, its use will be limited to Apple's ecosystem.  That is its advantage as well as potential pitfall.  Apple has to continue to innovate and expand its cloud offerings, an area where ma...

Lately, I've fallen prey to posts from a number of blogs, even major ones you probably frequent, that have interesting posts.  Catchy titles that drew me and others in.  It's only after reading it and clicking through that we realized those aren't real posts. They're sponsored posts.  I've been approached a number of times to do this.  No way.  Not here. However, it's a practice I fear will only increase as competition does.  So, I think these blogs should do their readers a service and say right at the very top of the post and mentioned what they're reading are ad posts. Better yet, add the word "sponsored post" in the title of the post.  Believe me, I might still click through if I really find it interesting and the blog is honest about it upfront and I'm sure others will too. What we don't like is being duped.

Source:   Yahoo News , Space ,  bezos Expeditions . Regardless of how you feel about Amazon or even its CEO, Jeff Bezo, you gotta love the guy for what he’s doing here:  he launched an expedition that recovered enough parts to rebuild two Saturn V engines that took Americans to the moon during the Apollo program in the 60’s.  You know, a time when we put country first and felt that if we set our minds to anything, we can accomplish it. Interesting thing is that NASA will continue to retain ownership of the engines that will be put on display as museums. According to Bezos' update: What an incredible adventure. We are right now onboard the Seabed Worker headed back to Cape Canaveral after finishing three weeks at sea, working almost 3 miles below the surface. We found so much. We’ve seen an underwater wonderland – an incredible sculpture garden of twisted F-1 engines that tells the story of a fiery and violent end, one that serves testament to the Apollo p...

Source:   CNN .     CNN tried to be generous about Blackberry’s Z10 but you can tell that they’re just coming up short of tell you not to buy it.  They like the hardware even though they acknowledged that it’s behind its rivals like the iPhone, Galaxy S 4, and the HTC One. This must be very disheartening for once dominant Canadian mobile giant.  The problem seems be the OS itself.  CNN believes, it has some polishing to do while it lacks some major native apps that its competition has plenty of. The post ends with the fact that Blackberry lacks the infrastructure that Apple and Google has to make distinctive features like Google Now and Siri.  Personally, I would not have mentioned Apple in the same breath as Google when it comes to web services and infrastructure (Google is so far ahead of everyone else) but we get the point. You cannot help but feel that the current BB10 hardware, and there are only two, is Blackberry’s attempt to ste...

Source:   Cnet . Yahoo wants a piece of online video streaming to compete with Youtube.  So, it’s looking to buy a part of DailyMotion.  I think Vimeo is a better buy if it’s available for sale. After all, Vimeo is the default video service for iOS and OS X after Apple dumped Youtube.  There’s gotta be a reason why Apple picked Vimeo. Recently, Vimeo enabled a service,  Vimeo On Demand , allowing providers to charge for their content.

Here’s a post from  TabletPC Review  that suggests we aren’t going to see cheaper, smaller, and lighter Windows RT tablet until Microsoft releases the next version of Windows.  It’s an interesting suggestion but I am not sure I agree. Right now, the Surface RT has a screen size of 10.6” (Apple’s iPad has a 9.7” screen) and 1366x768 resolutions (the iPad has 2048x1536). So, why can’t someone out there make a screen with 7 to 8” and still have 1366x678?  Apple’s iPad mini is 7.85” with a 1024x768.  Heck, even the smaller 7” Android have a higher resolution.  The Nexus 7 has a resolution of 1280x800. So, as an average mobile warrior, my question is why no 7” or 8” Windows RT tablet yet?

Microsoft has not always been very good at its first time out in almost any market it enters.  Even in the PC market, it took a couple of tries before it eventually knocked Apple out and nearly for good.  The same for the browser market and the console. So, I haven't been all that surprised by the degree of success that Microsoft's own tablet effort, the Surface, so far.  I'm not even sure the Surface Pro, which runs the full version of Windows 8, will either.  I'm hoping perhaps, Windows 8.x or Windows 9 could do the trick. And even now, Windows 8 is in danger of being marginalized in favor of its older sibling, Windows 7 and, of course, OS X, iOS, and Android. Samsung has largely shunned it.  Even now, Lenovo has machines with Windows 7 installed instead of making Windows 8 users do the hard work. So, Surface 2?  Well, the issue isn't that Microsoft's tablets are not good.  They're very decent but they're also priced like iPads. Between ...

Whatsapp doesn't sell ads but it does sell its app for $1.  Sometimes, you can get it for free.  However, all that's ending as it moves to an annual subscription-based service.  It's $1 per user for a year.  It's not a bad deal in the grand scheme of things but it is more expensive than just paying $1 now and getting grandfathered in. I'm sure this new subscription implementation will be closely watched by others.  Obviously, its competitors could be looking at how well Whatsapp does with this and if users are receptive.  It's got a big enough market share that it could stand to lose a few that might jump ship. However, social services that offer messaging or even updates like Path could look at this and see it as a potential source of revenue in the future.  Yes, even now with Facebook charging users to broadcast their updates, they may even get in on the game.  With hundreds of active users, Facebook may be looking at millions in revenue....

For anyone waiting for a new iPhone, my guess is you've got a long wait.  Apple's industry leading device is selling well enough, even in India, that it doesn't have to worry about slowing sales other than what's seasonally adjusted. However, if you're looking for possible signs that new iPhones are coming other than waiting until fall, there could only be one.  And it's not from rumor sites either.  When every authorized iPhone resellers begin to discount them, that's a pretty good indication that Apple is trying to drum up last minute sales before new models arrive. For instance, we can see anywhere from $50 to $100 in discount on the iPhone 5.  This happened the last couple of years. And it's probably anywhere from six to eight weeks ago when Apple starts doing that.  For those who are hoping that Apple will release new models in June, Apple will have to start discounting current models right around the beginning of April. Another time frame t...

There are many smart folks out there.  Like myself.  Depending on your expertise, you might be smarter and more capable than I am in some areas and others where I can really school you.  This is the same for many office, sales, or the tens, if not, hundreds of millions of workers worldwide whose productivities are augmented by technology.  Here, we’re talking about PCs and smartphones.  And a growing number of workers, or drones as I like to call it, are using tablets. I’m going to replace the word “worker” with “drone”.  It’s important because not many of us have jobs that allow or require us to go out of the bounds of our job requirement.  We do what we have to and our bosses want us to be able to do it faster and better.  Drones.  And with tablets, particularly the iPads, it’s allowing drones to do just that. And this is where Apple’s enterprise growth will be helped by the iPad.  See, the iPad is a very capable device now.  ...

Source:   Soff  via  The Loop Insight . I think these are two separate photos for the Catholic selection of popes.  In 2005 and now in 2013. Yes, it is different.  However, the source link, Soff, has put a negative spin on it.  The author went on to say he had disabled notifications on his phone only recently. I've been doing it for more years.  Cuts down on those weird awkward moments and definitely saves battery power too.  I know which apps get notifications and which are important that I need to check on a regular basis like my e-mails.  Then for the rest, I check on them, like Twitter/Path, when I get bored. As for the photos, I think it's fine.  It's the times and you are your own guide as to how far you want to take your mobile behavior.  But I do think that it's good to put away your devices during dinner with friends and family.

Source:   Techpinions . Here are two distinct charts regarding tablet market size that could be of interest to not only mobile fans for trashing talking and consumers who want to know where the market is headed but developers who want to best put their limited sources to work. The first is an IDC chart that has the breakdown clearly between Android, iOS, Windows, and others. The second one here is one that shows Android deployment with and without Google Play as its default store.  What's interesting is that the official Android deployment ends up with a smaller piece of the tablet market share.  However, given the similarity between Google Play and Amazon's own app store, the two could be put together.  The only thing is that Google does not benefit from sales in Amazon's Kindle app store and the same is true for Amazon not benefiting from Google Play. On a whole, iOS does remain the largest tablet deployment because of how Apple operates, developing...

Source of videos:  Engadget . For those who want to watch Samsung's Galaxy S 4 unveiling live tonight, you can follow it on Samsung's  Youtube page .  Honestly, I do hope more folks do their media events this way.  Live blogging is fun but only for the snarky comments from readers. Here are some supposedly leaked videos of the next Samsung flagship Android device, the Galaxy S 4, in action.  It’s enough to wet our appetites until the official unveiling tonight.  There’s a lot of festivities going on prior to tonight’s main event. Obviously, we have the leak videos as well as some interesting Samsung videos to promote the S4.  I won’t put them up.  It was unfortunate that I had to sit through it already.  I won’t make you do the same. Oh, and there are obviously a lot of bloggers across the wide spectrum of fanboyism chiming in on this.  Let’s not forget the pundits, both paid and click-baiting ones. And of course, let’s...

Source:   CNET . The iPhone is still one of the best selling device on the market with the Galaxy S III coming in probably pretty close.  And on the whole, Samsung does out-ship Apple in terms of units while Apple has more than 2X the industry revenue (or was it profit too?).  It's a tug of war.  But in terms of ad dollars spent, Samsung has Apple out-gunned by almost $70 million. But that's not the issue here.  The issue is the $410 million that Samsung spent and the $333 million that Apple spent to promote their gears. Seriously, I just don't see this kind of arsenal from Nokia, Blackberry, or HTC.  It's no wonder the mobile race has come down to iPhone versus Android. Oops...I mean iPhone versus Galaxy.  With the Galaxy S 4 coming, looking for Samsung to promote the heck out of it and Apple to continue to show users what they can do with iPhones.

iWatch again.  I’m really tried of it.  First, Apple needed to release an iWatch or else it’ll be doomed as analysts suggest.  Now, it’s iWatch ain’t gonna do a thing to save Apple. Seriously, on what freaking planet are these analysts from?  Forget tech pundits.  Pundits and bloggers all have something in the mobile horse race – either as supporters or with axes to grind.  But what about Wall Street analysts? I’m not going to link to particular post because it’s just insane these days.  More recently, you’ve got an analyst who talked up the iWatch and only to downgrade it because he doesn’t think it’ll do Apple much good.  All of that on a non-existent product! Oh, then there’s another analyst who year after year said that Apple will release its own HDTV.  And through it all, he upgraded or downgraded the stock based on stuff going on in his nut-job mind, again, based on a product that Apple may never bring to the market. Here’s the...

Source:   Investors . I genuinely was rooting for Surface RT to take root.  I really thought there was something there.  Maybe there still is.  But right now, I'm not so sure.  The IBD article pointed out something important that Apple and Google seemed to have avoided so far:  With Surface RT and Pro, Microsoft is bungling the message to consumers. Apple has iOS for the iPhone and iPad.  OS X for Macs.  Message there is clear.  Google has Android for mobile devices while Chrome OS for netbooks.  I'm even fine with Google merging Android and Chrome OS (it'll happen too, mark my word). However, none of the above mentioned products really compete with one another.  In some cases, they complement each other.  That's not the case with RT and Pro. Rather, it's RT versus Pro.

Source:   Appleinsider . Here's a leaked video of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S 4.  It's typical Samsung design but for some reason, I think it's better than the S3, which is a very good thing. It's approaching the size of the Galaxy Note 2, so you'll have to decide if you putting this thing next to your head is something you want to do.  I've already decided any calls I make will be via a headset for devices that are 4.5" and up. As you can see, it's definitely comfortable to use with one hand for some functions.  I personally never bought into Apple's stance on the iPhone having to be used with one hand.  I get what they're trying to say but you can design a phone and apps for one-handed use especially if you do a lot of scrolling. Samsung has recognize that phones aren't just phones anymore.  They're mobile devices for a fast evolving society that wants to do more on the go.  They figure bigger screens could be key.  ...

Source:   Which  via  Macdailynews . Which is a new site to me but their results on the Macbook Pro with Retina Display's battery life should be no surprise to anyone.  Apple's legendary battery life in Macbooks is well known but it's good to see this fact affirmed once more. Their result gave the 13" model 388 minutes or 6.5 hours, 30 minutes short of Apple's own numbers.  However, you don't want to read too much into that because testing methods likely vary.  For the most part, my own experience shows that Apple's numbers are conservative but right on target.

Source:   Tamba Bay Times (NYT) . Apple's iPhone's reliability rating is almost 3X that of its closest competitor.  1.5X, okay.  2X would get a wow from me.  However, the iPhone being three times better than Samsung? Well, it'll be interesting to see how FixYa's rating methodology came to this conclusion.  Regardless, it's pretty safe to conclude the iPhone is very reliable and Apple's legendary quality persists under Tim Cook's reign. However, I don't think it's something that Apple should brag about.  Nor will they.  First, word of mouth is probably good enough.  Second, there is still a lot of room for improvement. Battery life.  Yup, that's our main concern.  Come on, Apple.  With iPhone 5S or 6, try for 4X better than anyone.

The latest iPad (4th generation, or iPad 4) was introduced back in November of 2012.  It's only been four months since the last update, which was not all that different from the 3rd gen iPad except for some component updates over the 3rd generation iPad.  In fact, I think iPad 4 was the iPad with Retina Display that Apple wanted to release in the first place. Having said that, is now still a good time to buy an iPad?  The answer is yes.  I just bought one a couple of weeks ago.  It's a white WiFi-only iPad 4 with 32 GB.  As you can see, I've got my original iPad from 2010 in the background playing an anime on Crackle.   I bought the iPad 4 now because I needed it.  That's first reason for buying any tech.  If you need it and you don't have the time to wait another week, month, or even just a big longer, get it.  I bought it and had Apple came out with a new one today, there would be no regrets.  Simply put, the iPad 4 is ...

No one denies that China is a big market for just about anything you can sell.  Take this report from NBC News that China is on the verge of coming the world largest luxury car brand. China is already a big market for high-end European brands like Louis Vuitton.  Rolex is huge there too.  Apple reports that China is about to become its biggest market. Cars, high-end fashion likes purses and watches, and Apple devices. I still don't see a need for a cheap-ass iPhone, do you?

Source:   CNet . The impact of this Apple patent that allows users to sell their digital content to another is very important, more than just getting of things you no longer want:  music, video, apps.  And it could lead to lowering of prices of expensive TV and movies over time. First, music and apps in app stores are very cheap.  You can't argue against ninety-nine cents.  However, I do have a beef with TV and movie prices that cost more to buy and download than to have to go to Best Buy and picking up a copy, be it DVD or HD versions. That just doesn't make a whole lot of sense.  And over time, prices will come down as physical media sales continue to nosedive.  However, if Apple implements this patent, it could drive costs lower. Essentially, this is how Apple's patent would work: you buy a movie and you own the digital rights to watch it.  But you're disappointed with the quality of this crap out of Hollywood so you sell it to your wif...

Source:   iMore . Twitter just updated their iOS app in ways that is very Apple-like and so much so that I started writing this post with "Apple just updated their iOS app...".  What is much improved is search and a bit on looking at a webpage within the app. Small incremental updates to an improving app.  so much so that I've deleted one other Twitter app because the official one is already good enough. What also very Apple like is removal of features.  Additional video upload services is now gone.  Remember now Apple sometimes get rid of competitions from their Macs or iOS? One feature I really would like for a future update (sooner rather than later) is the ability to have more than one account.  It would really become the one true Twitter app for power users.  This isn't something that the average mobile warrior would need but it would silence that vocal minority once and for all. Back to the Apple-like improvements.  There were m...

Source:   Mac Blorge . See those black round balls where people can sit on them?  They're mostly for kids.  Which means they'll pee on them too.  

Apple HDTV.  iWatch.  Cheap plasticky iDevices.  What they all have in common is that they could be Apple’s potential downfall in diluting the brand too much.  Just as Apple did not make a small slow netbook when people were clamoring for it, Apple is now being pressed to release products to satisfy the irrational and manufactured doomsday scenario that for some reason, Apple’s $130 billion+ in cash won’t allow it to weather. Supposed if Steve Jobs caved to analyst pressure and release some cheap $400 Mac netbook that sluggishly ran the full OS X .  Apple would be crucified by the tech punids.  And then, how would Apple try to justify releasing $500 iPads or $329 iPad mini that doesn’t do all that the Mac netbook could run. Instead of the netbook, Apple answered with the iPod touch for a few years before killing off the market entirely with the iPad. Apple innovated instead of releasing a $400 garbage and waited for the right time to release a truly i...

With all the talk about Apple and other tech guys getting into wearable gears like watches, I wonder how many of those folks are shaking in their boots right now about. Or should they even be worried? Watches, along with those high-end purses, really speaks to status than anything.  So, while some brands could potentially suffer, certain brands should be able to weather any onslaught the mobile guys are likely to dish out.  It’s unfathomable that Apple, Google, or Samsung will have the cool factor to come out with $10,000 smart watches that can challenge Rolex’s name. Forget the uber-rich brands for now.  Even some of your more mainstream brands will continue to have appeals as regular watches simply because they are regular watches.  These days, everyone has a mobile device that could tell time and, yet, the companies that make watches, likely were hit hard during initial surge of smartphone adoptions,  have survived and still managed to keep on tick...

Source:   Android Community . Before there was the Surface RT and Pro, there was just the Surface.  It was Microsoft's own overpriced tabletop touch screen device.  It was pretty awesome by most reckoning.  Very much ahead of its time.  Now, check out the Android-based touch screen below. I don't know about you but I figure Apple certainly has something like this in Jony Ive's lab.  And I wonder maybe, just maybe Google should have head everyone off at the pass and release this instead of the Chromebook Pixel. Maybe Samsung'll do the honor.  Between Google's glasses, iWatch or whatever, this probably will get more mileage than those. So, guys, forget the smart TV.  How about the smart desktop or coffee table?  I think I probably will get more out of this than anything else.

Source:   Insider . We b*#ch and moan about analysts and, yet, websites continue to link to them.  But in this case, I cannot help feel I have to address the idiocy that is currently permeating on Wall Street with regards to Apple. Apple’s stock aside, it’s kicking butt left and right.  It’s dominating the tablet market in terms of units sold, not shipped like others.  iPhone sales were stunted by the fact that it could not make them fast enough.  The same goes for the iPad mini.  Changing Identities As far as Apple’s identity goes, Apple is no longer Steve Jobs’ company and certainly not in the way he ran it.  This is Tim Cook’s company.  What remains is the same innovative energy that existed before and probably with Tim Cook giving people greater freedom to innovate than ever before.  For those who laments the fact that Tim Cook may not be the product or design guy that Steve Jobs was, That is where Tim Cook is going ...

Source:   iMore . There is rumors that the next iPhone, the iPhone 5S is coming sooner rather than later.  Word is that the HTC One is coming.  But you know what? I think the Galaxy S 4 is also around the corner too.  In the US market, the next iPhone and Samsung's flagship device will should be out around the same time. What does that mean?  It means absolutely nothing if you've already got an iPhone 5 or Galaxy S 3.  Or even if you just bought the latest Blackberry device.  And if not and you're in the market for something new now, you can't go wrong with the top end devices on the market. It doesn't matter what will be on the horizon.  I've stopped looking at what's out there further down the road and I could not be happier.  Just being happy with what I already have or what I can already get on the market now. The iPhone 6, iPhone 7, Samsung S 5 and 6, or whatever else will always be coming out.  That's what's so great about ...