AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud

Just like a couple of minutes ago! - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I ordered two iPhone 5s's.  One for me and one for my brother.  He's a decent guy, ungrateful at times but he served the country well.  Anyway, both of them were ordered a couple minutes after midnight on Friday, September 20th. I was fortunately enough to have both of them shipped at the time they were this Monday out of Zhenzhou, China.  And along with the half million iPhone owners tracking that same UPS99 flight, we saw it land safely in Louisville, Kentucky.  And from there, we go our separate ways. Here's what's interesting. My information said that I would not get my iPhones until this Thursday.  But I had hoped that somehow, they would squeak by and make it out on the UPS to Ontario, California flight today. When I woke around 5 am PST to check, sadly, one of the tracking numbers said "The scheduled connection was missed". I was like "frak!" and I went back to bed.  This morning, I tracked the other number right when I woke up.  I ...

There is global warming.  And science isn't a religion.  An as a spiritual person who believes in God but ain't a nut about it, the world and the reality as we know it was not created in the mere hours/days the Bible said it was.  Damn there are many stupid ignorant folks out there. Having said that, it is very sad for me to hear how there are folks who believe that by installing iOS 7, it makes your iDevices water-proof.  First, those folks do not deserve to own an iOS device.  Second, the sheer naivety of these folks is just shocking. NO!  There is no OS, iOS, Windows Phone, Blackberry, or Android that will make devices water-proof, fire-proof, baby-proof, drop-proof, and, obviously, stupid-proof. Source:   Cult of Mac .

Apple's iMessage implementation is one of the most useful features on the iPhone, iPad, and Macs.  But it leaves out those with are not a part of the Apple ecosystem - like Android devices.  So, I had been wondering how long before someone figures out a way to get iMessage working on other platforms. Well, it's happened in the form of an app.  It's called iMessage Chat ( Google ). Oh yes, everything about this app goes through China.  Does it work as advertised?  Not at all. It works by spoofing a Mac computer and pretends to be sending messages to iOS users.  However, that isn't the case.  In fact, testings have shown that messages are sent between Android users of this app but messages never reach real iOS users ( Appleinsider ). That Google allows this through Google Play is beyond me.  No fact, many websites, including us here, are saying to avoid this at all cost. And really monitor your iCloud accounts or, better, change your pas...

I've been tracking my iPhone 5s along with hundreds of thousands if not millions of US buyers, eagerly waiting for the arrival of our "precious" at our doorsteps.  Well, in the past, you just have UPS or whoever Apple contracts out to make that happen. Today, there's Flight Aware.  It's a real time tracking website for flights.  I still have no clear idea how any of my fellow eager iPhone owners figure out which flight is which but I don't care.  Here's my current flight out of Incheon International in Korea to Anchorage, Alaska . Judging by these numbers and ETA, the UPS delivery date for Thursday for my iPhone 5s should make it.  From there, I'll have to rely on others again to figure out the collecting flight from Anchorage to wherever my iPhone is supposed to go in the Midwest before coming back out west again to California and into my little hands. Here's the thing that I gathered from this.  I know where Zhengzhou, China is now.  I k...

I've been going through forums at various Apple and Mac sites to find out information about my iPhone 5s, still stuck in Asia somewhere, and there appears to be a few main issues that many are concerned about. First, there are a group of iPhone 5s buyers who have a ship date of 1 to 3 days with a promise of delivery around the last couple of days of September into October 2nd.  I was excited when I began hearing that some folks have received an updated e-mail from Apple that their product has shipped along with a tracking number.  I only got mine this morning.  I've got an estimated delivery date of end of day September 26th, two to seven days ahead of Apple's own estimated delivery window.  So now, many of us are wondering how realistic that is.  Some speculated maybe some of these 1-3 days iPhones are actually sitting in a warehouse awaiting delivery here in the US.  I think that's unlikely.  In fact, things have been heating up all day. It's kinda o...

Did Microsoft mess up with the Surface 2 introduction and the Surface 2 itself?  I hope articles like this because the writer seems to suggest that they know better.  I've been guilty of this but I tend to be more optimistic than other writers and I always give a product or service the benefit of the doubt before making bold predictions. Here in this post from Read Write , the writer suggests that Microsoft has failed once more with the Surface 2 by not connecting it with the users.  Instead, it walked about what kind of horse power it has.  I admit that at one time, that would have been enough to sell me on it.  But no more.  And for the more sophisticated mobile society we have today, that is also true. There is one main issue here and that's the effect the iPad has on the user.  There is an element of joy that you get from using the iPad that is not matched like other tablets. The same can be said of the iPhone when you hold it in your hand. ...

As you know by now, Microsoft has just released its new Surface 2 tablets, RT and Pro, looking to try to gain a foothold in the surging tablet market.  Based on specs alone, the Pro model has a better shot but folks can still buy cheaper Windows 8 laptops if they want a keyboard.  RT is better and could help Microsoft convince Redmond fans this is the Surface worth buying. Both are good for Microsoft.  What's not good is my prediction:  iPads and Android tablets will dominate the Holidays/Christmas sales and really show the tech industry what the post-PC era looks like.  And that is not going to be good for Microsoft.  It'll be very bad for Microsoft. While I have said before that there doesn't appear to be much new innovative features that Apple or Google could bring to their tablets, iPad and Nexus, (or even Samsung), they will continue to improve on previous models with new OS and add features that will further enhance tablet productivity and close any g...

A Canadian insurance company, Fairfax Financial, will by the iconic but down on its luck smartphone pioneer, Blackberry for $4.7 billion. It works out for the Canadian government as BB will remain in Canadian hands ( NBC ). - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

MacNN reports that Apple Store app for the iPhone now allows the user to check to see if the local Apple store has the iPhone model of his or her choice in stock. You can see the "check availability" during the checkout process.  Also, you can also order an iPhone and pick it up at the store as well.  As of today, there are still lines waiting for the iPhone 5s. And if you missed it, Apple sold over 9 million of the new 2013 iPhones so far.  And if you're wonder, supposedly the 5s sales leads the 5c sales by a factor of 3.5x to 5x depending on the market.

I'll be first to admit this.  When Surface came out, I thought it was promising.  It was going to get Apple and Microsoft to go head-to-head in the tablet market.  I'll admit this. It has been stagnant.  And look at how long since Apple has released a real update.  That was last spring in 2012 with the iPad 3. And Android tablets are not lighting the world on fire.  Sure, lots of sales in the low-end but Apple still dominate the money share and the tablet app market as well. So, I'm glad that Microsoft has decided to stick with Surface.  Then again, it's not like it has any other choices.  This is do-or-die for Redmond. With Surface 2, Microsoft has something that Surface last year should have.  A real feel of mobile that the Surface just didn't have.  Even when Apple came out with the original iPad in 2010, you can see that it was a very polished device.  No so with Surface. With Surface 2, both the RT and Pro version, you ...

I went to the Apple Store in Pasadena yesterday to get the battery on my iPhone 4S checked out. No other intentions. I had a mid-afternoon genius appointment. It should have been easy. Get in, hand over my iPhone to a genius, and get out. Wow. A line! It was around 3:30 in the afternoon. And the crowd inside the store was just as crazy. Neither of these pics did justice to the craziness both in the store and outside. Apparently, those people in line wanted the 5s and while Apple did have them in stock, it was a slow go as far as getting the eager iPhone owners paired with the right iPhone configuration. There lots of folks there for the genius stuff but even more from folks checking out the iPhones. And if you're wondering, I didn't see a old version of the iPhone 5s on display to touch and handle. Plenty of the silver and space gray versions. What I was really curious about was the iPhone 5c line. If you recall, I have been unkind to the colors that were online from various le...