AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud

When a new chief executive officer comes on board, he usually does a bit of cleaning.  It happens with just about any companies.  It happened when Larry Page took over.  It happened when Steve Jobs returned to Apple and it sure as heck happened when Tim Cook took control of Apple with major changes.  Now, it's Microsoft's Satya Nadella's turn. However, while the previously mentioned changes instituted by those CEOs appear orderly and planned, it is difficul to put Nadella's latest changes in that category nor does it appear we'll see the end of it and see Microsoft on the verge of a new era. First, there is the executive resignations including the former CEO of Nokia Stephen Elop.  In all, four senior executives were shown the door.  Now, comes news that Microsoft is planning to layoff more than 1,200 employees from its ad display division.  It spoke to the failure to compete with other ad companies, in particular, Google ( Bloomberg )....

8 Years ago today, Steve Jobs unleashed Apple's most revolutionary device, the iPhone.  Since then, much has changed.  Did Apple expect the iPhone to become the best selling smartphone and serve as Apple's growth engine in the world?  Maybe but not to the extent it is today. Did Apple expect the iPhone to spawn the iPad and move Apple further into mobile and into the wearable market with the Apple Watch?  Probably not. Did Apple believe the iPhone to serve as the hub for the home and, by extension of CarPlay, the automobile?  And quite possibly, provide Apple with the financial resources to enter the auto industry with its own Apple Car? And what about the disruptions into other markets?  Nintendo is in trouble in no small part its own fault with questionable choices in the console market but iOS gaming has disrupted Nintendo's Gameboy dominance in the mobile gaming market.  And the consumer camera market?  Companies are still churning out...

I've just started working on Swift, my first programming language since, well, I don't really remember.  But I have noticed how simple things are so far if you have the right tutorial.  And from what I can see after two weeks of studying and messing around with it, I have to believe that for those with a lot more programming skills, you should be able to discern just where iOS devices are head based on what you can do with Swift and offers some clues whether the lines between an iPad and a Mac might be. One of the things you have to have noticed if you're wholly in Apple's ecosystem is that innovations and improvements Apple made on one platform can show up on another if it makes sense.  Take notification for instance.  It started on the iPhone and iPad and, now, it's one of the best features of OS X. Furthermore, programmers are finding useful information in beta versions of Apple's OS.  Recently, it was discovered that Apple could be working on a 4K displa...

Here is an interesting analysis ( The Street ) of what it will would like should Apple remove Google from Safari, Apple's default browser, as the default search engine.  Financial terms aside, it would be interesting in speculating what would serve as Apple's default search engine instead and how that would impact mobile computing going forward.  And while Microsoft's Bing would serve as the logical heir, do not forget how Apple's Tim Cook is really making privacy an issue that would put DuckDuckGo in the running. The Street article cover much of the basis for why Apple will dump Google. Google is a major competitor to Apple in multiple markets - computing (OS X versus Chrome OS), mobile (Android verus iOS, Google Now versus Siri), wearables (Android Wear verus Apple Watch), and their growing ecosystems (App Store, Apple Music, iTunes verus Google Play, Google Music). That's just today's competitive market where the two tech giants overlap.  Months and years fr...

According to reports ( MacDailyNews , CNN ), Apple has bought a fingerprint identification company, Privaris, that could help make the home button disappear and move the fingerprinting scanner that we now use for TouchID onto the iOS screen itself.  Furthermore, it could bring TouchID to other Apple products like the Mac as well. Remember that to make TouchID a reality and as useful as it is today, Apple sought and bought AuthenTec back in the middle of 2012 ( Phone Arena ).  And when did TouchID show up on the iPhone?  A year later on the iPhone 5S in September of 2013. If history is any indication, perhaps we might see a radically redesigned iPhone without the home button and the TouchID moved to behind the screen itself and opening a whole host of new real world uses.  Of course, my next immediate thought is how will Apple address all the smudges on the iPhone 7 or whatever Apple will call the iPhone in 2016?  Furthermore, consider that Apple's new hot sellin...

Apple will now pay artists royalties due them during the three free months trial period.  ( The Next Web ).  And this was in direct response to Taylor Swift's open complaint about Apple's previous policy of not paying artists royalties during the three months free trial. It's great PR.  At least, some might think that.  For Apple, this is not about money.  However, it does speak to how Apple can maneuver more quickly under Tim Cook.  It also says that Apple feels at ease in bending some rules or doing away with them when it feels it will not have adverse affect on the company's bottom line.  This u-turn certain won't hurt Apple's image. To be sure, this will have a long-term implication in the music industry.  See, there was mention that Apple would pay the artists during the free trial period.  No mention whether the labels would get a penny.  Perhaps, this was Apple's move all long.  Playing a couple of moves ahead of everyone els...

There were a flurry of Apple Watch rumors for the next version that will come out in 2016.  It was a lot for people to chew on and it gave holdouts reason to cheer that they made the right decision to wait and not get the current one.  However, FaceTime calling would be great but there was no mention of new health related features.  And I think continuing focus on health would be a bigger seller than the othe rumored features. Consider that the current Apple Watch is paid beta as all first generation products are, and not just those from Apple, it good to see it so embraced and loved by its wearers.  And the heart rate monitor is nice, it is still not enough.  Apple Watch's heart rate feature is a "me, too" feature that the Apple Watch absolutely must have given that most of its competitors have it and so do quite a few exercise monitoring bands.  A couple of interesting features would be helpful to have that can catapult the Apple Watch further.  Obvi...

Apple has left a major security hole in iOS and because of its dubious app approval system, malicious apps can potentially roam about the iDevices and steal passwords stored on Keychain and personal information (Source:  The Register ).  Only yesterday, we were talking about Samsung's own security problem with its flawed digital signing.  Now, it's Apple's turn. As of this moment, there is no word whether a fix is forthcoming.  And given the seriousness of this flaw, it's better that Apple address this as soon as possible.  What has made this flaw worse is that it gives malware the ability to circumvent Apple's sandboxing between apps and let it steal information from other apps. This flaw was discovered six months ago and no word from Apple.  Either it does not take this seriously or that it has yet to find a solution.  Both scenarios are worrying for the average mobile warrior.

Source:  9to5Mac . An interview with DuckDuckGo CEO, Gabe Weinberg, revealed how DuckDuckGo has made money without going to the extent Google and other companies that rely on ad revenues in which they collect information on their users.  They attribute their 3 billion searches a year growth on being part of Apple's library of search engines to choose from and concerns over various governments' big brother aspirations and privacy concerns. Okay, specifically, the NSA was mentioned but, really, what government would not want the kinds and amounts of information the US government currently collects on us.  Granted that while I'm not concern about any malicious intents of the authorities (yet) and I genuinely believe that some believe they need the information to combat terrorism and other crimes, it does concern me at times. So Duckduckgo is my default search engine but I'm more concern about what companies do with my information than just the NSA storing it in its databas...

Source:   Engadget . Regardless of how you feel about Android, Google, Samsung, or how the whole smartwatch and other wearable tech is headed, we are still much earlier in wearable computing devices than ever before.  An equivalent situation would be as if we are in the beginning days of mobile, as in the early PDA days.  But what I have to say about Samsung's Gear S battery life is a good start. Right now, even Apple's watch can barely hit 20 hours of light use.  And that's a stretch.  And it's coming someone who has one on his wrist as he pounds out this post.  The Engadget post is a worthy read. I am hoping Apple, Motorola, LG, and the up-and-coming Chinese companies shoot for - at least a couple of days. But don't think I'll be happy with just that.  I've been using various workout bands.  Jawbone Up, Nike Fuelband, and the Fitbit Force and Charge.  So, I'm very used to week long battery life.  That's what I want from these t...

Source:  Engadget , Bloomberg . You want to know what disruption is like on a huge earthquakesque style?  Revenue from downloads like iTunes and Google Play and streaming services like Netflix and Amazon will surpass sales generated from DVD sales and rentals.  You can be sure the studios as well as any stores, brick-and-mortars or online stores, knew this was coming.   Perhaps, they did not think it would happen this fast. Only in the last year have I noticed significantly more dicounts and bundles of online movies.  It's typical for Google to offer discounts on select movies but hardly on iTunes. And this year, I'm noticing more price cuts.  I'm guess DVD sales have slowed an Blu-ray has not delivered the content developers and studios to the promised land. This is significant as we should see more parity in terms of prices and offerings between online versions and physical versions of movies and televison shows.  This will be in part to draw at...

Source: Variety . So, CBS will be bringing its premium channel to Apple's platform as an exclusive for a short while.  No word on how long that window will be.  I'm sure with HBO's exclusive with Apple coming to an end, Android devices will soon be able to venture into Westero (Game of Thrones - HBO site ) soon. This is just another step forward in breaking the old TV model and venturing into the future of video entertainment.  Note that this is only a very small step.  It will be a while before Silicon Valley giants like Apple, Google, and maybe the social networks can wrestle control of video content away from entrenched and well funded cable companies with a lot of influence in Washington and state capitals.  No work on when Apple and Showtime's exclusive deal will end.  I do have an Apple TV and I look forward to watching Homeland ( official website ). Apple is currently working on deals with content providers to offer a subscription service to its cust...