AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud

One of the things I expected from Apple's fresh of the Macbook Pro in March was the exclusion of the optical drive, the DVD reader/burner, with something else that is more aligned with Apple's mobile vision. That did not happen. However, GIGAOM has a cool post for those good with tools and taking apart computers to mess around with. Replace the drive with an SSD. Now, this isn't like the older Powerbooks that Apple used to make in the 90s when you can just swap out one expansion solution for another. It doesn't quite work that way. This solution presented, for someone like me, is like brain surgery. But I am sure many of you can give this a go. The total cost is about $400. At the end of the day, you get extra storage space, speed, and, as the writer said, great for developers. Me, I just like having more room. THE FUTURE. Repeating what I said at the top, I thought Apple would have and could have replaced the DVD drive and use the space for something e...

2010 Was about the iPad and after we have had a couple of days to digest Steve Jobs' March 2nd iPad 2 introduction, it is beginning to look like the Apple CEO is correct:  2011 is going to be about iPad 2.  And if you don't believe me or Steve, take a look at the hit the Motorola Mobility stock took today.  Down more than 5.5% on a generally up day in the stock market. And from the number of folks selling their iPads for the iPad 2's, it looks like Apple's biggest problem is making enough to satisfy demand. But we have to look at the big picture.  The PC market in 2011, as forecasted by Garner, will grow only 10.5%, down from nearly 16% from an earlier projection. And 2012 growth was also lowered.  That happened?   Specifically, the iPad and, in general, the tablet market.  Now that Apple has proven that there is a market for a mobile device with a long battery life that allows users to consume media and remain product, mobile computing is change drama...

I had dinner with a friend tonight.  Dumplings, scallion noodles, and more dumplings.  Before dinner, I had some time to kill. I got to the restaurant early.  A lot earlier than I expected.  I guess with the $4 a gallon gas, more folks are staying off the California roads.  If this dinner was not pre-arranged a while back, I probably be home glad that my SUV was not taking me to the poor house. So there I was, sitting around waiting.  Then I figure I could get some work done.  No games.  Real work.  I made a few calls overseas using the Skype app on the iPad.  During the call, I checked on some Excel files, PDF, and Binged something.  Then I made another call to a dealership that we're trying to sell a car to and checked out the paperwork that was e-mailed to me in PDF.   After that, I updated my cities in We Rule and We City.  Made my moves on Words with Friends.  Then, it was back to looking at some research for wor...

First, I know nothing about what Apple is going to say in advance for March 2nd unveiling of the "iPad 2".  Zero.  Nada.  I'm not even going to get into what others say Apple will unveil.  Frankly, they're just delicious rumors for blog readers.  I'm gonna get ahead and make my own predictions and analyze each point and how iPad 2 is going to specifically influence the tablet market and the mobile market in general. March 2nd Event:  I'll have my venti mocha from Starbucks, wait for 10am PST.  I would have gotten the day's work done earlier in the morning just so I can spend the rest of the day pouring over the analyses, blogs, and, of course, even offering an opinion or two of my own on Apple's latest and greatest.   What is different this year is that Steve Jobs won't be there.  It'll likely be Tim Cook, Apple's headmaster until Steve returns.  He'll run through the numbers on Apple's successes over the Holiday quarter, the recep...

It's taken a while but solid state drives, SSD, are coming nicely. What I mean is that I see them more and more as an option from the major PC makers. Everyone from Dell to HP to Apple, its MacBook Air being very popular over the Holidays and demand has not let up, are using them as a premium add-on. Now we are seeing SSD sizes at more affordable prices. Not only that, the drives are bigger. Still, I am not quite ready to pluck down $1,500 to $2,000 for a 480GB drive. For that kind of money, it would be more economical to get a whole new laptop. Say a MacBook Air with 256 GB or storage. So what is in your laptop or MacBook? Have you moved onto a SSD or consider making the move in the near future? - Posted using BlogPress from my iPod touch

Okay, so we know that Apple will be unveiling the next version of the iPad on March 2nd.  And while I expect rumors about it to surface through the weekend, I fully expect them to be the "take it with a grain of salt" type.   Already, Engadget is backtracking on some of their earlier "confirmations" about the iPad and there were more than a few "I told you so" from other blogs.  One source versus another.  One leak that seems to go contrary to another but just as juicy. However, after reading them, I find them a bit lacking.   Sure, the Apple electrified the tablet market and we are on the verge of a bunch of competing tablets.  But a tablet is tablet.  Apple might add a camera or two to the next iPad.  Apple is likely to jazz things up a bit with faster processor and more memory but as far as hardware goes, I don't see much advances beyond what we can realistically expect.   Take the Mac fans' collective reactions to the new Macbook Pro lin...

At the moment, at the writing of this post, President Obama is meeting with a few of Silicon Valley's heavyweights, Apple's iconic leader Steve Jobs and Eric Schmidt. And though there are many thoughts and conjectures about what the meeting could or should be about, there is one thing that I think many missed. Green tech. And right now even with tens of billions invested by the federal and state governments in incentives and grants and private investments, we are still a long way from getting off foreign oil and those pesky climate warming (or changing) coal. What we need is a Steve Jobs for green tech. What we need is for President Obama to ask one of those tech visionaries to leave his current position and take up post at a new company that would revolutionize energy conservation and renewable energy production. Imagine a healthy Steve being talked into taking reign of this new company. And it would have to be a private enterprise, perhaps with some grants from the government...

In most surveys in the past, the weak link for the iPhone has been ATT. Over dinner last weekend, I missed to the opportunity to ask the plethora of iPhone owners their experience on their brand new iPhone 3GS and how their services and battery life was like. In any case, the latest survey from Strategy Analytics showed that battery life is what users are most unhappy about with their iPhones. Well, unhappy might be too strong a word. Honestly, I'm not sure how much things will improve with OS updates and future hardware upgrades. We aren't exactly seeing a breakthrough in battery technology. Plus, if you haven't noticed, we are in the beginning stages of a mobile hardware war - speed and 3D acceleration for gaming and other mobile features. It isn't as simple as the old Mhz war between Intel, AMD, and PowerPC but it'll be about cores and graphic accelerations. As a result, battery life will be continued to be impacted greatly. Plus, Apple will never produce...

I am immensely jealous that my Macbook doesn't sport one of those newer enclosed batteries.  So, while I've got decent battery life with my 8-month old unibody Macbook, I don't have insanely great battery life in the neighborhood of 7 hours (or 8 as some have claimed). And if you're in the same boat as I am, here's a quick mobile tip I heard while I was running and listening to one of my favorite podcasts,  Powerpage . It's so obvious.  You can turn off your browser plug-ins when you're running your laptop or netbook off the battery. I only heard it tonight so I'll give it a go tomorrow and let you know if it makes any difference.  And whether you're running Firefox or Safari makes a difference in how you manage plug-ins as well. On top of that, make sure you use this great application to monitor your battery use.   Coconut Battery . As you can see, it provides you with information about your MB or MBP battery.  Charges, capacity, and cycles....

For anyone interested in the iPhone 3G but have been turned off by the battery life.  More specifically, the short battery life, this is the device for you. Obviously, it's not meant for your pocket or mine.  But since I've migrated to the G1, I've mainly used my iPhone for music, watching video, surfing the web, and blogging to On Apple whenever possible.  So, it's a perfect a device for me to use.  And I think it's perfect for a lot of folks as well. So, how much more power will it provide your iPhone?  Here are the specs: External Battery Charging Unit Up to 24 Hours of Talk Time Up to 72 Hours of Audio Playback Up to 21 Hours of Video Playback Up to 750 Hours of Stand by Time Flash Light for Emergency Use and Low Light Photos USB Port for Multi-Charging Purposes Lower Dock Connector for Charging How much is it?  $79.  It is a bit steep but given the amount of untethered power, it's is well worth it.  Alas, until Apple designs an iPhone that allows us...