AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud

There was chatter all over the Internet earlier this week about the discovery of a new 17 Watt charger that Apple is working or already is sitting around ready to go.  Hence, the immediate reaction is "wow, new product!" Maybe.  That was my reaction and hope.  But saying and thinking it doesn't make it so.  Which is why we also have to consider other explanations. Extensions offered just one such plausible and likely scenario.  Apple figured out a way to add more charge and improve battery capacity within the same confines of the iOS form factor and requires a bigger and more capable charger. I am assumed that this is for an iOS device, probably the new iPad because Apple may have fit more battery inside that thin body but needs a better charger to charge it. So, there you go.  What do you think?  Is the 17 Watt charger for a new product or for the iPad because it now has a bigger battery? I want to get into this more because it's fun to spe...

Let's be honest.  There is no brand recognition in consumer device that rival that of Apple.  Sure, we speak of Samsung as if it is in the same league.  It's not.  Not even close. The top line of the Galaxy S devices come close to one of Apple's iPhone.  Google is recognize as a brand only because of its search.  However, Microsoft is unique in that Windows is freaking everywhere even as the PC market slows and shrinks. This why even as Apple battles Android devices in the mobile market, there has never been a fear of the Galaxy or Nexus brand overshadowing the iPhone.  Nor doe Google fear Apple's iCloud effort.  I mean, what a joke compared to Google apps, right? Even as Microsoft's mobile and cloud efforts made Redmond looks confused and dazed, it is nevertheless a confused and dazed giant.  A very rich one at that. If Surface 2 fails, it's like Microsoft has one more chance.  That will be its own Lumia phone.  Not the ones ...

KGI analyst, Ming-Chi Kuo, has made a name for himself.  Alone, he has out predicted other fellow analysts and tabloid-like tech press like Digitimes.  And he's come out with more just days from Apple's iPhone event and weeks from new iPad unveiling. You can read the rest on Macrumors .  It's plausible and makes sense to me. I've got only one issue with this.  The lower-cost iPad mini Kuo focused on.  I think we will see it on 2013 and it's last year's iPad mini at a lower price. It's unlikely that the Retina Display iPad mini will cost more than $330.  If anything, it'll take over that price point which is what the 2012 iPad mini cost when it first debut and even now.  This will allow Apple to lower the 2012 mini down to $280, maybe even $250 - one can only hope. Kuo seems to suggest that Apple will offer a mini in 2014 that is different from the current iPad mini.  We had all assumed that the mini pricing model will follow that of the iP...

Source: Cult of Mac . Yesterday, we found out that Apple will be hosting an iPhone launch even just for China (also analyzed the reasons why a Chinese event makes sense for Apple).  Apparently, not just China. Berlin, London, and Tokyo will also have their own events as well.  While such events hosted by Apple has occurred in the past, the Chinese one remains the most important in recent memory.  There's talk that Apple could announce China Mobile with its 700 million customers as a partner.  No seventy million.  Seven hundred million, as in three hundred million short of a billion. However, I'm still on the fence about it.  If something was afoot, Weibo, the Chinese rumors and Twitter-like social network, would have caught on by now.

I don't want to get into the rumors game but boy, the following video of a comparison between the mini back cases versus the case of what we all think the full sized 9.7" redesigned iPad is going to look.  Looks awfully close to what we want. I know probably real but I kinda want to put this in the rumor category.  However, I also think it's a good speculation on what we think the next iPad and iPad mini will look like.  We assumed two things.  The new 2013 mini will look like the 2012 iPad mini.  Also, we assumed the redesigned iPad will look like a bigger sized iPad mini with thinner bezel. Watch the video and judge for yourself.  We are probably a month away from finding out what is what when Apple unveils the 2013 iPad.  And no, it won't happen on 9/10.  Rather, Apple will set up a separate fall event for the iPads and probably the Macbook Pro as well.

There is a sense of pride in that Nokia is a Finnish company.  And Nokia's dominance for years fueled that pride.  At the same time, I'm sure some of the neighbor states in the EU for years felt the same on some level.  With Nokia faltering in the smartphone race, more and more users switched to using Android and the iPhone. But now, with Nokia's mobile division now firmly in the hands of an American company, Microsoft, it likely has freed more users to abandon any allegiance to the Finnish brand, seeing the buyout as a green light to look and switch to another brand and mobile platform. No matter what Microsoft/Nokia announced in the last month, with the Nokia 1020 and its crazy 41 MP camera (I'm very jealous mine's only 8MP - with that big of a difference, size matters), and whatever will be out for the 2013 Christmas season, it will make a large segment of the consumers feel uneasy about a floundering platform that may not go anywhere even if it is Microsoft ...

Source:  My friend (who I thought was yanking my chain),  SCPR . It's been a while but I can now once again say, "I can't wait for school to start".  This is just a one course, online, class created by University of California at Irvine (south of Los Angeles).  It's in cooperation with  AMC to create a The Walking Dead  online course to teach about what lessons we can learn from the highly rated zombie-apocalyptic series now entering its fourth season. I could not believe it when my friend told me she heard it on her drive into work on radio.   Here's the thing that is so interesting.  This isn't the first time that anyone has ever used zombies to create buzz to educate the public.  There have been other college courses that have used zombies.  Also, the  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  also used zombies as a case study to prepare for disasters.   Also,  the US military  has used zombies...