AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud

I read this Gizmodo post about Apple Music.  Granted that I have not used it yet (waiting for iOS 9 beta to have it next week), when you get rid of the Taylor Swift drama and the will-they-or-won't-they-sign of the indie labels, I'm not sure Apple is offering anything other streaming services do not already have. There is the Beats One "radio station" that Apple has that no one else does for now.  It could be the first step to something even better.  If Apple Music evolution follows other Apple product improvement, we can see annual improvements up to a point and where it makes sense. So far, the bar is pretty low given the state of the streaming segment of the music market.  There are plenty of players so it is good to see there are competitors that will continue to push Apple foward. Once I've gotten a chance to play with it, I will looking into what features I love to see that might be missing or improved.

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...