AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud

 Today, Bloomberg was leaked by someone at Apple that the iPhone maker is still trying to become an iCar maker (I am pretty sure Apple's car will not be called the iCar) by trying to leapfrog competitors in a 4-5 years time frame. The thing about this is that it seems more of a plausible leak of Apple's actual plan rather than those spread by "sources" who in the past really does not seem to know what Apple's plans really are. While it is typical for Apple car rumors to surface a couple of of times a year to give the stock a jolt upward, it is also typical for rumors of trouble from Asian sources that Apple cut iPhone production in the January quarter to drive the Apple's stock price down, what makes this leak more news worthy is that it seems to be what I think about how Apple will engineer and release a car.  Apple is going to where no car company has gone before - a fully autonomous vehicle that require no direct control from a driver. If true, it will achi...

I miss the original iPhone SE (it is the same as the iPhone 5) a lot as I am sure many other iPhone users do as well. While the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 mini are decent replacements as far as sizes go, there is nothing like the feather weight SE that easily slide into pockets and bags. So, I want to explore what the chances are that the 4” screen iPhone with its 4.87” x 2.31” size ever make a comeback? In my mind, it is complicated - I would not bet on it but I do believe that the chances of it happening are better than anyone realizes. Until that happens, we can only imagine what such an iPhone SE would be like. Look-wise, an imaginary iPhone SE with the original form factor would look pretty much the same as far as the size is concerned. If Apple keeps the screen size the same at 4”, it means we will have a home button with Touch ID. To keep costs down, it will not have FaceID.  If anything, Apple would likely increase the screen size to about 4.5” that would encompass the surface...

I know, the title here makes no sense to some. The iPad mini is tablet. The iPhone Pro Max is more of the Swiss army knife of the mobile world - it can do a lot. You can do a lot with it on the go. The Max can do it all. It is why is has garnered the most attention year after year during Apple events. The Max is the device that is evident from the billions of R&D Apple poured into it. While that is great, I think it is time to evaluate its use from consumption and productivity points of view. And in my mind, even my iPad mini 5 and the just released 2021 iPad mini has a lot to bring to the gaming, reading and viewing videos for content consumption while productivity is where is shines for a vast majority of users.  I guess I'm suggesting that unless you need the latest and best of the Max features, the iPad mini brings a lot to the game and could be the option to go with if you're looking for a device with a bigger screen than the Max but not quite want to carry around the ...

 I figure I need a MacBook for coding.  As I continue my slow coding trek, I assumed that I need a Mac in order to do that. However, I’m still at the level where I can get away with a Mac while I use online sources and apps to beef up my coding muscles. This week is going to prove it. I will be having a change of scenery as I am staying closer to work so we do not have to suffer the Los Angeles traffic. LA is flat and you have to drive pretty much everywhere you go. This morning, I packed my wife’s MacBook Air, I was about to put my 12” Macbook into my bag when I realized that I have been doing a lot of work on the iPad mini and the iPad Pro over the weekend.  Over the weekend, I did the following in terms of productivity: Research products Sketched some artwork Writing Used Numbers (Apple’s spreadsheet) and Google Sheets (Google’s spreadsheet) Worked on online store (Yup, starting a hobby to learn how e-commerce works.  What better way than to create an online store...

Microsoft's Edge, Google's Chrome, and Firefox are the go-to browsers for most laptop and desktop users. Perhaps, Apple should really get back into the browser market if we are to really believe that Apple cares about user privacy and not just that of users behind its various highly protected and curated gardens. And with web technology evolving and getting better all the time, web apps could make a comeback and Apple has to make sure it does not get left behind and release Safari again for Windows and even Linux. And releasing browsers for Windows and Linux with greater privacy protection and features could help Apple increase its service revenues as well as help protect users on the increasingly complicated Internet. Also, consider Apple possibly leaving billions on the table in the search and ads market, could Apple afford to do nothing and let others make all the money in the browser business? Right, the argument would be that Apple is being paid tens of billions by Google ...

 I cannot say that Apple really surprised us today with the event that introduced new iPads, iPhones, and the Apple Watch. There was something of interest for fitness fans just after Apple introduced the Apple Watch 7 that went longer than expected but the iPhone 13 was still why people showed up. And while cinema videography was pretty awesome, it was the battery life on the iPhone 13 that really should be the headline. Should we be surprised by Apple giving the newer iPhones better battery life? Not really.  Thinking back now, Apple has been on a tear in the last few years starting with the iPhone XR that really impressed me. And year after year, battery life has improved to the point that I complain about it every other day rather than every day.  Okay, may be not but you know what I mean. I’m no longer anxious about running out of juice the way I did with the original SE, iPhone 8, and the X.  Since the XR and 11, Apple has brining its A game to the battery fight...

I love my iPhone 12 mini even though I have always had a top line iPhone (except for when I use my 2016 iPhone SE as a main driver and the Pro on certain occasions). So when I went with the mini this year, I knew I could not go back. It was a bit bigger than I hope for with a 5.4" screen but I'll take it. Given the news that the mini had not being selling as well as Apple had hoped, the rumors out there suggest iPhone 13 mini would be the last mini barring a miraculous jump in sale. I think it would be a mistake for Apple to get rid of the mini. The rumors likely have it all wrong. Apple will not be getting rid of the mini but likely will change its strategy in marketing and selling the mini. There are options Apple have to make the mini more popular with the mainstream mobile users. It all depends on how Apple's mobile business model evolves or stays the same in the years to come. Will Apple be looking to sell high end models to keep its average selling prices up or will ...