Apple Employees Have A Certain Air About Them

Has anyone discussed this on the blog or anywhere else? Here I am at the Apple Store in Pasadena hope to even get a glimpse of the 16 GB ATT white iPad 2 that I have yet to be able to get for myself.

What is interesting about waiting in line today is that I have been seeing a stream of Apple employees walking by and into the store. And the sheer numbers is amazing.

I estimated about thirty people walking past us and into the store. I don't even pretend to know how many folks it takes to run a successful retail operation like an Apple storebut that is an awful lot of people.

Not only that, there is an air about them that is vastly different from the other employees just arriving at the other retail stores.

It's not arrogance. I've dealt with many of these Apple people in the past. And they are some of the nicest people who has not only a job to do but an strong desire to do their tasks well and provide the customers with the best help possible.

And it became pretty easy to tell who they were over time. They dressed differently even in their civilian clothes with the white earbuds as they walk by with the iced mocha or messenger bag.

I chalk this up to confidence that they were offering the line-up of products and for working with a very innovating company.

I cannot imagine such an atmosphere at other tech places like Frys or Best Buy. This is not a knock on the people working there but the smallness and more centralized set of products and services that Apple offers likely help foster this environment.

On another note, while we were waiting in line, we got some excitement when the a couple workers from a glass company were moving a glass display into H&M store next to Apple And shattered it.

Here's a pic of it. I'd show the line of people around me waiting foe the iPad 2 but that's probable getting old by now.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod touch

Powerbook 1Ghz: My Old Girl, But Still Sexy

I bought my aluminum 1Ghz Powerbook eons ago and it has not been on my lap for more than two years since I bought the late-2008 unibody Macbook back in December of 2008. And guess what? It still rocks.

See, one of the reason I went with the Macbook was that it had a great screen that the LCD on the Powerbook just could not keep up through over the years of being used and abused as a productivity device and media device.

Still, it has a lot of uses that cannot be matched in ways that an aging Windows machine cannot.

First, the keyboard on this particular line of the Powerbook is still second to none. The keys are responsive and is, depending on your opinion, a starkly different from the chicklet forms on the newer Macbooks. And that's say that the current keyboards on the Macbook are also excellent.

I imagine that many of you out there in Apple land has more than a few Powerbooks still up and running at home. So you know what I am talking about. Whether you've passed this along to your kids, parents, or just having it sit on the side of your workstation to play music through iTunes or as a file server, you know what I'm talking about here.

There's life yet in this awesome piece of Apple engineering for years to come. There will not being any more updates from Apple and have not been for a long time. However, what is there is quite stable and fast.

I've maxed out the PB to the 2 GB of RAM. There simply isn't more you can do beyond that. And for what you can continue doing on these PowerPC Macs, you don't need more than that.

Anyway, it's a good walk down memory lane and great knowing that road is still being traveled. And as if I needed a reminder, the Powerbook seems to be agreeing with me by warming my laptop on this cold night.

So, do you still have a pre-Intel Powerbook in your household, apartment, or dorm? If so, what are you using it for?


- This post was written and sent from My Powerbook

iPad Is Not A Viable Enterprise Tool: Guess Who Thinks This

iPad isn't for biz  Well, if Dell, HP, and Microsoft says it, it must be true...

I'm gonna take a guess and say that the PC market, san the Mac part of it, isn't doing too well.  The sudden chorus of chatter in the media against the iPad only solidifies Steve Jobs' claim that we are approaching the post-PC era.  

A comprehensive mobile experience for computing with a viable ecosystem is something that is difficult to create and these guys are late to the game.

More here.

iPhone Or Apple Rumors and Where They Belong

Here is a great post from Seeking Alpha about why I don't deal with rumors on my blogs (but I love reading them).  The thing is that I think bloggers now should be held accountable for stuff they report as rumors.  In the wild wild West of the blogosphere, rumors are treated as news  The media has gotten lazy and fact checking, let alone, facts are no longer something people in the press are interested in.

 

It's now the fast pace of here and now.  That means clicks, eyeballs, and impressions.  More often and often, I see some lazy ass writer from traditional media, especially, CNBC, start with "according to Apple blog, X, Apple will be (delaying, releasing)…"

 

Seriously, talk about lame…

 

Oh, and for disclosure, I've got Apple positions…long.  As in long long term.  I don't know what its stock price is on a daily basis.  While I do love rumors, let's keep them in perspective.  They're fun to read and by belong on the world of blogs for our entertainment.

 

No more.  And certainly, no less.

Note:  I chimed in on this issue yesterday because some of what we know as facts, such as the confirmation of the release of the white iPhone just a couple of months before the traditional schedule for new iPhone release just did not make sense.  And the CDMA iPhone did just come out six weeks or so ago.

 

More at Seeking Alpha via MacDailyNews. 

Apple’s Software Show, WWDC, in June To Focus On Software, No New iPhone 5 Hardware – Not Surprised

I love this rumor which is why I'm breaking my own rules to talk about it but I'll explain why this particular rumor makes a lot of sense.  And hopefully, you will too.

The World Wide Developer Conference is about developers and software.  In the past, Apple had used it as a launch pad for the new iPhone hardware in the June.  And now, people completely expects that whenever June rolls around, it means new iPhone.  

Word was put out, probably by Apple, that we will not see this behavior repeated this year.  I've long suspected that Apple might do this eventually.  And this is especially true this year.  

We have Lion coming in the summer as well as the expected iOS 5. That's a lot of software.  Let's not forget that an updated iWork is still missing.  On top of that, there is the comprehensive mobile, computing, and entertainment vision that Apple will try to convey to the world.  It's difficult to do that with an iPhone launch in the mix.

And then are a couple of things about the iPhone 4 that show Apple is not quite done with it yet  Verizon iPhone.  Apparently, it's doing well and I reckon that CDMA iPhone will see new markets – mostly likely in China.  That'll add a few millions of new sales in the next quarter or two without slowing down sales.  

Then there's this.  The white iPhone that is coming in April.  Apple has confirmed this and even at this late stage, Apple will sell tons of those.

So it never made sense that Apple would introduce the CDMA iPhone in Feb and the white iPhone in April and then release the iPhone 5 in June.

More at The Loop. 

Girl Scouts Use Mobile to Accept Credit Card. NFC Next?

While tech giants work out how they want to incorporate near field communication capability to allow mobile devices ranging from regular cell phones to high-end devices like iPhones and who has the final control over data, some folks just are not going to wait around until that day comes.

The Girl Scouts in Ohio are now accepting credit card payments via GoPayment from Intuit, the folks who brought us Quicken And TurboTax, a dongle that can be attached to the the iPhone.

This is just the beginning.  I wonder what'll happen once more devices like the iPhones become NFC-capable?

More at Greenjava.

Digitimes Wrong Most of the Times but Bloggers Will Not Call Them Out

So, DigiTimes, a Chinese tech publication that's often linked to by bloggers, especially Apple-centric sites for the claims itself and its analysts make that is wrong virtually every time.

Personally, I am still waiting for my 7" iPad that digitimes said was coming even after Steve Jobs dismissed such a possibility.

More often that not, I get the feeling that DigiTimes just goes around and time certain posts to generate traffic on Apple. Perhaps they have quotas they are supposed to meet for their advertisers.

The amazing thing is that some posts that link to DigiTimes also make a disclaimer that DigiTimes does not have a good track record regarding Apple products and plans.

And more than that, some of the things that DigiTimes come up with are so out there that not even Wall Street analysts dare put those things down on paper.

In the latest report, they claim that Apple is seeking to secure screens out of Taiwan due to the northeastern Japan earthquake even if it means a price nike.. Makes sense right? Sure until you read the little post that offered no sources whatsoever. It's always according to "this or that". Nothing to explain the nature of such a deal. Thing is, folks, that Apple has been sourcing from the Taiwanese for years. There really nothing new here. The rumor made it sound like this was the first time Apple is dealing with the tech folks there.

Now, don't get me wrong, I like Apple rumors. The best rumor so far this year is the one that we might get a 5" iPod touch. And it came from blogs that claim to have their own sources that they've used in the past. And that this will be a part of a greater fall surprise that Apple is planning. This latter part is also a rumor but detailed enough to be credible.

And how is this different from what Digitimes posts? Rumors from these blogs have a chance of actually being true whereas Digitimes offers nothing to suggest anything other than that Apple posts will generate links and traffic. Digitimes information never turns out to be true.

Knowing this fact as most bloggers do, that virtually everything DigiTimes reports are wrong, why share it with your readers?

Hit your regular sources for the juicy stuff. Because these days, I don't even bother reading your rumor posts if the source is DigiTimes.

Note: If you want to know more about the Digitimes post I referenced to above, you're welcome to Google it. I'm just not going to link to it.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod touch

Macs: To Guard Against Certificate Attacks

I came across this post regarding digital certificates.  After Microsoft's trusted Comodo Certificate Authority issued fraudulent certificates that effected many top sites.

So here are some instructions that you can use to protect yourself if you're on a Mac and use Safari as your main browser.  Honestly, I don't know how serious this is but if it's got Microsoft's attention, I'd worried somewhat, enough to continue looking into it.

It's amazing this does not happen more often if you ask me.  So the instructions provided at Sophos basically enables certificate revocation.  

There really isn't much we can do about this.  We rely on a system that is based on an honor system and require these security and certificate companies to audit and continually beef up their protocols.  

More at Sophos and how this happened.

Note: Firefox and IE 9 users should be fine even though Microsoft has issued an update.  IE 8 users needs to act to protect themselves.

Siri: Nice But It Can And Should Be Better

After my failed attempt to get one last AT&T version of the iPad 2, I started looking for the closest Best Buy to see if I can go there and see if they've got any in the store.

I started with Maps and ended with Siri, an app whose company that made it was bought by Apple a while back.


In Pasadena, California, the Maps app gave me a couple of locations for Best Buy that was not Best Buy. It gave me a uniform store and another location that I didn't bother looking into.

So I turned to Siri. Launched the app. And I spoke into it.

"Best Buy...Pasadena."


I dispensed with saying California because I figured that it knows I am in California based on the location function. I was tethered to the iSpot so it probably has an idea where I was.

Within a five seconds, it provided me with the Best Buy location in Pasadena. Faster and better than Maps.

However, that was where the good ended and where Siri can get better. I tried a different query. I asked for "Store hours...Best Buy...Pasadena..."

It showed me the same search result for Best Buy in both times, after that point, I had to resume clicking on what I needed. Modifying the parameters of the query did not change the results.

There are four things I like to see.

First, Apple should improve on the intelligence of Siri. I like to see better query results. If I want hours of Best Buy, it should easily have the ability to give me just that at the start.

Failing that it should allow for follow-up queries. And this is the second improvement I like to see. Maybe there should be keywords that when spoke allow for a follow-up based on the first search. I wanted hours so I like Siri to somehow give me the option to dig deeper into the search.


In this instance, it offered me the choices to call or go to the website. So if I said "call", I like it to be able to dial the number automatically or "website" and it takes me there.

The third option is that I like to be able to have Siri act as a spoken search apparatus for the iOS device. Say a contact and have Siri dial it automatically or be able to email or text the contact. I'd love it it can serve to launch apps as well or launch web pages from the bookmarks.

Basically, I want Siri take away from the typing and tapping and move all that to voice. Google's Android already does this pretty well. Siri is horribly inadequate here and this is a strong advantage that Android has over the iOS.

The last point is probably asking too much but this is Apple so maybe it's not. I like to see if the app can learn from out behaviors to anticipate our queries and mobile uses.

This would bring a whole new and revolutionary mobile experience.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod touch

Apple Pasadena: The Line Is 200+ Deep And I Am Last

This is insane. The line is 200+ deep for the iPad 2. And I am last. I wasn't but now I am. The guy behind me gave up. And I am beginning to think I am going to walk away empty-handed.

And understanding limited Chinese, I overheard the folks ahead of me told his wife/girlfriend/mistress that he still has an order for 16 more.

Honestly, free enterprise. Love it but ethically and morally, I just don't feel all that cool about it.

You know what I mean?

Again, capitalism. Great. Still, Apple maybe should consider going from two per to just one per customer unless you order online.

For me, this is a new mobile dynamics a lot of people are experiencing. And lots of folks are walking away empty-handed. A lot of enthusiastic mobile warriors that Apple could easily be converted into Mac or iPhone users as well had they been able to be experiencing the iPad 2 sooner rather than later.

Perhaps, Apple sensed that users have no where else to go as Android competition have yet to really solidify since CES.

Oh, I am no longer last. There are more folks behind me. I get the feeling that they'll be selling theirs as well.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod touch