Safari 5: Reader Feature Changing How We Read

I can enough about Safari. Version 4 was pretty good when it came out but with Google doing a great job innovating with Chrome and, let's be honest, really out paced every veteran browser on the market.

But with Safari 5, Apple has signaled to the world that it intends to compete in the browser market. Forget about extension support. Been here, done that as far as the browsing experience goes.

It's the Reader feature that has changed to game now. And it has the markets backpedaling. And I do mean markets. Reader basically strips away the nonessentials like ads and visual distractions on a webpage and intelligently displays the main article or content in a pop-up screen.

In Apple's words, "Safari Reader removes annoying ads and other visual distractions from online articles. So you get the whole story and nothing but the story. It works like this: As you browse the web, Safari detects if you’re on a web page with an article. Click the Reader icon in the Smart Address Field, and the article appears instantly in one continuous, clutter-free view. You see every page of the article — whether two or twenty. Onscreen controls let you email, print, and zoom. Change the size of the text, and Safari remembers it the next time you view an article in Safari Reader."

First, the advertising market. Web operators are still going to get the views but click-throughs might go down. How will this affect ad revenues? Safari 5 has only been out about 24 hours. I think users are still trying to get used to Reader and it is unclear how the online ad guys are reacting to this.

With Reader, Apple is able to provide users with a great non-distractive way to consume text while potentially hurt it's main competitors in the battle for the future of computing, Google and Microsoft.

For the publishing and content market, this is a potential game-changer if not a wake up call. Any Internet property that relies on ad revenue may be affected. At the very least, they need to figure out other sources of revenues.

For me, I found myself loving the Reader feature very very much as it makes it easier for me to concentrate and see how long the article or post really is without the trappings of modern Web payout like videos, ads, and other miscellaneous links that are not pertinent to the article.

Note: I can't wait to see if this makes it into iOS 4 or not.


-- Post From My iPad

iPhone 4 Possible on T-Mobile? Need Someone With Tech Understanding To Clear This Up

Is it possible for the iPhone 4 to get 3G speed on T-Mobile's network? We'll need someone with technical or expert engineering skillz on this one.

Towards the end of the WWDC 2010 keynote today, I kept hoping Steve Jobs would tell us about this "one more thing" in stored for us. That one more thing being that the iPhone 4 is coming to all the other networks in the US. At the very least, given that T-Mobile uses GSM as does ATT and my current network, I had hope that to be the case.

No go. The disappointment was not as acute as the Lakers loss last night but it weighed in me a bit into the afternoon. So this is what I tweeted:

iPhone: no iPhone for T-Mobile...sniff, sniff, sniff...AT&T, guess I'm gonna have to be your bitch...

T-Mobile tweeted me back about myTouch Slide. Right. iPhone 4 or myTouch. I am not that stupid.

So I trolled the Internet for more details and I came across an interesting comment about the iPhone 4 and T-Mobile's HSPA+ network. A couple of things happened.

On MacNN, the FCC page for iPhone 4 stated it is now a five-band phone. Penta-band? Anyway, none of the frequency is the 3G frequency used by T-Mobile's 3G network. 1700Mhz.  That's the end of the story, ain't it? Well, maybe not.

And this is where we need someone who knows what ins-and-outs of 3G technology and how everything works.

Over at TAUW, I read a post about the iPhone's new world-phone ability.  It's the exact same topic as the MacNN post except, now, read the 3rd commenter.  An astute observer no doubt who pointed out that the new HPSA+ network currently being deployed by T-Mobile in select markets but will be coming to more than 200 million users uses many of the frequency supported by iPhone 4.

The evidence is the Web Connect modem being sold by T-Mobile, which supports 850, 900, 1800, 1900, and 2100Mhz.  No mention of the current 1700Mhz that the current T-Mobile 3G network is running on.

And the iPhone 4?  It supports 850/1900Mhz in the US and 800/900/2100Mhz in the internaitonal realm.  Like the reader, MacNN pointed out the lack of support of the new iPhone 4 for 1700Mhz but not what the T-Mobile HPSA+ network and iPhone 4 both support.

Does this mean anything?  See why I am hoping someone with wireless engineering backgrounds can help us out.

Will the iPhone 4, officially or otherwise through unlocked means, support T-Mobile's fast 3G network?  Does this also mean that the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS will soon run on T-Mobile's 3G network?

If this is the case, there could be another positive possibility.  That being that the iPad will also run on T-Mobile's HPSA+ network as well.

FaceTime Versus iChat Video

By now, you're pretty familiar with FaceTime.

If not, FaceTime is a new video chat feature on the iPhone that uses the frontal VGA camera on the iPhone. Here's my question.

Does it work with iChat? If not, why not? Should Apple make it work with the iChat?

I can understand if Apple won't make it work with the iChat until the next OS X update but eventually Apple should.

It will really make the whole platform more compatible as well as signal Apple's support for the open source protocols used to make iPhone video chat possible.

I suppose it is possible Apple may update iChat before the next OS update. However, given Apple's past update behavior, it isn't likely. Plus, by bundling FaceTime compatible iChat with the next OS, people will be forced to upgrade en mass.

Right now, I also want to know if it's possible for non-iPHone 4 users to install the FaceTime app as well. I know the other iOS devices have no frontal camera but at least the might be able to participate on the receiving end of the video chat. Then again, given Apple's behavior in this respect, it's not likely going to happen.

Apple is like to force everyone else to upgrade their iOS devices if they want to be a part of any video calls.

But hey, one can hope.

More at Apple - FaceTime.

Apple Video Demo For Facetime, Video Chat App For the New iPhone

Facebook is the new video chat app for the iPhone 4. Here is a demo of what it can do.



Note that users can toggle between the frontal and back camera. Brilliant. A reporter's dream if you ask me.

Apple Video on the New iPhone 4

Here is the video on the new iPhone 4. A lot of updates coming tonight after we've got some time to digest the information. All is good except one thing. We're still stuck with AT&T.



will be availabe on June 24th. Pre-order June 15th.

MobileMe To Be Free? I Hope So

It isn't wishful thinking on my part hoping MobileMe will be free. I have MobileMe and I want you to have it as well. And I think given the chatter today about MobileMe, it might happen.

Users have bee reporting changes in their status in the MobileMe Preference Panel. For the most part, users are labeled as "Individual". However, users saw the label changed to "Full Member" in the last few days.

What does this mean? No one can say for sure until official word comes from Apple, if it comes at all.

On the Macbook, my status is "Full Member" but on Safari, the MobileMe preference still has me as "Individual".

Steve Jobs will be giving the keynote at WWDC on Monday at 10AM PST. We may know the answer then.

More At 9-To-5 Mac.


-- Post From My iPad

Can Now Google App To Find Link

CNet is reporting users can google for apps on their mobile devices, iPhone or an Android device, through mobile search to find the app they're looking for. It is a unique and pretty neat feature but CNet is a bit perplex as to why Google is indexing app search when users can simply go into the App Store or Marketplace to find the app through the built in search.

I can think of a few reasons. First, Google is about search. So it makes sense for Google to offer its services in this respect. Second, Google is trying continuing to improve mobile services as well as mobile presence. That means offering app search for Android as well as the iPhone.

There really is no redundancy on Google's part in offering search for the iPhone. If Google can do a better job for searching for the right app in the store's own search function, users, particularly iphone users, will rely more on Google.

However, another likely possibility is that Google, who we all know is prepping an webapp store for Chrome and Chrome OS, will be using what it learns from mobile app search and apply it to its endeavor.

Regardless, we will know in the near future if this will go beyond just searching for apps. Chrome OS is slated to be released in the second half of 2010.


More at CNet

-- Post From My iPad