Siri – It’s About Speed, A Serial Killer Convinced My Friend To Go With iPhone 4S

Last night I had dinner with a good doctor friend.  We got to talk about the state of the health system as he sees it from the trenches in the ER, his office, and, more importantly, his patients.  But he’s a tech guy too and now, he’s not sure he’s getting the Galaxy S II or the Galaxy Nexus, two of the top Android devices I recommended to him.

He had expressed a desire to leave Apple’s ecosystem.  I told him, yeah fine, he’ll love the Galaxy phones because he likes a more opened approach.

Then for some reason, we hit the topic about the Night Stalker.

He was a serial killer in the mid-80s.  Anyway, he asked if he was still alive.  I didn’t know.  The only thing I remembered about him was that he scared the crap out of him as a child.

Instinctively, we both when for our phones.  He has a 3GS and I’ve got my 4S.  I was able to get the answer from Siri via a Web search even before he opened Safari.

It was fast, accurate, and Siri blew him away.  Now, he’s leaning towards getting an iPhone again.

Apple Posted Celebrating Steve Special Event

Apple is kind enough to post their all-hands event to celebrate their iconic and visionary leader, the late Steve Jobs.  You can click through here to Apple's webpage.

Got it from Daring Fireball.

Steve Jobs Biographer on 60 Minutes Video Up On Web

CBS has put up transcripts and videos online from their 60-Minutes program of an interview with Walter Isaacson, the author of the Steve Jobs biography.

Personally, I'm waiting to read the book first before I watch the video.  Inevitably, there will be spoilers.  I have been trying to avoid reading posts that unveil interesting bits of information from the biography.  I've been success for the most part but avoiding headlines from my RSS reader was a bit more difficult.

The book should be available for download tomorrow, in a few hours to be exact.  You can get them through Nook, Kindle, or iBooks on your iOS device as Steve would want you to.

Or you can do it old-school style and order it online.

Would You Want OS X Officially Available On Your Non-Apple PC?

According to Compaq's former CEO, Steve once tried to see if he was interested in licensing OS X from Apple and offer them along side Microsoft's Windows.  This offer was made back in 1999 by Steve Jobs to Compaq.

But only for a moment, both sides bursted out laughing and that was the end of it.  Still, I would love to seen OS X running on a non-Apple laptop.  Desktops, not so much.  And not all laptops and certainly not on netbooks.

But there are a few laptop makers that do come up with some pretty nice designs.  I've complimented Sony's designs in the past.  And on top of that, Sony at times offer higher specs than some of Apple's Macbooks.

For instance, Apple's 13" Macbooks has resolutions that go up to 1440x900 while someone of Sony's Air-like Vaios go up to 1920x1080.  And more than a few of them comes with 8 GB of RAM while the Air goes up to 4 GB, but only if you ask for it and are willing to pay for it.

Now, keep in mind, the VIAOs I'm talking about do cost more than the Air but still, I like having those options available to me.

There are probably ways get OS X running on these VIAO laptops I'm talking about but it's not quite an easy to do.  And certainly not what Apple wants.

Perhaps, one day, we'll see OS X run openly and legally on other PCs.  Until then, we can only think of the possibilities.

iPhone or Another iOS Device with 4-6" Would Be Easier for Reading

I'm read a couple of books in the iPhone now.  iBooks and Nook app.  I'm considering getting the Barnes and Noble Nook reader because I like having a bigger screen to read a book with.  It has nothing to do with the e-ink.

In fact, I find the e-ink a bit dated.  It's slow and I'm just not used to the touch function on these dedicated readers.  Rather, I should say the lack of touch in the readers.

So, would I have liked the iPhone 4S to have a 4" screen?  Sure.  It means bigger fonts or you can fit more text into one page.

But should Apple release a device with around 6" +/- 1", Apple could end up locking up the reader market rather quickly.  In previous posts about the tablets and screen sizes, we always focused on productivity rather than consumption.

What do you think?  Would get an iOS device with 4-6" just for reading?

One Day, Screen Resolution So Dense, It'll Look Like Paper

This week, we learned about Toshiba's newest invention - a 6.1" screen capable of 2560x1600 resolution providing us with a 1.6:1 ratio and nearly 500 ppi (pixels per inch).

 Right now, the highest resolution on a commercial device is in the iPhone 4 series and the iPod touch with the Retina display with at 326 ppi.

Of course, at some point, the density on the displays will get so dense that it's not going to matter much.  It's why I don't think companies are using their screen resolution as a bragging right (except maybe Apple).

Within the next couple of upgrade cycles for screens on our mobile displays and even laptops, the ppi will be so dense that things will look like almost like it is now on paper.  Maybe even better.

Some think that this 6.1" screen won't find a home but I don't see why not.  We have tablets ranging from 7" to 10".  And the smartphones go from about 3" all the up to the Galaxy Note at 5".  It's interesting the sizes between 4.5" to 7" are so rare.

It's only a matter of time before some device makers decide to give those sizes a try.  I would not mind something around 6". It's always one of those sizes that I think would be perfect for reading, use as a scratchpad, writing notes, watching videos, or playing games.

First one to build this for me - 6" tablet with dual-core, 32 GB of RAM, frontal/rear cameras, 10-12 hours of battery life - and you get my money.  Oh, and in 3D.

Yup, Toshiba said future improvements will mean 3D display for this 6.1" screen.

For now, it doesn't look like we'll see this in a tablet any time soon.  We have seen such displays of tech but doesn't come to the market fast enough.  There are only a few companies that with the capital and confidence in knowing that they can and will sell through a bunch of these tablets.

Via Toshiba, New Launches, Slashgear, Techradar.

T-Mobile Says No To the iPhone Unless Apple Will Play Ball

According to T-Mobile, they did not want the iPhone unless Apple makes one that works with its 3G network.  If you're a T-Mobile customer, you'll know what I'm talking about.

See, T-Mobile's 3G network is not exactly compatible with other GSM networks because it runs on a different frequency.  Without getting into the specifics, and the current GSM iPhone can work on T-Mobile's except the user will only be able to achieve 2G wireless speed.

However, about one million T-Mobile suffer through this the EDGE speed rather than switch over to AT&T.  Perhaps, because of this fact, T-Mobile figures it stands a chance of going at it as the AT&T alternative and entice everyone else with non-iPhone offerings.

According to T-Mobile's senior vice-president of marketing, "T-Mobile thinks the iPhone is a good device and we’ve expressed our interest to Apple to offer it to our customers. Ultimately, it is Apple’s decision. The issue remains that Apple has not developed a version of the iPhone with technology that works on our fast 3G and 4G networks. We believe a capable version of the iPhone for our 3G and 4G networks would offer an additional compelling option for our customers on a fast 4G network."

What is boils down to is sour grapes.  Now, if I were in his position and I have his job, I probably might try to offer some sort of truth about the importance of the iPhone and try to let people know that the reasons why the one million iPhone users would rather go with a slower Internet speed rather than go over to AT&T.

But it's too late obviously.  T-Mobile is going down a slow spiral either as a part of AT&T's mobile empire or, if the merger doesn't go through, well, I hate to think what would happen.

I'm sad.  Left T-Mobile after eight years for Verizon.

Source:  Gigaom.