Space: Jeff Bezos Funded, Led, And Found Saturn Engines That Took Americans To the Moon, Restoring Them Now For NASA

Source:  Yahoo News, Space, bezos Expeditions.


Regardless of how you feel about Amazon or even its CEO, Jeff Bezo, you gotta love the guy for what he’s doing here:  he launched an expedition that recovered enough parts to rebuild two Saturn V engines that took Americans to the moon during the Apollo program in the 60’s.  You know, a time when we put country first and felt that if we set our minds to anything, we can accomplish it.

Interesting thing is that NASA will continue to retain ownership of the engines that will be put on display as museums.

According to Bezos' update:

What an incredible adventure. We are right now onboard the Seabed Worker headed back to Cape Canaveral after finishing three weeks at sea, working almost 3 miles below the surface. We found so much. We’ve seen an underwater wonderland – an incredible sculpture garden of twisted F-1 engines that tells the story of a fiery and violent end, one that serves testament to the Apollo program. We photographed many beautiful objects in situ and have now recovered many prime pieces. Each piece we bring on deck conjures for me the thousands of engineers who worked together back then to do what for all time had been thought surely impossible.

I cannot underscore what an achieve this is.  For Bezos, I am hoping his interest in this field will lead to Amazon or one of his many other investments lead to future projects actually in space.  Who knows?  This could be where the various tech giants turn their attentions to after the mobile war is over.

CNN: Z10 Won't Save Blackberry

Source:  CNN.  

 

CNN tried to be generous about Blackberry’s Z10 but you can tell that they’re just coming up short of tell you not to buy it.  They like the hardware even though they acknowledged that it’s behind its rivals like the iPhone, Galaxy S 4, and the HTC One.

This must be very disheartening for once dominant Canadian mobile giant.  The problem seems be the OS itself.  CNN believes, it has some polishing to do while it lacks some major native apps that its competition has plenty of.

The post ends with the fact that Blackberry lacks the infrastructure that Apple and Google has to make distinctive features like Google Now and Siri.  Personally, I would not have mentioned Apple in the same breath as Google when it comes to web services and infrastructure (Google is so far ahead of everyone else) but we get the point.

You cannot help but feel that the current BB10 hardware, and there are only two, is Blackberry’s attempt to stem the bleeding and show investors and consumers that it has the staying power to keep up with the big boys.

Regardless of how Blackberry does in third word markets, it has to hold ground in Canada and somehow demonstrate it can keep up with the Jones.  All Blackberry has to do is to show that it can be a strong distant third, ahead of Windows Phone.  It should not be too hard.  But if it screws that up, you can forget about 2014.

We're not going to see any major flagship Windows Phone devices from Nokia at least not until the second half of 2013.  We might see a Surface phone but Microsoft might hold that off to see how its partners do this time around.

Yahoo Should Buy Vimeo Instead of Dailymotion

Source:  Cnet.

Yahoo wants a piece of online video streaming to compete with Youtube.  So, it’s looking to buy a part of DailyMotion.  I think Vimeo is a better buy if it’s available for sale.

After all, Vimeo is the default video service for iOS and OS X after Apple dumped Youtube.  There’s gotta be a reason why Apple picked Vimeo.

Recently, Vimeo enabled a service, Vimeo On Demand, allowing providers to charge for their content.

Looks Like No 7 or 8” Windows RT Tablet Unitl Windows 9

Here’s a post from TabletPC Review that suggests we aren’t going to see cheaper, smaller, and lighter Windows RT tablet until Microsoft releases the next version of Windows.  It’s an interesting suggestion but I am not sure I agree.

Right now, the Surface RT has a screen size of 10.6” (Apple’s iPad has a 9.7” screen) and 1366x768 resolutions (the iPad has 2048x1536).

So, why can’t someone out there make a screen with 7 to 8” and still have 1366x678?  Apple’s iPad mini is 7.85” with a 1024x768.  Heck, even the smaller 7” Android have a higher resolution.  The Nexus 7 has a resolution of 1280x800.

So, as an average mobile warrior, my question is why no 7” or 8” Windows RT tablet yet?

Tablet: Windows 8 Isn't Helping Microsoft Enter Post PC, Maybe Next Version

Microsoft has not always been very good at its first time out in almost any market it enters.  Even in the PC market, it took a couple of tries before it eventually knocked Apple out and nearly for good.  The same for the browser market and the console.

So, I haven't been all that surprised by the degree of success that Microsoft's own tablet effort, the Surface, so far.  I'm not even sure the Surface Pro, which runs the full version of Windows 8, will either.  I'm hoping perhaps, Windows 8.x or Windows 9 could do the trick.

And even now, Windows 8 is in danger of being marginalized in favor of its older sibling, Windows 7 and, of course, OS X, iOS, and Android.

Samsung has largely shunned it.  Even now, Lenovo has machines with Windows 7 installed instead of making Windows 8 users do the hard work.

So, Surface 2?  Well, the issue isn't that Microsoft's tablets are not good.  They're very decent but they're also priced like iPads. Between Surface and iPad, people have been flocking to Apple's tablets.  On top of that, Surface has to compete with low-cost Android devices with similar specs and a bigger library fo apps.

I had hoped that Microsoft would have by now dozens of models on the market from partners that will drive the price down.  Not only has that not happened, some partners  have withdrawn plans for Windows 8 tablets, regardless of those running on ARM or Intel chips, from the market.

What's worse is that Microsoft may not even be able to compete in the sub-10" segment of the tablet market, like 6-9" sized screens, because Windows 8 might not be able to support it.  We may have to wait a full year for that to happen.

What's at stake is Microsoft's dominance in the future of mobile computing.  In fact, let me back that up a bit.  What's at steak is Microsoft's relevance in the future of mobile computing.  However, I think the jury is still out.  I can't believe in a world where Microsoft won't be a major player in the smartphone or tablet market.

For anti-Microsoft people, you have to understand the tremendous competitive force that a juggernaut like Microsoft has on its competitors even if it doesn't sell nearly the number of machines its competitors do.

And we want competition.  More the better.

Social: Whatsapp Move To Subscription Closely Watched By Competitors

Whatsapp doesn't sell ads but it does sell its app for $1.  Sometimes, you can get it for free.  However, all that's ending as it moves to an annual subscription-based service.  It's $1 per user for a year.  It's not a bad deal in the grand scheme of things but it is more expensive than just paying $1 now and getting grandfathered in.

I'm sure this new subscription implementation will be closely watched by others.  Obviously, its competitors could be looking at how well Whatsapp does with this and if users are receptive.  It's got a big enough market share that it could stand to lose a few that might jump ship.

However, social services that offer messaging or even updates like Path could look at this and see it as a potential source of revenue in the future.  Yes, even now with Facebook charging users to broadcast their updates, they may even get in on the game.  With hundreds of active users, Facebook may be looking at millions in revenue.

Of course, it could all back fire on Whatsapp as well.  I'm hoping that they'll find success with this model.  I'll explain why at a later time.

Source:  Whatsapp.

No New iPhone Coming Until Two Months Before It Happens, Apple Starts Discounting

For anyone waiting for a new iPhone, my guess is you've got a long wait.  Apple's industry leading device is selling well enough, even in India, that it doesn't have to worry about slowing sales other than what's seasonally adjusted.

However, if you're looking for possible signs that new iPhones are coming other than waiting until fall, there could only be one.  And it's not from rumor sites either.  When every authorized iPhone resellers begin to discount them, that's a pretty good indication that Apple is trying to drum up last minute sales before new models arrive.

For instance, we can see anywhere from $50 to $100 in discount on the iPhone 5.  This happened the last couple of years.

And it's probably anywhere from six to eight weeks ago when Apple starts doing that.  For those who are hoping that Apple will release new models in June, Apple will have to start discounting current models right around the beginning of April.

Another time frame that rumor sites have indicated is August.  So, right around Apple's World Wide Developer Conference in June, that'll be when Apple and partners starts discounting.

My money is still late September.  Even with Samsung releasing the Galaxy S 4, there just isn't enough competition from competing flagship devices for Apple to worry about shortening the window of annual iPhone refresh.  Don't get me wrong, the newest Galaxy is very awesome and should get Android fans fired up.  For anyone else, choosing between an iPhone versus a S 3 or S 4 is not that big of a difference.

Personally, I had hoped that the Galaxy S 4 would have blown the lid of the mobile market and force Apple's hands. From all indications, that probably won't happen.