iPad or iPhone, Airplay, Bluetooth: The Future of The Truck

I've been thinking about getting a new Macbook. I'm considering moving over to the Pro version. Right now, I've got the 11.9" MacBook Air. The main reason is that I think I can use more power in the graphics department and also I really have been spoiled by the Retina Display on the iPhone and iPad. Even so, I can't help but wonder the customer base for traditional PC is shrinking by the day.

For instance, right now, I'm am writing this post through the iPad. I'm using a Bluetooth keyboard. Lots of people already do that. Well, the difference here is that I'm mirroring the iPad screen to the HDTV that I'm beginning to use more and more.

All this is made possible by the ease of use Apple provided with Airplay and the Apple TV. If you've got an iOS device capable of mirroring its screen and have $99, you can do the same thing. You end up with a pretty neat "PC setup" that works brilliantly.

The only issue that I can't help but wonder if Apple will eventually resolve in the mirroring of apps. See, with the HDTV display serving as the main display, I'm also seeing the same thing on the iPad. This is absolutely unnecessary. I like Apple to provide the tools in future iOS and SDK that will allow developers to offer added functionalities to their app and use the iPad screen as a secondary display.

This could be necessary for business apps as well as gaming apps as well. In fact, I can't help but wonder if this is coming sooner rather than later. All that depends on how Apple still sees the Apple TV. Right now, it's still a hobby. A hobby that is doing quite well in its own right. Perhaps with its own ability to run apps or allow developers to beef up their apps with Apple TV and Airplay integration, Apple could allow iOS users to be able to expand their mobile horizon if you will.

Right now, the iPad is dominating the tablet market in ways that matter. People who use their iPads in enterprise. People use their iPads to replace their laptops. Apple can solidify its position in the tablet market and the mobile market in general if it can also give users the option to tie their iPads with this added functionality.

And this is not just for iPads. iPhones can work just as well as too in this setup.

Apple will hold a press event on Tuesday. I don't think we'll see what I'm talking about next week but I hope that Apple will see that while the iPhone and iPad is not a truck, with the right tools, it can become one.

One more thing. Apple moved the iPhone 5s' chip ARM architecture to 64-bit. With it, it will beging to have PC like computing muscles. This chip, the A7, will soon make its way to the next iPad.

Note: If you don't get the truck reference I'm talking about here. Steve Jobs used the difference between a regular car and a truck as an anology to the PC and mobile devices. The PC being the truck and the sedan being the mobile device. He simply was saying that as the mobile advances, not all mobile worriors need a PC (a truck) and devices like the iPhone and iPad would be enough to serve their computing needs.

 

 

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Mobile: T-Mobile Killing Off Older Plans and Forcing Users Onto New Ones Even If It Ends Up Costing More

Source:  T-Mo News.

The Internet is bursting with new that T-Mobile is ending grandfathered plans and forcing users over to its newer Value Plans.  It's still too early to tell just how this will impact a vast majority of its users and the level of "evilness" is involved  here, we should give T-Mobile the benefit out of the doubt given that it's been one of the more friendly, or less evil, of all of the major carriers.

It did acknowledge that for some users, it'll end up costing more but also with added benefits as well.

Personally, I could care less about added benefits like unlimited talk and text since I hardly use either. Come to think of it, only T-Mobile texts me about payment and account updates.

I'm currently on a $30 prepaid plan that offers 100 minutes of talk time. But get this.  I also get 5 GB of high speed data.

Are There Better Ways or New Features Delivery Companies Can Offer To Help Customer Track Packages Once They're On Trucks?

Tracking packages are fun especially if it's something you've been waiting for eagerly.  At times, it feels like it's Christmas, you know?  Kids have been using NORAD to track Santa for years.  However, while Santa does make door-to-door delivery and you lose track of him just before you go to bed on Christmas Eve, we don't lose track of UPS or FedEx in the same way.  Once our packages get on the trucks, we do lose track of them.  

I think there has to be a way for the delivery companies to offer a way for customers to track when they are thrown into trucks for delivery.  Now, while some of the folks who have been online in forums talking about similar situations, some want UPS and others to offer GPS information about their packages.  I don't think that works but I wonder if there is an alternative solution that might work better and safer for the drivers.

Little more than two weeks ago, I was eagerly tracking my iPhone 5s delivery all the way from Zhengzou, China to Anchorage, Alaska to Louisville, Kentucky and, finally, to Ontario, California where when my iPhone got loaded up into a truck somewhere closer and finally to my doorsteps.

Now, I'm tracking my Galaxy Note 3.  It's on a FedEx truck.  It'll be delivered by the end of the day.  They've promised me that much on the website.  I've got meetings.  I've got breaks and whatnot.  

GPS locators on truckers for customers to track is dangerous.  You don't want crazed customers to follow their delivery guy around or hound them by showing up during one of their deliveries or cutting them off of the road so that you can grab your stuff.  Heck, bad guys will be able to know which truck contains what and hijack them.

Plus, just because you see the truck that has your package appear in your neighborhood does not necessarily meant you're next.  It could go off somewhere else and come back to you later.  I think they follow certain predetermined routes.

GPS feature would be a bad idea.  

However, I think I've got a solution that might work better.  When you call into a company for support, sometimes, the automated system tells you how long you are likely to wait until an operator becomes available to take your call or how many calls are ahead of you.  

I figure the UPS guy probably has as schedule or route he has to follow.  Just the the mailman.  One walks while the other drives.  Perhaps, delivery companies can offer estimated delivery times based on how the delivery folks are doing out in the field, weather, and traffic conditions.  Maybe provide information about how many deliveries the driver has to make before he gets to you.

It's an added service that could make live easier for customers, like me who just watched two FedEx trucks passed without stopping to give me my Note 3.  

Mobile: Man Waved Gun Around But No One Noticed - Why?

Source:  Yahoo.

I've done this before.  I'm so absorbed in my book, tablet, or whatever in public that I sometimes I notice what's going on around me.  I'm a perfect victim for a pickpocket for worse.  Well, that's what happened to a group of commuters on a train.

As surveillance video showed,a  man took out a gun and waved it around but no one noticed.  Then he sort of gave up and put it back inside.  

"These weren't concealed movements — the gun is very clear," District Attorney George Gascon said. "These people are in very close proximity with him, and nobody sees this. They're just so engrossed, texting and reading and whatnot. They're completely oblivious of their surroundings."

He even wiped his nose with the gun in his hand.  Just seem so casual.  I can't imagine what he was thinking.  In a way, he was probably shocked that he was getting away with it.  Until he decided to escalate things and shot a college kid.

Here is a more indepth report on the dangers of being too absorbed into one's mobile world and not be aware of what's going on around them.

I'll be the first to admit as I've stated above.  It doesn't have to be mobile but many times for us today, it's our mobile devices that have our attention and the main source of distraction.  This is not just about standing around looking down on your mobile device, become a victim of a crime, and then not being able to identify the assailant because you didn't see it coming.

It's not only about standing around.  It's about texting and walking.  It's about texting and driving as well.

Apple 5th Generation iPad Event: Window Between Last Year's iPad Mini Event And Invitation Was One Week

UPDATE:  ALLTHINGSD CONFIRMED 22ND AS APPLE'S MEDIA EVENT FOR iPad AND OTHER GOODIES! (ATD)

It's a new week.  So it is worth noting that we are inching closer and closer to the October iPad and even Mac event.  I just want to quickly point that that the date of the invitations sent out for the iPad mini event and the event itself last year was a week apart.

Today is Tuesday,  obviously.  October 8th. That means for an Apple event to take place next Tuesday on October 15th, we need to see the privileged few bloggers and journalists receive and brag about their Apple invitation today.

This pic here was from the invitation last October.

As I've mentioned in a previous post, Apple is likely to host their event on October 22nd and with the new iPad will probably go on sale on November 1st.  Plus, Nike, a close Apple partner, will be hosting their own event next Tuesday.  It's unlikely the two companies will host concurrent events even if they are not necessarily competing events.

Social: Girl Goes Nuts At Coffee Shop And Was Unable To Control Her Telekinetic Powers

You've got to see this!!!  There are those among us who have abilities beyond what's confined by physical laws and, you know, whatever.

You've got to see this to!

When Siri First Learned She Was Herself - Meet The Woman Who Gave Voice To Siri

I wasn't not aware of this but with iOS 7, the voice of Siri has changed.  It's too bad but again, I couldn't tell.  However, Susan Bennett does.  See, she's the original voice of Siri.  And for the longest time since 2005 on July days in Atlanta, she recorded voices that would later be known to millions for those who iPhones and iPads and even to those who don't.

Siri has become a social icon and we have Bennett to thank for that.  Here's more on CNN.