AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud

In the last week, we saw some major moves by big companies getting into the iPhone app business. Obviously, I'm talking about CBS's TV.com app and the just released Kindle for iPhone app. Slow but surely, folks in the upper echelon of the corporate realm are beginning to realize that mobility, fortunately for us the iPhone, is how people will get their information, video, and other forms of entertainment. So, what does the future hold? A month down the line? Six months? A year from now? Frankly, both of these apps surprise me. Not the apps themselves but the fact that Apple allowed them to be released into the wild just blew me away. First, the TV.com app. CBS, by offering albeit limited quantities of full episodes of videos to be stream free to iPhone and iPod Touch users, therefore, potentially bypassing the iTunes stores for some of its offerings was "okayed" by Apple's store sentries. Recall not long ago, the biggest news was that Apple was rejecting ap...

No one knows if Steve will be back as CEO of the company. I don't know either and I frankly don't are so long as he's still around to make the big decisions. And here's why I think Steve will be around for a long time to come. According to Information Week, a source familiar with Apple's government sales plan said Jobs and certain Apple executives were granted security clearance by the federal government. Why provide Steve Jobs clearance if he isn't coming back to Apple? You don't just grant security clearance like it's some kind of knighthood. And let's assuming for a sec that Apple is treating the NSA and the military like they treat the rest of us, basically, telling them Steve's health is a personal matter. I have to assume that for the folks fighting and trying to keep America safe, they would have some intel on the status of Steve's welfare before giving him security clearance. Finding out about Jobs' medical situation isn...

If you have bought a Mac in recent years, you'll notice OmniOutliner that comes with the Mac. The Omni Group has gone a step further today and made a few applications free for Mac users. This is a recession busting sort of thing but its greatly appreciated as far as I'm concerned. OmniWeb - I like the session saving feature. But I'll go with what I've already got on my desktop. OmniDictionary - not bad. I will be downloading this one. OmniDiskSweeper - always need more memory and space. OmniDazzle - I'll be passing on this one. I don't need more "dazzle" even though my Macbook can handle it. OmniObjectMeter - it's a good application for developers who are looking to optimize their applications. Not for everyone. I've downloaded OmniDictionary and OmniDiskSweeper. I've got Safari, Firefox, and, more recently, Flock. OmniWeb has come neat features but given the unqiue session saving is a good feature but it's not one that I nee...

Apple released Safari 4 beta here .   I'll be back later for some previews/reviews.  

No one really expected Apple to go all the way to Barcelona to introduce a new mobile device or update the iPhone. However, everything about smartphones at the MWC is about Apple. Over at Onxo , we discussed what Apple's competitors were doing to catch up the one-two punch of iPhone-iTunes. Just about every touch device was compared to the iPhone. Just about every app store was given a shakedown (even though none except Android Marketplace is operational) relative to the iTunes app store. It's was always Apple this. iPhone that. Here's my question: where is Apple? Seriously, right? This time last year, we were given an updated 16GB iPhone. The major update was the unibody Macbooks in October and sprinkled with the 17" Macbook Pro at Macworld. I'm tempted to say we're are going to get a slew of updates from Apple in March through October (usually the last month of updates from Apple) but in this economic condition, I don't know if that'll happen....

I totally get that people love their iPhone or want an iPhone if not for the fact that it exists only on ATT. I was reading a post on Verizon's LTE deployment and wishful thinking by TUAW (hey, I do that all the time - thinking wishfully) about the possibility of the iPhone working on Verizon's LTE network in 2010 instead of waiting for ATT to take it live in 2011. But here's the larger issue.  You go with the network you like or go with the iPhone and have to tolerate an arguably inferior network?  Well, that's the great thing about the iPod Touch.  You can get the iPod Touch with all the great features of the iPhone OS, iTunes, and the app store and then go with a Storm on Verizon or Pre with Sprint when it comes out.   I understand with the iPhone, you carry one single device.  That works the ideal situation.  What about folks are locked into non-ATT contracts or live in areas where ATT just plainly have no signal?  Since I've been trying out the G1 for the last ...

Assuming that Apple keeps the iPhone exclusively on ATT through 2012 as some have predicted, we are not looking at the iPhone gaining LTE wireless service (next generation wireless) until 2011.  Cult of Mac reports that ATT has said trials will begin in 2010 but no rollout until 2011.  So, what is an iPhone user to do?  Wait?  Upgrade now?   Actually now is the best time since a two-year contract will take  you through 2011.  Sure, it's mid-Feb now so you'll want to wait until June for the next iPhone revision.  Although, I did get my 16GB iPhone last Feb and loved every bit about it. Personally, 3G is quite good and I'm more interested in what new apps and features Apple is likely to impress us with than extra speed we get.  3G over Edge is already pretty good for now.  It's always the UI, OS, features, and designs that has put the iPhone head, should, and body above everything else on the market.   Via Cult of Mac