AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud

Great news for Apple fans.  The Mac has crawled back to 4th place in the US with 9.4% in sales over the summer.  It helped that Apple continues to innovate their Macbook lineup and Snow Leopard's release.  And given how Apple intends to innovate its way out of the recession, we should continue to see better products and features. One of products we're anticipating, as well as everyone else, is the fabled tablet.  I believe it coming in the first half of 2010.  However much we'll love it, whether it'll do ebooks, sport a 10 inch screen, or spectacular battery life, I have to ask this question.   Where do the future tablet sales figure in market?  As Macs?  iPhones?  iPods?  Or a whole new category?  Macs?  Well, that's easy.  If the tablet runs Snow Leopard, it'll be easier for analysts to lump the tablet sales in with the Macs.   But what if it runs a variant of the iPhone OS?  Then what?  It's not an iPhone certainly.  It'll probably be closer to th...

Word on Mac Blog Street is that Apple has released into the wild iPhones immune to the unlocking and jail-breaking tools of intrepid and brilliant individuals that have unleashed the power of the iPhone in ways, well, Apple currently doesn't not permit officially. Untapped potentials of the iPhone is what is at stake here. We want more and Apple doesn't appear to be ready or willing to provide that to us. Talk about night and time when compared to the Android platform. But iPhone users want it and developers who provide unlocking/jailbreaking tools are giving it to us. But it appears that Apple is changing the rules a bit with an updated bootROM for the iPhone 3GS. More at Appleinsider . With the new scheme, currently tools will have no effects on these new iPhones. I'm not a betting man but at times when something appears to be favorable, I dabble a bit. And my bet is on the development community over Apple any day on this issue. And another bet: this is going to ...

Alright, remember when Apple launched MobileMe services to replace .Mac but there were issues with?  Well, that was growing pain and things continued to get better with each passing day (actually, we had some issues with MobileMe for about 30 minutes or so this morning). Over the weekend, T-Mobile's Sidekick users were cut off from their data in the cloud when their connections were severed.  By all accounts, data have been lost and some might never see them again. Forget the blame for now.  Forget that Microsoft bought Danger and is now responsible for providing services to thousands of Sidekick users.  Now, it's about us MobileMe users and just about anyone who relies on the cloud for computing and data access. MobileMe works very differently from Sidekick services.  We've got copies of our information in Macs or PCs as well as on our iPhones and iPod Touches.  Apple has servers with our data but unless something weird or deliberate happens, MobileM...

First, I just want to say that I don't get a penny of this bring this Mac bundle promotion (just check the link).  It's just my daily Web surfing and I came across it.  In fact, I intend on buying this tonight and installing the ones that I need. Macpromo has a Mac Security Bundle for $49.99 for us right now.  Twice or thrice a year, Macpromo has bundles that Mac users can get for dirt cheap.  And to be honest, for most bundles, half of them are pretty good while the other half, not so much. However, this one looks very good.  Look, Mac folks, the Mac isn't immune from Internet attacks.  And if you're a regular user like myself, we have no idea how the inner workings of the OS X work and why we seem to not be suffering from the constant barrage of security holes, viruses, and other darker elements of the Internet.  Perhaps it's because the Mac install base is still small and not worth the efforts of the hackers and virus writers. But the day will come when the Ma...

Okay, as strange as it sounds, Starbucks, superbook stores, and malls aren't the only place that offers Wi-Fi access to patrons. Car dealerships and oil change places like EZ-Lubes also provide Wi-Fi.  You're asking why anyone would want to go there just to access the Internet.  Ordinarily, you wouldn't.  I'm not a big car guy.  But once in a while you have to take it down to the dealership for some maintenance work.  Sometimes, it's 30 minutes.  Other times, it could take a few hours especially if you don't have an appointment. Still, there are times when you're there with your spouse, family, or friend looking to buy a new car.  The dealing and haggling can take a few hours.  I was once there for more than half a day.  Could I have used Internet access then?  You betcha! Plus, some dealerships also have fast food joints and coffee houses for patrons that had to spend hours there at a time.  It's actually quite brilliant for ...

To our British readers, you are so frakking lucky!  You not only get one choice.  You not only get two choices.  You're going to be getting three choices of iPhone carriers! The mobile world, specifically the Apple mobile fans, will be watching to see what this means for them. You're going to get competition for your hard-earned money.  Perhaps more features.  Perhaps just lower monthly rates. But I reckon you'll get more features and lower rates.  For us on this side of the Pond, folks, it feels like we're looking into the window of a rich family whose kids are playing with new toys.  It's a bit of a downer. A while back, there was news that some Canadian carriers are looking to bring the iPhone to their networks so Rogers don't get all the fun and continue to charge users the crazy rates. Again, what about the mobile warriors in the States?  Conventional wisdom is that We're stuck with ATT until the LTE network from Verizon is built. ...

Appleinsider is report both Mac Minis from Apple now have a 2-3 weeks waiting period while iMacs are also experience longer than usual shipping period.  Why am I mentioning this and how does this relate to Apple mobile? Events.  See, there's a lot of moving parts with Apple's mobile strategy.  Not just app stores and iPhones.  There's music, movies and televisions.  Also with Apple TV.  See, Apple is very good at making money by creating a viable self-sustaining ecosystem.   Almost all of Apple news these days are about the iPhone.  For instance, take the news yesterday about Apple buying a mapping service company .  Immediately we think iPhone but it could be that they also want to provide additional geo-tagging or overlay services for the Mac. So, events.  If there is an event this October or November, chances are it'll be more than just refreshing the Mac hardwares.  It may involve Apple TV which has been stagnant and just recently received a price cut. An Apple ...