AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud

It was only last summer that I was sitting at a local supermarket's deli section hacking away on my Macbook. I was too cheap to go home and turn on the air conditioner. I did that often. And if you think about it, the market was already cool. Why waste energy? Plus, I was spending money whenever I go. Now, there was a few instances when I wished it had 3G connection so that I could do some spur of the moment research. At the time I had not rooted my G1 so that I can tether my laptop to it. I was able still able to get the information I needed because of the G1. Still, I thought, "why Apple? Why no 3G?" Fast forward to today. By this summer, I'm sure I'll head out to the same deli but there will be some difference. I'll be working away on my portable device but instead of my Macbook, this device will likely be an iPad with 3G connection. I can totally see that happen. And likelihood of this happen will increase greatly when the iPad starts to shi...

You want an iPad but you can't get it? What do you do? Oh, I'm talking to the wireless carriers out there. Not us regular mobile warriors. But if you're T-Mobile and you want your users to have the iPad but Apple isn't looking to make a deal with you, what do you do? You can go with an Android option. I'm sure HTC or Motorola will be happy to hook you up. But it's not the iPad after all. No app store or anything like that. Well, I've got a couple of options for you. Neither is as perfect as having AT&T provide the 3G with Apple's blessing. But it'll work. Option One . Stick with EDGE. Just like what I've got going on with T-Mobile, I continually switch between my G1 and my iPhone. I get 3G speed with the G1 and I often use it to provide wireless connection to my iPhone or Macbook through tethering, thereby, turning my G1 into a Wi-Fi access point. But when I switch out my SIM card over to the iPhone, I'm instantly down...

ATT is now saying that after working through things with Sling Media, the next update for the iPhone app will support 3G streaming. Let me repeat: once the update is available, you can stream video over ATT's 3G network using the iPhone app Slingplayer. You pay $30 for an app, you kind of expect to be able to use it when you want to, where you want to, and how you want to, right? Well, if you're like me and you play $30 for the Slingplayer, you had to be tethered to a Wi-Fi access point or hotspot. Well enough since just about everywhere these days have a wireless hotspot.  Starbucks, MacDonalds, Borders, and Barnes And Noble. What if you're not frequenting these social places or anywhere else where Wi-Fi access is unavailable? Well, you're out of luck. What changed? Techno-magic. It's as simple as that. I'm not kidding. This is what ATT said in their press release: AT&T been been working collaboratively with Sling Media since December to tes...

In the late 2009 refresh of the iPod lines, the iPod Touch got a great update when Apple ram the internal organs of the iPhone 3GS into the insides of iPod Touch. Hence, we got the 3rd generation Touch. Still that wasn’t enough for some folks. Rumors had it that it was suppose to include a camera. Nevertheless, Touch sales rocketed, much to the chagrin of these critics and analysts. Magical. Unbelievable. Incredible. You may continue down this line by using whatever adjectives Steve Jobs has used in the past and any additional ones that you think he would approve of. Now today. The iPhone Blog is reporting evidence of upcoming iPhone revision as well as the 4th iPod Touch lifted from the iPhone 3.2 SDK and the just released iPhone OS 3.1.2. I’ll let you enjoy the gory details there. What I want to know is which of the two will get the upgrade first? Well, I’m inquiring about this point because the Touch was suppose to get a camera last fall but it was taken out at the la...

54 More days until the Wi-Fi iPad is available and 84 more days until the Wi-Fi+3G version will be on sale. So I've got plenty of time to ponder this issue: which version to buy. For most iPhone users, their iPhone cannot tether to another device so that device can share the iPhone's Internet connection. Nor can mine. But I’ve also got a rooted G1, an Android phone with T-Mobile, that allows me to tether any Wi-Fi enabled device like my Macbook or iPod Touch and use my G1's 3G connection. Now my T-Mobile contract is coming up and that means I should be free to cancel my data plan with T-Mobile at any time (I’ve got a family plan for voice. Canceling that will make many folks unhappy). This allows me to go with the $30 3G plan for the iPad if that's what I end up deciding to do. Or I can stick with T-Mobile, buy an iPad with Wi-Fi only and retain the freedom to use the G1 as a 3G modem. The drawback of this is that I’d have to carry an extra device with me wh...

In the days leading up to the iPad announcement, speculations were hot and sweaty about what the iPad can do and who Apple will partner with for the iPad's 3G data needs. Well, I'll be honest. I want to see an iPhone on Verizon's supposedly wireless network for two reasons. First, I'm a believe in Apple's mobile devices and strategy. No, 100% but close. Second, I want to know once and for all just what the impact of the weight of tens of millions of iPhone users on VW's vast 3G network. But alas, that will not come to pass. In fact, I still firmly believe T-Mobile will see some Apple love before anyone else. That being said, AllThingD has a good post about why VW will not see an iPhone for a while and probably not until the next generation LTE network has sufficiently covered a majority of the US market. Here's why: Money, money, money.  ATT is will to play. ATT's network might be more robust in the coming year.  And with 3G improvements in...

This is the first of many speculations and analysis regarding the iPad on my part. Mostly speculation because while the Apple media event to officially, and I say "officially" only because we've known about it in one capacity or another for months), to the world, we still don't know a whole lot about it. But it's interesting that many folks have indicated that it supports simplified Chinese while not traditional Chinese writing. Why is this significant? Simplified Chinese is the official written language used by China while pretty much Chinese everywhere else still use Traditional Chinese. And with 1.3 billion Chinese in China, it means more folks uses it. So, is Apple's omission of support for Traditional Chinese a signal that Jobs and company will be pushing the iPad hard into the Chinese market? We'll see where the iPad goes from here but don't be surprised if Apple will use the iPad as a Trojan Horse, to create a halo effect for other Ap...