AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud

RIM is now cheaper to buy than Yahoo.  Even with a twenty percent premium, RIM can be had for $18 billion – plenty of companies are capable of buy them out with just even the cash reserves on hand.   Microsoft quickly comes to mind.  Intel.  Cisco.  Google.  Oh, and then there's the unlikely candid that is Apple.  Three questions need to be asked about a RIM buyout scenario: Who's more likely to pull the trigger?   How would it change the landscape? And is Apple really not as likely to be a RIM suitor? I think we'll know in the next few months just how likely RIM is going to survive and in what form.

Kaspersky, anti-virus maker, thinks Apple ought to open up the iOS because it is concerned that Android is kicking the iPhone's butt.  That concern is heart felt if not for the fact that the iOS as a whole is a bigger mobile platform than Android (including iPod touch and iPad) and that its has not been able to make money off of Apple's success like other app makers are. According to Kaspersky CTO, he's worried about Apple's walled garden being competitive with Android.   Okay...dude, just come out and say it.  And open iOS means you can sell anti-virus softwares to users who currently don't have a need for it.  And open iOS means it'll be inherently more insecure, allowing a bunch of apps with malware to enter the app stores like what's going on with Android.   Just, this week, Google removed 10 apps with malware alone.  What Kaspersky should be doing is to promote its services to Android users like myself worried the increasing malware threats.  Not...

Research In Motion, maker of the iconic Blackberry and Playbook (not as iconic), got clobbered yesterday as its stock is down more than 21% as of this writing.  As a publicly traded company, making hundreds of millions isn't enough to stem the ire of stockholders.   I know, it's all about being able to compete in the marketplace and RIM's mobile gears are not doing so well.  And while the two CEOs reminded financial analysts during the call yesterday night, RIM is still very profitable.  However, the fear is that it'll stop making money all together if it doesn't get its acts together. Increased competition from Apple over the years stunted RIM's growth and lead to losses of market share.   While management has pleaded for patience until new products reach the marketplace, those based on its QNX operating system, investors and bloggers think it might already be too late.  References to Palm has kept cropping up during user commenters on various blogs as the...

Today, Apple escalated its copycat and patent lawsuit against Samsung, one of Apple's largest sources for parts used in its iOS arsenal.  The epic battle between Apple and Nokia ended earlier this week and it probably freed up a lot of resources for Apple to go after Samsung, which is really a shot a Google. If anyone thought this would go away quietly, he or she could not have been any more wrong about anything in his or her life.  This battle will span continents and just about all other Android handset makers will be looking out for this.  Take the blatant copycat iPhone 4 running Android  on sale at Sears.  (Doesn't seem like a bad device either.) While I cannot see where Samsung has copied Apple, I'm not a patent lawyer so I cannot for sure.  Maybe a couple of devices but the Galaxy tablets?  Hmmm... Anyway, Samsung could be facing a new foe in the courts if not the marketplace soon.  Nokia, reinvigorated by its win over Apple, could be look...

Despite ATT saying that T-Mobile is good for competition, I just don't see it.  I'm not sure AT&T even tries to justify or explain that statement.  But if there is one example right now that shows we should be against this merger is the unlocked iPhone.   If you go out there and buy the unlocked iPhone, you can use it only with AT&T.  With a bit of an effort, you can get it work with T-Mobile by trimming your SIM card into a microsim card.    However, you cannot enjoy the HPSA+ network that T-Mobile is calling 4G which theoretically is faster than AT&T"s on "4G" network.  While ATT is at 7.2Mbps, T-Mobile is moving towards 42Mbps.  Having said that, if you manage to get it working with T-Mobile, you are stuck on EDGE because of the difference in frequencies on which the two HSPA networks run on.   Now, here's the part you're waiting for.  Even if you decided against signing up for a two-year commitment with AT&T and get the unlocked ...

Android isn't open.   Let's put that issue to bed.   What is awesome about Android is that programmers have access to the various builds that allow the community to build on top of it or, in some instances, stripping away skins that are for the most part, unwanted and give users something to rail about on their blogs or in forums.     Once stripped, the native OS became more useful, faster, and took up smaller amounts of foot print.   Take my G1, it's running a customized Android 2.2.   This is a device that was left for dead by Google and T-Mobile.   This is the maiden device that introduced the world to all that is cool and great about Android.   And take HTC Desire which HTC on Monday said it was abandoning.   I wager my year's salary that through the community of Android programmers, the Desire will be a couple more Android updates long after HTC has moved on.     And jailbreaking or rooting isn't just Android. ...

Wi-Fi routers are nothing we typical give a second thought about.  We get it up and working and pretty much forget about it.  Some people don't even change the admin password.  In the current models, Apple even stick in a hard drive for backup and file storage.  Now, Apple could be giving them the same insides as a typical iPhone or iPad.   What would this kind of power be used for?  One possibility is iCloud.  It isn't a bit of a stretch here.  iCloud is the link that Apple hopes will propel us from beyond the desktop or laptop and relegate the PC to just another accessory from which we are linked to the iCloud.  And new powerful routers like the ones that Apple is working will enable that vision. On a smaller scale, I would like to see these routers work as Apple TV as well.  It would go a long way in help iOS enter the living.  Imagine having a router, media streaming device, and a home cloud storage system all in one neat little...