Posts

Game Center Should Become Social Center

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I have been thinking long and hard about this for a while.  Even before Facebook released Home for Android.  But I think Apple should do something about Game Center and I'm not talking about the look of GC but about what it can offer.  From day one, I thought it would make sense for Apple to allow messaging.  Then of course, we got iMessage instead. What Apple should do is turn GC into Social Center.  Notifications, messages, widgets, game updates, and social components that give Apple users, Mac and iOS, a place where their social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and even Apple's own updates, can be located in one place. It is possible? I don't know if that's the direction Apple would ever consider taking but it does make sense to do this.  Social Center would gather up iTunes, Messages, social networks, gaming and media into one place. And what's more, the value of Social Center will only serve to augment other features and products that Apple ...

Should Apple's Share Price Be A Concern For Mobile Users, Not Just iOS Users?

Apple's price has been down and out of Wall Street favor for a long time now.  Maybe a better part of a year since reaching high into the 700s.  Personally, while I like to see stocks rise, not just Apple but for Google, Microsoft, or any other company, I take a particular interest in Apple because I've been a long time Apple product user and have lived through the "dark days".  Yeah, you know what I mean and that brought back bad memories for those of you who knows what I'm talking about. The difference here is that Apple today is in a much stronger position than the Apple in the 90s that was weeks away from bankruptcy before Steve Jobs successfully turned things around.  And that took years to do.  Today's Apple was not an overnight success.  It took around seven years before people started to believe. It's not Apple's successful story that I want to discuss here.  Rather, it's Apple's lost decade in the late 80s and 90s that I am afra...

Microsoft Tries To Be Helpful By Saying Google Will (Or Should) Block Facebook Home

Source:   The Guardian . Here is a must read post regarding Google, Facebook, and Android.  The gist of the post stemmed from statements from Microsoft’s head of Windows Phone division.  Needless to say, Terry Myerson provided some analysis and statements that took digs at Google while promoting how Windows Phone was actually doing.  The Guardian went to Google chairman, Eric Schmidt, for his response. I agree Schmidt who at one point asked who was anyone listening to Microsoft about Google.  Google isn’t doing a thing to stop Facebook from making Home more widely available on Android.  It runs counter to Google’s claim that Android is open.  So, it can’t and won’t stop Facebook doing Home or eventually forking it or adding its own app store if it wanted to.  Just like Google could not stop Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or the plethora of Chinese vendors making their own Android variants.  However, it remains to be seen if Facebook won’t e...

Forget Richards, Rodman, or Schmidt. Maybe It’s Tim Cook Who Should Go To North Korea

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This picture (Tuaw) says it all.  Maybe Tim Cook should have been the one to visit North Korea all along to talk the “Great Leader” down from his cliff.

Mobile: Atlantic Wire Does A "China" In Hit Piece Against T-Mobile's New Plans

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This is a horribly written article from the Atlantic Wire  comparing AT&T and T-Mobile's new no-contract rates.  We’ll go through the errors and come to the conclusion that the writer or even the AW is bending over backward to make T-Mobile look bad and AT&T, probably a big sponsor for the site, look good. The gist of the post is about how T-Mobile’s new plan is bad compared to AT&T for users and even trying to point out that T-Mobile could end up costing users more.  Let’s start shredding this post apart piece by piece. First, even if the numbers used by the writer is correct, paying a bit more to get out of the thumb of AT&T’s draconian domain is worth it.  That in and of itself is a great advertising tagline.  Fortunately for folks looking at the T-Mobile plans, it’s actually cheaper to go with T-Mobile and AT&T's plans are actually more expensive. Second, the numbers used by AW are wrong because while they’re comparing the same dev...

Mobile: T-Mobile's No-Contract Plans And Phone Payments Works Offer Better Transparency

I think the $99 down payment for flagship and top-selling devices like the iPhone, HTC One, Z10, and the forthcoming Galaxy S 4 is going to be a major hit for users looking to migrate to T-Mobile's new no contract plan.  For the reason that in-depth discussion about T-Mobile's new mobile plans isn't needed here, you're welcome to visit T-Mobile for more information. What the new plans offer is greater transparency about subsidies and where your monthly payments to carriers go to.  In the past, you might pay $80 for plan and get a phone for free, $99, or even $199.  You sign a contract with the carrier and that’s it.  Locked in for two years.  While it might be kinda nice to know the breakdown of your $80, it’s was not something the carriers are obligated to tell us. With T-Mobile’s plans, you know you’re pay, say $60 a month plus whatever amount you owe to cover the cost of the device you bought from T-Mobile for 20 months.  You see where that money i...

iWatch: It’s Not A Watch, Folks – Start Calling It iWear

I suck at naming names which is why I am not in any creative job or have ever been.  However, the more I think about it, the more I think this iWatch everyone is chiming in about is not a watch at all.  I think it’ll be a small device that is wearable and flexible in terms of where you put it on your person. Let’s call it the iWear . If you want to put a strap to it and wear it like a watch, go for it.  Many folks have done it with the last generation iPod nano.  Dorky looking but Apple didn’t stop you and won’t be stopping you from using iWear like a watch.  Wanna wear it around your neck?  Apple has don’t that before with the first generation Shuffle.  Looks good too.  Wanna clip it to your belt?  Sure. iWatch is too limited.  That’s the whole point.  iWear?  I reckon it’ll spawn a whole new third party accessory industry unlike anything we have been before.  Look for Kickstarter to get inundated with accessories a...