AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud

Okay, I don't have pics but 9to5Mac has a few of them as Apple start putting up banners for their WWDC event next week.  And while every new iOS and OS X release is very important, this one stands out because of the pressure put upon Apple, Tim Cook in particular, by an out of control media and pundits with agendas (some are as benign as click-baiting). So, visit the site if you want to try to play armchair detective and discern from the details on the banners what Apple will have in store for us next week. However, I do want to mention one thing about OS X.  I've seen a few posts and listened to a couple of podcasts about which feline will Apple bestow upon by naming the next OS X version, 10.9, after. I think "Sabertooth" is rather awesome.  However, I think it's time for Tim Cook to change that and it's a grand opportunity.  It'll take Apple further away from the Steve Jobs era however symbolic it is.  It could also signal a dramatic shift in the...

Source:   TUAW . Facebook Apps At Root of iPhone Battery Problems – Wonder What Information it’s Gathering By using Apple’s iOS development tools, a developer in Germany found out the Facebook app is a major source of battery drain.  So chances are that if you’re a Facebook user on your iPhone, if you hold and tap the Home button and then disable the Facebook app from the multi-tasking panel, you should be able to solve this particular battery issue. The same can be said about Facebook’s dedicated messaging app as well. However, it goes to the issue of why Facebook apps are behaving radically different from other apps.  According to Apple’s rules, certain apps like Spotify that has audio and voice features are allowed to continue to work in the background.  Makes sense.  However, why does Facebook apps need to be working on the background, particularly the main Facebook app? It’s unlikely a major of users are using any of its audio or voice features...

Here's an  interesting Forbes take  on how Google Maps is also a social network but not on the traditional sense that Facebook, Twitter, or even Google+ is.  I see this taking place in a manner that should be very interesting in how companies, not just Google, interacts with its users. See, with more and more users on the move and the increasing in mobile consumption and computing, the traditional sense and take on maps has changed as is evident in how Google is positioning its maps app at Google I/O. Google and others like Facebook (maybe it'll come out with its own maps) will overlay more and more information based on the user preferences - places they've checked in, places where their friends/families have been to, recommendations based on user information, and, of course, ads. Of course, in the Forbes post, it made references to how Google has been forcing Google+ on users which its execs deny.  Of course, Google has been integrating Google+ with its servic...

Source:   The Loop . You know a guy is connected when he gets information directly from Apple in ways that not even the press can. Apple told Jim Dalrymple, not the AP, CNN, or Reuters, that it has sold 100 million iPod touches since its introduction in 2007. That's a lot of touches.  How much compared to other gaming devices? Nintendo's wildly successful Game Boy and Game Boy Color  (wiki) sold a combined 118.69 million units since its introduction in 1989 in Japan.  It took Nintendo 12 years for the GB to sell almost 120 million while .  It was eventually displaced by the Gameboy Advance in 2001 which went on to sell about 81.5 million units in in seven years.  Sony only managed to sell 76 million PSP  (wiki) units in eight years. For the iPod touch, Apple managed 100 million units in 5.5 years. As a mobile fan, I love the fact that Apple's iPod touch is finding this level of success.  However, where does Apple go from here? ...

Source:   The Loop . here's my try to see how it feels about turning something that Apple do, as benign as introducing a 16 GB iPod touch without the standard rear 5MP camera for $299, into something bad like WSJ, NYT, and haters are so apt at doing.  So here goes. Tim Cook lied.  He said no new hardware and what's this?! Okay...I suck at it.  I think it's news about this new iPod touch variant but it is neither good or bad.  And without the rear camera, it's not for me either.  However, as  The Loop  said, it's the perfect gaming machine. I was considering getting one for my niece but I would want her to be able to take photos.  For $70 more, you get the iSight camera (the rear camera I'm talking about) as well as doubling of the memory to 32 GB at $299.  Another $100 will get you the 64 GB model which I understand isn't for everyone. I'm sure Apple has its reasons for coming out with the new 16 GB model - it now serves ...

Tim Cook talked about trade-offs that currently exists that is prevent Apple from release an iPhone with a bigger screen.  And until some of these trade-offs are addressed, that'll never happen.  Some of these trade-offs are technical while others are related to the what kind of a mobile experience a 5" iPhone can bring to the user. Let's focus on the technical ones here and discuss why I think that by releasing the iPhone 5 in the form factor it is in, Apple may have painted itself into a technical and design corner that is preventing it from releasing a 5" or bigger screen iPhone. With each successive iPhone update, Apple focused on how they were able to shave off a few grams here and there while making the iPhones thinner and thinner.  This was especially apparent with the iPhone 5 because it had a bigger 4" screen while managing to weigh considerably less. Should Apple be thinking about a 5" iPhone, the expectation for thinner and lighter will rema...

Source:   Steelcase , Popular Science . We text, watch videos, and consume information on our mobile devices quite a bit more now.  On our Android or iPhone devices.  Especially on our tablets like the iPad.  And it has changed the posture of our bodies.  Quite a few more postures than working on a desktop with a laptop, according to Steelcase, maker of office furniture.  Which is why they came out with Gesture for mobile and tablet users. And Gesture looks like. The website has more information about it but what I like it most is the built-in fundamentals for adapting to what the users wants and how the user sits when using a device.  Steelcase did their research based on 2000 individuals to craft the Gesture. My only issue is that it doesn't come with a head rest.  I suppose given what it is suppose to do, the head rest doesn't apply.  Too bad.  It would have been nice to see it come as an option (I'll be writing them to ...