AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud

Tracking packages are fun especially if it's something you've been waiting for eagerly.  At times, it feels like it's Christmas, you know?  Kids have been using NORAD to track Santa for years.  However, while Santa does make door-to-door delivery and you lose track of him just before you go to bed on Christmas Eve, we don't lose track of UPS or FedEx in the same way.  Once our packages get on the trucks, we do lose track of them.   I think there has to be a way for the delivery companies to offer a way for customers to track when they are thrown into trucks for delivery.  Now, while some of the folks who have been online in forums talking about similar situations, some want UPS and others to offer GPS information about their packages.  I don't think that works but I wonder if there is an alternative solution that might work better and safer for the drivers. Little more than two weeks ago, I was eagerly tracking my iPhone 5s delivery all the way...

Source:   Yahoo . I've done this before.  I'm so absorbed in my book, tablet, or whatever in public that I sometimes I notice what's going on around me.  I'm a perfect victim for a pickpocket for worse.  Well, that's what happened to a group of commuters on a train. As surveillance video showed,a  man took out a gun and waved it around but no one noticed.  Then he sort of gave up and put it back inside.   "These weren't concealed movements — the gun is very clear," District Attorney George Gascon said. "These people are in very close proximity with him, and nobody sees this. They're just so engrossed, texting and reading and whatnot. They're completely oblivious of their surroundings." He even wiped his nose with the gun in his hand.  Just seem so casual.  I can't imagine what he was thinking.  In a way, he was probably shocked that he was getting away with it.  Until he decided to escalate things and shot a college kid...

UPDATE:  ALLTHINGSD CONFIRMED 22ND AS APPLE'S MEDIA EVENT FOR iPad AND OTHER GOODIES! ( ATD ) It's a new week.  So it is worth noting that we are inching closer and closer to the October iPad and even Mac event.  I just want to quickly point that that the date of the invitations sent out for the iPad mini event and the event itself last year was a week apart. Today is Tuesday,  obviously.  October 8th. That means for an Apple event to take place next Tuesday on October 15th, we need to see the privileged few bloggers and journalists receive and brag about their Apple invitation today. This pic here was from the invitation last October. As I've mentioned in a previous post , Apple is likely to host their event on October 22nd and with the new iPad will probably go on sale on November 1st.  Plus, Nike, a close Apple partner, will be hosting their own event next Tuesday.  It's unlikely the two companies will host concurrent events even if they ...

You've got to see this!!!  There are those among us who have abilities beyond what's confined by physical laws and, you know, whatever. You've got to see this to!

I wasn't not aware of this but with iOS 7, the voice of Siri has changed.  It's too bad but again, I couldn't tell.  However, Susan Bennett does.  See, she's the original voice of Siri.  And for the longest time since 2005 on July days in Atlanta, she recorded voices that would later be known to millions for those who iPhones and iPads and even to those who don't. Siri has become a social icon and we have Bennett to thank for that.  Here's more on  CNN .

Nike is hosting an event to unveil it's second generation Nike Fuelband, which I'm am a fan of ( Redmond Pie ).  That and in of itself is nothing to get all that excited about given that the American public has a weight issues and are more comfortable being couch potatoes, but rather the date of the event:  October 15th. October 15th is one of the two days that are likely to be used by Apple to host its iPad unveiling.  The second one is October 22nd ( On Apple ). Here's the thing.  It's unlikely that Nike takes its cue from Cupertino so it sets its unveiling date any day it's pleased.  Having said that, Apple and Nike are good partners and likely in close consultation. If both companies unveil their products on the same day, I can tell you whose products are going to get a lion share of the attention from bloggers and the public at large. Assuming that both companies have spoken and worked out their schedules, October 22nd would likely be the day Apple ...

It was just announced that Apple bought Cue ( Appleinsider ), a Google Now-like service.  It occurred to me that the app stores, whatever you call them, have for years been a sort of service incubators for mobile players. Siri bought by Apple.  Bump by Google.  Google also bought an office suite or two like Quick Office.  I seem to recall that both Microsoft and Samsung have also dipped into the app store and plucked out an app maker or two.  Both Apple and Google have bought map app makers too. Even Facebook, a mobile player of sort but not a mobile platform/device maker, even went into the app store and bought out Instagram for $1 billion. More of this is going to happen in the years to come as competition in the mobile space as well as the future of computing in general continue to become a bigger and bigger slug-match among these cash rich tech and platform companies. So, if you're an app maker or is considering it, keep this in mind.  Selling t...