AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud

Battery issues are something I write significantly if not almost weekly. I've bought myself a couple of 10,000+ mAh batteries that has more than once saved me. And currently overseas, they're getting the workout that they were meant for. I thought I would be one of there few folks who carry around a battery pack or two in the US and even less so in Asia. Boy, was I surprised. In fact, I think one out of every three mobile warriors here could conceivably be carrying a battery pack with them. I n fact, it is very common to see battery packs of all capacities bring sold right in phone stores, 7-11 stores (there are a freaking lot of these), small convenience stores, markets, and public transportation stops. It goes to speak about the state of mobile in Asia and the dismal state of the battery technology. Be it the iPhone, HTC, or Samsung, there simply isn't enough battery life in these phones to sustain the growing role of mobile devices in our lives. And the ra...

Source:   Macrumors ,  WSJ . A couple of weeks ago, the big news was that Apple acquired a motion sensing company, PrimeSense ( On Apple ) that once made sensors for Microsoft's Kinect for the Xbox.  Late today, we learned that Apple has made use of its billions with another buyout: Topsy.  This one is just as significant and targeted as are other Apple buys. According to reports, Topsy is a search (interesting) and analytical company indexes social data - like being in business with Twitter since 2006.  Now, in the past, people have suggested that Apple buy Twitter.  It's common sense that it would never happen.  So why buy Twitter when you can buy the tweets? Does that mean that Apple will begin spying on its own ecosystem - iOS And Mac users?  Not likely.  However, it's possible for Apple to push ads, apps, contents, and whatever else in its ecosystem based on user tweets or just general trends based on all the information it alre...

I'm currently in Taiwan.  On vacation and visited work for a short while.  During the trip so far, it's been fun.  I've also suffered from food poisoning.  Better now.  One of the things I've noticed about Taiwan is the great mobile service.  Great single and decent plans.  In fact, I got a 3G sim card for my iPad.  It costs about $20 a month and it's data you want.  Unlimited. And as far as I know, I have yet to encountered any throttling. However, there is one issue that I found perplexing.  Wi-Fi isn't free.  I walk into a Starbucks expecting the same complimentary free Internet access in the US was no where to be found.  I was met with a Chinese mention that requires a paid log-in.  (I was told the local Starbucks here, and maybe elsewhere in the world, are not wholly-owned by Starbucks and are franchises.) Then I was told that in the capital city of Taiwan, Taipei, blocks of the city is blanketed by a Wi-FI c...

Everyone knows that when Apple increase the GB storage on the iPad with a $100 increase does not really mean that Apple's memory cost also double.  If anything, Apple is making more money when an user buys a 32 GB model of the iPad or iPhone over the 16 GB models.  And users are happy to fork over to Apple $100 for the 32 GB, $200 more for the 64 GB model, and $300 more for the 128 GB version.  I did with the iPad Air. There are a couple of implications for Apple and mobile computing.  Both speaks volumes about where we are headed. First, Apple's margins should increase for this quarter.  Why is this important to a blog only about state of Apple mobile?  It says that Apple is skating to where the puck is going to be and not where its at now.  So far, we don't see any competing devices at the 128 GB end and only a few mobile devices with 64 GB.  The Surface tablets have about the same amount of storage in name as the iPads but because of the bl...

Source:   PrimeSense ,  Reuters . Today, the Web exploded with news that Apple bought PrimeSense, the company that develops 3D sensing technology for systems including mobile.  And it happens to be the company behind Microsoft's Xbox Kinect. So, what happens now and when will see something come to fruition from this buyout? Look beyond just the Xbox at who PrimeSense's partners are and you see why Apple showed interest in the company and decide to bring it into the fold. Microsoft, again.  Robotic companies like iRobot.   3D scanners that could become a bigger deal with 3D printing.   Asus with computers. Real world physical activities. Only Apple knows what it will do with this new buy.  It's unlikely Apple will just introduce a Kinect clone.  Apple does make and released products for the sake of doing it.  Apple has found an unique and identifiable use for PS technology, whether in its current line of products or new ones...

Source:   On Android . First there was the Nexus S.  Now the LG Flex. Samsung also has its own device but there isn't anything new about it - if you want to know, it's called the Round.  You can head over to The Verge for more info.  Between the two, I think the Flex's top-bottom curve makes more sense than the Round's side-to-side curvature. However, this is talk that Apple is interested in developing its own curved-screen iPhone.  It's a rumor and while I don't like to dish rumors here, for the sake of speculation, we will here. Let's suppose the rumors about Apple releasing a curved iPhone is true, it'll be interesting to see what real world advantages of curved screens has over traditional screens that Apple can develop. What kind of real world applications a curved iPhone might have over competing devices from the Android world. I've mentioned that reduced glare might be a possible advantage but there would need to be more for Apple to ...

Here's a must read Appleinsider post regarding just how analytical firms that sell themselves to the highest bidders to stack statistics their way.  What's interesting is a quote within one firm's, Strategy Analytics, client page that one of its missions is to "influencing consumer behavior and buying preferences". Time and time again, we've noticed that firms refuse to recognize Apple's growing dominance in the tablet market with the iPad and the influence its had on the PC market.  Time and time again, firms refuse to acknowledge the change in the mobile computing market in a shift away from PC towards more lighter and nimbler tablets, at the time, was only the iPad that sold in any number. The question is does Apple mobile fans care?  Probably not.  Only a subset of this group really care about these reports or keep scores.  For the general mobile market, those who are more educated about the differences between tablets, iPad versus others, know wh...