AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud

I love the world that Nokia has done to prop up Windows Phone.  And it certainly has given Android a run for its money on the low-end but that's about it.  And now, with Microsoft buying out Nokia's mobile biz, which pretty much consisted of Lumia devices running WP and only because Microsoft paid them to, even HTC is looking to move away from investing any more time and money on it ( PC World ). Without the sheer will of the money generated by profits from Windows and Office, it's doubtful anyone, including Samsung, would want to make Windows Phone devices at this point.  And without special deals, it's also doubtful anyone is interested in making Windows RT devices or tablets running the full Windows versions. Most PC guys are interested in doing convertibles because, let's face it, people still will buy Windows laptops that double as tablets but not tablets that double as laptops. As for Windows Phone's future, Microsoft seems content in being a dist...

There's been a lot of talk in the last year about Apple's unicorn iWatch.  First, we don't know that it's a watch.  If anything, based on what's swirling around the Web, it's more of an iLife device.  Not iLife like the suite of Mac and iOS apps but about your life and health in general. Regardless of whatever you want to call it, when Apple does release it, it will attempt to disrupt a whole new market and quite possibly change the way we live with respect to this device. And it's not going to the market we think - not the watch industry.  Not directly.  Devices like the Nike Fuelband or Fitbit's arsenal of pedometers will be impacted but only an ancillary impact or afterthought of this new Apple device. It may well be the whole healthcare system that Apple is going after.  Tackling a whole host of issues and problems all at once. Hypertension, diabetes, and obesity to name a few.  In essence, this iLife device could be a condition-based syste...

Yesterday, there was a lot of TV news for our favorite fruity-themed tech upstart, Apple.  Some are relevant but others are and folks will try to blow this out of proportion or twist it in ways that are beyond the scope of the original story. First,  Bloomberg  came out with a post that Apple will be unveiling a new Apple TV in a couple of months but the release will be later in 2014. Second comes news that Comcast has bought Time Warner Cable.  Okay, this is actually news but spinning it towards Cupertino (Apple's HQ) has already begun. Third, there is news that Apple's chief content negotiator, Eddy Cue, has been busy and that Apple's scale for the Apple TV has been reduced because of resistance from content providers who feared losing their tried-and-true revenue from cable operators. Let's address those starting with the second one.  There has been rumors that Apple could be working with Time Warner Cable to get content onto the Apple TV.  Es...

Watch this video and it'll explain it all. Who would have thought, right?  Seriously, this is what Fox should have done.  I think by bring 24 back for a limited series (12 episode-run), this could be a model for future drama, be it crime, science fiction, or a comedy show like Arrested Development. There is precedent for this.  Again, Arrested Development went off the air before it was resurrected by Netflix.  And who can forget Sherlock from BBC?  The long hiatus between series 2 and 3 did not dampen the exciting and ratings for the show.  It just goes to show that if you have good material, fans will keep coming back. On top of that, have a series go off the air and letting fans have the chance to revisit it is a good thing.  Furthermore, consider how Arrested Development grew its fan base after Netflix subscribers who previously did not watch the show get a chance to see it online.

Here is an idea that I had long thought would be a great but Apple would never go for. That is iOS apps running on the Mac. Apple has made it clear that iOS and OS X will never be merged. Microsoft tried it with Windows 8 and we know how that is going. This idea about iOS apps being a part of Mac was rehashed again on this blog post from The Mac Observer . But maybe widgets on OS X should be given another look. It has been years since Apple has upgraded Dashboard in any significant manner and I am not sure anyone is aware that it is still around. TMO did come up with a list of reasons why iOS apps should be allowed to runs in its own environment. The outlined reasons each have their own problems - least of which is that there are other ways native Mac apps or the Web won't take care of. Plus, there are iOS apps that have companion apps on the Mac. The only advantage I think widgets will have over native apps is the ability to be able to exist within a separate environme...

There has been a lot of rumors and posts about what the next Apple TV will feature and, over all, what Apple's television and living room strategy is.  I've got an idea about that I would love to share but that's for another post.  Today, it's about Apple TV. There is talk that we are nearing another Apple TV update after largely being ignored for the last year since the last Apple TV was updated.  Today, Apple added an Apple TV section.  Any time Apple does anything, it's a big deal especially among the tech media. And adding a specific section for Apple TV counts as that. The talk around the Apple rumor water cooler is that Apple could add a router to Apple TV as well as give it the much sought after app gaming store and accessories to go along with it.  There is even talk of a TV tuner.  ( 9to5Mac ) Huge rumor.  And if true, I'll be one of the first to order one. For the purpose of this post, let's call this new Apple TV the "Apple...

Source:   Live Science . Tell me this doesn't look fun.