AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud

Source:  The Hill . According The Hill,  of 108 members of Congress who have responded to The Hill's survey, 71% and 95% of them uses the iPhone and iPad respective.  Of the lot, 9% uses Android and Blackberry is alive and kicking with 28%. While it's not surprising that Apple has also won the heart and minds of Congress when it comes to their choice of mobile devices, the high number of respondents who use the iPhone is questionable only because it's likely Apple fans in Congress are more likely and willing to turn in the survey. For instance when Tim Cook was dragged in front of Congress to answer questions relating to Apple legally paying all the taxes it is obligated to, Senator Claire McCaskill (Democrat, Missouri) unabashedly declared her undying love for Apple.  When members of Congress questioned Google executives, no one ever made similar declaration or, at the very least, acknowledge how great Google's search results are. What's of interest would b...

I'll make this quick.  I got the iPhone 6 Plus:  space gray, 128 GB.  I took my first photo with it today that was worth posting onto Eyeem (I abandoned my Instagram account).  I have some early thoughts about it but I'll get into my own review at a later time.  First, a couple of items today that are iPhone related. First, iOS 8.0.1 was a mess if you don't already know. It bricked the cell connection and made its iconic TouchID useable for new iPhone 6 users.  So, Apple issued 8.0.2 quicker than I expected.  Supposedly it fixed that.  I'm using it now and it seems fine.  I care more about TouchID and it works just as before.   What I find puzzling is how Apple could have released 8.0.1 thinking it was ready for primetime.  I assumed this to be Apple's testing sequence. They installed iOS 8.0.1 on all qualified iOS devices.  By that, I mean any device that can run iOS 8.  They installed it and rebooted them. Then they made...

Assuming you follow everything Apple either as a financial analyst (you guys suck by the way), Apple fan, or a general mobile tech fan, you know that Apple has not yet begin to sell the latest and greatest iPhones, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.  Why is that?  Didn't Tim Cook say that China is one of Apple's most important market?  Yes, but see with the Chinese government, as bad as they are, they really are worse than one might imagine because not only is it a biggest apparatus in the history of mankind at suppress freedom and truth, justice, and the American way (yes, to me, Superman still stands for that - DC, grow one, please), they really like people to respect them.  Fine, I'm okay with that.  But what they hate more than freedom is losing face. Now, recently, Beijing has been bully foreign companies around. Why are they doing this?  Because many of these companies including Apple and Microsoft are American companies.  And spying scandals aside,...

I want a 4K TV too.  Though it's not for watching videos since no service, over-the-air or streaming, is quite ready for it.  Rather, I want it for my late-2013 Macbook Pro.  I've thought about it on and off.  The last time I did it was when a Chinese brand called Seiki was offering a 39" 4K HDTV for less than $400 ($339 now on Amazon). In fact, they've got a 65" version that is decently priced for less than $1200 today and likely can be had for lower right around Black Friday.  However... Of course, there is always a "however".  However, while they might be a step above "gimmicky" in terms of have a higher resolution than the ubiquitous 1080p HDTV, they are no suitable for use as Retina Display monitors that we have become accustomed to on our Apple laptops or iOS devices.  The reason is because while they have the resolution, the Seiki 4K TV cannot support 60Hz, which is the very least you need to have a smooth display for daily computing use...

I'm not a big Minecraft player.  I barely know what's going on in the world there.  However, after seeing my nephews automatically figure out how to pay it and link their games together, I began to give it a deeper look.  Then I found out that Microsoft was buying out Minecraft maker, Mojang. And yes, while Microsoft has pledged to continue support the game across the various platforms, I can't help but think about Bungie and Halo.  Microsoft bought Bungie and Halo support for other platforms including OS X and other consoles stopped.  So, you'll understand if I don't believe Microsoft.  Here are a few questions and notes regarding this purchase. Why now?  My first reaction was that it would help solidify Windows platform among the Minecraft mobile players.  The game would be exclusive (eventually, support for other platforms would dissipate) and if you want to play Minecraft you'll have to buy a Windows phone or Surface tablet.  Still, that...

We're less than a day from Apple's, what we hope, game-changing media event that will once again propel the company ahead of everyone else in the mobile market and mark 9/9/14 as the true launch date of the wearable computing market. Having said, that, I'm sure you've been looking the rumors and and pics of the iPhone 6.  And there have been plenty.  However, there is one thing that I noticed about these mock-ups that no one else has mentioned in their observations, tweets, or blogs. The iPhone 6, whether it's the 4.7" or 5.5" versions, looks like the original iPhone if you stretch it out a big and half its thickness. I still like the look and feel of the original iPhone.  The weight gave it a premium feel as does the aluminum.  The black front does as well. While I am still out on whether I'll be upgrading this cycle, I think if I do, I would get the black and gray version.

I love two-step verification.  I want it and I know a lot of folks do too.  I've been using it for Google and other cloud-based services for years now.  While Apple does offer it for some app purchases, it's time that Apple brings it to logging into iCloud. Right now, I just get a lame e-mail like this. This is useless in more ways than I can think of.  First, if I'm not in front of a computer that allows me to log into a desktop based browser (it's not that I can't use it on my iPad or iPhone Safari.  It just isn't optimized for them) to do get into the Apple ID page, it's useless.  Second, there is no option for me to do something about it within the e-mail. It's nice that I get a warning but doesn't help if I'm in no position to stop an unauthorized log-in. By the time I log in, the hacker could have already log-in himself and have already changed my password and other credentials. Now, the main impetus for me writing about this n...