AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud

While everyone is talking about HBO versus Netflix (not as much as I thought), the bigger battle is between CBS's new service verus Hulu. Hulu has been around 2007. It's a join venture between Disney, NBC, and Fox to pull together various current season TV series, some older series, and an assortment of movies not really worth watching. The thing with Hulu is that many of the shows are also available on these three major broadacast stations, ABC, FOX, and NBC. Hulu provides a centralized hub for these videos and others. Years ago, the blog chatters have been between Hulu and Netflix but they really target different markets with Netflix offering no current season videos but a vast library of older content, and a growing library of its own original series and movies. With CBS now offering own CBS All Access for $5.99, the question we have to ask if its worth it? The short and quick answer is absolutely not. While it does offer many if its own content, it exclu...

There is a lot to talk about today after Apple unveiled new iPads, Mac mini, and a Retina Display iMac. Oh, Apple also updated the OS for the Mac and Apple Pay which will be available on Monday. We'll get more into that later. What's missing from the Apple event is just as important and worthy bringing up in a post or two. First, Apple said nothing about the iPod line. Not a word about the iPod touch which had not been upgraded near the end of 2012 with a minor update in June this year. I'm assuming that means we can forget about the rest of the iPod line as well. The other thing missing is Apple TV. There had been a lot of chatter that is indirectly related to Apple TV. The most recent is the news that Time Warner will be offering HBO as a standalone service at the start of 2015. That was quickly followed by CBS offering a $7 service that is immediately available (though I think it's pretty lame). Lastly, where was health and home related updates and accessories? The ...

Source: USA Today . No doubt by now, you know that HBO, a service of Time Warner, is only available with a cable or sat TV sub.  What you should know by now is that HBO will be offered as a standalone service san the cable baggage in 2015.  That means you'll probably pay a disproportionate amount for HBO to stream on your Apple TV, Chrome dongle, or Roku.  It means maybe pay anywhere from $15-20 for the service but you won't have to shell out $100 for a bunch of stuff you don't want to watch. A couple of things you'll want to note going foward: First, We can thank Netflix.  Yeah, without it, not only will we not get a bunch of back catalog of TV and movies for dirt cheap but also really get things moving along with respect to competition for your eye balls and wallet.  Second, look for other studios to monetize their services once HBO has established their presence on non-traditional platforms.  Looking for a comedy channel with just old Fr...

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...