AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud

There were a flurry of Apple Watch rumors for the next version that will come out in 2016.  It was a lot for people to chew on and it gave holdouts reason to cheer that they made the right decision to wait and not get the current one.  However, FaceTime calling would be great but there was no mention of new health related features.  And I think continuing focus on health would be a bigger seller than the othe rumored features. Consider that the current Apple Watch is paid beta as all first generation products are, and not just those from Apple, it good to see it so embraced and loved by its wearers.  And the heart rate monitor is nice, it is still not enough.  Apple Watch's heart rate feature is a "me, too" feature that the Apple Watch absolutely must have given that most of its competitors have it and so do quite a few exercise monitoring bands.  A couple of interesting features would be helpful to have that can catapult the Apple Watch further.  Obvi...

Apple has left a major security hole in iOS and because of its dubious app approval system, malicious apps can potentially roam about the iDevices and steal passwords stored on Keychain and personal information (Source:  The Register ).  Only yesterday, we were talking about Samsung's own security problem with its flawed digital signing.  Now, it's Apple's turn. As of this moment, there is no word whether a fix is forthcoming.  And given the seriousness of this flaw, it's better that Apple address this as soon as possible.  What has made this flaw worse is that it gives malware the ability to circumvent Apple's sandboxing between apps and let it steal information from other apps. This flaw was discovered six months ago and no word from Apple.  Either it does not take this seriously or that it has yet to find a solution.  Both scenarios are worrying for the average mobile warrior.

Source:  9to5Mac . An interview with DuckDuckGo CEO, Gabe Weinberg, revealed how DuckDuckGo has made money without going to the extent Google and other companies that rely on ad revenues in which they collect information on their users.  They attribute their 3 billion searches a year growth on being part of Apple's library of search engines to choose from and concerns over various governments' big brother aspirations and privacy concerns. Okay, specifically, the NSA was mentioned but, really, what government would not want the kinds and amounts of information the US government currently collects on us.  Granted that while I'm not concern about any malicious intents of the authorities (yet) and I genuinely believe that some believe they need the information to combat terrorism and other crimes, it does concern me at times. So Duckduckgo is my default search engine but I'm more concern about what companies do with my information than just the NSA storing it in its databas...

Source:   Engadget . Regardless of how you feel about Android, Google, Samsung, or how the whole smartwatch and other wearable tech is headed, we are still much earlier in wearable computing devices than ever before.  An equivalent situation would be as if we are in the beginning days of mobile, as in the early PDA days.  But what I have to say about Samsung's Gear S battery life is a good start. Right now, even Apple's watch can barely hit 20 hours of light use.  And that's a stretch.  And it's coming someone who has one on his wrist as he pounds out this post.  The Engadget post is a worthy read. I am hoping Apple, Motorola, LG, and the up-and-coming Chinese companies shoot for - at least a couple of days. But don't think I'll be happy with just that.  I've been using various workout bands.  Jawbone Up, Nike Fuelband, and the Fitbit Force and Charge.  So, I'm very used to week long battery life.  That's what I want from these t...

Source:  Engadget , Bloomberg . You want to know what disruption is like on a huge earthquakesque style?  Revenue from downloads like iTunes and Google Play and streaming services like Netflix and Amazon will surpass sales generated from DVD sales and rentals.  You can be sure the studios as well as any stores, brick-and-mortars or online stores, knew this was coming.   Perhaps, they did not think it would happen this fast. Only in the last year have I noticed significantly more dicounts and bundles of online movies.  It's typical for Google to offer discounts on select movies but hardly on iTunes. And this year, I'm noticing more price cuts.  I'm guess DVD sales have slowed an Blu-ray has not delivered the content developers and studios to the promised land. This is significant as we should see more parity in terms of prices and offerings between online versions and physical versions of movies and televison shows.  This will be in part to draw at...

Source: Variety . So, CBS will be bringing its premium channel to Apple's platform as an exclusive for a short while.  No word on how long that window will be.  I'm sure with HBO's exclusive with Apple coming to an end, Android devices will soon be able to venture into Westero (Game of Thrones - HBO site ) soon. This is just another step forward in breaking the old TV model and venturing into the future of video entertainment.  Note that this is only a very small step.  It will be a while before Silicon Valley giants like Apple, Google, and maybe the social networks can wrestle control of video content away from entrenched and well funded cable companies with a lot of influence in Washington and state capitals.  No work on when Apple and Showtime's exclusive deal will end.  I do have an Apple TV and I look forward to watching Homeland ( official website ). Apple is currently working on deals with content providers to offer a subscription service to its cust...

Source:  Cult of Mac . Interesting read here regardind Apple's plans for a command center at the former sapphire plant in Arizona that went bust last year.  Apparently, Apple is looking at using it in such a manner that some executives from Cupertino may be moved there and the rest of the workforce will be local hires. The first question is what exactly is a command center?  The bride of a starship comes to mind but I doubt it.  And Apple has no space program (that we know of).  There is the CarPlay and possible car technology program that Apple is working hard on that might benefit from this Arizona site. Moving its car project once it matures and requires more space for R&D and maybe production in the Southwest would be idea.  Keep in mind that Arizona was once in the running for Tesla's battery plant that Reno, NV eventually won. That is just speculation on my part.  A quick look on Wiki for Mesa, Arizona, where Apple's plant is located, yield s...