AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud

A woman was killed when she and her husband using Waze, the popular GPS mobile app, went to the wrong address.  Instead of leading them to a popular tourist distination, they ended up in the wrong neighborhood where their vehicle was opened fired upon by local criminals. This has sparked great concern over the use of GPS apps in Brazil as the South American country is set to host the next summer Olympics in 2016.  Perhaps Waze and other apps can update their apps to allow uers to rate the safety and accessibility of maps and locations.  Including myself, we've relied to eavily on technology especially the GPS that we take for granted we will be led to the right location.  For the most part, they do work as advertised. Source:  CNN .

Source:  TechCrunch Apple means business. Google really need to figure out another solution to show ads or money elsewhere as billions if not tens of billions of mobile revenue on iOS devices will dry up as Apple moves to block ads not only in Safari but perhaps even within apps that serves up ads themselves. Called" Been Choice ", it works its magic through a combo of Safari and VPN voodoo. However it works, it'll serve as a huge disruption to the current status quo for app makers who rely on ads as their main source of revenue. And oh, the app also works on Facebook's own ads as well.  As if it wasn't enough, content providers and publishers have already been running for cover and wondering what the future of publishing without the ability to serve not only adds but trackers as well. This app even works against Apple's own newsreader as well. Why are the creators of Been Choice doing this to them, Google, trackers, and publishers ask. Well, they want to off...

Though it is a no-brainer, but WSJ reports that GM (probably other car makers as well) will soon allow drivers unlock vehicles with their watches, specifically the Apple Watch.  You want to know what else wearables, and smartphones, can do for drivers?  Just watch Knight Rider from the 80s.  Replace KITT with Siri.  You get the idea.  We are headed into that direction and beyond.  Just don't expect your car to go airborne when you tell Siri "turbo boost!" For starters, GM will allow drivers to lock/unlock doors and to start cars remotely.  What else would you like to be able to control with your watches?

Here is a very good look-back post from Medium penned by the author Steven Levy who had written a book at length about Apple's iconic iPod and how Steve Jobs rolled over Carly Fiorina and HP to get the iPod into the dominant position it was years ago and even through today.  The focus came about because during the second GOP debate on CNN, Fiorina opportunistically mentioned Steve Jobs as his friend and to deflect her past failures and somehow linked them to Jobs' darker past.  The thing is that Jobs learned from his past mistakes, spent years in the woods finding himself again, nearly lost much of his wealth with NEXT and Pixar before Disney inked a deal with Pixar and Apple bought NEXT.  And he applied his lessons to turn Apple around with a string of innovative products like the iPod, iMac, iPhone, and iPad.  And even the Macs are selling better with each passing quarter in the post-PC era.  Sadly, even for those who agree with Fiorina's politics has to admit...

In an otherwise decent review of the iPhone 6S, Macworld UK ( link here but nothing new you probably haven't read else where) love the iPhone 6S.  The chief complaint it had was that Apple did not increase the resolution of the iPhone 6S over the 6.  Seriously?!  Seriously?!  Was Apple increasing the resolution on the iPhone 6S even on any rumor site's radar?  Not at all.  A quick search on Google showed that not one rumor indicated the possibility that Apple was going to up the resolution on the iPhone 6S. And hey, pal, Apple ain't gonna change the 1080p on the 5.5" iPhone 6S Plus to 4K next year either.  Make sure you show your disappointment in your review next year, yeah? This is just another example of what I see as an increasingly arrogance that tech pundits show for decades and Apple writers beginning to adopt this bad behavior.  Call out Apple for its bad cloud support.  I agree.  But looking for issues where there aren't any or...

If you're judging from the title of my post, you'd think I was not impressed with my iPhone 6S.  Well, it has been day one and I have not had a chance to go exploring new features like 3D Touch, snapping photos, and testing out the battery life.  I just had an ordinary day.  And for the new iPhone 6S at my side, there was nothing new to change my routine.  I did snap a couple Live Pictures but was unable to share this new iOS feature because many folks with iPhones have not upgraded their phones or to iOS 9. So, it could be a while before we start seeing many live pictures being shared and viewed properly.  For now, it feels gimmicky.  Apple pushed it as a new neat feature but it does not feel like a must have.  But don't tell the other 12,999,999 iPhone 6S buyers that.  But the fact that the new 6S out of the box works like just the 6 means that Apple has done well in allowing users from previous iPhones to transition well.  Swap out the sim...

Hot off the press:  NASA said there is liquid water still flowing on Mars.  The press conference is still live. This has huge implication on the possibility of life on Mars, else where in our solar system, and beyond. Source: SCPR .