AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud

T-Mobile's gross profit for 2020 was $40 billion. And that is a lot of money no matter how anyone, including Wall Street looks at it. Now, consider the yet to be announced feature on the iPhone 13 that allows users to use satellite services to connect in the event of an emergency and slowly over years, Apple begin to offer its own satellite services, possibly bypassing the mobile companies and keep billions in profit and revenue, it would be a business that provides high margins (seems like Wall Street is very concerned about profit margin for all publicly traded companies).  According to reliable sources, the iPhone 13 will allow users who are outdoor to use the iPhone to connect to satellites to transmit short messages in case of emergencies. For the moment, the iPhone will not become a satellite phone. Rather, the emergency satellite service will be limited in usage as well as limited in the number of markets available. Here are other services that I would like Apple to offer (p...

Apple surprised pretty much everyone when it announced that it would scan photos for evidence of sexual child abuse. The first thought, I am sure it is the same for most other Apple followers, is that it seems like a bad one, one that would quickly be followed by "the road to hell was paved with good intentions". Now, another surprise: Apple has backdown from following through, for now. It shows that Apple has finally learned a valuable lesson. Perhaps, Apple could have implemented the scan photos for Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM).  Last month, Apple made the announcement of an upcoming feature to scan photos stored on iPhones for sexual abuse of children.  You likely have seen CSAM all over the news and on the Internet. It really has not been talked about enough in the context of what it could offer users in general. For something like this, it means that Apple has developed algorithms that can recognize certain elements in photos that is beyond identifying people, obje...

 Source: Barron's Via Apple News . My primary search engine is DuckDuckGo.  The second is Google.  I think that would be the same answer for most privacy conscious mobile warriors.  And with Apple playing a role in search, albeit a limited one with glacial pace of improvement, could Apple one day be a part of that conversation?   First, let's get this out of the day. Apple's search engine it is today is very limited in scope and it is not what I would called very good.  Decent?  At times.  Other times, it leave much to be desired.  Spolight on my Mac is fine but there are times I searched the same term and get different results or none at all.  On the iPhone or iPad, it is even worse even when I'm looking for apps.  It is as if search on the iOS and iPadOS took a step backward.  Where Apple search is beginning to shine is in the App Store and even that has its own critics. Still, it goes without saying that should Apple decide ...

Rumors are a double or even triple edge sword. I do not traffic in rumors about Apple unless I am very sure a product, service, or announcement is very certain.  While, I enjoy reading about them on a near daily basis, they are mostly just that, rumors.  A lot of rumors and supposed leaks, well, they are wishful thinkings by fans, misinterpretations of the facts on the grounds, and misrepresentations of Apple’s and its competitors’ intentions.   Rumors are not just for fans.  The effects of rumors and leaks are wide and impact buying decisions, development decisions, and, of course, financial matters as well.  If you are the CEO of a competing company and you just read that Apple is about the change up its iPhone lineup with a new feature, it would impact your own development to a certain extent.  And with Apple moving slowly into additional markets, anything about Apple on fan sites or Twitter is going to make waves in the media, boardrooms, and R&D la...

I like to move around while I'm at home watching television after dinner.  Work is back in the office 100% now and while I am trying to establish a workout routine in the morning, that is still a work in progress.  I do variety of workouts about an hour after dinner as I binge on Netflix or rewatch one of my favorite science fiction shows (comfort shows).  With the Apple Watch, it offers a lot more workout options than when it first started but there is not way for Apple to provide every kind of exercise. So, I set out to find out which of the workouts would suit my calories counts so I can reach my daily goals. One of the workout I like to do is the wacky jumps.  It is a lot like jumping jacks but different body movements and I feel it offers a good set of motions for what I want to achieve - essentially toning my body and my stomach muscles.  And it is good cardio that gets my heart pumping and some sweat. There is no wacky jump workout option and while there ...

Source: CryptoAge . Ever thought about using your brand now MacBook or Mac mini to earn a few extra bucks by using them to mine some cryptocurrencies?  For now, you can forget about it.  Leave that to crypto farms or others who have the know-how.  In fact, it's very likely that mining crypto is not on Apple's mind when it designs  future chips for the Mac or iPads.  The reason is that it has been tried and the M1 was only able to earn fourteen cents a day - that roughly comes out to $51.10 a year.  That will get you a medium latte a month for a year. To be fair, the M1 was not created for any intensive mining in mind.  It was created to run MacOS and iPadOS efficiently and with as little power as possible.  In terms of efficiency, Apple first laptop chip has ran rings around offerings from AMD and Intel.  For crypto mining, it takes a different type of computing on all its own. Graphic processing units specializes in mathematical computing th...

My last feature phone was a Sony flip phone.  It was light and had decent Internet features for 3G connectivity and even lets me add books via text files so I did actually read a couple of classics on the go.  But it could not do was a lot of what my Apple Watch with cellular connection can do like iMessages, monitor my sleep/health/workouts, and listen to podcasts/music. In a way, I think Apple has created a perfect smart feature phone that just sits on the wrist. My epiphany of Apple Watch is a smart feature phone just so happened over the weekend when I left my iPhone at work and I did not want to go back to the office. After all, I do have my iPad mini when I needed to play games, writing, and some some work.  Oh, and I have my MacBook as well.  When I went out this weekend, it was only me and my watch. This is how the Apple Watch came in handy: Messaging. Short chats with my brother and a couple of friends.   Tried to view photos sent to me.  It's not ...