Yesterday, the extremely popular site Engadget gave out their Engadget Awards for 2008 and Apple came out the big winner - winning in eight out of the 22 categories!
Wining eight of the categories is amazing, especially considering that Apple wasn't included in many of the categories, such as televisions, camera's, gaming consoles and tablet pc's, etc. Possibly, if they were, then who knows, maybe they would have would won even more awards than they already had?
Getting back to 2008, Apple took home awards in the People's Choice section for the following categories:
- Gadget of the Year - the iPhone
- Smartphone of the Year - the iPhone
- Desktop of the Year - the iMac
- Laptop of the Year - the Unibody MacBook Pro
- Display of the Year - the 24-inch LED Cinema Display
- Handheld of the Year - the iPod Touch
- Portable Media Device of the Year - the iPod Touch
- Storage Device or Technology of the Year - Apple's Time Capsule
Well, the people have spoken and they have spoken loudly. Interestingly, Microsoft's iPod killer, the Zune, also won an award - the Worst Gadget of the Year Award! Seriously, the Zune isn't a bad device. It's software is actually very elegant, but still, it's just not quite an iPod. Talk about rubbing salt in your wounds!
However, when it came to the Engadget Editor's Awards section, well, I'm afraid Apple didn't fair quite as well as it did in the People's Choice section. Apple won virtually all of the same categories here as they did in the People's Choice section, but, however, minus one - for the Desktop of the Year, which went to Dell's excellent Studio Hybrid. Nice little machine, mind you, but, personally, I still prefer the iMac, because, it's just a sexier machine, with much better software overall. Again, this isn't putting down the Dell Studio line in anyway, because it is a very fine line indeed.
Well, what can I say? It's been another year and another fine Apple crop of awards! What will next year bring? Who knows? One thing is for sure, it will be a lot harder for Apple in the coming years to win, and that's for the simple reason that everybody, and I mean everybody, from big old Microsoft, Dell, Nokia, Palm and who have you, have been seemingly aping Apple's design philosophy these days, and producing, as a result, better and better products. From OS software development, to applications, to computer hardware design, to mobiles, everybody and their their dog have being copying and mimicking, to one degree or another, all of Apple's past moves, making it much harder for Apple to win in the future - unless, or until, that is, Apple can continue to keep on out innovating them as they have been famous for?
Fortunately, Apple's awards are for products that have helped, in part, to inspired much better product design from it's competitor's. These have helped to indirectly inspire products such as the highly praised Windows 7, the equally praised Palm Pre and open source 3D OS desktop software like Compliz.
Hopefully, come this time next year, Apple will not only win just as many awards as this year, but even more awards as it enters new product categories that, again hopefully, will be equal or even better than the ones that have come before.
Congratulations to Apple and to all of the products that they have helped to inspire and improve upon. That means, in the end, that the real winners are we, the consumers, be it Apple consumers or those of it's competitor's!
And that's my 2 cents 4 this Tuesday, March 31, 2009
There has been oodles of talk recently about the possibility of Apple releasing it's own version for a netbook Mac, despite the fact that Apple has repetitively said it's not interested in producing one. However, they have also stated that they were watching the nascent market closely and that they had some really cool ideas for one, if and when ever they ever decided to enter the market.
As you can see above, someone in Russia has leaked a picture of what some are saying is a spy shot of the new and upcoming Mac Netbook! Could it really be a picture of a Mac Netbook, or is it, most likely, simply a fake? Well, fake or not, Jesus DIaz of Gizmodo anyway thinks that it's hot, the perfect netbook and that he desperately wants one, be it fake or not! I can't say that I blame him, because for one thing, it's certainly a sexy looking little thing, now isn't it?" It's also very Mac like, both in it's appearance and it's relatively high sticker price of $899 U.S. Dollars.
The specs for this sexy looking dwarf of a Mac are as follows:
• 10.4" WXGA display. • 1280 x 768 pixel with LED backlighting. • NVIDIA MCP79 • Intel Atom Z740 1.83GHz with 1MB L2 cache. • 2GB DDR3-800. • NVIDIA GeForce 9400M • 64GB Solid State Drive. • Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n • 1 x USB 2.0 • 1 x Mini Display Port • Battery Li-Ion 5100mA
Personally, even though it looks like something that Apple would create, I sincerely doubt if this is the real thing. It's just a little too far fetched, for my pee brain, to think that someone in the former U.S.S.R could somehow be able to sneak a glimpse of this thing before the American press, in Apple's own back yard, could. But then again, what do I know? Besides, that very un-English keyboard is a big give away? After all, something tells me that Apple would be working on developing English, French, Italian, Spanish and good old German keyboards long, long before they would ever do a Russian one - if that's even a Russian keyboard to begin with? Looking at the keys on this thing, it seems more alien than earthly.
Fake or not, this Russian pic certainly helps to further fuel the long and deep desires of many for an Apple netbook. I'm not too crazy about netbooks, because, frankly, they are just way too underpowered for my taste, and for a little more than the $899 price of this thing, I would think that many would much prefer to buy themselves a real Mac, a MacBook with a lot more power and features. Building a netbook and selling it at $899, when other netbooks are going for as little as $199, totally negates the main selling advantage of Apple producing a netbook - it's low, low, selling price!
So, is this a picture of an upcoming Mac netbook?
Probably not.
But, still, none-the-less, it's a very interesting pic to say the least. At least it gives us some idea of just what an Apple might look like, and thus far, it's definitely, to my way of thinking, the best damn looking netbook that I have yet laid my eyes on! However, that said, whether or not Apple eventually ends up producing a netbook, or a tablet pc, for that matter, I really can't say. All I know for sure is that people are convinced that Apple is up to something - and something other than just your regular type of computing gizmo. I just don't know when or what that might entail, except to say that whatever it is, I would bet that it will be something that is really super different, super cool, super sexy, and super, duper expensive and, like many other geeks, I will super want one regardless of what it is, what it does, or whether I really need it or not!
Such is the magic of the uber-hyped Apple marketing machine.
And that's my 2 cents 4 this Monday, March 30, 2009
By all accounts, the next iPhone is not only coming soon, but it's beginning to look like it will be a real powerhouse - a Super iPhone if you will - a phone that could, in theory, just might kill off all of the other iPhone wannabe killer's in the process!
AppleInsider is reporting that Apple is now selling iPhones 3G's without a contract. The reason they explain:
"Apple's change in sales policy comes as the company is working to sell off remaining inventory to prepare for the upcoming launch of the new 2009 iPhone, expected to be released around the middle of June, possibly at the company's similarly-timed Worldwide Developer Conference".
In other words: a new iPhone is coming soon - very soon! The recent sneak-peak given by Apple on the next iPhone 3.0 software was exciting, but apparently what was presented was and is not all that we can expect to see in the next iPhone, or should i say - iPhone's? That's because Apple is believed to be readying not one, but two new iPhone models. We now know, for instance, that AT&T leaked that it was very, very excited about the next model of iPhone. The next iPhone, according to AT&T, will be a much, much better device and will offer an unparalleled experience across all of it's products and services.
AppleInsider is also reporting that the next iPhone could be offering a much greater level of security by incorporating either a hidden biometric reader or a built-in face recognition device, or even both. These could also be applied to Apple's future line of notebooks as well. However, as AppleInsider pointed out, just because Apple is actively working on such technology doesn't necessarily mean that it will be ready for deployment anytime soon, if ever.
So, what do I expect to see in the next iPhone or two?
One: A slimmed down and inexpensive model that will retail for $99 dollars or less. This iPhone will be for people who don't need, or don't want all of the extra features of the more capable and more expensive model. It will also cater to the economy and those who, because of their present financial circumstances, don't feel they that can afford the relative high costs of the present model.
Two: An honest-to-goodness iPhone business phone! Yes, this will be an iPhone that will be able to not only go head-to-toe with BlackBerry, Palm, Nokia, etc., both in it's features and in price, but in actuality, I expect that it will go far-and-beyond any of them, by providing superior features and price points that the other business smart phones simply won't be able to match.
One of these features will definitely finally include a model with a slide-out physical keyboard! Yes, even though Steve Jobs thinks that virtual keyboards are totally unnecessary, the fact remains that most people seem to think otherwise and as long as they do, it's in Apple's best interest to provide one, or otherwise Apple's competitor's certainly will and, in fact, are so doing! Also, in addition to the enhanced security of a possible biometric and face-recognition model, the next iPhone will definitely offer newer, faster and more powerful chip sets that will, in turn, provide the next iPhones with not only more advanced graphics (complete with OLED screens), but also with so much more processing power that we should start seeing much more advance apps that can compete with those on the desktop.
The built-in web cam, it's expected, will also be bumped up considerably far more than the 1.3 megapixels that we find today. I expect that it will hit a minimum of 5 megapixels, but more than likely it will reach upwards of 8 megapixels or more! Not only that, but finally Apple should be including the much wanted video recording capability as well.
In conclusion, can we expect a new so called "Super iPhone"? I believe that is exactly what we will see, and that this Super iPhone, I believe, could have just as much of an impact as that of the original iPhone did when it was introduced some barely two years ago! The next iPhone's could very well leave all of the other smart phones looking, well, more like dumb phones in comparison! I firmly believe that a Super iPhone is coming and one that will make other smart phones look down right pathetic! Apple will do this for the simple reason that they have no other choice! That's because Nokia, Samsung, Palm, etc. have been killing themselves in a mad rush to kill off the iPhone and they are getting good at it - really, really good. So good, in fact, that if Apple doesn't want them eating it's lunch, then they have to deliver an iPhone that goes way, way beyond either today's iPhone or that of it's competitors. For that reason alone, I'm predicting that Apple will do just that - introduce an iPhone - a Super iPhone, that will, in price and features, blow all of the other iPhone wannabe's clean out of the water, or at the very least back to their drawing table!
I can barely wait.
And that's my 2 cents 4 this Friday, March 27, 2009
id' Software's Wolfenstein 3D, from 1992, is generally considered to be the very first real 3D first-person shooter game of all time, and the game that directly inspired and led to the development of the many sophisticated first-person shooter games that we find today.
I remembered that this was a game that my friend was totally and madly addicted to. He simply couldn't get enough of it, playing it none-stop for hours on end and he touted it as one of the main reasons why the PC totally ruled over the Mac. Well, I remember too, that I eventually got a Mac version of Wolfenstein that totally put the PC version to shame with it's much superior graphics, and even though I was never really addicted to it, as was he, I can still fondly remember spending many happy hours while playing it on my old Classic OS Mac's.
I was very happy to recently discover, however, that if your a iPhone or iPod Touch user, that for a mere $4.99, you can now relive all of those glory days via the AppStore. That's because id Software has just released all six of the original versions of Wolfenstein, featuring some 60 levels of heart-stomping fun and excitement for the iPhone/Touch! I currently don't own an iPhone, but I am definitely considering buying the next version and when and if I do, I definitely will also be buying Wolfenstein along with it, and that's one thing for sure!
No, this game doesn't offer the sophistication of today's first-person shooters, but heck.... it's still a hell of a lot of fun and it's a part of computer gaming history! It's worth the price for the nostalgia value alone. As you can see, from the YouTube video, Wolfenstein 3D on the iPhone/Touch looks and plays great, and as good as, if not better than the original PC and Mac versions themselves. Not only does the iPhone/Touch version faithfully reproduce the original look and play, but thanks to the newest version.... you can put it in your pocket and play it any old time and any old place that you please.
So, in conclusion, if you remember and enjoyed playing this grand daddy of all PC first-person shooters then rejoice, because you can now relive all of the fun and excitement of this great classic, again and again, any old time and place that you want. I know that I, for one, certainly will.
And that's my 2 cents 4 this Thursday, March 26, 2009
We all knew the day would eventually come, the day that the Mac was specifically targeted by all of the nasty scum out there on the net. According to some, that day has finally arrived and several websites are reporting on a new trojan that targets both Mac and Window users alike.
This particular trojan is a newer version of a piece of malware known as the OSX/RSPlug, and it was found by the Sophos security firm (see Vimeo video above), who's spokesperson Graham Cluely stated:
""There is much less malware for the Apple Mac than there is for Windows, but that doesn't mean that Apple fans can hide their head in the sand like ostriches."
Well, duh! This is clearly a case where the biggest problem isn't the computer or it's operating system, nor even it's browser. No, this is a plain case of stupidity on the part of the computer operator. The main victims, of course, being the inexperienced users out there, users who innocently assume that everyone out there is as honest and as law abiding as they.
The question arises, however: is the Mac as secure as Apple would have us believe, or is it, as others would have us believe, just as insecure or even worse than Windows?
As far as being insecure, as the later would tell us? Not a chance, not by a long shot, but it certainly highlights the fact that everyone who access's the net these days, be they Window users, Linux users or Mac users, has the duty to be constantly vigilant and on the lookout each and every time they go online. Most of the billions of web pages out there are totally innocent, as are it's users, but the plain fact still remains - you only need one website that has a nasty piece of code in it to do inestimable damage to your computer security and your well being if your not vigilant as you should and must be!
The fact remains, that ever since the first beta version of OS X was released in 2000, there there yet remains little if any reported cases of a Mac OS X computer being seriously compromised by any known virus or trojan! That's quite remarkable, and especially when you consider the fact that all of the handful of known viruses and trojans out there for OS X have, for the most part, been nothing more than just proof of concepts that have been confined and limited to the lab and have posed little or any real threat to actual users in the wild!
A lot of people would love for you to believe that OS X is just as prone to security issue's as is Windows, but don't believe them for a second. The idea that Mac's have "security due to obscurity" is an outrage, plain and simple. The idea that there are just not enough OS X users to make it a worthwhile target for all the crooks out there makes just about as much sense as someone saying that since the state of California only has about 10% of the American population, that it too is not worth crooks bothering to target it as well! With some 30 million or more Mac users out there, users that are generally better educated and earn more money than their PC counterparts, I would tend to think, if I were a producer of such malware, that Mac OS X would be one of the most tempting targets of all! If that's the case, then such logic would also suggest that if you live in a sparsely populated state, such as Vermont for example, then surely you wouldn't have a thing to worry about at all, now would you? No, net criminals don't care who they target, where they are from, or on what platform they target them. All they care about is scamming them easily out of their money, and if it's true that the Mac was so easy to breach, as some say it is, well, why then isn't it that you don't hear more from such Mac victims?
The answer is simple: you don't hear of Mac victims, because, for the most part there are no such victims! And it's not because of obscurity either! It's because the Unix based OS X is as secure as any other OS, if not more so. Again, remember: internet scammers are not bias about who's money they scam, but rather on how easy and how much they can scam, be it from a Windows, Linux, Mac or other users! Greed knows no boundaries after all.
Recently, at this year's CanWest's Pwn2Own propaganda contest, Charley Miller boasted of cracking Safari in a mere 10 seconds, leading you to believe that OS X and Safari are indeed just the easiest thing to exploit. But really, is that the case? Well, again, if that's the case, as he proudly claims, wouldn't you think that those 30 million plus and very affluent Mac users would have already noticed and reported that they were being scammed by now? I would, but since that's not the case I have a very hard time believing anything that comes out of this largely Microsoft sponsored propaganda rubbish event!
In fact, as InMuscatine.com points out this whole affair is deeply suspect. The problem, as they see it and plainly state:
"This is the problem we have been harping on since Pwn2Own started - that being that anyone with physical access to a computer can “pwn” it with practically no skill. In fact, here is the “rule” about physical access :
Each laptop will only have a direct wired connection (exposed through a crossover cable) and only one person may attack each system at a time so that each team’s exploit remains private.
We have called for a real test of a “hacker” to be zero physical access, the Mac computer located in another city behind a standard Cable/DSL router, and the “hacker” is supplied only an IP address. There will be no “social engineering” (read: exploiting stupid people), just a brute-force takeover of the computer by any software the “hacker” can write or choose to use.
If you do not like that, then is there someone explain why the “rules” of Pwn2Own expressly forbid remote exploits? Seriously, you cannot claim the prize money if you can remotely hack the machine - the “rules” expressly state you must physically be present at CanSecWest.
We suspect the reason for this “rule” is every “hacker” would fall flat on their faces were they to attack a PC to which they didn’t have physical access and was protected by a standard firewall in a Cable/DSL router. Well, at least if that computer is a Mac."
Yes, there you have it, and yes, even though some would have us believe that Mac and Safari can be easily and remotely compromised, this clearly is not the case. The truth is, that in order to achieve what they did they had to first have had physical access to a tethered machine - it was not remotely exploited at all! Ask yourself, how likely would you allow some stranger to have physical access to your home and computer? I thought so, not bloody well likely! Neither is it bloody well likely that your Mac is going to be easily and remotely compromised either. Trust me, Mr. Miller didn't just sit down and out then, of the blue, find a security breech, then figure out how to take advantage of it and then actually exploit it in a mere ten seconds! I find it an insult that anyone would think that we are dumb enough to believe such a foolish thing. Not even the fastest typist can type out a simple sentence in a mere ten seconds, let alone do what Mr. Miller is assumed to have done! No, Mr. Miller admitted that he discovered the Safari venerability a whole year ago, he just executed it in a mere ten seconds! I bet you my very last Tootsie Roll that Mr. Miller spent a lot longer trying to find that insecurity in Safari than in a mere ten seconds as well.
So, is the Mac really as insecure as some would have you to believe? The answer is a resounding NO! But, on the other hand, like every other OS and browser, neither is OS X or Safari fail proof! The truth is that OS X, despite all the nay sayers, is still one of the most secure OS's out there and it will multiply that security by a factor of ten with the arrival of Snow Leopard, which will incorporate considerable sand-bagging throughout it's architecture.
So, in conclusion, even though OS X is still a very secure OS, it's certainly, by no means, on the other hand, an excuse for stupidity on one's part, or for one to simply and carelessly assume that hey are safe and let their guard down either. No matter how secure an OS or a browser is, the onus is still on each and every one of us to be as vigilant and on guard as we can. Social engineering is a very real threat, and it comes with very real and painful consequences if we fail to take the approbate action on our part of being ever so suspicious, watchful and vigilant as we can be.
And that's my 2 cents 4 this Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Today's post, my 500th., will be a short look at an old Mac Classic II vs a newer Intel Core Duo Vista machine. As you can see from the above YouTube video, these two computers, the ancient Mac (1987 model) vs a sleek and modern Toshiba laptop ( 2007 model), are pitted in a "zero to sixty" speed test. The old Mac is running ancient and venerable Mac Classic OS (most likely version 8.5), where as the newer Toshiba is running Microsoft's latest and greatest, Vista!
The goal of the test is simple: to have the two computers go from a cold boot-up, then open and close a Microsoft Word doc , then finally shut completely down again. So, how does the ancient Mac classic, with it's measly two megabytes of RAM and a pokey 16 megahertz CPU, fare against a modern and sleek Toshiba laptop with it's gigabyte of RAM, Intel Pentium Dual processor, Vista and a modern version of Microsoft Word? Just how badly does the newer Toshiba trounce the old Mac?
Well, the video speaks for itself as you can plainly see!
Obviously, it's only natural that you would expect that the old Mac wouldn't have a "snowball in hell" of a chance in beating the newer Vista equipped Toshiba. Still, however, after all the dust settles, the outcome of this little test surprisingly says a lot about the tenacity and strength of the 20 year old computer's hardware and the world's longest running GUI OS that powers it.
Way to go Mac!
And that's my 2 cents 4 this Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Apparently, the death of the 17" inch iMac has been grossly overestimated. It seems that the global economic meltdown has prompted Apple to help out cash-strapped educational budgets by offering them an "education only" 17" model of the iMac for $899.
Apple's last all-in-one educational computer, the eMac, was discontinued in 2006. The eMac, also featured a 17" built-in screen and originally was intended to be sold only to the educational market. However, barely a month after it's release, due to great public interest and demand, Apple also released this "education only" Mac for sale to the general public. The question naturally arises: could history repeat itself? Could Apple be pressured to release the 17" educational iMac to the general public as it did with the eMac? After all, the educational markets are not the only ones who have been hit hard during these trying economic times. A lot of people are just as cash-strapped and are looking for cheaper and additional options other then Apple's high-end offerings. At these lower educational prices, this educational iMac could teach Apple a lesson in pricing, and would seem to be just the ticket that Apple needs to help boost it's recently declining desktop sales.
Of course, the other really big question would be how such a lower priced, lower spec iMac would directly impact the sales of Apple's newly upgraded Mac Mini, who's prices start at $599 and $799 respectively? Both of these starting price points don't include any keyboard, mouse or monitor, so for a lot of people that extra $100 would make the 17" iMac a much better deal. After factoring in the price of a new keyboard and monitor, then you could be looking at paying considerably more for the Mini, unless and, of course, that is you have a spare monitor, mouse and keyboard already laying around the place.
I have to admit, even though a 17" seems rather boring when compared to either the current 20 and 24" iMac models, it's low, low $899 price point seems awfully tempting, and that's especially a lot more so during this bitterly hard recession! I haven't read much about the 17" iMac's specs, other than it having a keyboard and that 17"inch screen, but I would imagine that it spec's would be comparable to that of the Mini's which feature 120 and 320 GB hard drives, integrated graphics and 1 and 2GB or RAM. Those specs are nothing especially exciting, but for your basic daily needs of surfing the net, word-processing, simple games and enjoying music and video, then the 17" inch iMac is probably all that you really need.
Personally, I've still have my heart set on a 24" quad-core i7 iMac, which I was very disappointed didn't make the last upgrade cycle as previously expected. However, there are hints that, after Snow Leopard pounces sometime later this year, I and many others will finally be getting our wish. I hope so anyway, but in the meantime, especially because of the harsh economic realities of today's recession, I'm hoping that Apple will seriously consider doing what it did previously with it's eMac "educational only" computer and offer the 17" educational iMac to the general public at large. That in, my mind ,would not only help replace a lot of the recent decline in Apple's desktop line, but at the same time, it hopefully would also help to increase the Mac's overall market share by making the iMac a lot more palatable to the pocket books of a recession weary public.
And that's my 2 cents 4 this, March 23, 2009
Apple educational marketing image via: AppleInsider
UPDATE:Arstecnica says that the educational model consists of the old white plastic casing and features a 1.83 GHZ Duo Intel chip.
Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO is at it again and harping on Apple yet once more by saying that Apple's customers pay far too high a price for admission, namely $500 just for the privilege of having the Apple logo on their gear! He told Stephen Adler, the editor-in-chief of BusinessWeek that, "“Paying $500 more to get a logo on it, I think that's a more challenging proposition for the average consumer.”
The WallStreetJournal.com describes Mr. Ballmer as, being "his typically wacky and freewheeling self at the McGraw-Hill media summit Thursday," where he "directed some tough talk at Apple, IBM and even himself."
The WallStreetJournal went on to say:
"He admitted that he doesn't own any Apple products, nor do his wife or children. (Perhaps a reference to the recent Vogue interview in which Melinda Gates said that she was desperate for an iPhone, but Bill wouldn't allow it.) And Mr. Ballmer doesn't think much about the appeal of Apple's typically premium-Priced products during the recession."
Well, what can you say? Mr. Ballmer is, well, Mr. Ballmer, but the question in some minds might be:
"Is he a buffoon or is he a genius?"
Well, he's certainly a colorful and engaging kind of guy that's for sure. He's also rich (oh, boy, is he rich!), he's powerful and he rules with an iron fist one of the world's most powerful and influential companies in history. That said, all of that doesn't make him automatically right about Apple or anything else. Personally, as much as I love the guy and enjoy listening to him, I take almost everything he says with a grain of salt. No, make that a barrel full of salt. He's almost, to some, like a big, clumsy comedian considering the famous ways he's been known to jump up and down and shriek on stage as can be seen in this YouTube video seen below.
And, as you can see below, some people even like to poke fun at the fact that Steve tends to repeat himself a wee bit at times!
If anything, Steve is obviously one hell of a great salesman. After all, under his direction and that of Uncle Bill, Windows went on to become the biggest selling operating system of all time! Whether it is the best OS of all time, well, in respect for Steve I won't go there.
Going back to Apple, Steve can't be expected to simply come out and say something like, " Apple products are great - way better than ours! I wish we could create great original products like that, but since we can't - we'll just keep on copying and ripping them off and tell everyone that we did it first!" No, he certainly can't be expected to say things like that. Steve has to be very careful concerning Apple and what he says about it, but that, on the other hand, doesn't stop him from having a little fun by laughing and running the company down as he did with the iPhone seen below:
Just as some people like to think that Mr. Ballmer makes stupid remarks , others still love to 'egg around' with him as you can see below, and while others just love to make a game out of him .
Steve Ballmer on Steve Jobs, says in the following YouTube clip:
Steve Jobs on Steve Ballmer and Microsoft, says the following:
I say on Steve Ballmer, that even though I don't agree with much of anything that he actually says, at least about Apple, I still have to admit, that in addition to being a very colorful person, he is also a very interesting and amusing person. Even though the guy is obviously very educated and very intelligent, his antics at times are so comical, as in those viral videos above, that he could probably and very easily make yet another fortune as a professional stand-up comedian. Whether you hate him, or you love him, he's one guy that you can't quite ever get enough of!
But is he a buffoon? No, not really, not by a long shot. Is he a genius? Maybe, but I'm not sure of that one, but after it's all said and done, he's sure is one hell of a colorful and interesting fellow if ever there was one!
My hat off to the guy!
And that's my 2 cents 4 this Friday, March 20, 2009
WOW! According to Smarthouse.com it's TRUE! - Apple has been confirmed, by electronic giant LG, that Apple will be coming out with an OLED based netbook and new OLED iPhones!
LG should know, because they and Apple have already signed a multibillion dollar contract, and one that saw Apple pay LG a cool half-billion dollars upfront to cement! LG would be supplying all of the OLED screens, so if anyone was in the position to know, other than Apple, it would be them.
One source has even told Smarthouse that Apple already has a working prototype, with an OLED screen that that had the ability to eliminate the greasy finger streaks that are normally associated with other OLED screens! In addition, Smarthouse even claimed that Apple is even looking at using wafer thin OLEDs that would be used to link to a wireless Apple TV like box, though no other information was forthcoming on exactly what that might be.
If true, this is exciting news that should have all of the other netbook manufacturers trembling in their shoes! Apple may not always necessarily be the first in the technological ring, but once they do enter, they usually end up delivering a knock-out blow to their adversaries. They did it with the iPod, and now they have done it with the iPhone and the AppStore, so could it be possible that they will do it again with the netbook?
Apple has repetitively said that they weren't interested in the nascent netbook market, but they did have some interesting ideas for one, but for the most part they were only watching and studying it. Of course, that''s what they said about using Intel processors, or adding video to the iPod and we all know how those two turned out. Generally speaking, I have learned that if Apples says that they are not interested in something, then mostly assuredly they really are. Yes, Steve Jobs may have stated that Apple doesn't know how to make anything for $500 that wasn't a piece of junk, but then again, what about the higher end netbooks? They can easily fetch prices of up to $800 or more and that, frankly, isn't that far off from the price of the entry MacBook!
Considering that Apple's desktop and laptop sales have been recently off by some 16%, while PC sales have been up (thanks mostly to those cheap netbooks), Apple may feel that they have no real choice, in this recession, but to enter the netbook market. The question is: just what can we expect to see from an Apple designed netbook?
First off, Apple being the fashion consensus entity that it is, we can probably expect a looker - a machine that is beautiful to look at - a virtual piece of "unibody" sculptured art! It will be equally simple to use and, again, Apple being Apple, it will cost an arm and a leg! But it will be worth it, in the end, I believe, because it should offer far more than what we now presently see in the PC netbook space. Certainly, in some ways, it will depart from the traditional concepts we now see with all of the netbooks that have come thus far. Apple believes in thinking differently and that is why it's products, in various ways, are different and unique from anything else in their class. Expect the same for any Apple netbook.
Secondarily, it's obvious , that any such netbook will be running OS X. Currently, OS X runs light, it runs fast and it runs very efficiently on both the iPhone and iPod Touch and I expect to see as much on the netbook side. Like both of those iconic devices, OS X may be trimmed of a lot of unnecessary fat found on the desktop side, since it will, no doubt, also be running on Apple's upcoming OS X Snow Leopard, a much more secure, powerful, faster and leaner OS to begin with. In other words, don't expect to see any MacNetBook released any time before the release of Snow Leopard itself! Hopefully, that may be as early as June, so too, likely will be any release of an Apple netbook.
Normally, I'm not too crazy about netbooks, but having seen hackintosh versions running on various PC netbooks, such as the one picture at the beginning of this post, I have to admit, I have played around with the idea of buying a PC netbook from MSI or Dell and hacking it myself, and that despite the fact that I"m both lazy and totally inept at such things. Having a more expensive, but much more usable and featured packed Apple produced netbook, however, is a far more favorable solution. Providing, that is, it's not too expensive.
Even though, at the moment, OLEDs are rather expensive to produce, as ElectricPig brings out, I don't believe that will remain the case for much longer. Technology doesn't sit still and I can only hope that both Apple and LG have something up their sleeve that will result in them being able to market them at reasonable costs, because if they can, there isn't going to be any netbook out there that will be able to compete with them at any price.
And that's my 2 cents 4 this Thursday, March 19, 2009
With some 100 plus new features, Apple's latest iPhone 3.0 beta should help make the world's most advanced mobile OS even a lot more advanced, but the question is: will it still be enough to take on the likes of the Pre and the rest of the competition?
It certainly will go a long way in giving the iPhone a lot of the features that many feel it should have had from the very beginning, including the most requested feature -- cut, copy and paste, but clearly the competition is starting to catch up and Apple will need to keep on it's toe's if it wish's to stay on top of the smart phone market.
The iPhone OS 3.0 beta, by virtue of it's over 1,000 new API's, should greatly help enable developers to write some fantastic new programs by using it's newest and more advanced features. Features such as: Shake to shuffle, Audio/Video tags, Notes Sync, YouTube subscriptions, Languages, VPN on demand, Parental controls, Auto-fill, Call log, Encrypted Profiles, Stereo Bluetooth, iTunes account creation and new Anti-phising, among others Hopefully, the new beta will result in some of these developers releasing new apps that takes advantages of these features by the time OS 3.0 is officially released this summer?
More of these features, as listed by Engadget, include the following:
Peer-to-peer connectivity over Bluetooth for gaming and other info-swapping.
Paid apps will have the potential to be subscription fee-based, and can include optional paid content that can be bought from right inside the app.
Developers can now build apps that call out to Google Maps, and can also finally bring Apple-blessed turn-by-turn to the phone.
Devs can also connect with hardware accessories over in their apps now, such as a blood pressure monitor -- or perhaps a keyboard? Connectivity works through the dock connector or over Bluetooth.
Long-promised push functionality will at last be included, but apps won't run in the background.
Developers can add streaming video and audio to their apps, along with in-game voice use.
General functionality
Cut, copy and paste. At last! You can shake the phone to undo and redo the action, and it works with both text and photos, allowing Mail to send multiple photos at a time. (more here)
MMS, along with forward and delete for multiple messages. (more here)
A2DP stereo Bluetooth.
Unlocked Bluetooth functionality on 2G iPod touch. (more here)
Spotlight has been added to a new home screen page to the left of existing pages, allowing for universal search on the phone. (more here)
Tethering is built into 3.0, and Apple will work with carriers on that -- who will have the last say on its implementation, most likely.
App Store will be available in 77 countries.
Parental controls for TV shows, movies and App Store apps.
Auto-login for WiFi hotspots.
Apple apps
A new app called Voice Memos which lets you record notes and reminders.
A revised Stocks app, with news stories and a landscape view.
Landscape view available for Mail, Text and Notes.
CalDAV support has been added to Calendar, along with subscriptions support in the .ics format.
Apple's major apps have all been expanded with search functionality.
Note syncing to Mac and PC.
YouTube account support.
Form auto-fill.
Phishing protection.
Shake the shuffle iPod playback.
Well, all-in-all, I feel that the new beta software certainly shows a lot of promise, but the big question is: will it be enough to fend off the competition, which has taken a lot of clues from the iPhone itself to build their own iPhone like devices, that in some cases actually surpass Apple's original in functionality, at least in certain specific areas? The biggest challenger yet, and one that has dared to directly challenge the iPhone's collection of multi-touch patents, is the new and highly praised Palm Pre.
I'm really, really curious as to what Apple will do once the Pre hits the streets - will it sue Palm for patent infringement? And secondarily, if it does - will it succeed? Palm, on it's part, seems to feel that it's on safe ground, but if that is indeed the case, then surely every other mobile OEM should also be free to copy every single iPhone multi-touch feature as well, thus eliminating not only any advantage for the iPhone, but for the Pre itself!
Of course, what the OS 3.0 event didn't reveal was any new iPhone hardware, or any glimpse of a possible Apple netbook or touch tablet. That didn't happen, but it's obvious that the new OS beta is one that holds a lot of promise of turning the iPhone into a much, much more serious contender as a business phone. I would think, that after watching the keynote (seen here), that Apple is going to match it's newest OS to newer and much more business friendly hardware. Will that include a slide-out physical keyboard? I don't know, but if they are smart (and I think that they are) they had better well consider it, at least as an add-on option! Frankly, it really doesn't matter what Apple wants or likes, but rather what matters is that Apple focus's on giving it's customers what it wants and likes, and clearly that, for most business users, is having a physical keyboard!
Apple has given us a glimpse of the future with it's OS 3.0 beta software, and that in turn, has given us a wee glimpse of the next iPhone itself, and one that I'm pretty certain should be more than able to take on the likes of the Pre and the rest of the competition? After all, the iPhone's biggest trump card - it's AppStore, is something that no one else, including the Pre, can't even begin to touch with their cheap copy cat app stores. I simply don't see how the Pre (which isn't capable of handling iPhone like games), or how anyone else is going to be able to snatch the smart phone crown from the iPhone, or by replacing it as the world's most innovative, most exciting, and the world's most desirable smart phone, anytime soon!
Someday, maybe? But not today!
And that's my 2 cents 4 this Wednesday, March 18, 2009
It's Tuesday, the 17 th. of March and it's the big day that Apple , in a few more hours, will not only release upon it's vast developer community a new SDK, but it's the day that Apple will finally give us a sneak peak at it's latest update to the iPhone's OS X based OS, version 3.0!
The tension is building and millions of tongues around the world are wagging, expressing their thoughts and their hopes of just what Uncle Steve and his gang will, or will not introduce at an event that could set the course for the entire industry for years to come. Besides the new OS, millions of people are also hoping that Apple will give us another of it's famous, "Just one more thing," moments. Just what that moment might entail, well, there are several interesting possibilities.
The first possibility is obvious: a new model of the iPhone that would go far and beyond the capabilities of the present model. In fact, over at MacObserver they are reporting that one analyst is now predicting that Apple may surprise us all with not one, but - two brand new iPhones! They would include a low cost, budget iPhone, retailing for around $99, and a higher end model that would come with as much as 32 GB or more of RAM. Oooh, just think how sweet that would be when running multiple apps in the background, if that capability is added as well!
A second possibility, of course, is that Apple may be ready to finally enter the ring of producing a netbook, those cheap, underpowered, but extremely popular devices that have been grabbing both considerable market share and the medias attention. I will admit that some of the netbooks that I have played with are sort of cool, and it would be interesting to see just what Apple's world famous design and innovative traits could add to this nascent market, but, for me, as cute as they are - that's all they are! They are simply too underpowered and under featured for my particular taste. I much rather pay a little more to get a lot more power from a traditional laptop such as the MacBook.
A third and very real possibility is that Apple is about to enter the computer tablet business as has been long predicted that it would eventually do. Slash Gear's Chris Davies thinks that maybe this just might even be the, "Oh, just one last thing" that some are looking for. Certainly, as you can see from the mock illustration above, the idea for a Mac Tablet is certainly an entertaining one at the very least. I like the idea of a sleek, sexy little contraption that would be inexpensive, but also powerful, fast and fun to use, and one that could run all of the thousands and thousands of apps from the AppStore, but only better because of it's larger multi touch screen, and, hopefully, it's much more powerful cpu and graphic chips? Telephony features along with WiFi and Blu-Tooth would really be the icing on the cake of what would be a very delicious device indeed.
Then again, Apple being Apple, well, we could all be in for a big surprise as it fielded something completely new, completely unexpected and completely straight out of left field - something that nobody ever would have imagined in a million years - a totally new category of device, or product that could blaze new paths never traveled before!
Whatever Jobs' and company delivers or doesn't deliever, we don't have to wait much longer, because in just a few more short hours we will finally know.
I just can't wait!
And that's my 2 cents 4 this Tuesday, March 17, 2009
