Chrome OS: Is Google About To Rip OF Apple Again?

Recently, as in just ten minutes ago, I read an interesting Gizmodo post entitled, " Most Popular Chrome Extensions and Posts of 2010." As interesting as the Chrome browser is, the most interesting thing in the post that really struck me was the inclusion of the above photo, one from an early rendition of Googles upcoming Chrome browser based OS.

Clearly, its seems to be an almost exact copy of Apple's patented Cover Flow technology! There is one difference that I did notice: dividing lines on both sides, showing stacks of various pages bundled together. The middle section, from the photo anyway, look to be exactly like that of Cover Flow. Of course, I would have to see it in action to know for sure.

In conclusion, this doesn't mean that Google will actually include it in its now delayed Chrome OS, but it if does, well that's not going to surprise me one bloody bit. After all, when you consider that Googles has shown virtually no shame in ripping off just about everything in its Android platform from Apple's iPhone, then it's quite obvious that Google thinks that its now so big, so important and so damn powerful that it can get away with doing just about any bloody thing that they want, be it publishing other peoples works without their permission, to invading individual privacy in its Street View feature, or by just ignoring other people's patented property and using it as their own.

The question is: how far will Apple allow them to get away with it?

And that's my last 2 cents 4 the year, Friday, December 31, 2010.

SKYPE And FREE Video Calling Comes To The iPhone!

iPhone users have now even more choices when it comes to making video calls. In addition to FaceTime, iPhone users now have the added ability of using Skype's new video calling app that features the following benefits:

- The ability to make free voice and video calls over over 3G and WiFi.

- The ability to share video calls on Skype with people on iPhone, PC or the Mac.

- Talk face-to-face or show what you are seeing with front and rear facing cameras.

As you can see in the video below, Skype's new fanged app looks pretty damn sweet.

In conclusion, I'm not sure how this will effect Apple's own FaceTime, but the fact that they approved it is a good thing, as it gives iOS users more options, and he more the better as far as I'm concerned. Skype's FREE video calling feature is just one more reason, among countless others, I guess, for me to finally breakdown and get myself an iPhone.

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Wednesday, December 30, 2010

The Number One Mobile OS For Developers Is?

It seems that the developers of Angry Birds, Rovio, are a little angry themselves over all of the fragmentation that is to be found with Android. At least that's the impression left after listening to a recent interview given by one of Rovio's chief executives, Peter Vesterbacka, to 'Text N Marketing'.

Regarding Android's problem with fragmentation, the biggest issue Mr. Vesterbacka states isn't caused so much by the hardware, but goes much deeper and stems from deep within its 'eco-system itself, and added: "Android is growing, but it’s also growing complexity at the same time. Device fragmentation not the issue, but rather the fragmentation of the ecosystem." This helps to explain why Rovio went to the trouble of recently having to apologized for problems with developing a version of its phenomenally popular Angry Birds game for Android phones.

As far as the number one mobile OS goes, he went on to add that: “Apple (iOS) will be the number one platform for a long time from a developer perspective, they have gotten so many things right. And they know what they are doing and they call the shots."

In conclusion, it really shouldn't be Rovio, or any other developers, who have to apologize for issues with Android, but rather all of the hardware manufacturers and, most importantly, the company that decided to stab its long time partner in the back by knowingly and deliberately violating its hard-earned intellectual properties, namely its multi-touch patents and its overall design.

And that's my 2 cents 4 this sunny, but cold, Wednesday, December 29 th., 2010

Angry Bird art work via: Wikipedia

iPad 2 Rumor: Three Models Coming?

According to the latest iPad rumor, the next iPad will be available in three, count em, one... two.... three versions. This includes, besides the current Wi-Fi only and UMTS models, a new Verizon CDMA model.

According to a report by Digitimes, Apple will be bolstering the next iPad's screen by making it less susceptible to scratches and smudges, as well as making it more anti-reflective. Unfortunately, however, once again Apple was forced to pass on using active-matrix organic LED screens due to constrained supplies.

AppleInsider noted from the report that, "Sources estimated that Apple will produce about 40 million iPads in 2011, accounting for as much as three-quarters of the tablet market. That estimate is significantly lower than the 6 million per month capacity reported by DigiTimes earlier this month."

With the year just about finished and with only a few days remaining, one thing is for sure...... we don't have to wait much longer to find out if this latest rumor is true or false. Rumors are fun, but they are just that rumors and nothing more. All we know for sure is that there will be a new iPad 2, just as surely as it will be followed by an iPad 3, etc.

I do know what I would like to see, however. The very first thing on my list would be memory and increased storage. Lots and lots of it too, because, for one thing, 256Mbytes is nice and all, and maybe at one time it was even mind-blowing, but not any more. As far as I'm concerned you can never have enough memory, so, hopefully, the very next iPad will include at least a doubling, no, make that a quadrupling of its present memory and storage, if not more so!

Second on my wish list would be that the next iPad would include a radically new, faster and more powerful cpu with multiple cores! Yeah baby, now where talking, because just like memory or storage, you can never, and I mean never, really have enough cpu juice under the hood.

Thirdly, my next iPad wish would be to see Apple get even more aggressive on the pricing and to the degree that it would put the fear of God in the hearts of all its competitors while, at the same time, cheering the hearts of consumers everywhere. In the PC world, a world that offers a lot of copying but very little innovation, the biggest selling point is often simply the price.... the lower.... the better! Apple doesn't need, nor should it, revert to selling iPad's at the lowest denominator, but it should be low enough to make consumers think twice before purchasing a lower priced, lower quality Android, WebOS or Windows based tablet elsewhere.

In conclusion, I don't know if I'll get any of my next iPad wish's fulfilled, but, hopefully, I will, and, in addition, maybe, who knows, even a lot more pleasant iPad specs and features thrown in the mix as well.

And that's my 2 cents 4 this very snowy, windy Tuesday, December the 28th., 2010

The HP G72 And Me

Thanks to a big, bad, stinking snow storm I've decided to take time off from this little blog of mine. With a new and expensive snow blower it should have been a piece of cake to remove the ten or twenty billion tons of snow in my drive way, but nooooooo...... its locked in the shed and I can't find the bloody key, so it was, puff, puff, curse, puff, puff curse, curse and curse some more for me. In other words: I'm now too damn tuckered out to write my usual dribble, so its off to bed with my now aching all over body I go!

However, I did managed to do one thing before all of that snow shoveling, and something that couldn't help but make me feel cheap and dirty...... I bought a Windows 7 laptop! Oh, no.... the shame.... and the misery of it all! Its was boxing day, after all, here in Canada (I wish I was back in Germany.... someday, some day soon!) so I couldn't resist the opportunity to buy an HP G72 laptop, for next to nothing, complete with an i3 Intel cpu, 500GB hard-drive, 4GB of ram and a LightScribe DVD writer and a free, yes totally free 8GB Sony USB thumbdrive, and what any self-respecting Windows wouldn't be caught dead without, security software. In my case, it included a FREE $80 package of Kaspersky Internet Security software. How could I resist?

In conclusion, I'll probably do a mini review of the unit in a week or so, if, that is, I can live through the shame of actually buying a Windows Machine. Yes, HP makes some pretty sweet laptops and Windows 7 Premium, 64 bit edition, is a lot nicer than what came before it, but I'm pretty dang sure it isn't going to compare to a new MacBook Pro. That's on both the hardware and software side either. As for the MacBook Pro's, I'll wait to see what's coming in the new year, than I'll probably end up buying one and then I can give the Windows machine to a friend after I'm finished playing with it for awhile.

And that's my 2 cents on why I'm writing that I'm not writing my regular post this day, Monday, December 27, 2010

"Antenna Gate" Be Damed: Apple Invents A New Kind Of Antenna, The Logo Antenna!

Even though the iPhone 4 was not the first, nor will it be the last, phone to ever suffer from a so-called "antenna gate" issue, it nonetheless got more than its fair share of flack for a problem that was so readily and easily solved.

Now, however, thanks to the sleuths over at PatentlyApple, we now know that Apple has just invented and patented a new kind of antenna, one that potentially may yet nip any and all problems from any future "antenna gates" in the bud.

The patent is being called, by some, as the "Logo Antenna", as it would be housed in a dielectric window behind the Apple logo on possibly all of its future mobile devices.

PatentlyApple goes into much more detail, but one interesting thing of note is that they describe it as going beyond just mere Wi-Fi, and state:

"Apple's patent clarifies that the logo antenna will go beyond just Wi-Fi which is supposedly used in iMac's after 2009. The patent states that logo antennas will cover "wireless communications in cellular telephone bands such as the GSM bands at 850 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 1900 MHz and the 2100 MHz data band." Additionally, logo antennas will cover multibands for telephonic communications and GPS."

Interesting to be sure, but, more interestingly, PatentlyApple, via iFixit, goes on to show this logo-antenna concept apparently already being used in the iPad, as you can see in the illustration below. If this is the case, then it's good news indeed since I haven't read or heard of any complaints concerning the iPad's antenna so far, at least as far as I know of.

In conclusion, it's hope that this 'new kind of logo antenna design' will finally solve most, if not all, of the issues that Apple's competitors and distractors have bitterly complained about concerning the iPhone 4, and, to be quite honest, I also think that they have all completely overblown.

And that's my 2 cents 4 this 'twas the night before Christmas', Friday, December 24, 2010

The Latest iPad 2 Rumor

The latest iPad 2 rumor comes to us from the Japanese Mac blog MacOtakara, who cites anonymous Chinese sources as saying that Apple's next tablet will be 3mm thinner, measuring 239 x 186mm, while still maintaining its current 9.7 inch screen. The current iPad, by the way, measures some 242.8 x 189.7mm.

In addition to the above, the next iPad will also answer one criticism of the present iPad, namely its curved back. The new iPad will feature a flat back similar to the current iPod Touch and thus eliminating any wobble while laying flat. However, according to the latest rumors, the early case designs featuring a slot on the side thought to be for an SD card slot, is now reported to be rather for a "large wide-range speaker unit covered with metal mesh" as can be seen in MacOtakara's opening rendering. A video of the new case designed can seen below.

However, on another note, MacOtakara describes as "unreliable information" the rumor that the next iPad will have dual, front and back, cameras.

In conclusion, Apple is also rumored to be gearing up to produce to six million iPad 2's per month, with its supplier, Foxconn, delivering the first units come sometime this January or February. AppleInsider has also reported on plans to bring FaceTime to the next iPad, but the truth of the matter is that nothing will be officially, official until Apple makes it so, therefore, in the meantime, we'll jut have to take all of these rumors for what they are, rumors.

And that's my 2 cents on the latest iPad rumors 4 this Thursday, December 23, 2010

Did Windows Phone 7 Really Sell 1.5 Million In Six Weeks?

Microsoft's Achim Berg recently stated that Windows Phone 7 sales were promising, and he claimed that Microsoft has sold, thus far, a whopping 1.5 million of the little suckers. In comparison, Apple only sold one million of its original iPhone's in its first 74 days, as noted by Ed Bott in a recent post.

However, when it comes to Microsoft and details concerning its Windows Phone 7, they seem to be almost as famously silent and as secretive as Apple itself, and, thus far, they have failed to actually breakdown much of that 1.5 million figure. As many have noted, and as Mary-Jo Foley recently wrote:

"This number represents sales of Windows Phone 7 phones from phone makers to carriers. It is not the number of phones sold to customers by the carriers."

In other words, without actual activation numbers, for all we know, the carriers could still have 1.4 million of them just sitting in their warehouses gathering dust? It was also reported that Microsoft only sold 40,000 Window Phone's on its first day in the U.S., and if true, that would greatly help to explain why Microsoft, on its part, was so reluctant to reveal the actual first day sales, or the actual number of customer activations. After all, I would think that if Windows Phone 7 numbers were really all that great then Microsoft would be shouting them from the roof tops, as they are famously known to do.

So, did Microsoft actually sell some 1.5 million Window Phone 7 devices? The answer apparently is both yes and no. Yes, it has sold a massive 1.5 million stockpile to the individual carriers themselves, but, apparently maybe not that many to their actual individual customers, people who were willing to part with their hard earned cash for one!

In conclusion, one way or the other, I can't help but find it a little strange that a company that has traditionally loved to brag about its big numbers would suddenly be so quiet if Windows Phone 7 sales numbers were really all that great. Does this mean that Microsoft knows something that we don't? Something that would be embarrassing to Window Phone 7, and something that they don't really want us to know?

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Achim's Berg Photo via: Microsoft

Motorola To Take On The iPad

As you can see above, Motorola has released a 'teaser' video, one that trumpets their upcoming tablet to be unveiled at CES in January. In the video, Motorola basically runs down all current tablets including, of course, the Samsung Galaxy Tab and the iPad, suggesting that Motorola's upcoming tablet will blow them all away. Presumably it will be running Android's upcoming 'GingerBread' OS with some kind of UI customization on top of Android, meaning even more fragmentation of Android can be expected.

Of course, be it Froyo, GingerBread or what ever the current flavor of Android is, they're all basically patterned after iOS, meaning that it will be, like most other tablets, just an iPad clone. Nonetheless, however, you can bet your last stick of blue berry flavored gum that they'll take credit for primarily most of the innovation in tablets. Any 'Tablet Evolution' on Motorola's part, of course, remains yet to be seen. With all of the legal problems now facing Android they had better get it out soon, real soon, because, who knows, in another two years or so Google may be forced to abandon Android completely and start over from scratch. That's if Apple, Oracle and others win their various and mounting patent infringement cases against Android. This includes patents for Java and for multi-touch patents, including the now common 'pinch-to-zoom' patent, something that, by the way, many legal experts think highly likely Google will lose.

Meanwhile, Motorola isn't the only one interested in the tablet space that Apple has virtually reinvented overnight. As you can see below, we can now add the Fujitsu's Lifebook T580 to the list. What's really interesting about this particular tabletPC is that it features an Intel i3-380UM processor for starters and also offers an i5-560UM option for an extra $250 above its base price of $1,149. In addition to the full blown Intel silicon, theT580 packs in 2GB of RAM and a 160GB of storage, plus an N-trig digitizer. Fujitsu's new 10.1 inch, three pound T580 runs on Windows 7 Professional and features a hide-a-way keyboard.

In conclusion, with the enormous Kno dual-screen tablet also shipping this week, it's obvious that the tablet race is now on. Despite an avalanche of new tablets, it's believed that the iPad will continue to dominate the tablet space until at least the end of 2012. After that it's anybodies guess, but I personally believe, that just like Windows of old, the iPad's huge and growing library of apps should help make it very hard, if not impossible, for others to ever quite catch up to it. As cool as the iPad is now, future iPads should be a lot cooler still. So cool, in fact, that they should remain to be the hottest tablets around for a long time yet.

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Fujitsu T-580 photo via: Engadget

Apple And 2011: What To Expect?

The year 2010 has been good to Apple, thanks in part to the technology of the year, the iPad. The iPad isn't the only reason why Apple is now laughing all the way to the bank either. Other game changing Apple devices such as the iPhone and the iPod, as well as record breaking sales of he Mac have all played their part.

In fact, 2010 was the year that Apple did the unthinkable: it passed Microsoft in both market cap and revenues! This is truly amazing and it' something that many folks, myself included, would never have "thunked" was even remotely possible.

When it comes to the iPad itself, I can remember its critics scornfully describing it as just a big iPhone or an iPod touch, and something that was sure to fail, because for starters, it didn't even have a full-blown desktop OS, built-in camera or a bloody keyboard! Boy, oh boy, were these folks dead wrong as the iPad went on to become one of the biggest game changing gadgets of all time, selling virtually millions over night. It was so successful, in fact, that it managed, in its own right, to totally not only disrupt the sales of all of the lame, half-baked tablets that went before it, but also, in addition, PC desktops, laptops and especially the once explosives sales of netbooks.

As Jason Perlow, writing for ZDNet, states concerning the iPad:

"The iPad is, without any doubt, the most successful product that Apple has launched since the iPhone or even the iPod. In terms of cultural significance and impact to the technology industry, it has in one short year changed the way we view the entire future of personal computing., and..... But we must give the credit where the credit is due. Apple and its engineers have changed the game. Forever......... The iPad is certainly a very transformative, disruptive technology. It has in such a short period of time caused every single company in our industry to completely re-think the end-user computing experience and how to best enable their applications and infrastructure to support it and other “thin” technologies that are similar to it or compete with it altogether."

After 2010, however, the question logically arises: what's next for Apple in 2011? Can it hope to repeat its stunning 2010 success, or maybe even actually succeed it?

That something, of course, that we definitely won't know until come this time next year, but a lot of people are literally banking on it, people such as Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White, who while downplaying some risks, raised his price target on Apple's high-flying stock to an incredible $450. After returning from China he stated that:

“When China sells out, Apple is starving China so the rest of the world can eat. That gives you a very good feel for demand.”

Some people believe that Apple can't win, because in their minds Android will do what Microsoft did to the Mac with its Windows OS, and, therefore, simply and completely take over the market. They point to Android's incredible and explosive growth over the past year as evidence that this will be the case here as well. Naturally, they conveniently forget to mention the simple fact that Apple's iPhone was and still is temporarily limited to AT&T and that the iPhone 4 still makes more profit than all smart phone's combined! In fact, others believe that when it comes to Android, well it's basically a case of Android’s Pursuit of the Biggest Losers.

I'm no prophet, and my guess is no better than yours, but I am expecting, or at least hoping, that Apple's next iPhone, let's call it the G5, will be a far more advanced device than anything that we now see on the market today. Hopefully, like some Android and Windows devices, we'll get a four inch screen. I've noticed that the iPhone's current body could conceivably hold a much larger screen without over-sizing it, much as is the case with many Android devices.

Also, with Lion OS X and newer SandyBridge models of the Mac on the near horizon, I'm hoping for big things on the Mac side of the equation as well. Newer, slimmer thus sleeker and even sexier designs, with more speed and power to boot. On January the 6th. Apple will finally be bringing the Mac App Store and it's hoped that this will not only revolutionize the delivery of apps, but end up with developers producing a hell of a lot more of them.

On the iPod side, well, most likely, Apple will be taking a hint from of all of the iPod watch conversion kits out there and will produce a version of its own. That would include an iPod model that features a lot more clock themes than the simple white and black one currently available, and, most importantly, include some kind of Blue-Tooth connectivity that will free the user of the need for wired ear buds.

Back to the iPad, I could be dead wrong, but I have this sneaky feeling that Apple is planning something big, something maybe even down-right spectacular! Frankly, it has little choice because its competition is going to be fierce and Apple knows it. I don't know for sure, of course, but I'm betting that in addition to both front and back cameras, Apple's iPad 2 is going to be a lot lighter, slimmer and sexier on the outside, while on the insides I wouldn't be surprised to see its A4 chip replaced with a faster and more powerful version and, hopefully, a multi-core one at that!

Again, and in conclusion, I have no way of knowing what new the new year will bring to Apple or its millions of users, but the next twelve months looks like it could be very interesting and very bright indeed, but only time, as always, will tell.

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Monday, December the 20th. already, 2010

Time cover Illustration via: ZDNet

Ubuntu's OS X!

If you enlarge, by clicking on the LifeHacker photo above, you'll see what looks to be just an ordinary and perfectly normal screen shot of the Mac's famous OS X desktop, but is it really?

Actually, if you look a wee-bit closer, then you'll begin to notice little things that are out of place. For one thing, the Apple logo in the menu has been replaced with a nifty looking Ubuntu logo. However, the reason for this is really quite simple:

That's because it is........ Ubuntu!

Yes, it's good old Ubuntu alright, but thanks to its highly customizable nature and a little help from Macbuntu you can easily now give your old Ubuntu a fabulous new OS X makeover. After all, Mark Shuttleworth, Ubuntu's creator, clearly gets his inspiration from OS X , so why not pretend that his baby is OS X?

Macbuntu is a nifty little theme and one that easily allows anyone to customize the look and feel of this popular distro simply by opening up its Terminal app and typing in a few command lines, and then el-presto..... you got yourself one hell of a smart looking Linux distro, and one that gives you the look of a rich man's computer, the sexy but expensive Mac itself.

Macbuntu can be installed and activated, if your running Ubuntu 10.4, by simply typing in the following lines:

wget https://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/macbuntu/macbuntu-10.04
/v2.2/Macbuntu-10.04.tar.gz -O /tmp/Macbuntu-10.04.tar.gz tar xzvf
/tmp/Macbuntu-10.04.tar.gz -C /tmp cd /

tmp/Macbuntu-10.04/ ./install.sh

However, if your running the newer and flashier version, 10.10 of Ubuntu, then you'll need to only type in the following:

wget https://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/macbuntu/macbuntu-10.10/v2.3/

Macbuntu-10.10.tar.gz-O /tmp/Macbuntu-10.10.tar.gz tar xzvf 

/tmp/Macbuntu-10.10.tar.gz -C /tmp cd /tmp/
Macbuntu-10.10/ ./install.sh

As noted by LifeHacker, Macbuntu is a very well thought out and well put together theme, and one that also gives you the option of using either the Apple or the Ubuntu logo in the menu bar, plus the option to use either a FireFox, Chrome or a ThunderBird theme. You can even have the option of using an Expose-like window previewer or the option of using hot corners. And if you ever wish to go back to using your regular old GNOME desktop, well that couldn't be easier then retyping in the command: ./install.sh with ./uninstall.sh .

In conclusion, when running Ubuntu I prefer my Ubuntu to actually look like Ubuntu. However, then again, thankfully, I have the real thing..... a Mac! However, if you don't and you want to get as close as you can to using a Mac, without actually buying one, then MacBuntu is a great way to go. Besides MacBuntu you could always us a Linux distro that was designed from the ground up to look and feel like a Mac, the great OS X impersonator...... Dreamlinux.

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Friday, the 17th. of December, 2010

New Macs Coming For Early 2011: What Can We Expect?

Apple usually updates the Mac with newer models early in the new year, so it's not surprising to read reports of such, including this one by Digitimes, who says that Apple is about to update four new MacBook models, and, as well, its all-in-one Mac desktop.

The MacBooks themselves apparently will be coming with some slight chassis design changes, while the desktop models will offer new screen sizes. Components will be supplied by both Quanta Computer and Foxconn Electronics, so there's not much change there.

Some are also expecting that the next upgraded Macs will feature Intel's latest and greatest silicon, Sandy Bridge. As usual with silicon, Sandy Bridge should offer more speed and power, but at considerably cooler temperatures, while at the same time offering considerable energy savings to boot.

Over at Engadget some of their readers have been commenting that they would love to have a Mac, be it a desktop or laptop, without the glass screen, or more importantly the gloss that comes with it. Certainly having an option to order either a matt or a glossy screen would be desirable, but I often wonder why you couldn't have both.... namely a screen with a removable glass component, one that you could easily pop in or out at will? Personally, I love the glossy screen myself, but I have to admit that having a matt screen without all of that glossy reflect-ability is also nice. The last thing I want is to see is any surrounding lights or reflections, or even worse... my stupid face, staring back at me!

Other people are also really hoping to finally see a Mac with a built-in touch screen, a point that I find is somewhat muted considering Apple's recently introduced multi-touch track pad. Still, I have to admit that I wouldn't mind having a large touch screen, even though the track pad is definitely a much better option over the long run. Being the greedy little bugger that I am, however, I want both!

Also, I would like to see an Apple keyboard that also incorporates the multi-track pad into the keyboard itself. By placing it where the numeric keypad usually goes, not only could you use it for multi-touch-tracking, but also, with a little software, you could still use it as a numeric key pad!

What I really, really, really want, however, is a Mac like this one that Apple actually took out patents for. As you can see, this is a Mac that combines the best of both the mobile and desktop environments, and if you ask me it would be my wildest Mac dream come true. After slipping in your mobile tablet, or MacBook component, you would suddenly have all of the benefits of a desktop, including its larger screen, bigger hard drives, graphics cards, or what have you?

In conclusion, we may not know exactly what Apple has got planned for 2011, but we do know that it has something, and it wouldn't surprised me one little old bit if Apple has something planned that will surprise us with something completely out of the blue and something that nobody ever would have thought was possible. At least we can always hope and dream it does, can't we?

And that's my 2 cents on any and all upcoming new 2011 Macs 4 this Thursday, December 16, 2010

iMac photo via: Engadget

My 2 Cents On ChromeOS

After Six Days Working Entirely from Chrome OS LifeHacker's Kevin Purdy wrote that "it was a blast", and after asking why anyone would want to have an OS that offers them basically nothing more than a browser with a lot of extra preferences, he answers that there where lots of reasons, and that basically Chrome was just enough computer for him.

Unfortunately, ChromeOS isn't quite enough for many people, including the creator of Google's own Gmail and Adsense program, Paul Buchheit, who now works for Facebook. According to Paul, he predicts that "ChromeOS will be killed next year (or “merged” with Android)."

Richard Stallman, the open source creator of GNU, warned that ChromeOS could even be potentially dangerous to its users, as noted in a post by AppleInsider entitled "Chrome's OS assailed as needless, dangerous by critics."



Personally, even though I'm not a software expert, or a whiz-kid at programing or anything, I know what I like and what I don't. As far as my 2 cents on Chrome OS goes, even though I think there are certainly some lofty ideas and goals behind it, Chrome OS itself simply doesn't offer enough plus's to overcome its many more negatives, and as far as it stands now, I think it's a big FAIL!

For starters, on the plus side, ChromeOS starts up fast, real fast and much faster than you would ever expect to see from a traditional OS. Not only that, but one of the biggest plus's of a cloud-based OS is that your work is available anywhere, at anytime and on any computer! An other sweet thing about Chrome is that if your computer is ever lost or stolen, as long as your passwords are safe you end up losing only the hardware itself, as all of your files and information is stored in the cloud, therefore as soon as you boot up and sign in on a replacement computer it's like having your old computer back! I have to admit' that's probably the sweetest and biggest advantage of Chrome OS and almost enough to make me want it.

Unfortunately, on the other side of the coin, since ChromeOS is also a web based OS, that also means all of its apps are also web based apps as well. Web apps might be fine for most simple tasks, but don't expect to see any real sophisticated games, or powerful based applications like PhotoShop anytime soon. Sure, you can have dumb-downed and less powerful versions of these programs including simple games like BeJeweled (one of my favs) and dumb-downed and less powerful versions of photo editing software, but they are still not quite the same thing, or of quite the same quality or as powerful as the traditional versions.

The biggest problem, no the biggest danger with web apps and OS's is that you are trusting someone else with your precious files and information! Do you really want to trust someone else with the security of protecting all of YOUR personal stuff stored on their servers rather than your own? Not me, I much prefer to have my information, for the most part, thank you very much, stored on my very own hard disks where I can see and access them. I'm not sure that I really want everything that I do on my computer, as innocent as it might be, entrusted to somebody else and on their hardware, and only God knows where? Having all of your computer activity in the clouds would, I think, make it all the easier for the big data-mining companies, like Google, to access for what ever reason, they might like. After all, every time you use Google to search, well they use you for their own advantage to target ads, etc.

In conclusion, even though I'm not the world's biggest security expert, or the world's most knowledgeable software expert for that matter, but I do know that I definitely don't want anyone else handling my content on some far off server site, I prefer to do that myself and not Google, Apple, Microsoft or anybody else, and that goes especially the government. For that reason alone, I don't care how fast, or how convenient ChromeOS, or any other web based OS might be, it's still not powerful enough, or convenient enough for me!



And that's my 2 cents on ChromeOS 4 this Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Firing On All Cylinders: Apple Inc.

One of the largest and most prestigious investment firms of them all, Goldman-Sachs, yesterday raised its 12 month price target for Apple's stock which, at the time of this writing was $321, to a whopping $430 per share based on booming iPhone and iPad sales.

As far as the iPad goes, Goldman-Sachs analyst, Bill Shope wrote:

"We believe significant growth and profit opportunities for this platform still lie ahead," and that...... "As a result, we expect revenue and earnings expectations to continue to trend upward, and we view the shares as attractive at current levels."

It's not only the iPhone and iPad that are growing either, but Mac sales are growing rapidly as well. In fact, also yesterday, NPD data shows Apple on track to sell record 4.3M Macs in (the) Dec. quarter. This would make for another quarterly record of Mac sales, thus topping the last record that saw Apple shipping approximately some 3.89 million Macs.

When you consider that according to some, the iPad is the Mac for the masses, then it also becomes clear, as Wired Magazine posted, that "Apple Is (the) Number 1 Computer Seller — If You Count iPads" in the U.S. and the third largest worldwide! However, next year, some are speculating that the iPad may, in fact, actually surpass the sales of traditional Mac desktops and laptops sales. Its already close to that now!

Interestingly enough, despite the fact that Apple's stock is now $320 plus, many consider Apple's stock to be downright cheap as CNN/Money recently posted. How high the high-flying iPad and iPhone will eventually take it, well that's the 64 million dollar question, or in Apple's case better make that the 64 billion dollar question, give or take a nickel of course.

In conclusion, even though Apple is now one of the world's largest and most successful companies in the world, with a market cap north of 295 B, under Steve Jobs it is still pretty much run and acts more like that of a small startup, with many believing that most of its glory days are still laying ahead of it. One thing is clear, however, is that Apple, with its iPad, iPod, Mac and the iPhone, has accumulated one of the biggest cash of stash anywhere, a virtual piggy bank that should be getting a lot bigger since its hot selling products are almost like having a virtual license to print money.

And that's my 2 cents 4 the day 4 this Tuesday, the 11th. day before Christmas, 2010

Modified piggy bank via: WPCLIPART

2010 Top 10 Twitter Trends: The iPad and Android In Tech

C/Net did a video on the Top Twitter Trends for 2010, and amazingly they noted that it has grown from just 3 million accounts in 2008 to some 175 million plus today!

Wow, now that's a lot of growth and a lot of tweets.

Interestingly, only some 8% of those accounts come from Tweeter's home base in the U.S., while the majority are from overseas thus giving Twitter a unique perspective on what the world is currently thinking about on any one subject.

As the Giz further points out, out of the 24 billion tweets or so, the only top tech trends were for the iPad at number six, closely followed by Android at number 7. According to Twitter's official blog, the top ten Twitter trends for the year are as follows:

1. Gulf Oil Spill
2. FIFA World Cup
3. Inception
4. Haiti Earthquake
5. Vuvuzela
6. Apple iPad
7. Google Android
8. Justin Bieber
9. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows
10. Pulpo Paul

I'm not surprised to see either the iPad or Android included, but I am somewhat surprised that neither the iPhone 4 or Windows Mobile 7 made the cut, let alone much more important subjects such as the world economic crisis. As far as the 'Bieber' goes, well he's the only person to actually make the top ten, something that leaves me scratching my head, but then again, I'm not some young teen girl, so what in blazes do I know? And Pulpo Paul? Who, or what in hell, is that? I never heard of Pulpo Paul before, so I don't have the foggiest clue?

In conclusion, as interesting as Twitter Top Trends might be, I'm not sure what value to place on them, since Twitter itself points out these subjects are only what people are currently tweeting about, and since we know that people are a very fickle bunch, what they think is hot one day, well they'll drop like a hot potato the next. However, that said, I'm still quite eager to find out what will make Twitter's Top Trends for 2011.

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Monday, December 13, 2010

iAmiga, The Amiga Emulator For The iPhone

I was rather excited about the Commodore 64 emulator when it first came out for the iPhone, even though I must admit that I never was really that much excited about the original Commodore 64 itself. I thought of it as a semi-computer and, frankly, to be quite honest, I actually think I despised the little sucker.

On the other hand, I was extremely excited about Commodore's trend-setting Amiga computers, which were undoubtedly, at the time, the most graphically advanced of any computer period.

Now, thanks to Manomio, the same folks that brought us the original Commodore 64 emulator, I'm now even more excited about iAmiga, their new and upcoming Amiga emulator for the iPhone that promises to bring back all the glory days from the Amiga's past to Apple's present and hot-selling handset.

As you can see below, in TouchArcade's video demo, Manomio new iAmiga's emulator seems to work just fine and dandy, with game play seemingly just as smooth and as buttery as if you were playing the original game on an original Amiga machine.

In conclusion, even though I'm not that much of a gamer myself, I've always loved emulators as such and especially those that help to bring back all of the magic from computers of long past. Since these emulators seem to work fine on smaller iPhone typed devices, just imagine what a larger screen device such as the iPad would bring to said apps? I can only hope that Manomio will do a version specifically tailored for the iPad, a device much better suited to bringing out all of the richness and dang-right goodness from an app like iAmiga. They might be old games, but, after all, many of them are classics, and the classics can never go out of style, can they?

And that's my 2 cents 4 this "Thank God It's Friday", December 0, 2010

Amiga logo and video via: TouchArcade