Apple Tech Blog

Apple iPhone 4 Dazzles

2010-06-09T15:08:00.000-07:00

Apple iPhone 4 could hardly be called a surprise. The cat was out of the bag after the San Mateo County Sheriff obtained a warrant and searched Gizmodo's editor Jason Chen's Fremont, Calif., home for the missing (stolen?) iPhone had been revealed to the world. Chen paid $5000 for the iPhone to Brian Hogan, who did not own it but said he obtained it at a Redwood, California bar where a Apple engineer Gray Powell had been separated from it. What a drama!

In his announcement from the stage of WWDC 2010 in San Francisco, Steve Jobs seconds before the new slimmer phone appeared on the screen joked, "Some of you might have seen this..." to a thunderous laugh in the audience. Yet, Apple did not fail to dazzle and wow not only this audience of programmers and engineers dedicated to Apple's success but to the throngs of those listening and watching around the world. Some in the media have called Facetime the iPhone 4 "killer app" and while that might just still need to be proven, it added a sexiness and allure that simple software upgrades cannot.

Let do a rundown list of the most important changes to the iPhone with 4:

Hardware upgrades:

Front and back camera (5 megapixel)

LED Flash

720P HD Video 30 fps

up to 40% longer battery life (talk time)

24% thinner

Retina display (326 pixels per inch) 960 x 640 res

Software upgrades:

FaceTime videoconferencing application (uses both front and back camera)
iMovie for iPhone

iBooks for iPhone

iOS 4 has multi-tasking

iOS 4 allows you to organize the desktop icons into folders

While much of these hardware and software had been speculated about in the press, looking at the new glass and aluminum iPhone and seeing the added features of front and rear 5 megapixel camera and newly labeled Facetime application made it a bold new iPhone that perks the interests of users everywhere. A larger battery inside a solid 24% smaller glass and aluminum box makes it a substantially different feeling object in the hand.

Perhaps more significantly, the new iPhone has a new glass display with 320 pixels per inch that renders all on its screen more beautiful, clean, and clear from photos to video to text. Coupled with the new 5 megapixel still and 720 HD video cameras this phone becomes more and more serious as a video recording and still picture camera.

iBookstore is iPad Achilles Heal

2010-05-27T12:29:00.000-07:00

In almost all respects Apple's iBookstore is the model for future delivery of published materials from college textbooks, contemporary fiction and non-fiction as well as periodicals. But it is not there yet. It ain't cooked. Not ready for prime time.

Apple's iBook reader for the iPad is a beautifully designed eReader software platform with features that give users built-in search, navigation, bookmarking and highlighting features. When you buy a book from Amazon, you just wish it were readable in the iBook application because of the greater software users tools. But on the iPad, everything remains glued to their distribution outlets. I would like all my magazines, books, software manuals in ONE library. But that's not the case.

The iBookstore is Apple's achilles heal right now. Partly due to poor organization but mostly due to a lack of inventory, Apple has a lot of catching up to do. The offerings on the iBookstore are sparse, especially with back inventory and non-fiction.If you have a particular interest in say, urban history and anthropology, the iBookstore is weak. Inventory is critical to reaching a mass market accpetance, although, Apple in a few short months have totally eclipsed their competition.

I've tried to search for a number of important non-fiction books in the iBookstore and gotten no results. Books like "Naked City" Richard Flordia's "Who's Your City?" and "Rise of the Creative Class" bare no results. With few successful search results, I turn to browsing the categories and find, for instance, under "Biographies & Memoires" I'm shown a selection of maybe 25 or 30 books, most of them considered to be "popular culture" or books about well-known celebrities or sports figures. The inventory MUST get better to reach a critical mass audience.

One can only hope, given the aggressive growth of Apple's iTunes music store, that Apple has the marketing muscle to being publishers to the table and make content available, and not only extensive but authoritative in its scope. But they better get moving fast as Amazon had a considerable lead and other competitors like Barnes & Noble and Borders Books have with their Nook and Sony Readers an upper hand with access to publishers even though their eReaders are archane and hopelessly out of date.

Apple iPad - Revolutionary Device?

2010-03-02T07:28:00.000-08:00

Apple calls their long anticipated and hyped iPad "...a magical and revolutionary device..." and expects to outsell their iPhone as they manufacture a million a month beginning in March. The iPad is almost completely made up of a 9.7-inch LED-backlit IPS color display and one button on its face. The tablet is all monitor controlled by a multi-touch display and runs the iPhone operating system (currently being upgraded for iPad) which means it can run the 140,000+ apps sold on the Apps Store.

Is it revolutionary? Tablets or slates have been around a long time and failed to capture the computer using public imagination. IBM ThinkPad was introduced to the companies line of computers back in 1992. Bill Gates heralded a new era of tablet computing back in 2001 and reiterated his belief they'd become popular in 2005 but they've only reached 1.3 percent of the computer buys in the marketplace. But the problems with tablets in the past is they tried to simply be another form of the laptop or desktop with a different device form factor. Gates insisted they have stylists but that never caught on as stylists have never worked for PDA's, Smartphones, desktops or laptops.

What Apple proposes to introduce is a new category of device that is coupled with a content delivery system that never existed back in 1992 or 2001. Perhaps more revolutionary than the device itself is the ability of an iPad owner to download books, movies, music, magazines, multimedia, still photos, the web and email all through one simple a clean source - iTunes, the Apps Store and iBook. Even more significantly, Apple introduces users to a whole new world of software developers who write solution specific apps with a small and efficient footprint and low or reasonable cost to the user. This represents a significant challenge to bloatware and high priced licensed software companies who came to dominate the market.

Again, it's about simplicity and and elegance not hardware over-burdened with design or bloatware. Apple has stripped away all the ports, slots, keyboards, buttons, pens, trackpads, drives and drivers and by so doing, as David Carr said, has negated the "deviceness" of the iPad. It has become simply a window to content.

At its base, the iPad is simple a reader, a video player, a consoleless game device. and a rich application environment for thousands of developers to launch their fame and fortune from their basement or garage just as Jobs and Woz did back in the late 70s. Making the decision to run iPad on the iPhone OS as opposed to the Mac OSX was a significant revolutionary statement to the software development world.

The critics who say the iPad is simply a iPhone too big for your pocket really missed the boat. They don't get it but their boat is sinking. Rumors are, of course, that iPad may one day be upgraded to Mac OSX but never at the expense of the huge iPhone apps development community. What Apple did by backing iPhone apps developer is to bring hobby computing and software designers (at the core of Apple's founding) back to the software industry.

All along the critics of the iPad have taken the tack that it fails to emulate current stock of computing devices in the marketplace - comparing it to smartphones, laptops, netbooks. tablets, or the features of a desktop (keyboards, full-fledged operation systems, ability to run bloatware apps, etc.). As usual. they've completely missed the point - the iPad is not just another iteration of the old. When Apple rolls out new and innovative products like they did with iPod, iPhone, and even the Mac itself, they search consumer users needs and invent a whole new category of computing device for viewing content. The risk is, as it has always been for Apple innovation, is the marketplace ready for a new device and content delivery system?

Top 20 iPhone Apps of 2009

2010-01-15T07:03:00.000-08:00

The biggest computer tech success story of 2009 has been the emergence of the iPhone apps development community. While everyone is quick to credit the iPhone and Apple with rock-star status in product development, the real driving force behind the iPhone success are the solution specific small footprint and inexpensive apps. The expression "There's an app for that" has become as pervasive in culture as "I can't believe I ate the whole thing!" or "Where's the beef?"

1. Dragon Dictation (FREE) - there is still much to be fixed with Dragon Dictation but it is a category starter in the realm if speech-to-text and it performs better than many counterparts that have been on the desktop computer for years. While you are there also check out Dragon Search (FREE) an app by the same company that does voice activated searches using multiple engines like Google, Bing, Wikipedia, YouTube and your local iPhone storage.

2. Qik (FREE)- Qik is another app in its infancy but it allows you to video stream to the internet or capture video and upload it to Facebook, YouTube or Twitter, a similar but more limited free app Ustream is also a recent add to the Apple Apps Store. Qik can also be used by non-3GS iPhone users to capture video to their iPhone.

3. ReelDirector ($7.99) - a full featured video editing environment for the 3GS iPhone. This app allows you to assemble multiple clips, apply transitions, titles and credits, trim clips. add voice over narration and even a music score. You can make a reasonably professional looking video without ever needing to leave the iPhone. There are a bunch of new video capture and editing options for older first generation iPhones and 3G available also.

4. Print and Share ($6.99) - allows you to print text and photos, email documents or attachments from your iPhone directly to a printer over wifi, 3G or Edge

5. Bento ($4.99) - a simple and elegant database application that lets you design your own databases, choose from templates, capture data and even sync to your home computer (providing you have the desktop Bento app) across wifi

6. Layar (FREE) - augmented reality apps are bound to become bigger in 2010 and Layar is one of the first to allow you to point your camera down a street and Layar will tell you what shops, restaurants and buildings house the landscape in the finder. It also has layers that describe real estate for sale, prices, etc. A similar location information gathering AR app would be Cyclopedia ($1.99)

7. Air Mouse ($1.99) - turns your iPhone into a remote control mouse pad, keyboard and device controller for your computer. This is a great tool of you use a Mac-Mini in your media cabinet and attach it to your digital TV.

8. Pano ($1.99 on sale) - I love this app. It allows you to take multiple panel panorama photos and then stitches them together for you on the iPhone.

9. Photogene ($2.99) - this apps does everything most average users of Photoshop need to do to correct color, rotate and adjust images, add or subtract saturation, lighten skin tones and even apply some filters to photos shot on the iPhone. any image in your Photo Gallery can be edited by Photogene

10. QuickOffice ($9.99) - allows you to edit Word and Excel documents on the iPhone

11. Sketchbook ($1.99) - a pretty full-featured drawing environment for the iPhone with layers, the ability to import photos from your gallery, the ability to switch brushes and change the brush size, opacity

12. PicTranslator ($1.99) - this app allows me to take a picture of text written in other languages (Brazilian Portuguese for instance) and then it will translate captured text into English and even speak it back to help with pronunciation

13. WhatTheFont (FREE) - okay so this is for publishing designer geeks but still cool, as it allows me to take a picture of a font typeface and it then tells me what the font style/type it is

14. Mint (FREE) - A personal finance tool that allows you to track, budget, and manage you money on the go. You set up for an account, add your online banking accounts, credit cards, IRAs, home mortgage

15. Camera Genius ($.99 for a limited time) - a better camera app for the iPhone than allows you digital zoom in on your subject, apply an anti-shake stabilization, a burst mode to capture multiple frames, apply a composing grid on the screen when it picture shooting mode, and a timer so you can set the camera up and then run into the frame.

16. Music streaming/Radio apps (FREE) - you keep hearing from the Zune fanboys that iPhone lacks an FM tuner. This I don't get because there is a wide range of music streaming and radio apps form NPR, MPR, PRI, CBC, BBC, C-SPAN Radio, Pandora Radio, AOL Radio, Sirus, Last.fm, Slacker Radio. Listen Zune dudes, radio as we knew it is dead.

17. RSS Player ($2.99) - for those who gave up radio long ago and embraced the podcast revolution in content library, RSS Player lets you manage your both your audio and video feeds and shows by download or streaming

18. Travel apps (varying prices) - one of the areas that has proven to be a big boon to iPhone apps is travel and we could easily fill pages with suggestions. Topping the list is Flight Tracker (.99), a program that will track you flight, gates, arrival and departure times, delays, etc. Many iPhone users like this app in conjunction with travel organizers like TripIt (FREE) and Trips (.99). Many cities with public subway systems like the Paris Metro, New York Subway, or London Underground offer maps, station locators, route advisories, etc that can make you trip much easier to plan and organize and even speed your daily routines. You will also find apps that can find restaurants, places of interest, and shops, specific museum guides with floor plans and collection overviews for instance at the Louvre and National Gallery of London. Translation apps assist you with overcoming language barriers in destination countries Translate It (.99) and iTranslate (FREE) or iTranslate Pro ($1.99) are universal translators with over 50 languages supported. Shown here is a augmented reality screen in the Paris Metro app that shows you exactly where the Metro stops are and the direction and distance from you feet to the nearest entry locations. Pretty sweet!

19. Air Sharing ($4.99) - Air Sharing lets you save HTML Web pages, PDFs, text files, you name it, for off-line perusal anytime, anywhere as well as transfer docs between you home computer or laptop using wifi

20. Pixelpipe (FREE) - for those who embraced the blogging revolution, Pixelpipe makes blogging on the iPhone as simple as spending email messages. Once you've set up Pixelpipe to direct your media to your accounts (Blogger, Flickr, Facebook, Picassa plus 110 destinations). I've seen some really interesting on-the-road travel blogs and personal diaries maintained using Pixelpipe.

NOTE: Due to problems with their app crashing, Layar has temporally removed the free app from the Apple Apps Store. They have promised to fix it and return to the Apps Store when it is stable and functioning properly.

iPhone 3GS Gets Video Tools

2009-12-29T09:37:00.000-08:00

The cornerstone of a whole new set of tools for the iPhone video enthusiast is ReelDirector, a full featured editing environment that allow you to assemble, trim and cut clips, apply transitions, titles and credits and record voice over - all without ever leaving the iPhone 3GS. In the last few days, with the upgrade to version 2.4, Nexvio has added the ability to add soundtrack music. This is a fast, on-the-run video editing set that even the most professional video editor or producer can take advantage of in assembling videos without the aid of a computer or dedicated editing bench.

The essence of the ReelDirector editing environment is the clip assembly screen, where you can see a timeline of you video, photo-stills, and audio clips along with the current frame where the playhead is active. The elegance of ReelDirector is simplicity and the application should serve as a reminder to Apple programmers who messed up the iMovie interface and perhaps could even simplify the Final Cut apps to locate the user in current mode and place in their projects. Never-the-less, once you project elements start to come together, regardless of the users ability level with video editing, you'll be surprised at the capabilities of the iPhone to assemble sophisticated videos with simple touch and drag interface. With virtually no keystrokes, commands or multiple drop down menus, you can do you entire project while waiting in line at the motor vehicle license bureau or dentist office. We've come along way.

A good friend who has been a film/video producer for 25 years said when I showed him ReelDirector, "We are going to see a feature film shot and edited on a iPhone real soon."

And there are a few other apps that also portend the future of film/video making on the iPhone. When used in conjunction with ReelDirector, these little aaps add style and flexibility

SLOWMO

This video app allows you to capture video in slow motion, accelerated motion or take an existing clip you've shot with the iPhone's built-in video software from you're Photo Gallery and render it in slow motion. While this application will allow you to take a single clip and apply the effect to varying results, using it conjunction with ReelDirector in an montage of editing treatments, it becomes more powerful as an add-on to ReelDirector and a methodology in preparation for editing. This provides storytellers with a set of tools to make your productions more impactful and interesting to view.

VINTAGEMAKER

I cannot help but feel VintageMaker is the first in what could be a class of applications for videomakers on the iPhone. Currently, VintageMaker has three style templates - 20's Movie, 60's HomeVideo, and Black & White.

Essentially, using video filters and music, VintageMaker takes a video clip and applies a look that is evocative of the name. The 20's Movie applies black and white as well as a scratched celluloid effect, speeds the frame rate 2X (although you can adjust it faster or slower) and you can select piano music that sounds like the soundtrack that might accompany a 1920s silent film. After rendering the clip for the special effect, you can then import it into ReelDirector in a longer piece or add title cards, end credits and voice over narration to complete your movie.

VintageMovie's other effect is 60's home movie that adds a orange/reddish cast common to film stock from that period, scratches a jittery frame effect and the sound of a 8mm projector to evoke the feel of the 1960s.

While the styles are specific in their use, you can easily imagine of suite of effects that could be applied to video for other effects or corrections to video that will evoke specific moods or placements in time and place or for effects used in genre's like sci-fi, westerns, film noir rock-vids, or experimental video.

iVideocamera Brings Video to non-3GS iPhones

2009-12-17T11:08:00.000-08:00

For a long time we've known that the iPhone 2 and 3G were certainly capable of recording video. Jailbroke iPhones have had, through a software app, been able to record video but now Apople has approved iVideocamera for the App Store.

Some of the limitations on this app are bewildering. For instance, the frame rate is low and you are severely limited by not being able to record more than a minute at a time. The price for iVideocamera is .99.

I would add the caveat that this is a severely impaired application and that one might be better served by installing Qik on the 3G iPhone and/or iVidCam (version 2.0) ($.99). iVidCam looks like the best option for 2G and 3G iPhone users at this time because the screen res is higher and it can record unlimited sized clips (depending on space available on your phone).

ReelDirector Let's You Edit Video

2009-12-15T13:36:00.000-08:00

ReelDirector 2.0 is a new iPhone App that allows you to really edit your iPhone clips into a movie very simply and intuitively on the iPhone. And for a limited time ReelDirector is available in the Apple Apps store for $4.99 as opposed to its regular retail price of $7.99.

With ReelDirector you can assemble multiple clips, trim and split, apply transitions, titles and rearrange your edit in the time line. You can also import still photos and (since version 2.0) apply the Ken Burns effect to animate their motion. A very important feature for YouTubers and video bloggers is the ability to add a voice over narration track. Once you've rendered your final edit you can email it or save it to your camera roll. All this makes the full assembly of a edited video possible without ever leaving the iPhone and loading it into a editing program on your computer.

A few enhancements would make this app dynamite. First, allowing users to add a music score from their iTunes library would fill it out and make it a full-featured editing environment. Second, being able to preview the entire assembly before rendering (even if the preview could not show transitions or titles) would be valuable to the average editor.

And third, while you can post your finished videos to YouTube from your camera roll or using other third party apps like Pixelpipe, it would be fabulous to use the Shared button to upload directly while presently you can only send it to yourself and friends using email. And the email feature is severely limited due to the duration and file size limitation on the iPhone.

Most owners of this app will tell you it is a bargain at $4.99.

Apple TV's Bleak Future

2009-09-16T10:25:00.000-07:00

A few years ago I bought an 160 GB Apple TV with the hope and expectation that I'd be able to store, time-shift and obtain a level of video-on-demand that digital technology and the web have been promising for decades. Only to be disappointed.

Last fall, when my home was broken into and the Apple TV stolen (without the remote) I figured the slim little aluminum box spent the entire winter in a ditch next to the freeway. Even a thief had to come to realize what they had was a closed system of little resale value and without the remote it could not be controlled.

If you go back through the history of Apple and its successes and failures, you will list the Newton, Mac Cube, and perhaps the Performa TV as big failures, Now, you should add Apple TV to that list. But, but the slim little silver box would say, "I cudda been a contenda..." And that is a true statement.

Designing a closed eco-system for Apple TV was the first big mistake. Apparently Apple wanted users to obtain all their film, TV and music content for their Apple TV through iTunes. Initially, downloading content from iTunes was extremely slow and ripping copies from your DVD collection like we did with our music from CD collections was not officially approved. This barrier put a big damper on wide-spread use and acceptance.

Another huge drawback to the Apple TV eco-system is the device did not have a DVR and could not record and time-shift your favorite TV programs, movies or documentaries. Apple insiders speculated before one keynote after another that Apple would upgrade Apple TV and make it more like other serious media center players (such as TiVO) but Apple uncharacteristically ignored customer demand. Software writers scrambled and wrote apps to jailbreak the box, making it easier to put content where we wanted it, add web surfing to access media on web sites, and still Apple refused to heed the call an improve their product.

When you looked at the back panel of the Apple TV you saw a USB port and the very first idea that flashed into my head was, Wow, now I can take an external USB storage drive and archive material to it but Apple wouldn't allow this and the software never supported it. When I asked the Genius' at the Apple Store "Why?" all they could say in agreement was, I doesn't make any sense other than there was probably some "Apple Legal" reason for it. That's not a good thing to tell faithful consumers of your products. And Apple seemed to never find a compelling use for that USB port.

Now, as many tech reporters have noted, Apple avoids talking about sales and what's happening to the Apple TV. Apple likes to characterize their commitment to the box as "a hobby." Meaning what? Apparently nothing more than just a cursory interest in pushing its technology, not providing serious upgrades and refusing to be on the cutting edge of the media center technology. Steve Jobs persistently throws off questions about Apple TV unit sales, which by his own observations about Kindle sales, means they are not hitting any kind of hoped for sales projections.

Easily Apple TV could be better. It could be a contender. Simply add a DVD player, DVR recording capabilities, and upgrade the software to include the record and capture features in EyeTV or with TiVO and you'd have a serious media component to add to the livingroom media center. I simply replaced my Apple TV with an old Mac Mini (see my iPhone remote controller review below) and the major motivation for this was bringing a DVD player next to my TV. Software improvements, beside the superficial 2.0 upgrade that did little more than improve the look could take full advantage of wifi and the inerconnectivity of all software and Airport connectedness of home networking.

Has Apple now completely missed the train as it leaves the station? Digital media set top boxes and the Netflicks, TiVO, Boxie, hulu, and other video-on-demand services emerging, has Apple basically thrown in the towel with Apple TV and stopped innovating on that platform?

Air Mouse iPhone App

2009-08-12T10:24:00.001-07:00

My newest app find is Mobile Air Mouse developed by RPA Technology in Boston, MA. I decided to take my old Mac Mini and hook it up to our HD flat screen TV basically to use it as a DVD player. The hook up went easily after purchasing a HDMI cable to connect the Mini with the TV.

However, in order to control the Mini I still needed to connect the keyboard and mouse and, even though I have a wireless QWERTY keyboard, it still quite weird sitting on the living-room couch with a keyboard, not to mention using the mouse on "mouseable" surfaces.

Then I discovered the Air Mouse in the apps store on sale for $2.99. It fit this bill perfectly and more.

As I said, it had been my intention to simply use the Mini as a DVD player, However, the Air Mouse is so useful, surfing the web, reading emails off the Mini and viewing photos in iPhoto that there are multiple functions I can use the TV set for now that I never imagined before.

REQUIREMENTS FOR USING

The Air Mouse application for iPhone will work with both Mac OSX 10.4 or higher and Windows PC XP or Vista but they must have wifi capability on the target computer. After purchasing the app from the App Store, you are required to go to the Mobile Air Mouse web site and download the free Air Mouser Server to be installed in your applications folder.

Once you launch the Air Mouser Server application on the target computer, you will see an icon of a yellow mouse on your menu bar if you are running a Mac, or an icon in your system tray if you are on a PC. You can then start up the iPhone app and the iPhone will automatically find the target and you are off and running. Air Mouse also lets you configure specific IP addresses, set passwords and control multiple computers. The setting are stored with the Air Mouse Server so you can control a Mac at home and a PC at the office, each keeping its own settings.

USING AIR MOUSE FOR MEDIA

The Air Mouse has a few different screens designed specifically for running your DVD and media player as you can see in the photo above. The media screen screen contains the most common buttons you need to control most media apps. The large round middle button is used to play/pause media tracks. On either side are the Back and Next button, for going to next or previous tracks. If you double tap the Next/Back buttons they can be used to Forward or Rewind your media. Below these keys are a volume up/down, Mute, Channel Up/Down and a numeric keypad for changing channels. The Menu button has many purposes that vary depending on what program you are running on the computer but usually takes you back to the next level up or the menu selection level on the DVD player.

On the top half of the screen is the track pad. It works like the trackpad on you laptop computer allowing you to move the cursor around on the screen tap, double tap and select items or buttons on the screen.

All this was more functionality than I ever expected from an iPhone App for remotely controlling the Mini. While Apple's Remote application for controlling Apple TV is simple and elegant it can be oddly difficult to navigate menus linearly with the limited options of both the iPhone Remote App and the small white one button remote that ships with Apple TV. Air Mouse has them both beat just for running Front Row or other media apps.

BUT WAIT, there is more...

Air Mouse has another screen called web keys that can be used while you are surfing the web in Safari, Firefox or your chosen web browser. Below the top trackpad area, the web keys screen contains the most common buttons you'll need to control a web browser. The top row of keys contain Back, Search, Home and Next buttons. To open a location, double tap the search button. The second row of keys Reload, Stop, Bookmarks and Zoom In/Out buttons. These are up for the most common browsers, but if your browser is not included, you can add a new browser by clicking the Web key in the server settings for your target computer be it Windows or Mac.

With so much multimedia content being transformed and shifted to the web, you'll find as much media to access using a browser there as in any healthy DVD collection. Certainly this was more than I'd imagine I'd get from a $2.99 app.

The Air Mouse also uses the iPhones accelerometer as a substitute for the trackpad. When you are in the Accelerometer mode (you get there by tapping the crossing arrows symbol in the top left hand corner of the trackpad) you can move the pointer on the screen with hand motions while pointing the iPhone at your computer or TV screen. There is a little finesse to get used to controlling the motion and it is best for you to view the Demo video on the Air Mouse web site before trying but it really is simple and intuitive.

Air Mouse can be used in combination with any application as a substitute for the mouse and keyboard on your computer. In addition, you can assign macro functions to keys that allow you to, for instance, launch Front Row or iPhoto by one touch. The keyboard also works for text entry, typing URLs, writing in a text application or responding to emails. Air Mouse is one iPhone app that you will find increasingly more useful as you use it and one of the best Apps in 2009.

Is Apple Evil?

2009-08-11T06:19:00.001-07:00

With success comes envy and Apple, after decades of being the underdog, is now on the receiving end a wave of success envy.

Many in the industry would say that is a good problem to have and Apple stock and sales seem to agree.

But then you've got the haters. Most would say, who cares. And I agree.

The major objections that people raise with Apple today have to do with the success of the iPhone and the Apps Store. In recent months Apple (not that it did not do so before) has been restricting applications for being available on its Apps Store. Most notably the Google Voice App and s slew of porno apps that developers and some users want Apple to sell badly.

I completely agree with the concert expressed by iPhone owners with Apple restricting Google Voice calling app, not to be confused with Google Voice that has existed on the iPhone for almost a year. Google has been an excellent partner to Apple's growth in the smartphone market, developing excellent apps like Google Maps, Google Earth, and the Google Voice driven search apps that wows non-iPhone users to the point that, I believe, it drives iPhone sales.

Apple has every right to restrict the use of applications on the iPhone that threaten the stability of the iPhone platform. They have the right to restrict apps in their store by shady or unreliable software developers that might infringe upon or sully the iPhone users experience and drive customers away.

But Google is a very reliable partner, a great software developer and they write incredible apps that sell iPhones.

Some critics speculated that in the contract between AT&T and Apple there was a clause that allow AT&T to veto or blackball applications that gave iPhone users the ability to add functions that competed with the AT&T contract. That's highly probable and even understandable since AT&T gives money to Apple in its contract. But AT&T said no, they did not stop the Google calling app from the iPhone.

At that point Apple should have put the Google app up on the Apps Store. End of story.

10 Things to fix with iPhone 3.1

2009-08-02T11:01:00.000-07:00

1. Wifi syncing
2. Ability to edit video (combine or string clips, add music, add voice over)
3. Control over iPhone "desktop" or ability to organize icons
4. Allow Google Voice app on iPhone for calling
5. Get rid of AT&T exclusive contract
6. Customize keyboard to add row for numbers or frequently used characters
7. Take picture by pressing anywhere on screen rather than small button
8. Customize the background under the icons
9. Give users great control over prefs, such as Hide Icons that you use infrequently but don't want to delete completely; have customizable views for Home, Work, Travel, or Weekends; easier control over toggling on/off things like accelerometer, GPS, Bluetooth, 3G, Wifi, and Edge
10. Background applications (providing Apple can insure stability)

Augmented Reality App Shows You What's Nearby

2009-07-21T11:10:00.000-07:00

This NRU shows off Zagat data, by just pointing your iPhone around the place you are standing. Marko Balabanovic, head of innovation at http://www.lastminute.com labs in London, UK, gives us a sneak peak at how it works.

Scene Recognition Engine

2009-07-15T13:17:00.000-07:00

A software engine for iPhone to recognize static scenes of architectures, streets, posters, rooms, and so on. Due to the ability to specify what user is watching in real time in very strict manner, SREngine has applicable to wide range of AR-related applications (AR: Augmented Reality).

To Jailbreak or Not to Jailbreak?

2009-06-12T09:31:00.000-07:00

That is the question that's been running in the minds of many iPhone users for months if not a year.

But on the 2nd anniversary of the release of the iPhone and with the announcement of the new 3GS iPhone with video and enhanced digital camera capabilities, many of the original iPhone owners will have handsets outside the AT&T exclusive contract. And what do you do with an old 1st Gen iPhone or the 3G iPhone you are leaving behind for an upgraded 3GS?

The jailbreak and unlocked iPhone option seems much less criminal now than it originally did. Concerns about voiding the warrantee, getting around the contract, violating copyright, etc. become moot looking at the piles of old iPhones stacking up in the drawers of buyers who went for the upgrade.

Both Apple and AT&T must see the huge change coming to the marketplace of "exclusive" control over the device and digital delivery system it uses. Will Apple, as it once did, still brick iPhones not in contract or using jailbroken software? I think they will have to rethink these actions in the future. There will be a lot of enthusiastic iPhone users who are not under an exlusive contract and who want to buy content and apps using jailbroke software.

Times are a changin'...

END OF AN ERA: APPLE & MACWORLD

2009-02-05T13:24:00.000-08:00

Watching this clip from one of the first MacWorld San Francisco conferences just 90 days after the release of the Macintosh computer in 1984, one cannot help but mark a beginning and fill an evolution from that time to now and all the revolutionary steps along the way.

No Show Big News

2008-12-31T11:55:00.000-08:00

Probably the biggest news going into MacWorld San Francisco is not what insanely great new product Steve Jobs is going to seductively wave in front of everyone, The big news is Jobs won't be there. The infamous Jobs keynote that has as legend would say launched a thousand ships will not launch new products anymore.

This is an end of an era.

As much as Apple or Jobs himself want to play it down -- this is HUGE. Oh yeah, Apple is going to say they have leaders who can make Apple's case before their software developers and third-party partners as well as the loyal Apple base but no one inisder the company or outside is as important to Apple products, their design, and has the ability to articulate with such pitchman skill was Steve Jobs.

Add to that fact, Apple is saying it will not attend show like MacWorld any longer and you have a significant change in the culture of how Apple releases new products to the public.

With all the speculation about what Apple would reveal next week, a few things seem to be coming clear: there will be no Netbook (rumors are it might be unveiled in fall 2009) and the thrust of Apple announcements will be focused on updating the Mac-Mini line of computers.

An Nano-iPhone still remains uncertain, although, case manufacturers say they have orders for a new phone form factor - not an accurate indicator of Apple announcement. More than likely, we will see small changes: a 32 GB iPhone, a 64 GB iPod Touch and a upgrade to the iWorks suite of applications putting more of its functionality in the cloud.

This incrementally reflects a more conservative nature of Apple, the slowed pace of its R&D, and its increasingly reluctance to jump out and lead the industry with new category defining products.

The biggest news of the new year is Apple has chosen not to show up at the biggest Apple show of the year.

Next Apple Wave

2008-12-16T11:46:00.000-08:00

What will Apple unveil next?

Obviously, the retail consumer-drive Apple has swung into the Holiday season trying to move its inventory of iPhones, iPods, MacBooks, iMacs and MacPro Towers so we will not be hearing any new products for the remainder of 2008.

Then comes MacWorld SF and the speculation has already begun about what the new year will bring.

A favorite prediction is the iPhone Nano, a $99 iPhone with 8GB of memory designed to be sold in WalMart stores. A few weeks back there was a twitter all around that Apple and WalMart had made an agreement to sell a cheap iPhone with stripped down fearures of a phone and iPod MP3 player with Apple ease-of-use interface (illustration above). This would be too easy for Apple and, although they might want to take advantage of the price point to expand their share, this solution seems to the answer market managers look for rather than product innovators.

There are a lot of questions being asked about what will happen to the Mac-Mini, the tiny box that works for many desktops and pushes the bottom price of Apple's CPU line. Will Apple announce changes to the line of mini's or discontinue them?

A Mac Netbook would be a small sized cross between a tablet, a notebook and a laptop. The talk is Apple will want to come into the line of products with this priced at $599 and replace the Mac-mini or, at least, compliment the Mini with a much more mobile and touch interface device. As you might know, here at Apple Tech Blog, we've been advocating for a keyboard-less mobile tablet for over a year now and had hoped it would be announced at MacWorld SF 2008.

What Apple discovered in 2008 was the huge potential of the online Apps Store for selling software via the air waves. this sales and marketing model might now be in place for a Netbook to reap the benefits of sales in software downloads. An army of new software developers have profitably written and produced a huge number of apps for the iPhone and it could be good business and good will for Apple to turn this army in a new direction

The critics of the Mac Netbook say that the size of the Netbook market (just a little over 5 million units have been sold) is way too small for Apple to become interested and hope to see a ROI, however, Apple is in good shape to invent the category and with the App Store and iTunes drive tens of millions of new buyers into a new product category for the computer innovator.

Then, as usual, everybody else will follow, right?

Google Android to Launch Sept 23rd

2008-09-17T07:14:00.000-07:00

The International Herald Tribune headline reads "Google's Android no match for iPhone - Yet". As Google is a company, much like Apple, with a corporate culture that encourages outside-the-box thinking, incredible innovation and wiz-bang design, we've all been enthusiastically waiting Google's unveiling of Android.

The handset being previewed is the HTC Dream, a gold or beige touch screen with a slide out tiny keyboard that all together has a retro-70s look and feel. The software desktop design doesn't make its own statement, instead choosing a file folder metaphor and a flat blue one-dimensional viewing plane. From what I've seen, it is unimpressive from a visual design standpoint.

Android is a mobile phone and computing platform to rival the Apple iPhone. Google's designers have promised that the Andriod will being using some of the best iPhone break-throughs such as touch screen technology, built in accelerometers, open platform and a developer SDK, with a user-interface that maximizes ease-of-use and graphics. Android also presented the possibility of a rich cloud-based computing set of tools integrated with Google's web storage and interactive applications.

Significantly, the Android promise was that a smart phone with a clever software interface could be purchased and owned without an excessive AT&T exclusive contract.

While searching for more information on Android I came across the presentation (video above) given by a Google engineer. Presentations like this one boggle the mind. In his demonstration, things don't work, the connection and loading of pages is slow, and his claims of coolness are not matched by what he is showing. His demonstration of how Android works could not have made me more uninterested in the handset or less impressed with the software. I was excited about Android but this guy almost killed the joy I had built up in my mind for a Google phone.

And I am always astonished that companies like Google and Microsoft never seem to be able to surpass Apple design. I want them to break the mold because it is good for us as end-users. And they have the sample product right in front of them to analyze, dissect and improve upon. Google says they don't think they can match "the consumer experience" of the iPhone. I ask: "Why not?"

There is much to be improved upon with Apple's iPhone. If Google says it cannot surpass it then they are not seeing it clearly as a consumer device and how it integrates into mobile computing and the users needs. The iPhone was a paradigm shifting innovation in smart phones and mobile computing but it is far from perfect. Apple has left out critical functionality and not delivered on performance specs that exist out there in other devices.

Why do we have to be disappointed with the Android launch on September 23rd?

"Banned by Apple" A Status Category

2008-09-16T05:47:00.000-07:00

This week Apple banned another third-party iPhone application from distribution through the Apple Apps Store.

Podcaster is an app like Diggnation On The Go and Mobility Today, that allows iPhone owners listen to podcasts directly on their phone. Apple banned Podcaster because, as they explained in a letter to the developer, it duplicated the functionality of the podcast features in iTunes.

Let's make it absolutely clear that Apple in all its developers forums and public announcements of the rules governing placement in the apps store, namely software that could be called: “Porn, privacy, bandwidth hog, unforeseen, malicious, illegal,” that "duplicated the functionality of iTunes" was not one of those rules for developers to follow.

Alex Sokirynsky, the developer of the rejected application, found Apple's explanation confusing since many small applications available for the iPhone duplicate and expand upon existing functionality of the iPhone.

A host of applications that do calculator functions, weather apps, expanded notes, calendar, etc. would confirm Sokirynsky's observation. Other bloggers and computer publications speculated that Podcasters function of allowing iPhone users to download multiple podcasts directly to the the iPhone and iPod Touch by-passing iTunes was of greatest concern to Apple.

Expressing outrage with this reasoning, blogger John Gruber accuses Apple of anti-competitive behavior stating: ""Let's be clear: forbidding 'duplication of functionality' is forbidding competition. The point of competition is to do the same thing, but better."

In my estimation, Apple has made a bad decision by banning Podcaster. First, Podcaster cost $9.99 and wouldn't likely gain much pentration that Apple would notice a shift in its podcasting traffic on iTunes.

Coming as the next in a line of developer rejections -- NetShare (an application that allows you to use the iPhone as a modem) Pull My Finger (an silly app that makes 18 sounds of flatulence) and "I am Rich" (a $1,000 application with a picture of bling) were all pulled by Apple over the course of the past few months -- banning Podcaster has raised the ire of Apple iPhone developers.

From an end-user perspective, Apple's ban of Podcaster undermines the demarcation between legit reasons for keeping Apps out of the App Store and anti-competitive behavior. Apple has every right to protect users from Apps that crash or unstable, apps that don't play well with either the operating system or other apps, and apps that do nasty, unwanted, and unintended things to its users. But what Apple has done with both Podcaster and NetShare is increased the level of suspicion and cynicism about its corporate behavior.

And now the developer community is expression anger at Apple for their capricious actions. Apple's apps bans bring more attention to the applications than they deserve. And the ban creates ill-will among a developer base Apple certainly wants to cultivate rather than alienate. These developers might easily run to another platform such as Android to build their apps.

On its face, with a ten buck download charge, Podcaster is not a winner but Sokirynsky now enjoys the status of being "Banned by Apple."

Apple "Let's Rock" Announcements

2008-09-08T07:46:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow's "Let's Rock" show marks another big Apple iPod product upgrade announcement when the company is expected to upgrade the iPod Touch, iPod Nano, and new versions of iTunes (8.0) and QuickTime 7.2.2.

Many of us are hoping for an iPhone upgrade to 2.1 in hope that it will fix the crashing, dropped calls and bad battery performance we've been experiencing since the big July roll out of the 3G iPhone, MobileMe, and the Apple Apps Store. And it would be nice if they can fix MobileMe to work as one would intuitively expect it should work.

Friends who are still sitting on the fence before jumping off and buying an iPhone have said they would like to see the iPhone upgraded to 16GB and 32GB models, boosting the hardware capacity just enough to live out period of the terms of their excessive 2-year AT&T contract.

And it would be nice if Apple could fix the really annoying constant problem with upgrading Apps from the Apps Store. I've gotten to the point where I am untrusting and apprehensive when upgrading Apps since it crashes the iPhone (everytime) and it erases all the settings and writes over all the files in those apps. It just doesn't act like you would expect stable and user friendly Apple applications to act.

You can read in various regions of the internet people expecting a sub-$100 iPhone. Ain't gonna happen my friends.

Apple has become increasingly conservative and more corporate in the past year. Their upgrades and changes to technology, I think one can safely bet are going to be creepingly incremental and piece meal. While the iPod Touch will become sleeker and skinny, you should not expect to see added features like a camera, a microphone for voice recording or dictation or hardware improvements that might justify paying more for it than an iPhone.

One feature Apple is hoping to thrill us with is it Genuis Bar the only new feature being added to iTunes. This is rumored to function something like Pandora or a new app in development called Stitcher, whereby the application learns your song and radio preferences and then suggests or puts together playlists from your iTunes library and the Apple Store. While this feature will certainly be welcomed, it is not a radical new idea or approach to digital media devices. It's not going to Rock Your World as tomorrow's event suggests it might.

Apple seems to want to position the iPod Touch as a pocket gaming machine and to keep the Touch from overlapping in capabilities with their iPhone, presumably because Apple now more fully enjoys the revenues coming from the AT&T contract kickbacks than it does giving its customers awesome features.

I can tell you the one big feature I want for my iPhone is the ability to use my iPhone without an AT&T contract. Right now it is the only feature I want Apple to be working on.

Plain and simple: I should not be bound to undesirable terms and conditions, terrible service and a corporate culture that cares little for its customers in order to own an Apple product.

TIP: iPhone Email Batch Delete

2008-08-07T10:24:00.000-07:00

With the iPhone 2.0 upgrade you will find that Apple has added the ability for users to delete or move multiple message from your email inbox to a folder or delete them. In the original version of iPhone, you have to perform these basic functions with messages one at a time.

When you are in your email inbox and you press the Edit key in the upper right hand corner a blue/gray bar will appear across the bottom with two buttons: Delete and Move. Down the left side of the message summary, you'll see round buttons and if you press them it will place a check mark next to the message you wish to act upon. You may select consecutive messages or intermitten ones and then either press the Delete button to remove them or Move button to store them to another folder.

Jailbreak Apple TV

2008-07-25T09:56:00.000-07:00

Often what happens when consumer technology doesn't live up to its potential is hackers, open communities, and hobby enthusiasts jump into the void and began writing personal solutions to their hardware/software needs.

We saw it with the iPhone when an instant community of programmers and open source developers jumped forward and jailbroke the iPhone and iPod Touch so they could load their own applications and break free from ATT contracts. Then, last month Apple opened the platform and the iPhone coupled with the Apps Store is a revolutionary new device in the world of mobile computing.

Now, let's hope this same process occurs with Apple TV. As it is the Apple TV is a woefully inadequate device as a closed system. In the world of set-top boxes and digital media devices, it is non-finisher even after its upgrade to include movie rentals and purchased downloads.

Apple enthusiasts will say that Apple is hamstrung by a film and entertainment industry that restricts its ability to innovate and provide the solutions its users are asking for and even demanding. If so, it is time for the hackers to step up.

For instance, Apple has a USB port in the back of the Apple TV that is terribly under-utilized. Why can't this port be used to connect a backup hard drive or accept a flash drive for load your home movies directly into Apple TV? What can't this same USB port be used to connect 3rd party hardware like EyeTV? or a $99 DVD player like the one Apple makes for MacBook Air?

Why can't the Apple TV communicate with the web directly using a Apple TV specific redesigned version of the Safari browser just like your iPhone? (Actually, it can with an easy fix.) Why can't I run iTunes direcly on Apple TV and purchase music I don't want filling the hard drive on my Mac? Why can't Apple create a platform for developers to write entertainment, news and information, health and fitness apps as well as games for the Apple TV?

There are so many kludgy things broken with Apple TV that Apple programmers refuse to fix (just try typing URLs or word searches on Apple TV) that the hacker community must now step forward and change the terms of the game and improve the concept.

TIP: Smart Keyboard for URL Completion

2008-07-20T06:20:00.000-07:00

When I got my iPhone 1.0 and grew accustomed to using the touch screen keyboard, I thought it was really smart of Apple to add context sensitive keys to the keyboard.

For instance, when you are in Safari browser and want to type a URL, it adds a key .com to the keyboard to shorten your typing task. However, I found that not all URLs end in .com and was frustrated with .net, .org and other endings. With 2.0 Apple has made the keyboard even smarter.

Now in Safari web browser, when typing a new URL, hold down the .com button to get a selection of other domain name endings for the url: .net .edu and .org. By tapping on one of the endings, it will append it to complete your URL. The iPhone is even smart enough to understand if you are outside the U.S. and offers domain extensions appropriate to the country you are in.

Another new keyboard trick added with iPhone 2.0 allows you to get .net .edu or .org domain name endings along with .com by holding down the period (.) button in the compose email screen.

TIP: Making Your Own Currency Converter

2008-07-19T06:37:00.000-07:00

An item missing from the core set of Apple iPhone utilities is a Currency Converter app built-in. As you can see from this iPhone screen capture, using the Stocks app you can track daily currency fluctuations just like stocks:

1. Go to the stocks app
2. Add a new stock
3. Use the format Currency symbol 1 plus Currency symbol 2 (without space between) =X (example to convert US Dollar to Canadian Dollar would be USDCAD=X or for the Euro it would be USDEUR=X)

A nice thing about this approach to tracking currency information is daily rates will be listed with other stock market information and you will see the daily +/- change, a day/month/year history of the currency plotted on a graph just like other stocks in the Stocks app.

Add as many world currency entries as you want. You can get currency symbols here or do a search for world currency symbols in Yahoo or Google.

TIP: Capturing Images Off the Net

2008-07-19T05:02:00.000-07:00

A long awaited and much anticipated feature of iPhone 2.0 is the ability of the phone to capture an image off the internet and save them to the phone. Apple has made this process very simple and elegant.

This is how it works: find an image on a web site you want to capture, hold your finger on the image in iPhone's Safari Browser for a longer time than usual, a pop-up dialog will appear giving you options "Save Image", "Open Link" and "Cancel". Hitting "Save Image" will save the image in your Photo Gallery.

Now, just add copy and paste feature for text, address, and calendar items and we'll be happier!

TIP: iPhone Screen Capture

2008-07-15T07:22:00.000-07:00

One feature added to the new iPhone 2.0 operating system is the ability to capture whatever is on your screen at the moment with a button combination. Hold down Apple's Home key and then the Sleep/Awake key on the top right corner of the iPhone (the same key you tap to start up your iPhone from sleep).

Once the button combination has been struck, you will notice the iPhone screen flash white. After it does that, go to your photo gallery and you will see the last addition is your screen capture.

Next, in the lower left hand corner of your photo gallery screen, you'll see a box with and arrow coming out toward you. Click on it and you can send this photo to your email or if you have MobileMe, you can send it to your web gallery. This is awesome!

Browsing in the Apps Store

2008-07-14T10:53:00.000-07:00

Free Applications Worth Checking Out:

#1 Remote - an iPhone remote to control iTunes and Apple TV. If you own Apple TV is this a MUST HAVE app and its free. In simplest terms it turns your iPhone into a remote control for Apple TV and also iTunes running on your desktop or laptop computer. Couple your devices with the iPhone and you will get menu lists of songs and video by artist, title and type and you can search just like with iPod music and video selestions.

#2 AOL Radio - an application powered by CBS that allows you to listen to live radio over the internet. The interface provides lists of stations by genre (country western, jazz, talk radio, news, etc) and you can stream favorite shows like KCRWs The Business, Design and Architecture or This American Life. Drawbacks - battery eater.

#3 Save Benjis - with Save Benji's the idea is to find the cheapest price available on the web for all kinds of products. You can browse by category or enter the bar code into a search box and Save Benjis goes out to the web and finds the cheapest prices for that product. For results it not only provides a list of the cheapest prices and places to purchase but also a product description and reviews other buyers have written for the item. Drawbacks - it should have a build in bar code reader for the iPhone camera to read.

#4 Currency - a one trick pony app that lists the current exchange rates for countries and major currencies around the world and it is free. Drawbacks: a currency converter could be added but simplicity does have its virtue.

#5 Whrrl - a really cool concept, mapping, social networking, location and friend tracking free app that (like video iChat) is most useful if you have a bunch of friends or family and everybody buys into contributing to its premise and, did I mention, its free.

#6 Pandora - a streaming music service that provides free music for your iPhone based on picks (thumbs up/thumbs down) preferences you make while listening. Pandora was created on the web first and this little free app for iPhone provides a clean and platform specific design. The company claims CD-quality audio and the streaming works well even on edge. Drawbacks - it is a drain on battery, however if you have a docking station or one of those docking stations mounted in a case with stereo speakers, you are golden.

#7 Box Office - this free movie finder app is also a bit of a one trick pony, however, doing a simple yet very useful iPhone app seems to be the key to the kingdom. You can browse either by movie or by theater and it uses the current location finder to assist you with knowing where you are. You can configure the settings to open the geographic range or distance from home. The app also lets you read reviews from Rotten Tomato and purchase tickets through Fandango

#8 vSnax - basically a news and entertainment aggregator of video content, vSnax provides clips from CBS, VH1 MTV, E! and others. While you might find much of the content gossipy, aimed at the Brangelina twitters, and for guys and girls who want to ogle Ford Models, the service seems to work smoothly on both Edge and Wifi and its free.

#9 WeatherBug - this weather app adds additional features to the temperature and weekly forecaster that comes installed in the iPhone. Those added features are live heat index, humidity, dew point, rain amount, wind speeds and wind direction. There is also a button for radar which didn't work when I clicked on it and according to internet accounts was broke for other reviewers as well, But its free and if you are a weather buff, you'll want to check it out.

#10 Jott - Jott records voice memos and converts them into text notes. Swipe a task after you complete it, and it strikes through the words. If you don't like tapping words in on the keyboard or need them converted, Jott can be useful. Drawbacks: they need to improve speech recognition and recording length, add more of the features offered in their phone-based service, and send crossed out notes to the trash. Free.

#11 eBay Mobile - I have never purchased anything on eBay and just like I don't go to garage sales or buy things out of the back of a plain white vans on the backstreets of Chinatown in New York, I don't plan on buying things on eBay. However, if you are an eBay auction denizen, you will find this mobile eBay app indispensable for searching, bid, check on sold items, monitoring your accounts and this elegant interface makes viewing items on the fly super easy.

#12 Shazam - A clever idea to a obscure problem: ever been in a cafe or coffee-shop and your hear a song playing on the music system and its killing you because you can't name the song or the artist? Pull out your iPhone, launch Shazam, click he "Tag It" button and the little app will listen and name that tune in 15 seconds. Once it is tagged it will keep it on a list and you can then buy it from the Apple iTunes Store, view rock-vids or send track info to friends via email.

LESS THAN $10

#1 City Transit - this is the BEST NYC Subway map available and at $2.99 one of the cheapest (don't bother with the $15 one) In addition to the maps of NYC underground system, it has Long Island Railroad (LIRR), and Metro North Commuter lines as well as an antique map for aesthetic pleasure. The app captures service advisories that keep you up to date and links to Google maps and "where am I" features for finding the nearest stop that make app this a must for native New Yorkers and tourists alike. I no longer live in the City but having this app on my iPhone gives me the vicarious thrill be being back on the streets. Drawback: The screen res for the maps is fairly low and while you can make out the station names and lines, it is bit-mappy and quality should be improved.

#2 GuitarToolKit - a guitar tuner that uses the iPhone mic to detect sound that has a metronome and cords feature. $9.99 is the lowest price for a basic standalone guitar tuner from the local music store, so having this on your iPhone is a plus and a bargin to boot.

#3 Comic Touch - another simple unadorned app that adds comic strip bubbles (speak, thought, whisper, exclaim) and alllows you to write captions under your iPhone photos. Turn your life into a comic strip then you can email episodes to friends for $5. Drawback: If this App catches on, it might become cute email round-robin spam that you hate getting from friends and family.

#4 Mobile Flickr - a full-featured Flickr app developed by Karl von Randow that allows you browse photos by sets, tags, search for photos, read and make comments, or see photos from other Flickr members. Uploading to Flickr over wi-fi is fast but it can be slow taking pics and saving them, the $3 charge is better than the $9.99 (w/o ads) for the competing Exposure app that has no upload feature and poor user interface.

#5 MLB at Bat - MLB at Bat has to be a mobile app on the iPhone that sets the standard early for sports applications. $4.99 will get you wireless score access and in-game video highlights for every game on the MLB schedule. MLB Advanced Media has scaled the app to stream video to Edge phone smoothly at lower resolution and higher quality video to 3G and wifi connected iPhones. At this point MLB is selling at the $4.99 price through the end of this season and it will not be known if they will require a new sale/upgrade for next year and if the price to will remain the same. A similar service has been available on the web for a $3.99 month subscription.

Drawbacks: MLB stripped down this mobile version and could have easily provided box scores, team and division standings and player stats to make this window into baseball full-featured. As it is you will have to couple this app with another like the free SportsTap or Baseball and you might want to hold onto them if MLB decides to stop their service after the World Series. NOTE: MLB has issued a cease and desist order against the baseball enthusiast who wrote the amazingly detail rich Baseball App because he used team logos to frame all his stats and historical data the MLB app fails to provide in At Bat.

If the name of the app appears in italics it means the screen capture next to the description is for that app.

iPhone Most Desired Feature: FREEDOM!

2008-07-14T05:20:00.000-07:00

After all is said and none, and we've all picked over the bones after the new platform release (iPhone 2.0), the Apple Apps Store, and the upgrades to the MobileMe network and the 3G iPhone... you kind of feel like the savagers at a warehouse remnants sale. We had our shot at the entrails but where is the meat?

What I've found after the July 11th release is a universal shared feeling among iPhone owners, iPhone potential owners and those who hold out against getting one. We want freedom from ATT contracts. And with this new release the dislike of ATT only intensified. Why? Because ATT thinks along the lines of the old business paradigm: Establish a monopoly then screw the customers with excessive rates, fees and special charges outside the basic plan.

When you look at the computer industry you think of Moore's Law. The technology gets faster, the capacity bigger, while at the same time the price drops due to increased acceptance and growing market. With ATT the moment is opportune to simplify their billing, lower their prices, increase the number of features they are offering, speed their services and by dropping their prices exapnd their share of the cell phone users market.

Instead what will happen with this growing dissatisfaction is developers (black hat, gray hat, and white hat) are going to find a way around the ATT calling plan.

The Apple iPhone is just the type of category redefining, paradigm shifting product that can propel a massive growth in customers switching and finding happiness with their service. Instead, everybody hates ATT and is struggling to break free.

We want freedom from ATT.

3G iPhone Launch Nightmare?

2008-07-11T10:39:00.000-07:00

The verdict is in and the buzz around the internet is Apple is in the middle of a roll out nightmare. According to the New York Post (not normally a reliable source for anything) early in the day the iSNAFU has arrived on the streets of New York. The story reports that new 3G iPhone users have been experiencing problems getting the phone to boot out of the box.

A more reliable source Arstechica is reporting iPhone Parousia into activation apocalypse with customers in AT&T stores unable to activate their new iPhone due to the servers being down.

Also, the Apple MobileMe servers have been down all morning for us in the Midwest and persumably all over the world.

Inforweek is reporting Apple servers were overwhelmed by the huge surge in attempted activations of the new iPhone. Not only did the iPhone go on sale in the U.S but buyers in 21 other countries also drew down the capacity of Apple's servers to respond to phone activiation, software downloads by old iPhone users seeking to upgrade, and MobileMe initiates.

One Apple tech specialist explained that the Apple servers did not go down, they've just slowed to the point that it takes much longer than the patience of the iPhone users seeking to upgrade. When old iPhone users start to download the 2.0 upgrade and feel the stress of the duration, they stop the upgrade and then find their iPhone has been bricked and will not function for naything but emergency phone calls. Apple has designed the iPhone to work as a crude handset even if all the other software such as contact lists, voice mail and the operating system itself is not functioning.

CNET is calling the 3G launch one of the clumsiest product launches ever with Apple refusing to sell the new iPhone to "foundation" accounts, red lettered in their Apple Store computers as PLU. Those accounts, according to Matt Asay who found himself locked out of buying the 3G iPhone, must buy a iPhone from an AT&T store and not an Apple store.

Our advice to current iPhone users is to not upgrade until the surge is over.

iPhone Things Still Broke

2008-07-11T10:29:00.000-07:00

There is a reason I got kicked out of the Apple Store! Friends tell me it sounds like a Seinfeld episode and it was like when Elaine got kicked out by the soup Nazi when the peach faced Mall of American assistant night manager booted my butt from the store yelling "...and don't come back!"

You see, I am not happy to buy into the blind loyality of the Apple faithful. I think there is still room for improvement wiht their products. I feel insanely great is still possible and that new products often fall short.

Items still not fixed in iPhone 2.0

1) voice input for notepad -- okay this is another opportunity for the 3rd party developers to shine (Jott for iPhone is on the way) however, why hasn't Apple make this feature a built-in to iPhone 2.0?

2) lack of Flash and JAVA support -- a friend said to me this wasn't Apple fault it is Adobe's for not making their software iPhone capable. Still, it is a pain in the butt when you go to a site and you get s stupid looking blue cube, I don't care whose fault it is!

3) copy and paste -- iPhone users and Apple faithful have been screaming about the lack of the feature from DAY ONE on the iPhone. Apple must be taking pleasure with each upgrade telling themselves, na-na-na, we still didn't listen (tongue stuck out)

4) improving the predictive text feature -- it is totally cool when it is right but a complete hassle and pain in the ass when wrong. I f Apple lets us turn it off or if its predictions were better we'd love touch-screen typing even more

5) video camera -- video is still mysteriously absent without leave from the iPhone. Although, I've heard 3rd party developers are uploading their video capture software to Apps Store and certainly the current iPhone camera is always in moving picture format, why doesn't Apple provide video software on the platform?

6) portrait mode keyboard in ALL applications (especially email and notes)

7) MMS messaging -- although I am not a text messaging kind of guy (other means of communication are far more effective and efficient) MMS is a standard in the world of mobile devices and this is a big barrier to widespread iPhone adoption by the finger bangers.

8) Bluetooth -- providing iPhone owners with bluetooth capability would introduce a range of accessories such as printers, wireless bluetooth headdsets and even short range communications and content sharing potential

9) 5+ Megapixel still camera -- there are other phones on the market providing more pixel depth with their cameras than the current iPhone and with the emergency of web 2.0 photosharing and geotagging capabilities the need for better quality with quickly become obvious

With this current iPhone 2.0 release and the newly established Apps Store, I think we can expect huge improvements with the functionality of the iPhone but it doesn't excuse Apple sitting on its hands and not make improvements to its hardware/software platform.

iPhone & iTunes 7.7 on Apple Servers

2008-07-10T08:37:00.000-07:00

Anxious to get started with iPhone 2.0 in advance of the official software update release?

A 225 MB download of the iPhone 2.0 firmware update has been found on Apple servers by ferreting Mac community members.

In addition to the push-pull mail, calendar and contacts features Steve Jobs revealed at the WWDC, the new iPhone software is reportedly capable of supporting full iWork document support so that you can view Pages, Numbers, and Keynote created documents.

Apple is also offering full support for Microsoft Office docs for Powerpoint, Word and Excel viewing. Improvements to the iPhone user interface include bulk-delete and move capabilities, the ability to save images from e-mails into their Photo Library, as well as settings for Parental Control.

Download and install at your own risk an you should be running iTunes 7.7. Reviews of the new features and reports of new application downloads are starting to come fast and furious now on the web.

.Mac Servers are Down

2008-07-09T10:53:00.000-07:00

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In preparation for the migration to MobileMe, the .Mac servers have been out of service for most of this morning, Wednesday, July 9th and will not be available thru Thursday. Judging from the message screen, it appears the shut down is world-wide and Apple promises to restore service as soon as possible after the switch over has been accomplished.

MacWorld is publishing a link to the Mobile Me software download for updating your desktop and laptop Macs if you are a .Mac user.

Apple App Store Opens Friday

2008-07-07T07:03:00.000-07:00

In Apple's usual secretive fashion, imposing a silence pledge upon 3rd-party developers, the long anticipated App Store will unveil itself on Friday July 11th.

The big question waiting to be answered is how will iPhone 3G compete with the simultaneous weekend release of Eddie Murphy's MEET DAVE, Ellen "Juno" Page in THE STONE ANGEL or HELLBOY2? Will Apple be able to bring 3G into the Apple Stores like a massive fireball from space and explode onto the market with its "camp in line" rollout tactics? Who will win the weekend box office purse sweepstakes?

In the mean time, there is no button on Apple's iTunes Store for new iPhone applications. Thrill seeking-geeks discovered that by typing "Twitterrific," "TypePad" or "ShoZu" in the Search iTunes Store box, the Apps content will appear in the results and you will be able to browse and read about free and for sale apps and utilities that will be launched at the end of the week.

However, if you don't have an iPhone running version 2.0 (in others words a 3G iPhone that goes on sale at 8:30am on Friday in Apple Stores) you will not be able to install and use the applications you find with your searches until Apple makes iPhone 2.0 update available to all iPhone owners.

Summer Apple Doldrums

2008-06-20T21:25:00.000-07:00

Apple didn't wait until August when we go into a lingering state of inactivity or stagnation as many businesses do.

A lot of the inactivity came in June after the WWDC where Steve Jobs made a series of non-announcements -- a 3G iPhone that people had wanted in January at MacWorld SF, another follow-up announcement of the forthcoming results of the iPhone SDK and new apps on the way, and the long anticipated iPhone 2.0 upgrade.

One phrase mysteriously missing from Jobs cannon of keynote punctual was "Shipping today!"

Nothing he announced was shipping immediately after they keynote. No Apps Store. No iPhones in the stores until July 11th and no MobileMe. No iPhone 2.0 software update. Nothing appears to have been ready for WWDC, so Jobs made announcements of products that would be released on a future date. Apple stock, that had been surging toward $200 a share with predictions by analysts it would bound as high as $215, slipped back to $172 as of end of day Friday.

The following day, Fake Steve Jobs posted an hilarious spoof on the WWDC keynote called Holy Crap, I forgot to announce the new MacBooks in which he reports that the new MacBooks were ready to go and it completely slipped his mind to introduce them from the stage. "And I just spaced it. My bad," he blogs as first person Steve.

At the same time Apple has been remiss in addressing some of the major drawbacks to the iPhone software interface and hardware that was expected to be fixed. For instance, there has been no mention of remedy for problems such as no copy-and-paste function; the inability for the iPhone to read Flash or Java; upgrades to the camera and improving the keyboard functionality on the iPhone touch-screen. These are no brainer fixes that apparently just announcing a 3G iPhone (without shipping it) Apple feels will distort the reality field enough for the tougher questions to go unanswered.

MobileMe was probably the biggest surprise announcement, although, on this blog we had it covered the week before. Still, we have yet to see MobileMe roll out to the old .Mac account holders.

And so we sit in early summer doldrums brought on by Apple's meager menu of product roll outs and basic software fixes.

dotMac Web 2.0 Coming?

2008-06-04T09:10:00.000-07:00

If you have read my previous blogposts about Apple and its products, you know I've been humping Apple for some time to improve its .Mac service. At least, I've ranted, make it Web 2.0 in scope and potential.

Well, my frequent feedback comments to Apple on the web and often deleted posts in the .Mac tech discussion groups might finally start to bare fruit. Rumors abound on the Mac rumor sites that one of the big announcements planned for Steve Jobs June 9th keynote is a wholly-designed .Mac under the banner MobileMe.

In previous posts I pointed out Google Gadget's energy in software development is around online applications, and this would a no-brainer evolution for Apple’s iLife and iWork software. But since the first day I bought the iPhone, I've was immediately aware that iPhone and iPod Touch are particularly suited to services that blend small local applications on the handset with storage and other processing handled on the .Mac server. The best answer to iPhone's internal flash memory limitations is saving desktop states, applications, and media to "the cloud" as Jobs himself would want to word it.

When a person wants to do project management on-the-fly it is absolutely essential that you have the push capabilities to update calendars, address books, and integrate with maps without having to sync the iPhone via USB. Add to that, an ability to link a document or possibly a stripped down spreadsheet with an overall budget for your project and store it on .Mac and access it at the time and place it is most needed -- often not while you are seated in the cradle next to your host CPU for the iPhone.

Recently, it has been reported by MacWorld, Apple has filed for a number of domains in the new “.Me” top level domain. Some of the geeky sites started digging around the new 10.5.3 version of the Apple operating system and found what is called placeholders where the .Mac strings would exist, suggesting that Apple is also going to change the name of the service. All this points to a big redesign of .Mac.

It is long overdue!

A Peek at iPhone 3rd-party Apps

2008-05-28T08:11:00.000-07:00

In June iPhone owners can expect an avalanche of new capabilities being added to their iPhones with the new 2.0 operating system, an apps installer and the officially sanctioned Apple Apps Store. With all the talk and excitement building for the new iPhone, Apple stock prices have soared and analysts have set new targets in excess of $215 a share.

One such new application in development is iControl, a software application on your iPhone that will allow you to monitor the critical security devices in your home -- cameras, thermostats, heating and air-conditioning, lights and locks. On your iPhone, you will be able to monitor remote-access systems via broadband internet rather than on telephone lines as many smart home systems today require.

Another application in development with funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers iFund is Whrrl by Pelago, a Seattle based company located in the WaMu Tower. Whrrl is an internet 2.0 social discovery service that allows iPhone users to discover places "through the eyes of your friends and poeple you trust." The designers of Whrrl say that you will be able to "track the places you've been and the places you want to go." A beta version of the Whrrl is currently available for download from the Pelago web site

Apple has also acquired a Chinese third-party handwriting recognition application that will give iPhone 2.0 users the ability to write text by hand that will then be translated into text font on their touchpad screen. The application developed for entering Chinese characters is already available under the name HWPen for jailbroken iPhone and iPod Touch.

GigaOm and Wired magazine have been reporting that the new iPhone to be released in June will have true GPS chips onboard. The rumors started to fly fast and furious when geotaged code was observed in the iPhone SDK. The Google maps application on the iPhone using wifi cell tower triangulation technologies has been very popular on the iPhone, however, with 3G and the new GPS technology it will become much more accurate and powerful as a platform for new application development.

iCall is a new application being developed for the iPhone that will allow its users to make and receive phone calls using the internet rather than the exclusive contract Apple has with AT&T in the U.S. and with other providers in foreign countries. The features of the new third-party app will allow you to integrate with your address book, customize voicemail options all while calling using a wifi connection. Also, the application encourages you to move away from using your expensive cell network plan minutes and move your calls to VOIP. As Walt Mossberg commanded, "Break the Lock!"

Loopt, a free social mapping application that uses location finder API in the iPhone to let you combine a GPS like searching for entertainment, restaurants and coffee-shops with social networking to hook up with friends, AIM buddies and contacts.

eBay has announced a client-side application that allows you to sign-in, search, preview photos of items for sale, monitor the bidding, and bid on items at auction on their service. It will be free on the Apple Apps store as soon as it opens.

TypePad Mobile is a free photo blogging service that allows you to take a photo on iPhone, upload it to the TypePad, and text and make mobile blogging much easier.

Associated Press has built a free mobile news network using location API it knows where you are and in stores information based on your location and it combines text, images and video directly to the iPhone and it allows you to send new images and stories to AP and they will weave it into the news after review by their editors.

Pangea makes games and Enigmo and Croman Rally are two of their games that use the iPhone itself as the controller will be for sale on the Apple Apps store for $9.99.

Mark Terry' application for MooCowMusic for the iPhone Band creates music on the iPhone itself using virtual instruments (Keyboard, Funky Drummer, 12 Bar Blues, and Bassist) allows an iPhone user to play instruments on their phone with simple touch user keys.

MLB.com has developed "At Bat" which lists all the days games and up to the minute line scores and even video of all the games as being played with a few minute time delay. At this time it is not known if the app will be sold or if you'll need to subscribe to the service but for baseball fans this is a "gotta-have-it" app.

Modality is a medical learning applications with illustrations of the complex parts and structures of the human body with instant mobile access and also search the web for additional information outside what the app provides. All these apps are indications that a huge variety of new programs and tools are coming to the iPhone and it has become a operating platform to rival Windows and Mac OS.

Other big news that seems to have made its way from the Apple rumor sites and now out into mainstream news services (BBC) is that Apple could drop the price of its new 3G iPhone to compete with the rift-raft of imitators and handset manufactors like Motorola and Noika who have begun to feel the heat Apple design has brought to the world of cell phones. That price has been rumored as low as $199 for the entry level 8GB iPhone.

Apple iMac Touch

2008-05-20T07:59:00.000-07:00

Rumors are flying again as we approach yet another big Steve Jobs keynote in mid-June. 3G iPhones to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the most revolutionary cell phone in history are pretty much a given.

The new Apple Store Apps and version 2.0 with an applications installer are a certainity with a multitude of new 3rd-party iPhone applications. Talk is that Apple might announce a video camera/iChat capability for the iPhone but this is more speculation than confirmed.

But how about the Apple iMac Touch - Apple's possible foray into touch displays that remove the keyboard and mouse and utilize Apple's incredible touch screen technologies. Fact or fantasy? - you decide.

The Captain's Beard-off

2008-05-08T12:58:00.000-07:00

According to CNN Money, there are a number of Silicon Valley mogals artfully engaged in a beard-off. Beards are back bigtime dude. Included in the ranks of the execs taking on the pirate look are Oracle's Larry Ellison, Pixar's Ed Catmull, Flickr's Stewart Butterfield and Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales.

And, of course, who could overlook the exec with the biggest lead in voting for the best beard Steve Jobs. Vote for yourself here but the judges will say otherwise... Michael Copeland, a editor at Fortune, credits Jobs with doing more than any other executive to forward facial hair among his peers among other innovations.

Fake Steve Jobs credits his masterful beard with Arafat-like salt and pepper perfection to Annalisa his colorist.

Apple TV 2.0 Still Far From Being a Media Star

2008-04-24T13:01:00.000-07:00

Apple excels in personal media, communications, and computing devices because their user interface and integrated hardware/software platform serves up the best experience for its owners. For that reason, I've found Apple TV is a surprise disappointment since the linearity and deeply embedded menu user interface in Apple TV is retro early 80s computing, albeit with nice fonts. With this media device they have fallen short of the standard they have set in personal computing.

Almost everything with Apple TV is an embedded text menu. Okay, there are some non-interactive pictures and icons but you really cannot point and click, drag-and-drop or more effectively organize with them. When you start up the Apple TV, you get a text list of seven items and moving the selector (or might as well be a cursor) down the list will produce a cascading list of items you can access with the right arrow on the remote to select yet more text.

The style of this interface reminds me of DOS in 1982 or the various shell programs (like Peter Norton's shell) you could install on your IBM XT to make it a more user friendly text menu system of navigation. It was slow and arduous back then and still is today.

Add to that the fact that searching is a one letter at a time process in .Mac galleries, Flickr, or YouTube that is slow and painfully unforgiving - push the wrong button and your back to letter "A" and the drawing board - this interface seems positively anti-Apple. It is almost as if a neophyte group of old Microsoft DOS programmers invaded Apple and said they would write the AppleTV interface.

The embedded linear menu system is almost forgivable on a TV but the spelling out of words in search one letter at a time is unforgivable. It neither embraces the advancement Apple makes with touch screen technology nor does it employ "ease-of-use" concepts the basic GUI Apple introduced more than 20 years ago.

One of my main objectives in buying 160GB Apple TV was to create Web Galleries where my family members and friends could go view and possibly download and print my photographs. I thought surely Apple will use its rich integrated environment between iPhoto, .Mac, Apple TV, iTunes and even iPhone to deliver ease, fun, and an awesomely simple viewer experience. Not so.

We are given few options for presenting the photos in the web gallery, no templates to speak of and I couldn't preview the final design. You have to anticipate what the outcomes will be while they are neither explained nor easily offered during the assembly and uploading process. The first few attempts at Web Gallery produced bad captions, random viewing order and "Ken Burns" that slaughters the cropping for pictures. Apple needs to figure out a "smart Ken Burns" effect in iPhoto. iMovie, and for Apple TV.

Then, when it came to viewing my web gallery on Apple TV, the apparent default was for Apple TV to randomly select music from my iTunes Library. And not just music but podcasts, audio books and sound effects. It makes no sense. I simply wanted to assign a song to a particular web gallery that was appropriate for the subject matter. Randon in this case makes non-sensical chaos of image and audio.

When I pointed out this randomizing problem to friend who is also a Apple TV owner, he said, well you have to set up a special folder in iTunes with just one song, sync Apple TV to iTunes then go to settings in Apple TV and pick that folder to play that song "randomly" and that's how you are suppose to do it. Suppose to? That sounds like a kluge and not a thoughtful design implementation made easy for the consumer.

Clearly, Apple has a lot of fixing to do here before Web Galleries and My Photos are useful.

Most of Apple's effort with their web software and Apple TV hardware efforts have gone toward getting you to rent or buy their content from the iTunes store. And thus, that is where you will find the graphical eye candy. Movies have their standard DVD box covers and posters to lure you to buying them but it is all very linear and multi-threading of downloads is still not possible. And it is slow as molasses in Mississippi in the summertime.

Apple obviously has voided the users chance to use the Apple TV as a jukebox for the movies Apple TV owners have purchased over the years on DVD. By some strange and weird definition, they've come to characterize ripping a DVD (not unlike ripping your CD collection to iTunes and your iPod) as a criminal act. Boy, it is funny what can be construed today as criminal.

Apple has limited the users ability to record and store TV programs and timeshift them off cable or broadcast stations. I think most people today are looking for their digital media devices to converge but with Apple TV, they've missed by a mile.

Another huge drawback to the Apple TV is that you must be able to sync your media content to a hosting Mac laptop or desktop. Under this arrangement, the hard drive on the host computer becomes a bottleneck for the media content you will be amassing for Apple TV. In most cases, a person with a 60, 80 or 100 GB hard drive on their host computer will never use even half of the capacity of a 160 GB Apple TV. And from a technology perspective the limiter Apple places on giving the user direct access to store, capture, and back-up Apple TV directly without have to duplicate huge amounts of space on a host computer is severe.

Expansion? It seems Apple TV remains a closed system. You cannot add hard drive capacity or link it to other useful devices to enhance its limited capabilities. I look at the back of the slender sleek box and see a USB 2.0 port but what is it there for? It would be great if I could use it to plug in a huge backup drive, and enhanced remote device that would speed the navigation between the deeply embedded menus, or even better a EyeTV USB device that would allow me to record digital broadcast programs onto my Apple TV drive. But there it sits with nothing to feed it. Why?

The potential with Apple TV is there but the question is what is holding Apple back for making Apple TV an insanely great product?

PsyStar Mac Clone: An Emerging Trend (or Prank)?

2008-04-14T11:34:00.000-07:00

A Florida based PC maker has begun manufacturing a Macintosh clone called "OpenMac" at the retail price of $399. The machine has a 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM, a 20X DVD+/-R SATA drive, a 250 GB 7200 RPM hard drive and comes packed in a tower styled white case.

The open hardware comes with an OSX operating system written by an open project community and is widely available on the internet for Intel PC users to download. However, PsyStar says you can buy Leopard separately and install it on the Open Mac. Certainly, PsyStar would further provoke action against itself if it installed Leopard itself on this clone.

A Mac clone? Some might remember the days in the mid-1990s when the Macintosh was cloned by StarMax, Radius, DayStar, UMAX, and Power Computing. One huge difference between the Mac clones of that era was that Apple licensed these other companies to try and expand the Mac user base. The Apple brand was in trouble and clones were viewed as a way for Apple to stay alive. And then Steve Jobs came back to Apple and canceled or bought out all contracts with the cloners.

Since Jobs return Apple has taken the position, as Phil Shiller says, "We will not allow running Mac OS X on anything other than an Apple Mac." Jobs and Schiller knew that Apple needed to sell hardware and software to recover the cost of R&D. Apple being a technology innovator has heavy R&D costs and the only way to recoup their investment in innovation is by selling hardware and software at a slightly higher price than PC hardware.

When Apple decided to make the transition to Intel in 2006 they opened the doors to a new cloning threat and modified versions of OS X 10.4 and 10.5 or Open Mac projects to run on generic PC hardware. Since Apple moved to Intel, a number of hardware manufacturers including Michael Dell of Dell Computers have indicated they would like to make and sell PCs with Mac OSX installed as the operating system.

Many expect Apple to take tough measures against PsyStar and the news today reported that their web site where a person can purchase a OpenMac had been shut down for unknown causes. While Apple might avoid going to court to protect its copyright there are many options open to rendering this machine broken with system updates as they did with jailbroke iPhones. But actions Apple takes to disable users machines remotely comes at a price to their reputation as a company concerned with "customer satisfaction."

The question PsyStar raises is with the success of devices like iPods, iPhones and the widespread adoption of Apple software on PC computers, will we start to see an emerging new Mac clone industry?

UPDATE NOTE: One day after the story appeared, PsyStar brought its site back up and had changed the name of its computer from Open Mac to Open Computer. Then just as quickly PsyStar disappeared completely and attempts to visit the companies offices in Miami were found to be non-existent and PsyStar a faux vendor. I cannot believe how many of the mainstream tech media publishers were reporting this story with no names, bad phone numbers, web site down and no actual office location. Was this all some kind of weird late April fools joke?

Mossberg Confirms 3G iPhone in 60 Days

2008-04-07T14:09:00.001-07:00

At about 6 minutes and 53 seconds into this video, WSJ Tech columnist Walt Mossberg discloses his knowledge that Apple will sell a 3G iPhone in June.

The Future of Publishing

2008-04-04T12:33:00.000-07:00

I think some publishers have got it right and others terribly wrong when it comes to the future of magazines and newspapers. Isn't that always the case with future predictors?

Mary Tyler "Molly" Ivins, the first woman police reporter for our StarTribune said before she died in 2007, and I paraphrase, that it wasn't so much the impact of the internet on newspapers that is devastating to the industry as the response of newspaper publishers to the rise of the internet.

Newspapers downsized staff writers and got rid of much of the perspective that made them an unique experience to online media. These daily sources for news, like Ivins former employer the StarTribune, redesigned themselves to be unreadable and pushed most of us to the internet for our daily bread.

The most successful (although it has yet to prove itself out completely) were those newspapers like the New York Times and San Jose Mercury who leaped forward onto the internet but branded their image and internet pages with their distinctive imprimatur on this new medium. The Times still looks incredibly similar on the web as it did at the turn of the last century in print. Both publications succeeded in taking their brand to a wider national audience and I'd say younger demographic than their print versions. That's boldface confidence and smart positioning of the brand. And they understand it is about brand and not instant face-lifts and shallow make-overs at the last minute. The NYT's was quick to get its content positioned for the iPhone and the other smart phones with web browsing capabilities coming to the market.

Many other newspapers made huge strategic errors in repurposing themselves for the internet. Case-in-point, again, the StarTribune that locked its content beyond registration barriers and timed their content to a pay-to-read scheme that violates most internet readers the sense of freedom the net provides. That's what is termed, not understanding your audience.

When I search and get down to the level of a StarTribune article from 2003 or an obituary, when the site asks me to register, sign in, or pay to read I am gone in a New York minute. It is almost as if publishers wanted to punish internet surfers out of a resentment for change the new medium represents. Punishment, however, will never win hearts or build readership.

The other ones who have it wrong are the Kindle "electronic book" advocates (see my March 3rd blog about Kindle when it came out), like Graydon Carter from Vanity Fair, believe we will all be carrying around an electronic gadget and get their pages, picture, and movie content we will pay to download off the internet. Nobody wants to haul around yet another electronic device or reader like Kindle especially with its retro-tech rice button keyboard across the bottom of the screen (Did Amazon miss the memo that touch screen technology is going to change the face of all our tech-devices?). We have our phones, our laptop computers, and some even have a PDA or Blackberry. Add a device just for reading news and magazines and news? No way.

Breaking daily news content has to flow to our mobile devices where people do seek electronic convergence. Yes, I believe the instant news will no longer find its home on the multiple edition inky cheap newsprint of my youth. However, the high quality magazine with a distinct perspective will not evaporate off the pages any time soon. The experience of reading a magazine for leisure, relaxation, and entertainment will not be replicated in digital form on the internet or with Kindle. And ultimately, publishers need to see what the use scenario is and fulfill the readers experience in rewarding ways.

In the 70s and 80s, we'd rush to the comic store and could not wait to get our hands on MAD Magazine, National Lampoon and later British Spy (political satire magazine) or the New York Review of Books simply because there was nothing like these publications in terms of the content, comedy or intellectual standards they set. These magazines became icons in their day, not because of the quality of the paper they were printed on. I have very little sympathy for those who preach that we must buy newspapers when those who run them make terrible decisions that drive me away from their pages.

It is still all about the quality of the content and the internet can't change that fact.

image provided by Uh... Bob

Apple Leopard Shows Great Promise, Needs Fixes

2008-04-04T08:50:00.000-07:00

The top-billing with Apple's new operating system, code named Leopard or OSX 10.5 is the backup system given the marketing name Time Machine. Backed up with space age style graphics, Time Machine zooms you back and forward in time on a space continuum that makes you think your documents, images and movies stretch out into the galaxy.

Without going into Time Machine at great depth (many other sites and blogger have been writing about it since last year when Apple previewed it), Time Machine lets you restore documents going back to a specific day, week or year and does so with the speed and simplicity to make other back up systems seem old and outmoded.

Apple still has some fixing to do with Time Machine. It has yet to work with the Airport Express USB drives and prefers Apple's touted Time Capsule -- a Airport hub with 500 GB or 1 Terabyte drive built right into the wifi router.

Many Apple faithful who bought Apple's marketing back in the summer of 2007 to buy Airport Express with USB port for a backup hard drive have been mightily angry that Apple uses its programming failure to market a new device of their making. Their chant is "fix Time Machine to work with third-party USB devices." I agree.

STACKS & SPACES

Over time Apple has been transforming the Mac Finder and Desktop to make it more configurable to different use scenarios and assist the user with organizing and keeping their desktops clean. Stacks and Spaces are Apple programmers recent additions to this never-end effort to bring order to a chaotic universe.

Stacks throw all your download and desktop cluttering documents into a menu bar stack that expands out like a geisha's fan and flutter out before your eyes when you click and hold on the stack. It is a pretty cool solution to the way our desktop tend to become a litter box of document icons.

Spaces has the similar quality of organizing for the clutter-prone and seem to match Steve Job's zen-like obsession with neatness and orderliness. Employees of Pixar often noted that Jobs office was like an Oriental rock and sand garden where the only thing a CEO should do in there was meditate. Spaces is the desktop and finder equivalent, allowing you to order your workspaces, save them and flip spectacularly through to each. Spaces is almost an Andy Herzfeld type application, allowing you to flip the cube and view different Finders from different angles of the prism. Again, totally stylist and cool in that Apple way.

Often Apple's best advances are in the little areas of the operating system that let you do things more easily or do things for you that are laborious yet routine. I've owned a personal computer, specifically a Macintosh, since 1984. In all those years I have a mantra playing in the back of my head that says, "The computer should be able to figure that out so I don't have to."

Back in the 80s and 90s I wanted the computer to simply know what ports I had my printer or scanner connected to without having to tell and configure the operating system. I wanted my desktop simply to sense it was connected to the network and show me the volumes I could access. Most recently, I want my laptop or iPhone to sense and know when there is a wifi network I can connect to and prompt me to select it and authenticate.

DATA DETECTORS

One of the greatest and most mundane (DOH) features added to Leopard is data detectors. This is the feature that you've always wanted when you say to yourself "why can't the computer figure it out." Whenever Leopard sees text that resembles an address or date it gives you a pop down menu next to that data with the option to add it to iCal or Apple's Address Book.

Taking this a step further Apple has given applications like Pages the ability for you to draft a letter in a template and then go to Address Book select 1, 5, 10 or any random number of people in your address book and then drag the names into the address space at the top of the letter and it simple performs a mail merge with one complete letter per name you've dragged.

The data detectors even figure out that if you have a salutation, it will place the persons name in the appropriate spot at the top of the body text. No more of the stupid double brackets - field name coding to achieve a mail merge. Let the computer software figure out the details. That's what computers are for right?

iCHAT THEATER

iChat has gotten considerably better with Leopard. In the past, some of the ideas Apple built into iChat were cute but not too useful. Thus iChat hasn't caught on like other Web 2.0 technologies that improve IP communications. Now, with iChat Theater you can share photos, movies and Keynote type presentations across the internet with family, friends and business partners. If you are in front of the camera, iChat Theater makes a small window for you to live in and a big theatrical window for your picture, movie or slideshow.

While this concept is great and could bring more people to use the iChat feature of Leopard, my experience trying to use it with an Leopard upgraded Powerbook laptop and iMac have been mixed. The slideshow were slow, the audio failed and it seemed to be CPU heavy and brought all functions to a stuttering halt. Let's hope Apple works on fixing iChat and making it more stable and reliable because they could have a winner here.

SYNCING

Syncing has gotten some changes with the recent Leopard release. In the past, Apple has been all over the board with iSync, iTunes, .Mac and I think it has driven many Mac users to resignation with trying to sync across their desktop, laptop and mobile devices like iPhone and iPod. I know I've been frustrated and flustered with it and still in Leopard, syncing the Address Book between laptop and iPhone contacts -- is really funky. The sync feature likes to mix up the photos of different contacts just to confound you. So my friend Diane's picture got randomly assigned to my lawyer John contact on the iPhone. Go figure.

I hope this isn't one of those creeping Microsoft sloppiness problems -- where getting feature to work is successful only 35% of the time.

Within the Leopard Address Book preferences you will find setting that will allow you to sync your address book with Yahoo and Exchange mail servers. This ability to communicate and sync outside the world of Apple apps will be a big boon to the "switch to Mac" market and enterprise computing where Active List and other company served mailing capabilities are necessary.

The coolness of these and a bunch of smaller features makes Leopard well worth the price of upgrade, However, Apple has some fixing it needs to do to iron out the odd imperfections with this system version.

Apple Fanboy Command + A (Attack)

2008-03-24T10:54:00.001-07:00

Recently, I read about how vicious the Apple fanboys have grown on the web. First, lets be clear of the utopian misconception that the internet would connect us all, enlarge our communities, be egalitarian and make us better people. Peace, love and understanding hasn't actually arrived by digital download nor streaming.

In fact, reading the anonymous comments on Huffington post about the 2008 campaigns, or any political blog for that matter, can assure all Americans we have pathetically lost all sense of proper behavior and civil society. Talk about ad homonym attacks and bloodthirsty adversarial behavior -- that's just between fellow Democrats -- it is out of control.

But the thing I find so ironic is the attack mentality of Apple fanboys. Case in point has to be David Pogue. If anyone has a history of reading Pogue over the years you will know he has been one of Apple biggest advocates in print journalism alive. If anyone, Pogue deserves a Apple Fellow status and a shrine in the Apple Hall of Fame.

Yet, after Pogue wrote a column for the New York Times in which he mentioned that Microsoft might have implemented something better than Apple in their OS, Pogue was barraged with hate email. One reader accused Pogue of "hating Apple" and another of "Licking Bill Gates balls."

It's not hard to find equivalent behavior that harms Apple owners and prevents Apple itself from making honest assessments of their strengths and weaknesses. Criticism of Apple improves the company and its products. It is the bread and butter for upgrade input. On the .Mac support forums, users are encourage to post the technical problems and discuss Apple products, but users are frequently censored and often attacked by fanboys and even the discussion moderators.

Unreal. Apparently the Google employee motto "Don't be evil" has no sway over them.

Apple TV Plus Coming?

2008-03-17T05:14:00.000-07:00

Obviously, I ranted at the beginning of the year about what Apple needs to do to not only improve upon Apple TV but make it a serious media center convergent technology. It is a no-brainer: ADD DVR. Wrongly, I predicted Apple would announce they were adding DVR to the Apple TV in Steve Job's 2008 MacWorld keynote.

But I wasn't the only one. All kinds of Apple Rumor pundits were clamoring for an improved Apple TV that would eliminate all those shiny odd shaped boxes surrounding their new thinner, smaller footprint HD LCD and Plasma TVs. Everybody wants convergent technologies and since Apple saw fit to give us a web browser, email, GPS-like maps and iTunes music and video on our cell phone, why wouldn't they provide a comparable media center device that would eliminate the need to buy four boxes when all you need is one?

The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) has been routing around Apple patent filings and found they have filed for an Apple TV device that has DVR capabilities included in a new box. Finally, I say, what is taking Apple so long to seriously get into the media center market?

Hopefully Apple will find the courage to stand up to the corporate lawyers who continue to set the standard for technology development or lack thereof. These lawyers know nothing about great industrial design nor could they care less about the users ability to use it easily. The industry moguls who insult the consumer will/are destroying their own businesses.

Many of the Apple products I own in my home are hamstrung to the point that I am unable to effectively and easily capture, store, organize and view my digital content. And it is MY content since I either created it myself or I PURCHASED it. Last time I was at an Apple Store I was given a unwanted lecture about "stealing" movies simply after asking how a person can transfer and store digital media onto the Apple TV. WTF! Apple Genuis' are amateur lawyers -- at BEST!

We are your consumers. We buy CDs and DVDs and it seems more like Apple wants to control the way we engage the content rather than give us as consumers the tools to manage our digital media. The situation has never been this bad whether it be broadcast recording to VHS or Beta tapes, cassette tapes from albums, CDs and digital ripping of them and the treatment of the customer by Apple and the industry has never this low. It is a disgrace Apple is involved with this sham against its loyal customers.

iPhone 2.0 is a Leap (Spring) Forward

2008-03-09T14:25:00.000-07:00

Reset your clocks. When all the dust settles after the iPhone SDK announcement, even with all the concerns about Apple's control over the platform, one thing is very clear -- the iPhone experience will change radically with the release of iPhone 2.0 in June.

While many questions remain, Apple will promote development on the iPhone both with consumer level applications and with implementations of enterprise software tailored to individual companies and institutions.

No doubt museums and art galleries will be using the platform as a place to launch interactive media such as the Walker Art Center has already began to do in a limited fashion. Hospitals will find the handheld iPod or iPhone invaluable to searching and locating records. Schools, collections and libraries can be incredibly interactive and mobile inside their wifi domains.

We are also likely to see the iPod Touch become a much more popular tool as owning and using one will not require a AT&T cell phone contract and developers can use wifi to send and receive vital data. The iPod Touch running 2.0 might even become a way out for Apple to sell iPhone equivalent technologies without AT&T being party to the purchase or contract with users.

Using an iPod Touch inside a corporation for capturing and sharing data such as with doctors in hospitals, inventory in retail operations, or point of sale and service has huge potential for the Touch technology, where not having the cell phone capabilities becomes a plus on a mobile device.

In Apple's Thursday announcement they invited a number of developers on stage to preview versions of the games, data base tracking applications, and messaging clients for the iPhone. It was abundantly clear that the prospects on this platform are immense with robust development and will be enjoined by enthusiastic programmers.

And despite developer concern about the Apple Apps Store being the sole distributor for iPhone and iPod Touch applications, Apple will be partner with thousands of developers and enthusiastic about getting new tools and entertainment to iPhone users through this huge direct sales network and free distribution channel. As Wired said in it recent cover story, FREE is the future of business. All-in-all that is an advantage to the developers, iPhone owners, and Apple itself.

In Apple's defense, inside the IT departments I've heard many say that Apple should control the distribution of applications on the iPhone very tightly because he users don't want their cell phone riddled with poor designed and programmed applications that will destroy the iPhone experience and functionality. They often point to the wide-open nature of the PC and how it has become riddled not only with bugs, worms and virus' but also low functioning software by amateur programmers.

Adding to the excitement of the SDK package release was the announcement of the iFund, a one hundred million dollar capital investment fund by Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers. A chief partner in KPCB, John Doerr in founding this fund saluted Apple entrepreneurs as revolutionaries and called Steve Jobs the supreme commander who started Apple and the personal computer industry. He said $100 million is enough start-up money for "four Googles."

Apple's upcoming iPhone 2.0 will continue to jettison their cell phone business far ahead of any other smart phone company in the industry. Apple says the upgrade to 2.0 will be free to all iPhone owners (iPod Touch owners will need to pay for the upgrade) but this assures all of the millions who bought iPhones this year -- we can still look forward to one hell of a fun ride.

Is Your iPhone or iPod Touch Jailbroke?

2008-03-06T12:14:00.000-08:00

Almost immediately after Apple shipped the iPhone, a group of developers began writing applications for the device that gave it additional computing capabilities they were used to with other palm computers and smart phones. Some of these apps were written as great fun like the one above with different looks or skins for the Home screen and icons. Don't you find youself transported back to the mid-80s looking at the screen on the far right?

A madcap group of developers wrote more serious applications that added functionality they missed by not using their Treo's or Blackberry. When sites like ModMyiFone popped up you could find over 300 applications written and available on your iPhone via the Installer.app. These apps are very cleaver, including one called Labyrinth, which emulates the old wooden and steel ball game you used to play as a kid where you tried to tilt the surface to guide the ball into a goal. The genius of the iPhone adaptation is that it commandeered the built in accelerometers in the iPhone (used to rotate photos, web pages and movies -- and WHY can't Apple do it for the mail client?) to mimic the actions of the physical game it emulates.

But these developers and their programs were not officially approved by Apple. And, in order for users to take advantage of serious and fun applications on their iPhone they had to "break" or in the parlance of the community jailbreak their iPhone or iPod Touch to install these applications.

After todays announcement of Apple SDK and Apple apps program for the development and distribution channel for iPhone applications, will Apple truly open the iPhone to all the range of possibilities for new applications or will it be a gatekeeper and cherry pick and restrict users from getting the tools they want.

A big part of the thrust of today's announcement focused on enterprise users and extending the office uses for Microsoft Exchange Servers and ActiveSync support. Certainly that is aimed at shoring up their corporate relations within the industry. But what about the larger community of non-corporate consumer users?

Perhaps the first question that developers wanted to know has been answered -- Apple will require all applications to come through the Apple iTS to be installed. The developer will be charged a $99 for the standard commercial and free application kit and $299 for the Enterprise developer kit. Apple will require a developer to register and split the proceeds from the sale 70/30 with the developer. 70 percent will go to the writer. Free applications will not be charged for the place in the Apple apps Store.

However, functioning as a gatekeeper, what will Apple allow and what software will it restrict on the iPhone?

Apple said publicly it will restrict pornography through its sales on iTS. Okay, but what else? Apple said it will restrict applications that invade people's privacy. Understandable in the abstract but not very clear since the Camera function on the iPhone could easily be classified (and often is by YMCA's and YWCA's as well as other athletic facilities) to be privacy invasive software on their properties. Apple says it will restrict applications that are "illegal." Sounds like room for a lot of interpretation and potential litigation.

The question will remain: Is it best to start buying your iPhone and iPod Touch applications through Apple apps or keep it jailbroken and use the applications being freely developed in the world of software? Will the new Apple Apps Store eliminate the need to jailbreaking your cell phone or iPod Touch or will users still need to be hackers to get what they want on their purchased electronic devices?

Back in the 1980s, when we bought our first Macs we didn't need to answer these difficult questions. It just shows how far we've come and how different Apple is as a hardware and software company today.

Reading Steve Jobs Like a Book

2008-03-03T08:52:00.000-08:00

I happen to be in camp with those who believe if Steve Jobs says something cannot be done or it won't sell, he is more than likely working on the idea.

This held true for music. He told Apple, the Beatles record label, that Apple Computer, Inc. would never get into the music business. This year Apple iTune Store will become the largest music retailer in the world surpassing Target and WalMart and they changed their name to Apple dropping the word "Computer" -- the same name as the record label.

Jobs told everyone that nobody would ever want to watch a movie or video on a palm sized device and then a year later came out with the video iPod.

Jobs told the computing world that Apple would not get into the cell phone business, at the same time, they began developing the iPhone the most revolutionary handset the cell phone industry has ever seen and sales in the first year have been astronomical.

Now Jobs is saying Amazon's Kindle cannot succeed because nobody reads. Literal translation: Apple is posed to jump into electronic book reader market because Kindle will not succeed. If nobody reads why does the book publishing industry have $25+ billion in annual sales and more than 60 thousand titles every year and those numbers are U.S. alone.

Following Job's career in technology I think it is safe to say that one thing that gets in his craw is to see an good idea and huge business opportunity poorly designed and implemented. Kindle is just one of those devices. The first things that comes to mind when you see Kindle is "Who would want to carry this object around with them or use it for reading?" (see photo above) and the answer is "Nobody!" The question goes to the very heart of industrial or commercial design.

Wired's review of the Kindle named it one of the 10 heartbreaking gadgets of 2007, called the keyboard "klugey", the email "clumsy" and the web browser "crippled" and concluded by saying Kindle was begging to be redesigned by Apple.

With Apple iTouch technologies one can be sure that Jobs and Apple iTouch technology specialist Tim Bucher are exploring this realm of new business opportunities. Kindle leaves a big hole for Apple to drive their design and marketing team at electronic distribution of books and literature. With the infrastructure of the Apple iTunes Store delivering content to multiple hardware platforms, you can be sure that Apple is eyeing the book and print publishing industry as the next great digital frontier.

iPhoto 08 Makes Color Correction Easier

2008-03-02T17:52:00.000-08:00

Improvements to iPhoto in the iLife 08 suite make it the only photo management and editor you'll need as a non-professional photo enthusiast.

In the past, in order to use iPhoto on a day-to-day basis a photographer still needed to have Photoshop installed and iPhoto configured to launch Photoshop to edited color, contrast, and midtone brightness that turns your standard awful looking snapshots onto bright colorful photos suitable for printing, the web, or animated slideshows. But not anymore -- iPhoto will get you there all by itself.

Most of the critical improvements have been made to the Adjust Panel to make the overpriced Photoshop no longer necessary for baseline color and image enhancement.

The most significant feature added to the Adjust Panel are the ability to edit the midtones, shadows and highlights separately. When you first open the Adjust Panel, you'll see the Histogram graph at the top of the panel. Under the curves, you'll see three chevrons that can be clicked on and dragged -- one for the dark tones, one for the light tones and a third for the middle tones. The critical addition of the middle tone is an feature added to iPhoto 08. This is just the adjustment tool needed to improve the large percentage of all amatuer photos as it is the place in the photo editing spectrum where skin tones reside and our eye seeks brightness and clarity.

Further down the Adjust Panel you will see slider bars for shadow and highlight values. This enhancement also gives you greater control of the values in areas of your photo image that shapshots with consumer cameras so often get wrong. As a photo editor for amateurs and quality-minded non-professionals, Apple's implementation of the cropping tool but adding a thirds grid and their insightful addition of the straighten tool goes to the heart of what most poor photo images suffer from and how to fix them. The Straighten tool has now been removed from the adjust panel to make room for more color correction fine tunning and has its own icon in the iPhoto icon bar.

Another great feature of the Adjust Panel is that once you open the panel and make all the adjustments to make your photo image look great, you can then click on the COPY button in the bottom right. This action copies all the adjustments you made since you first opened the panel. You can then close this window, go the the next photo you took during the event or in that same color space and click on PASTE and all the adjustments made to the previous image will be applied to this one also. This adds considerable ease to correcting a group of photos you took in a similar color space or location and it is so easy. All applications should be this smart!

And what few people realize when they start to color correct is most color correction is necessary to compensate for the bias of a camera or the particular color temperature or balance of the lights the photographer is shooting under. Once you have corrected one photo, you can easily apply the same settings to others you've shot. Color matching between images is the key to making a decent slideshow, presenting a group of pictures on the web or printing a series of photos, whether it be a journalistic essay or wedding photos. In iPhoto 08, Apple has made this simple. All applications should be this intuitive in watching your actions and recalling them with just one push of a button.

Friends I know who could no longer afford to buy Adobe's expensive applications had resorted to buy shareware programs that emulated and sometimes bettered Photoshop with a limited pallet of standard features. More power to them and certainly Adobe needs to learn the lesson that if they gauge their users they will loose them to competitors.

But the problem remained, using a different software application for editing and enhancing your images can be clumsey and slow. Having one application with all the tools and features to get you to your final destination is the BEST strategy.

Now that iPhoto has arrived I think you'll find yourself relying less on interapplication switching and that you can get all your desired results in iPhoto.

I can hear the critics complaining already that you do not have layers, masks, blur or lighting filters, etc. But I venture to say 90% of the users don't need these tools. If you asked yourself, "When was the last time I used layers or masks?" and cannot remember that time than iPhoto 08 is the tool for you.

Apple iPhone SDK Revealed on Thursday

2008-03-02T06:41:00.000-08:00

Next Thursday (March 6th) in Cupertino, Apple will be revealing much more information about the long awaited Apple iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK). Companies who write software for Macs and handheld devices have been watching anxiously with the hopes of jumping into a market of millions or iPhone users with huge expectations for applications to improve their mobile computing capabilities.

What is in store?

With all of the efforts of Apple to slap heavy penalties on the underground developers who have unlocked and pirated the iPhone away from the corporate contract restrictions Apple and AT&T have placed on iPhone users, there is a great deal of interest in how Apple will now allow developers to meet the pent-up demands of iPhone and iPod Touch users.

For many, the potential to go to the Apple iTunes store and easily purchase and download programs to expand their mobile capabilities is an exciting prospect. These increased expectations extend to business computing, were enterprise software and specific tools designed for financial and business management functions can make inroads for Apple in those arenas of the computer market.

In the past Apple refused to recognize and allow software to be added to the iPhone to increase its capabilities. They even went so far as to release iPhone system upgrades that "bricked" the iPhone itself and disabling the cell phone for any user who unlocked or jailbroke their iPhone or iPod Touch. This move by Apple shocked many in the computing industry, probably most some of the faithful followers of Apple who have always been opposed the the tactics of corporate giants.

However, Apple's heavy-handed approach to restricting application development might not end with their opening up of the iPhone to third-party software companies. According to CNET's Tom Krazit, "The company would retain veto power over the number and types of applications that could be installed on an iPhone, meaning no application could be officially released without a thumbs-up from an Apple committee or executive."

It is highly expected that Apple will restrict the ability of iPhone owners to obtaining and purchasing third-party software to buys from the Apple iTunes store. Perhaps more surprisingly, it is speculated that Apple will not allow developers access to the iPhone and iPod Touch dock. This means that developers will not be allowed the freedom to write programs and hardware devices to improve upon wifi or bluetooth capabilities for printing directly without going through a Mac operating system, add third party peripherals like keyboards and audio enhancements. iPhone and iPod Touch enthusiasts wait with baited breath to see if they will have Bluetooth functionality or Skype calling capabilities added to their palm devices. A few would like video recording software to use with their iPhone camera.

And certainly, Apple will probably restrict software development that gets the user around the AT&T exclusive contract or allow them to make internet calls without a provider contract. In the first six months of the sale of iPhone, near one quarter of all the handheld devices sold, it is estimated, were to break the lock and open them up to use without an AT&T contract. The question developers will be asking come Thursday is what limit Apple will place on applications such as Twitter that give iPhone low cost alternatives to SMS and other communications channels?

In the last few days leading up to the SDK announcements, Jobs has been attacking Adobe for its Flash mobile development. Since the iPhone was first announced, its users have been clamoring for Flash and Java capabilities on their phone. Is Job's critique and big no to Flash Light on the iPhone just a harbinger of Apple's harsh treatment to come for software developers wanting to release the applications on the iPhone platform?

Generally speaking, with the success of iPhone and it implications for Apple at AT&T, we will be waiting to see how restrictive Apple is becoming in the application-developmnt spectrum and if instead of empowering the end user, how they will control software to empower their corporate contracts. Being an final arbitrator or a gatekeeper of the software being loaded onto the iPhone would establish a new precedent in the industry.

Writing in the New York Times, Saul Hansell notes, "This level of control would be most unusual for the software industry. Apple doesn’t control the distribution of programs that run on the Mac, for example. And other mobile platforms, like Windows Mobile and Palm Treo, do not make these requests."

iPhoto 08 Improves Digital Image Management

2008-03-02T05:17:00.000-08:00

In the past for iPhoto users to load their digital images from a camera or a disk reader, they would plug their device in, iPhoto would launch and an icon of a camera would appear in the middle of the iPhoto window signaling it recognized the card or camera. iPhoto would then provide a button saying IMPORT.

Unfortunately, I often did not need to import all the images on the card or camera. And, although iPhoto was kind enough to prompt you to pass over the duplicates or images you'd previously loaded, the import process was very analog, like the old days when you have to listen to ALL your voice mail messages. iPhoto was very slow if all you needed to load was one or two images from a disk with 100 on it. Scanning a disk and importing the files would take 15 or 20 minutes with todays large storage capacity digital media and large image files. A simple task of shooting a single image, loading it into iPhoto and emailing it to a family member or my publisher was agonizingly cumbersome.

With iPhoto 08 Apple FINALLY fixed this very non-Apple way of forcing the user to follow a protocol rather than given them options to control their digital content. With the upgraded version of iPhoto, when you plug the camera or card in it provides a preview of the entire contents and then allows you to select only a few or all images you wish to import. This is a huge improvement and timesaver over previous iPhoto versions.

Like my raves about getting around to fixing .Mac, I had been writing to Apple and complaining about this problem in iPhoto since version 5 and was disappointed they didn't provide a card browser in iPhoto 6, only to be told that there was a small application to previewing called Image Capture.

In fact, with this upgrade of iPhoto, Apple has made a concerted effort to improve the image management capabilities of the application. The iPhoto teams programming efforts are paying off with better image loading options, more information being captured and stored for each image, the addition of organizing stacks of photos into Events and the ability to hide images you may need to keep for some reason but not want to view.

iPhoto gave us the ability to capture and amass huge libraries of digital images but for most Mac users two, five or even ten thousand images quickly became unmanageable but iPhoto 08 truly improves upon the tasks of managing your ever expanding library of images. Many home and professional photographers will find the iPhoto 08 upgrade essential to their practical management needs.

Apple Hates Me!

2008-02-05T09:28:00.000-08:00

Executives at Apple hate me. There is no point questioning this fact.

Apple execs waited and waited and waited, skipped all announcements at MWSF about a 16GB iPhone...

And they waited..

Then, on January 18th I bought two totally lame 8 GB iPhones. It probably took a day or two for my online registration to populate the registration database at Apple. Steve saw my registration and gave the green light to begin manufacture and then BOOM!

On Super Tuesday when nobody is watching they announce:

"February 5, 2008—Apple® today added new models of the iPhone™ and iPod® touch which have double the memory, doubling the amount of music, photos and videos that customers can carry with them wherever they go. The revolutionary iPhone now comes in a new 16GB model for $499, joining the 8GB model for $399. iPod touch now comes in a 32GB model for $499, joining the 16GB model for $399 and the 8GB model for $299."

WTF? Then, to add insult to injury Apple announces a 14 day upgrade policy. Count the days muthafukka from 1.18.2008 to 2.5.2008!

"For some users, there’s never enough memory,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide iPod and iPhone Product Marketing. No kidding, Joswiak, and why do you think that's true? Could it be that 8 GB is tiny given the phat size of the files for music, video, and photos? Why did Apple cancel its 4 GB iPhone within months of it release? Because 4 and 8 GB iPhones are ridiculously small especially in the face of the impending SDK and the expected additions of new applicatons on the iPhone and iPod Touch platforms.

Routing around the internet and reading Apple commentarists like Shawn King and articles in InfoWorld, Apple clearly has pissed some Apple faithful off. Timing of the upgrade seems to be aimed at users who held off buying an iPhone until after MWSF and the terms of the upgrade offer, designed to screw them. Apple knew at the time of MWSF but seemingly wanted to throw it up in the face of predictors who said Apple had all the technology to upgrade to 16 GB iPhones.

The iPhone storage upgrade could have been something Steve Jobs announced at MWSF 2008 and said "Will be available on February 5th" as is often the custom but no, they only released it AFTER I bought this freakin measly, piece of crap 8GB iPhone. But Apple hates me...

http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/index.html#phone

Anyone want to buy a barely used 8GB Apple iPhone?

Eye-fi Wireless Promise

2008-02-03T13:02:00.000-08:00

This is a development in technology I am excited about!
A digital media, camera memory card with built-in wifi capabilities. However, stay tuned, as the first versions of this technology is buggy and problematic in its requirements to be set up and communicate. Hopefully, plug and play are on its way.

Powerbook Step-by-Step HD Upgrade

2008-02-03T11:59:00.000-08:00

Alright, you've decided to become an outlaw and open the box on your Powerbook. Right on dude, stick it to the man! Now, in order to go forward you'll need a set of tools to assist you with this act of uncivil anti-corporate disobedience. The first thing to arm yourself with is a step-by-step instructions on how to replace the 2.5 in. hard drive inside your Powerbook.

If you go to the iFixit web site you will be able to download a PDF file with illustrated instructions on the procedure you are about to undertake:

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac/PowerBook-G4-Al-12-Inch/HD-Replacement/53/11/

Then you will need two or three essential tools -- a T6 Torx screwdriver, a very small Phillips head, a tweezer (or dental pick), a roll of clear scotch tape, a pencil or pen and a few sheets of drawing or sketch paper. One 8-year old child with tiny fingers not unlike those who make oriental carpets in slave factories in Asia. Seriously, I'm not kidding. Oh actually I am kidding...

The best strategy is to stay organized, be extremely patient and move slowly. This process will take hours not minutes. If you are a nervous, impatient and fidgety person -- fund suitable medication. Frankly, if you are this type of person, performing this hardware breakout is not suggested. Honestly, that's s the truth and you'll only be sorry and the destruction you wrought on your computer.

STEP ONE:

Take the papers and pencil or pen and sketch two schematics of your Powerbook -- one for the top and the other for the bottom. Leave space around the edge of the drawn of the bottom to also draw the sideview. Make simple indications for the placement of the main elements of the case -- the battery compartment, the small cover for the memory slot, the keyboard, the tracking pad, and teh DVD slot as well as the ports on he side of the Powerbook.

What you are going to do with the schematic is use it to tape all the little screws you are removing from the case as you dissemble so when it comes time to reassemble, you will have a precise reference for returning them to their proper places. Keeping track of the screws is one of the most daunting parts of this entire procedure. This is a procedure that manuals don't tell you to do but you will not regret it.

STEP TWO: BACK UP ALL THE DATA ON YOUR HARD DRIVE.

Being following the instructions in the iFixit Powerbook HD Replacement manual. As you go, tap each screw you remove to the map schematic you've drawn on the sketch book paper.

Now, you will want to remove the battery and remove the memory from the backside of your Powerbook. Make sure you are grounded (and I don't mean in psychology or character) when handling these parts and it is best to place them on a static free matt if you can obtain one.

Next you will turn the Powerbook over, open the cover and remove the keyboard. his can be slightly fear inducing, since, you basically have to pry the F1, F2, F11, and F12 keys off their mounts. The action feels a little bit like you are breaking them but as long as you apply consistent and even force according to the iFixit instructions they will come loose and, once free, it is also probably best to tape the keys to the sketch paper as well.

Between the F1 and F2 keys is a screw that fastens the keyboard to the base. Another one is located between the F11 and F12. If you are working on a Powerbook that has never been opened, upgraded or rebuilt before, there will be little round grey or silver pieces of tape overing the screw head. This is how you, and Apple, can tell if the case has been opened before, if you find them missing or tampered with. As well, throughout this breakout procedure, you will find a bunch of taped seals that if missing, removed or tampered with Apple will consider the warranty not longer valid.

As you are working the process, remember that you main objective is to cause as little stress as possible to the parts and structure of the Powerbook. Good experienced Apple repair persons have mastered the technics of doing a system breakout without stressing the parts. I am an Apple certified repair person (certification obtained in a previous job) and the procedures for fixing and upgrading are not that difficult. If there is an art to doing this work, it is in the touch - being able to know how to handle the components and their connectors.

For instance, when you removed the keyboard by undoing the screws and then lifting the top f the key and unlatching the bottom hooks under the OPTION and ENTER keys, remember the keyboard is still connected by its data ribbon - a thin plastic ribbon that runs between the keyboard and the logic board. If you yank on the keyboard and try to pull it away from where it is seated, you risk breaking this ribbon. Once you've freed the screws and hooks on the keyboard you will want to flip it face down on the tracking pad.

Most of the instructions require that you remove screws al around the case. They have different threading and lengths so it is vitally important that you return them to their exact holes when reassembling. The trickiest part of disassembly is pulling the connectors free of their terminal plugs. You will really mess you system up if you break wires or bust-off the terminals. Be very careful and take time to gradually remove the plugs. A flat head screw driver used to gradually slide the plug free will yield the best results.

STEP THREE:

Once you have removed the old hard drive and installed the new bigger, faster hard drive it is probably best to reinstall a fresh version of the operating system. If you haven't upgraded to Leopard, this might be the best time, provided 1) you have >512 and preferably more that 1GB of RAM available to run it and >867 Mhz processor or preferably 1 Ghz or faster CPU.

Otherwise, just take your old Tiger or Panther install disks and reinstall the system directly. The performance of your Powerbook can improve radically just from doing a fresh install of the systems.

AND, if you are doing all his work to buy another 2 or 3 years of usability for this Powerbook, I'd suggest you consider investing another $80 for a 1 GB memory chip to maximized the amount for future applications and heavy duty work you will be doing on this laptop computer.

AFTER STATEMENT

In the bugger picture, I am a big supporter of upgrading computers. We live in a instant and disposable age, where computers are being make obsolete every six or 12 months. This rapid turnover is excessively wasteful truly shameful.

Back in the 1960s, there was a consumer movement that asked GM and other car manufacturers to stop the bleeding of "planned obsolescence" in the auto industry. Automobiles made in Detroit, it was alleged at the time, were being made to expire in 4 to 5 years and to encourage new car sales the manufacturers planned their expiration.

The fuel for this manufacturing wastefulness was greed. The computer industry -- all companies including Apple, Dell, HP, Microsoft, etc. -- are in the grips of the fever of greed that overtook Detroit in those times. Our new technology companies are better at this game that Detroit could ever imagine in its wildest profit generating dreams.

Upgrade your computer hardware. It is good for the planet!

Replacing Your Powerbook Hard Drive?

2008-01-29T05:14:00.001-08:00

Have you been considering replacing your old 20GB hard drive in your Powerbook? You might want to think twice... or three times.

One thing you may have not considered when you went out to buy your aluminum Powerbook G4 with its ample 20GB of hard storage and huge 256 MB of RAM (which if you were smart you immediately upgraded to at least 512 MB so you'd never have to upgrade again) is that it would not be enough space for all your digital life in 2008.

In fact, if you have a handy program like Whatsize from ID-Design, you will find that if you have a digital camera or a iPod that needs to be fed, massive amounts of your storage is taken up in your iPhoto and iTunes folders with digital images and songs. For the average user who have embraced the digital worlds of music, video, podcasting, and photography, these will be the biggest space eating culprits. In a very short period of time you will find 20, 30, 40 and even 60 GB of storage space an impossible space restriction to your wildly expressive urges.

My good friend "Buy a Mac" Mike has an expression, "...hard drives are like home car garages, no matter how much space you have, you'll always fill it up..." Mike says this to encourage organization, thrift and off-loading to backup archives. And as a warning when entering his garage.

I hear ya bro, and I have lots and lots of firewire storage devices that archives tons of old files, images and media. I also have a 500 GB hard drive connected to my Airport hub for off loading current working content. But truth be told, in order for your laptop to have the effective amounts of data to do tasks like update the blog, load digital images into iPhoto, feed the iPod music and movies, sync with .Mac... I could go on and on, you must have a baseline amount of storage space to stay alive.

And then there is another aspect no amount of connected, networked and archival storage can help with: With Apple upgrading the operating system every 6 months and new applications taking up considerably more space, you do not have enough storage AND platter space just for your necessary applications. Apple's new operating system Leopard wants 12 GB and then add to that iLife, iWorks and.or Office 2008 for the Mac and you're screwed.

Okay, so you made the decision that you don't have enough space on your laptop OR life made that decision for you. What do you do about it?

Friends say, especially around tax return time, buy a new Mac! Bigger, better, faster, newer, smaller, thinner, a new operating system... blah, blah, blah... That urge is tempting I must say. Love the packaging and holding in my hands the newly manufactured Apple product for 2008 but... a $3,000 thin Mac with 64GB hard drive. No Way! A 64 GB or 80GB hard drive is just the problem I am trying to get away from, not buy into. In today's market, new computers must have >100 GB of hard or solid state storage. Easily, many of the off-the-shelf computers will be weighing in a 1/2 terabyte of storage or 500GB.

The prospect of a hard drive upgrade to the Powerbook is a sane and reasonable alternative. So what then? Take it to the Apple Store talk it over with the Apple Genius and get a new drive replacement? Not. Unless you like to throw your money away and pay Apple a ridiculous four times more than you need to pay, stay away from Apple Store for this type of computer expenditure. You can always go back and get sucked into their vortex for other types of purchases.

With hard drives and memory getting cheaper and cheaper on the internet suddenly you start to feel very handy with screw drivers and torx L-wrenches. A great big new 2.5 inch hard drive with five, ten and twenty times the space can be procured for between $100 and $150 dollars. At these prices, it is very tempting to think of yourself as Super Mac Repair Man.

Can't be that hard, after-all, it is a Mac, right?

Well, the Macintosh may have come onto the market as a kind of VW people's simple tool for the masses, however, that analogy did not extend to under the hood operations. A Macintosh computer, once inside, is a very complex and touchy piece of engineering. And that is doubly true for the Powerbook, iBook and MacBook lines. It holds triply true for iPods. And if you want to break the iPhone, Apple has a team of lawyers for you and if they could, they'd like to put you behind greybars. Apple absolutely does NOT want you messing around inside their boxes. Backyard mechanics NEED NOT APPLY. If you go in there with your screw driver at the ready, you will void the Apple warrantee and Apple employees will start treating you bad. You may even get band from the Apple Store.

But that's where your dark side starts to come out. Am I right?

Being told you cannot do what needs to be done, especially by a big powerful corporation and their shark lawyers fills your with tool lust doesn't it? A man (or in many cases a woman) needs to be a man and take destiny into their grasp. We all remember the dangerous and sexy James Dean, the rebel, the black hat, the hacker. Afterall, the two Steves (Woz and Jobs) began their lives as phone-freaks (felons) while Gates and Allen were mainframe hackers who loved to bring the Sperry-Univac down to its knees (anti-corporate terrorists) when they were in Jr. High School.

Crowdsourcing Bush False Statements

2008-01-26T08:40:00.000-08:00

The crowdsorucing concept has to spread into other realms of information identification and social community on the internet. This time it is being used by journalists to dig deeper and track information further than just the day-to-day, as it happens nature of hot-press journalism.

According to the research web site The War Card, Bush and his administration carefully orchestrated a misinformation campaign to mislead the public and drive America into a war against Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

To account for this The Center for Public Integrity, an organization dedicated to investigative journalism along with Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith has set up a database of words to track Bush Administration misinformation. For two years following 9/11, their data tracking shows, four administration officials: President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Condolezza Rice, and Donald Rumsfeld made 935 false statements about national security threats.

Of course, we all know the biggest false statement by the President regarded the "weapons of mass destruction" the administration asserted that it knew Iraq had and that these words became the primary motivation for the invasion of Iraq. In fact, by their own later admissions, they did not know and according to American forces on the ground, intelligence, and UN inspectors there was no WMD. But that Lie (is lie too strong a word - is it lying if you really believe it yourself as George Costanza on Seinfeld would say) was only the beginning. The administration went on to make what it knew were false statements to the American public and world bodies.

We know that then Secretary of State Colin Powell went before the U.N. with carefully orchestrated (by Cheney's office) misinformation that the White House later blamed on faulty intelligence by the CIA. This carefully orchestrated misapplication of facts became the rational for the world that the American government gave for using force against Iraq and moving beyond U.N imposed inspections and sanctions.

You may search the database of 380,000 Iraq-related public pronouncements by top Bush administration officials here:

http://www.publicintegrity.org/WarCard/

Crowdsourcing American History

2008-01-26T07:43:00.000-08:00

Recently the U.S. Library of Congress posted over 3,000 non-copyrighted images from its collection to the popular photo-sharing web service Flickr. According to a statement on the LOC's web site, the reason for uploading is ""enhance our metadata."

Crowdsourcing, following on from social networking concepts like wiki communities, has become the latest phenomenon in web-based knowledge sharing computing. According the the LOC crowdsourcing is working.

By this method the national resource for images and history wants to improve the information attached to the photos, for the benefit of historical researchers and cultural posterity. The LOC figures if they throw the images out into the big wide electronic cloud hovering about us all, viewers will step up and offer particular knowledge about the people, the locations and the moment captured in those images.

"We want people to tag, comment and make notes on the images, just like any other Flickr photo, which will benefit not only the community but also the collections themselves," the LOC web post explains. "For instance, many photos are missing key caption information such as where the photo was taken and who is pictured."

To visit the LOC Photo set on Flickr go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress

Defeating Edge

2008-01-21T05:30:00.001-08:00

One of the first questions I had about the iPhone, prior to owning one was, "Can you turn off Edge?"

Edge is one of the two receiver/transmitter protocols the iPhone uses to conduct phone calls, receive email, surf the web and get information to populate Google maps with streets, traffic congestion, satellite views, etc. Edge is the slow one nobody likes. The other protocol is Wifi.

Now Apple built into the iPod a setting for users just to turn off Wifi because it can be a drain on battery when you are not in a wifi zone and its not being used.

"No, why would you want to turn off Edge?" was the initial answer I got from a friend.

My answer was because there are places I don't want the iPhone to start receiving calls and ring up excess charges on my AT&T bill, like when we go to Brazil, Prague, or travel in other foreign countries where Edge is extremely expensive. Edge is the metered pipeline into your iPhone. Since it is my pocketbook, I want to be able to take control of all charges. Another iPhone owning friend answered the question with a more cynical accusatory answer, "Apple and AT&T want you to be in a position where you cannot turn it off so you run up charges and they make more money off you."

Armed with Machiavelian suspicions, I went to the Apple Store and asked a sales clerk in the iPhone section, "How do I turn off Edge?" The Apple Store answer I got was you cannot turn off Edge but you can turn off Wifi. Again, the clerk asked me why I would ever want to turn off Edge.

Of course, my answer in part is the one given above but also, as a version of the iPod there are times when all I want is to listen to music, show my relatives a slide show of photos, or watch a movie, for instance, on an airplane without being interrupted by Edge. Bingo, this lead me to the answer. And I was surprised the clerk at the Apple Store didn't know to tell me about this feature.

There is no direct setting for defeating Edge as there is with Wifi so their answers aren't completely wrong, however, at the top of the Settings menu there is an item called Airplane Mode. Basically, Apple put this setting on your iPhone so when you get into an airplane and the steward announces you must turn off all cell phones and wifi devices, you have one simple setting to do so. This setting also defeats Edge by turning it off.

If you turn the iPhone to Airplane Mode ON, your iPhone will send all incoming phone calls to AT&T voice mail automatically and you can use all the other client features of your digital media device without being connected to the "cloud" as they like to say in the valley.

The downside is when you turn Airport Mode on, you will defeat both Edge and Wifi at the same time when perhaps all you wanted to do is stop Edge from communicating. This is not the same as giving iPhone users a desirable setting that would just turn off Edge but it works for now.

Now, when in Brazil or traveling to places were cell phone activity is charged a premium by AT&T, I can put the iPhone in the Airplane Mode, play music, take photos of friends and family, takes notes, use the calculator, check my calendar, and when I find a free wifi zone, I can turn Airplane Mode off and connect to receive my email without having to be pushed to the Edge.

Reality Distortion Shielding Hat

2008-01-18T11:30:00.000-08:00

Post 1/15 and we all could use a dose of reality distortion protection (RDP), especially of the heals of a disappointing Macworld San Francsico. We were all a little let down, not because Apple threw a bucket of cold water on our smothering hot expectations (they didn't) but because are field of distortion exceeded Job's willingness to meet the demand.

Take this guy for example. Suffering from a severe case of RD, he makes the case for iSight Pro and it is pretty compelling, however, slim-to-little chance the YouTube compatabe device will ever become an official Apple product. Are you listening Belkin? Newer Technology? Griffin?

Blu-ray Wins, HD-DVD defeated

2008-01-16T12:46:00.000-08:00

Striking Balances

2008-01-15T20:03:00.000-08:00

As certain as Steve wearing his black turtle neck and blue jeans, pacing the Moscone stage with his palm sized remote and his strategically executed sips from his bottled water is that Apple for two decades has walked a tighrope between coolness of design, ease of use and power, and ultimately price. The patterns of emphasis and granularity of magnification with how Apple decides to execute its computer and electronics products - what to leave out, what to include and at what price - is the high-drama guessing game.

When Apple gets it wrong it is because the balance is not reached. When Apple is at it most brilliant and revolutionary is when almost perfect harmony is obtained. Making a great consumer retail product is not very different than producing a great movie - the beauty and brilliance is in the details. Last year Apple obtained sheer acuity with the release of the paradigm busting iPhone.

MacBook Air
With the MacBook Air, its life began as an intensely improbable design mission. MacBook Air did not originate as a challenge to make an incredible inexpensive laptop and to undercut to price of a Dell. In fact, just the opposite, the MacBook Air was going to be designed for the high end market and compared to the most expensive Sony laptops.

Instead, MacBook Air had to be designed to occupy the smallest or thinest space profile or any portable computer running a full fledged modern day operating system. The allure has to be its sexy slim profile and almost nothing else. And as Steve revealed in his presentation, Apple did not want to compromise the size of the LCD screen or keyboard. One could argue the entire playing field has been changed for keyboards and perhaps they should be designed out not around but those were the specifications Jonathan Ives was given for design.

Given those specs, you'd have to quickly get rid of the optical drive. There is no space for an optical drive inside a less than one inch high box. One item missing. Add the DVD drive externally and you pay $99 more. Also, with respect to the components inside any computer, you'll have to radically change the battery compartment and this traditionally volatile and undependable unit cannot be easily replaced [Apple is offering a replacement MacBook Air battery for $129 and they will install it for free if you take it to an Apple Store). And there is a limit in this amount of thin space to putting standard ports or jacks for input and output jacks for monitors and firewire. Apple ditched a lot of connectivity for this design spec, although they do provide adaptors to make back some ground.

And a major unknown going into design had to be the type of drive the machine would use. It is almost a given that the future of mobile computing and fast, energy efficient design are solid state drives that use less battery power and increase speed. Much of the speculation before today's keynote was if Apple would use the 80 GB Samsung 1.8 drive or 64 GB flash drives and they decided to go with both although at a huge cost to the consumer.

If you think about it tje MacBook Air has a hard drive (at 80 GB) that is half the capacity of the largest iPod Video. And the flash drive version, priced at $1200 more that the hard drive version, has even LESS storage capacity at 64 GB.

In order to reach this incredble design mission, having to leave out an optical drive and limit the storage capacity to 80 GB, I think Apple, talked themselves into hoping users will be happy to off-load functionality to non-present optical and wifi backup to compensate for missing storage capacity inside the ultra-thin MacBook. This decision to cripple the MacBook Air could be a break deal for Apple.

Did all these stringent requirements lead Apple Away from just the perfect balance? Is the MacBook Air just the Mac Cube 2.0? The verdict is still out.

Classic Jobs Keynote

2008-01-15T13:50:00.000-08:00

As they like to say in the business world, there is no one better than Steve Jobs at selling both the steak and the sizzle. The Apple CEO has been tagged the ultimate pitch-man for his ability to impart passion, insightfully depart information, and induce mania for Apple new products.

As CNet's Tom Krazit says, Apple is the most influential technology company at the start of the 21st century. Least not forgot, Apple was also the most influential company in the early 1980s, supplanting IBM and effecting the future of computing at every step thereafter.

In many ways, the 2008 Macworld keynote was classic Steve Jobs. You can tell he loves the technology, he truly thinks Apple is the most incredibly innovative company in America and its design teams led by Jonathan Ives surpasses everyone else in the industry. Steve is right and he has every right to believe it and be passionate about Apple's future.

I am often in conflict with friends who take a cynical view of Apple and how it releases its technology. For instance, I find myself in disagreement with almost anybody who says Apple limits its technology and services to the user base simply to make more money. Developing hardware and software is an immensely complicated business and precise process. Making products that package a range of engineered components involves negotiations between very powerful interests and often restrictive technology benchmarks.

And precisely because Apple motive for making products isn't simply to make money, it makes their risk and adventure much more dramatic.

WIRED's recent article on the obstacles Apple faced in designing and launching the iPhone into the marketplace is a case study in modern business in the time of Moore's Law. It was Moore's law that long ago calculated computing power per unit cost. Roughly stated Moore, a Caltech professor who never saw a personal computer nor a retail store selling them, said computing power increases by a factor of two every year. Since 1965 when Moore made this claim, it has become applied widely to transistors, hard drive storage capacity, flash drives, optical disc, and clock times of CPUs. And while capacity doubles, it also drops in price significantly.

When designing products, companies like Apple, Intel, and Microsoft are trailblazing in a constantly changing river of fleeting numbers and calculations. A SDD flash drive with 64GB of space might be extremely expensive today but in six months a 128GB drive costing half as much could well find its way onto the market. That's the danger with being on the technology leader. Raging cost conscious consumers assume Apple is ripping them off because it charges a premium when, in fact, when you apply Moore's law, Apple is at the higher edge of the curve with leading edge technologies.

I truly believe, at the end of the day, Jobs and his team at Apple just want to make really cool objects and tools. That is the bottom line for them. And as numerous attempts in the past have shown, Apple has failed with the Newton, Mac Classic, Motorola ROKR with iTunes, Mac Cube and even Apple TV built into the old Performa line.

AppleTV

In this years keynote, Job's owed up to the fact that AppleTV last year failed. Why? Mostly because he felt they were trying to use the device to move content from the computer to the TV. Now, it seems Apple is more committed to Movies. Apple's answer to this opportunity is to create a relationship between the movie industry and the home viewing of film a direct one in the form of rentals. The key here comes at the beginning of Job's talk about iTunes, where he says, Apple found people wanted to own their favorite music because they will listen to their favorite song hundreds or maybe thousands of times during their lifetime.

However, in the world of films it is completely different than music. We all have our favorite films but, with the exception of extreme cases (Rocky Horror Picture Show, little girls watching The Princess Diaries or The Wizard of Oz) we only see them once, maybe twice, over the duration of our lives. The rental business is better suited to these habits of the average viewer.

Therefore, Jobs believes AppleTV (which might be better called AppleFilm or AppleRental) should be a direct conduit for its owners to go out and search for movies from the major and indie distribution companies, pay a fee for temporary possession and then have them delivered directly to AppleTV and onto your HD TV. This doesn't answer the question of DVR but it does give current AppleTV owners more features and no additional cost.

What Apple, the studios, and distributors needed to devise to get here is a set of rules under which the content would be viewed that comfortably suit the consumer. All of this when added to AppleTV's already existent capabilities is great. The message should be keep adding new capabilities for your customers. And as long as Apple gave this software upgrade away to AppleTV owners for free -- all the better. We really can't complain.

If Apple and the studios start to execute and quickly provide home viewers with top notch films without the bother of having to go to the rental store or receive and send DVDs in the mail, this could be a big break through in the way we see our first run movies and VOD in the future. The content is available by cable and satellite, however, the cable service providers are so poor at designing the user interface, so bad at customer support and indifferent to the needs that there is a big opening for Apple and the distributors.

If there is a huge outcry of disappointment with Macworld San Francisco 2008, it is not because of what Apple showed us as new, it is what they left out. There was such a loud hue-and-cry for an iPhone upgrade to fix its drawbacks and deficiencies, for Apple to address problems with its withering Mac mini and long denied Apple monitors. Many wanted Apple to give them a home media device far more encompassing than the AppleTV with DVR and DVD capabilities and thus a wave of post-MWSF disappointment has swept over Apple-nation only equal to the level of anticipation and excitement going into San Francisco on Monday.

Jobs keynote lowers all expectations

2008-01-15T11:02:00.000-08:00

Low. low, and lower expectations...

Dig the price for the 64GB SSD drive version of MacBook Air. Yow-sah! That price is one quick way to throw a very wet blanket over all Apple's smoldering hot success in 2007. I'd say Apple stock price should drop [at last check this afternoon UBS reported that Apple stock dropped $16 a share after Job's keynote and by the end of the day the share value dropped 15%].

No new hardware boost for the iPhone. Apple is deliberately holding back on technology they know they can deliver NOW, like for instance, 16GB iPhones and one might arguably say 3G. The argument against Apple putting 3G in iPhone is the hit the battery takes and not enough bandwidth but all that is rendered bad excuse when other handset manufacturers make 3G phones and 3G is standard in other countries.

Only new iPhone software and even then Apple's software upgrade are some lame tiny configurations to the icons, multiple SMS addressing and Google maps. There is nothing included for text selection, copy and paste, flip screen orientation in apps other than Safari (mail would be a good candidate) or the ability to delete multiple messages. This list of improvements were things that are broken with the iPhone and needed fixing from day one.

I'd say this is a classic case of Apple resting on its laurels and not giving way to a beacon call for improvements from the loyal user community. I just hope someone in the mainstream Mac-media has the balls to call Apple out on their lame refusal to upgrade iPhone hardware.

Thank goodness for Apple customers that Google made their pro-iPhone announcements yesterday, otherwise, there is not much of anything substantial for iPhone users at 2008 MacWorld.

A thin MacBook. Very thin. It's not something to rush out and buy. But it is very thin. Apparently its best feature is that you don't need a computer case because it ships in a yellow inter-office envelop. The worst feature is a very high price tag for inferior technology missing basic elements all portables have like optical drives, fast CPUs, multiple input and output ports, and bigger storage drives. At $1,800 and $3,000+ the ultra thin MacBook Air will take a lot of thickness out of your wallet and hand you back just a bunch of air.

An external hard drive for Time Machine priced at above the going rate for external storage. If you're happy with that offering I have some old Blue & White G3s I can sell you. Apple screwed a lot of Airport owners who over the course of the last year went out and bought the Airport extreme and a 500 GB external USB drive for $150 or $200 hoping that when Time Machine arrived on their desktop, they could back up their desktops and laptops using Time Machine and the beauty of storage connected to their hubs.

When Leopard was finally released, the fact that Airport couldn't accomplish the Time Machine task, it was attributed by Apple to be a bug. Now, Apple specialists on the floor of Macworld, in light of wanting to make sales of their new Apple device, saying the bug will not be fixed for the foreseeable future. Apple wants $299 for a 500 GB drive that does work and $499 for a one TB drive.

AppleTV with nothing to add to the hardware. Movie rentals. As the gonzo roving reporter Robert Cringley said, without DVR and the ability to easily rip DVDs to AppleTV its crap and will never become a part of mainstream America. That's all folks! Goodbye. Hello Randy Newman...

Read Cringley's humorous 'Fear and Loathing" parody here:

http://weblog.infoworld.com/robertxcringely/archives/2008/01/apple_macworld.html

In their assessment, Businessweek said that at the prices Apple has set for the MacBook Air, visitors to the Apple Store will not buy it, however, they will go in to the store to see it and maybe they'll buy a $1,000 MacBook on the way out thus it won't be a complete loss.

The Hour of Steve has Arrived

2008-01-15T05:24:00.000-08:00

They've come from all over the world, waitied all night and now, ladies and gentlement, at 9:00am PST it is the hour of Steve...

Karen Swisher and iJustine and their MacWorld sleepover.

A reporter for Valleywag, Jordon Golson left the Ars Technica party early last night and decided to stop down at Moscone and see who was waiting online. To his complete surprise after 9:00pm he spotted Marissa Mayer, Vice President, Search Products & User Experience for Google. The Google VP was waiting on the sidewalk to get a ticket for Steve Job's keynote address this morning. Apple is very lucky to have the innovative support of the programmers at Google and for that they get to sit on the sidewalk.

Apparently 40 to 50 Google employees go down to Moscone and wait on line to make sure Google gets prime seats for the keynote. Golson also found Chrix Finne, Associate Product Manager for Google Reader; Nick Baum, Associate Product Manager for Android; David Murray, Associate Product Manager for Gmail; Fernando Delgado, Associate Product Manager for Search Quality dressed in fleece ready for the all-nighter.

When Golson asked why were they waiting in line so early? They answered, "The man gives a great presentation. Hopefully we can learn something."

MacWorld Keynote Bingo

2008-01-14T15:13:00.000-08:00

This year, as last, there will be MacWorld keynote Bingo. Simply study this Bingo card and go to the Ars Technica web site for explanation:

http://arstechnica.com/staff/fatbits.ars/2008/01/06/mwsf-2008-keynote-bingo

You will also be able to download a PDF of the Bingo Card so you can play along at home!

Here is this list what you will be looking for to check off your Bingo squares:

• New Mac Pro - A new Mac Pro. Though new Mac Pros have already been announced, you may still mark this square if the new Mac Pros are mentioned in tomorrow's keynote.
• New displays - New Apple external displays.
• HD video somewhere - High-definition video appears on some piece of Apple hardware or software. It must be explicitly described as "HD" or "high-definition." HD video for sale in the iTunes store counts.
• MacBook Thin - A new subnotebook from Apple, regardless of its actual branding or product name. What's a subnotebook? Use your own judgement. The only restriction is that to be a MacBook it must have a hardware keyboard.
• New MacBook Pro - Any revision to the MacBook Pro product line.
• Multi-touch Mac - Any Mac with a feature described as "multi-touch" or even just "touch." It can be a screen, trackpad, whatever.
• "Wouldn't it be great...?" - Steve Jobs begins with his favorite rhetorical question.
• MacBook Thin has flash - The subnotebook (described in the "MacBook Thin" square above) contains some nontrivial amount of flash RAM.
• "One more thing..." - Steve Jobs says there's "one more thing." A slide containing the phrase is also acceptable, even if Jobs does not actually say it.
• New Apple TV - The moribund Apple TV is revised or replaced with a new product that does the same sort of thing.
• Movie Rentals - Apple rents downloadable movies from the iTunes store.
• "Boom" - Steve Jobs says the word "boom" during keynote.
• Existence of Xserve acknowledged - The Xserve or Xserve RAID is mentioned by a presenter, listed on a slide, or even just appears in a photo, illustration, or screenshot.
• Blu-ray - Sony's Blu-ray disc format is mentioned by a presenter. (Text or a logo on a slide does not count.)
• iPhone SDK details - Significant new information about the iPhone SDK.
• New displays have cameras - New Apple displays with built-in or otherwise attached cameras.
• New iPhone - New iPhone hardware. Even minor revisions count.
• Mac market share touted - Good news about the market share of Macintosh computers is presented.
• Optical drive sold separately - An Apple-branded external optical drive is introduced and is available for individual sale.
• Schiller - Phil Schiller appears on stage or in live video. (Pre-recorded segments do not count.)
• Leopard vs. Vista - Mac OS X 10.5 is compared to Vista in some way. Showing one of the Mac/PC TV ads does not count. The comparison must be part of the live presentation.
• Dockable Mac - Some hardware product that runs Mac OS X docks to some other piece of hardware.
• Native third-party iPhone app demo - A demonstration of an OS X application written by a third-party, or written by Apple as an example of what could be written using the new iPhone SDK.
• No new displays - No new Apple external display products are introduced. (Rioting optional.)

One of the funniest wished for announcements was Steve Jobs to launch a Gen 3 Newton. Now that would be a huge surprise to all those predicting new Apple products.

Google Apps Get iPhone Makeover

2008-01-14T08:27:00.000-08:00

Good news for iPhone and particularly iPod Touch users, the first to come out of MacWorld San Francisco, is Google's announcement of their web apps makeover for iPhone. Among the Google group of apps being madeover are Gmail, Calendar, iGoogle, Picasa and more.

While I posted earlier Apple .Mac needs to take a more aggressive position to support iPhone, iCal, iPhoto, iGroups, blogging, and .Mail, the fact that Google sees the need and is seizing the opportunity to support iPhone can only make Apple more responsive to customer needs.

One of the biggest features iPhone users will get is push email, in other words, the new Google email will automatically show up on your iPhone without having to hit a refresh button. New messages can arrive in 25 seconds or less. Google is also offering web apps written for the iPhone Safari browser to bring PC computing capabilities to the mobile device.

In the search area, Google's search entry box offers word selections, when you type the first few letters of the word it automatically builds a pop down menu (see photo above) of options filling out the word you are beginning to type. Using these quick find features increases the speed when using the touch screen interface of the iPhone and iPod touch devices.

Google is also working to make Android work on iPhone and we can expect to see Google Gears, their application to make web based work possible even when not connected to the web, being adapted and launched on the iPhone during the course of this year.

A Favorite Apple Ad

2008-01-14T07:19:00.000-08:00

Here's to the crazy one's...

Lame Predictions : : Blu-ray

2008-01-14T05:55:00.000-08:00

As the speculations leading up to MacWorld San Francisco's keynote address tomorrow continue, there are a bunch of web sites, blogs, and financial analysts jumping in with their big rumors about what Jobs will announce.

Amongst these predictions is that Apple is going to announce it is supporting Blu-ray. This is lame. First, Apple was one of the first tech companies to become a member in the blu-ray alliance and Apple has made announcements before supporting the standard. However, secondly and most important, just making that statement is not NEWS. Embracing Blu-ray does not come up to the standard of a keynote announcement.

OK, I am making the rules now. In order for an item to be considered worthy of a keynote announcement, it cannot be some technology parameter or the use of a binary set or a particular video bus. The "thingness" of a announcement is that you have to significantly utilize the technology, distill it down and offer it to consumers as a product.

For instance, if Apple is going to come out with a new AppleTV hardware that has a read/write blu-ray DVR drive in it than it is a product announcement worthy of note in the keynote. Short of that, a discussion of Apple using blu-ray or embracing the standard is old news and kind of a snugger or a safe easy guess without any risk, if you ask me.

Send in the Clones

2008-01-11T10:01:00.000-08:00

A few weeks back I wrote about the Verizon LG Voyager clone and its superficial shortcut touch screen cover that hides the fact that it is an old-school clam shell phone with a tiny QWERTY keyboard.

But there are a hosts of iClone's jumping into the market after, as WIRED magazine described it, Apple blew the doors off the cell phone industry. Prompted by ABC News analyst Michael Malone's question "Can Apple stay ahead of these guys?" I decided to investigate the impressive iPhone killers as he called them.

Prada is probably the most elegant and beautifully designed of the iClones but it has serious short-comings. Without Wifi and no on-screen QWERTY keyboard, it is out of league with the user experience of iPhone and other iClones trying to be a phone, MP3 player, web browser and email handset. Prada also is one of the few iClones more expensive than the original iPhone it is trying to copy. And the GUI on Prada is practically non-existent. Nothing impressive here.

The LG Voyager (picture in previous post) has some impressive features that the iPhone does not. For instance, you can use it to connect to Verizon's real-time TV service (for an additional $13 a month) VZ Navigator GPS ($13 a month or $3 a day) and in a pinch the phone will work as a modem. A serious drawback in this feature set is the lack of wifi. The Voyager has two color screens and a tiny keyboard, which some reviewers seem to think is an advantage. But why? Only poor design would force so much investment in screens and a QWERTY keyboard 4.5 inches wide is like trying to cook dinner for 12 with your daughters easy bake oven. It's all a waste.

But more importantly, the Voyager fails basic usability tests when it comes to syncing contacts and calendars to your PC. It has trouble, like many PC managed devices, setting up playlists and consistencies with managing music. I've always found that it is much worse to have a whole bunch of features that fail to work 50% of the time that a narrower set of features you know you can count on working. As I stated earlier, you can over-design and under-implement by simply trying to put stickers on the cover (shortcuts) but not make them a useful and simple way for the user to get their tasks accomplished.

CECT P168 is an iClone from China that truly tries to re-engineer the iPhone and is deceptively an eye-match. When you first see it you wonder, what the hell is that thing attached to his iPhone but upon closer examination to come to see it is not an Apple product at all. The reason this phone looks so much like the iPhone is the proportionality of the screen, the black touch face and silver rim and strategically located main menu button. Even the wallpaper and start up screens are complete iPhone imitations.

Meizu's M8 also cuts an astonishingly beautiful design profile with a clean and simple look that causes Apple lovers to do a double-take. You might easily catch yourself thinking upon first glance it is an iPhone but then snap your neck back saying it can't be. The M8 runs a tricked out version of Windows CE 6.0, dressed up to look like the iPhone OS. But, M8's biggest drawback is that it is still vaporware with no release date in sight. By the time it comes out, they must fear, the train will already have left the station and the next generation will be playing a different song.

In design terms Samsung's F700 is lame. It form factor is chunky and doesn't effectively use the entire area of the 2.7 inch screen (that falls short of the 3+ inch edge to edge screen of other iClones and the original iPhone). But in hardware terms the 5 Megpixel camera is twice the resolution of Apple iPhone. The F700 sports HSDPA (but no Wi-Fi) so we'll see if it can get traction outside the channel.

HTC Touch is smaller than all the other iClones, limits its screen size and takes up valuable surface real estate with hardware buttons as opposed to touch screen. This handset tries really hard to be iPhone-like, yet it has all the markings of a Windows product -- too much text standing in for a graphical interface and general design confusion where simplicity and spareness should be respected especially in small spaces.

The HTC Touch looks and feels a bit too much like a remote control device for your garage door opener in form but not iconic enough to work that factor well. For ham-fisted or chunky fingered folk, using it becomes difficult as a touch screen device which the designers realized and ship a stylus in the box to make up for it.

So there you have it. The iClones. Mild-mannered half attempts at copying, with limited success, with the exception of the Chinese who boldy re-engineered the iPhone.

iPhone, let's get serious now...

2008-01-09T14:10:00.000-08:00

There is bluzz all in the air about Apple announcements and what products they will be improving. Yesterday, at CES in Los Angeles, Apple announced hardware upgrades to it Xserve and Mac Pro lines. Why not wait until MWSF next week?

As close as I can figure Apple will have so much to unveil and wow their Moscone audience with that small items like speed increases to their servers and Mac Pro's just aren't exciting enough to make it into Job's keynote on Tuesday the 15th.

But too many of the Mac web sites have set their sights low and have salivated over tiny incremental improvements came out with the firmware 1.1.3 leak. My thought, "You got to be kidding me, multiple SMS messaging, a customized home page, and Locate Me in Google Maps is nothing to boast about nor fill the hour of Steve."

Posted on Wikipedia is an alleged outline of Job's 2008 Keynote. This is a joke and a poor attempt at imitation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Macworld_Conference_%26_Expo#Leaked_2008_Keynote

There is no mention in here of any of the new products being widely discussed like a touch screen MacTablet, 3G iPhones, iTunes with movie rentals, or improved features to the iPhone operating system like copy and paste or the quasi-GPS in Google maps. The outline would make Jobs sound like he'd taken Quaaludes and had given up on the whole notion of Apple being an innovator in mobile computing, laptops and music/entertainment. But we know it is not in Jobs character to give up on innovation.

Here is a wish list of absolute essential iPhone improvements we'd like to see announced at MacWorld next Tuesday:

• syncing calendars and contacts to .Mac on the fly without docking
• text selection across the operating environment
• ability to use the landscape-oriented keyboard in applications like Mail other than Safari
• copy and paste in all apps
• search capabilities
• multiple selection
• move photos from Mail to the Photos app,
• e-mail multiple pictures at once
• add spam filtering to Mail
• provide a way to delete a bunch of Mail messages
• create To Do lists on the iPhone
• retrieve them from iCal
• improve iPhone connectivity directly to .Mac groups, tech support boards and calendar

Wish List for MWSF that we likely will NOT see happen next week:

• iPhone is officially unlocked or Apple will sell unlocked version
• iPhone gets Java and Flash
• iPhone camera can record video and be used with iChat
• iPhone can play video and slideshows to TV/s-video devices
• iPhone gets 32 GB and 64 GB flash storage models

WIRED magazines excellent Untold Story article* on the development of the iPhone just underlines the incredible hurdles Apple had to jump over the break the rules of convention and change an entire industry. The article also explains why huge compromises often have to be made with Gen One products like using Edge as opposed to 3G and make exclusive agreements or backing out of them when trying to get established in the marketplace.

However, now that Apple has established itself firmly as a leader in wireless hardware devices, it is time to get serious and make an iPhone 2.0 tailored more to the needs of its consumers than the needs of contracts, lawyers, and inter-corporate relations.

* copy this text and paste it into your browser (if you are not on a Gen One iPhone without copy/paste):
http://www.wired.com/gadgets/wireless/magazine/16-02/ff_iphone

Uncle Fester's Big Plans

2008-01-08T08:21:00.000-08:00

Last spring, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer (a.k.a. Uncle Fester) as so cocksure of the Window's Mobile phone that we was snickering at Apple's entry into the market with a $500 "fully-subsidized" (the notion of subsidized handsets is all smoke and mirrors) phone and even boasted at the idea of taking the iPod on with their newly upgraded brown Zune.

Boy, a lot can change in a year, I mean, six months.

Ballmer dismissed how serious the iPhone could be for business users without a keyboard.

Now, in light of iPhone's overwhelming success, Microsoft has adopted its historic fallback strategy -- copy the hell out of it. Picture Ballmer pumping his fist in the air pacing back and forth on the stage shouting "Infringe! Infringe! Infringe! Infringe!"

According to InsideMicrosoft and MacDailyNews, internal memos show Microsoft's about-face and a redesign of Windows Mobile version 7 almost a direct replica of iPhone. Oh yeah, the tiny keyboard you have to use a knitting needle to pluck at the keys is gone. Microsoft has decided to go with a touch screen keyboard.

But, as Job's said at the iPhone launch, Apple has over 200 patents covering the touch screen technology and will vigorously defend those patents in court. Do you think Ballmer is ready to say, you cannot patent an interface design -- a computer user interface is like frequency slashes on the radio tuner dial?

At CES this year a number of handset manufacturers have been scrambling to "catch-up" with the popularity of the iPhone. Motorola, in its attempt to stop the bleeding of its profits, has redesigned its entire line of upper end devices including the ROKR E8, a buttonless modal face on its candy-bar design, what Motorola refers to as "ModeShift morphing" to switch from phone to camera to mp3 player.

The problem with many of these new iPhone killer handsets is the manufactures still fail to understand the change to the overall human interface design and they simply try to put a superficial band-aide over poor software/hardware integration. Taking the lazy way out, they simply adding icons next to buttons and call it a iPhone clone or killer. They miss the point entirely because they are not industrial design forward thinkers, they are bean-counters with too much say over the design of a phone.

However, there is no question the competitive companies are attempting to capitalize on iPhone's biggest negatives. First-and foremost, the backlash to Apple's locked phone strategy with ATT Mobile. Anyone measuring the market can see Apple is accumulating huge negatives from not only the ATT exclusive contract but also to the brutal attempts of Apple to brick unlocked iPhones and erase applications loaded on phone and iPod Touch that have been jailbroke. This is the soft-underbelly to Apple's success in 2007.

And in recent days the Guardian business pages have been reporting that, according to Bill Gates, Microsoft will not launch a product to compete with Apple iPhone. First rule of business reporting, never trust Microsoft when they say the are not going to do something they are strategically up to their neck in. That's just plausible deniability. Secondly, if you take Ballmer or anyone else for that matter at Microsoft on their word, they are already competing with iPhone with Windows Mobile and consider themselves to be in competition with iPhone.

Bill Gates Last Day @ Microsoft

2008-01-08T06:17:00.000-08:00

'...Who just doesn't believe in paying more than $7.00 for a haircut..."

This funny video shows a lot of Bill Gates personality and for those of you who think he is evil, provides enough candor to maintain his god-like status in the geek-coolness category.

David Lynch iPhone Ad

2008-01-06T09:26:00.000-08:00

Hilarious spoof on an Apple iPhone ad with film director David Lynch. Will Apple play this during the MacWorld SF keynote on January 15th? Don't touch that dial...

Predictions for MacWorld SF Unwrap

2008-01-04T14:50:00.000-08:00

What will Steve Jobs be unveiling to the faithful gathering on January 15th and MacWorld San Francisco? Apple normally reserves this home base venue and first of the year all-Mac conference for announcing big new products and recapping the successes of the last year.

Of course, Apple's biggest success in 2007 has been the iPhone. Even Apple's most avid critics and nay-sayers have come around to admitting the iPhone is one of the most successful tech products ever to be released. Jobs said last year their goal for 2007 was to sell 1 million phones and by now they must be approaching 5 million sold.

I know everybody is doing this now but here is my list.

iPHONE

I might be going out on a limb here but I am going to say Jobs will announce a 3G iPhone and retire Edge from all new iPhones purchased after 1.15.2008 with 16GB (at least) flash storage, improved Google maps, improved longer battery life, faux-GPS, editable icons and home screen and improvements to the SMS messaging. Copy and paste capabilites will be added and with good luck Apple and Adobe will be working hard to provide Java and Flash support.

Jobs will set the stage for iPhone SDK and hopefully they will be thinking about opening up the operating ecosystem to accommodate programers who will add capabilities that Apple won't brick with future firmware upgrades. Jobs will save some iPhone developments for the SDK unveiling in February but he should stoke the engine with basic tools for the developers.

APPLE TV

AppleTV was a non-starter in 2007 but it is clear Apple is preparing big announcements with partners in the movie industry to make it more of a movie viewing platform to rival Blockbuster and Netflix for home movie viewing. Although it would be much appreciated, I doubt Apple will truly bring the AppleTV up to the level of a TiVO type device for capturing and shifting broadcast and cablecast content or add serious DVR capabilities.

Apple is wrong to not to add the technology to make this a serious media device as they only hurt their standing in the home entertainment centers of the future. They could add the wow factor at Moscone Center if they make AppleTV a movie rental and Blu-ray DVR machine. Then, I'd buy one.

iTUNES

Apple will need to revamp iTunes for the film rental business they are entering into with the movie studios. While the record companies are letting down their DRM madness and loosing their harsh punishments, the movie rental business is a whole new kettle of fish. This upgrade will not be packed with features and new formats but will designate a new space for films and trailers to make it easier for Macs, iPhones, and iPods to find the new video content.

Trying to win an audience for movie rentals could be a hard nut to crack if Apple does not open the environment up and provide to restrictive terms of use. A lesson they should have learned from the emergence and wide-spread acceptance of the iPod is that most users of the mobile music player took their collection of CD's and loaded them into the their pocket jukebox without DRM or copy protection schemes that severely limited the use of the songs.

Putting a 24-hour use stipulations on movies and charging high rental prices will not lead to success either for the rental business on iTunes or the sales of AppleTV. In order to succeed, Apple will need to provide some easy avenue for current DVD owners to convert the movies they own to the digital format for use with their new HD entertainment centers.

MAC-MINI

Many have been predicting the demise of the Mac-mini, however, I think the entry level box is critical to Apple's increased marketshare for the MacOS. PC users want a box they can buy and still connect their old monitors and peripherals without buying the whole Apple package. Expect to see a hugely revamped Mac-mini. In fact, if anything, unlike previous MacWorlds devotd to iPhones and iPods this will be the MacWorld devoted to upgrading and clearly defining the Macintosh platforms both desktop and laptop first and foremost.

.MAC

The mystery with Apple is the lack of serious interactive capabilities .Mac provides its Apple subscribers. It is long past time that Apple improve this service especially to accommodate the serious needs of iPhone, iPod Touch users. .Mac has always been kind of cobbled together and very much behind the curve when it comes to giving Apple users interactive tools on the go. Google has truly kicked Apple's butt with making calendars, contacts, sechduling, groups and other social computing services, offering much richer and robust an environment for internet connectivity.

First and foremost, .Mac needs to drastically improve its ability to work directly with the iPhone so that project maangers can update their published iCal calendars on the fly. The .Mac teams motto ought to be "No docking required!" becaused docking and updating is such a pain and in today's compute of the fly world, you've got to be able to schedule, plan, and update as you go through the day and not just at the desktop.

Apple's exclusive contracts with ATT present major problems for international travelers and business people and Apple hasn't been thinking differently enough to service us but it is time. And it is time for .Mac to jump ahead ten years and get their head out of 1994 with .Mac.

ULTRA SLIM SUB-NOTEBOOK

I'm not sure if this will be classified as extending the iPhone platform or as an addition to the MacBook line but its coming. It might well be a new Apple platform, something akin to an iTablet. The one big product differentiation will be if it will use the verbless touch screen technology or a keyboard. I hear some critics complain that the iPhone needs a keyboard but they are still living in the 1970s. Keyboards are dead. Let them rest in peace. If you love keyboarding go get a job in the typing-pool.

As New York Times tech reporter John Markoff wrote about Jobs excitement of the touch screen technology in the iPhone "There are no “verbs” in the iPhone interface, he said, alluding to the way a standard mouse or stylus system works. In those systems, users select an object, like a photo, and then separately select an action, or “verb,” to do something to it." In the interview Jobs claims Apple has invented a whole new user interface with the iPhone. I think we can expect to see Apple extend this new approach to other Apple computing platforms.

Touch screen should become the future of mobile computing. If the new subnotebook has touch screen technology than it extends the iPhone and iPod Touch line, if it runs Mac OS apps seamlessly than it is a MacBook. Will it have iMac-like aluminum dock? Hopefully Apple will continue to push the envelop and make mobile computing a new category instead of just rekeying old concepts.

TIE-BREAKER: Some people say that Jobs hasn't use the "One more thing..." for awhile. However, he will announce the new Ultra-thin Subnotebook as the one more thing.

Apple Keynotes a Look Back

2008-01-04T12:22:00.000-08:00

In this clip from the 1990 MacWorld Keynote, former Pepsi CEO John Scully tries to rally the troops for the Apple computers. Notice how perplexed Scully seems to be about what a computer really does...

The 1990 MacWorld keynote clip is not full length (5:55 running time) however, it feels like you are watching paint dry. During demonstrations, they cannot seem to get the Mac to work as they wish for the demonstrations. NOTE: The modified mullet and triple-wide kakis worn by the Apple programmer who explains cad workstation software and totally perplexes Sculley who stands mouth-agape.

Then, in 1997 Steve Jobs returns to heading Apple and delivers the "Bondi-blue" iMac and the Jobs-style MacWorld Keynote for which there is no rival in any industry. The contrast between these two keynote addresses is hilariously high-arch. NOTE: It is not without irony that the movie chosen is Wizard of Oz and the scene where Dorothy opens to door after the turmoil of being lifted by the twister out of Kansas into the wonderful land of Oz. Although Jobs appears casual, these keynotes are highly scripted and rehearsed with great attention paid to every detail include the choice of movie clips.

Malone Baloney

2008-01-04T10:09:00.000-08:00

A tech reporter for ABC News. Michael Malone speculates on Apple's ability to remain competitive in the cell phone industry up against the big manufactures:

"And already, Nokia, LG, Samsung and every other cell phone maker is rushing to introduce iPhone killers, and the first wave looks pretty damn good. Can Apple really stay ahead of these guys?"

Who is raving about the new wave of iPhone killers being introduced? Tell me about one good iPhone killer.

So far, Verizon has put some icon-like stickers on the outside cover of their odd clam-shell phone with its tiny QWERTY keyboard inside, proving beyond a shadow of doubt these manufactures still think cell phone is merely a matter of trendy appearance and they still don't understand that the experience inside, when the user starts using the non-linear voice mailbox, integrated email, calendar, maps, and addressbook.

Smartphones, as much as they might be loaded with features it must be noted are pretty dumb to use. A great tool isn't complicated, it is one that gets out of the way when you want to get a particular task done quickly and efficiently.

The problem all these other phones and service providers have is software hardware integration. On the iPhone you have email, web browsing, voice mail, photo libraries (and a half decent camera), iTunes music, video and podcasting, Google maps, and YouTube and all function together with Apple operating system functioning as the glue.

Not-to-mention, the iPhone's touch screen interface that make relic keyboards, suffering with a stylus, and old deeply embedded menu and mode systems feel decades outdated after just a few days of use.

Malone goes onto write "Apple has enjoyed one of the most spectacular and innovative runs in U.S. business history. The question now is whether the company can keep going, pulling still more rabbits out of Steve Jobs' hat. The answer, I think, is probably not."

As I have posted here and read elsewhere, Apple makes great breakthrough products but also misses huge opportunities that still exist to make great strides in the future. The other guys, OEMs and software designers flounder because they can't control the ecosystem that propels new devices to a new level of functionality.

There is a ton of room for Apple to continue to pull rabbits and a huge gap for the competitors to try to make up.

Apple and Intel Menlow Chips

2008-01-04T08:13:00.000-08:00

All indications that Apple is developing a new category of subnotebooks point to the work Apple is doing with Intel on low power consumption chips. According to Business week:

"The first chip of the Silverthorne family, code-named Menlow, is expected to arrive in the first half of this year, probably before June. A second, known as Moorestown, due in late 2008 or early 2009, will be built on Intel's 32-nanometer manufacturing process, which means it will be even smaller and more powerful and it will consume even less power than the Menlow. This will make it a contender for use not only in subnotebooks, but in a new generation of iPhone devices."

If Apple is going to be announcing a new Mac subnotebook on January 15th, the question is whether the Apple faithful will have to wait for its arrival in stores just like when Apple announced the iPhone last year at MacWorld but consumers had to wait until June 2007 for it to become available for purchase. If Menlow is scheduled to arrive in June 2008, maybe the Mac subnotebook will have to wait unitl after that date to ship.

The other question still up in the air about an Apple subnotebook are the counter rumors that it will have a flash drive with 32 GB of storage or, as ThinkSecret rumored, it will use the new Samsung 1.8 drives. Currently Apple is using the ultra-thin Samsung drives in their iPods. Getting solid state in and a mechanical moving hard drive out could be a huge advantage to Apple in their ultra-portable line of computers from the standpoint of low power consumption and low cost.

Business Week poses the question and then the answer to the verbless touch screen interface:

"But will this new mini-MacBook also get a touch screen like the iPhone's? Perhaps, but probably not. The bigger the screen, the more it will cost. I think that means Apple will skip the multitouch screen to keep the retail price manageable."

My thinking is that it would be a big swing and a miss if Apple doesn't not use the revolutionary touch screen interface of the iPhone and iPod Touch. Without the touch screen, who needs just another addition to the aluminum MacBook family. Not sexy enough for prime time.

Docking Station for Mac Portable

2008-01-03T15:09:00.000-08:00

Digging through past patent records, Apple made application a few years ago, July 3, 2006 to be exact, for a docking station that would hold and ultra-thin portable Macintosh. In stories being reported around the web today from the London Times, Financial Times to MacDailyNews, this illustration portends the announcement on January 15th of a new Apple subnotebook.

US Patent Office # 20080002350

On another page, a newbie poster to the Mac Rumor forums claims to have a photo of the ultra-thin laptop being developed at Apple. The photo is actually hilarious to look at and looks like a comic satire of Apple design with its large track pad and fat click pad spanning the front of the keyboard.

Obviously, this is a poor photoshop job by an amateur but still very funny to see. One amusing aspect of the run up to MacWorld is obviously unintelligent attempts to mock up phony Apple products and claim they are leaked out from inside Apple.

Apple Ultra-thin Subnotebook Rumored

2008-01-03T11:28:00.000-08:00

Apple is rumored to be revealing a ultra-portable 'subnotebook' less than 3 pounds, between 15 and 18mm thick, built-in iSight, flash memory, a detachable external drive capable of reading CD and DVDs and a 13.3 inch display.

According to the website MacScoop Steve Jobs will unveil the new subnotebook at the MacWorld 2008 in San Francisco in mid-January. A big question is whether the new device will be grouped into the iPod, iPhone or Mac laptop lines and if Apple is building their verbless touch screen technologies into their Macs or limiting it to the iPod Touch and iPhone products.

Speculators also suggest, according to trusted sources, that the new tablet will have satellite navigation capabilities built-in. Prior to its agreement to cease publishing ThinkSecret reported that Apple would use new ultra-thin a 1.8 inch hard drive in the new device rather than a flash drive.

MacScoop is also reporting that the next iPhone software update will add copy/paste capabilities, one of the most requested features by iPhone owners.

Without mentioning the Gear Live firmware update 1.1.3 leak by name, MacScoop suggested that version premiered on the web is not a full featured version planned for the final release this month.

Leak Management

2008-01-02T11:18:00.001-08:00

What is the story with firmware, software and hardware info leaks?

Clearly, in the midst of a big Christmas sales push the "leak" from ATT senior executive and Apple partner ATT about a 3G iPhone coming in 2008 would be a cause of concern from a number of different offices around the country. A leak of that magnitude could slow unit sales during prime gift-giving rush. I know a number of friends who got the iPhone flyer in their stocking rather than a black box under the tree on Christmas morning.

Was this leak contrary to Apple's interests? In Apple's interests? Or simply an ATT move to signal to cell phone users who contracts were coming due to hold on or switch now to ATT because Edge is on its way out and 3G is coming?

And what about the iPhone firmware 1.1.3 leak that came out to the public during the holiday recess? Was this a Cheney-style managed leak from Apple? If you think not, maybe you don't know Dick...

There has been some speculation the Gear Live firmware leak was a managed leak to give Apple developers feedback on things that weren't working properly. Call the leak an unofficial beta test.

Apple chose to leak this pre-beta version during the holidays so their employees and quality assurance testers could go home to their families but the testing would continue on the internet. The holiday season is an excellent time for a public leak release since geeks are at home with nothing to do and will eagerly grab onto a story like this and run with it by asking questions and sorting out the answers.

For instance, during the video, when Andru tried to demonstrate how you could remove an icon from the menu bar and replaced it, the firmware crashed. This is a good thing to witness prior to MWSF come mid-month or before they send out a beat version to developers in advance of SDK release.

Apple also gets to hear all the feedback and shout outs "why not this feature..." and "Where is copy and paste?" etc. Is the level of these screams rises, Apple knows to raise its ranking in the order of priorities.

I still believe that Apple has a few tricks up it sleeve and we've haven't seen everything Steve Jobs will reveal in his SF Keynote as far as iPhone upgrades are concerned. If anything was revealed by the leaks, it is simply the tip of the iceberg.

Apple Misses in 2007

2008-01-02T09:24:00.000-08:00

Friends often accuse me of being Apple's biggest cult follower. They've also, in the past, accused me of being an Apple apologist and a worshiper of Steve Jobs.

Let's be straight. I always level criticism of Apple when it is due.

So let me take this opportunity to list Apple's mistakes in 2007.

BIG MISSES IN 2007

First, Apple totally gutted iMovie '08. This was a huge disappointment from the company that really never made crippleware before in order to sell a "pro" version. Sure, make no mistake, Apple wants to sell Final Cut Pro and Final Cut Express. I own all three products. But the pro products were clearly designed for professional editing users who sit in their multi-flat screen editing rooms cutting documentaries, features and TV shows all day long.

iMovie was designed for home movies -- editing for the rest of us. And while Apple added some cool features making it easier to capture, edit and publish directly to YouTube, a video prodcast, or your .Mac web site, they truly cut some essential features out of iMovie that are important to home users. They took away key audio editing functions so critical to decent home moviemaking.

For instance, you no longer have the ability to do an insert edit. If you want to take a series of images or shots and add voice over narration along with music or insert b-roll over an interview with Uncle Joe, you can't do it anymore in iMovie8. That sucks. This alone would be reason to stay with the previous version.

The editing environment for iMovie '08 has also radically changed. Apple has made the file management more like iTunes and the clip viewing more like iPhoto. This is not in itself bad because it looks cool. But by doing so, Apple has removed some of the precision editors need and opaqueness that users need to troubleshoot their applications and projects. iTunes file management is a lot like Windows file management -- you do not know where the actual files exist and their formats are obscured.

I must say I am in total agreement with the growing number of Apple faithful who are criticizing this release of iMovie '08 and let's hope Apple sees the errors in their ways and fixes them soon.

Second, another big miss for Apple has been Apple TV or iTV as it was previously known. AppleTV does little to compete with the everyday appliances we own to manage our content coming from broadcast and cablecast television. You'd be much better off buying a Elgato's EyeTV and plugging it into a Apple Mini and just skip the AppleTV altogether. Apple has made AppleTV to reliant on buying content off Apple iTunes Store while restricting our ability to record and capture and thus timeshift live and recorded programs off the airwaves and cable.

AppleTV is a product worth skipping and Apple seems to have little interest in advancing the concept beyond being an oversized video iPod.

Third, Apple attempted a really meek and undetectable upgrade to .Mac and this entire environment needs to be moved ahead ten years in light of the improvements Google, Facebook, Myspace and all the other online personal space and tools for organizing oneself online. In particular, Apple needs to support its mobile computing products with a modern space for scheduling, managing group and family calendars and appointments and keeping lists. iCal and .Mac groups consistently have been big swing and misses for the .Mac team. Let's get up to date! iPhone users need to be able to do these tasks on teh fly without docking their phones to the desktop.

Another big miss in 2007 that Apple quickly had to backtrack on was the $600 bleeding edge iPhone. Early adopters got slapped like a whore from her pimp. Eventually, that was appropriately seen as so wrong and bad company behavior that Apple was forced to send out rebate coupons to make up for the $200 screw job.

There can be no question that Apple's biggest miss in 2007 was the exclusive deals with ATT and other European service providers. Faithful Apple users bristled at being forced into a contract with ATT. The missed opportunity was that Apple could have been on the leading edge of change in the cell phone industry by making the iPhone an unlocked handset and even better giving it the capabilities to use wifi and the internet for making their phone calls.

The cries against the exclusive ATT contract were deafening from our tech Uncle Walt Mossberg calling for governments or disruptive technologies (hackers) to "break the lock" to the reports that nearing 25% of the iPhone sold in the first six months were being unlocked by hackers to EEC countries requiring Apple sell unlocked iPhones.

Google will unlock the stranglehold that the big cell phone providers have on the industry and innovation. Apple could have done it and been a leader but they balked, the man is on base, and all the runners advanced.

Apple totally collapsed on this issue and acted very Microsoft-like by forcing users into contracts and denying them choices. And then, when hackers followed Mossberg's advice by unlocking and jailbreaking their phones Apple abusively bricked them with firmware upgrades. Imagine if, back in the mid-70s, Ma Bell had decided to fry touch-tone phones when certain fone-hackers discovered by replicating tone sounds into the handset could earn them free calls. Well, let's just say Steve and Woz would not have been very happy.

And when it comes to Steve Jobs -- his only revival for the most secretive, paranoid, and most retribution against leakers is George W. Bush. And I'm sure he doesn't like being listed in that company of men and philosophy of power.

MW SF 2008 - 1.16.2008

2008-01-02T08:06:00.000-08:00

MacWorld San Francisco 2008 is being widely anticipated for what is billed as iPhone 2.0. One web site, Gear Live claims to have obtained an advanced copy of iPhone firmware upgrade 1.1.3 and has posted a gallery of pictures documenting the new features in the operating system.

The upgrades detailed in this video appear meager to slim. One could say this is not a full version upgrade and just a few minor tweaks to iPhone version 1.1.2 and fixes. Gear Live has a Q&A answer board and gallery about this leaked version and most of their answers to iPhone owners questions about improved capabilities seem to be a resounding "No!" or "No, no and no."

Without question, if this is the final firmware release there are some missing features that boggle-the-mind. Number one being, why has Apple refused to program a copy-and-paste ability into the iPhone. Clearly, this simple and basic capability is one users have been screaming for since day one of the iPhone release back in June. Improved horizontal viewing capabilities in applications doesn't seem to be supported. Group email lists and foreign language keyboards are not options

Another swing-and-a-miss is the lack of software giving iPhone users the ability to visit Java and Flash web sites, although this might be an issue involving Adobe developing versions of their software in conjunction with Apple to provide both the network side as well as the client side capabilities to browse Flash sites.

The biggest feature upgrade that people are wating for an answer to is weather Apple will provide the hardware in the new iPhone for 3G as opposed to Edge connectivity. At the beginning of December, a senior executive at ATT "leaked" that Apple would provide 3G on the iPhone in 2008. What he didn't explain was whether 3G would come at the beginning of 2008 or the end of the year.

Some of the changes shown in Gear Live's video documentation of version 1.1.3 would suggest 3G is on its way sooner rather than later since using Google maps is a joke on Edge. As editors of InfoWorld said on their site, using Google maps on Edge is worse than surfing the web on a 14.4 dial up modem. And why would you ever use cell tower triangulation in Google maps in the hybrid view with Edge? You' have to wait a week to know where you are located.

And, the rumor mill has begun, under Apple's looming threats to send their pit-bull lawyers after blogger and rumor sites, we cannot be sure information we are reading is accurate. This is a sadists game Apple likes to play. Apple aggressive prosecution of rumor mills and their abusive treatment of hackers trying to make their deliberately crappled hardware and software more useful to those who buy it, might suggest the Cupertino based company has hugely abandoned the empowering people through technology culture and values on which it was founded.

In some areas of the internet people are speculating Apple is going to make a big Macintosh announcement. As I hinted at earlier (based on no rumor or leak from inside Apple) Apple's technology push, patents listings, partnerships with chip maker Intel, and the direction of their products would suggest that it is going to come announce a ultra-thin MacBook with touch screen technology. That's only a guess but a guess based on what would be smart for Apple to do if they want to continue to propel Macintosh as a leader in the laptop category of computers.

iPhone Clone?

2008-01-01T18:14:00.000-08:00

The LG Voyager from Verizon is being pitched as a iPhone clone and a new generation of cell phone with a friendly user interface.

All this phone design proves is that the cell phone industry still doesn't get it!

The Voyager is simply a clam shell phone with an awkward tiny keyboard and the same old poorly implemented user interface. The only difference is that on the outside (the superficial cover) they put a bunch of icons (copied to look almost exactly like AppleiPhone icons) and called them "shortcuts."

I can only imagine the conversations between executives from Verizon and LG must have had to come to this handset. Certainly it was a discussion void of anyone who knows interface design or software engineering. These are guys in suits who'd rather look at a column of numbers than a Roman doric column.

V: "Yeah, what's this iPhone all about? Why is it such a big deal?"

LG: "Apparently people want icons on the cover of their cell phones."

V: "Icons?"

LG: "Yeah cute little colorful boxes to point at with their finger."

V: " Can't we make a handset for Verizon with icons on the cover? And I especially like the little calendar one with the read strip and big black numbers..."

LG: "You bet chief, we'll get out design and engineering department on it immediately."

How stupid does Verizon and LG think we are?

Hardware Leads in 2007

2007-12-26T13:02:00.000-08:00

In some ways you could say 2007 was a year for hardware.

Twenty years ago, Bill Gates and others in the computer world made the bold statement that the future is about software and that this strange world of command and control, embedded deeply in the guts of the wires and boxes we all had on our desktop was really just an intermediary to the software that make us more powerful.

For the next ten years we stagnated in an ocean of beige boxes, monitors, and boxy peripherals and unimaginative hardware.

And since then, software has dominated the evolution of the computer world. Computer conferences and trade shows were filled with the latest and greatest "next revision" and version updates and what they meant for end users.

Then, a few years ago the cutting edge innovation was wifi and distributive computing.

However, 2007 could well be regarded as the year of hardware. Apple's iPhone, iPod Touch and touch screen technologies could be named the biggest product advancements of the year. And touch screen technology could well be at the leading edge of a whole new wave of development and change in our computing experience.

Sure, people will tell you that iPhone wasn't the first to have a touch screen or that Apple didn't lead the way. Enthusiasts have long talked about touch screens going back to and before the Newton and Palm Pilot. Every since the advent of the mouse, techies have envisioned a keyboardless future but instead the typewriter-style input method proliferated rather than died as some had predicted in the 1980s.

Yet, the touch screen technology employed on the iPhone and iPod Touch make these devices truly innovative and redefine the user interaction with them as opposed to either working poorly or simply being an afterthought.

When Jobs squeezed his fingers together to zoom in, tapped to enlarge, rotated to change orientation and flicked his finger to scroll - everything about touch screen and interface suddenly came alive with potential for average users and the marketplace was magically infused with new life. A new field called haptics made this tactile virtual reality a innovation for the future rather than a mishap of the past.

Scroll wheels and QWERTY keyboards might finally become a less dominant means for inputting data to your computer, music player, cell phone or palm device. Fortunately, for us as computer users, hardware manufacturers are thinking outside the beige box and will stop thinking of computing as someone sitting at a desk, hands on the keyboard, eyes looking straight ahead and start fitting the hardware technology to us rather than us to the technology.

And the iPhone was not the only new wave product using touch screen emerging in 2007. Microsoft's multitouch computing table, while not selling as many units world-wide as the iPhone and iPod Touch it is clearly a part of this new trend. There have been rumors that Apple is developing a multitouch Mac with a larger screen than the iPhone but using the same direct interaction of tap for click, pinch for zoom and flick for scroll that exists with iPod Touch and iPhone.

In Jobs' coy way, he has hinted at the future of the Mac interface by saying, there are no “verbs” in the iPhone interface, alluding to the way a standard mouse or stylus system works. In menu command systems, users select an object, like a photo, and then separately select an action, or “verb,” to do something to it.

Technology is in the works for wall sized touch screens that could start to be seen in office buildings, conference rooms or designed into flat screen TVs, gaming modules, and home movie theaters. There is even talk about kitchen refrigerator touch screen magnets that will connect via wifi to the internet. Bath-mat and shower stalls next?

Apple 23 Years Later

2007-12-05T11:26:00.000-08:00

When the first iPhone came out I was amazed at how much computing power Apple had created for a persons pocket and how, as an electronic device, it has no comparison. And yet, there is still something remarkably Apple about the iPhone. The iPhone brings back all the same thrills and chills of the original Macintosh unveiled during the half time commercial during the Superbowl in 1984.

Not unlike the first Macintosh, I was also astonished at how much Apple left off the iPhone. When the Mac first come out it was crippled with one disk drive and no internal storage. When the iPhone came out it was using the antiquated Edge protocol for communicating with the internet. Finally in 2008, Apple will upgrade the iPhone hardware to 3G

When the first Mac came out it was limited with 128K of RAM and the iPhone clearly has too little memory -- 4GB was discontinued almost immediately and 8GB is way too small at a time when 16GB (already available on the iPod Touch) and 32GB are already becoming widely available in flash drive devices. No doubt, the new iPhone coming in January 2008 will have 16GB and hopefully a 32GB version also.

When the Mac first arrived many complained about it having only a one button mouse (one can argue this philosophically) and the iPhone is limited by having no video capture ability, no Flash or Java and most vociferously, the iPhone is extremely crippled by its exclusive contract with ATT. As Walt Mossberg exclaimed, "Break the lock" and now European countries have joined a chorus of complaints against the way Apple has sought to limit the technological freedom of its users.

However, Apple triumphed over all these drawbacks with new releases and bleeding edge technology by making computing devices that completely redefine how we use them. Apple makes devices with jaw-droppingly cool features and easy to use interfaces that are simple yet powerful as tools.

Beautiful Harmony - Apple and Microsoft

2007-12-03T14:15:00.000-08:00

The first application I ever bought for the Mac was Microsoft Word and it cost me $24 from MacWarehouse. My friends at Microsoft dispute that Word cost so little in those days but most Mac applications could be had for a 20 dollar bill. That's the truth ruth.

When I entered the world of Apple Mac consulting I quickly became a Apple/Microsoft expert. I taught courses in major accounting and law firms on how to use Microsoft enterprise software on a Mac and set up databases and networks. Together Apple and Microsoft radically invented an user interface that was graphical, used standard file formats and made computing easy for millions rather than complicated and code based command line computing for a few techno-geeks.

But it wasn't easy. First there was the ignorance of so many in the executive suits and mid-level management that really didn't even believe Microsoft applications ran on a Mac. Not only did they run on a Mac, they were invented on the Mac. Excel was written first and specifically for the Mac. Accounts can't believe this when you tell them.

Then, second, came the wholesale hostility between Apple and Microsoft. Yes, there were developers inside Microsoft who loved and emulated the Macintosh and used its interface as a foundation stone for working out there ideas, adding and subtracting, improving upon and not coming up to measure of the Mac GUI. But in particular divisions and among the leadership a Microsoft, Apple became the enemy and Steve Jobs often did and still does thumb his nose at the folks up in Redmond, Washington. Jobs main complaint is Microsoft has no taste.

For a time it was hard to be both a Microsoft and Apple lover without apology. But I do recall the days when every new product announcement, on either platform, was exciting and welcomed in the computing world as a sign of innovation. Apple would release new products and they would be insanely great. Microsoft would bring out their apps with incredible new features that further empowered the user and people thought -- go faster, bigger, and play harder. All within a tiny footprint of memory and RAM that by today's standards is almost unbelievable.

Buy a Mac

2007-12-01T08:31:00.000-08:00

In 1984 I bought my first Macintosh computer. The odd looking beige box with a nine inch screen called the Macintosh Plus. The crazy machine did not have a hard disk, only one non-standard 3.5" 800 MB floppy drive, a one-button mouse, and the most astonishing feature at that time was a incredible 1 MB of RAM. One megabyte! Who would ever need more?

One of the two Steve's who founded Apple Computer, Inc., Steve Jobs liken the Macintosh to a toaster - a people's appliance that would be easy-to-use yet highly functional and purposeful. The Mac would be an insanely great tool but a simple one to use also.

My good friend Mike had convinced me to buy this scary toy personal computer against my better judgement. After leaving my full-time job for a life as a work-from-home freelancer in New York City, I had narrowed my search to two other computers at the time that were better hardware devices. The other two boxes were the Atari 1040 ST, and the Apple IIgs. These desktop machines had big color monitors, they had better audio capabilities and some serious gaming potential.

But Mike insisted: "Buy a Mac!"

I asked, "How can you compare a Macintosh with it's 9 inch B&W screen with an Atari color monitor?"

Mike's answer: "Atari is dead!" and "Nobody is writing software for the Atari TOS" ( which meant the Tramiel Operating System)

"But, but... Apple is the only company writing software for the Mac, isn't it?"

"No, he answered on an inside tip, " A company in Seattle called Microsoft is going to revolutionize the software industry and they are writing an application called Excel for the Mac. I have beta copies of Works and Word. And soon I will be getting a Mac program called File."

"What do I care about spreadsheets? I want a computer that will allow me to make and produce graphics, compose and play music, and possibly edit video or at least act as a controller for the tape deck. Even Commodore is promising these capabilities."

At the end of the day, I bought the Mac. Probably the most abstract and unprovable reason Mike gave that finally convinced me not to buy Atari, Apple IIGS, Commodore or even an IBM PC XT was:

"Mac is the future of computing."

And Mike was right.