Apple News, Analysis and Podcasts

Last week Sony announced three new back-illuminated stacked CMOS image sensors. In simple terms, Sony announced better camera capability for smartphones and mobile devices, but they're likely to cost the competition much more than Apple, whle lagging behind in overall speed.

The iPhone 5 is not coming out until at least this summer or fall. Yet, we are starting to see some possible component upgrades that will be in the next iPhone. One of those components is the camera sensor. Apple has switched suppliers a number of times as they pick the best camera for that year. Since the iPhone is the number one selling smartphone, building camera sensors can be a profitable business.

The current iPhone 4S iPhone uses a Sony camera. While Sony does make their own line of high end cameras, their biggest market is camera sensors. Currently, a number of Nikon high-end cameras use Sony sensors. Sony is now taking what they are learn from high-end sensors and building a line of great smartphone sensors as well. Despite its high resolution, the sensor in the iPhone 4S is excellent, with low noise and good detail. Sony is not standing still.

 The iPhone is a great tool for traveling. It can replace a phone, camera, notebook, maps, and travel books, all in one small package. Traveling out of the country does present some problems since most iPhones are locked to a specific carrier. Yet, even with this disadvantage, the iPhone is the one device that travelers should always carry with them.

Apple's built-in iOS applications for the iPhone are some of the best tools for traveling. The maps tool is the best tool for finding one's way in a new place or when trying to find a specific location. Safari (Apple's Web browser), is still the best tool for looking up information while on the go. Having access to a browser while traveling allows users to use their time wisely to find information on locations they are visiting. Apple's clock application comes in very handy as a travel alarm clock. While these tools are great, adding tools from the App Store makes the iPhone a master multi-function device. Some of the top applications for traveling are:

Seriously? Take a look at these analysts number in pink/red highlight. It's these analysts that are pegging Apple's returns at or below Apple's own guidance. And that is just laughable. There is no data whatsoever alluding to such ridiculously low earnings forecasts, but I'm glad they exist!

Podcast Episode 70: Ron-Tethering-Paul.  It's political season and the The Three Guys spend some time showing off their political candidate immitations as well as discussing iBooks 2, iBooks Author, AT&T rate changes, Kodak going bancrupt and iWorld. All this and much, much more in Episode 70: Ron-Tethering-Paul.

 Apple has a great and focused line of products. Each one fills a need for their customers. They have focused on each line to create a product that is significantly better than their competitors.

While all their products have gone through a great deal of research and development, they can't focus on all of their products at once. Apple has to decide which products they need to focus on and which can wait. For 2012, Apple needs to focus on their top three products. Those three products are:

Podcast Episode 69: Metro Sexual. The Two Guys (Mark and Werner — Karl is "resting") discuss CES, Microsoft's tablet strategy, Intel's chip strategy and Ultrabooks. All this and much, much more in Episode 69: Metro Sexual.

Cult of Mac claims to have learned from their visit to CES that iPad 3 is going to be thinner than the iPad 2. This information flys in the face of a cadre of far east rumors claiming the contrary. Cult of Mac is keen to point out that Apple creating a thicker iPad woud be bucking a trend in their iOS device world, having always made device after device, thinner and thinner and thinner.

Only from the mouths of our trustworthy DigitTimes foks (yes, that's heavy sarcasm) have we learned that the iPad 3 was to be slightly thicker than that of the iPad 2... What makes far more sense is an iPad 2 wanna-be, perhaps from Samsung or Google, would be slightly thicker than an iPad 2. Meanwhile, the logical assumption is that Apple – yet again – will scream by their competition with a svelt iPad 3, dominating the space for at least another year.

The MacBook Air had a great year in 2011. With a 250GB solid state drive and a Sandy Bridge processor, the MacBook Air became a mainstream computer. It was one of Apple's top selling macs for 2011, and it shows no signs of slowing down.

The MacBook Air will see even greater success in 2012. With such a hot product, Apple will continue to focus on the MacBook with another update in the Spring. Intel's new Ivy Bridge processor and graphics processor will bring even faster performance. What else will Apple add to a new MacBook Air?

Apple's move from Intel to ARM processors may be closer than you think.