Articles for December 2010

It may be the last day of calendar year 2010, but it's Apple, Inc's fiscal Q1 2011, and it looks to be a pretty hot one Jobs and company. The December quarter may very well be a record for many of Apple's devices:

• 20+ million iPhones estimated to be sold
• 4+ million Macs (a first for the company)
• A record number of iPod touch's sold
• iPads breaching the 6 million mark

What calendar year 2011 may hold?

Many analysts and inside-the-beltway tech journalists believe Android is going to be the new Windows that dominates and controls the world as we know it - Don't count on it.

Android is exploding on eBook readers, tablets, phones, HDTV's and probably quite soon, refrigerators and hairdryers. So long as the buzz word "Android" is on a device, that's all that'll matters and Google seems more than fine with that approach. But will that make Android a winner? And what is a so-called "activation" anyway?...

Here's a shocker - Apple's on a tear lately. iPhone's, iPad's, even Mac's, their sales are exploding. Apple has had the uncanny ability to push their financial figures north, defying the growth rules which mandate Apple must flatten out the larger they become. Will Apple succumb to these laws? Perhaps, but it's not likely to occur in 2011 based on recent estimates. According to DigiTimes, Apple's on pace to ship more than 20 million iPhones in 2011, along with new iPads shipping in the quarter. Throw in a newly rumored 65 million iPads for the new year and 2011 is covered.

Apple will defy Wall Street in 2011, but what will Jobs magically produce to keep the numbers piling up for 2012?

Next year, Apple will be bringing the best iOS features to the Mac in their next OS update codenamed Lion. Apple is taking iOS features like App Store, App Home Screens, Auto Save, Full Screen Apps, and App Resume on Launch and bringing them to the Mac. These features will be modified for the Mac interface and will all be welcome additions to the Mac. It is only fitting for Apple to reciprocate and bring Mac features to the iOS.

The iOS can benefit from Mac features as much as the Mac can benefit from iOS features. Apple will need to modify these features to make them fit the iOS and its users. Apple was successful at bringing copy/paste and multitasking to the iOS, now it is time to bring more of those features. Let's look at the top 5 features that Apple should move to the iOS from the Mac.

In an October 2008 Financial conference call, Steve Jobs said this about Apple TV, “Well, again, I think the whole category is still a hobby now—nobody has succeeded at it.”

The sad thing is that at the close of 2010 despite successful sales numbers, the second generation Apple TV still behaves like a “hobby”. The Apple Discussion Forum is now littered with over a hundred posts of people struggling to get the Apple TV to see their computers via Home Sharing.

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has become the trade show for new computing products to the latest in remote control vacuum cleaners. To summarize, CES is an absolute circus, but it's a must-attend show for any business serious about the the markets in which they play — unless that business is Apple, Inc.

Since Apple exited MacWorld Expo in 2009 it has shunned industry trade shows and opted to conduct their own media events. Why share the stage when a spotlight can be had? Last year Apple waited for CES to blow by — with all the half-baked tablet announcements. Then on January 18, Apple issued invitations to their special event: "Come see our latest creation". This special event took place on January 27, where Apple amazed all with the iPad. This year proves to be no different. Apple will not be holding a special event prior to CES.

The iPad can do most of the things the average consumer wants in a computer. It is great at email, calendar, contacts, and web browsing for sites like Facebook and Flickr. The iPad excels at watching videos and playing games. It makes a great photo display device, but it has no built in management tools. Most people now have a camera phone or point-n-shoot and they want to manage those photos. It is common to have thousands of photos these days and the iPad needs more tools to help organize them.

With the release of 4.2, the iPad gained the ability to transfer photos with their meta-data between applications. This data was not transferred in 3.2, which was a major draw back. Meta-data consists of Title, Caption, Geo Location, Date, Time, and many more. It is essential when organizing pictures in iPhoto or Aperture. Now, developers are able to add meta-data editing tools to their apps. Most of the developers for the iPad have still not updated their apps to take advantage of the new OS, but hopefully they will soon. Given Apple's track record with software like iPhoto and Aperture, a photo manager should be coming from Apple soon. Until then, we have to look at other developers to fill in the gap.

Could Apple switch to AMD processors as they move the Graphics Processors Unit (GPU) into the Central Processor Unit (CPU)? Historically, GPUs have always been on a card at the end of a bus inside your computer. That may start to change as both AMD and Intel are bringing their GPUs into the Central Processor Unit (CPU). AMD could have the edge in this new battle with the expertise they received from the purchase of ATI.

Intel introduced the iSeries processors this year that are based on the Nehalem microarchitecture. These i3, i5, and i7 processors are big, fast and expensive, which is both a positive and a negative. Intel has gone after the high market with these chips, but they have left an opening for AMD in the middle and low segments. This kept AMD in the game even though Intel still commands an 80% global market-share. Intel chips are faster, but AMD offers a better value for the price.

Adobe Flash has been the King of the castle for website animation, video and other "hip and cool" things for about a decade. Yet, ever since Apple released the iPhone and then the iPad without Flash support, the future of Flash has been in question.

Monday Apple released iAd Producer — free for Apple developers. iAd Producer helps generate "Beautiful, motion-rich iAd content” using HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript. This new application should significantly help developers spend more time on their creative tasks and less time on the technical aspects of getting their iAd to work. But what if Apple were to take one more step?

According to the Wall Street Journal, it looks like Big Brother, disguised as the Federal Communications Commission, is going to start regulating the internet.

Although Congress has not given the FCC this authority and a recent case in a Federal D.C. court also said the FCC does not have this type of regulatory authority, it appears the FCC is going to just take this role because it wants to.

Apple's upcoming Mac App Store will open for business the first week of January 2010. This new Mac OS X feature was announced by Steve Jobs on October 20th and was said to be released within 90 days. Apple is keeping its promise.

"The Mac OS X App Store will be a huge boon for smaller developers," says Steve Barham — CEO of Urban Anomaly. "The Mac OS X App Store makes it so we can now port our applications to the Mac and not have to worry about costly, physical distribution. We can continue to focus on making great apps," added Barham.

Not too long ago Apple started building a new sales model. Apple made a shift when selling a new iPhone, as they continued to offer the dated version of the iPhone, but at a lower price point. The forthcoming iPad 2 launch is believed to be no different.

Apple first started this sales model with the release of the iPhone 3GS at $199, while the iPhone 3G stayed in the lineup, dropping to $99. Apple repeated this product positioning with their iPhone 4 launch, slotting the iPhone 3GS to $99. How successful has this sales model been? Apple never reveals a breakdown of iPhone sales by model, delivering only a total number of iPhone sales per quarter, but iPhone 3GS is AT&T's third best selling smart phone (coming in behind a Samsung Android and the number one selling iPhone 4).

 One of the advantages of having an iPhone or iPad is to stay connected while away from the computer. Out of the box, the iPhone comes with email, calendar, and a web browser to help. There are many more ways to make the iPhone or iPad more valuable. Here are some essential iOS applications that can be used to stay in touch while out and about. All of these have both an iPhone version and an iPad version.

Dropbox
Staying connected means having your files wherever you go. Apple does not provide a solution yet, but Dropbox does. It will sync seamlessly in the background to all of your computers. When you are away from a computer, the app allows access to all the files in the Dropbox folder on any device. A good example of a use for this is to bring along a hiking map in Dropbox, instead of toting the whole hiking book along on the trip. Dropbox does come with disadvantages, since it is not a full featured file browser like Finder. Many of the standard Finder tools like "rename", and "file move" have not been added. Even with these issues, Dropbox is still the only solution giving you access to your files on the computer anytime, anywhere. Dropbox is free with a 2GB storage limit.

One thing not found at One Infinite Loop is mediocrity. Since Steve Jobs returned to Apple their success has been built upon designing and executing excellence. Excellence is found in the iOS — an OS designed just for touch systems. Excellence is found in the Mac Book Air with its super thin sleek design, long-lasting battery life and solid state drive. No matter what Apple product you consider, that product has excellence built-in.

Another way to state this is that Apple does not manufacture commodities. A commodity is an item that can't be distinguished from a competitor's product except for by price, delivery or something that has little to do with the product itself. For example, the Windows PC quickly became a commodity. Speeds and price were the only real differentiators, but in essence, one Windows PC was just like the next one. This commoditization significantly reduced the value of the PC Manufacturer while it raised the value of the Operating System. Apple was able to avoid being seen as "just another PC" by making its products different — better and special — through hardware innovation, design and software integration.

Trying to fit a desktop operating system in the tablet will never work. These tablets require a new operating system built around its touch display and power sipping processors. Microsoft has been trying to fit Windows into a tablet since 2001. Each time they have tried and failed. The last Windows tablet was the HP Slate, which topped out at 9,000 units sold. These HP Slates could not compete with the iPad three months ago, why does Microsoft think that these new ones will? It may still be up for debate whether Windows belongs on a desktop, but we know that it does not belong on a tablet.

The New York Times is reporting that Microsoft will be coming out with new tablets next month at CES. Before the iPad was released, Microsoft had almost no competition and they still failed. Now these new tablets will have to compete against the iPad. Apple has sold more tablets than anyone else combined. When these new tablets are released, the failures of Windows on the tablet will be obvious when compared to the iPad.

It's no secret people move in packs. Whether populations migrate to new continents or flocking to malls on Black Friday, it makes no difference, the masses will follow each other over cliffs if the herd moves that way.

Technologies that win the day are not lost on human behavior either. VHS vs Betamax, Windows versus Mac OS or the air-popper vs the superior oven roasted Whirly-pop popcorn, the masses consistently find themselves settling for the lowest common denominator as "good enough" often defeats better or best.

In this day and age parents are extremely cautious when letting children use computers. Most computers are connected to the internet and for curious children whose nature it is to explore and discover, it doesn't take long to find something inappropriate or dangerous — either intentionally or unintentionally. However, who would have though letting a child use an iPad to play a game — downloaded for free — would end up draining your bank account?

That's what Kelly Rummelhart of Gridley, California found out the hard way. According to the Washington Examiner, Kelly let her four year old son play a game on her iPad called "The Smurf's Village". While the game is free to download, the game allows (and encourages) the purchase of "Smurfberries" and other virtual items to help you do better in the game — with real money!  This is all possible because of Apple's updated SDK that allows developers to create In-App purchases. This SDK enhancement makes it easier for App developers sell more features inside their App with just a couple of taps.

The biggest weakness of the iOS platform right now is the lack of a user accessible file structure. Without a file structure or Finder app, iOS devices can not be a complete mobile platform. Right now, Apple tells us that files should be stored in applications on the iOS. This may be fine in the short term, but over time Apple's current file strategy will turn into frustration as users try in vain to access all their files.  There needs to be a place to store, edit, and transfer those files from application to application. Organizing files into folders is a must on any computer platform. Without a directory structure, all those files will turn into a mess. Even Google's Gmail, which was supposed to be all about search, now has folders. So, we all must hope that the current app file storage is only a stop gap until Apple comes up with AirFinder for the iOS. This new AirFinder must be designed specially for today's mobile user. You don't just create, edit, and store your files on a single iOS device anymore. The files need to move with you as you go from device to device. This new Finder needs to sync between all of you computer platforms seamlessly, in the background. AirFinder will allow you to access these files at anytime and anyplace.

The strongest crop of productivity applications in the App Store right now have either added Dropbox or are planning to add it. Why is Dropbox so popular on iOS? It allows seamless transfers between your iOS devices and any other computer or device you have from Macs to PCs. This is exactly what a mobile user is looking for. With Dropbox, you don't need to sync your iPad or iPhone with iTunes to get your latest files. All your latest files will be accessible via the Dropbox cloud service. This turns the iPad into a major productivity device saving tons of valuable time. It is not only good for productivity, but also for application preference syncing as well.  I use 1Password by Agile Web Solution for password and private data storage. Dropbox allows me to sync that data between all my devices in the background. I no longer have to manually sync my valuable data between devices or even remember which device has the latest files. The list of uses for Dropbox can go on and on. Since Dropbox is not part of the OS, it does come with many disadvantages. One of those being, you have to add it your apps to use it.

On October 3rd, Target revealed it would be selling iPads. Within weeks of Target's announcement Walmart and Sam's Club (a member of the Wal-Mart corporation) began selling iPads. A natural assumption would be that Costco would also be selling iPads in the near future, but that is not what has transpired.

Costco Wholesale Display

Apple Steps Beyond x86 and the Personal Computer

December 2, 2010 08:03 by: Karl Johnson   0 Comments

Categories: News , Predictions

Tagged: ARM , iOS , x86

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The ARM Chip Revolution History is about to repeat itself with a new player — who is not really all that new — ARM Last year, Apple made a bold move by taking the ARM chip design and modifying the design before putting it into all of their mobile iOS devices. New: Podcast Show Notes December 2, 2010 01:17 by: E. Werner Reschke   0 Comments Tagged: Podcast , Website Tweet A quick note — we've started to include Show Notes for each podcast. This will help you keep score at home while listening on your favorite iOS/Mac device. Review: Reeder for the iOS December 1, 2010 16:06 by: Karl Johnson   0 Comments Categories: Products , Review Tagged: App , iPad , iPhone , RSS Tweet Ever struggle with having to visit many websites to keep up on the news you like to read? Well, there is a great solution to this problem that helps you review all the news you want quickly and efficiently. It is RSS, which stands for Really Simple Syndication and it is a way to get feeds of news items from lots of websites. An RSS reader pulls RSS feeds from multiple sources that you would like to follow into one place so that you can see what is new on a number of sites in one location. You can view this new content either individually like emails or as a list. Each item contains a title, full or partial text, and meta data about the new content or item. RSS documents or feeds usually come from sites with posts or articles like blogs or news websites. RSS feeds are the main way I view new content from the internet. For the Desktop, I use the Google Reader web service as my news reader on the Mac. Google Reader is free with a google account. The best part about Google Reader is the expanded list version. Most RSS readers show each item in a feed separately, like an inbox. This makes it difficult, because you have to click on each new item to see or read the new content. You also have to click on each item to tell the application that you have read the new item, which takes a lot of time if there are a lot of updates you have no interest in reading. With Reader, each item is displayed with both title and content in a scrollable list or feed. The newest items are on top and the oldest items are at the bottom. As I scroll through the content, Reader marks those items as "read". When I come back later, Reader will show me any new content that has been added to the feeds plus whatever I didn't read from my last visit. Reader will not show me the content I have previously read. So I always get new content without the fuss of clicking on anything. It takes very little time to scroll through new content and skim to find anything that I am interested in reading. Search Latest Podcast Episode 73: Scaling Engine From China Recorded: Feb. 15, 2012 More Podcasts > Stay Connected Atom Recent Articles Podcast Episode 73: Scaling Engine From China Apple's iTV Vaporware Already Has Samsung In Panic Mode Show hidden files with the Terminal Best Pixelmator Learning Resources Podcast Episode 72: Soiled Mac OS X Lion 10.7.3 fixes MacBook Air Brushes Problems iPhone in the Dashboard? Baseball, Hotdogs, Apple Pie and Apple Inc Best SuperBowl Ad - Apple Podcast Episode 71: Solar Flare Earnings Report Top Articles Macbook Graphics Face-off: Intel HD Graphics 3000 vs NVIDIA GeForce 320M Rumor: Apple's Lion To Launch On Wed. July 6th Mac Mini Update Due This Mont h Comparison: MacBook Air vs MacBook Pro Top 3 Strategy Games for t he iPad Safari 5 vs Firefox 4 on th e Mac Safari vs Chrome on the Mac Mac Mini Update - Pro & Lion Server Mac Pro Update With Thunder bolt OS X Lion: Goodbye Dock Archives February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 This is mouseprint text (for people, not mice). © 2011. Three Guys and a Podcast. All rights reserved unless we say otherwise. Site Map | Login | Privacy Policy Website provided by wrinkledog, inc. | Visit our friends: Mac Surfer