Saturday, July 31, 2010

IAds really sold so much?

Steve Jobs claimed in June that Apple did sell iADs for $120 million till end of the year to 12 different companies. This is $20 million a month for the 6 months.
I installed several iAD supported apps to see what ads are running on iADs, and I'm disappointed so far. The whole first months have been only Nissan ad for their new electric car. The ad is awesome, does take all possible interaction with consumer. But if I did see only the Nissan ad on my iPhones then either Nissan paid $20 million per month to get the lockout or Apple did over accelerate their sales, or they other advertisers are not able to produce ads right now.
Ads in mobile applications are just to good to get ignored. No other device can give such perfect geo information like a smart phone. When people surf with their computer we are only able to define their location by IP address and this can be totally off. Smart phones can transmit the real location, using either wifi towers or Phone towers or if available gps.

I am still waiting for new iADs to come up, to see how creative the brands are getting. Surely most of the Full size ads (after clicking on the iAD) will be pure branding, but others might have concepts like Nissan to engage the consumer and to learn from the consumers behavior.


- Posted using My iPad

Location:Spinning Wheel Ln,Spring Hill,United States

More issues with iPhone 4

IPhone 4 is a great phone, fast and beautiful, but far from perfect. The antenna issue is not the only one. A lot of users are complaining at the apple discussion forum about facetime freezing and not being able to get photos and videos into iPhoto.
I have no problem so far with facetime, but iPhone 4 and iPhoto don't like each other when I have videos on the iPhone. iPhoto is not able to import any of the videos or photos. It works fine when I have only photos. I even went to Apple store and they had the same problem. They promised me to call me when they got answer from CA. This was one week ago and still no solution.
The only solution I found is to restore your iPhone and set it up as a new phone. After this, all works fine.

The new iPhone looks great but the shell is not perfect designed. The connector hole at the bottom of the phone is slightly bigger than before. If you use an old iPhone cable or a 3rd party cable to sync and charge your iPhone, the cable will be lose. And a slight move of the phone will disconnect the connection, even if the cable is still connected with the phone.

Apple time to be perfect is not anymore present. They went too big to be able to take a long time to make a product perfect. Now they have to be faster on the market which allows higher risk for mistakes.

But we should not forget that the iPhone is better than most other smart phones. Apple has only 65,000 complains about the iPhone 4 which got sold already 3 million times in the states. This is less than 2%.
The HTC Evo count already around 6,000 complains by estimated 600k units sold (source CNN fortune http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/06/07/htc-evo-4g-blows-away-sprints-first-day-sales-records/). This is around 10% and 5 times higher than for the iPhone 4.

- Posted using My iPad

Location:Spinning Wheel Ln,Spring Hill,United States

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Macworld September 2010 magazine cover done with iPhone 4

Peter Belanger did shoot the latest cover photo fro Macworld with the iPhone 4. And the result is impressive. He used as well two small iPhone apps to enlarge the resolution and to make some color corrections (photo Forge $2.99, Resize-Phot $0.99).

He is describing on his blog the whole process (http://www.peterbelanger.com/blog). The result is pretty impressive.



- Posted using My iPad

Location:W Laurel St,Tampa,United States

Hulu Plus for iPhone and iPad

Two months ago ABC announced that Hulu will only be available for browsers which have flash, because flash seems to be the only way for ABC to get the best statistics, which other platforms can't offer, ABC said.
In a really short time ABC changed their mind and offering now Hulu for iPad and iPhone. The application is free to download, but subscription cost $9.99 per month.
If you use 3G it can get much more expensive if you don't have the "unlimited" data contract.
You need an premium account with hulu, which you need an invite but it is easy to get by subscribing with your email address.

The videos are not ad free (always pre roll) even that you payed $9.99 monthly fee. If you turn the iPad the videos might not turn to landscape.
But otherwise nice interface, but a little buggy.








- Posted using My iPad

Location:W Laurel St,Tampa,United States

New Kindle ready at Amazon with Internet Browser

The new Wifi only Kindle is ready to buy for only $139 and a battery power of 3 weeks.
The bigger brother Kindle 3 will be in stock on August 27th but can be pre-ordered right now.
Here are the facts (you can even send messages to facebook and twitter):

  • All-New, High-Contrast E-Ink Screen – 50% better contrast than any other e-reader
  • Read in Bright Sunlight – No glare
  • New and Improved Fonts – New crisper, darker fonts
  • New Sleek Design – 21% smaller body while keeping the same 6" size reading area
  • 15% Lighter – Only 8.7 ounces, weighs less than a paperback
  • Battery Life of One Month – A single charge lasts up to one month with wireless off
  • Double the Storage – Up to 3,500 Books
  • Books in 60 Seconds – Download books anytime, anywhere
  • Free 3G Wireless – No monthly payments, no annual contracts
  • Built-In Wi-Fi – In addition to the 3G wireless, you can connect to Wi-Fi hotspots
  • 20% Faster Page Turns – Seamless reading
  • Enhanced PDF Reader – With dictionary lookup, notes, and highlights
  • New WebKit-Based Browser – Free 3G web browsing (experimental) 


These are the experimental features (beta) on the new Kindle:

Read-to-Me
With the Text-to-Speech feature, Kindle can read English newspapers, magazines, blogs, and books out loud to you, unless the book's rights holder made the feature unavailable. You can switch back and forth between reading and listening, and your spot is automatically saved. Pages automatically turn while the content is being read, so you can listen hands-free. You can choose from both male and female voices which can be sped up or slowed down to suit your preference. In the middle of a great book or article but have to jump in the car? Simply turn on Text-to-Speech and listen on the go.

Voice Guide
With Text-to-Speech, Kindle can read out loud to you. New Text-to-Speech enabled menus allow customers to navigate Kindle without having to read menu options. In addition to listening to books aloud, users now have the option of listening to content listings on the home screen, item descriptions, and all menu options.

New WebKit-Based Browser
Kindle's new web browser is based on WebKit to provide a better web browsing experience. Now it's easier than ever to find the information you're looking for right from your Kindle. Experimental web browsing is free to use over 3G or Wi-Fi. The experimental web browser is currently not available for some customers outside the U.S. Check your country.

Listen to Music & Podcasts
Transfer MP3 files to Kindle to play as background music while you read. You can quickly and easily transfer MP3 files via USB by connecting Kindle to your computer. 

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Two new Kindle at $139

New York Times is reporting that Amazon will release on Thursday two new Kindle. Both less weight than the Kindle 2. One of them will have wifi only for $139 which is slightly cheaper than Sony or BN Nook which are around $150 with wifi only.
The new Kindle will have a brighter display and smoother text which makes it easier to read.

Read the full article here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/29/technology/29kindle.html?_r=1

Amazon is feeling the pressure of more and more ebook readers and the new niche of Ipad (an in between ebook reader and notebook).
The Kindle 1 started in 2007 with $399 and the latest version will be under $150, this over 50% less than 3 years ago. The falling price is great, and $139 is a price I would pay, however the nook is not much more but is nicer because of the second small color screen. With Kindle getting cheaper, the other companies have to follow, Sony and BN will follow with price reduction. I can see the bottom low price will be $99 or even free if consumer signs for 24 ebooks to buy in a year (like a book club service).
And there is a new 7 inch touch screen tablet coming out at Kmart for $150 (model: Augen, OS: android). I bet these movements will put Apple a little under pressure and the cheapest iPad will be with next generation under $300. Maybe for Christmas is an iPad with front facing camera coming out and the iPad 16GB (wifi only) will be reduced to $299.




- Posted using My iPad

Location:Spinning Wheel Ln,Spring Hill,United States

Is a new Kindle on the way?

Amazon's standard Kindle is currently out of stock (DX still available).
I wondering if amazon is coming soon with a new kindle out. I don't think the price reduction did push the sales so much that amazon can't produce enough.

What would be different with the new kindle? I guess at least a new faster and better processor. Maybe touchscreen instead of button? Less weight?
Finally a color e-paper (unlikely, color e-paper is still expensive). Maybe new shell design? Maybe Bluetooth? Second screen like Nook?

I am really curious what it will be. It should be a bigger difference for Kindle 3 and keeping same or not much higher price.

Amazon is not commenting anything or writing about it on their company blog. Amazon made a deal with Facebook for shopping, maybe the Kindle will have a facebook button.

Searching through amazon's open job positions does neither give any indications.



- Posted using My iPad

Location:W Laurel St,Tampa,United States

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Apple New Magic Trackpad

Apple released a new product called the Magic Trackpad (Thanks Dean). It can work with or without the mouse. I have the magic mouse and don't see so much need for me. Maybe as designer, but then i would prefer one of these pen pads. Price is pretty high, but i will get one to test and will write more about it.
I will try if it works with ipad too, even if it would not make sense because the ipad is already touch screen.

Here is the Apple description:
The new Magic Trackpad is the first Multi-Touch trackpad designed to work with your Mac desktop computer. It uses the same Multi-Touch technology you love on the MacBook Pro. And it supports a full set of gestures, giving you a whole new way to control and interact with what’s on your screen. Swiping through pages online feels just like flipping through pages in a book or magazine. And inertial scrolling makes moving up and down a page more natural than ever. Magic Trackpad connects to your Mac via Bluetooth wireless technology. Use it in place of a mouse or in conjunction with one.

Why spending more money to ATT as necessary

Originally I did want to talk about the possibility to buy an iPad with Wifi only and then to buy a 3G/4G router from another provider. The idea came to me when a good old friend told me about his 3G router he bought in England and chose a cheap provider for 3G. Unfortunately here in the States are only a few providers who are offering data plans besides ATT and they are all similar. The best choice is T-Mobile. 500 minutes with unlimited Data transfer is $59.99 a month.
All other big providers have a limit to 5GB a month, which are just 3 movies in HD. But with T-mobile you need to get an unlocked 3G router. The only router right now available is the HUAWEI E5830 WiFi USB ROUTER/MODEM/DONGLE for around $120.
Huawei E5830 image:

Sprint and Verizon offer the Mifi 2200 (see description below), which costs $200 but user gets a $200 instant savings. Then there is the ultimative Sprint Overdrive 3G/4G which costs $99.99 after instant savings and for $40 you can buy a iPad cover which holds the overdrive.

The problem with all these extra devices is, that their battery life is shorter than the iPad battery life and they take between 15 and 45 seconds to boot. You will lose a lot of convenience.
I would have written more about this, but I changed my mind after I read (and posted the article yesterday) that the federal ruling allows to jailbreak the iPhone. This is awesome, if you don’t care to lose your warranty, you should jailbreak, and the cool part is you are not violating any law.


Why is this good?
We don’t need any 3rd party router to avoid the 3G charging for our iPad. We only need to jailbreak our iPhone and download from Cydia small software to make our iPhone to a Wifi hotspot.
A jailbroken iPhone allows us as well to sync with iTunes without cable over Wifi.
Therefore no long story how and why to buy a 3G router. Just jailbreak your iPhone, I allow it and I feel good that I can say this official without getting trouble from Apple.
But for the people who want to go through the process NOT to jailbreak their iPhone and don’t want to give ATT more money, then I recommend to get the Mifi 2200 as the only official 3G router in pocket size here in the US (besides the Overdrive 3G/4G) .


Here some facts about the Mifi 2200



Form Factors: Self contained router with embedded mobile broadband radio/module (essentially an aircard and router in one unit).
Wireless Range: Operates on Wireless "G". Range is approximately 30 feet, depending upon factors such as interference from other electronics and physical interference such as thick walls. Range CANNOT be improved (no port for WiFi antenna). Limited to FIVE connected computers/devices.
Ethernet Ports: None but you can tether one Mac/Windows computer via USB port
Load Balancing: NO
Portability: This router is tinier than anything you want to provide internet connectivity to. Very compact and light - smallest 3G router available; cigarette lighter adapter available soon.
Manufacturer Support: Novatel makes the MiFi, and we have a great relationship with them. The MiFi is the first product of its kind, so the jury is still out on how well it will be supported/maintained.
PROs: Most portable 3G router. When bought with 2yr contract, it is also the most affordable way to share connectivity with up to five computers or wifi enabled devices.
CONs: Locked to ONE carrier. Cannot be used with any other carrier. NO cellular antenna jack! Wireless G radio with no option to add a WiFi antenna, signal strength can be seen only via web admin.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Jailbreaking iPhone is not illegal

I found this article at MacWorld today:

If you jailbreak your iPhone to add third-party software, you can do so with the comfort of knowing you aren't violating copyright laws, after a federal ruling came down on Monday.



The U.S. Librarian of Congress ruled on Monday that consumers who circumvent digital protections on smartphones to install unapproved applications—a practice often colloquially known as “jailbreaking”—for noninfringing reasons should be exempted from prosecution under the anti-circumvention section of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).


The proposed exemption on jailbreaking was first put forth in 2008 by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which argued that users should be allowed to jailbreak their phones to install, for personal use, legally acquired third-party software. Apple, for its part, argued against the exemption in an extensive filing contending that an exemption for jailbreaking would lead to more widespread piracy and additional support costs for the company. Two software developers, the Mozilla Corporation and Skype Communications, filed documents in support of the EFF’s argument.


The DMCA specifically prohibits the circumvention of copy-protection technology such as Digital Rights Management (DRM). Every three years, however, the Librarian of Congress—on recommendation of the Register of Copyrights—issues a ruling on classes of materials that are exempt from that stipulation for noninfringing uses. The rulings expire after three years, meaning that the previous exemptions granted in 2006, 2003, and 2000 are no longer valid today. The other exemptions granted by the Librarian on Monday allow circumvention of protections for copyrighted material on DVD for educators, documentary filmmakers, and noncommercial videos; software to allow phones to connect to cellphone networks; breaking video game protection measures for the purposes of testing; obsolete computer programs requiring a dongle that is broken; and e-books where protections prevent the use of screen readers and read-aloud functions.


It's worth noting that the jailbreak ruling does not force Apple or other handset makers to remove copy protection from their software. Rather, those users who do choose to circumvent the protections will not be subject to criminal prosecution for the act of circumvention. In addition, the ruling only provides for jailbreaking for the use of legally-acquired software, meaning that users cannot use it as a defense for installing pirated applications.


It remains to be seen what effect, if any, this will have on mobile software development. Jailbreaking has been commonplace since shortly after the original iPhone’s release, and despite repeated attempts by Apple to prevent it, the practice continues unabated. At the same time, Apple has no history of pursuing legal action against either individual users who jailbreak their phones or those parties who develop the jailbreaking methods.


In theory, the exemption could legitimize the third parties who are already creating software that does not require Apple’s approval, which in turn may open the door for established companies such as Mozilla to create software that Apple would otherwise not approve—an iPhone-native version of the Firefox Web browser, for example. That said, however, any program developed would be at risk of becoming irrelevant when the exemptions expire in three years (if the jailbreaking exemption is not renewed).


There’s also the possibility that the act of legitimizing jailbreaking may prompt Apple to relax some of its strictures on the development of iPhone software, but given the runaway success of the App Store, that seems unlikely. On the flip side, it also potentially gives Apple fodder for those who argue that App Store stifles competition; the company could use the exemption ruling to argue that apps that don’t meet Apple’s standards can be distributed via jailbreak—though that eventuality doesn’t seem particularly probable either.


In sum, while the ruling is certainly a win for the EFF and the jailbreaking community, don’t expect it to change the status quo instantly or dramatically. For the most part jailbreaking remains a technically-savvy niche practice among the millions of current iPhone customers.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

iPad keyboard dock not so great

I bought yesterday the keyboard dock for my iPad. I am writing a lot with my ipad and i needed something with a better keyboard. I did not like the Bluetooth wireless keyboard, but I liked the idea to dock the iPad into a keyboard.





However the dock is not perfect, i see it even as a design problem. The dock works perfect when you have the iPad without a cover. I don't expect that i can dock my iPad with any 3rd party cover, but i bought the expensive Apple cover. I expected that the iPad will dock. But unfortunately it does not. I either have to take the iPad out of the cover or cut some parts from the cover.
I am pretty disappointed, how can Apple sell their sleeve which does not work with the keyboard dock together.
I am going to return the dock. The next time I will first read the reviews before i by an accessory.

- Posted using My iPad

Location:Spinning Wheel Ln,Spring Hill,United States

Saturday, July 24, 2010

New iPhone 4.01 update another small marketing trick

Apple did release a few days ago their latest update for the iPhone. This update fixes the wrong reception algorithm to which did show too many bars on the iPhone.
I still believe the algorithm was used to convince the consumer the iPhone has a better reception than other phones.
Apple supposedly fixes this issue with the latest update. I had no time to run the update till yesterday. The first thing I noticed that Apple changed the graphic for the bars.
New:










With the old OS 4 you can see that the first bar is much shorter than in the new OS, the angle is slightly flatter and the bars are wider.
Old:










As result even one bar looks like a better reception than two bars in the old OS.
Now, when you compare the iPhone with an android EVO and both show 3 bars then the iPhone looks better because of the bigger first and second bar. However the EVO is showing up to 6 bars (iPhone only 5) which let the consumer think that with full reception the EVO is better than iPhone.
EVO:










It is really interesting how companies are playing with such small things like reception display and how much impact this could have. At least so much that I took time to compare.


- Posted using My iPad


Friday, July 23, 2010

Free iPhone cases now available

Apple released today a free app in their iphone store to order your iphone case, to ensure you only order one for your phone. If you have no phone you have no account and no chance to get a free case. Unfortunately it is pretty lame only their black bumper and some other 3rd party covers are offered but all almost only black.

The app is pretty bad, not stable and asks all the time for your password. If you click on photo gallery you are not able to get back to the order process and you need to restart the application.

All cases will take 3 to 5 weeks till you get it delivered.






How long does the offer run?

Apple is offering free and refunded Bumpers, as well as free third-party cases, to customers who purchase an iPhone 4 by September 30. Customers who bought an iPhone 4 before Friday, July 23 have until August 22 to claim a case. New iPhone 4 buyers have 30 days from their date of purchase to claim a free case, so the program basically runs through the end of October.

Can just anyone apply for a free case, or do I have to own an iPhone 4?

You must own an iPhone 4 to be eligible. Apple did argue at its press conference that signal attenuation is by no means a problem exclusive to the iPhone 4 and even demonstrated the issue on the iPhone 3GS alongside other smartphones from competitors. But as the iPhone 4’s antenna is the subject of all the hubbub, it's model that Apple is offering free cases for.

What cases are available?

As of Friday morning, Apple is offering its own Black bumper (no other colors are available, at least not yet), as well as the following third-party cases: the Incase Snap Case for iPhone 4 in Smoke, the Incase Snap Case for iPhone 4 in Clear, the Belkin Shield Micra for iPhone 4 in Clear, the Griffin Motif iPhone 4 Diamonds/Smoke, the Griffin Reveal Etch iPhone 4 - Black/Black Graphite, the Speck Fitted Case iPhone 4 - Black Tartan, and the Speck PixelSkin HD iPhone 4 - Black.

What if I don’t like any of those cases?

You might have an option—emphasis on “might.” Apple states that its lineup of free third-party cases is subject to change at any time, so it might swap out different brands and cases during the course of the program. There probably won’t be any warning, though, and shipping times are likely to only get longer than the current 3 to 5 week wait. You can try gambling on factors like manufacturers not being able to meet demand, but there is no guarantee that a brand or case you want will make the cut—or that Apple will switch things up at all.

How can I get my free Bumper or third-party case?

The first time you run iPhone 4 Case Program, it will ask you to enter your iTunes Store account password, then check your device’s internal International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) and serial numbers to verify that it is indeed an iPhone 4. Then you’ll be able to proceed with the program and pick a case.

Once you select a case, the app will verify that the name and home address on your iTunes Store account is correct, and you’re done.

How soon will I get my free case?

“Free” is most people’s favorite flavor, and the rush is already on to claim legitimately free cases that usually costs upwards of $20 to $30, or more. As of this writing, every case that Apple offers has a ship date of 3-5 weeks.


- Posted using My iPad

Location:Spinning Wheel Ln,Spring Hill,United States

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Play the color blues and get free tethering with iphone 4

Handy Light, a newly-available flashlight app for the iPhone, isn’t a flashlight app at all—it’s a tethering utility that lets you share your phone’s Internet connection with your laptop.

But hurry, pretty clear Apple will take it from the app store. Edit: Which actually was done when I was writing my blog.
It’s not surprising that Handy Light managed to trick its way past Apple’s App Store reviewers. To enable tethering, you need to configure an ad-hoc wireless network on your Mac, connect the iPhone to it, tweak some network and proxy settings, launch the app, and then literally tap a coded sequence of flashlight colors. No one could possibly discover the hack by exploring; you need to read detailed step-by-step instructions to get it to work.

Of course, the app is gone and not live anymore, like the $10 NetShare app—which was axed by Apple nearly two years ago, the $1 Handy Light would share your Internet connection without AT&T making money.

Handy Light requires an iPhone running iOS 4.0 or later.

Full article:
http://appshopper.com/blog/2010/07/20/handy-light-tethering-app-camouflaged-as-flashlight/


- Posted using My iPad

Location:Pinnacle Hills Pkwy,Rogers,United States

Apple's numbers are strong and what comes next?

Apple Inc.'s quarterly profit surged 78%, as the company booked strong initial sales of its iPad tablet computer and the latest version of its smartphone, the iPhone 4.

The company also issued a strong forecast for the current quarter, allaying immediate concerns that the iPhone 4's high-profile antenna problems might slow Apple's sales. Apple's revenue in the quarter ended June 26 rose 61% to $15.7 billion.

Apple's quarterly profit jumped 78%, thanks to continued strong demand for its gadgets. It sold 3.3 million iPads and 8.4 million iPhones in the quarter. Sameer Bhatia and Rex Crum analyze the numbers with Simon Constable & Lauren Goode.

Full article here:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703724104575379473713612064.html?ru=yahoo#mod=yahoo_hs

But more important than this info that Steve jobs and Tim Cook are saying that one more new product is coming this year.
Quote:.... "amazing new products still to come this year."

Another article which mentioned the same quote http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/21/technology/21apple.html?_r=2&partner=yahoofinance

I am right now taking bets. I already mentioned that Apple might reinvent their Apple TV, but maybe not.
Steve said that at the end of year will be more than 100 million devices running facetime. And we did hear that a lot of companies like Google are working on Internet TV boxes. As I posted earlier I believe Social TV could be the next thing.
if Apple is redoing their Apple TV with iOS 4 it will have a camera, but would it make sense, my Apple TV is in a cabinet, away from the the TV.
Maybe Apple is working on a TV with iOS 4 , build in camera and perfect 3D. We should not forget that Steve did own and founded Pixar. Plus he is still on the board of Disney. Perfect to develop cool TV experience (maybe new UI) and good connection to tons of movies. And Apple has already their cinema displays. My iMac has 27 inch which is pretty decent.
But TVs are different than phones or computers, Apple needs to have too many sizes to offer. You can't just have one or two versions.
I think Apple can, Apple will be able to sell to the public only three sizes of TV, from 32 inch to 52 inch.
But this again would be too easy. The TV market is pretty extreme busy with Sony, Samsung, LG, Panasonic etc.
My best bet is that the next big thing from Apple will be something like a new version of Apple TV and something like a TV. Something which exists since many years but is not really used in normal households, only seen in offices and home cinema rooms.
Apple will reinvent the screen projector. Something which does not need a special screen to get best quality. A projector running iOS 4 which can be in any ankle to the wall and still delivers a trapeze free picture.
Something which comes with a free wireless iSight camera which can be positioned anywhere we want and follows our eyes.
Ok i admit, having an extra camera is not really Apple worlds. They want to sell products, which you unwrap, plug into the wall and works.
If it is not a projector then it is maybe a TV, an all in one TV with build camera (why is there no TV with build camera anyway?) and the input device/remote is either your apple remote, your iPhone or iphone touch and of course your wireless apple bluetooth keyboard.
To round the whole idea up, the ipad will be able to stream movies which are bought through the new Apple real TV or projector.
I think whatever Apple will bring out, will be one device which does not need another device to work, no screen, no computer, no external camera.
BTW the projector or TV idea is not totally out of my mind. Samsung which got a big order from Apple to build the 9.7inch displays for the iPad, got another big order to build 5 million 42 inch LED displays, without telling who did place the order, it could be Apple.
On the other hand, Apple has 12 new granted patents which few of them could indicate importance for a new type of TV.

http://www.latestpatents.com/apple-patents-granted-on-20-july-2010/#more-9851

12 US patents granted on 20 July 2010 and assigned to Apple

1 D620,020 Graphical user interface for a display screen or portion thereof
2 D620,004 Electronic device
3 7,761,811 User interface for assisting in the installation of an asset
4 7,761,800 Unified interest layer for user interface
5 7,761,798 System and method for controlling the screen display appearance for a data processing system
6 7,761,488 File creation API
7 7,761,414 Asynchronous data synchronization amongst devices
8 7,761,118 Database programs for handheld devices
9 7,760,767 Wide area peer-to-peer synching in a decentralized environment
10 7,760,559 Integrated circuit with separate supply voltage for memory that is different from logic circuit supply voltage
11 7,760,528 Method and apparatus for providing high speed, low EMI switching circuits
12 7,760,187 Visual expander

1,5,7,10,11 and 12 can be useful for a very fast HD TV with 3D, where you might can plug in your iPad.

12 could indicate my dream since i have an iPhone. A 13inch screen and docking station for the iphone, where i plug my phone in and bang I have my personal computer with big screen and external keyboard. After the work day is over, I take the phone out of the docking station and go home.

Please let me your ideas know what device is coming next.

- Posted using My iPad

Location:4,United States

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Video with iPhone 4 and iMovie

First time that i did record a movie with iPhone and assembled with iMovie on the iPhone.
Taping was pretty forward, but using iMovie was not easy at all. It is a simple application, but not always intuitive. I chose a theme and I am pretty disappointed that there are only a few themes to choose from. Then i added a few videos to the theme. Cutting the videos is not easy. You basically have to cut from the beginning of the clip and or at the end till you have the part you wish to use. You can't just cut in the middle of a clip. The transition you can choose from are limited as well. Either one theme transition or a few standards.
You can add as well images and define how long they should be in the project (standard is one second). After a while i figured out i can zoom into the image to give it some movements. Still images should always move a little in the movie. Then i added the theme song and some titles. Unfortunately you can only put titles on clips not on images (or i did not not find). Title can be either a start, middle or end title.
When you are done you export the movie in small middle or HD format. I chose HD and it took for my 2 minutes video around 10 minutes to export. But i was not able to upload to YouTube through iphone as HD, it got compressed. The biggest issue was that i lost for my project all videos after syncing with my computer. The vides were still there but iMovie did not recognize them anymore.
iMovie is a nice little software and right now the only one for editing movies on the iPhone. I would like to see more functions and a little be more stable. An iPad version would be great. $4.99 is ok, but hopefully updates are coming.
It makes sense to edit the clips on the iphone when you are on the road or just need a nice movie in Facebook, without connecting to your computer to do the editing. To upload to Facebook, you need an extra app, i chose iLoader Lite. The Facebook app itself does not allow to upload videos (images only).
My IPhoto has issues with my new iPhone 4 and does not load my pictures and movies anymore. This is a bigger issue which i should investigate, i hope it is just my computer and not an Apple issue.




Thursday, July 15, 2010

If you have money, then invest in Zynga right now

Zynga is starting to have their games (in particular FarmVille) branded. This means they are selling their virtual goods as ads. If you play Farmville and you need a new item to harvest your land, it might be sponsored by General Mills. At the same time if you go to 7eleven or Target you might buy celery which has a sticker on it to unlock General Mills celery in FarmVille.
This is one of the best moves I saw in the last twelve months of a company.
Not only does Zynga a lot of revenue by selling to players virtual goods but at the same time they are combing two things we like to do the most with advertising. Playing games and social.
Everybody is talking about that an user in average 29 minutes of Internet usage is spending in facebook. But almost everybody is ignoring that we spend more than a half of this time with playing games.
Zynga could get advertising space number one if they have the right longterm concept. No other method could give so accurate numbers about relationship of online marketing and in store buys. Nobody would have such a high reach and ad recognition than game embedded advertising like these games. Zynga has 30 million players daily cross platforms.
But FarmVille is only one of many Zynga games. In the top 10 facebook games are 10 Zynga games (http://www.calvinshub.com/2010/03/top-10-facebook-games-for-march-2010) nobody can right now come close to Zynga. All top ten together are more than 60 millions players a day. If each player sees in day just 50 branded items and their message this would give an impression of 3 Billion impression. If Zynga is selling them for a $9 CPM then the daily revenue would be $27 million a day, which would be $9.8 billion a year plus the goods selling which Zynga does already target $1 billion this year. Google does right now around $25 billion a year revenue.

I believe if Zynga is smart enough and extend their games to other platforms and can keep the attraction they can be bigger in revenue than google.

If you did not already, keep an eye on Zynga, we will hear much more from them.
Zynga was founded in 2007 and did already $290 million in 2009. Zynga is a good example how a company can get big by being a subset of a bigger hype.

- Posted with My iPad

Location:Spinning Wheel Ln,Spring Hill,United States

Friday big day for Apple

Apple gives on Friday an announcement about the known iPhone 4 issue. Which is almost coming too late. Even if only a few people have an issue with latest iPhone it still had too much bad press in the last 4 weeks. It did influence even the stock price, Apple did go over $20 down in the last few weeks, and if they don't react right it could harm them much more. Toyota went big in trouble when the problem with the gas pedal came up. Again only a few people were affected but the press was so bad that Toyota had to react and spent millions to clean their image.
But what will Apple announce? That they will recall 3 Million iPhones? Would this delay all pending orders of iPhones? The iPhone is not for everybody so much better that they want to wait much longer. Will Apple lose customers?
Or is Apple offering everybody a free bumper case? But do the people who already bought a bumper case get reimbursed? What is with the people who bought a case from a 3rd party, do they get reimbursed as well?
Maybe Apple will reduce the iphone price by $40 (same price as a good case), or maybe everybody who bought an iPhone gets an Apple credit of $50? Will Apple extend the return warranty to 2 months till new fixed iPhones are coming out?
The least Apple should do, is to play the problem down or to come up with some weird excuse.

I think, Steve Jobs personally should do the announcement (which is unlikely, he prefers to announce good things). And he should offer all iPhone 4 users the possibility to either replace the iPhone, get a free bumper case or to take a $50 iTunes store credit card (I recently got from Nissan a $50 gift card because of a recall which would cost me $30 to adjust the brake pedal. Nissan claims it is not necessary to fix the problem but if i want to, I can use the gift card for it. I could even use the card for anything I want).
At the same time, Steve Jobs should announce that they fixed the issue in the hardware and all new shipped IPhones (starting in August) will not have this issue for left-handed people anymore.
He should as well apologize for waiting so long to announce something. He might say they waited till they found a solution.
But how much did this problem hurt Apple? If they recall all IPhones 4 then the direct costs would be over 1.5 Billion plus 3 Billion in stock lost.
But not only this, the competition, TV comedians, news and blogs are making fun of this, and bad news are not always better than no news. Apple is good consulted if they take the problem serious but at the same time make counter ads with fun of themselves. I remember back in the 70s we had in Germany a Citroen called 2CV. It was a very cheap car and everybody made jokes about the quality and that the best part would be the horn. Citroen reacted and all ads of their 2CV had then the headline "horn plus accessories only $5000". This was very clever and Apple should do the same.



- Posted using My iPad

Location:Spinning Wheel Ln,Spring Hill,United States

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Facebook Like This goes mobile

More and more websites have the "Like This" button to allow users to share a web page with facebook and to give others an indicator how many people do like a page.
Facebook announced on Wednesday that they want to have this function more and more on mobile applications. Facebook manager Eric Tseng announced at the MobileBeat 2010 conference that Facebook the developed protocol "open graph" will be extend by mobile internet functions.
Facebook believes that mobile Internet is the future. Facebook has Already today 150 million mobile users with a much higher growing rate than normal internet.

Read full article at cnet.com

http://www.cnet.com/8301-17918_1-20010442-85.html?tag=mncol


- Posted using My iPad

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

What is next with Apple?

Reading a lot of blogs and posts, almost everybody is saying that a new ipod touch will come out with two cameras and facetime. Sure it will sometimes but this not a real invention and it would wonder me how facetime would work. Right now factime is suing voice carrier for call and wifi for video, which makes facetime so successful in terms of quality. If a new ipod touch has facetime, then the calling method would need to change. I doubt an ipod will have a simcard or if it has a simcard then with monthly fees around $25, which means somebody will jailbreak it and everybody is going to buy a cheaper ipod touch than an iphone.



Bottom line, I think ipod touch and iphone will always be enough different that consumers are not pressed in the situation to make a decision if iphone or ipod touch. The decision will be which phone or which music player.


Of course the future for me is not to have a phone at all, and only use wifi or data plans to make calls, instead having a voice plan and data plan. I believe this will be in 3 years, and then there is no iphone or ipod touch, both will be just one device.


Other people are saying (which I did as well) that in autumn a new apple TV is coming out or the existing Apple TV will get a new OS. True, I can see this, but I don’t think the Apple TV price will go as low as $99, this is not really Apple method to be low on price only because other streaming boxes are such low. More likely Apple will have a $199 and $299 price for a small and big version and will claim that they reinvented the way how we watch TV, basically coming up with a new device which will define its own category (like the iPad did for mobile computers). Maybe an Apple TV which is totally integrated with IOS 4 and allows developers to build apps for TV and run iAds. Maybe Apple makes a deal with Discovery Channel and others that certain shows or features are only viewable over new iView (yeah not Apple TV anymore, we will call it iView). Maybe the iView will have the only perfect 3D experience without the need to have goggles.


The question is when is Apple successful?


It seems for me, when there is a big diversity, Apple gets strong. Apple got successful with iMac because there were tons of different computers from tons of vendors all looking pretty dull. Then there came Apple, looked at all computers and decided to make them colorful and as all-in-one computers.


Later we had 100 of music players, Apple looked at them and made their own, learning from the others. To help to boost they took all confusion of music rights and music sharing and created their own library.


We have cell phones since years, again 100 of different phones. I had my first smart phone 5 years ago, the Sony SX1. But then came Apple, looked at all phones and made their own smart phone, again learned from other vendors, understood that the UI of the OS needs to change and that there was no app store and hard to install new apps on phones.


Same with the iPad; Amazon had a while their kindle, Sony their e-reader, B&N came out with the Nook, all big hardware companies had their netbook or tablet PC. Apple looked at them and learned.


Now which is the next mobile market where we have a big diversity and Apple is not a player at all but had some experience in 1994?


Correct, the Apple Quick Take camera.


Now it is time to reinvent the camera. A camera which will have a big touch screen and the ability to load photo apps on it, like Photoshop mobile, or video editing software etc. Build in Geo Tagging over GPS and Wifi, totally integrated with mobile me and iweb.


The 12MB pixel version of iClick with 8times analog zoom will be market for $299 and has a free mobile account for 12 months

free apps on iphone can make good money with iAds

Kathryn Swartz did write about a free app in the iphone app store.

LED Light for iPhone 4 Free is a useful, must-have utility that turns your iPhone 4 into a working flashlight; it has become a bit of a cash cow for its creator as well. Developer Jason Ting revealed that his 9,000-download launch day made him almost $1,400 in ad revenue through Apple’s sanctioned iAds program. It’s unlikely that Ting will sustain these returns as downloads slow and initial use tapers, however his experience does bode well for other developers considering iAds.


The app itself is basic, but slick enough to warrant a download. Launching the app turns on the LED light automatically, and you can turn it off by tapping the giant center button. The lower button turns the light into a strobe, which you can change the speed of using the arrows at the bottom of the screen.

In Ting’s case, LED Light is a perfect test model for iAds. The function of the app only relies on two buttons and you never need to focus on the screen for extended amounts of time, so the iAds feed, which only appears every three minutes or so, is extremely easy to ignore. But if you’re still anti-ad, Ting does offer a 99-cent ad-free version of the app in the iTunes App Store.
(from Kathryn Swartz)

It really comes handy for small developers to use iAds to get some investment back into their developed ads, i just hope that big advertising companies can use their own ad system instead of iAds where thye will not have much control.

Who owns Facebook?

Paul D. Ceglia went to court to show a contract that he and Mark Zuckerberg signed in 2003 and shows that Paul D. Ceglia has a share of 84% of Facebook.

Facebook says this act is ridicules and not true, however the the judge Thomas Brown is taking at least the claim serious and ordered facebook not anymore to sell shares till further notice (source Wall Street Journal).The claim went on June 30th to the Court in Allegeny, where the Paul D. lives. The claim is based on a paper work with the title “work for Hire Contract”. The paper says the developer Paul did buy 50% of the predecessor of Facebook (The Face Book) for $1000 and for each day till the original website was done another percent, which will end up in total 84%.
Normally this could seem very plausible, it happens many times that entrepreneurs are hiring friends or developers at the beginning of their venture  and promise deals like share instead of full develop payment. The problem will come when a start up like this gets big and the former developer could make a lot of money out of this.
But in this case I doubt that Paul D C. is really saying the truth, only because he has other lawsuit running where he supposedly did steel some money from another company. This lawsuit is still running.
Even if we read a lot of things how Mark Zuckerberg is not the nicest guy in the world and has only really one goal to rule the world (at least in his way), I don’t think he would have had somebody outside of his university or close friendship to help him with the website. A person at an university in this age, can either do the whole thing alone, or with friends who have enough coding knowledge. The facebook as it was at the beginning is not extremely complicated.
I can much more envision that sometimes somebody is coming and claim that Mark Z. did steel the code for his social network from another site, or did this already happen a few years ago?

Monday, July 12, 2010

Facebook follows myspace with panic button

Yahoo is reporting that facebook launched panic button for kids.

Facebook has joined forces with a child protection agency to create a "panic button" application on its site, it was announced Monday, as the social networking giant finally gave in to calls to do more to protect youngsters online.

The application allows youngsters to report suspicious behaviour to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) and Facebook.

The launch of the service marks a turnaround for Facebook which initially resisted calls for a so-called panic button after the murder of a teenage girl in 2009 was linked to the site.

At the time, Facebook said its own protection mechanisms were sufficient.

Users of the social networking site will from Monday be able to bookmark the ClickCEOP service or add it as an application by going to http://www.facebook.com/clickceop.

An automatic advert for ClickCEOP will also appear on the homepage of every Facebook user listed as between 13 and 18 years old.

Jim Gamble, chief executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) said today marked "a good day for child protection."

"By adding this application, Facebook users will have direct access to all the services that sit behind our ClickCEOP button which should provide reassurance to every parent with teenagers on the site," he said.

"We know from speaking to offenders that a visible deterrent could protect young people online."

Facebook vice-president Joanna Shields added: ""There is no single silver bullet to making the internet safer but by joining forces with CEOP we have developed a comprehensive solution which marries our expertise in technology with CEOP's expertise in online safety.

"Together we have developed a new way of helping young people stay safe online and backed this with an awareness campaign to publicise it to young users."

Facebook came under fire earlier this year for not offering enough protection to its young users after the conviction of a serial rapist who used the site to contact and murder a teenage girl.

Peter Chapman posed as a young boy to lure 17-year-old Ashleigh Hall to her death in Sedgefield, in northeast England in October 2009.

He was jailed for a minimum of 35 years in March.

Calls have since grown for more websites to install panic buttons -- which allow youngsters who feel threatened online to quickly contact a number of sources of help, such as CEOP or anti-bullying helplines.

Panic buttons were already in use on social networking sites Bebo and MySpace.

- Posted using My iPad

Location:W Laurel St,Tampa,United States

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Why to wait?

I did yesterday decide to buy for my mother in law an iPad, because she likes to read and needs a device to communicate with her son overseas. At the same time the device should be light and easy to use. The only choice I thought is an iPad.
The iPad is now 3 months on the market but everything but easy to get. Best Buy does not offer to buy it online and at the Apple website it takes 7 to 10 business days till it gets shipped. Same for the new iPhone. At least 2 weeks waiting time. Overseas even longer to wait. I understand that Apple could not fulfill all first orders but now both devices are long enough on the market to have enough produced and shipped. I feel like 20 years back in time when people in East Germany had to wait to get their food at the grocery store. The only other items we wait in 21st century to get delivered are either cars or luxury or limited edition items. But since when do we need to wait on phones or computers months after they are released.
Ok, we did wait on the Wii and Xbox but why? If this happens once for an item, we could understand. It is not always easy to predict demand. But Apple should be already aware of their demands. I get the feeling this is a marketing move to keep the demand high. I can remember that nightclubs without doorman were not so hip and full than the once which let people staying in in the cold in a long line.
The question is how long Apple can play this game. The page can easily turn for Apple, when in october a new ipod or apple tv is coming out and people have to wait for those items as well.
As much i like Apple products as much i don't like to wait on things. My mother in law does not really need an iPad, and for sure i will not order one, pay and wait two weeks. But for sure she will need a digital book. I will buy a kindle, if Apple can not satisfy me.
Talking with my friends, I am not the only one thinking like this. Apple is not anymore a company for outsiders, cool and creative people. Apple is now a big company for everybody. Keeping the demand artificial high will harm Apple more than they might know.

Location:Spinning Wheel Ln,Spring Hill,United States

Friday, July 9, 2010

Code for Skype encryption is hacked

A hacker in the USA did supposedly hack the so good secret Skype encryption code.
The hack will be shown in December at Choas Computer Club convention in Berlin, explained from Constance Kurz (CCC press speaker).
TechCrunch is explaining he could hack the encryption by analyzing the binary code with a reverse engineering technique.
The original blog with the code was closed on Friday but can be still found on other websites.
Skype can understand if somebody is hacking the code to meek it better, but this hack will enable spamming. Skype is investigating this hack and will eventual go to court.



- Posted using My iPad

Location:County Road 587,Tampa,United States

Thursday, July 8, 2010

What if Facebook is the new Google?

Facebook already known by over 500 Million people as a social network is going to be much more than a social network. I have to admit I saw facebook and other social networks as hype and not more. But for hype it is now long on the market and too big. It surpassed all other social networks and is number 2 webpage.



Facebook is trying to have more than a billion members and it is already half way there (500 Million today, 200Million only 15 months ago). IT is so big and powerful that it is threat to google. More and more people are searching in facebook to find important information. They almost trust facebook more than google results. Google’s main business is search and advertising. If people don’t search ad google, google can’t sell advertisement. Of course we are far away from this scenario, but honestly, google did miss the social train. Google tried with Orkut but lost against facebook. Then goggle started Buzz an open social network, which mixes, twitter, facebook and gmail but so far not so much success.

The rapid rise of Facebook has no company more worried than Google, which sees the social networking giant as a threat on multiple fronts. Much of the activity on Facebook is invisible to Google’s search engine, which makes it less useful over time. What’s more, the billions of links posted by users on Facebook have turned the social network into an important driver of users to sites across the Web. That has been Google’s role in the past.

And then there is the advertising part, which Facebook poses a challenge as well.

Facebook does know more about their subscribers than google ever could know about the people who are searching with google. There are 500 million subscribers and facebook knows almost everything about them. Facebook is able to place the best-targeted advertisement.

Luckywise there is not yet any IAB ads running on facebook, besides on application pages. But a friend of mine (who has good connection to facebook), told me that they hired over 200 sales people and working on an ad program. Advertising will be a mix of google and yahoo system.

Internet Users are already spending 3 times more on facebook than on google. This is a big number. And each minute we spend more on facebook, is less for google. Even if we combine google and youtube hour spend, it is still less than on facebook.





It should be not hard for facebook to sell successful advertisment.

Oh yes and there is the money

Google is of course much bigger (financial) than facebook, but Mark Zuckerberg’s company does enough revenue to grow rapidly and to offer new products.

Industry insiders are saying that Facebook is benefiting from a cycle where success breeds more success. The bigger you are the bigger you get – Facebook could outrun other established social networks outside of the US, because of the success here in the States.

Through this success the growing revenue, estimated at $1 billion annually, allows the company to invest in improving its product and keep competitors at bay.

With Facebook’s social networking lead growing, it is not clear whether Google, or any other company, will succeed in derailing its march forward.

Says Danny Sullivan, the editor of Search Engine Land, an industry blog, “Google can’t even get to the first base of social networks, which is people interacting with each other, much less to second or third base, which is people interacting with each other through games and applications.”

Google is concentrating maybe too much on Apple.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

The google and Apple fight goes on

YouTube ( owned by google) announced on their website blog on 7.7.2010 the new YouTube mobile version (http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2010/07/youtube-mobile-gets-kick-start.html)
Which is cool and at first nothing special against Apple. But as we know the iPhone had a YouTube application preinstalled. Reading the blog and watching the video in the blog, it is a clear sign that google will not support anymore updates to the YouTube app on the iPhone. Instead the user should use YouTube mobile and add the shortcut to the iPhone screen.







From the blog:
" As the world continues to go mobile, we think this is a great improvement for users who want a more consistent YouTube across many devices, no matter where they are. We're launching in English only today, but will be rolling it out in other languages in the coming months. You can access the latest YouTube mobile site from your iPhone or Android browser. To learn more, visit m.youtube.com to check out the latest improvements and take a minute to watch this demo video...."







When you watch the movie you you recognize that YouTube shows an iPhone and not an android to demonstrate the new mobile YouTube.
The video runs through a number of new features offered by the mobile site that are more limited in the iPhone app. Mr. Doronichev product manager at YouTube is pointing out that on the Web site you can see the “like” or “dislike” buttons that YouTube now uses for video ratings. The iPhone application still uses the old star ratings.

- Posted using My iPad

Why facetime is better than others

I am proud user of my new iphone 4, one of the latest features is facetime. I was skeptical if it would be good enough to use it on a daily basis. I tried Qik and Skype on mobile devices and was not very impressed. Images refresh were very slow and sound as good as an old phone form the 50s. Skype worked fine when I used voice only or if I had a perfect wifi connection.
With facetime it is different, the sound is crystal clear and images are refreshing very well. I was wondering why this is so much better. The solution is so simple, but effective.
Apple does take advantage of the ability to separate voice from video. When you use facetime, you are basically opening two channels. First the voice channel over classic ATT carrier and then a second channel for video of Wifi. Similar like, when you use at your computer skype for video but for voice you use at the same time your landline.
The result is that the voice is perfect, and when the image does not refresh instantly it is not a big deal, you would not complain. Qik and Skype are both going either complete over 3G or Wifi, or in other words as pure data connection. If there is a problem with the connection speed, sound and video quality goes down. Facetime is using for sound the voice carrier (normal call), which means the connection does not need to be perfect to get good sound. Because the video is like looking at youtube during your call, you are not feeling any delay in sound, even if image is not as good in quality (when the Wifi connection is bad). This gives you the false experience that facetime works perfect.
For me is the best approach right now, till our mobile internet is fast and stable enough to have again both bundled as data transfer. And of course it helps the carrier to have a reason to sell still voice plans.
People will use facetime much more than skype or Qik, because it is too easy to use and voice quality is as good as a normal call. But because you make a real voice call for sound, your minutes will be used, which is not a problem right now, because facetime does only work on iphone 4and other Apple devices end of this year. I don’t see facetime coming on devices which don’t have a voice plan, if Apple does not come with another version of facetime, which allows calling from a computer to a cell phone using only data connection, similar using skype to call a land line.
Interesting gets if you have an unlocked iphone or if you call people overseas or outside the country, or if facetime comes out for other phones at other carriers. All facetime calls are going through voice carrier for your sound, this means high roaming costs. I can see a lot of people spending tons of money to call relatives overseas and knowing that ATT will charge international fees.
With facetime I see a new business (actually old business) emerging. In a few months user will be able to call expensive 1800 numbers to get phone XXX in a new interactive way. You will be able to see the lady you are talking to in a way which I can’t write in the internet about.


- Posted using My iPad

Location:County Road 587,Tampa,United States

Monday, July 5, 2010

Apple in danger

I am following Apple since the 1980s. And I was many times amazed about their ability of building things in a different way. I started in the early 80s with Commodore, went to Atari in 87. At this time there were a lot different OS on the market and i worked with many of them, even with OS2. I actually liked OS2 a lot, it had multitasking and a nice graphic interface. It took me almost 8 years till I had my first windows computer (1980). I only had one because I needed auto cad for the university.
Apple was for me the Ferrari under the computers. Sexy, cool and fast. But because of it's niche it was expensive.
I followed Apple and in 1995 I could buy again an Apple, which was actually a power PC from UMAX. Yes Apple did once license their OS, however the market share was not higher than 7% of total macs.
Anyway the point is, Apple was almost dead in the late 90s, till Steve came back and did revamp Apple by getting some cash from Microsoft in (for 10% of Apple shares).
Steve basically could do whatever was necessary to gain momentum. Apple was too small to get into the eyes of regulators. His first biggest move was iTunes with some questionable record label contracts, to outfight other music libraries. Then he did build a network around iTunes, iPod, apple tv and later iphone and iPad, all can only sync through iTunes. Great move but not an open system.
When Microsoft got too big, they got big trouble with integrating Internet Explorer into OS or having an office product which was not open enough to allow other developers to build on. If Microsoft have been as small in market share as Apple nobody would have had a problem. But Microsoft had too much market share on business and home computers that the regulators could not ignore them.
Now Apple is even bigger than Microsoft and it is market leader in one way or the other for music players, smart phones and mobile touch screen computers.
Apple is now a bear and I don't think it shares will go up so much anymore. They are now in the same boat as Microsoft. Apple can not anymore just do what they want, they are watched. The only difference is that there is as well Google and Facebook which are under the eyes of the regulators as well. Which helps Apple to avoid attention. But we will see a lot of lawsuits coming up for Apple, and if you have some Apple shares you should be aware that they are not going so much up like the last 4 years.
Apple is not anymore an underdog and will spend a lot of money to fight against the lawsuits.
Apple's best bet is to find a new niche, were they are too small to be important that they can spend a few years to build again in an almost secret way an empire. What about a dating portal? I heard a nerd was defined sexy because he had an iPad.

- Posted using My iPadl

Location:Spinning Wheel Ln,Spring Hill,United States

There is still space for another ebook company

As an iPad user i love iBooks, and I like the amazon software and the one from Barnes and Nobles. Sure the Sony version is not bad neither. However all of them are missing one important factor which is reducing them to get older people or myself as a frequent customer.
Do you know what i am talking about?
The ability to rent a book like in a library. My mother in law and i are reading a lot and seldom a book twice. Why should I buy a book when i can get it in the library for my monthly membership fee?
Think about netflix. They did destroy Blockbuster because of no late fees, by allowing with a low monthly fee to have one DVD a time. If you pay more you can even have multiple DVD at the same time.
I am very confident if there is another ebook company which you pay $8 monthly fee for having one book at the time, it would rock. And technically it is easy to do. Customer can only download a book when agreeing on that current book gets deleted ( handled by the app). And of course the app would not allow to print a full book.
Alternative the consumer could buy a book for the full price to keep it forever.
Consumer could rent up to 3 books at the same if paying a higher monthly fee.
This model would follow the long tail theory, which works fine with netflix movies, why not for ebooks?
New expensive books attracting consumers, old cheap books make the majority and get much more rented.

Maybe there is model like this on the market, but if so, then their marketing is really bad.

Who ever would realize this model, could even have their own ebook reader hardware, we all would buy it, and then of course for all other readers a software to be platform independent. This would be a complete market overrun.
Let me know when somebody has a startup for this, i will buy stocks.

- Posted using My iPad

Location:Spinning Wheel Ln,Spring Hill,United States

Friday, July 2, 2010

Google is getting into a new service

Google is expanding their service with online ticket search. Google is on the way to buy ITA software for around 700 million. The deal is not done yet, because it get right now examined by the American regulation. This deal would give google a key role in travel search.
Almost all travel sites like Expedia.com are using the service from ITA.
Even bing is using the DB from ITA. Google is promising that all existing contracts will stay, however they are not talking about changes when the contracts are due to renew.
ITA was founded in the 90es and is very well acknowledge for it's good data collection and queries.
The high price google is willing to pay is big indicator that Google has big plans with ITAs software.
ITA based in Boston does almost only offer service in the USA, therefore is no need for Google to claim the acquisition to the European regulators.
It is interesting to see what other services Google will buy which does support my theory, that google wants to dominate the market as a service and ad placement company.


- Posted using My iPad

Location:W Laurel St,Tampa,United States

Finally the apple TV gets a facelift

I have two Apple TVs and was wondering when they will have access to the app store or when I can access my web cam with them to make Internet calls. It seems this will happen sooner as expected.

The New York Times is reporting that Apple is working on a major update to its television software. Further, Apple may be devising “an entirely new product” which could be based on the new iOS operating system.
Apple, of course, has already tried (and failed) to develop a television-based product with a commercial impact comparable to the Mac, iPod or iPhone. Yet those efforts preceded the launch of the App Store two years ago. As seen already with the iPad, consumers enthusiastically embrace the app paradigm when the screen size is increased to 9.7 inches. Who wouldn’t want access to 225,000 apps (and counting) on an actual boob tube?
The entertainment industry sure is getting ready. Already, consumers can tap into their favorite movies and TV shows via the Netflix and Hulu Plus iPhone/iPad applications. Disney’s acquisition of pioneering iPhone app developer Tapulous this week, further illustrates how studios are planning to distribute premium entertainment via apps.
While the electronics and cable industries still have a foothold in how media is consumed in the living room, Apple continues to encroach on their domain. Consumers already are using iPads and iPhones and complementary devices while watching television, there is no better time than no for Apple to go for the hat-trick and make a serious, successful play in television.
Pulse News Mini comes to iPhone
Pulse, the popular iPad RSS reader application that was briefly pulled by Apple after its release, is now available for the iPhone. The $2.99 app creates a “visual mosaic” of up to 20 selected news sources.
While RSS readers are a dime a dozen and the $2.99 price-point is on the top end of the market, the visual display and interface could appeal to news junkies and casual readers alike


- Posted using My iPad

Location:W Laurel St,Tampa,United States

Holding the iphone 4S in a wrong way is not an issue

Steve Jobs admitted today that the iphone since years did cheat in terms of showing bars of connection. He said it is an error in the algorithm which does show too many bars.

The reason for this mistake could have been a marketing trick to attract more users. As example, I did buy the iphone not only because I thought it is cool and good, but as well when I compared the reception of the phone with others in same spot the iphone showed more bars. For voice it does not really matter if you have 2 or 4 bars, both let you make calls. We all got fooled by Apple with this trick.
Apple said that's the reason behind widespread complaints from users that the latest model, iPhone 4, can show a sudden plunge in signal strength when they hold it in a way that covers a small black strip on one edge of the phone. Users online have jokingly called this the "death grip" for the phone.
That drop seems exaggerated because the phone can wrongly display four or five bars of signal strength when it shouldn't, Apple said.
"Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place," the company said in a letter to users.
Apple launched the iPhone 4 on June 24 in the U.S. and four other countries.
Some outside engineers and users have blamed the iPhone 4's apparent reception problems on the novel design that incorporates its antenna into the case. But the company said that any phone will show reduced reception if held in a way that covers the antenna, usually mounted at the rear and bottom of a phone. It maintains that iPhone 4's wireless performance is better than previous models. And it said the incorrect signal-strength formula existed in the original iPhone, launched in 2007.