All posts tagged Apple

Hand holding Apple TV

My iTV Prediction

By on February 10, 2012 in Apple, Hardware, iOS, Opinion with No Comments

I was asked recently about whether I think Apple will in fact release a TV.

Yes, I do.  That’s not really “news” though – just about every industry analyst thinks that Apple will release an actual HD TV.

But I’m going to go out on a limb here and prognosticate on a key feature of the device.  I’ve been thinking/saying this for several months now, but I’m going to put a stake in the ground here, for fun, to see if it holds up (or not) before I hear anyone else say what I’m about to say.  And by the way — I’m not claiming that nobody has said what I’m about to say, just that I have not heard it yet…

Ok, what is “it”?

I believe that Apple is going to release a consumer television, powered by Siri.

Steve Jobs made a statement that he felt that he found the missing piece that he needed to make a TV under the Apple brand.   It was a cryptic statement, and could mean many things.  Personally, I believe Siri is the missing piece.  In my opinion, the iPhone 4S was a proving ground for Siri. Notice that Siri is still referred to as a “beta.”  They’re working out the kinks.

Think about it:  Apple has all of the pieces.  They make flat screen displays.  They have iOS.  They have AppleTV working.  They have AirPlay and all the technology to make all of the devices in the house interoperable over WiFi.  They have iCloud and iTunes for content.

And now they have Siri.

I think Siri is the “missing link.”  And the magic!  I mean, they could have made a TV before.  They make flatscreens, and the AppleTV device has been out on the market for years. But it’s awkward and unwieldy to really control apps with the little TV remote.  When Netflix forgets my username and password, I cringe at having to hunt and peck it out again with the remote.  And besides, we have that now — Samsung and the other manufacturers already have apps integrated into their flat screen HD TVs.  A Samsung “Smart TV” is basically an HD TV with the equivalent of AppleTV (or Roku or whatnot) built-in.  That’s not revolutionary, it’s evolutionary.

Steve Jobs’ style was to transform industries, not just release yet another “me too” gadget.

And quite honestly, trying to control apps from a TV remote is a hassle and the average consumer does NOT want a keyboard to run their TV.  We’ve had that for years already, and they’re duds.

But imagine just TALKING to it!    “Turn to channel 10″ or “show CSI Miami”, and BAM!  It does it!

Now that is killer!

And, I think it’s going to be @?!*#$%! huge.

Not because I’m an “Apple fan boy.”  Because it just is.  Think about it.

Should iPhone Users Switch to Verizon?

By on September 21, 2010 in AT&T, Cell Service, iPhone, News, Opinion, Phones, Verizon with 2 Comments

Credit Suisse released a report Monday that said that 23% (an estimated 1.4 million) AT&T customers would switch if Verizon released an iPhone next year, as is widely anticipated.  A very slim margin (3%) said they’d go so far as to break their AT&T contract and pay the penalties.  Most said they’d just switch at the first opportunity.

Personally, I’m going to take a “wait and see” attitude, assuming this even does come to pass.

All in all, I do sincerely believe that Verizon has a better network.  That said, there are two interesting little factors that keep me on the sidelines in this whole situation:

* First and foremost, is the issue of network saturation.  While I believe that Verizon traditionally has had a better network, I have to acknowledge that the iPhone brought a crushload of data usage and new customer traffic that was previously unseen.  In other words, AT&T had no clue what they were getting themselves into.  I firmly believe that if Verizon had done the deal (it’s widely reported that Apple went to Verizon first and Verizon wasn’t willing to give Apple what it wanted, so Apple shopped their deal to AT&T next…), that we’d all be sitting here complaining loudly about Verizon and hoping that AT&T would be getting the phone soon!   So if 1.4 million users jump ship, not to mention a whole crushload of existing Verizon users make a move from other phones over to the iPhone, we could see Verizon getting slammed.  The odds of that happening are admitted less now that they have the hindsight experience of watching AT&T’s debacle.  If Verizon does get a black eye in any of this, it’s their own fault!  But the possibility still exists for a greater-than-expected turnout, and some network problems down the road.  Not to mention the lighter load on AT&T once 1.4 million heavy data users are off of its network.

* I hate (yes, that’s underscored and bolded for a reason!) the way Verizon has to OEM-ize all of the phones on their networks.  They disable cool features that are normally accessible elsewhere, and install silly VCast junk on the phones, etc.  I want to see if Apple stands up to them and keeps a “normal” phone, or if the Verizon-based iPhone is somehow hobbled or Verizon-ized before I’d make any decisions.

So all in all, I’m VERY interested to see how this unfolds.  But I’m in no hurry to jump ship.  While I screamed as loudly as the next person originally, I must admit that AT&T’s purported $4 billion-plus network buildout really has helped solve a lot of the initial problems, their hundreds of new cell towers have helped, etc.  It’s not perfect, but the service as improved to where it’s definitely satisfactory.  And thus, I’ll take the “one in hand is worth 2 in the bush” stance and wait to see how things pan out with a Verizon-powered device before jumping ship.

Way Cool: Apple’s New “Green” Battery Charger

By on July 29, 2010 in Apple, Gadgets, Opinion with 1 Comment

Apple Battery ChargerThis post even surprises me a little bit, but I wanted to take a moment to point out Apple’s new, more environmentally-friendly battery charger.

It’s a pretty basic, simple thing, but like everything else they do, the Apple design team has put their magical touch on a basic staple, and created a device that’s pretty darned cool — just a nice, elegant solution for a basic day-to-day problem, and energy-saving to boot.

If you’re like me, you probably think that rechargeable batteries are a really good idea (less wasteful with metals and materials, reusable, environmentally “green” and such) but yet they’re kind of a pain in the butt.  The recharger units are usually either really big and bulky with cords and junk, or even the direct wall-plugin units are huge and cover up “the other” socket in the wall, and so forth.   Then, when they do work, the batteries degrade very quickly — it takes 20 minutes to charge a battery that holds for 20 minutes and is dead again.   Oh, and most of the “savings” from using rechargeable batteriess goes out the window from constantly forgetting them in the wall and over-charging them, which either kills the batteries or needlessly wastes all the energy they supposedly save.

Well, Apple has developed a cute little unit that comes with 6 rechargeable batteries that are longer-lasting, higher quality.  The unit can “share” a socket and play nicely with its neighbors, and just… works better.   For instance, when a battery reaches capacity, the device is smart enough to know that and slows its energy pull from the wall.   This is analogous to putting a cup under a running water faucet — the faucet now automatically stops when the cup is full instead of just forever running at full blast and overflowing the cup and wasting water.   This is part of the environmentally-friendly, “green” aspects of this new power-saving device.

It’s a great solution for wireless mice, digital cameras, gadgets, desktop accessories and so forth.

Check it out.

The Truth About iPhone 4 Reception Issues

By on July 7, 2010 in Apple, iOS, iPhone, News, Opinion, Phones, Tutorials & Explanations with No Comments

OK, there’s been so much hype, hyperbole and misinformation about the iPhone 4 antenna issue that, after the umpteenth time I was asked about it, I thought it was time for a blog post!

95% of what’s floating around the airwaves right now is dis-information.   Here are the facts:

1. It’s true that if you hold the iPhone 4 a certain way, you can hamper reception.

However, that’s true with ANY and ALL cell phones!  I find it truly hilarious that the Android camp is jumping all over this to “prove” (in their minds, anyway) that their devices are better than iPhone.

I hate to break it to you, but there are zillions of online articles, postings and YouTube videos like this one about the Google Nexus One phone that suffers a loss of reception if you hold your hand over the bottom.  Others (the HTC android phone, the DROID, etc.) lose signal if you hold it a certain way, or place it flat on a surface (which, incidentally, is how I use my phone 90% of the time — I put it on my desk and use the headset to talk hands-free while I type on my computer). C’mon and think about it people — there are mini antennae in the phones. OF COURSE you’ll degrade signal if you cover them!  In the case of the iPhone we’re talking about a fairly specific “death grip” that isn’t consistent with the way the majority of users hold the phone, and in fact there are solutions to this “problem” anyway.  Read on.

Read more…

The Secret to iPhone App Store Success!

By on May 18, 2010 in Humor, iPad, iPhone, programming, YouTube with No Comments

This is a video anyone can watch, it’s not only for techies.

That said, anyone who develops apps for the Apple AppStore will certainly appreciate this humorous video.

While there may be a nugget of info in here somewhere, it’s primarily a couple minutes of humor.

It was too good for me not to pass along.  Enjoy.  :-)

If the video doesn’t load below, you can Click Here to View The Movie…

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