Tuesday Tech Talk #62

Hello folks and welcome to another edition of Tuesday Tech Talk. This week we have several things going on so lets see what is happening.

Apple to launch iNewsStand?

There is a lot of speculation that Apple is negotiating with periodicals for a launch of an iNewsStand within the iBooks application on the iPad/iPhone/iPod touch. I would really love to see this. The simple matter is I don't even buy our local paper, I read it online so if they can make themselves available on the iNewsStand I am more likely to read them on a regular basis. Plus it would also add magazines and if they can get the cost to equal what the physical copy is, maybe even a bit cheaper, I would subscribe to my favorite magazines through it as well. Plus it takes up less space in my house than a stack of magazines do, and lets face it, who wouldn't take their iPad with them to the bathroom to uh catch up on some reading. To me that is just multitasking. TMI?

More AppleTV apps?

Steve Jobs recently said that an AppleTV app store could launch "when the time is right." This is a wise approach, with services like Netflix available on it, content providers will no doubt feel the competition from it and make their content available as well. Think like a USA Channel app or a TNT app to get shows like Burn Notice and The Closer. Only a matter of time indeed...until I cancel my DirecTV once this becomes a reality.

Twitter getting a makeover

Twitter announced last week a new media rich appearance to its website. Although I haven't seen it personally yet, they did put out a YouTube video of what it will look like.


Looks pretty cool and I can't wait until I have access to it, they are rolling it out over several weeks.

Google Voice apps in iTunes app store

Great news for those of us that use Google Voice, third party makers of apps for it are now appearing in the app store. The 2 versions in the store both sell for $2.99, but I'm interested to see when Google will launch their own official app and make it free most likely. For now I am using GV Connect.

Yahoo criticizes Apple iAds...and still sucks

The CEO of Yahoo (remember them?), recently criticized Apple's control over the iAd program. Ok first of all she may have a point, but I would take it a lot more seriously if the comment was coming from say Eric Schmidt of Google. Second, what the heck has Yahoo done in the last 10 years to make them an expert on the matter? Last I checked Bing just passed them for second place in the search engine race so SHUT UP already and worry about your own company and its lack of innovation over the last 10 years. I use one Yahoo related program and that is Messenger and that is only to chat with my mom on it, although after this I think I may hook her up with Google Talk instead and be done with Yahoo once and for all. Yahoo use to be a cool company, but that ended when Bill Clinton's presidential term did. Little tweaks to your email program don't count. Anyhow, that is my rant about how incredibly out of touch Yahoo has become in relation to today's technology...now go sit down next to MySpace and Friendster, and watch the pros play.

This Week’s iPhone/iPod touch/iPad appsGV Connect ($2.99) - As I mentioned earlier in the post, the iTunes app store is now allowing Google Voice apps in. GV Connect was the first one in and I downloaded it Friday night. It is pretty straight forward, you select which phone you want to ring in the app along with the number to dial and it will call that phone or your computer via Gmail (think GrandCentral which Google bought). You can also send SMS messages through it and play your voicemail in it too (the voicemail from those calling your GV number, not your cell phone VM).

Flight Control ($0.99 iPhone/iPod touch, $4.99 iPad - This game is addicting! Basically you have to land as many planes and helicopters as you can without colliding them. One collision and the game is over (just like your career as an air traffic controller would). Right now my best score is 35 (1 point for each successful landing).

Pro HDR ($1.99) - So you have an iPhone 3GS but really like that the new iPhone 4 can take HD pictures? Well there is an app to hold you over until you are ready to upgrade to the 4. Now the one drawback is you have to hold the phone steady for several seconds as it snaps a couple of pictures where as the iPhone 4 you take one picture. But the quality is a step up from regular photos taken on the iPhone 3GS. Here is one I took.

Dropbox (FREE) - This is a great app! When you sign up for Dropbox it gives you a folder that you place on the desktop of your Mac or PC which you can drag files into and it stores them in the cloud. They give you a 2GB folder for free and you can create as many folders within the Dropbox folder as you want i.e., Documents, Photos, etc. With the Dropbox app on the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, you can then access those files and can save photos on your mobile devices to it as well to sync back up to your desktop without having to dock your iPhone/iPod touch or iPad. Many thanks to Erik J. Fisher for pointing out this program to me.

Well that is going to do it for another edition of Tuesday Tech Talk. See you all next week for more tech news and drop by Friday for Googling Friday, a blog about all things Google.