AppleTalk Thursday #14

Hey everybody and welcome to another edition of AppleTalk Thursday, a blog about all things Apple, from Macs to iPhones to AppleTV, it is all here! So let’s get started!

Verizon iPhone Update

It has been six weeks since Verizon began selling the iPhone and already they have snared nearly 13% of the iPhone market...not to shabby. Additionally, more Verizon iPhone users are satisfied than AT&T iPhone users which does prove one thing to AT&T..it’s the network stupid! Which is why AT&T is buying up T-Mobile to better compete with the Verizon network going forward which is a very impressive network.

Apple reaches out to Japan Employees

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has reached out to Apple’s employees in Japan after the devastating earthquake to offer the employees time off and any supplies it needs. On a related note, Kevin Rose from Digg received an email from an employee of an Apple Store in Japan who tells of how the store became a gathering point for people to communicate with families and to see just what was going on. The email is very much a good read and I highly recommend to take the time and read it on Kevin’s blog.

NFC coming to iPhone 5 after all?

These stories seem to go back and forth on the next iPhone in terms of both NFC and LTE capability. Now it seems that NFC will be coming to the iPhone 5. As I have covered here previously, NFC is short for Near Field Communication and is seen as a way to create a digital wallet to basically use your iPhone to purchase things by waving it as a capture device for payment. If you go to Exxon for example you might be familiar with their SpeedPass system where a little peg on your keychain is tied to a credit card or debit card of your choice to swipe and pay for your gas. That is what this does although it does have more possibilities beyond digital payments. One day I will post a thorough breakdown on NFC and for that matter LTE (4G). Other speculation about the next iPhone is an aluminum backing and a bigger screen.

New York Times goes InApp Subscription based

Apple’s controversial InApp subscription model has scored a big customer in the New York Times which will be going to a subscription based model for its digital content both in website and iOS app content. But if you are expecting something similar to what The Daily charges, then you are in for a sticker shock.



That is a high price for me considering I am not a power reader of the Times. But they are offering free articles up to a certain number for users, however once you exceed that number, you have to pay up.

MobileMe rebirth in April?

With the launch of Apple’s North Carolina data center just around the corner, there is new reports that Apple will precent its new MobileMe service soon and what it will offer. The constant seems to be a digital locker to store your movies, music, and photos to and use from the cloud on devices with limited storage. I would personally love this as I can then not load my music on my iOS devices and just listen to them from the cloud when needed. That I would gladly pay $99 per year for.

iOS 4.3 Battery Issue on iPhone

You may have recalled over the weekend I wrote about how my iPhone battery drained faster than normal while I was out of town in New Orleans and Hattiesburg, MS. It seems there is an issue specific to iOS 4.3. Without getting much into the matter here you can read what I wrote about over the weekend here.

Apple sues Amazon over “App Store” name

What is it with all these tech companies suing each other recently. Now Apple is suing Amazon over them using the term “App Store” for their new Android-based store. Apple, your quickly becoming what I despise in Microsoft...stop that or I’m going Android...Ok maybe not, but still chill!

iMac’s with Sandy Bridge, Thunderbolt in May?

A rumor from a CNet reporter speculates that a revised iMac with Sandy Bridge processors and Thunderbolt technology maybe coming in May. So if you are in the market for an iMac, you may want to wait for now.

Steve Jobs: iPod classic not Going Anywhere

Rumors of its death are greatly exaggerated according to Steve Jobs who says the iPod classic will indeed be around for a while (unlike the Zune).

Apple to License AirPlay?

This is an interesting bit of news that hints that Apple may license AirPlay to TV manufacturers. This makes a lot of sense and reminds me of how Microsoft licensed its Sync feature to Ford in their cars (see I did say one nice thing about Microsoft here.) It will be interesting to see how this will come about and who will adopt it.

Wife says no, Apple says yes to iPad 2

Finally, a lighthearted piece of news as Apple reportedly send a customer a FREE iPad 2 after his wife made him return the one he bought back to the Apple Store where he put on a sticky note “Wife said no”. The customer received the iPad from Apple with a sticky that read “Apple says Yes”. That is just awesome and is a reason that despite Apple’s ego, they are still a company dear to my heart.

iOS App Reviews

Boxcar (FREE) - First off I need to credit this find to Erik J. Fisher of GSPN’s Social Media Serenity. What this app does is unify all your notifications from Facebook, Twitter, Google Buzz, Foursquare, Google Voice, Gowalla and many others, in one place! It works like a charm and they also offer an iPad version as well.

Osfoora ($2.99) - I have heard Cliff Ravenscraft mention how much he loves Osfoora so I decided to finally give it a try and I must say I am impressed! The home screen offers a robust set of features for Twitter. You can see who is tweeting nearby, what the trends are like, your favorite tweets, and lists. The only thing it doesn’t have is push notifications when someone mentions you which lead me to Boxcar. Again there is an iPad version as well for $3.99. From the compose window you have the option of attaching your location, a song you are listening to, photo and video share, and of course hash tag support. What does that mean? Well if you are using a hash tag frequently, it will save the hash tag so when you compose a message, you press the hash tag button and select the tag and it will auto insert it at the end of your post. Pretty cool!

iTalk Recorder (FREE) - A nice little audio recording app is iTalk by Griffin Technology. It will record your audio into different variations of AIFF which you can then email or place in your Drop box account. It works pretty well if you can’t afford a digital audio recorder like an Edirol or Zoom H2. The only downside is it only encodes in AIFF so no support for WAV or MP3 and you will need an application like GarageBand or Audacity to convert to those formats and compress to a more reasonable size to use in a podcast. In addition they have a $2 version if you don’t like ads.

Well, that is going to do it for this edition of AppleTalk Thursday. See you all next week for another installment and thanks for reading.

Tuesday Tech Talk #82

Hello folks and welcome to another edition of Tuesday Tech Talk. Let’s see what is going on this week.

Netflix gets CBS Streaming Deal

Netflix and CBS have come to an agreement to bring older shows to Netflix’s streaming service starting in April. Among the shows will be Star Trek, Cheers, and Frasier among others. No word if past seasons of NCIS will be included but that would be nice if it were the case.

Amazon Announces Streaming Service

Not to be outdone in the streaming media business, Amazon has announced its own service if you happen to be a Prime subscriber. The offerings are only a fraction of what Netflix and Hulu offer, but for a startup it is not too bad.

HTC Thunderbolt plagued with Battery Issue

The heavily promoted HTC Thunderbolt Android-based smartphone apparently has bad battery issues and it hasn’t even been released yet. The phone is Verizon’s first LTE-based phone and their answer to AT&T’s Motorola Atrix 4G Android phone.

Amazon Kindle 3G coming to AT&T on March 6th

Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader device is coming to AT&T stores on March 6th in the form of the 3G model. For those that don’t know, you can use your Kindle at any AT&T WiFi spot to download content this includes McDonalds and Starbucks locations.

Well, that is going to do it for this edition of Tuesday Tech Talk. See you all next week for another installment and come back Thursday for my all things Apple post, AppleTalk Thursday, and Google news on Friday with Googling Friday. See ya’!

Tuesday Tech Talk #81

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Tuesday Tech Talk. Let’s see what is going on this week.

AT&T CEO: App Stores are Bad

So according to the AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, app stores like the iTunes App Store and Android Marketplace are bad because they are platform specific. Uh Ok, well if that were the case then why have 10 billion apps been downloaded just on the iOS platform? What is his solution? Web-based apps, you know like the first gen. iPhone had. Remember how boring those were? I sure do. Mr. Stephenson is completely out of touch with the reality of what the customer wants.

Apple vs Google vs Amazon on Subscription Plan

AppleInsider has a rather in-depth article on the subscription plans offered by Apple, Google, and Amazon Kindle. It is worth the read if one has quite the time to read as it is about 3 pages of reading. Here is a quick breakdown chart found in the article though.



Motorola Atrix 4G Rooted already

The thing is not even out yet and someone has already managed to root it. I have to admit, this is a nice looking phone and might be the first Android device to make me want to cheat on my iPhone...why do I feel so dirty all of the sudden?



Well, that is all I have this week. Kind of a slow week for general technology. Come back later this week for AppleTalk Thursday where I will have some choice words for Apple and their new subscription policy. See you next week for another Tuesday Tech Talk.

AppleTalk Thursday #8

Hey everybody and welcome to the AppleTalk Thursday late late edition! We had another slow storm come through here that disrupted my blogging pattern and schedule. There is a lot of Apple related news so let’s see what is going on!

Netflix getting more user traffic on AppleTV than iPad

To me this is not a big story, I mean if you are watching video content you are more likely to want to view it on a bigger screen. Being that I own an iPhone, an iPad, and an AppleTV, I opt for the AppleTV every-time. I have Netflix on my iPhone but that is more to just add content to my queue while on the fly. Furthermore this should really inspire Apple and Hulu to get a deal done already to bring it to the AppleTV.

iPhone strikes again at BlackBerry in the Corporate World

Another blow to RIM in the corporate world as the iPhone continues to make strides in the Enterprise market. Deutsche Bank Equity Research announced it is switching to the iPhone and dumping their BB’s.

iPad 2 Rumor Rundown

Some of the latest information regarding the 2nd generation forthcoming iPad. One analyst with Concord Securities claims it will have a more anti-reflective screen providing a better reading experience, also the front and rear camera quality would be similar to that of the iPod touch instead of the iPhone 4. Meanwhile the Wall Street Journal is reporting they are in production and will be offered through both AT&T and Verizon. Both articles seem to hint that it will not have the retina display found on the iPhone 4.

Verizon iPhone 4 Followup News

Of course last week existing Verizon users got to pre-order the iPhone 4 and this week converts got their chance. A review from WIred of the Verizon iPhone even suggested it is an actual phone now...OUCH! My personal experience with my AT&T-based iPhone is a positive one. Granted it took them a long time to deploy 3G in the Tupelo area, but now they have gotten more aggressive with 3G rollout in the rest of Northeast Mississippi. So much so that even my parents little town as 3G now, something I never saw coming. Verizon stated it sold more iPhone 4’s on pre-orders in the first 2 hours than they have on any previous product launch in one day...yes that includes Androids! Another benefit of the Apple-Verizon partnership is that the iPhone is arriving in new areas that previously it could not. A recent survey found that 54% of Verizon’s BlackBerry and Android users are somewhat likely to switch to the iPhone as well which further hammers home Verizon’s thought that iPhone users are more loyal when compared to BB and Android users. I would tend to agree.

Apple sets 3/31 Deadline for in-app Purchasing for Periodicals

To follow up on last week’s Apple rejection of the Sony e-reader app, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple has set a March 31st deadline for periodical apps to offer an in-app purchase option for content. To me I like this idea as I hate leaving an app to purchase say an e-Book from Amazon via the Safari browser. One thing about iBooks is you don’t have to leave the app but the content is not as great as Amazon. I don’t really like the take it or leave it attitude Apple is giving the developers of such apps. But I think in-app is something a lot of customers will enjoy but from a developer perspective I can see where this would be an issue when it comes to revenue splits which is really the bottom-line of the story here.

iPhone and iPad Shifting Reading Habits

An interesting study here pointing to the ways iPhone and iPad users reading preferences have changed. I would tend to follow into this ground. I rarely read on my MacBook anymore and tend to prefer my iPad for that. My MacBook is pretty much for creating content such as blogging, but when it comes down to say reading others blogs, I grab the iPad and fire up River of News.

The Confession App

Ok so there has been a lot of news about a Confession app that is available for both the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Being that I am both a Mac geek and a practicing Catholic, I thought I would share my thoughts on it. First and foremost, this is NOT a replacement for confessing your sins to a priest and receiving the proper penance. It is instead a guide to helping you make a good confession and a handy thing to take with you into the confessional. It is an aide when examining your conscience prior to going to confession at your local parish. I have it myself and will use it at my next confession next month (I go monthly). For another take on the Confession app check out what the good folks at Southern Fried Catholicism over in Oxford, MS say about it.

Reagan Library adds iPod touch to Exhibits

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library now offers 250 iPod touch units as part of the museum tour. Pretty nifty and tech savvy to utilize.

Finally I wan to share an entertaining graphic on the different type of iPhone users. It is pretty interesting, I think I know which one I fall under. See you all next week for another edition of AppleTalk Thursday.

Tuesday Tech Talk #75

Greetings and Happy New Year everyone! It’s the first Tuesday Tech Talk of 2011 and after taking last week off, there is a lot to catch up on so let’s get right into things!

Firefox 4 Beta 8

Mozilla released its beta version 8 of Firefox 4 a few days before Christmas. I decided to give it a try and wow it is FAST! It is pretty much as responsive as Google Chrome and Apple’s Safari browsers. Quite impressed and I can’t wait to see how the official release will be when it is rolled out this year.

AT&T Launches WiFi initiative in Problem spots

AT&T will be launching WiFi spots in urban areas where it has had trouble with coverage. The spots are NYC and San Francisco. Among the areas to be covered are Times Square, Rockefeller Center, and St. Patrick’s Cathedral which will make smartphone carrying Catholics like myself happy when visiting. Also later in 2011, they will launch WiFi at the Embarcadero Center in San Francisco.

RIM Playbook battery issues

Uh oh, it looks like Research In Motion may have stuck its foot in its mouth with all its iPad trash talking and playing up their Playbook tablet. Now comes word they are having a hard time matching the iPad’s battery life...can we say, “Marketing FAIL”? If you're going to trash talk your competition, it may help that your product can walk your talk! I still love you Canada though.

Paul Allen refiles patent suit against almost everybody

The world’s most insecure billionaire is at it again! After having his first suit tossed out by a judge, Paul Allen has refiled his patent suit against Apple, Google, eBay, Amazon, etc. Wonder how soon this one will get tossed? I will say it one more time, Paul your company ripped off the Apple GUI but you don’t see the 2 Steve’s suing you and Bill do you? You insecure jackass!

How to polish up your LinkedIn Profile

Read an interesting article on MacWorld about overused buzzwords in LinkedIn profiles and how to simplify your profile. Worth a read if you are maintaining a LinkedIn profile

Well, that is going to do it for this edition of Tuesday Tech Talk. We have the Consumer Electronics Show starting on Thursday so next week there will be a lot to talk about. See you next week!

Tuesday Tech Talk #48

Hello folks and welcome to another edition of Tuesday Tech Talk. The World Wide Developers Conference is a week away so Triple T #49 should have quite a bit of coverage from the WWDC keynote. But as for this edition of #48 lets get right down to it! New Facebook Privacy Settings Facebook has taken a lot of heat lately for it’s privacy settings or lack there of. But the biggest social networking site (500 million users) announced last week a new set of easier to use settings for controlling your privacy and content. Speaking for myself I tend to lock down my status updates to just my friends. But the new settings they announced are a huge step in the right direction. Comcast to offer extreme 105Mbps internet So if you can’t wait for Google to launch their fiber optic network in your neck of the woods, then you might want to check and see if Comcast is offering their 105Mbps Extreme speed internet where you live. Oh, did I mention the install price is $249 and the price for this speed is $200 a month? I love having fast internet, I’m not spending $200 a month on it though! New slimmer Kindle on the way? According to Bloomberg News Amazon maybe rolling out a thinner but still black and white screen Kindle in August. With the Kindle already 0.36” thin, one has to wonder just how much thinner can a Kindle get? LG 84” 3DTV So if you have the space and money available, LG has a 3DTV for you! All 84 inches of it. Course you will need a TV provider with 3D programming or a 3D DVD player to take full advantage of it and some glasses I suppose otherwise you just have a blurry picture. Concrete incased USB drive So you need a 128GB hard drive? How about one in concrete? Well its not out yet, only a concept at this point. This Week’s iPhone/iPod touch/iPad apps Skype (Free) - Skype has updated their iPhone app to be able to make Skype to Skype calls over 3G. So I guess this begs the question, how soon until we see the Google Voice app for the iPhone? Barnes & Noble eReader for iPad (Free) - B&N has released their eReader app for the iPad. So now your options for book buying on the iPad now includes iBooks, Kindle Store, and now Barnes & Noble’s ebook’s store. Well that is going to do it for this edition of Triple T. See you all next week with some big news items from the WWDC.