Tuesday Tech Talk #76

Hello everybody and welcome to another edition of Tuesday Tech Talk. A lot of stuff to cover with CES last week and the iPhone-Verizon announcement earlier today so I’m going to get right into it.

Verizon Gets the iPhone!

Yes, the big day a lot of people have wished for has happen! Earlier today Verizon and Apple announced the iPhone 4 will go on sale on February 10th at Verizon and Apple Store locations as well as online on their sites. Here is what we do know, the 16GB will have the $199 and 32GB will be $299 both with a 2 Year Contract (same as AT&T), however Verizon is throwing in a mobile hot spot device with the iPhone that can connect up to 5 devices...take that AT&T tethering! Also the CDMA based iPhone deal with Verizon is NON-exclusive so Apple has the freedom to allow other CDMA carriers in the US to carry the phone as well. Not sure if AT&T still has an exclusivity on GSM based iPhone’s in the US but I doubt they do which may be good news for T-Mobile. I would love to see the iPhone on many US carriers as possible as it helps in fighting off the Android and Windows Phone 7 for market share. If any more details come about, I will have more in AppleTalk Thursday.

MySpace lays off 47% of Workforce

Just announced today is the news that MySpace will layoff about 500 employees or about 47% of its workforce. I can’t say I am surprised, with Facebook finding more and more ways to innovate, MySpace is quickly falling behind in the battle of social network sites. They are owned by NewsCorp and one has to wonder just how much longer Rupert Murdoch is willing to hold onto this operation.

Facebook to go Public in 2012?

Although Mark Zuckerberg continues to deny it, an interesting article here hints at an April 2012 Initial Public Offering for Facebook stock. It would be interesting just to see what it would be valued at on a per share basis. Something rivaling Google I would think. Only time will tell though if this will happen. But in another interesting story, LinkedIn may become the first social media site to offer an IPO.

Ballmer: Windows 7 is an OS for all devices

Uh, no its really not! I really don’t need anything made from Microsoft in my personal tech ecosystem! I don’t use any of the Office products anymore (thanks Google Docs), I don’t know anyone that uses MSN Messenger so no use there either. At this point I am living Windows free and loving it so Steve take your operating system and stick it where the sun don’t shine...Redmond!

AT&T LTE Plans

AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega announced that AT&T will start to deploy its next generation LTE wireless network and capable mobile devices around mid-2011 (hey isn’t that when the iPhone gets updated?), with plans to have it completed by the end of 2013.

LG annonces SmartTV Upgrader

LG is getting into the battleground with AppleTV, Roku, and GoogleTV boxes that offer internet based services for your TV. Like the AppleTV, it has a similar shape and requires WiFi and an HDMI capable TV to connect to. No pricing mentioned in the article but I would say $99 would be the price as it is similar to the AppleTV.


Well, that is going to do it for this edition of Tuesday Tech Talk. Be back next week for another installment.

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.