Hello folks and welcome to another edition of AppleTalk Thursday. Let’s see what is happening in the world of Apple this week!
iOS 4.3.1 Update
Last Friday Apple released the update to the iOS 4.3. Among the fixes is indeed the battery issue on the iPhone. Since updating the 666MB update for my iPhone (yes, I know it is a creepy number), I have noticed a great improvement in the battery life on my iPhone 4.
WordPress optimization for iPad
Automattic Inc., the company behind WordPress has partnered with Onswipe to make blog viewing on the iPad a more pleasurable experience. With the help of Onswipe’s plug-in, viewing a WordPress blog looks very similar to FlipBook. In-fact this blog is now viewed this way on the iPad after I downloaded the plug-in and installed it. Let me know what you think!
Skype Mac Design Contest
Skype has announced a contest for a design for its upcoming Mac release client. I really like this because Skype really designs an ugly interface for the Mac side. The grand prize is an 11” MacBook Air, iPad 2, and a one year subscription to Skype’s Unlimited World Extra calling service. There are also runner up prizes such as an iPad 2 and AppleTV and CSS3 for Web Designers.
Apple working on a TV?
Here is an interesting tidbit about Apple possibly looking at making their own TV. Given last week’s news that they may license AirPlay to TV makers, I am not really putting too much stock into this story, but who would have thought Apple would make a phone one day.
Digital Locker Roundup: MobileMe, Amazon Cloud Player
Another bit of speculation about the upcoming MobileMe revamp and possible digital locker service costing $20 a year. If you saw the news this week of Amazon’s new Cloud-based storage, this would be the new MobileMe service right in the ballpark. Course maybe Apple is working out deals with record labels first before launching the service and not releasing the service before a deal is in place.
5-1 Connection Kit for iPad
Check out this little dongle device! Tired of unplugging one device and plugging in another? This may solve that issue and the $45 price is not too bad considering it is like a Swiss Army knife for the iPad.
Course if you just need an HDMI and USB dongle, your in luck too although the price is a bit steeper at around $73 US, oh did I mention it is only available in Japan?
WWDC What to Expect...and What not to Expect
Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference sold out within hours after tickets went on sale earlier this week. If you were one of the lucky ones to buy a ticket...you may not see the iPhone 5, but it sounds like you will see some really cool stuff in both OS X 10.7 Lion and the iOS 5 with deep voice command integration. When I first heard that, I pictured my iPhone talking like the late Barry White, but there is more to it than that and a Fall release of an iPhone 5 would make sense if it were to be an LTE capable device.
Personal Hotspot put to the Test
Finally today, Steven Sande of The Unofficial Apple Weblog decided while attending a trip with his wife who was attending a conference at a hotel, decided to utilize the new Personal Hotspot feature in his iPhone instead of paying for the hotel fee of $11 a day for WiFi. You can read his review of it here.
iOS App Reviews
Pocket Casts ($1.99) - I had grown frustrated with a bug in the iPhone that was displaying incorrect artwork for podcasts. They would display music genius like artwork for example. Even after the 4.3.1 update the issue remained. Than after posting about the issue in the GSPN Community page under Help, I Got a Mac, I came across Podcast Answer Man #200 where Cliff Ravencraft discussed how much he loves this app called Pocket Casts. So I took a chance and spent the $2 and you know what? He is right! First, you can have it scan your iPod app on the iPhone for all your subscribed podcasts and adds the feeds to the app and will show the latest 2 episodes per show in the download window, if you need more episodes, just select on the Show All Available Episodes to list and download each one.
Another cool feature is it will send push notifications and list a badge number for new episodes available for download...something the iPhone or iPad can’t do. You can even stream the episodes without downloading and save space on your iOS device. After using it for a day, I went ahead and downloaded all the episodes I have in iTunes and than un-synced podcasts to my iPhone to save space and I now use Pocket Casts to listen to my podcasts. Note although you can use it on the iPad, it is not a universal app meaning you will have to expand it 2x to get full screen on the iPad but hopefully they will update that part in a future release. Oh, and it will work over not just WiFi, but 3G and EDGE too.
Here is a video of how it all works.
<iframe src=“http://player.vimeo.com/video/20643630?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0” width=“400” height=“225” frameborder=“0”></iframe><p><a href=“http://vimeo.com/20643630”>Pocket Casts App Demo.</a> from <a href=“http://vimeo.com/nathanswan”>Nathan Swan</a> on <a href=“http://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>
Vimeo (FREE) - I have come to really love Vimeo, unlike YouTube, Vimeo is HTML5 which means videos will play on iOS devices. Well, now they have an iPhone app which allows you to both view and record videos and edit your recorded videos. Pretty cool stuff, maybe not as feature rich as iMove for iPhone but considering it is free, that is nothing to sneeze at. My only issue is it did crash on me a few times but that is expected on a product first release. Sure an update will patch that issue.
QR Reader (FREE) - One thing that was promoted a lot at PodCamp Nashville was QR Codes. This feature was born on the Android, but it has grown to other devices and I have found a lot of reader apps for the iPhone, but this is a nice basic free one that can scan QR Codes and display their meaning within the app. Now I want to design one for my website to place on a business card.
Well, that is going to do it for this week’s AppleTalk Thursday. See you next week for more exciting Apple news.
Showing posts with label WWDC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WWDC. Show all posts
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Tuesday Tech Talk #44
Hello folks and welcome to another edition of Tuesday Tech Talk. Quite a few diverse topics this week so lets see what is happening.
HP buys Palm, kills the Slate?
This is interesting, on the same week that HP bought Palm they are apparently deserting plans for the Windows 7-based HP Slate. My theory, why would HP need Windows 7 on a tablet device when they now own a mobile OS company? This reminds me when Apple bought Steve Jobs’ NeXT company which we all know became OS X on the Mac. I don’t think the HP Slate is dead, I just think the Windows part of the Slate is dead. Kudos to HP for picking up Palm, could be a wise move on their part here.
Kraft Foods BYOC policy
Kraft Foods is apparently putting in a new policy allowing its employees to buy whatever computer they desire to use at work and will help out with the purchase providing the employees do their own tech support. Basically if your a Kraft employee but are a Mac or Linux person, then you are in luck! Now if only my employer had a similar policy.
The Apple vs. Adobe War Intensifies
It’s becoming a real billionaire he said/he said thing here. I see some truth on both sides here. Weighing on the matter is Microsoft’s Dean Hachamovitch, General Manager of Internet Explorer and his blog post on Microsoft siding with Apple on HTML5 based video content.
Nokia N8 HD Video Sample
Truly amazing video here for a mobile device. Worth checking out!
Fourth Generation iPhone released for Sale during WWDC?
Interesting article here from Mashable speculating that the new iPhone may go on sale during the WWDC. Pure speculation at this point and I still think a late June release is still more likely.
World’s Largest Curved Plasma Display in Japan
I would love to see some sports on this screen!
This Week’s iPhone/iPod touch/iPad apps
AccuWeather (Free) - This is a very cool app. I just downloaded it and will do a side by side comparison to the Weather Channel app. Sadly AccuWeather has not produced an iPad app yet while the Weather Channel has.
uStream Live Broadcaster (Free) - This can be a cool app, but it has one key flaw. Whenever you are broadcasting, if you get a SMS text or an alert from another app, it ceases to broadcast. Otherwise it is very nice to use, you can even setup an instant poll.
Well that is going to do it for this week’s edition of Triple T. See you all next week!
HP buys Palm, kills the Slate?
This is interesting, on the same week that HP bought Palm they are apparently deserting plans for the Windows 7-based HP Slate. My theory, why would HP need Windows 7 on a tablet device when they now own a mobile OS company? This reminds me when Apple bought Steve Jobs’ NeXT company which we all know became OS X on the Mac. I don’t think the HP Slate is dead, I just think the Windows part of the Slate is dead. Kudos to HP for picking up Palm, could be a wise move on their part here.
Kraft Foods BYOC policy
Kraft Foods is apparently putting in a new policy allowing its employees to buy whatever computer they desire to use at work and will help out with the purchase providing the employees do their own tech support. Basically if your a Kraft employee but are a Mac or Linux person, then you are in luck! Now if only my employer had a similar policy.
The Apple vs. Adobe War Intensifies
It’s becoming a real billionaire he said/he said thing here. I see some truth on both sides here. Weighing on the matter is Microsoft’s Dean Hachamovitch, General Manager of Internet Explorer and his blog post on Microsoft siding with Apple on HTML5 based video content.
Nokia N8 HD Video Sample
Truly amazing video here for a mobile device. Worth checking out!
Fourth Generation iPhone released for Sale during WWDC?
Interesting article here from Mashable speculating that the new iPhone may go on sale during the WWDC. Pure speculation at this point and I still think a late June release is still more likely.
World’s Largest Curved Plasma Display in Japan
I would love to see some sports on this screen!
This Week’s iPhone/iPod touch/iPad apps
AccuWeather (Free) - This is a very cool app. I just downloaded it and will do a side by side comparison to the Weather Channel app. Sadly AccuWeather has not produced an iPad app yet while the Weather Channel has.
uStream Live Broadcaster (Free) - This can be a cool app, but it has one key flaw. Whenever you are broadcasting, if you get a SMS text or an alert from another app, it ceases to broadcast. Otherwise it is very nice to use, you can even setup an instant poll.
Well that is going to do it for this week’s edition of Triple T. See you all next week!
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Tuesday Tech Talk #25
Hello all and welcome to another edition of Triple T. Here is what is happening this week.
Quicken Essentials for Mac pre-order
Intuit announced it’s much delayed Quicken Essentials for Mac is now available for pre-order. Too little, too late for me. I have made the decision to go with Mint for my financial organization. As TUAW points out in the Quicken Essentials link, it takes a step back from the features of Quicken 2007. Which proves my point, as Kanye West might say “Intuit doesn’t care about Mac people”. Goodbye Quicken!
More speculation of Verizon getting iPhone
With the news of Verizon preparing network for iPhone in 2010 and Apple planning their WWDC around the time of their AT&T exclusivity deal with the iPhone ending, it appears Verizon is lining up as a partner with Apple on the next iPhone. Stay tuned!
Jobs named world’s best performing CEO
According to the Harvard Business Review, Steve Jobs is the best performing CEO in the world. Hard to argue against that, in addition to creating great products and establishing Brand of the Decade honors, Apple stock has been on the upswing despite the worst recession in a quarter century.
iMac 27“ flickering firmware resolution
Last week I talked about Apple having a problem with their 27” iMac’s flickering. Monday Apple released a firmware update that will fix the issue.
Nook 1.1 Update
Speaking of system updates, also on Monday Barnes & Noble released the 1.1 update for it’s Nook e-reader.
That is going to do it for this weeks Triple T. I hope everyone out there has a Merry Christmas and I will see you all next week.
Quicken Essentials for Mac pre-order
Intuit announced it’s much delayed Quicken Essentials for Mac is now available for pre-order. Too little, too late for me. I have made the decision to go with Mint for my financial organization. As TUAW points out in the Quicken Essentials link, it takes a step back from the features of Quicken 2007. Which proves my point, as Kanye West might say “Intuit doesn’t care about Mac people”. Goodbye Quicken!
More speculation of Verizon getting iPhone
With the news of Verizon preparing network for iPhone in 2010 and Apple planning their WWDC around the time of their AT&T exclusivity deal with the iPhone ending, it appears Verizon is lining up as a partner with Apple on the next iPhone. Stay tuned!
Jobs named world’s best performing CEO
According to the Harvard Business Review, Steve Jobs is the best performing CEO in the world. Hard to argue against that, in addition to creating great products and establishing Brand of the Decade honors, Apple stock has been on the upswing despite the worst recession in a quarter century.
iMac 27“ flickering firmware resolution
Last week I talked about Apple having a problem with their 27” iMac’s flickering. Monday Apple released a firmware update that will fix the issue.
Nook 1.1 Update
Speaking of system updates, also on Monday Barnes & Noble released the 1.1 update for it’s Nook e-reader.
That is going to do it for this weeks Triple T. I hope everyone out there has a Merry Christmas and I will see you all next week.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Tuesday Tech Talk #5 Monday Edition
Ok I couldn’t wait until tomorrow to blog so lets get right down to it.
MacBook Pro’s
Updated across the board and the MacBook is now part of the MacBook Pro family. So if there is a Pro version does that mean the rumored netbook will be the new MacBook?
Snow LeopardMore details released today on that. Exchange support for iCal, Mail, and Address Book. Redesigned QuickTime and a ton of other stuff. Bottom line if your a Leopard user it’s only going to set you back $29 on the upgrade ($49 for family pack). Oh yeah, and it’s going to beat out Windows 7 (lame name btw) by a month!
iPhone OS 3.0
Lot of cool stuff coming out 6/17. Check more details here. Cool thing that stood out, tethering...unless your in the US with AT&T (have I mentioned how much I think AT&T sucks?)
iPhone 3G S
2 models 16 and 32 GB ($199 & $299 US) June 19th and it shoots video now with the updated 3 MP camera. Yeah it’s not digital but who cares if you see something happen that is noteworthy, you can capture it and upload it to YouTube right from your phone. Also MMS finally...unless your in the US with AT&T in which case end of August or September (have I mentioned how much I...oh...never mind). All that being said being that I have a first generation iPhone this is a worthy upgrade for me even when AT&T’s shortcomings.
Final thoughts
Apple would be better served if they ditch their exclusivity deal with the blue stripped Death Star. I have a brother-in-law that loves everything about the iPhone BUT the carrier. He is a loyal Sprint customer because of their international coverage. AT&T maybe great for domestic coverage but so is Southwest Airlines but you can’t fly on Southwest to Rome! This is America, we used to be known for a competitive marketplace. Apple would sell a gigaton more of iPhones if they had agreements with AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, etc. AT&T, you need to learn how to play nice in the sandbox!
MacBook Pro’s
Updated across the board and the MacBook is now part of the MacBook Pro family. So if there is a Pro version does that mean the rumored netbook will be the new MacBook?
Snow LeopardMore details released today on that. Exchange support for iCal, Mail, and Address Book. Redesigned QuickTime and a ton of other stuff. Bottom line if your a Leopard user it’s only going to set you back $29 on the upgrade ($49 for family pack). Oh yeah, and it’s going to beat out Windows 7 (lame name btw) by a month!
iPhone OS 3.0
Lot of cool stuff coming out 6/17. Check more details here. Cool thing that stood out, tethering...unless your in the US with AT&T (have I mentioned how much I think AT&T sucks?)
iPhone 3G S
2 models 16 and 32 GB ($199 & $299 US) June 19th and it shoots video now with the updated 3 MP camera. Yeah it’s not digital but who cares if you see something happen that is noteworthy, you can capture it and upload it to YouTube right from your phone. Also MMS finally...unless your in the US with AT&T in which case end of August or September (have I mentioned how much I...oh...never mind). All that being said being that I have a first generation iPhone this is a worthy upgrade for me even when AT&T’s shortcomings.
Final thoughts
Apple would be better served if they ditch their exclusivity deal with the blue stripped Death Star. I have a brother-in-law that loves everything about the iPhone BUT the carrier. He is a loyal Sprint customer because of their international coverage. AT&T maybe great for domestic coverage but so is Southwest Airlines but you can’t fly on Southwest to Rome! This is America, we used to be known for a competitive marketplace. Apple would sell a gigaton more of iPhones if they had agreements with AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, etc. AT&T, you need to learn how to play nice in the sandbox!
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