apple – Is This What You Are Looking For?

January 27, 2010

Apple i Tablet Announcement Moments Away!

If you believe all the hype, the Apple Tablet is on its way in just a few hours at the Apple event in CA.

I am excited about it. You can click through to follow a live blog on it, or read below to see some of the amazing features awaiting.

They even have recharging abilities!!!!! COOL!

Live: Steve Jobs presents the tablet – Apple 2.0 – Fortune Brainstorm Tech

In a series of dispatches on Twitter, the founder of Mahalo and co-founder of Weblogs talks in some detail about a beta version of the tablet he claims to have had in hand — after signing one of Apple’s (AAPL) famous non disclosure agreement (nda) — for a week and a half.

Putting together his brief notes, here’s what he has to say:

Ok, I will take two questions about the new apple tablet which I have right here. Go ahead… My nda is basically over. 🙂

Yes, there are 2cameras: one in front and one in back (or it may be one with some double lens) so you record yourself and in front of u.

Apple Tablet has thumbpads on each side for mouse guestures, reads fingerprint for security. Up to 5 profiles by finerprint for family.

Yes, apple tablet is oled + back has solar pad for recharging, but it really doesn’t work quickly. More a gimmic. Verizon+att,wifi yes!

Apple tablet’s 2 cameras is sick feature for video conferencing: u shoot what’s in front of you + yourself. Augmented video conferncing!

Ok, I’m going to bed (with apple tablet after reading nytimes+Vanity Fair on it!), steve jobs outdid himself, its greatest device ever!!!

Apple tablet games are sick. Basically nintendo wii-level innovation. Custom farmville app is insane. Mark pincus is demoing with steve tmmr

For background: apple asked me to do press tomorrow on cnbc, cnn, etc. As a pundit they gave me tablet 10 days ago. 3people dropped it off!

apple tablet connects to other tablets over wifi for gaming. There will be LAN parties with these things, people playingFirst personshooters

The price will be 599, 699 and 799 depending on size and memory in apple tablet. Also, wireless keyboard + monitor connection for tv

Also, the apple tablet is really amazing for newspapers. Video conferencing is super stable, but nothing new.

The best part ofthe apple tablet as beta user has been the built in HDTV tuner and pvr, and the chess game.

also, Farmville for Apple tablet is a huge game changer. I know for a FACT Mark Pincus is onstage tomorrow with Jobs.

Off to bed, but I assure you I’m not joking and the specs are real….

Most of all that this is best gadget ever made and NOT overhyped. …

January 6, 2010

Apple tablet to the Rescue

Just as we thought the behemoth Google would trounce the tiny Apple David, we see that all hope is not lost!

It seems that apple will always be here to give us something new and culture shifting. All we have to do is pay the right price…

Actually, the Apple Tablet looks to be just that; a culture shifter. Tablets have not generally been heralded with much fanfare or even a notice, but this one will be VERY DIFFERENT and already is different.

With so many iPhone users out there and a simple interface that is much like the iPhone’s, it makes sense that this tablet might be more than a computer, game system, communications device, multimedia platform, but even the salvation of print journalism… well, not really print, but at least the print houses…

Read more below on just what it does. I think you will be just as amazed as I. And I think you will likely yawn a bit as Google continues its push into the mega cellular market…

Apple tablet to ship in March, sources say – Apple 2.0 – Fortune Brainstorm Tech

* A tablet with a 10- to 11-inch color screen (other reports suggested that a 7-inch version might also be in the works)
* A multimedia device that will let people watch movies and television shows, play games, surf the Internet and read electronic books and newspapers.
* Something that could redefine the way consumers interact with a variety of content, including multimedia textbooks or newspapers that integrate live up-to-the-minute information from multiple sources.
* Priced at about $1,000, possibly including a subscription to a nationwide Wi-Fi wireless service.

You can read the Journal report here. A video Yukari Kane adding color to her Journal story is available here. The Jan. 27 unveiling date comes from John Paczkowski in Digital Daily, another News Corp. (NWS) property. TechCrunch’s MG Siegler tries to divine the tablet’s actual price from some curious changes that were made in the Journal’s story between its posting on the Web and its publication in the paper.

Technorati Tags: google, apple

January 5, 2010

Google Phone | Nexus One

Well they really went off and did it. As if beating the hound out of Microsoft in the search wars wasn’t good enough for them, they went and picked a fight with their old friends at Apple.

With all the who do about iPhone killers out there, I would have to say that this thing looks like the nearest rival if any.

I mean, it isn’t going to take the phone out of the ipod, but it sure will likely put the search in the OS.

I don’t know, but whether or not this thing is as big as an Apple, I definitely think this phone will be FUN TO WATCH… especially since you can buy them unlocked.

Now that’s not something that Cupertino would allow is it?
pd

Nexus One Phone – Web meets phone.

Technorati Tags: apple, google

December 9, 2009

Apple Tablet… I Am getting a Little Excited!

I have to tell you, that this sounds like one more fun toy. And not just a toy, but more than that.

I cannot wait to just see what happens next!

Very cool
d

Apple tablet set for spring launch? – Apple 2.0 – Fortune Brainstorm Tech

“The manufacturing cogs for the tablet are creaking into action,” writes Oppenheimer’s Yair Reiner in a note to clients issued Wednesday morning.

According to his supply chain sources, Apple (AAPL) appears to be gearing up to build as many as 1 million tablet computers per month. Assuming the company would need 5 or 6 weeks of inventory before going live, that suggests — barring production hiccups — a March or April 2010 launch.

Among the other “tidbits” Reiner says he’s picked up:

* Apple has settled on a 10.1-inch multi-touch display using the iPhone’s LTPS LCD technology, not the considerably more expensive OLED technology suggested in earlier reports.
* Apple has been approaching U.S. book publishers with what Reiner describes as “a very attractive proposal” for distributing their content: an App Store-type 30/70 split (30% for Apple) with no exclusivity requirement. [See UPDATE below.]
* According to Reiner, publishers are disgruntled by Amazon’s (AMZN) terms, which force exclusivity, disallow advertising and demand a “wolfish cut” of revenue. The typical Kindle/publisher split, he says, is 50/50, rising to 30/70 if Amazon gets exclusivity.
* Apple’s tablet would make ebooks more attractive for the education market by simplifying functions such as scribbling marginalia.

Technorati Tags: apple

November 13, 2009

GOOGLE | Can You Hear Me Now?

Google actually just made the smartest move EVER! On the heels of an almost victory over whether or not phone companies will have to allow Google Voice or not with Google Voice’s iPhone app, they are moving to checkmate position as they prepare for an all out VoIP war!!!!!

Way to go Google, maybe this will start to make everything a bit more balanced and fix some of the outrageous prices that we are paying for our mobile packages.

WooHoo!
d

Google pays $30M for Gizmo5; Did the search giant just blow up the phone biz? — DailyFinance

Search giant Google (GOOG), which looks increasingly like a phone company, paid $30 million for Gizmo5, the Web-based calling startup, DailyFinance has confirmed with people familiar with the matter. The deal is done and the startup’s staff has begun work integrating into the Google Voice team in Mountain View, Calif.

Skype was also in negotiations to buy Gizmo5 before the VoIP (voice over Internet protocol) giant’s founders reached a settlement to re-take an ownership stake in the company. TechCrunch first reported the news earlier this week. The deal is a crucial step for the search titan because Google Voice now gains the technology to connect inbound and outbound calls to standard land-lines and cell phones, something it had lacked.

The Gizmo5 acquisition makes a world of sense for Google because it adds a major piece to Google’s mobile network puzzle. That’s because Gizmo5’s open standards-based web calling system allows incoming or outbound calls to real phones. In other words, this deal gets Google one step closer to realizing its goal of forging a parallel communications network independent of the incumbent cable and phone companies.

July 22, 2009

Comment on Apple’s Earnings and Comments by Readers

Apple reports record Q3 earnings – Apple 2.0 – Fortune Brainstorm Tech

COO Tim Cook, who ran Apple while Steve Jobs was on medical leave, was asked repeated during a conference call with analysts how he plans to compete with netbooks that cost $399 to $499.

________________________________________

I had to add my comment to this article in case they did not post it on CNN or Fortune as they have declined adding comments I wrote before.

But at any rate, here it is:

“If you are having problems with your iPhone syncing, maybe the problem is actually the PC syncing and/or the fact that you are not on mobile me. As an IT guy, I have made the painful move from PC to Mac with my fingers still in my PC and my toes dipping into the Mac…

I have found them not only flawless, but safe, easy to setup and a real wonder for unifying my information between iPhone apps, mobile me, social networking sites and iTouch. If you cannot get things working, maybe you should head into Micro Center and get a refurb mac mini for $399 or $499 and throw away that loud, hot, wasteful PC you got?!

I still use my PC, but only when I have to. Otherwise, Mac it is!!!!

One last note… I tried to render a video last year on my dual core PC and it froze, not even able to show thumbnails of things. I worked on it the other nite on my mac mini with less ram and smaller dual core processor and it not only processed it, but it did so in less than 45 minutes. As a matter of fact, it processed it while I was running imports for iPhoto from a thumb drive, processing the video on an external hard drive running at 5200 rpm, browsing the web, logged in through logmein.com from my iPod touch as I sat in bed watching a movie on my PC and playing iDragon on the iPod touch.

Once complete, with air sharing, I opened the file on the iTouch and checked its integrity!!!!

SHOCKING!”

Just a thought…

d

Technorati Tags: apple, mac, iPhone

July 2, 2009

July; What Microsoft, Apple, Harry Potter, Bank of America, GE, and Sirius Has in Common…

For all of you guys who are following details on cars and the auto industry, for you guys who love the latest new Harry Potter movie, for you Microsoft fans and if you like GE, BAC and/or C, July is the MONTH FOR YOU! This month, there is a ton of stuff going on. So, I added this article here from Motley Fool. Check it out!

4 Dates to Circle in July (BAC, C, GE, MSFT, SIRI, TWX)

Here are a few of the days that I plan to approach with eyes wide open.

July 11
If you’re hoping for a cheap — and legal — copy of Microsoft’s (Nasdaq: MSFT) upcoming operating system, this is your last day to pre-order a copy of Windows 7 Home Premium as an upgrade for Vista and XP users for just $49. Microsoft’s promising platform will hit the market with a suggested retail price of $119 in the fall.

A lot is riding on Windows 7. Vista has been the butt of operating-system jokes, especially in Apple’s (Nasdaq: AAPL) effective “I’m a Mac” ads. Fans of Vista will argue that the knocks have been unfair, but all sides can agree that Windows 7 is Microsoft’s best chance to matter in a future that threatens to make operating systems less important in a future more focused on cloud computing.

It’s a good sign for Microsoft that the pre-orders — at least so far — have been selling briskly.

July 15
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince becomes Time Warner’s (NYSE: TWX) latest installment in the blockbuster series to hit a multiplex near you. It’s also the first theatrical release since author J.K. Rowling completed the seven-book series. Will that heighten or diminish interest in the movie series as Time Warner milks the last two books into three cinematic experiences?

Box-office receipts are trending ahead of where they were a year ago, so momentum is on Time Warner’s side. However, there’s also a busy slate of rival flicks hitting exhibitors this summer. Can Harry Potter’s spell over audiences continue?

July 17
Fridays are typically sleepy days on the news front. Few companies want to test shareholders’ mettle by delivering quarterly reports heading into the weekend. However, three meaty stocks with plenty to prove — Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Citigroup (NYSE: C), and General Electric (NYSE: GE) — will all be stepping up to the podium on July 17.

All three stocks started out the year as Dow components, until Citigroup was booted last month. They have a few other things in common:

* They were all trading in the single digits before the March rally kicked in.
* They have all sharply slashed their dividends over the past year.
* They have more than doubled off their lows, placing even more pressure for the companies to earn their recent gains in two weeks.

July 29
The last thing that Sirius XM Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI) subscribers expect is a rate increase. The merger between Sirius and XM was based on an agreement that rates would be frozen for a couple of years.

However, that didn’t stop Sirius XM from bumping up its rates on discounted secondary receivers in the same family in March. It also began charging for online streaming, which in Sirius XM’s defense was accompanied by an upgrade in the quality of its Web-based offering.

Sirius XM is allowed to make these adjustments. It’s also entitled to pass along on any music royalty fee increases — and it will do just that when monthly rates go up by $1.98 on July 29.

That increase is going to become a huge test for the satellite-radio operator. Subscriber growth peaked during last year’s fourth quarter, when Sirius XM watched over more than 19 million receivers. It closed out the March quarter with just 18.6 million subscribers.

Will the July increase shake out even more subscribers, or will it be a cash flow dream as fans pony up for long-term commitments to lock in the current rates?

Things can cut either way, so join me in making sure you’re wide awake this month.

Technorati Tags: finance, harry potter, microsoft, apple, SIRI

June 24, 2009

Apple’s New Philosophy…

I am excited to see Apple thinking about the little guy. This is the first year I have seen them offer more and more cheap and relevant offers in order to reach a subset of the population that is growing with this current downturn.

They have offered:
1 – A lower cost macbook and macbook pro.
2 – They are offering refurbished mac mini’s at a price point below MS machines (See Microcenter.com $399 for a dual core with current OS and current iLife).
3 – The older version of the iPhone with new OS at $99!!!!
4 – An upgrade for the new Snow Leopard at $29!!!! Instead of over a hundred like their prior releases and like Mr. Softy’s.
5 – A Server Operating System with unlimited users!!!!
6 – And free stuff. They are giving away more and more.

In a time when everyone is cutting back, this is the way to go. Rather than the way of the Softy, which is to create more robust OS’s and put higher price tags with less support for old peripherals, causing people to WASTE MORE! What are you thinking Microsoft????? Not to mention the utter contempt MS is showing for Netbooks by offering a version of their newest OS that can only run three or programs concurrently! THAT IS DUMB! Go ahead, shoot your non-cloud computing toe!

Way to go Apple!

(Writer currently is long in Apple, Intel and Mr. Softy…)

Analyst: Old iPhone, not new, will drive Apple’s sales – Apple 2.0

Those 1 million iPhone GSs sold last weekend represent a “remarkable achievement,” writes RBC Capital’s Mike Abramsky in a note to clients issued early Tuesday, especially considering the new iPhone’s relatively narrow international distribution (8 countries vs. 21 last year).

But according to Abramsky, it’s the old iPhone 3G — newly priced at $99 — not the new 3GS, that will drive global sales this fiscal year.

“While early buyers appeared to favor the iPhone S,” he writes, “the $99 iPhone is expected to drive 30-40% momentum improvement, in countries like UK, Germany, France, and other parts of Europe and Asia where phones are more highly subsidized (on contract) and prepaid is popular (e.g. ~60% prepay in UK, ~90% in emerging markets like India).”

Abramsky expects Apple to sell 20 million iPhones in fiscal 2009, 64.5% of them the older 3G models. By his estimates the new 3GS won’t dominate sales until fiscal 2010, when he expects Apple to sell 30 million iPhones, roughly 60% of them 3GSs. See chart and spreadsheet below.

Technorati Tags: tech, technology, intel, mobile, apple, smartphone, smart, phone

June 24, 2009

Intel’s Medfield Second Generation Atom Processor

So, now we know the name! Medfield, Atom’s third generation is the expected Smartphone world changer. OS on a Chip! While others are saying that Intel is taking too long, I say Intel is brilliant and I hope successful. Again, I say that this is much larger than just taking more of the market in Smartphones, this is about changing the way we do mobile computing. Already, Apple’s iPhone is a revolutionary laptop replacement for me and now there is more to see.

Even if Intel isn’t the one to make this change, the great thing is that they are at least redirecting our thinking and helping us take this to a new level. Apple has already reframed the way we see Smartphones. Maybe Intel can help us rethink the UMPC.

Intel’s partnership with Nokia – Jun. 23, 2009

It won’t be until around 2011 that the third-generation of Atom, dubbed Medfield, will be ready for the market. This system-on-a-chip is being developed to power smartphones. It’s destiny, as one engineer in Intel’s Austin lab crowed, is to kick the pants of the incumbent in the mobile chipset world ARM. So will we see Intel inside a Nokia smartphone? You bet, but it will be at least a two-year wait. While they are waiting for Medfield to be ready, it looks like Intel and Nokia will be pushing this “new class” of devices. And you have to figure they’ll be in the market sooner rather than later.