Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Should Microsoft worry about Apple?

Check out the following link:

WSJ Article

While it is true that Microsoft has been attempting to break into the music market with its much vaunted Zune player, this article notes that Microsoft has been ignoring Apple's threat to its dominance of the enterprise market. It says Microsoft is spending too much time worrying about Google while Apple appears to be preparing an assault in the business world with the enterprise friendly iPhone.

The premise is a little shaky - that businesses may want to switch to Apple computers to "ensure compatibility". I don't know about that - it seems to me that the iPod and iPhone are quite platform independent, wouldn't you say?

Monday, June 16, 2008

Jobs looking a bit thin

Did you notice how Jobs appeared thin in the WWDC keynote? I have heard the banter back and forth saying if he was or was not too thin. I believe it was apparent to anyone who has seen Jobs in other keynotes that he was much thinner. The black turtleneck looked like it was hanging on a skeleton. His face did not seem sickly thin though. I have read some comments that this may have been related to his rare form of pancreatic cancer which the treatment does cause you to lose weight. I saw Jobs give a commencement speech at Stanford where he talked about his cancer, and was told he was going to die in a few months but then after doing the biopsy, the doctors found it was a rarer form which is curable.
I don't think that Jobs is on his deathbed but his extreme thinning was noticible. I am sure after the first scare Apple has a solid succesion plan. Jobs has been picking top talent which would be more than capable of driving the company forward. I don't think that Jobs is as active in the day to day operations of Apple as he used to be anyways. He has always been the big picture guy. Anyway, he did not look sickly. You would surely notice that in his face so I don't think there is need to worry anyways.

SDK software examples were cool!

Have you seen the keynote speech from Jobs at the WWDC where they demonstrated some of the cool applications being developed on the iPhone SDK? One of my favorites was the insurance salesman's program which plays virtual musical instruments on the iPhone. Sure it isn't all that useful, but imagine the WOW factor when you show others this program. You just can't help but smile when you see it.

Another very promising one I liked is the one where the iPhone will track the location of your friends in the city on a Google map. Little bubbles appear above each friend with their picture and the ability to contact them immediately. Click on Veronica's bubble who is two blocks down from you and ask her to lunch. I think the Facebook generation would eat this app up. Of course it could cause problems if you notice that your girlfriend is out with your best friend. Ouch.

All of these games that use the accelerometers in the iPhone instead of a gamepad, could be sending some iPhones to the trash heap. Imagine tipping the iPhone back and forth to reach the Temple of the Crystal Chalise and oops the iPhone goes flying out of your hands and smashes on the concrete pavement. Boo hoo. I am sure someone will sell tethers to catch the iPhone if it slips. AKA, like a camera safety strap.

One complaint that I have read from some hard core developers is that Apple does not give them full access to all of the functions of the iPhone. Active GPS navigation is a no go. Apple seems to want to do one on their own. Garmin said they already had an iPhone app using hacks before the SDK but now Apple locks that out in the license. Actually I think keeping the core guts safe from hacks is a good thing. The majority of apps probably don't need to delve into the kernal functions.

Friday, June 13, 2008

iPhone 3G Excel Editing???

Gentlemen, check out the following link:

Excel Editing

As you know, the iPhone 3G is on the way! I was very impressed with the effort Apple has made to make the iPhone not only a consumer's dream, but also an Enterprise must have gadget! The future definitely looks bright!

You may also have found that as of yet, EXCEL and Word documents are viewable, but not editable. Well, the above link points to an article about Mariner Calc, which is a program allowing EDITING of EXCEL spreadsheets on the iPhone!!! Wow! If it's a reliable program, it could be huge! Not to mention other companies wanting to sell their version of an Excel editor on the iPhone app store. What you you guys think?

Monday, June 09, 2008

Invention camp calls home a Mac

My son is attending an invention camp this week for grade school kids. They tear down various devices and use the parts to make "new inventions". I have donated an old Mac that I had sitting in the garage collecting dust. It is a Mac Performa 5152? I think. Circa 1995. It was one of the first PowerPC versions. I bought it while in Cincinnati and was the Mac which I used to show MFan the glorious powers of the Mac. It still works perfectly fine, but of course the new software has bypassed this era. I just didn't have the heart to put it out on the curb. At least now it will go to a good use. My son really got a kick out of opening up the old beast and disassembling the components. I had to take out the CRT ( because of glass ) and anything with a capacitor in it. The circuit cards seemed enormous by today's standards. Huge capacitors throughout. The CRT weighed a ton. Yet the motherboard was close to the size of today's computers. It was as if the motherboard was placed in an archaic shell of outdated components. And the metal frame was like something from an Erector set. A bit of overkill. But then again, the CRT did weight a lot. Farewell to a worthy computing device, may you inspire new inventions in a new generation. OK, it is getting a bit sappy. I will stop.

Friday, June 06, 2008

My New work iMac!!



I didn't want to appear like I was gloating, but upon return to my office I found a new Core 2 Duo iMac on my desk. In nothing flat I was up and running. This machine truly defines "butta". The screen is magnificent, it is snappy, it is everything I need in a computer!

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

OSX 10.6 "Snow Leopard"



Gentlemen, Have you heard the latest rumor on the Mac OS? The word on the web is that the latest incarnation will be christened "Snow Leopard", version 10.6. It reportedly will concentrate more on security and speed improvements, and may be ready as soon as Macworld 2009. What say you, gentlemen? Le, you have a vested interest, as you will be switching to the fairer platform in the very near future!