Gphone?

The latest rumor is that Google will be releasing the Google cell phone in the next couple of weeks. I think Google may be venturing a bit too far from what they know. They do not have experience making hardware products. And really so far there only big success has been the Google search engine. The other products don't really seem to make them any money. Google Earth is cool, but how does that make them money? And there online office suite is basically second rate at best. Gmail is good but still, is it a money maker. There desktop assistant really seems unfinished and hodgepodged together. It will be interesting to see if they can make a good cell phone. My guess is that it will have loads of features but only some of them useful, and yet unpolished compared to the iPhone. What is your take?

Flavor Flav roast

I was flipping through the channels and I came across the Comedy Central TV roast show of Flavor Flav. He is a rapper who is known for wearing a big clock around his neck. Anyway one of the comedians told a joke saying "Flavor you disgust me, you sold out quicker than the iPhone" Yes now the iPhone is working its way into the culture of TV.

Two Studios opt for HD-DVD - Ouch!!

Two studios opted to drop support for Blue Ray and go exclusively with Hd-DVD. Things just got a lot messier! Check it out:

HD

Appleworks R.I.P.

Stitch, it was announced that Apple would no longer sell the venerable Appleworks suite!

R.I.P.

But Apple hasn't updated the suite in forever, so I guess it was just a matter of time. And naturally the iWork suite is quite capable. The only thing it doesn't have is a database application, and I wonder how many people actually made use of it. Are you mourning the loss, Stitch?

Numbers completes the package

I believe the biggest announcement by Apple is not the updates to the iMacs. Although they were pretty cool. The big one in my mind is the completion of an Office package which is suppposably compatible with MS Office. Numbers completes the package. It looks very much like Appleworks where you can have sections of spreadsheets intermixed with graphics instead of having one massive grid locking you in. You can have that if you want but being able to peal off a grid and use it somewhere else on the page adds versatility. I always liked that feature of Appleworks. Except Appleworks was never updated much from its original design. Now who needs any MS product running on your Mac?

Apple Store San Luis Obispo

I must say I was impressed with the new Apple Store in San Luis Obispo! It was very long and it had a modest but very classy front. It seemed like a new design. It made me want to buy something, anything!

New iMac

Gentlemen, I'm back! Just in time to see Apple release the latest incarnation of a very important product line, the iMac. What do you think? The darn thing just keeps getting slimmer, doesn't it?

Record Profits

Apple blew by expectations yet again:

Record Profits

But what caught my attention was the quote that " the new product pipeline is very strong"

This is what's so great about Apple today - constant innovation, new products always under development. They show no sign of slowing down! I get the feeling that Jobs received his second chance to run Apple and change the world, and he intends to make the absolute most of it. He knows that second chances like this in business occur very rarely!

Macnight in the Arctic?

Yes it appears that we have been viewed from a ISP close to the Arctic. I believe this is the farthest north yet. Still waiting for the view from Antarctica though.

iPhone is WOW

Check out the video. Funny.

Video

Sony chief calls Jobs "greedy"!!!

Supposedly a Sony bigwig in North American operations called Jobs "greedy" and only interested in Apple's wealth. I think we should be careful about quotes attributed to a public figure. Things can definitely be stretched, exaggerated and so on by the public when information is obtained second hand. There is no video or anything to corroborate the quotes. BUT, it wouldn't surprise me if he did - Apple is beating the pants off Sony in some key electronic gadget markets! Check it out::

Greedy Jobs

iPhone nano for the holidays?

This article suggests there is evidence Apple will indeed release another version of the iPhone that is smaller and less expensive. The rumor says it will have to have a different input technique because it would be much smaller. I even saw on yet another site that Apple was planning to hit the holiday shopping season with a blitz of new products. It's getting exciting!

iPhone nano 2

Universal wants a piece of the iPod!

There has been a lot of talk on the internet about Universal's move not to renew a multi year deal with iTunes. This article discusses the idea that it could be related to Universal wanting a cut of the iPod and iPhone hardware sales. I know it's speculation, but I mentioned earlier that Universal has such a deal with the Zune. The article notes that Universal would make some big bucks given the volume of iPhone and iPod sales. I know we don't know it for sure, but if Universal expected and got this deal from Microsoft, I don't know why they wouldn't want the same deal from Apple. I think that would be outrageous, and this article lays it out very well:

Universally Greedy!

2nd Gen lower cost iPhone?

The rumors are swirling about another generation of iPhone that is cheaper than the current! It's hard to assess the reliability of a lot of these reports, but it sure would make sense for Apple to appeal to a broader price range of consumer on the iPhone. What do you think?

Low Cost iPhone

Apple to become its own label?

Rumors suggest Apple may become a part of its own label in association with rapper Jay-Z and Beyonce. Word is that they would run the record label and bring some big names with them. It's so far out there it seems pretty hard to believe, doesn't it? I just think this kind of a thing carries so much risk, and it's outside of Apple's expertise. What do you think?

Apple Records?

Why Apple chose Edge over 3G

In a word - battery life! The 3G network, while being much faster, runs down the battery much quicker. Here is an article with hard numbers in a comparison with the Blackjack:

3G vs. Edge

The article suggests the 3G network impact talking time dramatically, so Apple made the right tradeoff. Comments?

Have you touched an Phone yet?

This weekend I was passing an Apple store and decided to check out the iPhone in person. The store was all iPhone. All of the large murals had iPhone related pictures and the front of the store had two 4 foot high iPhone replicas with moving video simulating the features of the iPhone. My first impressions were, Wow. It is not much bigger than an iPod. The keyboard was surprising easy to use as long as you are typing regular words. I could not find the Tab key to switch between fields on a web page. The touch screen is super cool. The best feature of all in my opinion. Surfing the web was really cool with the zooming in and out. Not having Flash support is a major oops. It is too prevalent to ignore. Using it as an iPod was the best iPod ever. But for me. The cost is the main hinderance. Both on the phone itself and the plan. Why don't cell phone plans ever get cheaper. The carriers keep just adding minutes but never lower there prices. The phone towers should be payed off by now. Innovation should yield lower costs. The iPhone plans just add to the cost inflation. One last flaw I see is not allowing outside developers to have apps outside of Safari. Over all, quite a product, and looking forward to cheaper and better versions down the road. Then I might buy.

Yellow Submarine iPod?

The rumors are swirling of the next generation of iPod coming out for the Fall/Christmas season! Naturally they will be touch screen kick-butt! A stranger rumor is that Apple will release a "Yellow Submarine iPod" to coincide with Beatles music coming available on iTunes. I've become a bit wary of these wild rumors! What do you think?

Yellow Submarine

iPhone Hack attack

Have you heard how the computer hacks are having a field day trying to crack the iPhone operating system? They are trying to find flaws in the OS so a hack can take control of the phone. And trying to hack the phone to work on any network. I read that a bug in Safari was found but it was actually on the new Windows beta version.
My work has issued a statement saying that the security of the iPhone is questionable and they forbid using it for company business. One complaint was that you could not install a firewall on the iPhone. And that the browser could be hacked and allow calls to be make by the hacker. Yet we use the ever stable Windows operating system. Sounds like an over reaction from the reports I have heard about security. How secure is a Blackberry, or is it just not in the spotlight. Any thoughts?

Universal plays hard ball with Apple

Check out the article:

Universal

In effect, Universal did not renew a multi year agreement. They instead are opting to renew Apple's license for month to month, and the article says they could do exclusive deals with other online music vendors. They are also the music company that demands a cut of the hardware revenue. That is, they would want a cut of each iPod sold, regardless of whether the iPod will have music by Universal or not. They do that with the Zune.

I think this is totally outrageous! But business is business, and I think this puts Apple in a very difficult position to stay competetive. It will be interesting to see what Jobs can do to get out of this one. The article claims Universal publishes one in three albums these days. What do you guys think?