Sometimes I think that Apple has a supercomputer in some secret complex that completely models the consumer electronics market. Imagine for a minute a digital simulation that has all the elements of the market place: customer usage patterns, the price elasticity of products, component part prices and extrapolation for the future, the average broadband speeds…
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Marco Arment & Instapaper’s Reading List
Dave Hamilton: We’re here at WWDC with Marco Arment. As I recall, you’ve had a very interesting history of developing for Apple. Is Instapaper your first real project? Marco Arment: Yeah, it really is. After playing with it one night at a time for a few years, it’s my first Apple environment product. DH: Of…
Macally SNAP2-MR iPad 2 Case: Beauty and Minimalism
This is the third in a series of reviews of iPad 2 cases that wrap around the back and sides. Some also come with a screen protector, but the Macally SNAP2-MR does not. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Differences when compared to the previously reviewed Scosche glosSEE and snapSHIELD are immediately obvious. The SNAP2-MR…
Z-Boost METRO YX-540 Boosts Cell Phone Reception
Cell phones aren’t perfect. No matter how smart their features, their ability to make and receive reliable calls often suffers. Sometimes it seems that just moving your head or a change in wind direction is all it takes for a call to drop. The Z-Boost METRO YX-540 offers a solution for apartment or condo dwellers…
Time Warner Pulls 12 Cable Channels from iPad App
In addition to the glint of direct revenue opportunities sparkling in the eyes of cable network execs, Dow Jones reported that the networks were also fearful of a hit to ad revenue as there are no established means of measuring viewership on an iPad. Time Warner had reported that its app was seeing high demand…
Mint.com Launches “Quest for Money” Game
Aaron Patzer, founder of Mint.com and now general manager and vice president of Intuit Personal Finance, said the game was developed to make learning about money feel less like a chore than it has in the past. “In combining online gaming with relatable real-life money scenarios – such as buying a new computer or going…
iMovie for iPad’s Missing Audience
So what’s the problem? The problem is that — after the smoke clears and every iPad 2 owner has a copy of iMovie installed and its novelty has worn off — I expect very few people will actually use it. Home gamesIf you have a Mac, you almost certainly own some version of iMovie for…
The iPad (2) Scores Again
Getting past the baseball metaphors, here’s what I’m saying: The iPad 2 is superior to the iPad 1 in all the most critical statistics. It’s thinner and lighter and promises to be much faster. Plus, it adds front and rear-facing cameras — and a gyroscope. It even comes in white. And it does all this without…
WSJ: iPhone mini in the Works
The smaller iPhone model, according to unnamed sources, is “N97,” which could be an insider jab at Nokia and its N97 smartphone. The entire front surface of the phone will make up the display, it will be thinner and lighter than current iPhone models, and it will sport voice-based navigation controls.Apple may put the iPhone on…
iOS 4.2 for iPad: What You Need to Know
You’ll know version 4.2 is ready when you connect your iPad to your Mac (or PC) and look at iTunes under the Summary tab. (Of course, we’ll also alert you here at TMO news. But sometimes there’s a lag from the time the earliest customers see their update in iTunes until others see it —…
HP Exec: We’re Not Trying to Emulate Apple
“Emulating Apple is not part of our strategy,” Mr. Bradley said, according to a CNet report from the event. He said that HP needs to be able to offer custom solutions to Enterprise customers. To this end, his company intends to use WebOS in its own smartphones, tablets, and even printers. Kind of like Apple…
Parallels 6 to Ship September 14th
New features: Faster & More Powerful Launch Time: Run Windows applications 41 percent faster than Parallels Desktop 53 Full 64-bit Engine: Take advantage of all of the capabilities of your 64-bit Mac and enjoy the fastest virtual machine performance yet Immersive Graphics & Audio Experience 5.1 Surround Sound: Savor rich, immersive audio experiences for games,…
Ballmer: Competing with iPad has “Job One Urgency” for Microsoft
“Today, one of the top issues on my mind, hey there’s a category — tablets,” Mr. Ballmer said according to live coverage notes of the event published by BusinessInsider. “Apple has done an interesting job. They’ve sold more than I’d like them to sell. We think about that. So it’s our job to say, we…
The CEO Agenda: Convert Half-truths to Gospel
Steve Ballmer This week, at the All Things Digital D8 Conference, Steve Ballmer took the opportunity to dispel the idea that the Apple iPad is fundamentally different than a PC. Q: Is the iPad a PC? Ballmer: Of course it is. What do you do on it? Answer email. A guy tried to take notes…
Video on the iPad? Not a Problem
You’d think good old Josh would have had enough of Fox, but he went and gave them Dollhouse, his project after Firefly, to screw over, and they did. It lasted a bit longer than one season, but not much longer. In fact, Fox Broadcasting has a habit of killing off shows that could actually get…
On Technical Freedom and Crybaby Journalism
Of course, if you can couch the Apple argument on your own terms by a subtle shift in context, you’ve already won the argument. That’s why the two sides of this argument seem irreconcilable: each side has its philosophical basis from which the ensuing logic flows. It’s hard to beat the logic if you accept…
When to Worry About Apple’s Control Over the iPad
First, however, let’s look at the background that frames my thoughts today. I’ve been a big fan of the iPad since I accurately predicted that Apple would address the netbook market with a device I was calling an iPod super touch (I never get tired of crowing about that). That hasn’t changed now that it’s…
Will the iPad Become The Game Changer TV Portal?
It turns out that Viacom and Hulu are squabbling about the ad revenue split. Hulu put some nice spin on the situation, saying, “After a series of discussions with the team at Comedy Central, though, we ultimately were unable to secure the rights to extend these shows for a much longer period of time.” However,…
The Lowdown: Technology and Politics of HTML5 vs. Flash
On February 11th, I wrote an editorial, “What Should Apple Do About Adobe?” Part of the discussion related to Adobe’s Flash Player on the Mac, updates and security. Inevitably, the comments escalated to a discussion of Steve Job’s distaste for and blocking of Flash on the iPhone and iPad. The question is: is Apple’s stance…
The Killer Surprises Waiting for Steve Ballmer
Computing, as we know it is going to change dramatically over the next decade. A slew of new technologies, appliance computing, better security models, Android, and mobile computing will fundamentally change the nature of our computer experiences. All of this new technology is being formulated by Apple and Google, and Microsoft, with questionable leadership, is…
The "Say What?" Moment for Apple's Tablet
Here’s perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind as you learn about the Apple tablet tomorrow. The very people the Apple tablet is aimed at are, by and large, not the people who will be writing about it tomorrow. What that means is that technical writers have already decided on their tools and…
Dropped Calls? Femtocells Can Fix It. If Only...
This scenario is not the stuff of SciFi or a drug induced daydream, it’s a real possibility. In fact we are so close to that possibility that spitting in the right wind could bring this dream to fruition, or not. The technology that can bring that scene to life is called femtocell, technology that’s been…
Nexus One: Yawn of a New Day?
What he wanna do that for? The avalanche of negative responses was absolutely amazing. People called Fred an Apple shill, a pompous brat, stupid, and it gets worse. According to responders Wired is now resting all cozy in Apple’s pocket, and the iPhone is a “chick phone,” whatever that means.I don’t know Fred Vogelstein. He…
iChat: The iPhone's Next Big Thing
A well thought out tablet and a good support system for delivering content would definitely change things. The leaders of the print industry seem to think so as they scramble to get in bed with nearly any technology that promises a path to the hearts and minds, and therefore wallets of the news reading public.…