3-seashells

Apple's new iSomething

2009-08-19T00:52:00.000-07:00

Remember this...

This September Apple will (probably) be releasing a new version of something. Lots of analyst have predicted it to be a tablet PC of some sort. Some have gone as far as saying it's going to be a 6-inch screen device and a second one with a larger screen (9to5mac). Others have guestimated the price at starting around $679 (BusinessWeek)There are even moc images of what the device will look like.

Some of those enthusiastic persons may be close to the whatever it is as some of them have been right in the past. But knowing how ultra secretive Apple is we all can only guess what what this new thingy will be.

We hope that's it's not going to be just a big-ass iPod Touch. And even if it were, it would still be friggin awesome. We're not expecting something revolutionary but something extraordinary (hopefully). While the earnings potential and and cult following of this device all hangs on what exactly it is, we're all anticipating something super cool. Look out for it. Apple's new iSomething, coming very soon.

Beginning of the end of AT&T iPhone exclusivity?

2009-06-16T19:00:00.000-07:00

So you all know that I've hated the idea of the exclusivity deal between Apple and AT&T ... infact any exclusivity deal between cell phones and carriers. But Apple's deal with AT&T is especially upsetting to me for several reasons of which I will mention a couple.

First is the fact that AT&T service plans suck. Plain and simple. Customers are charged too much for services that other carriers are providing for much less. AT&T remains the longest running carrier in the US and one would think that at this point they would be able to offer such services at much more competitive prices. But no. An average iPhone bill, as understood, runs about $100 a month. The other carriers offer much better plans (many more minutes, more texts, more data....even unlimited in some cases) and they do it for much less. If they can do it, why can't AT&T?

Secondly, I think this exclusivity with AT&T is actually hurting Apple sales of the iPhone, and ultimately their profit margin. Had it been open to any carrier of course the maker of 'the Jesus phone' would have had a lot more sales. Why they chose to partner with AT&T and limit their sales numbers may have probably been to keep the phone an exclusive item, but that does not hold, totally. AT&T may have been the ones to bend the most to their demands and so they beat out the other potentials. Why else?!

But here comes the good news. Along comes war hero - John Kerry. Kerry, chairman of the Commerce Subcommitee on Communications, Technology and the Internet, along with Roger Wicker, Byron Dorgan and Amy Klouchar are taking up the case for consumers and questioning/challenging carrier-cell phone exclusivity deals. Hearings will be occurring soon to discuss such alliances and their harmful, anti-competitive nature.

Oh Happy Day

Not just yet. We still have to wait and ride the matter through...and we all know how long the political system takes. But of course ultimately this is great news for the millions of us who want to get the iPhones and/or Palm Pre's but can't because that would mean we would have to leave our current carriers to migrate to those who have exclusivity offers of those phones. Often such transfers involve an increase in our monthly bill alongside a reduction in actual service we receive.

But to be fair to the matter - we don't necessarily hate other carriers, we chose our current carriers because they offer what we want at prices we can afford. Tmobile service is not for all, Verizon service is not for all and likewise AT&T service is not for all. But they are for those they are for. We don't want to have to leave our current carriers and switch over to another when we don't want to because there is a particular phone that we really want. We just want to buy any phone we want, and we want an iPhone, and be able to use it with our current carrier. Plain and simple! Cell phone-Carrier exclusivity deals not very competitive and not consumer friendly. We deserve better.

Story posted on 9to5Mac. Read article here.

Thank you for taking this step John Kerry, Roger Wicker, Byron Dorgan and Amy Klobuchar. Let's get this going.

Update: 7/6/09
As reported by the Wall Street Journal, the Department of Justice has launched a review (not an investigation...Yet) into the exclusivity deals of telecoms. At this point the review is focusing on AT&T and Verizon.
[Read Article]

"The Department of Justice has begun an initial review to determine whether large U.S. telecom companies such as AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. have abused the market power they've amassed in recent years, according to people familiar with the matter."

Let's hope the best comes out of this.

On a particular system

2009-01-30T20:25:00.000-08:00

We as human beings seem bored with ourselves. We no longer seek the true pleasures of life and living in real harmony with each other, in love, and with our physical and natural environment. Rather we spend our time, efforts, and resources on just trying to get more and more for ourselves. And the very nature of our system, which reveals its failures from time to time, which some proponents discard as 'market failures', serve only to reinforce the self-perpetuating nature of that existence, whereby our every action and thought is directed by the need of gain in order to live...to survive...to remain 'relevant.'

"Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains." Self-betterment is fine, living a life simply to spend and acquire material possessions brought on / forced upon by a social system and all its many negative consequences, to me, is a deprived, incomplete and sad one. It seems we remain in chains even as we try to get out and attain some semblances of freedom.

I ask, am I too hard on capitalism? Maybe. Maybe not. But it's short-comings are what I protest against.

25 Years and counting ...

2009-01-22T19:12:00.000-08:00

Virgin unveils next-gen broadband

2008-12-15T10:00:00.000-08:00

In a story by the BBC News - Virgin unveils next-gen broadband we see the first step in higher speed broadband connection being brought to the consumer.

"Virgin Media has launched its new 50 Megabits per second (Mbps) domestic broadband service."

This has implications on the net neutrality issue, where we have already seen early backers of neutrality - Google, Miscrosoft, Amazon - back away from it and in favour of a more tiered system. Even the tech advisors to Obama who supported neutrality early on are gradually singing a new tune.

I like the idea of higher speed broadband connections and think that much of today's limited use and integration of the net at home has to do with the horribly slow speeds that cable and internet companies provide. Not any company specific speed but the general download/upload speed of the internet.

If a certain company who's name is that of a fruit, were to implement such a high speed broadband, utilizing it with its full range of products would be, well, truly wonderful. Not that it would limit content from others, but rather because of synergy with it's products and those meeting standard and similar specifications, means that such could flow at far higher speeds than delivered today, outside of Virgin.

Movie downloads/streams, game streams, large chunks of data between universities and other institutions of learning, specific b2b content....all can be done quicker and more secure.

Phone calls on your iPod Touch

2008-12-06T06:23:00.000-08:00

As reported by the BBC "Wireless Turns iPod into a phone" and confirmed from the website, Truphone now has technology that allows 2nd Gen iPod Touch users to make calls to other iPod Touch users and Google Talk users over wi-fi - for FREE.

There's no phone bill or over the limit fees. Their aim is to make the software able to make calls to land lines, skype and other type of services within weeks. This could mean massive savings for persons who use their mobiles heavily and are constantly going over their limits. It could also mean huge savings if this software allows us to make international and long distance calls as well.

"There are a slew of new features we're rolling out for the iPod Touch that will let users call landlines, Skype users or send instant messages. We're talking weeks, not months, before these go live."

So no having to wait months for this. This would mean that this is just as good as having an actual iPhone. Well, with the one limitation that you need a wi-fi connection to be able to use this service. But it's impressive nonetheless. Though I have not tried it out yet, I think the question remains as to the quality of those calls. Is it just as good as making a regular call using the cell towers and other technology or is it choppy and bad like you would expect from most software of this type in their early stages? Let's see.

Truphone is software that you can download freely from their website and install on your mobile device which helps you save on calls by routing them over the internet. Similar to skype, let's wait to see if the voice quality is just as good. Amazing stuff. Another challenge to the phone companies. Now let's just wait for Apple to deleverage themselves from AT&T and we should be good. For now.

iTunes Free Open University

2008-12-06T06:19:00.001-08:00

More Free Stuff on iTunes. Learning lessons for FREE!

Thanks to the guys at 9to5Mac for bringing this one to our attention. The iTunes store now has a free open university where you can go download amazing informational stuff. It's great. I checked it out and have downloaded a few myself, all within my first 5 minutes.

Linux on the iPhone

2008-11-29T20:06:00.000-08:00

Linux has been installed on the iPhone. Check out the vid.

2008-10-25T19:29:00.001-07:00

MacBook Wheel and iMac Wheel!!

Is this Apple's latest product? It's just One Button! It knows intuitively what you want to do. No Keyboard...No Mouse...Just One Button!

iPhone IM with Multiple Platforms

2008-09-05T06:59:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the guys from 9to5Mac for this story.

"The award-winning IM+ All-in-One Mobile Messenger for chats within AIM / iChat, MSN / Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo!, ICQ, Jabber, Google Talk and MySpaceIM from any iPhone and iPod Touch.

iPhone/iPod touch PwnageTool 2.0.3 ships

2008-08-26T06:41:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the guys at 9to5Mac for first publishing this story on their blog.

The PwnageTool 2.0.3 for the iPhone/Touch is now available for jailbreaking but not unlocking the new iPhone 3G and the iPod Touch.

"PwnageTool 2.0.3 is available," the developers reveal on their blog. "This version provides support for iPhone/iPod firmware 2.0.2 5C1, it has an updated Installer.app beta (b6) and contains a new .de localization for our large amount of German friends."

Read the rest of the article here at 9to5Mac.

an iPhone for-the-rest-of-us: the Nuvifone

2008-08-25T01:21:00.000-07:00

Apple did it wrong by partnering only with AT&T with the iPhone. AT&T's pricing plan is a pure rip-off, if you ask me. Their plan cost is totally unjustifiable...poor AT&T customers. Just a mild comparison $39.99 with T-Mobile gives you 1000 minutes with AT&T for the $54 you get 450 minutes.

But along comes the Touch Phone for the rest of us. And by the rest of us, I mean those of us who don't want to go through the troubles of 'unbricking' or 'jailbreaking 'or 'pwnage tools' any of those other crazy tech terms, to use our phone.

Nuviphone

The Nuviphone is the new touch-screen phone, with some similar features (3-in-1 device) to the iPhone by Garmin, the guys who bring us our GPS service. So far the camera, a 3 mega pixel camera, is better than that in the iPhone, plus it includes a built-in video camera. Although full details have not been given out yet, neither the cost, the Nuviphone does hold plenty of promise.

See the article - Who Dares Call Garmin's Nuviphone an iPhone-Killer? - for more info.

So far I have seen a few benefits of this unit over the iPhone:
1. a GPS service brought to you by the guys who do GPS best.
2. "Where-am-I" feature which lets the user know their exact latitude and longitude co-ordinates... among others.

Let's wait and see how this new promise unfolds.

Jailbreak new iPhone 2.0

2008-08-24T23:07:00.000-07:00

Pwnage 2.0 Jailbreak

A Cause of the world food crisis

2008-04-13T18:54:00.000-07:00

I am sure you have heard by now the fears voiced by both the IMF and The World Bank about the massive increase in poverty numbers around the world sue to the rise in food prices.

There have been riots in several countries already. An approaching problem...we see it coming. We see it clearly.

In the BBC article Castro in new biofuel attacks,and recently updated, making mention of a second paper written by Fidel Castro, he talked of one of the causes of the rise in food prices. Biofuels. In the paper, as mentioned in the article, he criticized the US policy on biofuels and said such a policy would contribute to the rise in food prices for instead of using the production to feed the worlds poor and hungry, it would go instead to make energy. The sale of this produce would directly compete with the need to feed the world's people and so drive up prices.

So said, so done. In a recent article - "World Bank echoes food cost alarm" - the rise of food prices have been partially attributed to biofuels. Similar reasonings have been echoed by the sister organization - the IMF.

""Less insular biofuels policy in advanced economies would help relieve some pressure"" IMF chief economist Simon Johnson.

Update: July 6-2008
In an article about a Secret report: biofuel caused food crisis highlighted by the Guardian talks of the rise in global food prices and the cause of the of the current food crises is the result of the drive for bio-fuels by the EU and the US. This report was carried out by "an internationally-respected economist at global financial body."

"Senior development sources believe the report, completed in April, has not been published to avoid embarrassing President George Bush."
...

Of Worthy note I find from the article are among its findings that the drive for biofuels are responsible for the rise in the global food crisis, raising food prices up by 75%. This confirmation of what others have been saying, and have been ignored, should be addressed and we need to know how the findings of this report will be used.

"Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% - far more than previously estimated - according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian."

With the number of global poor persons being increased due to this crisis means that it has already caused a set back in the UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). How long have we been set back remains to be seen? How long will it take the authorities to react to this report also remains to be seen?

"Rising food prices have pushed 100m people worldwide below the poverty line, estimates the World Bank, and have sparked riots from Bangladesh to Egypt. Government ministers here have described higher food and fuel prices as "the first real economic crisis of globalisation".

This leads to the question: did they seriously consider the side-effects of such an initiative? While this is a very good attempt to combat climate change, if the strategies are not well thought out they may actually do more harm than good.

The article concludes of bio-fuel approach "said Dr David King, the government's former chief scientific adviser, last night. "All we are doing by supporting these is subsidising higher food prices, while doing nothing to tackle climate change." In the meantime "people in poor countries cannot afford to eat."

iPhone SDK

2008-03-06T17:28:00.000-08:00

Watch the video and see for yourself the wonderful and amazing things to come from the iPhone.

New MacBook and MacBook Pro

2008-02-26T06:31:00.000-08:00

Thanks for the heads up by MacRumors, as reported Apple has released their latest updates to the MacBook and MacBook Pros with the new Intel Penryn Chip. These new models include the Multi-Touch technology featured in the iPhone, Touch and the new MacAir.

MacBook:

$1099. Macbook 13" 2.1GHz / 1GB / 120GB / Combo / White
$1299. Macbook 13" 2.4GHz / 2GB / 160GB / Super / White
$1499. Macbook 13" 2.4GHz / 2GB / 250GB / Super / Black

MacBook Pro

$1999. Macbook Pro 15" 2.4GHz / 2GB / 200GB 5400RPM / 256MB Vram
$2499. Macbook Pro 15" 2.5GHz / 2GB / 250GB 5400RPM / 512MB Vram
$2799. Macbook Pro 17" 2.5GHz / 2GB / 250GB 5400RPM / 512MB Vram

The new models are now available at the Apple Store.

Format War is Over: Blu-ray Triumphs

2008-02-17T13:19:00.000-08:00

According to an article from Mac Rumors - Toshiba To Stop HD DVD Player - citing Reuters, HD-DVD has stopped production of their HD-DVD player, symbolizing their throwing in their towel in the battle of formats.

As most of us have suspected - it's Blu-ray!

With announcements by Warner, support by Wal-Mart and Netflix for Blu-Ray means that that format has effectively garnered enough support to make them the dominate format. And with the porn industry going for blu-ray over HD the winner seemed obvious from then.

In addition, "Apple has been a member of the Blu-ray consortium's board of directors since 2005, but has not publicly announced their Blu-ray plans." Silently throwing its support behind Blu-ray and with the war practically over, we can expect to see Blu-ray players in future Mac products.

Apple outdoes Phone operators

2008-02-17T12:56:00.000-08:00

"...the best recent advance in the mobile telecommunications user space came not from a mobile telecom company but from Apple Inc. — the iPhone."

EETimes.Com

Once again we see that where-ever the genius of Apple Inc. decides to tread they will do much better than those who have been there for years. Can you imagine the millions in R&D those other guys have spent in that area already? And Apple just entered the arena and have in the first move, out done them. Leads me to question, what the hell have those guys been doing?

Be careful that Apple does not enter the dating scene as well 'cause there will be a sudden surge in demand for singles bars. I'm telling you...

MacBook Air Ad

2008-01-15T16:15:00.001-08:00

My Highlights from MacWorld '08

2008-01-15T16:08:00.000-08:00

*Airport Extreme with Hard Drive
- 500GB: $299
- 1TB: $499
- ships in February
- works with Time Capsule: the cousin to Time Machine
- can be used to back up all macs in the househol ... wirelessly

*New Apps added to the iPod Touch:

Maps, Mails, Notes, Stock and Weather. These are cool apps that take the Touch steps closer to being an iPhone. I'd definitely consider getting an Touch now and keeping my Blackberry iPearl.

*iTunes Movie Rentals
Steve announced iTunes movie rentals, confirming the many rumours. Touchstone, Miramax, MGM, Lionsgate, Newline, FOx, WB, Disney, Paramount, Universal, Sony all on board. All of the major studies seem to be onboard which is great news.

Movie rentals can be played back anywhere - PCs, Mac, Ipods as well as the iPhone - within 30 seconds for those with broadband connections. That's remarkably fast.

New movie releases cost $3.99 while existing library titles cost $1 less ($2.99). Over 600 TV shows at $1.99. The renter has 30 days to start viewing a movie, once started, it can be viewed for up to 24 hours.

iPhone Updates
Customizable screens
GPS location
Support for lyrics
Multiple SMS
Chapters, subtitles, Languages

iTunes Movie Rentals launces today

*Apple TV Take 2
The latest version of Apple TV - dubbed Apple TV TAke 2 - does not require a computer. Movies are rented straight from the unit and are all DVD quality and HD + Dolby 5.1

Apple TV Take 2 features
- no computer required
- DVD quality and HD + Dolby 5.1
- Podcasts (audio and video)
- photos
- syncs with iTunes
- HD rentals: $4.99
- movies can be previewed
- mild social aspect where you can view the rentals of other persons who have rented that movie.
- Allows purchasing of music
- You can watch YouTube Videos directly on your widescreen
- Price drop from $299 to $229

*4th Thing: There's something in the air
MacBook Air - "The World's Thinnest Notebook"
So thin it fits in a manila envelop.

Some Features:
- only 3lbs
- 0.16"
- 13.3" widescreen
- Multi-Touch trackpad
- backlit LED display
- built-in isight
- macbook like keyboard with ambient light sensor
- standard 80 GB HD
- 2 GB Memory
- 1.8"Hard DRive
- 1.6 GHz standard: 1.8 GHz optional
- Intel Core 2 Duo
- 1 USB 2.0 port
- Micro-DVI
- 45 Watt MagSafe
- 802.11N + Bluetooth 2.1/EDR
- 5 hours of battery life
- Price $1799

...ships in two weeks.

Bill Gates' Last Day at Microsoft

2008-01-14T17:09:00.001-08:00

Stock markets almost crash on news that Bill Gates was stepping down from day -to-day operations as chairman of Microsoft.

Check out the vid.

Mac Ad: Time Machine

2008-01-14T17:07:00.000-08:00

UN praises Cuba's ability to feed people

2007-11-12T18:42:00.000-08:00

In an article by By WILL WEISSERT, Associated Press Writer, dated Wed Nov 7, 12:14 AM ET, the author brings to our attention the facts found by Jean Ziegler, the UN's Independent Investigator on the right-to-food.

photo taken from news.yahoo.com

Cuba is one of 32 countries that include the "right to food" in their constitutions, and fewer still — including Brazil, Latin America's largest economy — meet pledges to provide food to all their citizens, he said.

Read the full article here --> UN praises Cuba's ability to feed people

Mac OSX Leopard Tour Guide

2007-10-19T17:48:00.000-07:00

Apple has posted a video tour guide to the soon-to-be-releazed Mas OS X 10.5 aka Leopard on their website.

Check it out - tour guide.

With only 6 days left till official launch, you can pre-order yours today.

Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com

New Mac Book Pro on Friday?

2007-10-17T19:15:00.000-07:00

Rumour on The Street is that Apple will be releasing a newer, sleeker version of the 15" MacBook Pro along side the launch of the new OSX - Leopard on Friday, October 26th.

Check out the video clip.

You heard it here second.