Apple | Gear Diary

The Stark Contrast Between iOS and Android Platform Adoption

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, look at the picture above – it shows the iOS 5.1 adoption rate since the new version was made available on March 6th alongside the announcement of the new iPad, as compiled by developer David Smith. After two weeks … 63% of the total userbase had switched. And that percentage includes folks who have iOS 3 limited devices like my first-gen iPod Touch (or first gen iPhone), or iOS 4 limited devices like anything before the iPhone 3GS. If you were looking just at ‘opportunities’, the percentage would be even…

Editorials

Cupertino, Start Your Photocopiers! Oh, You Already Did?

For many who have watched Apple and Microsoft for decades, the mantra of an Apple product launch leading immediately to new ‘innovations’ from Microsoft that are remarkably similar has become beyond a cliché. There are certainly inspirational elements to the point that Microsoft has even occasionally admitted to copying from Apple (legally, of course, unlike Trash/Recycle, QuickTime/Windows Media, Widgets/Gadgets, Aqua/Aero, etc), but as many also note – Apple is not immune from the occasional ‘peeking at Microsoft’s paper’. But all of that stuff is serious … and this is just fun. The Microsoft Zune – it was a ‘MP3 player’…

Gear Bits

Stuff Companies Were Foolish Enough to Introduce on ‘Apple Event Day’

You don’t tug on Superman’s cape You don’t spit into the wind You don’t pull off the mask of the old Lone Ranger … And you don’t do an announcement on the day Apple holds a major press event. Any person who is interested in technology in any way – even if they HATE Apple and would never buy their products – was glued to find out details. My family all knew it was happening, it was on our local news and in the local paper as well as being a major hallway conversation topic. There is a saying that…

News & Features

Apple’s March Event News (Updated As It Happened)

Apple is about to hold its March announcement. We will have the news as it comes in…

News & Features

Apple Hits 25 Billion App Downloads, is the Most Admired Company

To say that Apple is on a roll seems a bit superfluous, as the company has spent much of the last dozen years as one of the most reported on and profitable companies in the world. And yet it seems like every time we turn around there is something new and amazing to discuss. First off, last week Fortune magazine reported that Apple was the most admired company in the world. This just after a number of reports tried to single out Apple as the singular cause of poor working conditions in China. Other reports noted that tech companies like…

News & Features

Tales from the Apple Store

(image courtesy Macrumors) The other day Judie and I were in Manhattan for the Dell/Intel create work inspired event and we decided that we needed to make a pilgrimage to the Apple Store at Grand Central Station. If you have not been there you should make a point of stopping in the next time you are in Manhattan. The place is amazing. To have such grand open spaces as the terminal and then to have the Apple store fill in the different rooms on the balcony is nothing short of impressive. Traditional grandeur filled with the most innovative new technology –…

Editorials

Apple TV All About Social Media? Nah.

Image courtesy of iJailbreak Tech-head Dave Winer is a smart guy, and has been writing interesting things about technology for pushing 20 years now, and he is one of the few in that category that I really respect. But in his recent post about Apple TV, what he thinks it will offer, and why he thinks it will succeed, I think he’s, well, just wrong:

Editorials

Chinese Manufacturing Has Always Been Abusive – Why Blame Apple ONLY?

There was a recent article in the New York Times that pretty much singles out Apple as being to blame for the work conditions in China. Sure, they off-handedly refer to ‘other companies’ and repeatedly say ‘other devices’ as a footnote, but again and again it is Apple, iPhone and iPad that are mentioned. Apple, the company that was one of the very last consumer electronics companies making stuff in the US while taking heat from everyone about how much their stuff cost and how slow they were to move from platform to platform? All of those other companies –…

News & Features

Wait … Apple TV Is More Popular Than Roku?

There is always loads of data to mine in corporate earnings announcements, and yesterday’s Apple announcement is no different. Dan covered the highlights including iPhones, Macs, iPads and iPods … but I noticed a mention at GigaOM about AppleTV sales. Apparently AppleTV sold 1.4 million units during the last quarter. I really didn’t think too much about that because I am constantly reading about how more and more game consoles are serving as full-service home entertainment systems since they can run Netflix, Hulu and more. I also just assumed that Roku and other ‘set top boxes’ were dominating much like…

Editorials

Apple’s Amazing Quarter Makes the iPhone Bigger Than ALL of Android!

It was only a few weeks ago when I posted the news that Android and iOS were in a virtual tie for market share of the smartphone market based on recent data, I said that ‘everyone wins’. I still believe that – I think that having strong competition in any market makes everyone work harder … and the results are better products for us as consumers! Last week Nielson put out estimates of smartphone market share for the fourth quarter of 2011, showing that iOS had significantly closed the gap with Android for recent months. Now, after the final tally…

News & Features

Apple By the Numbers… Wow… Simply Wow.

In case you missed it, Apple is doing well. (Okay, ridiculously understated and then some.) Yes, Apple reported revenue of over $46 billion and saw its profit exceeded $13 billion for the quarter. That translates to $13.87 earnings per share. For comparison sake, at this time last year the company earned $26.74 billion, or $6.43 per share. Yeah, wow. ‘Nuff said. Apple’s CEO Tim Cook was positive but also a bit understated in saying We’re thrilled with our outstanding results and record-breaking sales of iPhones, iPads, and Macs,”. “Apple’s momentum is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products…

News & Features

Someone at Apple Was a Ghostbusters Fan…

I love “Ghostbusters”. It’s one of my favorite movies of all time. In fact, I had a plastic Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man decorating more than one of my apartments post-college. How can you not love it? It’s pretty much the perfect movie. And according to The Verge, back in the ’80s someone at Apple felt the same way, and made an anti-IBM/pro-Apple video called “Blue Busters”. It’s funny, though honestly, I think the joke goes on for about a minute longer than necessary. Still, for the one-two punch of nostalgia and surrealism, it’s worth watching the whole thing! Then maybe pop in…

News & Features

Agency eBook Pricing Model under Anti-Trust Scrutiny!

The European Union has finally stepped up to handle the biggest issue facing the economy today. It’s a long time coming, but someone is finally asking questions and looking for answers. Yes, the “agency model” for ebooks is finally being investigated! What, you thought I meant something else? 😉 According to Businessweek, several publishers, as well as Apple, are listed in the investigation, but not Amazon. My guess is that since Amazon was not soliciting contracts for the agency model (they were forced into it after a very public battle) they’re not under the microscope. It will be interesting to…

Reviews

iOS App Knowtilus Pro Review: Tabbed Web Browsing, text editing, and translation all in one!

I’m always looking for ways to use Siri with new iOS applications to allow me to write on the go. But if I am going to pay for an application I want it to do more than one thing at a time. As I was reading through Dan’s article on using Elements to be able to sync dictated notes I thought I would download Elements. During my search I happened upon the iOS application Knowtilus Pro. Knowtilus is a web browser that has 3 tabs. I usually don’t buy iOS applications that cost more than a few dollars but I…

Gear Bits

One More Tablet Gone; Can Microsoft Avoid the Same Fate?

image courtesy of BerryReporter Clinton recently wrote an opinion piece entitled, “As RIM Writes Off The Playbook, The Pressure is on Microsoft to Make a Complete Windows 8 Tablet“, in which he says: This morning the Wall Street Journal reported that RIM is taking a $485 million charge for their lackluster tablet, the Playbook. The charge comes by way of a markdown in the value of the massive inventor that RIM still has of the devices. It is a brutal and costly reminder that if you kinda-sorta-maybe-woulda-shoulda your tablet strategy, the price can be steep. Very steep. and The challenge facing Microsoft is that they are…

News & Features

The Latest Cool Steve Jobs Video – NeXT Computer ‘Entrepreneurs’ Feature

For most people, Steve Jobs is the iconic black-turtleneck & jeans wearing icon who led Apple from near bankruptcy to become the most valuable public company in the world before he passed away recently. But there are more and more historical views of him popping up all over the place – and this is one of the coolest I have seen. It is from a PBS series called ‘Entrepreneurs’, with an episode from late 1986 looking at NeXT Computer when it was merely 11 computers and a long road ahead before shipping their first computer. It is great to see…

Gear Bits

Microsoft’s Claims of TellMe Being ‘Basically the Same as Siri’ Put to the Test

Sometimes there is no better way to demonstrate that what a company is saying is pure rubbish than by putting it to a simple test. Apple’s Siri was released to simultaneous cheers and yawns – cheers from those who use it and yawns from Microsoft and Google (and their fanboys) saying that they already have the same technology. This week Microsoft made a big deal about how they already had a ‘Siri-like’ technology and all Apple had going for it was ‘good marketing’. This is very similar to what Google has said, and is the sort of thing that plays…

Editorials

Ten Lessons Learned from Steve Jobs’ Biography: An Entrepreneur’s Take

My friend Peter K is a speaker, author, health and success coach, nutritionist and physical therapist. (His website Peter K Fitness tells his story, introduces his method and explains how his approach has helped countless people lead a healthier lifestyle. Some impressive testimonials are there too!) Peter is Elana’s health coach and played a huge role in her becoming as fit as she now is. (It also turns out that I had the privilege of officiating at his wedding more than a decade ago. A connection we did not make until Elana met him for her first training session.) Peter…

Gear Bits

Samsung Shows Lack of Class in Latest Galaxy S II Commercial

As someone pointed out in response to the Galaxy Nexus commercial – that was made by Google, which is why it was excellent. Now we get one for the Galaxy S II made by Samsung … and it is NOT. Back in the 80’s Apple produced two infamous commercials – 1984 and Lemmings. They are well known by name more than 25 years later for very different reasons: 1984 showed a single person striking out against tyranny to choose her own path and give others the opportunity to make their own choices as well. Lemmings was infamous for … well,…

Reviews

mSecure 3.0 Password Protection Review

I have been using the same password protection program for quite a few years. I’ve thought about switching on a number of occasions, but it’s always is too much of a hassle, or the software that interests me isn’t available on enough platforms. So when I was recently offered an opportunity to review mSeven Software’s mSecure 3.0 I was at least a little ambivalent about it. However, I figured it certainly wouldn’t hurt to review the software; I would just create some dummy data, load it on a test device, put it through its paces, do a brief write up,…

News & Features

Apple Releases ‘iTunes Match’ to the Public – Your Music Library in the Cloud!

With the release of iTunes 10.5.1 Apple has finally brought iTunes Match to everyone rather then those of us who have been using it in beta. If you are not familiar with the service it isn’t the music streaming that had been long rumored but rather something far more powerful and, potentially usable. What the service does is scan your iTunes library and line up those songs that you have in it with those that are currently available on iTunes. Then, if there are songs that you have that are not available in iTunes, it will upload the remaining ones….