After going online to view the details of all the case options available, some from Belkin and other 3rd party manufacturers. The ordering process only took a minute. It was quick and simple. So far all seemed fair and good. Then, as I completed the order, the ship date on the product appears on the screen nearly 5 weeks into the future. This didn’t sit well with me but Apple had expired their inventories. I wanted a free case but I didn’t want to have to worry about my shiny, brand new iPhone 4 getting scratched up. I had already ordered and received a Zagg invisibleShield screen protector, now I just need the Apple Bumper case to completely protect the device. Needless to say, I’m a little anxious to get my new baby fully covered and waiting over a month will not be easy.

Then, yesterday happens, I receive an email from Apple Shipping Notification telling me my black iPhone 4 bumper has shipped and will be here within a week! Yay! Not sure how many people out there also received a happy notification like this about their cases, I also would like to know if the 3rd party cases offered are shipping now as well.

Anyway, thank you Apple, and thank you Steve Jobs for doing the right thing.

UPDATE! 2010-07-28 – It’s arrived! EVEN EARLIER!

Guess what showed up in the mail today? Estimated delivery date showed Aug. 3rd, but here it is, almost a week early! Thanks Apple. Unfortunately my Griffin iPod USB cable doesn’t plug in all the way when the bumper is on, eeks. Otherwise, I’m completely covered now

Apple iPhone 4 bumper

Well, in America, these news reporting agencies (and you know which ones to which I am referring) are the most visible, reprinted and republished. The vast majority of Americans get their news from these kinds of sources, not just on TV but online as well. So the harm is rather significant since the information is misrepresented, you’ve now misinformed hundreds of thousands, if not millions of readers. When the true objective of News Media is actually to inform…not entertain.

Another example that’s made headlines lately is the Apple “Antennagate” issue with the new iPhone 4. After about 3 weeks Apple held a press conference (which you can view on Apple’s web site here) explaining to detail the cause of the signal problem with the iPhone. Then they proceeded to demonstrate the exact same issue with other popular phones from the RIM Blackberry to Samsung to an Android phone. Steve Jobs, who led the conference, after showing how common a problem this is, continued to make a strong point of how the media has blown this issue out of proportion. Now, this accusation is not flattering to the media, even though it is newsworthy, now do you think it was reported? Do you think the media would report news about themselves…no matter how newsworthy the story actually is? No. The media reported ONLY the parts of the conference that backed up their own original claims. Article after article, news organization after news organization reported about 1/10th of the conference’s information to protect its own image. Virtually nothing about the tests with the other popular phones, virtually nothing about how they themselves may have blown this issue up. The result of this hypocrisy? The news hungry public, as usual, is only partially informed. Ok, so we have SOME information…where’s the harm in that?

Having only some of the facts associated with a news making story can be dangerous. There’s a bright shining example of that making headlines in the last day or two. The African American, former USDA employee, Shirley Sherrod. She was fired from her job recently due to a ‘selectively edited’ video of a speech she gave not long ago appeared as if she was intentionally not assisting a white farmer. The Obama administration reacted to this report and fired the woman. However, after further investigation, watching the original video, uncut, they see they took these remarks out of context and now our President is begging for her to come back to her job with a huge apology.

So what can we do about this? How can we become more informed? Unfortunately, there’s no clear answer. Just try to get your news from multiple sources. Try to get your news from organizations other than the “big ones.” There are many smaller news reporting agencies all over our country that are non-profit and therefore have no monetary gain from reporting sensationalism and over-hyped headlines.

Now don’t get me wrong, the storm that’s not even in the Gulf of Mexico yet (as of the writing of this article) may hit “BP’s leaky well” dead on. But at this point, that’s uncertain. So, with all of the sensationalism, fear tactics and profit-mindedness the news media maintains the only problem I see with the media seems to be the media.

So why is Google trying to keep this one under wraps? Mostly because of one thing…they don’t want to stoke the successful fires of the iPhone. While Apple recently released the iPhone 4 to sell 3 million devices in as many weeks, breaking all records, RIM is seeing their market share shrink by the day. Google has seen some success with Android, although it was also just discovered that a recent estimate of Apps in Google’s App Store was over exaggerated. That kind of shady news as well as the discontinuation of the Nexus One can’t feel good to the search giant.

Although Android phones are quite functional, reports from the field indicate the customer satisfaction is quite a bit lower than that of iPhone users. Even with this latest iPhone 4 antenna debacle, Apple and AT&T are seeing HALF the return rate with the iPhone 4 as with the previous generation iPhone 3GS which had no purported antenna problem.

So, it’s no secret why Google must try and keep this secret. Goodbye Nexus One…thank you for trying.

With a history of world class customer service, and lately, unprecedented transparency and communication from CEO Steve Jobs on every issue from no Flash support on their mobile devices to this antenna issue. We’ve seen open letters and open emails on every subject. This conference is the latest in what seems to be an emerging culture of openness.

The conference started out by showing how gripping almost any mobile, wireless device in the “wrong way” can cause signal loss. The first example being quite dramatic as they show a RIM Blackberry Bold 9700 dropping from 5 bars down to 1 bar when gripped the wrong way. Other popular smartphone platforms and manufacturers were mentioned, Android, Samsung, etc etc.

Jobs goes on by showing and explaining how the way antenna signals work, that all of these phones, any wireless device, will have this bad grip problem. It’s the laws of physics. Wait! You mean Apple hasn’t innovated enough to the point of defying the laws of physics!?!? I want my money back! He then explains how the iPhone 4 also went through shielded room tests etc.

Support issues…if this is such a big deal, as the media likes to portray, then out of the 3 million devices sold since it’s launch, there must be a ridiculous number of support calls about this problem. Actually, Steve reveals, that only .55% of all iPhone 4 owners have called about this problem. A little over half of one percent. While that’s probably higher than it should be, this is not the epidemic the media and class-action legal teams would have you believe.

Return rates…Wow, the previous generation iPhone 3GS averaged a 6% return rate with AT&T stores. Jobs indicates that this is below industry average. However, with the iPhone 4 and all of its supposed ‘issues’ the return rate is at a mere 1.7%. What’s going on here?

Jobs then goes on to reveal that the iPhone 4 actually does drop calls slightly more than the 3GS, however, it’s only 1 call per 100 more than the 3GS which is an ever so slim difference. He then theorizes, that because the previous generation iPhone 3GS is the same shape as its predecessor the 3G, that people could continue to use their old cases or even go to the store to buy one of many available cases for the existing shape. The case, thus shielding the 3GS from a percentage of dropped calls. Many iPhone 4′s are still ‘naked’ due to the fact that the case manufacturers are still getting the cases out to the retailers with the new form factor products…interesting theory.

And to help us all test his theory, Steve is putting his money where his mouth is and buying everyone a free bumper who buys their iPhone 4 up until September 30th. You’ll be able to apply for the free case late next week at the Apple Store online.

Well, I think this was yet another good communication from Apple. Another successful exercise at openness and transparency. All of the information given was logical and now the media must move on to another topic…oil spill? Haiti? War? Yeah, those are definitely bigger than cell phone reception stories. What do you think?

The ad goes on to say what Adobe DOES NOT Love about Apple.

Now, I’m not going to write an extensive piece on Tech Titan Passive-aggressivism. This is simply meant to be an extension of the original article Apple, Adobe…The New Tech War?.

Many are trying to paint Apple as an evil corporate tech giant trying to control the world and its content. However, all of Apple’s developer tools for the devices in question (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch) are free of charge. Anyone can develop HTML 5 (Apple’s replacement for Flash video on these devices) for free. No licensing, no paid developer tools, no plugins. Adobe is the one who loses money if Flash finally dies its overdue death. Adobe is the Desktop Publishing industry’s Microsoft.

I’ve downgraded my Adobe “rating” from “I like them” to “I accept them.”

Steve, thank you for protecting the integrity of your products and the unparalleled user experience of your products. Keep up the good work!

Today, Adobe returned fire with a response slamming Jobs’ claims that Flash is unstable, insecure and hinders performance. Jobs further decried Flash as an outdated, closed technology that is not suited for mobile devices with touch screen interfaces. On the surface, these claims seem like in your face insults to Adobe and this technology platform that has been well established since the late 90′s.

The Facts
The truth is, Steve Jobs is right. From industry developers, consultants and techies across the web and around the world. Flash is not only dead, it has had its hey day and simply never caught on as it was intended to.
Since the late 90′s me and my tech buddies were dreaming of a day when all web sites would be 100% Flash based. HTML was dead (we thought) and today, there’s some amount of Flash on what seems like nearly every web site we visit, but those sites are still primarily HTML and Javascript based. Flash became the de-facto standard for showing cross platform, cross browser video on a web page.
So what’s the problem with Flash? Why hasn’t it truly taken over the world? Why has CNN, Wall Street Journal and many many other sites removed Flash based video from their web presences?

Because Steve Jobs is correct. Flash is difficult. The development tools, originally created by Macromedia (later acquired by Adobe in April of 2005) are cumbersome, unfriendly and non-standard to web developers. Flash, as a technology platform is CLOSED, you must rely on Adobe (a corporate monolith, slow to adapt) to update its tools, close security holes and support new hardware platforms. To view Flash on the web you must also install a 3rd party plugin for your web browser. If the plugin does not exist, you cannot view the content. This has been a confusing issue for users over the years.
Flash, as Steve Jobs implies, is an outdated technology, and Adobe with their “return fire” is trying to paint Apple as a controlling tech entity blocking out others’ technology for their own greed and corporate interests. In reality, all of the claims that Jobs made in his open letter are true and accurate, from a technical as well as user experience perspective. Apple simply wants to move forward away from closed standards and a technology that was needed in its day but has long since been deemed outdated.
So what do we do? What replaces Flash…especially video?
As I’ve read recently in a headline, it really was HTML5 that killed Flash, not Apple. HTML5 is cross browser, cross platform and requires no special plugins. It runs natively to a web browser, runs on existing iPhones, Blackberries, iPads and other smartphones and is an OPEN Standard.
So, Adobe, let it go. Let’s move forward. Flash is dead.

In typical Microsoft fashion, their CES 2010 Keynote Address was sleepy, boring and just plain uninspiring.  These were the comments coming out of the industry not long after it was over.  In a new year where we are all looking for a new beginning, Microsoft has the stage and chooses to put us to sleep.

I’m not sure if they’ll ever get it.  I don’t really care anymore.  It simply isn’t in their DNA.  Trying to beat Apple to the punch with a tablet won’t work either.  Apple’s is better.  It’s always better.  Their success proves it.  With a PC market that’s grown non-stop in the last 10 years, Microsoft’s market share has remained stagnant.

They are a company that touts innovation, ease-of-use and inspiration.  I think it’s because their products actually have none of those qualities, so reinforce it in marketing to get you associating the words/brand.  Meanwhile, Apple doesn’t use those words in their marketing, yet they have all of them, built right in.

Their most popular product Microsoft Office’s most commonly used components a Word Processor and a Spreadsheet were also not invented by Microsoft.

Honestly, I’m tired of people trying to “pump up” potential Microsoft technology like their tablet before it’s even seen.  Haven’t you already learned that they don’t possess the ability to truly excite people?  The Zune, a bomb if there ever was one.  Windows CE, stagnant, unimproved piece of garbage for years.  Or are you prematurely excited about a guaranteed flop because Micro$oft pays you so much in advertising pay off dollars?

Why would ABC News report the headline that George Bush pardoned Microsoft from receiving the punitive action the Supreme Court prescribed after finding out they abused their monopoly in 2000/2001? This is news, but don’t report it if you still want M$ to pay millions to advertise on your network.

After doing extensive research, it seems everything they have that is or was remotely successful was either stolen or illegally obtained through abuse of the market (see education lawsuits from 1999, 2000 and US Supreme court, abuse of monopoly cases from the same time period, also investigate Red Canyon software and Windows Video incident from the mid 90′s)  These guys are the tech version of the oil companies and always have been.  Microsoft is the clean coal of Tech.  There’s no such thing as “clean coal”…or…”Microsoft Technology.”

Now Microsoft isn’t 100% bad, after all many thousands of people are employed by them, the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation donates millions to the best charities.  So I guess it’s ok they were found guilty overcharging schools for their Windows product in a market manipulation scam.  What you never heard about this?  Oh and don’t forget the hundreds of millions the European Union fined Microsoft for the same improprieties they were found guilty of in the US.  It’s just George Bush wasn’t president of the EU at the time so he couldn’t excuse them from that punishment.

They were even 30 minutes late starting the keynote.

Ummm…can you explain something to me?  How does that spinning 3D galaxy help me make a better phone call or organize my contacts more efficiently?

Regardless, I’m not commenting too much on this, but I wanted to get this out the night before the big announcement.  These smartphone names and gimmicks are just that, and honestly, it’s a little hokey.

My favorite smartphone’s name isn’t so fantastical or intergalactic…it’s called the iPhone.  It’s easy, it’s affordable, it’s even fun to use, and there are no spinning galaxies in the background.

Every phone that’s come out since the iPhone was released 3 years ago was dubbed “the iPhone killer” and so far, none have even come close.  The Palm Pre even gained traction in the media/hype arena, but where is it now?  I don’t know a soul who has one.  The Droid?  I do know some people that have that one…I think 3.  But I’ve actually even heard consistent COMPLAINTS about it.

Now, on the more practical front, Google’s smartphone idea is good…an open phone, open to development and, if you’re willing to shell out the unsubsidized price, free from a contract. I don’t like that Apple & AT&T have this monopoly on my iPhone experience. I had a smartphone 4 years ago, yes a year before the first iPhone, that I could tether to my laptop for wireless Internet.  Here we are 4 years later, and AT&T still doesn’t allow it with the iPhone.  Yet I pay $30/month for an unlimited data plan.

Regardless, the Google Nexus won’t kill the iPhone either…the name is too fancy.  The spinning galaxy simply isn’t practical and they’re releasing it on the T-mobile network, one of the worst for coverage and accessibility.

So, here we go again, more launch hype, probably more talk of “I think this could be the real iPhone Killer this time” and more good reviews, but I bet in the next 3 years (the time the iPhone has been out) the Nexus doesn’t make a dent in the 30 million iPhones out there.

Finally, with rumors that the iPhone will be available on Verizon’s network possibly this year, that’s it.  The other phones have no chance.  Apple will lock up “the rest” of the market.  I love Google, their products, services, corporate culture, and social policies, they’re innovative and they have the right idea.  I hope they’re successful with this 2nd phone technology release.  I just don’t think the iPhone’s dead yet!

Well, a few weeks ago I was around my 1 year mark on the 2 year contract I had signed with AT&T when I got my iPhone 3G. So, I logged in to my online account, and, as I suspected, I didn’t have many upgrade options to get the newly released iPhone 3GS for a reasonable amount. Resigning myself to wait out the term of the contract and frustrated, I wrote the article about Apple, AT&T and iPhone’s with contracts being expensive.

Then, this past week, out of sheer morbid curiosity I signed in to my ebay account (of which I haven’t used in ages due to exorbitant fees and the PayPal monopoly they created) then proceeded to see what, if anything at all, a black, 16GB, iPhone 3G was going for. After all, if I could get enough for it, maybe it would be worth putting out another couple hundred to get the new phone and I was frustrated, the new toy was out and I wanted it…NOW.

It turns out, what my ebay searching showed, that a “contract” must be worth a couple hundred dollars because an OUT OF CONTRACT, Black, 16GB iPhone 3G (yes, previous generation) is going for around $275, USED! Because WITH a contract AT&T and Apple are still selling this model new for $99. So the contract is worth a couple hundred to someone. Buying an out of contract phone also allows you to jailbreak & unlock this phone and activate it freely with another carrier, e.g. T-Mobile.

Wow, I thought, if I could just get out of this contract… So I signed back in to my AT&T wireless account, clicked on “upgrade options” and voila! To my amazement and wonder, AT&T was offering the iPhone 3GS at the NEW CUSTOMER pricing of $199 and $299 for the 16GB and 32GB models respectively. Even for me, with still a year left on my previous contract. I think somebody wants me to upgrade…so of course I proceeded to do so as the planets were aligning in my favor.

So, I went to sell my 3G on ebay for $250 “Buy It Now” and it sold within hours. After seller fees and the free ground shipping I offered (that everyone seems to be offering nowadays), I took in roughly $220 for my year old, gently used, iPhone 3G.

I then went to the AT&T store who had just restocked 15 units of the Black, 16GB iPhone 3GS, paid my $199 + tax + $18 upgrade fee, totaling $250, and activated my shiny new iPhone 3GS.

It is very possible I could have gotten more for my iPhone 3G on ebay compared to the others I saw, but for $30 total a little ebay craziness and an extra year with AT&T I’m a happy camper. The phone is great and worth every penny. If anyone else has a similar story please post it here, I’d love to know about it.

AT&T is gaining over a quarter million new mobile customers every month from Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile because of their iPhone exclusivity.

Meanwhile Verizon is begging Apple to allow them to sell SOMETHING! Have you read about that? Verizon’s not even ashamed to say they want to sell “a mobile Apple product” whatever that means.

Exclusivity contracts are ILLEGAL in Australia. That’s why my friend there got her brand new iPhone 3G, *FREE* with a 2 year contract, instead of $299. The $299 was a negotiation to get the customer.

AT&T Doesn’t have to negotiate since you can’t go to another carrier to get an iPhone.

Unfortunately, it only pays to limit a consumer’s choices.

Where are our anti-competitive laws? This is America!

More creative tablet PC’s were simply sub-notebooks with a flip-around screen that would fold over the keyboard and lay flat.  Still they were bulky, lacked in power and features and the displays and battery life left much to be desired.  Ultimately these were impractical, over-priced gadgets at best.

Recently, at Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference, there was much speculation that Apple has been working on, and would possibly announce a new tablet computing product.  Since then, the conference and the much hyped keynote address have come and gone.  We saw a new iPhone 3GS announced, the release of the new iPhone OS 3.0 and more details on the upcoming Snow Leopard Mac OS release.  Unfortunately, still no tablet from Apple.

Why bother with engineering ‘yet another tablet PC?’

Because most of the reasons tablet PCs were impractical in the past, most of the technical challenges that were unaddressable before can now be overcome…  Tablet PCs need to be ultra-light to be carried around easily, ultra-thin for portability, ultra-powerful so more visual applications can be used, super-bright so the device can be carried and used outdoors and super-high screen resolutions to simulate the ease of use of working with and reading print. This coincides with better graphics/visual computing power since a tablet PC is mostly useful as an interactive piece of paper.  A Tablet PC must also have extensive battery life, just like any notebook computer on the market today.  Finally, they need superior wireless capabilities and must have storage capacity as close to a notebook or desktop computer as possible.

With all of these technical requirements, and engineers having already tried to address these issues, in what ways has technology improved in even just the last 12 months to make a difference over current ‘best attempts’ that are already on the market?

Technology has improved in nearly every way that pertains to portable computing, and may finally be ready for primetime

Let’s start with ultra-powerful.  Intel is releasing ‘ultra-mobile’ and ‘lower power’ quad-core processors in August.  These processors are much faster yet draw less power than previous less capable processors.  So in a tight space you’re getting near desktop processing capabilities in a portable device.

Extensive battery life.  Most cutting edge portable devices are only recently taking advantage of ultra-efficient Lithium-Ion battery technology whose full potential has not been realized yet.  Apple’s new iPhone 3GS is a more cutting edge example.  Same size battery, however faster processing capabilities and yet even extended battery life in almost every category from the previous generation iPhone.

Durable and Sturdy.  Solid-state hard drives.  I can’t believe tablets have even been taken seriously thus far considering most of them have very fragile, sensitive parts in them.  How can you carry something around a work environment that’s so fragile?  The most sensitive part may be the hard drive.  Nothing too important, only the place where you store all of your documents, applications, the operating system and all of your settings.  If you drop that thing at just the wrong time, it’s all for naught. Do we have an effective replacement for this?

In just the past year, a solid-state form of non-volatile RAM (Memory or file storage that remains even when the power to the computer is off) has finally come to maturity.  It’s now fast enough, big enough and affordable enough to put in specialized devices like a tablet PC.  And also solves the durability problem with portable devices.  This kind of storage has been around for years but only recently has the combination of the higher speeds and available sizes (e.g. 120GB that a typical modern laptop requires) that finally make it a practical, even preferred option to a traditional hard drive.

Thinner with a brighter, high-resolution display.  These improvements can be achieved with a single innovation and this one is my favorite as it ranks highest on the coolness scale. In the last couple years, OLED (Organic Light-emitting Diode) display technology has  matured dramatically. Perhaps its greatest single benefit, OLED displays do not need a backlight as traditional LCD displays require.  With OLED technology, the pixels themselves provide not only the color, but also the light for the pixel.  In traditional LCD displays power requirements are extensive because of the separate backlight draining precious battery life.  This ‘self-lit pixel’ method not only saves power but also provides perfectly even lighting throughout the entire display as well as a much brighter picture.

Multiple benefits. OLED displays also have another significant benefit, thickness.  OLED panels are a fraction of the thickness of LCD panels simply because of how they work. OLED displays typically have smaller pixels.  If you can squeeze more pixels into the same space you have a sharper, higher-resolution display.  Some of the best LCD panels have 90 ppi (pixels per inch) resolution.  The iPhone display already sports an amazing 163 ppi.  Ideally, we could get 200 ppi or better with OLED to simulate print like the Amazon Kindle e-Ink technology, but that’s yet to come on a device like this.  And if those benefits aren’t enough, OLED displays use less toxic components in their manufacturing so they’re even better for the environment!

So where’s my ultra-thin, bright, fast, green, cheap tablet PC?

Well…Apple hasn’t made it yet.  Or at least, they haven’t announced it yet.  I say Apple, as opposed to HP or Fujitsu or other existing tablet PC makers because Apple is the only PC maker that has consistently shown it has the innovative spirit, knowhow, marketing and raw guts to try and release a super cool computing device like this.  Initial versions may not be ‘cheap’ but most cutting edge technology isn’t.  More importantly, it will be usable, sturdy, powerful and practical.

Hopefully, more to come on this topic!

Cut off your nose to spite your…Apple?

It is quite possible, that all those years of being wrong about Apple, recommending Microsoft (MSFT, nicknamed “Mr. Softy”) as the safe bet to their clients while Apple climbs from $12 to $100, splits, climbs back up over $100 and closes today at $121 may give them cause to “stay the stubborn course” on their technology picks.  It’s a missed boat, and to get on this late in the game is admitting you missed out on the biggest gains.  And that does not feel good.  Do this in large enough numbers and it effects an industry.

Analysts, instead of doing their jobs and researching what looks like a high risk stock on the surface, with a little investigation, would have seen the fundamentals were there.  There are a few analysts that used their brains and earned their hefty commissions that took a chance on Apple, but they are very few and far between.  Hats off to those who had to endure ridicule and condemnation from the “be safe” drones!

So yes, I ultimately believe that after all of the non-stop gains they’ve watched pass them by, it’s now easier for them to continue to ‘pass’ on Apple and stick with Mr. Softy.  Harboring resentment is bad for your portfolio.

Is it too late?

Currently Apple holds less than 15% of the desktop computer market in the U.S.  There are 2 ways to look at this, 1) Why is that number so small?  Or, 2) Look how much room they have to grow.  So let’s see, are they growing?  Well, just in the last 3 years, their market share has grown by a full third…and is still growing.  Let alone the ‘other’ profit center…handheld devices.

The iPhone…clearly the most popular smartphone on the market, still has not saturated the market as far as Research In Motion(RIMM)’s Blackberry.  Again, this is good news.  The research, as well as the real numbers released by Apple today show the momentum is still in Apple’s favor.  And with the very public release of a new iPhone OS, and a new iPhone coming in June, even more reasons to switch to the iPhone will have presented themselves.

Competition

Typically, when so many companies are trying to compete with you, as are LG, Research In Motion, Samsung, Palm and others, who are trying to invent the next “iPhone Killer”, you’re in trouble.  Someone finds a way to outdo you.  Thus far it has not worked with Apple because their approach, marketing, innovation and corporate culture is different.

Microsoft’s retaliation for the “I’m a PC, I’m a Mac” commercials also, are not working.  Further, their attempt at making a friendlier easier to use (as Apple’s Mac OS is known for) OS, Vista, crashed and burned, souring many on even giving them a chance on the upcoming Windows 7.

So far, Apple’s “core” does seem impervious.  At least until a potential competitor finds a way to reinvent itself from the ground up.  And that’s not easy.  So that takes care of the competition, for now.

So, no, it’s not too late to get on this boat.  But what do I know? I’m not an analyst.

Starting with the “it’s about time” features

Cut, Copy, Paste…it’s about time! After much too much time, the iPhone platform has gotten away without having what I believed to be basic functionality. Cut, Copy, Paste. My HTC 85xx from almost 4 years ago running Windoze Mobile had this! Anyway, it’s here, and it’s about as easy-to-use as they could make it. Beginning with a “double-tap” to select your text. This feature works automatically in all apps supporting plain text and web text. And if you make a mistake cutting, copying or pasting you can simply ‘shake’ the device to undo!

MMS Messaging…another smartphone standard NOT standard on the iPhone, Multi-Media Messaging or (MMS). The iPhone will soon get this functionality as well. Breathing an “it’s about time” sigh.

Stereo Bluetooth…trying to hold back my excitement to express a little frustration…It’s about time Apple!  Although, it will only work on a new iPhone rumored to come out in the summer.  Ok, this feature, I believe, has been a key detractor in getting someone to switch to the iPhone.  Adding this one will clearly move the iPhone into that “finally, now it does what I want, so I can switch” category.  Even though I wish I could put this under the “nifty new stuff” category, I can’t, this one is long overdue no matter how you look at it.

Ok on to the nifty new stuff

Subscriptions. Starting with iPhone OS 3.0 you will now be able to pay for apps via a subscription model. This is a common billing method for app developers on other mobile platforms and is long overdue. This in itself will open up a world of opportunity for would-be iPhone developers and should prove to be a real opportunity for even more growth for the iPhone’s market.

Bluetooth. Developers will now be able to interact intimately with bluetooth devices from their apps. This is sure to open up the iPhone to additional uses such as scientific research, external device control, medical purposes. For example, a demonstration from LifeScan showed their bluetooth glucose meter wirelessly communicating with a diabetes management application running on the iPhone. Expanded Bluetooth capabilities also include peer-to-peer connectivity without the need for availability of a wi-fi network.

Push notifications. iPhone apps can now take advanatage of a long awaited feature…Push Notifications. Have a message waiting somewhere other than email? An event or task? Custom alerts? You can now be notified without being logged into these services independently. I suspect a new version of the iPhone Facebook App, for example, to be updated with this functionality.

In-game voice chat. The iPhone has found a secondary and very powerful market as a mobile gaming platform. The new capability of in-game voice chat is sure to solidify the leadership position in this key market and enhance the mobile gaming experience, making it feel more like console gaming platforms that use similar “in-game voice” features.

Spotlight.  Apple has brought their universal search technology to the iPhone.  Adding search to almost all of the built-in iPhone apps, also added a “Spotlight” app allowing you to search the entire device in one place.  This is a very powerful, practical feature…I wonder how fast it will be.

Still missing

3G bluetooth tethering.  Another battery draining, AT&T network resource hogging feature.  I took my MacBook Pro and my 3G iPhone to a business meeting with a client at a cafe and couldn’t access the Internet.  This was inconvenient and somewhat embarassing considering I am a technology consultant by trade. Yet another capability my Windows Mobile device had 4 years ago, but the ‘cutting edge’ iPhone does not. As much as I love my iPhone I will continue to rip on my favorite technology company for blatantly leaving out a key capability of a modern smartphone.

Flash.  Another understanding is that Apple did not want limited Flash capability on the iPhone as is available on other smartphones.  The iPhone is being touted as a mobile computing platform.  I do believe Apple is working with Adobe on delivering a more complete version of Flash.

Overall, the iPhone is a great phone.  In most respects it is cutting edge, friendly and even fun to use.  The new features and capabilities unveiled today make it a more complete, well-rounded solution.  If the pricing stays the same, I think whatever new phone is being released this summer will be a hit!

iPhone 3.0 is great, when can I get my hands on it?

Developers will get a beta release of the iPhone 3.0 SDK today.  However, users will not be able to take advantage of iPhone OS 3.0 until it is released this summer.  The update will be free to all iPhone owners and will cost $9.95 for iPod Touch owners.

On to new features

Well, now with an even smaller device, there is less room for buttons, knobs and switches. The only control on the device is a 3 position power switch. Off, on with shuffle and on without shuffle. Where did the controls go? Apple has moved the Shuffle’s controls to the headphone cable. Volume, track advance and playlist selection.

Multiple Playlists

Apple finally added multiple playlist capability with the Shuffle. However, with such overly-simplistic controls, the user may initially have a hard time figuring out the push, hold, click, press combinations to finally get the playlist or song they want.

Shuffle Speaks

As usual, Apple must innovate, why we here at ErixClix love them so much. The new Shuffle isn’t just smaller, it now speaks to you. Without a screen and with new multiple playlist capabilities, navigating your tunes might be confusing. Press and hold the center button on the controller and the iPod will speak the title and artist of the song you’re currently listening to. Continue to hold and after a short beep, it will help you navigate your playlists. The voice differs whether you’re syncing your iPod Shuffle with a Mac or Windows. From the video on Apple’s web site it sounds like the Mac voice is much more intelligible. (Yet another excuse to finally upgrade to a Mac!)

iPod Shuffle

As the worlds smallest 4GB music player, offered in silver or black and retailing for $79.00, we believe this new iPod Shuffle has been advanced more than enough to make this a great buy. Adding voice, multiple playlists and getting even smaller, it’s at least the most inconspicuous way to carry 1,000 songs around wherever you go!

See the iPod Shuffle at Apple’s Web Site

Things aren’t all bad during a recession and if you’re still here in 2009, you’re doing better than some!  You should use this time to prepare for a recovering economy.  And here are two reasons why there’s no better time to do it.

Less user traffic, easier to migrate

Upgrading or migrating your technology infrastructure can be tricky and costly in a live production environment.  However, with fewer customers and commercial web traffic, you’ve been handed the perfect opportunity for upgrading or migrating your technology infrastructure.  Any planned or even unplanned outages will have much less impact on already slow business.

Recession Discounts

And not only is traffic significantly lower, because of the recession, competition for your business has increased, therefore cost of IT products and services are also significantly lower.  Some of these services are even no-cost.

Free for all

Google Apps hosted services currently have a standard, no-charge edition that includes ad-based hosting of email, calendar and document services for your company.  This is a great way for small even medium businesses to lower IT overhead taking advantage of Google’s superior spam management and groupware features built-in to Google Docs and Google Calendar.

Blue-light Special

Further, many hosted services (e.g. managed and unmanaged servers) are now deeply discounted.  Upgrading your capacity and actually SAVING money over your current services is common in this market.  Do some shopping around and you may find you can have more and pay LESS than you are now.

The Advantage

With a few simple migrations and upgrades when the economy does recover you will be ready.  And maybe, even for now, save on costs with these new services.  Also, your boss will have yet another reason to keep you around, since you’ll be busy doing no-cost or low cost upgrades to the company’s IT infrastructure…which will make them look good too!

Coincidentally, in 2001 my own father was diagnosed with the same exact rare, “lesser of two evils,” type of pancreatic cancer Steve Jobs was also diagnosed with. During my father’s treatment at Mayo in Scottsdale, Arizona his weight fluctuated, there were ups and downs, and the prognosis wasn’t good.

However, during all of the years my family went through this period there was not a single instance where his doctors were able to tell us with any measure of certainty whether or not my dad was going to survive this. They even made statements like “he could be with us for 6 months, or you could have another 20 years.” That is the nature of the islet cell type of cancer he had. It’s very slow growing, sometimes treatable, and supposedly Jobs’ surgery was successful in removing the cancer.

Now, it’s after the fact, he’s lost weight and there’s concern. The latest reasoning is a hormone imbalance. Even a small amount of research shows these can easily be fixed, or they can lead to fatality.

SO, HURRY UP AND DIE ALREADY

What the vicious analysts seem to want here is a “yay” or “nay” on Jobs’ life. They want the doctors to inject him with a magic cure, or they want a death sentence pronounced. So they can predict the future and either make boat loads of  money or cash out and move on to the next hot rumor. And if you don’t give them that certainty they will sue you!

Otherwise, I have no other explanations for this kind of behavior. Expecting Steve Jobs to tell everyone if he’s going to live or die, when, by the nature of his health problems (which actually were publicized long ago) it is almost impossible to predict the outcome.

PROFIT FROM LIFE

The analysts just say they want more detail. I think they already know as much as they have a right to. I wonder how these vultures would feel if they were diagnosed with cancer and everyone said…”c’mon tell us if you’re going to live or die so I know if I’m going to make money or not!”

Finally, there will always be the human equation, and in business, you can’t always have certainty. And, regarding the legal standing on this matter, in the battle between decency and financial certainty, I think we should be able to sue for indecency not the other thing.

We support you Steve and get well soon!

Phil presented some great new stuff, including:  iWork ’09 (Apple’s productivity suite), iLife ’09 (Apple’s media suite, included free with any new Mac) and a new 17″ MacBook Pro. And that they will be selling songs in iTunes DRM-free. Without protection. So now you can really ‘own’ the songs you purchase. Using them on other devices, not just your iPod or iPhone. This is long awaited, big news for iTunes fans.

Apple also announced they will not be attending MacWorld anymore.  Initially believed to be connected to the health of their CEO, it has long been known Apple and IDG (MacWorld Expo owner) have long been at odds.  Further, the marketing power of their over 200 retail locations has been likened to the effectiveness of 100 MacWorld Expos with over 3 million visitors.  Sounds logical.  Now on to the fun stuff…(well, I started with iWork ’09 which is a productivity suite, the truly fun stuff is below in the iLife ’09 section, but I have to be thorough!)


iWork ’09

iWork ’09 new features include a “full-screen view” to Pages (the suite’s document creation and word processing app) so you can work without distractions such as chat windows or emails popping up.  It also aids in getting a more accurate preview of the appearance of your documents. Pages now allows you to create dynamic outlines.  Also, the suite allows for mail merging with lists created in Numbers (the suite’s spreadsheet app), new templates, and for engineering professionals, MathType as well as complex EndNotes.

Keynote, iWork ’09′s presentation tool, adds new themes, new animation tools and, very professional transitions and chart animations.  The coolest new feature is the “Keynote Remote” allowing presenters to use their iPhone or iPod Touch as a remote for controlling their presentation.  With a $.99 download, you can really impress your clients.  Just remember, if you’re using your iPhone to present, you may want to turn off your ringer!

iLife ’09

This is where Apple really shines this year.  Adding new capabilities to an already powerful suite of media applications.  And the best thing, it’s free when you buy any Mac!

iPhoto

Besides new photo book and slideshow themes, the new iPhoto adds some extremely powerful capabilities.  Dubbed “Faces” Apple has added a cutting edge feature that allows yet another way to organize your photos.  Have you ever been browsing through your photo library and wished you could just look at the images with a specific friend or loved one in them?  Faces now adds face recognition to your photo albums.  Tell iPhoto what someone looks like and from now on it will tag that person automatically in all the images it recognizes them in.  This is incredibly practical and is an Apple ‘signature’ feature again putting what normally is cutting edge technology (in this case law enforcement, casinos use similar technology for identifying unwelcome guests in their gambling halls) into the hands of you and I, further enhancing our lifestyles.

Also, in iPhoto, as if Faces wasn’t cool enough, we can now attach “Places” to any photo that is geotagged. Geotagging attaches location information to photographs.  Many digital cameras today are including built-in GPS capabilities (or offer add-on devices) so that lattitude and longitude information may be attached to the photos you take.  The iPhone 3G already has this built-in.  iPhoto will automatically take the lattitude and longitude information attached to a photo and tag it in iPhoto with more usable information, such as city, state, the name of a park, etc.  Now you can organize and browse your photos by location.  This location information also comes in handy when making movies and slideshows with iLife ’09 as animated travel maps can be created automatically from this data.

iPhoto also adds support for interacting with Facebook and Flickr.  With Facebook, for example, iPhoto will also import and export your photos with the “Faces” information.  If the Facebook photo is imported and already has friends tagged in it, iPhoto will recognize that person in the rest of your photos in your iPhoto albums.  This is incredibly powerful and practical integration, and again, signature Apple.

iMovie

Apple’s movie creation and editing too’ “for the rest of us” just got even more powerful.  Too numerous to mention the details of all of them, they include:  Easy to use precision editing, advanced intelligent drag and drop, new themes and new effects, transitions etc.  And again, if you import photos that have “Places” information attached, iMovie has beautiful themed ‘travel maps’ that are created and animated automatically, connecting the places you visited, just like in the Indiana Jones movies!

My favorite additon to iMovie is the Video Stabilization.  This has to be seen to be believed.  Much of our ‘home movie’ footage can be incredibly shaky and hard to watch, making a lot of it unusable when editing something nice together.  However, drag a shaky piece of footage into your editing timeline and video stabilization makes it all but go away, adding a professional look to your movies as if your camera were floating on air.  A dramatic demonstration of this is in the Keynote video (link above).

GarageBand

And last, but certainly not least, Garage Band.  Garage Band adds a great new capability: Lessons.  There are Basic Lessons, that are included with Garage Band, and Artist Lessons purchasable from the GarageBand Store for $4.99.  From Fallout Boy to Sting to John Fogerty.  The actual artists themselves teach you how to play their songs.  Some with keyboard some with guitar and all in high definition. Another incredibly powerful, practical offering with the sole purpose of enhancing your lifestyle.

Take Stock

Apple continues to innovate and set itself apart from any other technology organization.  As a company, their fundamentals are solid and strong.  Their customer base, proven to be the most loyal in the industry.  Marketshare, continuing to grow, and unlike Microsoft with over 80% marketshare and shrinking (measurably), Apple’s over 10% marketshare only has one direction to go.

Yet, like clockwork, almost immediately after a successful Keynote Address, the stock drops (AAPL), on an otherwise “up” day on Wall Street.  Even after Steve Jobs himself makes an announcement regarding the rumors of illness. Analysts have always been wrong about Apple.  I’m betting they still don’t get it.

This is my 2nd BlueAnt product.  The first, also purchased not long ago, is their Interphone helmet mount bluetooth headset which I use while riding my F650GS. Both devices are happily paired with my iPhone 3G and playing well together.

From the packaging, to the easy to understand quick start instructions, the BlueAnt V1 is a class act.  The design is simple and elegant.  The V1 is comfortable and more feature packed than any other bluetooth headset I’ve seen to date.  BlueAnt loads you up with accessories.  From 4 different earbuds, 2 rubber gels and 2 foam tips, to the wall charger, a car charger and usb charger.  I’m not sure they could have packed this thing with any more goodies!

What about the speech recognition?  Ok, the next step is setting up the device.  After a quick, full charge, the next step was to pair the headset with the iPhone 3G.  BlueAnt made this step so easy, I’m not sure it gets any better than this!  They insert a little note into the packaging that says “BEFORE YOU TURN ON YOUR V1 FOR THE FIRST TIME”, on the note, they actually ask you to wear the device during setup.  This is because it talks to you and walks you through step by step, waiting for you to complete each step, then moving to the next automatically when it knows you’ve successfully paired the headset with your phone.

After politely and painlessly walking me through the pairing process (which happened quite seamlessly on the iPhone 3G), the device then proceeds to assist you with available voice commands.  The built-in male voice is friendly and pleasing to listen to.

This is where it gets cool (as if it’s not super cool already!).  From speed dialing home, work, office and even GOOG-411 (GOOG-411 is pre-programmed into the V1), to configuration preferences such as deactivating the blue LED light (so you can attempt to conceal your tech-dorkyness by minimizing the flashing lights eminating from various electronic devices on or about your person) the BlueAnt V1 will assist you during every configuration twist and turn.

The V1 sports dual microphone noise-canceling, this improves the sound to whomever you’re talking to as well as improves the accuracy of the speech recognition.  Overall, the command voice recognition, was near flawless.  And in a tiny, unassuming device like this, the “V for Voice” in V1 is well deserved.

Sounds great! Does it have any flaws?  Well, as great as this headset is, it typically retails for about $119, a little pricey, but quality, usability and prestige are all included in the box with this product that may be worth shelling out some extra clams for.

Limited voice support on the iPhone:  Even though the V1 supports a cell phone that takes voice commands, the iPhone 3G does not offer voice control at this time, therefore taking full advantage of the voice features of the V1 is not possible with an iPhone 3G (this isn’t really BlueAnt’s fault but does take away from the “complete” voice control aspect of owning the product).  You can, however, still speed dial iPhone Favorites, ignore and answer incoming calls by voice with the headset, so it’s not even near a total loss.

And finally, the phone’s firmware is USB upgradeable (foreshadowing possible future enhancements, bug fixes, new features) and the documentation says to find information and software for this firmware upgrade on their web site, which with a few minutes of digging on their site, I couldn’t even find mention of support for this.

Finally, I think this little guy is great, and my rating is: “Highly Recommended”.  The V1 will pair with up to 8 devices (other phones, PCs, PS3, etc).  And with potential firmware upgrades, who knows what comes next!

If you have any experiences with the BlueAnt V1 you’d like to share please post as a comment to this article.

BlueAnt’s website can be found at:  www.blueantwireless.com

While I do agree there should be some built-in protection that goes beyond the content providers simply self-policing, I strongly disagree with this law as it is written and I believe it was conceived prematurely in the history of the Internet, while the technology (web browsers and such) still had a lot of maturing to do to what it is today so the authors of this law could be as informed as possible.

The Solution

I propose a combination of voluntary and legally enforcable controls from both ends.  Action on the part of the content providers as well as security controls built-in to web browsers.

I will start with the voluntary.  Currently, there actually is a content rating system on the Internet (hidden HTML tags in web pages).  However, very few web sites and content providers use it as it is purely voluntary and there are no repercussions for not rating your content.  I believe this part should remain voluntary.  As it is completely impractical to monitor millions of web pages.  Utilizing these hidden “ratings” tags, pages will be rated by their own creators.  The creators will have motivation to accurately rate their content, read on.

So how do we protect the viewer?  This is where the law steps in…  Require web browsers to provide parental controls (with REAL security) locking and unlocking certain ratings for their young web surfers.  Any UNRATED pages will simply be blocked so the unsuspecting web browser cannot stumble onto an inappropriate site simply because that site hasn’t rated their pages yet.  This mechanism is not unlike the “V-chip” law that requires televisions to acknowledge ratings of broadcasts.  This may block much of the Internet at first, but the protection is there. (Currently, child content protection software for computers actually does block most of the Internet, unfortunately, it also blocks valuable, legitimate content mistakenly as well.)

If a “clean” site wants to be sure all browsers can view it, they MUST rate their site’s pages, hence the motivation.  Requiring web browsers to recognize content ratings will encourage any legitimate organization to rate their pages.  Almost “overnight” most of the valuable web will be rated as it takes relatively minimal effort to add these tags.

A “certified” web browser would be one that meets specific requirements.  Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Mozilla’s Firefox and Apple’s Safari web browser constitute nearly 100% of all web browsers used (especially those used by children) and those organizations would find it in their best interest to get this certification.  It wouldn’t be required certification, but parents would at least have a choice in web browsers and know that, with certification, real protection is there.

What about inaccurate content ratings that can fool the browser into showing inappropriate content?

Yes, this is a risk and it is also the part of the cost of having truly Free Speech.  But there is a solution for this as well…a realistic one.

Utilizing a fraud reporting system (similar to SPAM ‘blacklist’ services) browsers can “double-check” a site’s credibility with the reporting organization (it can do this real time).  So, as soon as a viewer sees incorrectly rated material, they can report it.  With enough reports, the browsers will see that a “G” rated site, for example, isn’t really G rated and blocks it from the viewer as needed.  Further, the domain can be threatened to be locked for presenting incorrectly rated pages after a number of reported violations. (This may also be written into the new law so the new rating system requirements have “teeth” as it were).  Again, the law would not require ratings, just that the ratings, when used, are accurate.

So, it’s mostly still a voluntary system.  As it should be.  However, the law is simply providing a realistic mechanism so that we may more easily protect our children while still leaving our precious First Amendment intact.

From business, leadership and investment points of view…I don’t think so.  The contrast is seen when we examine the impact your counterpart Steve Jobs, at Apple, has on those same issues.

Just a few short weeks ago, Steve Jobs was introducing us to the new 3G iPhone.  Not minutes after the demonstration, blogs and editorials were filling up with commentary and concern about what appeared to be a sickly looking CEO.

Not a few days later, enough momentum was built up in the industry regarding the rumors of an ailing CEO, once stricken with a rare form of pancreatic cancer, for the news to negatively affect the share price (AAPL).

I believe it is normal for the health of a CEO as influential and successful as Steve Jobs to affect the value of a company.  If the person most directly responsible for a company’s success is no longer around, they cannot continue to lead that company to success.  Especially with a company like Apple.  Before Steve was brought back as CEO nearly 10 years ago, Apple had a succession of failed Chiefs.

So, the contrast to Mr. Gates is Steve Jobs.  Gates is leaving, he left, he’s gone.  Stock price…the same.  Investors…not worried.  Business world cares Bill’s leaving?  No, not really.

Why mention this?  It sounds like I’m simply honoring Steve Jobs as a leader…but I’m really talking business here…

This brings me back to any possible future value of Microsoft and Apple.  You can’t have a leader that leaves a legacy of ambivalence with the business world and have the company they lead last forever.  The foundation is shaky..the future is murky…the proof is in the pudding?  Microsoft’s share price hasn’t moved much in ages.  Meanwhile their market share is steadily being eaten away by Apple and Linux-based solutions.  I thought share price was based on the future outlook?

Just as the analysts jumped on board with Apple (AAPL) after they had already showed signs of growth and a promising future.  They will too, continue to be the master oracles they are and predict a problem with Microsoft’s future, but only after that future has come and gone.

The dishonest business tactics (see Microsoft’s settlement with the states on Windows price fixing, European Union record fines), faulty product technologies (unreliable, insecure OS) and unfriendly nature of their products…all of this…will lead to an uncertain future for Microsoft (MSFT).

Steve Jobs may not live forever, but the Apple “seeds” he’s been planting for 10 years will most certainly last another 100.  Even mediocre leadership can hold all this up for a while…20…30 years?  The proof of that claim is in the man that just exited the stage from the other company.