“I’m truly saddened to learn of Steve Jobs’ death. Melinda and I extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends, and to everyone Steve has touched through his work.
Steve and I first met nearly 30 years ago, and have been colleagues, competitors and friends over the course of more than half our lives.
The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come.
For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it’s been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immensely.”
There he was, on stage, taking a pot shot at the 4G competition and how the new iPhone 4S was just as fast on Internet speeds. Sadly, Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, lied to a crowd full of reporters who let Schiller’s claim go right over their heads.
The problem with Schiller’s claim is two-fold. First, the iPhone 4S will only take advantage of the faster HSDPA speeds on GSM/UMTS systems leaving two of the three US carriers out in the cold that use CDMA/EV-DO. Second, that third and only GSM carrier here in the States is AT&T. Remember them? Ya, the company that doesn’t invest in its network but rather changes texting plan prices and killing unlimited bandwidth to add to its coffers. Well, truth behold, AT&T has but a handful of locations in the entire United States that supports the 14.4 HSDPA download speeds. Surprise, surprise!
Do you think the senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing didn’t know this fact when he pronounced to the audience the iPhone 4S was just as fast as the Android competition on the chart of US models behind him on stage? No, he completely knew the truth. What Phil Schiller did was lie to the world that the iPhone 4S was just as fast as LTE equipped phones that have been widely available for nearly half a year here in the United States. While the rest of the world may benefit from the improved modem, basically no one in America will. Essentially, Schiller knew the iPhone 4S offered very little – if anything at all – over the faster Android phones and attempted to level the playing field. He did so like a seasoned politician.
Apple finally sent out the invites for it’s upcoming “Let’s talk iPhone” event. There is little doubt the next-generation iPhone will be the topic of this gala to be held at 1 Infinite Loops, Apple’s headquarters, in Cupertino, California. Most expect the A5 processor CPU, better camera, and graphic video improvements. Others feel LTE is a possibility of appearing in the next iPhone. Lately touted, Apple-purchase Siri speech-to-text technology called Assistant looks to be on the agenda as well. Still, some think the iPhone will be larger based on leaked photos of upcoming cases like the one pictured above with the current iPhone sitting inside the case with plenty of wiggle room.
First reports of the larger screen seemed to point to Apple responding to the larger Motorola and HTCs that hit Verizon stores in the last few months. In classic Apple style, it didn’t make it too large as to be obnoxious, was the reason. That may be true, but I started thinking about it and wondered why, if these pictures are to believed, would Apple make the next iPhone just a bit larger? It certainly wouldn’t be for the screen. The minor bump in size would be minimal and most likely even unnoticeable in real world use.
I looked at the picture of the case again and thought, “While that’s not much space at all, if you filled it up with something like lithium-ion, then that could be a LOT of space.” You know, the active component of a rechargeable battery? It makes perfect sense when you pop open an iPad and see the majority of it is a battery and because of that, iPads can run all day long without breaking a sweat. The iPhone has been plagued with weak battery life since its inception and while the iPhone 4 claims the best performance yet, I know many users who have said that their 3GS had better life! iFix-it and the likes found little difference in the iPhone 5s battery.
So, if Apple could make a larger footprint, just a wee bit larger, and use it all for a battery, it’s very possible to gain a substantial about of battery life. I could easily see a 50% increase over the iPhone 4 with the added room seen in the next-generation iPhone case. If components used internally shrink, such as memory, then that’s even more room. Moving things around to better pack the board would also give some net gains. Thus, it’s quiet possible we could hear Tim Cook tell us October 4th that the newest iPhone has double the batter life of its predecessor.
Of course, if the larger size is in fact a done deal, the growth could be for other things like an LTE radio, better antenna, or even more memory, though I doubt the latter. But, I really do think we could be finally getting a smartphone that lasts all day. Boy, I really hope so.
There has been much talk of Steve Jobs failures since his resigning as CEO of the company he co-founded in 1976. The interesting thing about these lists, such as the one below in the cnet video, is the lack of one of Apple’s biggest flop to say the least since Steve officially dropped the i from iCEO in the late 90s. That flop? The Apple iPod Hi-Fi. You remember, the very speaker system for your iPod that replaced Steve Jobs entire high-end audio system at his Palo Alto home. His words, not mine.
Audiophiles around the globe immediately commented on the quality of this $350 white speaker box and the comments weren’t pretty. Muddy high frequencies were soaring on most lists while the lack of an AM/FM radio found its way on others. The placement of the iPod, on the top of the Hi-Fi itself, was another criticism due to the expensive media player being susceptible to damage due to lack of protection that seemingly begged to be hit by a passing object. The inability to use anything but an iPod, and only the older ones on top of that, was another gripe from the masses.
What most likely killed Steve Jobs home stereo replacement, the iPod Hi-Fi, was its price. For less money, one could pickup a quality speaker from either Bose or Altec Lansing for example. Competing brands also offered auxiliary inputs as well as other features lacking in Steve’s beloved white box.
For me, when I first saw the iPod Hi-Fi and it’s associated price, I laughed (yes, a true LOL!) and figured it would quietly disappear soon after introduction. It didn’t take long for that to happen. Just a little over a year after its May introduction in 2006, Apple discontinued the iPod HI-Fi in late 2007 without apology. No one’s sure if Steve eventually put his home audio system back into his AV rack but chances are good he did.
Have you been itching to plug something into your Thunderbolt port besides a display? Something you can suck some data out at a blistering 10Gb/s? Videographer, rejoice, LaCie has officially released its Little Big Disk Thunderbolt Series today and packs some power in a lightweight package. Perfect for those editing video on the go or on-set, the LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt HDD will give you all the speed and storage you need. Additionally, LaCie announced that it will ship the super fast SSD version in October.
No pricing was issued in its press release, shown below, but you can be ready for a spanking at the register for sure. Amateur need not apply. 
Today LaCie announced the Little Big Disk Thunderbolt Series is now available for purchase. It is the first portable solution to feature the shocking 10Gb/s speeds of Thunderbolt technology. This next-generation Little Big Disk is the first product in LaCie’s series of high-end Thunderbolt solutions.
Designed for the most demanding applications, the LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt Series will bring a new level of performance to creative workflows and professional storage users. It offers ultra-fast data transfers, complete system backup in minutes, and faster content editing than ever before.
“Performance can come in small packages,” says Jason Ziller, Intel’s director of Thunderbolt Marketing. “LaCie’s Little Big Disk with Intel’s Thunderbolt™ technology delivers blazingly fast transfer speeds in a truly portable form factor; we think media creators and entertainment enthusiasts alike are going to love it.”
A FEATHERWEIGHT POWERHOUSE
The LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt Series sets the new standard for the storage industry. Featuring a pair of 2.5″ drives in a Mac OS RAID configuration, the Little Big Disk delivers stunning read speeds more than 480MB/s in SSD and up to 190MB/s in HDD.
The more Little Big Disks you chain together, the more impressive the performance. Users can daisy chain several Little Big Disks to maximize the interface’s capabilities and reach transfer rates around 800MB/s – truly rackmount storage speeds in a portable solution.
NEXT GENERATION STORAGE
A game changer for content creators and professional users, the Little Big Disk is the ultimate portable solution for fast access to data or on-set editing. It supports multiple RAID levels (0,1 and JBOD) and daisy chaining for storage expansion or connecting other peripherals. Additionally, it features a heat sink casing and quiet fan for dual cooling.
“The great thing about the LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt Series is its versatility,” said Erwan Girard, Professional Business Unit Manager, LaCie. “No matter which Little Big Disk model you choose, it will serve your most demanding applications with ease and portability. It’s the ultimate in storage technology.”
For more than 20 years, LaCie has worked in the Apple™ marketplace, introducing innovative products and launching cutting-edge technologies. LaCie developed the first Apple branded storage solution and showcased the first implementations of FireWire technology. Since then, LaCie has collaborated with Intel™ and Apple to develop a range of professional storage solutions featuring Thunderbolt technology.
AVAILABILITY
The LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt Series HDD models are available through Apple retail stores worldwide and Apple.com. The SSD model will be shipping this October. All models will be available shortly through LaCie’s reseller channel and LaCie.com. The Thunderbolt cable can be purchased separately on Apple.com. For full specifications and product information on the LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt Series visit: http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?id=10549.
WIN A LITTLE BIG DISK THUNDERBOLT SERIES
Be one of the first to enjoy the next generation of high-speed storage – the LaCie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt Series. One winner will be selected each Thursday for the next four weeks. For additional details and to enter now visit www.facebook.com/lacieworldwide.
ABOUT LACIE
With operations in the Americas, Europe and Asia, LaCie is a leading manufacturer of storage devices for PC, Apple, and Linux. LaCie has differentiated itself through sleek design and remarkable technical performance. Find out more about our products at www.lacie.com.
Boy oh boy, am I getting tired of all these iPhone 5 delay stories. First we got the suppliers leaks that there was not enough activity happening to prime the pump for an iPhone summer release. Then the Japanese earthquake added some spin into it. Now the latest is Apple’s own WWDC announcement only talks about – gasp! – software. I mean, shouldn’t a developers conference be talking about hardware?!
I don’t get the short-sightedness of everyone.
Supply concerns or lack of ramp-up: wasn’t that a similar story just as early as late February for the iPad? Then what happened? Oh ya, the iPad 2 was released EARLIER than originally anticipated. Huh, go figure.
Take a short read of Apple’s WWDC 2010 press release and – Holy cow, NO mention of hardware?! Oh man, I bet the iPhone 4 will be delayed then. Oh wait a minute, that’s right, it came out in late June.
Well, what about that TechCrunch story about this cloud thing Apple is working on? Isn’t that just going to shove the iPhone back because Apple can’t possibly do two things at once, right? Maybe, if you believe TechCrunch but if you – once again – just go through Apple’s own press release archive you find some interesting news from the past. Like, “Apple Announces iTunes 6 With 2,000 Music Videos, Pixar Short Films & Hit TV Shows” in 2005 a month before it also released, what were they, oh yes, new iPods. This was BIG news back then so how could it every take on that huge undertaking AND release new hardware the next month? Incredible.
How about the following year when Apple proclaimed, “Apple Announces iTunes 7 with Amazing New Features“. Some of those new features was the ability to play, let me check, yes, movies. I mean, full fledged movies that filled up the screen on your brand new iPod. Dang, two years in a row!
Well that was then and this now. I mean Apple hasn’t really been spreading things out. Look at the iPhone 4 for Verizon for example. That came at the end of January. Sure, but old hardware doesn’t count.
Let’s look to September 1st of last year when Apple presented the world with “Apple Introduces iTunes 10 With Ping“. Ya, big deal, it jumped into social networking and it wasn’t that tremendous – not like a cloud undertaking would be. Um, let me see, oh yes, more press releases such as, “Apple Premieres New Apple TV for Breakthrough Price of $99“. Along came Netflix to the streaming party with that brand new Apple TV and some other amazing features. While we’re talking hardware, let’s remind the reader of the “Apple Introduces New iPod touch“, and of “Apple Reinvents iPod nano With Multi-Touch Interface” (you caught that Reinvents part, right?) as well as that little guy, “Apple Unveils New iPod shuffle“. Phewf, my wrist hurts from so much copy-and-pasting. How did Apple do ALL that in just one day?!
No, I think too many are getting caught up in the “hot story” of now and not looking at the past for some kind validation. Sure, Apple can change how it does things, I fully understand that, but I just do not see strong evidence for a slipped iPhone 5 ship date.
Reality is this for Apple: Android is taking over and the iPhone is no longer the must-have phone it once was. The longer Apple waits to push the phone, the more it slips in market share. Even if iOS 5 is completely revamped like TechCrunch claims, the average consumer won’t even hear about this and will buy what’s in front of them at the local cellular store. “Oh, that new Android just came out and the iPhone is over a year old now? Ya, let’s get the Android instead.”
Jobs isn’t dumb, he invented this game. Keep a steady upgrade cycle with minor but still cool features with each revision and people will keep buying Apple gear. Look to the iPod going on strong with a decade of fall updates.
Heck, I really believe the Ring Master himself is letting these little tid bits of “stories” slip out to throw not the press off but the competition. Give it false hope it has more time. Again, remember the iPad 2.
So what to make of the cloud? This story has been going for over a year now. No one knows for sure why Apple purchased Lala or why it has that massive data center in South Carolina but they both probably do have a relation to one another. When will the news come? Maybe at WWDC but again, how much does it tie into coding? Apple’s cloud is Apple’s cloud. Don’t expect any APIs for it. Because of this, I don’t see the cloud floating in on Moscone West for WWDC 2011. I see it as a separate iTunes event…with, ya, an iPhone 5 shown off.
If Angry Birds has left you feeling like you need a new addiction then take a look at Evil Bricks. A game that reminds me of Minesweeper, Evil Bricks requires you to tap bricks to bring matching colors together to rid the screen of bricks. The above trailer shows you just how easy – and addictive – this game is. Give it a try…and don’t blame us for lost hours of your life.
Press Release
ONDON (March 8, 2011) — Portable Pixels has launched a colorful, fast-paced puzzle game for iPhone. In Evil Bricks, users enjoy a simple-to-learn but difficult to master game of matching colors on a wall of sliding bricks. Players swipe rows of multi-colored bricks to change their positions. When five bricks of the same color are lined up, they explode – but new bricks are spawned, some of which are Evil Bricks which can only be destroyed with a Bomb Brick.
Evil Bricks’ bright, colorful graphics make it engaging to users of all ages with swipe gestures which take full advantage of the iPhone’s touch screen. The game also integrates Apple’s GameCenter, which uses Leaderboards and Achievements.
Features of Evil Bricks include:
· Multiple game modes: Classic, Time Attack and Timed.
· Game Center integration with Leaderboards and Achievements.
· Optimized graphics for iPhone 4.
· The ability to share scores on Facebook and Twitter.
Evil Bricks is available in the App Store for US$.99. It is also available in German and Italian versions. A video demonstration of the game can be viewed at www.evilbricks.com.
About Portable Pixels
Portable Pixels is one of the UK’s leading iPad and iPhone developers with clients including Audi, Wallpaper magazine, Imperial College London and Lord Darzi. For more information, visit www.portablepixels.com.
Several Charging Options
TekCharge MP1860A connects to devices in three ways: to iPad, iPhone, iPod nano or iPod touch using the included Dock Connector/USB cable, or to any compatible device using the USB device cable or an adapter tip.
An Apple Dock Connector to USB cable is included for charging and syncing iPad, iPhone, or iPod, with Mini USB and Micro USB adapter tips included for connection to current models of BlackBerry, HTC, LG, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson mobile phones. The included USB adapter tips can be used to charge Kindle2, Nook, MP3 players, PDAs, portable media players, pocket video cameras, portable routers, GPS, MP3 players, and other 5V devices that use a Micro or Mini USB cable to charge. Additional adapter tips are available from Tekkeon for a nominal fee.
Intelligent Design
Its intelligent design enables TekCharge MP1860A to identify and provide exactly the right output power for the connected device, from less than 100mA to a whopping 2.1A¾the precise output to fast charge iPad.
High-Capacity Rechargeable Battery
TekCharge MP1860A features a high-capacity rechargeable lithium ion battery. Designed the highest degree of safety in mind, it features multi-layer protection circuitry to help prevent over-charging, over-discharging, over-current, or short circuit, and flame-retardant plastics that exceed industry requirements.
Charge Battery and Device Together
To optimize charging time and luggage space, users can leave extra power adapters at home and use a single USB power adapter to charge the battery along with two connected devices overnight.
Battery Capacity at a Glance
A bright, color-coded LED on top of the battery quickly indicates the remaining capacity of the rechargeable battery.
Emergency Flashlight
As an added bonus, TekCharge MP1860A includes a flashlight to provide emergency light at a user’s fingertips.
“Made for iPod, iPhone, iPad” Certification
TekCharge MP1860A has been officially certified by Apple Inc. as a “Made for iPod, iPhone, and iPad” product. A certified Apple dock connector to USB cable is included in the TekCharge MP1860A box to ensure 100% compatibility with Apple products.
“While TekCharge MP1860A is certified by Apple for use with iPod, iPhone and iPad, this compact, high-capacity battery is universal to work with hundreds of popular mobile devices, including new tablets that are beginning to hit the market,” says Jerry Yang, president of Tekkeon, Inc. “And its unusually high 2.1 Amp output is ideal for fast charging most of these devices.”
TekCharge MP1860A includes:
TekCharge MP1860A Dual Port Power Pack
Retractable USB input/output cable (power only)
Dock Connector Cable for connection to iPad, iPhone or iPod (power and data)
myCharger™ USB power adapter
Mini USB adapter tip
Micro USB adapter tip
Adapter tip tote
User guide
The MSRP for TekCharge MP1860A is $69.95. The battery is available through retail and major on-line stores, including 3GStore.com, Adorama, Amazon.com, B&H Photos, CircuitCity.com, CompUSA.com, Newegg.com, and TigerDirect, and from the Tekkeon store at www.tekkeon.com. It comes with a one-year limited warranty.
Tekkeon offers a complete line of mobile power products for the iPhone, iPad, iPod, and other mobile devices. To learn more, please visit http://tekkeon.com.