Apple - Means Innovation

Importance of Rakeback

2008-05-08T16:20:00.000-07:00

Now why is rakeback important ? As the sites take the rake automatically most of the players do not know that they are charged for the game played by them. This results in the players not only beating their counterparts in the game, but also beat the rake too. If a player does not win rake then it means that he has not won at all. The fact is that nearly 50% of the players are in this category. Winning a good amount of rakeback every month is like receiving a bonus. Thus rakeback is important to the players.

YouTube news and information

2008-04-29T05:51:00.000-07:00

Getting the top YouTube.com news will always keep you ahead of the pack. This is why U Tube news has about the most recent. This is given the popularity of the website and its amount of website traffic. Because it is also hard to sort through all this, www.topyoutubevideos.com has devised a means through which youtube news can be easily read, updated and kept track of. Topyoutubevideos has a database containing the top videos in all categories. Parents do not have to worry as the videos here are all “clean”. Therefore, their children will never be exposed to lewd, obscene videos. You can also get all the youtube.com news that you could ever want. All in all, it offers a unique viewing experience for all viewers.

Mysterious Stranger’ still hogs the blogs

2008-04-12T03:12:00.000-07:00

OK, Mark Twain’s “mysterious stranger” was actually Satan’s nephew, and we’re certainly not deriding the devilish Steve Jobs or his wonderful company — but the theme of unwanted intrusion is apt.

That is, if you consider the perspective of incumbent handset vendors and all network operators not currently offering the iPhone. Intrusion, wake-up call, disruptive force, reality-distortion field — call it what you will, the iPhone show has been intriguing enough to drive a lot of industry conversations for more than a year.

For a few million well-heeled consumers and AT&T Mobility, the iPhone has delivered a welcome shift to ease-of-use and fun over the industry’s typical, oft-maddening user interfaces based on endless menus, ambiguous hard keys and tiny, crowded screens.

By most accounts Apple Inc. has delivered an engaging, fun UI that is thus far unmatched by rivals (though the latter are busy, more below). The iPhone sells legitimately in six global markets, though the latest two — Ireland and Austria, announced a month ago — were underwhelming. Further market rollouts clearly are expected.More Details>>

What is Coming May 6th from HTC? gPhone?

2008-04-09T23:35:00.000-07:00

Speculations are running rampant all over the blogosphere this week about invitations to an HTC Event in London on May 6th… “Witness the next wave of HTC Innovation” What else could it mean really? It’s got to be their version of the Google Android thingy, right? That sure seems to be what most are thinking at least. Slash Phone thinks so too…More Details>>

Apple - Means Innovation

2008-04-09T21:00:00.000-07:00

Nokia is working on what some observers are calling an iPhone killer. Code-named "Tube," Nokia discussed the device at the Evans Data Developer Relations Conference this week. The new touchscreen handset could debut by the end of the year.
According to Avi Greengart, a wireless analyst at Current Analysis, Nokia has been hinting at this device for months. He watched a video about a Nokia touchscreen phone at a December conference.
"Nokia is quick to tell you it is already well versed in using touchscreens and creating touchscreen devices," Greengart said. "In fact, its Internet tablet even has a full Internet browser with Flash support."
Java Built In
The Tube will have Java built in as a standard, which would give it at least one competitive advantage over Apple's current iPhone, according to Tom Libretto, vice president of Forum Nokia. Libretto also told the conference that the Tube will be able to upload photos to the Web, which would mean built-in Wi-Fi or HSDPA connectivity. The tube may also include support for the DVB-H mobile -TV standard for Europe and mobile video. More Details>>

Ada company develops wireless charging systems

2008-04-06T22:12:00.000-07:00

ADA -- Imagine this: You place your cell phone, iPod and your power drill on your kitchen counter, come back an hour later and your devices are charged.
All this is done without digging up cords that need to be attached to the devices or the risk that your toddler electrocutes himself when he crawls up on the counter.
This is wireless power.
And it's the vision behind eCoupled Technology, a product developed by Alticor Inc.'s little known subsidiary, Fulton Innovations.
While few have heard of Alticor's patented innovation, eCoupled will make its debut later this year when several major manufacturers are expected to build it into everyday re-chargeable products such as laptop computers and cell phones.
Even office furniture is expected to incorporate the re-charging functions as more people own eCoupled compatible gadgets.
Fulton is a sort-of skunkworks born out of research for Amway's eSpring water filtration system.
How it worksDevices equipped with eCoupled technology -- such common products as a cordless drill, blender, cell phone or laptop -- draw power through a process called inductive coupling.
The natural magnetic field of an electrical current is used to transfer power from one coil to another nearby but unattached. This allows the device to be recharged without a traditional cord or metal-on-metal contact.
eSpring uses the technology to power a bacteria-killing light inside the filter system without the need for the bulb to be connected by a cord or metal-on-metal contact.
The filter went on to become a hit product for Amway, particularly in markets where tap water isn't always safe to drink.More Details>>

JSTL and Expression Language

2007-06-28T16:07:00.000-07:00

JavaServer Pages Standard Tag Library (JSTL) is a custom tags collection that executes common functionalities in web applications, including iteration and selection, data formatting, XML manipulation and database access. JSTL allows JSP developers to focus on development specific necessities, instead of reinventing the wheel.

JSTL is composed of:

An expression language.
Standard actions libraries.
Validators (2 validators).

What is Expression Language (EL)?

Expression Language is a simple language based on ECMAScript (also known as JavaScript) and XPath. It provides expressions and identifiers and type conversion.

Expression Language makes easier the access to implicit objects, such as request / response servlet, scope variables and stored objects on JSP scope (page, request, session and application). EL reduces drastically the need of using JSP expressions and scriptlets, increasing web applications maintainability and extensibility.

Expressions

EL expressions are invoked with this syntax: ${expression}. Expressions consist of:

Identifiers.
Operators.

Apple iPhone The Most Important Product In 20 Years Claims Industry Heavies

2007-06-24T04:04:00.001-07:00

Several of the world’s leading CE executives have said that the pending launch of the Apple iPhone was most important introduction in CE of the past 20 years. They also claimed that Consumers want a more personalised experience when it comes to using CE products and the industry needs to get away from commodity products. The comments were made during a major industry Summit in the US over the weekend.

Top xecutives from Dell, Panasonic, Philips and Sony voiced their opinions and agreed on many of the issues facing their companies and the industry during the Manufacturer Power Panel at the CEA CEO Summit, being held in the USA.

Ron Garriques, president/CEO of Dell Global Consumer Group, Stan Glasgow, president/COO of Sony Electronics, Stewart Muller, president/CEO of Philips Consumer Electronics and Joseph Taylor, executive VP/COO at Panasonic were members of the panel, which was...More>>

Apple Now Third-largest U.S. Music Retailer

2007-06-24T03:59:00.001-07:00

Apple Inc.'s digital music store iTunes is now the third-largest music retailer in the United States with 10 percent market share, overtaking Amazon.com in the first quarter, according to a survey released on Friday.

The NPD Group report highlights the growing strength of digital music in the U.S. market as physical sales of compact discs continue to slide.

Apple's iTunes is third behind market leader Wal-Mart Stores Inc. with a 15.8 percent share, and Best Buy Co Inc. with a 13.8 percent share, according to the survey of 40,000 people aged 13 and older.

Both of those retailers mostly sell music in the CD format. Online store bestbuy.com has a 1.1 percent market share with sales of both CDs and digital music.

Amazon.com Inc. dropped to fourth with a 6.7 percent share. Its sales increased but not as fast as rivals.More>>

Apple's iPhone casts big shadow on cell industry

2007-06-24T03:57:00.001-07:00

If the device—a melding of phone, Web browser and music and video player—is a hit, analysts say it will cut into market share of major phonemakers, including Schaumburg-based Motorola

As if struggling cell phone-maker Motorola Inc. doesn't have enough to worry about: Here comes the iPhone, heir to the mighty iPod, brainchild of tech golden boy Steve Jobs—and riding a tidal wave of hype to boot.

Due in U.S. stores Friday, the iPhone promises to stir up the mobile phone business. Apple Inc.'s first phone isn't expected to take much business from Schaumburg-based Motorola or anyone else in the short term, but it will change the industry landscape nonetheless, analysts say.

"It will not be a financial disrupter, but it will be a psychological disrupter, a research and development disrupter," said Roger Entner, senior vice president of IAG Research's communications sector. "That's because everybody will say [to competitors like Motorola], 'Why can't you do that?' " More>>

Help The World Stay Green - Reduce Global Warming

2007-06-16T17:45:00.000-07:00

You can help reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by buying a carbon offset. Carbon offsetting is the process by which you pay an environmental organization to reduce the CO2 in the atmosphere by the amount that your day to day activities increase it, thus clearing your Carbon Debt and neutralizing your impact on the environment. It's about time that you become responsible for your actions, and help keep the environment clean.

How does CO2Debt.com carbon offset services work?

CO2debt.com enables you to offset your CO2 emissions by funding ethical and sustainable reforestation and energy projects throughout the world. We are work closely with many environmental friendly organizations seeking to make the world a greener cleaner place. Our carbon offset services are available to businesses and individuals alike. Perform your civic duty and clear your Carbon debt today.

CO2Debt.com is a Non-Profit group. Our ultimate goal is to reduce CO2 emissions and promote alternative energy.

Desi Club Torrent - Feel At Home

2007-06-16T08:33:00.000-07:00

BitTorrent is a protocol designed for transferring files.

It is peer-to-peer (p2p) in nature, as users connect to each other directly to send and receive portions of the file. However, there is a central server (called a tracker) which coordinates the action of all such peers. The tracker only manages connections, it does not have any knowledge of the contents of the files being distributed, and therefore a large number of users can be supported with relatively limited tracker bandwidth.

The key philosophy of BitTorrent is that users should upload (transmit outbound, also called seeding) at the same time they are downloading (receiving inbound, also called leeching). In this manner, network bandwidth is utilized as efficiently as possible. BitTorrent is designed to work better as the number of people interested in a certain file increases, in contrast to other file transfer protocols.

Read The Rules

GET A CLIENT In order to use BitTorrent you need to download a Bittorrent client This will allow you to grab the files described in the .torrent. There are many clients currently available that can be downloaded for free of the web. Here is some of them:

Read the FAQs

torrent: Usually this refers to the small metadata file you receive from the web server (the one that ends in .torrent.) Metadata here means that the file contains information about the data you want to download, not the data itself. This is what is sent to your computer when you click on a download link on a website. You can also save the torrent file to your local system, and then click on it to open the BitTorrent download. This is useful if you want to be able to re-open the torrent later on without having to find the link again.; In some uses, it can also refer to everything associated with a certain file available with BitTorrent. For example, someone might say "I downloaded that torrent" or "that server has a lot of good torrents", meaning there are lots of good files available via BitTorrent on that server. TRY IT HERE

Apple Launches iTunes Plus

2007-06-10T08:21:00.000-07:00

today launched iTunes® Plus—DRM-free music tracks featuring high quality 256 kbps AAC encoding for audio quality virtually indistinguishable from the original recordings—for just $1.29 per song. iTunes Plus is launching with EMI’s digital catalog of outstanding recordings, including singles and albums from Coldplay, The Rolling Stones, Norah Jones, Frank Sinatra, Joss Stone, Pink Floyd, John Coltrane and more than a dozen of Paul McCartney’s classic albums available on iTunes for the first time.

iTunes will continue to offer its entire catalog, currently over five million songs, in the same versions as today—128 kbps AAC encoding with DRM—at the same price of 99 cents per song, alongside the higher quality iTunes Plus versions when available. In addition, iTunes customers can now easily upgrade their library of previously purchased EMI content to iTunes Plus tracks for just 30 cents a song and $3.00 for most albums.

“Our customers are very excited about the freedom and amazing sound quality of iTunes Plus,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We expect more than half of the songs on iTunes will be offered in iTunes Plus versions by the end of this year.”

“This is a tremendous milestone for digital music,” said Eric Nicoli, CEO of EMI Group. “Consumers are going to love listening to higher quality iTunes Plus tracks from their favorite EMI artists with no usage restrictions.”

With the release of iTunes Plus, customers can now download tracks from their favorite EMI artists without limitations on the type of music player or number of computers that purchased songs can be played on. iTunes is also offering customers a simple, one-click option to easily upgrade their library of previously purchased EMI content to the iTunes Plus versions. EMI music videos are now also available in iTunes Plus versions with no change in price. iTunes Plus songs purchased from the iTunes Store will play on all iPods, Mac® or Windows computers, widescreen TVs with Apple TV™ and soon iPhones, as well as many other digital music players.

The iTunes Store features the world’s largest catalog with over five million songs, 350 television shows and over 500 movies. The iTunes Store has sold over 2.5 billion songs, 50 million TV shows and over two million movies, making it the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store.

With Apple’s legendary ease of use, pioneering features such as integrated podcasting support, iMix playlist sharing, seamless integration with iPod® and the ability to turn previously purchased songs into completed albums at a reduced price, the iTunes Store is the best way for PC and Mac users to legally discover, purchase and download music and video online.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and will enter the mobile phone market this year with its revolutionary iPhone.

Apple Updates MacBook Pro

2007-06-10T08:18:00.000-07:00

Apple® today updated its MacBook® Pro line of notebooks with the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors, memory up to 4GB, and high-speed graphics in a stunning, lightweight, aluminum enclosure that is just one-inch thin. The new MacBook Pro is available in 15-inch models with a new mercury-free, power-efficient LED-backlit display and a 17-inch model with an optional high-resolution display. All models include a built-in iSight® video camera for video conferencing on-the-go, Apple’s MagSafe® Power Adapter that safely disconnects when under strain, and built-in 802.11n wireless networking for up to five times the performance and twice the range of 802.11g.*

“With Intel Core 2 Duo performance, more memory and state-of-the-art graphics, this MacBook Pro is a portable powerhouse for creative and professional users,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Apple’s notebooks have always led the industry in innovation with features like built-in 802.11 and the MagSafe Power Adapter, and now the industry’s first 15-inch LED-backlit display is another step toward completely eliminating mercury from our displays.”

Every MacBook Pro model includes an Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4MB of shared L2 cache, an 800 MHz frontside bus and 2GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM memory, running professional applications like Final Cut Pro® 6 and Logic® Pro 7 more than 50 percent faster than the original MacBook Pro with Core Duo. Delivering more realistic graphics for animation and gaming, every MacBook Pro now includes the state-of-the art NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT and is more than 50 percent faster than the original MacBook Pro with Core Duo.**

The MacBook Pro’s lightweight, aluminum enclosure is just one-inch thin and is available in three models: 2.2 GHz and 2.4 GHz 15-inch MacBook Pro models, and a 2.4 GHz 17-inch MacBook Pro model. The new 15-inch MacBook Pro models feature a brand-new, power-efficient LED-backlit display and are the first of Apple’s notebooks to transition to LED backlighting as part of the company’s effort to eliminate the use of mercury in its products. The 17-inch model now offers a new optional 1920-by-1200 high-resolution display, providing over 30 percent more screen real estate than the standard 1680-by-1050 display.

Designed for mobile professionals, the MacBook Pro includes a built-in iSight video camera for video conferencing on-the-go, Apple’s MagSafe Power Adapter that magnetically connects the power cord to the MacBook Pro and safely disconnects when under strain, and the latest generation of 802.11n wireless networking for up to five times the performance and twice the range of 802.11g. Every new MacBook Pro also includes built-in 10/100/1000 BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet for high-speed networking, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate), a FireWire® 800 and a FireWire 400 port, a backlit illuminated keyboard, an ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot for expansion solutions such as 3G wireless networking, and a DVI video output to connect up to a 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Display.

The MacBook Pro comes with iLife® ‘06, the next generation of Apple’s award-winning suite of digital lifestyle applications featuring iPhoto®, iMovie® HD, iDVD®, GarageBand™ and iWeb™. The MacBook Pro also comes with the latest release of the world’s most advanced operating system, Mac OS® X version 10.4.9 Tiger, including Safari™, Mail, iCal®, iChat AV, Front Row and Photo Booth.

iPhone set to ring up strong results for Apple

2007-06-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

NO CONSUMER device has stirred the worldwide interest to match Apple's iPhone, due to go on sale in the US on June 29.

Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft's Xbox 360 pale beside it. Even the phenomenally successful iPod did not gain celebrity status for at least a year after it was launched in October 2001.

To judge by the furore, iPhone is the most desired device on the planet, even though its $US500 ($A590) price tag is about five times more than average US mobile phone prices.

Even in Australia, which is not expected to see the iPhone on sale until late next year or early 2009, interest is keen.

A lot of iPod technology and design is in the iPhone, which may account for the fever of interest surrounding it because in the music-player market it is most desired, works well and is seen as a symbol of coolness.

The fact that Apple has not until now ventured into the highly competitive mobile phone market and, in that sense has no experience in this area, has no bearing on the issue; nor that Apple expects to sell only 10 million iPhones where Nokia, Ericsson and Motorola each probably will sell 300 million of their phones this year.

Expectations of success have galvanised US sharemarkets and Apple's stock is now at a high of $US127, having stacked on more than $US25 in the past month.

Gene Munster, of US analyst firm, Piper Jaffray, says Apple's share price could go to $US160 and that, with European sales beginning at the end of next year, the company will sell 45 million iPhones in 2009.

So what makes the iPhone so sexy?

It is a highly innovative touch-screen mobile phone, media player and wireless internet gadget using 802.11g technology, otherwise called wi-fi and available in thousands of areas all over the world.

Other phones have similar features, but none have quite the finesse of the iPhone. Even the touch-screen is different, and the device uses the Macintosh computer operating system.

It is beautiful to see and great fun to use. I have had one in my hand and made a call on it; to Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO (but he did not answer).

Munster estimates iPhone's price will halve in a year and then capture about 7 per cent of the North American handset market and about 3 per cent of the world mobile phone market.

Motorola's RAZR phone, one of the most popular of recent models, sold 65 million in 12 months after its launch in 2004.

Other analysts, including Jonathan Hoopes, of ThinkEquity Partners, points to the sales curve of the iPod. It sold 187,000 units in its first six months, from October 2001 to April 2002. It did nearly half a million in the next 12 months and 2.18 million the following year. Apple expects to ship 40 million iPhones in 2009.

Forrester Research analyst Charles Golvin expects Apple will continue to develop the iPhone, expanding its memory from 4 gigabyte and adding other technology, including, possibly, WiMAX that would improve wireless internet access.

The other sales-promoting aspect is that the iPhone incorporates what amounts to an iPod nano. Thus, if you add the cost of a mobile to the cost of an iPod, you get roughly the price of an iPhone, plus internet access.

Apple and Google - Partnership Next Week?

2007-06-10T07:37:00.001-07:00

With Apple’s WorldWide Developer Conference (WWDC) on schedule for next week, this is the time for rumors to come flying. The latest one and highly-probable one: Apple and Google partnering up on updating Apple’s .Mac service.

Apple’s .Mac service provides consumers with one gigabyte of shared email/web storage that users can back their own documents up to and also host websites on. They also provide online calendar, synchronizing of bookmarks to multiple computers, and more, for $99/year. While this is all put on by Apple and seems like a good round-up features, Google, the search-engine giant, has most, if not all of these features for free and are in some cases better than what Apple currently provides. Google’s GMail service provides users with a continuously growing amount of storage space for their email, as well as Google PageBuilder to create your own site on, Google Calendar, and many other features that Apple provides.

Apple has been bashed for not updating these features to catch up with competitors, but that may change. Wired is reporting that Apple and Google may partner up with each other to update the .Mac service to make it more comparable to other solutions. In an interview with Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google and also an Apple board member, he believed that this was bound to happen. “We’re a perfect back end to the problems that they’re trying to solve. They have very good judgment on user interface and people. But they don’t have this supercomputer (that Google has), which is the data centers. What they have is a manufacturing business that’s doing quite well.”

This could be a hint to an upcoming re-release of the .Mac service. Also, when Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, was asked at the D Conference last week, he said that they “will make up for lost time in the very near future” for their putting off .Mac upgrade. We will see how this all folds out on Monday, June 11 at the WWDC keynote speech.

iPhone set to ring up strong results for Apple

2007-06-10T07:32:00.000-07:00

NO CONSUMER device has stirred the worldwide interest to match Apple's iPhone, due to go on sale in the US on June 29.

Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft's Xbox 360 pale beside it. Even the phenomenally successful iPod did not gain celebrity status for at least a year after it was launched in October 2001.

To judge by the furore, iPhone is the most desired device on the planet, even though its $US500 ($A590) price tag is about five times more than average US mobile phone prices.

Even in Australia, which is not expected to see the iPhone on sale until late next year or early 2009, interest is keen.

Expectations of success have galvanised US sharemarkets and Apple's stock is now at a high of $US127, having stacked on more than $US25 in the past month.

So what makes the iPhone so sexy?

It is a highly innovative touch-screen mobile phone, media player and wireless internet gadget using 802.11g technology, otherwise called wi-fi and available in thousands of areas all over the world.

Other phones have similar features, but none have quite the finesse of the iPhone. Even the touch-screen is different, and the device uses the Macintosh computer operating system.

It is beautiful to see and great fun to use. I have had one in my hand and made a call on it; to Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO (but he did not answer).

Munster estimates iPhone's price will halve in a year and then capture about 7 per cent of the North American handset market and about 3 per cent of the world mobile phone market.

Motorola's RAZR phone, one of the most popular of recent models, sold 65 million in 12 months after its launch in 2004.

Sun CEO spills Apple Leopard secret

2007-06-08T01:22:00.003-07:00

Apple may have a jones for secrecy, but that doesn't mean it can keep its partners quiet.

On stage Wednesday in Washington, D.C., Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz revealed that his company's open source ZFS file system will replace Apple's long-used HFS+ in Mac OS X 10.5, a.k.a. "Leopard," when the new operating system ships this fall.

"This week, you'll see that Apple is announcing at their Worldwide Developers Conference that ZFS has become the file system in Mac OS X," said Schwartz.

ZFS (Zettabyte File System), designed by Sun for its Solaris OS but licensed as open source, is a 128-bit file storage system that features, among other things, "pooled storage," which means that users simply plug in additional drives to add space, without worrying about such traditional storage parameters as volumes or partitions.

"[ZFS] eliminates volume management, it has extremely high performance.... It permits the failure of disk drives," crowed Schwartz during a presentation focused on Sun's new blade servers. Apple's operating system currently relies on HFS+ (Hierarchical File System Plus), a 1998 extension of 1985's HFS.

ZFS was touted by many as a possible successor to HFS+ last summer, immediately after Apple's CEO Steve Jobs first showed off Time Machine, the new backup feature planned to debut in Leopard.

In the intervening months, however, the ZFS-Time Machine connections were downplayed or dismissed by most observers. Even today, after Schwartz talked up ZFS, bloggers seemed skeptical about the file system's place in Leopard.

"I'll stick to my prediction that Apple, as with HFS+, will put ZFS on OS X Server first before bringing it out later for the great unwashed," said Robin Harris on his StorageMojo blog.

Most objections centered around the short time between now and Leopard's October release, and the implications of such a major makeover. Others at Sun, however, seemed to confirm that ZFS would be the default file system.

"Jonathan noted that Apple will announce this week that the ZFS file system from OpenSolaris will become Apple's new default file system," said Marc Hamilton, Sun's director of technology for global education and research, on his company blog.

"So how does that help Sun? It is pretty simple: Now every Apple developer will know ZFS and how to use it on our SunFire x4500 storage server and other Sun products." A Sun spokeswoman would not confirm or deny that ZFS would be Mac OS X 10.5's default file system.

"I can't tell you anything more than what Jonathan [Schwartz] said today," she said.

Apple does not comment on unannounced products or product features. Schwartz may have unwittingly stolen some of Jobs' thunder for next week, since Apple watchers expect the Apple CEO to tout Leopard -- especially features previously not made public -- during his WWDC keynote next Monday.

Apples iPhone: Hype or Heavyweight?

2007-06-08T01:22:00.001-07:00

iPod now Common Learning Tool in Schools

2007-03-03T05:04:00.000-08:00

iPod is now turned in to a common learning tool with schools kids. Now, with the MP3 player's foothold in academia, universities and companies are quickly expanding the amount of study materials students can use with them. As schools embrace the iPod, mos of the companies are jumping in to provide content and offer a range of downloadable documents, including travel guides, a 40,000-word version of Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, the Encyclopedia Britannica and biographies. >>

Apple iPhone at Oscars!

2007-03-01T20:00:00.001-08:00

Commercials have been synonymous with the Oscars. This year was no different. As rumored, Apple aired its first iPhone television ad at the glitzy awards ceremony.

The commercial, aired multiple times throughout the awards ceremony, featured a number of movie and television clips with actors and actresses answering the telephone. "Hello?"

Eventually, the commercial cuts to the iPhone itself and then says "Hello ... Coming in June."

Earlier this week, Apple settled a dispute with Cisco over the use of the iPhone name. Under terms of the agreement, both companies have the right to use the name.

Apple introduced the iPhone at Macworld Expo in January. While not yet released, the $499 smartphone has caused waves in the wireless market as analysts expect the demand for the touchscreen device to be high.

In the year 1984, Apple's advertisement shown during the Super Bowl had introduced the Macintosh to the world.

Apples next big move: Multitouch displays?

2007-03-01T03:07:00.001-08:00

Speaking of multitouch, Steven Johnson, the guy who wrote Everything Bad is Good For You and Emergence, isn't normally our go-to guy for Apple rumors, but he has an interesting theory about what the company's next big move might be. He speculates that all these hints about new, unannounced features for Leopard, combined with a delay in the release of new Apple Cinema Displays, the coming launch of the iPhone, and rumors about a new "ProTools killer" that relies on touch screens, all point toward the introduction of new multitouch-capable displays and the rollout of iPhone-like multitouch interfaces across Apple's product line. Yeah, that'd be crazy, right? Jobs definitely loves having symmetry in his product lines, so even though this seems pretty unlikely it's not totally impossible that he'd want to bring multitouch to stuff besides the iPhone. That said, we haven't heard a single thing about new Apple displays sporting multitouch capabilities, so for now we'll file this one under "wild speculation."

Apple TV Delayed Until March

2007-02-28T20:03:00.000-08:00

Expected to launch in February, Apple has delayed its new Apple TV until March, reports Wired (via AP).
To retail for $299, Apple TV is designed to move digital content from a user's computer to a TV set and is anticipated to be a highly competitive product in the growing crop of offerings that deliver Internet-based videos to the television.
"Wrapping up Apple TV is taking a few weeks longer than we projected, and we now expect to begin shipments mid-March," Apple spokeswoman Lynn Fox said Monday.
Some analysts are projecting the set-top box could be yet another hit product for Apple, adding to the Cupertino-based company's growing fortunes as it expands its consumer electronics portfolio beyond Macintosh computers and iPod portable players.

Happy 52nd birthday, Steve Jobs

2007-02-25T00:57:00.000-08:00

Happy birthday to you – Steve, this is your day.
On this day for you we’re gonna love you in every way.
This is your day, your day, happy birthday to you, to you, to you.

Happy birthday to you, you’re still young.
Age is just a number, don’t you stop having fun.
This is your day, your day, happy birthday to you.
This day only comes once every year,
Because you’re so wonderful with each and everything you do, hey!

Happy birthday to you, this is your day.
On this day for you were gonna love you in every way.
This is your day, your day, happy birthday to you, to you.
This day is only for you, because you’re so special in every way,
Happy birthday to you and thanks for the Apple iPhone!

Steve Jobs, Business Personality

Born: 24 February 1955
Birthplace: San Francisco, California
Best Known As: The co-founder of Apple Computers

Steve Jobs was a college dropout when he teamed up with Steve Wozniak in 1976 to sell personal computers assembled in Jobs’ garage. That was the beginning of Apple Computers, which revolutionized the computing industry and made Jobs a multimillionaire before he was 30 years old. He was forced out of the company in 1985 and started the NeXT Corporation, but returned to his old company in 1996 when Apple bought NeXT. Jobs soon became Apple’s chief executive officer and sparked a resurgence in the company with products like the colorful iMac computer and the iPod music player. Jobs is also the CEO of Pixar, the animation company responsible for movies like Toy Story and Monsters, Inc. Pixar was purchased by the Walt Disney Company in 2006 for $7.4 billion in stock; the deal made Jobs the largest individual shareholder of Disney stock.

Some sources list Los Altos, California as Jobs’s place of birth. However, in a 1995 oral history interview with The Smithsonian, Jobs said, “I was born in San Francisco, California, USA, planet Earth, February 24, 1955.” Jobs was given up for adoption after birth and raised by his adoptive parents in Silicon Valley… His biological sister is novelist Mona Simpson, author of Anywhere But Here.

Apple Music Event 2001-The First Ever iPod Introduction

2007-02-24T22:10:00.000-08:00

Microsoft CEO Ballmer laughs at Apple iPhone

2007-02-24T22:09:00.000-08:00

Apple’s iPhone pricing: too high or too low?

2007-02-24T22:03:00.000-08:00

"Apple iPhone followers got two conflicting pieces of data regarding its $499 price point. In one survey done by an online shopping firm Compete as reported by MacWorld UK, only one percent of the consumers who said they were likely to buy an iPhone said they would pay $500 for it," Carl Howe writes for Blackfriars' Marketing. "Sounds bad right?"

Online market research firm Compete surveyed 379 people in the US, most of whom had heard of the iPhone and have shopped for an iPod, to find out how interested they are in the device to produce the uncommissioned report. The iPhone is a combined music player and cell phone that Apple plans to start selling in the US in June and in Europe by the end of the year.

Among the 26 per cent of respondents who said they're likely to buy an iPhone, only 1 per cent said they'd pay $500 for it. When Apple introduced the iPhone in January, it said it would cost $500 on the low end.

Forty-two per cent of those who said they're likely to buy the phone said they'd pay $200 to $299.

Howe writes, "Now here, you have to actually wonder about that result and how they asked the question, especially when 42% said they'd buy one for $200 to $299. Did Compete ask those questions serially, or did they simply put the question up as follows:

What is the most you would pay for an iPhone?
• $500 or more
• $400 to $499
• $300 to $399
• $200 to $299
• less than $200

Howe writes, "Since this was an online survey, this format is quite likely. And it will give quite poor data. Why? Because it causes the reader to believe that there will be alternative prices for the iPhone that are lower than $500! And if Apple sticks to its mass-market luxury item strategy, there simply won't be other prices available. The result: some of the people who said they'd only pay $200 to $299 will still buy the iPhone at $499 anyway [and], by the time Christmas of 2008 rolls around, Moore's Law says that the price of the electronics in the iPhone will be half what they are now. Don't be surprised if those 46% of consumers get their $299 iPhone then; they just have to wait eighteen months before it makes business sense for Apple to sell it at that price."

Apple ranks No. 18 in customer service report

2007-02-24T22:01:00.000-08:00

Apple is ranked No. 18 on BusinessWeek's The Customer Service Elite, but led the PC industry in customer satisfaction in part to due to the service offered at the company's Genius Bars. "Despite frustration about iPod battery replacements, Apple's customer service phone support ranks tops among electronics providers. In particular, customers rate its automated phone system as easy to navigate and good at resolving questions," according to the report. The report also noted that "Apple's customer service shows its bruises--device problems frequently erupt just after warranties expire," but said that the support offered at the "Genius Bars" at its retail stores set it apart from its peers.

USAA (insurance company), Four Seasons (hotels), Cadillac (automotive), Nordstrom's (retailer), and Wegmen's (supermarket) were ranked as the top 5, respectively.

Apple scored a C- in its "process" score, a reflection of its return policies or reservation procedures, but received a B+ in the 'people' category, which reflects the friendliness of customer service representatives, their expertise expertise, and other aspects of the experience. According to the report, the people score was weighted at 63 percent and the process score at 37 percent.

Nearly 60 percent of people surveyed said that they would recommend the brand. Apple also benefited from being the leader in its in industry, as the scores include bonus points for the top 3 vendors in each industry. No other PC vendors were among the top 25, which was published in this week's issue of BusinessWeek.

Cisco Allows Apple Use 'iPhone' Name

2007-02-24T21:57:00.000-08:00

Cisco Systems and Apple Computer have finally called a truce, and will share the 'iPhone' name in exchange for exploring 'interoperability' between the companies' products in areas such as security, consumer, and business communication.

Both Apple and Cisco have said they will dismiss any pending legal actions regarding the 'iPhone' trademark, but continue to remain tight-lipped about future products that might come out of the 'interoperability' deal. On Jan 10, 2007, just a day after Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, unveiled the company's much awaited iPhone, Cisco slapped a suit against Apple, alleging that the latter's use of the 'iPhone' name constituted a 'willful and malicious' violation of a trademark Cisco has owned since 2000.

And, Cisco's Linksys division has been using the 'iPhone' trademark for a series of phones that make free long distance calls over the Internet, using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).

In its lawsuit, Cisco said that in an era of 'convergence', the two companies' phones could eventually take on different features and end up competing head-to-head. Cisco said this would result in confusion, mistake, and deception for consumers.

Apple dubbed the suit 'silly' initially, arguing that it was entitled to use the 'iPhone' name as the phones belonging to the two companies operate over different networks, and as such, would never compete with each other.

Meanwhile, analysts say the settlement will help both companies strengthen their positions in the increasing competition to deliver video and other applications via the network direct to consumers' homes.

One network infrastructure analyst with the Yankee Group, Zeus Kerravala, voiced the view that there are ample opportunities for the two companies to dream up collaborative projects to win over consumers.

He cited one possibility as the creation of a Linksys device that users could call into to record podcasts, which could then be uploaded onto iTunes automatically.

Kerravala said that if the two companies could actually find common ground and work together, the combination would be a formidable one unlike that in which both are continually at loggerheads with each other.

Kerravala pointed out that after all, there's no company out there that understands network service like Cisco, and no other company that quite understands user experience like Apple Computer.