Jobs Resigns: Not for Tech Sites Only
Stunned. I was stunned to hear that Steve Jobs was resigning as Apple's CEO. (Spoiler alret!) But I was more stunned to see the extent to which mainstream media covered his departure. Most of these were around 9pm EDT Wednesday August 24th, 2011. As the east coast prepares for Hurricane Irene. And the battle for Tripoli rages.
(This was closer to 1am EDT on August 25th, though NBC's top story at 9pm on the 24th was about Jobs' resignation as well)
I dind't expect Aljazeera English to have Jobs' resignation as its top story. I also didn't expect it to have Jobs' resignation as its second story.
I did expect this top story/second line-up for PBS Newshour.
No surprise at all from the business site.
Electronista: Big Picture of Bigger iPhone Screens?
From Electronista:
A photo from a Wintek plant captured by a Weibo user has supported beliefs the iPhone 5 will have at least some design changes. Touch panels going through the contractor's quality assurance process support views that the next iPhone will have a larger screen. Along with the screen itself appearing bigger, the home button appears to now be an oval and suggests Apple might have 'squashed' the control, either to fit the larger screen or to accommodate interface needs.
Fits with other rumors, though it's still hard for me to believe it fits with Apple's plans. We'll likely see soon.
A Reintroduction to Mac OS Ken: Day 6
More Lions and Angry Birds in More Places
Image: Flikr feed of kcp4911
How do you get Lion - Apple’s mostly Mac App Store operating system - into countries that don’t have the Mac App Store?
You’ll never guess.
Apple Insider says the Cupertino-company has upped access to both the Mac and iOS App Stores by 33 countries, bringing the number of nations playing virtual host to the virtual stores to 123.
Joining the party, a veritable alphabet of nations (plus seven extra), including:
Algeria, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Cayman Islands, Cyprus, Dominica, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, Iceland, Montserrat, Nigeria, Oman, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and The Grenadines, Suriname, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos, Uzbekistan, Yemen
The Lion Sleeps No More...
I have barely had time to get into Lion myself, which leaves me ill-prepared to tell anyone much about the workings of the operating system. Instead, I'll link you to three pieces by people well prepared to do so.
Here's a Medium-Sized Lion Review by Andy Ihnatko.
Here's a Large Lion Review by Developer Wayne Dixon.
Here's a Super-Sized Lion Review by John Siracusa.
And finally, just for fun, here's Apple's "Lion's Out" Press Release.
It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Lion...
Thanks to my very own secret so and so for sending this to me. Apple sent them out to members of its developer program on Monday, July 11th, 2011.
Bob O'Donnell: Walking the Enedrline
IDC’s Bob O’Donnell is coming seriously close to the Enderline to my way of thinking, not so much for blatant Apple hating but for the blind spot he has where the Cupertino-company is concerned.
Computerworld has the IDC exec saying that 3G tablet sales are doomed as doomed can be. For proof, look no further than the "hundreds of thousands" of 3G tablets sitting - unsold - on the shelves of various carriers.
"The 3G thing on tablets is bogus," says O'Donnell. "Nobody wants to pay for that data," and, "Sales of 3G tablets have been very slow."
For me - actually - he’s right. My first iPad was “plus 3G” because I was worried about being caught places without WiFi. Then, after close to a year of using 3G on my iPad one time, the iPad 2 I bought is WiFi only. But that was just about the added cost of the device not the data plan, since you don’t have to sign up for a monthly data plan with the iPad, which - by the way - is far and away the most popular tablet on the planet.
Here’s my issue with O'Donnell: He doesn’t even seem to be taking the iPad into account in his accounting, basing his belief that 3G tablet sales suck wind on “interviews with several large tablet makers, including Motorola and Samsung.”
"Tablets are a different animal than smartphones and are much more like a typical computer where you tend to sit in one place using Wi-Fi to work," says O’Donnell.
Some tablet makers that make both tablets and cellphones - a la Samsung and Motorola - have focused tablet sales through wireless carriers, finding only "moderate" success says IDC.
Sales of their devices were "largely stymied by many consumers' unwillingness to sign up for the 3G/4G data plans that the carriers typically require along with those devices," also says IDC.
"We believe [tablet] vendors who continue to focus on the telco channel for distribution will face serious challenges..." also says IDC. Seriously, there’s not much wrong with what they’re saying... except for one, trifling thing: THEY SEEM TO BE IGNORING THE IPAD!
I know iPad is just one tablet, but it’s the biggest tablet.
It’s like a music analyst saying, “Sales of Juice Newton and Helen Ready tracks indicate that no one is buying music by female artists anymore.”
“Well,” says some guy with a Posterous page, “what if you add in Lady GaGa?”
“Im sorry, who?”
Business Insider Looks at How Apple is Able to Stay Ahead of Other Device Makers
How is Apple able to make such marvelous tools while others strive to catch up? Business Insider found a Quora thread that may have the answers.
Mac OS Ken: Live - The Brain Drain and the Great iAm
Big thoughts for tonight’s Mac OS Ken: Live - 10pm EDT/7pm PDT/3am BST on UStream.tv - thoughts too big to squeeze into 140 characters or less. Pick and choose friends, then call in. Leftover cake to be served.
Jobs is my Co-Pilot
A few weeks ago this story popped about a BBC documentary, which reportedly showed brain activity associated with “superbrand” Apple that was basically the same as brain activity associated with religious fervor. I know I talk about the “Jesus Phone” and the “Second Coming of Telephony,” and I refer to die-hard Apple fans as “The Apple Faithful,” but I don’t know how seriously I actually take such talk. There’s a lot in this article (sent to me by listener Michael) with which I disagree. And yet parts of it have me wondering: How seriously do you take the idea of Apple as religion? Is There a Cupertino “Brain Drain?” Dan Lyons - formerly Fake Steve Jobs (and maybe Fake Steve Jobs again if/when Jobs comes back from medical leave) wrote a story for The Daily Beats called “Apple's Brain Drain: What Ron Johnson's Departure Says About Steve Jobs,” wherein he asks whether there is a brain drain going on at Apple (this despite the headline seeming to indicate that there is). The first two can be argued away fairly easily, but what of the Herbold departure? Let us discuss. “Apes Will Rise,” But Will They Shine? How excited are you about the “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.” The movie, that is, not any actual rise of which I’m aware. See this trailer and believe along with me that movies about apes rising will rise!
The Woz Show: Introducing Another Show
Steve Wozniak introduces Dusty Rhodes and the River Band @ House of Blues in Anaheim: Angle One
Steve Wozniak introduces Dusty Rhodes and the River Band @ House of Blues in Anaheim: Angle Two
They call it "The Mothership"
While developers were spending night two of WWDC drinking in the drinks atmosphere, Apple CEO Steve Jobs was presenting plans for Apple's proposed new campus to the Cupertino City Council.
Here's one rendering of what they have in mind. More in the video.
GigaOm: Think iCloud is reactionary? Think again.
Mad props to GigaOm for unearthing this great video from WWDC 1997 where Steve Jobs talks about where Apple is and where it's going.
GigaOm Calls the readers' attention to "around 16:30 to hear Jobs’ remarks about the future of computing, Gigabit Ethernet, and how 'carrying around these non-connected computers [will seem] Byzantine.'” They'd also like viewers to scope "Jobs’ comments around 12:00, when he discusses Apple’s image of being “different:”
If we can be much better without being different, that’d be fine with me.
Those are great comments, though my favorite part (so far) is at around 42:40 where Jobs praises HP Palm Apple exec Jon Rubinstein, then running Apple's hardware operations, and saying, "I’d trust him with my life," and "he's really, really, really good."
But what does this mean for (Mobile)Me?
Pal Barry was kind enough to send me what Apple sent him as a MobileMe subscriber as iCloud rolls in.
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Important information for MobileMe members.
Dear MobileMe member, We'd like to share some exciting news with you about iCloud — Apple’s upcoming cloud service, which stores your content and wirelessly pushes it to your devices. iCloud integrates seamlessly with your apps, so everything happens automatically. Available this fall, iCloud is free for iOS 5 and OS X Lion users.What does this mean for you as a MobileMe member?When you sign up for iCloud, you'll be able to keep your MobileMe email address and move your mail, contacts, calendars, and bookmarks to the new service.Your MobileMe subscription will be automatically extended through June 30, 2012, at no additional charge. After that date, MobileMe will no longer be available.When iCloud becomes available this fall, we will provide more details and instructions on how to make the move. In the meantime, we encourage you to learn more about iCloud.Sincerely, The MobileMe Team
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What's the German word for "cojones?"
Fortune says a group calling itself the .Wav Collective - named after a Windows audio file format - has put a sort of mixed-up Windows logo on the boards blocking an “under construction” Apple Store from view.
This is not on an “Andre the Giant has a Posse” sticker campaign level... this is big. Like... big. And brazen.
They’ve posted a video of two of their guys - disguised as workmen - blocking off a section of sidewalk in downtown Hamburg, raising a pretty big ladder, and putting up a "bigger than a guy" Windows logo. They screwed up on the colors but otherwise... yeah. They did that to an Apple Store, or the boards blocking the “under construction” Apple Store from view.
What's so special about video of yesterday?
Here's a video I have not watched via Business Insider. I may at some point, but to be honest I doubt I will. It is of Apple NeXT CEO Steve Jobs speaking at the 1996 Microsoft Professional Developers Conference. Plenty of proof in the first two minutes that we live in a different world today. For example, people seem to be walking in and out with little regard for who is on stage. Also, Jobs encourages feedback from the audience. It's like something out of Fringe.
Here's a video I have watched via CNET. It is of NeXT Apple CEO Steve Jobs introducing the viewer to the idea of Apple Retail in 2001. Plenty of proof in the under five-minute video that we live in a different world today. For example, Jobs boasts of the over 300 software titles in the store. He also talks of the six MP3 players each store has available (knowing full well that his company would introduce iPod later that year).
Enjoy the shows.
CNN Money: Meet Apple's All-Stars
Picture modified from the Flickr stream of quinn.anya
Many are names you'll know, though some may not be (I didn't know number seven). Based on the assumption, though, that most people know the name Steve Jobs and may know the name Tim Cook, Fortune invites readers to "Meet Apple's All-Stars."
As an aside, per Monday's story about baseball and Apple, which do you suppose is more popular; Apple executives or executive wash rooms?
Defending Against the "Defender"
Malware! Malware! What to do? What to DO?!? The Unofficial Apple Weblog tells the tale of "MACDefender:" what it is, what it does, how to not get it, and how to get rid of it if you've got it.
Mac security firm Intego seems particularly impressed by MACDefender, saying:
(One thing to point out is that, in the past, these types of sites—very common vectors of Windows malware—only delivered Windows .exe applications. The fact that such a site is providing a Mac rogue antivirus is new, and extremely rare. While the site itself still shows a fake Windows screen, the rogue antivirus itself is a well-designed Mac application.)
This application is very well designed, and looks professional. There are a number of different screens, and the grammar and spelling are correct, the buttons are attractive, and the overall look and feel of the program give it a professional look.
A more detailed write-up than the one offered by TUAW is availaible from Intego's "The Mac Security Blog" here.
Ahimsa.
Steve Jobs in Carbonite: Too Cool to Last
TUAW ran a piece Tuesday about what has to have been the coolest iPhone 4 case ever. The look... the detail... the sense of humor. $35 was the asking price, but you had to know it would be for a limited time only. Not because they would sell out too fast, but because Apple and its CEO tend to frown upon such things and land Apple Legal on offending lawns like a PreCrime unit from Minority Report. I cannot say for certain that that is what happpened, though when I first saw the case, I immediately thought of the M.I.C. Gadget model of Steve Jobs and the speed with which Apple had that shut down. Well... I immediately thought I should get one... then I thought of the scary CEO doll. I didn't order either when they were available. As for the Soloesque rendering, here's where the carbonite case and other prodcuts were. Now it's just a bunch of other cool cases from Society 6.
Rumors Around Apple: A Love/Hate Story
Photo: Flickr stream of admmac1
I joked after a few Apple rumor stories on Tuesday's edition of Mac OS Ken that you knew there were other Apple rumors out there because it’s not 2005. That’s when I started doing daily Apple news for another podcast. While you would - then - get the occasional rumor, they weren’t a “three-to-five-a-day” thing. Apple’s resurrection was also still a bit of a novelty then, in my opinion... not a sure-fire headline grabber.
I wonder sometimes what the deal is with the rumors. Is it that there are so many more players in Apple’s game now? Is it that you can’t help but generate clicks by running the headline, “Video Suggests Apple Getting Into TVs, Puppies... Car without Underwear on...” Apple without underwear getting into a car that is. A car without underwear... well that’s just called a car.
Anyway, a couple of PC World editors have written up what they love and hate about today's Apple rumor nuzzling/mongering. I found it via Macworld UK.