The Technology Life

2009 was the worst year in IT spending. Ever.

I’ll let that sink in for a minute.

Now, 2009 was a bad year for many aspects of business — sales, capital management, making a profit — but IT departments had it especially bad. Because IT is a support organization, everyone wants to use it but no one wants to pay for it, which means that IT almost always gets the budget leftovers. It’s hardly a surprise that IT got the seriously short end of the stick in 2009. According to a report by Gartner, spending on IT declined 5.2 percent overall last year among all verticals, and the fall was even worse in enterprise businesses, where spending fell 6.9 percent.

Naturally, that kind of drop in funding completely changes how IT departments prioritize their spending. For one thing, in the face of such spending cuts, standard hardware upgrades go right out the window. According to the same Gartner report, hardware spending dropped 16.9 percent in 2009. To make matters worse, IT departments also reduce headcount to save money — in 2009, fully 62 percent of companies cut IT headcount — which makes matters worse because there are now fewer people to support more work on the same hardware.

This is not a recipe for success.

Fortunately, now that it’s July 2010 and most companies are fully embracing the second half of this new fiscal year, IT budgets are slowly improving. IT budgets across the board are expected to gain 3.3 percent by year’s end. This leaves IT departments in the interesting position of having a reason to change their operations, and a little bit of money to make it happen. This is unusual.

As a service organization, IT’s performance is measured on things like uptime, cost, and so on. As a result, IT departments tend to be very risk-averse and resistant to change. Whereas IT organizations typically resist change to avoid breaking things– If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it — now there are some interesting pressures in play that make the way things are look broken already. Because IT headcount is depressed, IT corporations need to be focusing on reducing the need for support because there are fewer people around to do it. And, because of the clog in the hardware upgrade pipeline, there are more upgrades vying for the same dollars, which means that CIOs will be looking for upgrades that are either cheaper or serve multiple purposes. In short, IT departments are in the uncommon position of reevaluating their long-term direction in earnest.

Apple, being the savvy company that it is, has positioned itself well to capitalize on the IT departments looking to make a change. Some of the largest organizations in the world are taking another look at Apple products, and with good reason. There’s good data indicating that Apple computers cost significantly less to support than Windows PCs, both in terms of TCO and simple ease of support. And this is no theoretical result. According to another report from Gartner, Apple is gaining market share in laptops and desktops faster than anyone else, beating out competitors like Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, and Dell. And companies are adopting Apple’s devices, especially the iPad, for positions like sales because they have the flash and panache to seal a deal, but are simple enough that workers can use them with minimal training and robust enough that fairly little technical support is required. And if an iPad does break, it’s simple and straightforward to fix: just send a replacement. All of these factors are making Apple products look more and more attractive to struggling IT departments.

That’s why large enterprises like Wells Fargo and SAP are adopting the iPad for jobs ranging from sales to simple paper replacement. Mercedes-Benz is so pleased with the results of using iPads in 40 of its U.S. dealerships to handle credit applications that it’s considering using iPads in all 350 of them.

However, Apple’s latest foray into corporate America is ostensibly only the inroad of a much grander scheme. Gartner makes the excellent point that as virtualization and cloud technology matures and companies gain experience with them, such services will gain adoption very quickly because of the dramatic cost savings they offer organizations. Among the technology providers in this space, it will be the companies that develop these technologies into the most robust and easiest-to-use products that will win the day, and Apple’s track record combined with its new $1B data center show that Apple is positioning itself well to accept the mantle of leader in this burgeoning new field.

There has been much speculation about Apple’s new toy, but it’s fair to say that it’s building server capacity for something. Popular theories include a music streaming service because of Apple’s acquisition of Lala, and theories that the facility is for video hosting seem a lot more credible with the introduction of FaceTime and the iPad’s apparently impending camera. Data heads see a different picture, though: one that has Apple positioning itself or a strong enterprise presence. And ultimately, with Apple gaining such traction in the enterprise market, it would be foolish not to build cloud offerings for those customers, like simple file hosting or a virtual hosted Mac, to be delivered via its devices, like the iPad. And Apple’s no fool.

So, with Apple making solid gains in the corporate and enterprise markets, what’s next for technology’s golden child? You should expect to see more big-name customers adopting the iPad, and more iPad development shops springing up to fill the resulting need for corporate applications. However, ultimately, the real surprise will come when Apple reveals the purpose of its new data center.

For now, I like to think it holds the ghost of Newton.

Enterprise application of iPad use is growing. Companies are finding all kids of new use for this innovative device. In my opinion, the change has just begun...

We weren't exactly sure whether Apple was going to approve third-party video calling apps using the front camera on the iPhone 4, but good news: the answer is "yes." Fring just slid in a new version of its longstanding iPhone app today featuring support for video calling, which is pretty awesome in and of itself -- but the real news is that it works just fine over 3G, as you can see in our quick test above between Chicago and London. This opens the door for services that could have potentially broader implications than FaceTime itself, since Apple's service is limited to WiFi and currently only works between iPhone 4s. Just make sure you're wearing clothes when you call, alright?

fringe calls over 3G including video calls!

One of the most interesting things about the original iPhone was that it came with a dedicated YouTube app that allowed you to view your favorite videos in the palm of your hand. Steve Jobs said at the time:

iPhone delivers the best YouTube mobile experience by far… Now users can enjoy YouTube wherever they are—on their iPhone, on their Mac or on a widescreen TV in their living room with Apple TV.

While this may have been true in 2007, it’s no longer the case in 2010. Google has released a major update to its mobile YouTube experience (m.youtube.com) that beats all of the discrete YouTube apps out there — including the iPhone variety.

A video demo of the new YouTube Web app is embedded below, complete with dramatic music:

For starters, the new Web app is completely based in HTML5, it has a slick UI and it loads fast. But the defining difference is the quality, the Web app simply looks better and will soon feature more content than the dedicated iPhone app.

The ante in the game goes up!

Apple's new iPhone is due to burst upon an unsuspecting world in barely two weeks, with a staged, international roll-out. But Apple is seriously banking on this thing selling like hotcakes. And by hotcakes, we mean millions a month.

The first iPhone took 76 days to sell a million units, but then the phenomenon took off like a rocket leaving the launch pad, and the 3G took just three days to reach the same target. The 3GS model sold at the same initial rate. Of course, after the initial surge, the rate slowed down, and Steve Jobs recently revealed that 50 million total have been sold to date. That's a lot of phones, especially in the high-cost smartphone market (though it's dwarfed by Nokia's millions upon millions of sales of cheaper dumphones).

But according to the chairman of Asia Optical, Robert Lai, whose firm has been making the lenses for the front-facing VGA resolution cameras of the iPhone 4, Apple fully expects the new iPhone 4 to sell faster and at a more sustainably higher rate than any of its predecessors. Why do we know this? Because Apple's been ordering enough components from Lai's company to churn out over 3 million production units every month. That's enough, assuming they all sell, to easily beat the purchase history of the best 3GS sales quarter by some 20%. And it's easily enough for Apple to sell more than 10 million of them by the end of this year alone, adding 20% to the number of total iPhones sold.

In other words, Apples' betting the iPhone 4 is going to be its best-selling product yet. It's unlikely it would be investing in so much hardware up front, otherwise. Part of the way Apple may be about to achieve this kind of sales rate is by allowing the phone to be sold through more vendors than ever before: In the U.K., for example, it's now known that all five major networks will be selling the iPhone. And this thinking, perhaps more than any other to date, hints that the AT&T iPhone exclusivity in the U.S. is on its deathbed. The only thing holding us back from saying "we're sure" is that the iPhone is going to be sold in Target stores in the U.S. too right from its launch day, and possibly also at Radio Shack and Best Buy outlets. With Walmart recently confirming it'll be selling the iPhone 4 from launch day, it seems that Apple is trying everything it can to push iPhone sales in the U.S. without resorting to supporting multiple carriers. With this week's iPad security shenanigans, however, you never know how they might rethink this policy.

To keep up with this news, follow me, Kit Eaton, on Twitter. That QR code on the left will take your smartphone to my Twitter feed too.

Related Stories: Are Your Texts Supporting Tea Partiers? One in Four U.S. Households Are Landline-Free Did AT&T Make Good on Its 1990s Promises?

Topics: Innovation, Technology, iphone4, Apple, sales, UK, networks, multicarrier, iphone, components, smartphones, Smartphones, Electronics, Consumer Electronics, AT&T Inc., Apple Inc.

Let the games begin...

by Derrick Story, Macworld.com

The iPad might not be the final destination for your images, but with Apple's Camera Connection Kit it can be a great stop along the way. You can preview your photos on its large screen, build dynamic presentations with them in Keynote while you sip coffee at a cafe, or publish your favorite pictures online, all without cracking open a laptop.

iPad Camera Connection Kit Complete Coverage »

Ratings

4.0 out of 5 Mice May 28, 2010

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Here are some ways enthusiast photographers can build a decent workflow right now using the iPad with optional Camera Connection Kit.

Get your tools together

For photographers, the more internal memory your iPad has, the better. We'll be moving large files on and off of the device, so having a little extra memory gives you more flexibility. Along with the optional Camera Connection Kit, you might want a USB memory card reader for cameras that don't use SD cards, or at least the USB cable that connects your camera directly to the iPad adapter.

Use the iPad as a backup device

A big challenge for travel photographers is backing up their photos while in the field. Right after you take a picture is when you're the most vulnerable to losing it. At that moment the shot lives only in one place: on your camera's memory card. For many photographers, the iPad can serve as a beautiful backup device. When you take a break from shooting, transfer the images from your memory card to the iPad. Now your photos live in two places.

Don't make the mistake of erasing the images off your memory card after transfer! This puts you back in the "only lives in one spot" vulnerable position. Memory cards are cheap. Plan on bringing enough of them so you don't have to erase images until everything is home, backed up onto a hard drive, and safe and sound.

Work with raw files

Amazingly enough, the iPad supports the same raw files that your Mac does. You can upload these files from your camera to the iPad and they will appear as regular photos in the Photos app, Keynote, and third-party applications. When you transfer the images off of the iPad to your Mac, they will maintain their full raw integrity. If you email them from the iPad, however, they will be attached as a converted full-sized JPEG instead of a raw file.

Because raw files take up more space than JPEGs, you will want to move them off your iPad as soon as possible. But what about those great raw shots that you want to keep on the iPad for sharing with others? There's a terrific solution called Raw+JPEG.

A Raw+JPEG workflow for the iPad

Most cameras that support raw files also have a setting called "Raw+JPEG" that allows you to capture a JPEG at the same time. The iPad recognizes both versions of the image and imports them as a pair. When you upload them using the Camera Connector Kit, you'll see the badge "RAW+JPG" on the thumbnails in the Photos app's Import tab. The problem at first is that this couple seems inseparable. The trick is to move the raw files off of your iPad to free up space, while leaving the JPEGs behind to play with. You already have two applications on your Mac that will let you do this: iPhoto and Image Capture.

When you plug the iPad into the Mac and launch iPhoto, the JPEGs and the raws will show up as separate files. Simply select all of the raw images for import by Command-clicking them. When the "Delete Photos on Your iPad?" message appears, click "Delete Photos." iPhoto will remove the raw files from your iPad and leave the JPEGSs behind for you to look at, edit, or send along to others.

If you're not an iPhoto user you can opt to let Image Capture handle the heavy lifting. Before importing files, be sure to check the box in the lower left corner by "Delete After Import." Then choose the raw files in Image Capture's import browser, select the destination (such as a connected external hard drive where all of your other raw files are stored), and click Import. Just like with iPhoto, Image Capture will put the raw files where you want, remove them from the iPad, and leave only the JPEGs in the iPad library.

When I shoot with my Canon 5D Mark II, I can even set the size of the accompanying JPEG in-camera when I shoot Raw+JPEG. I choose the Small size, which is 2784-by-1856—still tons of extra resolution for viewing and cropping on the iPad, but not consuming any more memory than necessary. By comparison, if I chose the Large version of the JPEG, that resolution is 5616-by-3744—a bit more than I need for iPad use.

Manage images on the iPad

After your first upload images via the Camera Connection Kit, you'll see two new Albums on the iPad: Last Import and All Imported. This is where your images go and you really don't have any options for moving them around in the Photos app to new albums. That's the bad news.

The good news is that those two albums show up in the import photos pop-up menu for Keynote, Pages, and every other iPad app that lets you bring in photos. That means if I want to build a slideshow based on a handful of those JPEGs that I've imported to the iPad, I just open Keynote, choose a theme, add the photos I want from the import albums, and I'm done. Plus, I can export this presentation back to my Mac.

Back-up to the back-up

If something goes wrong, you will still have all of your original images on the camera memory cards that you've tucked away. Make sure that you have a complete backup of them at home (in addition to the copies on your iPad) before erasing and reusing the cards.

Step-by-Step: Derrick's recommended workflow

1. Shoot JPEG or Raw+JPEG.
2. Connect your memory card or camera to the iPad via the Camera Connection Kit.
3. Tap the Import All button on the iPad if you want all of the images. If you only want to bring selected shots in to the iPad, tap the images you want, then tap Import. Via a popup menu, you'll be presented with the options "Import All" or "Import Selected." Choose "Import Selected."
4. The blue check marks from your selected images will turn to green as they are transferred to the iPad.
5. When you get the "Import Complete" dialog, tap the "Keep" button. (You want to leave the files on your memory card for the time being.)
6. On the iPad, tap the Albums button. You'll see that you have two new albums: "Last Imported" and "All Imported."
7. Play with and enjoy your photos on the iPad. When you get home, connect the iPad to your Mac and launch iPhoto. It will display the raw files and JPEGs separately (if you shot Raw+JPEG). Select the raw files only, select Import, then choose Delete Photos once the import is complete.
   If you shot JPEGs only, you may want to click on Keep Photos, letting you thin the shots you want to keep on the iPad itself at a later date.
8. All the images in the "All Imported" album on the iPad will be available for use via any application that can access images in the Photos app.

[Senior Contributor Derrick Story teaches iPhoto on Lynda.com and runs a virtual camera club at thedigitalstory.com.]

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Using an iPad for your pics?

Blame Gizmodo if you will, for spoiling all our fun with its spy shots of the iPhone prototype "found" in a bar. But we don't think that was the problem. No, the problem is that iPhone has lost its edge. Meanwhile, Android is killing it.

iPhone 4 or Android?

Case in point, here's the conversation this blogger had with the spouse:

Me: It's only $199 to upgrade my iPhone!

Him: Is it 4G?

Me: No.

Him: What's cool about it?

Me: Um, it's got a better camera. And it's faster. And it has a 3-axis gyro thingy.

Him: What's that?

Me: This thing for games, it helps when you rotate the phone, the game rotates.

Him: That's cool, but you don't really play games, do you?

Me: Not really. But it has HD video recording!

Him: So does your camera.

Me: And threaded email... And video chat!

Him: Over 3G?

Me: Well, no. Over Wi-Fi. And only with other iPhones. But EVO has Qik, and that works over 4G, actually. Hmm, maybe I should just get an EVO.

In fact, maybe I just will.

While I'm at it, here are a few more things that Apple didn't announce today:

1. 4G

No, it was not the "iPhone 4G," it was the iPhone 4. Why? Because AT&T isn't set to roll out its 4G network until next year. And Apple didn't surprise us by finally confirming the mythical Verizon iPhone - not that we expected it at this point. But still. Where's my iPhone 4G already?

2. Cloud iTunes/OTA Sync

Sure, Apple just bought Lala.com, but couldn't they have at least teased us about the forthcoming "cloud iTunes?" After all, that's what Google did. At its recent I/O conference, Google announced that an upcoming version of the Android Market would allow music and app downloads and automatic over-the-air sync. Is Apple even thinking about doing this? We have no idea.

3. 3G Video Chat

FaceTime, Apple's new mobile iChat-like application, will probably be fun, but it's not game-changing. It only works over Wi-Fi for one thing (thanks, AT&T), not 3G. Meanwhile, Qik and Fring already have video chat apps for Android, and Skype is hinting at an Android app arriving this year. Oh, and Qik on EVO offers 4G video chat, too.

4. Mobile Hotspot

In the current version of the Android operating system (the operating system!), there's a feature that lets an Android phone function as a mobile hotspot. Carriers can choose to implement this feature or not. The iPhone, meanwhile, can be tethered for $20 extra per month via USB or Bluetooth on AT&T.

5. Free MobileMe

Apple wants to compete with Google, but still charges $99/year for MobileMe (for the smallest package) while Google gives away its low-end services for free. That's not working for us either.

6. Voice Input

Trying to stop your dangerous texting while driving habit? Better get an Android phone. Although universal voice input is probably coming to the iPhone thanks to Apple's acquisition of Siri - a cutting edge, voice-based digital assistant - it's not here yet. When it is arriving, though? Apple's reluctance to disclose future plans has us again, looking to Android, which does this right now.

7. Free navigation

Navigation on the iPhone? There's an app for that! Yep, but it's not free. Google, meanwhile, offers Google Maps Navigation for free on all Android phones. Apple, either provide your own app or make nice with Google and use theirs, for goodness' sake.

8. Dashboard

We were halfway hoping that the recent news about Apple killing off all the dashboard apps on the iPhone and iPad meant the company was going to launch its own dashboard-like app similar to Android's widgets. Guess we were wrong here, too.

Conclusion?

All this being said, the iPhone 4 is still a great smartphone thanks to other hardware-based innovations like its "retina display" (326 pixels per inch!), its integrated antennas, and its glass and stainless steel casing housing the thinnest iPhone to date: 9.3 mm thick. But now that the hardware has been modernized, maybe Apple can focus on the software?

Bummer...

Also among the other impressive new features announced today is a built-in gyroscope, a 5 megapixel camera with flash, a built in iMovie for iPhone video editor, and the iPhone OS4 - now rebranded as iOS4. The new OS will be available June 21st for current iPhone users and for the first time will be a free upgrade for iPod touch users. Not all models will support features like multi-tasking, however. The iPhone 3GS, as expected, has also been dropped to $99, making a very fast smartphone highly accessible at the lowered price point.

Video Chat & High Resolution Screen

Left for the end, in a classic "one more thing" moment, Steve Jobs had a live video chat with Apple designer Jonathan Ive directly from the new iPhone 4. Video chat, known as "Facetime" will only run on WiFi between two iPhone 4s in 2010 but Jobs did note that Apple intends to make Facetime a technology, and an open platform for video chat applications.

Jobs also spent a significant amount of time describing the device's new high-resolution display. In the same screen size as the iPhone 3GS, the newest phone has quadrupled the pixel density to a 960x640 display. This pixel resolution is just 22% smaller than the iPad, which means up-scaling of apps to the larger device will look a lot better.

3-Axis Gyroscopic Controls

App developers will be excited to learn of Apple's inclusion of a built-in gyroscope, which is closely ties to the accelerometer. This functionality, which creates 6-axis motion sensing, pitch, roll and yaw control, and rotation about gravity, gives the iPhone impressive control over 3D objects. Personally I am excited to see this technology in the hands of augmented reality developers - this should give the apps a much more accurate picture of the location and positioning of the device in 3D space.

A Fresh Design

Aesthetically, the device is refresh for Apple, breaking away from the rounded black plastic back for a flush glass design with metal edges - similar to the company's unibody MacBook design. The leaked photos were pretty much right on in terms of design. The sides and back of the phone are flat and comprised of stainless steel and feature new volume buttons, antennae receivers, and a microphone on the top for noise cancellation.

The stainless steel frame is not only a design choice, but Apple has built the antenna for the phone into the frame, moving it outside the previous plastic case. Some had claimed the iPhone was to blame for network woes on AT&T, and this new design is a clear effort by Apple to help with this issue. The new glass and metal design is 24% thinner than the iPhone 3GS.

iMovie On a Phone?

Additionally, Apple engineer Randy Ubillos demoed an iPhone version of Apple's iMovie video editing software. With the combined 5 megapixel camera and 720p video recording ability, iPhone users can create videos on the phone, complete with image effects and themes. The app isn't free, however; Apple is charging users $4.99 to edit movies and photos together on the iPhone.

What's Next?

So what will this latest device do for the mobile web? Apple's ad network, iAds, which will activate beginning in July, will likely become a large player in the mobile advertising industry because the design allows users to remain within applications while viewing ads. According to Apple, $60 million has already been committed to the platform by advertisers for the second half of the year - which they estimate to be nearly half of the market in that period.

Images courtesy of Engadget.com and Apple Inc.

Very nice! New Gadget here I come.

iPhone OS 4.0, which will ship with the next version of Apple's iPhone (and, later, the iPad), has been available to developers in beta form for a while now, in three consecutive versions. The newest, iPhone 4.0 Beta 4, just came out today, and it's got some new features we haven't seen before, as discovered by Gizmodo.

First is aesthetic--utilities like the calculator and compass are by default grouped into a "Utilities" folder on the homescreen, and there are a bunch of new wallpapers. Those wallpapers are of the traditional "fancy photography, landscape, simple pattern, and wood/stone/tile" variety, and they look fine enough, even if wallpaper on an iPhone homescreen still looks kind of weird.

Tethering, however, is the big deal here, showing up in the Network Settings area. Tethering is when a device with a 3G modem (like the iPhone) is attached (either wired or wirelessly via BlueTooth) to a computer, thus providing that formerly 3G-less device with 3G. Basically, plug your phone into your computer, and have 3G access on your computer wherever you go. WebOS does it through Wi-Fi hotspots, as do a few Android phones like the HTC Evo 4G, and all Android, BlackBerry, and Windows Mobile phones can tether with an app.

It appears that the iPhone's native tethering (it could always tether through a jailbreak app and, for a while, even without jailbreaking, for what it's worth) will be regulated by AT&T, predictably. When tapped, the option tells the user to contact AT&T to set up tethering--in all likelihood it'll cost extra. The HTC Evo 4G's tethering costs $30 a month extra on Sprint, to give an idea of what this might cost.

This is still a beta, and the feature may or may not stick around, but it's a good indication that tethering will be a part of iPhone 4.0. Let's just hope it's priced affordably.

Dan Nosowitz, the author of this post, can be followed on Twitter, corresponded with via email, and stalked in San Francisco (no link for that one--you'll have to do the legwork yourself).

Related Stories: Nokia Rocks the World: The Phone King's Plan to Redefine Its Business Apple's Tablet Apps Will Live and Die by One Nerdy Thing Can the iPhone Help Save Magazines?

Topics: Innovation, Technology, Magazine, iPhone 4.0, tethering, iphone tether, iphone tethering, smartphones, Apple, Apple iPhone, iphone 4.0 beta, Science and Technology, Smartphones, Cellular Phones, Electronics, Consumer Electronics

Could it be????

iPad 3G Available Starting April 30th

Want to know when your pre-ordered iPad will arrive? April 30th. If you planned to buy one from an Apple Store? That'll be the same day, starting at 5pm. PM. So sleep in, nerds.

CUPERTINO, Calif., April 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple® today announced that the Wi-Fi + 3G models of its magical iPad™ will be delivered to US customers who've pre-ordered on Friday, April 30, and will be available in Apple retail stores the same day starting at 5:00 p.m.

iPad allows users to connect with their apps and content in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before. Users can browse the web, read and send email, enjoy and share photos, watch HD videos, listen to music, play games, read ebooks and much more, all using iPad's revolutionary Multi-Touch™ user interface. iPad Wi-Fi + 3G models are just 0.5 inches thick and weigh just 1.6 pounds-thinner and lighter than any laptop or netbook-and deliver up to 10 hours of battery life for surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching videos or listening to music, and up to nine hours of surfing the web using a 3G data network.*

Apple retail stores will offer a free Personal Setup service to every customer who buys an iPad at the store, helping them customize their new iPad by setting up their email, loading their favorite apps from the App Store, and more. US Apple retail stores are also hosting special iPad workshops to help customers learn more about this magical new product.

Pricing & Availability

iPad is available in Wi-Fi models in the US for a suggested retail price of $499 for 16GB, $599 for 32GB and $699 for 64GB. The Wi-Fi + 3G models will be available on April 30 in the US for a suggested retail price of $629 for 16GB, $729 for 32GB and $829 for 64GB. iPad is sold in the US through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple's retail stores, most Best Buy stores, select Apple Authorized Resellers and campus bookstores. AT&T is offering breakthrough 3G pre-paid data plans for iPad with easy, on-device activation and management.

iPad will be available at the end of May in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK. Apple will announce international pricing and begin taking online pre-orders for iPad on May 10.

*Battery life depends on device settings, usage and other factors. Actual results vary.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution with the Apple II, then reinvented the personal computer with the Macintosh. Apple continues to lead the industry with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system, and iLife, iWork and professional applications. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store, has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

© 2010 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS, Macintosh, iPad, Multi-Touch and Apple Store are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Send an email to Mark Wilson, the author of this post, at mark@gizmodo.com.

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What do you prefer 3G feature of the iPad unit or using a Mifi (personal Wifi access point)?

It’s taken this long to attempt to write something on the iPad. I took some notes at Google’s Atmosphere event just to try out the system, but quickly discovered that the newly realtimed Google Docs were only available in read only mode. A Google PR guy told me they were waiting on a “real browser” before rolling the tool out to iPad users sometime later this year. I ended up in gmail draft mode.

By now I’ve gotten the fundamental message, which is that Apple is rebuilding the Mac from the ground, or rather the pocket, up. The AppStore debuted with iPhone and iPad apps mushed together; now they are segregated as the iPad specific tools build out. The iPhone OS 4 announcements made clear that multitasking was the bedrock of the new OS, with the concurrent processes opening the door to sharing data between various services in realtime i.e. the network. Micromessages, popups, alerts, some kind of cross-app communication that makes realtime aware applications possible.

I’d be more frustrated if I didn’t have so much fun with the damn thing. I figured typing would be slower and more prone to mistakes, but it turns out that my pseudo touch typing “skills”, a hybrid of hunt and peck and awkward work-arounds, are somewhat easier to use in virtual mode than expected. Granted, reaching for the apostrophe involves going to the number screen and then annoyingly having to click back to the qwerty screen. I can only hope the billions of complaints will reach Cupertino ears before the next update.q

But we have a little secret as iPadders that will carry us through: we are part of a process that will get us to some oddly shared consensus complete with learned gestures that reboot our approach to the task of creating ideas. So much has been made of the focus on consuming that we miss the speed with which the new metaphors are taking root. Replacing a word, for example. I tap the word ignore in the previous sentence and type miss. Tap again and I’m back. I can’t quite remember what the old way was, but this new way is fast, fun, and a promotion for new tools in the pipeline.

In fact, it may be sooner than we think. If the OS was built to learn about these quirks or repeated fumbles we make such as the afore-mentioned apostrophe tap dance, couldn’t the software learn to go to some plan b where it offers a sort of learned macro that can be ratified by use. Or a macro that capitalizes Plan B for that matter.

Of course, I’ll still get the keyboard dock peripheral because it helps speed the transition to the atomization of the MacBook Air into its component parts. Already I’ve seen iPads pop up in corporate settings (it doesn’t hurt that my new Boss is over the iPad moon) and why not have a more enterprise mode that is engaged when these new peripherals are plugged in to the dock bus. A secret club of iPadders who’ve crossed over into the world of virtual touch on steroids. Isn’t that the Apple model anyway? Prescient elitism?

Google of course is doing everything it can to play along, keeping the pressure on Flash with YouTube while hand waving about ChromeOS and then validating the iPhone/iPad model by committing to Android as its tablet OS. Chrome the browser is busy destabilizing Firefox just in time for Mozilla antipathy toward H.264 not to mean a damn thing. It all couldn’t look more coordinated if we didn’t know better, which of course we don’t.

That’s because the lure of reinventing our tools is the same thing that causes my daughter to rearrange her room every month or so when she needs an excuse to not clean it up or do her homework. But it goes deeper than simple diversion; we’re really looking to step back and find the place where our intuition and what I assume meditation or yoga brings us. A place where we can find our center and look beyond the momentary and into the reasons why we work where and with whom we do.

Computing has always been a personal thing for me, in many respects taking the baton from the role music played at an earlier time in our history. It’s thrilling precisely because the boundaries can suddenly give way to unexpected delights, power, opportunity, and yes, the fleeting concept of a future we can invest in. As I sit here on the couch typing these virtual notes, something about the rhythm and even the orchestration of technologies — the sound of the virtual key clicking, the effortless autocorrect of spelling, even the fact that for a little while I’m not being interrupted by the relentless realtime alerts that multitasking allows all of this renders a feeling of purposeful calm that feels new and valuable. All the more because it’s unexpected.

And as it unfolds, I file away notes about improvements and ticket items for the kind of learning smarts that must come next. Where Google pushes forward, with its server side tools building one on another to create ever more compelling scenarios, that’s where the iPad needs to go. It will be OK for Jobs’ insistence on the apps being the platform, because once multitasking is enabled the strategy will be seamless and invisible to the user. That is, except for the superior battery and performance wins that it will then be Google’s turn to clone. And back and forth it will go.

Editor’s note: This is my first weekly (or so) column on TechCrunch(IT) since I started my new job at salesforce.com.

Great perspective and insight.

Is this the next iPhone?

by Boy Genius on April 17th, 2010 at 8:24pm
Filed under: Apple, Breaking News, Handsets, News, Rumors, iPhone OS / iPod OS 141 Comments

According to Engadget, the site that scooped the pics, this prototype was “found on the floor of a San Jose bar inside of an iPhone 3G case” and supposedly features a front-facing camera and 80GB of internal memory. Here’s what we’re betting on… we do think this unit is actually real and not a fake, clone or anything else. But, we’re guessing it’s very — and we mean very — early along in the prototype phase. Not to say the final design isn’t all ready to go, but we’re guessing this isn’t it. For starters, look at the seems in the aluminum casing. You think Apple, of unibody fame, would not have a single piece of machined aluminum for the bezel? Also, the phone appears to be flat, like, completely flat on both sides. That basically goes against almost all of Apple’s principles. Additionally, look at the back of the phone. It actually looks it’s supposed to be the front of the device. You can clearly see either a piece of glass or plastic that’s fitted into the case much like how the display is on an iPhone 3GS, or the display on the iPad. Look at the material around the sides of the back of the phone, you’ll see what we mean. So, we do think this is Apple-manufactured, we just don’t think this is anything close to what we’ll see announced in June. What do you guys think? Photo of the back of the device after the break, and hit Engadget for the rest of the photos!

Read

Tags: Apple, fake, iPhone, iPhone 4G, Rumors

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141 Responses to “Is this the next iPhone?”

1. 51
   TypicalAppleHatingDBAG says:

   April 18, 2010 at 6:46 AM

   This comment has been seriously disliked. Click here to see.

   Disliked.   -38

   Reply

52

Hey Sarah says:

April 18, 2010 at 7:32 AM

Sarah=FAIL

  -3

Reply

53

Alex says:

April 18, 2010 at 8:15 AM

The design looks so much more interesting. Crapple knows how to deliver and create mass hysteria.

  0

Reply

• 53.1
  cda says:

  April 18, 2010 at 10:17 AM

  They sure do! After the media stunts they have pulled: releasing possible images of their new products, ripping on something then designing their own, I’ve learned to just wait and see what happens and not buy into the whole media stunt excitement….Especially after the iPad.

    -1

  Reply

54

jonathan T says:

April 18, 2010 at 8:29 AM

Finally got to play with the Ipad at the Apple Store and the one thing its good at are the games especially driving ones. Overall, I like it just not compelling enough for me to buy right now. Might go for the Iphone upgrade instead this summer, especially if it has a larger screen and front facing camera. It would be nice to catch up to the Europeans and Asians with video conferencing.

  +1

Reply

55

David says:

April 18, 2010 at 9:53 AM

To me, that looks like a “mule”: a working platform they can easily swap in revised internals to test.

  0

Reply

56

MonkeyCheese says:

April 18, 2010 at 10:20 AM

To answer the question in the title…..No. Seriously people would you believe any of this? ‘”found on the floor of a San Jose bar…”‘ really? I’m not an Apple fan but I can honestly say that that is not the next Iphone. It’s the opposite to what Apple would do. Sorry, I’m not buying this at all.

  +2

Reply

57

tino72 says:

April 18, 2010 at 10:34 AM

am i the only one sick of these screen shots of supposedly iphones or mock ups? every year the same thing..who cares lets just wait til a confirmation comes around june of the real deal and then start wetting yourselves?

  +1

Reply

58

tino72 says:

April 18, 2010 at 10:45 AM

are people actually clicking on links to see what some idiot puts as a comment being seriously being disliked?
i just ignore em and go on to the next post doesnt even warrant a ranking just ignore em

  -2

Reply

59

wanderer says:

April 18, 2010 at 6:59 PM

What the hell are all these KKK members doing here. We have our disagreements with phones, but racists comments are uncalled for. Even as a joke its way off line and its a shame BGR doesn’t moderate these forums.

  0

Reply

60

Black Turtle Neck and Freakin Blue Jeans says:

April 18, 2010 at 9:38 PM

Its amazing how Apple Haters have nothing else better to do with their time or life. Apparently they all have Attention Seeking Behavior Disorder..These loosers hide behind a Fckin computer all day throwing negative trash left and right. Stupid Geeks probably jack off to Porn or their iphone anyway. Everyone of you stupid hating Bastards have iTunes on your computer so dont lie either. Go back to sleep Bitches yall have school in the morning..

Btw, that aint the next iphone…”off the San jose bar floor”
BullSchit!!

  0

Reply

60.1

phil mcgroan says:

April 17, 2010 at 11:34 PM

This comment has been seriously disliked. Click here to see.

Disliked.   -58

Reply

Sarah says:

April 17, 2010 at 11:40 PM

This comment has been seriously disliked. Click here to see.

Disliked.   -23

Reply

itin says:

April 18, 2010 at 12:09 AM

really, Phil, really? on a phone site… leave the racist shit in your head. Those of us who aren’t stuck in the 1800s would appreciate it.

Liked.   +12

Reply

England A Saxon says:

April 18, 2010 at 4:51 AM

This comment has been seriously disliked. Click here to see.

Disliked.   -26

Reply

TypicalAppleHatingDBAG says:

April 18, 2010 at 6:47 AM

This comment has been seriously disliked. Click here to see.

Disliked.   -8

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Could it be?

BusinessWeek and Fortune have both released their annual rankings — the 50 Most Innovative Companies and the Fortune 500, respectively — and Apple has strong showings in both publications.

For the sixth consecutive year, Apple ranked number one in BusinessWeek’s 50 Most Innovative Companies report. When you consider that BusinessWeek only started this ranking system in 2005, that statistic becomes even more impressive. James Andrew, senior partner and head of global innovation at Boston Consulting Group (the company that provides the data to BusinessWeek) claims that every year Apple is the “hands down winner,” although GoogleGoogle

remains a strong second. Furthermore, when those surveyed were asked what company would replace Apple as the most innovative over the next five years, the most common response was “no one.”

See the video from BusinessWeek below for more insight into the changes and trends among the most innovative companies of 2010.

Apple Gains Ground in Fortune 500

In the annual Fortune 500 rankings, Apple is ranked 56, up 15 places from last year. That sort of move is impressive for any company, but Apple is also gaining major ground in its own industry.

In its designated industry, Computers, Office Equipment, Apple remains in third place behind Hewlett-Packard and Dell, but unlike every other company in its category, it saw an increase in revenues and profits between 2008 and 2009.

If you extrapolate that even further and compare Apple to the Top 10 companies in the Fortune 500, Apple outperformed every other company in terms of increases in revenues and profits — except J.P. Morgan Chase and Bank of America. Just remember that Apple didn’t get $45 billion in TARP money.

Future

While Apple faces stiffer competition in the mobile sector, the company continues to not only meet but beat estimates every quarter and gains in revenue and profit margin.

We think that the Boston Consulting Group partner makes a good point in the BusinessWeek video: Innovation is more than just being something new, it’s being something that is successful. Apple is sometimes criticized for not being an inventive company, i.e. they don’t create completely new ideas or products. The iPad, for instance, builds off of not only Apple’s own history with touchscreen devices like the iPhone and the iPod touch, but also on tablet computing devices that go back literally decades. However, what makes a company like Apple (and Google) innovative is not that it creates something completely new every single time, but that it is able to iterate designs, devices and functionality so that products are popular with consumers and successful financially.

What do you think of the BusinessWeek and Fortune 500 rankings for 2010? Let us know in the comments.

For more Apple coverage, follow Mashable Apple on TwitterTwitter

or become a fan on FacebookFacebook

Design from the user perspective seems so obvious...Why is it lost on so many companies? "Innovation is the only sustainable competitive advantage!" Great job Apple!

 Proof, if you ever wanted it, that Apple is mos' def' getting into the idea of RFID technology for its devices. The firm has lodged a patent called Concert Ticket + that will enable it to get into the gig market, selling gig tickets over iTunes. As well as gigs, consumers will be able to buy tickets for sporting events, theme parks, and even wedding invitations--more about that in a bit--and even use their iPhones to get through the turnstiles. (Backup battery power: now a must.) Kinda blows this out of the water, doesn't it?

The patent also shows a management system which lets the user's mobile device to sync with their other devices, such as a desktop or laptop computer--and, although it's not mentioned, the iPad. Apple has added a whole load of extra functions to Concert Ticket + that go way beyond paying for, and entering, an event. There's the potential to offer live CDs to the concertgoers, discounts on products, and the ability to pay for merchandise and drinks directly via their phones, access to song lyrics and buying the artist's songs during the gig, and even pre-paid, discounted parking. Hopefully Apple will supply a free lighter app to use during the slow numbers.

As for the wedding market, well, imagine being able to access tux-hire stores, maps to the event, the program, buy the music featured during the party, as well as the wedding video, or photos. If you thought there was no way Apple could monetize someone's nuptials, you're wrong.

All of this is proof of just how Cupertino envisages the future--and it's totally iPhone and iTunes-dominated. In a decade, are we going to be able to buy just about everything quick and disposable via Apple's media portal. It's a whole lot more simple to use than PayPal, for example (although the only way you can currently receive money from iTunes is through its gift certificate system--in 50 years' time, perhaps our employers will be paying our salaries via iTunes? Possibly, when all the banks have migrated there. Don't forget, Apple has got $50 billion in cash--and it's thinking very hard how to spend it.

Related Stories: Eminem's Lawsuit Against Apple Headed to Federal Court? Undead Tech: the Ultra-Thin Notebook iTunes Update Blocks Palm Pre Syncing

Topics: Technology, iphone, RFID, Apple, smartphones, concert ticket +, Apple patent, itunes, everything is apple, , Apple Inc., Apple iTunes, Science and Technology, Technology, Internet

What if you could purchase concert tickets and arrive at the show with your iphone. show your iphone based tickets --> check, buy food and drinks --> check, buy cool new CD --> check -------> Priceless!

Ivy Leaguers asked to lay off the iPad

by Ken Ray (RSS feed) on Apr 13th 2010 at 5:00PM

No iPads for the Tigers. Princeton University's Office of Information Technology is asking students to please stop using Apple's latest wonder gadget on the campus wireless network.

According to the OIT, the issue is as follows: "Network monitoring has shown that many iPad devices are causing a problem on the campus network. These devices are continuing to use an IP address they have been leased well beyond the time they should."

The university tech types say they've seen the quirky DHCP behavior from the majority of iPads connecting to the campus WLAN. They blame a bug they believe exists in the iPad OS. The Princeton tiger team has hit Apple up for help but, until the fix is in, the OIT recommends not connecting an iPad to the campus network, as it is likely to malfunction.

The OIT says users who keep trying to connect may find their devices blocked, so that the stability and reliability of campus network services can be maintained.

This is not the first time iThings have run afoul of higher learning's network wonks. Duke University suffered network outages around the release of the iPhone in 2007 and blamed those on the iPhone invasion; those hiccups eventually turned out to be a problem with Cisco routers, not Apple's phone.

[via MacNN]

Tags: dhcp, ipad, iphone, IT, ivy league, IvyLeague, princeton, wifi, wireless

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Say it's not so (I graduated from Cornell University oh so many years ago) that these leading Universities are limiting this technology oriented learning experience...

Engadget has what looks like to be an internal slide for HP employees regarding the Slate, pricing, strategy and a side-by-side comparison of the iPad. Is it a fair match? Is it a match at all? Just how does the Slate stack up against Steve Job’s brain child? Read on…

To be fair, the comparisons of the iPad VS the Slate aren’t comparing Apples to Apples, because the experience on both devices isn’t the same. But HP’s leaked memo seems less concerned about the experience, and more concerned about the hardware. It details the iPad and the Slate side by side with a list of hardware components. Red highlights indicate the iPad’s advantage, while green highlights indicate the Slate’s advantage. The only things — acording to HP — that the iPad has on the Slate is battery life, wireless N support, a slightly larger resolution screen, and — what’s this? Price.

That’s right. The Slate is priced at  $549 for the 32GB flash storage version or $599 if you want a 64GB version. The Slate’s winnings? HP sees a media card reader, a camera, expandable storage via a media card reader, and HDMI out with 1080p as winners against the iPad. (I suppose you can lump in that $549 gets you double the data for $50 bucks, versus the $100 difference between a 32GB and 16GB iPad.)

Just to be fair, the iPad has video out, just not 1080p via HDMI. You can get 720p via component. There isn’t a camera, or expandable storage, so obviously HP can tout these features exclusively. But the real difference when you boil it down is the user experience. And the HP Slate will include Windows 7 Home Premium, complete with a stylus.

So will that mean you’ll just have a sleek device with a clunky Windows experience? Well, the leaked  slide contains a reference to an “HP touch-optimized UI,” so maybe the boys at HP have been working on a special touch-layer on top of Windows.

But still, the issue of experience remains. Will there also be HP touch-optimized Apps? That’s a question worth asking. Arguably, the iPad has the upper hand with a sleek user interface, and a ton of apps developers only have to make “HD” or “XL.” Of course, the Slate’s ability to have multiple apps open at once will be instantly appealing, just — will the device be? When people pick it up, will they fall in love, or wonder what’s so special about it? The Slate is actually lighter than the iPad, but only slightly. I attribute that to plastic instead of aluminum, and that might make or break a deal when someone picks up both of them side-by-side.

Again, it boils down to a wait-and-see. But one thing is for certain; HP has their cross-hairs on Apple.

But will they miss?

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