Google's new Chromecast dongle sells out on Play Store

UPDATE: Several reviews have come out about the Chromecast. Since I haven't dedicated the $35 to purchasing one myself, I'll defer to David Pogue.

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Chromecast: is it a game changer?  The public is eating it up.  It's definitely a game changer.  But to understand how it's going to affect things, you have to think about how Apple has been going about the same thing.  For years now, Apple has had a 'pet project' called AppleTV.  It has never been on the front line of Apple's advertising.  There have even been several analysts over the years that have predicted the doom of AppleTV.  Apple has persisted though without really highlighting AppleTV.  AirPlay was available through the iOS devices, but was mainly used for streaming music.  It was a cool feature but not a wave maker.

When the iPhone 5 and iPad 3 came out, they both had AirPlay, which meant that anyone who already had an AppleTV could mirror their screen to their big screen TV.  This was a significant event and clearly showed Apple's desire to get into the living room.  They've since released newer updated hardware and software for the little device.  You can watch Hulu, Netflix, HBO, and a bunch of other content, as long as your have an account.  Recently, an iOS game developer released a game that really doesn't work without mirroring.  It's a tennis game much like the game that comes with the Wii.  The difference is that you play with your phone as the controller using its internal accelerometers and gyroscopes to detect your motion.  The video is displayed on your phone, but that doesn't really work when you're swinging your phone around like a tennis racket.  However, if you mirror your phone to your AppleTV, you essentially get the same game that came with the first generation Wii.  This game opens the door for other games that can be built in the same way.  All the work is being done on the phone/controller in your hand, while the video is mirrored up to the big screen.  The next advance I expect to see from Airplay is the ability to mirror multiple devices to the same AppleTV.  Putting two people's phones' screens on a single TV gives multiplayer games a chance (imagine Mario cart but using your phone as the steering wheel).

Then Google released Chromecast.  It's 1/3 the cost of the AppleTV and seems to work across different platforms.  If you only look at the Chrome browser mirroring capabilities, this is huge.  All the things that can be done in a Chrome browser can now be done on a big screen TV while not requiring any extra remote controls much in the same was as Airplay does for Apple phones' screens.  While Chromecast appears to compete directly with AppleTV given all the current features, there's more to it than that.  AppleTV and Chromecast are on the same trajectory.  While Google was late to the phone game joining in only after Apple already had a tight grip on the market, they came to the table much sooner with Chromecast.  
The other major factor here is that Airplay for Apple iOS devices only works with mobile devices.  Chromecast promises to work not only using any mobile device but also PC computers with the Chrome browser installed.  This means that all the content that people currently consume using their PC can now be consumed on their TV.  This may not seem big, but given the cheap entry point, Chromecast could easily be used as a secondary monitor for every device in the house.  
On top of that, since Chromecast can mirror anything from the Chrome browser, much content that has had a hard time breaking into the living room now has a direct link.  For example, Hulu has two services, free and paid (Hulu Plus).  The paid service doesn't have much content that the free service doesn't.  There's a little, but it's not really what subscribers are paying for.  Hulu Plus subscribers have the ability to stream Hulu content on just about any device they can get their hands on.  Hulu free users can only get content through their browser (but not a browser on a mobile device).  With Chromecast, users can easily use the free Hulu service but still view it on their TV without hooking up a PC.  This means that Hulu will need to reevaluate what users are really paying for.  At $8 a month, a one time investment of $35 for Chromecast not only will pay for itself in 5 months, but will get me pretty much the same content with little extra hassle.
Yes, Chromecast is a game changer.  At $35, it's cheap enough to give it a chance even if it doesn't eventually work out.  It's not like the $99 investment in an AppleTV.  

AirPrinting with an HP printer

If you have an iOS device and an HP printer, you might have been disappointed to find out that even though the HP printer uses AppleTalk (the protocol behind AirPrint), you can't actually print to the printer from you iOS device.  This has been one of the main reasons my wife hasn't completely abandoned her desktop PC.

Here's how I fixed it:
Use a little utility called AirPrint installer.  It installs a windows service that reshares the printers from your Windows PC using AppleTalk (the version that is compatible with iOS 6).  I tried doing it without the reg fix, but the printers wouldn't work.  After the reg fix, sure enough, I saw the two printers I have connected to my PC but they both had padlocks.  I used the recommended fix (enabling the guest account on my pc) and they started working.

Here's the utility: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1293865

iOS App Review: Remote

Apple
Summary - This app gets a ton of usage at our house.  In the last few years, Apple has been improving on their AirPlay feature and Remote reaps the benefits.  This app on my iPhone can connect to any of the iTunes libraries and AppleTVs on my network and control them.  We use this mainly as an additional remote control for our AppleTV.  I can swipe and tap to navigate around the AppleTV UI as well as browse through shared content from my desktop without interrupting the current content on the AppleTV.  When I find a movie, TV show, or music playlist I want to play, the Remote app starts it streaming to the AppleTV.  I can also use this to control music playing on my desktop.  So, if I walk into the other room, I can easily stop the music from playing without going back to my office.  We also use it from time to time to control the iTunes music playing in the nursery (since that PC is a headless PC; e.g. no monitor attached).

Pros - This one is definitely easy to setup.  Just enable the home sharing option by signing in with your Apple ID and you get full control of all the iTunes libraries and devices joined to the home share.  Apple's recent update also added a 'stay-connected' feature that keeps me connected for a few minutes after using the remote.  This means faster resume time if I was just using it a few minutes ago.  The app also supports AirPlay.  I discovered that from the app I can start music playing in my office, then also extend it to the speakers connected to my AppleTV.

Cons - I haven't really found any downsides to the app.  It's well designed and does exactly what I want it to do.

iOS App Review: Latitude

Google Latitude - Google, Inc.
Summary - This handy little app scares people who are paranoid about Google being their big brother.  I look at Google in this way: "If Google wanted any of my information, they'd get it.  So why go to the effort of hiding it?"  Latitude tracks my current GPS position and uploads it regularly to the Google cloud.  Within the app, I have a few defined friends that also use Latitude.  I choose to share my current location with them.  This means I can always check where my wife, my Dad, my brother, and my best friend are.  Hopefully the service won't be turned off without the functionality being moved into Google+.

Pros - Easy to setup, easy to add friends, quick to launch, and I always know if my parents are on their way over for a surprise visit to see the grandkids.  I can also set an option (that's disabled by default) to keep a log of my locations (instead of just my current location).  This could be useful for parents trying to keep an eye on their kids or for catching the crooks that steal your phone.

Cons - Google knows where you've been.  Not many people use it.  It's not yet integrated with Google+ (maybe someday).

iOS App Review: Grabatron

Grabatron - Future Games of London

Summary - This game has kept itself on my first page of apps for several months now.  It's a simple game where you fly a UFO by tilting the iPhone.  Tap the screen and a giant claw descends.  The goal is to grab stuff with the claw and destroy it.  Simple gamification techniques make the game easy to put down and resume later while still feeling like I've made progress.  The whole thing has a fun 1950s Aliens Attack! feel to the graphics and theme.

Pros

• Easy to learn the mechanics of the game
• In app upgrades can be bought with real money or crystals earned in the game
• Crystals can also be earned by watching neatly tucked away ads
• The object of the game is destruction!

Cons

• Loads slowly on my iPhone4.  Once loaded, performance is fine
• Music and sound effects were annoying at first.  Easy to disable though

iOS App Review: Tower Madness

TowerMadness - Limbic Software

Summary - One of the most fun games I've played.  It's not that much different than other tower defense games, but consistent new maps and tower upgrades keep me coming back and playing the same parts of the game over and over.

Pros

• New maps released somehow right after I get tired of the existing maps
• New weapon upgrades released somehow right after I get tired of the existing weapon upgrades
• Good graphics
• Easy to learn
• Endless mode allows for longer play with more money and more aliens to kill
• Pinch/spread zoom in/out seamlessly integrates with 3D environment
• 1x/2x/4x play modes so you can play faster

Cons

• No 'upgrade all the way' or 'upgrade as much as I can afford' option (instead you have to go through each upgrade manually
• No option in endless mode to send 10/50/100 waves at once (instead you have to tap the single button 10/50/100 times)
• More maps can be bought as in app purchases - that's how they make money
• More weapons can be bought as in app purchases
• 8x play mode would be nice
• My iPhone 4 slows down when more than 40 waves are present on the playing field and in 4x mode.  Doesn't seem to affect score
• One tower has an upgrade that turns it into a Tesla Coil.  While it's a great weapon, it doesn't work against airborne enemies.  Since it's all science fiction anyway, I would prefer that this upgrade gave the tower the ability to engage airborne enemies, much like the famed Tesla Death Ray

iOS App Review: Flashlight by Rik

I've been asked before what apps I have installed on my iPhone.  I figured I could detail which ones I use and why through my blog.  This will give me room to put my reasons for/against a certain app.  I'll try to include my overview, pros, and cons.  Here goes nothing...

Flashlight by Rik - Henri Asseily
Summary - This turns the iPhone's camera's flash into a flashlight.  Instead of flashing on when taking a picture, this app turns on the flash continuously.
Pros - Tons of options including an option to darken the screen while in use.  When in darkened mode it shows your battery usage so you can keep an eye on things.  It includes standard flashlight functions like auto SOS message through Morse code, manual Morse code, and strobe (more just for fun).  There's also an option to control the intensity, so it can be turned down to make your battery last longer.  It's also free.
Cons - Like any other flashlight app, it will consume battery while it's on.  You can't use other apps and keep the flashlight on.  This is not unique to this flashlight app and has to do more with iOS' so called 'multitasking'.

Automatically Tweeting with a QR Code

To continue with my QR fever, I've been looking into what can be easily automated using QR codes.

Twitter
The first thing I found is how to tweet from a QR.  This is fairly easy since any QR can contain a URL; So, the only thing needed is a URL that will tweet.  A quick search on the web revealed this.

http://twitter.com/home?status=insert%20your%20message%20here

Use these codes for special characters – (%20 is a space) (%40 is @) (%25 is #) (More here).  Given that, you could even include a mention, a hash tag, or even a tiny url.  I'm trying to figure out how to include a location in a tweet, but that's proving more difficult.  If anyone knows how to do that, please let me know.  Once you have the text, you can put it into the QR code generator on Google's chart API.

Facebook
The next thing I found is how to make a QR code to get someone to Facebook.  Unfortunately, there's not really an easy way to get people to 'like' something on Facebook by just scanning the code.  What you can do is point people to your Facebook page (or to any URL really) and hope they like it from there.  One thing you can do is point them directly to a 'like' page within Facebook.  This is accomplished by creating a URL like this:

https://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http://stuart.weenig.com

Click on the link above to see what this looks like.  You can replace the href=http://stuart.weenig.com with your own URL (like href=http://www.facebook.com/NetQoS).  This will bring up a very small like button that the user can then click on.  The nice thing about this is that if they're already logged into Facebook in their browser, they'll get a richer experience.

LinkedIn
Turns out sharing something to LinkedIn is pretty easy.  I used the qr generator at QR Stuff to figure out the link:

http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=http%3A//stuart.weenig.com


I thought it was weird that the colon needed to be translated but that the forward slashes did not.  If you find that you need it, the URL code for a forward slash is %2F.  As you can see by clicking on the link above, the forward slashes do not need to be encoded for the share to work.

Locations
My next goal will be to figure out how to enable location based check-ins through Facebook and twitter.  If anyone already knows how to do that, let me know.

Using QR Codes to Share Contact Information

I recently saw a QR code at the entrance to a local hobby store here in town and decided to see what would happen if I scanned it with my camera. Since I already have a QR reader app on my phone, I fired it up and took the shot. I was startled to see that my phone now had a contact screen showing the contact information for the store, hours, website, etc. It was pretty cool, especially since the store is a local store that has nothing to do with high technology.

Since then, I've decided to get ready for CA World by seeing how hard it would be to put my own contact information into a QR code. Then I could paste the QR code onto my badge and quickly and easily share my contact information with other people at the convention. It took a while and I learned a little bit, but here are the results:

The best place I've found to generate a barcode was (surprise, surprise) Google. They have a chart API that you can use to build charts and display them on web pages. Very cool. As it turns out, all QR codes are really just text. You start by embedding contact information in a very simple markup (popularized by NTT DoCoMo), then pasting that into the QrCode chart type.  Tweak the parameters and you end up with a nice little code that can be read by most scanners.

The trickiest part is to format the text using the markup language.  For example:
MECARD:N:Stuart Weenig;URL:http://stuart.weenig.com;

would result in this QR Code:


In order to embed more information into the code, just add fields.  For example, you can add one or more telephone numbers.

Name	N:	Designates a text string to be set as the name in the phonebook. (0 or more characters) When a field is divided by a comma (,), the first half is treated as the last name and the second half is treated as the first name
Phone Number	TEL:	Designates a text string to be set as the telephone number in the phonebook. (1 to 24 digits)
Video Phone Number	TEL-AV:	Designates a text string to be set as the videophone number in the phonebook. (1 to 24 digits)
E-mail	EMAIL:	Designates a text string to be set as the e-mail address in the phonebook. (0 or more characters)
Memo	NOTE:	Designates a text string to be set as the memo in the phonebook. (0 or more characters)
Birthday	BDAY:	Designates a text string to be set as the birthday in the phonebook. (8 digits) The 8 digits consist of the year (4 digits), month (2 digits) and day (2 digits), in order.
Address	ADR:	Designates a text string to be set as the address in the phonebook. (0 or more characters) The fields divided by commas (,) denote PO box, room number, house number, city, prefecture, zip code and country, in order.
URL	URL:	Designates a text string to be set as the homepage URL in the phonebook. (0 or more characters)
Nickname	NICKNAME:	Designates a text string to be set as the nickname in the phonebook. (0 or more characters)

Another idea I had was to tape a QR code on the back of my phone. So that in case it gets lost, someone can at least know who it originally belonged to. This would also make it easier to share contact information with just about anybody.

First impressions of the iPhone 4S

I just finished watching the keynote video for the iPhone 4S. I have to say I am impressed. I am really excited about the release of the new iPhone, but I think I'm more excited about the release of iOS 5.  In my household there are two iPhones and an iPad, so the release of a new operating system is more exciting to me than a new device.
The release of Siri could turn out to be revolutionary or it could flop. There have been other voice recognition technologies, however none have used real English language commands. For example, Windows 7 and Vista both include voice recognition technology, but in order to use that you have to stick to a pre-defined list of commands.  The fact that Apple's new device allows you to speak to it in normal words could mean success where others have failed.
iOS is set to release next Wednesday, so, I'll give a full review of the new features when I get it installed.

In the mean time, I've promised a review of the Boxwave clip-on keyboard for my iPhone.
All in all, it's what I expected.  I hoped for a physical keyboard.  Here are the pros:

Pros

• It was incredibly easy to setup.  I have used Bluetooth before, so I was familiar with the general pairing process.  It wasn't any different from any other Bluetooth device I had ever used.  
• It's Bluetooth, so it doesn't require any cables and it doesn't occupy my sync port.
• It is a physical keyboard, so typing on it has been an improved experience over the virtual screen keyboard because of the added real estate and because of the tactile nature of a physical keyboard.
• It has a 'show/hide keyboard' button that allows me to show or hide the virtual keyboard just in case I ever want to go back temporarily.  I've actually had occasion where using the virtual keyboard was better (I'll explain in the cons).
• It has arrow keys!  I can use the arrow keys to move the cursor around.  This is especially helpful when i'm editing text that I've typed incorrectly.  I can go back to the mistake without having to erase everything after the mistake and do it again.  The arrow keys also allow for 'home' and 'end' functions, especially helpful when typing.

Cons

• Charging - while the keyboard is charging, there's a light.  When it's done charging, all the lights go off.  This is disconcerting because I came back after an hour of charging it the first time and I thought the charger had become unplugged and it hadn't been charging.  I discovered that about 20 seconds after unplugging it and plugging it back in, the charge light went out, hopefully indicating a full charge.  After a few charge cycles, this is indeed the behavior.  It was not documented anyway.  Boxwave, put a green light on there that lights up when it's fully charged.
• They keyboard is not lit - the keys on the keyboard are not lit up which means that when it's dark, I can't use the keyboard.  I fumble around for the 'show/hide keyboard' button (or just power off the keyboard) to force the virtual keyboard to come up and I can use it like normal.  So basically, when it's dark, the keyboard is dead weight.
• The apostrophe requires a function key to be pressed.  This is annoying since there are other keys, like the equals sign, that don't require a function key.  The apostrophe is going to be much more utilized than the equals sign.
• Function/Shift keys - the keyboard has a plethora of function keys to allow numerals and additional characters, which is great.  However, when typing in a long string of numbers or special characters (think :-)), I can't just hold down the function key.  I can either press and depress the function key between each character (frustrating) or I can double tap the function key to go into function lock (double tap again to undo function lock).  While both of those options are great, I'd also like the ability to just hold down the function key and put in all the special characters I want.  Same goes for the shift key.  That way, it acts more like the keyboards I've been using for the last 30 years.
• Autocorrect - now that I'm using an external keyboard, iOS' internal auto correct feature doesn't always work.  For example, if I type 'i', it doesn't get corrected to 'I', nor dont to don't.  Nor does it automatically capitalize the first word in new sentences.

That's pretty much it for now.  If I come across any other glaring problems, I'll post them.

iPhone5 Release Date Heavily Hinted

Apple has issued invitations to a press conference that can only mean the release of iPhone5.  The only real question I have is whether or not iOS 5 will come out at the same time.  Nobody outside of Apple really knows and those inside Apple aren't talking.  However, since I already have 2 iPhones and an iPad, I won't be running out to get another device to replace the perfectly good one I already have.  It looks like I've entered the friend zone with Apple.  The friend zone is the place where you aren't really affected by the huge, amazing, wonderful, new stuff coming from a provider and instead have to deal with being a second rate citizen to whom the provider isn't really interested in since you've already spent your money with them.

Too many companies ignore the customers in the friend zone.  How many times have you seen your internet provider offer a deal for home internet that's at least half of what you're paying now for internet, but you don't qualify because you're an existing customer?  Or a mobile phone provider/carrier?

Look people, you wouldn't have to spend so much money attracting new customers (who, face it, were probably at one point in the past one of your loyal customers) if you extended the new offers to your existing customers as well.  I wouldn't even consider leaving my current internet provider if I got the same deals that new customers get.  I'm not saying they have to automatically give me the deals new customers get, but at least don't disqualify me.  If I'm willing to sit on the phone for 2 hours just so I can get a better price on my internet and continue to remain a loyal customer, give me the deal!

More BlackBerry woes

In case you hadn't noticed, BlackBerry isn't doing so hot.  According to a comScore report, RIM has lost another 3.7% of the mobile market, giving it up mainly to Google and Apple (See the chart below).

Source: comScore - http://bit.ly/qixHpB

This leads everyone in the mobile industry wondering what will happen to BlackBerry.  Some people have said that BlackBerry still has strengths.  Oddly enough, those strengths are the same ones they have had since before Google even came to market: great keyboard and easy to understand navigation (BlackBerry's the only phone with a right click intuitively similar to Windows' right click).

So what is a washed up mobile phone maker to do when facing obviously superior competition?  Well, they can do what most technology companies do: steal.  What will it take to get Google's Android on BlackBerry hardware?  In that case, it wouldn't even be stealing.  Some people are even talking about this as an alternative for BlackBerry (BlackBerry's Support Forums) and I wouldn't be surprised to see some hacker out there loading Android on a BlackBerry (if they can jailbreak it).  

Another option is for RIM to start manufacturing a bolt on keyboard for iPhone and Droid.  Could you imagine what would happen if Otterbox or Boxwave were to partner with RIM to make a case with a flip out BB style keyboard?  It would be a killer for RIM since they would lose the entire BB-has-the-best-keyboard market.  But really, what else can RIM do?

Honestly, I see BlackBerries running Android within a few years.  It's their only viable option.  

RIM's last chance

Well, in case you didn't hear, Google bought Motorola Mobility (a split off company from Motorola that built their phones).  This is Google's second attempt at manufacturing hardware for mobile phones (the first being the very underwhelming Nexus).  This will make Google much more like Apple and RIM when it comes to mobile phones: they will now make the hardware as well as the software for their mobile phones.  While Google claims the acquisition is in response to the MSFT/APPL led coalition which won the battle over the defunct Nortel's immensely valuable set of patents, it coincidentally lines up Google to directly compete with Apple in the mobile world.

Now that Apple has proven that, given the right spark of ingenuity, it's best to produce the phone and the operating system together, it only makes sense that the largest smart phone operating system builder would follow suit.  They'd be dooming themselves to failure if they didn't.  Microsoft made a similar gamble making a huge deal with Nokia (not an acquisition but more of an agreement) to have them produce the hardware that Microsoft hopes will rocket their mobile operating system (or their unified operating system, does anyone think that will really happen?) into a level of decent competition with their old rival Apple.

All of this begs the question: what about everybody else?  What other players are out there, and will the addition of another 800 lb. gorilla into the market allow anyone else to survive without putting on the gorilla suit?  What will happen to Microsoft (who is pretty much the only other smart phone operating system maker)?  What will happen to RIM (who has had the most dismal of quarters followed by "streamlining" [read layoffs])?

Here's what i see: RIM is betting everything on their QNX operating system.  With good reason, it's supposedly revolutionary (I am not an operating system developer so i couldn't tell you whether it is or not, but the experts have said that it is).  However, RIM is dead set on releasing the next version of their BlackBerry OS for their entire line of phones before dumping that as soon as possible for QNX.

If RIM survives that self induced roller coaster, it could emerge as the next gorilla to enter the playing field.  If not, RIM will not have much choice but to show up in Redmond wearing a short skirt and high heals promising incredible experiences for not much money.  At that point Microsoft (who has never really had any success building hardware for their own operating systems, at least not compared to the success that Apple has had) will have the opportunity to gobble up a hardware maker that is already established in the enterprise market. If Microsoft doesn't screw it up (like Cisco did with the Flip), they may emerge as the next suited gorilla in the market, finally able to compete with Apple and Google.

The other players in the smart phone market don't stand much of a chance at this point.  Who in their right mind would try to build a phone and put Google's operating system on it?  Who could really compete with a Google OS/Google hardware phone using a Google OS/[Any] hardware phone?  Is Samsung up to the challenge?  Who knows.

Efficient use of wireless bandwidth

Michael Mace recently posted his second article about the impending doom of mobile executives.  The article (and it's sequel) are very good summaries of the dire straights in which mobile execs find themselves.  They are between the signature rock and a hard place, with either decision they make resulting in the probable loss of their career. 

Apple being a little underhanded?

I should disclose, i work for RIM.  Still, even if i didn't work for them, i'm a little shocked that Apple would sink this low.  Is it true?  Perhaps.
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/04/07/apple_reportedly_caused_display_shortage_that_delayed_rim_playbook_1_month.html
Still, this is the tactic i take when fighting against aliens or killer robots.  Cut off their supply.  Even if it means you'll only delay them.  In the technology race, release dates are significant down to the day.

Finally, something that doesn't work in iOS, wait nevermind.

I got an iPad back in October.  I've been really pleased with it.  It's constantly exceeded my expectations.  With the release of iPad 2 yesterday, Apple calling 2011 'the year of the iPad 2', and RIM's own tablet coming out soon, i'm excited to see how quickly we can get to a point where we don't need desktop systems in our homes. 
Anyway, about the thing that doesn't work.  I use the remote app to remote control my iTunes on my personal computer.  That way every time i want to change songs, i don't have to switch my kvm over to my home computer.  I can just reach over and click next on my ipad.  I've had problems with this before though.  My wifi at home is A/B/G/N.  The iPad supports B/G.  Sometimes when my iPad would time out and switch itself off and i'd manually turn it back on, it would report that the wifi was connected, when really it wasn't.  This was annoyingly obvious when trying to use the remote app (since the remote app requires ethernet connectivity).  I finally figured out that i could go and disable the wifi then reenable it and everything would work fine.  Then, this afternoon, my wife sat down to watch a netflix movie on her iPhone.  We got a startling email from AT&T stating that we'd gone over our 200MB limit for the month.  Turns out this problem applies to all iOS controlled wifi devices.  I disabled her wifi and reenabled it and lo and behold, web pages started to load much faster.
So, i had to conclude that the problem is not actually with iOS but with my router.  After a little research on the internet, i found that 802.11n is the culprit.  I went onto my router and disabled A/N wifi and without doing anything to either device, they both started functioning.  My wife got a bunch of emails that had been delayed since there was no connectivity.  And a youtube video i had paused on my ipad suddenly started working.
Go figure.  I guess you could technically call this a bug with the iOS and the corresponding hardware since the presence of an N network shouldn't hose up a G network.

Apple and Big Money

Seems Apple is riding high lately.  Their string of successess has only been marred by the leave of absence of Steve Jobs.  However, new and exciting things are on the horizon for iOS based devices:
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/01/25/apple_finalizing_wireless_e_wallet_for_iphone_5_ipad_2_report.html
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/01/24/deutsche_bank_very_positive_on_iphone_trial_no_going_back_to_blackberry.html
http://osxdaily.com/2011/01/21/xbmc-for-apple-tv-2/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+osxdaily+(OS+X+Daily)
Not to mention the announcement that you can now get an iPhone on Verizon instead of being forced to drink the AT&T kool-aid.  Does all this add up to a huge change in the technology world?  For sure.  Does it mean people will eventually not get desktop computers?  Maybe.  More likely it means more homes will adopt the home server architecture having one very powerful very high capacity system instead of multiple desktops per household member.  Given that RDP and VNC both exist as apps for iOS, it wouldn't take much to turn an iPad or even an iPhone into a terminal.  With the right docking station hooked up to the network, a couple monitors, a keyboard, and maybe a mouse (probably not), any iOS device could be turned into a terminal.  However, i expect that services that would normally be accessed with direct input to a PC will be configurable using apps.

iOS 4.2 is bigger than the Beatles

So, the Beatles are bigger than God, right? Well, with the recent tease and supposedly huge announcement from Apple about the Beatles library finally being released on iTunes, I'm left saying, "Dang Steve, getting multitasking on my iPad is more important that your new money making scheme." I mean, not only did they miss the Beatles revival of my generation 10 years ago, but I've already bought all the Beatles music i want on CD and ripped it into my music library. Why would i want to buy it from Apple when i already bought it?

Seriously, with the playbook (better battery, no required data plan if you have a bb, flash, and multitasking) release emminent, the iPad had better get a facelift or finally face a competitor eye to eye. Contrary to Apple's promise that i'll never forget today, i probably will as soon as iOS 4.2 is released. Until then, i'll be listening to my Beatles music that i didn't purchase through iTunes and waiting for Apple to fulfil its promise to upgrade my iPad sometime this month.

What I wish my phone did

This post could also apply to any smart phone.  It's about my bb since that's what i have now.  I'm curious to see what the Windows7 phone will be capable of.

Ok, I've had a BlackBerry with my last two jobs and now I have a torch.  I'm still waiting for three big features that would truly give me 'outlook in my pocket'.  I understand that not everyone wants to have all the features of their pc in their pocket, but I've always wanted to be able to do everything on my phone that I can do on my desktop.  I don't think I'm alone given the popularity and incredible demand in the tablet device market.  But, I digress.  On to the features!

1. I wish I could categorize items from my phone: Color coding is awesome!  I categorize my emails, my task items, and my calendar items.  I sometimes do this with rules, but mostly, I do it manually.  It helps me segregate the items on my calendar as well as helping me know at a glance what my plans concern.  I color code for different projects, types of meetings, etc.  I wish I could do this from my bb and sync it back to my outlook
2. I wish I could follow up on items from my phone: Have you ever noticed that you can mark an email to be followed up on from within outlook?  Just right click the email in Outlook and under Follow Up, there are a bunch of options.  Say you've read the email and you need to respond to it, but not until next week.  Right click >> Follow Up >> Next Week.  Outlook puts a flag on the email and also adds the email to your To-Do bar (Alt-F2 to show/hide).  Outlook pops up a reminder next week that you need to address that email.  I wish i could mark something to be followed up from within my phone.  As it is, i mark the message unread (even if I've read it) so i know i need to mark it when i get back to my desk.
3. I wish my phone knew when i was in meetings: Wait, it does: my calendar is synchronized with my phone!  I mean, i wish my phone knew when i was in a meeting and automatically turned off the ringer.  Then turned it back on after the meeting is over.  How hard would it be to add a field to a calendar item with a drop down containing my profiles.  Let the default profile be 'silent', but maybe it's just a training class and i want it to go to vibrate during that time.  So be it.

Anyway, those are my top 3 requests for my phone.  If anyone knows how to accomplish this in the existing setup, let me know.  Otherwise, I'm waiting with baited breath.