March 21, 2012
Written by Peter Cohen
Agam Shah for InfoWorld/IDG News Service:
Apple was the world’s second largest mobile processor company behind Intel in 2011, benefitting from growing smartphone and tablet shipments and a meltdown in the PC market, according to In-Stat. If that trend holds and Apple’s iPhone and iPad shipments continue to grow at an unprecedented pace, Apple will likely overtake Intel as the world’s largest mobile processor company by the end of this year.
Just remember that five years ago Apple wasn’t even in this market yet.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
The Wall Street Journal has an article today that profiles a user that was surprised his data plan was used up by streaming video to his iPad.
Despite what WSJ would have you believe, this isn’t an iPad problem — streaming video is going to eat up a data plan on any device. The Journal chose the iPad because it makes for a good headline, not because it’s accurate.
Here’s another tip for the user and Wall Street Journal — don’t hit your iPad with a hammer because it could damage the device.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Mary Jo Foley:
Microsoft’s Sales, Marketing, Services, IT, & Operations Group (SMSG) may be putting in place a policy to prevent employees from using corporate funds to buy Macs and iPads.
Makes sense. If you’re going to make users suffer, why not force employees to suffer too.
March 20, 2012
Written by Jim Dalrymple
The goal with this reggae collection was to capture the essence of the reggae drummers of the 70’s who set the standard for the elusive reggae feel and styles. Add this to more contemporary artists and groove derivations and you get a truly unique collection of live acoustic reggae drum loops.
My favorite company for real drum loops.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
It was 30 years ago yesterday that Randy died. He was one of the best.
Consumer reports is at it again, this time the organization is trying to torpedo Apple’s new iPad.
I say “torpedo” because it seems to me Consumer Reports has an agenda playing out here. I would think that would be to get as much press as possible and the way to achieve that is to find a problem with the iPad 3.
Think about this — when is the last time you heard from Consumer Reports? Right, you probably haven’t. The last press release they issued was for bagel testing, so there is probably little cause for hype on that one. (Perhaps their hands were still hot from the bagel toaster when they picked up the iPad).
Yet, when it comes to an Apple product, Consumer Reports pulls out all the stops and schedules a segment on CNBC? Stinks a little, I think.
Not only that, the great testers at Consumer Reports once again contradict themselves.
Paul Reynolds, Consumer Reports electronics editor, said on CNBC that the iPad is “hot enough to be uncomfortable at least.” But in the organizations official release it said the iPad “it felt very warm but not especially uncomfortable.”
You remember Consumer Reports contradictions about the iPhone 4 right? That’s when the iPhone 4 scored highest among all smartphones, but on the same day Consumer Reports said it couldn’t recommend the iPhone.
Simply put, I call bullshit on Consumer Reports. I have a new iPad and been using it every day and I don’t see the issues they are reporting. It’s like Consumer Reports trolls the Web to see what people are complaining about and they put that in their report.
They should stick with bagels.
Mike Daisey has done an immeasurable amount of damage to Apple with his lies over the past couple of years. While I doubt Apple will seek any compensation, I don’t see why Daisey should be allowed to profit.
Maybe a solution would be to sue Daisey with the understanding that all of the money is put into a fund for Chinese workers. It could be used for any number of things, but at least Daisey wouldn’t have it.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
John Gruber on these heat tests going around today:
As Alex Dedalus points out on Twitter, to say this is a crap headline is give crap headlines a bad name.
This is great stuff.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Because Basil organizes your recipes for you, you can spend more time cooking rather than organizing them. Each new recipe is tagged with its main ingredients, and adding cuisine and meal type is fast too, so your recipes are always organized. You can find just the recipe you’re looking for by sorting according to cuisine type, meal type, or main ingredients. Or you can just search them, using full-text search.
Great looking app. Best of luck to Kyle on the launch.
There have been a couple of stories on the Internet in the past few days that say the iPad runs a bit hotter than its predecessor. Apple on Tuesday responded.
“The new iPad delivers a stunning Retina display, A5X chip, support for 4G LTE plus 10 hours of battery life, all while operating well within our thermal specifications,” Apple representative Trudy Muller, told The Loop. “If customers have any concerns they should contact AppleCare.”
I have been using the new iPad for almost two weeks — a week before it was released to the public and I’ve seen no heat issues. I use my iPad everyday over LTE and Wi-Fi, holding it my hand and on my lap and the device doesn’t get hot.
I have also used all types of applications in my testing of the iPad including GarageBand, iMovie, iPhoto and other music apps. These app take advantage of the faster processor, graphics and Retina display, all without issue.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Anthony Kay:
But with Apple things are different. They don’t just use an ugly cardboard box with their logo and a few stickers slapped on it. They actually give a great deal of thought to the design of the box itself. They think about what it looks like on the shelf, how it presents the contents to the purchaser, and what the experience will be like when you open it.
Exactly right. The Apple experience begins at the store when the product is still on the shelf.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Joseph Valente:
Essentially it turns around Apple’s complete willingness to destroy its own revenues. It built a phone that destroyed it’s major source of revenue, the iPod. It built Macbook Airs that have now disrupted another major source of revenue, their Macbook Pros. It built the iPad, which is already beginning to disrupt the Macbook itself.
Apple also killed off the iPod mini at the height of its popularity and introduced the iPod nano in its place. That completely disrupted the competition because at that time they were all trying to copy the mini.
Written by Peter Cohen
Aaron Souppouris for The Verge:
A team of researchers from Purdue University and Microsoft has discovered that up to 75 percent of app-related battery drain in Android can be caused by ad-serving processes.
The study further contends that the ads don’t have to use up that much battery life, they’re just coded poorly.
Wow. Android is awesome.
March 19, 2012
Written by Shawn King
On Monday morning Apple told the world what they plan to do with its almost $100 billion in cash – later this year, Apple will begin paying dividends and will buy back shares.
You can listen to streaming audio from the conference call now from Apple’s site.
Written by Peter Cohen
Alli Houseworth, for New Beans:
He [Mike Daisey, creator of “The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs”] insisted that “This is a work of non-fiction” be printed in playbills. … So to the producers of the American theatre, I urge you to boycott this work. Boycott Mike’s gorgeous, amazing piece of theatre that is based on a true story. Boycott it until you get the apology that you deserve and do not ever, ever re-mount it or produce a work of his again until you know for sure what is true and what is not so your audiences are never ever mislead again. Stand by your desire to uphold the truth and value of art, of what you work so enormously hard for day in and day out, until you get an apology from the man who calls himself one of you, who is our field’s “leading man” in the fight for theatre as truth and activism.
A powerful commentary from one of Daisey’s peers in theater saying clearly and unequivocally that what Daisey did was wrong, in no uncertain terms, and that he’s a liar who lies again and again without compunction. (Via Glenn Fleishman on Twitter)
Written by Jim Dalrymple
I’m not a big QR code user, but I can see how this would be useful for some people.
Written by Shawn King
Smithsonian:
The April, 1935 issue of Everyday Science and Mechanics included this nifty invention which was to be the next logical step in the world of publishing. Basically a microfilm reader mounted on a large pole, the media device was supposed to let you sit back in your favorite chair while reading your latest tome of choice.
Don’t show this to Michael Dell. He might think it’s a good idea and start making them.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Screens VNC for iOS and Mac. It just works.
Written by Jim Dalrymple
Jenny Blumberg:
We’ve been asked before what our business model is, and honestly there isn’t one in place yet. We’re looking into a freemium model. I posted an answer on Quora that goes into more detail here. A business model that relies on targeted advertising doesn’t jive with our culture at Sepia Labs. We’d rather add amazing new features that people would be willing to pay us for, because they enjoy Glassboard so much.With that in mind, we’d love for you to use Glassboard, and with a tear in your eye, trembling lips… utter the words “You complete me.”
Sepia Labs is Brent Simmons new company. Love these guys and their honesty.
Update: The original headline of this story was “No business plan,” when in fact, it should have read “No business model.” Sepia Labs clearly has a business plan.
Apple on Monday said that it had sold more than 3 million iPads since it launched last Friday.
“The new iPad is a blockbuster with three million sold―the strongest iPad launch yet,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “Customers are loving the incredible new features of iPad, including the stunning Retina display, and we can’t wait to get it into the hands of even more customers around the world this Friday.”
More transparency about Apple’s overseas operations.
Corporate philanthropy for the first time in years.
A dividend and stock buyback program.
Oh, and continuing to roll out amazing products one after the other.
Let no one say Tim Cook isn’t putting his own mark on Apple.
