Tag Archives | Apple

An Incredible Loss

Posted by Ed Oswald on October 6, 2011 at 7:01 am

What can be said that hasn’t been said already? Wednesday brought the news that we had all expected for some time now, but not this soon. Steve Jobs, arguably one of tech’s greatest visionaries, gone at the age of 56. As a journalist, you’re taught to separate yourself from the story, and I did in the initial minutes and hours after the news broke.

But now I’ve had some time to sit and reflect on the day’s events, and it floors me. I don’t think we yet grasp the true gravity of what has happened, and we very well may not for months if not years to come. In the simplest terms this is an incredible loss.

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Steve Jobs, 1955-2011

Posted by Harry McCracken on October 5, 2011 at 5:01 pm

[UPDATE: I thought I took this picture, which I found on my hard drive — but it’s actually by Tim Moynihan, my former PCWorld colleague. My apologies to Tim for claiming it was mine.]

Lots more thoughts to come, but for now, a photo I Tim Moynihan snapped at Macworld Expo in 2008. That’s Jobs with the original MacBook Air. And he’s wearing the smile I’ll think about when I think about the extraordinary impact he had on a company, an industry, and an era.

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Siri Brings Apple’s Vision Full Circle

Posted by Ed Oswald on October 4, 2011 at 10:11 pm

In 1987, then CEO of Apple John Sculley described a device known as the “Knowledge Navigator” in his book Odyssey. Described in its simplest terms, it was a personal assistant that allowed the user to navigate information in an interactive way. The user would be able to speak in natural language, and the artificial intelligence would reason out the intention of the user. Watch it in action in this vintage Apple-produced video.

As you can see, the interaction is very human-like. The command-based method of interaction –which is so common in the voice recognition platforms of today — is nowhere to be found. This method is just not the way the average person thinks. While us techies may think in this manner, everyday consumerS would be more comfortable talking to the device because they don’t have to remember a set of commands.

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Here it is, The iPhone 4S

Posted by Ed Oswald on October 4, 2011 at 11:03 am

Well whaddya know, all those rumors about the “iPhone 4S” were true. This phone looks completely the same from the outside — but don’t be fooled. “Inside it is all new,” Phil Schiller says. An A5 chip powers the device, long rumored to make its way into the iPhone lineup. This would mean the iPhone gets a dual-core process: something many top-tier Android devices have had for several months.

No more dual model iPhones. The phone has integrated GSM and CDMA, meaning it would operate on any of Apple’s partners. This obviously must save the company some money as it doesn’t need to produce two sets of phones, or for that matter worry about the development of two phones.

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Apple vs. Foursquare

Posted by Ed Oswald on October 4, 2011 at 10:48 am

Did Apple just take on Foursquare? It’s new Family and Friends app seems like it is. While it’s not “checking in,” it will allow iOS users to share their location at preset times. Could see this becoming a big hit for families on vacations…

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iOS 5 Up First

Posted by Ed Oswald on October 4, 2011 at 10:39 am

As expected, Apple devoted a significant section of Tuesday’s event to iOS 5 given by iOS chief Scott Forstall. Since we’ve already gone over the major points of iOS 5 back during WWDC, we’ll give you a quick rundown of the most exciting new features.

iOS 5 introduces iMessage, essentially Apple’s response to BlackBerry Messenger. Conversations can be started on one device and then finished on another: that is because the app is push-based. Obviously this has the carriers a little concerned because after all those text messaging plans are just another way to get another $10, $15, or more out of you every month. Most of your friends on iPhones? Well, obviously you’re not going to need so many text messages.

It also debuts notifications in a more Android like format, where you swipe from the top to see them. This is a great feature for those like me who get several in a row before looking at their phone, and then have to cycle through all those popups which gets seriously annoying.

Twitter integration’s another notable feature, which would be found across the camera, Safari, and maps apps. Developers would be able to also integrate Twitter into their own apps. I have to say that’s great and all, but what about Facebook?

Game Center gets some important enhancements which Apple likely hopes will push it to the forefront. Achievement points, friend recommendations and photos are just some of the additions, which makes it much more like Xbox Live (which it should be anyway).

But you really care when its available, and that’s October 12th. And oh yeah, it’s a free update.

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Your Last Chance to Read, Rate, and Spread Rumors About the Next iPhone

Posted by Harry McCracken on October 3, 2011 at 10:46 pm

Twelve hours from now, someone–most likely new Apple CEO Tim Cook–will be standing on a stage in Cupertino, well into the company’s “Let’s Talk iPhone” event. Normally at this point, it feels like we have a pretty decent sense of what the company is about to announce. Not all the details–which is fine with me, since I like surprises–but two-thirds of the broad strokes.

This time? Things are surprisingly blurry. If there’s no Sprint iPhone of some sort, and no iPhone with ambitious voice commands based on the Siri technology Apple acquired, I’ll be startled. But we don’t really know whether there will be one iPhone or two. We don’t know if there will be a radically new iPhone 5 or one that’s a near-twin of the iPhone 4. We’re not sure if the screen size will change. Basically, most of scuttlebutt of the past few months is still in play.

So here’s a roundup of some of the major rumors. In each case, I’m linking to an article that spreads a rumor–and one which quashed it. If you need to refresh your memory, read any or all of ’em. And then–assuming you’re reading this before 10am PT on Tuesday–vote in our silly little poll. (I’ll report on the results once the news is out.

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Live Coverage of Apple’s iPhone 5 Event

Posted by Harry McCracken on October 3, 2011 at 12:06 pm

I’m not going to be at Apple’s iPhone event on Tuesday at 10am PT. (I’m in Tokyo attending CEATAC and participating in one of the keynote sessions.) But I will be tuning into Macword’s live coverage–and the Macworld folks were nice enough let me embed it on Technologizer at technologizer.com/iphone5.

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Goodbye, iPod Classic and Shuffle?

Posted by Harry McCracken on September 28, 2011 at 4:37 am

People have been expecting Apple to kill the iPad Classic–the last model recognizable as a direct descendant of the original 2001 iPod–for years. Now TUAW is reporting that Apple may discontinue it, along with the iPod Shuffle. If the company’s iPhone event next week also touches on iPod-related news, we might get the news then.

(My classic-style iPod and I were inseparable for eons, and I once looked down at the iPhone because of its comparatively small capacity–but it’s been a long time since I’ve so much as booted up an iPod. Do you use one?)

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