This Turned Into That
Posted: April 17th, 2010 | Filed under: Tech TalkI saw this clever hack while back when and thought this could be applied in so many awesome ways:
With that said, it looks like it has now become:
iAd on 4.0
Posted: April 9th, 2010 | Filed under: Tech TalkOkay, I promise this is not an Apple dedicated blog. There’s just been tons of news lately, and I’ve gotta put my two cents in.
So 4.0 has tons of new features to come, most notable is the Multitasking and Folders. In a nutshell: You can now (finally) switch between Apps via a sliding task manager that pops up below the dock; very elegant and unlike any other task manager on any cellphone unit. Folders will now enable you to organize/consolidate your icons by category into groups represented by a single icons.
Now, to the point of this post. I was watching the keynote that Jobs held today at Cupertino and watched it to the very end. The last segment of the keynote presentation was probably the most intriguing for me, and that was the introduction of iAd… yes.. as in iAdvertisement.
Jobs almost lost me on this one, as my initial reaction was “?”, “why!?”, and “uhhh… wtf?!”. After giving Jobs a chance to fully explain, I was sold. With the iPhone, not only has Apple captured the telecom market,create and nuture a solid app market/industry via the App Store, drive iTunes sales via the iPhone, introduce iBooks (a book store now with 4.0)… he is now taking a share out of the advertising industry.
At first, it may sound like Jobs is in over his head and over capitalizing on almost EVERYTHING. But watch the video… you’ll see that he’s re-innovated the way advertising has been done both online and within apps.
The function of the ads in the first place, is to help generate funding for the developers to keep them going and to help keep free apps, well… free. The only thing is, those apps are annoying, lame and static. They’re in the way. We ignore them and want to continue on with our app usage. Furthermore, even if we were interested in the ad, we are more inclined to either check it out later or choose not to click on it at all, as it will cause alot of opening and closing and switching back and forth between apps. This dynamic makes for the ad impressions to be inefficient and ineffective. Ineffective ads make little to no incentive for advertisers to continue advertising with the app developer.
This is where Apple’s innovation kicks in. They’ve built iAd into the OS so that it is native and will display advertising in a way we have not seen before. Super interactive without having to leave the app that you are currently in. The possibilities are endless, it’s almost as if you have an app within an app. Keep in mind, this does not mean your phone will be laced with commercials and advertisements all over; this is feature that is available for developers to add within the apps they choose to. The ads lay at the top or bottom of each screen in a small banner, just as they have been in the past in other apps that you might have downloaded.
With this being said, Apple is offering 60% of the ad revenue back to the developer. It really seems like a win win situation for all parties: Advertisers are now capable of reaching more of their potential markets with new and improved interactive ads, giving incentive to advertise with developers. Developers can potentially profit and maintain their projects/free apps. Lastly, Apple now has a hand in the advertising market share. Genius.
The “i” in all of their products must mean “innovation”.
Tags: 4.0, advertise, advertisement, advertising, apps, developers, free apps, iAd, mobile advertising | No Comments »Cell It To Me
Posted: April 8th, 2010 | Filed under: Tech TalkSo, I haven’t been in the market for a cell phone for a good while… ever since I got my hands on the 1st gen and 3rd gen (3G) iPhone. Every phone that has come out since then, I’ve completely ignored. Simply put, the iPhone catered to all my telecom needs plus more. I was so satisfied, I was never made curious the slightest bit to look at other phones in the market, until recently.
HTC has made 2 handsets that have peaked my interest. The Nexus One and the HTC HD2. Hardware specs on both phones have caught my attention, as they both are running at 1GHz. People! Some computers don’t even run at that speed (including yours! jk.) Form factor and hardware are very sleek. Most especially on the HTC HD2, the screen is 4.3 inches, roughly 1 inch bigger than the iPhone. In terms of phones…relatively speaking, that’s a big difference in size– It’s HUGE! It’s also thin as a pencil, which is quite impressive!
The only thing that has me in a bind is the Operating Systems on both of the phones. Nexus One- I’ve never used Android, and my first (biased) impression of it reads, “iPhone’s ugly cousin”. Despite that biased and naive notion, I’m pretty sure it’s solid. I have faith in Google and what they do. So with that said, I think I could become aquatinted with the Android OS. Secondly, on the HTC HD2, it is loaded with WindowsMobile 6.5 (which is a completely horrible step backwards into 1999). According to reports that I’ve read, the phone will not be loaded nor support Windows Mobile 7.0 (please inform me if this is incorrect). In attempt to offset the lameless of WinMo 6.5, HTC has developed what’s called “HTC Sense”, a User Interface (UI) to run ontop of windows to give it a more user friendly and sleek interface. I tried it out myself at the T-Mobile store, and although it was pretty to the eyes, it felt (operated) a bit clunky, trying harder than it should. Despite the awesome hardware specs, the HTC HD2 looks to be stuck in a OS time warp. I toyed with the idea that, if I could possibly get accustomed to the Android OS, then I could maybe port that OS onto the HTC HD2? Reading forums, it looks like this idea is also not yet possible (again, please inform me if you know otherwise!).
As I interacted with my iPhone all day, I would look at it and realize how much cleaner the phone is as a whole compared to anything out there… The platform is very solid. The UI is well uniformed. The Apps are top notch. The touch screen is superior to any other phone on the market…but performance has just slowed down. A bigger screen would be nice. A faster processor would also be nice. At the end of the day, I keep torturing myself with the idea of compromise. Do I keep the slow hardware with excellent OS and software? Do I upgrade to sweet hardware specs with a shoddy OS?
All this contemplating and I find this: iPhone 4G announcement TOMORROW, was this just coincidence , or did the Apple heavens descend upon me providing me ultimate salvation, leading me not into temptation? Just as I was on the verge of leaving the iPhone in all of it’s glory, el Jobs comes in on a white horse to deliver the good news. If the rumors are correct, then this iPhone 4.0 and iPhone HD look pretty promising…
What are your thoughts. What are your suggestions? To those who have used any of the mentioned devices and/or Operating Systems… give me some insight! Thanks!
Tags: 0, 4, 4g, apple, cell phone, google, htc, htc hd2, iphone, nexus, nexus one, phone | No Comments »Endless
Posted: April 2nd, 2010 | Filed under: Tech TalkDisclaimer: All bias aside and trying to speak from a non-Apple Fanboy point of view.
Okay, so the age long question of “What’s it for?” will soon be answered. We look at the device and fail to think outside the box. We look at it and only interpret “oh okay, so it’s an eReader.” or “oh, it’s like a laptop..but not?!”. Lastly, we’ve all said it… “OH, it’s a GIANT iPod Touch/iPhone!” with a mocking smirk…But the funny thing about that, in the same breathe should be the very reason to be excited about it’s release.
When the iPhone first came out, we were limited to the very few NATIVE apps, no app store, no games, no nothing:
To say none the least, we were satisfied with that, naive to the fact that our minds were about to be blown with the endless possibilities of function via the App Store and Jailbraking. Since the release of the App Store in a later firmware, people have used this…phone for everything.
Now pause. think. consider. “What if I took this UI (User Interface) and made it 4 times bigger?!” Considering the size of the iPhone and how easy and fun it has become to interact with the apps STYLUS free, in a multi-touch dimension… what kind of possibilities will make itself evident in an environment with much more screen real estate?!
Put the two together. infinite development of more apps + huge multi-touch screen =
SOMETHING LIKE THIS:
DJ equipment has always been evolving more and more into the digital realm: Turntables> CDJ’s> Final Scratch and Serato>iPod decks> etc. There is no substitute for the real deal, but in an age where digital is slowly becoming industry standard, this comes the closest to merging the two together.
* I could probably get away with using the digital turntable decks, but for sure I’d want a physical cross fader.
This isn’t the sole reason why you should be excited for the iPad, but a mere example of what could and is coming. Don’t let this example limit or narrow your thinking of what this device is for. Just remember the times when you looked at your iPhone/iPod Touch and thought “if only this screen was bigger, I could…” while at work, at home, etc.
Keep in mind, this is the same company that made the mouse available to the consumer in the late 70′s and early 80′s. Before that, it was strictly keyboard–how archaic. Multi-touch + huge screen is a good thing.
Stretch your mind and get ready for things to change.
Tags: app, apple, apps, ipad, iphone, multitouch, touch | No Comments »iGot mine in the mail today!
Posted: April 1st, 2010 | Filed under: NewsOkay, so as is, I’m an early adopter. But when it came to this product, I had some skepticism and initially chose to hold off until a later generation came out…I secretly caved in and pre-ordered one of these…
AND to my surprise, my package came in early in the mail!!!
And guess what?! I’m POSTING from it RIGHT NOW!!! It’s so smooth. The screen is super clear. It’s thin as a cracker. OMG I’m in love. Totally worth the money. 
More at