New Technology Reviews!.: Thoughts

WWDC Interview: FastSpring

WWDC Interview: FastSpring

Neil Ticktin (Editor-in-Chief, MacTech Magazine and MacNews) interviews Todd Stellfox of FastSpring at WWDC 2011. Todd was kind enough to te...

WWDC Interview: FrogPad

WWDC Interview: FrogPad

Victor Agreda, Jr. (Editor-in-Chief, The Unofficial Apple Weblog) interviews Linda Marroquin of FrogPad at WWDC 2011. Linda was kind enough ...

First rule of Facebook: Don't quote Fight Club

<img alt="" class="aligncenter" height="360" src="http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/9987/nymet.jpg" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; border-width: 0px; border-style: solid;" width="297" /> Have you heard the story of Joe Lipari? In September 2009, Lipari visited an Apple Store trying to get help for an iPhone issue. He claimed he received no assistance, so he went home and posted to Facebook: "Joe Lipari might walk into an Apple store on Fifth Avenue with an Armalite AR-10 gas powered semi-automatic weapon and pump round after round into one of those smug, fruity little concierges," a paraphrased quote from Fight Club. You can see where this is headed. One of Lipari's Facebook friends reported him to the police. Instead of a Genius Bar appointment, he wound up with two felony charges along with other charges of making terrorist threats and weapons. The charges were dropped in February, but New York's Metro has run a profile on Lipari featuring shots of Lipari in the aforementioned Fifth Avenue Apple Store with a smirk and what some might think to be a very accurate headline. Your thoughts? [Hat tip to <a href="http://apple.copydesk.org/2011/06/28/the-stupidest-news-story-youll-enjoy-reading-today/">Charles Apple</a>]

First rule of Facebook: Don't quote Fight Club

Have you heard the story of Joe Lipari? In September 2009, Lipari visited an Apple Store trying to get help for an iPhone issue. He claimed ...

Updated: iPhone 5 rumours: what you need to know

<img alt="iOS 5" class="aligncenter" src="http://cdn.mos.techradar.com//classifications/Mobile%20Phones/iPhone/iOS%205/ios5_hero-420-100.jpg" width="420" /> iPhone 5 (or the iPhone 4S, as some are calling it) rumours are flying thick and fast already. Let's raid the iPhone 5 rumour fridge to find the tomatoes of truth amid the stinky stilton of baseless speculation. But first, our colleagues on T3.com have rounded up the latest rumours in the iPhone 5 video below. iPhone 5 release date This year's WWDC was about software, not hardware, with Apple focussing on iOS and Mac OS A new report from China later stated that Q3 (which still includes July) is now the earliest we will see the iPhone 5, after the disaster in Japan pushed back supply of key components. On 20 April 2011, it emerged that the iPhone 5 release date may be September 2011 rather than June/July. This date was cited by three sources who spoke to Reuters. As iOS 5 is set to be out in the Autumn, it's a safe bet that the iPhone 5 will make its debut sometime then. On 17 May, we reported that Phones4U outed the iPhone 5 release date as 21 November 2011. We're not sure how Phones4U would know the release date at this stage, though, so take this particular snippet of information with a pinch of salt. Rumours which surfaced on 21 June suggest that the iPhone 5 is set for an August 2011 release. Speaking to BGR, a source claimed that thew iPhone would feature a "radical new case design" and a release date of the last week of the month. The iPhone 5 will debut alongside iOS 5 in the Autumn iOS 5 will ship in the Autumn, says Apple. Could this coincide with the iPhone 5? iPhone 5 will be iCloud-based Apple says it is "cutting the cable" with iOS 5 - just as well, as it claimed the iPad 2 was the first post-PC device earlier in the year. OS updates can be delivered over the air - you'll just received what's changed rather than the usual 600MB download - and devices can be activated without plugging them into iTunes. You can also now create and delete iOS calendars and mailboxes too, so you really can devolve your device from your PC or Mac. "You can activate on the device and you're ready to go," explained Apple's Scott Forstall. "Software updates are now over the air. So you no longer need to plug in to update your software. And they're now Delta updates. Instead of downloading the whole OS, you only download what's changed," he continued. iPhone 5 form factor The Wall Street Journal reported that: "Apple is also developing a new iPhone model, said people briefed on the phone. One person familiar said the fifth-generation iPhone would be a different form factor than those that are currently available… it was unclear how soon that version would be available to Verizon or other carriers." This has since been backed up by reports from Engadget, which state the design will be a 'total rethink'. Of course, since the iPhone 3G was followed by the 3GS it's possible the new iPhone won't be a total refresh and we'll see an iPhone 4S (or iPhone 4GS) before an iPhone 5. An iPhone 4S looked more likely on 16 May 2011 after analyst Peter Misek wrote: "According to our industry checks, the device should be called iPhone 4S and include minor cosmetic changes, better cameras, A5 dual-core processor, and HSPA+ support." However, earlier reports from China backed up the larger-screened, metal chassis-sporting iPhone 5 rumours, so the redesign still seems firmly on the cards. On 22 March 2011, China Times also reported that the iPhone 5 will feature a 4-inch display. A rumour we covered on 7 March 2011 suggests that the new iPhone will do away with the glass back and opt instead for a metal back which will act as a new iPhone antenna. And an Apple patent that we reported on on 7 April 2011 suggests that we could see the bezel put to good use on the new iPhone. The patent describes how visual indicators and touch-sensitive buttons could be incorporated to the space around the iPhone screen. Rumours that we covered on 3 May 2011, suggest that there may even be two versions of the new iPhone: a 'standard' iPhone 5 and an iPhone 5 'pro'. Apparently, Apple is buying in components of differing quality, and those parts wouldn't be required for a single phone. A cheaper, smaller iPhone 5 - an iPhone nano A prototype version of a smaller iPhone is said to exist, built to ward off competition from cheap Android handsets. Rumours around an iPhone nano picked up again on 13 February when the Wall Street Journal claimed that the so-called 'iPhone nano' exists and may even be on sale later this year. Those iPhone nano rumours may hold little truth, though. As we reported on 18 February, the New York Times cites an anonymous source who says there will be no smaller iPhone from Apple. "The size of the device would not vary," says the source. A white iPhone 5 The Economic Daily News is reporting that white iPhone 5 glass is being shipped, with a supplier called Wintek being the sole touch panel vendor for the white iPhone. iPhone 5 will support 1080p HD It's fairly likely - given that the iPad 2 supports Full HD - that the new iPhone will do the same. iPhone 5 specs According to the Chinese Economic Daily News (via AppleInsider), with the exception of Qualcomm chipsets - which would replace the current Infineon chipsets in the iPhone 4 - Apple's sticking with the same suppliers for the 2011 iPhone 5G components. We'd expect the basics of the iPhone 5 specs to get a bump - more memory, faster processor, and more storage. The A5 dual-core ARM processor from the iPad 2 is extremely likely to be included. The specs? A new antenna, 1.2GHz processor (possibly dual-core) and a larger screen: 3.7" instead of 3.5". The iPhone 5 may also be made from a new kind of alloy, or maybe meat. iPhone 5 screen In other rumours which surfaced on 15 February 2011, Digitimes is reporting on information supposedly leaked from component suppliers that claim the iPhone 5 will feature a larger, 4-inch screen. Digitimes quotes the source as saying that Apple is expanding the screen size "to support the tablet PC market as the vendor only has a 9.7-inch iPad in the market." On 23 May, we reported on rumours that the iPhone 5 could feature a curved glass screen. These rumours also came from Digitimes, which said that Apple has purchased between 200 and 300 special glass cutting machines because they're too costly for the manufacturers to invest in. The iPhone 5 or iPhone 4S will also get a massive graphical boost as it moves to a dual-core GPU - this could herald true 1080p output from the new device, according to our news story on 18 January. iPhone 5 digital wallet There's been some speculation that Apple might include Near Field Communication (NFC) technology in the iPhone 5G, turning it into a kind of credit/debit card. However, as Techeye.net notes, "Apple has looked into NFC before" so this might not be imminent. However, with the tech being inside the Google Nexus S, the time for NFC may finally be here. UPDATE: On 24 February 2011, we reported that an Apple patent has revealed an e-wallet icon on the iPhone homescreen. This adds credence to the rumour that iPhone 5 will feature NFC. However, on 14 March 2011, reports in The Independent cited sources from 'several of the largest mobile operators in the UK', who said that Apple told them not to expect NFC in the iPhone 5. So perhaps we'll have to wait for iPhone 6 for that. But who to believe? On 22 March 2011 China Times reported that the new iPhone will include an NFC chip. LTE support At least one analyst thinks the iPhone 5 will support LTE, super-fast mobile broadband, in the US. That would make the iPhone 5G a 4G phone, which won't be confusing at all. LTE is certainly coming - AT&T plans to roll out its LTE service in 2011 - but an LTE iPhone has been rumoured for a while. USA Today floated the idea of an LTE iPhone on Verizon last year. iPhone 5 camera Speaking at a live Wall Street Journal event, Sony's Sir Howard Stringer was talking about the company's camera image sensor facility in Sendai, a town that was recently ravaged by the recent Japanese earthquake and tsunami. According to 9to5Mac, he said something along the lines of, "Our best sensor technology is built in one of the [tsunami] affected factories. Those go to Apple for their iPhones… or iPads. Isn't that something? They buy our best sensors from us." Other sources have also said that the new iPhone could have an 8MP camera. iPhone 5 price If the iPhone 5 is an evolutionary step like the move from the iPhone 3G to the iPhone 3GS then we'd expect the price to stay more or less the same, although in the UK higher VAT rates may well mean a higher price tag. iPhone 5 pictures A spurious photo of an iPhone 5 front case has been unearthed by a Chinese reseller, suggesting that the next Apple handset will feature an edge-to-edge display. We're not convinced it's a genuine Apple part, though. On 17 March 2011, we reported on another supposed set of leaked iPhone 5 cases, this time looking remarkably similarly to iPhone 4 cases. Whatever the iPhone 5 looks like, it appears Samsung wants to see it. Apple has accused Samsung of trying to harass it, as the Korean company demands to see top secret future iPhone and iPad devices including the new iPhone and iPad 3. What do you want to see in the next iPhone? Hit the comments and share your thoughts.

Updated: iPhone 5 rumours: what you need to know

iPhone 5 (or the iPhone 4S, as some are calling it) rumours are flying thick and fast already. Let's raid the iPhone 5 rumour fridge to ...

A Few Quick Thoughts on Freedom and Technology

We have known of the innate characteristic need of members of our species to control individual other members. We also know of our desire to control other species. We attempt to control other species in many ways, screen doors to keep out insects, fences to keep alligators off the Alligator Alley HWY between Naples and Miami, cages in zoos, barbed wire to keep in livestock, nets to capture fish, insecticides-sound waves-scare crows to keep species from our crops, shock apparatus to keep pets within boundaries, rewards such as Bananas-fish-doggie biscuits-bones-toys to evoke preferred behavior. We as parents start right away by using such techniques to control our own children. We have cribs with cages, pacifiers to prevent crying, toys to keep little humans busy, Mobiles, Lincoln Logs, Erector Sets, Legos, Dolls, Tonka Toys and just walk down any Wal-Mart Toy section and tell us we have not come a long way since you were a kid. Now we have friends and Family programs for Teens and Cell Phones. We had pagers in the last decade. We have new technologies coming out now with 3G technologies which identify the location of the child. We have GPS units, Active RFID Tags, to find children, watches with ELTs, RFID and/or GPS. In our schools we have new technologies to track kids all the way from their house using such devices described above to the bus stop, once at the bus stop, on the bus and in schools. We can even control whole Armies with Blue Force Tracking, PDAs, Bio-Metrics, under skin RFID, all by satellite, RF, non-active pinging, AWACS, etc. There is even talk of figuring out ways to track your enemies troop movements, Red Force tracking by hacking into their system, then marching them into your strong points or over whelming their system and crashing it or disrupting it to cause chaos. Those folks at DARPA of course have all sides figured out before deploying such technologies. Since we are doing all these things and have all these technologies now. We can track Student VISAs and people of interest from questionable countries and possible International Terrorists by way of RFID active ID cards, under skin RFID active Satellite tags. We can track rental cars, cell phones, computer surfing, emails, phone calls, etc. If we continue this forward movement based on fear and therefore track everyone, are we still in fact living in a free society? Who might decide who is good and who is potentially bad? What thoughts did you come away with after watching; "1984," "Gatica," or the latest rendition of the Genre with Tom Cruise in "Minority Report" where one could be arrested for evil thought before an event? And if we fail to use this technology who are we to blame when another International Terrorism Attack happens? If we rely on our judges to make determinations in secret courts, Judges, which are either elected or appointed in a political event we may face additional problems in that, we know that they are not without question on morality. Politicians in our modern political system in fact reward those who wish to serve with above the law stature upon proving they are the most manipulative of those seeking such positions. We know with all the different jurisdictions and abuses in the United States that there are enough Kangaroo Courts in this country to make one question the reality of justice. We humans are all of similar genetics. We are all not perfect in every way and for certain not perfect in the eyes of various religions, which have influenced our legal system from the first colonies to the present period; different religions with all their idiosyncrasies of required morality to remain in good standing and without inner guilt. Religion uses many tactics to keep it's members in check and control. For instance many Baptist Churches play their music at 90 beats per second putting people into a theta state of mind for larger tithing contributions and mind control to insert the message of being good and doing right? Changing, modifying and sustaining desired behavior. In the US Military and armies through out recorded history they have marched in cadence to help deliver the message of discipline, strength and honor to the whole and team. Hitler talked in cadence and was said to mesmerize crowds when speaking. These techniques had served him well as have such techniques for many, many generations. We can see cadence in literary works; poems, the Bible, Koran and many other religious doctrines. When you listen to modern day politicians which have risen, you will also find they have mastered such art of speech. Rap music has beats that are conducive to this frequency of theta states of mind. We also know there are many other stimuli which effect humans. Certain music in stores will assist in helping retailers sell more. Certain room temperatures at retailers, book stores, coffee shops, C-Stores will increase impulse buying, which are generally amongst the highest priced items and definitely the highest profit items. McDonalds use to have unpleasing colors in their furniture to help turn over the tables faster. Your mind did not enjoy those colors for long periods of time and so you left allowing for others to sit down. Today they want you to stay longer for the QSR to look busier and thus busy attracts more customers. Another reason why restaurants try to first sit people by the windows to make the place look busy so more patrons stopped at the café along Main St. USA. This same techniques is discussed in retailing textbooks, Restaurant training centers and Food Service industry magazines. It is in the hand books of most of America's favorite chain restaurants have this in their management handbooks and manuals. In prisons they have found that pink calms inmates and there is less civil unrest. It has been used in mental institutions and clinics for decades. Fire Truck studies show that Yellow is the fastest to be seen, red lights make people tense. Full moon nights any policeman will tell you, "it will be a long night." Meaning more crime during those nights, sometimes up to three times as many calls and criminal events. Even as we are evolving the last 3,000 years of generally accepted written history seems to elude to the fact that the same stimuli which worked then is working now and we as a species will not readily evolve out of such reactions to stimuli any time soon. Three thousand years is a drop in the bucket. Ten thousand years is really not all that either. Having traced my ancestry back to 422 BC, it is only 65 generations. Not really enough to have a totally significant innate or genetic change although through nurture and adapting which mankind appears to be quite good at. Now let us discuss a most interesting phenomena, that of Frequency Pollution and Frequency Manipulation, which has come into play in the last century. Surely mankind has not adapted or even understood what is going on with our biological systems in that regard yet. With cell phone towers everywhere, high frequency power lines, computer use, AC electricity in our homes we may find our brains being disrupted to such a degree that we may find our ability to reason and think somewhat lessened. We also control the minds of people and their ability to see reality by mass media, entertainment. Why is our country so divided? Well, could it be perhaps the media? Could the last Bush VS. Gore election close race be due to the equal amount each received from the media? Could the landslides of more recent elections have been caused by the media? After all the media loved Clinton and Reagan was part of Hollywood having been Screen Actors Guild President in a prior period in his life? The modern stimuli is everywhere telling us that we are sexy if we where this type of clothing, that type of shoe, listen to this type of music or drive that type of car; BMW had done a convenient survey and the conclusion? BMW owners had sex on average of 2.3 times per week compared with Porsche owners 1.6 times, no matter that you were twice as likely to contract a Sexually Transmitted Disease if you owned that car? We call these carefully done studies to promote a thought or stimulus to buy a certain product; Advertising. We are bombarded with it nearly everywhere we go. Which is a good thing since when you buy something someone is gainfully employed making it. Maslow predicts those things that humans desire in the order they desire them based on your position on his hierarchy of need pyramid. Respect from your fellow man, social acceptance ranks up pretty high along with food, shelter, clothing, sex and self preservation. The greatest force to control mankind in most recent civilizations is 'fear'. Our laws are based on fear of punishment, religions control by fear (you could go to hell? Very hot there, you could burn your tushy buns to a crisp? Not good). In sales, the now famous Zig Ziglar discusses the take away trial close as a good technique which evokes a sense of fear of loss. For instance; "if you do not buy this 850i 'Today' it could be sold tomorrow and we will not have another one in this color just like you want for at least 6 months, maybe never they say?" There are so many common forms of everyday stimuli, Caffeine from coffee-chocolate-soda pop, Nicotine from cigarettes, amino acids in food, etc. Then those who partake in illegal drugs, legal prescription, herbal or other such as vitamins have artificially changed their stimulus. All these factors can change the way we think, the decisions we make and the roads we take. A combination of all these things will effect what we do, how we think and our over all motivation in one direction or another. There are those who wish to control humans for various self interested reasons, for the benefit of a civilized and productive society, to change the direction or movement of the over all game. Those with the strongest sense of character can over come stimuli by the innate human spirit and will, the fulfillment of genes or the pursuits of happiness. Having studied the over achievers and the writings of the notables of the last 4,000 years, most of these writings of course belonging to the most current periods due to loss of writings of ancient times such as the destruction by fire of the library in Alexandria or the private collectors who have claimed possession, it appears that the human spirit or human element, if you will, is in fact the wild card. Perhaps this strong will possessed by small percentage of the whole along with the adversity and life experience can battle the obvious stimulus to go beyond the mere animal instincts, to persevere and press on towards a greater goal. There will always be members of the whole who cannot be controlled by the simple stimulus of the masses, a certain subset of the whole that does march to the beat of a different drummer. These standouts are of interest as human civilization progresses forward due to the ideas and warnings in such movie, theatre or literary works of a controlled society; that of the 'Borg', beehive syndrome, those who truly do possess free will, that ever elusive often questioned gift to mankind. Some say a curse. Calvinists would question the essence of the idea, but cannot deny it completely as one observes behavior of the characters in this VR life experience we participate within this dimension. Those who will not surrender their free will, the daily stimuli which comes and goes, can and will change the course of human history thru directional shifts in momentum and rightfully so. Or will we, based on the daily dose of stimuli outcast those who are independent thinkers, not necessarily subscribing to the academia brain washing or engrained linear thought process? Will we surrender our minds to the drugs, frequency waves, manipulated food intake, mass media hysteria, sound & fury, crisis and controversy and the norm? We live in chaos, renewal, patterns of systems all running together, our purpose is to do more than merely be born, procreate and die. With the brain power available to the human race we can set a new course, take the human speices to a higher level, the next step and the next as fast as we are willing to go. It is interesting for a species, organic machine so well adapted to life within the chaos itself that we have grown to appreciate the status quo, the norm and so adverse to change even though change is the only constant. Without it, we are stagnant and without life's sense of purpose other than the birth, procreation and death cycle, we remain trapped in linear thought and time, doomed to repeat. The United States is an interesting case study as world civilizations go, our greatest spurt of growth coming from innovation, strength of the individual, drive, ambition, motivation, etc. Yet as things move faster people fear, fearing change is also a stimuli, as we said and as you probably can see from your daily lives that fear is a huge stimuli, now then; should we allow the fear. Fear from international terrorists, fear of lawsuits, fear and fear of change to stop the forward progression of mankind? Surely not, this is a great nation, but it has not reached it's full potential, not even close, we have barely scratched the surface of possibility for our future destiny, why stop here? We have come too far, the bumpy road too long, to merely call it quits, our present families and our ancestors in the commitment to press to design this great system and to have all we are and all we have built, should never let such ideals die simply to slide forever backwards into a swamp, tar pit or marsh of mediocrity. As we round out what appears to be a ten-year or decade long war on terror and as we get our own house in order and move back towards a government for the people and by the people, based on reality not contrived stimuli from sources without the best interests of the people also in mind, it is quite possible that we may actually be in grasp of the utopia we all seek. When we read controversy in the newspapers, listen to debates on TV, see tabloid headlines meant to shock and cause distrust and insight conspiracy theories, scroll down web pages with innuendo and half-truths; we need to remember that we are all in this together and much of what is discussed and put out there is nothing more than spaghetti against the cold refrigerator door, looking for a place to stick. If we will think harder, look deeper and concentrate on moving the ball down the field, we will leap out of the water before it boils and calmly reset the dial for the proper temperature for human life. Just because the coffee shop is a chilling 55 degrees does not mean you need to buy more products or leave the store. The issue is with that which controls the thermostat and the other half is your reaction to it. You and me, us and them can agree to disagree at times, agree at others and still leave room for all our pursuits without placing blame targeted to people or events, now that would be a concept. We know that mankind will always use all possible strategies available to control his fellow man, with this known we need to track what needs to be tracked while maintaining our freedoms and we need to use such new technologies to best serve the continuation of all we are and all we have built.

A Few Quick Thoughts on Freedom and Technology

We have known of the innate characteristic need of members of our species to control individual other members. We also know of our desire to...