iTechGear.org

Academy, Apple, Best Picture, Chris Spera, iTunes, iTunes Store, Oscars, Piracy, Voting

I’d Definitely say, "You’re Welcome!

Posted by chspera in Just Sayin' on January 27, 2011

I saw this cool article over at Computerworld by Sharon Gaudin on Google’s parting gift to Eric Schmidt – $100M in stock and options, vested over four years.

Wow! That’s one heck of a thank you card. I’d definitely say, “you’re welcome!”

The article goes on to state that the management change is likely due to an agreement that Larry Page and Sergey Brin had with Schmidt – You run the company while we gain business experience, then one of us will take over. Larry Page obviously thinks that now is the time.

What do the changes at Google mean..?

CEO Changes, Chris Spera, Google, Just Sayin'

Opinion – How Google can Trump the iPad

Posted by chspera in Android Devices, Apple iPhone, Hardware on January 26, 2011

Can Google trump the iPad..?

Please note, that this article was originally published on JAMM, back in May 2010. Ok… no brainer announcement of the century – Apple has totally captured the digital media market. The iPhone/iPad/iPod Classic/Touch rule the school when it comes to traveling with your digital goodies. With iTunes you can buy, collect, organize, and synchronize

Photos
Videos
Movies
TV Shows
Music
Applications, and
eBooks

You can also synchronize your

Address Book/Contacts
Calendars
e-Mail Accounts

and use all of your iDevices to stay in touch with all of your online, social networks via MySpace, Twitter, Facebook (et all). Through you iDevice of choice, Apple provides you with a way to stay in touch and stay connected. It just works…all the time, everyday out loud. Period. You really don’t have to think about HOW to sync and centralize all of this cool stuff into one place. iTunes does it all for you. When you go away from that hub-o-all-things and come back with new stuff, iTunes brings it all together on your desktop/laptop so you can manage it with other connected desktop tools like

iPhoto,
iMovie
iWork
iLife
iETC.

This eco system if you will, this food chain of interconnectivity and easy-for-the-masses-to-understand-and-use tools, is what makes things like the iPhone, iPod and iPad rule this space, and the individual spaces that they’re in. And let’s face it, they DO rule this space and the spaces that they’re in. Everyone’s heard of an iPhone killer; but have you ever heard of an HTC HD2 killer, or CLIQ killer, a Palm Pre Plus killer or <gulp!> a Nexus One killer? No. You haven’t; and until Microsoft, Google or someone else gets their butt in gear and creates just as connected, easy to use, centralized competing eco system that provides some sort of attraction to make people either switch or jump on board, no one ever will. However, there’s one company that has a chance at doing this. Here’s how Google can score and WIN in this arena. While the following may seem like a huge row to hoe, its definitely doable, considering Google’s deep pockets and huge resources. If they intend to make Android a viable and REALISTIC alternative to both the iPhone and the iPad, then Google needs to act on this while the plans for an Android tablet are still in flux. Once an Android tablet hits the market, the window will shut quickly.

Goodness, doubleTwist looks like iTunes, doesn’t it?

Acquire doubleTwist
doubleTwist is the multimedia sync tool that I mentioned in my Nexus One review earlier this month. Google needs a foundation to build the eco system on, and doubleTwist has the best chance to be this ecosystem foundation. There are a number of reasons, but the most important is doubleTwist’s agnostic device support. Currently doubleTwist supports (as of the original publication date, May 2010)

Most Android Phones, including Google Nexus One, Motorola Droid and CLIQ, all HTC Android phones, and Samsung Galaxy and Moment Android phones
BlackBerry
Sony PSP
Palm Pre
Archos 605
INQ1, INQ Mini and INQ Chat
Nokia N & E Series phones
Sony Ericsson Walkman & Cybershot phones
Windows Mobile 5.0/6.0 devices
LG Viewty and Shine
Motorola (V9 and V3xx) and most Razr phones
Sansa View and Sansa e200 series MP3 Players
Amazon Kindle
iPhone (supports v3.1.1 firmware. PC only as of this writing)
iPod (PC only as of this writing)

Its obvious from the above, that doubleTwist’s compatible device list is just the basis that Google needs to build from. (It even supports iPhone and iPod..!) If they can extend this compatibility to the ENTIRE eco system (for those devices that actually support the entire eco system), then the success for this effort is nearly assured. The support for the entire eco system (depending on complete device compatibility) must be solid. If Google doesn’t extend the current level of stability of the components below to the devices listed above, then attacking this market through this plan won’t be successful. The reason why no one’s been able to crack this nut yet is two fold – Apple’s been the only one to pull it all together and no one else has put enough of an effort behind it. Microsoft could pull this off IF and ONLY IF they got organized behind the Zune/WP7S/Kin and built out WMP to the eco system it could be with their synchronization solutions, but its doubtful they will pull the teams together and focus them on this effort. Their solution will also likely only support their products, a la Apple and the iPhone/iPod/iPad. It won’t be as open as doubleTwist’s. Why? MS is concerned only with Windows related products, and not a more open (sourced) initiative. and If they were going to do it, they would have done it already. Adding support Zune HD, WP7S and the Kin would be just that, an addition/afterthought/ simple device extension. MS also doesn’t have a Mac presence for Windows Media Player. doubleTwist does. …and let’s examine that for a second – doubleTwist has a Mac presence. Google can insure that nearly every computer user, with the exception of Linux users (but how difficult will THAT port be after the Mac version is finished..?), has a fully supported eco system/ synchronization solution for their device. It would be the only solution of its kind, as iTunes only supports APPLE devices, and Microsoft Windows Mobile devices. Again, this could be a HUGE win for Google, provided they move quickly. The fact that doubleTwist is SEVERELY reminiscent of iTunes and its interface, from an end user perspective, doesn’t hurt it at all, either.

Integrate Android Market for Applications into doubleTwist This is obviously, an Android only component; but building this into doubleTwist would work for ALL Android devices, including tablets, and could be huge. If this could be added to doubleTwist, then it would likely get the attention of every Android user on the planet. With doubleTwist’s current support for Apple playlists already built in, the acquisition and Android Market integration and support would cement the foundation of the eco system. The fact that doubleTwist currently supports MacOS AND Windows means that Google could capture users in both operating systems, especially if they use a Nexus One or other Android device, further ensuring adoption of their services and revenue models moving forward, as an iPhone competitor. I have no idea what the current market value of doubleTwist is, but as a small company, and having worked for enough of them over the years, I would think that part of their business model is to be acquired by someone with big enough pockets to help them complete their mission.
Integrate Amazon MP3 Store for Multimedia Purchases into doubleTwist This already exists on every Android device I’ve seen so far. Extending this to the desktop hub of the eco system allows users to purchase content and sync it to their devices the same way iTunes does.Can you say, “duh?” This is a no brainer; and shouldn’tbe too hard, depending on the operating system (I would think…); but I’m not a developer, so I don’t know for certain. However, I know the API’s are available, and with cross compilers, write once-compile for many should be possible (not only for this piece, but everything connected to this effort). Amazon has a decent MP3 Store. I’ve used it through Shazam on my wife’s CLIQ to purchase music for her so she could play it on both her CLIQ and iPod Nano. The store is well organized, easy to use, and integrating it into devices as well as desktop clients may either require modifications to the licensing that Google already has with Amazon and/or additional agreements established between the two. If this is the case, it may take a while to make this a reality, but again, seems very logical. We just need either Google or doubleTwist to get this thing going.
Integrate Google Sync for Mail, Contacts and Calendar into doubleTwist iTunes allows you to integrate Google Contacts and Calendar synch into both iTunes and iCal, respectively. This gives Google some sort of presence into the iPhone/iPod/iPad; but with recent developments between Apple and Google turning sour, who knows if this will continue to be supported in future iTunes releases. Since iCal and Outlook both support synchronization with Google Calendar (support for Windows Live Calendar (part of Windows Live Mail) wasn’t easy to find, and may not be supported at this time), getting your Google Calendar to your fat client of choice isn’t too difficult. Since you can sync your Android device right to the source over the air, setting a sync point between the device and the desktop isn’t as required as you might think. What Google can do here is NOT sync from the desktop to the device, but setup the desktop sync between the fat client and the web service. This is similar to what Apple does, I think, but the hub of the effort is having the supported device (an iPod Classic won’t present the options in iTunes, but an iPhone or iPod Touch, and I assume, an iPad, do). If you don’t have a supported device, the options to set this up don’t appear in iTunes, and you won’t be able to set the sync up. Google Sync Services are very close to providing this kind of functionality to begin with. This is where Google can excel. Allowing doubleTwist to hub this for your calendar is where Google can make a huge value add. Extending this to both mail and contacts will be huge. The nice thing is that you can use the GMail web interface to make it all work on the desktop.
Integrated Desktop/Fat Clients I am a fat client kinda guy. I’m used to Outlook, and it would be nice to be able to sync all of my services to my fat client of choice, with minimal setup effort. Having support for Firefox, Windows Live Mail/Services, Hotmail and other popular desktop/fat clients would allow users to work with these services in the application they are most comfortable with. This is the cherry on top of the cake. Apple also provides desktop applications and services that allow you to edit and manipulate your synchronized content on your desktop/laptop. Applications like iMovie and iPhoto make getting home movies back and forth, with edited changes, to and from your device easily. While this is an area where Google will either need to provide something, extend something (like Picasa or YouTube perhaps?) It would make a lot of sense to have something like this connection available.

The secret to Apple’s success lies in its eco system(s). Pulling both desktop and sync services together that make sense into a centralized offering, iTunes, iMovie, iPhoto, etc. make perfect sense. Its also been a HUGE hit. Its been so successful, that Apple was able to hold off the RIAA and the rest of the record industry for nearly 10 years when it came to popular single song purchases (they recently went from 99 cents to $1.29, which, while not great, still isn’t too bad). What is the one, single thing in this world that makes the iPad success? Simple. iTunes. Do NOT be fooled. Without it, the iPad wouldn’t have nearly as much interest as it does. iTunes gives users the ability to centralize their online life in a form factor, and in a “window to the internet” that is much easier to navigate, use and love. It centralizes all aspects of the device’s life. You buy music, movies, TV shows, eBooks and applications, etc in the iTunes Store. You manipulate movies and photos in iMovie and iPhoto. You manage contacts in Address Book, calendar events in iCal, and mail in, well…Mail. iTunes pulls it all together in a single spot, and extends the services to fat client counter parts allowing you to manipulate your content, add to it, and then sync it back. If Google wants to be successful in the mobile device/tablet market, the first thing it needs to do is develop an easy to use, centralized eco system that will allow users to incorporate their digital life into an easy to use set of applications and services. They have MOST of this stuff already developed. The only thing left is to integrate them. doubleTwist could be the start of all of this. Hooking things like Picasa, YouTube, GMail, and the Android Market into doubleTwist shouldn’t be too difficult (though in truth, I haven’t totally investigated it as I am NOT a developer). Google Calendar Sync exists for synching Google Calendar to Outlook. IMAP support for GMail is available, so you should be able to get all of your PIM information back and forth. Again, the problem is ASSEMBLY of this eco system under the Google model. All the components are there; and they support just about every device under the sun including most Androids AND iPhone/iPod Touch.

So, Google..? Are you listening? Will you take up the challenge? I sure hope so… Apple’s success in the iModel, is hinged through iTunes. Microsoft could pull this together with WMP and Windows Live; but they’re too disjointed to organize enough to get it done (though it would be cool if they surprised me). Google has the best chance to get this together because they are hungry enough to do it. They have the funding required to acquire doubleTwist, the corporate machine to implement the business relationships/contracts, the SDLC to create, test and implement the functional and technical requirements, and the marketing machine to communicate and advertise the value to the end user. I’ve been cooking this over the past couple of days, that’s it. If I’ve missed something, I’d love to hear from everyone. Please feel free to comment below.

Android, Apple, Chris Spera, Google, iPad, iPhone/iPod Touch, Palm/WebOS, Tablet PC, windows phone

A Decent Helping of Crow Pie

Posted by chspera in Apple, Just Sayin' on January 19, 2011

I’ve been saying for quite some time now, that Apple wouldn’t release an iPhone on the Verizon Wireless network unless and until they had successfully rolled out their LTE network. It appears I was wrong.

Apple and Verizon recently announced that they would make the Verizon iPhone available on February 10, 2001… And they are NOT waiting for LTE implementation. The phone is going to be a CDMA only, based phone.

I admit it… I was wrong.

Ok, so, I admit it. I was wrong.

To all the people that I spoke to about this subject, in detail, I was wrong. While everyone, me included, knows that Apple and Verizon Wireless would be a good marriage, I really didn’t think that Apple would go for the iPhone on a CDMA based network. I, and many others, thought that both companies would wait until their LTE network had been implemented. Apparently we were wrong.

The manufacturing costs associated with what appear to be minor device design modifications coupled with the the radio/chip mods now made possible by smaller QUALCOMM chips, clearly were reasonable. Apple obviously went after the money they saw on the table; and implementing the device now, as opposed to later was worth the expense.

What does this mean in the long term? Good question. With Verizon’s announcement of their LTE network and with Apple’s iPhone set to rev sometime this summer (as of this writing, June/July 2011), it could mean a couple things.

Obsolete devices – Apple’s iPhone 5 is anticipated this summer. Everyone is expecting it to include support for true 4G (HSPA+ and LTE at least…WiMAX..? Who knows.) The current CDMA iPhone 4 will be old and outdated in just a few months. It might be a good idea to hold out until the product revs so you have the latest, greatest hardware.
Increased Revenue for both Apple & VzW – With an estimated 16% of AT&T customers jumping ship to get their iPhone goodness on a different network, both companies have guaranteed that they will likely show an impressive profit during 2011. They’ve scraped the money off the table, and it [appears to be] is good.
Existing VzW iPhone Customers who can, may buy new hardware – Don’t put it past those that can… If they have the means and make the jump, I’d expect at least 1-2% (if not more) of those customers that DO move from AT&T to Verizon’s iPhone NOW to also buy the new iPhone when its released later this year. Apple fans have been known to do this; and it wouldn’t surprise me in the least.

So, this is going to be an interesting year; and I fully expect to see some interesting news from Apple as we move forward. I fully expect some up and down from them, given Steve’s new medical leave of absence; but all-in-all, I expect them to do very well over the next 5-10 years regardless of who’s steering the ship.

Apple, Chris Spera, Eating Crow, iPhone, Verizon

Apple, Steve, and How the Industry Should React (but likely won’t)

Posted by chspera in Apple, Just Sayin' on January 19, 2011

When Steve Jobs took his first medical leave of absence, the entire world held their breath for six months. Would the company survive? What implications would his absence have on the company’s product pipeline? What would the industry say? What would the industry do? (and the million dollar question…) How would Wall Street react?

Now that Steve is going out again, this time, with no announced return date, the world is again holding their breath, asking all of the above questions, and EVERYONE seems to be waiting to see what Wall Street is going to do, say, and most importantly, who is gonna wet their pants first and pull out. Everyone seems to be sitting on pins and needles waiting for the other shoe to drop, waiting for the stock to crash. All I have to say to all of this is -

Will Steve’s cancer take a bite out of Apple?

Apple, Chris Spera, Leave of Absense, Steve Jobs

2 Comments

Verizon iPhone Announced Tomorrow – Perhaps…

Posted by chspera in Apple, Cell Phones on January 11, 2011

Will we see the iPhone on Verizon..?

I know some of you that have been following my iPhone chronicles either here or at Gear Diary are likely wondering if I’ve lost my mind. I mean, wasn’t it me who has been saying over and over again that a Verizon iPhone was never going to happen..? Well, the answer is yes and no.

In my last note about this, I said that Verizon getting the iPhone was unlikely as long as the current version device stuck with its current radio. Verizon uses a QUALCOMM designed CDMA-based chipset for its radio. There are very few countries that have carriers that use this type of radio – the US (Verizon), very small parts of Asia, and (I think) Indonesia/Australia, and that’s about it. The rest of the world is on GSM. So, until a “universal” chipset or network (like LTE) became available AND until Apple made use of that universal chipset, there would be no iPhone on ANY CDMA network, Verizon or otherwise. This has more to do with the costs associated to reengineering and redesigning the entire device and Apple having to support two different devices than anything else. Stevie J. just doesn’t do that.

One phone to rule them all… and that kind of thing.

My good friend, Matt Miller has come out with a bit of a dissenting piece on this, given all the rumor mongering, and its worth a read. His point – Verizon has an awesome network (and they do; but I think they’re expensive) and regardless of whether or not VzW has LTE, any kind of 4G, the VzW iPhone is white or not, whether you can surf and talk at the same time or not or even if they ARE very expensive, they are still going to sell a lot of iPhones.

Matt is dead on right about that. They WOULD sell a lot of iPhones. The question is whether the millions of iPhones they would sell would offset the costs associated with the redesign, retooling, extra manufacturing lines, support costs, etc. and generate enough profit for Apple to do it BEFORE LTE hits in wide distribution on Verizon. My point has NEVER been that there will NEVER be an iPhone on Verizon, but that there wouldn’t be as long as Apple has to maintain more than one version.

Tomorrow’s announcement should be interesting. I, for one, will be keeping close to the internets tomorrow, waiting for the news to hit. Like Matt, I am interested in answers to the following questions (I’ve paraphrased/modified the first two a bit. The other two are Matt’s, simply quoted here):

How many iPhones [does] Verizon [think they will really] sell?
How many AT&T iPhone users [does] Verizon [think will switch to their] iPhone?
How well can Verizon’s network handle the iPhone [with/without LTE]?
How much will a customer have to pay monthly for a Verizon iPhone?

Keep your peepers pinned people! Tomorrow is going to be an INTERESTING day!

Apple, Chris Spera, iPhone, LTE, Verizon

Apple Launches the Mac App Store

Posted by chspera in Apple on January 7, 2011

Some cool updates today…

Yesterday was a big day.

Yesterday was the first OFFICIAL day of activity over at CES in FAH-abulous Las Vegas. Its also the day that Apple launched the Mac App Store. Now you can find, buy and install apps right from iTunes, like you do with all of your iOS devices. Apple also released a minor (115MB) software update to OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard (version 10.6.6) that specifically enables this ability and includes all the necessary support files and stuff. What I think is col, is that now your desktop apps can be managed, redownloaded, etc. just like your device apps. If you ever have to rebuild your Mac, reinstalling everything just got a whole lot easier.

Apple, Chris Spera, Mac App Store

Shopping Online and Shipping Part 2–Not USPS

Posted by chspera in Holidays 2010 on December 23, 2010

Ok, you have your gifts identified. You’re ready to check out. Now you have the dubious chore of figuring out how to get your gifts from the vendor to your loved ones. As easy as this might sound, its not always the slam dunk you might think…

You want shipping accuracy. You want it there in time for the Holidays (or your “holiday of choice” – like a birthday, anniversary, or other special date). You want it insured for the replacement value; and most importantly, you wanna know where it is at all times.

Chris Spera, DHL, FedEx, Shipping, UPS, USPS

Shopping On-line and Shipping Part 1–Where to Get Stuff

Posted by chspera in Holidays 2010 on December 22, 2010

We have done a lot in the past few days. We’ve identified a lot of potential gifts for everyone, and now the only thing left to do is to purchase them and get them to our loved ones. I’m going to give everyone a bit of a heads up when it comes to shopping on line. There are a couple of rules that I follow when I purchase stuff on line, and they’ve served me well over the past few years; and I want to make certain that everyone practices “safe shopping.”

That being said, let’s briefly review what we’ve covered so far

We’ve figured out what we want to buy; but not (necessarily) where we want to buy it. Let’s figure out where to get our stuff!

Chris Spera, Identity Theft, Shipping

Chris Spera, Microsoft, Office Genuine Advantage

Office Genuine Advantage is No More

Posted by chspera in Computers and Internet, Software on December 20, 2010

I saw a blog posting from my friend, Ed Bott on ZDNet this morning indicating that the Office Genuine Advantage program has been officially retired. While, according to the article, this took other MS related programs and personnel by surprise, this is a boon to Office users everywhere. You can now go online and download plug-ins, templates, and other related content for Office without having to verify your product code via Microsoft’s anti-piracy program.

Please note that the

change doesn’t affect Office activation, which still requires a 25-character product key and direct contact with Microsoft’s activation servers. It also doesn’t affect Windows validation, which is apparently alive and well and is still required for some downloads, such as Microsoft Security Essentials.

OGA dialog from Office 2007…