The Youtube success has generated a lot of press in the last months. Nowadays, Youtube is a force in several areas of online collaboration, going from marketing campaigns to even politics.
Apple also wants to take part of the Youtube scene. First, they decided to integrate Youtube with the AppleTV, in a new try to conquer the living room.
The latest news on the attempt of integration with Youtube has been released this morning. Apple is saying that they will integrate Youtube with the iPhone.
This shows at least two things
Apple is in great relationship with Google. And this looks great for both companies, since they have offers that complement each other (despite the small areas in which they have overlapping strategies)
The Youtube phenomenon can probably move to the mobile phone, where it can get even more viral. The iPhone can well be the platform that will allow even more widespread distribution of small videos created by the Youtube users.
So this seems great for everyone involved, and probably users and investors will take notice.
The iPhone has numerous features that set it apart from the competition. The great user interface has made people to think that it is the most technologically advanced phone on the market.
However, nothing of this matters if it is not usable from the start. That is why it is important, in these initial days, to verify how usable is the iPhone user interface.
The main element of this interface is clearly the keyboard. Other cell phones have integrated keyboards that can be used very predictively. The iPhone, however, has not fixed keyboard. Who guarantees that users will be able to learn how to use the keyboard?
Some people in the blogsphere have started to dissect this very feature of the iPhone.
For example, this post provides a discussion of how the iPhone keyboard interaction might be. The keyboard system will probably have to very smart to avoid confusion when users type of the screen.
In fact, according to Steve Jobs, the iPhone has a sophisticated system that can predict, or correct, what users are typing in order to avoid frequent mistakes. He has also said, however, that users might take some time to get used to the style of the new on-screen keyboard, with keys that auto correct all the time.
It remains to be seen if this very feature of the iPhone will not be one of its major weaknesses. If that happen, then users will enjoy the visual of the iPhone, but will have to stay open to more traditional options such as the Blackberry and similar systems.
Today, news have come out that a hacker was able to explore a bug in the Apple OS kernel (known by the name of Darwin). It has been one of the few times I heard that a bug in Mac OS kernel was reported to be found and explored to create something similar to a virus or warm.
This can mean one of two things:
- Apple is doing a worse job of creating new versions of its operating system; or
- The mac is getting so much attention that crackers are starting to spend more time on it. As a result, we should expect viruses in the coming months…
I hope this can be, in fact, the result of a third option: the mac OS is not getting worse, and this was just another opportunity for the media to focus on bad news for Apple. What do you think?
Link
Technorati Tags: Apple, Mac, security
Everybody is trying these days to make their web sites a little more interactive. Apple is not different, and they are just adding a new feature to their sales web site that can make it a little easier for customers who want to “make the change”:
Apple had been running its “chat now” feature as an experiment in the educational store for some time, giving potential customers the option to chat with a live sales representative about various Apple products before purchasing and relieving those educational customers from making a blind decision.
Link
Technorati Tags: Apple
The rumors of Apple developing a cell phone have become more credible each day. Some even say that this is the reason stock price of Apple has increased in the last trading sessions. A new voice is joining the chorus that says that the iPhone is closer than we think. Another analyst is saying that not only the iPhone will be released, but that Apple is already working in the next version, which will allow integration with the iChat, bringing a new level of connectivity for Apple customers.
According to Shaw Wu:
“Time to market is not certain to us as it appears to be in the development phase,” Wu wrote in his Nov. 20 research paper. “We believe this product is [Apple's] ’smart phone’ and could be branded as ‘iChat mobile.”
Link
Technorati Tags: Apple, iPod, gadgets
After Nike, Coca-cola is the new global brand that tries to use the iPod mania as a means to increase sales. According to the irishdev, it has been announced that Coca-cola will be working with Apple in Ireland and Europe to promote a collaboration around the iTunes music store.
The Coca-cola web site features a new section to the European community, called music.coca-cola.com. It will probably involve giving away songs from iTunes as a promotional campaign.
Link
Technorati Tags: Apple, iPod, music
Recently, Apple has announced that its is going to make an world wide recall of laptop batteries that are known to have some over heating problem. Maybe their time was good, because the problems started to appear.
In Japan, an incident with a PowerMac has lead to the local authorities requesting action from Apple. A laptop has been reported to catch fire due to overheating.
According to chron.com:
Japan’s trade ministry ordered Apple’s Japan branch to report on its findings and measures to prevent future troubles by Sept. 5 or it could face a fine of up to 300,000 yen ($2,570) under Japan’s consumer safety laws.
Link via Chron.com
Technorati Tags: Apple, Computers, Mac, Gadgets
Have you ever used you macbook for a few minutes over you lap, just to blame Steve Jobs an Apple for creating such a hot machine (in the wrong sense)! You are not alone. Many people have discovered that a MacBook can run very hot if you use some processor-intensive applications.
To prove this with a real-world experiment, some smart guys proposed to cook their own lunch using the MacBook. In this way, you can benefit from the overheating problem by reducing your light bill…
The instructions are show in a video, and in the following recipe:
1. Get a macbook and turn it over so the screens over the edge of your desk/counter (shown in picture)
2. Run your favorite process intensive program to get it to heat up
3. Some tinfoil on uper left part of the laptops underside (the hottest part of the macbook
4. Put your cup of coffee on the power supply to keep it warm
5. Cook your egg on the tinfoil, it will take longer than normal
6. Enjoy your breakfast
7. Now you know the secret of the overheating notebook
Link via TechBlog
Technorati Tags: Apple, Computers, Mac, video
For those who love to use Firefox on Mac, a great news is out today. The newest beta of the version 2.0 of Firefox is available for the download pleasure of Mac fans.
The new version has several improvements, such as better security, search suggestions in the search box, spell checking on text box (finally catching up with Safari…) reopening of closed tabs…
Go and grab it fast!
Related posts:
Comparison of browsers for Mac
Technorati Tags: Apple, Internet, Mac, Software
An ongoing discussion in the osx86project delves into the comparison of Mac OS X and the long waited version of Microsoft Windows: Windows Vista.
Most people in the thread believe that the main weakness of Vista as an operating system is exactly its inheritance. It has to provide even the same bugs that many preceding versions of Windows had. As one of the commentator said:
If Microsoft had a clue about operating systems, they would have thrown Windows out with the trash and started with a clean slate. Then they should have simply followed an OS X or NeXTSTEP-like architecture pattern. Specifically, they should have started with a well developed, secure Unix-like operating system, like a BSD, then bought something like BeOS for the GUI, and added some advanced Cocoa-like application development environment and perhaps a high performance kernel like maybe L4.
Link
Technorati Tags: Apple, Computers, Mac, Microsoft