Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on Twitter • Be a Facebook Fan • Tumble us!

06 Sep 2010 10:27

tags

Tech: Apple’s iPod Touch press photos are a Photoshop fail

  • Just when you thought Apple survived a product launch mostly unscathed, some jerk had to notice some crappy Photoshop work. Apple wasn’t particularly good at hiding their iPhone tracks on the new iPod Touch this time out, leading to a couple gaffes like the one over to the right. See the arrow? Yeah, we know, right? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Sep 2010 16:13

tags

Tech: To those still stuck with the iPhone 3G: iOS 4.1 helps (a little)

  • Oh, the lowly iPhone 3G users. Many didn’t upgrade their phones to iOS4, or immediately regretted it, because the new version of the OS was such a dog as to render the phones unusable. Fortunately for those users, the upcoming iOS 4.1 update will help fix that problem, making the phone at least somewhat usable. Don’t expect any miracles, though: The iPhone 3G only has a quarter of the RAM of the iPhone 4 and half the RAM of the iPhone 3GS. And it also has a dog-slow processor, to boot. (We’re still rockin’ iPhone 3.0 on the 3G, just an FYI.) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Sep 2010 11:12

tags

Tech: Apple’s Ping service has some pretty big problems right now

  • bands The service doesn’t currently have a lot of popular bands on it, mainly because Apple inexplicably decided to do it by invitation at launch. Dumb.
  • control Profile pictures have to be APPROVED by Apple. The app approval process, we could maybe understand. This? What the heck, guys? This is stupid.
  • spam Apple’s social networking service is also overrun with a lot of spam because of a pretty thin spam filter. Those links will not earn you free iPads.
  • The root of the problem: Apple is trying to run a social network, which by definition needs to be open, the same way it runs its hardware business. They’re setting themselves up for a pretty embarrassing fall as a result. If they bought Lala to build this, they wasted their money.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Sep 2010 00:16

tags

Tech: Two thoughts on whether Apple’s Ping is actually a big deal

  • maybe Apple is a big company and iTunes is their most popular piece of software. And, while it’s starting with music, it’s pretty obvious that this is a play for a much larger, Facebook-sized market.
  • maybe not However, it has the same problem as Google Buzz – it’s  another social network piggybacking where it’s not needed. Also, why focus on just music? Trying to top MySpace, are we? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 2 Comments • Permalink

02 Sep 2010 00:10

tags

Tech: Oh yeah, we almost forgot: Apple released a bunch of crap

  • Steve Jobs needed a good keynote today, after all of the crappy PR Apple has faced over the last few months. And he did a great job. Too bad that guy had to go into the Discovery Building and hold it hostage. But that said, the products were pretty cool. Our favorites were the new iPod Nanos (above) and the freshly updated iPod Touch. And the Apple TV update was definitely a good move – especially the newfound focus on Netflix. We’re totally pouring a 40, though, for the old-school iPod Classic, which wasn’t updated at all this year (though it’s still for sale). source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Sep 2010 12:19

tags

Tech: Twitter’s all excited about today’s music-focused Apple keynote



Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Aug 2010 02:21

tags

Biz: Trader Joe’s: Three things you don’t know about the grocer

  • As major grocery chains go, Trader Joe’s is Apple. They’ve built a fervent fan base on high quality control, building anticipation and being very secretive. Fortune Magazine spent a solid couple months trying to figure out some stuff about the buzzed-about chain. The whole story is essentially an awesome read, but here are a few details that raised our eyebrows.
  • oneMost grocery stores have 50,000 SKUs, or stock-keeping units. An average Trader Joe’s has just 4,000. They limit inventory to build appeal.
  • twoWhile nearly 80 percent of products sold have Trader Joe’s branding, they’re secretly produced by big-name companies hidden from view.
  • threeOne of the grocer’s biggest R&D expenses is on travel for finding the next big product. They like to set food trends, not follow them. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

23 Aug 2010 10:04

tags

Tech: Apple decides to play Big Brother with new anti-jailbreak patent

  • good Apple has created and applied to patent a new technology to allow them to detect unauthorized iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad uses.
  • badThose unauthorized uses include jailbreaking, unlocking and removing a SIM card. Because Apple doesn’t like these (still legal) things.
  • worseThe methods of detecting an unauthorized user include creepy voice and heartbeat detection. It’s like 1984 all over again. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Aug 2010 10:48

tags

Tech: Prediction: Mirasol displays could be in your tablet-reading future

  • Is this the future of tablet design? The screen above, a hybrid of eInk and LCD called Mirasol, is getting some big buzz, and a certain client has Qualcomm paying $2 billion to ramp up production of the technology. Is it Apple? Is it Amazon? Is it HP? Is it somebody else? We don’t know, but we have to admit being able to read a tablet in direct sunlight would rule. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Aug 2010 21:02

tags

Tech: Posted without comment: Apple’s new iPad ad (and its parody)

Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink
 
<< newer 
top tags
older >>