Apple Vibration

Possible Fast Fall of Kindle Fire

2011-12-05T13:06:00.001-08:00

Here is a thought on Kindle Fire why it may encounter a sudden death. The reasoning here is not so much regarding technology and I'm quite sure this is not just my internal thought but can be observed much broadly.

The low price point will most definitely attract many customers and quickly expand its user base. But when you hear from people, like literally in person, the reason for choosing Fire, many mention because it's cheap and that is the primary reason. These people are "investors" who are investing very little money just for trial and see if they get lucky with an unexpected return; i.e., they're not committed and will withdraw quick if they see it undesirable. With such investors as a majority, any mistake can be devastating for Amazon; or perhaps it's already a failed product, unless it was intended to be a low-end cheap better-than-nothing device.

On the other hand, Apple's iPad may get their market share nibbled away, but won't be a struggle to keep it's loyal user base. These investors have put a lot into it and are expecting a steady return; they're committed and won't be giving up easily. Again, I've talked to these investors, literally plural, and they've waited on their own time until it was justifiable, had a strategy and were even willing to replace their laptops. Laptops are something else these people have been investing on for a long time and has been a solid investment. When this is starting to shift, this is some serious thing.

The Key to Windows 7's Success

2009-10-22T13:55:00.000-07:00

This is my opinion to what may or may not make Windows 7 a successful operating system. Well, actually it's just a common knowledge or result that you'll see in a few month. Anyways…

(Jump to the end if you want to just read the conclusion. I won't be offended. Probably.)

So, why did Windows Vista fail? Well, first of all, what does it mean that Vista failed? Microsoft is the dominating giant; whether it does a great job or not, people will move on and buy the latest product. Go to the store and buy a new PC, the consumer has no choice but to buy what's there. Most people I know have Vista, unless they're a Mac owner. However, when it comes to commercial, which I mean bigger organizations, the IT department has some power and knowledge to choose a certain OS and stick with it for some time. Also, hardware and software vendors/developers also get to decide for themselves with which OS their product will work with.

So, again, why did Windows Vista fail? 1) the users complained out loud, so it seemed like it failed; 2) IT departments didn't buy it, so it did affect sales; 3) a lot of third-party hardware and software did not support Vista and interestingly this made Microsoft look bad rather than the developers.

On the contrary, Apple's Mac OS X series seem to be praised. Aside from the fact that the operating system is in fact slick and intuitive and appeals to the users, it seems to have relative good support from the developers. The recent updates from Tiger to Leopard and on to Snow Leopard were pretty smooth as most software worked just fine, or the developers were quick to solve problems which lead to happy customers. But it's worthy to note that Mac OS X install base is still very small especially in commercial areas which amplifies the outcry of poorly developed operating systems.

Conclusion: what is the key to Microsoft Windows 7's success? Unlike Vista, it needs good support from third-party hardware and software vendors. The primary reason some stuck with Windows XP was because their hardware/software didn't support Vista. If the cost is not a significance and the third-party vendors happily support Windows 7, it will succeed.

Say what, Apple? Not a threat to Microsoft, just yet. Post Windows 7, maybe…

Some Noteworthy Music

2009-08-28T10:26:00.000-07:00

I like music, as many do, and here are some of my picks from kinda-got-lost-in-the-pile collection. (Links to iTunes Store USA.)

Electronic/dance genre helps to stay awake on occasions working all night. Some vocals are great too from this indie album; check out this track:
Sally Shapiro - My Guilty Pleasure: Looking At The Stars
Here is another electric shock for you!
Goose - Bring It On: Bring It On Down
Michelle Branch goes country:
Michelle Branch - Sooner or Later - Single: Sooner or Later
My favorite genre is actually Jazz. This is a great album for a great deal:
Nat Adderley - Autobiography

Enjoy!

iPhone Push Notification — AIM

2009-06-11T01:37:00.000-07:00

Apple is conducting a massive PNS (Push Notification Service) test again. This time with AIM, AOL's (or MobileMe) instant messaging app. More like it, as this is interactive and much more meaningful using PNS. Below is what it looks like:

a) You can see an IM message sent from me via the Alerts and Badges.

b) This is the Alerts shown when the iPhone is locked. Notice the unlock slider says, "slide to view". When you slide, the app automatically launches immediately after unlocking; no, the app does not launch until you take this action. (I'm not sure if this is an improvement over the previous AP News app or something that is controlled by the app developer. Or maybe I just missed it…)

c) If you don't want the app to automatically launch when you slide, you can ignore it by pressing the power/sleep button. Turning the iPhone back on shows the regular "slide to unlock".

Previously, I complained that after receiving the notification, you still have to launch the app and it was annoying, especially due to the time it takes. But if the iPhone 3G S is truly faster at starting an app, it might not be such a big deal. We'll see about that…

How the Push Notification Works on the iPhone

2009-05-22T11:04:00.000-07:00

If you are curious on how the Push-Notification works on the yet to come iPhone 3.0, here are the details.

Apple has been testing their push notification system with a preview edition of the AP News app; this app is made available to selected developers only on the iTunes Store. Of course, this new app requires iPhone OS 3.0 and breaking news is supposed to be notified even when the app is not running. So here is how it looks like:

1) When you launch the app for the first time, you're asked if you want to enable push notification. Let's answer OK.

2) Well, you are good to go now, but lets see what can be configured. Go to Settings (of your iPhone) and you'll see a new item called "Notifications".

3) Then you will see a list of apps that uses the push notification service.

4) You can then configure three settings for each app; you can be notified by: 1. Sounds, note that the app developer decides what the tune will be, not you, 2. Alerts which is a pop-up, 3. Badges, the little red circle with a number of unread messages like the Mail app.

So now, how does this work in live? Badges, there is no need to explain. The Sounds, umm, it would be nice if the user can choose a tone like the ringtones; it probably will depend on the app, but the AP News buzz sound is not good for ones heart. Also, it might be nice to have a time schedule in which you can turn it off at night. Alerts is like when you get a text message; it looks like below:

BTW, if you are curious, it does work with both carrier network or Wi-Fi. In the above picture, the phone is in Airplane mode with Wi-Fi on, although the Wi-Fi icon is not on. (May be it works without any Internet connectivity. You know, Apple is very innovative so…)

Now, my opinion on this: I think this really does not replace background processing. For example, with the AP News app, you launch the app after receiving a notification which takes at least few seconds. Then, the app really doesn't show you the related article; or at least it wasn't obvious to me. Think about using this with an IM app, constantly switching apps going back and forth with another app, each time logging in and out of your IM session. The notification is not delivering messages to the app, it's just a notification; after the app is actually launched, it still has to load information via the Internet and the app has to be well developed so that it actually is in sync with the notification message. All this is going to take so much time that users will defiantly start to complain.

Push Notification is probably for applications such as emails or news updates. If you are playing games, doing some research on the web and wanting to IM chat with someone going back and forth, this is not yet the solution.

Microsoft's Laptop Hunters Ad Not Impressive

2009-05-21T13:24:00.000-07:00

I have to say, the Laptop Hunters series ad from Microsoft is really not impressive. (I have the official video clips down below.) Well, true, in this economy, it must be very appealing to the general crowd and I think Microsoft is being successful in that aspect. But basically, what Microsoft is saying is that Windows computers are simply cheap; that's it, nothing more. For a while, sales will go up, but in the long-term, will the "PC" manufacturers be happy for what Microsoft is doing for them?

Side note, although I'm a fan of Apple products and do some development on its platform, I do depend on Microsoft products and they are equally important. So I'm not trying to say Apple is the best and Microsoft always sucks, but Microsoft is kind of doing that on its own.

Can Microsoft ever have a branding image that ties to keywords like: "innovative", "gorgeous", "easy-to-use", instead of "cheap", "copy-cats" and "frustration"? Oh, BTW, Microsoft itself doesn't tie to "cheap" at all, but their sales channel, "PC", does. No wonder why PC manufacturers are exploring Linux flavored OS and some even installing Mac OS!

The first of the series. Yes, direct comparison with Apple.

Actually a different Lauren. I'm starting to wonder if Microsoft is hinting a new operating system named "Lauren"…

Microsoft Kumo – Meanings behind the word

2009-04-08T12:23:00.000-07:00

You may know, but Microsoft is trying to rebrand it's Live Search service. The name that has been rumored is "Kumo". (It's already on Wikipedia…)

Why Kumo? Although Steve Ballmer irresponsibly said he doesn't know the reason, it makes perfect sense to Microsoft because it's a word for "cloud" or "spider" in Japanese. The web and cloud computing! Despite these deep meanings, the crowd did not like the sound of it and probably Mr. Ballmer felt embarrassed, thus made fun of the word himself.

Another word in the rumors is "Bing". Bing! Bing, bing! Sure does sound annoying…

Personally, I really don't mind Live Search. Front page design looks beautiful compared to Google's. The results, umm, looks like Google; is that bad? Usefulness? Not really. Name? Don't think it matters at this point. "Google it" means to search on the web and people will still use their favorite search engine or search bar, not necessarily Google Search; my preference is Google by the way…

12 Mac Apps for $39 – MacHeist 3 Bundle

2009-03-24T23:35:00.000-07:00

Please don't tell me you don't know MacHeist? If you are a Mac user, you have to take advantage of this offer: MacHeist 3 Bundle!

This time, if all apps are unlocked, you will have 12 apps, a total value of $1,000 for just $39. And as the name implies, this is the 3rd time offer. First timers, you've been missing on a great deal! Don't miss this time!

New iPhone OS + iTunes Allow Encrypted Backups

2009-03-17T16:35:00.001-07:00

I had a chance to install iPhone OS 3.0 beta that Apple just released today. and turns out you can encrypt your backups. I don't think this was mentioned anywhere, but here it is a screenshot from my Mac:

iTunes take a backup of your iPhone each time you sync with your computer. Some people did not necessarily feel comfortable with this since if you had sensitive data on your iPhone, now it's also on your computer which may easily be stolen; this is especially the case if you use a laptop or just because malware is a common threat nowadays. But no more worries, right?

Google Talk + Voice = Unlimited Free Calls

2009-03-16T11:57:00.000-07:00

As myself an evangelizer of what I say "telecommunication 2.0", I am happy to see the proof of GrandCentral not being killed off by Google. Yes, Google launched their Voice service as a "preview" based on GrandCentral and it's existing users.

Although Teleflip, an email-over-SMS service, is a goner, Google has integrated SMS in to their Voice service. Well, it's no replacement of Teleflip since the concept is pretty much the opposite, but with push email becoming more common, this type of service is probably unnecessary. However, the other way around would be useful; you can receive text messages on Google Voice number even though it is not a mobile phone number. Now, only if this feature would forward messages to your email account, I can really get rid of my text-messaging plans.

As I pointed out in my earlier post, you can use Google Voice and Gizmo5 to make free calls within the U.S. Now you can also make cheap international calls; maybe cheaper than Skype.

BTW, what do I mean by "Google Talk + Voice = Unlimited Free Calls"? Well, this is the case with Google Voice and Gizmo5 as of now. But will Gizmo5 be happy about this model? I doubt it as this brings traffic to Gizmo5 without any immediate revenue. If this becomes an issue, Google can always turn to itself, Google Talk which is it's own VoIP service. Then, totally within Google's own hands, it can provide a free VoIP (Internet-to-landline) service.

Got Macworld Expo 2009 Badge?

2009-01-04T17:04:00.000-08:00

Steve Jobs is not giving the keynote at Macworld this year and will also be the last year Apple would be participating. Yes, this is official. Less exciting? Well, I'm sure still going:

Badge pick-up started today. Saves time; not a single person in line when I went to Moscone Center today.

No matter who gives the keynote, it really doesn't matter. I'm a "Expo Only" attendee anyways!

BTW, I do hope Macworld continues to live with a nice and cozy community character.

Japanese iPhone Users Get Battery/TV Tuner Pack

2008-10-30T12:47:00.000-07:00

October 30th, SoftBank, the Japanese iPhone carrier made some announcements on improvements in hope of boosting iPhone sales. The announcement took place at SoftBank's press release event of their 2009 mobile phone lineup.

The CEO admitted that there are three flaws with the iPhone:

Short battery life
Lack of 1-seg (digital TV broadcast)
Lack of "Emoji"; Japanese emoticons

It may seem hard to believe this in the U.S., but as I predicted, these are huge drawbacks for the Japanese market.

"TV & Battery" Pack

One of the big announcement was the "TV & Battery" pack for the iPhone.

Press release: 1-seg Viewable on the iPhone 3G!

This is a SoftBank genuine iPhone 3G accessory only for the Japanese market. Expected to be around $100 USD, this external miniature iPhone-looking device will weigh 80g and can provide one full battery charge.

And of course as the name implies, it is also a digital TV tuner. The iPhone will connect to this tuner via Wi-Fi and is viewable with a dedicated app yet to be released. It was mentioned that eventually TV shows will be recordable.

Emoji

And as we already know, "Emoji" emoticons are expected to be supported by the end of the year. Interestingly, this announcement made the Emoji rumors now official and 2.2 software very likely to be release by the end of this year.

Free Wi-Fi

As just happened in the U.S., Japanese iPhone owners will also be provided with free Wi-Fi access nationwide.

Press release: Free "Unlimited Wireless LAN Access" for iPhone 3G Users

Beginning November 4th, the service will be provided through SoftBank's "BB Mobile Point" hotspots; approximately 3,500 locations, mainly at McDonald's. Better yet, after December 1st, access will be granted without entering username and password as credentials.

Now, is this really going to boost iPhone sales in Japan? I don't think so. Apple designs are industrial and cool but not cute; Japanese people like cute stuff. Maybe targeting business users or SMB would be a good idea. Enterprise, probably not. Apple will need to bring NTT DoCoMo on board for that market.

I am starting to wonder if Apple will eventually release variations for better lineup. And how much influence the Japanese market will have on Apple.

Also see: MyCom Journal article on this event ; CNET Japan photo report (Japanese)

Free Wi-Fi for iPhone Users — For real

2008-10-29T15:27:00.000-07:00

AT&T finally provides free Wi-Fi for iPhone users. iPhone owners should have received a free SMS text message on this announcement. Check out http://www.att.com/attwifi

How does this work? Go to an AT&T Wi-Fi hotspot; the network name is "attwifi". Once you are connected, you will enter your mobile number and you will receive a SMS text message with the information to enable access for 24 hours.

I don't know if this was a good timing for this move since the hype kind have died out. Personally, I've been using the Starbucks Rewards Program's free Wi-Fi so it's not really a big deal anymore. Although, if AT&T pulls out the service again, probably it will create some news again...

Expect "Die Hard 2" Scenario to Come True

2008-09-25T15:12:00.000-07:00

In the "Die Hard 2" movie (Wikipedia), the terrorists takes over an airport control tower and crashes a plane. Well, not exactly the same, but scientists has just proved that a similar thing may happen.

TechRadar.com: Scientists succeed in spoofing GPS signals

Nowadays, we are so dependent on GPS; so is the aviation world. You may be annoyed if your car gets misled and get lost on your way to an important meeting, but that doesn't compare to your plane being misled and crashing in to a mountain.

Pilots: please learn astronomical navigation techniques. Thanks.

Yahoo! Japan for the iPhone

2008-07-11T21:29:00.000-07:00

So, Yahoo! Japan website came out with an iPhone edition. Not sure why they didn't announce it before the iPhone launch, but it is available now. This may be good for Japanese speaking iPhone users in other countries too as there were hardly any contents in Japanese intended to be accessed by this mobile phone.

The URL (website address) is not described on their website. I guess they expect you to access http://yahoo.co.jp/ from your iPhone or maybe there is a preset on the Japanese edition. If you want to try it from your Safari browser, go to http://ipn.yahoo.co.jp/.

First iPhone 3G Selling at 3PM Thursday, PDT

2008-07-09T21:43:00.000-07:00

The first iPhone that will be sold to public should happen at 3pm Thursday, Pacific Time. This will be in Japan which is actually 7am Friday, Tokyo local time.

Reports state that by early afternoon here in California, there were more than 50 people in line at the SoftBank Omotesando store, the only location starting iPhone sales at 7am in Japan. Other stores are scheduled for noon on the same day.

Interestingly, the iPhone is expected to be available at virtually all stores that sell cell phones, according to SoftBank's announcement. In Japan, cell phones are usually sold through "channel stores", most of them being an electric appliance store, which exists in every city throughout the country.

Here are some links to iPhone websites or sites that may potentially report the initial launch in Japan:

Official SoftBank iPhone 3G website
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/17495
Claims to be reporting live...
http://www.iphone13.com/
A blog about iPhone
GIGAZINE
Online IT magazine
TBS News
One of the major broadcast stations. Video rich compared to other broadcast stations in Japan.
NHK News
"Government property" national broadcast station.
Yahoo! News - iPhone
Yahoo! Japan's largest share holder is SoftBank; 40.16%. However, iPhone is treated no special on their site. Rather seems to be totally unrelated or ignored.

"Why the iPhone will not have a big hit in Japan"

2008-06-23T23:40:00.000-07:00

Few reasons why iPhone 3G will not be a hit in Japan:

Lack of "1seg"
The digital TV transition is not an issue only in the U.S. but also in Japan. However, in Japan, the transition is near completion and a service called "one-segment" allows digital broadcasts viewable on mobile devices. Did you think AQUOS was all about huge flat-panel TVs? See the AQUOS mobile phone. BTW, SoftBank is the main carrier for this phone which also is for the iPhone.
Lack of physical keypad
Japanese is among the many other language groups forced to use the typical QWERTY keyboard on computers. There are thousands of unique characters compared to the relatively simple 26-alphabet English; although many are stuck with it, QWERTY never makes sense as an input method. Now, many, especially young ones, in Japan are finding that the 10-key pads on the phones are actually easy to use combined with technologies such as T9. It's unbelievable but true.
Lack of "Emoji" (A set of emoticons on Japanese mobile phones)
This is just an assumption, but I don't think the iPhone will include these characters. Although these are just emoticons, for the young Japanese, it is part of their language culture and they use intensely. I mean really intensely. A sample from SoftBank.
Left-double-quote + Paper Emoji (part of the rock-scissors-paper collection) = is supposed to look like a waving hand meaning good-bye.
Lack of "Osaifu-Keitai"
Until a few years ago, Japan seemed to be behind in payment system infrastructure. The use of credit cards were just not part of Japanese people's life. But they did make a big leap and went way ahead. With a mobile phone, you can buy a soda from a vending machine as well as use it as a boarding pass for your flight to Tokyo. You think that's crazy? Well, they are!
Total lack of "cuteness"
Japanese females are all about cute stuff. The iPhone just won't appeal to them. It's not cute...

The mobile phone market in Japan is very unique. You won't see Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, models seen in the U.S., but see NEC, Sanyo, Panasonic, Sony, everything only released in Japan. The expectations are different, so obviously the available features are too along with the culture entirely. Apple is targeting consumers first which is smart, but that has been the case in Japan and the iPhone is just not appealing. "It just won't work."

Disclaimer:
I am saying that the iPhone 3G July 11th edition won't be a hit in Japan. It may still have a small sales. Furthermore, this is just my opinion. So don't complain if you don't like it.

Hold Off on Blu-ray Just Yet

2008-06-23T21:45:00.000-07:00

Nowadays, 1TB hard-drives are common consumer products. Thanks for the PMR technology researched by Tohoku University of Japan in 1976 and Toshiba applying this to HDD in 2004.

The same university now came up with a technology to increase the capacity of the current CD-ROM and DVD by 9 times. (The paper is not available in English on their website yet. See the announcement on Optics Express.) That means a single layer 4.7GB DVD can now potentially hold 42GB of data; way more than Blu-ray's 25GB capacity.

Okay, what do we name this? DVD, DVD-?, DVD+?... oh HD-DVD, no it died... Got it, DVD-KungFusion! No body beats me this time!

Toshiba and Sony, I suggest both parties to join the DVD-KF alliance. Thank you.

Japan to Realize "Minority Report"

2008-06-23T21:14:00.000-07:00

Do you remember the Spielberg movie "Minority Report"? The tag line was:

What would you do if you were accused of a murder, you had not committed... yet?

Obviously a science-fiction movie in the U.S. is not the case in Japan. The Japanese government recently (June 11th) announced that it will put a budget for 2009 to research and implement a "crime notification system". No, it's not a system that alerts you when a crime is committed. It's a system that detects and alerts before the crime! A prevention system like the movie!

Did the Japanese find these people with the ability to foresee the future? No. The technology is to scan the Internet for any signs of heavy crime like murderer including suicide.

Hey, if you are visiting Japan, be careful what you mention in your emails or posts on the web...

CNET Japan: 総務省がネットの犯行予告を自動検知するシステム開発に着手

Ultimate Smooth Surface, Form Changing Car

2008-06-12T19:53:00.000-07:00

I like this concept. Yes, we all need to break out of the shell and have more freedom in thinking.

Leopard Update: 10.5.3 Released

2008-05-28T23:26:00.000-07:00

Apple has finally released Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.3. Interestingly, this update adds a feature which you can sync your Address Book with Google Contacts; contact information in your Gmail account.

The catch is, however, that you need an iPhone to use this feature. I really wonder why this is the case. Technical reasons? I don't think so. Apple probably wants to sell you an iPhone if you don't have one yet, because you want to sync your Address Book with Google Contacts so bad...

And, don't get too excited. This does not sync iCal and Google Calendar. That's a third party's job.

Pandora Radio - Free & Clean Online Radio

2008-03-08T20:37:00.000-08:00

Many may already know, but I recently discovered a cool Internet radio station. It's "my station"!

Ok, so what this is is...
Pandora Radio has a huge database of music from all genre which each music is carefully analyzied by "The Music Genome Project". This database is then used to find music of your preference. "Doesn't sound anything new", you say?

True, other music services usually has "recommendation" features, but this analysis is beyond genre, artist names or the looks of the band. Also, it's very quick to get started. Just search one song by an artist name and it will start to play music from various artists like a radio station. Then you can give "thumbs up" to selections that you liked. Another great thing is, you can create as many "stations" as you like. So the music selection is NOT from all of your favorite songs mixed together, but you can create different flavors of your preference. You might like country and alternatives, but that doesn't mean you want to listen to both mixed together all the time, right?

Pandora has a very simple and clean interface. I find the selections by Pandora very appealing and helps me find artists that I did not know, yet sounds that matches my taste. Give it a try, or listen to my stations!

Note: Pandora uses Adobe Flash and your account information is stored there. Information stored in Flash seems to be shared across all users and browsers on the computer so be sure to sign out if you want to keep your information private.

"iPhone is going to dominate the mobile phone market."

2008-03-06T20:57:00.000-08:00

I have to say, iPhone is going to dominate the mobile phone market.

Apple, today, announced the iPhone SDK which allows developers to create native applications. They also announced that in the next iPhone software release, it would be enterprise compatible by supporting Microsoft Exchange and Cisco IPsec VPN. This will be all built-in to the iPhone software, available by default.

Now, all this with the proven design of the iPhone hardware/software/user interface, what device could possibly beat the iPhone?

Personally, for the general public, enterprise, I think the Exchange support was an unexpected surprise. This probably is going to easily push iPhone share at a sky rocketing degree. I see many asking IT for an iPhone and you can really feel the demand. I also hear IT usually saying no to this, but they have no reason to do that anymore.

Louis Vuitton Sells Fresh Roses (with monogram)

2008-03-05T23:04:00.000-08:00

Louis Vuitton is selling fresh roses with the monogram print on it. No kidding...

Unfortunately, this is sold only in Japan. But in case that's no problem for you:

Sold at Louis Vuitton stores in Tokyo
Available thru 3/13 and 3/16/2008
$40/each

For details, go to Louis Vuitton's website and navigate to the Japanese store.

GrandCentral Up-to-dates

2008-03-04T11:04:00.000-08:00

As a "telecommunication 2.0" preacher, here are some updates regarding to Google's telephony service, "GrandCentral".

Click2Call Has Been Alive

I posted earlier that Click2Call may have been dropped, but Vincent@GrandCentral quickly posted a comment that it was not the case. And true, I am still able to use this feature; it may just have been a glitch.

Another thing was the lack of documentation regarding Click2Call. It doesn't mention this name, but it's now described in the help.

Forwarding Number Can Be Shared

Finally something new! One inconvenience was that a forwarding number could only be activated with one account, or one GC number. But now, a forwarding number can be used on multiple accounts, according to GC Blog.

Example:
My roommate and I each have a GC number. We want to forward that to the same home phone that we share.
Before, this was not possible, but now it's allowed.

My wife and I each had a GC number and was impacted by this limitation so I really have to try this out.