All Articles Tagged hype

Apple is hosting another media event today. iPod Nanos are expected, and they look drastically different than the current nano. Not everyone is happy with the new look, but from what I can see it looks pretty functional. I think I’m withholding judgment until I’ve seen what all of their iPod lineup looks like.

Meanwhile, ThinkSecret basically guarantees touchscreen iPods. They also say the iPod nano, featured in the above Gizmodo link, will pack some seriously updated iPod software, and it will be great; it will be revolutionary. Or evolutionary. One or the other, really.

Please note that the screenshots from ThinkSecret above include albums from the Beatles that aren’t yet available in the iTunes Store.

Microsoft always seems to pop up with a little snippet of news on event days like this. I think they do this so they can play the ’sour grapes’ role of the day, now hints that making a Zune phone is ‘not unreasonable.’ This is more or less the opposite of what CEO Steve Ballmer said at the D5 conference, so I’m glad to see that they’re still talking from both sides of their mouth. They’re champs of fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Emphasis on the ‘uncertainty’ part here. And now you know why they play the sour grapes role — it gets them in the news. But everyone knows somebody that can’t tell the difference between negative attention and positive attention, and it’s not like there’s surging demand for a Zune phone, though I’m sure Windows Mobile users would be happy for the extra functionality.

But back in focus, there’s no shortage of hype — read a paragraph and you can see why Apple’s stock is so volatile after announcements. Taken from Jeremy Horwitz of iLounge:

I seriously believe tomorrow is going to be different. I think it’s going to be the day when iPod die-hards, technology geeks, and mainstreamers alike are all going to be genuinely excited by what Apple is going to show. In short, if the release of the iPod mini signaled the start of Apple’s dominance of the digital music player business, and the nano and 5G signaled the end for most of its small competitors and beginning of its video initiative, tomorrow is going to be the final nail in the coffin for Microsoft, Sony, and the bigger players as well. Yes, even with their recent announcements. The only people who will be upset are those who aren’t already on the bandwagon, or the few who (sorry, NBC) jumped off early and got hit by it.

You know though, the scary thing is that he could just as well be right. John Gruber thinks so, so it must be true.

And in other news, T3 reports that a 3G version of the iPhone will be announced today. I think that’s a pipe dream; there’s no way Apple would update a flagship product 2 months after it came out for the first time. That would flat-out anger the almost-1-million purchasers of an iPhone here in the U.S.A.

Of course, any time Apple updates iTunes, it’s always possible that they will also update the iPhone, so I’ll be keeping my ear close to the news to see what they have planned. There’s plenty of speculation for iPhone Games and ringtones. And it’s not just the iPhone Ranch that’s expecting it, it’s also the New York Post.

Miles Flint, current CEO of Sony Ericsson, is leaving “to spend more time with his money,” the Register reports. Flint was responsible for reviving the Walkman brand for Sony’s mobiles, and also helped the Cyber-shot brand name cross over into phones. Sony Ericsson was also the #4 cell phone manufacturer last year. The new guy replacing him will be Sony Electronics Chairman of the Board Dick Komiyama. I’ll pretend that I’m Carnac here and make a prediction.

The number one thing for Komiyama’s to-do list will be to make a Walkman branded phone to compete with the iPhone. The number one thing on Flint’s to-do list will be to not worry about it.

Apple is hosting an iTunes event on September 5th, and they’re widely expected to release something neat. But of course, no one knows what they’re releasing, so the rumor mill is exploding.

Engadget reports a wireless iTunes store, where you can buy tracks and download them directly from the device you want to play them from. You know, your iPod or your iPhone. This of course requires that wireless iPods be available. The supposed wireless iPods would be like the iPhone: run OSX, be like an iPhone but without the phone part, big touch screen, etc. The iPhone is, of course, already wireless, and would just need one of those little wee updates.

Mobility Site reports that there will be no Beatles added to iTMS, but adds this gem:

“A new feature for iPhone users that will allow them to make ringtones out of songs they’ve already purchased from iTunes. This is a long-overdue step for the digital music business, which has found itself in the weird position of selling complete digital songs for a dollar but 15-second ringtone snippets of the same songs for $2.50.”

A wireless iPod would be awesome, but I think it’s dubious that Apple would let us remove too much hub from the digital hub. If Apple let you convert ringtones from iTMS purchases, that would be awesome. A question remains though, what about ringtones from albums you ripped?

So Nokia demonstrated a proof-of-concept video a Nokia media gala called “Go:Play.” I watched the video yesterday, but did not report on it; it’s not a surprise that other mobile companies would brazenly copy the Apple interface. When something good happens, everyone copies it. That’s why Apple out-innovates itself; they want to ensure that they are their own best competition. And, I have to say that I’m glad I didn’t report on it yesterday: it turns out that Nokia’s concept is far from delivery. Quoth Gizmodo:

“Nokia has confirmed that this demo is strictly for the UI, not the device: the hardware is not real and the LCD’s images are overlaid. Yes, it’s not even a working prototype”

The end of the ad mentions that elegance and simplicity is what Nokia has, and always will, deliver. You can either believe the words or believe the faked picture. It sounds like vaporware to me; it will probably take Nokia a lot of time to copy the iPhone interface well.

There’s no news from the $100 grand reward for free software blog, but I don’t really think you’ll see it. Why the artificial deadline? The big news today is the absurdity of the DMCA where it comes to unlocking. You see, in the USA, we have a right to unlock the phones. But AT&T and/or Apple has no obligation to do so. And the software that does it; that’s technically software that bypasses a security measure, etc., which means that it’s governed by the DMCA. And the DMCA pretty much screws anyone that bypasses a security measure. That’s the root issue at stake: that our telco laws here are bollocks.

At any rate, Ars Technica has probably the best writeup on it that I’ve read this morning.

They link to Ed Felten’s blog, where he states that AT&T is screwed, and that we’ll have an unlock one of these days. Ed Felten is kind of famous in some circles for work with the Govt. in the Microsoft Antitrust trial, his defeat of the SDMI audio watermarking (and the RIAA’s bizarre lawsuit that followed), and his utter defeat of Diebold / Premier Election Solutions e-voting machines on TV. He’s had some experience here, and knows what he’s talking about.

iPod Observer has a good writeup on an article at BusinessWeek that also explores the issue in depth, and BusinessWeek has a bit of their own insightful commentary as well:

“Indeed, this time, hackers may have the law on their side. Remember, decades ago, automakers built their instrument panels so that only authorized radios of their own manufacture would fit in. Eventually, U.S. courts ended that practice.”

And no one ever had trouble installing a car stereo again.

There’s another writeup on the two currently-poised-to-release-unlocking-software-but-not-really-willing-to-until-the-lawyers-say-it’s-ok groups, iPhone Unlocking / John McLaughlin, and iPhoneSimFree. It gives a good view from above if you’ve not heard about it.

MYiTablet found an interesting article at C|Net that postulates that Jobs wants the iPhone hacked and unlocked; that Apple lawyers doesn’t care — Apple’s stake after the sale is tiny:

“Isn’t it ironic that AT&T lawyers went knocking on the doors of the hackers while Apple lawyers sipped tea at home?”

I suppose that’s a rhetorical question, but NO — it’s not irony. It is insightful and interesting, though. What does Apple get for iPhone service plan revenue sharing, $12 the 1st month and $3/month per subscriber thereafter? He’s got a good point, and it’s a good article. As a side note, Don Reisinger has some crazy red lips.

figure 1: Seriously, check out the crazy red lips Don Reisinger’s got.

And finally, there’s a Slashdot discussion about it all too. I don’t have anything stupid to say that I want broadcast to the internet today, so I’ll skip it. But that option is always there.

figures 1 & 2: some iPhone backgrounds that relate to bricks or bricking.

So a bunch of display iPhones were stolen. Not really news; they took the Treos too (good call on that). The AT&T store guy is unconcerned that the iPhones were stolen, since Apple can brick (deactivate, render useless, turn into a heavy shiny thing, etc) the phones remotely by their serials.

Wait, what?! I can’t decide if I should be discomfited by this or not. I wonder if he’s posturing for AT&T’s sake, or if this is something that Apple can really do.

But for real, if Apple can do this to stolen phones, they can do it to hacked or unlocked phones. Again, that’s if they can do this at all. Or should I perhaps say, if they’re willing to do this at all. Bricking phones willy-nilly across the internet would burn through a lot of the goodwill that they currently enjoy, so I doubt it would happen. Maybe the remote bricking process requires AT&T to ask Apple to destroy the phones really nice. So yeah. No discomfiture.

figure 1: Another iPhone Commercial Spoof. Are you sick of that music yet?

The AT&T stories, they just keep on coming. I’m starting to feel like I’m the only person that doesn’t have a 50 page bill or a $2000+ phone bill from flouncing off to Europe or some other similarly nice jaunt. First, there’s a person with a 50 page bill, and it shows up in a big envelope. Then, there’s the person with the box and the 300 page bill. The next “big bill” story will be that some dude has a 1200 page bill and AT&T will have shipped it C.O.D. in a metal fire-proof lead-lined safe.

But before we get to that point, we have to cross this point. The current bill-record-holding iPhone-commercial-spoofing guyflounced off to Europe and his bill was only $4,000. Nothing serious, you know. Pocket change. There’s a happy ending; the guy was able to talk them down to $900. I mean happy in the figurative sense, here. Also, he was able to funnel his despair into an iPhone commercial spoof, so I guess that’s a plus.

So, this link is for that guy the next time he flounces off anywhere for a jaunt, or anyone who doesn’t want to be like that guy: iPhoneAtlas has a step-by-step guide for guiding AT&T into disabling GPRS for your plan. Best of luck to you, you may want to buy an AT&T store employee a drink or soda or something to get them to do it for you. Oh, and you may want to test it while you’re still in the States.

The big story today is the 5 apps Phil Ryu wants on the iPhone, with mockups done by Josh Pyles. Oops, no, it’s what apps you want on the iPhone.

There’s been another survey done of iPhone early adopters. It’s another ChangeWave survey, and the sample size is still pretty small (74). Still, the net result is that they’re still very happy. I could’ve sworn that I’ve seen these results before, but not with pictures.

Their likes:

Their dislikes:

I can’t help but notice that the dislike includes that it doesn’t support 3rd party software, and that it doesn’t support Java apps. The only Java apps I ever cared about were games, incidentally. Not that I was surveyed. ‘Cause I wasn’t. But I shoulda been.

Figure 1: A family-oriented Disney-themed multiplayer iPhone Game where you use laser-shooting iPhones to burn forests and kill Bambi.

I’ll admit, it’s a wholly speculative article. There really isn’t much in terms of content. It should probably be on Page 2 of Macrumors, the place where speculative rumors go. But it’s not there. It pits Apple against Nintendo, when there could just as easily be a partnership.

I’m not sure I even believe the New York Post article that says Nintendo is going to use a new accelerometer DS as a controller for a Wii.

But I’d love to be wrong. I’d love to be wrong by January. [another great Jesus Diaz photoshop]