Celebrating 30 Years Mac via iPhone by Apple

Apple at its best and smartest saving their ad money for a Super Bowl + 1 day commercial. Shot entirely with iPhones all over the world, check out their later commercial. Brilliant. http://youtu.be/zJahlKPCL9g

You can also read more and see the behind the scenes on Apples website. Just follow this link!

On January 24, 1984, Apple introduced the Macintosh. And with it a promise that the power of technology, put in the hands of everyone, could change the world. On January 24, 2014, we sent 15 camera crews all over the world to show how that promise has become a reality.

100 iPhones providing 70+ hours of footage and add the son of iconic Hollywood Director Ridley Scott… awesome commercial!

Make Sure You Read AT&T's Fine Print

Announcing a new family plan on the Saturday before the Superbowl, AT&T is trying to lure new and old customers to their service by offering $130 for two smartphones, unlimited talk and text + 10GB shared data. Don't fall for it and make sure to read the fine print. They are still forcing you to pay a lot more money and if you haven't been following, I've been throttled on my unlimited data plan for almost two weeks at speeds at or below .50Mbps.

But then there’s the fine print with the new family plan. Customers who are brand-new to AT&T either have to sign up for AT&T’s Next program, which allows the customer to spread payments of the device over up to 26 months; bring their own device; or pay for the full price of the phone. For example, for the cheapest iPhone 5S, a customer can pay the full $650 for the phone, or pay $25 a month for 26 months on top of the cost of the new family plan, or bring his or her own iPhone 5S (assuming it is compatible with AT&T’s network).

Celebrating Touch in 2007

It's been two years since the passing of Steve Jobs. If there's one thing to read today in memorial, it's this piece. A recount of the preparation behind the introduction of one of the most influential devices of our lifetime from senior engineer, Andy Grignon.

By the end, Grignon wasn’t just relieved; he was drunk. He’d brought a flask of Scotch to calm his nerves. “And so there we were in the fifth row or something — engineers, managers, all of us — doing shots of Scotch after every segment of the demo. There were about five or six of us, and after each piece of the demo, the person who was responsible for that portion did a shot. When the finale came — and it worked along with everything before it, we all just drained the flask. It was the best demo any of us had ever seen. And the rest of the day turned out to be just a [expletive] for the entire iPhone team. We just spent the entire rest of the day drinking in the city. It was just a mess, but it was great.”

http://youtu.be/t4OEsI0Sc_s

via NYTimes

A Thorough Review of the iPhone 5c

An awesome review by Rene Ritchie at iMore. Worth the read if you don't want to go full iPhone 5s or just love great writing.

The iPhone 5c, it turns out, wasn't a pure budget play at all. It's play was pure pop.

The 2013 iPhone 5c may sport mostly 2012 iPhone 5 guts, and it may sit in that same $100 off slot, but the first time, it's a first-class member of the product lineup.

I'll admit it, I like the iPhone 5c more than I thought I would. After using it non-stop last weekend, I missed it when I switched to the iPhone 5s. I missed its color. I missed its feel. The iPhone 5s screams premium, all gorgeously metallic and scorchingly fast. But the iPhone 5c really is fun. When I put it down, that's what I missed. And when I switched back to it on alternate days, that's what I enjoyed.

via iMore

Minimalism Doesn't Favor Nintendo

Jon Gruber of Daring Fireball brought up valuable points in his latest rebuttal in the ongoing Nintendo vs. RIM Blackberry saga. I'd like to highlight these two sentences where I agree heavily.

Today, though, someone deciding to buy a dedicated handheld game device is, more likely than not, deciding whether to buy something to carry in addition to the mobile device they already carry everywhere.

The App Store is, practically speaking, an infinite source of new games.

I bought Nintendo's Wii U out of impulse and somewhat regretfully so. I haven't powered up the system since the initial update and have yet to buy any games.  The last time I felt that way about a console was Playstation's PSP.  It was deemed "portable" but I found it bulky when it came to bringing more than a few games plus extra batteries. Fast forward just a few months later, I ended up only bringing a single game, no battery, then eventually only used it as a media device until I purchased Apple's iPhone 3G.  Prior to that, I was using both my Palm Treo 650 and PSP.  Chargers in tote, it was a lot to bring on my person especially when I would only access the PSP at the hotels or on the plane commuting back and forth.

I have yet to buy a Nintendo 3DS/3DSXL (I wouldn't actually consider the 2DS) only because, when it comes down to it, I don't want to carry anything more than I already do. I've been considering it for a while now but my current lifestyle of being an airline pilot who commutes from San Diego to Atlanta Dallas on a weekly basis is best when paired with minimalism.  Two bags; one for lunch the other for clothing.  To further establish the fact that I don't need one,  75% of my gaming is on an iOS device.  It's on me, it's with me wherever I go, and it's quick and dirty.  No power-up loading times or lag.  It's instant gratification.  I wish only the best for Nintendo and I truly am rooting for them.

Jumping thoughts, when it comes to consoles / dedicated gaming, I don't foresee any regret in the near future with Sony's latest Playstation 4. Heck, I might even get a Vita (not sure on the OLED version vs. the LCD one) if it means I can play remotely and have access to my PS4!  Yea, I reserved one and will be there at midnight at the local Best Buy.

iPhone Are Selling... Duh

Setting a new record year after year and people still saying that Apple's not doing well?

Apple® today announced it has sold a record-breaking nine million new iPhone® 5s and iPhone 5c models, just three days after the launch of the new iPhones on September 20

via Apple

The Whole Package

Impressive.

Its hardware and software make it the best smartphone on the market.

via WSJ: All Things Digital

The iPhone 5S is, in some measures, computationally superior to the top-of-the-line MacBook Pro from just five years ago. In your fucking pocket.

via John Gruber's Daring Fireball

Anand on Apple's iPhone 5s

Just my two cents, don't buy the iPhone 5c.

As much as it pains me to use the word futureproof, if you are one of those people who likes to hold onto their device for a while - the 5s is as good a starting point as any.

via Anandtech

And then via Twitter:

I just spent the past week doing the best I can to understand Apple's A7 SoC. In short? It's insanely fast. http://t.co/AgWzGv1ljr

No Gimmicks on the New iPhone 5s

A fantastic overview on the both new iPhones. Andy Ihnatko also details the security concerns that some might have with the new biometric scanner.

Biometric authentication is a great idea. But it has to Just Plain Work, every damn time, or else it’ll be relegated to the Scrapheap of Good Intentions where most of the new software features on a Samsung phone wind up.

It was so easy that I was able to train it within just three minutes. And while I didn’t have all that much time to try to trick the sensor there in the demo room, it worked flawlessly on the finger that I’d trained and not at all on any of my other fingers. You can train it to recognize up to five digits.

Did I worry about handing over detailed scans of my finger to a phone that I didn’t own? Nope. The phone destroys all copies of the data it collects as soon as it’s read your finger … and your fingerprint data isn’t backed up to the cloud.

via Chicago Grid by Andy Ihnatko

Why I'm Selling my iPhone 5

When it comes down to having the best of the best, some people have asked me why it's worth it.  Bottom line... over the course of a year or two, I'm shelling out $1.5 a day or $0.07 an hour for something that I'm on ALL THE TIME!  Does that make it worth it... yes!  The fact of the matter is that I might end up paying another $400 once I sell my iPhone 5 64GB in White for AT&T, but as the number one tool in your pocket?  It's dumb to have a "free" iPhone 4S which is two years old and keep it for another two years.  Also, if the iPhone 5c is nothing more that a .1 update to the iPhone 5, it's not worth it.  The camera, and Touch ID alone along with the A7 64-bit processor, I'm expecting nothing but awesome with the new iPhone 5s. This also puts me in line with Brian Lam of The Wirecutter on the new iPhone 5s.  I asked him a while back on the iPhone 5 and he responded to me via twitter with good points.  He also recently wrote this on his website too.

I’m just saying you should upgrade because a few hundred bucks is not really a lot of money for something if you use it all the time, every day, and are already paying a hundred bucks and change a month in service fees over several years.

I'm going to find out what I can fetch for my iPhone 5.  Any offers?  Gazelle is up to $360 $340 buy I wonder if I could get $450 on Craigslist? It's still jailbroken too by the way running iOS 6.0.2.

update: Lifehacker also talks about future proofing for only $100.

Considering the price difference between the two models is only $100, your best bet if you have the cash is the iPhone 5s for future proofing, which is worth it considering since you'll have to sign a new two year contract to get the discounted pricing.

September is Confirmed for the new iPhone

Once again, it's that time of year for Apple to unveil it's latest offerings in the crowded smartphone market.  On September 10th, we can expect Tim Cook and the gang to take the wraps off the rumored iPhone 5S and maybe introduce a lower costing iPhone 5C.  This would mark the first time in six years that Apple debuts a new lower tier model rather than moving the previous generation a step down.  

As the timeline goes, Tuesday the 10th falls in line with the usual Apple event followed by ten days of hype until the official release on September 20th.  We can expect reviews three days earlier.  

Get your wallets and plastics ready.  Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that along with the new iPhones, we can expect the overhaul operating system, iOS7, to make it's final release.  Are you going to be upgrading?  

Free Apps on iTunes Store today!

A bunch of apps on the iTunes store have gone free! Both The Verge and 9to5mac have listed them all but here are my favorites.  

Day One - a beautiful journaling app for iOS also available for $9.99 on Mac.  

Over - add text with a beautiful selection of fonts and artwork to your pictures then and only then do they become Facebook worthy =) 

Barefoot World Atlas - a great map with animations and world facts just like what we could have used in 7th grade geography joust! 

and of course the $19.99 app Traktor DJ either the iPhone or iPad for free!  

Shift in Computing

Bob O'Donnell, IDC Program Vice President, on the IDC Quarterly report.

"At this point, unfortunately, it seems clear that the Windows 8 launch not only failed to provide a positive boost to the PC market, but appears to have slowed the market..."

It's a bad time to be a vendor of PCs or Windows 8 for that matter.

IDC PC Shipments Steepest Decline