SiliconSavvy

Exercising the Options: Apple Is IN!

2005-08-07T21:23:00.000-07:00

Apple™, by virtue of their Silicon Valley locale, (& because I live on the virtual edge of mac-addiction) is taking it's rightful place in this blog.

Without further ado here's some kewl iPod products/add-ons/info...

Please note: I receive no compensation for any opinion, recommendation, review contained within. I'm just sharing some info I think is worthwhile...this is not to say I am not open to any contributions...

iPod Stuff

Griffin Technologies- the folks who brought you the kewl iMic and PowerMate have some new iPod-only useful add-ons.AIR CLICK is their answer to making your iPod remotely controlled. Using RF signals, the AIR CLICK works from within 60 feet of the iPod- even through walls! It also comes with TINY REMOTE a little clip for your backpack, bike, steering wheel- allows for on-the-go control. Retails for $39.99.

I've come across several companies that offer tools to play your iPod in your car- by connecting to any unused FM radio slot- from 87.7 to 107.9.

Griffin's is called iTripFM, and sells for $35.00.

Sonnet Technology offers a similar device, but this is made specifically for the iPod Mini, and alllows your iPod Mini to be played on any nearby stereo- sells for $100.

DLO DIRECT enables the same FM Play, but this is a TransPod for your iPod Shuffle. It's plug & play ez, and also charges your shuffle battery. $59.

NewerTech offers a super charged replacement battery for your iPod, and claims it is 70% stronger- aka lnger-lassting, than your basic battery. $24.95

Griffin also has has a version of the super battery known as Tune Juice. This is supposed to provide 8 hours of additional power, and works with any dockable iPod or Mini. A plus is the option to use any battery- disposable or rechargeable. $19.99

If one-stop shopping is your gig, check out Smalldog.com. Their Love Your iPod bundle includes: The Groove Cube (personal speakers), the Windshield Mount- accessible attachment, Small Dog Auto charger (to keep it playing) and the Xtreme Mac's Air Play FM transmitter- all for the reasonable price of $79.

If you just want to dump your (old?) iPod and do it in an environmentally-friendly manner, take it to any Apple store- and if you choose to buy a new one at that time, they'll even give you 10% off on one.

In the off chance you use your Apple for something other than iTunes, here's some stuff for you too.

Are you missing the old OS 9 ways? There's a few OS X apps that are reminiscent...

For example...I for one sure miss the option to Print Window!Well, now we can print our windows and then some with Searchware Solutionsvery kewl app- did I mention it's also FREE? Not only that, the options to print the window allows to choose to print the complete file, names, icons or no icons, with or without headers. Awesome.

Another free app. (for home, educational and non-commercial use) is a plug-in for viewing .pdf format documents in the browser, allowing for multiple layout options, including split views. The plug-in supports annotations, forms, TOC's, links and more. Additionally, there are options to add it to your toolbar menus, to save to desk and various printing options. It's available for download at Schubert.com.

GOT APPS?

If you have any kewl apps, reasonably priced, or need some, please post your needs and wants ( old newspaper talk!) and we'll see what we can come up with!

Here's what's going on these days at the beaches inNorthen California- adding a sail to your surfboard makes any day a SURF's UP day just outside of Santa Cruz, by Big Basin...

On a totally unrelated note, it was just announced that Peter Jennings has passed away. The world has lost a joiurnalist of the highest quality, and another famous Canadian. Jennings was the epitome of professionalism and calm. His death will be the world's loss.
Much more next time...jill

Good Things About Blogging

2005-08-07T01:19:00.000-07:00

Part of the fun of blogging is in wearing all the hats, and making all of the choices.

The owner gets to play Publisher, Executive Editor, Journalist, Content Manager and anything else they choose. Subject, Content, Viewpoint- are all owned by the Blogger. The reader has their own responsibility- it is one only, but the most important of them all: they must determine the truth or non-truth in any post, or online site, they view.

It is difficult to comprehend why otherwise intelligent people accept what they read, no matter where, as truth.

So here's your task: before you forward, accept, "buy" some hard-to-believe tale or "fact", check it out with the pros!

As luck would have it, while I was writing this, I took a break to catch up on some neglected regular reading.
A timely post from Net-Gold, provided an extensive list by owner David P. Dillard. David's post was a seemingly endless list of hoax verifying sites.
So, thanks to David, here's the PROS to check your story with:

The Museum of Hoaxes
provides info from pre-1700 to post-2000! You can check historically, search by hoax titles, or by subject galleries: (i.e. College Hoaxes, April Fools, and Blogs too.)

HoaxBusters can check your hoax by category or search. This site includes some useful information on What To Do, and the Economic Cost of Hoaxes.

One of the best known sites for Truth Or Lie detection is SNOPES.com. Snopes offers concise and well-defined categories, and is searchable.

Here's a few more:
Better known as NORTON, this site includes viruses as well as hoaxes.Even Sports Fans get the viruses and hoaxes- ESPN will clear up any possible nonsense in the Sporting World. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has devoted some of it's non-profit legal skills to keeping you abreast of any legal hoaxes in the blogosphere.

Now Remember: Be Ever Skeptical, and Doubtful- there's no free lunch, or dinner- or inheritance from any foreign country! Ever!

Steve JOBS & INTEL: Embed or IN BED?

2005-06-10T23:41:00.000-07:00

Steve Jobs' announcement that Apple is changing their chip partner from IBM to Intel has generated a lot of noise. Apparently everyone has an opinion on either the "hidden agenda", or market futures, for both companies. Giving credit where credit is due, Jobs is a master at implementing changes that serve to increase his company's coffers.

He's not the Mac cult chief for nothing. Jobs' underlying reasons for this particular change are predictably obscured by his well-honed huckster intros, the same ones that induce cheers and tears from macfaithful adorers, who prostrate themselves whenever they find themselves in his presence.

This announcement's delivery did not disappoint.

Coordinated with simultaneous Press Releases by Apple and Intel, Jobs made his speech at the Development Conference in San Francisco, June 6, 2005.

Timing and opportunity never escape the man.

Let's Take a Closer Look at This Picture...

Apple presently has the largest slice of the "pay to download" music pie with it's iPod and iTunes. Fourth Quarter figures for 2004 disclosed a whopping net profit of $106 MILLION- and no limit in sight. However, that pie slice is quickly shrinking as growing numbers of wanna-piece-too competitors jump onto this BANDWagon's market.

Jobs reverts to oft-repeated tactics when he pulls out the "make work" projects and calls them "improvements". In 2002, when Jobs introduced his new Operating System, OS X, the majority of software manufacturers had yet to complete retooling. Jobs had no wish to alienate his loyal followers, so he eased slowly into this change. He knew he had to have a more accessible, universal O/S, or risk market isolation, so he ran the gamut of shipping options until more applications were ready: from "OS X Optional" to "OS X Installed", then "OS X Primary", and finally a "d.i.y. OS 9", with total focus on "OS X".

When software companies are forced to retool and create favorite apps in a new OS format,
a great event occurs:

Everyone Makes More Money!

Well, everyone, that is, but the consumer who takes the biggest hit, as they are forced to upgrade everything they already have...

Jobs implied OS X would not replace previous operating systems, but it was obviously the plan from the moment of it's release. That implication became reality only for those who never used their computer for more than email or word processing- they would never need an update.

Unfortunately that left out about 98% of Apple users...

Dumping IBM and going to Intel is telling in many ways.

1. Apple and Big Blue's processor partnership, established in 1994, is less appealing now to Jobs than at the outset. No doubt their initial relationship was one that made Apple a tidy sum, via price point, quantity, and the intial excitement over the introduction of Apple's "NEW, IMPROVED, POWER PROCESSOR!"

Now that Big Blue has begun to fade, with large production changes, the incentive for Apple's association has changed from bright green to dull gray.

True to form, Apple shopped around for a hungrier, needier, chip supplier- one who would demonstrate "proper" gratitude in the guise of price and delivery. Lo and behold- it turned out to be INTEL!

But-Did You Know?

Before Apple made the Power Processor move with IBM, they similarly dumped Motorola. Motorola's 680 Processor, left behind in the '90's, wasn't quite as big a financial hit one might think: Motorola just happened to be partners with IBM's "Freestyle Semiconductor"- who just happenned to be the provider of the Power Processor chip....

Apple's present-day "NEW and IMPROVED INTEL CHIP" means once again software providers must retool. This time, though, it's to "match the market processor's performance".

(Of course, selling a few more products won't bother anyone too much.)

And no one is making too much noise about the existence of Motorola's emulation software, known as "Freescale". All this time Freescale allowed the use of older programs on new computers like the VB's and the MM's. But now Jobs is closing that door too: that particular emulation software will not work on Intel-chipped macs.

2. The marriage of Apple and INTEL is NOT a new one. Intel-owned "ARM Ltd" has had a deal in place with Apple to supply processors, likely for something along the lines of an iPod, since they supplied the chips for another small Apple product, "Newton".

Could the sour IBM grapes really be about a bigger, undisclosed expansion- perhaps involving POPCORN?

Might Jobs be attempting to replicate the success of his iPod in an Oscar winning performance that has a silver (or platinum!) lining in Hollywood? Is Jobs' next move to corner the film download market?

Jobs seems to be heading to the Southland with the announcement of an affiliation with a local Silicon Valley company,"Transition Technologies".

Transition Technologies' staff of 65 is developing their "Rosetta" program, which supposedly will allow seamless integration of current OS X IBM-chipped equipment. But the additional technology of Transition Technologies' "QuickTransit", a transparent, high speed emulator, with HIGH END GRAPHICS SUPPORT, cannot be ignored, or denied.

When you put all of this technology together, and factor in the great expense involved in making these changes, it makes a LOT more sense to speculate on an iPod-clone along the lines of an iMovie player....

There's a lot not being said about BIG changes that logic says is about more than just a "faster computer". As the saying goes- "Let the Chips Fall Where They May".

Unless and until Steve Jobs tells the tale, we'll just have to wait and see...