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Mar 10 2010

HP and MSFT Take Pot Shots at the Peaking Apple iPad: Why? Cause they got nuthin!

Category: connections, iPad-iWay!, social media, speed the web, tech opinion, tech reviews — jmacofearth @ 11:06 pm

Flash on the Apple iPad, who cares?If you missed Steve Ballmer at CES this year, trying to say why his vision of the future of computing involves everything (even your TV) running Windows 7, then you missed a wildly lackluster show. In fact it was so BAD, that even the London Times picked up the vibe. So now comes HP waiving the tablet/slate/pad flag and saying Adobe's Flash is essential to a "full" experience. Uh… Just a sec, run that by me again.

I spent a good half hour in an excited exchange with an iPhone app developer, android wanna-be developer, and flash dev badass, and what we both agreed was, "A flash game built in 2008 isn't going to look or run great on a new tablet pc or iPad."

According to Chris, my friend, the newest version of Flash, "the full version," can interpret multi-touch gestures. So there is no reason that Flash won't be big on Android. But does Apple need Adobe's alien love-child plugin to be a success? Let's see…

Q: Has the iPhone sold well? A: Yes.
Q: Does it have Flash? A: No.
Q: Do any "normal" (meaning non-developer types) people complaining about the lack of flash on their iPhones? A: No. They don't know what Flash is.
Q: Do they care if it's Flash or something else that makes their games RAWK on the iPhone/iPad/iTouch? A: No.
Q: So who cares about Flash on the iPhone again? A: Adobe.
Q: And so why is HP or Microsoft making a big deal about it? A: Anything to counter the coming onslaught of iPad success while they are polishing their presentations and demo-videos with no release date insight.
Q: And doesn't Microsoft offer something that's kind of a Flash alternative?
A: Yes, Silverlight.
Q: So Microsoft doesn't really want Flash to rule the mobile market either? A: No. Microsoft wants Windows to rule the mobile market. That's all they can see. For miles and miles… I can see Windows 7 on everything. Your car should run Windows 7. Your television, computer and mobile should definately be on Windows 7.
Q: And Flash? A: Who cares about Flash again?
Q: Adobe? A: You got it.

I mean they've got to have a story to tell at the dawn of the iPad era. They've GOT to tell us how great their device is going to be, how FLASH is critical to our enjoyment of the WEB or MOVIES or getting-stuff-done. If you look at the HP "slate" video below you can see how Apple has already set the bar so high that HP/Dell/MSFT/Google/Adobe are all getting in bed together to try to stop another runaway hit. Cause if the iPad is to "slates" what the iPhone is to "phones" you've got to be a little pugilistic about it. Don't you think?

@jmacofearth
permalink: http://bit.ly/unFlash

A few posts you might be interested in:

HP's Voodoo Blog Tries Taunting Apple: HP's Slate Device Runs The Complete Internet — Including Flash!

And here's the HP video. Does this inspire you? The masking on the hand is pathetic. This device is not yet working. I can promise you this a mock and the video was green-screened in.

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Mar 08 2010

Have You BUZZed Today? Why Twitter and NOT Google Buzz is Trending Up.

Category: community building, connections, lifestreaming, social media, speed the web, tech opinion, tools — jmacofearth @ 1:32 pm

the Google Buzz stats don't lie - mashable

[3-9-10: It's been 25 days since I looked in my Google Buzz folder. I'm starting to get tempted, just to see... But nah... ]

So even if you have high hopes for the newest social media platform, Google's Buzz, you might make a note of the information that is still clear on new technology champion sites like Mashable and ReadWriteWeb.

If you look at the tab on the left there <<< you will see that the Tweet to Buzz ratio is over 200 – 1. And the Tweet to F-Book ratio is 100 – 1. So let's imagine how BUZZ is going to make a long term impact or not.

First Problem with Buzz: It's tied directly to your G-Mail account.

While this is often mentioned as a feature. The reality is, if you don't use G-mail as your primary email platform you are likely to not Buzz at all. Where I work, we use the MS Outlook platform for all things email and scheduling. And Buzz and Outlook aren't in sync. To that point, Twitter and Outlook aren't buddies either, but the Twitter connectors are plentiful. What's coming for Buzz is yet to be seen.

Second Problem with Buzz: Much of what is mentioned as the secret sauce that Buzz has that Twitter does not is "simplification."

The problem with that idea is, your social media accounts, all of them, are managed by you. And you either do a good job of managing them or you don't. With Twitter there are a ton of tools to help you manage all of the incoming information. There are Twitter Lists (on Twitter.com) and amazing desktop/web apps (Tweetdeck, Seesmic, Hootsuite) that help manage the volume of Twitter traffic that you might expose yourself to.

What does Buzz have at this point? I'm not sure.

Third Problem with Buzz: It's just another tool.

How many new software programs are you willing to  learn this week? How much time do you have to spend "learning" new programs, in addition to doing your work? My guess is, if you are anything like me or my close associates, a new tool is only relevant if it fills a need that is not being met by your current tool kit.

Fourth Problem with Buzz: Adoption is the killer app.

Twitter is HUGE. Twitter is 100th the size of Facebook. For all the love we give Twitter, Twitter is a tiny piece of the social media pie. Google Buzz would have to have some kind of killer sauce to make a real splash. As Google WAVE shows, just because Google launches it, does not mean it will grow or be significant.

And if you look everywhere you do your social media networking, check out how invasive and persistent Google Buzz is relevant to Twitter or even Facebook. And if you are interested in being at the front of the power curve with a social media app, you might still focus your energies on Twitter. OR FACEBOOK, though I hate to say that.

But BUZZ is not going to get you a huge audience, no matter how BIG the MS-SM-M (Main Stream SocialMedia Media) would like you to believe BUZZ is going to be. And I believe in order to hedge their bets they are working it hard:

Google BUZZ on Mashable

Well, you check it out and let me know. Even Mashable's enthusiasm for BUZZ seems to be waning. I mean the numbers at the top left of this post don't lie. If people aren't BUZZing, it's not gonna be a "force."

Facebook = Force. Twitter = Force. Google = Force.

WAVE is a QUESTIONABLE FORCE.

BUZZ is not a FORCE.

We're looking for the Force. And I can hear the words of the Storm Trooper, "These are not the droids you are looking for." Sorry Google. But hey, let's make the WAVE happen. We need some good applications of the WAVE. Not more pretty movies about how cool the WAVE CAN BE. But actual use of the WAVE to bring an EVENT or SUBJECT to LIFE.

I have an idea for SXSW Music, Film and Interactive. SXSWave.com. But I'm just starting to set up the framework. I've got some friends at both Google and SXSW, so, ya might keep your eye on it. Or wait and see if it TRENDS. (grin) Or perhaps we'll wait until next year to really launch it. It all depends on the weather and the price of tweets in China.

@jmacofearth
permalink: http://bit.ly/SXSW-WAVE

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Mar 07 2010

iPad from Apple, Coming April 3, 2010 – We'll Never Be the Same!

Category: connections, iPad-iWay!, lifestreaming, social media, speed the web, tech opinion, tech reviews, tools — jmacofearth @ 9:49 pm

<preRant>I'm NOT watching the Oscars tonight. I might youtube Steve Martin tomorrow and see if he had some good lines. But if there was ever a built in Boolean subtract feature in Twitter, I would've used it tonight. (-#oscars) But of course there isn't, so I'm just staying off the statusphere tonight.</preRant>

And but here's this, Apple's new iPad commercial aired tonight during the -+@#oscars. And here it is for you to admire.

So what do you think?

I can imagine you might be saying, "no big deal," or "seen it, done it, got it." But… I'd have to ask, which part did you not understand?

Let me tell you what's going to happen. The world is gonna go bonkers for the iPad with the same ferocity that launched the iPhone and the iPod before it. Why are we still buying iPods at the highest rate year over year? Why, because Apple changes the game so fast ahead of the other manufacturers, they simply give up. Digital Walkman anyone?

So you're nonplussed about the iPhone? Me too, actually. I use a Blackberry. And you think the Apple Store, Mac OS, and MacBook Pro are just, ho hum. It's okay, I understand that as well. It is hard as we are standing on the brink of a new era to imagine the era just beyond our sight. We are at such a place today.

I am sorry the iPad is not going to ship BEFORE SXSWi (the largest digital media conference in the US) because the place would be flooded with them. As it is we're going to wait until April 3 to get our hands on one. But I hear we can pre-order TOMORROW. (Monday, March 8, 2010) So at $500 the baseline for tablet computing just dropped Motion Computing, Intel, Dell, HP and all followers on their heads.

First, they have to figure out what magic apple has pulled off with their new proprietary chip. Second, they have to reverse engineer the mechanics. Third, they have to try and make Windows 7 or Android work really well. Fourth, they will play catch-up to Apple's innovation every six months. It's really no wonder Vista sucked. And while WIN 7 is better, it is certainly no evolution of the OS.

Android is cool. And Google Chrome Desktop is pretty good. You can get a preview of exactly what Google Chrome Desktop will be like by opening Google Chrome the browser. That's it. That's the whole thing. If it runs in a browser, why do you need anything else cluttering up the interface, taking processor cycles, or adding to the memory requirements? In fact you don't, IF… you like everything in the browser.

I'm close, but not quite there with Google Chrome the Browser. I love it. I think it beats the pants off Firefox and Safari (which I actually un-installed last week) and poor old IE. Are they really going to keep flogging us web dev types with new versions of IE? (Internet Explorer for you unWindows elite.) And I think the sad answer on that is, YES. If you saw Ballmer at CES you know his biggest vision is WINDOWS 7-enabled Television sets. Why? Cause they got nothing else.

So sit back, enjoy the show. Put in your pre-order if you dare. But mark my words. April 3, is gonna be like 1984 all over again. (Apple launched the Mac in 1984 with a Riddley Scott powered tv commercial mocking the corporate power structure that is so much like Orwell's nightmare tome. This commercial ain't Oscar material, but you watch how quickly the iPad wanna-bes start coming online. And continue to try to innovate in Apples wake. Not a position I'd like to be in, personally or professionally.

@jmacofearth
permalink: http://bit.ly/April-iPad

See all the iPad-iWay posts.

Other coverage:

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Mar 03 2010

Apple iPad – "This Changes Everything" – The iPad Arrives April 3 (3-10-10 update v6)

Category: iPad-iWay!, social media, speed the web, tech opinion, tech reviews — jmacofearth @ 12:40 pm
image: visualizing Apple's new iSlate tablet computer

visualizing Apple's new iPad computer - on sale April 3, 2010

UPDATE 3-10-10: Starting March 12, pre-order from the Apple Online Store or reserve for pickup at an Apple Retail Store. First available April 3, 2010. Get ready, cause here we go!

Here's the latest post on the iPad and a link to the first iPad commercial that launched during the Oscars.

[When I pick mine up on April 3 I will be forever rebranded as iDad!]

+++

I still can't pre-order my iPad, but I can tell you a few more tidbits about it.

1. It will NOT, nor will it EVER have FLASH. (FastCompany)

2. It's gonna be bigger than the iPhone. (and I mean market share rather than just screen size.)

3. Like the early iPhone days Apple will have a hard time keeping up with the demand.

So imagine, you are about to release a product and your biggest worries is inventory! What a problem to have. Not will it sell, but how can we increase the numbers we can manufacture so we can sell MORE.

+++

I hope you weren't holding on to a lot of Apple stock hoping the doubling was going to continue unabated. It turns out that "leading up to" and Apple big event is the best time to grow Apple stock value. And since we've all be working so hard to figure out what Apple was about to release, the "after party" is usually a bit more glum.

It's nothing to worry about. I guess if you are a speculator you'd sell all of your apple stock the day before the big party. And then buy again sometime in the following weeks as the public perception comes back to earth and Apple's business model shows it's basis is revenue and not trying to do magic tricks.

Everyone at the iPad announcement wanted a magic trick. We'd see the vizualizations (like the one here to the right). We'd see videos of what these devices would look like. There was very little that Steve Jobs could pull rabbit-like out of his hat. His two major bombs: $500 starting price (a virtual gasp in the audience, as most were guessing in the $700 – $999 range the day before the show. And ship date: 60 Days.

I'd have mine or order if there were a place to pre-order them. Amazon has a series of hilarious screens if you go to their site to order your iPad. And believe me Amazon the store wants to be in line for the gravy train of sales that are going to come out of this device. (I am putting my images into a new post that will be up shortly.)

UPDATE 1-27-10: Welcome to the real world folks. Imagine this, take your MacBookPro, break it in half and hold the screen-only half in your hand. Apple's iPad! Any questions?

UPDATE 12-26-09: So even if they are calling it the iSlate iPad, the new tablet Mac is coming in January. If we are lucky it will be on sale as early as Feb. Wow! 
Apple’s New Tablet To Be Baptized iSlate? Let’s Dig A Little Deeper from TechCrunch
Here’s what I think happened, based on the evidence presented above: Apple decided on the name iSlate for a new product it was working on, whether it will ultimately turn out to be for their new tablet computer or not, in November 2006. That same month, they moved to file for a trademark for the name in the United States and Europe under disguise, setting up and using Slate Computing LLC as a shell company, and securing a couple of available domain names through Mark Monitor (islate.co.uk, islate.biz and islate.info).But getting back into the swing of it. ;-)
+++

Say what you will about the Kindle, and I certainly do, but Apple's entry into the netbook market is going to hurt a lot of the other players.

Kindle/Amazon (although they can sell the books to iPhones already, so the book sales are safe), Dell/HP/Acer/ARM/Asius.

Even if this visualization is not real, you know it will be here soon enough. We waited for the iPhone to finally appear for over 2 years. And look what that has done to the market. Now come the apologists for the other manufacturers who will say, "Apple is late to the netbook game, Apple will not be a factor… " And all I can say is goodnight and good riddance to a category that needed to be put to sleep.

How about this reversal, "Apple's new Netbook Killer!" Or "Apple Knocks Out the Kindle for Good!"

And to all of you who have ARM-powered netbook/laptop-wannabies, I'm sorry about that. Perhaps it's not to late to take/send it back. "Don't let your friends to netbooks."

@jmacofearth
permalink: http://bit.ly/apple-ipad

The latest: iPad from Apple, Coming April 3, 2010 – You Will Never Be the Same!

The entire Uber.la Apple iPad coverage can be seen via the iPad-iWay tag.

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Mar 03 2010

Why Google BUZZ Does NOT Matter: 3 Reasons to "Turn Off Buzz."

Category: lifestreaming, social media, speed the web, tech opinion, tech reviews, tools — jmacofearth @ 10:57 am

image: google buzz inside G-Mail - what's the value?

[3-4-10: It's been 20 days since I looked in my Google Buzz folder. Am I missing something? What? Now, if you want to jump on a WAVE with me, I'm all fingers and toes.]

How Even the Mighty Google Fails Sometimes. Maybe you can call me Anti-Buzz, or Buzz-Kill, but I am not excited about Buzz at all. Here's why:

Can you tell me one thing Buzz does BETTER than the other tools available? We talked about it at a company dinner last night (and these are smart social media-y kinda folks) and nobody could say why BUZZ was even interesting. Three points of interest might be:

1. Google-always-does-killer-apps? Nah. 2. Plugs into G-mail? Not that interesting. 3. Has a fantastic mobile app? Er… No. I can't wait until the first person asks me, "Did you get my Buzz?" I savor the moment.

So what if these are the struggling throws of a fumbling giant? Google! So strong, so innovative, launching all these pet projects that have no integration and no coherence with one another. How does WAVE tie to Buzz. How does Orkut or Jaiku or Google Profile for that matter, have ANY connection or benefit from a BUZZ link?

Okay, so if I sound frustrated, it's because I am. Buzz is a big miss! We are spending valuable resources and time trying to figure out why we need another tool that really doesn't do much beyond the tools we have.

At Dell, the story goes, when Michael Dell looked at the prototypes of Dell's 2008 entry into the MP3 player market, he asked, "What does it do that the iPod doesn't?"

I think the Google developers need to ask themselves the same question. "How does this tool/project/platform/service provide something that does not exist? Or at the very least, "How does this product kick butt over the other products available?"

When the answer comes up "I dunno!" Perhaps even mighty Google should pause and ask, "Is this product going to move the Google Brand, the Google Application Suite, forward?"

As the Goo-Giant lumbers forward, even BING is getting some love because we kinda want Microsoft to return to some sense of sanity. I mean many of us depend on Windows products to make a living.

Score some HUGE wins for Google: Voice, Sync, Apps, Chrome (browser), Android.

Score some BONERS for Google: WAVE, Buzz, Orkut.

And a few TBD for Google: Caffeine, Real-time search integration, Twitter indexing.

So I'd like to see Google did what Apple did for their Snow Leopard update to OS X. No new features only FASTER, MORE STABLE, and REFINEMENTS. Imagine.

Here's how my G-mail tab looks now that I've killed Buzz.

Screen shot 2010 02 11 at 6.30.29 PM Why Google BUZZ Does NOT Matter: 3 Reasons to Turn Off Buzz.

And here's the link I clicked to kill it: "turn off buzz" will be a trending topic more than "turn on buzz" as shown below.

Screen shot 2010 02 11 at 6.31.36 PM Why Google BUZZ Does NOT Matter: 3 Reasons to Turn Off Buzz.

@jmacofearth
permalink: http://bit.ly/why-buzz

Product Review News: Looks into Buzz for a Clue

Yesterday's Anti-Buzz Rant from Uber.la: What's the BUZZ Tell Me What's Happening with Facebook vs Google Buzz?

Update and push back from some: Why Google Buzz is Brilliant by Christopher S. Penn.

google buzz with chris brogan and christopher s penn

And my response:

Okay, I'll be happy to disagree with this one Chris. It's not that I don't like where you are going with your post here, but I think the process of "pruning back hard" is important on Facebook and Twitter and not just a part of adding yourself (or not adding yourself) to the buzz. You are spot on about the clatter and churn washing up within social networks. Even LinkedIN is getting kind of spammy, don't you think? So what are we to do? Join the Buzz-wagon?

I think what we must do, on whatever networks we happen to be fond of, is cut back against the spammers. Box off the trolls. Delete the snipers. Use apps like Disqus to silence the cr*p that makes it across all of our blogs today as "conversation."

There are awesome tools to help you cull your spammers on Twitter. I am sure there will be similar apps for Facebook and perhaps Buzz. But the problem is not solved by adding a new app, the problem is solved by behaving in a new way. By building better habits, purging our "followers" and not just the ones we follow we get more REAL with the social part of the networking.

I love seeing the picture above of you guys. See Brogan is a workin Geek like the rest of us. Sometimes his writing is so damn good, and his approach is so damn real, I forget he's just sittin at the table trying to do better like the rest of us. Rock On CB! And Rock on CSP!

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