Shak's Blog » apple http://www.shakeeltariq.com Technology bites Tue, 27 Jul 2010 22:17:05 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 Steve Jobs Conquers the Decade – Now What? http://www.shakeeltariq.com/2009/11/08/steve-jobs-conquers-the-decade-now-what/ http://www.shakeeltariq.com/2009/11/08/steve-jobs-conquers-the-decade-now-what/#comments Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:16:06 +0000 Shakeel Tariq http://www.shakeeltariq.com/?p=350 Steve JobsApple CEO Steve Jobs has been named the chief executive of the decade by Fortune, and it’s hard to call that a bad pick, considering the turnaround Apple has undergone since Jobs returned to the helm in the mid-’90s. What’s next on the list for a tech leader who’s already changed the way we use computers, how we listen to music, and how we use our cellphones?

Now that Fortune has named Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs CEO of the decade, where will he go from here?

Throughout his career, Jobs has typically led the market, bringing out products that consumers didn’t know they wanted until they saw them — products like the iPhone and iPod touch, for instance.

He will probably continue doing so, but in the future he may delegate more responsibilities.

In declaring Jobs CEO of the decade, Fortune looked at how Jobs rebuilt Apple from a company on the edge of failure to the cash-rich behemoth it is today. Oh, and he also survived two brushes with death and a securities-law scandal.

That was then; the market appears saturated with new products now. Can Jobs come up with more eye-popping, highly profitable new ideas? The products Apple introduced over the past year — new iPod models including the iPod touch, the iPhone 3GS, and new Macs and iMacs — have mainly been refinements of existing products, after all.

There’s still plenty of opportunity for someone of Jobs’ caliber, argued Carl Howe, director of anywhere research at the Yankee Group. “Apple’s future opportunities are defined by areas where technology and design have traditionally been separate, but that consumers want combined,” he told MacNewsWorld.

These areas of potential include home entertainment systems and vehicle telematics, Howe said. Telematics is the integrated use of telecommunications and information — sending, receiving and storing information on telecommunication devices. It is used in GPS systems, for instance.

Apple could make significant inroads into the home entertainment and vehicle telematics markets, Howe contended. “We keep hearing rumors that Apple will enter the TV market, but don’t dismiss the auto opportunity — it begs for a branded integrated solution rather than an open, anything-goes one,” he said. “It’s another one of those global multi-billion dollar profit pools that Apple seems well-positioned to tap into.”

Read More @ Technology News: Business: Steve Jobs Conquers the Decade – Now What?.

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]]> http://www.shakeeltariq.com/2009/11/08/steve-jobs-conquers-the-decade-now-what/feed/ 0 Google releases developer build of Chrome for Mac http://www.shakeeltariq.com/2009/10/29/google-releases-developer-build-of-chrome-for-mac/ http://www.shakeeltariq.com/2009/10/29/google-releases-developer-build-of-chrome-for-mac/#comments Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:06:56 +0000 Shakeel Tariq http://www.shakeeltariq.com/?p=320 Mac users keen to give Google’s Chrome a try have had to endure a long wait compared to Windows users who have had a public stable release available to them since December last year. The wait is finally over with Google publicly releasing an official developer preview but, although it seems stable enough for daily use, there are a few caveats that may make it a good idea for most users to wait a little longer before using Chrome on a day-to-day basis.

Since it is a very early release version Google itself warns that the Mac OS X Developer Release of Chrome is lacking in some of the functionality that a full general release would have. For the security conscious this includes the inability to disable cookies or stop information, such as text entered into the address bar that Google uses for its Suggest feature, being sent to Google. Also Chrome uses Google as the selected search engine since the selection of other search engines isn’t currently supported. Other obvious omissions include the inability to print pages and the lack of an easy way to fullscreen the browser window.

Flash support isn’t all plain sailing either since plugins aren’t really supported yet. Although the feature is there, it isn’t enabled by default and will require entering a command in Terminal to enable it. Once enabled Flash videos that auto play, like YouTube videos, will play, but mouse events aren’t captured so you won’t be able to pause the video or navigate with the slider. In fact clicking on the video is a sure fire way to crash the browser. If this happens be sure to check Activity Monitor to force quit any unresponsive Chromium processes since simply quitting Chrome won’t necessarily do the job.

Even those who don’t enable Flash will quickly discover that Chrome is still prone to crashes, but on the upside the crashes will stay isolated since each tab is sandboxed to run its own process. Although this means the browser will use much more memory when multiple tabs are open, it does stop you losing work in other tabs when one of the tabs decides to go down. Another benefit of this feature is that malicious websites that attempt to use browser vulnerabilities to crack into a system are locked into the sandbox created for each tab.

Unlike other tabbed browsers, the tabs themselves are located at the very top of the browser – a format that popped up in betas of Safari 4 but didn’t make it to the final release. This can take a little getting used to, but if you like your tabs where they are you’ll want to avoid Chrome. There is also a new tab page similar to Safari 4’s “Top Sites” feature that displays thumbnail links to recently visited and most visited pages.

In the speed stake Chrome feels pretty quick. It is definitely faster than the latest version of Firefox and seems at least as fast as Safari 4, if not faster. It supports the import of bookmarks, settings, and history from your current browser and uses the Mac OS X keychain for storing and retrieving online passwords.

The Mac OS X Developer Release of Chrome marks the first step in Google’s three-step release channel. The next step will be the release of a Beta version, followed by a build Google is comfortable to label “Stable”.

A Google spokesman has gone so far as to say that users shouldn’t download this version unless they are willing to endure frequent crashes and a generally not-so-great experience. If you’re happy to put up with such aggravation, or are just the overly curious type, feel free to download Chrome and let us know your experiences – positive and negative.

via Google releases developer build of Chrome for Mac.

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]]> http://www.shakeeltariq.com/2009/10/29/google-releases-developer-build-of-chrome-for-mac/feed/ 0 Android grabs attention at Sprint conference http://www.shakeeltariq.com/2009/10/28/android-grabs-attention-at-sprint-conference/ http://www.shakeeltariq.com/2009/10/28/android-grabs-attention-at-sprint-conference/#comments Wed, 28 Oct 2009 06:18:49 +0000 Shakeel Tariq http://www.shakeeltariq.com/?p=306 For many of the 1,000-plus developers at the Sprint Open Developers Conference on Tuesday, there was but one word on their lips: Android.

While talk in the past has focused on Windows Mobile or Palm, the biggest topic of conversation at the ninth annual conference in Santa Clara was Google’s 1-year-old smart phone operating system, which has become the darling of the mobile development world.

Frenzied programmers tired of the iPhone as well as companies looking for the next big thing are increasingly turning their attention to the new kid on the block and throwing significant resources behind the fledgling platform.

“Now that Android has many more handsets and carriers, it really looks like it will grow big,” said Jaime Gonzales, tech director for Buongiorno, a mobile content company. “I think Android will pass the iPhone in users and developers and eventually in the number of applications.”

Gonzales is just one of many developers who are captivated by Android’s upside. The free and open source operating system premiered a year ago on just one phone model, the G1, but in recent months has gained support from three of the top four U.S. carriers and is being built into phones from Motorola, Samsung, HTC, LG and many others.

Flurry, a mobile analytics company, reported this week that Android app development has jumped 94 percent in September and October.

“Flurry market data shows that Android continues to gain interest from application developers, and that iPhone is no longer the only game in town,” said Simon Khalaf, Flurry president and chief executive officer. “Developers who used to develop only for iPhone are now adding Android applications to their lineup in record numbers.”

Rishi Mallik, senior manager of business development at video streaming service Qik, said Android is just one of many platforms it supported over the last year. But in the last several months, Qik has made Android its primary focus for research and development.

“We had an idea that Android was going to be big but after playing with the platform and seeing the trends in the market, it really crystallized the fact that our hunch was correct,” Mallik said.

It’s not just the momentum that is opening eyes. Developers also see a viable alternative to Apple’s mighty iPhone and its App Store, which now boasts more than 85,000 apps. In some cases, Apple’s success in attracting developers has prompted some programmers to look for the next big opportunity, away from the crowded App Store. The Android Marketplace, by contrast, boasts 10,000 apps.

“With the iPhone, it’s harder and harder to get notoriety for developers,” said Justin Schwab, a partner with Synova Ventures, which develops mobile apps for companies. “A lot of our clients were watching the market to see if it was worth investing in another platform, and now they feel they can monetize on Android.”

For carriers, Android presents an opportunity to do battle with Apple’s iPhone, which runs exclusively on AT&T’s network.

Steve Elfman, president of network operations and wholesale for Sprint, said it’s not just about iPhone envy. He said the Android ecosystem is growing with so much broad support that it has the potential to become a new standard for the industry.

“In the old PC days, Apple came out with a vertically integrated computer that was great but was a niche product, while Windows became the operating system for all manufacturers to build on,” he said. “I think Android has the opportunity to be the Windows of 2010 and beyond.”

via Android grabs attention at Sprint conference.

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]]> http://www.shakeeltariq.com/2009/10/28/android-grabs-attention-at-sprint-conference/feed/ 0 Apple, Win7 products unveiled http://www.shakeeltariq.com/2009/10/22/apple-win7-products-unveiled/ http://www.shakeeltariq.com/2009/10/22/apple-win7-products-unveiled/#comments Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:45:00 +0000 Shakeel Tariq

Apple Inc. has made significant upgrades to its venerable iMac computers and several other products.
The announcement of the new wares came Tuesday, which is perhaps not coincidental. On Thursday, Microsoft Corp. is set to unveil its Windows 7 operating system, and concurrently reveal several new computers created with the system in mind.
Via LATimes

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]]> http://www.shakeeltariq.com/2009/10/22/apple-win7-products-unveiled/feed/ 2 Adobe Developed IPhone Tool Without Apple’s Help – Business Center – PC World http://www.shakeeltariq.com/2009/10/12/adobe-developed-iphone-tool-without-apples-help/ http://www.shakeeltariq.com/2009/10/12/adobe-developed-iphone-tool-without-apples-help/#comments Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:43:54 +0000 Shakeel Tariq http://www.shakeeltariq.com/?p=243 Adobe Systems said it developed its tools that allow Flash developers to create native iPhone applications without help from Apple, but it hopes the iPhone maker will be glad of its efforts.

Adobe announced on Monday that the next version of Flash Professional, due in beta later this year, will allow developers to export their Flash code in a format that allows it to run on the iPhone as a native application. Adobe is keen to offer Flash Player for the iPhone but says it needs more cooperation from Apple to do so. The solution it announced today is a workaround.

It’s not the Flash Player for the iPhone that many are hoping for, and the applications won’t be able to browse the Web in the way that programs running in Flash Player can. But it does mean that Flash developers won’t have to rewrite their applications from scratch for the iPhone, which should expand the pool of applications for Apple’s device.

“We believe these apps are good for Apple and good for the iPhone,” Adrian Ludwig, a product marketing manager with Adobe’s Flash Platform group, told reporters on Monday. “We have no reason to believe that Apple won’t love this.”

The fact that Adobe doesn’t know the answer to that question already suggests there is some tension between the companies, and that a Flash Player for the iPhone will probably not be appearing imminently.

Asked if Adobe worked with Apple to create the new tools, Ludwig said they are “entirely based on technologies that any other developer would have access to.”

The tension was also apparent during Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch’s keynote at the start of Adobe Max, where he gently mocked the iPhone for not running Flash by comparing it to an old, rotary-dial telephone.

The company is still hopeful it will get a Flash Player on the device eventually, however. Adobe and Apple are close partners in other areas of their business, particularly with creative tools for designers. Observers have speculated that Apple is concerned that Flash Player will offer less that optimal performance on its device.

Adobe submitted seven applications to the App Store that were built with a pre-release of Flash Professional, and all were accepted, Ludwig said. “They all got approved without modifications.”

Having a plug-in API to Apple’s Safari browser isn’t the only thing Adobe needs to offer a Flash Player for the iPhone, he said. Apple also restricts programs that execute code at runtime, he said, and Adobe needs help optimizing Flash Player for Apple’s hardware, as device makers such as Nokia have provided.

In fact Adobe has worked hard to get its software running well on other devices. It announced Monday that it will release beta versions of Flash Player for Windows Mobile and Palm webOS before the end of the year, and for Google Android and Symbian next year.

“One of the biggest challenges was smartphone memory,” Lynch said during his keynote speech Monday, when he demonstrated a pre-release of Flash Player 10.1 running on several smartphones.

Adobe did some work in Flash Player 10.1 to reduce the amount of memory required for applications. Adobe’s Flex photo album will require 25MB of RAM, down from 69MB with the prior version of the player, while a typical Yahoo ad will require 4MB, down from 13MB, according to a slide he showed.

“As you build your content, keep an eye on how big your RAM is, it will make it easier for us to do our job,” Lynch told developers.

The demonstrations didn’t always go smoothly, either because of the wireless network in the Nokia Theater or because the software still needs work. When Lynch tried to show some roll-over content pop up on a device, it didn’t work, and the screen froze while he showed Google Finance running on another device.

But he was able to show how Flash Player 10.1 should provide a similar experience on phones as on the desktop, including running HD video, using touch-screen controls to switch to full-screen mode, and using the accelerometer to switch a video to landscape mode when a phone is turned sideways.

One of the big benefits for users of Flash Player on phones will be the ability to run video sites such as Hulu. Flash Player 10.1 will be able to run 3.5 hours of video on a typical smartphone battery, or 6.5 hours of animation, Lynch said. “Now you can watch a full feature film on a smartphone,” he said.

via Adobe Developed IPhone Tool Without Apple’s Help – Business Center – PC World.

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]]> http://www.shakeeltariq.com/2009/10/12/adobe-developed-iphone-tool-without-apples-help/feed/ 0 Google AdSense leaks Apple’s refreshed iMac, Mac mini, Macbook? http://www.shakeeltariq.com/2009/10/05/google-adsense-leaks-apples-refreshed-imac-mac-mini-macbook/ http://www.shakeeltariq.com/2009/10/05/google-adsense-leaks-apples-refreshed-imac-mac-mini-macbook/#comments Mon, 05 Oct 2009 01:20:00 +0000 Shakeel Tariq Google AdSense leaks Apple’s refreshed iMac, Mac mini, Macbook?
This one is for all you online tea leaf readers and Apple SKU / crystal ball aficionados: Further confirming our suspicion that something more affordable may be on the horizon, Google AdSense this weekend started serving users in the Netherlands with ads for new iMacs, MacBooks, and Mac minis. Pointing to a dead link at the country’s Apple Store, the ads read (via Google Translate): “Apple’s Newest MacBook. Thinner, lighter and faster! Free delivery. Order today,” “The Brand new iMac. Ultra Thin 20 & 24 inch models. From only €1099 (roughly $1,063). Apple Store,” and “Apple’s New Mac mini. Faster and more affordable than ever. From only € 499 ($723). Order immediately.” (For a little perspective, that’s €100 ($145) less than the cheapest Mac mini currently on the Netherlands online store.) Granted, whenever peeping purported translations from foreign tipsters we’re always half-afraid that we’re actually reading Celine Dion lyrics or dialogue from Caddyshack, but this one seems to be the real deal — for whatever that’s worth.

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]]> http://www.shakeeltariq.com/2009/10/05/google-adsense-leaks-apples-refreshed-imac-mac-mini-macbook/feed/ 0 Apple patent fuels tablet rumours http://www.shakeeltariq.com/2009/10/04/apple-patent-fuels-tablet-rumours/ http://www.shakeeltariq.com/2009/10/04/apple-patent-fuels-tablet-rumours/#comments Sun, 04 Oct 2009 11:29:00 +0000 Shakeel Tariq http://www.shakeeltariq.com/2009/10/04/apple-patent-fuels-tablet-rumours/ Apple patent fuels tablet rumours – Telegraph
Apple has submitted a patent for a highly sophisticated multi-touch interface that would allow users to control a device by the way they move their fingers and hands.

Drawings submitted with the document – which show two hands hovering over a flexible, screenlike device – have fuelled rumours that Apple could be working on a touch-screen tablet similar to a large-scale version of the iPod touch.

The patent was filed in June by Wayne Waterman from Fingerworks, an Apple-owned company that played a role in the development of the iPhone. The document claims the patented interface will offer “unprecedented integration of typing, resting, pointing, scrolling, 3D manipulation and handwriting into a versatile, ergonomic computer input device”.

Apple says that the multi-touch interface will not only be able to interpret gestures made by the whole hand or individual fingers, but also discern what the user might want to do, understanding whether the user intends to type, write or draw, and launching the appropriate programs, menus or interfaces as needed.

The Unofficial Apple Weblog, a website dedicated to Apple rumours, said that the patent could result in a device akin to “the iPhone’s keyboard… combined with a Wacom tablet”.

“Naturally this patent application has people buzzing about the long-rumoured tablet, but properly realised this device could easily be applied to any Mac as a one-stop replacement for the keyboard, mouse, and any other number of input devices,” writes the site’s Chris Rawson.

However, experts were keen to caution that just because Apple has filed this patent does not necessarily mean the company is working on a tablet computer, nor that the technology described within the patent will become commercially available in the next few months.

Apple regularly files patents that do not form part of its key product line-up, such as one application in 2007 that showed the iPod navigational click-wheel built in to a Mac computer keyboard.

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]]> http://www.shakeeltariq.com/2009/10/04/apple-patent-fuels-tablet-rumours/feed/ 0 Rumor: Apple to Ship Multitouch Mice With New iMacs Soon http://www.shakeeltariq.com/2009/10/03/rumor-apple-to-ship-multitouch-mice-with-new-imacs-soon/ http://www.shakeeltariq.com/2009/10/03/rumor-apple-to-ship-multitouch-mice-with-new-imacs-soon/#comments Sat, 03 Oct 2009 06:38:00 +0000 Shakeel Tariq http://www.shakeeltariq.com/2009/10/03/rumor-apple-to-ship-multitouch-mice-with-new-imacs-soon/ Rumor: Apple to Ship Multitouch Mice With New iMacs Soon | Gadget Lab | Wired.com
Apple may soon introduce a mouse featuring multitouch technology, like that seen in its iPhones, iPods and MacBook trackpads.

Sporting a touch-sensitive housing, the new mouse will do away with the roller ball on the current Mighty Mouse (pictured above), sources told AppleInsider. The rumored multitouch mouse might apply the inertia feedback seen in iPods and iPhones, whereas scrolling speed accelerates or decelerates in response to how the user touches the surface.

Presumably an Apple multitouch mouse would function similarly to the unibody MacBook trackpads, which detect multitouch gestures. On new MacBooks, tapping the trackpad with two fingers triggers a right-click function, for example; this rumored multitouch mouse might copy this behavior. Also, for a mouse, we would expect a multitouch gesture to replace scrolling in different directions, and perhaps there will be special gestures that trigger Exposé commands as well.

Apple’s new mouse may be released with new iMacs, AppleInsider’s sources said. The popular iMac desktops were last refreshed in March, and Apple typically upgrades them every seven months. That would suggest new iMacs — perhaps packaged with multitouch mice — will hit stores very soon.

]]> http://www.shakeeltariq.com/2009/10/03/rumor-apple-to-ship-multitouch-mice-with-new-imacs-soon/feed/ 0 Fifth-generation iPod nano http://www.shakeeltariq.com/2009/09/15/fifth-generation-ipod-nano/ http://www.shakeeltariq.com/2009/09/15/fifth-generation-ipod-nano/#comments Tue, 15 Sep 2009 08:23:00 +0000 Shakeel Tariq http://www.shakeeltariq.com/2009/09/15/fifth-generation-ipod-nano/ Fifth-generation iPod nano | Hardware – InfoWorld
Apple’s smallest screen-bearing iPod, the iPod nano, has evolved in impressive fashion. A highly capable and affordable performer in its previous two iterations, the fifth-generation (5G) iPod nano adds the kind of useful and entertaining features that will compel someone on your holiday list to sidle up and wheedle, “You know what I’d really like this year?”

Those features include a video camera and microphone mounted on the back of the iPod, an FM radio with buffering and iTunes Tagging capabilities, a larger screen, a built-in speaker, expanded accessibility support, and a pedometer for keeping track of your footsteps.

]]> http://www.shakeeltariq.com/2009/09/15/fifth-generation-ipod-nano/feed/ 1 Windows Mobile 6.5 Won’t Fix Microsoft’s Mobile Woes – Business Center – PC World http://www.shakeeltariq.com/2009/09/02/windows-mobile-6-5-wont-fix-microsofts-mobile-woes-business-center-pc-world/ http://www.shakeeltariq.com/2009/09/02/windows-mobile-6-5-wont-fix-microsofts-mobile-woes-business-center-pc-world/#comments Wed, 02 Sep 2009 01:19:07 +0000 Shakeel Tariq http://www.shakeeltariq.com/?p=135 Microsoft has announced that the next incarnation of Windows Mobile, version 6.5, will hit the streets on October 6. Obviously, Microsoft would like it to be a huge success and reclaim some of the lost smart phone market share, but the real prize lies in Microsoft embracing other mobile operating system platforms.

Microsoft has lost market share over the past year, much of that to Apple’s iPhone. It also faces stiff competition from RIM Blackberry, Symbian, and Google Android. It’s a tough market and Windows Mobile currently holds only about 10 percent of it.

Some have predicted that the new Windows Mobile will be essentially DOA (dead on arrival) due to a combination of waning interest in the Windows Mobile platform and the fact that an even bigger release, Windows Mobile 7, is expected less than six months later. I think it is premature to expect Microsoft to concede the mobile operating system war, but I also think that winning it should not be Microsoft’s ultimate goal.

via Windows Mobile 6.5 Won’t Fix Microsoft’s Mobile Woes – Business Center – PC World.

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