Smalltalk with James Robertson

Spotted in Engadget:

In all the Microkia hub-bub of late, as the best of Redmond and the pride of Tampere hold hands and blaze a trail to smartphone domination, the word " Zune" never once came up. This didn't escape the notice of many, including MS guru Paul Thurrott and ZDNet's Mary-Jo Foley, who inquired to someone at Microsoft about just what's going on -- whether indeed the brand is indeed being killed off. This is the non-denial that came back:

We're not 'killing' any of the Zune services/features in any way. Microsoft remains committed to providing a great music and video experience from Zune on platforms such as Xbox LIVE, Windows-based PCs, Zune devices and Windows Phone 7, as well as integration with Bing and MSN.

Makes sense to me. If they want to push Windows Phone 7, for instance, they need to have music (etc) be integrated with that. Right now, they have a confusing set of products that needs to be rationalized around the successful XBox, IMHO

Technorati Tags: zune, xbox, windows phone

Spotted in Engadget:

Flash 10.2 will be coming to both tablets and smartphones "in the next few weeks." Come again? You see, Adobe Flash 10.2 uses fewer CPU cycles to play back web video, likely providing better battery life in Android devices (and BlackBerry tablets), but Adobe told us it can't support the function in earlier versions of the Android OS -- Google had to specifically add new capabilities in Honeycomb to let Flash 10.2 take full advantage of hardware.

Sounds to me like Apple's criticisms hit Adobe where they live, and inspired them to improve things. When the next rev of Android and Flash arrive together, it might make Apple have to think.

Technorati Tags: flash, video

If they add this to the iPhone, I'll be tempted to give up my grandfathered unlimited plan:

When bundled with AT&T's 2GB Data Pro Plan ($25/month), the mobile hotspot app costs $20 per month and adds 2GB of extra data service. However, the 4GB allotment applies to all devices connected through the hotspot, and an overage charge of $10 per gigabyte applies if the user goes over 4GB.

Technorati Tags: att, mobile, hotspots

Verizon is going to offer the unlimited $30/month data plan for the iPhone (apparently with the mobile hotspot). That's a ton better than the data plans ATT has now, but: it's a limited time offer. There's a possible reason to switch over now if your contract is in the right place, I guess.

Technorati Tags: iPhone

I have to say, I'm surprised - I didn't think the iPhone would come to Verizon until LTE was rolled out - but the WSJ says that a CDMA based device is coming:

The iPhone is finally coming to Verizon Wireless. The largest U.S. wireless carrier will make the long-awaited announcement at an event Tuesday in New York City, a person familiar with the matter said Friday.

Personally, I'd rather stay with the GSM based phone; if I go overseas again, it will actually work. But that won't matter to a lot of people.

Here's what I'll be looking for: will the iPhone on Verizon sport a Verizon logo, or will it be like the one I have - and just have the Apple moniker? Mind you, I won't be surprised if there is no iPhone on Verizon announcement after all :)

Update: Engadget has a piece on this, and makes some good points about how this may not be the ideal time to buy a Verizon iPhone - you may well want to wait for summer. Follow the link, and read all the way to the end.

Technorati Tags: apple, verizon, iPhone

Apparently, the launch of the iPhone back in 2007 caught RIM (and Microsoft) utterly by surprise:

The iPhone "couldn't do what [Apple was] demonstrating without an insanely power hungry processor, it must have terrible battery life," Shacknews poster Kentor heard from his former colleagues of the time. "Imagine their surprise [at RIM] when they disassembled an iPhone for the first time and found that the phone was battery with a tiny logic board strapped to it." Friends who were Microsoft employees at the time were also said to have had a similar reaction.

It's amazing to me that Apple managed to launch with so many of their competitors stunned.

Technorati Tags: mobile, iPhone, apple

I have to say, I'm not impressed with the new Airprint feature. My wife was looking forward to being able to print from her iPad - we have a 2 year old WiFi enabled printer (HP), so we thought it looked positive. Well... not so much. Get a load out of the tiny list of printers that are supported:

There's a PrinterShare app for the iPad and iPhone that works with the Wifi enabled printer - you would think that Apple would have figured that out as well. Nope - looks like the only people who can use Airprint are the ones who just bought a printer, and happened to buy the right one.

Technorati Tags: ios, airprint, apple, iPad, iPhone

This pretty much maps my usage of cameras as well - I have a nice (not great, but nice) Samsung, and an iPhone. MG Siegler has a much nicer Canon, but writes the following:

I anticipate I’ll take about 5 percent of my pictures with it in the coming year. The other 95 percent will be taken with my iPhone. How do I know? Because I had the S90 last year and that was my exact usage pattern.

That's what I've noticed as well - I take the vast majority of my photos with the iPhone. Why?

Smartphones are always connected. Point & shoots never are. When I take a cool picture, I often want to share it right away. With my smartphone, it takes 20 seconds. With my point & shoot, it’s impossible. I have to wait until I get home, upload it to my computer, then upload it to the web.

That's pretty much it right there. With my phone, the photos can be shared immediately; with my regular camera, there's a delay (and truth be told, I might not even get around to it). Professionals and serious hobbyists will keep buying nice cameras, of course, but that entire space is going to drop into niche status, as most of us just use our smartphones. Ironically, that probably means that prices on nice digital cameras will go up, because the buying audience will shrink - unless they start doing 3g deals with wireless vendors. Even that might not work though - why would I want to carry two devices when I can get by with one?

Technorati Tags: camera, smartphone

Apple has announced IOS 4.2 for the iPhone, Touch, and iPad. A visit to apple.com tells me to hook my iPad up to iTunes and enjoy the update - however, here's what I got when I attached my iPad to iTunes:

So I think someone at Apple forgot to flip a switch...

Technorati Tags: ios, apple, iPad, iPhone