Thoughts & Experiences from the Mile High City
This author, Gordon Kelly, is supposedly a tech reporter at Forbes but his stories are click bait and may not even be true.
Here is one today about iOS release 12.1.1 Apple’s new iOS 12.1.1 release has some great new features but it introduces a serious new problem…
Forbes used to be a quality publication but if it keeps publishing stories like this is it any value to anyone?
My wife and I made the jump this weekend to iPads as our primary computers. We have an iMac at home and that will serve as our main computer, but most of our work will be done on the iPads.
I have an older MacBook Pro, but that will now be relegated to working with my wife’s craft paper cutter. It is an older one and was starting to bog down some, though Yosemite did improve the speed.
The reasoning is that all the things I needed from a computer I could do with an iPad. The same with my wife. We didn’t need the extra $500 to $1000 on a laptop. The iMac will be the hub and with cloud apps and iCloud it will be an extension of the iPads.
Looking forward to the next chapter and will see how it works out.
I upgraded to iOS 6 today and it is a nice incremental step. There are definitely things that are better but it is an incremental step.
Things that I like are the do not disturb option, reminders app, passbook, and the maps.
I’ll play with this version for awhile before I upgrade to the new iPhone next month when my contract expires.
What do you think?
Editor’s note: After I posted this today, I just found out that Apple had just released version 1.0.1 of the Podcast app that is supposed to address many of the problems that I am having. I’ll be testing it out soon and see how it does.
After WWDC in June I downloaded the new iOS app for podcasts on my iPhone. But after just over a month I have deleted it and will be waiting for an update when iOS 6.
After managing the various podcasts I listen to in iTunes I thought the Podcast app would help save me time and effort in getting new episodes on my iPhone, but that wasn’t the case.
It started out great. When I first installed the app the Podcast app imported my podcasts from iTunes and it was already to go. I made some adjustments to how many I wanted to keep and it was ready to go.
I would open it in the morning before leaving for work and it would download the newest podcasts and I would be set for the day.
But that didn’t last long.
For Christmas this year our family got an iPad. All I can say is that it’s a perfect addition to what we do around the house.
We are working through the newness of it and the addiction of playing games. But once you finish angry birds what do you do? 😉
I think this can be a great productivity tool and help our family move to less paper around our house. I look forward to playing around with it. I’m sure that my wife is also.
Many people are beginning to get upset at Apple for having a closed system with iTunes and their iPod line.
I’m not.
Now don’t get mad at me and accuse me of drinking the juice, I have some good reasons why.
First of all, they are doing what any business would like to do, dominate their market. In the music player business, there were once many different players, but they all failed to capture or keep the attention of consumers.
People think they should open iTunes to competitive devices of the iPod. Apple should make this decision on their own.
A company should develop a develop a device and product that starts gaining consumers attention and dollars. When this happens Apple while make the changes and open up.
Right now there is not anyone who is doing that. There is no product that is challenging iTunes and the iPod. We’ll have to see how the Zune does this fall, but we usually see new iPods at that time.
It is an open market, let it decide how Apple moves forward.
My first question is why, why would Microsoft opt to open a retail store?
Microsoft is in plenty stores and online, plus they don’t make or sell hardware. Oh wait, I forgot they make the Zune.
There is no way that they are going to be able to compete against Apple in a retail format.
Microsoft is going through an identity crisis. Are they a software vendor? Are they a hardware vendor? Are they a services vendor?
Which one is it?
Until they decide what they are, they will not succeed. They have become too big and their software too bloated. A retail store will not help them sell or convince people to purchase software.
The only way people will purchase their software is if it is on the computer they buy at the store. Otherwise it is just too complicated for the masses out there to deal with.
Just received an email from Apple and if you had a Mobile Me account by August 19, you will receive a 60-day extension.
We are working very hard to make MobileMe a great service we can all be proud of. We know that MobileMe’s launch has not been our finest hour, and we truly appreciate your patience as we turn this around.
I think this is a good development. Mobile Me has not had a really good launch and there have been a lot of problems. I think this extension is a good gesture to those of us who subscribe to Mobile Me.
I just wish my work didn’t block access to it so I could get my email during the day. I guess I will have to get an iPhone.
Talking Business – Apple’s Culture of Secrecy – NYTimes.com
This is a deceiving headline from the New York Times. The story is more on the health of Steve Jobs and when should a company disclose information about the health of their CEO.
It is quite a dilema. When should a company disclose that there CEO is sick?
A public company has the duty to disclose things that could provide information to its shareholers so they can make the right decision about their investment.
The article quotes a spokesman for the Securities and Exchange Commission who said that the law defined materiality as information that “the reasonable investor needs to know in order to make an informed decision about his investment.”
The issue of Jobs health came up in Apple’s Third Quarter Conference Call and an analyst asked the question. But Apple just kinda blew it off saying it was a private matter.
Other companies have dealt with the issue, each in different ways. Intel’s CEO was stricken with cancer. He informed the board and management, but not the shareholders. A McDonald’s CEO found out he had cancer and it was announced pretty quick.
Luckily for Intel’s CEO he survived, but the McDonald’s CEO resigned shortly thereafter and passed quickly after that.
To me, if Steve Jobs was sick and it would effect how he would do his job, then it would need to be disclosed. But Apple blowing it off and saying nothing but that it is a private matter does no exude confidence in the shareholders of Apple.
The secrecy veil that Apple has cast over its company creates more problems than they should be having, but it adds to the mystique and allure of Apple. It is the culture of Apple that everyone loves.
I just wish they and other companies would be more open about the health of their CEO’s so investors and shareholders would have more information to make the right investment decisions.
Someone just told me that you need to research and like the direction of the product, management, and marketing of a company. If you don’t, then don’t invest in it.
Right now, there are questions about management, especially Steve Jobs. Without Jobs, is there an Apple? I would be interested in your thoughts.
Mile High Soapbox 