Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Apple Innovates and Designs - What a Show!

WOW! Just got though watching the Live presentation by Tim Cook and supporting cast. I can sum it up in one word; IMPRESSIVE! Maybe I should say that four times.

The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus were only the beginning. I was much impressed with size and weight as well as memory - 128 GB - I could put my music on my phone. Sleek looking, would look nice in my hand. I am still attached to my Samsung Galaxy S3 however come November, when the contract is up, I will have to look a the iPhone 6 Plus vs. the Samsung Galaxy Note 4.

As for Apple Pay; it will give sleepless nights to Square, Pay Pal, and others. I suspect that Visa, MasterCard, Amex, won't mind. Of all the solutions for paying with your phone, this appears to be way ahead of anyone else. I did like Eddie Cue's explanation of the security and that is both important and would appear to be handled. I think that as soon as Apple Pay is lose on the public there will be 29,900 people trying to hack the security of which 29,000 will belong to Microsoft and/or Google. :)

I cannot wait for iOS 8. I do have an iPad 3rd Gen and iOS 8 is compatible with it. I know I won't have the latest chip but I get the upgrade for free and that is a good thing.

Now the Apple Watch - WOW! The design just put the others in the also ran class. What a product and the added features (as well as updates coming) make this an incredible buy. Johnnie Ive is a goldmine. I think if it were ready for Christmas they would have 1) sold out, and 2) cleaned up. Maybe that is why we have to wait until 2015 to get one. Meeting demand this late in the season could have been bad.

The final with U2 and the FREE album was a great closer. Before they were through I was trying to download. I did get an "Unavailable in the United States at this time" message however on the second click here it comes. I now have the 12 songs and happy.

I have to admit the presentation was fun even if their iTV delivery messed up at the beginning. Even if it took over 30 minutes to get it right it finally came though and was fun to watch. If there is one thing about an Apple event it is that the audience is with Tim Cook and anyone else who presents. I really enjoy the excitement that is created and it is aimed at the people.

Thanks Apple, Tim Cook, and all the people at Apple for some great devices and great competition.

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Government, Broadband Providers, and Double Talk

In yesterday’s Computerworld the following article: FCC told to leave state laws against municipal broadband intact.

All I want to do is provide one quote and a comment. The quote:

The FCC, considering whether to preempt laws in 20 states that restrict municipal broadband projects, should instead give private broadband providers incentives to better service communities, several representatives of broadband providers wrote in comments to the agency.

The comment:

The essence of competition is to work to be the best. Private broadband providers want incentives to provide better service, what better incentive than competition? Unfortunately the private broadband providers are; 1) not smart enough to figure out how to be better, 2) their interest does not lie with the customer and providing better service.

I wonder what the incentives are that they want? Keep out competition? The system work needs competition. That’s the American way, or at least it was. Why would anyone give incentives to organizations with the lowest approval ratings?