Google Maps now on iOS

Number one in the App Store, Google Maps has finally come to iOS. Although just for the iPhone and iPod touch for the moment. Hopefully that changes soon and it will also come to the iPad. The app offers some nice changes from when it was integrated into the OS, but there are also some things missing. I found it harder to find the location of people in my Contacts than I could previously. So there are some disappointments, but after the horror that is Apple Maps, Google Maps is a welcomed addition to the App Store.

Youtube iOS app updated for iPad and 4-inch screens

Google has finally updated their YouTube app to take advantage of the 4-inch screen found in the fifth generation iPod touch and sixth generation iPhone. As well as giving native support for the iPad. I still prefer Jasmine, but it's nice to have the option of using an official app on my iPad.

Apple released iPhone unlocked, but blocked!

The first iPhone that Apple sold for a carrier other than AT&T was the iPhone 4. You could use it on Verizon but only if you bought that version of the iPhone. Starting with the iPhone 4S, things changed. Rather than having two versions of the phone, there was one that worked on both networks. A single iPhone that had antennas for both GSM and CDMA, toted as a "World Phone" by Apple. But if you wanted the best of both worlds, you had to buy from Verizon or Sprint, as the AT&T "version" didn't work with CDMA (according to Apple's website). Well it seems the same is true if you buy an unlocked iPhone.

Apple has recently released an unlocked iPhone 5 on their website for U.S. residents, and retail for Canada. Start at $649 for 16GB, and going up to 64GB at $849. However, these "world phones" as Apple calls them are blocked from CDMA networks. I'm not sure if Apple ripped out the CDMA antenna or what, but if I bought an iPhone unlocked I should have the right to go to Verizon or Sprint and get it activated. However Apple says I can't.

The reason I have yet to buy an iPhone (or any smartphone for that matter) is because I'm always in an area that has Wi-Fi, so it seems stupid to me to buy a data plan. However if you get some subsidized with any of the major carriers, they require you get a data plan. As is their right, since they are paying for the majoring of the iPhone bill. However with an unlocked iPhone, one I paid full price for, I was hopping I could get away with not paying for date. But since the unlocked iPhone is actually "locked" to AT&T, that won't happen any time soon. I despise AT&T for reasons I mentioned before.

iTunes 11 finally released

First promised by the end of October, then pushed back to the end of November, iTunes 11 has finally been released. This is the first major cosmetic change since iTunes was first released in 2001 as a simple jukebox app. Back then iTunes was simple; there was no iPod or iTunes Music Store. You just ripped your music from CD to your computer and played it in iTunes.

Apple seems to have simplified things again, making it easier to find your stuff. Now instead of scrolling through a huge list of apps to find just the iPad or just the iPhone apps, you can simply just click on a button at the top.

Another change is the icon itself, it looks more metallic now.

An odd new addition is a "Home Videos" seconds in the Movies area.

One thing I dislike though is that Apple removed the Cover Flow feature. It's one of the features I loved most about iTunes. To scroll my music or movies via the cover art, I found that much more enjoyable that other ways of selecting what I wanted. I disliked cover flow in other apps, such as Finder, but I loved it in iTunes. And it will surely be missed.

Verizon finally allows TV streaming on an iPad, but it's limited

Verizon has finally started to keep up with other cable providers as far as features. Nearly every other provider allows their shows to stream to the iPad, and Verizon was one of the last hold outs. Today an update to the FiOS Mobile app allows the ability to watch TV on your iPad, however you're limited to what channels you can watch. Screen shots of all the channels are below:

Facebook and Twitter get updates at the same time on iOS

For those annoyed that you couldn't share any stories on the Facebook iOS app, now you can. Facebook and Twitter have both been updated today to add new features. You can see a list of the updated features in the screenshot below

Blogger app updated to support iPad

In the update description for the iOS Blogger app it lists support for the iPad as well as landscape mode for the iPhone. However it doesn't yet support the 4" display of the iPhone 5 Nd iPod touch 5th generation. Black bars are still present.

Mozilla says screw the troops and celebrate Firefox instead!

Whilst most companies are giving their thanks to U.S. Vets today, Mozilla picks Veteran's Day to announce their Firefox Friendship Day. There have been several comments saying how horrible it is of Mozilla to do this, yet they haven't removed the post nor have they put up anything to acknowledge that today (Sunday, Nov. 11) is Veteran's Day. The entire day have gone by, and the only announcement from Mozilla is about their Friendship Day.

Way to take the spotlight away from Vets there Mozilla. Several comments from people angry at you, and you still don't acknowledge your poor choice to declare today a friendship day. Though "event days" is a popular trend on Facebook, you chose the wrong day to do this. There are around 300 non-holiday days you could have chosen, and you chose Veteran's Day? Shameful!

Siri, you suck!

Between Maps and Siri, Apple is totally letting Google win. Here's are some comparisons between Siri and voice search in the Google app.

Voice Control vs. Siri, the downside of the new iPod touch

Since it's introduction in 2007, the iPod touch has been the best iPod around. Not only could you listen to your music and watch videos, but for the first time you could go online and check your email on an iPod. One of the best thing for gym goers came with the 3rd generation iPod touch, Voice Control. Using the supplied earbuds with microphone, you could bring up Voice Control by holding the button on the remote and speak who you wanted to listen to. Example: "Play Billy Joel" and your iPod would start playing without ever having to look at your device or take it out of your pocket. This allowed you to easily change songs whilst on a treadmill or exercise bike. You didn't even need the Internet to do so.

With the 5th generation iPod touch came Siri. Overall Siri is a great tool for quick searches and opening apps with your voice; however there is one problem, and it effects gym goers most of all. Siri requires Internet, even to play songs. All voice commands go directly to the Apple servers, get interpreted, and travel back to your device to execute said command. Since most gyms don't offer Wi-Fi, this renders touch-less music control useless on the iPod touch. If you have an older model, don't throw it away when you update to the 5th generation. That older model will be perfect for when you want to go to the gym.

Photo Stream vs. the original

As you can see, the Photo Stream version loses a little of the resolution. However, it's still pretty good quality. This is just a quick post because the comparison photo can pretty much speak for itself.

Apple complies to U.K. order, fixes what they didn't like.

On October 26th, I wrote that Apple complied to a U.K. court order with their own twist and it seems that it wasn't good enough for the U.K. judge that issued the order.

According to The Guardian Apple must now publish a correction within 48 hours on their website. It seems U.K. wasn't pleased that Apple mentioned court rulings from Germany and the U.S. in their original letter. The part that seems to anger the U.K. judge the most is reposted below:

However, in a case tried in Germany regarding the same patent, the court found that Samsung engaged in unfair competition by copying the iPad design. A U.S. jury also found Samsung guilty of infringing on Apple's design and utility patents, awarding over one billion U.S. dollars in damages to Apple Inc. So while the U.K. court did not find Samsung guilty of infringement, other courts have recognized that in the course of creating its Galaxy tablet, Samsung willfully copied Apple's far more popular iPad.

The reason Twelve South doesn't produce iPod touch cases

I recently reached out to Twelve South to ask why they don't make cases for the iPod touch. Here is the reply:

Hi, and thank you for your interest in BookBook!

I believe the reason for the lack of a BookBook for the iPod Touch is simply a matter of not yet wanting to throw our hat into that already over-saturated iPod-case ring. We're a tiny company (12 employees only) and quite new (three years), so we're trying hard not "bite off more than we can chew". We've currently got our hands full with BookBook for iPad, BookBook for iPhone, and BookBook for the two MacBooks (Pro and Air), along with all of the other MacBook, iPad, and iMac products.

I wouldn't ever want to say 'never', but I CAN say not imminently.

I'm so sorry… :-(

If you have any further questions, please let me know.

Regards,
Bridget

Twelve South Support

That would be a reasonable answer if not for a few facts:

1) The iPhone case market is just as saturated (if not more) than the iPod touch case market.

2) Twelve South spends resources on unneeded products all the time (such as the MacBook vertical stand or the new HiRise stand. Both useless products which few will buy.

It makes no sense for Twelve South to waste resources on products that don't sell well, when there is a huge market for other products they choose not to make.

Apple complies to U.K. order, and gives a giant middle finger in the process

Apple has complied to a order from the High Court of England to put a notice on their U.K. website that Samsung didn't copy from them. Well they did just that, and you can either go to their website to read it, or just look below:

On 9th July 2012 the High Court of Justice of England and Wales ruled that Samsung Electronic (UK) Limited’s Galaxy Tablet Computer, namely the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Tab 8.9 and Tab 7.7 do not infringe Apple’s registered design No. 0000181607-0001. A copy of the full judgment of the High court is available on the following link www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Patents/2012/1882.html.

In the ruling, the judge made several important points comparing the designs of the Apple and Samsung products:

"The extreme simplicity of the Apple design is striking. Overall it has undecorated flat surfaces with a plate of glass on the front all the way out to a very thin rim and a blank back. There is a crisp edge around the rim and a combination of curves, both at the corners and the sides. The design looks like an object the informed user would want to pick up and hold. It is an understated, smooth and simple product. It is a cool design."

"The informed user's overall impression of each of the Samsung Galaxy Tablets is the following. From the front they belong to the family which includes the Apple design; but the Samsung products are very thin, almost insubstantial members of that family with unusual details on the back. They do not have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design. They are not as cool."

That Judgment has effect throughout the European Union and was upheld by the Court of Appeal on 18 October 2012. A copy of the Court of Appeal’s judgment is available on the following link www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2012/1339.html. There is no injunction in respect of the registered design in force anywhere in Europe.

However, in a case tried in Germany regarding the same patent, the court found that Samsung engaged in unfair competition by copying the iPad design. A U.S. jury also found Samsung guilty of infringing on Apple's design and utility patents, awarding over one billion U.S. dollars in damages to Apple Inc. So while the U.K. court did not find Samsung guilty of infringement, other courts have recognized that in the course of creating its Galaxy tablet, Samsung willfully copied Apple's far more popular iPad.

Why Some App Developers Fail

Some app developers, such as Freeverse, Inc. and others, just don't care about the user experience. They'll release an app and never update it. Sometimes even set the initial release of an app high, and then lower it when sales are slow, without ever actually updating it to peak peoples interest. And then they complain that other apps are overshadowing theirs; well there is a reason for that. Your apps suck, and you need to face facts. If you want to survive in the app world, you need to keep your apps updated with new reasons for people to buy them.

Take Apple for example, all their apps get an update every 6-12 months. They don't just release an app four years ago and never update it like some other developers do.

All apps have been updated either last month (September) or this month (October). Why don't more developers update like this?

iBooks glitch, workaround

Since version 2.2 of iBooks there has been a glitch on the iPad, and it continues in version 3.0 that was just released last night. However I came up with a fix this morning. I discovered it whilst playing around with the settings to try to fix the glitch that Apple seems to have ignored. I left a review as well as emailed their customer support back when it was in version 2.2, and still no official fix.

As you can see, the ability to Copy the text, Define a word, Highlight, make a Note, Search within the book, or Share the passage are all missing. All that is left is text-to-speech. However there is a simple fix to bring those things back (except for the speech part).

By simply turning off "Speak Selection" and then fully closing out iBooks (via the multitask bar, double tap the "home" button), you'll notice a big improvement. Now reopen iBooks and notice the change.

You can't listen to your books anymore, but at least you can highlight and take notes again! And if you ever miss the speech, just turn it back on (but lose everything else).

I hope you found this tip useful, and good luck in your future reading endeavors

3rd gen iPad dead after less than a year on the market

Phil Schindler announced only a few minutes ago that the new iPad 4th generation will be available for pre-order on October 26th and ship November 2nd. Thereby killing off the iPad 3rd generation (The iPad 2 will still be offered as a budget device, as well as a new iPad mini).

Wow thanks Apple, you killed off a product that was less than a year old!

The prices are as follows:
iPad mini
Wi-Fi
16GB $329
32GB $429
64GB $529

Wi-Fi + Cellular
16GB $459
32GB $559
64GB $659


iPad 2 (2nd generation)
Wi-Fi
16GB $399

Wi-Fi + Cellular
16GB $529


iPad with Retina display (4th generation)
Wi-Fi
16GB $499
32GB $599
64GB $699

Wi-Fi + Cellular
16GB $629
32GB $729
64GB $829

The iPad mini is essentially an iPad 2 in a smaller form factor, but with a better camera. The iPad 2 camera is a 0.7MP on the back and a 0.2MP on the front. The iPad mini will sport a 5MP camera on the back and 1.2MP on the front.

Apple released Events app for Apple TV

Today Apple has pushed a new app to the 2nd and 3rd Apple TV. Called "Apple Events" the new app allows you to view previous events as well as stream todays event live. Todays event starts at 10am pacific, 1pm eastern.

You can also view the event today live via your Safari browser on an iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, or your Mac.

antonline Will Ruin Your Packages

Is this how you expect your packages to arrive?

I didn't either, but that's what came recently when I ordered from "antonline" via Amazon.com

I've had the unfortunate luck of running into the company "antonline" recently when I bought a new toaster for my grandmother on Amazon recently. I figured the seller was professional, but there is nothing professional about the way the toaster was delivered. No protection at all, no outer box with padding to protect the contents from being banged around (and by the looks of the box, it received a lot of bangs). There are dents all around, a big chunk of one of the corners is bashed in.

On top of that, the shipping was delayed because "antonline" decided to have the United Parcel Service (UPS) hand the package off to the United States Postal Service (USPS). That's like an Olympic runner stopping before crossing the finish line and asking someone else to finish the race for him/her. UPS was a mere 40 minutes from my house when they handed it off to USPS, which then took an extra day to deliver it. When you're talking about a 90 year old grandmother who hasn't had toast for several days, you can understand what one extra day means.

The point is not about the delivery method though, it's about the way it was delivered. I've never experienced anything like this before, this is not how you should ship a package. There is a reason "retail box" and "shipping box" aren't used interchangeably, and that's because they aren't the same. One has pretty pictures on it to entice customers to buy the item, the other is designed to provide protection in a long trip on a truck. The shipper "antonline" provided no protection at all, and as a result the package is ruined.

If we take away anything from this article, it's avoid antonline.

Surface commercial all about the click

Microsoft has launched their commercial ahead of public release for the Surface, and the entire commercial is about how the keyboard "clicks" with magnets onto the device itself.

At least it's more entertaining to watch than the other they released earlier in the day.

The Surface goes on sale October 26th.

Continuing to sell the old iPod touch is nothing new

A lot of people seem to be complaining online about the 5th generation iPod touch being sold in only 32GB and 64GB sizes, which makes the starting price $299. But if anyone remembers, Apple did the same thing when they sold the 3rd generation iPod touch. The 2nd generation was still selling in 8GB, and if you wanted a 3rd generation it was 32GB for $299 or 64BG for $399. The SAME prices the 5th generation iPod touch is selling for.

Although back then it led to a little bit of confusion as those that weren't aware thought that their 8GB device was a 3rd generation when it really wasn't. (I had to correct quite a number of people that insisted their 8GB iPod touch was not a 2nd generation product)

This time around, it's not as confusing. 4th generation has a 3.5" screen, 5th generation has a 4" screen.

So now can people stop complaining about pricing? If you think an iPhone 5 is "cheaper" then go for it. But keep in mind that with the data fees, it's actually way more expensive. I still think "iPhone 5" is a stupid name, it's the 6th generation iPhone.

One year anniversary of the death of Steve Jobs

Today marks the one year anniversary of a visionary, Steve Jobs. If you currently go to Apple.com you'll be treated with a memorial video followed by some text from Tim Cook which reads:

A message from Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.

Steve’s passing one year ago today was a sad and difficult time for all of us. I hope that today everyone will reflect on his extraordinary life and the many ways he made the world a better place.

One of the greatest gifts Steve gave to the world is Apple. No company has ever inspired such creativity or set such high standards for itself. Our values originated from Steve and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple. We share the great privilege and responsibility of carrying his legacy into the future.

I’m incredibly proud of the work we are doing, delivering products that our customers love and dreaming up new ones that will delight them down the road. It’s a wonderful tribute to Steve’s memory and everything he stood for.

- Tim

Maps are now a section in the App Store

Realizing how upset people are with Maps in iOS 6 map apps are now highlighted in the App Store in their own section.

This is a good effort on the part of Apple to appease those that are inconvenienced by the Maps app on iOS 6.

Tim Cook apologizes for Maps in iOS 6

Read the open letter by Tim Cook here.

Apple acknowledged the flaws in their Maps app and apologized today. Stating they only wanted to provide a better user experience than they were currently allowed to provide with Google Maps. Also suggesting other map apps you may want to try out whilst Apple works out the kinks with their own Maps app.

To our customers,

At Apple, we strive to make world-class products that deliver the best experience possible to our customers. With the launch of our new Maps last week, we fell short on this commitment. We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better.

We launched Maps initially with the first version of iOS. As time progressed, we wanted to provide our customers with even better Maps including features such as turn-by-turn directions, voice integration, Flyover and vector-based maps. In order to do this, we had to create a new version of Maps from the ground up.

There are already more than 100 million iOS devices using the new Apple Maps, with more and more joining us every day. In just over a week, iOS users with the new Maps have already searched for nearly half a billion locations. The more our customers use our Maps the better it will get and we greatly appreciate all of the feedback we have received from you.

While we’re improving Maps, you can try alternatives by downloading map apps from the App Store like Bing, MapQuest and Waze, or use Google or Nokia maps by going to their websites and creating an icon on your home screen to their web app.

Everything we do at Apple is aimed at making our products the best in the world. We know that you expect that from us, and we will keep working non-stop until Maps lives up to the same incredibly high standard.

Tim Cook
Apple’s CEO

Flipboard as a YouTube viewer

I mentioned Jasmine in a previous post but now I'm going to talk about Flipboard in regards to watching YouTube video.

As good as Jasmine is, there are some drawbacks, namely the inability to comment whilst still watching the video. You have to take your turn and do them separately. Also I noticed some glitchy behavior with regard to rewind, fast forward, and AirPlay streaming. That is why for the time being I prefer to use Flipboard, although I still use Jasmine for when I want to reply to someones comment (as far as I can tell, I can start a new comment, but not reply to an existing comment on Flipboard. If this is wrong, please correct me).

Just go to the "Account" section of Flipboard, from there you can log into YouTube and a plethora of social networks. After you are signed into YouTube you can start viewing videos directly within the Flipboard app itself. As you will see in the images below, all your usual suspects are there. Subscriptions, Favorites, Playlists, Trending, popular, etc.

At the bottom are the Comment, Like, and Share buttons. Unfortunally there is no unlike button like there is on the YouTube website (Jasmine has stars, like the old YouTube had before switching over to the like/dislike system). Also in the Share menu is the Flag Inappropriate option. If you have a Pocket account you can even save the video to watch later from within Share.

And when watching a video in full screen, the controls are exactly the same as they were in the old native YouTube app in iOS 5. Complete with a shrink button (something Jasmine doesn't have) so you can continue to watch whilst as the same time leaving a comment.

Overall, I like both apps for watching YouTube and both offer a little different experience. I prefer watching the videos on Flipboard and for basic commenting, but if I wish to reply to a comment, I still have Jasmine for that. Give both apps a try and use whichever one you prefer.

Early Adopters, you're saying it wrong!

There are five stages of product adoption: Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority, Laggards.

Use Television as an example. In the late 1920s to around the mid 1930s, you could buy a very expensive experimental TV. These would be the "Innovators" as there was no real market for them and people could actually tinker with the sets and improve them. Every brand TV had their own frequency, so no two could watch the same programs. Some had round screens, others had square screens. Some were black and white, others were in color. Yes there were actually color TVs in the 30s! A standard was finally settled on, and the FCC recommended all focus be on black and white TVs. Black and white was cheaper to make and also faster to produce and the government needed a large amount of them soon because the troops were coming back from the war and needed something to entertain them.

The "Early Adopters" would then be all the people that bought those first black and white TVs in the 1940s, making the 1950s and 1960s the "Early Majority" and "Late Majority" with the rest being the "Laggards." That is, until HDTVs were introduced. A technology much different than the TVs people were used to, thus started the cycle all over again with people buying the first HDTV units being the "Early Adopters" (the "Innovators" in this case would be the people that built the technology).

The problem is that people don't seem to know what an "Early Adopter" really is, as they throw the term around to mean buying ANY product within the first month it comes out. I see people on websites call themselves Early Adopters for preordering the iPhone 5. Let me make this clear to you, you are not an early adopter. The iPhone has been around for six years now. With technology moving as fast as it does, and with the widespread adoption of smartphones, the term Late Majority might not even fit, I dare to say you might be a Laggard. (although really a "Laggard" is when when you finally buy something right before it becomes obsolete for the next thing, like buying a VCR when DVD Players hit the market). In either case, you are NOT an Early Adopter.

Just because a product is an upgrade from a preexisting product doesn't mean you're an Early Adopter because you bought one within the first 24 hours. That is not how it works! I was an Early Adopter when I bought a Google TV on the day they were first released, back when Sony was charging around $400 for their Blu-ray Disc Player with integrated Google TV software. It was $100 more than the Logitech Revue, but I figured even if Google TV turned out to be horrible (and it was, still is) at least I'd be able to watch Blu-ray movies. Now fast forward to today when you can pick up a Google TV box for around $99 with better hardware from Sony and Vizio. People that never had one before, that buy one now, you can no longer be considered an Early Adopter. You're an Early Majority since more people I know have them in their homes than before (when I got mine, there was only a small handful of people that owned them). When they became cheaper, more people bought.

So please, before you call yourself an Early Adopter for buying an iPhone, stop and think for a moment if you are really using the term correct.

Facebook and iOS 6

As I'm sure many of you know, in iOS 6 you can integrate Facebook into your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. This gives you the ability to post links, photos, and videos directly to your Facebook profile. As well as the ability to post to your wall from within the notification center.

However the ability to post directly from within other apps is not worth the annoyances the marriage of the two can bring. Namely having "Like" buttons all over the stores (such as the App Store) and having Game Center bug you every time you open it. (If you don't want Facebook inside of Game Center, you have to keep taping "Later" as there is no option for "No")

The best thing in my opinion, is divorce the two by going to Settings and removing your profile details. This removes the "Like" buttons and gets Game Center to stop nagging you. Of course it also means you can't easily post to Facebook from within other apps, but so what? The annoyances far outweighs the benefits.

Jasmine makes a good YouTube viewer

In a previous post I mentioned why I'm no longer going to watch YouTube on my iPad. But something cool happened since then. I discovered a great app called Jasmine that is a replacement to the native YouTube app we all lost when upgrading to iOS 6, but with added features. I recommend this app to anyone looking for a new YouTube app.

The people have spoken, new Twitter app sucks!

After 24 hours of being on the App Store, the 5.0 update to the iPhone and iPad Twitter app has received many complaints. Mostly that Twitter now makes the iPad look like a giant iPhone.

The main offense people are having is that it does indeed look like a giant iPhone app. The panels are removed so you can't view your Twitter feed and a specific linked website anymore. And the ability to (obviously) quickly switch accounts is also removed (it's still there, just not obvious). Now the obvious method requires 3-4 taps, the more direct route is not obvious at all and it's as simple as holding down the "Me" button until the account switcher pops up. But this is not at all as convenient or obvious as it was in the old version of Twitter for iPad.

FreedomPop is working on new sleeves for iPhone 5 and iPod touch 5

FreedomPop is a company that makes MiFi cases that slip on your iPhone or iPod touch, essentially allowing you to carry one device instead of two separate ones. But the new iPhone 5 and iPod touch 5th generation are taller, so the current cases won't fit. I reached out to FreedomPop about whether or not they are working on new cases and this is what they said:

Because our Freedom Sleeves do not need an iPod or iPhone in them to function as a hotspot for other devices, you will be able to connect the new Apple products to our 4G Network through the iPod/iPhone Freedom Sleeves. However, the iPhone/iPod Touch 5 will not physically fit inside the current iPod Touch Freedom Sleeve. We are in the development stage of a device to work with the new ones, but we do not have a release date set yet.

So they are working on new cases, but at this time have no release date for them. In the meantime, the old cases will work, just not fit, so you'll have to carry two devices.

Please note that FreedomPop currently uses WiMax, which is not supported in all areas. According to their website, there is no WiMax coverage in my area. This may change in the future and other technologies may be added, but for right now FreedomPop just uses WiMax.

The reason I will stop watching YouTube on my iPad when iOS 6 comes out

A few days ago, Google released a stand-alone YouTube app for the iPhone and I can only assume that they'll release a native iPad app in the near future too. This is because their contract with Apple has expired so Apple is no longer allowed to have YouTube preinstalled on iOS devices. (if you stick with iOS 5, the Apple-made YouTube app stays, it only goes away in iOS 6). The deal was that Apple would create the app, and it would be void of any advertising.

With the contract expiring, this opens the flood gates for Google to load advertisement into the YouTube app that they create themselves for the iPhone and iPad. On my Mac I have a Safari extension that forced the HTML 5 version of YouTube videos. So this is how I see YouTube on my Mac.

As you can see the video player is exactly the same as the Apple-created YouTube app on the iPad. No annoying annotations, no advertisement, just a simple full screen button. Very minimalistic, as it should be. Why do I want a mobile YouTube that tries to mimic the awful Flash player, which is what Google's current HTML 5 player does on their mobile site at m.youtube.com.

That big gaudy red track bar, Google's player is very tacky. Who wants that? If I stick to watching YouTube on my iPad, this is what I'll have to face in iOS 6. Even if I choose to use Safari instead of the new Google-created YouTube app, I still have to face this.

So with all these downsides, why would anyone want to continue viewing YouTube on their iPad? Unless you like ugly design and advertisements, I don't know why anyone would want to. From now on, I'll just stick to using my Mac to watch YouTube.

You can follow this link to the awesome extension I use in Safari on a Mac (might also work on Safari for Windows, I have no idea). Install either ClickToFlash or ClickToPlugin, whichever you prefer. ClickToPlugin, as the name suggests, controls more than just Flash content. They are both great extensions for when you just don't want certain things to load on a page.

Late app of the week (or maybe none this week)

Since Apple first launched the "App of the week" they have always released a new one every Thursday. But today is Thursday at almost 10:30 at night and still no new app of the week. Last week "Temple Run: Brave" received that honor, and it's still listed as such in the App Store. So unless Apple is breaking their weekly cycle and will release a new one tomorrow, there will be no free App of the Week this week.

Edit (Friday at 2:45pm)
So it seems like Apple broke their Thursday cycle because today the App of the Week is finally released. It's called "Run Roo Run"

Finally an iPod touch you can be proud to own

I've used every generation of iPod touch since the first generation in 2007, and the new fifth generation announced today is the one I wanted for for five years now.

I'm one of those people that prefer to keep my music/video player separate from my phone, so the iPod touch has always been my iOS device of choice. Not just because I prefer to keep my devices, but also because until recently the iPhone never had enough space. The recently announced iPhone 5 can have a max of 64 GB, but it was not always like that. Even the original iPod touch had more storage than the original iPhone.

The problem with the iPod touch has always been it's lack of features that I wanted. Mainly a decent camera.

The first gen touch didn't have Bluetooth or a speaker. Second and third had both, but no camera. The fourth gen had the same garbage camera the iPad 2 has. Last year, a new iPod touch wasn't even released, instead the fourth gen was just recolored white. Now with the fifth generation iPod touch Apple finally added a decent camera. 5MP camera with LED flash. Not even the 3rd generation iPad has a flash for its camera. This is great news!

Thank you Apple for finally listening to what your customers want. Now if only you gave us a battery percentage indicator on the iPod touch, it would then be ideal.

iPhone 5 – a disappointing name

Apple had their keynote event today, in which they announced the new iPhone, iPod touch, iPod nano, and new version of iTunes and the iOS stores, as well as iOS 6.

During the announcement, Apple unveiled that the official name of the new iPhone is the iPhone 5. However, the new iPhone is the sixth generation of the iPhone. Why Apple didn't name it the iPhone 6 is beyond me. Sometimes Apple makes mistakes, after all the company is made up of human beings, and no human is perfect. However deciding to go with the name iPhone 5 seems like a huge blunder to me.

Netflix vs. Hulu Plus

After spending the full trial amount of time with both Netflix and Hulu Plus (to be fair, Netflix gives you 1 month free trial, whilst Hulu Plus only gives you 7 days, so I had no time to use Netflix), I have to say that the winner is clearly Netflix.

First of all, there was more of what I wanted to see on Netflix, such as the first three seasons of the BBC show Merlin. The regular version of Hulu only has the first two seasons, and the shocker is Hulu Plus doesn't have any. That's right, the version of Hulu that you have to pay for has less content than the free version. Not only that, but the paid version has just as many commercials. One thing Hulu Plus promises is fewer commercials than the free version, and I found that to be untrue.

The only benefit of Hulu Plus is the ability to watch it on tablets and smartphones. Being able to watch it on TV via devices such as Apple TV, Roku, and game consoles is not a benefit because you can just connect a computer to your TV and watch Hulu for free on hulu.com

So why pay for Hulu Plus to watch on your TV instead of just connecting a computer to the TV and watching Hulu for free? Well I don't really know. You get less content and the same amount of commercials.

When searching for shows from the BBC on Hulu Plus, I only found three: Coupling, The Office, and Little Britain. But on Netflix there are dozens more, including Doctor Who, Torchwood, Sherlock, Robin Hood, Miss Marple, Poirot, Rosemary and Thyme, and many others.

As for other countries, there is a lot more anime and foreign films. Not to focus on just shows from other countries, there are a lot more American shows too. More stand-up comedy, and more movies.

Now granted, I always assumed Netflix was better for movies, and Hulu Plus was better for TV shows. But I was wrong, Netflix is better for both. There were a ton more TV Shows available for Netflix that I actually wanted to see. I only discovered Robin Hood (the BBC show) the last day of my Netflix trial, and was disappointed to discover Hulu Plus doesn't have it.

So to summarize, if you're deciding which one to pay for, Netflix wins by a mile!

Why I love the BBC show Torchwood

Torchwood is a great show for many reasons, most of which is the shows exploration of human sexuality. Too often people fear what they can't categorize, so they put labels on things. Nothing was born with a label, it is people that decided to call dogs "dog" and cats "cat" and it was people that invented the words heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual. Torchwood doesn't use labels; Ianto doesn’t call himself bisexual, he just is who he is. No one on the show uses such labeles because it’s not natural. These labels weren't used until recently in human history. If you were to go back in time to the ancient Greek and ancient Roman empires, homosexual behavior is commonplace. No where in the ancient texts is that label used though, instead it's called "love." Man on man love, or man on boy love, are two terms often used in those texts to describe the actions. The only rule regarding this act in ancient Greece was that once you were married all other actions had to stop. This is something that should still be practiced, once you're married stop having affairs. In these days you hear all too often about married men and women cheating on each other. And they call this being civilized? I don't even know why people get into relationships if they want more than one partner, just stay single.

Torchwood recognizes that sexual attractions can’t have rules; you can't tell someone "don’t be attracted to that person, they are the same gender as you." The show breaks down the artificial barriers that the fearful put up around human sexuality, and reinforces that this kind of behavior is normal; just as it has been for thousands of years before a group of hateful narrow-minded people decided to put a taboo on it.

FOX movies now stream on iCloud

I noticed today something new on my Apple TV, FOX movies that I previously purchased via iTunes. So now the last of the hold outs is finally on board with iCloud movie streaming. Unfortunately, one of my movies from FOX isn't visible Family Guy Presents Blue Harvest – the first of three Family Guy Star Wars parodies.

Viacom is acting like a bitch

Viacom is having a pissing contest with Direct TV so they blocked all their content on EVERY Viacom website (comedycenter.com, etc.) as a way to punish Direct TV customers. However, instead of just punishing Direct TV customers, they are punishing EVERYONE! No matter which cable provider you have, it doesn't matter. Rather than detect who your provider is, they are blocking access to the entire Internet. Go ahead, go to any of the Viacom owned websites, full episodes are blocked.

Thanks for being a bitch, Viacom. You went from being a small jerk to a full blown asshole.

I'm getting sick and tired of Verizon FiOS

In the beginning of March of this year I signed up for Verizon FiOS for two main reasons. Cablevision refused to fix their broken Internet, my connection was going down several times a day for a couple of months with no relief. The second reason is that I knew FiOS had the FUNimation Channel, which is something I wasn't getting with Optimum. At this point, I could have chosen a different provider, or gotten a cheaper tier with FiOS that didn't include FUNimation, but I went with the more expensive package for that one channel. Within two weeks Verizon removed the channel without any notification (I'm aware that older customers were notified via email, but I wasn't). So I'm stuck with a two year contract and I don't even get the channel that caused me to sign up in the first place.

Last week I received notification in the mail that two more channels are being removed, though I never watched them or even heard of them. However that doesn't change the fact that channels I paid for are slowly being removed.

Not only that but their equipment sucks. Their provider Wi-Fi router kept knowing me offline when in "mixed mode" so I had to change the settings to give a 802.11n signal only. Because of this, I still need to use my AirPort Extreme in bridge mode to support the few older devices in my house that only support b/g. Also, the sound keeps going out on my DVR box (all other boxes seem to be ok, it's just the DVR box that the sound goes out on). I have to constantly unplug and replug the HDMI cable just to get the sound back.

Verizon, if you keep this BS up, pretty soon you won't have any customers at all!

Everyone that is fed up with Cablevision and looking for a new provider, avoid Verizon. Try Direct TV or DISH Network instead. Or you could just "cut the cord" completely and just stream content online via Amazon Instant Streaming, Netflix, and Hulu Plus.

Why everyone should use Time Machine

Time Machine allows you to make regular backups of your computer system on an external hard drive. Today I was cleaning out some old music files in iTunes that I no longer wished to have, and accidentally deleted the wrong songs; not realizing until after I emptied the Trash. I went into my Time Machine backup and restored the entire iTunes folder to a backup that was done two hours prior (I could have backed up to an hour, but I wanted to be extra sure everything would be fine). This is a good reason for everyone to keep regular backups, whether it be automatically with Time Machine, or manually on your own.

Check gmail for what it marks as important

I just noticed (since I hardly ever use the web version of Gmail) that they have automatically marked EVERY SINGLE EMAIL as "important" - every one since they first introduced the feature. This makes the feature completely useless. So check your gmail account and make sure only what you want labeled "important" is, and everything else isn't. You can consider this a Public Service Announcement.

Surface... It's about time Microsoft!

According to AllThingsD Acer is angry that Microsoft is making their own hardware. However I think this has been a long time coming. For as long as I can remember, I thought that if Microsoft could control what hardware their OS goes on, they could optimize the OS for said hardware rather than bloat the whole thing with every driver under the sun installed for all the variable hardware floating around.

Also, Acer really shouldn't complain because they are mindless sheep. Almost ever computer manufacturer is "married" to Microsoft in the sense that's all they use. Dell offers a Linux option, and HP used to have WebOS, but everyone else just rides the windows bandwagon. They don't take any pride in their work, if they did then they'd create their own operating systems. When you use the same hardware and software as everyone else, and just slap you name on the side of the box, you become a mindless sheep.

Maybe instead of getting angry at Microsoft, Acer should instead work on their own OS or use one of the over a hundred different distributions of Linux. I recommend creating their own OS.

In closing I'd just like to say again, good for you Microsoft. You're finally taking some pride in the hardware your software goes into! Even if it is ugly hardware...

iGrill guilty of false advertising

iGrill made a promise to give away a free iGrill to whoever was the 2,000th "like" on their Facebook page. However they are not backing away from the deal. This fraudulent act can't go unnoticed, so I am sharing it with all of you to make everyone aware of their false advertising practices.

This screen shot was created at 10 AM this morning and clearly shows iGrill reneging on their agreement to supply a free iGrill to the 2,000th "like" on their Facebook page. This is dishonest and can't be tolerated. I think a massive boycott would bring the message home to the company that they can't practice false advertising and get away with it.

EDIT: (an hour later) After showing them this blog post, they have agreed to send me a free iGrill. Justice prevails!

Dragon Ball Z Kai

For anyone that collects anime on DVDs or Blu-ray Discs would know, Dragon Ball Z was one of the most annoying to collect. This is because of the multi-part releases. Luckily FUNimation has finally done something to help the fans by putting the parts together into seasons. You can still buy Dragon Ball Z Kai in separate parts if you want (eight to be exact), or if you want to take up less space on your bookshelf, you can wait for the season releases.

So far just two seasons have been released, if you want them the direct links are here and here for blu-ray, or here and here for DVD.

Season One was originally released on October 18, 2011 however the audio was incorrect. Season One was re-released on May 22, 2012 and that's the version in the links above. It features correct audio. Season Two was also released on May 22, 2012. I ordered both seasons on the day they were released and will get them in the mail this upcoming Thursday (May 31). Season One comprises of "Part One" and "Part Two" of the multi-part release. Season Two is "Part Three" and "Part Four" and I'm sure the other two seasons will be released soon. If you don't wish to wait, you could just get these two seasons then buy parts 5-8 on their own. But again, who wants to take up the extra space on your shelf?

For those that don't know, Dragon Ball Z Kai is the more "correct" version of Dragon Ball Z that was released in 1989 and ran until 1996. Dragon Ball Z included a lot of fillers and was edited for American audiences. Dragon Ball Z Kai removes the fillers, fixes some of the dialogue and brings the series closer to the manga.

One negative about Kai though is that the Majin Buu arc is removed. This is the last part of the series and the entire thing is missing from Kai. You can still buy this arc in the original Dragon Ball Z DVD sets, however it would have been nice if they included it in Kai

How Nintendo ruined the Zelda series

The Legend of Zelda is one of the best game franchise on the Nintendo platforms. And in my opinion, the only reason to still play your Wii (the poor 480p resolution is horrible to look at on an HDTV). However, Nintendo has ruined the Zelda series for me by butchering the story in Skyward Sword.

For starters in the book Hyrule Historia it is mentioned that Skyward Sword is the first Zelda game in the timeline (see a translation of the timeline here). We also know that after chaos ended, the kingdom of Hyrule started. Yet after winning enough battles in the challenge Lanayru gives you, he'll reward you with the Hylian Shield. However, at this point the land is just the nameless surface! If there is no Hyrule at this point, then why is the shield called "Hylian?" Now I guess you could say "Well the Goddess is named Hylia" – however then why not call it Hylia's Shield? Besides, there already is a shield named the Goddess Shield in the name. No, it is obvious the shield is named after the at-this-point-non-existent kingdom Hyrule.

Another problem with this being the first game are the fairies. In Ocarina of Time a fairy in a bottle will give you full health when you fall. In later games, you only get a few (6-8) hearts when revived by a fairy. The same is true for Skyward Sword. Are we really to believe that the once limited fairies became strong enough to grant full hearts, only to be limited once again years later? It would be more believable if you could get full hearts in Skyward Sword then the argument could be made that over time the fairies became weak, and that is believable. Growing weak or strong over time is more believable, than growing strong for a brief period and then getting weak again.

One of the biggest problems are the moblins in the game. Moblins are created in Ganon's image. Yet in Skyward Sword there is no Ganon, he hasn't been born yet. So how can you have moblins if there is no Ganon?

Nintendo took a once great series and ruined it. I have played every console Zelda game (on their original consoles) and a handful of the handheld Zelda games. It's bad enough that Nintendo makes sub-par handheld games, don't ruin a perfectly good console series!

Optical media still has its uses

Blu-ray is not dead, not by a long shot. The problem with streaming media is it's limited to how many bits you can push down the pipe. Take the newest Apple TV for example, it now can stream at 1080p but still suffers horrible audio. Most blu-rays discs these days can handle either 5.1 or 7.1 audio, but iTunes movie audio is limited to 2-channel.

Another problem is buffering, like with Netflix. Netflix often pauses the video to buffer in the middle of whatever you're watching. And let's not even mention how had the video quality of Crackle, a service by Sony that delivers TV shows and movies over the Internet. Unlike iTunes and Netflix, Crackle has advertisement breaks, but the video quality is awful.

So next time some loud mouth tells you how much optical media is "outdated" and now new blu-rays discs are dead on arrival, remind that person that they are an idiot. Then link them to this article ;-)

iPads can create content, too!

For a long time now numerous tech blogs have stated that the iPad is only for content consumption and not for content creation. I have to wonder, what have these people been smoking?

I've created many things on the iPad, such as videos using Avid Studio. I even wrote a book using Pages using only the iPad. I didn't even need an external keyboard, used only the touch screen.

I also have musical friends that composed a new song using GarageBand on their iPads as well.

So to make the bold claim that the iPad is bad for content creation, you must be an idiot.

Taposé

Does anyone remember the Courier? Well it seems like the developers of that vaperware have came up with the Taposé app for the iPad. I don't get excited over Microsoft products all that often, but I was very excited for the Courier after watching this video. So although Taposé has numerous bad reviews about performance issues, I bought it anyway (currently going for $2.99 in the App Store). I trust that the developers will, over time, fix any bugs in the software. After all, they were passionate enough to quit Microsoft after Bill Gates nixed the project, so why wouldn't they fix the bugs?

For those of you that didn't know, Gates rejected the project after he asked how it will run MS Office and was told that it won't. The developers wanted something different, not another vessel for Windows and Office, but something truly unique. This scared Gates and he shut the project down. Windows and Office are, of course, the bread and butter of Microsoft.

If you have an iPad and want to give this app a try, search for Taposé in the App Store. Or for more information about this app, you can visit their website at tapose.com

The true speeds of Cablevision and Verizon

I've had Cablevision since the 1980s, and over the last two years their service has really gone down the toilet. It became really bad about three months ago, and I switched over to Verizon. So now instead of Optimum I have FiOS.

Over the past year I've performed four different speed tests, two on Optimum and two on FiOS, as you can see the speed of uploads on Optimum are not very optimum... It seems what Cablevision fails to realize is that uploads are just as important to consumers as downloads, especially since 2007 when people really started getting into YouTube and uploading videos. Not only YouTube but also sites like UStream, which upload video feed from your webcam for live video chatting with friends and family.

The two tests marked in blue are from Optimum, whilst the two marked in red are from FiOS.

This should end once and for all, the debate about which is faster. Both companies advertise that they are faster than the other, well it seems like Cablevision were the liars in this case.

Google isn't doing enough to improve Android

Whether you like Android or hate it one thing is clear, Google isn't doing enough to improve it. One of the greatest drawbacks to Android (for both consumers and developers) is that it's way too fragmented in both the screen size and the operating system. The screen can range from under 4 inches to over 5 inches, and most phones being shipped now are two OS versions behind.

The digital magazine Distro has a good graphic showing the percentages of OS versions on various Android phones.

Going beyond an HDTV

Everyone seems to be going gaga over the fact that the new 3rd generation iPad has more pixels than an HDTV, but these same people seem to forget that this is nothing new. My 2010 iMac has more pixels too.
2560x1440

The new iPad has a resolution of 2048x1536, it's height is greater than the iMac but when viewing movies what you really want is a better width. In the case of movie watching, this is where the iMac shines.

Yes, the new iPad display is impressive, but we've seen more impressive displays in the past. I for one love watching my DVDs on my iMac (as opposed to my HDTV) because the letterboxing is less. There are some that will argue that DVDs and Blu-rays are at a fixed size and they don't scale to larger displays (thus their argument for not wanting to buy a newer 21:9 HDTV; current HDTVs are 16:9), but you really do notice a difference when watching on an iMac with larger resolution than a standard HDTV.

Four reasons I dislike Dragonvale

Just now there was an "internal server error" which reset my game and I lost my most recent progress. This made me think about the upsides and downsides about having a game that lives on the Internet.

Rather than have the game data saved locally, Backflip Studios decided to save it on their servers. One good thing about this is that if you have an iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, you can pick up whichever device you want and continue your game where you left off (rather than have separate games on each device). However, the negative outweighs the positive with online game data storage.

These are four reasons I dislike the strategy Backflip Studios took with data management:

1, The game loads slow as it tries to contact the servers.
2, If you don't have an Internet connection, you can't play.
3, If there is a server error, you may lose some progress.
4, There is no guarantee that your data won't be lost in the future (like if Backflip goes out of business), thus voiding all your hard earned progress over the years.

Though there are good reasons to have online data storage, there are many more headaches with it than there are joys.

Overall, I enjoy playing Dragonvale, but I hate the fact that it requires an Internet connection and there is no guarantee that your game is safe. Play at your own risk. Dragonvale is free in the App Store.

iPad camera comparison

These are pictures of the iPad 2 camera (front and back) verses the new iPad camera (front and back).

First of all, the iPad 2 and new iPad have the same VGA camera in the front. I really wish Apple would improve on this. In their minds, people only want to use the front camera for FaceTime; this is however very wrong. People want to be back to take pictures of themselves with friends, and obviously having a front facing camera is easier than a back camera for this.  It's not always easy to line-up the perfect shot when you can't see the screen, i.e., using the back camera.




The specs differ with the back camera. As you can see, the iPad 2 has a mere 0.7MP camera. That's less than 1MP ad the main reason why the camera on the iPad 2 sucks so much. The new iPad has a 5MP camera for clearer quality pictures. However, an LED flash would have helped improve visual quality in dark or dimly-lit rooms.




So there you have it, the difference between the camera on the iPad 2 and the new iPad. I used iPhoto on my iPad to get these information screen shots. The location date is edited out for obvious reasons, everything else remains unchanged.

Why I will not buy a Wii U

I've been a loyal buyer of Nintendo products since the first Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in the early 1980s, but that trend is about to stop and for very specific reasons.

1) Bad customer support:
When I brought home the original Nintendo DS and discovered it had dead pixels on it, I called Nintendo and the person on the phone didn't want to fix or replace it.

2) Doesn't support own products:
Shortly after buying the e-Reader add-on for the Gameboy Advance, Nintendo decided to cancel the Cards used for game scanning. Also very few games took advantage of the Transfer Pak used with Pokemon Stadium. Wii Speak is another of these unsupported products. Other than Animal Crossing: City Folks, can anyone really say they use Wii Speak?

3) Lack of good 3rd-party support.
The Nintendo 64 was the last Nintendo console to enjoy really good 3rd-party support. The GameCube was reappearing off support, and the Wii almost has none. Great 3rd-party companies, such as Midway, are giving all their support to the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 these days. Why should I be unable to play the latest Mortal Kombat just because I own a Wii? In households where they can only afford one console, will be disappointed with this lack of support.

4) No vision for the future.
Before the Wii came out, I had 3 HDTVs in my house (Nintendo's reasoning for only supporting up to 480p was that not enough people had HDTVs). Now that companies like Vizio are making 21:9 TVs with 4K resolution, Nintendo is going to finally support 1080p. They are backward in their thinking. You should future-proof, NOT produce something that is outdated before the box is even opened! The Wii looks horrible on my TV.


So with all these faults, why should I continue to support Nintendo? This is the end of an era Goodbye Nintendo, it was fun while it lasted.

Putting perspective in the warm iPad discussion

As you may have heard, people are complaining about their 3rd generation iPads getting warm in the lower left corner. What people need to remember is that this warmth is still nowhere near as hot as a laptop gets. My MacBook Pro would get so hot that I could fry an egg on it. My iPad 2 stays cool to the touch. Though the 3rd gen iPad gets warmer than the iPad 2, it's still nothing compared to a MacBook Pro.

Firefox now supports H.264

In my previous post regarding web video I mentioned that Firefox doesn't support H.264. Well that is all about to change, as Firefox has now officially announced they will support H.264 as a way to prevent irrelevance.

Johann Gutenberg, language, and the Internet

It is deplorable the level of writing we have been accustomed to in recent years. Various "professional" blogs are filled with typos, misspellings, and foul language. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a grammar nazi. Different states have different school board standards, and grammar isn't the same across the country. However, spelling never changes; for example, cat is spelled c-a-t no matter which state you're from. And that is what is so deplorable, the lack of correct spelling. It shows the laziness of the arthur, because looking up the correct spelling online takes only a few seconds.

This brings me to my next point: Technology. Johann Gutenberg's generation thirsted for a new book every six months, this generation gets a new web page every 6 seconds! And how do you think people this technology? They spend their time creating new LOLcats and looking at animated badgers.

In the middle of the 15th century, Johann Gutenberg invented the printing press and it changed the frequency of book publishing. And it seems that as a society, we took a technology (the Internet) meant to bring new information and ideas to from anywhere in the world, and instead we're using it to add stupidity to our lives. What has our society become? Gutenberg would be rolling in his grave if he knew what information technology is used for these days.

Lazy postal worker killing the planet

Today the regular postal carrier wasn't around, so this area had a substitute. Instead of picking some place to park and walk around the block (as most of them do), he decides to drive to each house. Moving the truck only inches each time, since the houses are so close to each other. Keeping the engine going for the entire length of his delivery in the area burns up excessive amounts of gas and adds more pollution to the atmosphere. In essence, his laziness is killing us all as the hole on the ozone gets larger and as more oil must be drilled to satisfy his over-consumption for precious earthly resources.

Puzzling results from Apple TV when there is no Internet

As of late, my ISP has been getting worse and worse; Internet connection seems to go out constantly. But the real puzzling thing is what happens to the 2nd generation Apple TV when there is no Internet.

I will still be able to stream Music, Podcasts, Photos, and iTunes U content that is stored on my computer via my Airport Extreme Base Station. However, Movies and TV Shows from my computer will not stream if there is no Internet connection. Even if it's content I created myself. I do not understand why this occurs, but it's very confusing. If other content continues to stream without an Internet connection, why do my Movies and TV Shows fail to do so?

The reason America is failing

I'm watching an old episode of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? from last year and the contestant is Tami Buechler, an elementary school teacher from Las Vegas. The only questions she got right were the 1st grade questions. Did I mention she is an elementary school teacher?

THIS is what is wrong with America today, the teacher they have are dumber than the students they are supposed to teach. And this isn't a new trend either; when I was in elementary school in the 1980s, I had some pretty dumb teachers too. I remember one time I was told my math was incorrect, just because it was printed wrong in the Teacher's Edition of the math book. That's another problem with American school teachers, if it's not in the TE then they don't know the answer (most of the time).

Same thing when I was in High School in the 1990s. I was in a computer class learning MS Excel, I coming into the class knowing nothing at all, discovered little tricks with Excel that even the teacher didn't know! Why are these teachers so stupid? This is exactly what is wrong with America, and why our education is failing, we have stupid teachers.

We should pay the GOOD teachers more money to stay and keep teachers, and we should fire the BAD teachers (like the one on the game show) that are complete morons.

Why the Lantronix xPrintServer will fail

Lantronix showed off xPrintServer at CES 2012 with a price point of $150. You can buy a new AirPrint-enabled printer for less than that. I contacted Lantronix asking how they can justify the price, Mark Tullio replied with the following:

Hi – thank you for your email about our xPrintServer and your concern about the price point. While we understand your concern about the price, we wanted to clarify the product and the market for it:

The xPrintServer is designed primarily for businesses. A price point on a more consumer version of this product would, as you mentioned, need to be lower.

Regards,
-Mark

There is only one problem with that, Lantronix showed XPrintServer off at CES, which stands for the CONSUMER Electronic Show. You go to a consumer trade show to introduce a business product? Are you a complete idiot?!? By going to CES, you told the world that your target audience are consumers. If you were trying to target businesses, then don't go to CES; go to a business trade show instead.

The Lantronix xPrintServer will fail because it is priced too high. End of story.

The problem with UltraViolet

The problem with UltraViolet is that you need multiple accounts to use it. You can't just create an UltraViolet account and be able to watch movies, you need to create a "client" account (such as with Flixster). Now after you created TWO accounts, let's say you want to download the movie to your computer. Well you need to download two additional pieces of software to your computer, Adobe AIR and the Flixster Collections App. So now you're dealing with four hassles just to watch a single movie.

(What you're presented with after clicking "download")

Another problem is there is no syncing between devices. With the old (or what I call the "real") digital copy bundled with DVDs and Blu-ray Discs that downloaded to iTunes, the movie would be synced between all devices. So if I watched the movie on my Apple TV and then wanted to finish watching it on my iPad, I could pick up exactly where I left off. HOWEVER, things don't work like that with UltraViolet! I'm watching a movie via the Flixster app on my Google TV and then I tried to watch the same movie on the Flixster app on my iPad and I started from the beginning of the movie. It did NOT pick up where I left off, like the Apple digital copy does.

UltraViolet is a complete piece of crap, and I personally boycott any movie that says an UltraViolet copy is included. I discovered a deal Flixster was having, where after creating an account you get one movie for free (from a very limited collection of below-average titles). And I only created an account, to get the free movies, so I could review UltraViolet. Now that I did, I'm glad it was free, because UltraViolet is a piece of garbage!

Apple and education

Today (January 19, 2012) Apple announced textbooks in the iBookstore for high school. More exciting are the improvements to iTunes U. Before, iTunes U was a cluster of files; a fragmented mess. iTunes U is now an app in its own right, which brings the audio, video, and text all in one unified place. This makes getting full use out of iTunes U easier and more user-friendly.

If you haven't done so yet, head over to the App Store and search for "iTunes U" and install the app to get started.

Why movie titles matter - The Karate Kid

The 2010 movie The Karate Kid staring Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith (son of Will Smith) would have been good under a different title, but disappoints under the current title. Trying to bank off the title of a successful series of movies from the 1980s is no way to make a movie. Think of Nicolas Cage as an example. After his first movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), he changed his name (he's credited as Nicolas Coppola in Ridgemont High). He didn't want to be successful because of his uncle Francis Ford Coppola; he wanted his success to be of his own merits. However the producers and director of The Karate Kid (2010) didn't feel so inclined to succeed on their own merits.

Karate is a Japanese martial art, but the movie is set in China. Also, the boy doesn't learn Karate, he learns Kung Fu; an entirely different form of martial arts. The movie would have been better served being called The Kung Fu Kid, or like it's called in Japan Best Kid. I think Best Kid would have been a good title for American distribution, rather than The Karate Kid which insults both the 1980s movies, and the Japanese.

When creating a movie, it's important to consider the title as well as the story and plot. However in this case, the title was butchered by Hollywood. The title is what brings what would have been a solid 4-star movie down to only 2-stars. If it wasn't for the excellent acting by Jackie Chan, this movie might have even been brought down to 1-star due to the title.

Hollywood, you need to take movie titles more seriously; and put more of an effort into using a correct one. I wonder what Ralph Macchio and Noriyuki "Pat" Morita would have said about the title of this movie.

If you want to see the real Karate Kid, pick up the 1984 version at your favorite video store. Here are links to the The Karate Kid series on IMDB for your reading pleasure:

• The Karate Kid (1984)
• The Karate Kid, Part II (1986)
• The Karate Kid, Part III (1989)
• The Next Karate Kid (1994)

If, however, you're interested in the fake Karate Kid, you can find the IMDB link here

Google, we want iPad apps!

Google recently added native iPad support to "Google Translate" but there are still other Google apps that have yet to get an iPad facelift. These include:

Google TV
Google Voice
Google+
Blogger

I wish Google would update these iPhone apps to work with the iPad. Sure you can hit "2x" on an iPad to (somewhat) fill the screen, but it's not really the same thing as having native iPad support.

Dog the Bounty Liar!

The commercials have been running for over a week about the new season of Dog the Bounty Hunter and the episode in the commercial mentions the arrest of "Baby Lyssa" last year. However, tonight (January 4th) is the start of the new season, and what do you know... there is NO mention of the arrest! A&E lied about which episode would start off the new season just to get higher ratings (in the hope more people would tune in to see Lyssa arrested).

This is a bold-faced lie and A&E should be ashamed with themselves. This is a horrible example of false advertising. I normally don't watch the show, because I think it sucks. But I watched it tonight just to see the episode that was advertised. This is NOT the episode that was advertised. A&E you owe me an hour of my life back!