The Web Guy

    As many of you know, Apple is hosting an even on January 27th. Many people are speculating that they will be announcing the much talked about tablet. Even the mainstream media is getting on the bandwagon of the possibility of a tablet made by Apple. So what do I think will happen at the event?

     I think this announcement will mostly include upgrades. Upgrades to it’s software. I am pretty sure Apple has not missed a year of iWork or iLife. However, don’t quote me on that thought. Therefore, they may announce an upgraded suite of software. Some of the other software they have might also be updated. Final Cut has been looking the same forever. I also think that it looks very un-mac-like. Aperture is another nice piece of software that doesn’t get much attention.

    Just the other day, I was listening to a Podcast… They were saying that Apple probably has their own version of Adobe Photoshop ready to go. Mainly for the purpose of if there was a “blood-bath” between them and Adobe. Yes they have Aperture, but its not quite as powerful. I wouldn’t doubt that, so maybe they will release it at the event.

    There are many services that Apple provides that have not been updated or even launched. Mobile Me was updated last year, but the change wasn’t all that great. I’m sure many people find the “Find My iPhone” feature great, but I find it useless and I don’t even have an iPhone. At the Apple event last January, they announced iWork.com. It is integrated into iWork 09. The feature has yet to be launched publicly and out of beta. I’m sure that if it was launched fully, you would have to pay for it.

    Here’s another note about Mobile Me… The service is way too expensive for what it does. I can do some of the things I do on Mobile me for free on other services. I will also write about why I wont be renewing my Mobile Me account.

     Perhaps, they will announces a price reduction in the the cost of Mobile Me. This is mostly wishful thinking. If I were to renew my account, they would have to charge $30 per year, at the minimum.

    Some people have even said that there is a possibility of a new iPhone coming out. I don’t believe this. It hasn’t even been a year since the iPhone 3GS came out. There is no need for a new one quite yet. Nor do I think they will release the iPhone 4.0 OS. I think Apple would be more likely to release a new OS at WWDC in June.

    The contract for exclusivity ends here in 2010 with ATT&T. They may announce that they will be making it available on other networks. I would hope it would be on Verizon. If it were to go on Verizon, they would need to make a new chipset for the phone.

    So here we are about the tablet. Do I think there will be a tablet announcement? Yes, I think there will be announcement. However, it won’t be available until later in the year. They may simply say “hey, we are going to be releasing a new tablet by the end of the year.” Of course Steve Jobs will say it much better than that and use his fancy Keynote presentation to announce it.

    From the Apple rumor mills, I am seeing that people are thinking that the tablet will be running on iPhone OS. I don’t think so. I believe the iPhone OS would have too many limitations and too underpowered. The regular Mac OSX may even be too overpowered for the tablet. I have no real take on what operating system it will run. The existing OS’s that Apple have don’t seem fit for a tablet. I don’t think they will release a special OS just for a tablet. That would bring them up to four different operating systems if they did.

    I am really hoping that Apple will not disappoint everyone by just releasing an E-book reader. The tablet may be some sort of subscription system where you can get digital magazines from publishers. Or if you paid attention to what Microsoft announced at CES you would have heard that they are releasing their own tablet.

    I’ve been hearing another rumor that Apple that supports the rumor of th tablet to be an E-book reader. Apple would form a partnership with Amazon to distribute E-books to the device just like Amazon’s Kindle. I do not think this will happen. Apple is too much of a control freak when it comes to hat content that is distributed to it’s devices. Also why would Amazon want to undercut their own content products.

    Connectivity is another issue that has come up. Will the device run on a 3G network that you have to pay for, will it tether with your iPhone, will it only be able to connect to WiFi, or connect to Wispernet? I’m sure it will have some sort of 3G. I’m sure it will have some sort of 3G network. Most likely it will be able to go on any 3G network. This seems pointless to have people for a separate 3G coverage bill. People are already paying for their phone.

    Another possibility of the way it connects is by tethering. It would be easy to tether with the iPhone. That may be be why tethering for the iPhone was delayed for iPhone users on ATT&T. This cannot be the only way it connects though. Not everyone has an iPhone. Therefore, they must enable another way for it to connect, as well as be tethered to other phones. Having the device connect only to WFi seems way too useless. Wifi is not everywhere. And in some cases, corporations don’t even allow WiFi in their building. If it was WiFi exclusive, it wouldn’t be the choice for corporations.

The NBC mess involving Jay Leno and Conan O’brian has sure stirred things up. On O’brian’s show he announced  that he was selling the Late Night show. Well he posted it on Craigslist.

Heres the listing: http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/clt/1551463643.html

     iTrip is an adapter made for your car so you can listen to your audio on your iPod through your car radio. I was very excited to get this product for Christmas because it now means I can listen to my favorite podcast on the go. Well before Christmas, I was planning on buying it for myself anyway. At that time, I was just in the researching mode. I read most of the reviews on all of the shopping sites. Reviews of the product were not all that well and was making my decision even harder.

     When I plugged the device into the car and pressed the “Smart Scan” button, it searched for a radio signal that was less used or had nothing on that frequency. I didn’t think it did the best job finding the best one. I could’ve picked a better one. However, if you don’t like the specific frequency it picked, you then can you the other buttons on the device and manually program a station in. If you have more than one station you want the use, you can program up to three without having to search for it each time.

     Once I had everything set the way I wanted on the iTrip, I tuned into the station on the car radio. Finally… I got a crystal clear signal  from the iTrip. The music from my iPod sounded just wonderful. I even thought the quality from the iPod and iTrip was much better than from the radio. Which of course, it is.

     Not that i have used the iTrip for a few weeks now, I am discovering some minor problems with it. For example, if I chose a station in one place, it may have some static in other places. This mostly occurs if the other location has more reception on that station. There is also no automatic shutoff for the device. The only way that it shuts off by its self is if your car does it for you. Otherwise you somehow have to remember to unplug it each time you are going to be away from your car for a few hours.

     I forgot to mention earlier in the post that iTrip will also charge your iPod while it is plugged in. This is a convenient because sometime I watch some video podcasts before i go to bed, but don’t have time to charge the iPod in the morning. If i didn’t charge it at night, I can charge it on the way to school.

You can find this product on Amazon: Griffin iTrip FM Transmitter with Auto Dock Connector Cable for iPod and iPhone (Silver/Black)

The following video has been making its rounds on the Internet, mostly through E-mail. It is a news report from BBC Prime. The reporter even takes a little spin in the vehicle. Be sure you check out how you actually site in the car.