The wait is finally over. Sort of. Early on Wednesday, Apple unveiled its long-rumored tablet computer, the iPad, and announced that it would start shipping at the end of March.Is this the reinvention of portable computing as we know it? Probably not, but it’s too early to draw any firm conclusions. Let’s take a a moment to step away from the famous Steve Jobs reality distortion field and evaluate what we know so far.

The Hardware

The iPad is a multitouch Tablet computer running a variant of the iPhone operating system on a custom built “Apple A4” chip. It has a 9.7’’ LED backlit display, boasts 10 hours of battery life and comes in three basic models: 16 GB ($499), 32 GB ($599), and 64 GB ($699). All of the models come with Wifi 802.11 a/b/g/n, but if you want the convenience of 3G connectivity, you will need to pay another $130 over the base price of each model and to use it, you will need to sign up for a pay-as-you-go data plan with AT&T. Two such plans will be available when the iPad ships: A $14.99 monthly plan with a 250 MB limit and a $29.99 monthly plan with unlimited data. The Wifi only iPads will be available on March 27 and the 3G enabled iPads will be available on April 27. International carrier deals are still pending, but they should be in place by June. So much for the hard facts.

The New Kid on the Block

The most important question that everyone had going into this event was: Where will this product fit into our lives? Personally, I thought that there simply wasn’t enough room in between the laptop and the smartphone to justify a distinct product category. I reasoned that Apple must be going for a laptop replacement and my expectations were set accordingly. I now know that Apple disagrees with me on this point.

When Steve Jobs introduced the iPad, he did so with one of his brilliantly simple slides. It was divided into three segments with an iPhone on the left, a Macbook Pro on the right, and an open space in the center. Jobs then went on to say that for a product to succeed in this in-between space it would need to do the following things better than both a smarthone and a laptop: Web browsing, email, photos, video, music, games, and eBooks. He then proceded to explain why the iPad was better suited to these tasks than either a smartphone or a laptop. It’s a provocative argument. Let’s examine it more closely.

Web Browsing

Ever since I got my first iPhone, I’ve felt that touching a link on a website is a more intuitive way of browsing the internet than using a mouse, or a trackpad. The one thing that makes the experience of browsing the web on the iPhone less than ideal is its size. The iPad solves this and maintains the touch advantage. Interestingly, the iPad continues the iPhone’s venerable tradition of locking Flash content out of the experience. Overall I have to agree with Steve on this one. Despite the inconvenience of not having flash, surfing the web on a touch tablet of this size should provide a superior experience.

Email

When it comes to email, a laptop has a clear advantage over a smartphone, due to the comfort and accuracy of having a real keyboard. The iPad has a virtual touch keybard that is almost the size of an actual hardware keyboard when it’s in landscape mode. Surely, you might opine, the iPad’s virtual keyboard isn’t superior to a laptop for typing out emails! And you would be correct. In this arena, the experience of typing on an iPad alone would fall somewhere in between that of a smartphone and a laptop. Fortunately, Apple also announced that they will be shipping an accessory physical keyboard for the iPad that will be priced at $69. I’m going to disagree with Steve on this one. I think that a laptop still provides the best email experience.

Photos and Video

The superiority of interacting with photos on a large multitouch screen is fairly obvious. When it comes to photographs, bigger is better and in the case of the iPad, Apple was actually able to improve upon the excellent multitouch interface found in the iPhone photo app. But what about video? Here things don’t seem as obvious to me. For the iPad to be a really excellent web surfing device, it had to maintain a 4:3 aspect ratio screen. However, most video content these days is produced at or near a 16:9 aspect ratio. This means that the viewer will have to choose between seeing the entire image with black bars on top and bottom or filling the screen and cutting off the sides. Granted, even with black bars, the iPad video image is much larger than that of the iPhone, but most laptops these days have 16:9 screens, not to mention higher resolution displays (the iPad comes in at a little under 720p). Nevertheless, I can’t think of another device that allows 10 hours straight of near HD quality video playback on a single charge. When it comes to photos, the iPad comes out on top. For video, I think it’s a toss up between the iPad and a laptop.

Music and Games

For music, an argument can be made that more screen real-estate yields benefits for managing a music library and it seems that Apple has rewritten their music-related applications to take advantage of the iPad’s larger screen. The iPad has an even clearer advantage when it comes to gaming. The combination of multitouch and the built in accelerometer made the iPhone a very succesful protable gaming platform, but there are times when the size of the screen is a limiting factor. The combination of touch and a larger screen will be put to great use by game developers, some of whom gave impressive demonstrations at the presentation. The music point seems debatable, but I see a clear advantage to gaming on the iPad.

eBooks

It’s the final category, eBooks, in which the iPad really shines. Because of its form factor, the iPad provides a reading experience that is an order of magnitude better than what either a smartphone, or a laptop can provide. On this subject, Apple announced a new app called iBook which is designed specifically for the iPad. Borrowing its user interface from a great iPhone app “Classics,” the iBook app presents the user with a virtual bookshelf populated by books that can be purchased in the built in iBook Store. Apple also announced that a handfull of the biggest publishers have already signed up to sell their books through the iBook Store and Jobs invited all of the other publishers to join in the coming months. I think that eBooks on the iPad is a slam-dunk. No other eBook reader can touch it.

Another Apple Success?

Three years ago, when Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone at Macworld, I had a gut feeling that it would be a revolutionary device. I don’t have the same feeling about the iPad. First, it’s just not as easy to explain. How would you describe the iPad to your aunt? Okay, so first you’d have to apologize for the gender-insensitive name, but once you got that out of the way, what would you say? That it’s an oversized iPhone without the phone? A big iPod Touch? Jobs had a nice line in his presentation. He said “It’s more intuitive than a laptop and more capable than a smartphone.”But if that’s the best that the greatest marketer of our time can come up with, it makes me wonder who the iPad will appeal to. Mr. Jobs’s logic seems for the most part to be sound. The iPad does MOST of the above computing tasks better than a smartphone or a laptop. The real question, however, is whether it does those tasks so much better that we’ll spend between $500 and $800 on it… My suspicion is that for most people the answer to that question is no. But the truth is that we don’t really know enough yet to call this one. The iPad has tremendous potential as an all-around content consumption device. Moreover, once developers get their hands on it, there’s no telling what it will be capable of. In the end, it will be the content providers and app developers who determine the success or failure of the iPad.

The Apple iPad: iSuccess or iFlop? is a post from: Mobile | Social Media | Newest Technologies by Tech N' Marketing

This might be the most difficult post I have ever written. I am literally forcing myself to write these words. The reason I am finding it so difficult to write about the iPad is two fold. For starters, I do not know my own opinion yet. On the one hand, there is no denying it is a beautiful product like only Apple knows how to make. On the other hand, did they really reinvent the wheel here? Does it include anything particularly exciting on the technology side of things? I think not. I am sorry to be the millionth person to say this, but with the addition of a faster processor and some new software capabilities, the iPad is a giant iPod. But is that really so bad? You starting to get why this is a challenging topic for me?

The other reason I was hesitant to write this post is because the iPad had to have been the single most talked about product in history prior to its launch. There must have been close to 50 mock ups circulating the Web in the weeks leading up to yesterday’s announcement. The first hour of the event had over 170,000 tweets with the word iPad in them. Everyone was, and still is talking about this device. There were people who pretended they had one prior to the launch, there were people who were utterly disappointed with the product and did not bother hiding that, and there were those that were overly excited by the iPad. What they all share in common is that they were all talking about it.

So, I thought to myself , “Do I really have what to add?” The truth is before I sit down to write a blog post, I generally formulate my thoughts and opinions of the matter at hand. I did not do that in this case, since I do not yet know what I think. Before I talk about what excites me and what disappoints me about this device in terms of its specs, let me just tell those of you who are not in the loop what the iPad is.

I think it is safe to say anyone who has not been frozen for the last few years knows what an iPod is. It is the device that single handedly changed multiple billion dollar industries such as the music and gaming industries to name a few. The mobile world has never been the same since the iPod, which eventually turned into the iPhone accompanied by its own 140,000 apps and over 2 billion downloads.

Well, according to Apple, the iPad will revolutionize those industries and add a few more to the list. You can include internet, and I do not mean the mobile internet, I mean the full fledged internet, the iPad will most likely change that forever. Books, magazines, those are another two markets that will feel the effect. The iPad is essentially a large iPod in terms of its media capabilities, a stunning eBook reader with a significant market and a beautiful interface for storing and reading books, as well as a very impressive gaming device that will blow its competition out of the water.

However, in certain ways, the iPad really does disappoint. Should we start with the name? iPad? Really? Maybe I am missing some brilliant marketing strategy, but judging from the amount of jokes surrounding its  name and the association with certain “girl” products, I would say I am not alone. Maybe this is a classic example of there is “No such thing as bad press”. Having said that, iSlate might have worked better, although as someone pointed out to me yesterday, that also spells “Is Late” and we know Apple is never late to anything.

OK, so I don’t love the name, but let’s get serious here. No camera?? This is by far the biggest disappointment for me. I was thinking based on the current trends in technology and the overflow of rumors on the Web that the Apple tablet would have two cameras. OK, not two, but none? That is bad news. Moving along, just like its baby brother, the iPad does not allow you to run multiple apps. OK, so what is this thing then? Is it a computer that only allows you to do one thing at a time? Is it an iPhone with a bigger screen? No, no phone calls. It is just confusing to me.

Regarding the eReader side of things, there is no denying the Kindle’s throne as the king of eReaders, and this device will not change  that. Why? Well, there really are a few reasons that just like everything else the iPad does, it does not do eReading the best. The Kindle’s 400,000 book collection is one thing that will keep it on top, but its battery life leaves no room for the iPad and its 10 hour battery (as impressive as that might be for a media device/laptop/netbook/mobile phone, what is this thing?). 10 hours is nice, but not as nice as a week of reading time on the Kindle with the Wifi enabled (two weeks without).

One last reason the iPad will not become the ultimate eBook reader, which will turn the book and magazine industries upside down, is of course its connectivity. The basic iPad has Wifi and no 3G. For you non techies among us, that means if you are not in a hot spot (Starbucks or McDonald’s for example), you have no Web access. Yes, you can buy the more expensive model with 3G, but that also requires a data plan, whereas the Kindle has free 3G. So, I think it is safe to say, the Kindle can continue to sleep well at night.

I could really go on for a long time about the minuses of the iPad, but let me just summarize it by saying, the iPad is not the best device out there for anything. A computer that runs one app at a time wont work for most heavy users. An eBook reader with no constant and cheap access to the book store doesn’t cut it. A Web surfing device with no Adobe Flash is so 2009. I think the fact that the iPad is no smartphone is clear and obvious to all, unless your pants have some seriously large pockets. No USB port, no dragging and dropping files, no video output, and no memory expansion slot.  So, I ask you this, what is the iPad in one, two, or three words?

Before I get pounded in the comments by all the fanboys, let me make myself 100% clear, the iPad’s interface is beautiful, the hardware is of course unprecedented in its simplicity, and the user experience looks like there is not much room for improvement. The fact that the hardware and software including the processor were all manufactured by Apple inc. is of course a huge advantage, but I just do not see how I, or anyone else who uses their computer, smartphone, or eBook reader intensively will be satisfied with the iPad’s specs and capabilities. To be honest, I am not even sure how I would hold the thing comfortably in a way that it would not feel awkward in my hand. That pretty much sums up the issue in a nutshell. If the iPad was the ultimate computing device, one that would compete with a Macbook for example, we would perhaps know how to hold the device. If it was a smartphone, I know how to hold a phone. An eBook reader, sure, hold it like a book. So, let’s leave it at this. Someone please define to me in the comments what the iPad is, so when I eventually do buy it (did you really doubt it for a second?), I will know how to hold the thing.

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iPad: What Is It and How Would I Use It? Anyone? is a post from: Mobile | Social Media | Newest Technologies by Tech N' Marketing

While the mobile industry is busy talking about and comparing the Nexus One and the iPhone, there is one phone that really gives a clear perspective of the entire market and sums up the industry in a nutshell. It was not long ago when I first laid hand on the famous Motorola RAZR. “Wow, what a phone”, I thought, but what was it about the RAZR that so impressed people. What did the phone really being to the table that made people by the RAZR by the millions? Let’s be honest, was it the features that the phone offered or was it simply a pure case of style over substance? Did the RAZR revolutionize the mobile phone in that it offered better wireless broadband? Did it offer a better camera? Was its user experience superior to its predecessors?

The answer is a big fat no. The RAZR did nothing in terms of functionality. The only thing it did was push the boundaries of mobile hardware. Motorola managed to build a mobile phone that would amaze anyone that would hold it. We all fell for it. Not only did us “dumb” consumers fall into the trap, but all of Motorola’s competitors did too. All the big corporations that spend billions on market research, spent the next year or two competing who could make the thinnest phone. What about functionality? What about experience? Not many phones before or after the RAZR offered such a poor user experience. So how were we so blind?

Instead of trying to answer “what were we all thinking?”, what we should be trying to answer is “Have we learned from our mistakes?” I believe we have and the HTC HD2 proves my point. The mobile industry has completely evolved in my opinion from a hardware-centric market to a software-obsessed one. Why obsessed? Because, today, many consumers are purchasing their mobile handsets based on the number of apps the market that compliments that phone hosts. I have heard on many occasions (and I will not deny that I have even said this) consumers trashing the Android platform because compared to Apple’s 130,000 apps, the Android Market has only 20,000. Think about that for a second, 20,000 apps to install on your mobile phone. Who needs so many? OK, so you are probably thinking that it is not the number that matters, rather the variety. While the App Store has an app for “pretty much anything”, there are many things not yet available in the Android Market. This is true, but I would dare to say that you can find 99% of apps you will need in the Market.

So, how does the HD2 prove this point? Well, the HD2 is the ultimate phone, or at least it would have been back in the RAZR days. In terms of its hardware, it lacks nothing. Where do I start? The screen is a ridiculous 4.3′ (compared to the miniature 3.5′ on the iPhone), the processor is a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, which is 1GHZ compared to the 600MHZ on the iPhone (this means everything works faster on the phone, including how fast you can access the wireless internet, not to be confused with how fast the actual connection is). The camera is 5MP with an LED flash. The entire phone is 11mm thick, which when compared to the RAZR’s 14mm (when closed) is just insane.  When I said it lacks nothing, I was not kidding.

So, why are people busy talking about the iPhone and the Nexus One when there is an HD2? The answer? No one cares about hardware nowadays. The Windows Marketplace, which is the equivalent of the App Store on the iPhone is just non existent. I mean it exists, but with the numbers and the variety of apps it provides, it might as well not exist. Like a friend who recently reviewed the HD2 told me, there is only a limited amount of time you can spend on Youtube.

To be fair,  I will say that the HD2 is not all hardware. HTC did as good of a job as they could at covering up the origins of the phone’s OS. At first glance (that might actually last a long time), you do not even know you are on a Windows Mobile phone. The phone is also the first Windows device to have a capacitive touch screen, as opposed to the resistive touch screen, which can be found on all the older Windows Mobile devices. No need for a stylus with the HD2. However, if you are like me and enjoy getting to know your phone well, you will eventually encounter the old Windows Mobile you once saw in older devices. It is hidden well, but it is very much there.

In addition to the fantastic job HTC did designing the UI, all the various social tools are integrated into the new OS. Twitter, Facebook, Gmail, they are all preinstalled. A nice touch, but not enough. The bottom line is, we seemed to have learned our lesson. The HD2 is the modern RAZR, as I see it. It is beautifully designed, it really is. The experience, if I am being honest, is leaps and bounds ahead of what the RAZR was, and I am not just talking about something that happens over the years. I do not blame HTC for the HD2′s lack of popularity, I blame Microsoft. They need to get with the program, make app development as easy as it is on the competing platforms, and most of all, they need to get their priorities straight.

I don’t know about you, but this whole “Microsoft falling behind Apple technologically”, is Deja Vu of the whole Mac VS. PC saga. All I can say is, this is still a new space relatively speaking, and so it is not too late for Windows Mobile, but if Microsoft does not make a major switch in the way it views its mobile OS and its ecosystem, the Apple commercials mocking the Windows Mobile platform are not far off.

On the flip side, if you want a phone that incorporates all the new technology and pushes the limits of the mobile industry, the HD2 has it all. The internet on the HD2 for example, is less like the mobile Web as we know it (http://www.broadbandexpert.com.au/), and more like the desktop experience we have grown accustomed to. That is what 4.3′ of screen will do for you. Let’s sum it up by saying, take the HD2′s looks and slap on some of Apple or Android’s personality (and by personality, I mean 3rd party apps), and you got yourself a phone that will beat out any and all competition.

HTC HD2: A Clear Picture of Where the Industry is Headed is a post from: Mobile | Social Media | Newest Technologies by Tech N' Marketing

When I think about how many boxes I have connected to my home theatre system, I feel a little ridiculous. There’s the Tivo HD for my cable and time-shifting needs, the Sling Box Pro HD for my location-shifting needs, the Apple T.V. for easy access to iTunes content, and the Blu-ray player for BD’s and DVD’s. But the really sad thing is that even with all of these different boxes and their bundled services, I still don’t feel that I have the kind of control that I want over my media.

To illustrate the limitations of my current system, consider what it would take to get an episode of “The Daily Show” from my Tivo HD on to my iPhone. I would need to hook a computer up to the Tivo via Ethernet cable, transfer the episode on to the computer, transcode the Tivo formatted file into a video format that the iPhone can display (and pray that this doesn’t introduce any sync problems), import the resulting file into iTunes and transfer it over to the iPhone. Phew. I get dizzy just thinking about it! Sure I could pay for an iTunes download that comes pre-formatted for the iPhone, but why should I pay an extra two dollars when I’ve already paid Comcast and Tivo for the content?

I believe that this situation is a symptom of the transitional age that we are living in. As the digital march continues inexorably forward, content creators and distributors are scrambling to keep up. The default tactic of the Film and TV industries has been to lock everything down. So we find ourselves in the absurd position of not having control over the manner in which we consume our paid content. And, of course, the tactic is not working as intended. The measures adopted thus far, have proven completely ineffective at stemming the tide of piracy and the only people who are really being punished are those of us who actually pay for content. Let’s pretend, for a glorious moment, that there were no gatekeepers fighting tooth and nail to protect their out-of-date business models. What would the perfect set-top box look like? What would it do?

My perfect set-top box would combine the functions of a Tivo, a Sling Box, and a Blu-ray player. There would be one unified and easy-to-use interface. Tivo’s UI would be a great model as it is the essence of good design. Furthermore, unlike the Apple T.V., the everything box would support a wide array of video and audio formats. It would play nicely with portable media devices and allow the ripping of BD’s and DVD’s on to a spacious internal hard drive. Finally, there would be the option of paying a flat monthly fee that would include basic cable as well as an all-you-can eat movie plan, with the quality of the Apple TV’s HD content and the breadth of Netflix’s streaming library.There are a number of media-center style PC’s that come close to offering all of the functions that I have described here, but these devices are pricey and overly complicated. I envision a device in the ballpark of $300, perhaps subsidized like a cellphone, with a contract and a monthly service charge.

Of course such a device is a pipe dream. When I think about how difficult it was to get Comcast to just give me the necessary hardware to use a Tivo, this dream seems more like a fantasy. But consider the following: If you had told me a couple of years ago that Apple would be selling all of its music without DRM, I would have laughed cynically and called you naiive. Yet here we are. You’ll recall that at first there was only one major music label, EMI, who agreed to sell their music DRM-free. They were rewarded by increased sales and the others labels eventually followed suit. I believe that in the not-too-distant future, the Film and TV industries will wake up and realize the wisdom in EMI’s DRM-free philosophy. Because in the end, the only way to effectively compete with digital piracy is to offer a more reliable product that is more convenient to consume.   Once they get that, my Everything Box will just be a matter of time.

One Box to Rule Them All is a post from: Mobile | Social Media | Newest Technologies by Tech N' Marketing

Before I start, let me wish all of you, my loyal readers, a happy 2010.  I know it has become so cliché for bloggers to thank their readers, but I am going to do it anyway. When I started writing for Tech N’ Marketing, I never imagined how fast it would take off and how popular it would become. I really have you to thank for that, and so, at the risk of sounding corny and predictable, let me say, that it is greatly appreciated. Really.

Since we are on the topic of new years, and my Twitter stream (follow me here) is filled with “Top 10 <fill in the blank> of 2009″ and “Top 10 <fill in the blank> to expect in 2010″, I thought I would sum up the past year, and some might say the decade, in two words. Yes, two words that pretty much include almost all the huge developments of the tech world in the last year and decade. If these two words are not directly involved with some tech development, they are almost for sure involved somehow behind the scenes. The two words are Apple and Google.

I am  not going to talk about all the things these two tech giants have accomplished since the year 2000 because the list itself can be an entire blog post, I will just say that together these two corporations have completely changed tens if not hundreds of industries. What is interesting to me is that the two companies who are so dominant in the same markets have such different outlooks on products and their releases. While Apple will not release a laptop that has the screws on the bottom sticking out too much for their liking, Google pretty much thinks of an idea, then releases it to get consumer feedback. They did it with Gmail, they did it with Wave, and they most recently did it with Chrome for Mac.

Apple’s iMac, iPod, or Macbooks are pretty much engineered to perfection both in their software and hardware, and Chrome for Mac has no Delete option for bookmarks (yes, this is true, I dare you to find one). OK, relax, I know it is in Beta, but I just cannot imagine Apple releasing such a product to the public. Now, let there be no misunderstandings, I am not expressing an opinion here, and I honestly do not know which method I like better, I am simply pointing out the different ways these two leading corporations approach the same subject.

If I gave you the impression throughout my various articles about Apple, that I am a fanboy, let me clear the air. I have a Macbook, yet, I am writing this post on my home PC. I have an iPod Touch,  but I use a BlackBerry Bold as my primary mobile device. I think Apple makes superb products, but they are not without shortcomings. It is also true that Google released tens if not hundreds of new products over the past few years, so to get all these services out the door, one can say that Google cannot afford to have the strict standards for which Apple is so well known. Another difference is that Google is a software company, while Apple, although they have software products as well, are  best known for their superior hardware.

At the end of the day, Google and Apple have both changed the tech world forever, and I cannot help but wonder what the future will bring for these two companies. We  have some amazing products to expect this year from both Google and Apple, such as Chrome OS, the Nexus One, iPhone 4G, and the famous Apple Tablet. I don’t know about you, but I am excited to see what’s next.

Lastly, one of the big components of Apple’s unprecedented success is of course their marketing machine, which, fanboy or not, most people would admit, is oiled to perfection. The biggest part of that marketing strategy is of course their famous keynotes and more importantly, the presenter, Steve Jobs. However, as you will see from this video, even Apple makes mistakes. Here are some of the funniest Apple bloopers over the years. Enjoy and happy new year!

Apple, Google, and The New Decade (Bloopers Video) is a post from: Mobile | Social Media | Newest Technologies by Tech N' Marketing

If you like tech, January is the most exciting month of the year. All of the big tech companies show off their new toys at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. All, that is, except for a little company from Cupertino called Apple Inc. For many years, Apple introduced their products at Macworld San Francisco. Typically, CES had a few days head start before Steve Jobs would take the stage at Macworld and pull all the press to San Francisco with his unparalleled showmanship. But this year, things are going to be a little different. Apple is no longer participating in Macworld. So will there be more media attention on CES 2010? Not a chance. There’s a Cupertino storm brewing the likes of which we have not seen since the introduction of the iPhone. Talk of the as of yet unannounced device will overshadow anything that happens in Las Vegas.

The rumors have now reached a fever pitch and everyone expects Mr. Jobs and company to introduce a Tablet-style device sometime in January. Apple stock is hitting record highs and some analysts are already making predictions on 2010 Tablet sales. Until recently, the most compelling evidence for the existence of this mystery device came from Bill Keller, the executive editor of the New York Times, who casually made mention of the “impending Apple slate,” during a talk at Harvard in September. Since then, there have been reports that Apple contacted iPhone developers and told them to have resolution-independent versions of their apps ready for January. At this point in time, there seems to be an overwhelming amount of evidence that Apple is indeed preparing to launch a Tablet. Who would want such a device? How big will it be? How much will it cost? What will it do? Will it be a Kindle killer? These are all questions that the technorati are obsessing over in much the same way that they did about the iPhone when it was still just a rumor.

No one really knows exactly what this device will do, or how it will fit into our lives, but it seems likely that there will be major implications for the printed word. A 10 inch, high- resolution multitouch color screen with a persistent connection to the internet could be the perfect platform for digital books, magazines, newspapers, and comics. Indeed, a whole new generation of rich, interactive media would thrive on such a device. Which brings me to my own fantasies for the impending Apple Tablet.

Apple has a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde thing going on right now. On the one hand, they have given us the most elegant and powerful tools for creating and distributing content. This democratization of content creation started when the iLife suite began shipping on every Mac sold. It was furthered when Apple integrated podcasting into the iTunes store. The idea is that anyone with a Mac and and internet connection should be able to easily create and share content. On the other hand, it is virtually impossible for an independent filmmaker to make their films available for download on iTunes. Furthermore, Apple have shown themselves to be very controlling and capricious with the App Store approval process.

My hope is that Apple remembers the rest of us with this new platform. It is very important for them to line up all of the publishing houses, magazines, and newspapers for the Tablet to be a success. But I really hope that they also provide us with the tools (iLife 10?) to be on a level playing field with the big guns. Whether we see more of Apple’s Jekyll or Hyde, 2010 promises to be an exciting year for tech fans.

Apple is About to Entirely Change Yet Another Industry is a post from: Mobile | Social Media | Newest Technologies by Tech N' Marketing

HP is in a lot of trouble lately if I am judging by the amount of bad press the video below brought the company. To make a long story short, a man by the name of Desi was playing around with his new HP laptop that is supposed to include Facial Tracking capabilities. That means, when you move, the webcam tracks you and moves with you. One slight problem, it wasn’t working. Well, to Desi’s surprise, when  he conducted the same test with his Caucasian friend Wanda, all of a sudden, the facial tracking worked. Everyone is pointing fingers at HP and half jokingly (I think) calling them racists. Watch the video, then get ready to laugh when watching the second video!

Supposedly, HP has contacted the people in the video, and they are dealing with it. This story got a whole lot funnier when I came across an old Apple iMac ad someone posted on Twitter. I am not going to describe the video to you, but suffice to say, in light of HP’s current predicament, this video absolutely cracked me up. So, putting aside all the different points brought up in the average Mac VS. PC debate, next time someone asks me why I use a Mac, my immediate response will be “Watya mean? Because they’re not racist!”

The Real Reason Mac is Better than PC? Macs Are Not Racist! (Videos) is a post from: Mobile | Social Media | Newest Technologies by Tech N' Marketing

So out of all the topics I generally write about, rarely will I discuss Web browsers. However, this week, the way I access the Web, both on my home PC, and on my work Mac, has completely changed for the better. The way I had my desktop set up until this week was that Chrome was my default browser on my PC and Safari was on my Mac. In both cases, I had Firefox installed and ready to launch whether it was on my quick launch bar or in my Mac’s dock. On my PC, I also had Internet Explorer at hand’s reach, just in case I come across one of those few leftover web pages that are displayed correctly in IE only. This week, all that changes.

Chrome launched their new version that now supports extensions. For those of you who do not know what that means, it means that there are officially no more reasons to ever open up Firefox, unless of course you want to open it, go have a cup of coffee while you wait for it to launch. Like I said, Chrome was my default browser since it launched, but I always needed Firefox installed, just in case I needed to use one of my many Firefox extensions. I am now using Chrome with over 20 extensions, and it has not slowed it down even in the least, making it the ultimate browser when it comes to speed, security, simplicity, and now, functionality.

As for the Mac version, Google officially released Chrome for Mac this week, which quickly replaced Safari, but they did not enable extensions yet on the Mac version. Word on the street is that it is a matter of days before extensions are enabled on the Mac, but if you cannot wait, use Chromium and install Chrome extensions that way.

So what are browser extensions? To simplify things, I will give a short explanation, then list a few examples to illustrate the point. A browser is a program like any other program on your computer. You can unistall Internet Explorer, just like you can uninstall Microsoft Word. You can install Firefox or Chrome the same way you can install Skype, Open Office, or any other program. Now that we understand that point, there seems to be some confusion about what a browser does as opposed to an operating system, and Google’s release of Chrome OS did not make things easier.

A browser is the program you use to view the internet. It is your gateway to the worldwide Web. That is it. An operating system is what your browser and all other application run on, in fact your entire computer needs an operating system to run (yes, I know there were computers before Windows, but I am not going there). So, browsers are used to view the web. That is the basic principle of a browser, but with extensions, your browser becomes so much more.

Chrome is known for simplicity. It has less icons on the toolbar then Firefox and IE, and it runs much snappier than both. Simplicity, in my opinion, is what contributes to Chrome’s popularity. However, there are many people out there who do not use Chrome as their default browser since it did not support extensions. Now that it does, I see no reason to use any other browser.

The following is a list of some of my favorite Chrome extensions. Now please bear in mind that Chrome extensions have been publicly available for only a few days, so I am always finding new ones, and new Chrome extensions are also always being developed. These are some of the best ones I have found so far:

• Chrome Extensions Quicklink: This is the most basic extension I am using. What it does is simply places an icon in your toolbar that gives you quick access to all your extensions. If you are like me, you are installing, uninstalling, and configuring your Chrome extensions all the time, this enables you to access them in one click. It saves you the time of going to the menu of Chrome and clicking extensions. Yes, I know, it sounds kinda silly, since in essence it only saves you one or two extra clicks,  but since Chrome extensions do not slow down the browser at all, unlike in Firefox’s case, no reason not to add this extension.

• Tab Menu: This extension is not the kind that is going to offer you some brilliant functionality that will save you tons of time. Similar to Chrome Extensions Quicklink, this just saves you a few seconds each time you use it. Tab Menu for Chrome essentially adds an icon to your toolbar that enables you to view all your open tabs in a simple and orderly list. You can open any tab from the list or alternatively, close the tab. Once again, this is for the user who has over 10 tabs open at any given time. This by the way, is one of the major advantages of Chrome, each tab is its own process, so it wont slow down your browsing experience if you open many tabs at once. It might slow down your computer, if it cannot handle so many processes running simultaneously, but that is a discussion for a different time.

• Picnik: This Chrome extension, as opposed to the previous two, will save you some serious time. Picnik for Chrome gives you full access to the online photo editing service, Picnik, straight from your browser. In one click, you can take a screen shot of the open web page, capture any image on the page, or simply launch the Picnik site. Once you do any of those, you can use the many features supported by the Picnik website. So, for example, something I do often, is take a screen shot of the open page and then crop it down to the area I want to capture. I used to do that by opening a program, now I do it within the browser. A lot easier and a lot quicker.

• One Number: There are tons of Chrome extensions available to notify you of new developments in the various Google services you use. There is of course a Gmail Checker, a Google Reader notifier, a Google Wave extension, and even a Google Voice notifier, but do we really need to install one Chrome extension for each service? The answer? No! One number gives you alerts for Gmail, Google Reader, Google Voice, and Google Wave. You can also choose which ones are relevant and enable only those. So, for example, I do not use Google Voice and rarely do I use Google Reader, so I have One Number notify me of new Gmail and new Waves.

• Brizzly: There are more Twitter and Facebook extensions for Chrome than you can possibly imagine. However, out of the many ones I tested, Brizzly is by far the coolest. It gives you full access to your Twitter stream including Twitter lists, mentions, and DMs, as well as full access to your Facebook account. There are many features packed into this extension and I could literally write a whole blog post just about Brizzly, but to just name a few, the Chrome extension enables you to see the full URL of shortened links, it displays pictures and videos inline with no need to open them up in another window, and enables you to easily switch between Facebook and Twitter in one click. It is a very useful extension for those social butterflies among us, however, I will say, they need to work on a next version that will open a lot faster. Iin the current state of the extension, it takes a few seconds to open, which kinda defeats the whole purpose of a browser extension.

There you have it folks, my first list of awesome Chrome extensions. I will surely be writing a continuation to this post in the coming weeks, since I am constantly discovering new Chrome extensions. Please share your favorite Chrome extensions in the comments, and if you want me to try or review yours, feel free to send it to me on Twitter here.

Five Chrome Extensions That Will Make you Uninstall Firefox is a post from: Mobile | Social Media | Newest Technologies by Tech N' Marketing

As regular readers of this blog know, Hillel is a huge enthusiast for all things Mac. So am I, having bought my first iMac two years ago and never looking back. Since then, I’ve also purchased an iPod (5th generation), and my husband bought an iPhone, which has bailed us out on numerous occasions. Recently, Hillel and I got into a conversation on Twitter about Mac product placement that started with the following Tweet:

That got me thinking. I’d also recently seen The Proposal with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, and the movie also had a huge amount of Macs:

Here’s one of them, at the Big Boss’s office, signifying that powerful people all have Macs:

And here’s another:

It continues like this for about the first half hour of the movie. Macs have also been sighted in hit blockbusters, from Legally Blonde, to Mission Impossible. In fact the website, Spot the Mac, where these screenshots are from, collects all instances of where the Mac is shown in movies. So, does Mac pay for product endorsement in movies?

The short answer is, no. Not directly. In a Washington Post article, the writer says ,

“Apple said it does not pay for product placement and would not discuss how its products make their way into television and films. But Apple was one of the first technology companies to hire someone in Los Angeles to get Mac products prominently displayed in hot TV shows and movies, said Tim Bajarin, principal analyst at Creative Strategies, a high-tech research and consulting firm. Today, he said, all such companies — Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba — have strategic Hollywood initiatives, following Apple’s precedent”.

In fact, Apple was one of the first companies to hire someone to work on this, which resulted in key product placement in the ultra-popular U.S. version of the sitcom, The Office, in which an iPod becomes a sought-after present, resulting in all of the staff members wanting to trade their presents up for the iPod.

Although there hasn’t been any recent media uproar about Apple product placement like there was in 2006 and again in 2008, partly because Apple has its hands full dealing with the latest Microsoft marketing campaign, we could be seeing more of this in the future as Apple ramps up its visibility (is that even possible?) in media.

-Vicki

iPhones and iMacs in Movies: Does Apple Pay? is a post from: Mobile | Social Media | Newest Technologies by Tech N' Marketing

In the world of mobile apps or app stores, the undeniable champion is of course Apple with their 60,000 apps and 1.5 billion downloads. The industry surrounding iPhone apps is nothing short of astounding. There are endless stories of people who were broke and spent minimal funding developing a simple and fun iPhone app, only to become number one in the app store, which lead to an income of hundreds of thousands of dollars within days.

The second underlying theme in today’s world of tech/web is of course the social space. Who has not heard the word Twitter? Name one talk show that has not spent significant time talking about the Twitter phenomenon. Leno, Ellen, Letterman, Fallon, and of course Oprah, they are all obsessed! Social media is dominating the traditional media and the global web. Everyone is talking about it.

Now that we have established that mobile apps and social media are taking over, the obvious question is, how can one integrate these two? How can we take the iPhone with all its revolutionary apps and make them more social? How can you easily share them with your friends/followers/fans? Well you can blog about your favorite apps, but everyone knows that these top 10 lists are getting a little old. You can copy the long and annoying links to iTunes apps (click that link, great app for you) and email them to your friends, but is that really the best and most effective way of doing things? The answer is obviously no, there has to be a better way.

AppsFire Virtual iPhone

A well known entrepreneur and the founder of TechCrunch France, Ouriel Ohayon thought so too, so he did something about it. He came up with an idea that I think offers the perfect merge between these two dominating worlds of iPhone apps and social media. His product, AppsFire, which is now only available for Mac in private alpha, places a virtual iPhone on your private AppsFire webpage, automatically aggregates your iPhone apps from your iTunes, and displays them on the picture of the iPhone. You can then select which app  you want to share by email, Facebook, widget, or tweet.

AppsFire also allows you to take those annoying long iTunes links and shorten them right from inside the application’s interface. They also created an external iTunes link shortener. Ouriel is now working on a Windows version as well as an iPhone version, which you can see in the video below. As for the Mac version, you need to launch the application on your Mac, close iTunes, scan for your iTunes apps that you have already installed on your iPhone/iPod (not just downloaded, but you need to install them too), , and walla, you should see all your apps and be able to easily share them.

I have two reasons to believe this product will be a huge success. One because of the concept, it is a pretty simple idea that is very much needed, and the interface is just as simple and user-friendly. The second is because of the man behind it. Ouriel was also behind Topify, which is hands down the most useful Twitter service I use. If AppsFire is even half as convenient as Topify, which it is based on my tests, this product will be a huge hit.

Ouriel provided me 50 download links for the first 50 readers who want to try it out, but don’t forget, it is Mac only for now! You can download your copy here. If you are a PC user and want to be notified when the Windows version is available or when AppsFire is out of private beta, you can sign up here.

-Hillel

The Perfect Merge of iPhone Apps and Social Media is a post from: Mobile | Social Media | Newest Technologies by Tech N' Marketing