Thoughts on Apple Tables - Part 3, Marketing

Thoughts on Apple Tables - Part 3, Marketing

What class will be the new Apple tablet? Is it a big iPod Touch or a multi-touch Macbook? What will be its name?

The first question is partly answered via the choice of operating system. If the tablet runs OS X iPhone, it will be considered a big iPod. If it runs OS X Snow Leopard it will be considered a Multi-touch Macbook.

The same goes for the name. It will be either iSomething or Macsomething. That brings me to the thought that iPhone OS should be rebranded at one point to iOS X, but I guess will be a problem since the same is taken already. Its just iPhone would be will be one of the many devices running that OS.

However, if the Apple tablet features a middles class OS X, then the name is up for grabs.

If Apple plans to redefine the product class similarity as it did with the iPhone, the new device may as well be called an iBook ( a name Apple has already used for a consumer type of notebook before the Macbook). Some people might say, well the Apple Tablet will be much more that a book, why constrain it with its name? Since when did iPhone stands for just a phone these days. It's important to recognize that in the history of the human civilization, books have not always been made from paper. What a book is is determined by the latest technology. Its uses are also far beyond the popular acceptance. There are these folding books that when opened spring 3d like shapes that are great for children or as gifts. I remember, I was hooked to the book games when I was a kid, where the readers decided the course of the story and jumped back and forward in the book. Apple has always tried to redefine or add new meaning to products, rarely to invent whole new metaphors or names.

A pod has a meaning. It's a small rounded object that can store things. The iPod is now an information pod. It stores electronic things. We will always have a need for such a device.

Same with the phone. Its a communication device. The iPhone is also mainly a communication device but of whole another level.

Everybody knows what a book is and just like everybody has pods and phones in the house, they have books. Who has tablets, slates and pads and what does these mean to the ordinary person. The names sound cool but maybe they will be used for other products or just to protect the used choices from similarly cool sounding ones from the competition.

Apple switched to Mac in its laptop line when it switched from Power PC to Intel architecture in 2005. However, ever since WWDC 2008 it dropped Mac from its OS name as OS was now running on iPhone as well on Macs. Back in 1998 it used to put Power in front of its Pro
products and "i" in front of its consumer products. Ever since 2005 the name iBook has been seeking its new product.

So wile iPad and iSlate seam like a natural choices, I think iBook is the logical choice. Imagine! Today, Apple reinvents the book.

Sent from my iPhone

Toughts on Apple Tablet - Part 2, Software

Toughts on Apple Tablet - Part 2, Software

As I laid out my arguments in part 1, I believe the iPhone OS will form the backbone of the Apple Tablet. What is more is it will likely be able to run the same apps from the iPhone App store.

That does not mean the 10 inch screen will have 480x320 resolution. Rather that apps made with Interface Builder in the iPhone SDK can work with relative resolution independence. Switching from portrait to landscape mode provides the best proof for that. Most apps like games will need a higher res version but that should be a minor development problem.

The biggest paradigm of the interface will be wether Apple will allow more than one app to launch at any one time. Actually, the current problem with the approach Apple has taken with the iPhone is not that background apps are not allowed. Its the speed of app switching and
the fact that most apps do not return to the same position when relaunched. The iPhone 3GS addresses most of the first problem. The tablet hardware will likely eliminate that problem completely. However Apple and the developers need to work harder on making an App relaunch in the same state it closes.

Here is how background apps can be easily enabled. The double click home will leave the current app in the background while simultaneously going to the home screen. The running app will be represented with a blue dot. Apple may also move all apps currently running in the dock, so they are not spread out amongst different home-screens.

An alternative is to use the multi touch trackpad gestures on Macbook Pros. Swiping 4 fingers up will leave the current app running while going to the home screen. Swiping 4 fingers down may launch expose for easy app switching.

I personally think that while 3rd party background operation might be allowed in some way, Apple will never leave the management of that up to the consumer. If it did, the most popular app on the app store would be a background killing app, like its on the android app store.

It will be interesting. Since you can never hold and operate the Tablet with one hand like the iPhone the holding hand or one of its fingers might play an important role in activating certain gestures.

One thing people have missed with the iPhone is that the dock is home to the apps which Apple allows to run in the background. Maybe enabling background operation could be as simple as adding an application to the doc, if there is space that is.

The second question is what will be the default hand held position: portrait or landscape? Most people assume a tablet to be used in landscape along with a pen. There is one small problem for Apple with that approach: the virtual keyboard. The best way to type on a virtual keyboard is with two thumbs. Holding it sideways will require split keyboard or the center keys will be unreachable. The tablet is just way to wide for that. However, holding it in portrait mode might feel just right. Landscape mode might be reserved for those media rich interactions like overflow, movie or a game.

Given that both the iPhone and Apple Table will be used with fingers and feature similarly looking OS, most visual elements will likely remain the same visual size on both devices. So the Apple Tablet will not have 16 icons per home screen plus 4 in the dock but as much as 70
icons per home screen plus 7 in the dock.

Sent from my iPhone

Homeworld FX Kadeshi Tech & Unit Tree

Ever played the Space RTS game Homeworld? Well, a lot of people thought it was the best game of 1999. The sequel rereased in 2003, while a step up in many ways, forgot to include many of the original units people (like me) were attached to emotionaly trough the epic story line.

Well in the last two years a new great mod has been shaping arounf Homeworld 2, called the homeworld FX and it's made by 9ccN. Unlike other mods, this one is more like the expansion pack Sierra never released. In Homeworld FX, you can play with 5 more races or fractions taken strait out of the single player campaigns of both Homeworld and Homeworld 2.

One of the races is the Kadesh. I am trying to help the team voluntarily of course in the best way I can, to further polish the pretty much completed mod. The composite image was my second idea.

This chart took me 3 weeks to research an assemble and design, and I hope it will be accesible trough the main menu of the game.

Its main feature is the technological tree of the Kadeshi ploted on a timeline. This way players non only get a sence of the relationships between the upgrades and units, but also how fast they can get to them. Each tech element has a red line on top depicting the actual time in seconds based on the red scale on top and bottom of the chart. I have tried to use cropped screenshots of the actual game to make the different elements more familiar.

The second maroj part of this chart are the images and descriptions of the actual units. I have tried to demonstrate the uniqueness of each unit with carefuly selected action screenshots. With the text on the left, I hope I can give a meaningfull tactical unformation about each unit.

While the mod is mostly complete, there were still areas where changes have resulted in some inconsistency in the documentation. I hope trough this chart that everything one needs to know about the Kadeshi becomes crear, without the trial and error I needed to go trough.

If the guys from 9ccN are OK with this effort on my part, I plan to make a chart like that for each of the other 6 races.

If anybody wants a much bigger high res version, let me know you horizontal resolution and I will email you one.

The official page of the mod is here

My Post with the image is here

iPhone pillars of dominance, part 2: A revolutionary Phone

When the iPhone was introduced by Steve Jobs back in 2007, he
demonstrated a few things no other telephone could do.

On top of the list of iNovations is of course visual voicemail. This
ability to look trough your voicemail as if they were a playlist of
songs was a specific colaboration and joint effort between Apple and
AT&T. Visual voicemail implementation on the iPhone is made easier
because of the large touch screen. Bbut that's not the key.
Because of the overall value of the iPhone to the AT&T, they deemed
economicaly justified to invest in developing of a feature that will be
used by only one of the handsets on it's network. Visual voicemail is
described by many as enough reason not to switch from iPhone to the
Droid or other smarthphone that does not have it.
For any other device to have visual voicemail, it would need to be
either as valuable to the iPhone or to follow in it's footsteps on a
carrier that has allready introduced it.

Back in 2007, Jobs also demonstrated how easy a conference call can
be, almost effortless. This is one feature that is often not used by
other smarthone users just because there is too a steep of a learning curve.

The ability of the iPhone to make a call while doing other activities,
such as sending a mail or browsing the web, is only just now becoming
available on other smartphones. Some like the Droid can only take
advantage of it while in WiFi coverage.

One other thing the iPhone introduced that changed how people use
their phones is contact management. This ability to have all your
contacts with you, easily within reach has recently been surprased to
some extend by rival smarthphones like the Palm Pre or the Motorola
Droid. These handsets now offer greater contact integration from
social network sources and over the air sync. However, seing how Apple
has always delivered new features as an software update, this slight
advantage will not last for long.

A camera equiped phone. There was an interesting comparison resently
of photos takes by the 5 MP camera of the Droid vs the 3 MP camera of
the iPhone. The later photos were crearly supperior in quality and the
iPhone was much quicker in taking the photos. The camera is a very
good example of finely tuned software and hardware by Apple and the
statistics show. The iPhone is #1 camera phone on flickr... by far. The iPhone is again redefining the megapixel myth

Just like the normal camera, the iPhone reinvented how a phone photo
management app should work. While many have copied this specific
experience, the multi-touch controls and responsivness of the iPhone
still give it an edge.

As a phone, nothing is more important that call quality and signal coverage.
Here the iPhone pioneered the ability to be used all over the world.
Only since the N97 has Nokia matched this in a similar hyped device
and other buzz smarthphones like the Palm Pre and the Motorola Droid
are still starting out as region specific models.
While the original iPhone had many complaining about it being not loud
enough, the latest model has brought it up to speed with highest
standarts.

The other realy revolutionary feature the iPhone introduced was the onscreen
virtual keyboard. While some may argue that because virtual keyboards
were there before it is only evolutionary development, but I think reality
proves that to be an understatement. The iPhone keyboard offered from
day one something other software keyboards did not 2 years later.
These are responsiveness and predictive text. The fist was enabled
trough the very sensitive capacitive screen with multi-touch controls,
while the second was a result of some advanced programing algorithms. What other device allows you to press up to 5 on screen characters at a time?

Even tough other have copied the layout of the keys to a large extent,
Apple has expanded it's lead here by enabling advanced multy language
support. This feature took years to introduce fully but now the iPhone
is the only truly international device. This alone sets it apart from
any device with buttons and way ahead of other touchscreen
competitors. The iPhone has really proved that software keyboard can
be a practical sunstitute for a hardware one and even offer many
unique advantages over it.

The iPhone 3GS can also be used by people with disabilities, offering advanced touch to speech, screen zoom and high contrast options across all its apps. These advanced features are enabled trough multitouch and advanced software, an investments no other company can afford to make and offer at no additional cost. The iPhone is probably the only other affordable smarthphone that can do that.

Conclusion:
The iPhone is still a revolutionary Phone. It offers seamless services
integration and unique features such as: visual voicemail, call
multitasking, great camera and photo management apps, advanced
software keyboard, touch to speech, zoom and full iternational support and coverage. These
will take years to come togather in another device. While other
handsets may differentiate themselves with better contact integration
with some cloud services, that features will take Apple only months to
introduce.

The only reason not to consider the iPhone as your next phone is when you live in an area not reliably covered by the carrier offering the device.

Sent from my iPhone

The iPhone pillars of dominance, part 1: Introduction

When Apple instroduced the iPhone in 2007, it was to be 3 things in 1.
- A revolutionary phone,

- a widescreen iPod with touch controls and

- a breaktrough Internet comunicator.

In time

- the ease of use a polish of the iPhone software

became an virtue in itself.

Since then trough software updates, new hardware, consistency and
support of it's developers and accesory makers, the iPhone can add several more fundamental pillars to its supporting foundation. These are:
- pocket computer.

- digital tool

- game console

- digital instrument

- pocket ebook reader

- accessory platform

- very profitable device for Apple

- profitable software model for Developers

- A new successful new bussiness model for Carriers

- worldwide iconic brand.

There are other things that come to my mind from time to time and I will update this list accordingly

If there is ever to be an iPhone killer, a device will have to match
and exeed the Apple phone in every one of those areas or explore new ones. As potential
iPhone killers have come and gone, the iPhone has consistently
improved in customer and bussiness ratings and incresed it's market
share. Clearly no one knows how even to define an iPhone killer as no one has been so far successful at predicting one.

In the those series of posts, I will look into each of the iPhone
pillars of dominance. How have potential competitors tried to match
and exceed it and what it really takes.

Sent from my iPhone

Thoughts on the 4 Gen iPhone.

Two things are clear. Apple designs world producs. Producs that should be used all ever the world.

Second. 3G networks have still a long way to go to cover the majority of their potential users. What is more, there are two widely used and incompatible standarts. A single 4G widely available standart is at least 2 years away to gustify an iPhone called the iPhone 4G.

Hence the iPhone 4G will probably be the 5th gen iPhone.

So the 4gen iPhone would have the stop gap feature. It would be usable on bothe current 3G standarts: the WCDMA (UMTS) and the CDMA. In other worlds it work on the US Verizon network and that os some countires in Asia. Only the will the iPhone finaly be a true world phone.

How will the 4th gen iPhone look different. In short: it won't. It will look exacly the same. Why? Because of the huge accesory ecosystem build around the current 3G and 3GS models which are basicaly the same. There is no reason why the iPhone cases and docks market should not work the same as the app store in the sence of ever growing platform for which you can sell you accesory. Having millions of potential devices to sell is one thing, having tens of milions is quite another and soon apple will pass the 100 millionth iPhone platform mark. That will motivate accesory makers to make a trully spectacular accessory products in the same league as the recent iPot Touch mobile payment case Apple introduced in its retail stores. Clearly behind that was not just Apple but the Incase company which months ago instroduced the Incase Power Clider case.

Sent from my iPhone

Thoughts on the Apple Tablet - Part 3, Marketing

What class will be the new Apple tablet? Is it a big iPod Touch or a multi-touch Macbook? What will be its name?
The first question is partly answered via the choice of operating system. If the tablet runs OS X iPhone, it will be considered a big iPod. If it runs OS X Snow Leopard it will be considered a Multi-touch Macbook.
The same goes for the name. It will be either iPod Pro or Macbook Touch.
However, if the Apple tablet features a middles class OS X, then the name is up for grabs.
It still depends on how revolutionary is the new software. If it resembles a Macbook, it can just be called Macpad.
However, if Apple plans to redefine the product class similarity as it did with the iPhone, the new device may as well be called an iBook ( a name Apple has already used for a consumer type of notebook before the Macbook)
Apple switched to Mac in its laptop line when it switched from Power PC to Intel architecture in 2005. However, ever since WWDC 2008 it dropped Mac from its OS name as OS was now running on iPhone as well on Macs. Back in 1998 it used to put Power in front of its Pro products and "i" in front of its consumer products. Ever since 2005 the name iBook has been seeking its new product.
So the logical choices are:iPod ProMacbook TouchiPad (entry level tablet)Macpad (bigger tablet)iBook
If Apple introduces several classes of Tablet products and especially an upper class in the $1000 range, it may as well drop the current Macbook from its product line up as it is Pro in software but consumer in hardware and it is an old design.

Toughts on Apple Tablet - Part 2, Software

As I laid out my arguments in part 1, I believe the iPhone OS will form the backbone of the Apple Tablet. What is more is it will likely be able to run the same apps from the iPhone App store.

That does not mean the 10 inch screen will have 480x320 resolution. Rather that apps made with Interface Builder in the iPhone SDK can work with relative resolution independence. Switching from portrait to landscape mode provides the best proof for that. Most apps like games will need a higher res version but that should be a minor development problem.

The biggest paradigm of the interface will be wether Apple will allow more than one app to launch at any one time. Actually, the current problem with the approach Apple has taken with the iPhone is not that background apps are not allowed. Its the speed of app switching and the fact that most apps do not return to the same position when relaunched. The iPhone 3GS addresses most of the first problem. The tablet hardware will likely eliminate that problem completely. However apple and the developers need to work harder on making an App relaunch in the same state it closes.

Here is how background apps can be easily enabled. The double click home will leave the current app in the background while simultaneously going to the home screen. The running app will be represented with a blue dot. Apple may also move all apps currently running in the dock, so they are not spread out amongst different home-screens.

An alternative is to use the multi touch trackpad gestures on Macbook Pros. Swiping 4 fingers up will leave the current app running while going to the home screen. Swiping 4 fingers down may launch expose for easy app switching.

The second question is what will be the default hand held position: portrait or landscape? Most people assume a tablet to be used in landscape along with a pen. There is one small problem for Apple with that approach: the virtual keyboard. The best way to type on a virtual keyboard is with two thumbs. Holding it sideways will make some buttons unreachable. The tablet is just way to wide for that. However, holding it in portrait mode might feel just right.

Given that both the iPhone and Apple Table will be used with fingers and feature similarly looking OS, most visual elements will likely remain the same size on both devices. So the Apple Tablet will not have 16 icons per home scree plus 4 in the dock but as much as 70 icons per home screen plus 7 in the dock.

Again - a short poem (kind of nice)

Again
by lantinian

Is it fear or is my soul in pain,
have my feelings been in vain,
Again

Have I lost you due to distance,
or did the fate provided the assistance,
Again

All I know is that I terribly miss you,
and all I need now is to kiss you,
Again.

You have got inside my heart
and I can't imagine breaking it appart,
Again.

I wish we have more nights together,
I wish to feel your need of me forever,
Again.

I want to get back to you today,
But fate has decided for another day
Again

So when you read this in the morning, Know this,
My love for you is what keeps me going
Once again

Sent from my iPhone

Thoughts on the Apple Tablet - Part 1 Hardware

The ability to predict the future via educated guess based analisys
can be a satisfying experience especially if it concerns a popular
topic.
The whole industry expects Apple to unveil a tablet like device to
compete with the netbook class devices.

Expected Hardware features.
- various reports suggest the use of a 10 inch touch screen. This
decision will greatly improve the real estate and productivity of its
only other touch screen platform.
- allumuminium unibody enclosure. This is a no brainer. The Apple
tablet will very likely look like a thicker but smaller makbook screen
- there will likely be no moving parts such as stands ot rotating
cameras or build in pen
- VGA isight camera is a sure guess but the device will likely not
include a backward facing camera.
The performance components will greatly depend on the choice of
operating system used. Given the huge popularity of its iPhone OS, I
fully expect the tablet to feature a custom version of OS X based on
the iPhone rather than the full featured Snow Leopard. As usefull a
tablet computer is it cannot utilise many of the powerfull software
bundled with Snow Leopard. On the other hand, many iPhone programs
will blossom if given a bigger screen and more powerfull hardware. The
size and the thickness of the Tablet will not allow for even a Macbook
Air air processor, ram and VGA to be installed. On the other hand, the
iPhone OS will fly even with backgroung Apps on even the most basic
notbook hardware. Apple has a chance to deliver a very unique user
experience at a very low hardware cost and i Think they will take it.
The big contributors to the tablet cost will not be the processor and
RAM but the 10" touch screen and the develepment of a custom Tablet
OS. As there is a hardware device gap between the iPhone and the
Macbook, there is a software gap between the iPhone OS and the OS X
Snow Leopard.
- so we are looking at a Sub 1.6GHz processor and an ION based
platform as the top specs of the device.
- again comparing the ports to the Macbook Air, we will likely see a
1xUSB and a headphone jack. No Mini Display port will be present as
this is not a desk operated device. Some might expect even a SD card
slot but Apple has reserved those for its top Pro products.
- It will be interesting to see what type of charging port the device
will use. It cannot be a macsafe power connector as the device will
likely be too thin for that. The most obvious choice is an iPod
connector which will also provice a syncing solution. The only issue
with the iPod connector might be its charging capability. An apple
Table will have a signigicantly bigger battery than an iPod Touch even
not as large as a Macbook. Apple does not have currently a single
solution to meed those requirements.
- a new for any Apple product might be the integration of a 3G antena
supported by one of the wireless carriers, most probably Verizon.
Since Verizon operate a different 3G network than most other
operators, the Apple tablet might be the first Apple device to support
bothe GSM and CDMA networks. Those capabilities however go strongly
against a alluminium unibody as it will impart reception. We may see
inovation in the matterial used for the unibody or the unibody
enclosure may have openi gs for its anthenaes similar to the one on
the iPod Touch.
- as far as hardware buttons are concerned we may see a configuration
like on the iPod Touch. Home button along with power button and volume
controls.

One thing is sure. The Apple table will likely comand a very hight
gross margin given its simple componets list but advanced feature
trough another breaktrough in software.

Part two will look into the basic software concepts likely to be uses
in the device.

Sent from my iPhone

GPS on the 3rd Gen iPod Touch

There is mounting indirect evidence that the 3rd Gen iPod Touch will
have a GPS chip inside in addition to other more widely expected
improvements.

Before we discuss why it will have lets look into why the 1rst and
second gen iPhones did not have.

The 1st gen iPod Touch was a barebone test platform for Apple to gauge
interest into its touch Interface. It was marketed as a iPod with
internet capabilities. None of its original aps had a need of a GPS.
Google Maps for example could not download maps outside of WiFi
coverage and so fiding your location regardless of internet conection
was not feasible.

While the 2nd gen iPod Touch did allow 3rd party Apps that can make
good use of GPS, accurate positioning was again not yet feasible
outside of Internet coverage and of little use within it.
The most impprtant category of Apps that needed location data outside
of WiFi coverage was Turn by Turn and Apple did not allow those yet.

Here is what was on the table by the time the design of the third gen
iPpd Touch was finalised.
- Apple had 1 year experience running the App Store and had a good
grasp of the need of accurate location data in Apps.
- Apple had 1 year of experience using the iPhone 3G GPS chip to brimg
down cost and optimise power consumption
- Apple was shipping the 3.0 software that allowed developers to write
turn by turn apps
- Apple introduced Places feature in iPhoto '09 which made use of
location data inside photos.
- GPS equiped camera device is the best option for Pictures with
accurate location data.
- Apple has reportedly ordered camera chips for its new iPod Touch
identical to the ones used on the iPhone 3GS.
- The iPod Touc had found a target audience different from the one
buing the iPhone and so making shure the the iPhone OS platform runs
on devices with maximum compatibility is a top priority for Apple.

So the 3rd Gen iPod Touch will not only feature the faster hardware of
the iPhone 3GS but likely also the Magnetometer and GPS chip.

Sent from my iPhone

Thoughts on the iPhone

During its first year and a half of delong the iPhone, Apple has
discovered 2 very distinct iPhone markets.
One is the high end Market found in USA, Europe, Japan. It is
characteristd by the need of the hardware features. The other market
is in places where 3G is not so widespread and where the original
iPhone has still more appeal because of it's much lower price.

When most people first fought about Apple making a less expensive
iPhone, the iPod analogy came along. The new iPhone had to be smaller,
they said. This approach however does not go well with preserving the
platform. The thousands application allready created had to look the
same on any member of the iPhone platform family. When apple
introduced the iPod Touch, this became clear.
The first iPod touch was an experiment of a kind. It relied
exclusively of multy touch for it's success and apple diligerately
kept a feature gap between it and the iPhone.
The second iteration of the iPhone and iPod touch kept that feature
gap while increasing the features of each device.

The next iPhone model will likely add a few more hardware improvement
bringing it to a Pro category of smartphones. This will undoubthly
satisfy the first market but this model will be even more out of reach
for the second market. Apple needs to intoduce again a phone device
like the original iPhone to satisfy the huge demand for its thausands
of applecarions.

To those thinking about the iPhone Nano, let me describe the
fundamentals of the iPhone platform.
- 3.5" display with millions of colours
- Capacitive Multytouch
- Wireless conection (WiFi and/or GSM)
- ARM processor
- Hardware accelerated OpenGL graphics
- Accelerometer
- Blutooth 2.0
- Integrated speaker,
- 3.5 milimeter headphone jack
- 30 pin iPod connector
- min of 5 hours of Video

These specification describe a device that will pehaps never be
significantly smaller than a second gen iPod Touch.

Apple may decide to go with larger multy touch display than 3.5"
eventually but it will not introduce a smaller one.

By all report, Apple plans to inteuduce two new iPhones this summer.
While everybody is busy trying to figure out how many more things the
new iPhone Pro will have, I will focus on the iPhone Lite.

While Apple is selling iPhones in many countries, I still find people
who would like to have a no contract first gen iPhone or more
precisely, an iPhone for less than $500. With the current state of the
US economy apple needs to place more emphasys on international sales
and on satisfying the world demand for it's platform. The original
iPhone, even the 4GB model while low on features is an absolute hit
right now because of it's app store.

I hope the new iPhone lite has the exact same hardware specifications
as the original iPhone. The difference will be the much lower price
and...

With the iPhone 3G apple has added global experience to it's iPhone.
It has learned the network settings of many carriers and has added
great multylanguage support. Arabic is still comming but it will be
there before June. Once this is done, Apple can start selling iPhones
completely unlocked trough it's Apple stores to be used anywhere in
the world. Those iPhones will not support 3G, however. This can be
done even in the US. As the original iPhone contracts start expiring
in July, AT&T will have to legaly unlock the devices anyway and people
will be free to legaly use the on the T-Mobile network. Same thing
will happen in Europe later in this year. There will be a legal market
for low cost unlocked iPhones starting on July 1st. Apple's only
choice is to participate in that market.

The new iPhone Pro will have such new features as to justify people
signing contract to get it. It will likely have also lower acuasition
cost.

But the big news this summer will be a fully unlocked iPhone that
anyone can buy from an Apple store and use it anywhere in the world.
The price will be between the 16GB iPod Touch and the no contract 8GB
iPhone 3G. In other words $299<iPhone 3.1<$599. Probably $399.

What will be the difference between it and the original iPhone.
- fully plastic back
- speakers and mic like on the iPhone 3G
- better battery life
- a bit thinner and wider
- flush headphone jack
- GPS (although it may not be aGPS)

It is very possible that after June Apple may develop a system that
will discriminate an iPhone still in contract from those that are not.
Those still in contract will continue to receive software updates for
free. However, the next major update likely 3.1 will be paid for those
whose contracts have ended.

It will be interesting to see whether Apple will present an option for
all those who bought original iPhones but never signed a contract to
legaly unlock them.

One thing is for sure, the new iPhones will start selling well before
the iPhone software 3.0 becomes available for the 1st and 2gen
iPhones. Even the last two might have a different date for the new
software.

One piece of guessing I would like to make.
iPhone 2.1 is the iPhone Pro
IPhone 3.1 is the new iPhone Classic
The reason being the resession kicked in plans for Apple to introduce
a lower cost model. Also the 3.1 appeared much later but will likely
be introduced at the same time. This implyes a known configuration
that needs less testing.

Sent from my iPhone

Babylon 5/Crusade Episodes, Movies Watch Order

Season 1

• 1x00: The Gathering
• 1x01: Midnight on the Firing Line
• 1x02: Soul Hunter
• 1x03: Born to the Purple
• 1x04: Infection
• 1x05: The Parliament of Dreams
• 1x06: Mind War
• 1x07: The War Prayer
• 1x08: And the Sky Full of Stars
• 1x09: Deathwalker
• 1x10: Believers
• 1x11: Survivors
• 1x12: By Any Means Necessary
• 1x13: Signs and Portents
• 1x15: Grail
• 1x16: Eyes
• 1x18: A Voice in the Wilderness (1)
• 1x19: A Voice in the Wilderness (2)
• 1x20: Babylon Squared
• 1x21: The Quality of Mercy
• 1x14: TKO
• 1x17: Legacies
• 1x22: Chrysalis

Season 2

• 2x01: Points of Departure
• 2x02: Revelations
• 2x03: The Geometry of Shadows
• 2x04: A Distant Star
• 2x05: The Long Dark
• 2x06: Spider in the Web
• 2x08: A Race Through Dark Places
• 2x07: Soul Mates
• 2x09: The Coming of Shadows
• 2x10: GROPOS
• 2x11: All Alone in the Night
• 2x12: Acts of Sacrifice
• 2x13: Hunter, Prey
• 2x14: There All the Honor Lies
• 2x15: And Now for a Word
• 2x17: Knives
• 2x16: In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum
• 2x18: Confessions and Lamentations
• 2x19: Divided Loyalties
• 2x20: The Long Twilight Struggle
• 2x21: Comes the Inquisitor
• 2x22: The Fall of Night

Season 3

• 3x01: Matters of Honor
• 3x02: Convictions
• 3x03: A Day in the Strife
• 3x04: Passing Through Gethsemane
• 3x05: Voices of Authority
• 3x06: Dust to Dust
• 3x07: Exogenesis
• 3x08: Messages from Earth (1)
• 3x09: Point of No Return (2)
• 3x10: Severed Dreams (3)
• 3x11: Ceremonies of Light and Dark
• 3x13: A Late Delivery from Avalon
• 3x12: Sic Transit Vir
• 3x14: Ship of Tears
• 3x15: Interludes and Examinations
• 3x18: Walkabout
• 3x16: War Without End (1)
• 3x17: War Without End (2)
• 3x19: Grey 17 Is Missing
• 3x20: And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place
• 3x21: Shadow Dancing
• 3x22: Z'ha'dum
• 
  

Season 4

• 4x01: The Hour of the Wolf
• 4x02: What Ever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?
• 4x03: The Summoning
• 4x04: Falling Towards Apotheosis
• 4x05: The Long Night
• 4x06: Into the Fire
• 4x07: Epiphanies
• 4x08: The Illusion of Truth
• Movie: Thirdspace
• 4x09: Atonement
• Movie: In the Beginning
• 4x10: Racing Mars
• 4x11: Lines of Communication
• 4x12: Conflicts of Interest
• 4x13: Rumors, Bargains and Lies
• 4x14: Moments of Transition
• 4x15: No Surrender, No Retreat
• 4x16: Exercise of Vital Powers
• 4x17: The Face of the Enemy
• 4x18: Intersections in Real Time
• 4x19: Between the Darkness and the Light
• 4x20: Endgame
• 4x21: Rising Star

Season 5

• 5x01: No Compromises
• 5x02: The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari
• 5x03: The Paragon of Animals
• 5x04: A View from the Gallery
• 5x05: Learning Curve
• 5x06: Strange Relations
• 5x07: Secrets of the Soul
• 5x09: In the Kingdom of the Blind
• 5x10: A Tragedy of Telepaths
• 5x11: Phoenix Rising
• 5x12: The Ragged Edge
• 5x08: Day of the Dead
• 5x13: The Corps Is Mother, the Corps Is Father
• 5x14: Meditations on the Abyss
• 5x15: Darkness Ascending
• 5x16: And All My Dreams Torn Asunder
• 5x17: Movements of Fire and Shadow (1)
• 5x18: The Fall of Centauri Prime (2)
• 5x19: The Wheel of Fire
• 5x20: Objects in Motion
• 5x21: Objects at Rest
• Movie: River of Souls
• Movie: The Legend of the Rangers
• Movie: A Call to Arms

Crusade

• Crusade 1x09: Racing the Night
• Crusade 1x11: The Needs of Earth
• Crusade 1x10: The Memory of War
• Crusade 1x02: The Long Road
• Crusade 1x12: Visitors from Down the Street
• Crusade 1x03: The Well of Forever
• Crusade 1x13: Each Night I Dream of Home
• Crusade 1x05: Patterns of the Soul
• Crusade 1x04: The Path of Sorrows
• Crusade 1x06: Ruling from the Tomb
• Crusade 1x07: The Rules of the Game
• Crusade 1x01: War Zone
• Crusade 1x08: Appearances and Other Deceits

The rest

• 6x01: The Lost Tales; Voices in the Dark
• 5x22: Sleeping in Light
• 4x22: The Deconstruction of Falling Stars

The iPhone needs to learn from Palm Pre

The recent unveiling of the Palm Pre showed the smarthphone world 1
thing.
There is a lot more to be desired from advanced devices like the
iPhone when it comes to software integration.

Despite all claimed by Apple to be ears ahead in mobile os, Palm have
managed to be bold and leap ahead and reuse our expectations about
what a smartphone is.

In my mind the iPhone as a concept is still way ahead. Having a
virtual keyboard makes it a trully global device.
What Apple needs to do is get out of the App Store hype and start
integrating the best service there into the stock iPhone Apps.
I do not need 2 SMS and 2 IM Apps on my iPhone. I need 1, just like on
the Palm Pre.
I do not like to have a separate application with sounds and brand
waves. I want this integrated in my iPod so I can mix it with any song
and do other stuff.

Apple is marketing the iphone as having over 10,000 Apps. What you
find out later is that there are often 10 Apps for every thing you
want to do. Most of the time the best features are spread between
several of them, forcing you to install several weather apps, several
messenger apps and so on. If Apple had allowed third party app to run
in the background, this might have not been a problem, but without
that it is.

Without the type of integration and management of multiple services
demonstrated by the Palm Pre, the iPhone is a chaos of app however
good some of them are.

I understand Apple motives. They have computers to sell after all.
They are trying to make the iPhone a satellite product to the Mac, but
the users do not want that. I hope Apple breaks the wall it set upon
itself and unleash the full potential of the iPhone soon or they will
loose momentum.

After all, the iPhone is the hardware product with the highest
percentage revenue, yet the lowest consumer starting cost. With the
economy situation limiting consumer spending, Apple needs to focus all
it effort behind this revolutionary product and try to stop holding
its potential back.

Apple needs to set the iPhone as an all in one device, that does not
need a computer, just like the Palm Pre.

How can that be achieved.

Learn for the Palm Pre.

Make every stock app integrate with the service each user wants. For
example. I would like to chose where does the weather app get its
information from. Allow customization just like in the iPod. Make a
the iChat app that allows SMS+IM at the same place.

The iPhone has multy touch like no other device has, yet its used are
limited to a few places. Apple needs to enable multy touch gesture
throughout the OS. The new gestures for Multy Touch trackpads for
Macbooks age a great start.
I would like to use 2 or 3 fingers to bring up the keyboard for
instant search at anytime while on the home screen, like spotlight. I
would like to see expose or spaces like transition between several
apps I am using at the moment.

I can't wait so see what Apple plans for its next iPhone OS due
perhaps in the summer.

The new Mac Mini or the wonder iBox

The Apple Mini will be making a comeback soon. Apple will have an
opprtunity to make a superpopular product by evolutionary merging
three separate but similar devices into one. Apple may decide to
replace it's popular Mac Mini, it's I inovative Time Capsule and the
unreleased potential of it's Apple TV into One single product.
The New Mac Mini.

What is the Mac Mini?
It's a general purpose computer with everything needed build in but
the display, keyboard and mouse. It's also 8x8x6 inch in size. And it
has 802.11n. Rumour has it that now it may be possible to replace the
opticle drive with a second hard disk.
599$

What is Time Capsule?
It's essentially a Airport Extreme Base Station with a Server Grade
Hard drive build into it. In essence a Max Mini allready had all the
components to be a Time Capsule but not the software.
299$

What is an Apple TV?
It's similar to a Time Capsule in that there is 802.11n and a hard-
drive inside it. It also has a special circuitry and ports to allow it
to transmit HD movies to a TV.
229$

If Apple decided to merge these three products, which is quite doable
it will have a very affordable solution for the following needs:
- a powerful BYDKM computer
- an airport extreme base station
- a wireless backup RAID1
- a Wireless Media Center/Server
- an Apple TV

We will see in a few hours, what's up.

Sent from my iPhone

F-22 Supercruise combat radius

Ok, the link at the end of this post seams to give some good numbers
for the F119 engines.
I would like to apply some common sence maths here to get the max pure
supercruise radius of the F-22. If anyone has better data and/or math
skills, please feel free to enlighten me.

So I accept the trust levels of the F119 at full milittary power to be
2x0.8 lb of fuel per pound of trust per hour. That is 100% trust
without afterburner or 22x6,000 lb of trust. At that trust we expect
the F-22 to fly at max of Mach 1,82 at 40,000+ ft.

But supercruise speed probably means flying at Mach 1,5. That speed
needs about 18% less trust and the engines SFC is 18% from max dry.
So that's about 2x21,540 lb trust, at 2x0,664 SFC to fly at Mach 1,5

If the F-22 used 20% of it's fuel to take off, accelerate to Mach 1,5,
decelerate back and land, we are left with 14,400 lb of fuel left to
spend for supercruise.

0,664 pounds of fuel per pounds of trust per hour, at 2x21,540 lb of
trust from 14,400 lb of available fuel will allow the two Raptor
engines to run for just over 30 minutes total.

Mach 1,5 at 40,000 ft translates in about 1,600 km/h. 30 min dash at
that speed will give us a range of 800 km. Add 100 more to get to Mach
1,5 from take of and 100 back needed to land and we have a max Mach
1,5 supercruise combat radius of 500km which is about 270nm.

May not sound like much but how good will the F-15C do in the same
circumstances?

http://www.f-16.net/f-16_forum_viewtopic-t-11567.html

Sent from my iPhone