The Apple OS 4 iPhone software upgrade announced Thursday is the first of what should be a busy few months of product news from the Cupertino, Calif. company. Here’s what else you can expect: A new iPhone model this summer plus partnership agreements with new wireless carriers. I discussed these pending developments with host Greg [...]
This item is an excerpt from my weekly Vegas Seven column Secondary power chargers made a strong showing at the recently concluded 2010 CTIA Wireless Show, with several new products joining the market. By now, most of us know how frustrating it is to be stranded with a dead mobile phone battery and no charger [...]
This item is an excerpt from my weekly Vegas Seven column As we ask our smartphones to do more stuff—find restaurants, post videos to Facebook or watch TV—more speed means your mobile Web life can move as quickly as your connected home life. One thing a fast mobile phone helps with is augmented reality, a [...]
Each time I pick up my iPhone these days, the App Store icon informs me there are apps that need updating. And each update description includes the following phrase: “Optimized for the iPad.” Pandora, Acid Solitaire and IMDb are just a few of the apps I use often that have included that description. The Pandora [...]
This post is really just a test, but I must say that the WordPress app for the iPhone is completely unreliable. Moments ago, I tried to write another post from my iPhone. A call came in while I was writing; I took the call but when I returned to the WordPress app, my work was [...]
I have one rule when it comes to downloading an iPhone game for my kid: It must be free. Now, I know many parents will not download games for their kids, believing that one, having your kid play with your iPhone is a recipe for disaster, or two, video games are addicting and they don’t [...]
This story first appeared in Vegas Seven “Do you have any raisins? No? Then how about a date?” Thanks to the iPhone, I’ve got a million of these pick-up lines in my pocket. (It’s good I’m happily married—technology hasn’t made pick-up lines any better.) If you have an iPhone and are on your way out [...]
I was very pleased this morning when I opened the New York Times to see a story about Pandora — the Web radio service, not the fictional planet — on the front page of the Business section. Better, it was a story about Pandora turning a major corner in its development, not a plea for [...]
An excerpt from my Vegas Seven column. This week, why prices for dashboard-mounted GPS units are crashing. A quick search of Amazon.com returns several fine models, most below $150 and many priced below $100. Two major players, Garmin and TomTom, dominate these price points, offering models at a steep discount compared with this time last [...]
I have no great insights beyond that headline. I just spent about 15 to 25 minutes updating my profiles on LinkedIn and Twitter, checking my Facebook news feed and glancing — but not committing — to the chatter that filters through on Google Buzz. Sometimes I think of checking up on all those virtual hangouts [...]
In a pleasant surprise, NBC has delivered an iPhone app for the 2010 Winter Olympics that lives up to the promise of the games themselves. When I downloaded the free app — awkwardly titled NBC Olympics on AT&T — I expected a TV guide-type utility, where I would find the schedules for the events airing [...]
Well, that’s a loaded question. The best apps, in my view, are the ones that provide the most value to the user. So when Chicago Magazine asked me to explore the topic of Best iPhone Apps for Chicago for its January issue, I considered the apps I use each day plus the ones I thought [...]
Reading ebooks on the Apple iPad’s big screen will probably be more enjoyable than reading on the Amazon Kindle or the Kindle app on the iPhone. (Some people may prefer actual books.) But will it matter if you’re reading an ebook using the Kindle app on the iPad or Apple’s new iBook app? Frankly, I [...]
Apple’s iPad is iCandy, that’s for sure. But based on the demonstration I saw today — from the Internet and not live — I was largely underwhelmed with the exception of one key area: price. The iPad looks like a giant iPhone or, more precisely, a giant iPod touch, a device I don’t think is [...]
If there is a type of iPhone app that could be considered my favorite, it would easily be those that stream music or radio. When I work, I listen to music. It keeps me relaxed and focused; but if there’s a drawback, it’s that I listen to so much music that I crave variety. Look [...]
