Sayonara Steve
Everyone has something to say …
it is surprising that everyone doesn’t know
the impact you’ve had … will be felt for generations.
100 years from now when kids learn history
you will be listed with Edison and Einstein.
A giant of our era … a visionary …
a genius.
Luminaries & business men will honor you,
pundits will parade their interviews and experiences
journalists will run pictures and video.
your life will be analyzed and evaluated.
I wonder if anyone will be able to vocalize that deep impact and change you brought
into our lives …
Magical, revolutionary, amazing, and great
words you used for the products that
were developed under your watch.
my phone and laptop … hold even more value
… the sentimental kind.
iron wil
2011.10.11
Apple TV?!?
I was listening to MacBreak Weekly 263 this week as the gang talked about the Apple TV Rumors that have been floating around. If you haven’t heard, the most current is that Apple is developing an TV. Yes, like Samsung, Philips, Sony, Vizio, and others. While this is not impossible, I am having a hard time seeing the vision.
What I do see, is possibilities.
An Apple TV that is a “TV” would have to be more than just a media box like the 1st and 2nd versions of the Apple TV. I think this device would have to be a media center or iTunes Server. We know that Apple can make beautiful displays and fantastic hardware. My vision is that this iTunes Server would need to have a few things to make it work. It would need to contain a very large hard drive, Seagate recently announced a 4Tb hard drive, and the ability to update the software and hard drive. The rest of the hardware might stand the test of time or need to be upgradeable over time. That is the problem, it doesn’t fit Apple’s model. Not only that but FaceTime Hd camera would have to be capable of upgrades also.
I understand where people want this to go and I have seen the videos’ of Alan Kay’s visionary tablet and Apple’s knowledge navigator. I also ‘see’ how AirPlay is making some of the sharing possible with a combination of Apple devices. My first thoughts and impressions are that they will be making a 3rd generation Apple TV that will allow and manage the ‘Cord Free’ connecting and syncing between iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. My vision is 2 devices, one that has a large hard drive and one that is like the 2nd generation Apple TV. My other feeling is that they are working with TV manufacturers to get AirPlay working on TVs. This could work as a widget or as an always on service running and ready to receive streams.
I really see a new Apple TV being an iTunes Server … I know I have said it a few times already. It is the only thing that make sense to me.
ironwil
Apple will Develop Clear Aluminum
I was cruising the typical morning website today and I came across this article on Cult of Mac, Every Single Line Means Something: Check Out The Berkley 4th Street Apple Store’s Crazy Supersymmetry! This story in reflection to the several car as a battering ram break ins at Apple Stores world-wide made me realize that the next logical step for Apple is to develop and create Star Trek’s Transparent Aluminum.
I know this is totally out on a limb; however, think of the stores that have been broken into because a car or truck was used to drive through the front glass panels.
Here is Scotty giving the formula away in 1984.
iron wil
HP has No Hope!
I am quite sure that many people are now aware of HP killing their mobile devices and are looking to sell their Personal /Systems Group. I have to admit that I was shocked, no not just surprised, shocked! By now many sites have posted the story and it can be found on This is my Next… and other Tech News Sites. I have spent the weekend thinking about what has happened and trying to wrap my head around this story. I have heard that Leo Apotheker is an “Enterprise” Guy … meaning that is what he specializes in and has been doing for most of his career. Personally, I don’t think he has any vision. No ability to see outside of his little world.
Mr. Apotheker, please don’t be offended, this is merely my opinion. Seriously, how could you take the 2nd best mobile OS [this is true and just for you Ryan] and put it on ice after weakly pitching it? How could you? do you not understand what is happening in the world with mobile computing?
I loved my Palm IIIc and m515. They were great devices … they had problems, but they were the only real handheld for years! They are still being used by some people because they work well and had a simple and easy to use interface. They did lack a decent ecosystem and that was changed with webOS. Palm made beautiful changes to the operating system and several of my friends got Pre’s and Pixi’s. I was waiting on my contract to end so that I could move to an iPhone, by this point in time we had moved to Mac’s. Yet, I was interested, and I grabbed my father-in-laws or friends phone when I had the chance to site down and play with it [that means I was interested in learning about the device because of the OS]. I was not impressed with the hardware. I to be honest still am not. The innovation of the pages concept and then the rumored and proven abilities of “tap to transfer”! Wow! I thought, how awesome that would be if it could be worked across different systems and then HP bought them and then they finished what Palm had started.
But they only finished what was started.
At this point I need to change directions. What I was expecting when HP bought Palm was a rebirth of computing at HP and a move to actually compete with Apple. I saw a future with webOS running on laptops and desktops and mobiles similar to the way OS X has moved into the mobile space [now let's not argue the semantics]. I envisioned HP being able to dual boot Windows and webOS; and I was not the only person envisioning that happening. I believe, HP brought it up in the first place. I was starting to see a lightweight fast operating system that would be faster than Windows and as secure as the rest of them. I saw tablets, smartphones, touch handhelds [yes very similar to the iPod Touch]; and I saw an ecosystem being built or integrated, that would bring it to parity with Apple. I mean, the computers looked good and were well made [from my personal experience with them]. HP could have spent more time on design even though this doesn’t seem to be a strong point.
Many people know and understand that Apple claims to be a hardware company and they maintain a 30% margin on their hardware and give away the OS [remember that this is a company statement made by Apple]. So, why couldn’t HP start to move in that direction … is it because Mr. Apotheker has no vision? Yeah, and neither do those that work for him. I am so disappointed because Android as much as it is touted an competition to iOS; many technologists that I follow and read feel the same way that I do. Android was just a cheap, bad alternative. webOS was the real threat to iOS. It not only did things differently, but it also did them in a visually appealing way, similar to iOS.
So, my request, Mr. Apotheker, is to bring me on board and give me 3 years before you actually shutter this HALF A BILLION business. Let me have a chance to bring back a group that is failing. I know I have vision and I have a desire to see some really good competition.
iron wil
It’s Really Quiet Around Here
As some of you have realized I have been really silent this year as I have been working on other projects and trying to decide what direction to head in next. I have been working on this site/blog for a few years now and have come to realize that it has to much competition from great sites like TUAW, Engadget, Ars Technica, Cult of Mac, and Boy Genius Report.
I feel like it is time to move on to my other ideas. Please realize that from time to time I will be back for technology, a new poem, or something else that belongs in this section of my website. I will be taking down some pages and moving other things around. The bulk of the content will remain in place … one never knows when a link will be needed.
If you want to see what I am up to every so often you can find me on Twitter at ir0nw1l and on QuoteMyT.
iron wil
Proper Back-Ups
3 – Copies of your data, Original plus 2 Back-Ups
2 – Forms of Media
1 – Off Site
Thanks Steve & Leo
ironwil
We are Awesome!
My Military Brat Best Friend sent this to me and it is to good to keep to myself.
The children of the base, Military Brats as they are called, I think are the most fascinating people. There is one common denominator amongst all of these brats; that is – They all know how it feels.
We have all been in that situation and knew exactly what the other was going through. It’s the same thing all over the world. Every couple of years there are new friends to be made, and new schools to attend.
Remarkable though, most kids that you come across hold that empathy in their hearts and just welcome you in without any reservations.
There is a quick name exchange, a brief history and the next thing you know you are playing what ever game they have already started. There is no “she’s an outsider” or “she’s not a cousin” mentality that I would
encounter later in my civilian life…we were all just family that hadn’t met before.
A child on an Air Force Base is absolutely complaisant to the fact that they grow up under different conditions then civilian kids. When you are told to clean your room, you are threatened with the “white glove” inspection. You have no idea that it is possible to make a bed without hospital corners, or that you can leave a bed unmade at all.
There are always boxes that never quite get unpacked. That was the stuff you apparently didn’t need to survive, so why unpack. You have C- Rations stashed in the cupboards that you sometimes played with. You knew that a square meal didn’t mean that it had all of the required food groups…but instead that it was more of, let’s call it a “style” of eating. We would never dream of moving, let alone speaking during the National Anthem. Our families had a WWIII plan.
And every single outdoors event was donned with those beautiful green, military issue, wool blankets. Everyone had them and you sat on them in the grass, curled up in them when you were camping, lined the bed of the truck with them when moving…they were used for everything and every car
had at least one in it’s trunk.
Another distinction, that I was not aware of until later in life, is that a Brat’s family vacations are usually more of a history lesson. I, at the time, assumed these vacations were to the places that every other child
was headed. Apparently that is not the case.
For sons and daughters of the military, “vacations” are usually trips to a wide selection of historic places, where you would be privileged to watch a civil war reenactment or take a tour through places like Mt Vernon
(George Washington’s home for you civilians). There were no great battles fought at Disney World, so there was never any reason to go there.
All of these things we took for granted as being completely normal. Why wouldn’t we, everyone we knew was living the exact same life. It isn’t until much later when your ID card is taken from you and you are pushed from the citadel that you find out that “normal” people have not heard of most of these things. That most people live in the same town for their entire lives! That we were not in fact normal children by most standards.
What we are however, is wonderful, patriotic, loyal, respectful people that offer an entire different outlook on life to people that know nothing of the gated, protected world we grew up inside.
We are awesome.
I have to admit that this speaks to the heart of my childhood.
ironwil
