Verizon's big announcement

According to USA Today (June 30, 2010), Verizon is going to begin selling Apple iPhones in January.  This will end the AT&T monopoly on iPhone service and alleviate some of the network congestion that AT&T has encountered.

Good news for Farmville players

There truly is an iPhone app for everything.  Zynga is releasing an iPhone app for Farmville.

iPhone keyboard support

The latest and greatest version of the iPhone operating system supports using an external keyboard.  This feature will be greatly appreciated by many of the iPhone users who have struggled with the on-screen keyboard. to learn more: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/mobile/06/29/iphone.keyboard/index.html?hpt=C2

Hilarious Commercial Parodies

If you are a developer you might enjoy the Java parody commercials on YouTube.  This one is hilarious
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQbuyKUaKFo

What a contrast!

Verizon released the new version of the Droid phone.  The difference between this announcement and the latest version of the iPhone is staggering.  marketing and Hype play a large role in the success of any new technology product.

I coulda been a contender

CNN has a fascinating story about the third cofounder of Apple who sound his ten percent of the company for $800.  Not everyone is cut out to be part of a tech startup.  This video is well worth watching.
 http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/06/24/apple.forgotten.founder/index.html?hpt=C1

Is this really a problem?

I have enjoyed reading several articles on how Apple cannot meet the demand for the new iPhone 4.  All businesses should have the problem of not being able to sell enough of the product quickly enough.  Apple has come out with some of the most in-demand products in the technology marketplace and production cannot keep up.  If only more companies had this problem we would not be having any economic difficulties.

Do you use Hotmail?

According to the Wall Street Journal (June 5), Microsoft is going to release a new version of hotmail that they hope will become more popular than the old version.  Microsoft wants to compete with gmail and Mac mail addresses.  Getting people to change their primary e-mail account may be more difficult than the marketers think.

It was only a matter of time

It was only a matter of time before a Linux-based tablet computer was announced. InfoWorld reports that Canonical is developing a tablet based on the popular Ubuntu distribution of Linux. To learn more, go to: http://infoworld.com/d/mobilize/canonical-developing-ubuntu-os-tablets-778

It was also only a matter of time before iPad owners were targeted by cyber-criminals. ComputerWorld reported that a brute force attack targeting iPad owners successfully collected the e-mail addresses of more than 100,000 iPad owners. It is amazing how fast criminals target new technology. To learn more: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9177921/_Brute_force_script_snatched_iPad_e_mail_addresses

How much do you rely on Internet information?

According to the Washington Post (June 6, 2010, B3)), a woman is suing Google because she felt that the directions she received from Google Maps led her on a dangerous path. The route Google proposed was along a busy street without sidewalks. The woman was struck by a car and she wants Google to compensate her for this accident. This is a lawsuit that I will bring up in my classes to illustrate liability and torts. Maybe I’m old fashioned but I would have switched to “Plan B” if I felt the Google-proposed route was unsafe.

Scareware

USA Today has recently published a warning about the increasing amount of “Scareware” ads. Scareware ads typically state that your computer has become infested by a virus and for a reasonable fee the company that detected the virus will remove it from your system. These ads have increased en fold since 2008 and are becoming big business. These ads are simply scams that prey on people who are afraid of the Internet and will pay whatever it takes to have a “safe” computer. Like most online purchases, a little research before payment will reveal which vendors are legitimate and which are scammers.

Knockoff iPads

The first iPad knockoffs are coming out overseas.  This illustrates the need to have consistent protection for intellectual property around the globe.

http://kotaku.com/5549865/china-rips-off-the-ipad-with-the-iped

Change at Google

Many of us have become accustomed to Google's search page and made it our home pages.  Google recently announced that they are going to allow users to upload photos that can be used to customize the background of the Google search page.  I wonder what percentage of frequent Google users will take advantage of this?

Show me the money

There is a very interesting article on AOL.com today about the number of young billionaires making their mark on the economy. What I found most interesting was that all but two of these entrepreneurs made their money in an Internet-based business. Most of them have come up social-networking based Websites. The amount of money to be made in this market is mind numbing. I may need to brush up on my HTML coding skills :)


http://smallbusiness.aol.com/2010/05/27/meet-the-new-young-millionaires/

Hackintosh

I listened to a story on national public radio about how hackers use a new term of Hackintosh to describe putting the Apple operating system on standard PC hardware. This violates Apple's licensing terms but is the only way for people to get the benefits of a Netbook style of computer and Apple's operating system. It will be interesting to see if Apple fights the trend or comes out with an inexpensive Netbook of their own.