New iPhone On Sale Next Week

 It looks like the folks at Apple made another big announcement this week.  Leading  media and technology analysts were invited to the Cupertino, California Campus of Wall Street’s digital darling to learn about a new version of the iPhone.

The iPhone has been a gold mine for Apple, selling millions around the world and creating billions in revenue for the company.   At this writing Siri, the built in assistant available on all new iPhones, speaks nine different languages.  But Apple is always looking for new markets for the device.  Monday’s press announcement shows how Apple will address an untapped market for a new modified iPhone V.1.

While it might seem that most everyone on the planet has a mobile phone, there is a segment of the population who does not.  In most Amish communities, the use of telephones is permitted but the individuals are not allowed to have the phones installed in their homes.  Often you will see phones in small outbuildings or phone booths and in many cases the Amish family will have the phone booth installed on a neighbor’s property.   

The need for communication even among the Amish surpasses the capability of an old dial up phone line so Apple is marketing to this target group an entirely new smartphone that is weather proof, has a special recharging system that does not use commercial electricity and comes only in black.  It is called the ThyPhone, since in reality it will never be located on the Amish family’s property but on the non-Amish neighbor’s land.

The ThyPhone comes with a special USB charger that is connected to a wind generator that can be positioned on the top of the phone booth and can supply enough power to keep the phone charged using no regular electric utility power.  In areas with little wind, a solar option was to be available early next year but since the chargers were being manufactured by Solyndra, Apple has to find another supplier and has delayed the release of this option.

According to sources inside Apple, they are working on a Pennsylvania Dutch version of Siri which will only be available for the ThyPhone.  The phone will also be able to switch from a male to female voice corresponding to the sex of the person talking.  So an Amish woman will have a female Siri named Hannah, and an Amish man will converse with a male Siri named Zeke.

The ThyPhone went on sale only in Apple Stores beginning Monday, April 1^st

 

To watch the companion video - http://youtu.be/jnHY760eHig

How Soon We Can Forget

The other day I listened to a great story on public radio about the various sounds that some of us still recognize but will soon be alien to the ears of all but the more “aged advanced,” read “old,” among us.  Some of the sounds featured on the broadcast included the sound of a needle being placed on a vinyl record and the various different chime sounds made by a pay telephone signaling denomination of coin deposited.  As I listened to the program I began to think of other devices, services and technologies that have faded or soon will fade from use as a result of the digital revolution.

 

Remember sending the kids to the mall with a pocket full of quarters so they could spend a Saturday afternoon playing video games?  Those games today seem like little more than glorified pinball machines.  The PS2 and Wii have brought into the family room virtual reality experiences once only available to the military or NASA.

 

The phones we use and telephone service providers have been totally changed.  When is the last time you got a busy signal?   Even the dial tone is disappearing as more and more of us cut the cord and move exclusively to mobile phones.  Paying for long distance seems akin to being charged for the air we breathe, although we are now charged for the air that goes in our automobile tires.

 

Speaking of cars and driving...  You no longer have to remember how to re-fold those road maps once provided free by the likes of Gulf, Sinclair, Sohio, or Esso.   Our good friends at Garmin make the trip to grandma’s house paperless but not free.

 

While you’re out driving you don’t have to remember to go to the drug store or parking lot kiosk to retrieve your pictures.  In fact, even the sale of small digital cameras has decreased markedly.  Most mobile phones now have very good cameras built in.  For other than professional quality photography, these simple-to-use cameras perform extremely well.  And once the photo is in the phone, it can instantly be shared with friends and family across the street or across the ocean.

 

While you wouldn’t know it from the piles of new phone directories delivered to our homes and businesses, these white, yellow and pink pages are seldom used by most of us to find a telephone number, address or local merchant.   Our phones store the numbers of friends and family, and the internet and Google can point us to a local company or store.  One of the casualties of this revolution is that without our phone many of us can’t remember the phone numbers except, of course, the telephone number of the place in which we grew up.  Bet you can remember that one.   Mine was KE4-2243.

 

Apple of Android?

 I often get this question and it is not about choosing between a piece fruit or robot.  Rather, it deals with selecting a smartphone or tablet.  The issue is not unlike the need to select between a Mac or a PC when looking for a new computer.  With all the hype from the likes of our friends in Cupertino and South Korea, it can be a very confusing purchase decision. 

Last week in New York City, Samsung, a South Korea based electronics manufacturing giant, launched their Galaxy GS4.  This new entry into the smartphone market has several very cool features like eye tracking.  Among other things, this keeps the screen from dimming or going to sleep if you are looking at it.  Like all Samsung phones this one uses the Android operating system.  An operating system is what allows all the apps and functions of the phone to work together.  Apple uses their proprietary operating system.  Again this is like the old Mac vs. Window competition of the last century.

So which should you choose?  In my opinion, if you step back from all the hype and PR, you will find that both Apple and Android based devices are very similar and both have more apps available than any normal human being will need or want in a lifetime.  They both have very intuitive controls.  For me the most important thing is to try to stay in the family.

If you have a Mac and or an iPad or plan to get one, then for sure go with the iPhone.  If you already have or are planning to get a tablet that uses the Android operating system, then for sure go with an Android phone.  Doing so will make you life much easier and allow you to take full advantage of the features of your devices.

The real benefit of using smartphones and tablets comes with their ability to connect all your information.  A picture taken on your phone is available for viewing on your computer or tablet.  The document you wrote on your computer at work is accessible on your iPhone.  Your calendar and contact list are synchronized on all your devices.  All of this is being done automatically.  For all of this to work well and seamlessly your devices should use the same operating system.  Pick one: Apple or Android and stay with it.  You really can’t go wrong with either.

TED Is Still Worth Your Time

There is so much information on the internet.  Unfortunately much of it is plain wrong or just a waste of time.  Even when you find a site with good information, wading through it can seem like drinking from a fire hydrant.  A few years ago in this column I introduced you to TED.  I was not sending you to a weird dating service. TED is not a guy; it is a web site that features videos and discussions that will challenge your brain. After viewing some great material this past week I am prompted to urge you to give TED a try. It will renew your faith in the value of the internet.

TED (Technology Entertainment and Design) began in 1984 as a conference sponsored by the Sapling Foundation.  The foundation’s mission is to disseminate “ideas worth spreading.”  The initial conference invited the very top minds in the fields of technology, entertainment and design to share ideas, discoveries and inventions.  The conferences are still held but videos of the individual presentations are now made available free on the web.

Today there are more than 1000 videos and the subject matter has broadened.  You can find presentations on religion, psychology, astronomy, education, medicine and many other subjects.  The great thing about TED is that it invites the very best and brightest.  Right now you can watch Jane Goodall, Bill Gates and several Nobel laureates.  All you need is a computer and access to a broadband Internet connection.  Point your browser to www.ted.com

The presentations are very fast paced.  TED asks each presenter not to exceed 18 minutes. Some make use of videos and graphics while others stay with a standard lecture format.  Each presentation is translated into several languages.

There are topics and opinions that will challenge you.  All of them will make you think.  I have watched several and each of them has been outstanding.  You will find a new presentation posted most every day and all of them are archived and searchable by topic or presenter.

Perhaps the most jaw dropping talk was by Surgeon AnthonyAtala who demonstrated an early-stage experiment that could someday solve the organ-donor problem: a 3D printer that uses living cells to output a transplantable kidney. Using similar technology, Dr. Atala’s young patient Luke Massella received an engineered bladder 10 years ago; we meet him onstage.

Another recent segment argues that an insect's ability to fly is perhaps one of the greatest feats of evolution. Michael Dickinson looks at how a common housefly takes flight with such delicate wings, thanks to a clever flapping motion and flight muscles that are both powerful and nimble. But the secret ingredient: the incredible fly brain.

The next time you find that the 500 channel cable universe offers little to watch or your Twitter account is less than stimulating, spend some time with TED.   It will be time well spent.

Accessorize Your Spring Outfit

In just a short time it will be spring and with the change in season often comes a change in our wardrobe. Gone are the scarves, sweatshirts and heavy coats as we pull out the shorts, tee shirts and flip flops.  For some digerati their spring clothing may come with some new accessories.

Our friends at Google are offering to a select group of consumers a device that incorporates their new technology called “Google Glass.”   The first iteration will be a pair of eye glasses with video display built into the lens.  Connected wirelessly to your smart phone, the glasses allow you to view anything that would normally be viewed on the phones screen on the actual glass lens.

I have only seen pictures and videos of the glasses.  To me they look like an updated version of the strange head gear featured on The Borg, a group of artificial creatures from the Star Trek series.

The glasses can’t be purchased yet but Google has launched a novel pre-order campaign.  They just finished a contest called "If I Had Glass," where contestants fill out entries explaining all the cool things they would do with Google Glass, if they were someday, maybe, perhaps, allowed to purchase them for $1,500.  Tom Sawyer would be proud.

Not to be outdone, the folks just down the road from Google at Apple may have their own digital accoutrement.  You wear this one on your wrist. While the company has not acknowledged the new product (they seldom do provide advance notice of new offerings), it has been widely reported that they are working on a flexible glass wrist watch-like device that can provide many of the functions as the iPhone.

For some of us older folks we remember Dick Tracy, Inspector Gadget and James Bond  having these devices.  None however had Siri or Angry Birds. 

One of Apple’s partners, Corning Glass, the company that provides the Gorilla Glass for the iPhone, has announced that they have developed a new type of flexible glass.  Industry watchers predict that soon Apple will announce the glass will be used for this wearable new digital “must have.”

These products may not be ready for this year’s Easter Parade, but we may see some cool wearable digital bling on fashion runways sooner than we think.