“We’re not perfect…Phones aren’t perfect…We want to make all our users happy…”

Steve Jobs: “We’re Not Perfect.”

After starting out with a light-hearted YouTube video about “Antennagate” at the Apple press conference going on right now to address the issue (read our livenotes), CEO Steve Jobs came onstage with a mea culpa: “You know . . . we’re not perfect.”

In fact, Apple knew about the issue shortly after the first phones were shipped, and the company has been working on the problem for 22 days. “It doesnt seem like a good thing if you can touch your phone in a certain way and it loses signal,” acknowledges Jobs. Even so, he is quick to point out that 3 million iPhone 4s have been sold in just a few weeks. And, repeating a pervious Apple talking point, he says it is not an issue that is unique to the iPhone 4…READ MORE

Posted on Jul 14, 2010 5:39 pm by Jason Snell, Macworld.com

On Wednesday afternoon Apple invited several journalists, including one from Macworld, to its Cupertino campus on Friday for a “press conference about iPhone 4.” Presumably the company will use the event to publicly address all the controversy swirling around this product, most notably reports of antenna interference issues.

Discussion of iPhone 4 reception issues kicked into a higher gear this week with Consumer Reports withdrawing its endorsement of the product, despite otherwise higher ratings. …..READ MORE

By Peter Cohen JUNE 30, 2010, 10:49 AM PT

Last winter we presented 30 Must Have Games for the iPhone and iPod touch. That garnered your attention and plenty of comments, so we’re happy to present its natural sequel, 15 Must HaveGames for the iPad.

As with the first feature, let us underscore that we do not consider this to be a list of the best games for the iPad, or superlative games in any specific category. Instead, this is a collection of games vetted by The Loop as being fun to play and standouts for one reason or another. So please don’t take umbrage if you don’t see your favorite game listed. But by all means use the comment section below to share with other readers your thoughts on this list and any other iPad games you think are excellent…..READ MORE

Dear iPhone 4 Users,

The iPhone 4 has been the most successful product launch in Apple’s history. It has been judged by reviewers around the world to be the best smartphone ever, and users have told us that they love it. So we were surprised when we read reports of reception problems, and we immediately began investigating them. Here is what we have learned……READ MORE

CUPERTINO, California—June 28, 2010—Apple® today announced that it has sold over 1.7 million of its iPhone® 4 through Saturday, June 26, just three days after its launch on June 24. The new iPhone 4 features FaceTime®, which makes video calling as easy as one tap, and Apple’s new Retina display, the highest resolution display ever built into a phone, resulting in stunning text, images and video.

“This is the most successful product launch in Apple’s history,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Even so, we apologize to those customers who were turned away because we did not have enough supply.”……READ MORE

CUPERTINO, California—May 31, 2010—Apple® today announced that iPad™ sales have topped two million in less than 60 days since its launch on April 3. Apple began shipping iPad in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK this past weekend. iPad will be available in nine more countries in July and additional countries later this year.

“Customers around the world are experiencing the magic of iPad, and seem to be loving it as much as we do,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We appreciate their patience, and are working hard to build enough iPads for everyone.”

iPad allows users to connect with their apps, content and the Internet in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before. Users can browse the web, read and send email, enjoy and share photos, watch HD videos, listen to music, play games, read ebooks and much more, all using iPad’s revolutionary Multi-Touch™ user interface. iPad is 0.5 inches thin and weighs just 1.5 pounds—thinner and lighter than any laptop or netbook—and delivers up to 10 hours of battery life.*

Developers have created over 5,000 exciting new apps for iPad that take advantage of its Multi-Touch user interface, large screen and high-quality graphics. iPad will run almost all of the more than 200,000 apps on the App Store, including apps already purchased for your iPhone® or iPod touch®.

*Battery life depends on device settings, usage and other factors. Actual results vary.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution with the Apple II, then reinvented the personal computer with the Macintosh. Apple continues to lead the industry with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system, and iLife, iWork and professional applications. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store, has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices. Read More

In April, Apple launched its “magical and revolutionary” new device, the iPad. Just 28 days later, it seemed the real magic was how Apple sold more than a million devices in that time period. As I write this at the end of May, iPads are in short supply in most Apple stores. Here in the New York City area, I couldn’t find a single iPad 3G, and there were only a few lower-end Wi-Fi models to be found.

Apple’s sales record here is even more impressive if you factor in that iPad is a new class of device, somewhere between the phones and computers that most consumers understand. It’s also a category of device that’s vexed every vendor who’s tried to enter this space over the last decade.

So how did Apple do it? Why did Apple succeed where no one else has and how did they do it so quickly?

The answer is, it took a decade of education and teaching. The key to Apple’s success is that the company often takes the time to explain things to the consumer that no other vendor bothers to do. By keeping a laser focus on key features and introducing them one at a time over a period of years, Apple taught and evangelized everything the consumer needed to know to understand the iPad from day one. Without that foundation, it’s not likely the product would have been nearly the success it has been. READ MORE

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So, the day came and I happily went down to the mall and picked up my brand new Ipad! I reserved my copy and skipped all the lines.

1st impression

When buzz about the Ipad started several months back, I had the impression that it would be just another big Iphone. I wasn’t that enthusiastic about it. After all, I already have an Iphone and I do plenty with it just fine. So what was my impression? Exactly that. Actually, I would say that it is more like the Ipod Touch. It doesn’t have a built-in camera, but I suspect that in future releases it will.

Sizes

If  you don’t already know there are three sizes available right now.

• 16 GB
• 32 GB
• 64 GB

Prices start at $499 and up.

Wi-Fi only right now

If you headed down yesterday or thinking about going down to pick up an Ipad, keep in mind that the only ones available right now are Wi-Fi access only. Wi-Fi + 3G and GPS enabled Ipads are not available until the end of this month. With those, you are looking at an ATT Network separate subscription. I do not believe it is included in your Iphone plan’s subscription. For me, I really don’t need that access so I just chose the Wi-Fi. After all, unless you live in a really rural area, pretty much everywhere you go, you’ll find Wi-Fi–granted not all of it free.

The Overview

Please excuse the poor quality video. This is actually my first time using video because I hate looking at myself on camera ( go figure I was a broadcasting major in college). So, next time I do a video I’ll use better equipment!

Using Applications

While the Application store does offer different versions of applications for Iphone and Ipad, you can actually run Iphone applications just fine on Ipad.

Accessing the Internet

As long as you have Wi-Fi access you’ll be able to access the internet from your Ipad. If you already have an Iphone or Ipod Touch, this will be very familiar to you.

Books and Magazines

This is one of the main reasons for Ipad’s release. Steve Jobs wanted to compete with Amazon’s Kindle, knowing how much its success has popularized e-reader devices. But as always, Jobs wants to outdo everyone in the “coolness” factor so the Ipad is meant to be a multimedia device rather than just an e-reader. Nevertheless, this is an option for Ipad users.

Is it an Amazon Kindle Killer?

Many reviewers said prior to its release, that the Ipad was going to be a Kindle killer. I expressed some skepticism because of the different experiences displayed by the two and after playing with Ipad yesterday, I still agree that there is room on the market for both.

Other differences: Besides the natural page look of the Amazon vs. the Ipad, battery life could be an issue. Ipad’s battery life is around 10 hours compared to almost a week of the Kindle not having to be charged. So, in the end, I’m sure there will be people who will be happy to discard their Kindle for the Ipad, but for me, I think I’ll be happy having both. After all, I can sync my kindle books on my Ipad, Iphone and Kindle. I’ll just read my book  on my Ipad if light is an issue.

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I thought that the absence of Apple from this year’s convention would really dampen the spirits. To some degree, I was right. The convention was held in one hall at the Moscone Center this year—one hall! I started attending about three years ago and the expo used to encompass three halls: Moscone North, South, and West.  If you’ve never been, just imagine days and days of wandering halls of cool, geeky stuff, workshops and classes. Of course, every year you could count on a keynote address by the one and only Steve Jobs regarding the latest and greatest gadget to be released.  This year it was the discussion of Ipad, but no keynote from Mr. Jobs. and a lot fewer exhibitors. Hopefully, Apple will have a change of heart and make its way back to Macworld! (crosses fingers).

Feature Presentations

Some of the higher profile presentations included Q&A with film Director Kevin Smith a.k.a. “Silent Bob“, the man behind movies:  “Chasing Amy“, “Clerks” and “Mallrats“.  It was definitely one of the more entertaining presentations . I don’t think anyone expected to laugh as much as they did. Most of the discussion centered around  his latest film “Cop Out” featuring Tracy Morgan and Bruce Willis. He also took questions from the audience with many asking him advice about film making.  I’m still trying to think of the relation between Kevin Smith and Apple Computers, but someone thought he’d be a good addition and to be fair he did speak a little bit about the iPad!

Kevin Smith

Guy Kawasaki and TUAW (The Unofficial Apple Weblog)

Other anticipated events included the 20th anniversary celebration of Photoshop, a keynote address from former Apple marketing guru and co-founder of alltop.com, Guy Kawasaki. He discussed the current innovation and revolution of the tech market showcasing some of the visionaries of Apple software products including: Square’s Jack Dorsey, Bing’s Florian Voss, Boinx Software’s Oliver Breidenbach and HearPlanet’s Steve Echtman.

However, the highlight of the entire convention and expo was the much anticipated discussion of the Ipad, due to be released in June of this year.  Led by Jason Snell, VP & Editorial Director of Mac Publishing, the panel discussed the features, anticipated updates, changes, disappointments and other issues regarding this device.

iPad presentation panel

Contrary to what you may have heard in recent news about the Ipad being the “Kindle Killer”, this panel agreed that the Ipad isn’t meant to take over the Kindle any more than the Kindle is taking over printed books. Rather there will be groups that both devices satisfy needs for.

The same argument was presented in regards to laptops and computers. Would the Ipad take the place of a laptop?  Would the lack of a camera take away from the “functionality” of the Ipad?  Would the Ipad replace or be an addition to  desktop and laptop computers? Almost unanimously, they agreed that if the Ipad was going to “kill” anything, it would possibly be the “netbook killer”.

Although opinions varied, the panel seemed pretty excited about its release, especially with the potential applications and integration with Iphone. All remains to be seen once the product launches this summer.

The Expo

Presentations are one thing, classes are another. The expo is where it’s at. This is where everything and anything is showcased and sold to the tech-happy crowd. Some exhibitors were veterans such as: Graphic Authority, Microsoft, HP and Verbatim. But visibly absent from this year’s expo (besides Apple), were  two veteran Macworld exhibitors:  Nikon and Canon.  However, several smaller companies and a slew of independent developers saturated the expo floor. Here are some of the great things we discovered walking around. This is only a fraction of what was there, but nonetheless interesting First Look product launches with some of the exhibitors winning “Best in Show”.

• CarMD.com –A personal diagnostic tool that provides drivers with a fast and easy-to-use analysis of their car’s health.
• Apparent — showcased Doxie, a smart, modern paper scanner that sends photos and documents straight to web apps like Flickr, and Iphoto.
  
  

  Bulletscan

• Blue Microphones — presented the next generation of their award winning mic- Mikey — compatible with Iphone and Ipod Touch.
  
• Navigon — showcased Mobile Navigator and application that transforms the Iphone into a navigation device.
• Telefingers–a glove that allows you to touch, tap, stroke and scroll on your Iphone or other touch devices. (The one below is a competitor.)
  

  Dots Gloves

  Some of the mobile applications included:  Date Check and IKeysToGo. Date Check allows you to perform a background check on your Iphone before you meet up with someone from a dating website. IkeysToGo allows you to quickly look up keyboard shortcuts on your Iphone for programs such as Iphoto, Photoshop, and Microsoft Word. Others included applications purely for entertainment purposes such as a slingshot game and comic book character creations.

The Rest of the Bunch

ShowWx

You turn your Iphone into a small movie projector. You attach the gadget to the back of the phone and play your movie on the phone to project! Pretty simple and pretty innovative!

Mac Practice

As more and more hospitals and doctor’s offices move towards EMR (electronic medical records), Mac Practice offers a powerful software solution to a health professional’s needs. It even comes with an Iphone application to access records conveniently and securely.

irecord

I thought this was one of the most interesting products that I saw. IrecordPro allows the user to record audio and video directly to the Iphone, Ipod touch, Ipod nano and Ipod Classic without using a computer. It supports full resolution D1 (720×480) video encoding and it can also transcode MPEG2 content to H.264. It also supports WAV & FLAC lossless audio recording.

All in all, despite being a little disappointed with the “shrunken” convention, I was impressed with the amount of people still enthusiastic about Apple related products and the continuing development of software (despite Apple’s absence this year), especially for the Iphone. It is apparent that the trend will continue in the direction of these multitasking devices especially with the upcoming Ipad.

Hopefully next year will bring back more exhibitors and Apple! Until then, happy computing.

Find out more about these applications and products by visiting macworld.com

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Last year when I attended the Mac world convention and the unveiling of ILife ‘09 took place, I was WOWED by the new features added, especially to Iphoto. Facial recognition was added to this robust software to make photo archival much much easier!

How does it work?

Iphoto ‘09 uses two features to enable facial recognition:

Face Detection

Face Detection looks for the existence of faces in photos.

Face Recognition

Face Recognition separates each face from the other even if you have multiple people in the photos.

Once you add names to the pictures, Iphoto will look for all of the pictures with look alikes. Once it presents you with those images, you can either choose to confirm or reject them.

Rocky Road

That’s not you!

As Wilson Rothman points out in his full review on Iphoto ‘09, in the beginning you get a lot of false positives–for instance, you might have a picture of someone with a purple hat. Iphoto might pull up all of your pictures of all people with purple hats. As you enter more data about  a person with more pictures and manually tag those pictures, then it becomes more accurate in gathering all the pictures of that person. However, sometimes it can get confused with faces at different angles, or with blurry images and you might end up with a lot of unknowns.

Where’s Fido?

Iphoto should be able to recognize your pets. (I still have Iphoto ‘08 so I can’t verify this claim yet–but don’t worry I will upgrade I promise!!)   However, according to Rothman and then Macworld’s article on Iphoto ‘09 , Faces SUCKS with pets! There are reports that it’ll pick up any old object instead of Fido’s face. Of course, you can manually tag them, but what’s the point right? You want Iphoto to pick them out for crying out loud!  I’m sure that Iphoto’s updates will include a fix someday soon. I’ll have to check for more updates on any new changes  and then update this post.