Quick intro in case you haven’t heard: On April 19th, Gizmodo put up a post fully dissecting Apple’s next iPhone (except for the software – they couldn’t turn the damn thing on (it was remotely killed by Apple)). Here’s the catch: Apple has never announced any next-gen iPhone yet. It was discovered (on March 18th – one whole month before Gizmodo broke the news) in a Redwood City, California bar disguised as a current iPhone 3GS. It seems that some Apple employee (lets just call him Gray Powell) left it behind, probably doing some field testing,  and was found by a bar patron (who, according to CNet, has been identified by police (UPDATE: His name is Brian J. Hogan). The phone eventually found its way into the sweaty palms of Gizmodo, which ran them a tasty $5000, though at this time it is not clear who exactly sold them the phone (UPDATE: Yes it is – It was the same guy who found it; see link re: Brian J. Hogan).

Last week, news broke that a criminal investigation was under way, and hours later police served a search warrant on the home of Gizmodo editor Jason Chen and seized his computers and other electronic equipment. Some are accusing Apple of launching this entire police operation.

(Want a visual aid for this whole fiasco? Check out an ingenious flow chart created by Fast Company below, after the break!)

Has Apple gotten off their game? Or is this the most brilliant marketing scheme ever devised? Here’s why I think the Apple Marketing team has seriously topped themselves.

(Continued after the break –>)

1. Apple has always been known to be one of the most top secret companies (if not the most top secret) when it comes to unreleased products (I once read that they test different parts of a product in different departments so that even their own employees do not know what the finished product of their labor is going to be).
   • They of course field test their products all the time, but how an Apple employee could forget a next-gen iPhone (even a prototype) is beyond me. I’ll bet you that’s going to be the last beer paid on Apple’s tab!
2. Some new juicy info uncovered by Wired.com states that Apple tried approaching the guy who the iPhone in the bar (who we might as well be calling Indiana Jones, because from the way tech world has reacted, it seems like this dude found the frickin’ Holy Grail) before the police did. Turns out just the guy’s roommate was there, who would not let them.
   • Apple of course took this course of action to re-obtain what was rightfully theirs, but perhaps there was something more to it?
3. Since Apple likes doing things behind closed doors, why launch a very loud and public police investigation?
   • This could only keep them in the public eye longer, and thus continue to be on people’s minds. The iPad was released a few weeks before this news broke, and over those few weeks until around the 19th Apple was in the headlines with iPad reviews and impressions. The Wifi+3G iPad is going on sale this weekend, but this debacle will definitely keep developing until Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) which begins on June 7th. At that point Apple will likely releasesomething, perhaps even the very device that has been exposed here – expect stock prices to explode.
4. Apple’s key to marketing has been getting consumers ripe with anticipation for a product’s release. Once the thing is unleashed, the world pounces on it like leopards! (Yes, yes; that was a slight nod to Apple’s OS)
   • Some of the hardware Gizmodo uncovered answer many of worlds cries for what they have wanted to see on the iPhone for a while: front-facing camera (I’m excited for that), “much higher resolution screen than the iPhone 3GS” (though not “HD” – perhaps something better? Something alien-like?), larger back-camera (my own speculation would be a 5 megapixel cam (Update: Looks like my speculation may hold some ground: Check out this rumor via Engadget), and  camera flash.
   • Putting an iPhone out in the wild with these hardware specs is Apple telling their fanboys (and the world) that they are listening and taking their pleas into consideration. Even if this isn’t the final design we may see at WWDC, Apple just earned like a bazillion kudos points with it’s consumers.

So, now that I have imparted by knowledge onto you – what do you think? Marketing scheme or a complete screw by what may now be a once great company (ok, maybe that stretching it a bit)?

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Actually, it is more likely to turn computers OFF.

If you’re a Windows XP user and you are presented with an option today to download an update to McAfee (anti-virus software), do yourself a favor – DON’T. A seemingly routine McAfee update has caused computers running Windows XP to shut down. WORLDWIDE. Since many corporate entities operate on Windows XP, this is going to cause quite the problem. Engadget.com has reported that they know that an Intel facility as well as Dish Network call centers have been affected, but that’s only an initial report.

For the nerds among us, Engadget described the issue as being: “DAT update 5958 deletes the svchost.exe file, which then triggers a false-positive in McAfee itself and sets off a chain of uncontrolled restarts and loss of networking functionality”. Basically – the computer thinks that it is infected when it is not. Sort of like a really bad reaction to a vaccine.

Since the incident has occurred McAfee has (obviously) pulled the faulty update from their site and has released a fix for said update. A fix which only works for those who have not been affected by the bug. Yikes! Even with a fix, a McAfee tech needs to personally attend to each machine affected. Looks like we’re going to be hearing about this one for a while. The day the terminators turned on themselves.

As you would imagine, Twitter is all aflutter, as it always is when something BAD happens. Some cursing McAfee to all kinds of high heaven, others thanking G-d that they have a Mac (like me!).

So, anyone here think this might be a deliberate attack? Or some McAfee tester really screwed up (like messed with the world economy kind of screwed up)? Are we all soon doomed to a computer-less existence (at least an XP-less existence)?

(Originally posted on I On T3chnology – Jake’s official tech blog)

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From day 1, Twitter’s “business model” was split up into two parts: 1) Create a service everyone wants to use. With over 50 million registered users, I would say that part one has been fulfilled. 2) Figure out a way to make money from this service. Starting today, the wheels for fulfilling that goal have been put in motion.

Known as “Promoted Tweets”, this will be Twitter’s foray into actually making money. Since its beginning, Twitter and it’s co-founder Biz Stone have looked into different ways of monetizing the service, without pissing off its users. The model unveiled today, will follow Google’s highly successful ad model: insert ads at the top of the search results page that are related to the term being searched.

As described by Twitter:

“You will start to see Tweets promoted by our partner advertisers called out at the top of some Twitter.com search results pages. We strongly believe that Promoted Tweets should be useful to you. We’ll attempt to measure whether the Tweets resonate with users and stop showing Promoted Tweets that don’t resonate. Promoted Tweets will be clearly labeled as “promoted” when an advertiser is paying, but in every other respect they will first exist as regular Tweets and will be organically sent to the timelines of those who follow a brand.”

The first guinea pigs in Twitter’ first foray into actually turning profit (they hope) will be Best Buy, Virgin America, Red Bull, Sony Pictures, Bravo, and Starbucks Coffee.

I’ll admit it, I don’t really care much for Twitter. There, it’s out in the open. I have an account, I’ve tweeted a little bit (most of which are just automatic when I put up a new blog post), but I still haven’t found a need/use for it in my life. The times I use it most is when it’s to participate in some sort of contest. When I first got an account I was able to connect with fellow social media enthusiasts, but that kind of tapered off.

Since I am not a hardcore Twitterer, I can’t say for sure how this will impact Twitterers as a whole. But who said I can’t speculate?

As it stands now, these ads will only show up when you search for a specific term, a la’ Google Search. Over time, according to the Wall Street Journal, these ads may make their way into the stream users see when they log in to the site, which means they will even see the ads if they are using a third party app (Tweetie, Tweetdeck, Twidroid, etc.). Also, these ads will only be seen by 2% to 10% of Twitter users in the first few days of its initial rollout. So initially, I think these ads will not be intrusive or annoying at all. When they begin to roll out into the general tweet stream, that may be another story. Though many of these third-party applications have ways of filtering out tweets from the stream, so if you find them a pain in the ass, you can just get rid of them (essentially). Will Twitter know if the ads are being filtered? Even more, will they know if specific ads are being filtered?

Well that is why Twitter has built a set of rubrics for ads they call “resonance”. If an ad is performing poorly (doesn’t work, isn’t click/viewed/shared often), Twitter will notify the advertiser and pull the ad. This will benefit both the advertiser and the user.

How will Twitter decided which ads to incorporate into your stream? Whether it be based on geographic location (somewhat easy to do, considering most of twittering is done from mobile phone, the majority of which nowadays has built-in GPS chips), tweet history, or the types of people you follow, that is a question for a little bit down the road.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Well this sure isn’t something I’ve seen before. With all this “2010 is the year of the tablet” talk, did you feel that you were going to have to make the choice between a tablet and a laptop/netbook? Well Lenovo may just have the answer: Get both! The answer comes in their IdeaPad U1 Hybrid, a device that has yet to be revealed at CES (which starts on January 7th in Las Vegas). No one has actually gotten their dirty little mittens on “Hannah Montana” laptop, as I am dubbing it (because when you dock/undock the tablet/screen, its a whole different “person”! Get it?). In fact, after a quick Google News search, only Engadget has published an article about this interesting little hybrid.

Due to the dual nature of the IdeaPad U1, its specs need to separated into 2 lists:

While in full laptop mode (or, as “Hannah Montana”):

• CULV Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
• Windows 7 Home Premium
• 3.8 pounds

When the screen/tablet is removed (or, as “Miley Cyrus”):

• Powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon chip
• 16 GB SSD
• Boots Lenovo’s Skylight Linux interface

Price: $999

Release: Sometime in June

Tune back to The Gadget 411 for more detailed specs when Lenovo officially announced the U1 Hybrid at CES!

(In all honesty, I can’t wait until they release the IdeaPad U2. Talk about a product placement made in heaven Bono!)

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The new decade is already poised to start off in a huge way in the tech world. Google has a press conference scheduled for Monday in which they will be releasing the Nexus One, their first foray into the world of hardware. Some say this is going to be to the first “true” Google phone. Engadget already got their hands on one. Check out their first impressions.

Also, rumors have been at all time high for Apple’s “universe-changing” tablet/ebook/large-iPhone/iSlate(?). Rumors about this device have been around for at least five years, and kind of died down with the release of the iPhone and the iPod Touch. Now some serious sources like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and many others seem to be pretty confident that this “God gadget” will be coming in 2010. Some have even concluded that an Apple event will be held at the end of the month and will focus on the “mobile computing space” (aka a tablet). After waiting years for a touch-screen iPod because of rumors of its release every other week, I now only believe it when I see it. Though this time, with the fever pitch of rumors, I may just believe it before I see it. Just like the iPod changed the music industry this past decade, the Apple tablet may change the print industry over the next decade. The end of the month couldn’t come soon enough. If this “iSlate” actually does come out then, you bet you’ll be hearing from me about it!

So, which of these tech news items gets you excited/hopeful for the coming year/decade? Sound off in the poll after the break!

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On Christmas Day last Friday, the United States experienced its first serious terrorist scare in months. On a plane originating from Yemen, headed to Detroit, Michigan by way of Amsterdam, a man attempted to detonate an explosive device, but fortunately was unsuccessful. You didn’t come here to read international headlines, however, and chances are, you already knew about this. I bring this up because, with every new terror scare/attempt/attack, there are alway new policies put into place, new regulations implemented and new limitations put on travel, all in the hopes of improving our travel safety. These new regulations may have an effect on the technology we hold oh so dear. Continue Reading

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How much television do you watch? Now, how much television do you watch on your television? If you’re like me you don’t have time for such pesky things as TV schedules and minutes-long commercial breaks. In this day in age the Internet is king, and the king mandated that we the people shall get some TV whenever we want it.

As of last week, change that mandate from some to all: One the world’s largest cable service providers, Comcast, has bought NBC. You know, NBC! Aka the NATIONAL Broadcasting Company, aka the parent network of CNBC, Bravo and USA (among many others). With this merger, a big, drooling, fire-breathing, Chuck-Norrising, monster, behemoth has been born.

Comcast is the largest ISP (internet service provider) with nearly 20 million subscribers, and NBC, is well, NBC. So what’s so special about this merger? I’ll put it this way: Not only does Comcast not control the tubes that connect us all, they can control what flows through those tubes (in terms of digital entertainment).

Now, there are two camps probably forming at this point. On one side we have the “WTF Comcast?! Way to go and destroy my Net Neutrality dreams!” camp, and on the other side we have the “Woohoo! I’m so pumped because now I will have more access to all my favorite hit NBC shows like Community, The Office and 30 Rock (it’s comedy night done right, starting tonight at 8:30! Am I right NBC? That pitch was free, the next one won’t be)!

The latter camp has good reason to be excited. Today, no one pays attention to the schedules TV stations set up because God gave us things like Tivo and Hulu. When we want our entertainment, we get it. This Comcast-NBC deal will make this even more true than it already is.

Though this is exciting, I do also sympathize with the “WTF?!” camp. Comcast controlling what entertainment you consume means that it is the decider. Want to catch some Leno? No problem! “Here you go”, Comcast will say, “watch as much Jay as you want!” Now should you have the nerve to watch Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC, well Comcast may very well be to say “You want Kimmel? OK. As long as you pay us, not a problem.” I think I just got a shiver down my spine, because that could be one dark future.

Having to pay to watch Jimmy Kimmel, may be a scary notion, but you could come out from under the covers for a little bit, because nothing has actually been set yet. Thankfully you live in the United States of Insanely-complex-government-system-rica, and it likely will not be another year until you actually see the full effects of this merger. There’s the FCC, the FTC, the Justice Department and who knows who else that needs to approve this merger. This merger will be a hot topic in parts of Washington over the next year, and could seriously shake up how we get our Conan in a year’s time. Speaking of Conan, check out his take on this merger in a clip from The Tonight Show!

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One problem that plagues all tech devices today is the learning curve that one is required to learn in order to use any piece of hardware. Because, honestly, who wants to learn? As humans in the technological revolution, we’ve been bred to skip right on past the manual and teach ourselves how to use any given technology. What is an instruction manual but a complimentary coaster with every purchase?

Enter Pranav Mistry, who plans to do away with instruction manuals and the usual method of “guess-and-check” learning as we know it. His vision, called SixthSense which actually exists but still appears to be in its design phases, fully integrates a wearable computer with your natural hand motions. For example, say you want to take a picture, but you are either to lazy to take out a camera, or you simply don’t have the time to. Simply hold up both of your thumbs and pointer fingers like a director making a frame, and that shot is saved to the hard drive. Want to view, edit and/or email the pictures you took? Find a wall, draw a circle in the air with your fingers and the interface is projected onto the wall, just like that. All of these manipulations are made possible by a small camera that is part of the wearable ensemble. This camera tracks your fingers and interprets their motion as actions. Magic? That’s what it appears to be. But this is the future. Actually, no, wait. This is the present.

SixthSense has nearly limitless applications, including a computer on a piece of paper. Ya, I know, that seems a little beyond ones own imagination. Don’t believe me? See this and other examples of SixthSense in action in the video below.

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Oh it is so on! After just a couple of weeks out in the wild, Google Wave has itself a competitor. And it’s from Mozilla. Who knew? The war for the next best modern communication tool has begun. At least, it will soon.

A few weeks ago, Mozilla, as many of you may now as the company that brought you the Firefox browser, have announced plans to release a web application that they hope will streamline the way you intake information, called Raindrop. This comes right on the heels of the preview release of Google Wave, pegged by Google as what email would look if it were invented by today.Wave hopes to be another/new way to communicate. Raindrop wants to help you organize all the communication you already do.

After using Wave for a few weeks, with a couple of contacts, I found it to be just another thing to check. I already use AIM, Facebook Chat, Google Chat, and Twitter to stay in contact with humanity (let us not forget good ol’  face-to-face conversations). Even with a desktop application like Waveboard, I found no need for Wave, no way to integrate it into my online lifestyle.

Just about everyone these days uses Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, blah blah blah blah blah. If you read blogs, such as this one, chances are you know about and/or use just about every social media tool out there. There are tons. We all spend so much of our day checking on all of them for updates, it gets me thinking: how do we have the time to update if were always looking at other peoples posts and profiles? And, would we have anything to post, since were spending all of our time checking on what others are doing? It boggles my mind. Really, these are the most pressing issues in my life.

Hearing about Raindrop let me breathe a sigh of relief. It is not trying to be something entirely new. It takes your email, tweets, Facebook messages, flickr updates, YouTube posts, Google Docs, and whatever else you may have, and puts it all in one place. According to the Raindrop blog ,Raindrop is an effort that starts by trying to understand today’s web of conversations, and aims to design an interface that helps people get a handle on their digital world. There is so much information we need to digest, chances are you may miss the messages that are actually important. Messages that are from, like, real people.

Though only in version 0.1 (yes, point-one), if youre feeling ballsy, you can download the developer code from the Raindrop website. Mozilla, in typical-Mozilla fashion, wants YOU to play with their code. Come up with mock-ups, ask questions and hack away! Its open source, so go crazy!

Im excited! Are you?

Popularity: 7% [?]