Apple Announces New iPad
Earlier today in San Francisco, Apple’s top executives took to the stage to announce their latest creation – the new iPad. About a year in the making, the new iPad builds on the success of the iPad 2 as well as advancements made with the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S.
OS X Mountain Lion, What You Need To Know
In a rather subdued way, Apple announced the first developer preview of OS X Mountain Lion, the next version of the “world’s most advanced operating system”. Building on the revolutionary changes from last summer’s release of OS X Lion, Mountain Lion is said to be bringing over 100 new features and improvements to the operating system focusing on bridging the gap between the iPad/iPhone and the Mac.
While the individual applications and features are worthy of praise, the most significant change is the shift the Mac is making. Originally the hub of your entire digital life, Apple is utilizing iCloud to make your desktop or laptop computer just another part of your daily tech life. Content, documents, music, photos, videos, notes, reminders, and more are all stored in the cloud and can be accessed and changed no matter where you are.
Since the developer preview has been only out for a matter of hours, there is still a lot to be learned about what exciting features are packed away in the update but here’s a breakdown of what we do know.
Top Travel Apps for Smartphones
With only a few weeks left before Thanksgiving Break and the Winter Holiday right behind it, everyone is preparing for the exodus from Syracuse (or somewhere else). Whether you’re carpooling with friends, flying home or taking a train, technology apps can make the process of getting home or getting away so much easier. Here are just a few of the top travel applications for your smartphone.
Steve Jobs, 1955-2011
Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.
It’s difficult to imagine what our lives would have been like without the creative genius, passion and drive of Steve Jobs. A visionary creator and perfectionist to his very core, Steve is responsible for the direction the entire technology world is heading in. News broke earlier this evening that at the age of 56, Steve Jobs had died. For years now, Steve has been battling pancreatic cancer and after stepping down as Apple’s CEO only a few months ago, news of his death came as a sudden shock to the Apple community.
Apple Announces iPhone 4S, New iOS 5 Features and More!
It’s almost as though the entire tech world stops at the mere mention of a new device coming out of Apple. Late last week, Apple sent out invitations for the media to attend a special announcement at their Cupertino compound. While the exact reason they were being called was unknown, the tagline “Let’s talk iPhone” on the invitation provided all the information anyone needed.
For months now, people have been clamoring for more information on the next iPhone. Ever since the release of the first iPhone in 2008, Apple has released refreshed models on a pretty consistent (and predictable) cycle. As the date approached, more and more information started coming out about what CEO Tim Cook would present on stage. Would we seen a totally new iPhone 5, with a tapered design and 4″ screen? Sure, it sounded convincing, until inventory pages started being updated with references to an iPhone 4S. Would Apple release two phones?
Here’s what you need to know from today’s announcement.
Initial Thoughts on Google+
It was only about an hour after I finally caught up on my RSS feeds that I discovered the “buzz” about Google+ had started. (See what I did there?) Luckily, a friend of mine on Twitter happened to ask if anyone wanted an invite and a few minutes later I was in!
I hadn’t read too much of the information regarding Google’s new social network but I walked in with an open mind. Overall, I found it to be a refreshingly simple and easy to use networking experience. The UI and UX are clearly well-polished and the consensus has been that it looks so good, it doesn’t seem like a Google product.
While a lot of people are quick to compare it to Facebook (rightfully so, it’s marketed as a social network), I’m thinking of it more as a more in-depth Twitter. The way I’ve been using it is as another way to share content about stuff I’m interested in. Whether that’s technology and social media articles I find or even just the way I’m organizing people, it’s all stuff I wouldn’t really do on Facebook. I’m curious to see how Google+ takes off and if Facebook people make the migration. For the time being, I think they can co-exist.
While it’s still in early testing, I’d like to see some sharing abilities like Twitter sharing. I’ve found a lot of people cross-posting on Google+ and this kind of integration would be really great. Also, the only way to “find friends” right now is with Gmail, Yahoo or Hotmail. What about Twitter, Facebook, MobileMe, AIM, etc? Could be a great way to get people on board.
While initially, it was easy to hand out invites once you were in yourself, Google has clearly become overwhelmed with the demand and temporarily disabled this feature. You can still add people to your Circles (I’ll explain more below) but people will no longer be automatically invited.
Profile
At its most basic level, Google+ is a re-do of Google Profile. If you had already created a profile, your information was immediately moved over to Google+. Additionally, links to your Google Profile will now take you right to Google+ automatically.
Notifications
One of my favorite features of Google+ has got to be the way they handle notifications. An unobtrusive counter at the top of the page, when you receive a new notification, clicking it will allow you to perform actions and interact with that notification directly. If you receive a comment on something, clicking on the notification will immediately open the entire conversation right in the notification panel. From there, you can comment, mute the conversation and anything else you can think of.
Circles
A really interesting way to organizing your friends, Circles allows you to sort your friends, family and coworkers into different categories. These Circles are found all over Google+ and you can choose to share information with specific people or an entire circle. On your dashboard, you can filter your stream to isolate or include specific circles of people.
As of right now, there’s not too many people on Google+ so adding someone to a circle will invite them to join as well.
Sharing
The sharing feature of Google+ is pretty neat. It’s exactly what you’d expect it to be allowing you to post status updates, upload images, videos and links and can even tag your location. Much like the @ feature on Facebook, you just need to put a + in front of someone’s name to tag them in a post as well.
Sparks
As I started exploring, I thought to myself “I wish there was a way to find content on this thing”. Sure enough, Google thought of that too. Sparks is a cool way to track a topic and get a constantly updating feed of content. The process is very similar to tracking a tag on Twitter or Tumblr.
Photos
Taking a lot of cues from Facebook’s photo application, Google+ takes it one step further with photos. With the features you’d expect, it also includes the ability to add effects and edit photos directly from the website.
Huddles
This is basically just a group messaging feature. Useful, clean and simple.
Hangouts
I haven’t had a chance to try this feature but it’s basically a group video/voice chat feature much like Skype or iChat video. The weird detail of this is that anyone can see you’re having a hangout. People can even join in to the conversation. Seems like a good idea for a quick group conversation but it’s not private by any means.
+1
For whatever reason, Google+ makes me think of the new Digg. That recently released +1 feature plays a big part in your profile. Anything you +1 on Google will be shown in a feed of what you consider useful information. Right now, there isn’t much to display but the more you use it the better Google+ will portray your interests.
Mobile Application
Right now, Google+ has a compatible Android application only (shocker). According to a support document released by Google, an iOS application is coming and is actually waiting to be reviewed by Apple and should be out pretty soon.
In the mean time, Google has a really awesome HTML5 web app that is customized to your device. It looked and worked great on both the iPhone and iPad and while it doesn’t offer you the ability to do everything you can on the native website (or with the upcoming native app) it is definitely a good temporary fix.
What happened at WWDC?
I’ve already been asked close to twenty times today, “So what happened at the keynote?”. As excited as I am for the announcements about OS X Lion, iOS and iCloud, it is getting a little old explaining it, so here’s a quick summary of the big stuff.
The keynote video is available online … if you have the time, watch it. They go into detail on all the new features and seeing it makes the difference.
On to the details…
Your Personal Brand (And Why It Matters)
I was lucky enough to spend the day in New York City with some awesome iSchool students representing Syracuse University at a personal branding conference known as Brand Camp NYC. What I took away were some invaluable tips on personal branding and why it’s so important to your success.If you had asked me just 24 hours ago what I was doing to elevate my personal brand, I probably would’ve told you that I didn’t have a “brand”. After my experience at BrandCamp, a day-long conference featuring some of the brightest social entrepreneurs out there, I can safely say that I have a new appreciation for the art of cultivating and crafting your social identity and why it matters so much to your personal success.
Everything you do in your social and professional life, especially the things you talk about on social media, becomes part of your “story”. To your friends, your story is where you go and what you do with others. To a potential employer, your story is a look into your life – providing them with an idea of what to expect from you. Both the good aspects and the bad will be part of your story and it is extremely important that you cultivate your life and media to reflect the high points. Secondly, you need to be able to “put your money where your mouth is” when it comes to meeting people. If you can’t live up to the brand you’ve created for yourself, it’ll be very difficult for people to believe what you say.
The reason that many people, including myself, choose not to pursue some of their ideas and passions is for fear of failure. What I learned by listening to the great minds at this conference was that failure truly is inevitable in your life and career and that through these failures, you’ll build up the experience and knowledge to achieve an even greater success. This theme was one that came across in almost every presentation. Each of these entrepreneurs have experienced their fair share of failures and attribute this to their success more than anything else. The lesson to be learned is that failing is okay…provided you learn from these experiences and keep trying.
Remaining relevant is one of the easiest things you can do to establish yourself. Once you find your passion and get over your fear of pursuing it, you need to keep at it! It will not always be easy but through your personal dedication, you will eventually be recognized for your efforts. Social media has given everyone a unique change to become “experts” at what they love and show this expertise by surrounding yourself with like-minded people. If you can remain relevant and post thought-provoking content that demonstrates your knowledge (and more importantly, your passion), it will not go unnoticed.
The most important thing I took away from BrandCamp was the idea that everything you do in life becomes part of your identity. People can only judge you based on what they know, but with modern applications like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn, it is becoming easier and easier for people to quickly discover what you’re all about. If you don’t take care to maintain this brand, it could end up hurting you. Just as you craft your resume to highlight your best attributes and experiences, you need to start doing the same online. The speakers at this conference were all the same in that they ignored their fears and acted on their ideas. They were met with both failure and success and learned more than anyone could have hoped for in the process.If you start dreaming bigger, start engaging your community and start shaping your story, you can be successful too.
48 Hours With iPad 2
So, I’ve officially had iPad 2 for about 48 hours and I absolutely love it. Some thoughts:
- It’s really fast. I was getting annoyed by all the headlines that it “screams”. But it actually does. Whether you’re multi-tasking or just flipping through pictures, it’s wicked fast and takes new tasks like a champ. Ton of improvement here.
- It’s really light. The original iPad was a brick. Sure, it wasn’t as heavy as a laptop but I’ll never forget walking into the store after waiting on line for six hours to pick up this hunk-a metal and glass.
- It’s nice to hold. When I took iPad 2 out of the box and picked it up, it felt really nice. That might sound stupid to some people but the original iPad had a much bigger feel to it. This one is much nicer to just pick up and walk around with.
- Smart Covers are awesome. Yep. The idea is really nice. My one complaint: When you want to protect the screen and the back – as in when you’re moving around with iPad 2. I like that it folds back to let me place it on a table without risking the back getting scratched, I now have to put the smart cover on and then put the whole thing in a sleeve.
Other than that, iPad 2 is just a modest improvement over the original. Sure, the FaceTime cameras are a nice touch, the ability to run apps like Garageband and iMovie is cool and the Gyroscope does something cool for games. But all in all, it’s not really that different. If you put iPad 2 in a case, you could probably not even know the difference (minus the speed).
Still, I think it’s a worthwhile investment. Even if it just makes it easier to sell when iPad 3 comes out, it’s a great device and one I would recommend to either new iPad owners or those that have the original.
AT&T 3G MicroCell
A few weeks ago, I saw an article on 9to5Mac about how some AT&T users were receiving emails saying they would be receiving AT&T’s new “3G MicroCell” for free. My first thought – where’s my email? I didn’t even know what it was, but it was free and being given away so I knew I wanted one.
I called AT&T and they gave me the usual speech about how this is a “limited rollout” in “isolated areas of poor 3G coverage” blah blah blah. I forgot about it. A few weeks later, I got an email from my mom. Apparently, she made a few phone calls and AT&T told her that we actually DO live in an area of “poor 3G coverage” and were eligible. They flagged our account and told her to go to the local AT&T store and they would get her set up. She went the next day and the representative handed her a 3G MicroCell… totally free of charge.
So you might be asking “What’s the catch?”. I know I was. Surprisingly, there is none. No hidden fees, no additional setup or charges to your account. I just set it up and couldn’t be happier.
