By Graham K. Rogers

Opening Gambit:

Sharp eyes (and perhaps those not so sharp) will have noticed a changed image this morning. Instead of the usual muted Cassandra office shot with relevant books displayed, in honour (I think) of the Queen's 60 years on the British throne, the artist Banksy has provided a free poster for download that is available at Pictures On Walls, although I am not sure the idea is one of complete loyalty. But an icon is what you make of it. . . .

Apple Stuff

One of the expectations -- especially as the idea of working closer with Facebook was mentioned by Tim Cook at the All Things Digital conference last week -- is that there may be more integration of the social site with iOS 6. There are some details about this in an item on AppleInsider that appeared on Friday. There was more on this in a Tech Crunch item by MG Siegler although some of what he writes is just speculation.

Another thing that Cook said concerned some production of Apple products in the US: something which is of concern particularly to the NYTimes and US politicians who look the other way when it comes to banks, other tech companies and other industries. Some parts, most notably certain processors and glass are made in America, but the idea that a whole device could be made on a production line in the US has not been practical for years. Sam Oliver on AppleInsider has a look at the idea of production and explains why it is not realistic to expect to see this happen in the US. Nonetheless, even the mere suggestion that Apple could use Americans to make American products caused much hand-wringing in Taiwan, according to Patently Apple.

With iOS updates expected and other changes to be announced, it is also a fair bet, claims Electronista, that the App Store, Mac App Store and iBooks will also be part of a massive makeover.

And we mustn't forget the Apple TV. This has been going on for quite a while as a rumour that seems to have some semi-solid information behind it, but I must admit I am not sure and just read the rumours with a shrug. Eric Mack has information from Gene Munster, an analyst who does follow Apple, and he suggests that sometime next year, Apple will release a television in 2013 for between $1,500 and $2,000, but it is not going to revolutionise the world. Then he adds, Not yet. What nobody knows really is the type of delivery, but to be revolutionary Apple has to step outside the norms of cable or antenna, which probably means the Internet, but with an added service aspect. And with that, there may not be full access for world-wide delivery.

Friday saw an important day for users of Macs and OS X software, when Apple's new rules concerning sandboxing of apps for sale on the App Store must be complied with, Jeff Gamet (along with several other sources) reports on the MacObserver. Eventually, apps not sold via the store should have some sort of warning about trusted sources for users.

One major decision that went Apple's way was the choice of the Apple-designed nano-SIM that some companies had objected to. Apple incorporated some suggestions, but that was not enough for Nokia we read in an AppleInsider article. None of the sources I have looked at (like Electronista) are clear on whether Nokia will carry out the threat not to licence certain critical patents.

It was expected a week or so ago but there is a confirmation from Patently Apple that China has granted Apple a licence to use the iPad in the country. No news yet about the Proview dispute.

We have made comments in the past about the difficulty at times of telling the difference between Apple products and the Samsung clones -- Samsung seems to think there is nothing wrong with this -- but this has been taken to a new level with the Samsung Chromebox which bears more than a striking resemblance to the Mac mini. John Brownlee on Cult of Mac has a look at this shameless ripping off that Samsung does and links to other examples like the iOS home screen, the iPhone 3G, the iPod touch, the Smart Cover and even the iPhone commercial. My original link for this was MacDaily News and it is worth looking at this too with regard to the unusually sharp comments by the writer: critical of the way that Apple continues to do business with Samsung despite this situation.

On a related note a report on Electronista tells us that a judge has made a strong hint that Apple may prevail over Samsung in patent infringement cases. The judge used a comedy routine by Cheech and Chong as part of the way to explain the way he may decide the outcome. Electronista writes: The test refers to a straightforward way to identify a copy: "Does it look like it, feel like it, smell like it?" Although we understand the original may have been a little more coarse than this.

On Friday I had a message from Apple directed to all users of Mobile Me that the Gallery was to close on 30 June along with iDisk and iWeb. It was a warning to make sure that all files and photos were downloaded by then as the services would just end. Anything still on there would vanish.

The same day, I had an interesting day looking at a new app, called Echograph: an iPad app for putting animation into a still image (you start with movie clips). After putting the review of Echograph online late Friday, I woke Saturday morning to find a nice Tweet from them. Despite some of my minor criticisms, they liked what I had said. A follow-up email to my queries on the clarity of information arrived Sunday morning here and I was told that they are working on a tutorial to make certain of these things clearer.

I also commented on another update to the Dorna MotoGP app that had a fix for Audio streaming. The commentary is so useful, particularly the extras that come with it. As a good example, at practice on Saturday, viewers were treated to some superb slo-mo photography at one of the corners, catching the bikes at seemingly-impossible angles. The shots were slowed down almost to a stop and, as one of the commentators said about the red and white rumble-strip reflections in the rider's visor, this is something you would normally miss, adding that the shots are taken at 2,000 frames per second. As a comparison, the frame rate for the Slo-Pro app for the iPhone is 60fps.

Later on Sunday, while looking at the Dorna pages just before the races were run, I wondered about their live feed which I have seen advertised before. Was it really live? Would it really cover all three races that I normally watch on TV? The answer is yes. I subscribed for just the one race (that provides access for several days) to see what was available and wrote a review on this. While the TV has better quality video (just), there are none of the annoying breaks or inane comments from the local studio.

One of the reasons I bought the 64GB iPad was because of space considerations: apps, their data and the intention to use the device as a photography tool (storage and editing while on the road). I have also tried recently to decrease my use of the MacBook Pro while out as well. I resorted to deleting all of the music on the previous (32GB) iPad -- which is for sale by the way -- but now OS X Daily has one of its useful advice pages that shows how to make some space on the device. Their article is for the iPhone and the iPad.

When I owned my series of BMW K100 motorcycles a few years ago (I also had one that was used for off-road work), one of the essentials for touring was the well-designed, but expensive, aluminium panniers, that were originally made by Krauser. They finished the bike, made it more steady (it felt odd without them) and saved my legs once or twice when I went down. An item on OS X Daily has a series of pictures of a V-twin motorcycle with panniers made out of old PowerMac G4 computers. Ummm, very innovative, but it looks a bit wrong to me. Is that me being a purist Mac owner (active) or purist rider (retired)?

Talking of the big Macs, there has been a sort of petition on Facebook of late trying to push Apple into an update of what is a real workhorse. Apple of course is going to say nothing, so the idea of being ignored is a false idea and we will know nothing until Apple either announces a new MacPro, or more likely just updates the online pages. MacDaily News makes a comment that we should wait 9 days before jumping to such conclusions in reply to an article on Informationweek in which Kurt Marko suggests Apple is spurning its loyal customers. MDN doesn't take this far enough. Marko proves in that suggestion how little he knows about Apple.

Half and Half

Other Matters

I have been sort of horrified by the knee jerk reactions concerning the Facebook IPO. I have a wait and see attitude as sometimes (often?) when a company goes public, there is a drop in the initial share price. Memory, leave alone proper research on the subject, should tell pundits this. On a couple of occasions in the last week or two, I have suggested patience: a year, not 24 hours is a better gauge of how things may be. A voice of sanity on this very theme is provided by Jon Evans on Tech Crunch who is not a fan of Facebook by any means, but like me is exasperated by the short term thinking -- guided more by the desire for online hits than analysis -- that is talking the company down. As part of his evidence, Evans brings in another company that had a similar drop: Amazon. I rest my case. Wait. But in the meantime, read the article by Evans.

One of the wild reactions to the Facebook price is the idea put forward by Eric Jackson, on Business Insider that Apple should take the company over using its pile of cash. This is so misguided as to need an immediate smack-down. What utter idiocy. Do people really get paid for such ill-thought out advice to investors?

Taking into the fold a company as large as Facebook would inevitably alter the balance of the corporation and, while Steve Jobs is no longer CEO, Tim Cook and the other execs are likely to follow the lessons about sticking to what you do well (something that many other companies fail to take on board). It is this sort of takeover mania that many people on Wall Street favour that has a lot of companies in trouble.

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs.