By Graham K. Rogers

Opening Gambit:

Apple Stuff

A lot of sites are reporting that the five years of the Apple iPhone have produced $150 billion in revenue for Apple. Although it was announced in January 2007, it did not appear for sale for a few months and this Friday is the anniversary Neil Hughes reports for AppleInsider. That $150 billion isn't bad for a product that experts like Ballmer or Rob Enderle among others said was doomed to failure: everyone has been playing catch up ever since. Josh Lowensohn writing on this has a headline that shows how some still do not get the point: "From uncertainty to runaway hit". No uncertainty over here.

I was there in 2007 and the realisation of what this could do was clear to many right away. Getting my hands on it the next day was also a sort of confirmation. But those who did not (like Ballmer -- above) were the loudest critics and everyone wanted to listen to them. They still haven't learned that one and were all fawning over the Surface recently

As well as the arrival of the iTunes music store in this region (see Local Items, below) there was a release of an app for Podcasts that we had all thought was going to be coming with iOS 6. it is here now and a couple of reviews are out already, with Michael Rose on TUAW the first I found. I also mentioned the excellent one by Cody Fink on MacStories earlier in the week.

There was also some criticism about the interface, but this needs to be taken in the context of what Megan Lavey-Heaton reports on TUAW. Lovingly, Apple has used the same sort of design that was in a 1960s reel-to-reel tape recorder designed by Dieter Rams. The iOS calculator also has a Dieter Rams look.

Someone who did not like it was Rick Broida although as he is a fan of podcasts, he helpfully offers three alternative apps that he feels do a better job: Downcast, Instacast, and Stitcher Radio.

There was also a revealing bit of information reported by Mikey Campbell on AppleInsider. A Redeem button is available in the iOS 6 app, but not the iOS 5 app I have. It is suggested that this indicates the possibility that Apple is looking into monetizing podcasts, although there are other possibilities.

This might fit in with a report that I read in an article by Steven Musil concerning an overhaul of iTunes which is expected to increase iCloud sharing and add new features to the services.

I am often amazed by the care taken by some developers, not only Apple. I found some really neat interface design this week in a free photography app called Aviary that I reviewed Thursday evening: a must-have.

Apple has just been granted a lot of patents we are told by Patently Apple who outline information concerning an inductive charging dock, an iOS Patent for Scrolling Lists, Rotating & Scaling Documents on Touch-Screen Displays and another for Resizing User Interface Content. There are 27 in all.

We always look for useful advice on OS X Daily and this week they are reporting about the new MacBook Air that is having kernel panics. It does not appear to be an Apple problem as all crashes are occurring when Google Chrome is in use. It is suggested that Safari or a build of Canary will stop this problem.

There is also an article on typing tips for iOS devices on OS X Daily on Friday morning.

I do almost all of my presentations these days on the iPad, with the occasional use of the iPhone. Both have Keynote installed, and with iCloud, the presentations are synchronised automatically: a change on one device is done on the other automatically. The Mac is a little different and we have to trasnfer the file via iTunes (or to the iCloud via a browser) although that will change with OS X 10.8, Mountain Lion which should be here soon. Erica Sadun has a brief preview of what we might expect when it arrives.

I confirmed with the teachers in the department where I work that if students want to do presentations using devices like the iPad or Samsung things that some have, that would be OK. All agreed that it was the content on the display that they wanted: the device was immaterial, as long as it worked. Handheld devices may be an improvement on what I have seen over the last few years with the PCs that students have.

After one of the presentations I did in a class this week, a group of students came up and asked me about Keynote and I gave an impromptu demo of creating, editing and downloading presentations from iTunes. I probably sold one or two in that short session.

I have had some emails from Apple recently reminding me and I in turn remind you that tomorrow (30 June) is the last day for data on Mobile Me. After that, it is gone.

Another update for Aperture was released this morning. There is just one comment concerning the new version (3.3.1): "Fixes an issue that in rare cases could cause Aperture to hang or quit unexpectedly when upgrading libraries" The download file size is shown as 554.9 MB on my computer, so leave some time for this.

Also reported to be released are a "plethora of printer driver updates" according to Topher Kessler: from Canon, Epson, Lexmark, Infotec, Gestenter, Ricoh, Savin, Lanier, InfoPrint, and NRG.. These did not appear in my check with Software Update but then I never use a printer with my computers these days. In the rare case that I want some output, I put it on a flash drive and ask the secretary.

Half and Half

As part of the blocking, Apple posted a bond of $2.6 million, as a form of protection for Samsung if the decision later goes against Apple, AppleInsider reports.

I have written about the copying that Apple's competitors have done on a number of occasions and my main point about most of the devices produced is that they just don't get it. PixoBebo has a critical look at the clones in the light of the recent Microsoft Surface release: and the more I read about that, the more it seems this is not the solution they were looking for.

With the surface came the keyboard and I am happy that this was an option on the iPads I have had, although would like one sometimes. The one I bought is now left at home as I hardly ever used it and the weight was too much. John Kirk on Tech.pinions has a look at the obsession that Microsoft seems to have with the keyboard and the tablet in an article that is worth reading. My link for this was MacDaily News.

Did Google also try and join the club this week? It has produced something called a Nexus. This was the third book in an Arthur Miller trilogy with Sexus and Plexus going before. Somehow I do not think we will see a Google Sexus. Lots of sites had enthusiastic comments (like the Kindle Fire and the Surface before it) including Matthew Panzarino on TNW. We shall see.

With Google Maps about to be banished from the iPhone Maps app, Mountain View developers are going to have to create other ways to use their data if they do not want massive losses of income. Josh Lowensohn reports that it is expected that the 3D imagery is now available on Android devices and is expected to be heading for iOS soon too.

By one of those odd coincidences, Google has apparently released a version of Chrome for iOS. Frederic Lardinois on Tech Crunch has already run it through its paces and suggests that compliance with Apple's developer rules is limiting the performance.

We also read in an item by Kelly Hodgkins on TUAW that Google Plus is expected to be available soon for the iPad.

Other Matters

It is not really a surprise but AppleInsider is reporting that RIM is looking to licence the Messenger service as part of its survival strategy. That and the BlackBerry 10. They had better do something quick as I read somewhere that Redmond may be a suitor. Would that mean abandoning Nokia: a class act up there in Washington state.

There is phishing still going on and I received a notification that my Visa card "was withdrawn $1099,06" [sic] which is not bad considering the balance is reported in Thai baht. A quick look at the attached ZIP file I was told to open showed that inside was VISA_ID48832743.exe so no victim this time whoever "JavenFollett@allianz.de" (note the commas in the figure) and "cwjamaica.com" are.

A lot of companies are interested in the cloud these days apart from Apple with its iCloud and Microsoft. I must admit that some of the services now available are beginning to make sense. Electronista reports -- in a lengthy article with some useful photographs -- that Cisco have announced a new router -- next generation they say -- as well as other hardware. They are also looking to the cloud and as part of this they are asking developers to support the new systems.

Earlier in the week I wrote about the problems that banks in the UK had at the weekend. One part of the problem may damn the proponents of outsourcing as Anna Leach on The Register reports that half of those responsible were not in the UK, but were in India. Great if you want to pop out for a cup of tea, but not if your servers are crashing round everyone's head in the UK. Ms Leach explains the background to this disaster.

I am still trying to figure out how to persuade the students to take up my offer of the Raspberry Pi computer I have, but saw this week in an item by Andrew Webster on The Verge, that someone has created FishPi -- a small, autonomous boat that it is hoped will cross the Atlantic -- that has a Raspberry Pi as controller. I think FishPi is funnier than the original.

Local Items

When I wrote my comments, I must admit to being disappointed about the movie selection available. I did a search hoping I would find Sergei Eisenstein (Battleship Potempkin, Ivan the Terrible), Orson Welles (Citizen Kane), Chaplin, Truffaut . . . Nothing. Even Clint Eastwood only had one film listed and I find that really sad. Lots of blandness with only a couple of possibilities. I doubt if I will be using that part of the store much, if at all. The music is different, although one or two items were marked as unavailable here.

Mind you, if I thought we were poorly served here, pity those poor souls in Singapore where nanny state controls things with a tight fist. Sherwin Loh and Trevor Tan of The Straits Times report on the accidental availability of some movies when the service went live on Wednesday, including The Girl With A Dragon Tattoo which is rated R21 there; and "Pay-TV and video retailers . . . are currently not allowed to screen or sell R21 titles." Let's hope Thailand's Ministry of Culture doesn't get wind of that one.

Also in Singapore, the free island-wide wifi (sigh) is having a speed boost according to Irene Tham on The Straits Times. Launched 6 years ago (Bangkok users should now be weeping) the slow speeds have been an annoyance but now this is being addressed [sob, sob]. Bangkok does now have some free wifi in certain malls but you need to be signed up for it.

Late News

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.