By Graham K. Rogers

Opening Gambit

Apple Stuff

We know that he did not see things concerning skeuomorphism the same way as Steve Jobs or Scott Forestall, but now he is in control there so his ideas are likely to hold sway and a simpler interface is expected. Mark Gurman on 9to5 Mac among many others, suggest that the new display will have "a level of flatness approaching recent releases of Microsoft's Windows Phone Metro." Heaven forfend, say I, especially as Gurman's article had a screen shot of Metro: that is so confusing, especially for us simpletons using iOS.

The article does continue with some useful comments about possible changes, especially to that leather look for Contacts and also the interface of Calendar. I far preferred the clean look of earlier versions: nothing to get in the way.

Taking up the idea of the alleged flatness of the new iOS 7 design, Rene Ritchie sounds dubious when he asks How flat is too flat and asks readers to respond.

It is also suggested by MacNN (and a number of other sources) that there will be much more in-car integration. As a number of car manufacturers are already thinking along these lines with some closely working with Apple, this sounds right.

There was also some news on OS X from Mark Gurman on 9to5Mac this week with the comment that 10.9 will have "various power-user enhancements and take core features from iOS". A number of changes are expected to the way the Finder works; and a new version of Safari is expected. There are also expected to be some useful changes to the way Spaces works for those who work with multiple monitors. The article has a lot more information of what might be expected.

Despite the comments of Tim Cook about no new products until Fall, some rumours are still insisting that something will happen with the iPhone in June or July, which does actually go with a slip of the tongue made by the head of local carrier AIS a few months back. AppleInsider have information concerning a leaked document intended for staff of Japanese carrier KDDI that suggests they will be "taking preorders for Apple's iPhone 5S on June 20 ahead of a launch in July." No confirmations, but it does actually have 5S on it.

Was Tim Cook telling porkies?

And not just Tim Cook. The cofee with Tim auction that reached over $600,000 has been put back online as the winning bid was found to have been made with a stolen credit card (MacDaily News).

If Cook was telling us fibs, then he was telling lots and lots as AppleBitch also has a rumor this week concerning new MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models that will be announced at WWDC. This tale came from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo who has a fair track record, but is wrong sometimes. However this does repeat other rumours earlier in the week about use of the Haswell processor.

I was watching Bloomberg TV early Tuesday evening (I mean that really was the most interesting on all the channels I have) and there were a couple of comments I picked up on. One of these concerned Alisher Usmanov, the Russian billionaire who is the World's 30th richest man. He made a more than 10-fold return from his investment in Facebook. He recently spent about $100 million buying Apple shares in anticipation they will rise.

Well, some of the things Cook said, and some of the changes Apple have clearly been making to the way the finances are being handled, as outlined by Patently Apple has pleased some people and I see that late Tuesday the share price was up to $434 and rising. MacDaily News commented earlier that Apple had retaken that "Most Valuable Publicly Traded Company" title from Exxon. The shares jumped another $7 while I was sitting about Tuesday evening to reach $441, closing at just under $443.

The All ThingsD Conference is to take place later this month (28-30) and like last year, Tim Cook will be interviewed by Kara Swisher, AppleInsider reports. I bet she asks him about the Tim Cook is toast punditry.

There are pundits and there are pundits. Some we may take note of, but some leave us falling about laughing. Donald Trump is one of the latter, for his hair, for being permanently angry and for his outrageous comments. This week MacDaily News reports that the Trump says, "Tim Cook must immediately increase iPhone's screen size". So there. He also tweeted that he has a lot of Apple stock and that he misses Steve Jobs. He will be demanding Cook's ouster next, especially if the 5" iPhone does not appear.

And this is the perfect time to bring in Rob Enderle who, MacDaily News tells us, thinks Tim Cook is toast. MDN has one of its "Think Before You Click" warnings (rightly) but I did and the Enderle article is awash with errors and some lovely quotes that should be remembered and thrown back at a suitable time, like "Did Cook really miss everything Jobs should have taught him . . . or is there a plan afoot that we don't understand"

We? . . .

It gets better as the thesis is that Jobs thought he was going to survive his cancer [so why arrange for a biography to be written? Oh never mind] and put Cook in the CEO position "because Jobs knew he couldn't do the job and would be an excellent placeholder". Enderle manages to eke this out to 2 pages (click on his advertising, please) and criticises Cook for the new Apple HQ. The same Apple HQ that Steve Jobs presented at a Cupertino Council meeting. MDN was right on that "Think Before You Click." I can't wait for the Macalope to trample all over this. Kate MacKenzie on PixoBebo was on it right away.

It is not only such pundits that make questionable comments (Trump is both executive and a self-appointed pundit), Steve Ballmer sometimes leaves us agape with his predictions. Several sites made comments on the words of Thorsten Heins who is CEO of Blackberry, which is not a world leader right now, but they are working on it. One of their less successful products was a tablet that only did half a job and needed to link with a phone for email and other features that most people take for granted on (say) an iPad. Having shot and missed, what should they do? Try again or move the goalposts? Goalposts: the CEO is predicting that in 5 years there won't be a reason to have a tablet anymore. Charles Cooper reports on this (one of many) and adds some of the failed predictions of others who did not know when to shut up.

I commented last week that Horace Dediu conducted an email interview with Chosun Daily and that one of the interesting comments was the suggestion that Apple should buy Intel. This week, Jean-Louis Gasée writes a fictionalised future article in which the issue is discussed, with no mention at all of Horace Dediu. He makes a similar case to that made by Chosun Daily and in some ways it does make sense, but as it is a major supplier for most of the rest of the industry, they would have to keep it independent of Apple to maintain trust - like Samsung should have done. Will it fly? . . . [My link for this was MacDaily News.]

Of course, it may be that sales of PCs dwindle more and more as many users find the tablet - and the iPad - can do all that they want and only a few diehards and some enterprise keep on with PCs and Windows. But more and more may switch. While it has been covered several times in the past, it is useful for new users to understand the differences between using Windows and OS X, so Joe Kissell on MacWorld has an article that covers the moving of data between a PC and a Mac.

Although some analysts quote the number of devices shipped (not sold) which appears to make Android devices the leaders in the market place, actual use on the Internet, either through browsing or the use of apps suggests a different story. And use means money. The market for advertisement revenue is vast and not yet fully realised. Another item I picked up from the Bloomberg TV coverage I was watching was an interview with Sir Martin Sorrel head of WPP one of the world's largest ad agencies, who says that currently advertising investment in print media is high (too high), but that mobile with a far larger user base is under invested at 20%.

It is expected that advertising revenues from iOS could increase soon, Ben Lovejoy reports for 9to5Mac, as Apple is changing from the use of the UDID in the light of privacy concerns, to something called the IFA - or ID For Advertisers - which should clear up some legal compliance questions and Apple is ahead of the game on this.

As part of the continuing progress to the next update to OS X, MacNN reports that Apple has sent out another build of 10.8.4 to developers who are asked to focus on the same areas as before: graphics, Safari and Wi-Fi performance.

One of the many patent disputes that companies have with Apple was tossed out this week, we are told by Kevin Bostic on AppleInsider. Golden Bridge Technology was suing Apple over patents it holds regarding power level maintenance in CDMA 3G technologies, but the judge said the case was insufficient.

For those who have Thunderbolt ports, and presumably the cables that go with them, James Galbraith on MacWorld reports that Belkin have a new Thunderbolt Express Dock for $299. This was first announced back in January 2012 (12 not 13) and is finally shipping. I later saw that several other sources were reporting on this.

Half and Half

Now a new test is reported by KSFY that was done by a company called Square Trade that uses more scientific (read, unbiased) methods and has a breakability score index. They tested the Samsung Galaxy S4, comparing it to the S3 and the iPhone 5 and report that "the iPhone 5 was the clear winner".

While looking for that earlier drop test (and here is a link that has the video) I saw that the latest results were widely reported by a number of sites.

And then John Gruber had a link to a headline that you just could not make up: "Samsung's Mediocre S4 Reviews Are Bad News for Apple". Just think about that for a couple of nano-seconds. The argument that Salvatore "Sam" Mattera puts forward is that because the S3 was so good, and the S4 has less than stellar reviews, the HTC One is the way to go as well as all those other Android gems; and despite Apple's verical integration, Android fragmentation has its benefits. I am not making this up, that was actually what he wrote.

Other Matters

I have commented a number of times how governments - US, Europe and elsewhere - seem to think they have a right to delve into everyone's communications and it is only the public and the Courts that hold them in check. Mike Masnick on TechDirt writes about another attempt by the US DoJ to have tech companies provide some sort of wiretapping backdoor into communications systems or face rapidly escalating fines. As Masnick writes, the "DOJ really needs to learn that not everything must be tappable."

Several sites are reporting that David Ferrer tweeted an advertisement for the Samsung Galaxy S4 this week, but, like John-Michael Bond on TUAW, they also make the point that he did iot from his iPhone. This not the first time Samsung advertising by celebrities has gone wrong, and several sites were cringing at a Gangam Style advertisement that the company had put out in India. No style. No class.

Local Items

With my usual 24mm lens I can use the 12mm and 20mm extensions, but not the 36mm one, and certainly not all joined together. Changing the lens to one of those cheap ones that come with camera kits and has 18 - 70 settings allowed me to use the 36mm and a combination, but with all of these I cannot be so cavalier with light, nor with aperture as the depth of field is important with such close-ups.

Why the Vivitar (and I am quite pleased with this)? I narrowed my choices down to 4, when I looked on Amazon, but with three of them, Amazon would not ship here. The Vivitar was a touch more expensive than the others (about $10 more) but at least I now have this. Time for some practice.

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.