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Archive for March, 2011

Apple to sell 600,000 iPad 2s at Launch

March 11th, 2011 by Joseph Ruthaford

iPad 2
Apple is looking to out sell the pace they had back when the iPad launched. The iPad 2 is currently onsale now as I am writing this and has been onsale for about 3 hours now online through Apple’s website. The Apple iPad sold 300,000 in its 24 hour launch period. An analyst at Creative Strategies Inc. said that the iPad line is the fastest selling technology product in history, measured by revenue. In 3 months, it hit $2 billion which is a milestone that took the iPhone more than 6 quarters to even reach.

The iPad 2 will be available in stores today as well. There are 236 Apple stores that will be closed between 3pm and 5pm to prepare for the release said a company spokesperson for Apple. There will also be more than 10,000 different retail locations that will carry the iPad 2. Such as AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Best Buy, Target and Walmart. So needless to say Apple has this all figured out and should have lots of sales of the iPad 2 in the next 24 hours.

I don’t think those Birds can be angry any longer!

March 10th, 2011 by Joseph Ruthaford

Angry Birds
One of the biggest mobile sensations is a game called Angry Birds. It was developed by a company named Rovio. Well they were looking for more money to make even more innovative and addictive type games. Well I think everyone was surprised to see they raised $42 million. The main investor is from Accel Partners and Atomico which was the venture fund that was started by Skype. The big reason for the investment is that Rovio wants to make a true franchise out of Angry Birds. As of right now the game has 40 million active users that are on multiple mobile platforms and that Rovio has sold over two million plush Angry Birds toys. So now they need to expand that maybe with a cartoon or something like that. While most of that investment will be going towards Angry Birds, who knows if they will be making another franchise to go along with it. Let hope all of this money doesn’t turn those Angry Birds into Happy Birds or else what would be the point of the game?

Social Networking: About to become a bit more profitable?

March 9th, 2011 by Joseph Ruthaford

DK
Remember when everyone had a myspace account and it was the cool thing to have? Then all of a sudden Facebook come to be and crushed myspace to oblivion. Then you have twitter which seems to be living in harmony with Facebook, although some of my friends feel more comfortable on Twitter then on facebook but still have a Facebook account. Me personally I didn’t jump on the Twitter bandwagon but I might start. Now the reason I brought up these social networking platforms is because one of them is starting to evolve. It may even evolve into a bigger enterprise then it already is. It has been announced that they are testing renting movies through Facebook. Today the Warner Bros. movie The Dark Knight will be on rental through Facebook. This is just a test says Warner Bros. and Facebook really has commented on anything specific about the whole rentals thing. Plus you have to question why they are testing it with a movie that is about three years old. Now granted it was an instant classic in my book but don’t you think Warner Bros. would have tried it with a movie that is just coming out to DVD to try and make a splash?

The one thing that seems to be brought up in all of this talk is that this could affect Netflix but I think it really won’t. Netflix is a subscription service and this Facebook rental thing is more of an ondemand type thing. Now maybe if this catches on it could affect digital rentals from place like itunes and Amazon but anyone saying this could affect Netflix I think is barking up the wrong tree. I have tons and tons of movies and TV shows at my disposal from Netflix for less than 10 bucks a month and that is hard to beat. Although I can’t blame Facebook for trying to do such a move, I mean Apple had $1.1 billion worth of virtual goods through Apple’s iTunes store last quarter. So maybe it is companies like that they should worry about.

Will E-Books be the next big digital piracy?

March 8th, 2011 by Joseph Ruthaford

piracy
Now me personally I was never a huge reader and then things like digital books and comics came out and me being a tech person it was perfect. If I wanted to read I could get the book from my own home and not clutter my place up with books. There was a time when digital books were reasonably priced and people were happy to pay. Well rumblings are starting grow with the fact that 7 top publishing companies have agreed on the agency price model. This model will allow their books to be in the Apples iBookstore and with the iPad 2 launching most publishers would feel out in the cold if they couldn’t present their books on the Apple platform. This agency model if you are unaware gives 70% profit to the publisher while the rest goes to the retailer. This does also allow for the publisher to set the price and not the retailer and in some case in Europe there are investigations on whether or not this is actually constituted as price fixing and the work of an illegal cartel.

So there is a very big deal that goes along with what was said above. The pricing is somewhat unfair to the consumer. I have pulled some information that might be shocking to you readers. Here is a breakdown of a few books via digital purchase or from buying from your local bookstore.

Title: The Kite Runner
Digital: $12.99
Paper back: $7.81

Title: A Thousand Splendid Suns
Digital $12.99
Paperback $9.40

So no paper, no glue, shipping or bindings needed and yet the digital is more expensive? That sounds like extreme greed to me and when people see this type of greed going on other people step in and start pirating these products. We have seen it with music and movies and now books might be the next thing to be pirated. It something to keep an eye on, will this work or will it be a bigger issue coming down the pike with how the publishing companies are pricing these books. Only time will tell if greed will win out on this, I think it most likely will only due to convenience and the owners of Kindles and iPad’s will pay more for the convenience of downloading a book which doesn’t take up space and you have to typically go to a store to get.

Western Digital spends $4.3 Billion to purchase Hitachi

March 7th, 2011 by Joseph Ruthaford

WD and Hitachi
Western Digital has just announced that they have put a major deal in place to acquire a top competitor in their field. Hitachi Global Storage technologies are now being acquired by Western Digital.

This is not the first time a major competitor has been bought out. Back in 2005 Seagate purchased Maxtor for just about $2 billion. The deal for Hitachi is broken down to #3.5 billion in cash and $730 million in Western Digital common stock. It is unclear how this deal with work on whether or not Western Digital will keep the Hitachi brand name or use some of the more unique designs Hitachi has been developing and label it a Western Digital product. This is a very interesting situation as now it has come down to a two dog race in Western Digital and Seagate. There is still some competition the wings like Samsung but we all know that the two main hard drive companies are WD and Seagate.

Whatcha gonna do when iPad 2 runs wild on YOU?

March 6th, 2011 by Joseph Ruthaford

iPad 2

I am trying to add a bit more to my blog by adding funny titles like this. I hope you enjoy it! This blog is really about how many iPad 2’s are going to be shipped in the spring of this year and whether or not that will even be enough to meet the demand.
Apple is said that they will be shipping 12 million iPad 2’s this spring alone. Apple will also be able to get 6.5 million out before April. Most insiders think that around 21.5 million to 24 million will ship in the last half of 2011.
This is something watch to see how fast they actually sell out. It seems that Apple have been deliberately conservative to avoid any type of over stock on the product. In my perspective the iPad 2 will sell out and be difficult to find. With most new tech toys it is usually really hard to get it after the first day usually. Let’s hope Apple steps up to the plate and answers if we have any issues with supply of the iPad 2.

Windows Phone 7: Update issues!

March 5th, 2011 by Joseph Ruthaford

WP7 Error
As I keep hearing more and more commercials for the new Windows phones. That have a pretty screen, a new lovely interface that includes such things as Xbox Live support and being able to stream Netflix which in my opinion is nice, Windows still has its issue.

None more disturbing than an update error that has been problematic for Samsung users who want to get the phone’s March update. This is the first Windows Phone 7 update and I am really not shocked that this update is not going through properly. Windows in my opinions has never been very good at implementing updates for the most part especially if they are critical. Such as the XP and Vista service pack update debacles.

Right now there is no fix for this error and it shows up as the code “error code 800705B4.” Sometimes you can reboot, remove apps, free up space on the mobile device may help alleviate this error but apparently not for everyone. Microsoft is telling people now to hold off on downloading the update. So if you are one of the lucky few who read my blog and have a Windows Phone and haven’t updated it yet, well you’re safe and with any new Windows product that has an update I usually hold off for a few until I have heard the update doesn’t crash your system. A hard lesson learned back in the XP service pack update days.

Apple in the works of unlimited usage of music downloads

March 4th, 2011 by Joseph Ruthaford

itunes
With Apple introducing yet another device to its unbelievable line up devices, Apple is currently in talks with major record companies across multiple devices. So far Apple has been negotiating with companies including Vivendi SA Universal Music group EMI Group Ltd, Warner Music Group Corp, and Sony Music Entertainment and an agreement could be announced as early as midyear said some sources close to the negotiations.

What this arrangement would do is give users more flexibility in how they access music. Apple and the record labels are trying to find more ways to keep the demand for music downloading popular with services like Pandora who don’t sell music but yet let individual’s stream music from whatever device supports it.

This deal would give iTunes users the ability to have a permanent backup of the music you purchase if the originals are lost or damaged. This would also allow downloads to the multiple Apple devices such as the iPad, iPod and iPhone that are linked to the same accounts. This would move them a step closer to a universal access to content stored directly on the net.

Everyone is being hush on the situation, no groups have officially spoken on what this deal will actually entail, and at this point it is really based on speculation and what I have read from other sources.

Launching the iPad 2

March 3rd, 2011 by Joseph Ruthaford

iPad 2
It has been announced that iPad 2 is launching and Apple says 2011 is the year of the iPad 2. This basically squashes rumors that Apple was looking for a 6 month window between the iPad 2 and 3. Here is a breakdown of what Apple released on the iPad 2. It will be 33% thinner and 15% lighter than the first iPad. It will still have a 9.7 inch LED-backlit LCD screen and will have the new dual-core A5 processor for the fastest performance and graphics up to date. It also comes with two cameras! One in the front that will be able to utilize the FaceTime feature and Photo Booth. The rear facing camera can take 720p HD video, bringing the Facetime feature to iPad for the very first time. It also comes with up to 10 hours of battery life and it will be available in black or white this time around and they will be able to run on AT&T and Verizon 3G networks.

This iPad will have the iOS 4.3 which is right now the latest version of the most advanced mobile OS. Comes with a better Safari for mobile browsing, iTunes, enhancements to AirPlay, the choice to use the iPad side switch to either lock the screen rotation or mute audio and personal hotspot to share an iPhone 4 cell data connection over a Wi-Fi connection. Some more features are a built-in gyro for advanced gaming, HSUPA support for enhanced 3G uploading speeds on iPad2 Wi-Fi and 3G on AT&T. Also has HDMI Video Mirroring that lets users mirror their iPad on a HDTV using an optional adaptor.

Finally here is the pricing and availability of the iPad 2:
iPad 2 with Wi-Fi will be available on March 11 for a suggested retail price of $499 (US) for the 16GB model, $599 (US) for the 32GB model, $699 (US) for the 64GB model. iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G will be available for a suggested retail price of $629 (US) for the 16GB model, $729 (US) for the 32GB model and $829 (US) for the 64GB model. iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G compatible with the Verizon network will be available in the US only for a suggested retail price of $629 (US) for the 16GB model, $729 (US) for the 32GB model and $829 (US) for the 64GB model. iPad 2 will be sold in the US through the Apple Store.

This looks like iPad will once again set a strong standard on the mobile tablet world.

Android has a malware scare!

March 2nd, 2011 by Joseph Ruthaford

Android infected
It has been reported that Google pulled 21 free apps from the Android Market. It seems that the apps are malware that are getting root access to the user’s device, gathering a wide range of available data, and also downloading more code to it without the user even knowing of the download.
Google has removed the apps once notified by the Android Police bloggers. The most unfortunate thing is that the applications in question have already been downloaded by at least five hundred thousand Android users.

The major problem is that they are actually basic replicas of popular free apps already out on the Android market. The apps in question however are all pirated versions of the games and utilities. The way it works is that once the item is downloaded it roots your device using a method like rageagainsttthecage, and then what it will do is use an Android executable file to take the users and devices data. The final part is it leaves your phone open for more malware code to be downloaded.

I have found the list of all the apps that have the malicious code that has been created by an entity called Myournet.

• Falling Down
• Super Guitar Solo
• Super History Eraser
• Photo Editor
• Super Ringtone Maker
• Super Sex Positions
• Hot Sexy Videos
• Chess
• 下坠滚球_Falldown
• Hilton Sex Sound
• Screaming Sexy Japanese Girls
• Falling Ball Dodge
• Scientific Calculator
• Dice Roller
• 躲避弹球
• Advanced Currency Converter
• APP Uninstaller
• 几何战机_PewPew
• Funny Paint
• Spider Man
• 蜘蛛侠

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