Apple Announces the Iphone 6

The latest release of the iPhone 5 has convinced Apple executives to announce the new iPhone6.  No release date has been published, although most technogeeks and Apple enthusiasts believe the new phone will be ready in time for a pre-Christmas release.  (See Video Here)  The new phone boasts new OLED technology which will give the phone a transparent look and will result in the thinnest phone yet.   The new A6 chipset also will open the iPhone app world to faster machine cycles per second or Mps.  In laymen's terms, it will be even faster than fast.  Meatmeter has also learned from insiders that there will be a new "jumbo" version of the phone with the largest screen area yet as well as the "wide" option.

Iphone 6 Jumbo Version

Iphone 6 Wide Version

 The new retinal display will also allow you to control your phone by just looking at it.  Two front facing cameras will allow you to control actions on the phone by using your eyebrows as well.  The two front facing cameras will also allow you to have a facetime conversation with yourself.  These cameras will also allow you to interact with Siri just by smirking (Siri senses this as sarcasm), or by smiling or frowning (Siri senses smiling as positive, while frowning is considered negative. note - OS 7.5 cannot yet distinguish a smirking smile or smirking frown so the user is stuck with one facial expression at a time)  Siri has gotten smarter as well, as she can now make phone calls for you and talk to your other friends who have iPhones and can actually develop and maintain a Siri to Siri relationship with no interaction needed by the user.  When asked about a Siri to Siri relationship, and as to whether this might be considered a homophonic relationship, Apple executives had no comment, although there is a setting in the phone that will allow you to change the Siri voice gender if this kind of thing bothers you, and it shouldn't since you should be a cool, hip, open minded Apple phone user.  After all, it's common knowledge that all stuck up, square, close minded people use Android phones anyway.  Meatmeter has also been able to obtain a video of some of the upcoming apps that will be available on the new iPhone 6. Just click here to see the "Coffee" and "Copperfield" apps that include coffee and donuts.  Iphone 6 Apps

This post is for all of you who stood in line to get an iPhone 5, and you know who you are!  I am happy with my Iphone 4 and my original iPad.  Fortunately for me, Apple products hardly ever break, you just get tired of them.  Glad I'm a slow adopter.  Meatmeter gives Apple a Well Done!

The Twilight of an Agave Plant

Yes, I know that the relase of the iPhone5 is imminent and that school just started and your child just recieved an iPad and you need help setting up an AppleID.  I also find myself engaged with many of Apple's products.  I have not yet been involved in a "business" PC to Apple conversion project yet, however, I do see the paradigm shift, especially with the plethora of young adults who adore Apple products.  One of my current clients is making the switch one "PC" at a time.  I'll save the techno-jargon for later because I just wanted to share the photo above (yes, taken with and Apple iPhone 4).  It is a picture of a giant agave plant on the way to my mother's house.  It caught my attention a few weeks back when it shot out a 35 foot bloom.  It turns out, the Agave Americanus plant saves it's best trick for last.  Besides the fact that it produces many products such as fibrous rope material, medicinal products, sweetener and even a form of Tequila, it also waits to bloom just before it dies.  A kind of last hurrah.  It throws it's center bloom upwards in days, sometimes growing over 6 inches a day.  The resulting bloom is tree-like and looks pre-historic.  That rate in growth gave it a "hey I didn't see that thing there yesterday", kind of come uppance.  I noticed, today, when visiting Mom, that the bloom had actually uprooted the plant somewhat from its weight and that the plant was leaning over on it's side with the bloom stalk resting on a nearby roof of an empty building.  The plant proper had begun to degrade into the beautiful different shades of colors you see in the picture above.  Well done Agave, I hope, when my time comes, that I can go out in that kind of style. 

Unique Techy Gifts

So, you have that hard to shop for significant other that is geeky.  He or she is a tech consumer and already has an iPhone, an iPad, an iEverything and all the other gadgets and gizmos on the market.  What do you do?  Jewelry for her and socks and underwear for him?  Well, maybe, but what if you could buy light saber ear rings and socks that play the theme to star trek?  Well, to my knowledge, these items don't exist, but they darn well should, shouldn't they?  I'm still waiting for the Princess Leia Cinnabon hair wearable, edible ear muffs.  One of my friends last year sent me a link to the "No I will not fix your computer" T-shirt,"  I really only wear it on Sundays around the house.  In any case, all of us have that person on our gift list who has everything.  Relax, you can now cross them off of your list.  I have stumbled across some really unique gifts (some of them REALLY pricey), that just might fit the bill.  Most of you won't buy the 3.4 million dollar Space shuttle life sized replica, but you might spring for the "On Button" lighted earrings or the T-shirt that has a print of a working guitar on the front.  Cool huh?  Well, here's the link and I promise you, much of this stuff is interesting to say the least.  Thank you SyFy Channel for putting these two sites together.  Meatmeter recommends to "clickety click" the links for some cool gear.  Well Done SyFy.

http://blastr.com/giftguide/

http://dvice.com/giftguide/

Backup just a minute!

There has been a recent paradigm shift in the world of backup and recovery of data.  Although the shifting sands seem to move slowly, the sand dune encroachment of cloud computing is soon to be the repository of a full fledged desert.  Now, what in the heck am I talking about?  Sit back, relax, pour yourself a beverage and read on.

As I see it, there are really three different consumers of data space.  There is the student/home/personal user with pictures and tax returns; and there is the business class user who has mission critical data to protect, and the third animal is somewhere in between.  This would be the guy or gal who mixes work with pleasure and has business info and personal info on both their home and business computer at work.  The three different types of data space consumers need to attack their backup and recovery plans in a way that mimics usage.    

BUSINESS ENTITIES

As a consultant in the industry, it never ceases to amaze me at the lack of “dundancy” out there with my clients.  What is “dundancy”? It’s having at LEAST ONE copy of your mission critical data.  Forget RE-dundancy, howza bout start with just one good copy?  Many clients use antiquated servers with antiquated disk drives and configurations, but they just keep doing business as usual and expecting the servers to keep chugging along.  Unfortunately, this is a recipe for disaster as many companies have cut back on IT Expenditures and many disks and servers are aging.  Any good IT person worth his salt, should be able to move from antiquated servers to newer servers, or even move applications to the cloud where the backup solution falls on the cloud service provider.   A prime example is using GoogleApps instead of keeping up (or worse yet upgrading) an antiquated Microsoft Exchange Server.  (by the way, if you are a non-profit, the full version of GoogleApps is available to you for free).  Google completely supports your domain name and you can use them to send your me@mycompany.com emails easily.

I could go on and on about the different ways that business should build in redundancy, but let me cut to the chase.  Make a copy, keep a copy in two physical places (co-location disk to disk, or offsite tape vault).  Most importantly SIMULATE a recovery.  Want to see how good your current system really is? Tell your head IT guru on Friday at 5 that your mission critical server crashed and that it needs to be rebuilt and/or back up and running by Monday?  That will tell you what you need to know.  Too many people find out after a disaster that backups have been inadequate or not even working.  Test it, test it, test it, before the problem occurs.  This can easily be simulated with virtualization software like VMware or by incorporating a co-location facility, which can get complicated and costly, but may be necessary depending on your client/customer needs.

For the home user, there are a few tools that you can use to make this process quite easy.  Here are the products to focus on.  Mozy.com – online backup, Carbonite.com – another online backup which also allows online anywhere access to these files, and finally, my favorite, Dropbox.com.  Mozy and Carbonite are a bit more traditional in that you tell it what files or folders to back up and at a predetermined time, copies are made.  Dropbox is a little different.  It is a virtual online folder.  I like it because I can save a file to it and it is readily accessible on any internet connected device.  I have it on my iPad, my iPhone, my laptop and my business computer.  With this application, you’ll never need to print anything ever again if you have an iPad.  I like it for that reason alone.  This application is particularly relevant to the mix business with pleasure user.

As a home user too, at the very least you should be loading copies of your photos to services like flikr.com or to Google’s picassa web albums.  You should also use Gmail for all of your mail. If you want to use Outlook, it is easily configurable and you can synch the calendar to your iPad or iPhone.  (we now have a clean refrigerator door clear of the family calendar clutter).  I need to do a whole other entry on how Google can change your routine with its many offerings.  That’ll be for later.

In conclusion, if you are a business out there who is still backing up to tape and still has a closet full of antiquated servers and you have never had a disaster recovery drill, call me I can help you.  Also, pull out your Policy and Procedures manual on Disaster Recovery and review them.  I’ll bet you a dollar to a donut hole, they’re out of compliance.

For the home user, take advantage of free online “cloud” services like dropbox.com and Gmail to keep your important data and files safe.  Let’s not forget the social media site you love to hate, facebook works too, for pictures.  Oh, and on a related subject, I would use Gmail’s contact list to keep a list of the contacts you have in your phone for that inevitable time when you lose or break your phone.  They can easily be imported to a new phone with a few steps.  (iPhones, unfortunately don’t play well with Google’s contacts, but they do particularly like Yahoo’s contact list, it might be worth it to set up a shill address just to keep you contacts there for the future).

All for now, and don’t forget BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP and TEST, TEST, TEST your recovery.

HP Tablets $99

TouchPad Fire Sale Redux: What We Know So Far

By Ian Paul, PCWorld    Aug 31, 2011 8:02 AM

Hewlett-Packard is planning one last, glorious ride for the HP TouchPad by manufacturing an unspecified amount of the devices "to meet unfulfilled demand" for the discontinued webOS slate. Although HP's tablet never fared well when it went head-to-head against the iPad at $499, and later at $399, people couldn't get enough of the device once HP gave it a fire sale price of $99.
The company says it will produce TouchPads during HP's fourth fiscal quarter ending October 31. It's not clear if that means HP will be manufacturing TouchPads through the entire quarter or just that the company will be producing webOS tablets sometime between now and Halloween. Rumor has it HP is making new TouchPads to appease component makers in HP's supply chain who were upset about being left with TouchPad parts sitting in their warehouses.
Regardless, it's good news for deal-hunting TouchPad fans that HP has plans to get more cheap webOS slates onto the market. Here's a breakdown of what we know so far about HP's second TouchPad fire sale.

How many TouchPads will be available?

HP says it doesn't know for sure how many TouchPads it will be able to sell, so the company can't promise it will have enough for everyone who has indicated interest in the device.

When will the new HP TouchPads go on sale?

HP isn't sure exactly when it will have its last run of TouchPads available for purchase. The company figures it will be at least a few weeks. If you signed up to be notified via email, HP says it will let you know when TouchPads are available, and the company will also update its TouchPad FAQ page with more information.
But since it is going to be a race to get your hands on a TouchPad, a good strategy would be to keep your eye on the Twitter accounts for HP's social media reps, Bryna Corcoran and Mark Budgell, in case there is no advance notice.

How much will the TouchPads cost?

HP didn't explicitly say that the new run of TouchPads will be sold for $99 each, but all indications from HP suggest that the fire sale price will remain the same.
How many can I buy at once?
It's not clear how many you will be allowed to buy, but don't count on buying truckloads of the device, as HP says it will impose a purchase limit for each customer.

Where can I get a TouchPad?

You can bet on being able to get a TouchPad from HP's online storefront, but it's not clear if retail chains will also be carrying TouchPad stock. HP's FAQ says each retailer will be responsible for its own pricing, but it's not clear whether that means any third-party outlets plan on carrying the device. Your best bet is to contact electronics retailers in your area such as Best Buy, Office Depot, and others to see whether they have any TouchPad news to share with you.

Is buying a discontinued tablet crazy?

Some people, such as Windows blogger Paul Thurrott, think so. "The TouchPad was worthless when it was fully supported. So it's beyond worthless now," Thurrott says. But if you want a tablet primarily for Web browsing, you can't go wrong with a TouchPad. Besides, you will also have access to a limited number of third-party webOS apps, at least for the immediate future.

And if you don't like webOS....

There are several fun projects going on right now to turn the TouchPad into a hacker's dream tablet by porting a variety of Linux-based operating systems to the device. Liliputing has a how-to post for daring readers willing to go through a detailed process to install Ubuntu 11.04 on their HP tablet.
And of course, hackers are hard at work trying to port Android to the TouchPad. The TouchDroid project plans on using Android 2.3.5 (Gingerbread) for its beta tests before trying to put a tablet-specific version of Android on the TouchPad such as the forthcoming version, Ice Cream Sandwich.
The TouchDroid team better hurry up, as the team over at Cyanogen Mod last Friday was showing off a port of Cyanogen Mod version 7 running on the TouchPad--albeit without a functioning touchscreen. Cyanogen Mod is a popular alternative Android distribution for rooted devices. Cyanogen Mod version 7 is based on the non-tablet-friendly Android 2.3 (Gingerbread).
The Cyanogen team says it still has a long way to go before its TouchPad firmware distribution will be ready for prime time and is not providing any estimates on when the port will be ready.
For interested developers, there is also a $2100 bounty being offered to anyone who successfully ports Android to the TouchPad.

Could you survive? Would you want to?

Survival in the Digital Age.

Today’s diatribe is not so much a product review as much as it is an observation.  A while back there was a show on TV called “The Colony”.  It’s premise was to take a dozen or so strangers and put them together with limited provisions and simulate a doomsday scenario where there was a plague outbreak, natural disaster or even nuclear holocaust that ended life as we currently know it on the planet.  It got me thinking about our increased dependence on electronic devices.  Here are a few observations that might make you think.  

Power of the Press? - Really

 As most of our media consumption content (movies, books, radio, TV) goes digital, what we would do if an impending solar flare or Electromagentic Pulse  (EMP), or some other ungodly reason destroyed our ability to produce power.   Now I’m no doomsday or survivalist freak, nor do I listen to Glenn Beck,  but I’m guessing that there would be a world of hurt and confusion if this ever happened.  We’d have no books (ipads, e-readers), we’d have no TV (remember the old days when you could pick up TV on a little black and white battery operated portable – not any more with the advent of Digital Broadcasts and Set top boxes), and if Padora and other radio stations have their way, no radio?  (automakers are including the ability to steam Pandora Internet Radio in its new models soon).  Do newspapers even print papers anymore?  Even so, if they did, I’ll bet they use computers and other sophisticated software to produce the printed version.  I’m relatively sure they don’t use the old Guttenberg presses!  

Food and Medicine?

Refrigeration would be gone, sophisticated supply chains for Just in Time (JIT) inventories of major retailers would dry up and the store shelves would be empty.   No Amazon.com, no Ebay, no Criags list, no Costco or Wal-Mart….oh the horror…we’d even be hard pressed to get medical supplies or help as all of our charts are going digital. 

Man it's FREEZING in here...

We’d have no heat or air conditioning, no lights, no cameras, no action.  Speaking of cameras, there’d be no way to take a picture and produce it would there?  That’s all digital now too?  Face it, a snuggie would be high tech.

Communication?

What would thousands of teens do if they couldn’t play their ipods, ipads, or check their facebook status or tweets?  Don’t even get me started on how they’d handle a cell phone outage.  For those of you who still have home phone lines, they’d go dead as most of those lines wrap up your voice into nice little digital packets and send them over the internet now too.  Communication would go from the speed of light to the speed of dark in a very short order.

Travel?

Without power or satellite data, we’d be lost.  Does anyone even read a map anymore?  Have you had the same experience I have driving  along, following your GPS very obediently to stop and pause and say, “hmmmmm, what if it was wrong and it’s taking me to Rome, Italy instead of Rome Georgia? How would we get gas, provided there was any in a tank, in the ground? Autos wouldn’t crank or run anyway as any EMP would wipe out their electronics.

But I’m Ready…

Einstein said (and I'm paraphrasing) that he knew not what weapons World War 3 would be fought with but World War 4 would be fought with sticks and stones. 

I’ve got faith in the perseverance of humans and I’m confident we’d survive, but I’m not so sure I’d want to be around for the aftermath.  Ground zero might be preferable to what is left. 

I am an early adopter of technology, and I love what it can do for us.  I love gadgets and I’m totally geeky about the latest gear.  It’s the reason I started writing this blog.  We continue to rely very heavily on technology and its integration into our everyday lives.   Think about Katrina, Haiti and all the other natural disasters and wars that basically display the de-evolution example.  In these cases, at least there was a government response and other countries came to the aid of the victims.  Slow response was better than no response.  In the doomsday case, I don’t want to scare you, but no one is coming.  You are on your own.   Hollister and Aeropostale will not be open for business.

I do not believe, and I’m not contemplating the inevitable “big one” going off anytime soon.  But, just thinking about it and writing about it is interesting to say the least.  What 5 items would you think you'd want if you found yourself in this predicament (toilet paper is not allowed.)  Comment below if you think you have the perfect list of 5 items.  Mine would be a bible, a map, a lighter, a gun and an ax. 

Ranks any "Doomsday" scenario as a great bit "RARE"

Single Serve Beverage Wars....

If you’ll pardon the pun, there’s a war a brewin’ in the single cup coffee maker world.  If you’re like me, your day can’t start without that steaming hot cup o’ joe in the morning.  I seem to want to call these coffee makers, but both of these systems make hot tea, hot chocolate, and other items like even iced coffee.   One of these appliances, even touts itself as a “beverage delivery system.”  I’ll just call them coffee makers for now.   The two contenders are the Keurig and the Tassimo.  Both have models that do basically the same job.  They brew a single cup of coffee as if it’s your own personal barista.   Both models use “pods” of coffee in a small cuplike disc.  Tassimo uses the T-disc while Keurig uses the K-cups.   Both models have a built in filter to filter your tap water.   One advantage the Keurig has over the Tassimo is that it sells “my kcup” which allows you to use your own coffee.  Problem with that is the cleanup and the fact that your end result is not as good as the result you get using their K-cups discs.  Starbucks has an exclusive with Tassimo, so if you are a Starbucks fan, Tassimo is your only option unless you use the my kcup.  This device is cumbersome, hard to clean and impractical at best, but it does give you a path to the Starbucks brand via the Keurig.  I don't recommend the my kcup at all.  It totally ruins the convenience factor.   

The discs for both are a bit pricey, but compared to a $5 cup of java at your local coffee cow, it’s a bargain.  The cost per cup ranges from about .50 (for a basic coffee), to 1.50 for a cappuccino (which uses two discs in the Tassimo).  

Another advantage the Keurig has is the availability of the K-cups.  Many stores and discounters are now carrying the K-cups.  While the Keurig leads the market in availability and the fact that you can use your own coffee, the Tassimo is the wiser of the two machines.  The Keurig uses some electronics to affect temperature when brewing, but the Tassimo uses a sophisticated bar code on all the T-discs to brew you a perfect cup of coffee, latte, espresso or cappuccino.  The Keurig just doesn’t have this capability.  If you want this in the Keurig, you’ll have to buy a separate milk steamer.  In the Tassimo, the milk comes in the T-discs and the creamy cup of hot goodness makes itself even though you have to use two T-discs to make it (coffee and then milk disc).  It knows what to do with the discs as you put them in though. 

The Keurig will allow you to adjust brew volume (how much water is used), although it requires you to tell it a 6 oz or 10 oz brew.  This will affect the boldness of your final product.  The Tassimo gives you a period of time when your cup is finished to manually push a button to add more water to your brew.  Again, I like the ability to customize the amount of water using the Tassimo’s approach even though you have to stand and wait for the “add water to me” blinking green light and manually push a button.

If you want a great cup of coffee, the Keurig is a good choice.  It’s simple, it’s a bit faster than the Tassimo and it’s available in lots and lots of places.  If you enjoy Starbucks coffee, like the occasional latte, cappuccino or espresso , then the beverage delivery system called Tassimo is the clear winner.   The only downside to the Tassimo, in my opinion, is the fact that you have to find a retailer in your area that carries the discs.  Typically Bed Bath and Beyond and Kohl’s carry the line.

Both of these devices are a big improvement on your typical "Mr. Coffee", and if you have a sophisticated coffee palatte, I hightly recommend them both.  My clear favorite, because I enjoy lattes and cappuccinos is the Tassimo.  Meatmeater gives the single serve coffee brewers a big well done.  Let me know if you have either of these systems and leave us a post below.  Good luck and good coffee.

Gives Single Server Coffee makers a "Well Done"