This video, brilliantly envisioned by Sam Beckett, makes you want to diss your remote control and cable/satellite subscription with every passing minute.

This video’s creator perfectly showcases how seamless and fluid an iTV experience could be, using Siri as a means to search deep within the programming database for information pertaining to shows, artists, recording times etc. it is remarkable. Truly remarkable.

This is what Macworld had to say in the article accompanying this video:

Siri could be used to set recordings, and there’s a intuitive TV Guide and Genius feature that would make discovering new shows quick and easy. In a forum post on The Verge, Beckett explains that he hopes to develop the concept further in the future, by adding App Store, FaceTime and Recordings app demonstrations.

So, Apple, let’s get moving here. How much longer do we have to wait to experience the full extent of what technology can contribute to our television viewing experience?

And, to the TV networks – get with the plan. Cable and satellite are so passé and so is the crappy remote control experience. We are in the touchy feely/voice activated phase of technology and I do not plan to spend the rest of my senior years living in the past.

How about you? Do you think this is the year that Apple finally cracks the television market? The answer: it better be!

Via Macworld

However, when I saw this article from BitRebels.Com, I had to get this GTG blog rolling once again courtesy of some more wise and wonderful words from the late and the great, Steve Jobs.

In this 1994 video, Steve gives his succinct and, I must say, inspiringly accurate insight into why people fail. And, don’t we all want to avoid that?

He relays information that basically enabled him to move ahead in his technological career, even starting from the age of 12 years old where he made his now famous phone call to Bill Hewlett asking for some spare parts for a frequency counter that he was in the process of building.

Well, not only did Bill Hewlett give Steve the spare parts he asked for, but he also offered him a job at Hewlett – Packard during the summer. All from a simple phone call.

Most young people would be intimidated at phoning a large company or, perhaps, would not think to even venture in this direction, afraid that they would be deemed a nuisance and have the phone slammed shut in their ear.

But, risk-taking is so crucial to success – in any field – and, most of the time, the positive benefits of taking the risk outweighs the negatives.

Have a listen to this brief video – resplendent with Jobisms – and then go out and take that risk you have always been dreaming of!

Sounds to me like some head honchos became complacent without Steve Jobs around to keep them in line.

Well – surprise! He left the right people in charge who are not afraid to delete anyone who can’t assume responsibility for and professionalism in their work at Apple Inc.

There must be a lot of feathers flying behind the walls of the Cupertino based office. First Scott Forstall and now this.

According to iPhoneInCanada.Ca and Bloomberg.Com, who quoted an unnamed source, this is what happened:

Apple Inc. has fired the manager responsible for its troubled mapping software, seeking to win back the trust of users disappointed after the program debuted in September, according to people familiar with the move.

Richard Williamson, who oversaw the mapping team, was fired by Senior Vice President Eddy Cue, said the people, who asked not to be named because the information wasn’t yet public. Cue, who took over last month as part of a management shakeup, is seeking advice from outside mapping-technology experts and prodding digital maps provider TomTom NV (TOM2) to fix landmark and navigation data it shares with Apple.

I tried to find a picture of the dude but a bishop keeps popping up over at Google images. Don’t think that’s him.

In light of all this firing and rehiring, Apple has now entered a major transitional phase – the post-Steve Jobs era and the beginning of the Tim Cook era.

And, like it or not, he is making his mark. I like this man – he is classy, yet shrewd and not afraid to implement monumental changes to the Apple Ecosystem.

Since the iPad Mini made it’s debut on October 23rd, the media has been having a field day discussing the pros and cons of this tiny new device gleaned from the offices at Apple Inc.

And the competition tablet makers have done so as well.

Amazon, in an attempt to diss the iPad Mini, decided to resurrect a comparison chart on its home page, pointing out the strengths of its competing Kindle Fire HD while highlighting the weaknesses of the iPad Mini.

Now, thanks to a tip from iDownloadBlog.Com, it looks like Amazon was forced to or shamed into (pick one at your discretion) removing the ad from its homepage.

Truth be told, I really wondered why Amazon went this route. I found it to be very shoddy and, as iDownloadBlog.Com pointed out, sprinkled with half-truths and outright lies.

Perhaps Amazon needs to remember that – yes – on the iPad Mini we can download books from their site via Apple’s iOS Kindle App – but -not vice versa.

And perhaps they should also remember that Apple, in comparing the iPad to other tablets during their iPad Mini event, made no reference to Amazon, only Android. They didn’t drag the Kindle through the mud like Amazon did to them with this ad and quite shamelessly at that.

Honestly, you can’t win. Just when I was starting to appreciate and applaud Jeff Bezos for staying true to his vision and not attempting to ride on the coattails of Apple, he pulls this shoddy trick out of his hat.

Didn’t he say he did not want to compete with Apple when interviewed about the positive media reviews for the Kindle Fire HD?

Well, I guess he changed his mind but not for long. I suspect that Apple threatened to pull the Kindle App off the iOS App Store. It’s pure speculation but there you have it.

Sounds to me like those Kindle Fire HDs are not doing so well. And how can they? They are still not available in Canada so exactly how are people from other parts of the world supposed to buy this device of they wanted to?

Either you want to sell this gadget worldwide or not? We can’t just twitch our noses like Samantha from “Bewitched” and get one.

Comment away.

Number One: He was a tyrannical bully, sharing many similar traits of his mentor and former CEO, the late Steve Jobs.

Reportedly, the only person he did get along with was Steve Jobs. He was relentless and brilliant in his approach to iOS, making it the most popular platform in smartphones today.

However, since the death of his mentor and friend, has Scott been floundering, like a fish out of water, helpless without someone as strong and as savvy as Steve to set him on the right course?

All those temper outbursts worked fine as long as Steve was alive to temper and appease and redirect Scott.

But, one has to wonder if Scott is now feeling the repercussions of Steve’s demise in a more personal way, clouding his judgement and deterring his ability to establish a cohesive friendship with the remaining executive team at Apple.

Number Two: Scott was often said to be “Steve Job’s successor”. Is this firing a déjà-vu scenario mirroring Steve Jobs’ firing in 1985 after a major power struggle with the board of directors.

You remember that Steve Jobs was fired for similar reasons – he was difficult to deal with, couldn’t get along with his peers, possessed radical ideas etc.

Will Apple survive without the brilliance of Scott Forstall or will this be the beginning of the end for the company, forcing them to woo back Scott a few years down the road?

This is exactly what happened after Steve Jobs was dismissed back in 1983. Apple fell apart because of a lack of vision, while Steve moved on and made a name for himself by founding NeXT.

And then, on the brink of bankruptcy, Apple was forced to rehire him – the rest being history.

All of this does give me pause and makes me wonder who is right and who is wrong.

There are two theories at work here. Will history repeat itself or will Apple survive the monumental shift in its corporate headquarters, moving on to another prolific period in Apple’s legacy?

With Jony Ive now in control of Human Interface, I am leaning toward theory Number Two, if, for no other reason that Steve Jobs created a work environment for Jony that placed him immediately below him in the chain of command.

In other words, Jony Ive was answerable only to Steve.

There was incredible tension between Jony Ive and Scott Forstall and this animosity was really a bad accident waiting to happen.

And it did. Maps and Siri are a mess – improving, mind you, but still a mess. Steve would never have allowed this to happen. Never.

And how could Jony even expand his creative skills surrounded by this maniacal nonsense every day?

Bottom line: he couldn’t. If so, we would have had our Retina Display iPad Mini or something even more exciting in this new little iDevice.

There is a very good article at AllThingsD.Com that highlights why this aggressive move was such brave and good one.

I always thought that Jony Ive was Steve Jobs’ heir apparent – not Scott Forstall. Jony is truly Steve’s soul-mate.

And while Scott was indeed talented, he was a copy-cat personality-wise, adopting Steve’s temperament but not his attention to simplistic detail and design.

So, how do you feel about this latest news from Apple? Were they correct in firing Scott Forstall or was this a huge mistake that they will regret in the years ahead?

You know where the comments are – I’ll be waiting!

Apple has pulled out all the stops making the event available to pretty much anyone that has a computer or iDevice.

That’s right! The event will be available for viewing via a LiveStream link that can be accessed in many ways.

You simply have to visit the LiveStream Page over on the Apple.Com site or, something new and exciting, you can access it via Apple TV in the new Apple Events section.

However, Apple TV owners must have either a 2nd or 3rd generation model to see this event.

And, as I mentioned above, you can access this link via Safari on your iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Mac or Windows PC. Sorry Samsung geeks.

Scheduled to be unveiled today is the much-anticipated iPad Mini. But, Apple has a few other surprises tucked in their back pocket, one of which will be the newly designed iTunes interface, iTunes 11.

And, with the possibility of a revamped version of the new full-sized iPad, a refresh of the Mac Mini and new iMacs and a 13-inch Retina Display MacBook Pro, Apple stands an incredible chance to, once again, wipe the floor with their competition.

The “big shew” begins at 10:00 A.M. Pacific (1:00 P.M. Eastern) and, given other Apple Event scenarios, will probably last two hours.

I will provide key updates on the inside page of this blog topic. Please come back and add your thoughts in the comments section. Live Updates inside.

Apple Keynote EventTuesday, October 23rd 2012 at the California Theatre, San Jose, California

Journalists waiting to get into the Apple Event. Tweeted by @ClaytonMorris

Probably not a lot. But, one thing did occur to me.

Amid the naysaying and frustration of Apple consumers and investors, pointing out that Apple is struggling to find their footing minus Steve Jobs’ influence and guidance to steer them on course, did anyone really stop to think how difficult this time must be for those closest to Steve?

It has been reported that Apple CEO Tim Cook was having a difficult time dealing with Steve’s death and I can only imagine how hard this must be for brilliant designer, Jony Ive.

He was, after all, accountable only to Steve Jobs and, therefore, the kinship between the two must have been indeed extraordinary and profound.

Both men were incredibly close to Steve and, most likely, shared stories, memories, even intimacies that one would experience in any solid and cohesive friendship.

All of the Apple specialists must feel the lack of charisma and energy that only Steve could embody and, now, without him, they must strive to replicate and sustain these integral components in their daily lives at Apple.

These people lost more than a technological genius – they lost a friend. And a good one!

However, from what I have witnessed over the past year, Apple is alive and well and living in Cupertino – and in our daily lives.

The technological advances they have made over the last decade are phenomenal. We should never lose sight of this.

Yet, to move forward in technology, it requires patience and diligence – elements which the media is known NOT to have.

We can sit and gripe and tear apart what Apple should have done, but, honestly, isn’t it more rewarding and less frustrating to step back and marvel at all they have accomplished?

With 24 hours left to go before the Apple Event begins – where the new iPad Mini is rumored to take the spotlight – I think it would be wise to look around you, at everything Apple in your life and then understand the absolutely phenomenal technology this company has introduced into our lives over the past few years.

And It will only get better.

One must remember – iTunes wasn’t built in a day. The negotiating process that Steve Jobs used to convince all the music publishers, recording companies and artists to come on board still boggles my mind to this day.

Plus, don’t forget those beautiful and successful Apple Stores, spread throughout the world and enjoying unprecedented commercial success, much to the chagrin and embarrassment of the naysayers and the envy of millions of businesses worldwide.

Tomorrow, we will see what Apple unveils. I have no doubt that it will be spectacular and, if not for the unending assortment of leaks over the past few months, it would have been a jaw-dropper.

But then – who says that there may not be a surprise or two at the end of this keynote rainbow? The “one more thing” phrase, so famously associated with Steve Jobs, may evolve into a new phrase – “Oh, I almost forgot”. Works for me. Does it for you?

As I have mentioned time and time and time again, the iPad Mini is aimed squarely at a younger market. It will be a consumption tablet, not a creative one. Let’s leave that for the full-sized iPad.

I swear these naysayers do not have children or grandchildren or else they would be marching to a different drummer.

Have you ever seen a toddler try to carry a full-sized iPad along? It’s heavy and awkward. And, although the youngsters covet the whole iPad experience, I find myself having to watch them constantly for fear that they will drop the device.

They love the iPhone and iPod Touch but, like the rest of us, get tired of the smaller screen. They want to see the spiffy graphics within their books and apps come alive on a larger screen.

The solution is indeed an iPad Mini – the best of both worlds. It will be smaller than the iPad but much larger than the Touch and, by many accounts, lighter and portable.

And, if Apple decides to make this a consumption device for the students of all ages, it will be a gold mine for the tech company. These kids can use it in schools, at home, on vacation etc. and the size makes it easy for students to slip into a backpack or school bag.

This is one huge leap forward in Apple’s attempt to revolutionize Education. With hundreds of thousands of available Apps in the iOS store, the students will be carrying an extremely valuable
resource in their school bags with ease, style and convenience.

If this device comes loaded with consumption Apps like iTunes, iBooks, Music, etc. then what more does a student need?

I never see my grandchildren on Safari. In fact, they don’t even know what Safari is – they are too busy reading, learning, watching.

There is little to no need for Internet Browsing and the parents can breathe a collective sigh of relief, knowing that their children can only access Apps that are safe and child-proof.

I will always love the full-sized iPad as will millions of others. It is aimed at an entirely different market. I can create, blog, edit photos and movies – you name it! I rarely sit at my beautiful iMac except to access the more advanced features in iMovie and Aperture.

The iPad Mini will, over the long run, boost sales for the full-sized iPad. As children mature in mind and body, they will, naturally, be drawn to the full-sized iPad.

And, if the price for the iPad Mini is accessible and justifiable for parents to dip into their bank account, this will be THE GiFT this holiday season.

I see millions of iPads Minis dancing in the heads of children young and old. With a sugarplum or two!

So, how many are you buying? The comments section awaits your reply!

According to The Loop, Apple is in the process of sending out invitations to media regarding another Apple Product Event.

And lest anyone has any doubts whether or not this will address the long-anticipated iPad Mini, you simply have to read the little teaser in the invitation:

“We’ve got a little more to show you.”

Well, actually, they have more than a little if one is to believe the leaked specs and prices on the iPad Mini models. There will be a little something for everyone, of every age and price range.

However, I am still going with my gut and sticking to my initial thoughts about which sector of the population this iPad Mini will address.

Unlike the full-size iPad, this baby iPad will be a consumption device, especially designed for students of all ages. This is the only way Apple can justify the lower price vs. the higher end iPod Touch line.

And Apple wants to revolutionize the educational sector and this is a major step toward this goal.

Parents don’t want their children surfing the net and getting into all sorts of trouble – they want them to learn and enjoy appropriate media.

Judging by my very young grandchildren ( 6 years and under), the iPad is presently used for movies, educational apps, games and books. Sometimes music is accessed as well, but that’s why Apple made iPods, so it is not a priority for kids when using the iPad.

And the iPad Mini will be just the perfect size and weight for those little arms, hands and fingers to lug around.

I cannot wait to get my hands on this device for my grandchildren so I can reclaim my iPad when they come to visit. Finally, a Tech Toy worth buying. Gotta love Apple!

So, do you agree or disagree? Excited or no? How many are you buying and for whom? Share all in the comments section.

I was beating my head all weekend trying to figure out how Apple could sell its much anticipated new iPad Mini for a competitive price without compromising the higher end price of the new iPod Touch line.

Well. as in all things, the solution is simple. Ridiculously simple actually.

Here is my theory: the iPad Mini will indeed be a consumption device but more than that it will be purely an Apple consumption device.

Similar to the strong ties Amazon has achieved between their Kindle line and Amazon products, the iPad Mini will be used to purchase Movies, Music, newly-defined Apps and Games only through ITunes.

Additionally, books will be available via only via iBooks and Podcasts via the Podcast App.

And there you have it in a nutshell. Yes, you will see the popular apps like Facebook and Twitter; after all, they have established a strong partnership with Apple.

But, at the end of the day, this iPad Mini will be an aggressive move to push all of Apple’s products, like iBooks, to the forefront.

The iPad Mini, at a lower cost than its full-sized parent, will be the vehicle to drive sales of media, music, books and apps through the roof.

What do you think? Does this theory sit well with you? Please share your comments.