Tech Simp #Blog

ces. every body shows off.

The internet as a whole, especially tech blogs and twitter of course have been alight due to CES being in town in Vegas. A bunch of merchandisers, salesmen, models and tech fanboys all hungrily searching for their next object of technological lust. So basically, supplant the various other services in Vegas with technology and it’s pretty much a day in the life the strip.

I of course, am unable to judge. Admittedly I am not in attendance at Glitter Gultch this year, but I am trying to keep an eye out for points of interest, both for raw materials like high resolution displays (can we say iPad 3?) and new toys that could be useful to me. Of course of note is the new Nokia Lumia 900, the Windows mobile phone built with extreme care and beauty by our friends from Finland. I have never been a fan of Nokia- prior to the iPhone I was a Sony Ericsson man myself- but I must admit this product is gorgeous, revolutionary and a welcome addition to the mobile market, providing some creativity, a shot to the vein that will hopefully push the entire industry forward. Cheers to Nokia for doing a damn good job, I want to play with one! Oh yeah and good job Microsoft for making what could be a rather beautiful mobile OS.

Of course Lenovo has come up with a touch screen that has a remarkable resemblance to the Apple iMac, in fact it looks as if José Andrés has done a deconstruction of the iconic aluminum Macintosh instead of Lenovo releasing a new machine, possible further proof that “Everything is a Remix.” I will give my coworker credit in my reactions; though a beautiful machine in appearance, the name, The Lenovo IdeaCentre A720, needs some work. Why does every other computer on the market have to have numbers in the name? I won’t remember A720, I might remember IdeaCentre, but I should not have to be concerned for both. Tirade complete. Again, the computer just looks lovely.

Canon also announced the G12 and the G1x; two profoundly good cameras that completely miss the point of the current 3/4 lens craze. Frankly, I was sincerely hoping for a release that would make the beautiful Nikon 1 series look silly and pedestrian by the meticulous genius of Canon, but unfortunately that did not happen. Hopefully soon, I remain captivated but the new mirrorless trend and I hope it continues to evolve. The G12 especially is a brilliant camera and if you are not concerned with the fixed lens, do take a look at this product, it has a lot to offer for being a rather small device.

Happy news for Apple users with Thunderbolt ports: Looks like the industry- due to the push by Intel and Apple have made for the protocol- is latching on to this technology. OCZ has released a SSD thunderbolt port external drive, MSI is releasing an outboard GPU using thunderbolt and Belkin is releasing a firewire/thunderbolt/USB hub that looks strikingly like an iMac accessory with its aluminum frame.

But I think my favorite, wasteful, silly object is Behringer’s 8’ tall iNuke, a love letter to Back to The Future’s Amplifier that sent Marty Mcfly, well, flying. Unfortunately, this Behringer product does also remind me of various suggestions Freud made regarding the average male’s preoccupation with size. But aside from that, I laughed, I hope you do too when you see it.

I will say, electronics aside, LG has managed to create a small bay within its new refrigerators that will chill a can of beer to near freezing in 5 minutes. I recall there being a heineken commercial for one of the Pierce Brosnan James Bond Movies regarding a Q invention that could chill a heineken in 45 seconds. Though it takes slightly longer, LG managed to make something Q invented for 007. I’m quite giddy with that idea.

And that sums up my take on a very interesting CES. I hope you find this helpful.

Happy Holidays

From the Technically Simple family, to yours— Happy Holidays and very Happy New Year!!

Chris, Technically Simple

How to change DNS

Having trouble viewing websites? Since, most outages are DNS related these days, this will not only fix you, but prevent it from happening again!! :-)

Windows and Mac directions below…

[Windows]

1. Go the Control Panel.
2. Click Network and Internet, then Network and Sharing Center, and click Change adapter settings.
3. Select the connection for which you want to configure Google Public DNS. For example:
4. To change the settings for an Ethernet connection, right-click Local Area Connection, and click Properties.
5. To change the settings for a wireless connection, right-click Wireless Network Connection, and click Properties.
6. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
7. Select the Networking tab. Under This connection uses the following items, select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) or Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6) and then click Properties.
8. Click Advanced and select the DNS tab. If there are any DNS server IP addresses listed there, write them down for future reference, and remove them from this window.
9. Click OK.
10. Select Use the following DNS server addresses. If there are any IP addresses listed in the Preferred DNS server or Alternate DNS server, write them down for future reference.
11. Replace those addresses with the IP addresses of the Google DNS servers:
12. For IPv4: 8.8.8.8 and/or 8.8.4.4.
13. Restart the connection you selected in step 3.
14. Test that your setup is working correctly; see Testing your new settings below.
15. Repeat the procedure for additional network connections you want to change.

[Mac OS X]

1. From the Apple menu, click System Preferences, then click Network. 
2. If the lock icon in the lower left-hand corner of the window is locked, click the icon to make changes, and when prompted to authenticate, enter your password.
3. Select the connection for which you want to configure Google Public DNS. For example:
4. To change the settings for an Ethernet connection, select Built-In Ethernet, and click Advanced.
5. To change the settings for a wireless connection, select Airport, and click Advanced.
6. Select the DNS tab.
7. Click + to replace any listed addresses with, or add, the Google IP addresses at the top of the list:
8. For IPv4: 8.8.8.8 and/or 8.8.4.4.
9. Click Apply and OK.
10. Test that your setup is working correctly; see Testing your new settings below.
11. Repeat the procedure for additional network connections you want to change.

(Source: code.google.com)

a router.

As you’ve read, our company does IT and even with that being the case, and our years of experience in the industry, there are some jobs we dread above all others. Replacing a delicate component on a computer, upgrading an extremely old model, providing support on archaic or esoteric technologies, these all pale in comparison to probably our most common but also the one issue with an infinite amount of variables: refitting or upgrading a client’s network.

Even the upgrade of a router for more than a small office can be a monumental task, often requiring a few hours of downtime just to make sure every we’ve gotten everything right. What can be the most frustrating aspect of the entire setup is the hardware itself; there are so many interfaces, so many client softwares, that familiarity with all of them can be a challenge. We all get familiar with certain products in IT, preferences form due to good experiences, but I have to say with a recent network refit we did, our team has decided Peplink is the only choice for routers.

We replaced a 5 year old router and two 24 port 3Comm switches, expecting some network downtime, and a total work time of around 5 hours rebuilding network settings and double checking our work. Due to the age of the network, we assumed there would be issues with connectivity throughout this rather large office with a great deal of computers, a VPN and terminal server, all of which were varying models, OS types (and age). We also planned on replacing the VPN using the built in VPN/PPTP capabilities of the Peplink router. Upon installing in the rack, placing all ethernet cabling into the switches and doing standard setup (e.g. Static IP, DNS, etc), the router, and all computers in the office… just worked. The VPN, after a few minutes of setup and creating users, just worked. The overall office intranet speed increased noticeably and we, the team doing the setup were as impressed as the office crew getting the refit. The network was only down for a total of about an hour and a half.

I don’t know of another product in the professional arena that provides such simple, easy to use interfaces, such quick response to new settings, such overall quality of use like Peplink provides. One router replaced the work of 2 old servers running VPN and DHCP for the office and improved network connectivity throughout the office. Such a profound improvement for $2500 total, not including the switches. Our hats are off to Peplink, amazing products to work with.

Evan, Technically Simple.

liquid damage.

Steve Jobs, in 1984, described the Apple Macintosh as being for a businessman who might, over the weekend, bring it home with him and eventually, maybe, he would buy a second macintosh for his home and family.

In the last ten years, we have all gotten accustomed to the idea of carrying around incredibly expensive and delicate pieces of technology with us, wherever we may go. At first it was iPods, then the smartphone became something for everyone, not just the business elite with the iPhone and Android Platforms. Laptops have become the standard, by far, of all computer purchases. And due to the fact we can not be found without our smartphones, our laptops, our tablets and the like, it is extremely likely one product or the other could be damaged in some way. Worst of all of course, is liquid damage; a spilt cup of coffee (which happened in our office this morning!) or water seeping into your bag on a rainy day. There are so many ways that our technology can be damaged, but the fact remains, this is extremely likely to happen to you and you should know how to remedy the situation.

First and foremost, back up your data!! This one thing is incredibly crucial to all computer users but most people don’t back up regularly, or even at all.

As a Mac user, I strongly recommend making sure you’re using Time Machine, which will back up all your data to a USB, Firewire, or other kind of external Hard Drive. This process is automated and incredibly reliable, but keep in mind, your external hard drive is just as likely to fail as your internal hard drive, which is to say, it will fail at one point. Make sure your important data is saved in multiple places, using cloud services such as Dropbox, Box.net, Sugarsync, or Cloudapp.

A PC user has a great deal of choice regarding backup, but the rule still stands Windows users as with Mac users: Backup to an external drive but also rely on some kind of cloud service. Windows 7 has a backup utility, but I have always preferred using Norton Ghost. The backups are always incredibly reliable and secure.

Both iPhone and Android have backup utilities, but iPhone is certainly leading the way with iCloud, which provides a cloud based backup that occurs regularly unbeknownst to the user. You can also connect your smartphone to your computer and backup that way as well.

So your data is backed up, but what happens if your Smartphone is exposed to liquid? What about your laptop?

Depending on your phone and your carrier, the services vary. But usually, there is some kind of warrantied protection for the phone along with an expanded service that covers physical damage. Thankfully, Apple has added this service to the new “Applecare+” which covers physical damage on your new phone for 2 years with a $50 deductible per occurrence. In the case of android phones, often the service cost for to cover the phone is variable, and can be anywhere from $50 to $99 and in some cases, Android Phones have no physical damage protection at all.

But in terms of process, for an Apple product, take it to your Apple Store, schedule a genius bar appointment, simple as that. With Android Phones, often you have to rely on the carrier, or the company that made the product to give you option for either an exchange or mail in for repair. Though often, if purchased through a carrier, one can easily go to their preferred carrier location and get a replacement device.

Computers are actually a much bigger issue to repair, often because there are so many spaces and gaps inside a computer’s frame and so many components inside, that if liquid rests there, mold can form and severely damage all manner of computer functions.

If your computer is exposed to liquid, you have to take it to a repair facility… quickly! But first, act fast and turn off the computer, remove the battery and dry up any visible liquid you can. As soon as possible, take the product to the repair facility as soon as you can and go from there. Very few services out there cover major physical damage like liquid damage, but there are some “exclusive” services that will provide replacement of like kind and quality. Apparently this service is provided at Best Buys, but not consistently.

Apple Products are not covered for physical damage, but it is always worth to bring it in to an Apple store, depending on what has happened and your warranty status, the Genius behind the bar can sometimes help you. At worst, you’re going to know the repair will be done properly and with a 90 day guarantee on the work.

Truth be told it’s a bad situation your’e dealing with, don’t wait, get the product repaired, it can be worth it.

Evan, Technically Simple.

Listen Closely: The High End.

Affordable be dammed; these speakers are the best of the best. And surprisingly, some of the companies you may have never heard of. The most interesting thing about audio reproduction today is that the cream of the crop, the best audio companies in the world; Bowers & Wilkins, Focal, Pioneer, Geneva and KEF are all trying to enter the quickly growing Airplay market. The legacy of the iPod will not be just the death of CD’s, but also the democratizing of quality audio. This is not to say all of the products shown here are “cheap,” more that these products represent a level of quality not available to anyone but the most wealthy customer until about 5-6 years ago. We are entering an era where great sound can be heard by all.

To start, probably the most exciting product line in high end music listening is Libratone, mainly for the airplay support as of version 2.0 and the incredible subtle design, in an industry full of gaudiness (e.g. the Beats by Dre Beatbox). What makes Libratone so interesting is the abandonment of rather archaic thinking: Stereos used to be large speakers tied to CD players, turntables, amps, etc. And with this, the speakers, large wooden boxy things, were often placed up against a wall simply to keep the room they were housed in orderly. Libratone designed their speakers to not be in the corner, that their “hero” product could be carried around (hence the handle). With this change, the speakers are utilizing nearly ever surface of the product to output audio, with a nice stout sub on the bottom. It’s such a simple revelation, but the difference it makes is profound. Take a look at the two major product releases, “The Beat” and “The Lounge.” The Beat is designed for audio for any room, office or really, any place with 4 walls, or even no walls at all. The Lounge is the stake in the heart of surround sound, emphasizing well built speakers intent on delivering dynamic audio using one unit. The simplicity is astounding, the retooling of some tried and true methods of designing speakers, some going as far back as Dieter Rams’ original Audio 1M Stereo.

But then of course, Libratone, rethinking how speakers should be made, have also changed how speakers should look. Here, Libratone designed a product with an emphasis on surface area and then surrounded that product in a wonderful “jacket” of fabric. Wait until you hear, and see and touch these products, there really isn’t anything that describes the effect they have fully.

capturing lightning in a bottle: the modern DSLR.

Cameras are a fascinating technology when you think about it, this is a machine that literally traps light, records it and allows that light to be viewed again indefinitely. You are literally able to “capture” lightning. 

Digital cameras have taken a long time to get it right. Professional photographers were wary of them for years, up until proper full frame sensors became available in DSLR’s. In the last few years, the DSLR has become less of a professional only camera, there are DSLR cameras the average individual just looking to photograph a vacation, or birthday can use.

The reason for the DSLR becoming valuable to all photographers is point and shoot cameras. These cameras no matter their features, tended to do badly in low light, high speed and really, almost any situation where the object being photographed was moving, or not perfectly lit. And further, point and shoot camera makers have a silly obsession (or possibly, we consumers did) with megapixels, that after we hit the 5MP mark, technically everything after that was mere icing on a rather wonderful cake. That is to say, higher megapixels do not a better camera make.

So, point and shoot cameras can’t do the job that DSLR’s can do, but they are inconveniently larger, they will often have more than one lens that one must carry and lets not forget about the fact that the average DSLR has a rather steep learning curve. So there appears here a slight need for another answer. And truth be told, there never really has been a happy medium, save for Canon’s G series- the current iteration being the G12- but even this produce did not have interchangeable lenses. So, we as photographers needed two products: 1.) A DSLR from either Pentax, Canon, or Nikon for special occasions and important shots and (2.) A Point and Shoot for to carry with us “for whenever” This, I must admit, seems absolutely silly upon review.

Enter the Micro Four Thirds Standard, developed by Olympus and Panasonic, a technology that allows a camera to have interchangeable lenses, a larger sensor but lacking mirrors. Why no mirrors? To save space, a whole lot of space. Almost all of the internal volume of a modern DSLR is actually empty space, where light is refracted multiple times from lens, to a series of mirrors, finally to the photosensitive CCD sensor. This really has changed everything, for the better, for us, as 

Aside from Canon, the heavy hitters of modern digital photography have all made wonderful contributions to this new class of product. Of note:

the Panasonic GF2 & newly announced GF3, have interchangeable lenses, great sensors and many features one would expect from a DSLR. These are arguably the first truly great micro four thirds cameras released and they remain a promethian voice in the industry. The GF2 is arguably the better product however, even with the new features and form factor of the GF3, you really do get more bang for you buck.

The Pentax Q is a really profound entry in this realm of camera. First off, Pentax has been continually changing the game as of late, becoming a contender to rival both Nikon and Canon in terms of performance and cost effectiveness. They have, since long before the days of digital, had some of the best glass in the industry and the K-5, Pentax’s current flagship DSLR is arguably one of the better cameras on the market in that price point. The Q is also an innovative product; literally setting a new standard for form factors in the interchangeable, mirror less category. The Pentax Q is incredibly small- and not just for a camera- it is the smallest digital interchangeable lens camera ever released. And the image quality is, as far as many reviews have gone to show, very very good. However, one must point out that the sensor is vastly smaller than the Four Thirds standard, about 1/8th the size actually, and the product looks to be aimed at a “boutique” clientele due to its price point. At between eight and nine hundred dollars, this is one of the most expensive products I will discuss here, but it still does have potential and needs a bit more real world testing before I give it a thumbs up or down. Regardless, Pentax is a company to keep an eye out for; they are causing a massive stir in the image capture industry.

There is the Sony NEX-5N, which has a great deal of potential, though I have not tried it. Also Olympus and Samsung have made entries into this form factor, but I’m sorry, I have never been sold on either of their camera lines. There is one other line I must confess a great deal of interest in: The Nikon 1. Though Micro Four Thirds has been the inspiration for all of these cameras, like Pentax, Nikon decided to do a sensor construction all their own and two variant form factors: the J1 and the V1

That’s a Wrap!

Thanks for checking us out and following us! We’ll be helping you sift through all the tech news in the next few days but we’re all quite excited about the new phone and we can’t wait to try it out ourselves.

But to recap a little bit, the iPod lines have become more affordable, along with a beautiful new White iPod Touch. The iPod Touch price points have changed as well with $199 for the 16GB, $299 for the 32GB and 64GB at $399. Interestingly enough for the iPods, they saw no updates aside from the white iPod touch form factor.

iOS5 is going to change a great deal of ways we use our iPhones and iPads, including location aware reminders where you can, for example, be reminded to call someone after leaving your office.

iMessage allows you to send both text and media directly through a 3G connection or WiFi, this is not just plain MMS. Also, the message system tracks when a message is read by the receiver, a familiar feature to old Blackberry users.

News Stand is a massive collection of popular magazines, all housed in a single place- much like iBooks- that will be a quick way of locating all of your subscription based magazines on your phone or iPad.

Safari and Mail have a few functional improvements, like rich text editing in mail and tabbed browsing.

Now for the iPhone 4s

The iPhone 4s, though outwardly the same to the iPhone 4, has a series of noteworthy improvements including a vastly more powerful camera with 8MP and a 5 element lens, along with the ability to record 1080p Video. The result here is better photos (faster photo taking as well!) and higher quality video. With the integration of iCloud and Twitter, the images and videos taken with the new iPhone will be incredibly easy to share or view across devices.

There is a truly smart and useful voice recognition called Siri that wowed the audience over and over by integrating apps- both 3rd party and included- to answer any particular question a user may have. The idea of being able to ask a question like “Will it rain today” and to get an answer, “It sure looks like it” along with the weather app showing up, is quite a remarkable bit of technology.

And powering all of these new features is the A5 processor that has made the iPad 2 one of the best gaming platforms on the market today. Apps are already being designed specifically for the new iPhone 4s, with an emphasis on the new graphical abilities of the product and we are to expect some really amazing games that will show off this new performance “under the hood.”

What as also surprising, but really quite wonderful for so many people was the announcement that the iPhone will be available, October 14th to AT&T subscribers, Verizon users and for the first time Sprint customers! Now it’s even easier for all of us to get an iPhone.

We hope you’re all as excited as we are! Have a great day!

-Evan, Technically Simple

Liveblog: Apple’s “Let’s Talk iPhone” Event 10/4

Testing 1, 2, 3… And we’re live! Hi there, welcome to our Liveblog! We’ll keep updating this post every few months with latest news and updates from the event! Stay tuned.

(Newest Posts at the bottom) REFRESH for updates. :-)

[Event over, thanks for reading. We’ll have recaps and spelling corrections up soon.]

• CM: Looks like Apple Japan jumped the gun with iPhone 4S, looks the same to me.
• E: All of the blogs have the leak from the Japan site, most of the apple rumor sites are getting wildly hammered, twitter is likely having a fun time at the moment. We’re keeping an eye out wherever we can.
• It’s starting!! Keep watching our blog!!
• Tim Cook is on the stage in Town Hall at Apple HQ in Cupertino. He’s discussing all of the Apple products that have changed the way we use computers, including the iPod and the Macbook Air. Both of which were launched at the Apple Town Hall coincidently.
• Discussing Apple Stores, including the new Shanghai store which had 100,000 visitors in its opening weekend!
• After showing a video about the Apple Stores, Tim Cook is moving on to Macintosh.
• 6 Million copies of Lion installed, 80% more than Snow Leopard’s adoption rate. That is unprecedented. Windows 7, as an example, took 20 weeks to reach 10 percent of Windows Users. Lion took two week.
• Year Over Year Growth for Apple is 23%, the PC Market? 4%
• The iPod was released 10 years ago, in 2001 and since then, 300 Million iPods have been sold. Sony sold a mere 220,000 Walkmans in 20 years.
• Jumping on to iPhone now
• 93% of Fortune 500 countrys are testing or using iPhone.
• 6 times in a row JDPower has rated iPhone number one, all still while iPhone has only 5% on mobile market.
• More later. :-) Now to iPad.
• Talking about iPad… every state in the US has a pilot program for iPads in education.
• High education has adopted iPad in all programs.
• Highlight that most airlines are swapping out 40lb flight bags for a single iPad.
• (Apple Store still down, most tech blogs are down.)
• 3 out 4 tablets sold in US are iPads.
• 250 million iOS devices have been sold, “today we are taking it the next level”
• Tim is passing it off to Scott Forestall, VP of iOS (iOS Update Time)
• iOS has 43% of mobile OS market
• iPad now has 140,000 apps, 3 Billion paid to developers.
• 18 Billion apps download from App Store. 1 billion apps per day
• New App: Design and build printable cards from iPhone (like iPhoto books)
• “Cards” Available Oct 12, $2.99 to print and ship US, $4.99 for world.
• Announcing new “Notification Center” for iOS 5
• Announcing “iMessage” direct iOS to iOS messaging like Blackberry BBM
• — Works over 3G or WiFi, encrypted, read receipts, and MMS
• Announcing “Reminders” App, is location aware for reminders in specific location.
• New Twitter integration in YouTube, Maps, Safari, Photos, and more.
• Announcing “Newsstand”, a new product and App. “A lot of people are on board”
• — GQ, Times, Allure, Readers Diget, ELLE, Nat Geo
• New Feature, Lock Screen and shortcuts to camer. Use volume up to take picture.
• New Feature, Edit your Photos on your iPhone
• New Feature, Game Center updates to add photos, new achievements, recommendations.
• Now on to Safari…
• New Feature: Tabbed browsing and Reading List like Safari desktop app
• Now on to Mobile Mail
• New Feaures: Rich text editing, indentation, new flagging features
• New overall, computer-less activation and updates. (Over the Air-updates, no longer need itunes to update.)
• iOS 5 available Oct 12, free update
• Passed to Eddie Cue, iCloud announcement.
• Announcing iCloud! Deep integration for all developers and apps
• New Feature: iTunes in the cloud, stream your music without downloading
• Music is at 256 AAC, back to iPhone with Scott
• The iPhone camera roll is synced to iCloud automatically (Pictures taken on iPhone are available on all iOS devices.)
• New iWork integration, syncs your documents into iCloud, available on all devices.
• (All main tech blogs still struggling.)
• “Lots of wonderful things to be found in these clouds.”
• Daily iCloud backups for entire phone
• New Feature: Find my Friends, quickly see your friends who “OPT-IN” to allow you to see them.
• — Events feature allows a temporary event tracking, great for the beach.
• — Can also be used for seeing where friends are on the way
• Now on to iTunes Match, can scan and make available your entire iTunes library and playlists with out syncing to iCloud or phone.
• iCloud available Oct 12
• iTunes Match will be available at the end of Oct.
• Phil Schiller is now on stage. “We still love music.”
• Product update: iPod Nano
• — New software update for new clock faces
• — New Pricing $129 for 8GB, 149 for 16GB, available today
• iPod touch, number 1 game player in world, updated for iOS 5
• — iMessage features give iPhone features to iPod with wifi
• — iCloud enhanced
• — Now available in White
• — New Pricing: 199 for 8GB, $299 32GB , $399 64G, Available Oct 12
• Now on to iPhone
• — New Product, iPhone 4S. Looks the same outside, all-new inside
• — new A5 processor like iPad2, dual-core graphics, 7x faster than previous
• — They are demoing games on stage. New games with enhanced graphics.
• — Better battery, 8 hours of talk time on 3G, 14 with 2G, 6 hours web browsing
• — Wireless system reengineered, can send and recieve over 2 signals. “Never been done before” 
• — Real world use 14Mbps, others call it 4G, Apple wont debate it.
• — One phone with CDMA and GSM, world phone for Verizon
• — New feature: Enhanced Camera with 8MB, focus to complete with point and shoot. (Lots of really great physical enhancements.)
• — Flickr.com (photo sharing site), iPhone is most popular camera
• — Fastest camera for a phone, ready in 1.1 seconds… VZW Bionic is 3.7
• Apple’s Phil Schiller is demoing photos taken with new iPhone
• — Now records HD at 1080p, with lots of new enhancements like stabilization.
• — “Too many customers, this may be the best still camera and video camera they have ever owned”
• New Feature: AirPlay now has Wired Mirroring, play game on TV with iPhone or with AppleTV
• New Feature: Siri, and very smart voice recognition and tool. eg. Whats the weather like today? You ask it a question, it will find the right App or info and speaks it to you before opening the App.
• — Can be used to set Alarms and more, the room is appalled by how great it works compared to others
• — “Give me directions to…”, “Find me a greek restaurant in Palo Alto”, rated by Yelp
• — Can be used to take direction, in mail say “read my message”. Can also be used to reply. Can also be used for smart reminders like “remind me to call me wife at…” and SIRI will remind you when you get to that location.
• Phil is still demoing example uses of SIRI, this is a whole new game changer
• Works for English speaking countrys, German and French to start in Beta, more languages coming soon.
• Learns from use, and gets smarter over time.
• Wrapping up iPhone 4S and SIRI
• Video being shown about the technology, likely will be posted on Apple’s homepage today.
• New pricing: iPhone 4S in black and white, $199 for 16GB, $299 for 32GB, 399 for 64GB
• — iPhone 8GB will be $99, iPhone 3GS FREE on contract
• — NEW CARRIER: Available on AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint
• — Dates: Pre-order is Oct 7, Available Oct 14
• — 7 Countries on 7th, 22 more counties by Oct 28, 70 by years end
• Tim Cook is summarizing
• Thats a wrap! Thanks for reading