How much would an iPod touch with 3G service cost?

Apple is reportedly making iPod touch with 3G service. How much premium would 3G connectivity would add to the cost of the iPod touch? iPad with 3G is priced $130 higher than the Wi-Fi only version. Would Apple add $130 to the price of iPod touch with 3G? Would people pay for the extra $130?

I haven’t heard anything about iPod touch with 3G from my Apple contact. That doesn’t confirm nor deny such product would be released by Apple.

On the road again.

I’m on the road heading back to homebase from an assignment on this holiday weekend. It will takes about 15 hours driving plus some stops. I’m hoping there wouldn’t be any big announcement on the tech world since I’d be having little Internet access on the road. There are still a lot of area uncovered by AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon wireless Internet access.

Being on the road can be challenging especially without having access to the Internet, fast Internet. The place I’m staying somewhere in Idaho does not have Internet service. I am relying on my iPhone and Nexus One for Internet access. Surprisingly, AT&T has great service in the area surrounding Boise. On average I’m getting around 1.5 Mbps up and down on both the iPhone and the Nexus One. Corresponding through email and VOIP as if I’m on a better DSL service.

Anyway, I’ll be off in a few minutes heading back to Southern California.

p.s. to all my friends in Boise and surrounding area: Go Broncos!

The search for Micro USB cable.

I’m out of town on an assignment for the holiday weekend, what an irony. Anyway, I thought I had packed a Micro USB cable with me which I would use a lot. The external hard drive and the phone use the Micro USB cable to connect to the computer. I apparently didn’t bring it.

So I decided to buy one at the store and was shocked to find out how much they are selling the Micro USB cable for. The cheapest I could find at Best Buy or Radio Shack was $20. I could buy one through MonoPrice.com for less than $1 each.

Since I really need one I ended up buying one. What a pain.

About that next iPhone.

Apparently there have been tons of people querying the term “iphone prototype” for the past 24 hours. Did Apple lose an iPhone prototype? The media has been reporting it while thousands of bloggers are reposting them. It is bad for Apple to have their highly guarded secret to be out there in the wild.

It surely reminds the Tech World about the lost iPhone 4 prototype story from 2010. So, who’s going to buy this missing iPhone prototype, disassemble it and reveal it to the world? Probably the news organizations are treading the water more carefully this time. They do not want to incur Apple’s wrath over the missing iPhone prototype.

So what’s the point of this post, you asked?

Sometimes in December 2010, an Apple employee who is definitely not Phil Schiller told me not to expect iPhone 5 to come out as everyone expected. In March 2011, I was informed that there would be no iPhone 5 at WWDC 2011. iPhone 5 (or the next iPhone) would arrive before Holiday 2011. When I was told “the next iPhone” I assumed it would be iPhone 5. I wondered why this source always said “the next iPhone” instead of “iPhone 5”?

I then jokingly asked this Apple employee who can’t be Tim Cook, successor to Steve Jobs as Apple CEO:

“I know you have the next iPhone prototype. Can I have one? You don’t have to worry because no one would believe that I have one anyway.”

For some reasons, this Apple employee laughed and changed the subject of our conversation.

What do we know about the next iPhone? All I can tell you that several Apple management team members are heading off to China this week.

 

Jumping to conclusions.

There’s nothing more dramatic today then the “Lost iPhone Prototype Part 2” news today. Not that I care about it, but I keep seeing it in the news feed. Be it from the news site or from repost by 13,677,214 bloggers. OK, I was exaggerating the number. The rumors broke a few days earlier. As usual the copy-and-paste-machines are busy reposting it over and over.

Blah blah blah, Apple lost another iPhone prototype, blah blah blah.

The second wave came sometimes yesterday that SFPD had no record about the supposed search for the lost iPhone prototype. Some news site speculated that Apple employee might have been posing as Police Officer. Sensationalistic and poorly researched news piece were published. As usual the copy-and-paste-machines were busy reposting the story.

The third wave came as some news site reported that SFPD was involved in the search for the missing iPhone prototype. I wonder what the copy-and-paste-machines are doing after reading this.

News organization should have been more responsible in reporting the news. The reports on the lost iPhone Prototype are comparable to tabloid level. There seems to be the need to be the first to report the story. There seems to be the need to make sensationalistic headlines. After all, the number of page hit is way too important for them.

There’s no need to jump into conclusions; not with the iPhone story nor any stories.

Metallica performed at Dreamforce convention.

This is where Tech news intersects with Music News. Metallica performed at Dreamforce convention in Moscone Center, San Francisco on August 31st, 2011. Metallica was giving away tickets in the hundreds through the Met Club.

Set list can be found at Blabbermouth.net.

In somewhat related “news”, Leo Laporte attempted to sing “Battery” and “Enter Sandman” on TWiT 316.

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p.s. What if Dreamforce ’12 would feature Dragonforce? Make it the D-force conference!