Category: Announcements

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Twitter: Freedom of Information in One Hundred and Forty Characters or Less at a Time.

Founded in 1996, Twitter.com has seen its ups and down in the technology community. Mirroring the Short Message Service (SMS), a tweet allows only maximum of 140 characters in one message.

Twitter has now become a a near-real time news conduit for the world. Does anyone remember when then Presidential Candidate Barack Obama was actively using Twitter on the campaign trail? He even utilized Twitter to announced his Vice-Presidential choice. That was back in 2008.

Also in 2008, Twitter became the de facto news medium in Mumbai attacks.

In January 2009, the first image of the downed US Airways Flight 1549 was transmitted through Twitter.

In June 2006 Twitter once again became the method of choice in communicating with countries outside Iran. Iranian government effectively cut off the communication pipelines to the world after allegation of fraud in the Iranian Presidential Election. Major news media were critized of failing to report the event in Iran. People were getting the news through Twitter instead of CNN, MSNBC, FOX News, etc.

Twitter has become an important news medium. Forget Ashton Kutcher and Oprah!

Twitter: Freedom of Information in One Hundred and Forty Characters or Less at a Time.

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AT&T Revises Upgrade Pricing For iPhone 3G Early Adopters

AT&T announces today that iPhone 3G early adopters will get the $199 and $299 pricing for iPhone 3G S starting June 18th, 2009. In an open letter and YouTube Video, AT&T explains the change in the upgrade policy.

AT&T was flooded with complaints from iPhone 3G early adopters for their upgrade policy. The iPhone 3G was originally released on July 11th, 2008and early adopters are only 23 days away from fulfilling their first 12 months of their 2-year contract. According to AT&T, iPhone customers who spend more than $99 a month per line generally are eligible for an upgrade between 12 and 18 months into their contract.

AT&T iPhone 3G S Upgrade Eligibility Announcement

All of that said, we’ve been listening to our customers. And since many of our iPhone 3G customers are early adopters and literally weeks shy of being upgrade eligible due to iPhone 3G S launching 11 months after iPhone 3G, we’re extending the window of upgrade eligibility for a limited time.

“We’re now pleased to offer our iPhone 3G customers who are upgrade eligible in July, August or September 2009 our best upgrade pricing, beginning Thursday, June 18.”

AT&T could have handled this matter better earlier. For example, most day-one iPhone 3G customers are eligible for upgrade pricing on July 12th, 2009. AT&T could have given them the upgrade pricing but still extend their contract based on the July 12 date.

Previously I contacted AT&T regarding their upgrade pricing policy and an AT&T representative stated that the iPhones are the only phone AT&T does not have control over pricing, including the upgrade pricing. At&T representative was adamant that Apple mandated the iPhone pricing policy. I contacted Apple shortly after, and an Apple representative said that it is up to AT&T discretions to set the upgrade policy. AT&T subsidizes iPhone 3G and iPhone 3G S prices.

I do not know who tells the truth, but AT&T and Apple representatives were telling me two conflicting statement. Personally I tend to think that AT&T representative was not stating the fact.

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iPhone OS 3.0 is Officially Released

June 17th, 2009 (U.S. date – June 18th in some other countries.)

iPhone OS 3.0 Software Update

Apple release iPhone OS 3.0 for iPhone, iPhone 3G and iPod touch (1st and 2nd gen). iPhone OS 3.0 is available at no extra cost for the iPhone and iPhone 3G, while it costs $9.95 for the iPod touch.

To obtain iPhone OS 3.0 for iPhone:

  • Install iTunes 8.2 (minimum requirement), download it from http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/.
  • Connect the iPhone/iPhone 3G to the computer and launch iTunes.
  • Sync your iPhone/iPhone 3G, this way iTunes will backup your files.
  • Import all photo from iPhone/iPhone 3G using iPhoto/Image Capture/Aperture or Microsoft Scanner and Camera Wizard.
  • Select the iPhone/iPhone 3G and click on “Check for Update”
  • iTunes will automatically download iPhone OS 3.0 and start the installation.

To obtain OS 3.0 for iPod touch:

Prices are based on iTunes Store United States. Prices varies in different countries.

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Mac OS X Snow Leopard: iDisk Icon

Apple changed the iDisk icon for Snow Leopard. The version in Leopard is colored pink and the one in Snow Leopard is colored blue. Blue like the sky with a cloud. Cloud Computing, I get it!

iDisk icon in Mac OS X Leopard:

iDisk User IconiDisk Generic Icon

iDisk icon in Mac OS X Snow Leopard:

iDiskUserIconiDiskGenericIcon Snow Leopard

Mac OS X Snow Leopard is scheduled for release sometimes in September 2009. Mac OS X Snow Leopard is priced at:

  • Upgrade from Mac OS X Leopard: $29
  • Family Pack upgrade from Mac OS X Leopard: $50
  • Mac OS X Snow Leopard: TBA
  • Mac OS X Snow Leopard Family PAck: TBA

Mac OS X Snow Leopard requires Macs with Intel processor.

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What is this Digital TV Transition you are talking about?

Obviously a lot more people didn’t even realize that it is actually happening, Over The Air Analog TV Signals are being turned off as of June 12th, 2009.

“So, what is this Digital TV Transition you are talking about?”
You can find out more at:

“What really happened with this transition?”
Some news articles:

Most TV’s sold in the past 3 years are equipped with digital signal tuners.

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Apple Releases fixes For Java Security Hole

It is long overdue and Apple finally fixes the long outstanding Java security holes reported back in August and December 2008 (Ars Technica article).

The Java update is available for Mac OS X 10.4.11 Tiger and Mac OS X 10.5.7 Leopard. Apparently Apple has included the fixes in the  Developer Preview version of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.

Released on June 15th, 2009:

Java for Mac OS X 10.4, Release 9 | 80.11MB
Java for Mac OS X 10.4, Release 9 delivers improved reliability, security and compatibility for J2SE 5.0 and J2SE 1.4.2 on Mac OS X 10.4.11 and later.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3593
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3633

Java for Mac OS X 10.5 Update 4 | 158MB
Java for Mac OS X 10.5 Update 4 delivers improved reliability, security, and compatibility for Java SE 6, J2SE 5.0 and J2SE 1.4.2 on Mac OS X 10.5.7 and later.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3581
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3632

Java for Mac OS X updates are also available through Apple Software Update.

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