November 8th, 2009

In Smartphone Wars, Darwinism Triumphs Over Intelligent Design

Posted by Jason Perlow @ 5:17 pm

Categories: Apple, Business, Google, Linux, Open Source, Personal Technology, Web Technology, iPhone

Tags: Apple iPhone, Google Inc., Research In Motion Ltd., Google Android, Phone, Smart Phone, Verizon Communications Inc., Intelligent Design, RIM BlackBerry, Messaging

With the release of the Verizon Droid, the smartphone market now has two apex predators with advanced, feature rich mobile embedded operating systems. There’s no room for smaller or less evolved players, and survival of the fittest in the war of the handsets may very well mean industry and carrier consolidation.

At around 8PM Friday evening, I walked into the Route 4 Paramus, New Jersey Verizon corporate store and walked up to the counter and said two words: “DROID Me.”

The store was busy, but there were plenty of demo units and lots of staff around — a far cry from the iFAIL experience I had when I first attempted and failed to purchase my wife an iPhone 3G at AT&T’s Fort Lee, New Jersey store during its launch in early July of 2008.

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October 18th, 2009

DROID aims to make Apple iAnnoyed

Posted by Jason Perlow @ 9:36 am

Categories: Apple, Business, Open Source, Personal Technology, Software Infrastructure, iPhone

Tags:

As Wuher the scowling bartender said in Star Wars, AT&T Wireless and Apple doesn’t “serve their kind in here”, but the DROIDs are coming, like it or not.

Verizon recently launched its DROID Does web and TV campaign which is a preview of their upcoming Motorola DROID, their long-awaited iPhone-killer running Google’s Android 2.0 smartphone operating system.

Many carriers and device manufacturers have claimed to have iPhone-killers. They tried and failed to unseat the giant, which has a huge following of users and a massive application store. But right now, at least in the United States, iPhone is tied to AT&T Wireless, which has been riddled with 3G coverage problems, much to the frustration of the company’s subscribers. And if Verizon’s recent actions are any indication, iPhone is likely to stay where it is.

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June 19th, 2009

Frugal Friday: Angry Mac Bastards, iPhone 3G S Mania, Fedora 11, ProxMox, Mono, Presidio Networked Solutions

Posted by Jason Perlow @ 5:11 pm

Categories: Apple, Business, Enterprise Computing, Free operating systems, Hardware Infrastructure, Open Source, Personal Technology, Server, VMWare, Virtualization, iPhone

Tags: Apple iPhone, Mono, Apple Macintosh, Fedora Project, Apple iPhone 3G, .Net, Development Tools, Open Source, Podcasts, Software Development

Frugal Networker Ken Hess and I discuss how I incurred the wrath of the Angry Mac Bastards (see 1:05:50 mark in AMB podcast, explicit language) The iPhone 3G S launch, Red Hat’s Fedora 11 release, ProxMox virtualization, the never-ending Mono debates, and interview Dave Hart, CTO of Presidio Networked Solutions.

Click Here to listen to the Frugal Friday Podcast

June 19th, 2009

Oh The Humanity: RapidRepair Tears Down the iPhone 3G S

Posted by Jason Perlow @ 9:25 am

Categories: Apple, Hardware Infrastructure, Personal Technology, iPhone

Tags: Apple iPhone, Apple iPhone 3G, RapidRepair, Cellular Phones, 3G, Chipsets, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Semiconductors, Hardware

The iPhone 3G S, Fully Disassembled, courtesy of RapidRepair.com

You knew someone would do it. Just because they could. The guys over at RapidRepair.com flew to Paris to purchase the iPhone 3G S at an Orange Boutique store the stroke of midnight, just so they could diassemble it into its component pieces.

No, they’re not sadistic — they’re in the business of doing 3rd-party cellphone repairs, specializing in iPhones and iPods.

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June 17th, 2009

What would you do for a free iPhone 3G S?

Posted by Jason Perlow @ 6:50 pm

Categories: Apple, Hardware Infrastructure, Personal Technology, iPhone

Tags: Apple iPhone, Apple iPhone 3G, VOIP, Telecommunications, Strategy, Networking, Management, Jason Perlow

Would you be willing to sacrifice this cute little puppy for an iPhone 3G S? Or de-friend your closest friends and family on Facebook, for two years?

[Disclaimer: If you haven't figured it out, this post was a humorous, albeit dark attempt at pointing out that people are willing to do some pretty horrible things for very small material gain. If you don't like being reminded of the fact that humanity as a whole is a pretty despicable collection of erect hominids, that's too bad. Be it as it may, I happen to love animals myself, and I've adopted two dogs from Petfinder.com, which is an organization I recommend heartily.]

Given that today was iPhone 3G S review mania day, I’ve given up all hope of publishing anything meaningful today on ZDNet for fears of it being buried in the cumulative iPile. Apple product releases are like the Britney Spears or the Paris Hiltons of the tech reporting industry, the irrational obsession with them seems to monopolize virtually all the screen space on the various tech news outlets when some new development or enhancement comes along.

So rather than beating them, or resigning not to post anything at all, I’ve decided to join them. That being said I think it’s a given that people LOVE iPhones. But how much?

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June 9th, 2009

$99 iPhones Will Not Improve the Wireless Customer Experience

Posted by Jason Perlow @ 9:03 pm

Categories: Apple, Business, Hardware Infrastructure, Personal Technology, Virtualization, iPhone

Tags: Apple iPhone, Phone, Device, AT&T Corp., Apple Inc., Apple iPhone 3G, Wireless, 3G, Wi-Fi, Wireless And Mobility

Selling the iPhone at $99 is simply an opiate for the masses. But like any addictive drug, it doesn’t fix the real miseries plaguing wireless service carriers.

This week, Apple did the unthinkable — it lowered the price of the existing 8GB iPhone 3G to a mere $99.00. And the world rejoiced, praise be The Fruit and he who no longer weareth the black turtleneck. Yes, I too noticed Schiller was wearing a grey Oxford and Jeans instead of the usual Silicon Beatnik uniform.

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May 27th, 2009

RIM and Google: The Perfect Storm?

Posted by Jason Perlow @ 9:30 pm

Categories: Business, Enterprise Computing, General, Google, Hardware Infrastructure, Linux, Open Source, Personal Technology, Server, Software Infrastructure, Web Technology, iPhone

Tags: Google Inc., Research In Motion Ltd., RIM BlackBerry, Handhelds, Hardware, Jason Perlow

A “Perfect Storm”: The Linux-based Android OS, and tight integration with Google’s web services, running on  BlackBerry hardware and connected to RIM’s corporate messaging/calendar syncing infrastructure would be an unstoppable mobile enterprise device platform that not even Apple’s iPhone, Windows Mobile or Palm webOS could dare to challenge. But could the marriage ever be consummated? (GoogleBerry Storm concept by Spidermonkey)

In my previous piece about Palm and the potential for webOS to be used for derivative tablet-sized devices, I talked a bit about Google’s problem with having to brand Android and finding a major device manufacturer with brand and sex appeal to attract customers in order to make a major commercial success of the platform.

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May 26th, 2009

The Ultimate Tablet: On Palm's webOS?

Posted by Jason Perlow @ 8:00 am

Categories: Apple, Business, Linux, Open Source, Personal Technology, Web Technology, iPhone

Tags: Device, Palm Inc., Tablets, Notebooks, Keyboards, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Peripherals, Jason Perlow

Palm’s soon to be launched Pre on the Sprint mobile network will introduce the first webOS-based device into the consumer market. But should webOS be restricted to just smartphones? What about larger devices such as a tablet in the conceptual rendering above? (NetPilot Tablet Design Concept by Spidermonkey)

The Holy Grail of larger format handhelds, Apple’s iTablet, is essentially “rumorware”.  While analysts and Apple-watchers discuss it as if it was a real product, the secretive company hasn’t made a peep about any MID devices bigger than an iPod Touch or an updated iPhone coming out anytime soon and any discussion that would support the contrary is just pure wishful speculation.

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May 8th, 2009

Advances in TREKnology

Posted by Jason Perlow @ 8:49 am

Categories: General, Hardware Infrastructure, Personal Technology, Uncategorized, iPhone

Tags: Jason Perlow

In September of 1966, the NBC television network released an iconic but short lived series that would inspire generations of inventors and technologists to bring about changes in our daily lives in the use of technology that many of us take for granted but was once within the realms of strictly Science Fiction.

The original series, based on a “Wagon train to the Stars” Western turned Sci-Fi adventure concept envisioned by Gene Roddenberry, Dorothy C. Fontana and Matt Jeffries which ran for a total of 3 seasons from 1966 to 1969 is the basis for the feature film prequel/remake which is being released this weekend, nearly 43 years later. In the span of those four decades, many of the gadgets and technologies showcased in STAR TREK and in the revival shows and feature films which followed it in the 1980s, 1990s and the 2000s did eventually come to fruition.

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May 4th, 2009

Mr. Bezos, Tear Down This Wall

Posted by Jason Perlow @ 7:18 pm

Categories: Apple, Business, Hardware Infrastructure, Linux, Open Source, Personal Technology, Software Infrastructure, Web Technology, iPhone

Tags: Amazon.com Inc., Tablet, Wall, Stanza, E-books, Personal Technology, Jason Perlow

Amazon is not-so-quietly building a wall between itself, its competitors, and open e-book formats. It’s time to show them that those of us who seek e-book readers without boundaries will not stand for their market monopolization and Soviet-style platform containment.

So while I was out on a business trip to Chicago this morning, news broke about the probable introduction of a large format Kindle device aimed towards easier reading of textbooks and other large media, such as magazines and newspapers. As usual, I’m late to the game when it comes to Kindles, but I’ll try to add some new perspective here.

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