1.1.2

1.1.2 gives our British friends free access to The Cloud, a wifi broadband service. I'm jealous.

Two iPhone Dogs

Who knew dogs love the iPhone so much?

Are Japanese Cell Phones Better?

Interesting perspective on US vs Japanese cell phones on Kotaku.com.

For years people have been telling me that the cell phones over in Japan are years ahead of the US and Europe. They spoke as if there was some kind of breakthrough technology that existed nowhere but in Japan. If you'd ask for specifics, they couldn't say, they just knew that it was so, like magic being done in a land far, far away. Turns out, the kind of things they were talking about are the ability to watch live television, faster data networks, and the ability to pay for things with your cell phone. The faster data network is something to be envious about, but the rest are hardly enviable.

I've always been in love with the Japanese aesthetic, as most fans of technology are. The love for novelty combined with discovery of a foreign aesthetic tends to drive these kinds of attitudes.

MadCatz iPhone Earphones

Another pair of iPhone earphones have been announced (but are not available yet, of course), the MadCatz Air Drives, complete with microphone and one-touch music-to-call control. This pair is a bit unusual as it is not sound isolating. Instead, the headphones feature technology that allows you to better hear your surroundings with your music. I thought every pair of cheap non-isolating headphones did that.

Who's Afraid of Apple and Google?

Apparently, not Symbian. I think they should be at least worried about their growth. Another interesting piece by GigaOM.

The Google Phone.

The news world is taking the Google phone seriously. With rumors of a Monday launch, the blog world is in a flutter. There is nothing but rumors to work from, so everyone is speculative. One of the more interesting quotes is from a post on GigaOm. Om Malik quotes Hamid Akhavan, CEO of T-Mobile International and CTO of Deutsche Telecom:

"When AT&T and Apple partner on the iPhone or T-Mobile partners with Google on mobile advertising, these new arrangements force the question: “Who pays whom and when?” Billing, payment and content management for broadcast, advertising, search and music all are significantly different. Carriers are having to develop new business models that are compatible with the changing business models of the other key players in the ecosystem. The business models have to be as interoperable as the technologies."

Essentially, there are several new revenue streams both going into and out of cell phone companies. Google wants to make it easier to share the wealth of a big one, advertising. Why share? Because it gives Google a bigger slice of the global search pie. Cell phone search introduces Google to people who can afford a free wireless phone, but not a thousand dollar computer.

However, how and where Google will find the space to display those ads without hampering usability, or even improving usability (like the iPhone does), is beyond me. And it's maybe why they feel the need to create an open cell phone OS.

Wired.com: Apple's $15 Billion In Cash

Interesting article from Wired.com on Apple's $15 billion in cash reserves.

"If analysts agree on anything, it is that the company will not be making any major acquisitions. It's simply not in Apple's DNA."

I think DNA is really a poor choice of words. Was running Windows part of Apple's DNA? Was switching to Intel processors? Was making a cell phone? As the article states, Apple spent over a billion to lock up flash memory for its iPods, there's no reason it couldn't spend a billion or two on infrastructure like dark fiber or wireless networks or even on software companies that deal with creativity like Adobe (although that'd cost more tha a few billion). Or how about the company that makes the Big Red One camera? Wouldn't you like to see that with an Apple logo?