Brendan Byrne

For many, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) remains a near perfect operating system with numerous users, and when polled nearly 30 percent of users claim “they wouldn’t change a thing.” For those with complaints, high on the list these often have to do with multitasking. But what also makes the list is a lack of flexibility that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) affords its users with regards to apps. While most of these are macro complaints like Apple’s totalitarian control over what makes it to the App store. Another complaint is that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) doesn’t allow users to delete pre-loaded apps like Maps, iCal , Notes, GameCenter, etc. Apple’s Native Apps: This inability to remove Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s native applications may be a thing of the past once iOS 7 is released this fall. With third-party alternatives available in the hundreds of thousands at the App Store, many iPhone and iPad users never use these native apps, with the exception of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s dialer. Additionally, users often group all of these in their own folder and pass it way “down the line” so that they are not in the way or taking up valuable real estate on their home screens. According to Steve Kovach
Read More »

In the same week that the word “tweet” was added to the Oxford English Dictionary, it has also been added to Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB). By so doing, anything that is accompanied by a hashtag will immediately be made click-able. In addition, to making your status updates more visible across the Facebook network, users need to be cognizant of the fact that any prior status updates that incorporated a hashtag will automatically become searchable. But Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has not added the use of the hashtag to receive more complaints from users over privacy issues, it has begun using the hashtag, just as Google+ and others have recently for one reason —according to Mike Isaac at All Things D, advertising revenue. Specifically, revenue from the second-screen audience. People Use Devices While Watching TV, So TV # Are Coming Too According to Nielsen data, the group that has tracked televisions ratings and share for decades, nearly half of smartphone owners and tablet owners (46 percent and 43 percent, respectively) said they use their devices as second screens while watching TV every day. This is why Twitter has been pushing its advertisers to include a hashtag at the end of every ad—to provide users with
Read More »

While battery life of smartphones has certainly improved over the years, depending on use many New Yorkers struggle to keep their phones charged each day. In a smart piece in Fast Company, specifically its design section recently, an article shows the aesthetic development and transformation of the stations that the company Pensa is producing. The charging stations, called Street Charge, will begin being deployed this week through a partnership with AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) and solar company Goal Zero. Twenty-five stations will find their way to electric “dead spots” throughout Brooklyn and Manhattan for the next three months. After their initial placement, each station will be moved twice before the three month run ends and their retirement begins. Pensa Creating Pedestrian Phone Charging Stations Pensa began its foray into Street Charge with a series of simple umbrellas that were attached to solar panels in order to collect user data such as how much power does the average user need, whether they usually have their own power cords (they don’t), and other information. After consulting with the city, they then learned that it would require a long round of negotiations to attach its solar panels to existing street signs and decided to
Read More »

Each Monday sees Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies Inc., contribute to Time magazine’s tech blog. Today, Mr. Bajarin suggest what Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) can do for the impending TV revolution, either with Apple TV or by simply providing television producers with ways to augment their programming as more and more people watch live TV with either a smartphone or a tablet next to them. Bajarin began his weekly column today with a chicken versus egg argument that quickly had him deciding that hardware generally precedes software. He points out that when Eddie Roberts built the first PC in 1974 it was nothing more than some chips soldered to a motherboard before enlisting the help of Bill Gates and Paul Allen. While the Altair 8800 couldn’t function without software, the hardware did, indeed, come first. Hardware is Key to Revolutionary Capability Recognizing that this was the future, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak decided to have a go at what would ultimately become the Apple I and Apple II. They too, focused on hardware first as IBM did when it forayed into this new arena of personal computing. Like Eddie Roberts, it sought out Gates and Allen, giving birth to MS-DOS, the launching
Read More »

I’ve never hid my admiration for Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA). He puts things into space, builds amazing cars and allows me to bill my employers worldwide in a couple of clicks. How Tesla Motors Has Benefited In a recent editorial piece by the Washington Post, the editorial board outlined how Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) has benefited from government loans on a federal level but remains unfairly hindered by the backwards policies of numerous states. Yes, Tesla received a large loan, $500 million, from the federal government in order to weather the Great Recession. Tesla also repaid that loan well ahead of schedule. For some reason, Sarah Palin even took issue with this, perhaps mistakenly thinking she was speaking of Solyndra when the grizzly bear with the tricorne hat delivered her daily list of talking points for the ignorant. While benefiting from this loan, and the large personal investment by its founder, states like Texas and North Carolina seem hell-bent on keeping Tesla down. I grew up in a state that forced bars to wait until 11AM to open on Sundays. I remember the hassle involved for my father to place bets on the early
Read More »

One of my proudest moments as a child was parking cars on my parents’ lawn for a University of Wisconsin football game for the first time. It was 1979, and I rushed down to “Off the Wall Records” and bought my first album, The Clash’s self-titled debut. Not the U.S released version but a $24, in plastic, U.K. import, I was six. The album had been out for a couple of years, but I had made $30 dollars parking ten cars on the lawn in a half-moon arrangement I had drawn up numerous times leading up to game day. I designed it with the understanding that I couldn’t drive, nor would many of the cars’ owners upon their return. No one was parked in, yet, I had something for the turntable that demanded time along with my father’s collection of everything Bruce Springsteen, a Nylons’ album, and something from Linda Ronstadt. The next season of parking for the lowly Badgers of the University of Wisconsin, saw the 4th studio album from The Clash, Sandinista! released. I rushed to buy it. That three album collection, which I still own, had six sides with six songs each, and showed The Clash’s softer
Read More »

A recent report from the Central Intelligence Agency has convinced the Obama administration that the Bashar al-Assad regime has engaged the Syrian rebels with chemical weapons on a number of occasions. France was the first country to declare that this was the case, but the fact that the United States is now convinced will certainly change the shape of Syria’s ongoing civil war. President Barack Obama has repeatedly said that the use of such weapons was the “red line” that Bashar al-Assad of Syria could not cross without repercussions and a more active role from the United States. Barack Obama as a second-term president needn’t worry about re-election, but will certainly be looking at his legacy as his word is tested. In a news’ week dominated by the NSA Spy “Scandal,” it’s not a stretch to believe that the Obama administration, though divided about Syria, will not waste time flexing the United States’ military muscle. Bashar al-Assad Regains Upper Hand In recent weeks, the rebels have suffered a number of defeats by forces of Bashar al-Assad that could leave  supplying  them with lethal support, that many have been calling for months, near toothless. Or at least too little, too late. As a
Read More »

While reviews have been generally positive for both House of Cards and Arrested Development, reviews don’t pay the bills and have many people asking, “Why is Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) producing its own content?” In a well written and thoughtful analysis of this question, Felix Salmon in an opinion piece published by Reuters today, went a long ways towards answering this question. He began with an an economic analysis by Matthew Ball who recently wrote: I’d argue that it is unlikely that Arrested Development will convince millions of users to stay an extra month in 2014 and 2015. If this is the case, the show would need to achieve its return in the immediate future. Therefore, if we don’t see Netflix adding four to five million new subscribers during the quarter, one of two things are true. One, the show was a poor investment whose draw was a fraction of those anticipated, or two, the show is instead intended to convince many of the million subscribers currently churning away each month to defer their cancellation. This would be telling. While Wall Street analysts are assessing the success of original content in terms of new customers, I believe Netflix’s primary goal is
Read More »

I walk a fine line between a couple of understandings. I don’t wish to live in a lawless society with no police officers. I’m certain that I can’t be the fastest, strongest, and smartest all the time, and the police serve some purpose in making sure I don’t have to worry about this understanding with each of my waking moments. That said, I can also count on a single hand the amount of times that I’ve been in a situation where the police were involved and didn’t make it worse. Essentially, I don’t hate cops, and I don’t fail to understand their utility but I do feel a whole lot better when they are not anywhere near me. I don’t believe that there should be a Constitutional amendment against the burning of the United States flag as many (mostly Republican) congressmen seem to suggest at least once a decade. I also believe, that in a very rare wellspring of patriotism, I should be allowed to smack any person setting fire to that flag if I don’t break anything. I don’t want the police arresting the flag-burner anymore than I want to be arrested for assault. Besides, if anti-American students in
Read More »

To suggest that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) “lost the plot” last year when they introduced Maps, would be to risk gross understatement. It was a debacle at best, and for those that upgraded their iOS  they were stuck with it until Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) was able to step into the breach a few months later. I, for one, use navigation services regularly, but after using Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s Maps once I was without one until Google came to the rescue. Following the WWDC sonvention this week, there is reason to believe that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has begun to right its ship beginning with the announcement that their new OS X “Mavericks” will have a native Maps application that will allow Mac users to send maps to mobile devices among other upgrades to Maps on iOS. It was imperative that they do something, and it was refreshing to see that they have—unfortunately the upgrade will not be available until fall. Better late than never. Google Moving Forward with Mapping Applications At the same time, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) continues to move forward with its mapping applications. Earlier this week, Google announced the acquisition of Waze, an Israeli crowd-sourced mapping application that helps users find the best
Read More »

More and more Americans are becoming aware that “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen,” already rivals “Call Me Ishmael,” and “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…..,” as one of the more famous first lines in literature. The reason is, of course, the NSA spy scandal that recently broke due to the whistle-blowing of Edward Snowden when he revealed the reach of the NSA’s internet and telephone call dragnet. Snowden is presently in an undisclosed location in Hong Kong laying-low as either a hero, traitor, or fugitive depending who you ask. Rise In sales Of George Orwell’s Dystopian Novel “1984.” As a somewhat unexpected consequence of Snowden’s disclosure to the UK’s Guardian and other news outlets was the rise in sales of George Orwell’s dystopian novel “1984.” Orwell’s work follows the plight of Winston Smith a government employee dissatisfied with the surveillance of “Big Brother” in the fictional dictatorship of Oceania. Until the release of “The Hunger Games” I hadn’t heard the world dystopian used more than 30 times in my life until the first round of reviews came out for the Jennifer Lawrence film. It seemed
Read More »