Apple has been gaining market share, and has moved up a few spots on the most profitable company list.  With this news I am proud to say the Apple has taken the top spot on the online music retailers list.  With all of these achievements Apple has a lot of extra cash, and they have already made some plans on spending it.

Here are a few more stats regarding their pocket book.

2Q 2007 Highlights

$5.26 billion revenue, $770 Million Profit ($.87 per diluted share)

AppleTV formally announced, shipped

iPhone Announced (no income from iPhone until late 3Q 2007)

Multi-Colored iPod Shuffle Released

Quiet update to Xserve RAID (capacity update)

2Q 2008 Highlights

Apple’s Guidance: $6.8 billion revenue, $.94 per diluted share profit

Street Expectations: $6.9 billion revenue, $1.07 profit per share

AppleTV Take 2 + Movie Rentals

MacBook Air Introduction

Aperture 2 Released

Xserve RAID Discontinued

XSan 2

iPod Shuffle capacity bumps

iTunes climbs sales ranks (#2, #1 just after close of quarter)

Penryn based MacBooks

Penryn based MacBook Pros with Multitouch trackpad

Current 3Q 2008 News/Rumors

Final Cut Server shipped

iPhone/iPod Touch Software 2.0 (June)

Rumor: iMac, Mac Mini Penryn Updates

Rumor: 3G iPhone in June

Rumor: MacBook, MacBook Pro Design Changes with Montevina (June)

They have all this money they are looking to spend it. Yesterday Apple announced their plans in buying a chip manufacture, P.A. Semi for a whopping $278 Million (with a M). 

The plan is to own a company that can produce the chip for the iPhone.  This will benefit Apples pocket book, and allow them to start using chips in the iPhone with the features they dictate, instead of what manufacturer has planned.  This will help to secure their place in the smart phone market even more, and hopefully prove my buddy Jeff wrong. My car needs a wash bad!!!!

Hey Steve how about back dating some stock for me huh????

RIM, the manufacturers of BlackBerries, has been in existence for almost ten years.  The original RIM 850, named the 14^th greatest gadget of the past 50 years by PC World, was essentially a pager that provided an organizer, calendar, and wireless Internet.

It ultimately opened the door to the 857 and 957 series BlackBerries, which look much more similar to the devices that we see today.

Now, in offices everywhere, particularly with many of GURU’s clients, you see BlackBerry 8700s, 8800s, Curves, and Pearls.  While AT&T is the sole carrier of the iPhone, BlackBerries have devices for every major wireless carrier, making it much easier to find a BlackBerry to fit everyone’s needs.

 

 

Furthermore, while Apple publicly announces its upcoming upgrades, consumers forget that RIM is doing their own research and development as well, albeit under the radar.  RIM has been hard at work developing their new 9000 series BlackBerries, which could be released as soon as August of this year.  Patent applications have already been submitted for a touchscreen-based BlackBerry, an angular keyboard, as well as a slider device that some Windows Mobile devices users prefer.

Rumor also has it that at least one of the 9000 series devices will contain a front-facing camera to be used for video conferencing.  Obviously, these features won’t be found all on the same device, which means RIM is expecting a whole line of products in the near future to continue its dominance in the PDA market.

 

If I’m wrong about this and the iPhone takes over the market, I’ll buy a Mac and wash Jack’s car every weekend for a month.

 

 

 

Apple announced the dates for the World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) yesterday.  This is the event iPhone enthusiasts have been waiting for.  At this event, Steve Jobs and others will announce the release of the iPhone 2.0 software.  There are also rumors spreading of a new iPhone with new features.  The latest rumor to spread around the Internet, is the addition of 3G wireless chip to the iPhone.  The biggest complaint from users, besides the whole AT&T situation, seems to be the lack of 3G.  If you have experienced a 3G wireless connection, you know its pretty fast.  A lot of tools and applications that have been thought of for the iPhone, have not come to light because the network the iPhone is currently on is far to slow.  With 3G that will all change.  

Another anticipation from the WWDC are the applications currently being written by the larger software manufacturers.  Companies like Sega, SlingBox, and even Microsoft are all working on third party applications.  I am most excited about the possibility of SlingBox creating a client for the iPhone.  What would be cooler than having your TV in your pocket?? 

There are other rumorsspreading about the new iPhone.  Talk of a GPS module seems to have popped up again. I remember when the iPhone first came out, people found code inside of the OS pointing to GPS capabilities, but this turned out to be the “find me” option in Google Maps.  This time the hackers have found an altitude variable. Altitude can only be used from GPS; Google Maps does not have any idea how far above sea level you are.  This leads to speculation that TomTom and Garmin are also looking to create applications for the iPhone.

As we sit and wait for June 9th to roll around, the boards are going to be jumping with speculation about what Steve will be announcing.  Until then, I will refrain from posting any more rumors about the iPhone. We will just have to wait and see.

June 9th is definitely going to be another exciting time for the industry.  I already have plans with clients to replace the current technology they are using.

Till June 9th…….

The push for beauty has even spread to little kids, with parents paying for manicures, and even paying for eyebrow and bikini waxes. And you thought those videos of Jon Benet Ramsey’s pageants were creepy.

There wasn’t any of this when I was younger. My dad cut my hair, I wore ten pound glasses, and I’d either wear jean shorts or my Vikings Starter jacket depending on the weather.

Until now, beauty has always been in the eye of the beholder. This may have changed in the last few weeks as a computer scientist from Tel Aviv University claims to have successfully taught a computer to determine how attractive a woman is, based on factors such as facial symmetry, hair color, and the Pythagoras’s “golden ratio.”

According to the team who created the software, it “allows the computer to complete a much more complex task of esthetic judgment, which humans cannot define exactly how they do it.” This is supposedly a big step forward in the development of artificial intelligence in that the computer is creating an emotional judgment.

In other technology learning news, TiVo has claimed that it can predict the losers of American Idol each week. More signs of artificial intelligence? No, it just monitors whenever a viewer replays a contestant’s performance. Obviously, if you watch it more than once, you must like it. This is the performance that broke GURU Engineer of the Year Jeremy Tucker’s rewind button on his TiVo:

Time Machine is an application in Leopard that will easily back up your Mac. It automatically does monthly full; weekly, daily, and hourly differentials.  Originally, TM would only backup to an attached USB or Fire Wire drives. Of course there are hacks to get around this, but as we all know hacks usually work 90% of the time.  Now with the addition of Time Capsule, you can back up to a networked drive.

With both Time Machine and Time Capsule, Apple users can now have a disaster recovery system that compares to most small business. However there is a bit of controversy surrounding these two systems, because of this I could not decide how I was going to stand on this issue.

The first issue was a rumor, that Apple did not use a server grade drive like they advertised. Someone cracked open a Time Capsule and found a Hitachi Deskstar 3.5” 7K1000. Now this drive is rated to be an internal or external storage for consumer computers. Of course this person did not read on to also find that this drive, is also rated to be in a networked storage server, extreme gaming, or video editing arrays.

That was not where my question comes into play.  I am not using a Time Capsule at home, so the issue of a non-server drive was not an problem for me. I have an Airport Express with a USB drive attached to it. An Airport express is exactly like a Time Machine, expect it does not have a drive built in. Since the Airport was introduced a lone time again, it’s only fair to say that, Time Capsule is an Airport Express with a drive built in it.  Any who….. I have the updated firmware on my AE, the update allows the AE to act like a Time Capsule, and I can backup all of my Macs at home to it.  Some have suggested that this update was a mistake and wasn’t meant to really exist. They also say that this form of backup is not a foolproof system. This is where I do not have solid data to make my decision. I have not had it in place long enough to fully test it. Apple told a couple of customers, that this is not a supported solution, so if something breaks Apple will not support it.

I do however, for extra piece of mind, have my 2003 server at home doing weekly backups of my Time Machine backups, just in case something happens.  I use TC because of how easy it is to restore a file, or go back a few versions earlier.   Here is a brief video showing off the user interface.

I guess to get the support from Apple you should buy a Time Capsule, but if you already have an Airport Express, just hook a drive up to it. If you are looking for a cheap solution this is the best consumer product available.

The number 2 movie of the week was “Tyler Perry Meets the Browns” with Angela Bassett and Rick Fox directed by Tyler Perry? What is Rick Fox even doing in movies?

Anyways, with these kinds of options at the movies I would much rather stay at home and play video games. This is where my life becomes tough.

What console should I play? PS3, XBOX360 or Wii

#1 – Wii (249.99)

Have you ever tried to find one a Wii Console online or in the store? They are impossible to find! The reason for the Wii’s popularity is because of it’s appeal to both genders and all age groups. The Wii comes bundled with Wii Sports and most people can have a good time just having that game. There are other positive aspects about the Wii that makes it a highly recommended console to purchase.

1. User Friendly. My 5 year old niece learned how to bowl in 20 minutes.
2. Cost. $250 and it comes with Wii Sports!
3. Social Ice Breaker. We have had boring people (drifters and bums) over many times but the Wii usually solves that problem once you run out of things to talk about.
4. No need for HDTV or Plasma.

Negatives

1) I am constantly changing batteries for the remotes.

2) Setup. I don’t know if it’s just me but it looks kind of wimpy. The graphics are sub-par (No HD) and you have to make sure you get the sensor on just right.

3) If you are not careful you will smash your tv. See below.

#2 XBOX 360 Arcade Bundle (279.99)

I would not recommend the XBOX 360 to an amatuer.  You should have years of “gaming” experience before you attempt to operate an XBOX.  Superior selection of games, including the best game on the market right (DOOM3)

All games are in high-definition; easy-to-use Dashboard interface; excellent online gaming and communications via Xbox Live; plays hundreds of (but not all) original Xbox titles; doubles as a superior digital media hub and Windows Media Center extender; online

XBOX comes in many different packages. 20GB, Elite and the Arcade Package.  To get the most bang for your buck, get the Arcade Package. 

 More Positives

1) Great Graphics (1080P)

2) Awesome Games (Doom3, Knights of the Old Republic, Madden Series, Ninja Gaiden)

3) Real “Gamers” play XBOX 360.

 Negatives

1) It can get expensive.  To get the most out of your XBOX you will definitely need an HDTV.  The best games can be found on XBOX and they are not cheap. On-line play is not free either.  I have a gamefly account.  If you haven’t heard of gamefly I recommend trying it out.  It works just like Nextflix. 

2) They can overheat.  They have been known to overheat and this can cause it to “freeze up” in the middle of a game.  A good way to avoid having your XBOX overheat is to be mindful of the setup.  You should avoid stuffing it into a cabinet or tight space and make sure you give it some room to breath.

3) Addictive.  Playing this console can cause serious problems with all aspects of the rest of your life if you get addicted.  Video game addiction is a growing concern all over the world. Up to 90 percent of American youngsters play video games and as many as 15 percent of them — more than 5 million kids — may be addicted, according to data cited in the AMA council’s report.

#3 – Sony PS3 80 GB (499.99)

This is a great console but it came out at the wrong time and that has brought down sales and given it some bad word of mouth.  It has not been able to match the popularity of the legendary PS2 but that does not mean it is a bad console.  The graphics are superior to the XBOX 360 and it has a sleeker look.  The main thing that has brought the sales of PS3 down are the games that are being offered for this Console right now.  Once Grand Tarismo (Releases 2009) and Grand Theft Auto (Releases 4.29.08) come out I expect the sales for this system to increase.

Positives 

1)  Its multimedia capabilities are second to none. Being able to view photos, browse the Internet and watch high-definition movies on one console is a god-send.

2)  Blu-ray. Now that a next-generation movie format has been decided, the in-built Blu-ray player means I won’t have to splash out more cash for a standalone player.

3)  It’s whisper quiet.

4) Post your highlight clips online (check mine out)

 Negatives

1) No games to play.

2) Expensive!!

Nothing will ever beat the original game console that launched the multi billion dollar business.  I know some of you still love to break out the old joystick!

Thanks for letting me share.

 V

www.guruconsult.com

I wasn’t the only “victim” on April 1^st.  I put “victim” in quotes because nothing phases me; you could shoot a nerf dart in my eye and I wouldn’t flinch (GURU inside joke).  Around the web, there were other April Fools jokes to be found.  Google continued its annual pranking by announcing a new feature for their Gmail application called “Custom Time” where you can modify the timestamp on your emails to make them appear as if they were sent earlier.

This would have been helpful in college when I had English papers and computer science programs that needed to be submitted by midnight.

Even YouTube, the popular video sharing website, got in on the action, launching its first ever April Fools joke by linking all of their featured videos to the Rick Astley’s music video for “Never Gonna Give You Up,” causing all visitors to be rickrolled.  In case you haven’t heard of this new phenomenon, “rickrolling” is the act of intentionally misleading someone into watching a YouTube video of Rick Astley’s 80’s hit by disguising the link with something more appealing.  For example, I would be easily rickrolled if you sent me a link that looked like it was about The Rock.

So what can you do to get in on the fun next year? Two of my favorites that I’ve stumbled upon are:

1)      The Blue Screen of Death screensaver, which is actually a free download from Microsoft.

http://cache.lifehacker.com/assets/resources/2006/11/bsod-saver.jpg

2)      Making an office look like it’s filled with packing peanuts which would work very well at GURU because of the huge glass windows.

One thing that’s not a joke, though, is leprechauns in Alabama.

How often have you found yourself on your laptop, (or your Mac at work for those of you lucky enough to be given a Mac) wishing you had full access to your home network? For me, it’s almost all the time…….sitting at a client, looking for a word document, and realizing it is on the Mac at home. Most of us have heard that annoying commercial on XM, FM, or whatever other media that have been saturated about the same scenario, claim to give you full access to your work computer through a virtual desktop, Go To My PC. That is great if you need remote desktop, but what if you want the actual file or, what if you use a Mac? For me, I like to have the file on my local computer.

With Leopard, Apple added this great feature called Back To My Mac. This wonderful little application allows you to have full access to your Macs at home from anywhere on the Internet. If you have a dot Mac account and Leopard, you are all set. The setup is super simple; you do not need to make major edits to your router and better yet, it’s secure.After you have everything set up, all of your Macs show up in finder as if you are on the same network. It looks and acts as if you are at home. When you click on the Mac, you have an option to either view your hard drive, or have remote access to the desktop.

By going into the drives, you have full access to all the files; copy, cut, and open all work. Depending on the Internet connection you are using, the speeds are not bad. I use a Verizon EDVO card and can move a 1 MB file in a matter of seconds. The one down side I found, it does not show mounted volumes, such as USB, Firewire, or networked drives. So if you keep your data on a USB drive your out of luck. I am trying to find a work around, if any of you know of one, please post it in the comments section.

The “share screen” is also a nice little feature. Just by clicking on the “share screen” button, you instantly have full access to your desktop. Nothing too special here, it’s just like RDP for Windows users and VNC for the Linux guys. However, it is nice in the case you have a file on your FireWire drive, you can drag it to your desktop and viola, you have access to the file from your laptop.

I discovered this little gem just today. Thus the reason, I am blogging about BTMM. If you open terminal and select Shell, a new option called “New Remote Connection” appears. THis allows you to create a SSH tunnel to any of your Macs. I have a few command line tools installed on my Mac at home for troubleshooting network issues. So from anywhere I can SSH into any of my Macs, and run those command line tools. This feature really was a nice to find, as Verizon blocks the ports needed for SSH into my home network, so instead of doing port shifting, I just connect through BTMM.

All in all, the new “Back To My Mac” is a very nice addition to an already wonderful Mac experience.. Its a perfect solution to have your home network with you, everywhere you go. As i find new little hidden features, i will post them in the comments section.

If you have not been to an Apple store in forever, then you probably are not aware of the entry level Mac computer…the Mac Mini. This little box of love weighs an unbelievable 2.9 pounds, has a foot print of only 6.5″ x 6.5 ” and she packs an Intel 2.0 GHZ processor, two gigs of ram and a price point of only $799

She may not be the most powerful of Macs to hit the market, but if you’re thinking about making a switch and are hesitant to make a large financial investment then this is the computer for you.

Apple also sells an OS X Server, which is perfect for a low cost entry level web server. With all capabilities as a Windows SBS, it has email, http, chat server, content management and even video streaming without all the extra costs of licenses. Install the server on to a Mini and it becomes a very reasonably priced server, that is perfect for a small shop or the internet/computer enthusiast, looking to have a secure and fast web server.

There is a company in California that will host your Mac Mini in their data center. They have a range of options; you can send them your Mini or rent one from them. This is a great if you don’t have a dedicated Internet connection, but want to have a server directly connected to the Internet.

Now, it’s time for me to REALLY geek out. Since this machine is so small and draws very little power, the first place I thought about installing it was in my car. Yes, that’s right, at one point I had one of my Mini’s installed in my car. You’re probably asking yourself, “why?” My answer is, “why not?” With a full Mac built into your dashboard, the possibilities are endless. I hooked it up to a 7″ touch screen, and had the ultimate in-car entertainment system including DVD, MP3, and even was able to download movies from YouTube.

I also had a great GPS application running on my Mac called Route Buddy. Just like a Garmin or TomTom, it does route based directions and by adding a Verizon USB wireless card, full mobile computing is available: email, Internet searching, streaming media and even location based tracking.

The Mini is a great versatile computer that can serve many functions. It is perfect for a new Mac users or the Mac enthusiast that has an addictive personality.

Email originated in 1971when Ray Tomlinson (no relation to Ladanian) sent a message from one computer to another one of his computers.  Ray was probably a big hit with the ladies like this guy.

Since then, email has become an integral part of almost every business and organization, as well as almost everyone’s personal lives.  Twenty years later, as email started to catch on, so did spam.  However, back when email was first created, Tomlinson never foresaw spam as an issue because, back then, there were only a handful of users.

Now, countless hours and dollars are spent trying to combat spam.  Almost every business needs a spam filter (GURU recommends the Barracuda Spam Firewall appliance for larger businesses and the Sunbelt Ninja Email Security software for smaller ones) if they want to keep their employees sane.  Imagine having to filter through a thousand useless emails before stumbling across one that you really cared about.  The shocking part, is that 85% of all spam comes from one of six bots, a term for a collection of “zombie” computers that carry out automated tasks.

Almost 70% of all spam promotes male enhancement pills.  I guess, they have to get the word out somehow since Simon Cowell turned down the role of Viagra spokesperson.  And then you have to worry about the money laundering scams, phishing emails, refinancing emails, and porn emails.

There are number of ways you can reduce the amount of spam you receive.

1)      Use a free email address dedicated to online registrations.

2)      Avoid posting your email address in plain text on your website.

3)      Don’t click any links in spam emails.

4)      Never reply to a spam email.  Those “unsubscribe” links are sometimes ploys to redirect you to a certain website.

5)      Invest in a spam filter.

I’m hoping there will one day there will be a Do Not Spam registry, similar to the Do Not Call registry and the proposed Do Not Mail registry.