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Hype in the tech world is part of the game. There are entire events dedicated to hype: CES, E3 and Mobile World Congress are all platforms for various companies to get in front of crowds and unveil groundbreaking technology. Some companies are better at this than others. I would argue that Apple has mastered the art of hype more than anyone else. At this point, Apple merely needs to send out an invitation to a press event and the tech world stops to pay attention.
The Apple announcement has come and gone and it went pretty much the way I expected. We saw a new iPhone (called the iPhone 5 and not, thankfully, the “new iPhone”). We also got to see redesigned iPod Nano and iPod Touch devices. A new pair of earbud headphones called EarPods rounded out the new hardware. Updates to iOS and iTunes rounded out the announcement. But despite the hype, I think the biggest conversations will be around pricing and the lack of a smaller iPad.
It’s September, which means it’s time for Apple to bring the tech world to a halt as company executives reveal the next line of products that will grace store shelves in time for the holidays. I don’t think there’s another company out there that can create as much speculation as Apple. Even something as simple as an event invitation becomes the target of intense scrutiny as bloggers and journalists parse every tiny detail in the hope of learning something before the official announcement goes live.
When electronic readers and tablets began to become popular, I sighed a wistful sigh. I thought about how useful a thin, light device that could store thousands of books would have been back in my college years. Back in my day, we had to carry massive libraries of books, sometimes relying on wheelbarrows or wagons to get from one building to another. Why, The Complete Works of Shakespeare alone was enough to help a puny Liberal Arts major put on some serious muscle mass. By the time I got to class, I was exhausted. If only I could have stored all those textbooks on a single device!
I think it’s safe to say that the iPhone 4S feature that has received the most attention is the virtual personal assistant Siri. Just in case you haven’t heard, Siri uses voice-recognition technology to interpret requests and retrieve the best response. In some cases, the response may be an answer to a question such as “how much is five pounds in kilograms” (answer: about 2.27 kilograms). In others, Siri might launch an appropriate app or initiate a Web search to get the answer you need. And a lot of time has been spent asking Siri silly questions to see what sort of answers might pop up.
The news about Steve Jobs passing away is taking the Web by storm. That’s only fitting considering Jobs’s impact on technology. Chris and I have recorded two TechStuff episodes about Steve Jobs. We could probably record two dozen and only scratch the surface of what Jobs accomplished.
I admit, my headline is an example of baiting an audience. But if you’ve ever wondered why people who love certain brands react in a seemingly irrational way whenever that brand receives criticism, read on. According to research performed by Shirley Cheng, Tiffany White and Lan Chaplin, the reason discussions about brands often turn into enormous flame wars is because we incorporate the brands we love into our own self-image. When someone else criticizes or attacks a brand we love, we feel as if we ourselves are under attack. That’s why so many people respond passionately to attacks on brands — it’s a matter of self-defense.
By now, I assume you’ve heard the news. Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, has stepped down from his role as CEO. Apple COO Tim Cook will assume the role of CEO and Jobs will become Chairman. Jobs wrote a brief but heartfelt resignation letter addressed to Apple employees explaining that he feels he is no longer capable of fulfilling the duties of CEO. His departure from Apple marks the end of a truly remarkable career.
Today was the first day of Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference, or WWDC. The event is a little different than other Apple conferences; with the focus on developers, the tone is more likely to be about software than the latest gadget or an updated computer line. There was a lot of news, but few surprises at today’s event.
There were few surprises at today’s event. CEO Steve Jobs, who has been on medical leave, made an appearance to lead the keynote, which finally revealed the cloud service that many had been expecting for some time.
Today’s uproar is not occurring in a concerted cry of outrage like it normally does, but instead it is occurring in the volume of material being published on so many different fronts. Two weeks ago we covered the fact that smartphones track our locations: Today’s uproar – Apple’s iPhone and 3G iPad track your location […]
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