It turns out that his hobby 9to5Mac blog was always his favorite and in 2011 he went full time adding his Fortune Google followers to 9to5Google and adding the style and commerce component 9to5Toys gear and deals site. In 2013, Weintraub bought one of the Tesla’s first Model S EVs off the assembly line and so began his love affair with the Electric Vehicle and green energy which in 2014 turned into electrek.
In 2018, DroneDJ was born to cover the burgeoning world of drones and UAV’s led by China’s DJI.
From 1997-2007, Weintraub was a Global IT director and Web Developer for a number of companies with stints at multimedia and branding agencies in Paris, Los Angeles, New York, Sydney, Hong Kong, Madrid and London before becoming a publisher/blogger.
Seth received a bachelors degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the University of Southern California with a minor in Multimedia and Creative Technology in 1997. In 2004, he received a Masters from NYU’s Tisch School of the Art’s ITP program.
Hobbies: Weintraub is a licensed single engine private pilot, certified open water scuba diver and spent over a year traveling to 60 cities in 23 countries. Whatever free time exists is now guaranteed to his lovely wife and two amazing sons.
Hot on the heels of the report that the iPad 2 might be late, another report from FBR Captial Markets’ Craig Berger today says that iPhone 5 might not hit the market until September (!).
Berger writes, “For the iPhone 5, we continue to hear that a July launch is unlikely, with various casing suppliers and touch suppliers still ramping up, with some chip vendors not having yet received firm iPhone 5 orders, and with other sockets like the image sensor (most likely going to Omnivision exclusively, but with some potential for Sony to split that socket) still in flux. Given these factors, we think a September launch is more likely, off from Apple’s traditional iPhone launch schedule, but giving the firm more time to enhance its next-generation instant communications on the phone.”
Steve stays home for a month and all hell breaks loose or Analysts trying to push AAPL down? We’re hoping that these analysts are off the mark.
Some interesting MacBook Pro possibilities coming out of BGR this afternoon. Here are the Cliff’s Notes:
The trackpads will be bigger than before. Looking down at my MacBook Pro, I’m not sure that’s possible, but it couldn’t hurt – unless it accidentally triggers from my wrists. Clearly, history dictates that trackpads continue to grow as models are updated.
OS on 8-16GB SSD. This is the big one. BGR says that some MB Pros will ship with integrated SSDs which house the OS. I’ve been talking about this since 2008 so I’m clearly for this idea. However, that would take some reconfiguring of the OS (symbolic links, etc.) which I’m not so sure will appear in 10.6.7. The idea is that the OS and maybe the Applications are on a speedy, relatively small SSD saving money while the user’s media is on a cheaper, larger HDD. Love it.
Also, BGR’s source could be referring to Hybrid drives like Seagate’s Momentus which integrate a 8GB SSD drive into a 7200RPM traditional HDD. My results with this particular drive have been mediocre.
Finally, the new MBPs will weigh less…an average of a half pound per model. We’re not sure how (liquid metal?) but we’re all for it.
We’re a few days away and surprisingly no one has gotten an event notification. Events mean bigger changes so take that for what it is worth.
You can no longer get your hands on a MacBook Pro from the Apple online store until after the refresh expected to be on Thursday this week. Apple’s got a 3-5 day wait on new MacBook Pros which puts them right about on schedule.
Good on Apple for cutting off the newbs who don’t read the rumor sites.
According to a report filed by the Times this evening, the fabled iPhone nano isn’t any smaller than the current iPhone. In fact, it isn’t nano at all unless you consider its bill of materials. However, the report did corroborate other details of Apple’s soon to be released “value iPhone” which will likely just be the current iPhone 4 with cheaper components (like the iPod touch?).
Apple is also considering changing internal components of the device to bring costs down. “Although the innards of the phone, including memory size or camera quality, could change to offer a less expensive model, the size of the device would not vary,” said the person, who has worked on multiple versions of the device.
The current iPod touch 8GB retails for $229 so it might stand to reason that Apple could keep prices under $300 with the addition of some extra radios, considering the prices of components are always falling.
Reasons for not making a smaller iPhone include its difficulty to use and the fact that manufacturing prices wouldn’t drop significantly.
The new iPhones would be able to be controlled by voice commands, something we explored last night with Apple’s acquisition of AI app Siri, likely with iOS 5, also due this summer.
Also, a huge MobileMe overhaul is in the works, which we’ve heard before:
Another person with knowledge of Apple’s plans said that the company was actively building a more versatile version of its MobileMe service, which allows users to store music, photos and files online and have them accessible on all their devices.
The current version of MobileMe, which costs $100 a year, has failed to catch on with consumers. Rivals like Google and others offer similar services free.
The new version of MobileMe is expected to be free and would allow users to synch their files without using a cable.
The new MobileMe service will allow users to sync photos and media across all Apple hardware and the cloud, allowing devices with smaller amounts of storage to be built.
Well, you have to give the judges at the Mobile World Congress some credit. In an entirely Android dominated event, they were willing to look off the board when deciding what device should win the “Best Mobile Device”. Even though Apple didn’t show up, the iPhone won the award handily.
The Judges’ comments included, “Great screen, sharp design, fantastic materials, and phenomenal ecosystem for app developers. In a tight race, the iPhone 4 built on the success of its predecessors to set the pace for smart phones.” Expand Expanding Close
Times change. In the past three and a half years, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson had nothing but kind words for Apple and its ecosystem. However at MWC this week, he took aim at Apple’s App Store.
“You purchase an app for one operating system, and if you want it on another device or platform, you have to buy it again,” he said. “That’s not how our customers expect to experience this environment.”
Clearly. That’s why all of AT&T’s App Store apps are coded in HTML5 so I can open them on my Verizon iPhone and Wifi iPad. UVerse is awesome that way.
Instead, he’s pushing the aptly named WAC or Wholesale Applications Community, which is a platform that acts as one app store. The apps are then sold by a variety of different phone companies around the world, in stores that carry their own brands.
WAC is endorsed by AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel Corp., T-Mobile USA, Boise St. and Hawaii. Expand Expanding Close
We’re really hoping this is 100% wrong but apparently Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been seen visiting a cancer center to get chemotherapy and is very thin. Another report here. Obviously, if he is again sick we wish him a speedy and full recovery. Expand Expanding Close
If you include iPads as PCs (and why wouldn’t you?) Apple surpassed HP last quarter to become the number one mobile PC vendor in the world with a 17% share or 10.2 million units, according to DisplaySearch. HP, the reigning champion, shipped 9.3 mobile PCs for a 15.6% share of the market in Q4 2010.
With iPad sales expected to grow with the launch of the iPad 2 as well as MacBooks continuing to out-gain the PC space quarter after quarter
They have no specifics, and are just going on rumors. However, they see the screen going down to where the button currently resides and offering a more permanent dock.
Assuming that the workspace remains of 960 × 640 pixels , Apple could increase the height of the screen to about 1,148 × 640 pixels (more or less, of course).Current applications exploit the conventional screen area, leaving off the pixels in excess seats in the lower part of the body or showing those elements that are currently hidden are displayed when you double-click the Home button.
We don’t think this is going to happen for a number of reasons, but it is certainly a creative thought. Expand Expanding Close
Have we reached the point where Augmented reality has gone mainstream? Perhaps. Today Trip Advisor rolled out their iPhone/iPod touch upgrade (free, iTunes) with the included feature. After playing with this for a matter of minutes I can tell that this is going to be big.
Sure other apps like Layar have been doing this for awhile but Trip Advisor is probably the most mainstream app so far to incorporate augmented reality.
The App uses the compass and your GPS to figure out where you are and what you are looking at. Trip Advisor has a huge database of Hotels, Restaurants and things to do listed by geo-location and shows you which way to head to find them.
The new service would allow publishers to set their own rates. Google gets a cut but they don’t say how much. Works on any device with a browser. Good timing/well played by Google.
For both of you Mac users who are also Windows Phone 7 users (don’t laugh, I know someone who was given a freebie who owns a Mac) Microsoft has released the Windows Phone 7 connector for Mac. Now you’ll be able to sync up all of your media to Microkia phones later this decade.
Apple drew the line in the sand officially today. If you are a merchant who makes money selling anything in the App Store either through subscription or in-app purchases, Apple will be taking a 30% cut. And if you sell anything for use on an app, you now have to sell it for the same price or less in App. You can argue for or against this policy but Apple is going to do this starting at the end of June. There is no arguing that.
Unless the government gets involved that is. The question that likely will be asked: Would you be OK if Microsoft made a mandatory 30% on every purchase made through Windows applications?
I honestly believe a lot of vendors will be exiting. I also don’t think it is a coincidence that Apple owns properties that compete against these vendors either. Netflix and Hulu? Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, welcome to iTunes everyone! Amazon Kindle and Barnes and Noble exit? Welcome to iBookstore. Spotify and Rhapsody? Back to iTunes folks.
The reality is that companies like Netflix and to a lesser extent Amazon can’t afford to give 30% of their revenues to Apple. They just don’t have the cost structure — they would have to raise their prices dramatically just to break even. Apple knows this too. Apple doesn’t want people watching Netflix or buying eBooks from Amazon. It’s Apple’s platform and Apple can take what it wants, right? If Apple wants to raise the rate to 40%, it will do that too. This is Apple’s DisneyWorld and it controls the concessions.
I believe what Apple is saying here is that they’ve created such a good subscription and payments ecosystem coupled with such amazing devices that these companies are privileged to sell things to Apple’s 100 million highly-valued customers and their highly valued credit cards, which they conveniently have on file.
On the flip side, I think Apple is absolutely sure that these companies aren’t going to be able to match their offering in an HTML5 web store either. Expand Expanding Close
The WSJ asks around about the new publisher requirements that Apple is enforcing on June 30th. The move will require content publishers like Netflix, Amazon, Rhapsody, Hulu and others to make content available through in-store purchases. Of course all in-app purchases are subject to pay 30% of their revenues gained through the store to Apple.
“My inclination is to be suspect” about Apple’s new service, said Shubha Ghosh, an antitrust professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School. Two key questions in Mr. Ghosh’s mind: Whether Apple owns enough of a dominant position in the market to keep competitors out, and whether it is exerting “anticompetitive pressures on price.”
Clearly, companies like Amazon who already have some thin margins aren’t set up to do this. In fact, Rhapsody already has a public beef on the matter.
” Millions will be spent litigating how broad the market is,” said Herbert Hovenkamp, an antitrust professor at the University of Iowa College of Law.
Mr. Hovenkamp said digital media is the most plausible market. He said he doubted that Apple, currently, has a sufficiently dominant position in that market to warrant antitrust scrutiny.
But, he said, if Apple gets to a point where it is selling 60% or more of all digital subscriptions through its App Store, “then you might move into territory where an antitrust challenge would seem feasible.”
What do you guys think? Should Apple be able to take 30% of sales made through the store?
What if it means losing Netflix, Amazon and all other booksellers? Expand Expanding Close
Deutsche Telekom announced that it expects NFC phones in 2011 from Apple, Samsung[Nexus S?] in Q2, and RIM & LG in Q3. The company expects mobile payments replacing cash to be the most popular use for NFC technology, followed by mobile ticketing for services such as public transportation.
Engadget confirmed with PhoneScoop that the slide in the handout did have a NFC iPhone. What? No pictures? Surely one will be forthcoming. Readers: that’s what the comments are for! Expand Expanding Close
In addition to the 8MP camera and improved battery of the iPhone 5, the new iPhone nano, Apple.Pro says that a third prototype has been floating around China. This one has a slide out keyboard for those folks who like the physical keys (Crackberryheads). Apple.pro has a pretty solid track record as noted by MacRumors including the release of what would become the new Nano’s screen.
