Founder, Publisher and Editorial Director of the 9to5/Electrek/DroneDJ sites.
Seth Weintraub is an award-winning journalist and blogger who won back to back Neal Awards during his three plus years covering Apple and Google at IDG’s Computerworld from 2007–2010. Weintraub next covered all things Google for Fortune Magazine from 2010-2011 amassing a thick rolodex of Google contacts and love for Silicon Valley tech culture.
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.
More at About.me. BI 2014 profile.
Tips: seth@9to5mac.com, or llsethj on Wickr/Skype or link at top of page.
http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:item:comedycentral.com:370708
Clearly, Mr. Stewart has had the New York City AT&T experience with his device –that is dropped calls being the norm.
“Those us in the iPhone community have sacrificed one thing for the ability to carry around every photo we’ve ever taken, or video we’ve taken, or song listened to, or have a compass. We have sacrificed the ability to make phone calls.”
Sure most of this is directed at AT&T but…
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w83UQkiuNZQ&fs=1&hl=en_US]
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Surprising no one, Bloomberg reports that an upcoming iPad will support Verizon’s network directly.
Verizon will get an embedded chip in the iPad for use on its network, Francis Shammo, chief financial officer of Verizon Communications Inc., the parent of the wireless unit, said today in an interview in New York. IPad users currently need an extra device to connect to Verizon’s network. Shammo declined to say when the change may happen.
This isn’t as likely to be as big a threat on AT&T because the iPhone issue has been mostly on dropped calls and AT&T’s network is technically faster (though not faster than LTE) than Verizon’s 3G. Verizon’s 3G coverage is of course better.
The real questions are will that iPad be the iPad 2 (yes) and will that iPad do LTE (hope so!).
Like was demonstrated earlier (And later taken offline by Apple) the Verizon iPhone has a different antenna design than the GSM version. Above is AT&T’s design. notice the breaks in the antenna on top…
And on Verizon’s below there are no antenna breaks at the top but instead on the left side:
(Web)site for sore eyes?
That’s how you do it AT&T! “$199 for the 16GB, $299 for 32GB — mobile hotspot included! Up to 5 devices.”
5 device mobile hotspot included with iPhone 4 on Verizon. Welcome to 2008 everyone.
Oh, and: Q: Why didn’t you go the LTE route?
Tim: Two reasons — the first gen LTW chipsets force design changes we wouldn’t make. And Verizon customers told us they want the iPhone now. I can’t tell you the number of times we’ve been asked ‘when will it work on Verizon.’
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Two #2s launch a #1?
Will the VZiPhone be 4G? Will it be worldphone SIM compatible? Will Verizon give you unlimited data? Will they give you a reason to update with only 5 months until a new model comes out? How about a AT&T iPhone sidegrade? Will there be VCast apps all over it? Will Steve Jobs show up?
All questions we’ll be able to answer in the next hour. Stick with us, won’t you? Follow us on twitter for live thoughts.
Apple just seeded another build of Xcode 4, Preview 6. We’ve been hearing some good things about optimized speed which Apple alludes to in the release notes, embedded below:
According to Cutline, Apple CEO Steve Jobs will join News corp head Rupert Murdoch on stage to launch the new made for iPad (and other tablets?) magazine called the Daily next week.
The two media moguls will appear together at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art for the launch, the same venue in which Google announced its Instant Search a few months ago.
Known as The Daily, Murdoch’s iPad publication has been the talk of the media world over the past couple months, and the News Corp. chief has even dubbed it his “No. 1 most exciting project.” The hush-hush project has been taking shape at the company’s Manhattan headquarters, but it will also have staffers in Los Angeles.Jesse Angelo left Murdoch’s New York Post, where he was second in command, to run The Daily, and former Viacom digital distribution boss Greg Clayman came aboard to run the business side. Murdoch is reportedly willing to sink $30 million into the project.The cash infusion has spurred The Daily into a high-profile hiring spree over the past couple of months. So far, Angelo and his team have brought in a number of top-notch journalists from media outlets such as the New Yorker, the Daily Beast, Forbes, AOL and Politico.
Jobs is also rumored to be joining VerizonWireless CEO Lewell McAdam tomorrow during the Verizon iPhone launch, perhaps making a busy month for the Apple CEO, who doesn’t usually like to share the stage. Perhaps his 2011 resolution was “sharing the spotlight… more”.
According to TUAW, Apple will be expanding its presence at Best Buy in the coming months to include Genius Bars and additional Apple products.
We are a bit dubious on this one, just because of the tight branding and control Apple has over its Genius Bars. Best Buy does currently have Apple Solution Consultants which are:
experts in Apple solutions who can offer you immediate help-right there in the store.Get dedicated Apple expertise while you shop. Now you can get advice straight from Apple employees at your neighborhood Best Buy. ASCs are ready and waiting to help you find the best solution for your needs. Whether you’re considering a Mac for the first time or have years of experience with Apple products, ASCs can help—providing in–depth knowledge about all the latest products from Apple. Get hands-on demonstrations and comparison information to help make your purchasing decision easy.
Currently, over 600 of Best Buy’s 1000 US stores have an Apple Shop within a store.
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Apple this morning sent out an email to its iWork.com beta users with some exciting news (which had largely been detailled in the iWork 9.0.5 release notes):
Play back Keynote ’09 presentations on the web, complete with animations.
Using Keynote for Mac, share your presentations and let viewers experience them with over 15 animations, video, hyperlinks, and audio. Play back a presentation on iWork.com using the latest version of Safari on a Mac or PC, iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch. Just swipe to advance slides on your iPad using Safari.
That’s great news but more interestingly, Apple no has some additional online storage options…
New publishing options for public sharing and private online storage.
Upload your documents for private online storage and easily access them from anywhere, or share your documents on social networks using a Public link. Also, you can now embed your presentation seamlessly on a website or blog using the embed code provided by iWork.com. To learn more about these features, and to view an embedded presentation, click here.
Speaking of Verizon Tweeting…interesting that they are now tweeting from the iPhone over at Verizon. I guess they are using an AT&T iPhone? (OK, it could be an iPod but you know it isn’t.)
AXA in Belgium did an impressive ‘i-Ad’ last year…
…and this week, followed up with perhaps an even better one, below:
http://www.viddler.com/simple/59e74182/
Remember that Thinkgeek iCade Arcade box that was ‘demo’ed on April Fools’ Day last year?? Well, it got such a warm reception, and frankly isn’t rocket science to create.
ION has partnered with Atari®, the first name in classic arcade games, to bring a huge suite of classic arcade titles including Asteroids® to market with iCade support built right in. Grab hold of iCADE’s full-sized joystick and smash the arcade buttons for commanding control of iPad’s on-screen action. This truly unique arcade cabinet and game-controller for iPad will provide hours of action and nostalgia for years to come. Enter the iCADE and go back to the future
Full Press Release below:
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Wow. New York. And I am in SF. We had a hunch.
Also the unverified source that gave us that earlier info also told us:
VZiPhone: Release window: Feb 9-16. The vacation blackout :Feb 1-16 give or take.
iPad2 will be announced on the 1st week of March, released within 30 days.
Update: The Wall Street Journal says it’s the Verizon iPhone.
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BGR uses several factors to come to their conclusion: Apple Employee Blackout dates of February 3rd and February 6th, Verizon Thursday Launches, and some earlier reports to conclude that February 3rd is D Day for the Verizon iPhone. That would put an announcement between now and then with perhaps some iPad 2 news as well (iPad 1 was announced in January but there wasn’t a ‘remaining iPads in inventory’ issue then).
Anyway. We’re hyped! (More below)
Wow, there must be some awkwardness in the C-Suite of Cupertino today as Bloomberg reports Apple is looking for a new CFO.
Apple Inc. approached Blackstone Group LP Chief Financial Officer Laurence Tosi to become its finance chief, three people with knowledge of the matter said.
Tosi told Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman that he plans to stay, rather than join Apple, said two of the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks were private. Steve Dowling, a spokesman for Apple, said the company is “not conducting a CFO search.” Current CFO Peter Oppenheimer “loves the company and is extremely happy in his role,” Dowling said.
The report says that Tosi, 42, would have brought Apple more experience with corporate acquisitions. Blackstone, the world’s largest private equity firm, made more than 30 purchases last year.
Oppenheimer obviously doesn’t spend enough as Apple has amassed a huge cash horde since he took over from ousted Fred Anderson in 2004. Apple’s major rival, Google, has been on a spending spree as of late picking up 30 companies in the past year.
Update: Sorry about the hugely unfortunate typo in the headline. I’m flying with my family at the moment with my toddler climbing all over me. The traffic crashed the database and(or the Gogo Internet) prevented me from updating it quickly. Thanks to Scott for saving me :D (and all of your wonderful comments and tweets).
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TUAW ran some analytics on the 1000 apps available on day one of the Mac App Store tore and got a breakdown of what people were selling.
Games were clearly the most popular category of application (they don’t add up to 1,000 because developers can choose more than one category).
And as you can see below, there was a wide variance on pricing including a few apps over $100.
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MIC Gadget posts some of the latest artwork NOT coming out of Cupertino. With all of the case leaks, there isn’t a lot of room for creativity…which isn’t a bad thing in this instance.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vou1OOaKYWo&w=640&h=385]
If, instead of putting the phone in some jenky dock at the back of the device, you could put the phone where the trackpad is and have it act as the trackpad. That way you don’t need that ‘phone emulator’ on screen, you just get a smartbook. AT&T’s/Motorola’s Atrix.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s72rGDUn2uo&w=640&h=385]
I can’t even believe this is right. For the Playbook’s email and calendar to work you need to be connected to a Blackberry?!
The question is: Who, besides BlackBerry users, is going to want to buy it? The core email and calendar apps are completely tethered to a BlackBerry. Without your BlackBerry, there is no native email or calendar app—just access through the (admittedly good) web browser.
That reminds me of the Palm Foleo strategy. Never heard of it? Yep, that good.
There isn’t a survey out there that has the BlackBerry gaining market share, so why tie (anchor?) your new product, which has plenty of positive attributes, to a sinking ship? You immediately cut out 75% of your market (and growing). Delusional.
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Here’s a good one from Microsoft Windows president Steven Sinofsky who took a shot at Apple, recounted by Networkworld:
Sinofsky recalled sitting on a plane next to a passenger who used a succession of Apple devices during and after the flight. First the passenger texted and talked on his iPhone before takeoff, then watched a movie on his iPad, listened to music on his iPod, and finally opened up his MacBook upon landing to catch up on everything he missed while in the air.
“That’s not particularly converged,” Sinofsky said during an invitation-only press conference Wednesday afternoon, hours before Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was scheduled to give his Consumer Electronics Show keynote. “In fact, it was clear some of the same scenarios were happening across devices.”
There are so many things wrong with this I don’t know where to start. Clearly you could do all of those things on any of those devices. In his scenario, screen size is the only difference.
Oh, and Windows Phone 7 and Windows 7 are converged? Do you want a laptop OS on your tablet?
Discuss…
