So with my last write-up about Google Drive, I thought I would take a little bit and look at how Science Fiction has affected our concept of privacy and what’s considered “normal” and “off-limits”. This has been all over the news lately, if you know where to look, at least. Between Google trying to steal everyone’s data rights, and The House of Representatives passing CISPA, things are little closer to 1984 than I think I like.

Big Brother is Watching

Over the weekend, I was at a bachelor party, and while we were playing poker, we started talking about Google Drive. I was shocked at how many of them didn’t care that Google’s Terms indicated that Google would have rights to any content they posted. I even put forth a scenario where Google used their personal photos in advertising and didn’t pay anything and they still didn’t care. As I mulled over that over the rest of the weekend, it occurred to me that as a culture, we’ve gotten so used to our personal freedoms being trampled, that the idea of Google owning rights to our personal photos was not only NOT shocking, it was accepted.

Not for this geek.

Then there’s CISPA (Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act), which, for those of you who don’t know, is the latest attempt by the Federal government to curtail internet peer-to-peer sharing, piracy and cyber-crime. While I agree that certain definitions and laws should exist on the books, they should not include any loss of personal liberties. So, as I started to examine this, I started wondering from where this lackadaisical attitude originated. Then it occurred to me; it’s because of Science Fiction.

Think about it; aside from Star Trek, how many Sci-Fi movies or franchises can you name that present a Utopic view? This goes back for years too. The movie 1984 famously gave us the phrase “Big Brother is watching”, and the idea became so relevant that many people use the phrase but have never seen movie or read the source material. But we all know what it means. Fahrenheit 451 was Ray Bradbury’s seemingly prophetic commentary on how televised media was taking over and the written word fading. But that’s not all he predicted. Bradbury unintentionally showed a world where censorship and the control of information was the order of the day; and I fear that it isn’t far enough from the realities we face now. The Running Man presents a future where the nation is run by corporations, without even the pretense of an intermediary government. And in that presentation, the corporation also controlled the media, manipulating stories to achieve the desired effect. Think what you want about Arnold, but The Running Man presents a totally plausible version of the future. In RoboCop, the government of Detroit can no longer afford to offer city services, like police protection, and outsources it to a private company (OCP). RoboCop himself is actually designed in such a way that he can’t arrest senior members of the company. Honestly, this is another movie I find completely plausible.

I could go on. GATTACA, Logan’s Run, Total Recall (and the book that inspired it We Can Remember it for You Wholesale), Alien, V for Vendetta… just to name a few more. All of them present futures where the government or corporations have pervasive control of our lives. And it’s a commonplace theme in Sci-Fi, which I’ve discovered I find very disturbing. But what I find even more disturbing is how easily we accept it. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of shock and horror when we watch the movies, but we are slow to see the creeping invasion of those same elements in our current society.

To me Science Fiction is supposed to be about the elevation of humanity past the trivial disputes we have now. I don’t watch sci-fi to be pelted with reality. I’d rather pretend that Star Trek might actually happen than face the bitter reality that our future will look more like RoboCop or The Running Man, or, God forbid, 1984. But here’s the problem, we accept the fact that much of our daily lives is recorded, monitored, saved, filed and referenced. Google uses our browsing habits to targets ads they think we are more likely to click on. TiVO keeps track of what you watch and offers suggestions about shows you might like, as does Netflix and Hulu. Our phones and cars have GPS locators in them. Under the Patriot Act, the government can wiretap anyone it considers a threat (without actually defining what “threat” means), and under the recently passed NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act), they have the right to arrest and detain you without trial and without council indefinitely… if you’re a “threat”.

I’m one more piece of bad news away from unplugging and living with the Amish somewhere. You can have your Cadre Cola and 6000 SUX. I’ll be over here, growing a Lincoln beard and plowing something.

All right, I’ll admit that the title is a little exaggeratory, but it’s not as far from reality as we might hope. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan. I use Google all the time. I have a Gmail account; I’ve had one since they required an invitation. I even convinced the place where I work to buy into Google Apps, which has been a wonderful transition for us. I’m afraid, though, of any business that overextends its reach, and I’m more afraid of companies that don’t know what’s there property and what isn’t. Let me explain.

For a few years now, Google has offered a service through their sites that allows people to store and use all sorts of documents and files. It couldn’t have been too difficult to build a browser-side reader for .doc, .xls and .ppt files. Oracle has been making Open Office for a while now, and it’s basically a client-side version of the same “it’s like Office, but free” concept. It was brilliant, too. Microsoft overcharges for Office (Productivity software is overpriced on the whole, in my opinion.), and as long as you don’t want bells and whistles, Open Office and Google Docs worked great. Google even built the reader into their Gmail interface so you didn’t need to download a document to read it. You could preview it online, just like in Outlook. That, though, was just the beginning.

Now you have all these documents, but you need to access them from more than one location, right? I mean who just does work at work anymore. Microsoft built a system that would allow users to not only open their documents online, but store them there as well. Originally, this was called “Office Online”, then “Office Live”. Now it’s called “Sky Drive”. Like most techies, I was an early adopter, and again, I used my employer as a testing ground. We had a few problems. The save system integrated into Microsoft’s products, and with the introduction of Office 2010, online storage became a real option. I’m not talking just about backups. I talking about using an online space just as if it were just like your hard drive. Welcome to the future, right?

Fast forward a little. File sharing is much more common, and online storage is the order of the day. The latest entry into the foray is Dropbox, which gives users 2 GB of online storage for free and makes sharing those items very easy. Their own marketing materials liken it to a “magic pocket” that lets you access data from anywhere, even mobile devices. Dropbox uses a unique system of client-side software (since it has no other software into which to build the interface) and server-side storage. I love Dropbox mainly because it saves my documents both on a server and locally, syncing changes as they are saved. When I started using it, the advantages became clear; you didn’t have to be connected to the internet to work with your files.

So, I moved everything to Dropbox…

All this time, Google’s been sitting on the bench, waiting to make its move. So finally, they enter the online storage and file sharing arena for real with Google Drive. How, though, do you set yourself apart on an already-crowded dance floor? For some reason, Google thinks that the best thing to do is claim ownership of everything they can get their grubby little hands on. I’m not being figurative here, either. The Terms of Service for Google Drive very clearly state that:

“When you upload or otherwise submit content to our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content. The rights you grant in this license are for the limited purpose of operating, promoting, and improving our Services, and to develop new ones. This license continues even if you stop using our Services (for example, for a business listing you have added to Google Maps). – (Source: https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/terms/)

This seems like a good time to point out that Microsoft and Dropbox have their own Terms of Service agreements, which do exactly the opposite. They guarantee that user content will remain the property of the user, regardless of where it is stored. In fact, the previous version of the Google Terms did not include the current language. Previously, it made it clear that any content they hosted still belonged to the user, as long as it didn’t require any Google service(s) to operate. Now, though, if you put something on Google Drive (or technically anywhere on Google), they assume the complete rights to it.

For my own part, I can assure you that I will not be posting anything further to Google until this language changes. They have already received a significant amount of negative press regarding the issue, and I imagine it won’t be long before it’s changed to more similarly reflect their original terms. It seems to me that this may be what happens when you invite lawyers to IT meetings. Until Google does change the terms, though, I would advise the writers and artists to be careful and ensure you protect your work. It may be advisable to refrain from uploading to and storing on Google until you’ve either consulted your own lawyer or Google wises up. Dropbox is still free too, and if you invite friends, you can get their 2 GB offering up to 16 GB (which blows Google’s 5 GB out of the water – and for what cost – being an annoying spammer until you get enough people to sign up).

In the meantime, don’t throw those thumb drives away just yet.

Yet…

So I watching Tron tonight. Not the new one, but the original 1982 release. In the past, I’ve given a lot of credit to Star Trek for being the inspiration for much of the technology we use today. In watching this classic piece of science fiction, I realize that I don’t give enough credit where it’s due. Considering the heavy role computers play in today’s movie productions, Tron holds up surprisingly well, considering its age. Tron was cutting edge in 1982, using computer animations to fill green screen backdrops. But even if you ignore the animations, the concepts behind the story were even more ahead of their time.

So, for those of you who haven’t seen Tron, or don’t remember it (I’ll show my age and say that I was 7 when it came out and I DID see it in theaters), the story is about a programmer named Kevin Flynn (played by the ever wonderful Jeff Bridges) who is digitally transported into the computer world of the Master Control Program, or MCP, an artificial intelligence that controls the mainframe of ENCOM. The MCP started as a chess program, but with the intervention of Ed Dillinger (masterfully portrayed by David Warner), became much more. Flynn, who’d been fired by Dillinger to hide the fact that Flynn had wrote the video games for which he’d taken credit, was trying to hack into the MCP to find the evidence. Flynn is placed on the “game grid” to compete, gladiator-style, against the MCP’s minion programs. Eventually, Flynn escapes with Tron, a program written by his friend, Alan Bradley (both roles were played by a young Bruce Boxleitner), and RAM, a program originally designed to help people plan their annuities. Without going into much more detail, Tron eventually is able to contact his user, Alan, and gets information that will let him destroy the MCP and with Flynn’s help, does just that.

That’s the jist of it anyway.

What makes this film so important is that it predicts the Internet that we have today. In the digital word of the mainframe, “users” are considered a myth by some programs, and viewed almost religiously by others (which makes sense since the “users’ created them). The MCP has grown out of control because it has been “acquiring” other programs and merging with outside mainframes. Early in the movie, the MCP is communicating with its chief lackey, Sark (also played by Warner), the program Dillinger created, that it plans to bring in military programs soon. Later, it confirms with Dillinger that it plans to connect to the Pentagon and the Kremlin, and there is nothing Dillinger can do to stop it. In 2012, it’s easy to see how something like that can happen, but 30 years ago, the idea of the internet was completely foreign to most people. The concept of two computers communicating over great distances was appropriately considered science fiction. Tron presented a world where individual users could connect to a mainframe ( we call them servers now) and communicate with other users, and their programs. We are there. We’ve been there for years now. But we weren’t there in 1982.

Another favorite scene of mine is when Dillinger accesses the MCP for the first time. There’s a lot going on in this scene. First, the MCP was able to communicate with Dillinger even though he wasn’t at his terminal, which implies some sort of wireless communication. Second, his interface it not only built into his desk, but is completely operated by touching a virtual interface. Touch screens people. And yes, I know there were touch computer screens in 1982, but they weren’t like this, and they were limited to specific interfaced (like ATM’s). This was decades ahead of its time. This movie also had one of the very first completely virtual characters, a small floating object that was first seen trailing Flynn’s program, CLU, but was later following Flynn himself. “Bit” could only reply yes or no (because it’s a bit, you know, a piece of digital information that can only be a “0″ or a “1″). Unlike MCP, which was voiced by Warren, Bit was completely virtual, and originally had a much larger role in the film (curse you editors). I guess you could think of Bit as Wall-E’s great-great grandfather.

I had forgotten how much Tron impressed me as a kid. It helped define a genre that later would be the standard for animation. Pixar probably wouldn’t exist as we know it without groundbreaking films like Tron. And where Tron differs from other science fiction of the period; it presented a modern world that we were already living in. It took for granted that terms like “mainframe”, “user”, “bit” and “I/O Port” would be commonplace. In fact, they were once, and we’ve actually moved past them now (well, all but user). “Mainframes” were replaced by “servers”. Bits were replaced by Gigabytes and I/O ports with LAN and WAN connections (technically your PC still has I/O ports, we just don’t think of them the same way anymore). And I haven’t even talked about how it changed video games. It was the first time that people could play the games they saw in the movie, almost exactly. Man I loved playing the lightcycles, but I hated the disc game. Video games were central to the entire theme of the movie, and they showed us what it would be like ot actually live in a video game. But it also alluded to how big video games would become.

Just two years ago, they released the sequel to Tron, but I don’t feel it lived up to the cutting-edge presentation of the first movie (with the notable exception of the digital youth of Jeff Bridges). It certainly didn’t present a level of technology we don’t have access to already. Perhaps we’re running out of ideas. Any ideas it presented felt more like fiction than science, which wasn’t as true of the first movie. It’s a shame really, because it was a great looking movie.

OK, I’m really just mad that they made Tron a bad guy.

See you later, Programs.

Hello friends. I know it’s been a while, and I’m sorry I haven’t posted more. I have many more responsibilities with my job now, and we’ve experienced a great deal of growth over the last 18 months. Good for me, bad for the writing. However, I felt that the time to return was now, and I have some thoughts I’d like to share with you all.

As the title alludes, I’ve been thinking about one of my favorite movie franchises of late (mostly due to a marathon session a couple weeks back). I was the tender age of 10 when the original Back to the Future was released in theaters, and I was immediately hooked. That following Christmas, I asked for a skateboard (I never got very good… this was in the days before skate parks and Tony Hawk’s prominence) and I kept my eyes peeled for any stainless steel cars I might find. One of my closest friends actually made his own model version of the Delorian Time Machine out of parts from other models (yes… a truly dedicated fan who even went on to name his company after his favorite line – Check his site out).

It was wonderful traveling back to the past with Marty and Doc Brown, and it surely had to be pretty easy for Robert Zimeckis to represent a time in which he grew up (he was born in 1951). For four long years, we waited breathlessly for the sequel; the original movie having ended with the prophetic “To Be Continued”. Finally in 1989, Back to the Future Part II was released and we got our first glimpses at Marty’s future and the Hill Valley of tomorrow. Looking back at the movie now, there’s so much wrong with it, it’s difficult for me to relate, without ruining a cherished memory, but there were a few things I thought would fit into the mold of “How Science Fiction Failed Us”.

So, I won’t waste any time recounting the events of the movie, though for those who haven’t seen it (and for those who forget), I will say that this movie largely takes place in the year 2015, which was 30 years after the original setting (but only 26 years out from the release), and 60 years after the primary events of the first movie (which took place in 1955). This was one of the first movies I can remember seeing that depicted a future that I not only could relate to (I knew I would live to see it), but also seemed completely plausible. Our first teasing taste of the future was actually from the end of the first movie when Christopher Lloyd (as Doc Brown) uttered the line “Roads? Where we’re going we don’t need roads…”. With that, the Delorian lifted off of the ground and began flying. Oh… that and Mr. Fusion. You can’t forget Mr. Fusion.

So as I was watching the second installment the other day, it occurred to me that 2015 is just around the corner, so I started running a comparison in my head. Now I know this has been and will be done to death, but bear with me. What do we know about 2015? Well, according to the film, we’ll not only have cold fusion, but it will be made available and presumably affordable for the masses. In a way, this was prophetic because the inclusion of Mr. Fusion was in 1985, but the idea of cold fusion didn’t come to the forefront of mainstream consciousness until early 1989 and the announcement of the Fleischmann–Pons experiment (which many believe to be a hoax). However, something like that would take over a decade to develop, and I haven’t heard anything lately about fusion power (I wish I had… it would solve a lot of problems).

What else do we know? Well, cars will fly, but the concept will still be new enough that there is a conversion process for older vehicles, but old enough that the ground based highway system is no longer used. I don’t think I need to tell you that this is still a dream, and not a very realistic one, I’m afraid. People where I live can’t drive on the ground. I’d hate to see them when a third dimension is added. That said, if there were some sort of automation involved in the piloting, then it would work, but we just aren’t there yet, and even when we are, it won’t be affordable for the masses, and I doubt they’ll convert older vehicles. My guess is this is decades away, if ever.

Next! 2015 will see the release of Jaws 19, directed by Max Spielberg. I’m not as interested in this as I am the holographic billboard. I love watching 3D animations from the past. The shark that almost eats Marty is so comically blocky, it just adds to the humor of him being frightened of a hologram. I don’t think I need to tell you that we don’t have holographic ads or movies yet, though 3D movies do seem to be coming back into their own.

Did you know that 3 years from now, we’ll have clothes that automatically fit themselves to your body? I need this now!

There are tons of these kinds of “predictions” that we can nitpick over and over. They got some things right, and others horribly wrong. Perhaps the biggest flub in the whole movie involves the Sports Almanac that Biff gives to the younger version of himself. So here’s the scene, Marty and Doc are trying to save Jennifer (Marty’s girlfriend and future wife) from their future home, leaving the Delorian parked on a side street. As they leave, Biff steals the Delorian, travels to the past, gives himself the Almanac so that he can get rich. Then he returns to the exact same spot just in time for Marty and Doc to get back. Let’s forget the fact that Biff isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer and operated a highly sophisticated time machine with no previous knowledge, and also the fact that the time machine is supposed to be incredibly cold to the touch after returning (and shedding a lot of cold smoke as well – something Doc failed to recognize). Let’s also forget the fact that Biff as an old man was hunched over and would have needed to sit much closer than the tall Doc Brown, and no one… and I mean NO ONE ever remembers to put the seat back to the original position when they drive someone else’s car. Let’s ignore all of that.

How did Biff get back to THAT future? Seriously, how is it that he returned to the future he came from when he already had altered the past. When Marty influenced past events, causing George to knock out Biff, the future he came from ceased to be and a new timeline took it’s place. When he and Doc brown went back to 1985, they didn’t end up back in the 1985 they left from. However, the old and crotchety Biff left from 2015, changed the past to the extent that it was unrecognizable to Marty and Doc, and somehow ended back up in the 2015 he started from, and not a 2015 that extended from the Vegas-style 1985 he created. I know there wouldn’t have been a movie without that little twist, but still… it’s inconsistent at best, and completely contradictory at worst. And I didn’t even think about it until I watched as an adult, some 20-odd years later.

It’s hard to believe that with as much detail was paid to the past, present and future in this franchise, that something this major was overlooked. There’s a lot they got right, though. Targeting advertising. Video conferencing on flat screen TV’s. Multi-channel TV’s. pervasive video surveillance. Hands-free gaming. And then there’s Jaws 19, Mr. Fusion and the Black & Decker Food Hydrator.

Oh well, I’ll still keep watching it. And I’ll still keep waiting for my hoverboard and flying cars.

Until next time.

Today, the world lost a great man. Steve Jobs was a brilliant businessman. He was a natural salesman. Beneath it all, though, Steve was a geek.

He knew what we, as geeks, wanted. He knew what would get our brains moving and hearts pumping. He understood that power, speed and functionality could be beautifully packaged in such a way that all the world would want to have it as their own. He knew and understood because he was one of us.

As I look around my house, I see so many things that are directly attributable to his pioneering vision and unquestionable leadership. An Apple TV in the entertainment center…a 5th generation iPod Classic lying next to an iMac…an iPhone 4 on the kitchen counter…an iPad in my lap…and, of course, the iPhone 4 on which I write this.

I will not lie. It brings a tear to my eye. No, I will not weep. I will not mourn. You may call me a fan boy, but I will not mind. I was…and always will be…a fan of Steve. He changed my life, through his technological vision. He changed the way we communicate. Through all of these things, he essentially changed the way we “think”.

Lest we forget, he was more than a CEO. His family has lost a father and husband. His friends and close colleagues undoubtedly suffer, as well. You and I have lost, too. Yes, Apple will go on. Steve’s legacy will live on. Sadly, though, it will never be quite as magical without him.

Rest in peace, Steve. Thanks for everything.

It’s official. The next generation iPhone is the iPhone 4S. Though Steve Jobs and his trademark, black turtleneck were noticeably absent, Apple new CEO, Tim Cook took the stage and delivered the much-anticipated details regarding what will undoubtedly become the company’s next big money-maker.

Much to the chagrin of many, the iPhone 5 didn’t appear. That doesn’t mean the iPhone 4S doesn’t come with noticeable improvements over its predecessor, the iPhone 4. Of course, the show included reports on Apple’s recent financial successes, store openings, etc. That said, we know that’s why you’re here, so we’ll get straight to the list of specifications and features that were unveiled during the big Apple event.

iPhone 4S Specifications

• Design, size and physical layout is the same as the iPhone 4 (Hence no iPhone 5)
• Dual-core A5 chip processor
• CPU up to 2x faster than the iPhone 4
• Dual-core graphics that are up to 7x faster than the iPhone 4
• Up to 8 hours of 3G Talk time, 6 hours of 3G browsing, 9 hours of Wi-Fi browsing, 10 hours of video playback and 40 hours of music playback
• Dual antennas intelligently switch back and forth to transmit and receive data. Theoretically doubles download speeds seen on the iPhone 4.
• GSM and CDMA are now available in one device.
• Camera upgraded to 8-megapixels (3264 x 2448), with additions such as facial detection, backside illumination, improved white balance, and a five element lens.
• Video taken via the iPhone 4S camera will be 1080p HD and include video image stabilization and noise reduction.
• AirPlay Mirroring allows users to view their games on the big-screen without cumbersome wires.
• Siri (Live Voice Recognition) allows users to hold down the button and ask questions about the weather, program the next day’s alarm, check stock prices, find local restaurants, and read your messages aloud. On top of all that, Siri is designed to understand natural, conversational language (English, French and German) and work with all built-in apps. Yes, that means you can dictate natively on the device.

New and Improved Features and Native Apps in iOS 5

• Notifications – Users can now swipe down from the top to see a listing of alerts for mail, calendar, SMS, etc.
• Cards – Allows users to create, print and mail greeting cards from the device. ($2.99 US, $4.99 Worldwide)
• iMessage - Finally, iOS users will have a built in IM client similar to the BBM that BlackBerry users have had for years.
• Newsstand - Similar to iBooks, this app will allow users to purchase and read magazines.
• Reminders – It does exactly what it sounds like. Users can configure to-do lists and set a reminder for when it needs to get done.
• Twitter – Finally, the iPhone will have a native Twitter app that also shares photos right from the camera roll.
• Camera – As expected, the camera app will not include an icon to access it from the iPhone’s lock screen. The volume up button can now be used to take the photograph, as well.
• Game Center – The app will now allow users add photographs of friends, share achievement points and include friend recommendations
• Safari - An updated version of the browser includes reader functionality to save items for later, as well as the long-requested tabbed browsing feature.
• Mail – The new version for iOS 5 will include the ability to use rich text formatting, indentation, rearrangement of addresses and message flagging.
• iCloud – The much-discussed replacement for MobileMe allows for automatic uploading and backup to the iCloud for documents, photos, contacts, calendar items, etc. iCloud also lets you re-download previously purchased apps. (Available October 12, 2011; 5GB free for iOS 5/Lion users)
• Find My Friends - Similar to the Find My iPhone feature, users can now allow their location to be known, so their friends can easily find them. (This may or may not be a good idea, but at least there are built-in parental controls.)
• iTunes Match – For $24.99 a year, users can scan and match their iTunes library, upload songs that were missing to their iCloud, stream music from the iCloud, and upgrade songs to 256 Kbps AAC DRM-free versions. (Available toward the end of October 2011)

Pricing and Availability (with 2-year carrier contract)

The device will be available on AT&T, Verizon and…(drum roll)…Sprint.

• iPhone 4S (16Gb) – $199
• iPhone 4S (32Gb) – $299
• iPhone 4S (64Gb) – $399

Preordering for the iPhone 4S will go live on October 7, 2011. The device will become available in the United States, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, France, Germany and Japan on October 14, 2011.

To buy or not to buy?

See? We got straight to the point and skipped all of the fluff and opinion. If you’re a current iPhone 4 owner who isn’t eligible for an upgrade, the iPhone 4S may not be cost-effective. If you’re lucky enough to have a mint condition iPhone 4, though, you may be able to sell it for a good price and offset the full price of the iPhone 4S. For iPhone 3GS owners and non-iPhone owners who have held off on buying an iPhone 4, it would appear that the time has come to take the leap. As always, the decision is yours, but let’s face it. Who doesn’t like to have the newest toy, as soon as it comes out?

October 4, 2011 is finally here. As any respectable tech geek knows, today Apple is set to unveil the next-generation iPhone. Will it be called the iPhone 4S, iPhone 5 or, perhaps, the iMegaPhone. Okay, that last one is a stretch, but it has to be something exciting, right? While you may not have received a personal invitation from Apple to attend the event, you can join the connected masses who will be among the first to know its specs and features, through the techno-magic that is live-blogging.

For whatever reason, Apple decided against live-streaming the event, via its own website. There’s no need to worry, though, since there is no shortage of tech sites who will be live-blogging for your bandwidth-consuming pleasure. As in the past, we’ve put posted the schedule for various time zones, as well as a list of sites on which you can watch. It’s always advisable to get in early, turn on the auto-refresh, so you don’t miss a moment. It also doesn’t hurt to open up a few different live-blogs at the same time because…lets face it…some of the live-bloggers don’t post as quickly as others.

What time will it happen?

No need for pesky differences in time zones to make you miss the big show. Below are some of the most common time zones from around the world, with their local show time.

07:00 AM – U.S. Hawaii
10:00 AM – U.S. Pacific
11:00 AM – U.S. Mountain
12:00 PM – U.S. Central
01:00 PM – U.S. Eastern
06:00 PM – United Kingdom/Ireland/Portugal
07:00 PM – France/Germany/Spain
08:00 PM – Finland/Greece/Israel
09:00 PM – Moscow
02:00 AM – Japan/North Korea (October 5, 2011)
03:00 AM – Australia (October 5, 2011)
05:00 AM – New Zealand (October 5, 2011)

Where can I watch it live?

These are just a few of the many sites that will be covering the event. If you know of another reliable one, share with other readers, via comment. After all, you know you wouldn’t want to be left out on the day of an Apple event.

Engadget Liveblog

Gizmodo Liveblog

Ars Technica

SlashGear Live

MacNN

TUAW

TiPb

MacLife Liveblog

Some of these sites have taken things a step further this year by also hosting live tweeting, pre-shows, and Ustream feeds. You’ll definitely want to take a look at each one, so you can find the right feed for you. Now you know where to go and when to be there. All that’s left is wait for the show to begin!

These days, it seems there is a mobile phone to fit everyone’s unique needs, tastes, and budget. A yet-to-be-released device from Denmark-based Aesir is pushing that idea to the limit. The Æ+Y Phone comes in two models. Typically, the difference in pricing has to do with a mobile phone’s storage capacity, features, etc. In the case of the Æ+Y Phone, the difference has to do with the materials of which it’s made.

This work of mobile phone art comes in an 18-carat, yellow gold model and a stainless steel model. Yes, you read that correctly. After reviewing the image gallery on Aesir’s website, it truly is an impressive device. How much will the Æ+Y Phone set you back? The term “sticker shock” is taken to an entirely new level, when speaking of the device. That’s because the gold model will set you back approximately $57,300. If that’s a bit of a stretch for your budget, you can always settle for the stainless steel model, which can be yours for a mere $9,900.

Admittedly, this is one of those devices that will never be sent out as loaner units. For that matter, the company is only accepting pre-orders now. The stainless steel model is expected to ship during fall 2011. If you have your heart set on the gold model, you’ll have to wait until winter 2011. The design, materials and craftsmanship are obviously way above what most people would expect from a mobile phone. For the price, one would hope so, right? According to the website, “The Æ+Y has been engineered, built and crafted by a team of specialists, selected because they could fulfil (sic) the unique requirements of Yves Béhar’s design.”

For $9,900 and $57,300, one would certainly hope that using this device would fit well and feel good in the user’s hand. Of course, the questions on most gadget lovers’ minds default to important things like what operating system it has, what features it includes, and what apps they’ll be able to use. That is where the initial “sticker shock” is usurped by “feature shock”. That’s because the Æ+Y Phone has no real features. It doesn’t even have an OS in the sense of the word to which Android, iPhone, and BlackBerry users have become accustomed.

Simply put, it is a mobile phone. You can call people. People can call you. If you can’t remember everyone’s number, you can store it as a contact. Features like speed-dial, caller ID and call-forwarding also come as part of the package. There are some app-like features like a World clock, Alarm, Notes, To-do list, Calendar, Calculator and Converter. Lest we forget, it is also Bluetooth capable. This does make one wonder if the Aesir will make 18-carat gold and stainless steel Bluetooth headsets to go with the phone. If you’re going to do something, you may as well go all out.

According to the company, the focus on design and craftsmanship and omission of all the things people have become increasingly accustomed to on mobile devices is intentional. In their words, the device “…focuses on voice, tactility, clarity and simplicity. Its deliberately straightforward functionality is in keeping with this rationale.”

On the bright side, the device does come unlocked and ready for any SIM you choose to insert. That has to count for something…even if it does make it the most expensive unlocked phone ever. If you’re already sold on the Æ+Y Phone, you should head over to the Aesir website and get your pre-order in today. You want to be sure you’re the first person on your block…or in your country…to get one.

Yesterday, Nintendo announced, via press release, that the next update for the Nintendo 3DS will include the ability to record video in 3D. Additionally, the company also touted the upcoming release of a new slidepad accessory for the device and new games like Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart 7 and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

In a separate press release from a few days earlier, Nintendo lauded the fact that sales of its first 3D gaming device increased by 260 percent, since August 12, 2011, over the previous month’s sales. With the new accessory, games, device features, and sales increase, one would assume that things were great for Nintendo. Upon closer inspection, though, this might not actually be the case.

While a few of the major tech and gaming news sites reported on the new accessory and forthcoming games, one of the only outlets that reported potentially negative news for Nintendo was Reuters. In a post dated today, the news wire reports that, overall, the 3DS may still be considered a flop, in terms of financial return and the company’s value.

Specifically, Reuters points to the fact that, while sales did increase greatly, from July to August 2011, it only happened after Nintendo reduced the price of the Nintendo 3DS by up to 40 percent. This may have resulted in a knee-jerk reaction by consumers, who previously wanted the device but weren’t interested in paying for it at the initial retail value.

According to Reuters, market analysts are still not very positive about Nintendo’s current and future performance in what has become a very competitive gaming market. In addition to previous competitors like the Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation, Nintendo also has to work arduously to keep pace with mobile phone operating systems. With increased processing power, memory and storage space, devices like the Apple iPhone, as well as the various devices running the Android OS, are often more attractive gaming platforms for adult, casual gamers and younger games. For both of these groups, the convenience of being able to play games with excellent graphics and features and get them at much lower prices, on a mobile device that also provides voice and data communications, may very well trump the ability to play traditionally popular games and record 3D videos.

With the gaming-friendly tablet and smartphone devices continuing to release new devices and improve others, via operating system updates, Nintendo faces a continuing, uphill battle to maintain its attractiveness to gamers. We’ll have to wait and see if Nintendo’s plans to revitalize the DS legacy pan out. As with most companies who live and die by profit  margins and stock prices, success or failure will depend on the whim of the often fickle, gaming consumer. Until the final quarter numbers are released, after the Christmas 2011 season, Nintendo will remain a 2D company with 3D plans.

Sources:

Nintendo faces end of era after 3DS flop

Nintendo 3DS gets 3D Video Recording and Two Great Mario Games for the Holidays

Nintendo 3DS Sales up 260 Percent Following Price Reduction

An exhibition currently on display at New York City’s Museum of Modern Art seeks to show people how technological objects, such as cell phones, computers and automated kiosks, have become an integral and artistic part of our daily lives. Entitled Talk to Me: Design and the Communication between People and Objects, the exhibit focuses on the evolution of technology towards direct interaction. The art aspect of direct interaction can be seen in how developers and engineers create the visual design and communication interfaces of the object.

In an interview with Reuters reporter Anthony De Rosa, Paola Antonelli, the exhibit’s curator, says that while people have always formed relationships with objects, the ones being formed with technological objects are much more complex. Antonelli explains, “The relationship used to be emotional, but now, because of digital technology, we expect that communication to be much more explicit.” Based on these increased expectations, technological design includes previously expected aspects of form and function but has also added an additional aspect of a script through which people interface with the technology. You can see the complete Reuters video below (requires Adobe Flash), and more information on the exhibit is included after the break.

Talk to Me is currently open and runs through November 7, 2011. Even if you’re not within driving distance of MOMA, you can still take advantage of the exhibit by visiting the MOMA website. The site also includes links to the exhibit’s online journal, links for upcoming, live-streaming tours of the exhibit and Paola Antonelli’s book on the subject.

If you’ve never browsed the MOMA website, it really is a testament to how well technology can be leveraged to allow people to learn about and interact with art. It is definitely recommended for anyone who appreciates technology, art and the art of technology. The site is also a great tool to expose children to art and to encourage their creativity, without ever having stepped through MOMA’s doors.

Sources:

Reuters Video – Technology: How do objects talk to us?

Museum of Modern Art – Talk to Me