I’ve had regular exposure to Mac OS for years before I switched to Mac myself. I’ve used Mac OS 8 a little, and Mac OS 9 much more. In my humble opinion, the progress that has been made between Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X Lion is a leap that would have taken many corporations much longer than 14 years to accomplish. OS 9, in comparison with Windows 95 and Windows 2000, was a joke. Yet, here we are some years later and the tables are completely flipped. Apple has gone from being the butt of the joke of internet message boards, to a company revered for their forward thinking. I think most, if not all, of the credit for that goes to Steve Jobs.

Now, we find ourselves in the situation we all knew had to come eventually: Steve Jobs has resigned from his post as CEO of Apple due to health reasons. You can even find some pretty ghastly looking pictures on him online if you’re into looking at that sort of thing. Many people are speculating that this will mean the end of Apple as an industry leader, and concerns over the stock price for APPL, which currently sits at $383.58, have surfaced as well.

Naturally, I feel compelled to throw in my two cents. To put it simply, I don’t think Apple is going anywhere – at least not anytime soon.

It is safe to say that Apple has plans in place for the next few years. And even if those don’t pan out entirely due to some lack of consumer confidence – they’re not exactly hurting for cash. Additionally, running the company isn’t exactly something new for Tim Cook, Jobs’s successor, since he assumed that role in Steve’s previous absences – in 2004 and 2009 – and in fact has been the de facto CEO since January when Steve started his latest medical leave. I think it is safe to say that for now, the status quo will be maintained and Apple will continue to push the industry forward.

Of course, the other question on everyone’s mind is whether or not Tim Cook will have the same “vision” that Steve used to make Apple what it is today. Once we pass these next few years, and Steve Jobs’s influence on the company trends towards zero – will they be in trouble? Unfortunately, only time will tell. I personally think that we’ll see Apple’s innovation continue to set the curve – even after Steve is no longer involved in the company. Look at the degree of confidence that Steve seems to have in Cook’s ability to run the company (Jobs wouldn’t have let him do so three times if he didn’t believe Tim Cook was up to the task).

There are certainly a lot of changes I would love to see happen in the next few years, especially to the way Apple treats the iPhone Developers Program and the App Store, and maybe Tim Cook is the man to make those things happen.

Now that I’ve gotten that out, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Are you selling your Apple stock or already drooling over whatever you think the mad scientists are going to produce next? Leave me some comment love and let me know!

The photo of Steve Jobs was originally taken by Flickr user acaben, and is used under the terms of the Creative Commons license.

According to Gizmodo the iPad will be coming to Verizon Stores on October 28! Unfortunately, only the WiFi model will be available so 3G internet access on the go will require the additional purchase of a Verizon MiFi. So, this isn’t really new, but the business relationship between Apple is the important thing. But regardless, a Verizon MiFi can provide internet to multiple devices so you’re not really wasting the extra money compared to the 3G iPad.

Source: SeattleClouds.com

Many apologizes for not getting a blog post out yesterday – or even getting a substantial post out today. The nature of being a student means that sometimes you hit bad weeks. But, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to comment on Apple loosening their restrictions on app developers. CNN Money reports that Apple is taking efforts to be less restrictive on the requirements of Apps developed for the iPhone, and to be more transparent about the processes used to vet apps before they are approved for the App Store.

I’ve said a number of different times on this blog that Apple’s restrictive nature and arrogant attitude with regard to their mobile devices would be something that would ruin them if they weren’t careful. It seems that enough people who make the right amount of money to get Apple’s ear finally made enough noise to get Apple to back down.

All I have to say is, “Good move, Steve.”

I have, and will remain, a supporter of open platforms. I don’t think they’re appropriate for every situation (as some might) and even use an Apple laptop as my primary computer (which is a hybrid between open and proprietary), but I do believe that the more open a particular platform is — the more likely it will be the launching pad for innovation. My one big knock about developing for the iPhone has always been the myriad of mystical reasons that the App Store could reject your App, and it seems that Apple is moving away from that practice a little bit at the time.

So: Good move, Apple. You may make an iPhone developer out of me yet.

Screen shot of Apple's Ping (click to enlarge).

Good Tuesday to everyone. I hope all of you had a relaxing labor day. So, as I’m without smartphone recently — I’m having to go to more effort to get to my news. Naturally, I hate going to more effort, so it hasn’t been happening as regularly as it should be, I suppose.

Regardless, I couldn’t let the premiere of iTunes 10 and Apple’s new Ping social networking system go un-noticed, mainly because it looks like they’re touting something that has been going on for awhile as new and shiny. The idea is a Social Network based on musical tastes. It may sound revolutionary to some people, but to those of us who have been around the block a few times – we all know it’s nothing new. Last.fm, formerly Audioscrobbler, has been working this angle for a long time. So, the idea of trying to connect people based on their music tastes isn’t anything really new, so what makes Apple’s implementation different?

Well, first off is that this is the first attempt at such a social network that has been tried by a company as large as Apple. That in itself would probably lead people to predict more widespread success. Secondly, this is the first time (that I know of) that a social network has been entirely integrated into a music player and online music store. That means that Apple will be leveraging the existing relationships with the music and television industries – and will probably put them at a stronger negotiation position for garnering participation than Last.fm or Pandora had when they started.

So, as you can see — I’ve enabled my Ping account, and if you’re using it and you know my email address feel free to add me (not posting it here, sorry) and if I know you I will approve you. I don’t know if I will stick with it or not, but it is interesting nonetheless. Have any of you other iTunes users out there activated Ping? What are your first impressions? Do you consider this innovative, or just Apple jumping on the bandwagon?

I should be back tomorrow for another “Hexplanation Humpday” as it has been so eloquently named by Mark. Haven’t decided on the final topic yet, but leave me some comment love until then.

Lawsuits, Lawsuits, Lawsuits
Surprise! Yes, there is yet another outrageous lawsuit out there. It seems that Facebook has decided they own any word ending in “book” – or at lest the rights to it. I enjoy Wired’s initial response to this:

This begs the obvious question: Would Facebook sue a social-networking site for priests named Goodbook? Or a librarian-networking site named Librarybook?

What I want to know is why Facebook is targeting a no-name site that very few people would have thought to find on their own anyway? Why haven’t they targeted social networking sites like “yearbook.com”? I’m not sure what sparked this, as I doubt this site would have ever actually gained any popularity. Trying to re-invent the wheel has always been an exercise left to the student, unless you’ve got something unique to present. Teachbook, however, seems to be a Joomla! driven website run by someone without much concept of what they are doing. Case in point, an about page that has no information on it (screen shot below).

Yeah, anyway… moving on.

Not a planet. Sad.

Pluto: The Dwarf Planet
Wired reminds us today that four years ago this day Pluto was downgraded to a dwarf planet. I personally remember this being a pretty big deal for me in high school… I guess because I didn’t really consider the classification of a planet something that has one of those ominous “thems” behind it, you know? But alas, everything is controlled by someone. But, if you’re feeling bad for pluto like I am – consider investing in this pluto support t-shirt.

Google is all about the human rights!
Google had a post on their blog today I was completely in support of, detailing their support for human rights on the internet video community. What is curiouser, is the same day they announced the recipients of their scholarship for students attending Universities in China. Am I the only one that finds this somewhat comical? For those who may not be in the loop, earlier this year Google suffered a major security breach where the Chinese government was suspected. Google even had the NSA helping them beef up their security. I would have been in support of their plan to pull out of mainland china, but alas — it is not happening. Oh well, no big deal. All of the recipients are still stuck in their cars trying to get home anyway, for all we know.

Loosing Your iPhone Sucks
It really does. So Macworld has two articles today concering the topic of recovering lost iPhones. The first article is a lifehacker-esqe article that gives you step-by-step instructions on setting your lock screen wallpaper to include your contact information. However, the second article is far more interesting.

Some new patents seem to indicate that Apple is coming up with some pretty clever ways of telling if your iPhone is missing. The general idea is that soon your iPhone may be able to detect if it has been stolen on its own based on the heartbeat of the person holding the device, or the distance away from a certain object that it is paired with. It will even be able to alert the authorities how the culprit is getting away (or your Don, if that’s how you take care of things).

The Apple Magic Trackpad

I mean, it’s kind of cool looking… I guess… but the “buy this now” chimp that usually bounces up and down on my back when I see new gadgets like this just isn’t bouncing on this one. The idea is to bring multi-touch hand gestures that users on Apple’s mobile platforms have been using into the desktop realm. They want to make rotating an image as easy as spinning your hand in a circle on a pad.

Here’s the quip I’ve got about it: most of the people who are going to be spending $70 (that’s right, the glorified board costs $70) on extra peripherals for their computers, aren’t going to be using Apple’s Preview to rotate their image. In fact, odds are they will be using Photoshop. I’ll be honest, I’ve tried Apple’s software and I don’t like it as much as a photographer. Just saying.

The funny part is that even though it’s brand new… there are a lot of raving reviews on apple’s website… all of them with titles along the lines of “Magical” or “Marvelous”…. I think the Steve Jobs fanboys that work in the Apple Stores around the world are commenting on it…. it will be interesting to see what happens to the ratings when real users get their hands on one.

Am I just a skeptical trackpad hater, or does this smell kind of like a waste of money to everyone else too?

Do you know what the Library of Congress did for you today? Ruled that jailbreaking an iPhone was not a violation of copyright as Apple has been claiming:

The Library of Congress, which has the power to define exceptions to an important copyright law, said on Monday that it was legal to bypass a phone’s controls on what software it will run to get “lawfully obtained” programs to work.

I, for one, am thrilled to hear the Library of Congress say what consumers have been saying all along: we buy it, we own it. Or maybe I’m just happy to stick it to the App Store Police.

Source: New York Times

His first post of interest at 5:28AM this morning was aimed as a direct response to a comment by Research in Motion co-CEOs who claimed that Apple’s accusation of antenna issues were unfounded and even going so far as to state, “One thing is for certain, RIM’s customers don’t need to use a case for their BlackBerry smartphone to maintain proper connectivity.” In response Gruber writes, “Sounds angry, but I don’t see what exactly was ‘distorted’.” When I read that, I’ll admit I was pretty amused… I may or may not have responded by saying “burrrnnnnn” out loud.

However, at 9:01AM we see Gruber again opening up the hate on anything non-Apple when he highlights a quote from the LA Times about the Droid X having software installed on it that can’t be removed. At this point I was planning on doing a response post that goes along the lines of “Droid and Android aren’t the same… droid is a marketing thing… android is the software blah blah blah” (if you want that discourse read the top of the Android section of this post).

That plan was thwarted when Gruber opened up the can of hate on Nokia, too. Quite frankly, by this point I’m resolved in thinking that Gruber is simply responding to criticisms by others of Apple’s antenna problems. With all the class of a shunned prom queen, Gruber is railing on anyone he can get his hands on – and it’s not an attractive show.

Quite frankly, I’m disappointed. Gruber, you usually have some pretty interesting opinions – but this morning you obviously woke up on the wrong side of the bed (sometime before 5:30AM). So, all I’m going to say is this: grow up and stop whining because apple is taking one in the chin on this antenna issue. I know you love Apple, but this isn’t the way to go about defending them. You, and Steve Jobs, should learn that the correct response to this type of PR nightmare is “We’re sorry you’re not happy, we’re going to do everything we can to fix it.” No more, no less. The second you start pointing the finger at other people you just make yourself look desperate and you loose all credibility with consumers, including myself.

Here endith the lesson.

I, for one, am completely and totally surprised.

Can you tell?

If you’re in the market for a new phone, congratulations – you’re a buyer in a market that is truly experiencing the benefits of competitive competition between rivals. What we are witnessing in the market right now is the fiends of the Tech industry moving into the mobile market in mass, and the result is startling if you’re actually able to follow what is going on. On one side sit the Apple iPhone faithful, shouting the praises of the black turtleneck (aka Steve Jobs). On the other side sit the Google Android faithful, shouting the praises of a free and open market.

All in all, the shouting that going across the aisle is probably gibberish to the average guy working 9-to-5. It’s definitely gibberish to many of the salespeople that AT&T and Verizon hire, from my personal experience (although Apple Store people are pretty knowledgeable, but that’s a different topic). There’s certainly a large number of college students that lack an accurate understanding of what’s at play.

Today I’m doing something different. As devices become more complex, it’s important for everyone in the market to understand the differences between the two platforms. My goal today is to help you do that at the simplest level with Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android OS, and to share a few thoughts of my own on each the pros and cons of each. More after the jump.

iOS 4 Home Screen

Apple’s iOS
Naturally, the first place we should start is the platform that the general public has had the most exposure to. If you find yourself scratching your head about the meaning of iOS, it is the same thing as what was formally called iPhone OS. The iOS software powers the iPhone, the iPod Touch, and the iPad. It is the basis for all of Apple’s mobile offerings.

So, then what is there specifically about Apple’s iOS that should concern you, the user? Well, let’s start by looking at what it does best.

The Good: Apple did a lot of things right the first time with the iOS platform. If we equate programming to building a bridge (wherein the better built bridges will last a lot longer before collapsing), Apple built a pretty excellent bridge. So what exactly makes a good bridge in this scenario? Well, to be exact:

1. Quick. iOS is always responsive to the touch. There is very little, if ever any, delay in interacting with the iOS core components (like the home screen and the system preferences) and additionally most applications written for the iPhone display close to the same bar for quality, if they don’t meet it exactly. This is one of the benefits of Apple’s fine-grained control over all of their products. To put it short, if you’re using iOS, lag will most likely not be a problem.
2. Smart. Controls are organized in an intuitive manner. (Also known as the “it’s not hard for the dumbest among us to figure out how to make it connect to a wireless network” factor.) Clear thought was put into how it should function. Additionally, most iPhones now have the capability for voice searching, making calling your mom as easy as pressing a button and saying “Call mom.”
3. Enterprise-ready. As of version 4 (which is available for everyone to download), iOS now comes pre-packaged with everything you would need to integrate your iPhone, iPod, or iPad into an enterprise environment where you need mobile access to your company email and company calendar through its support for Microsoft Exchange (the gold standard for corporate email).
4. Consumer-ready. A lot of basic consumer functionality (like YouTube) comes built in.
5. Solid Support. As with all products that you pay the “Apple Tax” on, you get award winning support from Apple. Enough said.

The Bad: So now that you’re picturing this awesome bridge that you can use to drive over to get where you want to go, imagine that the said bridge had an ugly, green gnome that lives underneath it – hoping you won’t learn of its existence. Yes, I’m going to say it: Apple has done some stuff wrong. Very few of them deal with the design of the actual phone, which is the reason few end-users ever see the problems I’m going to discuss. Mostly they are questions of principle. So, here they are:

1. The App Store Police. The first “bad” area the deserves addressing is what is widely known as the App Store Police. Unbeknownst to many of Apple’s customers, every App that makes it into their App Store has be rigorously tested and approved by a member of the App Store Police. There are many users that consider this a plus. It a main reason that it would be very difficult to infect any iOS-powered devices with a virus. However, there is a bad side to this. Recently, the App Store Police have been making some decisions that go far beyond simple quality control, even going so far as to retroactively remove previously approved apps because Steve Jobs doesn’t like them anymore. Don’t believe me? Here’s the blog post of one person it happened to.
2. Lack of Customization. Most people may not think much about whether or not their phone can have a background, but you should know that until this April it was not actually possible to put a background on your iPhone home screen without some hacking. If you haven’t seen the pattern yet let me spell it out: Apple likes to control every ounce of your experience with them. There are many more technical examples, but the point I want to make is that to customize your phone beyond what Jobs says you can do requires more-than-your-average computer knowledge (at least to do it without screwing up your phone or iPod).

The Summary: Any phone running Apple’s iOS will be both reliable and work well in an enterprise environment. Currently, it is the most mature and feature-complete platform out on the market today, but that doesn’t necessarily make it the best.

Stock Android 2.2 Home Screen

Google’s Android OS
A discussion of Android is incredibly complicated by the fact that many of the handset companies that sell Android phones modify the software before it’s sold. Usually, the biggest modification is changing what the User Interface looks like (all pretty pictures and text you interact with).

To be fair, we’re going to break down the good and the bad about Android, to try and give you a good look at what sets it apart from Apple’s iOS.

The Good: The Android Team also did a lot of things right when they were designing their platform, and a lot of them center around making giving you the most control over your device as possible. (Much unlike Apple, who would like to retain as much control over your device as possible.)

1. Customization, customization, customization. Android has provided the ability to use backgrounds on your phone practically from the start. Additionally, Android gives you the ability to add widgets to your home screen. These widgets can come from anywhere on the app store.
2. Yours to break. By default, you are only able to download and install applications from the Android Market (Google’s equivalent to the App Store) as a security feature. However, if you would like to do this to install application from any website that your phone’s browser can go to, it takes all of 30 seconds to check the box to allow you to do it. After that, you can navigate to a website and download an APK file to install onto your device.
3. Open Market. The Android Market uses a much different business model than the Apple App Store. Unlike the App Store, Google relies on users to report malicious apps or apps that don’t do what they said they would. Additionally, apps are rated on a scale of 5 stars and the ratings are prominently displayed on the Android Market search listings. Additionally, if you have a Motorola Android Phone and decide you’d like to switch to an HTC Android Phone, all of the apps you purchased can go with you! This would not be possible with apps purchased from Apple.
4. Open Device. If you don’t like the functionality of your device or want it to work differently, it is as simple as installing a mod onto the device you’re using.
5. Smarter Voice. Like iOS, Android has the ability to accept voice commands. However, unlike iOS, Android’s voice recognition will get better over time. Android’s system actually sends the audio sample to Google for analysis every time you request a command. The pro? It’s generally more accurate.
6. Enterprise-ready. Android, like iOS, is also an enterprise-ready platform – touting native support for Microsoft Exchange and VPNs.
7. All of the versions are codenamed after desserts. I think this speaks for itself.

The Bad: Most of the downsides related to Android center on how fragmented the platform is. An Android-powered phone from Motorola is not equal to an Android-powered phone from HTC. Here’s a rundown:

1. Manufacturer customization. HTC and several other vendors add a custom skin on top of the stock Android interface. In HTC’s case, with their Sense UI, it is actually a pretty good alternate interface. Unfortunately, there have been a few bad apples that have lead to much slower than normal phone operation.
2. Menus are a puzzle. Even as of the latest update, some of the settings are just plain confusing. It will take any new Android user some time to figure out some basic stuff. To Google’s credit, this has gotten a lot better in most cases. Unlike iOS, Android just kind of evolved. There was no single unified plan except to make a Smartphone OS. Odds are, the guy that wrote the music player wasn’t in a board meeting with the guy that wrote the program that interacts with the radio.
3. Expectations are confusing. Google has been releasing upgrades to Android really fast, and some devices have older version of the software, etc, etc, etc. It makes expectations confusing because most people have difficulty understanding what Android (which can look different and do different things) actually is. This is an identity crisis that really needs to be adressed.
4. Staggered support. Often, it’s difficult to figure out where to go with support. Unlike with the iPhone, there are a multitude of companies involved in the production of an Android-powered phone, but if you’re having a problem with the software a good bet is to run a Google search.

The Summary: Android does a lot of things the right way, and there are tons of other awesome things about it that I can’t go into here because it’s beyond the scope of this article, although I did to an in-depth analysis of my Nexus One when I got it. Most of the problems that Android has are related to growing pains.

My Final Thoughts
So, if you’re an average consumer looking for a final recommendation about which phone is better than the other, I’m not going to be able to give you an answer that will matter to you. That will get into things like design principles, programming languages, etc, etc.

Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS come in at a dead tie in terms of functionality. In the end it comes down to your personal preference. On Apple’s side of the room sits award-winning support, and the largest App library. On Google’s side of the room sits the principle of personal customization and a wide array of devices that will allow you to carry your apps to any Android-powered devices you upgrade to later.

Your Final Thoughts
So what do you think? Have you had any particular experience with one or the other that you want to share? Better yet, is there something I missed? Let me know in the comments!