Toys with iPhones And Macs

Source:  Cult of Mac.

Here some light-hearted pics of assorted action figure toys from Woody to Star Wars to even Steve Jobs.  Each with an iPhone and sometimes with an iMac or iPad.

Those are just a couple of the ones I like.  More at the link above.  The one below is the best of the lot.  And very fitting...Buzz and Steve together.

Green: Make Cities Green, Solar, And WiFi

Source:  Yahoo News, Treehugger, My Modern.

Always love talking about solar and mobile and there is another opportunity with my bit of twist.  

Remember the above pic?  It was Toyota's solar flowers to promote the Prius.  And it was awesome!  I don't know if they're around still but Toyota could have and should have build more of them all over.  It was absolutely brilliant and I am somewhat disappointed that we haven't seen or heard more about this or similar concept.

Now, New York City is kinda doing something similar.  So far, it has converted 10 payphones into WiFi hotspots for the public to use.  And more will come.  

No word on whether this is powered by solar but since it wasn't mentioned, I highly doubt it.  Still, I reckon as more and more of these free WiFi hotspots come online and this pilot program works as planned, I'm hoping other cities will follow.  And there is absolutely no reason to think that this won't work at all.  

In fact, I like to see cash rich tech companies jump on the bandwagon.  I mean this is right up Google's alley.  And there was also a time when Steve Jobs thought about establishing his own wireless network powered by WiFi hotspots.  

This really is something we see coming.  Right now, ubiquitous wireless connection is only possible through 3G or 4G networks operated by gatekeepers that really don't have the public's interests in mind.  WiFi will be the key first step to wrestle control away from them.

When those super WiFi you might have heard about, those using White Spaces, that have wireless ranges that are not measured in feet but in miles (I'll be honest:  I'm excited by opportunities that White Spaces networks represent but finding out the exact range has been hard to pin down.  Probably because the tech is so new.)

So, just imagine this: a city like LA, SF, or NY (for you international readers, here's a shout-out to London, Paris, Vancouver, Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai, Dubai, Berlin, HK, Singapore, New Delhi, Cairo, Rome, etc) blanketed in White Spaces networks powered by solar.

That is a mobile  future worth working towards.  Maybe also then, I can get a mobile device that doesn't require me to subscribe to those evil wireless carriers.

Hacker Alert: Yahoo Lost 400K Passwords

Source:  Reuters.

First, I didn’t know there was such a thing as Yahoo Voice but apparently, if you use it, you could be a victim of Yahoo’s negligence which has resulted the lost of 400,000 passwords.

So, if you think you could be one of these victims, best to do something about it really quickly. This comes on the heat of Sony’s PS network blunder last year and last month’s LinkedIn loss of more than 6 million passwords.

Truly, Yahoo doesn’t need this right now and it makes somewhat suspect just whether these companies really have their acts together or know what they are doing.  You’d think after Sony, LinkedIn, and others, companies would be scrambling to do audits on their security.

Charles Is Right: Dream Team Would Whip Today's 2012 Team Or Anyone Else

Source:  ESPN.

1992 Dream Team would whip today's US men's Olympics basketball team.  There really is no room for debate.

Anyone who doesn't agree didn't watch the Dream Team played in the Olympics.  And while there have been a number of other teams since, on so many levels, the Dream Team of 1992 for the Barcelona Olympics Games would beat the pants off so many other teams that has been assembled so far.  Not it wouldn't be just on the scoreboards but in class as well.

Whatever else, you just have to let the stats speak for themselves.  And the Dream Team was just suffocating.  The only time the DT had any problem was just a brief couple of minutes against Croatia before opening up a 33 points lead on the way to the gold.

The team that the NBA will send to London simply don't have that kind of killer instinct or the disciple to maintain a game long momentum like the DT did.  Sure, there was egos back then but the DT players knew business came first.  Today's squad is full of individual talents but as a team, they just don't put up the kind of entertaining value the DT had.

The showtimesque style of play was great from the opening tip to the final second regardless of the lead, 30, 40, 50, or 60 points.

Sorry, Kobe, on a good day, any Olympic team you were a part of might come close to beating the DT but a baby-hook from Magic, a three from Bird, or an awesomely incredible shot from Jordan would have finished you guys off.

It's Official: I Have To Read '50 Shades of Grey' As Women Snatches Up Sex Toys

I thought this was a book about the civil car, aliens, or, for some reason, werewolves.  But after watching this CNN report, I'm gonna have to read this book and find out what the heck is so enticing.

And I'm a dude and not afraid to admit it!

A Kindle Phone Will Ruin Amazon

I had a couple of quick e-mail exchange with Dave the Mobile Sage and he seems to think that the only want Amazon’s phone could really have an impact is if it is able to truly disrupt the wireless market – like provide free data or something.  I agree.  However, only Amazon can try to pull something like that off and get one or two carriers onboard.

But I highly doubt it.  In fact, if Amazon doesn’t offer something vastly different and is another Android phone, it will flop badly and potentially damaging the Kindle brand.  Worse, Amazon’s whole ecosystem could be taken down with it.  Maybe even the rest of the company.

Here’s the thing.  Amazon’s Kindle phone will likely run a forked Android OS – that is to say, like the Fire and the Nook, all done san Google’s blessing.  Right now, the Fire is running an Android 2.3 variant while Google is doing a great job pushing out Android 4 and 4.1  I think Google recognizes the importance of not fragmenting the market.

So, true Android devices will continue to run on an OS that is a couple of  years better than what Amazon’s Kindle Fire and phone will sport.  It might be okay with some folks but anyone who knows what’s up will realize this and pick a HTC or Samsung device that runs true Android OS.

On top of that, Amazon is already pushing the Fire over competitors and it will do the same with its own phone.  Carriers might not care but handset makers most definitely will.

Amazon’s Fire had some success during the Christmas quarter of 2011 but with Nexus 7, Windows 8 Surface, and quite possibly a $200-$300 iPad, it will have a lot of hard fight ahead.  A handset will only be a dstraction for J Bezos and the rest of the company.

If even the phone is free, so are many other Android phones.  The iPhone and Windows phones can be had for $50-$100.  Just ain’t no room for Amazon right now.

Trust me, I love competition.  I’m rooting for a RIM resurgence but Amazon’s Kindle phone simply would not provide any at all.  I’m gonna call it now.  It’ll be a failed embarrassment of a device.

Forbes Post About Apple And T-Mobile Makes Sense

Source:  Forbes.

It used to be that any mention of Apple, the iPhone, and another carrier other than AT&T would have sparked a click frenzy.  It's like gallon of blood dropped into a pool filled with sharks and piranhas.  And this was especially true if the carrier was T-Mobile because it was the only other major GSM carrier in the United States other than AT&T.  As history would show, both T-Mobile's CDMA competitors, Verizon Wireless and Sprint, got the iPhones and T-Mobile is still on the outside looking in.

So, let's see if this Apple, iPhone, T-Mobile post will generate interest on par with what it was like a couple of years ago, before AT&T lost the iPhone exclusivity.

So, this Forbes post suggested the obvious: Apple should deal with T-Mobile.  I admit I haven't thought about T-Mobile for a long time since the merger with AT&T failed. And I had gained a bad taste for T-Mobile as its customer service quality waned.  Still, I thought Apple should deal with everyone.

However, I do think that Apple can pretty much dictate any terms to T-Mobile and it would have to accept it.  And with an added competitor with the iPhone, any thoughts of cutting iPhone subsidies by AT&T, Verizon, or Sprint be would met with pause.

I would like to go a step further in any Apple-T-Mobile deal.  Not only should Apple give T-Mobile iPhones for its post-paid customers, it should off customers the option for prepaying for the iPhone and favorable rates to go along with it.

The favorable rates would be a discount from post-paid rates since T-Mobile would not be subsidizing the purchases of iPhones for prepaid customers.

If this happens, it would not only be an important development but a historic shift from post-paid to pre-paid markets.  It would for the other major carriers to answer with their own options.  And with T-Mobile's 3G now faster and not much slower than LTE, AT&T and Verizon would have to think twice about simply relying on LTE as a marketing vehicle to gain/retain subscribers.

I would even suggest that Apple could flood the market with prepaid iPhones with a cheaper price and make it back with a cut of the monthly plans.

The mere fact that I can think of going down this route suggests that Apple has as well and more than likely have better plans to pad the huge pile of cash it already has.  And this all could start with a T-Mobile deal.

As an iPhone fan, I think it's time that Carly has an iPhone to go with her skin tight biker outfit.