I have begun work on serveral new projects, so I am taking a sabbatical from Looming Tech. Check out some of the projects I am working on now below:
Old Radio Detective: Old Radio Detective Shows, and Podcast
Stretching Cow: A Compilation of Links for Educators
Weekly post at Lost in Technology
The writer of this post compiles the latest tech news and more at Squealing Rat, and writes about tricks and tips of deception, trickery and survival at Lone Iguana. Find him on Twitter.
Apple acquired Lala. This is (hopefully) a move that will be hugely beneficial to the consumer. Here is a possibility for the future of this: 
1. Apple uses Lala to create online version of iTunes, comparable to Amazon MP3.
2. Apple allows you to store all of your music in the service, for free, in hopes that the more you use it, the more music you buy and the more you will use Apple hardware.
3. Apple will take the online iTunes, and use it as a base to build a multimedia store, featuring a video service similar to Netflix Streaming.
4. iPhone and iPad application.
5. Pricing change, become a similar pricing model to Spotify.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments!
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The writer of this post compiles the latest tech news and more at Squealing Rat, and writes about tricks and tips of deception, trickery and survival at Lone Iguana. Find him on Twitter.
I have spoken about SD cards and Apple before, but recently, while listening to TWiT, I came up with an alternative explanation for the seemingly uncommented-on addition of an SD card slot to new computers. Here is my prediction:
1. Apple will update all hardware to have a SD slot (Air, iPhone and Tablet included).
2. Apple will begin the push from CDs to SD cards with OS install and software on both cards and CDs.
3. Apple will acquire EyeFi for SD card technology.
4. Apple, in partnership with Verizon or AT&T, will create an SD card that not only has storage and GPS capabilities, but a 3G connection that provides internet.
5. Apple will encourage the population to sign up for the service, which provides you with one SD card that is compatible with all Apple hardware.
Use Case: I purchase the service, perhaps $100 and can buy the card in the store or online. I recieve the card, activate it using iTunes and plug it in to my MacBook Air. I decide I want to go out for a while, grab the SD card, and plug it into my tablet, bringing it with me on the trip. I can have fast enough internet to stream music or to check email.
As I write this, I realize that Apple could sell you multiple cards, and you could use only one at a time, depending on your plan. In addition, the use of MobileMe could integrate nicely, letting you deactivate a computer’s connection and the like.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments!
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With the news about Apple and servers, people are wondering what Apple is up to. If you hadn’t heard, Apple recently created a server farm in North Carolina. Now, because Apple is mostly a hardware company, people are beginning to wonder why they did that. Here are some 
estimates.
iTunes
Apple has always depended on iTunes to bring attention to iPods. Perhaps in the future a faster iTunes is in order. The rumors have also been circulating about a more social iTunes. Maybe a better cloud version will be part of the updates.
This idea has become increasingly apparent with Apple’s latest move to purchase Lala, a online music collection service.
Lion
Maybe in the next couple of operating systems, Apple will release an attempt at a cloud operating system. With the latest announcement of Chrome OS, an operating system that will rely heavily on the cloud, I wonder if Apple is aiming to do the same thing. What would happen if Apple’s Lion would be in the cloud?
The ability to access your operating system from anywhere has been seen in the school system and some businesses. An Apple operating system in the cloud would be a fascinating idea that seems like the future of operating systems.
MobileMe
Finally, MobileMe, Apple’s service that provides syncing your entire account to computers, iPhones and the cloud. But with the service, we can finally connect the dots. Imagine if your MobileMe account ($99 per year at the present time) was your account for accessing your cloud operating system and iTunes music collection online? Suddenly, most of your world at Apple is online, accessible from anywhere. I think I just blew my own mind.
What do you think of the possibilities of Apple in the cloud? Let us know in the comments.
Bonus thoughts:
*The announcement of the said to be Apple tablet in January may be running a version of a cloud operating system, a thought that could be just the beginning of Apple’s future in the cloud.
*Microsoft is on the same path to cloud operating systems.
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What’s the future of Google and audio?
When you think about, Google has really just been crawling towards the hidden search destination: audio.
Audio is a huge category of media content that in the past has been difficult to index and search for one simple reason: good technology for transcribing audio does not exist. Sure, there have been attempts like Dragon NaturallySpeaking and Jott.
From Google 411 to Google Voice, Google seems to be getting into the big topic of audio. Here are couple of events in the near future:
-Indexing every video’s audio file on YouTube. YouTube is a huge Google sub-company. There is a lot of content on Youtube that is just sitting there, waiting for something. And, with Google’s latest move to provide CC for videos, it seems like searching the audio of videos is just around the bend.
-Perfecting a speech to text conversion tool from data from Google Voice and Google 411. Google Voice and Google 411 are excellent services that use speech to text conversion. Google also has an iPhone app that works as well. All of these inputs can be used by Google to help create the best speech to text tool out there.
-Indexing and converting to text all audio on the net, archive.org, podcasts, all audio in videos, etc. With podcasts, videos and archive.org, being able to index all of the audio on the internet would be a wonderful feather in Google’s cap.
What do you think about the future of Google and audio? Let us know in the comments!
Post by Looming Tech. Find us on Twitter and check out our other blog, Squealing Rat.
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Google. The massive search company. Arguably, the best suite of online services out there. What will Google buy? Read on.
Recently, Eric Schmidt of Google announced that Google would start buying companies again. Here are some of the companies Google will buy.
Dropbox: This is one that I would love to see happen, just because it would make Google Docs so much easier to use. The ideal setup would be that Google would purchase Dropbox, let people continuing using it the way they would, but increase storage capacity, and add functionality that would allow you to sync your documents up to Google Docs. We saw this for Syncplicity, but a Dropbox, Google Docs integration would be amazing.
Drop.io: Drop.io is another one about storage. This would be interesting if Google acquired it because it would indicate another direction Google is heading off in. Maybe Google would go this way, just because it would reach a new audience, and get Google in the storage business. It would be a must have if they acquired Dropbox. Can you imagine a Dropbox, Drop.io, Google Docs integration? Wow, I just blew my own mind.
Jott/reQall/Dial2Do: This acquisition would just be amazing because best use case, Google would integrate with Google Voice. Then integrate with Google Tasks, and suddenly, your whole life is in Google.
Some Kind Of Data Network: This one is a great subject to delve into. I won’t, just because of time, but if Google aquired a data network, I could imagine chaos ensuing. If the FCC approved this move, then Google could dominate the wireless data market, offering free internet in exchange for the use of people’s data. Anti-trust law suits, here we come!
There you have it. Just a couple of guesses to what Google will buy. What do you think? Let us know in the comments!
Post by Looming Tech. Find us on Twitter and check out our other blog, Squealing Rat.
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Enough with the Apple rumors. Here we will take a look at the future of cell phones and Wi-Fi.
We have seen this with Skype. And T-Mobile’s Hotspot at Home. And we have also seen the amazing strength of many phones located in one place (they take down carriers). We have also seen how people obsessively stop in coffee shops to check their email.
The future is this:
All cellphones will have Wi-Fi built in. If you go to a coffee shop with Wi-Fi, you can call anyone, anywhere for free (services like Skype and Google Voice will help). Cell phone companies will encourage this because it will reduce the strain on their networks. And with the growing use of cell phones, we will need it. But what about tethering? You can see that this will become popular from a mile away. So can AT&T, which is why they decided not to support it immediately. Tethering is good for consumers, but bad for networks.
And in terms of landlines, the future has already caught up, bring us a gadget called Ooma. Ooma is a phone that you purchase for a large sum, and never pay a subscription fee for life. The gadget works simply. You buy the phone, hook it up to your internet connection, and have free phone calls for the rest of your life.
Tethering will be one of the reasons that phone companies will do Wi-Fi cell phones. Now, what about the quality. Some say that the quality is worse on Wi-Fi calls and sounds like you are in a tin can. Well, isn’t that already the case with cell phones on networks? My hunch is that the quality will stay the same if not increase.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments!
Photo: JonJon2k8
Post by Looming Tech. Find us on Twitter and check out our other blog, Squealing Rat.
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Google Wave is coming out really, really soon. And by that I mean that Google is releasing 100,000 invites on September 30th.
Now, Google Wave is supposed to be an amazing product. In fact, the hype was so large, that companies started trying to rip it off with quick releases of a imitation. You can even take a look at some of the products, Shareflow and PyGoWave.
But enough with these petty inconveniences. Most people just want to use the real McCoy. And while only a lucky few have a developer invite, (I count myself in this tally) anyone can get an email letting them know the second Google Wave is ready by entering their email here.
Now, on to the information. What is Google Wave? Well, Google Wave is basically a mash up of Gmail, Google Docs, Google Chat and Wikipedia. Described that way, Google Wave sounds like a flop. But taking a look at it from another perspective gives the service new hopes.
Unlike communication platforms like Twitter and Gmail, Google Wave can be hosted on your own servers. That means that even if Google’s servers take a hit and go down, your communications are still up. Another great thing about Wave is its collaboration features. With Wave, you can collaborate on projects and see other’s additions almost instantly.
Another small, but wonderful feature of Wave is the spell check. Unlike regular spellcheckers, Google Wave uses the information collected by billions of Google searches to guess what words you meant to say. For example, if I wrote the sentence “Mary hat a lidle lam,” Google would correctly assume that I meant to say “Mary had a little lamb.” This seemingly insignificant feature may pave the way for better spell checkers.
Mashable put out an article a while back on how Wave will change the web. I really liked two of the subjects it brought up. The article talked about commenting and forums for websites and blogs, a topic I think will hold true when Wave comes out. The other was about customer support.
This idea actually comes from a thread in the Google Wave development preview titled “What Will You Use it For?†It’s a remarkable discussion and brainstorming session over the potential of wave. One of the most fleshed-out ideas in the thread, though, is Wave for customer support. Here are some of the bullet-points for how Wave could be used in customer support:
– Sending trouble tickets
– Incident tracking can be a wave
– Call center analytics gadget
– Distribution list gadget
– Customer meta-data gadget
– Surveys can be a waveReal-time customer support? Yeah, someone please build that.
Google Wave. The possible future of communications. The only way that Wave will be truly successful if there is widespread adoption of the platform.
What do you think is the future of Google Wave? Let us know in the comments!
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If you ever look up the names of all of the different cats you will find the following. A) The over arching category is Felidae. B) There are a ton of cats in the Felidae family. C) The entire list can be found here.
Why am I bringing this up? Because Apple uses the Felidae family to name its OS releases and it seems to be running out. Here is what I think the future will bring.
First of all, here are the possible names left (and by possible, I mean names that Apple would not be ashamed to use):
Now, here is my impression of what the future of the Apple OS will be.
Wild Cat– Expanding the features of Snow Leopard and beginning to integrate the iPhone OS with the Tablet OS and OS X. You can see that Apple is trying to make the entire Apple world come together. This OS will do the trick.
Clouded Leopard– Likely? Maybe, but most likely under a different name to prevent too much cheesiness, Clouded Leopard will be Apple’s take on Cloud OS. With Google coming in with the Chrome OS, an entry in cloud operating systems, Microsoft and Apple will have to enter the race.
White Lion– Introducing brand new awesome tech. This OS will feature full functioning touch integration to use on the tablet, iPhone and laptops. Input will also include voice and touch (drawing and hand writing recognition). With the newest MacBook Pros, you can use the track pad to draw Chinese characters. Apple is on the road to hand writing integration.
Lion– The final, most polished of the Cats. This will most likely be like Snow Leopard with the amount of features and pricing. After all, this will be the “service pack” of White Lion.
What do you think will happen when there are no more cat names? What other animals do you think represent Apple? What other animals have plenty of varieties? Dogs? Do you think it will be animal? What about plants? Let us know your thoughts on the future of the Apple OS in the comments.
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I religiously watch the Apple keynotes. I love Apple. And I love their latest decision to add SD card slots to MacBook Pros. After all, SD seems to be the winner in photography storage, and many photographers have MacBook Pros. But the idea of Apple adding SD card slots sprung my live imagination into overdrive.
Take a look at what it came up with.
Now that we have SD card slots in MacBook Pros, it won’t surprise you that I think that new announcements for refreshed Mac Pros and iMacs will include SD card slots. It’s obvious that Apple thinks that these are the future.
What about the larger picture? What schemes do you think are hatching in the mind of Apple? How about changing the default method of distributing software from CDs to SD cards? That would be pretty radical and game changing. And a pain for older computers. The next OS X on a SD Card? Maybe. And with the application of booting off of the SD card slot, there are even more possibilities.
How about SD cards? Who uses SD cards? Photographers. In the past, some small rumors have circulated about an Apple camera. Is now the time that Apple will release one that uses SD? Very likely. But I find an Apple video camera more likely. Or both? Maybe Apple will be the first company to create a video and still camera that does well on both ends.
It could also be that Apple is coming up with it’s own version of the EyeFi. With that, customers who want GPS on there computers could add it. What do think? Do you think that the iPhone will have a SD card slot eventually? What other predictions did this article cause you to churn out? Let us know in the comments!
Photo: iulian nistea
Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Apple. These ideas were sparked by news articles, Apple keynotes and my imagination.
