What Apple Will Purchase Next

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, the all mysterious company may be contemplating whether to acquire companies. After Lala, and that maps company, there is a good chance that Apple will acquire something else. Here are a few predictions.

EyeFi

Talked about previously, there is a good chance that Apple will acquire EyeFi because of the moves it has made in its hardware line for SD card slots.

Wireless Network

Forget Google, could you imagine Apple with a wireless network? No more crappy AT&T, the iPhone could reach its full capacity, and not be hindered by moronic moves. In addition, a network would be great for a tablet or netbook.

Zoho Docs

With iWork, it is clear that Apple is making the move to the cloud. With this Google Docs competitor, Apple could use the infrastructure to create a worthy online office suite.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments!

Subscribe:     RSS | Email | Twitter

The Apple SD Card Secret [3G SD Card]

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!

Photo: asalmeron

Subscribe:     RSS | Email | Twitter

What the Heck? Apple Acquires Maps Company

Apple acquires maps company. Shocking news indeed. I know I am late to the actual news, but the idea of Apple owning a maps company is a rather intriguing idea. One that deserves attention, exploration and a little imagination…

First off, the facts. From Gizmodo:

The Apple/Google divorce continues to come into focus: Apple quietly bought Placebase, a mapping service company, back in July. Apple doesn’t buy companies it’s not going to use. Meaning, Apple’s getting into making their own maps. Peace out, Google.

According to Gizmodo, the main reason for the purchase was the fact that the application had a very good API with great customization abilities.

Many astute commenters in the Gizmodo article point out that if Apple takes Google Maps off of the iPhone, they will encounter many issues, including not having many key Google Map features (streetview, traffic).

My guess is that Apple will use this aquisition for several purposes.

A) Geotagging. The iPhone is becoming one of the most popular cameras on Flickr. I bet that Apple will use this company to expand their photo geo tagging features, implanting the equivalent to an Eye-Fi into the iPhone.

B) For iPhone Apps. When Apple first released the capability to have turn-by-turn apps in the app store, the stated one key limit. You cannot use Google Maps for the apps. While this was most likely done for legal purposes and other apps have taken unique paths to fulfill turn by turn apps, a native turn by turn app would be amazing.

What do you think of the maps company acquisition? Let us know in the comments.

Photo: Chris Blakeley

Post by Looming Tech. Find us on Twitter and check out our other blog, Squealing Rat.

Subscribe:     RSS | Email | Twitter

The Reason The White Plastic Macbooks Still Exist And The Rumors Behind It

At the next Apple event, Steve Jobs will mount the stage. He will brandish a little black remote. One click shows a picture of the current white Macbook. Then, with a magical Keynote transition, it move to another picture, this time the new Apple netbook/tablet.

Why do this? Isn’t this really stupid? Just get rid of the white Macbooks and introduce the new Apple netbook/tablet. That is what I would have thought too. But if that was true, why has Apple left the Macbooks alive for so long? Maybe because that transition is too perfect to pass up. Maybe in order to say, “Same price, more power, sleeker machine, 3G connection, no keyboard, and touch screen.”

Alright, enough with the overactive imagination, I want some facts. Or at least rumors.

AppleInsider had an article about Macbook rumors and said this:

the 13-inch portables are presently undergoing an industrial design overhaul that will see them reemerge in the coming months with a slimmer, lighter enclosure and restructured internal architecture to boot.

Interesting. While you interpret that, put this in your pipe and smoke it: A new rumor about the new Macbook netbook/tablet  input interface has been picked up. Again, AppleInsider has the dirt:

In a new patent application revealed this week, Apple has again disclosed plans for a multi-touch surface that could accommodate two full hands and distinguish between palms and individual fingers for typing, gestures and more.

The application, filed by Morrison and Foerster LLP in Los Angeles in June 2009 on behalf of Apple, expands on information first revealed by AppleInsider in early 2008. The massive document details a hand-based system that would allow “unprecedented integration of typing, resting, pointing, scrolling, 3D manipulation, and handwriting into a versatile, ergonomic computer input device.”

Make of these rumors what you will. But there is no doubt that this new development will be over hyped. I really liked The 2.0 Life‘s summary of all the hype:

From a Gizmodo article today, about the Apple tablet, and its potential for serving the textbook world:

The logic here is that textbooks are sold new at a few hundred dollars, and resold by local stores without any kickbacks to publishers. A DRM’d one-time-use book would not only be attractive because publishers would earn more money, but electronic text books would be able to be sold for a fraction of the cost, cutting out book stores and creating a landslide marketshare shift by means of that huge price differential.That’s seriously exciting stuff, and something that could quickly make the Apple tablet a staple among college students, who are a notoriously difficult group to reach.

The tablet can succeed here, where the Kindle is failing, because the tablet will (theoretically) allow for a wide range of data input. Having a way to read, highlight, take notes, and the like in a way that’s better than the Kindle could be huge. And, even if it’s an $800 device, with cheaper textbooks that’ll pay for itself in the span of a college career.

What do you think of the Macbook tablet/netbook’s career? Let us know in the comments.

Photo: acaben

Post by Looming Tech. Find us on Twitter and check out our other blog, Squealing Rat.

Subscribe:     RSS | Email | Twitter

Tomorrow's Apple Event

I know, I know, way too much Apple. But that’s news. OK. The rumors are in for the September 9th Apple event. I really liked VentureBeat’s run down on tomorrow’s event. They boiled it down to this:

Some sort of iTunes enhancement. Depending on what day you read MacRumors, the major music labels are either working with Apple or working against Apple on enhanced digital formats for album and single releases. The rumor mill is spewing every geeks’ dream feature list: Blu-Ray! Facebook! Twitter! An even more complicated way to poke around with apps you don’t really use! The latter is a given.- A tablet computer. The Wall Street Journal reported as fact a few weeks ago that Jobs was working hard on a touchscreen device. Would Steve Jobs tease us with a music event and then hit us over the head with a new type of Mac? Anyone who witnessed Jobs’ cruelly clever fake-out of Motorola in 2005, where he held an entire launch event for their phone before dropping the iPod Nano on us, secretly hopes he’ll do something like that tomorrow.

– Apple TV update. Nah. Given the two-time failure of Apple TV to steal the world from Netflix and Comcast, I’m skeptical they’ll go against the Beatles with strike three.

OK. Here is my take. Apple announces new iPods in September. And because Apple is trying to get rid of the iPod Touches, they might be getting ready for a new, cheaper iPod Touch. The new iPod Touch will have similar pricing to the iPhone 3G, and have a camera and compass. I would also say that a refresh on the iPod Classic, Nano and Shuffle is in order. The Classic might be downgraded to a iPod with a SSD to increase the speed and prevent drive failures.

Let us know what you think the Apple event will bring in the comments!

Photo: el patojo

Subscribe:     RSS | Email | Twitter

Loomings

The dawn of what is yet to come….

Welcome to Looming Tech. This site aims to make predictions, realistic or not, of what won’t, will and shouldn’t happen in the tech world.

And now, a quick word from our chief blogger, The Soothsayer.

“As I look back on the years….. Nah, I wouldn’t do that to you. Actually, this first post reminds of a comic strip. In a Foxtrot strip by Bill Amend, Peter has a book report due in a hour. In the first panel we see ‘Chapter 1: Loomings’ and in the next we see Peter, with his head in his hands saying ‘If Melville only knew’.

And just as Peter had no idea what he was getting into, so do I. And probably, so do you. So let’s both plunge into the depths of technology and learn together, no mater how cliche that sounds.”

Thanks for reading! Grab the RSS feed here, and as the Joker says in The Dark Knight, “And here, we, GO!”

Photo: asalmeron