Open The Dialogue

Rough Week for Apple

After reports of the iPhone 4 having service problems with they’re held a certain way, disgruntled users have filed a lawsuit against both Apple and AT&T accusing Apple of Defect in Design, Manufacture and Assembly – among other claims. There is also purportedly another similar class-action law suit in the works. Apple has since admitted that there are reception issues and promises to fix the glitch.

Google versus Facebook

After facing numerous privacy issues over the past couples months, Facebook may have reason to be worried about the search engine giant is working on creating a social network. This digital Clash of the Titans should be interesting to watch as many of Google’s early social networking attempts have fallen short of successful.

Location-Based Celebrity-Sightings

Location-Based Services (LBS) has made another strive in proving its usefulness with a new application from OK! Magazine called the OK Celeb Spotter where users can report celeb-sightings in real-time.

Facebook Introduces Face Detection Technology

Facebook who acquired Divvyshot, a photo sharing site, back in April, has implemented face detection technology that will find and select faces in photos and automatically tag them. This will streamline the photo tagging process which many consider the most tedious portion of photo-sharing on Facebook.

The Blog About Twitter

As if social media wasn’t intertwined enough, The Big Money has announced the launch of a blog about all-things Twitter-related. Now you can Tweet about blogging and blog about Tweeting.

People use their iPads for various purposes, but most are pretty basic: word processing, email checking, photo uploading, and newspaper or magazine reading.  All of these tasks can be performed on a laptop or desktop, which is part of the reason why I had trouble understanding its purpose at first.  There are a handful of people, however, who really think “outside the box,” so to speak, and not just fiddle with the device, but come up with ways to use or hold it. Some for science, other for entertainment, but all of these variations are very clever.

In Italy, a multimedia exhibit was created in honor of the 20^th anniversary of Dolce & Gabbana’s menswear collection.  The walls of part of the exhibit were lined with iPads that displayed images from a new book “20 Years of Dolce & Gabbana for Men” that could be scrolled through by drawing a hand across the touch screen.

Other variations of ipod holders and stands consist of a wooden frame that amplifies sound, a cardboard arcade cabinet, and a hollowed out iBook or Macintosh Classic.  The iPad also can be attached to a via USB and can be used as an old typewriter.  Science has even taken part in creating an iPad gadget by creating a wireless microscope that delivers video to the device.    It is said that “the expected use of the device is to help users examine skin texture and blemishes on the iPad,” but who knows, it could be used for science and research purposes as well.

Then there’s my personal favorite, the chocolate-covered iPad.  It serves as a doubly-awesome gift as it is both edible and practical.  After being coated and frozen in chocolate, the iPad was still in perfect condition.  The creativity that goes into all of these designs is quite innovative.  I can’t wait to see more that I’m sure are in store in the near future.

Facebook Has Some Competition

Four NYU Students have raised $100,000 to create a Facebook alternative that allows users to control their own data. The initial goal was the raise $10,000 before June 2nd.

The NY Times will start charging for Online content

The New York Times has announced that it will begin using a paywall for their online content beginning January 2011.

Adobe Responds to Apple’s Anti-Flash Attack

Steve Jobs may have issued a single link that detailed his opinion on Flash but Adobe has retaliated with a full campaign featuring display ads on Engadget and the New York Times.

Two-Thumbs Down to 3-D

Famed movie critic Roger Ebert is not jumping on the 3-D bandwagon. In a Newsweek article published this week, Ebert explains why movie theaters should not overuse the technology and make it “a way of live” for moviegoers.

Hugo Chavez Twitter’s Newest Political Figure

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is officially a Twitter user as of Tuesday. The anti-US critic will be using the microblogging site as a way to send messages to his followers. He’s also reportedly encouraged Bolivian President Evo Morales and controversial Cuban political leader Fidel Castro to also join the site.

NYS Senator Charles Schumer not a Fan of Facebook

New York State Senator Charles Schumer is not a fan of Facebook’s new personalization of their site. He’s written a letter to the FTC asking that they create stringent guidelines for Facebook and other social networking sites.

Apple Releases “Thoughts on Flash”

Apple’s Steve Jobs has released a statement titled “Thoughts on Flash” in which he explains that due to Adobe’s lack of “reliability, security and performance” the iPhone and iPad will not support the Adobe Suite.

Tomorrow the world’s most important tablet since Moses will descend unto the frothing masses from Apple. Yes, the long awaited iTablet is no longer a whispered about dream, it appears to be a reality. And it appears that the social media elite just can’t stop talking about it. Gizmodo and Mashable both have dedicated tags for the mythical beast and if it does launche tomorrow say goodbye to the front page of Techmeme. But for a true look at the enormity of the iTablet, we need to use D.Insight to track the iTablet.

To get a comprehensive look at the conversation over the last thirty days, I punched a few iTablet and Apple related keywords into D.Insight (as powered by Radian6).

Trends

While rumors of the iTablet have exsisted for years, it wasn’t until January 3rd that Apple got everyone’s attention, in the middle of CES 2010! Since then the rumor mills have slowly been turning, before going into overdrive yesteryday.

(more…)