When Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple in 1978, the Silicon Valley entrepreneurs emphasized the importance of design while understanding the crucial role aesthetics play in public appeal. Today, Apple is a towering icon in the computer sector with diversified product lines. It was a company that only a decade earlier had huge deficits and has since made a comeback nothing short of remarkable to become one of the most profitable companies in history. 

The key was always the consumer needs. By addressing the very basic of needs, Apple was able to create the niche in the Microsoft-dominated PC world. How could an operating system, such as Apple OSX, with such a tiny market share gain dominance without a fundamental change in computers as big as the one that replaced mini computers with desktop PCs? Apple’s answer was simple: It takes things more personal.

A truly personal computer should be easier to maintain, less prone to infection and able to link to the business stuff when needed.A truly personal computer does personal things like manage your photos and music. Most especially, a truly personal computer is an object that says something about your personality like the clothes you wear and the car you drive. Amazingly, Apple makes computers that are not butt ugly.

In 2001, Apple launched the iPod against big odds. Today, In the world of Portable Music Players or PMP’s, Apple’s iPod leads the way. The success of the iPod has brought Apple into the center of the Music World once dominated by music giants such as Sony, Philips, and many others and still lead the pack to this day. 

In 2007, Steve Jobs announced the most awaited product of the decade, the iPhone. In the run-up to its launch, there was enormous anticipation and excitement in the media that Apple did not even have to spend a single dollar to advertise its launch. It was a phenomenal reception considering it is Apple’s first entry into the mobile phone market. Today, the iconic iPhone is taking on the technological prowess of Nokia, Motorola and Samsung literally making Apple a competitor overnight. 

Apple has continued to innovate and diversify up to this day with products such as Apple TV,  digital media from its iTunes store to its ever-improving iPods and Macbook laptop series. At the very heart of the revolution are the software geniuses at Cupertino CA shelling out newer versions of iLife, iMovie and iWork, which we can expect more surprises for years to come. 

For as long as the world wants to see virus-free PC’s, dual operating systems and cool iPods, only one thing is for certain: the Apple revolution is still  here to stay.

I am not really surprised that Windows Vista snagged the top spot. Really, I am not. After all, I have been ranting about Vista for the past few weeks now myself.

So, what according to PC World are the 15 biggest tech disappointments of the year? Here is a rundown:

15. Amazon Unboxed. Apparently, Amazon’s attempt to enter the fray of entertainment on demand resulted in something clunky and inconvenient.

14. WiMax. All deals are off. Sprint and Clearwire will not be pushing through with their plans to bring WiMax to a broader base in the US anymore.

13. Social networks. There are just too many of them out there already, and they all look the same.

12. Internet security. It simply does not exist.

11. Microsoft’s Zune. The self-proclaimed iPod killer can’t even get close to its prey.

10. Wireless networks. All the nice new mobile phones that came out in 2007 are beyond awesome. The same cannot be said, however, of the wireless networks that carry them.

09. Office 2007. Some people are still trying to figure out how macros work in older versions. And then Office 2007, with its notorious Ribbon, shows up.

08. Apple Leopard. Who would have thought that the makers of the iPhone and iTouch would have a bad hit here?

07. VoIP. It was simply a bad year for VoIP.

06. The broadband industry. The big broadband ISPs in the US interfere with P2P downloading, to which they certainly do not have the right.

05. The iPhone. Even a thing of beauty has its flaws.

04. Yahoo. Stuck behind Google and got in a fix for supplying information on dissidents to the Chinese government. For shame.

03. Facebook Beacon. Creepy in the way they get info about you behind your back.

02. The High-Def Format War. Blu-ray vs. HD DVD? Who cares?

01. Windows Vista. Enough said.

The night of November 9, 2007 has come and gone. At 6.02pm that Friday night, the stores of Apple, O2 and Carphone Warehouse simultaneously opened its doors to allow the denizens of London and the rest of Britannia their first feel of the gadget of the year, none other than Apple’s much-hyped iPhone.

That Friday night has come and gone, but how was it? Did Apple exceed its expectations for establishing its foothold in the British market? Apparently, only sales figures for that night can say for sure, and naturally only Apple has this data. No one else in the blogosphere has it.

But while the iPhone launch last Friday did not reach the levels of mania that was seen in New York when the gadget of the year made its worldwide debut in June this year, what with around 600 people lining up some 100 hours prior to launch time, anyone can happily say that the British launch of the iPhone was more than fairly decent. There was an estimated 400 people crowding the doors of the Apple store in Regent Street in London that Friday night, and the atmosphere was certainly euphoric. It was a lot more quiet at the O2 store along Oxford Street and in the various Carphone Warehouse outlets all over London, but the excitement was definitely there.

Given that there is no available data regarding actual sales of the iPhone during launch day, judging from the 8,000 activation attempts that O2 claimed to have on the blogosphere grapevine, it seems that the sales of iPhone units, at least those sold by O2, were not so bad at all. In fact, it seemed quite a sunshiny deal that O2 landed on, especially since it is reported that two-thirds of O2 iPhone buyers are new subscribers.

It surely is sweet. I guess Apple really did good on the British launch day.

Okay. So, recently, Apple surprised us all by slashing $200 from the selling price of the 8GB iPhone, barely a few months after its release, with accompanying rumors that the 4GB version of that primo gadget will be done away soon. Apparently, the price slash was done so that the iPhone can continue selling despite the release of the iPod Touch in the market.

If you are one of those people who are still grumbling about the price slash, here is another bone to chew on. You can now convert any song you buy from the iTunes store to a ringtone for your iPhone. You do this by using graphical software that lets you pick any segment of the song you want to convert and make it into a ringtone that has a length of 12 to 21 seconds. The catch is that you will have to pay an additional 99¢ for converting that song to a ringtone, on top of the 99¢ you will have to shell out anyhow for the rights to using the song.

Anyone with half a brain in his or her head would know right on that this scheme is one major rip-off. I know I am not alone in saying so, and I find it a little disgusting that Apple is cooking up such unsavory schemes to get some extra cents off of its customers.

Thankfully, a Good Samaritan from the MacRumors forum said that you can actually get away with converting an iTunes song into a ringtone for free. All it takes is a simple switching of file extensions. Just replace the .AAC extension of any song you got from iTunes with the .M4R iPhone ringtone extension, sync your iPhone and you are good to go. The cost of converting your new ringtones: zero.

If you are still planning to grab your very own iPhone unit, this will certainly be great news to you. But if you are one of those poor sods (like me) who half-rushed through buying an iPhone, feel free to tear your hair off your head. Why? Because Apple just slashed $200 off of the regular iPhone price, that’s why!

Yes, barely a few months after the release of the most awaited gadget of the year, Apple chopped 200 bucks off the regular price of the 8GB iPhone, which used to sell for $599. Rumor also has it that Apple will be tossing out the 4GB version, never to be seen again in stores.

Why, do you ask, did Apple just do what it did? Well, Apple is posed to release iPod Touch, a new addition to the iPhone family that is built on the same technology from which iPhone was spawned. Naturally, even with the release of this new baby, Apple would not want the most awaited gadget of the year to fall back in sales in order to give way to its newest sibling. That would be bad, right? Certainly that would be bad.

It is also deduced that poor sales is also the reason why the 4GB version of the iPhone will be phased out. Whether this deduction will prove to be true, we shall only see later.

The iPhone price slash does not have to be entirely bad news to the hapless people who bought their iPhone units only a few days ago. According to the sales and refund policy of the Apple store, people who got their iPhones only within the last ten days are entitled to get some of their money back in light of this price slash. So, if that is you, go contact Apple and get your cash back.

In a previous post, we told you the reasons why we love our iPhone. To recap, the iPhone’s display is mouthwatering eye candy with its sharp rendering of graphics. The touch screen is sensitive and nearly all commands can be made with just a touch of the fingertips. And of course, the iPod functions of the iPhone are simply awesome. These are the reasons why we love our iPhone.

Now, here are the reasons why we hate the iPhone.

1. Making phone calls on the iPhone is way too complicated. You press the power switch, swipe a finger across the screen to unlock it, go to the phone menu and then find the contact number of the person you want to call in your favorites folder. If you have the misfortune of not adding the number in your favorites folder, finding the said number in the address book just adds more clicks to the already complicated process.
2. The iPhone does not have a voice dialing feature. Woe to you if you have become used to dialing without using your fingers, just speaking out the name of the person you are calling and expecting your phone to simply dial the number in response.
3. The quality of the calls made on the iPhone is simply horrible. Many times it is nearly impossible to connect to another person who is not using an iPhone. Instead, what you get is a drop call. If your call does connect, the transmission is garbled and full of static. The thing does have a speakerphone, but the speakerphone is too muffled. If you want a headset for your iPhone, take note that the outlet is far too recessed and some headsets need adaptors.
4. Customization is very limited. Sure, you can assign icons to the people on your contact list, but you can only choose a ringtone among the 25 built-in tunes in your iPhone. If you think you can assign an mp3 track as a ringtone, download a ringtone or compose your own ringtone on your iPhone, think again. You can’t.
5. For now, the iPhone is exclusive to AT&T subscribers only, and the subscription contract lasts for two years. The SIM card can be removed from the iPhone itself, but it cannot be used on another phone unit. Woe to you if you are the type of person who has different phones and loves changing phones to match your outfit and whatnot.
6. The iPhone is a quad-band phone, which means it can be used anywhere in the world. However, this is an almost useless fact, given that the iPhone is exclusive for now to AT&T subscribers and the roaming fees of AT&T are prohibitive.
7. The camera installed on the iPhone is a 2 megapixel thing, capable of taking clear and sharp images, but it has absolutely no controls. Just point it and click.
8. The iPhone cannot shoot videos. A disappointment for those who want to pretend they are film directors.

In summary, the iPhone at this point is nothing more than an iPod smacked with a phone. As an iPod, it is an awesome gadget. But as a phone, it leaves a lot to be desired.

So, after all the media hype and all that feverish frenzy that Steve Jobs’ announcement early this year put the blogosphere in, we finally get a taste of what the iPhone is really like. Nay, we now get to have more than just a taste of the iPhone; we can swallow it, digest it, and savor or puke it as we please. We got reports that the iPhone is an instant hit on its first day. People actually lined up at the Apple store on the iPhone’s date of release, and on the first day alone, Apple sold nearly 700,000 units.

Is the iPhone all it was hyped out to be? The answer is both a yes and a no. There are a number of things about the iPhone that makes it so lovable, but there are also one or two (big) things that we hate about it. Let us go for the good stuff first.

We all know how Apple revolutionized the music scene with its now ubiquitous iPod. The iPod in the iPhone is the biggest reason why we love the iPhone so much. Even with its disappointingly low capacity of either 4 gigabytes or 8 gigabytes, the iPhone delivers with its multimedia capabilities. You can certainly have everything you enjoyed with your iPod on your iPhone. The iPhone also allows you to relive the visual experience of physically browsing through your CDs as you shuffle through the tracks stored in your iPhone.

The iPhone’s display is also absolutely gorgeous. Without a doubt, the 3.5-inch, 480 x 320 pixel display panel that the iPhone sports is true eye candy. Apple packed 160 dpi in that display panel to make sure that the images and graphics come out sharp and detailed. Even more gorgeous is the fact that it is a touch screen phone, with all the commands possible at a mere touch of the fingertips. The display panel is glass, though, so you should get used to wiping facial oil and smudges with the accompanying chamois cloth.

A strong trait of the iPhone is its intuitiveness. There is an undeniable interconnectivity of its phone functions, its email and Internet capabilities, its Google maps, and the multimedia capacity of the iPod in the iPhone. It is just awesome how the iPhone fades out the music that you are playing if ever you receive a call. The music remains paused as you choose whether or not to take the call, and then resumes the music playing at the exact point where it is paused. The same goes for video playback.

The Safari browser installed in the iPhone is the best mobile browser found in smartphones at the level of the iPhone as yet. It can easily display web pages in HTML, although it is not capable of Java and other plugins. Whenever you turn on its Internet function, the iPhone automatically searches for Internet hotspots.

So, that is what we love about the iPhone, the fact that it is an iPod jammed with other functions. We will tell you later why we hate the iPhone.

Apparently, the blogosphere is full of rumors lately about Apple’s top secret plan of launching a new line of iPhones by the fourth quarter of this year. These new iPhones will supposedly be a lower-end and less expensive line, smaller and possessing of a circular touchpad control that is so alike Apple’s other bestselling gadget, the iPod Nano. And so the new iPhones were dubbed iPhone Nano.

Is this rumor about the so-called iPhone Nano Apple’s next, top-secret move to dominate the market that has been leaked so precipitously? Or is this rumor just a load of balderdash?

The source of this rumor, according to this Reuters report, is an analyst from JP Morgan in Taiwan named Kevin Chang. He said that he heard people on the supply channel of Apple talking about their company being busy with building on this new project, supposedly a side development from the iPhone. Chang also stated that according to these people, the project is scheduled for release late this year. Moreover, according to Chang, there is a patent application filed by Apple at the U.S. Patent and Trademark office for such a device.

If this rumor is true, then Apple will be making an entire sector of the population of gadget freaks jumping for joy. But on the other hand, Apple’s competitors in the market, namely the longtime players in the cellphone market such as Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, and Motorola, will be very, very unhappy. The iPod took the music world by storm and the iPhone is promising to do just as well, with around 700,000 units sold right on the first day of its release alone. And now, here comes the iPhone Nano. The cellphone giants ought to be shaking on their knees right now.

That is, the cellphone giants ought to be shaking on their knees right now if the rumors are true. As it is, reports of the iPhone Nano could just as well be a hoax. Apple is keeping its mouth shut over the entire matter and would not even comment. The source of the rumor, Kevin Chang – along with JP Morgan – is now distancing himself as far away from the story altogether as possible. After all, there is no proof that Apple is indeed hard at work on this new project of theirs. A few chats and a patent application are not really enough to make for a solid story; that is why all we have now are rumors.

But could this rumor be Apple’s roundabout way of seeking publicity for what could be the newest hot gadget to watch out for in the coming yearend? That is not impossible. In fact, it is a very interesting thought to entertain in one’s mind. The cost of the full-featured iPhone is far from being cheap, but that did not stop people from flocking to the Apple store and line up for their own unit. Selling 700,000 units on the first day of release is no joke.

And so we wait with bated breath for any inkling of truth to this rumor. Of course, nothing will ever beat an official announcement from Apple itself. Until then, we shall just be swallowing our saliva and wait for further news on the so-called iPhone Nano.

So much has been said about the on-going and probably never-ending Mac vs. PC war. Pro-Mac people have a lot of unsavory things to say about Microsoft and its Windows products. The same can be said about pro-PC people and their attitude with regards the offerings of Apple and its Mac. Now, unless either Bill Gates or Steve Jobs does something incredibly stupid with their respective companies and products that would serve as a major turn off for their fans and supporters, it is highly, highly likely that we would ever even see an end to the Mac vs. PC war.

Who is really to say that the PC is better than Mac, or that Mac is better than the PC? The opinion will always be subjective, shaped by how receptive the respective users are to the computer hardware and software that they are using. One interesting website, however, made an attempt to subject both the Mac OS X and Windows XP to a point system. Guess which got the highest score.

If anyone were to ask us which one is better, we’d say only this: Get both. A Mac and a PC in the same household can make for strange bedfellows, some might say. But hey; whoever said we can’t ever get the best of both worlds? Here are five ways to make the most out of having both a PC and a Mac.

1. If you are thinking of doing serious work on your computer, use your Mac. As John Droz would say, Mac users become more efficient with their time in front of the computer, thereby increasing their productivity. If you want more work done, work on a Mac.
2. If you are thinking of doing serious gaming, play on your PC. Many, many bestselling games out there are made with Windows in mind. The same can be said of many freeware and shareware games.
3. If you do a lot of multimedia stuff, like creating movies and photo editing, do it on your Mac. The iLife suite is simply amazing.
4. If you do a lot of chatting, Mac works just fine with its nice iChat software. The iChat is an AOL Instant Messaging (AIM) service, and it is very cute and easy to use.
5. If you do video conferencing and if you find yourself stuck with dialup connections sometimes, use your PC and the Windows Messenger service. The video conferencing feature of Windows Messenger works well even with slow connections.

In the long run, it doesn’t matter what platform you use. It’s how you use it and what you use it for that count.