Apple Inc. has an interesting pie-slicing problem coming as far as developers of iPhone (and iPod Touch) applications are concerned. All of those first- and second-generation iPhones run the same operating system -- the just-released iPhone OS 3.0 -- as the new 3GS model. But the latter includes new hardware such as a magnetometer, a faster CPU and faster GPU, as well as more memory. If developers build shiny new apps with only those features in mind, they'll limit their market. What to do?
SAN FRANCISCO -- How long does it take a new and popular technology to be targeted as a way to make money? Not long, apparently, if the technology is Twitter. That explains the advent of the first-ever TwtrconSF 09, a one-day conference put on Sunday by Modern Media Partners.
In the wake of Apple Inc.'s preview of iPhone 3.0 software Tuesday, one thing's clear: The level of creativity coming from iPhone developers is amazing.
"One man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages," wrote Shakespeare in As You Like It .
Remember the adage, "Don't trust anyone over 30"? Putting aside the fact that you're likely well past that age if you recognize the line, if you live by it, you may view 32-year-old Apple with a gimlet eye. But the Macintosh itself -- which will hit the 25-year mark on January 24 -- is still something we can trust.
Whenever Apple releases newly designed products -- meaning hardware offering more than just a speed bump -- the greater question is, "What does it mean?" That is, are the new features mere anomalies, or are they something truly new that will set the shape, material and design of the future?
With the iPhone 3G launch now a week behind us, it's time to look back and see how the second coming of the iPhone turned out.
It merited only an aside in Apple CEO Steve Jobs' keynote at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). The real information about the next version of Mac OS X, if any, was flashed later in the day only to developers, and only under a nondisclosure agreement that promises vengeance unto the third generation if broken. So, what we know about that operating system, dubbed Snow Leopard, is: It exists. And the widespread pre-WWDC rumors were on target when they said that Snow Leopard, unlike, oh, every other major OS X revision, will feature ... no new features.