iOS 5 updated

Well I have done it and it looks a lot more stable than the other day with the iPad ... This is the first photo taken using the volume button - much better way of doing things.

I'm on line at:

www.flickr.com/photos/guthlac
http://simonmarchini.posterous.com

www.simonmarchini.co.uk

I hope you enjoy

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iOS 5 on the iPhone

Just about to upgrade the iPhone to iOS 5 - wish me luck!?! Sent from my iPad

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The king is dead - long live the king

Well here is one of the first photos taken with my new iPhone 4 - yes I've just gone and replaced my old 3G with brand new 4. Yipee.

I'm on line at:

www.flickr.com/photos/guthlac
http://simonmarchini.posterous.com

www.simonmarchini.co.uk

I hope you enjoy

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White iPhone 4 Finally Launching

The tech blogs I follow have been banging on about this for a while and I have to ask the question '..so what?...'.

White iPhone 4 Finally Launching This Week
http://www.macrumors.com/2011/04/25/white-iphone-4-finally-launching-this-week/

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Android on crack..lol

Just thought that this was fun.

Check out this video on YouTube:

Sent from my iPad

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Apple Sues Samsung, Claims Its... (techcrunch.com)

Apple Sues Samsung, Claims Its Android Devices Are Copycats
http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/18/apple-sues-samsung-claims-its-android-devices-are-copycats/

I guess some one really is worried about the growth of android phones at Apple after all.  However, these things rumble on for years - perhaps the longest legal squabble involving Apple was their battle with the Beatles and the Apple record company which has finally been settled in  2010 - so don't expect any great vanquishing of android phones by Apple any time soon.

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Available for free in the App Store.
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iPad to rule the roost until 2015

This article seems about right to me.  I suspect that move away from Apple in the iPad Market will be much less marked as in the phone Market where I believe the glory days of the iPhone are behind it smoothed by the weight of the android onslaught.  The iPad is different,  it is bigger and it becomes far more personal as it takes over much of your relationship with the wired world without.  Also Apple appear to want to maintain their Market share as the prices are kept low by comparison to the product they are producing.  If I were  cynical I would suspect that this was Apple's plan all along - use the phone as a way to create a Market and then capitalise on this Market with a killer product such as the iPad -  this is far too cynical I know but it does fit the facts.

The real killer app in all this is iTunes - the iPad is good but without the limitless creativity of the App Store then the iPad and iPhone would be pretty but not very useful.  However, what the he'll do I know!

iPad News: Gartner Says Apple Will Rule Tablet Market Until 2015
http://www.ipad.net/httpwww-ipad-netipad-news-gart%e2%80%a6ket-until-2015-html.html

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Article: What Will the Smartphone Market Look Like in 2015?

Another interesting vision into the future.  How accurate will it be?    Well it is worth noting, as the article does, that a bright future was pedi ted for Symbian OS only for this to be proven wrong by events - the tie up between Microsoft and Nokia.  The only really questionable item in the report is why it should be 'shocking' that the iOS Market share will fall.  The iPhone run has been fantastic whilst it lasted but you just can't compete with volume to drive innovation and this is what will happen with Android phones.  Apple will always have razzmatazz but very quickly the new ideas will be appearing on the Android group of phones.

What Will the Smartphone Market Look Like in 2015?
http://mashable.com/2011/04/07/what-will-the-smartphone-market-look-like-in-2015/

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Sent from my iPad

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Platform war gets ugly - ouch the Apple tech blogs get touchy

A couple of days ago Businessinsider (see entry on 3rd April) stated that the Android operating system phone had taken over from iPhone in the smartphone Market - this has caused a storm amongst the Mac tech blogs.  In short it would seem that anything that down plays Apple's current dominance  in the smart phone/tablet market must be attacked.  Now the Mac bloggers do have a point to a degree but I think the Businessinsider entry is still valid.  If you have an operating system that is gaining the largest share of a particular Market then you would be wise to look to develop for it.  At the moment Apple's iTunes is really the killer app on the iOS ecosystem.  It allows micro payments that are very easy for the user to use - it also has the advantage of being a well established system so it has a large amount of Market penetration.  This will not always be the case and by the end of this year the Google version will no doubt be providing a similar level of service.  In short Apple's run will have come to an end.  Does this matter?

Well to me no.  I love my iPad and my iPhone.  This doesn't mean that I think that apple is wonderful, far from it, it just means I think that their non PC technology meets my needs.  It doesn't mean that they always will and if that day comes I will happily move to a new platform.  However, I am sure that Apple must be aware of this otherwise why didn't the latest iPad have the usual Apple 'premium'.  For those of us with long enough memories this is starting to feel oh so familiar.  Apple introduce new technology which takes the rest time to catch up with but when they do Apple becomes a small player in a bigger world.  I do hope that Apple does continue to innovate  and the day that I consider moving away does not come but never say never.

Sent from my iPad

Platform war gets ugly as surveys ignore the big picture
http://www.9to5mac.com/59242/platform-war-gets-ugly-as-surveys-ignore-the-big-picture/

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Picture: There's Room at the Bar

Another fine example of what can be created without kilos of kit and £1000's spent.

There's Room at the Bar

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Article: The Art of iPhoneography: A Guide to Mobile Creativity [Paperback]

I guess you are entering the main stream when a book has been written about a branch of photography you have sort of pioneered.  It looks like iphoneography is now going mainstream.

The Art of iPhoneography: A Guide to Mobile Creativity [Paperback]
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1600599230/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_1hmMnb18KJQ7G

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Android Is Destroying Everyone... (businessinsider.com)

This is a well thought out article about how the smart phone Market is developing and how this will effect the iPhone and Apple.  The only thing that was taken into account is the micro charging effect of iTunes.  Once google has sorted a similar system out for the android op system then this is the time that Apple will really have a serious challenge on their hands.  This does raise the question why Apple don't appear to be launching the iPhone 5 in June?  Could  the new iPhone eventually arrive into a different Market?  A Market that in just 6 months will sing even more against Apple?  I just don't know but it certainly looks like the iPhone has had it's hit point as far as.Market share is concerned.  This is a shame as I really love my old 3G iPhone.

Of course this is about smart phones but I wonder how long it will be before this also applies to tablets?  So enjoy the Market capitalisation values Apple it probably won't last for much longer.

Android Is Destroying Everyone, Especially RIM -- iPhone Dead In Water
http://www.businessinsider.com/android-iphone-market-share-2011-4

Sent from my iPad

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Moving on...

The pace of the digital revolution is increasing every day. It seems just like yesterday that CD were the latest greatest thing and now - well I am getting rid of my collection - replaced by iTunes/POD/Phone.

For those of us of a certain age I can still remember the first demo of CD technology on Tomorrows World - it was amazing they could smear jam over the little disk, scrape it off and then the disk would still produce the music again. Now this is something you could never do with LP. Of course what they didn't say was that the sound from a CD would be inferior to the LP but this was the latest and greatest and lest be honest they were very good - but we move on.

And now we are moving into a cloud world. I am thinking about visiting the States, the first time in 3 years, and now I am concerned about whether I will have the same 3G coverage as I do at home (I think the answer is no but that is another story). I must keep connected to the cloud at all costs. I now blog, share content cruise the highways and byways of the cloud and I see this as a right rather than a privilege. It effects where I stay, does the hotel have wi.fi ? is now a very important consideration. I must keep contact with the cloud.

I say I but my wife is the same. We text, browse and consume things through the cloud. The next will be tweeting - more of this next week I feel. In short life moves on and, in the first world, at an ever increasing pace. An yet some things are not better because of this just different. What next?

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Blog: http://simonmarchini.blogspot.com/

Fotos:http://www.flickr.com/photos/Guthlac

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iPhone Photos

These are experiments with the iPhone - just what type of photograph can you make with an iPhone. Should be an interesting project

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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iPad - the device you didn't know you needed until now...

A much anticipated launch - you can view this on line all over the net but just ibn case you were not aware Apple has launched the iPad. So what to think about this product? Well at one end of the spectrum are the fanboys, such as Stephen Fry, who view this as a wonderful machine you just MUST have. But is it? Is it the new coming of of whole new device you didn't know you needed until now? Or is it a way of large companies making money out the internet? After all many of these companies, News Corp jumps immediately to mind have been making very loud noises about charging for their content. I have nothing against this in principle but the internet is such a large ferment of news and comment that it is very difficult to see how this will really work. The larger question is news Corps continuing attacks on the BBC's web site which, after all, is free and provides everything and lot more that News Corp wants to charge for.

It would be unfair to single out News Corp as the only large multi national that see charging for their content as the way forward and now we have a device that will take this one step further. The iPad is unashamedly aimed at the reading public. It is being launched along with the iBookstore where you can buy and download books to read on your iPad, initially only in the USA. However, this is were some of the problems start for me. Why pay at least $499 for the ability to read something you can get for $9.99, something that never needs updating, is always available without being charged. Something that you can spill things on and still use, you read in the bath, on a plane, train and auto mobile and will work in ten years time. It is called a book.

This is not to say that the iPad is not going to be a success and I might ultimately buy it just means don't buy the hype. There are as many things wrong with this machine as there are right. It is not a new concept or mould break as the iPod and iPhone were. It is a nice piece of kit that you may want to take outside your house but I doubt this. It is simply not as compact and useful as the iPhone.

My final thought on the iPad is this. Don't be an early adapter unless you want to waste your money. The iPod and iPhone were nothing like as good in their first incarnations as the second. Wait a year and see how the wind is blowing and buy one when the bugs have been ironed out and the basic spec becomes more sensible.

Watermead

The noise and furry of a large group of swans is a sight to see. It is made worse by the birds expectation to be feed. Pandamonium is let loose when some actually does feed them. Makes taking photos easier though!

I'm on line at: www.flickr.com/photos/guthlac http://simonmarchini.blogspot.com www.simonmarchini.co.uk I hope you enjoy

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Getting all web 2.0...

As you may have noticed from the last few posts in quick succession I have been trying out Posterous. This is a service that lets you upload to numerous web apps at the same time. So far it seems to work well. All you have to do is set up a simple account with Posterous and then select the other web apps you want to send your stuff to and that is it. It is really simple. However, there are one or two issues - all minor I have found so far.

The first is that the text appears unformatted. This means if you want to maintain a look and feel for something - such as this blog - you can't or at least I have yet to discover how to. The second is posting photos to flickr. I use quite a lot of keywords in my photos and these usually transfer over to flickr. Again, at the moment this doesn't happen. Also you can't post photos to sets by this method - as you can when posting to flickr directly.

However, given these minor problems, which I may well find an answer to over the coming days, the service appears to be really quite efficient. One entry and you are done.

I found out about Posterous from the ever interesting podcast Art of Photography. It is worth checking out.

Finally I am out tomorrow playing with my toy. Hopefully I will have some interesting photos to post over the next day or so.

More iPhone tests

Like any new systems there are few teething problems. Hopefully this is the last test. Anyway here goes.

I'm on line at:

www.flickr.com/photos/guthlac

http://simonmarchini.blogspot.com

www.simonmarchini.co.uk

I hope you enjoy

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Another iPhone attempt

Another posting from the iPhone. It really should only be used when I am out and about - typing is really difficult with th iPhone keyboard!

I'm on line at: www.flickr.com/photos/guthlac http://simonmarchini.blogspot.com www.simonmarchini.co.uk I hope you enjoy

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Live from the iPhone...

I would be lying if I said this was taken with me iPhone. This for two reasons: first the iphone camera is not very good and second this photo is nearly 30 years old.

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