A visionary departed us yesterday.  The brainchild of Apple, he saw the future and helped us to taste and see what is good.  A leader, he crafted and molded the minds of many.  His values and contributions will outlive him – something that many of us dream of….to be remembered and to have made a major difference in the world.  Take a look at Steve Jobs at Apple: In Pictures to look at the illustrious career of Steve Jobs and his humble beginnings.

You’ll be missed, Steve!

You though it would be a straight jump to iPhone 5, eh?  Well think again!  Following the tradition of going from 3G to 3GS, the iPhone 4G will be followed by the 4S.  Let’s of improvements again – dual core processor, a better 8MP camera that can also shoot 1080p video, iOS 5, iCloud, and the most interesting new feature – Siri, the intelligent assistant.

Siri, supposedly will be able to send messages, set reminders, and search for information using voice recognition technology.  I like the idea, but how accurate will it be?  It would be rather embarrassing if a text message were transcribed incorrectly….I have already seen some pretty messed up transcriptions using Google voice. 

With all of this coming, you can now get an 8GB iPhone 3GS for free from AT&T with a 2 year contract.  For iPhone 4’s the prices will remain at $99 with a 2 year agreement.

So the question is:   Will you get an iPhone 4S?  Or will you perhaps opt for an older iPhone now that everything has become even more affordable to get on the iOS band wagon?

I just recently bought an HP TouchPad and I really like it.  Now, I can’t believe what I’m hearing.  HP is DISCONTINUING the TouchPad as well as the Veer line of phones.  It came and stayed for merely a couple of months with much fanfare and push in the retail sector with lots of enthusiasm being generated in retail training….and now I’m watching the last nails go into the coffin.  I am really disappointed.  This device despite its excellent features has a hard to time competing against Android and Apple.  So HP is probably making the decision with the most business sense.  HP is restructuring through this and also has plans of spinning off its PC business.  As a consumer, I know HP made printers.  But the main thing I knew HP for was a computer manufacturer.  I’m sad to see that go too. 

Beats, the sound technology that allows the consumer to hear the way the music was intended with the ability to reproduce the full spectrum of sound captured in the recording studio is now coming to HTC.  I first heard about beats audio through HP as some of their notebooks as well as their new TouchPad has this feature.  I’ve also had the chance to use some beats headphones while touring various electronics retailers such as Micro Center.   This system is incredible and brings sheer delight to the audiophile.  When you hear a Beats enabled device to one that isn’t – like Apple’s line of music players or even their iPad, the difference becomes quite apparent.  It’s like listening to Pandora free vs. Pandora One the paid version that brings 192kbps audio instead of the mere 128kbps.

The HTC and Dr. Dre partnership will bring a line of HTC mobile devices with the Beats audio technology this coming fall – which is practically around the corner.

I’m a happy camper with my Netflix paying $9.99 for unlimited streaming and getting 1 DVD out.  Sadly, Netflix will be changing all of this beginning September 1.  Now, I’ll have to choose between streaming or DVDs and pay $7.99 for either one or both if I want unlimited streaming and DVDs – which represents a price increase of a $6.  Sure, I have enough bandwidth for streaming, but not everything is available for streaming with many movies and titles still available only for DVD.  I admit, I’m saddened to see Netflix go this route.

Do you subscribe to Netflix?  If so, which plan are you taking / are going to take?  Unlimited Streaming, Unlimited DVDs, or Both?