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?

Gone are the days of true privacy.  If you don’t want to be tracked, stay off the internet as well as cell phones.  That’s the way it’s going to be people.  I admit, I’m very skeptical.  When it comes company’s privacy policies, it’s just a matter of their word.  Even if a company as a whole means well, all it takes is one individual that goes against policy to blow it.  In short, just think of privacy as a best effort approach.  Apple released a Q/A about location tracking with its iPhones.  Reading through it, Apple is essentially saying that it maintains your privacy and the information is used only for better cell phone service.  Apple is also saying that people need to be educated and that the media has blown stuff out of proportion.  I find it odd sometimes that it takes the media to blow something out of proportion before there “happens” to be a discovery of a bug where an iOS update is needed to “fix” the bug where the cache is not deleted when location services are turned off.  Coincidence?  Maybe, but one thing’s for sure.  This is sure to shape privacy issues that we will continue to play out with the continuance of technology.

What do you think?

Tawkon, an application – the only one for now – monitors real-time radiation levels (caused by iPhones) to give users simple prompts to lower their exposure got rejected from the Apple App Store.   The makers of tawkon even got praises from Apple senior executives about functionality and graphical appeal.  Despite praises from some in Apple, we all know who carries the big stick in that company.

Steve Jobs personally emailed tawkon co-founder & CEO Gil Friedlander with a curt two-word response stating: “No Interest”, tawkon was left with no alternative but to climb through the Cydia window to let iPhone users see and lower their exposure to cell phone radiation.

Ow.  That’s harsh.  More than harsh I find it offensive.  To work so hard and not see your product go to market.  Good thing there is Cydia.

To find out more about how tawkon measures radiation or for directions on how to get your copy of Tawkon via Cydia, check out the Twakon.com Website.

Available for  iPad, iPhone (GSM), and iPod Touch, this update provides AirPlay and Home Sharing Enhancements for better streaming as well as a faster web browsing experience with a Safari capable of running javascript more efficiently.   The iPad switch which I was upset that they changed the function from screen rotation lock to mute switch is now customizable where the user can choose which function they would like.  (Why did they not think of that before?)  In any case, I’m glad it’s back.  Finally, with the new Personal Hotspot feature, you’ll be able to connect up to five devices over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and USB.  Just be sure to mind your data limits or suffer an extended bill.  I still look forward to the day where data limits are removed once again and not just for promotional periods.  Let’s face it…data is a necessity but can easily still break the bank when flurries of email come in and woah..this one came with a 3MB attachment?  Ow.  There goes a chunk of my allotted bandwidth.

Updating should be easy, you’ll first update your iTunes software.  After plugging in your iDevice, it will ask if you’d like to update.  It’ll take a bit of time to download but with the great new features it will be worth the time.

As to AppleTV, with 4.2 comes the ability to:

• AirPlay for apps and websites—Wirelessly stream video from AirPlay-enabled iOS apps and websites on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch (running iOS 4.3).
• MLB.TV—Watch live and on-demand Major League Baseball games, access stats, scores, and standings.*
• NBA Game Time—Watch live and on-demand National Basketball Association games, access stats, scores, standings, and video highlights.**
• Netflix Dolby Digital 5.1—Enjoy Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound when watching Netflix movies and TV shows.***
• New slideshow themes—View photos with the new Scrapbook, Photo Mobile, and Holiday Mobile slideshow themes.
• Improved on-screen keyboard—Enter search terms, user names, and passwords more easily with the redesigned on-screen keyboard.

I’ve had only the oppurtunity to set up AppleTV for customers and have not had the time to extensively try it out.  I’m interested about the improved on-screen keyboard as it took some tap dancing to properly setup accounts for HomeSharing as well as NetFlix – so that’s something I’d like to check out.

Keep up with the cool new features Apple….and yes, I still want Flash…can’t you make a Safari that’s Flash enabled but still sandboxed?