CapMac iPhone SIG

With the new iOS update less than a week away – a report by NetMarketShare today shows that Apple’s mobile platform OS has overtaken Linux to claim third place in operating systems.

The iOS platform currently consists of the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices – along with the soon-shipping Apple TV.  With over 120 million of these iOS devices currently in use, its little wonder that they are beginning to show up in a big way in web-tracking metrics.

Android usage share is currently pegged at 0.2% – around a quarter of the Linux total.

Statistically, since we are dealing with fractions of a percent, so the margin for error is significant. But if you look at the trends, Apple’s iOS is clearly up, Android is edging up more slowly, and Linux has stalled and declining.

NetMarketShare uses data captured from the 160 million unique visitors browsing some 40,000 Web sites it monitors for clients.

As promised at today’s Apple Media Event, iTunes 10 is ready for download for both Mac + PC’s. Besides a cleaner, simpler user interface, iTunes 10 sports a new CD-less icon, since early next year, digital music downloads will surpass total CD sales. The new iTunes version also:

• Creates a new column to display album art in the list view
• Airplay allows seamless streaming to other OS X and iOS devices
• TV show rentals for 99-cents from ABC and FOX, sans commercials
• Ping, a new collaborative social tool for sharing music preferences
• Integration with the new Apple TV for a whole-house media center
• Improved handling and syncing for video, audio, or photos

Apple has posted detailed information about the new iTunes 10 features here, and you can follow this link to download the new iTunes 10 version for your machine.

Please remember to backup your iOS devices, and backup your previous iTunes 9 files before installing the iTunes 10 update.

If you missed today’s livestream of the Apple Media Event, because of silly things like having to work or go to school – fear not – Apple has posted a weblink to a replay, so you can sit back and at least pretend.

Although rumors and predictions had been circulating for months – there is something about watching it all come together so gracefully.

And after you mull the implications of it all – please post us your thoughts.

Cosmic convergence happens.  It began with an introduction of Steve Wozniak – the other ‘Steve’ – and finished with solid proof that vision, technology, engineering and marketing can collide in delightful ways to change the world.

Today’s Apple Media Event was meaningful in dozens of subtle ways that portend a massive sell-thru this holiday season.

Apple’s lineup of music-related products couldn’t be stronger:

• iPod Shuffle with buttons is back, only smaller
• iPod Nano with an iPhone-like MultiTouch interface
• iPod Touch, now with Retina display and cameras front and rear, for FaceTime and HD video
• Apple TV, your entertainment stream-machine, no storage, 75% smaller and only $99
• iTunes 10, refined UI, speed, streaming, and Ping, an optional social network for music lovers

Apple’s new products and price points are impressive – and create a high bar for anyone who wants to compete with Apple this year.

We’ll have details on the entire lineup later.

Apple has issued an alert that tomorrow’s media event will be streamed live from San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. While delayed streaming of Apple events and keynote presentations is customary – it has been years since an event was webcast live.

The weblink for the stream has not yet been provided – I will post the link as soon as Apple makes the announcement, or follow us on Twitter for the link  @iphonesig

The webcast begins at noon Central time, and will be available in HD if you have available bandwidth.

The latest version of QuickTime X is required to watch. The feed will be available on computer, iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad. Quicktime X is not yet available for PC’s.

Scotland has become home to the world’s first iSchool – where pencils and paper have been pushed aside in favor of Apple’s iPad.

At Cedars School of Excellence, in Greenock, all the lessons are now taken using iPads. The pupils, aged from five to 17, will even do their homework on their new Apple handhelds. The days of blackboards and chalk are gone too – teachers use projectors and online lesson plans.

The move is the brainchild of IT teacher Fraser Speirs:

“We wanted to give each of the pupils an opportunity to use the best equipment available.

“We began exploring the different options earlier this year and when the iPad was released we decided that this solved all of the problems we had.

“Each of the children will have their own iPad, which is hooked into the school’s wireless network and from there they will use the computers for learning in different subjects.

“They will obviously be able to use the internet for research but we’ve found that it solves major problems for us – especially in science subjects as now they can watch experiments that would be too dangerous to do in class on YouTube.

“They will also be able to look at pre-approved websites for lessons in English, maths, languages and history.

“Before we had the solution, the children were only able to get around 45 minutes a week on computing studies as they were sharing the existing laptops.

“But now they’ll be some of the most technologically advanced in the world.”

The idea was pioneered Stanford University School of Medicine, who began distributing iPads to their medical students as part of a trial program to integrate the mobile device into education.

Apple has helped the Cedars School with networking issues, while Fraser has blogged about setting up the new system for other schools.

Although Cedars is believed to be the first iSchool, it’s not the first time Apple technology has been used in the classroom. A primary school in Coventry handed out free iPods to its pupils last February to help teach subjects such as math and grammar.

Media executives are continuing marathon talks with Apple, in hopes of reaching a last-minute accord on an access and revenue model that will bring television, movie, media, and music favorites to millions of iPhones, iPads, iPods, and television sets.

According to media reports of the negotiations – Murdoch favors Apple’s proposal.

The LA Times is reporting today that Apple is still working to convince media companies to adopt its plan for 99-cent TV show rentals through its iTunes Store. According to those close to the negotiations, a number of media companies, including NBC, CBS, and Time Warner, are against the plan, but Disney is currently prepared to go along with it.

News Corp., the parent company of FOX, is undecided, with its executives split on whether to sign with Apple for a trial of the rental plan. Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch is said to favor it – which may tip the balance in Apple’s favor.

Murdoch is said to be prepared to join Apple’s proposed six-month pricing trial because it could cement a relationship with Apple’s powerful chief executive, Steve Jobs, and reap benefits for other divisions within the company, namely newspapers, which have languished under the burden of higher production costs, and lower readership.

According to the report, Apple’s plan calls for a six-month trial in which content providers would be guaranteed to receive the same revenue for rentals that they have been receiving for sales of TV show episodes. Apple’s iTunes Store would offer commercial-free versions of the episodes at the 99-cent rental price point within 24 hours of their original airing on television.

The plan may – or may not – be announced at Apple’s media event tomorrow.

As wind and waves pounded what was left of New Orleans five years ago today – conventional communications were silenced. Wireline phone, TV, radio, police and emergency communications were compromised, and many, silenced. For those trapped on rooftops – sending text by mobile phone helped save lives. The terse frantic messages told the horror:

“Can’t find grandma, she with you? Ninth Ward gone”

“God save us, don’t leave us on roof”

Even in the midst of a hurricane – texting often worked because it didn’t require the bandwidth that crushed voice communication. Those with freshly charged phones, often found they could often get through by texting when voice calls failed.

As we take a somber look back at Hurricane Katrina, take a look at your own emergency preparedness plans. Check this link for some excellent suggestions and ideas.

In the aftermath of Katrina, aid workers credited the robust mobile network, particularly SMS text messaging, for saving hundreds of lives.

Often, it is the simple solutions that work best.

Today on the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr’s ‘I Have A Dream’ speech – another, less-capable angry young man will assemble a thundering horde to listen to divisive blather at the same spot MLK delivered his inspirational, and aspirational dream.

Ignore the rhetoric and media frenzy – and roll back the clock 47 years, and through the wonder of your iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and iTunes – listen to the heart-changing words of Dr. King.

The full, unedited Dr. King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech is available here.

Thanks to Dr. King, our nation began a long road to healing.

We don’t need today’s rally – to lead us back to those dark days before we had a dream.

As if the start of a new academic year wasn’t enough stress – news that AT&T’s wireless services will be ’severely curtailed’ – or OFF – on the UT campus this weekend won’t help much.

A curious release this afternoon from UT’s information technology folks told the sad story:

AT&T Wireless will perform emergency maintenance on campus cellar network as part of an upgrade from 10 p.m. tonight (August 27, 2010) through midnight Sunday (August 29, 2010).

AT&T cellular customers may see a degradation of service coverage or no coverage in some areas on UT campus through Sunday night 8/29.  Full cellular coverage is expected to be restored by midnight Sunday.  Other cellular customers will not be affected by this maintenance.

In the event of an emergency during this maintenance period, please do not hesitate to use the emergency phones in the residence halls or blue emergency phones located all around campus.

Please consult the ITS Alerts page (http://www.utexas.edu/its/alerts) where additional details will be posted as they become available.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

UPDATE – An AT&T media supervisor has responded:

‘We’re doing some work on the DAS system on campus this weekend, the macro network if you will. Voice won’t be affected, just a slight degradation of data speed… Everything should be back by Saturday afternoon, Sunday at the very latest.’

The AT&T representative also promised ‘good news’ coming soon about AT&T’s Austin network.