Bad Timing for Blackberry Failure

The past three days have marked troubled times for Research in Motion Blackberry services. Millions of frustrated users were not getting the messages and creating a large backload of data. This backload is now being processed and delivered.
This is a bad time, especially as apple will debut their new iPhone 4S in retail stores this friday. This little slip up in the Blackberry system, could cause even more customers to make the essential switch to the iPhone. Bad timing indeed.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/BlackBerry-outages-spread-to-rb-3189041293.html;_ylt=AmVku4SrXS3.8npxNTSQTMC7YWsA;_ylu=X3oDMTE2MHJpbGs3BHBvcwMxMARzZWMDdG9wU3RvcmllcwRzbGsDYmxhY2tiZXJyeW91?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=7&asset=&ccode=

iPhone 4S, apple's brilliance? or a letdown?

I had previously blogged about how I felt that Apple launching the iPhone 4S was a let down, especially after all the speculation of the iPhone 5. But, as one article I recently read tells us, it may have been Apple's plan all along.
Yesterday on Yahoo! Finance I read a very interesting article that depicted why Apple decided to launch a product like the 4S instead of a dramatic upgrade like the predicted iPhone 5.

"The thinking is that most iPhone 4 owners are still bound by the 2-year contracts they had to enter into when they bought the iPhone 4, so they'll be less likely to now upgrade anyway (barring carriers waving those contracts, which they might have if Apple had released the "5").

So the 4S isn't aimed at these folks. It's aimed at the other three categories of iPhone 4S buyers:

• Pre-iPhone 4 iPhone users (~70 million of them)
• Non-smartphone users (1+ billion, who can now get a 3GS for free, if price is an issue)
• Non-iPhone smartphone users (Blackberry, Android, Nokia)

Interesting thought, maybe they meant to let us iPhone 4 users down after all.....

Article Link: http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/now-why-apple-launched-iphone-4s-instead-iphone-154636512.html;_ylt=Am3OZylGoMWoXelVT6bQniO7YWsA;_ylu=X3oDMTFjZWVqc2luBHBvcwMzBHNlYwNGUERhaWx5VGlja2VyQmxvZwRzbGsDd2h5YXBwbGVsYXVu

How Safe is Your Info???

In my few years investing online, I have always felt as if my bank info,  contact info, and personal info was all very safe within whatever website or companies online servers.
However, investors with one of the largest online brokerages in the world can no longer feel perfectly safe.
TD Ameritrade, an Omaha Nebraska based online brokerage allowed for the theft of over 6 million investors contact information in 2007.
According to the federal case, Anyone who held an Ameritrade account prior to september 2007 could have been affected by the data theft.
This is quite troubling, of all web based companies on the web, you'd think that a online brokerage could protect it's customers information strongly. But in this case, it seems as though they were not protecting it well enough.
People who suffered the identity theft can collect between $50 and $2,500 in settlement money, and this will cost the company about $2.5 Million- $6.5 Million.
This really makes me worried, my credit card and valuable information is stored in many different websites and servers such as iTunes, amazon, my bank's website, and my brokerage account website.
With the large company of TD Ameritrade allowing this type of theft makes me wonder.... How safe are these other sites in protection my person information???

The Future of the Smartphone?

Apple's iPhone 4S is being released next week and come equipped with Apple's latest innovation. "SIRI"
Siri takes the voice control feature of many smartphones to a whole new level. It is essentially your personal assistant in your iPhone.
Siri lets you use your voice to send messages, schedule meetings, place phone calls, and More!
To me: this seems like a great solution for texting and driving. This seems to be the nicest thing about Siri, i would love to be able to simply say "send _____ a text, saying _________. " it would give my thumbs a break. Watch the video on the page below, it may blow your mind.
http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/siri.html

Day 2 The Real Disappointment

This evening, as I emerged from the mens room in the University I call home to begin my walk down the short hallway to a class where I attempt to pay attention to the wonderful world of fixed income investments, I gazed upon one of the beautiful, almost to large, television sets at the forefront of the business school.
This TV was displaying CNN, and the headline across the bottom caught my eye, "Apple says : Steve Jobs has died" it read in huge bold letters across the bottom of the screen.
This caught my eye because I have been such a fan of jobs work, and apparently so have millions upon millions of other mac junkies.
This man has provided me with the technology that i know and love today, and for that he will be sorely missed, even by people who only knew him as the genius behind apple computers.
Steve Jobs was a trendsetter, to say the least, and he was, and still is, THE MAN!
*THINK DIFFERENT* RIP STEVE JOBS

Day 1 of Disappointment

Yesterday, the long awaited release of the iPhone 5 was a flop.
However, iPhone 4s was the forefront announcement from current apple CEO Tim Cook.
With 2x speed upgrade, but a similar style and look to the iPhone 4, the 4s is the same on the outside, different on the inside.
Being released next week, the 4s holds power that no phone has seen before "SIRI" (is depicted below)
this is a sort of assistant program that is just that, you're assistant. very interesting.
But like many other apple enthusiasts, I am going to hold off on the 4S for now, and just accept the new iOS operating system "ios5" as a good enough upgrade for me. Sorry Tim Cook, but in your first product debut, you sort of disappoint.

Tomorrow!

So tomorrow (October 4) is the big day.
Newly appointed Apple CEO Tim Cook is scheduled to make an appearance to reveal the new iPhone, or iPhones.
What do the users want to see?
I found an interesting article on cnet.com about 20 features that consumers would like to see in the next addition of the super phone from Apple.
Everything from an HDMI port, which would be amazing (but probably not to likely given apple's track record) To 4g capability, to a larger screen, which is more likely, is discussed. It also gives a "percentage chance of implementation". Check it out at:
http://reviews.cnet.com/2300-6454_7-10002721-17.html?s=0&o=10002721&tag=mncol;page