How Apple Isn’t Really Killing Adobe’s Flash

There’s a war going on between Apple and Adobe; a clash of Technological Titans™. Let me call it the Flash Wars of the 21st century. Flash is Adobe’s proprietary but ubiquitous vector-based animation, interactive, and video technology. Why does Apple seem to hate Flash? Why is Apple trying to kill Flash? Why won’t Apple succeed?

What’s the right name for Apple’s tablet?

I’ve been thinking about this for a few years. What’s the right name for Apple’s sure-to-be-announced tablet device? Is it a Mac? Is it an overgrown iPod touch? If it’s neither, should it be named something non-Mac? How about dropping the whole iThing altogether?

App Store Lost $450-million To Piracy (or not)

There’s a fly in this ointment. Using some curious math and dubious logic, Garrett W. McIntye and Phil MacDonald reached the conclusion that iPhone App Store piracy is raging in epidemic proportions. How bad? Their lies, damned lies, and statistics peg Apple’s losses at $450-million. How good is that number?

Whatever happened to the Mac?

My morning routine is somewhat similar to my after lunch routine. MacBook or iMac or iPhone, I browse through many dozens of web sites looking for what interests me. NetNewsWire, as my standard news reader, is a big help, of course, and it syncs between the three devices via Google. After poring through so many web sites for so many years, I’ve noticed an interesting trend which spurs the question—Whatever happened to the Mac?

What is wrong with Apple’s love of DRM and lock-in? Nothing

Did you know that Apple illegally uses digital rights management to maintain a lock-in on their products? Of course you did. Oh, except for that part about it being illegal. Which it’s not. And that part about lock-in. Which it’s not. Why do many of the effect elitist snobs of technology decry Apple’s use of technology to prolong and enhance the company’s products? Jealousy? Fear? Communism?

Why Kill Obsolete Technologies?

In high tech, as it is in life, change is the name of the game. Apple disposes of, drops, discards technology which was all the rage just a few years ago (bye, bye, PPC). Are there other technologies which are obsolete and need to be discarded? Sure. The world would be a better place if Microsoft closed the doors and gave the money back to shareholders.

Who takes the blame for the iPhone’s faults?

Gazillions of gallons of digital ink have been spilled over AT&T’s anemic US cell phone network. The latest comes with a twist. It’s not AT&T’s fault that your iPhone drops calls. It’s the iPhone’s fault. So says Randall Stross in The New York Times.

I LOVE my iPhone. I just wish it were matched with Verizon Wireless, the carrier with the most envied reputation as fast, ubiquitous, reliable, nigh perfect.

That’s hard to argue with. It would be interesting to know how many of Verizon’s customers use 3G, vs. AT&T’s 3G customers, since Verizon does not support the iPhone. Wait. There’s troubled thinking ahead.

Apple’s NeXT Move Misses The Mark (circa 1997)

I love this kind of thing. Stewart Alsop in Fortune circa 1997 after Apple Computer, Inc. bought Steve Jobs’ NeXT.

Let’s get this straight right away: Apple Computer did the wrong thing. On December 20, Apple announced that it would spend $400 million to purchase Steve Jobs’s company, Next Software.

What happened next?