DPencilPusher

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Over the last couple of days, there have been rumors of Apple making an iPad mini, but I don’t think Apple will make an iPad where the only differenciator is a smaller screen size. In light of these rumors here’s what I think Apple will build:
There are smartphones with screens as high as 5.x” and tablets that start from 7” and up but nobody has touched the 6” range which seems to have been reserved for ebook readers only (the Kindle, the Nook, the Kobo, etc).
Hence, I think Apple will create a dedicated eBook device provided they’ve figured out a way to combine color, e-ink (or something with similar advantages), back-lighting, retina display (or relatively high resolution) and multi-touch into the screen,  while still maintaining a slim profile. Which may make it have a matte screen that’s flush with the bezel. It will look just like the iPad but without the cameras and may not have a homescreen button, relying instead on gestures. It will retain the volume rocker, lockscreen button, orientation lock switch, discretely placed speaker(s) and 30-pin connector.
It will come in only one size of internal storage (probably 8GB) with iCloud storage options.
It will run a very limited trimmed down version of iOS that only runs iBooks (and the iBookStore), Newsstand, Notes, Dictionary and an audio player for audio books.
The homescreen will be a wooden shelf which looks & works almost identical to the Kindle Fire’s.
It will have a web browser that’s only accessible from links within books & PDFs. It will be set to “Reader” mode by default. It will stripped off the address bar, search field, tabs.
Naming conventions: The device will be aptly called the “iBook”; The iBookstore might be renamed the “Apple BookStore” or simply “BookStore”; ebooks bought from the store will just be called “books” or still be referred to as iBooks.
Marketing: It will cost somewhere between $199 - $249 (or a little more because of the new tech).
Ads for this device will focus more on old people, toddlers and students (in a classroom) and [noticeably] less on people in the 18-59 age bracket.
Apple will provide some sorta offer for students or strike some sort of deal with high schools and universities to make it more accessible to students.

For those of you who know [or have heard of] Kevin Rose (founder of Digg, Milk creators of Oink), you’d know that he has a knack for throwing ideas around especially in the web/app/tech space. Earlier this year he talked about “social credit cards” in this YouTube video

Which seems like a prediciton of a startup aiming to disrupt the banking (and personal-finance) industry as we know it. He didn’t predict the whole thing but parts of it resonate, and it makes a pretty good blog post title.

This startup is called Simple.

This is a very very bold venture. I get the general idea. It’s kinda hard to explain (ironically). It’s like going from hard drives to cloud storage but in this case it’s vaults instead of hard drives. Privacy and security are two very big concerns for this type of service to be adopted en masse. The main selling points though, (from what I’ve read on their site) are the transparency, granularity of control, ease of use, instant accessibility and (like everything else these days) the social aspect which can facilitate things like lending/borrowing between individuals, group spending, kid’s allowance etc.

It’s still a very limited invite only system but I believe it can do for banking what Square did for retail. Both are signaling the demise of brick-and-mortar financial institutions by leveraging technology that has now become commonplace: smartphones, apps, the web.
It’s kind of exciting to see this innovative use of technology in our time. And I’m sure competitors will spring up soon enough (if they haven’t already).

(Starring: Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy,…. Director: Brett Ratner. Studio: Universal)

Good movie. Aptly named.
I really like con/theft/heist films, so this one’s right up my alley.
Very funny, humor was well timed and not over-the-top; oddly realistic.
Everybody contributed to the action & the comedy, surprisingly Ben Stiller’s character was the most serious.
Eddie Murphy seemed to have two opposite personalities: his regular loud, funny, zany self and a more serious let’s-get-down-to-business side.
Gabourey Sidibe had a tough time keeping up the Jamaican accent.
I love the ending. Gives a window for continuity, so a sequel is to be expected. Unfortunately the name “Prison Break” belongs to a different property.

If I’m gonna review movies on my blog, then I’m gonna have to stop checking out Rotten Tomatoes and MetaCritic before I see the movie so my opinion isn’t biased. (I did before seeing this one). Nevertheless,

I give it

Here’s the featurette of the movie

(Starring: Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried. Director: Andrew Niccol. Studio: 20th Century Fox)

Really nice concept. Nice (literal) interpretation of the saying “Time is money.”
Like a mix of Robin Hood and Bonnie & Clyde.
Environment/Prop/Set design was very very good (kind of what I’d imagined for The Hunger Games).
I was a bit skeptical about JT but (I assume) his acting coach has done a great job so far. Although JT’s character didn’t seem angry enough. I would have thought that the unfair death of ones mother would be enough to fuel some aggression.
Amanda Seyfried is hot (her acting was good too, or maybe I’m biased).
The romance angle was brought in too early and should have been more subtle, or left out until the end of the movie. Romance is easy for audiences to formulate.
The time giving/taking via a firm forearm grip didn’t seem well thought out.
Doesn’t deserve/require a sequel/prequel/remake/reimagining or whatever.
The movie reminds me of Jumper which had a really nice premise but they didn’t take full advantage of it in the story.

I give it

Here’s a featurette of the movie