I realize it’s been a while since I’ve chimed in on tech news, so I thought I’d drop a few nuggets here:

1. Apple is going to be facing some serious challenges soon.  iTunes is the defacto standard for music collections.  However, Apple really hasn’t added any have-to-have features to the software in a long time (don’t even try to argue Genius on this – it’s bloated and slows the whole thing down – and really, how often do you use it?).  Well, keep an eye on Spotify.  It’s growing in Europe and once it clears a few hurdles in the U.S. it’ll be challenging iTunes.  WiFi syncing with devices (no more USB tethering of your iPhone, iTouch, etc.), a free plan that allows for Pandora-like streaming of music, and integration with Social Media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.  The music industry needs to get into the modern day – the technology impacting their industry is eventually going to cause a revolution.  Cassette tapes, CDs, DAT, MP3/4, etc. were all pushing them and the online streaming is only going to grow.  Apple is going to try to counter this with iCloud – the iTunes cloud offering.  (Insert stupid “Yeah! Cloud!” or “To the cloud” phrase from the recent Microsoft campaign that was a freakin’ joke).  APple is behind Google and Amazon launching their cloud music offerings…but it’s Apple who has been the king of online music for the last decade.
2. The next iPhone (5?) better be kick ass as the Android side of the industry is going gang-busters.  This is largely due to the more open nature of the platform as mentioned here before.  Want to “find my phone”?  Well, you can quickly create your own App that you can initiate with a SMS (text) message – it will even “covertly” turn on GPS and WiFi to get a fix on it’s location, it can text you back with that info, lock the phone, play an annoying sound, show a message, etc.  It’s nice to be able to remove (and replace or upgrade) your battery and memory.  I have a 8G SD card in my Android phone…plenty ‘o room.  Custom desktops – much more so that the iPhone, include widgets for weather, to-do lists, etc.  It’s got Adobe Flash – although as technology moves forward, this will be more moot, I think.  HTML5 will likely eclipse Flash.  You can also remotely control your phone via a web browser interface.  On a side note, Android is so flexible and open, I’ve been able to create $250 “Android iPads” using the B&N Nook.  It was really quite simple and the result is awesome.

More soon.  Have to recharge the flux capacitor.

GorT

GorT is an eight-foot-tall robot from the 51ˢᵗ Century who routinely time-travels to steal expensive technology from the future and return it to the past for retroinvention. The profits from this pay all the Gormogons’ bills, including subsidizing this website. Some of the products he has introduced from the future include oven mitts, the Guinness widget, Oxy-Clean, and Dr. Pepper. Due to his immense cybernetic brain, GorT is able to produce a post in 0.023 seconds and research it in even less time. Only ’Puter spends less time on research. GorT speaks entirely in zeros and ones, but occasionally throws in a ڭ to annoy the Volgi. He is a massive proponent of science, technology, and energy development, and enjoys nothing more than taking the Czar’s more interesting scientific theories, going into the past, publishing them as his own, and then returning to take credit for them. He is the only Gormogon who is capable of doing math. Possessed of incredible strength, he understands the awesome responsibility that follows and only uses it to hurt people.