One thing that is increasingly obvious is that the end of the standalone GPS unit is near.  If you have stock in TomTom, Magenta or a similar company, you should probably dump it unless they have already divested in that technology.  Mobile devices like the iPhone and Android’s Galaxy Nexus  already handle GPS better than nearly any standalone device did in the past and better yet, they don’t get stolen out of your car while walking around in the mall because they are always with you.

I still remember when GPS units first came out.  I was pretty young at the time and I remember being absolutely mesmerized that something so small could tell you where you were at all times.  Those initial GPS units didn’t even have a screen.  They came with software that you would install to your laptop and then you would hook the device up to your laptop.  Imagine all of that work for looking up where the nearest Pizza Hut is or getting directions to a theme park.  What year was it that seemed so simple and required you to carry around a bag with a laptop, GPS device and software?  1996.  Something hundreds of millions of people now do with one click of their iPhone required significant effort in the recent past.

In just 16 years we have seen an industry grow into a mighty fixture of holiday buying season into something that will increasingly be relegated to the back of store on clearance shelves.  The rise and fall of technology occurs so frequently that sometimes it is easy to miss.  In this case, I wanted to make mention of it as GPS has helped to make the world a little bit simpler and a little less frustrating.  Thanks.

Coming this fall, an Apple operating system that adds a few nice things but overall, is an underwhelming upgrade when compared to iOS 5.  When iOS 5 came out there were over 200+ additions over iOS 4.  Unless I’m missing something, Apple centered the changes in iOS 6 on 20 or so main changes and additions.  There are some nice things, for certain, but a lot of people may be left wanting more.

One of the biggest changes for the average iPhone user is that the maps app has at last been made useful (without the services of Google).  The previous app lacked the ability to act as a true GPS.  It included no vocal driving instructions and could not keep up to tell you when to make turns.  The new maps program integrates turn by directions vocal directions along with traffic data.  It is a nice feature and one that pretty much puts some of the GPS software out there on notice.  Add more features for less money or you will not be in business much longer.

Another addition, and this is for the iPhone 4S and iPad 2+ folks, Siri now is available and works for Facebook, Twitter, sports scores, movies, etc.  Some of those things were noticeably absent in the past so now let the excitement begin as we’ll have even more chances for John Malkovich to speak to his phone.  For those that use Siri, this is a good addition but for those who don’t, this won’t change a thing.

Along the same lines of Twitter integration we received in the iOS 5 update, Apple has now added Facebook integration to their native applications.  Meh.  For some people this will be a huge deal.  Being able to share information from any app in Apple’s stable, natively, will make things a bit slicker.  That being said, this is only important for native Apple apps as nearly any 3rd party app had this integration years ago.  The one thing that is nice is that Facebook integrates birthdays and events from your account into your calendar and contacts.  You will also be able to add likes to apps and songs.  This is nice and is a whole lot easier than the way writing a review for an app currently takes place (which is a nightmarish process)

Finally, Apple added a new native app called Passbook that acts like a digital wallet for tickets, coupons etc.  They also added Facetime for over air networks on each of the 3 American networks the phone currently works with and last but not least, the ability to easily add pictures and videos within the native email screen.  Nice.

Overall, we have some decent additions but what is surprising is that there are still a lot of things you can do on a jailbroken phone that you still won’t be able to do on Apple’s 6^th version of its operating system – not all of them illegal.  Things like having a quick swipe to turn off networks you don’t need to conserve power or turn the brightness up and down.  Things like having different email signatures for different accounts and the ability to customize even more aspects of your phone to name a few.  It seems the fall release will correspond to the forthcoming iPhone 5.  In the meantime, watch and wait for even more celebrities speaking to their iPhones about mundane things they can learn for themselves with 2 seconds of work.

What is with this guy?  Questions abound in the new Prometheus movie just as this did with the ending of Lost.  And unlike Lost, which was never intended to have such a long story arc and the writers continuously needed to create new questions and problems for the survivors, the story of Prometheus is self contained.  It should have been a Point A to Point B adventure with Point B having just enough of a resolution to satisfy fans and just enough questions to satisfy producers hoping for sequel money.  Instead, we received a movie filled with unbelievable decisions by the characters and a resolution offering more questions than answers.

I don’t want to dive into spoilers here because all in all, the movie is a satisfying summer romp, especially for people looking for a sci-fi movie.  It has quite a bit of violence and some pretty shocking horror movie moments, but it also suffers a bit from slowness during parts of the movie.  What really hurts though is after you walk out of the movie and begin critically thinking about the characters and the decisions they make.  Then things begin unraveling.

One particular scene towards the end of the movie left me shaking my head.  Self sacrifice is fine when you have been shown the character of the people leading up to the climactic moment but when you have no background story for the martyrs, it feels wholly out of place.  And it is also difficult to not compare this to Alien.  And while Alien offered questions that were never answered (and some of those are answered here), most things within the movie had plausible explanations.  That is why it is a classic.  This movie is more in the vein of Terminator 3 or 4 – certainly not a classic.

Regardless, if you are looking for a movie that touches your sci-fi bone, this one is a decent fill in.  Just one more warning: be prepared for the movie to have an unbelievable amount of similarities with the X Files series and the first movie.  Personally, I would rather have had another X Files movie but sci-fi beggars can’t be choosers.  Just don’t go in expecting Blade Runner’s quality or Alien’s groundbreaking story.

Apple has made very few mistakes over the last few years when it comes to hardware releases.  When it comes to software, iOS 6 needs to be a significant update; as many areas of iOS 5 still seem very limited compared to its mobile counterpart’s operating systems.  The lack of widgets, a notification system that is still not quite as slick as competitors, and the inability to customize certain aspects of your device all stand out as weaknesses.  Windows phones only make the gains seen in iOS 5 less relevant as they offer a completely different look and feel from either Android or iOS.  iOS 6 needs to be huge.

In fact, iOS 6 needs to really be something entirely different.  While the look and feel of the iOS on an iPhone and Touch is still nice, on the iPad is simply looks bad when compared to any new Windows 8 tablet.  The menu system looks clunky and doesn’t utilize the space offered by the larger tablet.  iOS 6 should therefore be a complete reworking of the UI for the iPad.  That seems unlikely though doesn’t it?  Apple rarely makes specific iOS changes for one of its devices or the other.

Apple’s new CEO, Tim Cook, needs to be a different guy than Jobs.  While Steve Jobs lead the company to unimaginable success and growth over the last 10+ years, for the future, they need to be less resistant to change and more open to…well openness – something Apple has never been good with.  While other platforms relish the hacking community’s updates and additions made to their systems (yes, even Microsoft), Apple genuinely hates it.

If you came looking for more iOS 6 rumors, I don’t have them.  More than anything I hope iOS 6 refreshes the greatness of the original iOS system.  As it is, the diamond that it was cut from seems to have loss a bit of its luster – at least to me.  What do you think?

I think not long.  In the case of Barnes and Noble, their device was already shipped with a stripped down version of the Android marketplace and only had app’s approved by B&N.  It is no surprise that there are very few ‘free’ apps in this list and even games that have been free for a year or more on the official Google App Store cost $1.99 or more on B&N’s store.  Amazon has it’s own app store as well and with its recent Kindle Fire update has also heavily pushed its users to its app store over it’s competitors.

It is understandable that these companies are trying to profit wherever they can.  That is their responsibility to their shareholders but if the main selling point for the devices is openness, shutting doors at every corner is not going to win them any prizes with the public.  In the coming years, it will be interesting to see just how locked down these 3rd party devices become.  In the end, one wonders if it will become what it was before an open source operating system hit it big in the first place where each device has one app-store available, one version of the OS that is specific to the games and apps that are made, etc.  If that happens, it won’t be good for businesses or consumers and will be a major step back.

To get infinite money, you need at least $45, 000 in in-game money.

Once you have that – go to settings and press ‘restart rebirth 1′.

While you are in the game tutorial, pause – then press ‘character’.

Now go to the infinity blade.

Now ‘master it’ using the money mentioned above (where it shows the item’s xp look to the far right of the xp then press the arrow).

Now you are able to sell it (you might need a good weapon to finish the tutorial), now finish the tutorial and start rebirth 1.

Pause again and restart to rebirth 1 (repeat the process as told above but you won’t have to master it again).

Keep selling the infinity blade and you’ll be rich (this also works with the other items)!

A man who is literally worshipped by many allowed this book to be made. In fact, he insisted that the author, Walter Isaacson, write it. Perhaps he wasn’t worried about his legacy. If so, that is a testament to Steve Jobs because it certainly muddies it. Thus far, it is incredibly difficult to see a person I would want to personally have anything to do with. Up until age 20, he has exhibited manipulative behavior but goes above and beyond by cheating his best friend, Steve Wozniak, out of several hundred dollars. As late as last year he continued to lie about it (or perhaps remembered it wrong), though two other sources back up Wozniak’s memory.

Even at a young age he said he realized he was more intelligent than his adopted parents and that he was special. Weird. I wouldn’t have been able to say something like that with a straight face even if it was true; at least not without realizing how much of an asshole I sounded like. Not Steve Jobs. He is special. A special kind of asshole that stank – literally. He decided early on that his vegetarian diet would ensure his body wouldn’t create body odor. In fact, he stunk so badly that other engineers at Atari complained to CEO, Nolan Bushnell, who had him work the night shift.

Nevertheless, he has some good qualities. One friend recounted a story where Steve gave him some money after running out during his trip in India and nearly everyone agreed how willful Steve was. He expected people to be able to do anything he told them to do, regardless of whether they knew how or they believed in themselves. That type of willfulness can be a double edged sword which gets the most out of people but also causes disdain. Finally, even at a young age, he was able to make money. Steve and Wozniak began their business relationship by creating devices to steal long distance service from AT&T. The devices cost $40 to make and sold for $160 – a price point that Steve came to on his own and a ratio that continues to this day on Apple products.

The retelling of Steve Jobs’ life is not what I expected at all. I figured that this book would be a marketing device to sell the legacy of Steve Jobs. In truth, it seems to tell the real story and describes the Steve that very few people know – and based on 11% of the story, maybe never really wanted to know.

2:35 PM ET Pricing has arrived

Pre-orders for the 4S start this friday, the 7th. Available on October 14th.

$199 for 16GB iPhone 4S, $299 for 32GB iPhone 4S, $399 for 64GB iPhone 4S.

2:34 PM ET    Rumors already abound elsewhere that to get Siri to work you have to sound like a child speaks…of course, for a lot of users that should be par for the course (not any of our readers of course).  That doesn’t sound nearly as cool as the, “speak to it however you normally do” rhetoric we just heard.

2:32 PM ET  Demo video being shown.  Price coming soon I am sure.  Anyone thinking it will be the same price model as the iPhone 4?  2 year contract +$200?

2:28 PM ET Siri will also do dictation on emails and notes you write which is really nice.  However, you pretty much need a wireless or 3G connection to get the proper word matches.  It works out of the box but learns your voice and does better as you use it more often.

2:25 PM ET In a lot of ways, Siri is like a talking WoframAlpha (if you know the reference).  You ask it a question and it will try to think of ways to identify the answer.  Not just by equation bu by searching the internet and reference material.

2:23 PM ET Siri will utilize other components of the iOS 5 like reminders.  ”Siri, make me a reminder to call my wife when I get off of work.”  When you walk out of work, it tells you to call your wife.  It knows where work is.  It knows who your wife is and what number to dial.  Pretty neat if not a lot Big Brotherish.

2:21 PM ET Siri will be able to schedule appointments on your calendar.  It will be able set your alarm.  It will verify everything you ask it today regardless of the specific way in which you say it.

2:20 PM ET You can tell Siri, read my last email and it will do it for you.

2:18 PM ET Another example: “Find me a great Greek restaurant in Palo Alto.” Siri says (courtesy of Yelp) that she found 14 — sorted by rating.  Cool.

2:17 PM ET  Example:  Do I need a raincoat today?” Siri responds “It sure looks like rain today.”  Very cute.

2:16 PM ET

You will be able to ask real world questions and Siri will answer with real world answers regardless of how you ask the same question.

2:13 PM ET

Last up is the voice activated personal assistant everyone has talked about for a year – Siri (at least that was what it was called before Apple bought it).

2:10 PM ET

1080P video quality with image stabilizer included.

2:07 PM ET

All new 8 Megapixel camera with 73% more light for night pics and 25% faster flash.  They also have more clarity, improved picture quality and it will take a picture in 1.1 seconds on first shot and .5 seconds on second shot.  That does sound nice.

2:05 PM ET

The iPhone 4 was either GSM (AT&T) or CDMA(Verizon) based . The 4S is both — GSM and CDMA.  Hello…Sprint?

2:03 PM ET

Some new antenna on the phone allows for much better phone quality and supposedly, download speeds twice as fast.  My first thought – yeh…right. I don’t believe it especially since a lot of folks had problems getting even close to the download speeds they were supposed to get before.

2:01 PM ET

Regarding battery life, the 4S will offer eight hours of 3G talk time. Six hours of browsing, nine on WiFi. 10 hours of video, and 40 hours of music.  Seems very similar to the iPhone 4.

1:59 PM ET

Unsurprisingly the game looks great but lacks any real skill to win and is just another hack and slash.  It’s Fruit Ninja in prettier clothing

1:57 PM ET

Epic showing off new game – Infinity Blade 2 on iPhone 4S.  Surprisingly they said they made 20 million on iOS Infinity Blade.  Not bad at all for a game that looked good but didn’t allow much free movement (none).

1:55 PM ET

New iPhone 4S.  No suprise with the name.  looks exactly the same.  This can’t be the “new” phone, right?  New processor inside which is faster…  2 times as fast the processor in iPhone 4.  Graphics are 7 times faster.  of course it is the same size and lacks buttons for games…

1:53 PM ET

New white version coming.  Woo hoo?  8GB is now $199, 32GB for $299, 64GB for $399. Available on october 12th.

1:51 PM

New iPod nano (that cube one with a digital face).  $149 8 GB, $179 16 GB.  Now onto the iPod Touch…

1:48 PM ET

Time to talk about iPod’s.  I’m going to go to sleep for a bit.  Not interested at all…

1:46 PM ET

Still old stuff.  Where is the new stuff?  Did WWDC never even happen?

1:44 PM ET

Example.  People are driving to your house.  they get lost 9even though they have a GPS) and you can easily see where they are.  However, if you think about it – how many people would get lost, not know how to use a GOPS and know how to turn on the tracking part of their iPhone?

1:42 PM ET

Something new.  A new feature lets you “find your friends” which is neat.  Not really sure how it works.  Does the person have to allow you to find them?

1:40 PM ET

More rehashing of old news.  I wonder why they told us about this thing in the first place.  Onwards please!

1:39 PM ET

The site keeps going down.  Sorry about that.  They are getting near the end of rehashing iOS 5 so you didn’t miss much.

1:30 PM ET

iOS 5 – top 10.  Hey we did this months ago!  Personally I used it and it was buggy as heck.  I’m sure it will be a bit less buggy at release.  Speaking of release…

1:28 PM

$2.99 for a card…hmm.  $4.99 for international.  That doesn’t seem like a much better deal than what I can do by actually signing a card and sending it.

1:27 PM ET

Gearing up for the holidays I guess as Apple just announced a greeting card app.  They print real life cards and send them to people.  You get a push notification when it is sent.  Kind of neat.  USPS has to be pleased something is going through the mail…

1:25 PM ET

Apple has paid out 3 billion dollars to developers.  If they take a 30% cut of the dev’s profits that means that Apple has a good billion or so themselves.  The developers should create a big cheesy check and give it to Apple.  OK, I’m being facetious.

1:23 PM ET

They have now passed 250 million iOS devices.  Anyone care to find out how many Android devices are on the market?  Nevertheless, absolutely amazing for one company to sell so many devices.  Next up, iOS 5 talk I guess.

1:22 PM

75% of all tablets sold are iPads.  This will likely dip in the coming year as there are newer players coming to the market soon.  big ones like Amazon.  We shall see.

1:21 PM ET

Tim loves iPads.  In schools, hospitals, flight decks, everywhere.

1:19 PM ET

Back up.  iPhones are 5% of the world’s phone.  In a survey it was found that 70% of people were very satisfied by their iPhone’s.  Runner up, HTC with 49% very satisfied.

1:18 PM ET

Well people are certainly interested.  Ars Technica site is down along with Engadget and Gizmodo.  Craziness.

1:16 PM ET

iPhone 4S cover is blown by Japan Apple website (one product I predicted down, one to go).  Already listed date of October 14th.  Tim Cook said he is talking about iPhones “next”.

1:15 PM ET

Holy crap.  I was wrong.  Apple sold sold 45 million iPod’s during a one year period from July 10 to June 11.  45 million!  It must be a bunch of old people buying them or something???

1:14 PM ET

iPod has 78% of market share in MP# market…

1:12 PM ET

Said, Windows 7 took 20 weeks to reach 10% of its market.  Mac’s newest OS took 2 weeks.  Of course Mac’s 10% is 6 million while Windows is likely near a billion or so (he didn’t say that part).

1:10 PM ET

He is now talking products and hardware along with their software sales.  Seriously, who buys an iPod anymore?  It almost seems like one will be announced here as well but who knows.

1:08 PM ET

On Apple website – Sprint logo showing.  Something to those rumors afterall…

1:07 PM ET

Tim is talking retail stores …yada yada yada.  this stuff is more for the Apple faithful and stock holders than me.  357 stores in 11 countries.  Lots more coming.

1:00 PM ET

Just starting.  New Apple CEO, Tim Cook with his first announcement.  Tal;king Apple history.  Looks kind of like Jobs up there without the turtleneck.

I believe today’s announcement by Apple will likely reveal not one, but two devices.  The widely rumored iPhone 5 is sure to be on display.  That device will likely have an improved camera, processor, and possibly a larger screen size (although not much bigger).  It will also look quite a bit different than the iPhone 4; a device that while impressive had its share of problems based on the design alone.  Apple is likely going to want to move away from that design and show us something different.  In fact, I could see the default color being white instead of the ubiquitous black Apple has produced over the last few versions.  The white would signify an entirely new approach to design or something to that effect.

Another device could possibly be named as well, a version of the iPhone 4 that is just for Sprint.  The iPhone 4S(?) will have all of the same functionality as the other iPhone 4′s.  I will say that if I am right and this product is announced, then someone at Sprint needs to be fired if they paid a ton of money for a Sprint specific iPhone 4.  While the phone will undoubtedly sell, it is unlikely that it will have any more traction for Sprint than their Android phones.  It certainly wouldn’t make people flock to their service.

Moving back to the new phone, the iPhone 5 will likely not be ’4G’ based.  There simply isn’t a large enough ‘4G’ network to offer it for a phone that would thirst for bandwidth.  It will likely have the same sized hard drive (or possibly even a smaller one than the iPhone 4).  After all, space is going to the cloud.  Of course, all of that cloud downloading works to the benefit of AT&T and Verizon and all of the other networks that charge to download data off of their network.

Finally, the phone will be released for a bunch of networks, at least it should be.  Apple made a great play by being exclusive to AT&T the first few years they created the device.  They made another good move to add Verizon support.  At this point, in order to compete with the entire Android marketplace (because with Apple is truly is their device vs. the world) they will need to really open up their phone to all of the major networks.  Maybe we will see that today.  I’m not sure though.  Apple has a way to always surprise me and I don’t say that as a fanboy in that, ‘ah shucks, they are so great‘ way.  The surprises aren’t always good ones.  Hopefully today, they will be.