Particle Debris (week ending 6/26) Metamorphosis, Transformers, and Stealth Health

June 26th, 2009 at 6:53 PM - Blogs by John Martellaro

On Monday, Dan Frommer published his Chart of The Day. It shows the phenomenal growth of Apple's revenues derived from the iPhone. What's interesting is that the Macintosh revenue is fairly stable, but the iPhone seems poised to make some dramatic gains as a percentage of revenue.

Also on Monday, the New York Times dragged out and dusted off an old subject: the secrecy at Apple. It must have been a slow news day. However, the article does provide some additional insights into life at Apple and the thinking behind the secrecy of Mr. Jobs' health. Even small insights are worthwhile in this case.

Finally, on Monday our Stephen Swift pointed me to a recent article at AnandTech that compares the internal architecture of the iPhone 3G to the iPhone 3GS. These specs, in addition to twice the working RAM (256 MB), explain why the iPhone 3GS seems so much snappier.

Speaking of iPhone speed, the improvements were documented by Bare Feats on Tuesday with some great bar graphs. The SunSpider Java test for the 3GS is particularly impressive and compounds the gains made by moving from iPhone OS 2.2.x to 3.0.

We all have affection for John Hodgman from the "Get A Mac" ads, but we forget his origins on the Daily Show and his gifts as a writer and actor. Recently, Mr. Hodgman was invited to keynote the Radio & Correspondents Dinner -- which President Obama attended. Mr. Hodgman roasted the President in a charming way, and the video provides added depth to the fellow we sometimes see as a one-dimensional "PC."

On Tuesday, GearLog explained how AT&T is planning to improve its iPhone coverage. It better do something fast because now a million new iPhone 3GS owners have video cameras. The article has some technical details on the re-purposing of old frequencies AT&T had previously used for its TDMA service. Good stuff for iPhone owners to know.

On Wednesday, Don Reisinger suggested that the middle ground isn't working anymore for netbooks. The problem is that the distinction between netbooks and notebooks is blurring, and that's backfiring on netbooks. It could be that customers are inching towards just a little more power and the manufacturer's (my own opinion) are adding just a little more oomph to accommodate Windows 7. Also, according to NPD, customers aren't as mobile with netbooks as previously thought. Something like an iPhone is considered more handy now for the mobile customer. Gee, what a thought.

It's hard for me to say whether the iPhone has changed potential netbook customer perceptions of what they can do when they're mobile with such a device. In any case, Mr. Reisinger explores the factors that are making netbooks less and less viable.

Here is a video you just have to see. It takes a few seconds to get started, but stay with it. You'll be in for a nice surprise.

If you thought the Web was rife with too many bloggers and too many twitpics, now the real fun has started. The video camera on the iPhone is causing an explosion of videos uploaded to YouTube. Some will be terrific and some will be inane. More than ever, it's essential to pick your way through the Internet to get to the good stuff. After all, Sturgeon's Law applies more than ever.

On Thursday, there was a report from the mobile as network, AdMob, that provided some insight into the spectrum of apps in the Apple App Store. For example, more than half of those 50,000 apps have less than 1,000 customers. There's more in the Online Media Daily article.

The Internet is a fast changing place, and it's no place for large, stodgy corporations that take a long time to make decisions. On Friday, I found an article by Peter Burrows at BusinessWeek who explained how Microsoft is being affected by the pace of the Internet in "Microsoft Defends its Empire." Basically, Microsoft has lost its ability to impose its will on corporate America and will be changing the way it markets software and deals with customer needs. Mr. Burrows is a careful, intelligent writer, and his well researched story about Microsoft is essential reading for every Apple enthusiast.

Technical Word of the Week (TWoW)

Adorkable. (adj.) An adorable dork. Credit: David Pogue.