Headworx

Apple has become the world's largest technology company, crowning the phenomenal decade of growth. Overtaking Google and Microsoft, firing on all cylinders fueled by extra hot (I mean cool...) products and even more expectations. I bet nobody predicted such outcome ten years ago, when the first iPod (5GB spindle, firewire) was hitting the store shelves. The iPhone has been even bigger game changer, essentially transforming the industry. Today every phone is a smartphone, with the top ones trying to challenge the king. Mobile Internet is a service we all know, understand and expect. George Gilder's vision of a teleputer is reality today. So the question now is about tomorrow, and few years from now. Will Apple stay at the top or will it be conquered? We live in an ever accelerating world, so any long term predictions are inaccurate by default. Today, instead of predicting, I will focus on what I want, and wait for to happen. If my wishes and needs are in parallel wi...

In the fixed line era, a phone number has been tied to a line. In the mobile voice era it has been tied to a handset (or a SIM card). In the coming mobile data era, the phone number will be fully virtualized. Tied to a profile of a user that logs on to a mobile terminal. Trying to look at the potential landscape of mobile network operators in 2020, one thing seems to be clear. There will be no voice calls, at least not on a network level. All parts of a network will be packet data. Packet data with many classes of service, of course. There will be customers paying premium for priority and may be even CIR s (although the idea of CIR in a mobile network with shared resources may be stretched a little...). Voice will be data too. Simply VoIP. Mobile VoIP, when finally supported by MNOs and handset vendors, will free us from tying our numbers to the mobile operators we sign connectivity contracts with. Phone numbers will become fully virtualized. Depending on a profile we sign on with whe...

Today on a somewhat lighter note... I have been having some fun with the iPad Camera Kit. As you probably know, the kit comes as a set of two adapters. The first one is a SD-card adapter, the second one is a USB adapter. Both connect to the only one port iPads have -the dock connector port. Both adapters are aimed at performing just one function - copying digital photos from either an SD card or directly from a camera (over a USB cable) to the iPad. The Photos system application is responsible for handling this task. And there is nothing more. It simply scans a camera - specific subfolder of the \DCIM folder on the attached storage and lets you select and copy photos to the iPad. Disappointing, I have not even found a way to copy the photos to the host computer. I was hoping to see the copied photo files somewhere within the iTunes, but it seems like I was hoping for too much... But I decided to play a little bit with the kit. There is nothing you can do with the SD adapter, apart from...

It looks like I have found the ultimate netbook. The Nokia Booklet 3G. I will not use the word "killer" here, but this is a computer that can be considered a serious alternative to the iPad. The Nokia is based on a different approach, the more traditional one. It is a classic. Mechanical keyboard, Intel CPU, non - touch screen and runs Windows 7. But what is unique to the Nokia, among many other netbook designs, it is the first, which hits at least the same score on the "cool factor" meter. I took a number of photos of both devices side by side, so you may judge for yourself. For me it has been the love at first sight. And it is not only the looks. Before the Nokia, there had been several approaches before, by Sony among others, to create the ultimate mobile computer. But the Sony Vaio X was able to run only for three hours on a charge. While the Nokia is designed to run for twelve hours. To be honest the battery performance sold me the machine. Full day computing ...

There are times when I tug along with me a lot of stuff. I mean gadgets. Typical lazy vacations, when I fly away, then rent a car and drive around... I have my fully equipped D-SLR camera, with a number of lenses. It is accompanied by all sorts of accessories - filters, cleaning kits, spare batteries, chargers. I also have a second, small camera for hiking trips or skiing, it has its own set of batteries, filters, a charger. Then there is a laptop. The often mentioned here Lenovo X200s. With own power supply. Then a bunch of laptop accessories - USB cables, wireless modem / Wi-Fi router, USB sticks. This is all delicate and precious, so pack all those items as my carry-on luggage. I have been through many cases, sacks, bigger and bigger as my gadget ballast keeps getting bigger and heavier. Finally I have settled with - what I consider today the ultimate gadget case - the Pelican 1510 . It is designed from the ground up to accommodate gadgets. The basic configuration is a sturdy case, ...