Apple News, Analysis and Podcasts
 Apple, Inc's World-Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) is fast approaching, and while Apple CEO Tim Cook has allued to having no new hardware arriving until this fall, software will be the big focus for Apple's annual developers event. A new version of Apple's mobile iOS and desktop OS X software is going to be shown, but perhaps more important than these fundamental pieces of Apple's ecosystem is iCloud. The future of computing, how we access and manipulate data is rapidly moving to server-side solutions, or "cloud" architecture, and Apple has been falling behind its competition at a rapid rate.
Google and others have taken an aggressive approach in developing a wide array of cloud services and tools, wasting little time in building robust ecosystems. Google, clearly out in front with an impress user base, has built a formidable Microsoft Office competitor in Google Docs. But Google's cloud platform has gone well beyond email or users loading and creating documents stored online. Google's entire cloud platform covers development for data mining, custom cloud storage, Enterprise search and much more.
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 The Mac OS is a mature operating system. It is a good looking and clean interface that stays out of the way so users can focus on their work. The gradient gray interface minimizes distractions while shadows create depth for better window separation, but with all these great features, there is still room for improvement.
There still are many ways Apple can improve how the OS interacts with the user. One of those areas is spotlight. Spotlight is great for searching for items on the computer in real-time, and it is lightening fast with solid state storage, yet Apple could make it so much better.
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Google is a powerhouse within the realm of Internet services. From Adsense to YouTube, Google's services drives an amazing amount of web traffic through their front door. The biggest draw to these services is that they are free, because they are augmented with ads. Google makes money by selling their users to ad companies, much like free broadcast TV.
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AirPlay is one of the coolest features found on an iOS device, and since Mountain Lion, on your Mac as well. Of course that is if you have a newer Mac. If you have an older Mac you were out of luck until AirParrot came to the rescue by giving older Mac's the ability to mirror their screen to an AppleTV. While AirPlay is cool, it is in need of an update. 1.0 versions of software rarely have everything people want. Version 2.0 releases add missing features and fix annoying bugs. Following is my list of features and bug fixes that Apple needs to build into AirPlay 2.0 to make it über-cool™.
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 The iPhone, iPod, iPad and iTunes, all seamlessly working in harmony with iCloud. But one main player has been left out in the cold -- the Mac. It's left users wondering whether iCloud is as useful as advertised for the heavy lifting file and folder world.
OS 10.8, Mountain Lion, promised to change the paradigm and bring the Mac into the fold of iCloud management. But outside the realm of entertainment, iCloud's power for the Mac is fuzzy math at best. Without the Mac and iOS devices having some form of built-in Finder or directory app, the methods of syncing files seamlessly between the Mac and mobile without third party solutions is dubious at best.
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The Auto Show came to Portland last weekend January 24-27, 2013, which showcased the latest cars and trucks by most of the auto industry. They also had specialty areas for green, exotic, luxury, and tricked out autos.
This year, the guys of T-GAAP went to the show to check out to latest cars and trucks, but we also wanted to see if Apple had any presence at the show. What we found was indeed interesting.
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Over the past several quarters, Apple has consistently outpaced PC sales both in the US and world-wide. Apple has kept a laser eye on it's well crafted product and offerings, literally owning the $1,000 and above market space. Moving forward Apple is setting the stage to dominate overall PC sales, leaving only remnants of former US powerhouses as mere shadows. Here's how it's happening:
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Apple announced to select media an October 23rd, Special Event with the comment "We've got a little more to show you". However, Apple wont' be holding the event on the Cupertino campus, nor will the event take place at the Buena Vista Performing Arts Center in San Francisco. Apple has instead chosen a larger auditorium, the California Theatre in San Jose.
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 AppleCare has been a mainstay and profit center since Steve Job's returned to Apple. AppleCare is essentially an insurance policy for your Apple device should it fail prematurely. AppleCare grew in popularity and its "payback" became even better when Apple Stores launched and there was a real person you could talk to about your particular problem and get a real answer (not just "Well, send it in and we'll see what we can do for you.").
The question though is whether AppleCare is a good deal. Sure you're buying more peace of mind by turning a 1-year hardware warranty and 90-day telephone support into an overall three year support contract. The question reamins does paying an extra 10 - 75% of the original purchase price make sense? Is that a good deal?
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Apple's move from Intel to ARM processors may be closer than you think.
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