New Gadgets

Do You Believe in Aliens? is a post from Chris Pirillo

I spend most of my writing time attempting to bring you the latest news, hottest new gadgets and the very latest in technology advancements. While it’s true that I post a few humorous things at times, I know that I still need to take time to lighten up sometimes. I decided that tonight, we’d end the week on a fun note.

Do you believe in aliens? I’m not talking about illegal immigrants, folks. I’m referring to intelligent life on other plants, or in other galaxies. I think that more people would believe in this possibility if we could erase the image of little green men with bugged-out eyes from our minds. There is so much out there that we have not yet been able to explore. How the heck can we possibly say with certainty that we are the only intelligent civilization out there?

You bet I believe in aliens. The question of the day is… do you? Have a great weekend, everyone, and make sure you take some time to check out what others in our community have been up to.

• If you haven’t tried 7Zip yet, you may want to take a look at it now.
• Are you a fan of the time machine clock?
• Older adults remember the good times.
• Are you scared of heights, yet love to fly?
• Is network television dead in the water?
• AOL is the new Microsoft.
• Do men cheat more often than women do?
• Are you more productive with a laptop or a desktop computer?
• Google Wave is up and running.
• Where will YOU be in ten years?
• Netflix is coming to the Wii.
• Why should businesses engage in social media?
• Is the cost of ownership for a Mac actually less than a Windows machine?
• What is ISO14001, and why should I care?

Don’t forget to stop by the software center to see what’s new today.

• <a rel='nofollow' href='http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B002TOKTFG/lockergnome Radeon HD 5750 1 GB 128bit GDDR5 DisplayPort HDMI 2x DL-DVI HDCP PCI Express 2.0 X16 Video Card Retail H575F1GDG (RoHS)</a></li></ul><ul class="related_post"><li><a href="http://chris.pirillo.com/interactions-with-an-omnidirectional-projector/" title="Interactions with an Omnidirectional Projector">Interactions with an Omnidirectional Projector</a></li><li><a href="http://chris.pirillo.com/pc-or-mac-for-education/" title="PC or Mac for Education?">PC or Mac for Education?</a></li><li><a href="http://chris.pirillo.com/the-mac-vs-pc-challenge/" title="The Mac vs PC Challenge">The Mac vs PC Challenge</a></li><li><a href="http://chris.pirillo.com/mac-vs-pc-again/" title="Mac Vs PC Again">Mac Vs PC Again</a></li><li><a href="http://chris.pirillo.com/download-center/" title="Download Center">Download Center</a></li><li><a href="http://chris.pirillo.com/build-your-dream-computer/" title="Build Your Dream Computer">Build Your Dream Computer</a></li><li><a href="http://chris.pirillo.com/what-place-does-social-media-have-in-our-schools/" title="What Place Does Social Media Have in our Schools?">What Place Does Social Media Have in our Schools?</a></li><li><a href="http://chris.pirillo.com/what-drives-your-productivity/" title="What Drives Your Productivity?">What Drives Your Productivity?</a></li><li><a href="http://chris.pirillo.com/whats-your-favorite-commercial/" title="What’s Your Favorite Commercial?">What’s Your Favorite Commercial?</a></li><li><a href="http://chris.pirillo.com/will-your-next-pc-be-a-mac/" title="Will Your Next PC be a Mac?">Will Your Next PC be a Mac?</a></li></ul> <p><iframe src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~ah/f/lpj2a0s0b83fm727ahojoknhc4/300/250?ca=1&fh=280#http%3A%2F%2Fchris.pirillo.com%2Fdo-you-believe-in-aliens%2F" width="100%" height="280" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0"></iframe></p>

Microsoft faces a tough assignment in trying to get back in the smartphone game. Nokia’s Symbian maintains a massive presence in overseas markets, while Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android have gained tremendous momentum in the superphone era. And Windows Mobile will only continue to lose ground in advance of the debut of Windows Phone later this year thanks to the fact that the two platforms will be incompatible.

But there’s no shortage of players hoping that Redmond can breathe new life into its mobile business. The following are just a few of the entities with a vested interest in seeing Windows Phone succeed:

• Corporate IT departments — Business users are increasingly turning to consumer-friendly smartphones like the iPhone and forcing IT staffers to support their new gadgets. But the emergence of a phone that offers both Microsoft’s seamless integration with Exchange Server and consumer-friendly features and applications would go a long way toward making life easier for IT workers.
• HTC – The Taiwan-based handset manufacturer is fully aboard the Android bandwagon, but hitching your wagon to a single OS is a dangerous strategy for a mobile OEM. So the longtime Windows Mobile supplier is one of the launch partners for Windows Phone and vows to develop an “HTC Hub” for the platform.
• Motorola — Although it joined the Android crowd late last year in a big way, releasing both the Cliq and the Droid, as Om noted in January, Motorola was left out in the cold when HTC was tapped to produce Google’s flagship device. The struggling company will continue to churn out Android handsets, but Windows Phone has caught its eye. Look for increasing interest — and maybe a hardware commitment — out of Motorola as the OS nears its launch later this year.
• Application developers — Microsoft is wooing developers by forcing manufacturers to comply with strict guidelines regarding screen sizes, buttons and features. That will make it easier for developers to deploy apps across a range of Windows Phone gadgets without having to tweak each app for each handset. And longtime Windows Mobile developers are sure to be pleased by a platform that combines high-tech entertainment features with Microsoft’s business-focused technology.
• Gamers — Integrating Windows Phone with Xbox and Windows is an interesting move for a company whose mobile strategy has long focused on the enterprise. But it’s also a strategy that could finally push mobile gaming beyond casual, pick-up-and-play titles and toward more immersive, console-type experiences.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):

Could Games Redeem Windows Mobile and Palm’s webOS?

A recent Apple Inc. job posting has revealed that the company intends to focus on bringing the iPhone OS onto new gadgets, devices and platforms.

The job posting from the Cupertino, CA, company specifically calls for an engineering manager to handle “platform bring-up.” In the job description, Apple states that it’s looking for a manager “to lead a team focused on bring-up of iPhone OS on new platforms.” It seems like Apple wants some outside talent with very strong technical experience, especially when it comes to bringing software onto multiple hardware devices. Computerworld first caught the job post.

Here are the first two paragraphs of the job posting, which explains exactly what the company is looking for:

“The Core Platform team within Apple’s Core OS organization is looking for a talented and inspired manager to lead a team focused on bring-up of iPhone OS on new platforms. The team is responsible for low level platform architecture, firmware, core drivers and bring-up of new hardware platforms. The team consists of talented engineers with experience in hardware, firmware, IOKit drivers, security and platform architecture.

This position requires a very technical and hands-on leader, experience in working closely with hardware team and a deep understanding of bare metal software. You must be a highly self-motivated individual who seeks to create a dynamic and creative team environment in which old problems are solved in new and innovative ways.”

The job requires someone with experience developing for the Unix operating system, experience with system-on-chip (SoC) level design and experience with “bring-up of mobile phones running Unix like operating systems.”

This job posting is very specific — not a lot of people are going to have this type of experience. We think it’s likely Apple is targeting product managers for Google Android, since it is built off of a modified version of the Linux kernel and it has experience porting Android onto multiple handsets.

What Is Apple’s Plan?

This job posting raises a lot of questions. Clearly Apple wants to expand the iPhone OS, but where exactly? Does it intend to create multiple phones running the iPhone OS? Could something like AppleTV or even the Mac or Macbook gain the iPhone OS interface? It’s tough to tell and probably too early to know as well.

Let’s think about each of these scenarios for a moment:

1. Apple stops just selling one iPhone, but creates multiple models to suit multiple tastes, possibly including a version with a keyboard. Apple would retain control over all of these models, but it would use them to compete with BlackBerry, Android and other smartphones even further. It could also create a less-advanced version for users that don’t want an advanced smartphone, but that would be out of character with Apple’s history.

We think there’s a chance it could create multiple models of the iPhone, but this is probably not the primary plan.

2. Apple brings the iPhone OS to AppleTV. It would certainly provide a boost and new attention to a mostly fledgling and forgotten project, but most TVs are not touchscreens. We’re not sure about this one.

3. Apple creates new computers that utilize the iPhone OS as its primary OS. We think this is actually the most likely scenario — it gives Apple full control over the user experience and gives it a chance to redefine computing for years to come. It seems like a next step from the iPad, although we’re uncertain how receptive people would be to a low-cost computer running the iPhone OS instead of the Mac OS or Windows.

Apple is clearly bullish on its OS and thinks it is the future of computing and mobile. Now it’s just a matter of what device it puts it in next.

Tags: apple, Apple Tablet, ipad, iphone, iphone os