Where have I been?

Hello my iPadawans,
I am sure most of you figured I had abandoned this site, but that is not true. The last three months have been very hectic for me. I quit my job as an IT Consultant and focused on finishing up some projects and finding a new job for myself. During that time, I chose to step away from all of my online duties, so I could better focus on my future. Well, I can now say I have completed that and I will be getting back to the regular updates that you have all been looking for!

On a personal note, I now am employed as an Information Technology Infrastructure Administrator for the Tennessee Valley Authority. Who are they? The largest public power company in the US.. That is who! I am really excited to have this opportunity to work for such a great company and I look forward to a hopefully long future here. The down side, I will no longer be working with iOS on a professional level. But that does not mean I won't still be involved in the community and keeping up with the news. So I will be continuing to share with all of you, the latest and most important iOS news.

Most of my personal projects have been completed and it is time to move on there as well. What does that mean? Just that I have to get some new projects going to keep me busy.. In the near future I I'll be designing and building my own CNC Router and my own Digital Pinball Machine. Once I start those I I'll share a quick link on here for anyone who might be interested.

So in closing, exciting times are coming! We can expect the iPhone 4gS to hit shelves in the near future and we can expect to see the production release of iOS 5 soon.. Which I might add is simply amazing! So keep your eyes peeled, exciting stuff is coming!

iPad 2 JailBroken!!!!

That's right folks! The iPad 2 has finally been jail broken. Http://www.jailbreakme.com has released their 3.0 of their popular online jail break and this one will work on the iPad 2 4.33, as well as

iPad 1: 4.3 through 4.3.3
iPhone 3GS: 4.3 through 4.3.3
iPhone 4: 4.3 through 4.3.3
iPhone 4-CDMA: 4.2.6 through 4.2.8
iPod Touch 3g: 4.3, 4.3.2, 4.3.3
iPod Touch 4g: 4.3 through 4.3.3

All you do is go to http://www.jailbreakme.com from your device and follow the instructions! This exploit DOES exist in 5.0 as well, but Apple is sure to patch it before it's release. But for the time being, enjoy!!! I am sure they will find another exploit soon!

Randy Walker

U.S. Gov. Says ByeBye Blackberry, and Hello Apple!

Obama carries his iPad to the limo. Source whitehouse

Yes, this is Steve Job's dream come true!
The US Government has long had a strict Blackberry rule. If you used an Email enabled phone, it was a Blackberry. Why would the United States Government limit it's employee's to just one smartphone? Because of their Secure Messaging System. Blackberry promises some of the most secure mobile Email in the world. That coupled with 256 bit encryption on the phones at a hardware level, their Government model phones are extremely secure.

However, users can speak very loudly and in my experience, users want iPhones and they want Droids. In many cases employees will carry two phones. A Blackberry for work and an iPhone or a Droid for home. They like the interfaces and the apps. The availability of software to do almost anything you can imagine, is very alluring. But what about security? Well you can lock down iOS and Android devices through strict rules implemented by your administrator. Apple and Google both have been working very hard as of late on Active Directory integration with their devices, as have Microsoft.

This has been a rolling storm for a few months now, but it now is finally coming to a boil. RIM is losing it's long held grip in the U.S. Government.The Government is allowing other devices and they are predominately iPhones and iPads rolling in. The savings from this change should be immense, in the billions. A few Government offices are also planning to move their Email to "the cloud", using Google and Microsoft services. Blackberry still has the majority of the Government market, but you can expect that to change rapidly in the coming months. This will have a trickle down effect thru-out Big Business as well and you will continue to see RIMs numbers dwindle.

When Kundra, the U.S. Top Information Officer, was asked what he typically hears from workers about gov­ernment- or corporate-provided technology, Kundra replied, “It’s not a question of whether they don’t like it. They despise it.” He also said, “The line between work and home in terms of technology is beginning to blur.” So what is his answer? "Give it to them!" Let the workers use whatever device they want and apply very strict security settings.

Charlie Wolf, an analyst for Needham & Co is quoted as saying, “The best way I can describe BlackBerry is as a one-trick pony, The one trick was their secure messaging platform. Management has yet to understand that the world has changed. They didn’t understand that it was a software game going forward.” This is where Apple led the way and Google soon followed. With constantly advancing Operating Systems and ever evolving development platforms, The iOS and Android devices have dominated the market. Apple has the market majority for the time being, but I personally see the Government population of devices being close to 50/50 in 2 years. With Blackberry only having a very limited showing. This is based off what I have seen in the lower end of the spectrum.

Welcome to the "Federal Government 2.0" One with a plan to embrace new technology.

Source: Washington Post
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad 2

The End of Blackberry?

First of all, As you guys know I do not usually cut, copy and paste and article from another source into my blog. However, today's piece is an exception. It is so well written and informative that I just cannot help but paste it word for word and link for link... So I have quoted the original article from InfoWorld and Galen Gruman below.



I hate to kick someone when they're down, but since the wounds are self-inflicted, I'll get over it in this case. Yesterday at its BlackBerry World show, Research in Motion co-CEO Jim Balsillie demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that the BlackBerry is dead. For the last few years, I've marveled in a horrified way as the once-top smartphone creator dug itself deeper into a pit of denial about the changes in the mobile market. It's hard for a company to adjust to a new reality, especially after a decade of success that bred complacency. But RIM isn't even trying any more.

Flash is coming to iOS!!

The Apple Adobe war looks like it is finally coming to an end and Adobe is the one who caved. Since the beginning, Apple has been adamant about not allowing Flash onto the iOS devices. Why? Well because Flash Is a memory hog!

iOS 4.3.2 is Out!

Today Apple has released the latest in it's incremental updated for the 4th Generation iOS platform. According to Apple, this patch offers some minor bugs fixes and security patches. However, it looks like the majority of the reason for the patch, may very well have been to patch up the most recently released security hole that was allowing the untethered Jail Break.

No iPhone 5 until 2012?

That's right! You heard it here first! Reports are coming in that there will be no iPhone 5 until early in 2012. Why is that you ask? And where do these rumors come from? Well they are based on several pieces on information that have bed coming down the pipe the last couple of days.

Push for Google Mail Accounts?

If you are like me, then you have a Gmail account. Heck, if you are REALLY like me, then you have several! I use Gmail and Google apps, for several of my email accounts and domains. I have the more important of these on my iPad and my iPhone. It has often been annoying to me that I could not set my Gmail accounts to push. Instead the best I could do was to have it check every 15 minutes. Especially since a lot of my emails are time sensitive. A good example would be a power supply failure alert on a rack mount server across town. But now there is a way to solve this! And no, it does not require any money or Apps.

iPad 2, the First 12 Hours

So I have had the opportunity to spend a little time with the new iPad 2 and these are my thoughts on Apple's newest incarnation of the market dominating, iPad.

First of all, the device itself. The new iPad 2, as you likely know is thinner and lighter. The shape of it now, is more akin to a MacBook Air. It's edges are smooth and curved like the Air, not Flat sided or capsule shaped like the original iPad. It is also notably lighter than the original. The touch interface and screen have not changed, which to me is a nice bonus. I love the current iPad screen.

The iPad 2 also has two cameras on it now. A rear facing one and a front facing one. Both can be used in FaceTime and various other apps for video chat. The rear facing camera will also take HD video. Neither camera is as good as the camera on the iPhone 4, which is a little bit of a let down, but you can't win them all.

The heart of the beast has been increased drastically, viaApple's new dual core A5 CPU and a boost in RAM to 512 MB. Surfing the web, or any other media on the new iPad 2, is considerably faster than on the original. Web pages load in 2-5 seconds most of the time, from my experience. Netflix is up a hair faster, but loads the movie a lot quicker. Switching from task to task is smoother and the entire experience just feels snappier. Even typing on the new iPad 2 seems to be more responsive.

Battery life does seem to be just as good as it was, even with all the new speed it has. I very much look forward to some iPad 2 specific apps that will take advantage of the iPad2's new features and speed. And as always, I will be sure to keep you informed of my findings!

Enjoy and if you haven't already, go buy yourself an IPad 2!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad 2

iPads Pave the Way for Autism Breakthroughs

Autism affects 1 in every 110 children that are born today. With such increasingly high numbers of cases, it is more and more important that we find ways to assist those affected with Autism to be able to better communicate with the world. And that is exactly what Doctors and Teachers have done with the iPad!

In today's every increasing technological world, the iPad is standing out as a hero to some parents of Autistic children. Teachers and Doctors have found that Autistic children are naturally drawn to the iPad. They believe it is the familiarity on knowing exactly what to expect when they touch and click on the iPad. While they are generally frustrated by their lack of ability to anticipate human reactions, they know exactly what to expect when they slide a finger across the iPad's 10 inch screen. Even the act of drawing on the iPad is less frustrating, as they are able to handle the iPad a lot easier than they can a crayon or pencil.

Meet Apple's New Global Head of Security

Meet the new head of Apple's Global Security... David Rice. Mr Rice will be responsible for getting the iPhones and iPads up to snuff in Security. Apple is pushing them hard at Corporations and Government. However, they have expressed concerns over the devices security. Namely the lack of encryption and lack of options as to how to deal with a lost or stolen unit. These are problems that have kept the iPhone from seeing a large scale roll out across many large corporations. Many of my own clients have balked at using them for the very same reasons.  This is one area where the Blackberry is still king. But not for long.....

New Driver Bundle Discovered in iOS 4.3 Beta

A recent discovery in the newest iOS beta has shown us yet another glimpse of the future to come! The driver bundle discovered is for the PowerVR SGX543, the smallest OpenCL-capable graphics core. This chip is not used in any of the current iDevices, so it is reasonably safe to assume that it will be in the next generation of iDevices, starting with the iPad2. The current GPU used with the A4 CPU in current gen iDevices is the PowerVR SGX535. The SGX543 would give the iDevices performance on par with current notebooks!

This is exciting news indeed!!!

iOS 4.3 Beta reveals a glimpse of the Future for iDevices

We have a big update for all of you today! Some exciting stuff is coming down the lines!

On January the 12th of 2011, iOS 4.3 Beta was pushed out to developers. As usual, the developers wasted no time dissecting  the beta to find all the new hidden features that it had to share.  In a matter of hours, the developer community had found several new and interesting features in the newest iOS beta to be released. The newest beta also holds clues as to possible future hardware feature, a new MobileMe feature and shows evidence of future hardware revisions for both the iPhone and the iPad.

So what are all these new features? Find out after the jump!