So, any iPod touch/iPad could access a cell network by the addition of an accessory?

by Kyle Kruchok

Apple patent application details accessory transceiver that could turn iPod touch into an iPhone
[Via MacDailyNews]

“There were 27 Apple patent applications published today by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office,” Jack Purcher reports for Patently Apple. “Ten of those dealt with accessory functionality such as identification processes, communication techniques, application protocols and all manner of boredom. Yet one stood out from the pack. It’s about an accessory transceiver that could provide a mobile device like the iPod touch with access to a mobile telephone network.”

[More]

So, ATT gets to keep the iPhone but Verizon, Sprint and any others could get the iPod touch or iPad with a nice accessory. Sounds like a win-win approach.

Very large installed market there. I wonder when it will come out?

I bet the wireless companies said something similar about the iPhone before it came out

by landofnodstudios

Yahoo CEO predicts demise of Apple’s iAd mobile ad network
[Via AppleInsider]

Yahoo Chief Executve Carol Bartz said she thinks Apple’s control over iAd will drive advertisers away, causing the mobile advertising network to “fall apart.”

[More]

Lots of people turned down the iPhone because of Apple’s insistence on controlling much more of the experience than any other cellphone, control that the wireless companies did not want to give up. Now they are trying to catch up with Android but they are still not giving up as much control as the iPhone and Apple wanted.

I think this will be a large roadblock to Android being as successful as it could be – the wireless companies will simply muck things up because that is what they can do.

All of Apple’s focus has been on the user’s experience. That is actually not the major concern for virtually every wireless company or company whose business mode is based on advertising.

The focus of Yahoo and Google is not on the user but on the advertiser. That is who their real customer is and who they have to keep happy.

The problem is that they try and hook in user’s eyeballs for the ads, which is a pretty wasteful process. But it is a process they are used to and know how to model.

Apple is working towards a different approach. They are trying to have ads that their users want to click on. I expect that only real early adopter agencies will try this, especially having to cede some control to Apple.

Remember, Apple can alter this as they go to get an optimal process. It is a creative process for them. If anyone can find a way for it too work, it’ll be Apple.

But I would expect that those companies that can deal with giving up a little control will be rewarded with more bang for the buck.

What some engineers have to do so we can get good signals from antennas

by madmarv00

The scariest video you have ever watched in the name of science [Holy Crap Wtf]
[Via io9]

This video contains no special effects, and no fancy stunts. But it will scare the crap out of you. That’s because you’re watching from a head-mounted camera as an engineer scales an antenna tower over 1,000 feet high.

Created for The Online Engineer site, what this video captures isn’t just a thrill ride – though frankly it is that – you also get to see the different parts of the giant antenna. And learn a little bit about OSHA rules, which apparently say that it’s OK for people to free climb a tiny pole hundreds of feet in the air with a thunderstorm brewing in the distance. Seriously, when I realized the guy wasn’t attached to this pole with anything other than his hands and feet, I almost had a heart attack.

via The Online Engineer

[More]

Free climbing to the top of a 1700 foot antenna. With a helmut cam and no safety devices, all while lugging a 30 pound bag up the whole way. It really is golly-wobble inducing. Especially the last 60 feet which ends with him standing on a minuscule little platform reaching for the very top.

The crazy things people do to make a living.