Senator Al Franken has written to Apple CEO Tim Cook to ask many questions about the security of the new 'Touch ID' fingerprint sensor in the new iPhone 5S.
I can only assume he's asked the exact same twelve questions to Dell, HP, and all of the other manufacturers of fingerprint scanning technology.
I was playing with the stocks app on my iPhone when I noticed that the landscape mode now allows you to look at time spans of 5 and 10 years. I quickly played around with how some big-name tech companies had fared over the last decade. I tweeted the results but was then curious how these changes in share price would look graphically:
The NASDAQ index is included for comparison, though obviously the growth in the NASDAQ is partly due to the growth of some of these companies. Google is excluded because there’s not quite a decade of data yet, but — if you’re curious — their share price has grown 670% over ~8.5 years.
Dell's share price has actually fallen (-53%), so it is hardly surprising that Michael Dell wants to buy back the company. Microsoft and HP barely register on the chart, both with single-digit growth. There may be a problem with my calculations though because I was led to believe that Apple was doomed.
As WWDC, Apple's annual developer conference, draws ever nearer, the tech-world is in a state of fever pitch as pundits try to guess — and sometimes second- or triple-guess — what new or updated products will be soon be released by the Cupertino-based technology giant.
Today, Scared of Heights can make some exclusive revelations that will put an end to many of the rumors that have been circulating in recent weeks. Here are the undisputed facts regarding Apple's future plans:
Fact 1: Apple may or may not release a new version of their groundbreaking iPhone "at some point" in the "near future". Such a phone, if released, may - or may not - be thinner, lighter, and/or more powerful. It almost certainly might contain several new features, some of which may excite and/or underwhelm technology journalists. The screen size of the prospective new iPhone might conceivably be larger than on the current iPhone, unless it isn't.
Fact 2: It's beyond a shadow of a doubt that Apple's iCloud service will receive a significant revamp, unless Apple chooses not to. Such iCloud-based services, if they exist, will probably be deployed over the coming weeks, months, or years unless Apple decides otherwise.
Fact 3: It is almost incontrovertible that within 12 months, Apple's entire product line may look "somewhat different" to their current product line up. Consumers should expect that there is a very high probability that Apple Stores may in future be stocking several new products, particularly if they actually make and release these new products.
Fact 4: Apple may well decide to discontinue the MacPro, in which case it is almost certain that consumers will no longer be able to buy a MacPro. However, if Apple decides to continue the MacPro then we can exclusively reveal that consumers will still be able to buy the MacPro. Possible revamps for the MacPro line include making it smaller, making it bigger, keeping it exactly the same size, or replacing it with a pony (USB 3.0 compatible).
Fact 5: The product to receive the biggest transformation could potentially be the venerable iPod Classic which, if updated, might gain several new features such as a 23" AMOLED display and a stylus. An even bigger transformation might be to abandon the product altogether, or revamp it into a new form factor that includes a phone and touch screen.
Continued ad nauseum by technology journalists everywhere.