Talking Tech, Friday, October 20

0:15 – Mark and Kevin open up the show from the world headquarters of b5media, otherwise know as the “Man Room� in Mark’s house.

 

0:46 – Mark and Kevin discuss Apple’s stellar fiscal fourth quarter results. Mark is amazed that Apple sold 39 million iPods and it is, without a doubt, the Google of potable music players.

 

1:28 – Kevin equates its success to the “cool factor�. He then wonders how Apple can keep growing.

 

2:17 – Mark answers by saying that Apple will continue its momentum by extending its platform. Apple started with the iPod, Nano, etc., but what’s next? Mark wonders if rumours about the Apple phone will come to be. They tried it with Motorola without success, and there are rumours that they’ll try it with RIM.

 

3:08 - Kevin agrees that this may the way to go for Apple, but is skeptical that Apple will be able to compete with the Nokias of the world in the phone market. He sees the Macbook as Apple’s next huge opportunity for growth. He just doesn’t see an iPod phone as killer. He then wonders if the Apple media server will do the trick for Apple.

 

4:23 – Mark thinks that Macbooks get lost in the iTune/iPod success story. He thinks that the laptop market will be a huge opportunity for Apple, especially with the introduction of the Intel processor. Kevin agrees.

 

6:00 – Mark explains that he used to be a Windows user, but he has been won over by Apple.

 

6:24 – Mark introduces Internet Explorer 7. Kevin says that he’s a big Firefox fan – he likes the tab browsing, etc. He thinks that Microsoft may have lost a lot of its browser market share because of how long it took to respond to this challenge. Mark explains that IE 7 uses tab browsing, which he loves, but he’s not going to use IE 7 in the short run. He wants all of the bugs to be worked out first. Kevin thinks that, for the average computer user, IE 7 will probably work.

 

9:40 – Mark introduces virtual worlds (i.e. Second Life, Weblo) to the conversation. He doesn’t understand it, and both he and Kevin don’t see the appeal. But, Kevin thinks that this might just be a crude version of what’s to come in the future. Mark talks a little about a friend who was taking a virtual course at Harvard’s Second Life campus. He describes a couple more examples and speculates that maybe it will become a standard meeting space. Kevin is amazed that Reuters has jump aboard.

 

14:29 - Mark is amazed at the amount of real world money spent in the virtual worlds and says he’s a little concerned about some of the money being raised by some, like Weblo. Kevin doesn’t see the value for the end user.

 

16:05 – Mark wraps up the show.

 

Comments for Mark and Kevin can now be left at [e-mail] or on the comment line: [phone].

 

As always, the music is No Mojo by Anthony Stauffer and Holy Smoke which is available on the pod safe music network.