You help us find the closest Starbucks and see what our daily schedule is like, but if you don’t have that perfect Cupertino, California pitch to your voice, there could be problems with Ms. Siri understanding exactly what it is you’re asking.

Let’s take our Scottish-based Apple enthusiasts for example, here is a great post on latimes.com that points out some of the frustration that is occurring getting Siri to decipher the Scottish accent.

Below, a NSFW, but hilarious video that sums up the Scottish-Siri dilemma perfectly.

James Hicks

James is the Founder and Chief Technologist of HicksNewMedia, a technology consulting and digital publishing firm providing effective and relevant solutions to individuals and businesses looking to utilize all things on the interweb. Follow him on Twitter | about.me | Facebook | Google+

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Buffer allows you to schedule tweets for release at certain times of the day so you don’t flood your followers at any point.  It was great if you were browsing the web and working at a computer.  However, if you were working or reading on your iphone or ipad, it was not as easy to schedule and manage your buffered tweets from those devices.

Where to get it - App Store.

Do you use buffer or any similar tweet scheduling service?   Please share in the comments.

Lance

If the computer breaks, the network won’t connect or a cell phone is acting funny, the family calls me. I’ve worked in and around technology development for nearly 20 years. I’m a tech, information and football fanatic with a short attention span who is always trying out new things and sharing information about them with others. In my “free” time, I enjoy drawing, photography, writing, watching anime and spending time with my family. Follow me on Twitter | Facebook

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Now that I have moved over to a MacBook Air I’m especially intrigued by this latest Kickstarter project, that was at MacWorld|iWorld last week. It’s from an organization called LandingZone and after only a few weeks listed on Kickstarter, they’ve reached their target numbers and are going forward with production.

Here are the specs

• Total of 4 USB 2.0 ports; no need to attach a separate USB hub
• Built in 10/100T Ethernet port; no more dongles for the Ethernet or fumbling with the cable
• Built in Mini DisplayPort capable of driving resolution up to 2560×1440
• Built in locking port compatible with all the Kensington Locks; now you can secure your MacBook Air
• Two models to support either the 11″ or 13″ version of the MacBook Air (2010 or later)
• Beautifully designed and engineered for simplicity, elegance, reliability and functionality (patent pending)
• Comes with US power adapter which accepts wide range of input voltage (100~240 Vac)

Since they’ve already reached funding goals, the early adopters have gotten the sweet pricing deal. So for the rest of us, it looks like LandingZone is going to charge $200 for both the 13 and the 11-inch models of the dock. Shipping is expected to as early as February for the 11-inch and March for the 13-inch model.

Yeah – I’m getting one of these.

James Hicks

James is the Founder and Chief Technologist of HicksNewMedia, a technology consulting and digital publishing firm providing effective and relevant solutions to individuals and businesses looking to utilize all things on the interweb. Follow him on Twitter | about.me | Facebook | Google+

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Vidify is a neat, fully featured app that one of our writers found out about recently at the LA AppShow.

What Vidify does is simply the task of creating high quality video from your iDevice.

Vidify automatically edits music videos and montage videos on the fly using the footage from your camera roll and a soundtrack from your iPod/iPhone library.

“When we share personal videos, we’re sharing a story, and music can play a big role in communicating that narrative. When we developed Vidify, it was important that people had the option to tell their story to their favorite music, or to music that was deeply imbedded in the app,” states Ian Noe, co-founder of Nice Labs. “Users will be blown away with how a touch of a button results in creating a story that seamlessly blends from moment to moment as the music plays. It literally looks just like you spent hours editing it.”

What’s awesome – there’s NO editing required. Simply select your videos and your song and Vidify does the rest.

Specifics:

• Use any video on your camera roll from any source
• Use any track from your iPod library as a soundtrack
• Fully licensed Featured Music Library with music by independent artists
• Instantly share videos with your friends using Facebook, Youtube and email
• Play wirelessly on your Apple TV
• Fast processing times using the iPhone’s built in hardware
• Create sharp hi-res videos (HD 720p)

Note: You’ll obviously want to be aware that using commercial music in your video will get rejected by YouTube. I hear that Facebook is also sending notices to people for using copyrighted, commercial audio in video montages – just be aware !!

Here’s video showing exactly how easy Vidify is to use.

Now the fun – we at THE Tech Scoop are running a little giveaway for your very own copy of Vidify. Enter the contest by following the instructions below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck !

James Hicks

James is the Founder and Chief Technologist of HicksNewMedia, a technology consulting and digital publishing firm providing effective and relevant solutions to individuals and businesses looking to utilize all things on the interweb. Follow him on Twitter | about.me | Facebook | Google+

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Sad but true – textbooks will be a thing of the past now that technology giant Apple unveiled 3 new apps that will improve education.In this modern age of technology, students tend to get bored using their school books. But since iPads have become a popular trend among everyone especially the youth, Apple believes that it can be a great learning tool to help the students in their education.

The technology company aims to make students study harder and learn more by integrating the textbooks into the iPads through these 3 new interactive apps. There’s no need to bring several heavy books for different subjects. A portable iPad will replace them all and will actually offer some more.

Apple introduced iBooks 2, an app that will definitely change the way students learn in their classroom. Since this app is free, everyone can download it. iBooks 2 will make the textbooks more fun and interactive by offering features such as videos, photo galleries, 3-D models for Science classes, Q&A sections, ability to search for information quickly, and multitouch gestures among others.

The interactive textbooks will be made using another free Mac app called iBooks Author. This app makes it easy for book publishers to create textbooks as it includes several templates to choose from, easy controls as well as other features for customizing each book. The textbooks can then be downloaded from iBookstore for affordable prices, ranging from $14.99 or less.

But Apple isn’t done yet. It also will offer another amazing app for teachers and professors alike. Called iTunes U, this free app allows teachers to do a lot of things with their iPads such as making lectures downloadable for students, posting messages, creating assignments and many more. It is definitely a one-stop place for your students.

With these 3 new apps, change in the educational system is inevitable. But I think it’s good to embrace change especially if it’s for the better.

[via MSNBC | image via 9to5mac]

Related articles

• Estimated 350,000 iBooks textbooks downloaded in three days (tuaw.com)
• iBooks Textbooks Commentary (macstories.net)

Pat Garde

Patrick is the co-founder of GeekyGuide.com which writes about geek stuff and focuses on geek shirts and consumer electronics. Follow Pat on LinkedIn.

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From friends to enemies – the relationship of the two pioneering companies has turned sour as they are both battling lawsuits over a number of patent infringements filed by one another.

But Kodak is truly experiencing a series of unfortunate events. After Kodak filed patent infringement lawsuits against Apple earlier this year, the photography firm has also filed for bankruptcy – something everyone has been expecting to happen. The company has seriously struggled to increase their sales soon after the digital cameras were introduced.

Kodak Inc., the pioneering company in the photography industry, has assets worth $5.1 billion and debts amounting to $6.8 billion. It is now seeking for bankruptcy protection to keep the company afloat. Citigroup has agreed to lend $950 million to help finance Kodak’s operations during the company’s struggling times.

But Apple, recognized as the most admired company by Fortune 500 in 2011, asked the bankruptcy court to prevent Kodak from using the disputed patents as loan collaterals. The company, which introduced the iPhone and iPad, claims that the patents actually belong to them.

Back in the 1990s, the two companies joined forces and worked together to come up with something innovative. At that time, Apple stated that it has disclosed some confidential digital technologies to Kodak with an agreement that whatever modifications or improvements made to these technologies, Apple still has the exclusive rights over them.

The battle between these two giants is expected to continue.

[via TUAW]

Pat Garde

Patrick is the co-founder of GeekyGuide.com which writes about geek stuff and focuses on geek shirts and consumer electronics. Follow Pat on LinkedIn.

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First off, it really feels different without Apple having a presence here. The best metaphor I can come up with in my 5-Hour Energy induced state, is that – it’s their party (Apple), but they decided not to show up.

Nonetheless, vendors and enthusiasts are here wide-eyed and eager to assist and promote their latest app, and accessory for the Apple platform.

As always there are a ton of companies with their rendition of the best iPad or iPhone case. We’ve got water resistant, scratch resistant and even drop resistant products. All viable solutions, all in varied colors and textures and designs. You figure, when you have a good majority of the digitally connected world using your device, you can’t just make one style or color of case (not everyone wants black silicone).

On the app side, I’ve walked the expo hall probably 3 times already and am pleasantly surprised to see more of a variety of apps being introduced for the iOS and OS X platforms. There’s a definite focus on music, video and photo production using the iOS platform; various producers and filmmakers from the iPhone Film Festival will be onsite screening a handful of films for the first time this week.

The booths that got me to stop and take a closer look so far were:

• Dolly Drive – I actually met this team a few months ago at CES. At the core, Dolly Drive provides online backup storage and data recovery. You can sync, you can store and you can even clone your bootable image. The real differentiator that Dolly Drive has over their competitors is that they work seamlessly with Time Machine. Mac users rejoice, because THAT is pretty cool.

• Nivio – Now these guys didn’t make this list just because they’ve invited me to their ultra secret launch party tonight (free beer and wine don’t sway my decisions). I’m actually quite impressed with what Nivio has been able to accomplish. Essentially they have taken the pain out of deploying remote desktop and computing environments. In a perfect tech world, everyone would have a MacBook on their lap and not really have a need to fire up Windows 7 or God-forbid, Windows XP. But that’s not the case, many business professionals still need to access Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. What Nivio has made available is a fully functional Windows desktop from the Cloud. On nivio, users have access to an App-Store where they can rent applications, such as the complete Microsoft productivity suite, and take advantage of 10GB of upgradeable, free synchronized storage. nivio is accessible from any iOS, Android, Mac, Windows or Linux device, including iPads, Android tablets, PCs and laptops.

The User Conference is no more, now the sessions are referred to as Tech Talks. On my schedule today is:

• Appalooza: Top 25 iPad2 Apps for Social Media
• Macworld Magazine Senior Editor Chris Breen will conduct an interview and we’ll be entertained with a performance by moe
• Macworld RapidFire: Five (5) minute, to-the-point topics to help us grasp a specific concept or develop a new approach to using Apple technology (sounds like an abbreviated TED Talk to me) – I’ll let you know how this one works out.

Obviously there’s much MUCH more. The conference has only been on for 6 hours so I’m not drawing too many conclusions – there is much more to see and many more people to talk to.

I just wanted to give you a quick glimpse into my initial experiences at Macworld | iWorld – more to come soon !

Related articles

• Dolly Drive, online Mac backup, brings latest features to iLounge at CES (themactrack.com)
• TUAW TV Live: The pre-Macworld | iWorld 2012 Episode (tuaw.com)

James Hicks

James is the Founder and Chief Technologist of HicksNewMedia, a technology consulting and digital publishing firm providing effective and relevant solutions to individuals and businesses looking to utilize all things on the interweb. Follow him on Twitter | about.me | Facebook | Google+

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From their press release:

“The new iBooks 2 app is available today as a free download from the App Store™. With support for great new features including gorgeous, fullscreen books, interactive 3D objects, diagrams, videos and photos, the iBooks 2 app will let students learn about the solar system or the physics of a skyscraper with amazing new interactive textbooks that come to life with just a tap or swipe of the finger. With its fast, fluid navigation, easy highlighting and note-taking, searching and definitions, plus lesson reviews and study cards, the new iBooks 2 app lets students study and learn in more efficient and effective ways than ever before.

iBooks Author is also available today as a free download from the Mac App Store and lets anyone with a Mac create stunning iBooks textbooks, cookbooks, history books, picture books and more, and publish them to Apple’s iBookstore. Authors and publishers of any size can start creating with Apple-designed templates that feature a wide variety of page layouts. iBooks Author lets you add your own text and images by simply dragging and dropping, and with the Multi-Touch™ widgets you can easily add interactive photo galleries, movies, Keynote® presentations and 3D objects.”

From the first announcement, I’m particularly excited to try out the free iBooks author software and see how easy or difficult it is to created the content for the platform.

On the topic of iTunes U, as a person who loves to learn new things and continue to educate myself – the new iTunes U is more than welcome and I’m very eager to give it a hands on review.

Apple’s press release indicates:

“The all-new iTunes U app enables students anywhere to tap into entire courses from the world’s most prestigious universities,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “Never before have educators been able to offer their full courses in such an innovative way, allowing anyone who’s interested in a particular topic to learn from anywhere in the world, not just the classroom.”

 

Where to get the iPad software:

iBooks

iTunes U

Lance

If the computer breaks, the network won’t connect or a cell phone is acting funny, the family calls me. I’ve worked in and around technology development for nearly 20 years. I’m a tech, information and football fanatic with a short attention span who is always trying out new things and sharing information about them with others. In my “free” time, I enjoy drawing, photography, writing, watching anime and spending time with my family. Follow me on Twitter | Facebook

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Image by Getty Images via @daylife

After taking over Steve Jobs’ position last year, Apple’s new CEO Tim Cook gets an astounding compensation package of $380 million. But don’t get so overwhelmed just yet as the reported compensation package actually includes a stock award worth $376 million which is scheduled to vest within a 10-year period.

The one million Apple shares is regarded as a “promotion and retention award.” This means half of the shares will vest in 2016 and the remaining half in 2021 if Cook stays with Apple. So basically, the compensation isn’t only for 2011 as others might have misunderstood.

The rest of the package is made up of his salary and incentive bonus worth $900,000 each. Cook’s compensation package is arguably one of the highest given to a CEO. In contrast, although Steve Jobs received only a dollar for his annual salary, he owned 5.5 million shares in the company which amounts to over $2 billion.

Tim Cook succeeded Steve Jobs after the latter stepped down from his position in August last year due to his deteriorating health condition. Even before Cook became the CEO of the tech giant, he had been filling in for Jobs who had several medical leave of absences in the hope of overcoming pancreatic cancer. Steve Jobs died in October of the same year, just weeks after his resignation.

[via CBS News]

Related articles

• Former Apple employee writes an email to Tim Cook addressing a sensitive topic (macgasm.net)
• Steve Jobs’s Paycheck: $1. Tim Cook’s Paycheck: $378 Million. (allthingsd.com)

Pat Garde

Patrick is the co-founder of GeekyGuide.com which writes about geek stuff and focuses on geek shirts and consumer electronics. Follow Pat on LinkedIn.

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