Blog
Jan 19
Last Thursday, I had the privilege of running my second marathon, in the northern Israeli city of Tiberias. It is known as Israel's national marathon, and is a very flat course, which tends to lead to fast finish times.
In marathon running, there are various entities that always make things interesting. There are the rabbits, who are paid to set out at a blistering pace, but often don't even complete the race. There are those who start slow, in the hope that by conserving energy, they will have more in the tank at the latter stages of the race. There are pacers, who are there to run the race in a specific, predetermined time, so that those who want to finish in that time know to stay close to the pacer. There are the fans, who line...
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Jan 2
I read a recent report that discusses the lukewarm reception for Verizon's LTE service. We are one year in, and it seems that a disappointing number of devices have been shipped to-date, to those who have decided that the promise of 4G is worth the upgrade.
I'd like to suggest that a fundamental dynamic at play here. We all know that LTE is faster than 3G. Much faster. And we know that the relative cost for that speed is quite reasonable.
But is it so much so that people will be willing to end their current user agreements, upgrade to 4G phones and sign new contracts?
The answer, it would seem – at least according to this report – is no. And the reason is that there are no apps in place yet that make a user say,...
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Dec 15
I've written in the past about how exciting LTE will be for everyone, because not only will it be much faster than 3G, it also promises to NOT come along with a high price tag for consumers.
But as you know, a high price tag can be determined through many factors, not only based on the cost of the core technology.
And that is why I'm particularly excited about something that Altair is doing – and that it seems others are trying to do as well.
It's called Open Platform™, and you may know of it – at least conceptually – from IT and other areas of hi-tech. For example, those who use the Linux operating system love that it is open, because it enables them to develop whatever they want to develop, however they...
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Nov 22
On a recent visit to the United States, I noted the significant 4G-focused advertising presence both Verizon Wireless and AT&T have these days.
And while six months ago, you could chalk up the advertising to no more than hype, times have changed quickly, and each of those companies now has a true-blue 4G offering that is much faster than 3G services were.
Sprint is lagging behind for now, but they will certainly catch up. And one of these players will be first to offer the LTE-enabled iPhone, whenever that device is ready.
But overall, the big guys – Verizon Wireless and AT&T, and eventually Sprint – will all get to the same point. And then what?
Well, the truth is that for all the advertising Verizon Wireless...
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Oct 16
You know, everyone and their mother is writing something about Steve Jobs. You name it … They are writing about it. About the need for more cancer research … and the question about whether he had OCD (Why does that even matter?), and even this one, entitled "Why I spent Yom Kippur at Steve Jobs' House."
Yes, everyone had something to say about it. So rather than jumping on the bandwagon right away, I thought I would give it a week, and then contribute my take, which not-so-surprisingly focuses on Altair.
When I heard about Jobs' death, I immediately thought to myself, "Wow. When Apple launched the first iPhone, I remember the first presentation that he gave at MacWorld 2007."
Why do I remember it...
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