The Passing of a Legend

It was last night when I returned from an epic Dave Matthews Band concert that I opened my laptop to see the sad news that Michael Jackson had passed away. From early on, the press had suggested that the star had suffered a cardiac arrest and later Jackson was pronounced dead at UCLA Medical Center.

Jacksons impact on the world is clearly visible via proxies such as Google believing that it was under attack from a virus. "Millions of people who Googled the star's name were greeted with an error page rather than a list of results."

Sites such as Twitter saw a huge increase in traffic with the key search and posted topics being in regards to Michael Jackson. Other websites such as iTunes and Youtube have seen a huge increase in the number of downloads/views as this time of sadness grips the world with Michael Jackson fever.

But with the passing of this legend we also see the power of the internet. It is at times such as these that we realise how the internet has revolutionised our life's and has allowed for information to flow so freely.

This I see as my small testament to a legend who's music inspired for over four decades, and will no doubt continue to do for many years to come.

The New iPhone 3GS

The iPhone 3GS was not what manic Apple fans expected when Apple announced that it would be updating its iPhone range. So called leaked images that appeared on iPhoneHacks.com suggested an updated shell which seemed to follow a path of common sense, but when Apple reveled the iPhone 3GS on the outside it in no way differed from the previous model (the 3G iPhone). A deeper look into the iPhone reveals, where the time has gone, the hardware upgrade has been significant, with the new iPhone 3GS now boasting speeds twice as fast as its predecessor, and with a software update the ability to use quirky functions such as voice commands and the much needed MMS functionality.

The real question which is still unanswered asks how well the iPhone 3GS stacks up against is many rivals, with the likes of Nokia, Palm and even Samsung and LG all wanting to get in on the iPhones action, one must question if Apple has done enough to fight off its rivals to maintain the iPhones must have appeal.

My personal opinion suggests that a physical reconstruction of the iPhone could have helped increase the length of those lines outside the many Apple stores early on release day, but by only changing what is on the inside of the iPhone, many consumers decided to stay at home. Another dilemma that pre-existing iPhone customers face is the fact that networks such as o2 (in the UK) have told customers that the only way they can upgrade their iPhones is if they either see out their full contracts or if they buyout their existing contract, and therefore then start a new one with o2. With the average customer on a 18 month mobile contract the first option can seem like a long wait and the second option a huge waste of money. Both of these reasons may obviously in the future lead to a fall in consumer satisfaction and thus in the long run could hurt Apples profits.