People are up in arms over the new developers terms that effectively are going to shut Adobe Flash developers out of the iPhone.

There are accusations flying and terms that aren’t making a lot of sense regarding how Apple operates, and let’s just cut to them.

Apple designs a complete ecosystem, hardware and software. No one complains about the closed ecosystems for gaming platforms such as the Wii, Xbox or PS3. And they are unarguably very successful.

The real question you might ask yourself is who is Apple’s customer for mobile devices. Is it Adobe? Microsoft? Google?

It’s the end user, and quiet honestly, the end user has pretty simple needs. How often have I heard a person riddicule the iPhone or smartphones saying, all I want to do is make a phone call! Simplicity!

Apple got it with the simple apps that come with the phone.

Flash support means that Apple will have to support another technology on it’s phone and ensure it is stable and doesn’t interfere with the product. According to Apple, it drains battery life significantly faster.

But what about…

What about what? Apple makes both the hardware and software. They don’t license it to anyone. For 1 full year the idea of an App was foreign unless you jailbroke your phone. One page of Apps was it. People still bought the phone. No one complained that it didn’t have Java Apps or lots of other stuff.

Why? Because there was no expectation.

Oh yes, I’m a fan of Apple. But I also offer criticism when that’s due too.

Personally I believe that the flash/CS5 deal has more to do with Adobe’s lack of OS X support for 64 bit with Photoshop, which may have moved Mac Sales to Windows PCs.

Who bit whose hand first? Huh?

Of course you can’t write terms of service that say, if you use flash, it won’t be supported, now can ya, so they made it generic.

I think that the people who have more room to criticize are Independent Musicians who use iTMS to sell their music.

But atleast music has gone DRM free.

If you don’t like the Apple mobile experience, there are plenty of other well established competitors, Blackberry, Android, Palm, Windows7 mobile. Just to name a few, not to mention all those feature phones out there.

Criticism is good, but let’s not call it a monopoly.

If you are looking for a webcam for your Mac these days and would specifically like an external webcam, then you will have to look somewhere other than Apple.com to get your need filled.  With Millions of Macs out there, it is odd that Apple has discontinued an item that is part of the A/V solution for the legacy systems out there.  More importantly though, the iSight was a much better product than most of the other webcam solutions out there.

The iSight could be easily adjusted independently of the computer screen, so the height of the sitting user wouldn’t have to be adjusted, rather it was a simple tilt of the camera.  It was easy to turn it off and on, with the turn of the lens.  Great interface, FIREWIRE, offering high speed video and audio with little to no latency.  Finally on my iMac, it sits there with a magnetic base, how easy is that.

So what of this vacuum?  If you have priced an iSight on eBay or Amazon.com, you will find that you can pay upwards of $300 to $500 for an unopened iSight.  A used one could easily fetch $200.

Check out this eBay link http://cgi.ebay.com/Apple-isight-camera-BRAND-NEW-firewire-webcam-G4-G5-Mac_W0QQitemZ170080944889QQihZ007QQcategoryZ80045QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

And here at Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0007KX4VU/sr=8-1/qid=1171453854/ref=pd_bbs_sr_olp_1/002-9036144-5739225?ie=UTF8&s=electronics

I know that auctions and prices fluctuate often, but you rarely see prices of electronics go up, normally they go down, so it looks as if Apple should consider getting the iSight II on the shelf, if one exists.  The price of the original iSight was $129, I believe, so if you have a few sitting on your shelf, time to make a few bucks.

Software Applications
1.  Bar-Code Reader (Like Delicious Library)
2.  Voice Recorder – PODCAST on the road
3.  Video Recorder – Video PODCAST on the road
4.  WiFi Finder
5.  Bluetooth Finder
6.  Play Music/Video wirelessly streamed to the iPhone.
7.  JAVA Apps
8.  Games
9.  Transfer non-DRM files between other iPhones and Mac/PCs
10.  Anti-theft protection (emails you automatically if the device is picked up and turned on)
11.  Emulate Palm OS (with ease)
12.  Run/view Office products (Gasp!)
13.  Financial planner
14.  Credit-Card/Checking Alert (Every time your card is used, get notified).

Hardware Add-ons

15.    GPS Interface
16.    Point of Sale Credit card System
17.    Driver License verification
18.     (check ages at a bar)
19.     (pull up police record data for law enforcement)
20.    Game controller
21.    Hands Free Carphone
22.    Bluetooth Keyboard Use
23.    Memory expansion unit
24.    Biometric verification (finger print scanner/reader)
25.    Automobile troubleshooting device/interface . (Diagnostic tool to Read/Scan Car Computers)
   
Widgets

26. Netflix Que
27. Cheap Gas
28. Book hotels/flights/cars
29. Trade stocks
 
Possible undisclosed features
30. Printing (Via WiFi/Bluetooth)
31. Filesharing
32. System partitioning/use as a boot device.

While Ken says don’t unsubscribe to InsideMac, I would have to disagree.  Ken’s Mac News is what made Inside Mac.  Until that self-appointed nitwit acknowledges that the InsideMac audience is about 90% KEN and 10% Laura Bernstein, he will no doubt see a dismal drop in his ratings.  Vocal Charisma is KEY, and Scott Shepard Fucked UP Big Time!  You don’t get somethin’ for nothing.

 Don’t worry Ken, you’ll do just fine!