Xephyer

First - for those of you wondering where I've been - i was traveling for work and had various appointments and other running around to do - so sorry for leaving everyone hanging for a bit.

Apparently Verizon and Apple are now in high-level discussions to bring two apple products to Verizon.

Now, we all know that AT&T has an exclusive agreement with Apple for the iPhone - but BusinessWeek reports that Apple and Verizon are in talks about selling two new wireless devices.

According to BusinessWeek, the devices are a less-expensive "iPhone lite" and a bigger "media pad" that "would let users listen to music, view photos, and watch high-definition videos" as well as offering wi-fi calling. This sounds a lot like the tablet that Apple is supposedly developing. (see my post on Apple Web Tablet from early March ).

This seems like a solid strategy. First, you don't want to cut your share of the AT&T crowd, but by opening up new devices to verizon, you have just also brought on board another huge market. One question is what an "iPhone lite" would be? It would have to be less expensive than the $199 price point, and would really need to be able to work with the iPhone App Store, as well as have GPS features. Apple has repeatedly said it has no interest in selling cheap phones, so it seems likely it won't be too lame.

The bigger news, at least to me, is the "media pad". Now BusinessWeek describes it as "smaller than an Amazon Kindle electronic reader, but its touchscreen is bigger than the Kindle's," citing someone who's seen it. Maybe Apple is planning more than one media pad - as rumors were previously that it was going with a 10" screen.

The other question is Apple making these devices to work with Verizon's 3G network - or wait for another year or so for the roll-out of the Verizon 4G network - which is reportedly going to be the standard. Guess we'll have to wait and see.

Okay - I just found this funny:

Cruises

This morning, Somali pirates seized a US-flagged container ship (the Maersk Alabama) in the Indian Ocean. All 20 American crew members aboard were believed to be unharmed. The ship was travelling to the Kenyan port of Mombasa. She was snatched after a sustained assault involving several pirate skiffs about 400 nautical miles east of Mogadishu. The attack lasted five hours as the ship tried unsuccessfully to evade the assault.

Latest news, as of 1215pm (est) suggests that the US crew is back in control of the vessel with at least one pirate in custody - I hope to have more on this soon.

3:30pm (est) Update: It seems that 19 of the crew are safe - and that the ship's Captain (Capt. Richard Phillips) is being held hostage by four pirates in one of the vessel's lifeboats. Apparently negotiations are underway for the Captain's release.

I hope to have more details posted later today or tomorrow.

As many of my sharp-eyed readers will notice, the blog is now simply titled 'Xephyer'. What happened to Really Cool Sh*t you ask?

Well, I've had a number (okay maybe a half a dozen) comments about the title - and the fact that it may not be appropriate for all ages - and one that it was NSFW. While I really don't see a huge problem with the title, I did decide that I'd go ahead and change it and just go with Xephyer.

Now - the items discussed in the blog won't change - it will still be an eclectic mix of TV, Movies, Apps, Games, News and other things that I think are interesting.

As for other changes with the blog - soon (hopefully before the end of the month) we'll have a whole new look - and probably an associated podcast. The podcast would be a recap of some of the items covered on the blog - some times in more depth, and also touch on a number of associated topics. I'd be interested in hearing comments or thoughts about a podcast, and if you would be interested it.

Also - with the redesign look, I'll be looking for a few people who might want to contribute items on particular topics at regular intervals. If you think you might be interested, drop me a line or - in a few days I should have a link you can use to indicate your interest.