A continuation of an Apple patent filing from April 18th surfaced this week. The invention “Advertising in Operating System” brought up suspicions that Apple is  preparing a fremium model for the next release of Mac OS X. Fears that there will be pop-up ads just to do basic functions make pretty good link-bait for the tech blog echo chamber. [AppleInsider]

The scary advertising bogey man is holding your OS hostage, or so you've been led to believe.

Optimists hope that this patent will be used just to prevent other software firms from creating their own ad-supported operating systems. If granted, any company out to make a ad-supported operating system could be stopped by Apple patent-licensing fees. Noble, but if we can’t be bothered with ad-supported television will the market support an ad-based computer. *cough* PeoplePC *cough*

Seeing past the idea of Apple leveraging their iAds platform into Mac O$ XashGrab, there are some real opportunities for Apple to encourage growth. Take a look at the one diagram that the tech blogs aren’t bothering to post:

Advertising Component

The ‘Advertising Component’ sits alongside all of the other OS pieces. Notice, that it’s neither blocking any of the other modules nor are any modules dependent upon the ‘Advertising Component’.  So follow me on this one, ‘Advertising Component’ is a core technology.

Core Ads or Core iAds brought to Mac OS will entice developers to make apps for the desktop just as they did for the iPhone and iPod touch. Shareware won’t have to nag you to pay for the full version, it will just nag you with the well honed ads served up from Apple. The true beauty of this is Apple doesn’t have to put advertising on any of its applications to make money. Third-party application developers hungry for a slice of the ad dollars will use Core iAds and Apple makes money on the back end. You won’t be stopped by an ad going from AddressBook.app to Mail.app, but you may have to view a movie trailer in order to paste a form letter from your third-party clipboard app.

iAds just can’t sit on mobile devices alone. This patent is a peek into how Apple is going to make it part of our desktop computing.

For a while now, T-Mobile’s offer for a USD $1 a day prepaid Sidekick plan. This meant that unlimited web browsing, sms, instant messaging, and email. The dirty secret is this worked for all handsets – including an unlocked iPhone… until this weekend (8AUG09). A small group of Howard Forums [link] users confirmed that T-Mobile has cut off application and browser HTTP access.

I’ve been a closeted HTC Magic (T-Mobile G1) user for a while and though I have an iPhone on AT&T, I wanted to have a backup network. Dependent on WiFi to be of any use, I had to unlock my G1 and put it on the AT&T network. Although costly, AT&T is currently the only US Carrier that would allow GPRS/EDGE on a prepaid account.

T-Mobile is now opening up a dialog on prepaid data plans in its forums [link]. Now, I would like to see a cheaper plan for data, but I don’t even know what would be equitable to me and T-Mobile. I’m willing to pay $1 a day, but for only the days that I use my phone. I’m not against paying for a block of data, i.e  (n GB for $x) but it doesn’t seem fair that people who have contracts enjoy far cheaper data rates.

I don’t see T-Mobile coming coming out with a plan any time soon, but at least I can get back and running at 25¢ a minute per call, and .02¢ a KB for data.

The “modest” home featured in TLC’s “Jon & Kate Plus 8″ is up for sale. Set as the backdrop for four seasons, we’ve seen so much activity go on in this five-bedroom home. Clearly, the Gosslin family celebrity nor the popularity of the show isn’t enough to send house buyers to their mortgage brokers, but I think a special kind of crazy will sell this house.

Think about it… this home would be a pornographer’s dream. It’s a familiar place, it’s been on TV – so it’s practically got a fan base, and you can parody the name.

Jon & Kate Host 8
Jon & 8 in Kate
Jon & 8 Kates

All the wholesome people who would protest the sale and videos would only add to the marketing cache. All I ask is 2% of the sales and a 75K consulting fee.

Read about the sale and see photos in Luxist [link]

I sat down to a meal with my family, and the inevitable topic of personal health came up.  With a vocal minority of health professionals, one has to take care around my family when bringing up any subject that could be remotely tied in with the medical field.  Charred foods evoke carcinogens in food, outsourcing IT jobs turns to the booming medical tourism in India, the cotton in my t-shirt ends up in a conversation about weight loss, and weight loss dovetails (without fail) into weight loss surgery.

Mom’s lot in life is working in an inner-city county hospital.  In recent years, she’s noticed a shrinking amount of heart-surgeries in favor for “preventative” gastric bypass or stomach banding procedures, and increased cases of strokes an brain aneurysms.

“Get your headaches checked out. If there’s a clot and they can’t *coil that, you don’t have long to live.” — Mom.

She says this as I stuff another piece of chinese roast pork belly in my mouth, increasing the cholesterol that latches onto the walls of my blood vessels, thereby creating a perfect net to catch a blood clot.  Mom then passed her hand over my head, just barely grazing my hair as if to show me where the deadly blood clot will burst in my brain. This disturbing move is just like the time when she gently traced my ear to show where cancer would form if you talked on a cell phone for hours on end.

“I’ve seen young kids… with cancer right along here.” –Mom

Just as I get over mom’s spooky prophecy:

1. I developed a headache yesterday which continues today. [I'm writing this with the concern that I don't keep aspirin in my desk as an emergency blood thinner that will sustain me in case I need to be rushed to the hospital]
2. Someone forwarded me a chain e-mail of how to identify if someone is having a stroke.
3. My iTunes playlist played a podcast interview with Jill Bolte Taylor about how she, as a brain scientist, experienced her stroke.

My take away: the universe is agreeing with my mom, and I’m going to have a stroke… or it’s all in my head.

* coil = coil embolization