Press play to watch me discuss the Logitech Harmony One Universal Remote!

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Will iTunes become a subscription-based service? I certainly don’t think so.

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At this week’s Intel Developer Forum, Steve Wozniak took the stage and discussed his career and his hope for the future of tech. All the while, it had me thinking about what I would like to see happen in this brave, new world of technology and how I hope that derivative products don’t ruin this industry’s appeal to the mainstream.

“We had dreams that computers would improve education and improve communication and help us achieve a lot of tasks. A lot of us in our group understood it,” Woz told the crowd. “What we were doing was not (figuring out) how build a computer. It was how you get a computer that fits into the home. Price, looks–a lot of that stuff. It gave us more passion. We used the word ‘revolution’ all over the place.

“The rewards are in your head.”

As a person that loves technology and has dedicated his life to the covering, opining about, and using it, I hope Wozniak’s words inspire not just engineers, but companies that are looking to do special things. I hope that what Wozniak says so eloquently will resonate in the offices of Dell or the garages of companies we’ve never heard of before.

I hope that innovation, that simple premise that we see so little of today, will lead this industry forward and become the cornerstone of its development from now on.

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Will VoIP become the technology of choice for the future of cell phones? I certainly think so.

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With the upcoming release of Spore making just about every gamer’s mouth water, I couldn’t help but wonder if the game will be the greatest of all time.

I understand that it’s premature to even suggest that a game we haven’t ever played will somehow be the best game ever, but with the hype surrounding it and those that are “in the know” saying it’s really that great, it’s easy for all of us to get caught up in that kind of hype.

Daniel Terdiman, who writes the over at the Gaming and Culture blog here on CNET, recently interviewed Will Wright to discuss Spore and delve deep into the inner-workings of his mind and his creation.

After reading through that interview, a number of things stuck out in my mind. Does Will Wright truly believe that Spore will best the Sims franchise? Is Will Wright the industry’s premier innovator and the one man that will be able to propel it forward into a new era? And most importantly, will Spore, after the dust settles, be considered the greatest game of all time by the majority of people?

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Nielsen yesterday released a study it conducted on the popularity of the top 10 search engines for July. As expected, Google sat atop the list, commanding more than 60 percent of the market after enjoying 16 percent year-over-year growth. Trailing behind, Yahoo and Microsoft captured 17.4 percent and 11.9 percent of the market, respectively. More importantly, both companies lost ground to Google–Yahoo witnessed an 11 percent decline, while Microsoft suffered through a 10 percent decline.

And although countless tech pundits will chime in and discuss exactly why Google has been able to run roughshod over its competition, few will point out one basic fact that is too often overlooked: Google search is designed to get rid of you as quickly as possible.

Surely, some will attribute Google’s success to its better search results or Yahoo’s management troubles or Microsoft’s poor offering, but it goes far beyond that. Search isn’t simply about relevant results or the competition. Instead, search is all about getting you to your destination as quickly as possible.

And so far, it’s quite apparent that only Google understands that basic premise.

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In this week’s episode of the Digital Home podcast, Don Reisinger takes a look at what Google and Apple are doing and talks a little about his new video series. After that, he talks with Rhapsody about the music industry and wraps up the show with a rant.

Listen now:

Download today’s podcast

EPISODE 29

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Japan is investigating the possibility of overheating iPod Nanos, according to a report. The country’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry is looking into three reports of overheating iPod Nanos starting fires and confirmed that Apple had two other cases of something similar occurring.

The iPod Nano overheating allegedly happened during 2005 and 2006 and so far, there haven’t been any reports that the same issues persist.

It should also be noted that back in 2006, Apple was included in a long list of companies that had computer battery issues that were also sparking fires.

But Apple’s problems have stretched far beyond battery problems. The company is facing trouble over its utterly crappy MobileMe, has dealt with concerns over faulty “first-generation” devices, and has consistently delivered less than what we’re looking for in iPhones. All the while, Apple still thinks it’s necessary to remove applications from its App Store with nary a mention as to why.

Amid all those problems (and many more that I didn’t recount), Apple’s satisfaction rating is the highest in the business, sales are stronger than ever, and there are no signs of either slowing down at any time.

So what’s the deal? Why is Apple given a slap on the wrist, while other tech companies would pay dearly for similar offenses? If you ask me, it has nothing to do with the products and everything to do with Apple’s marketing machine.

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Will VoIP become the technology of choice for the future of cell phones? I certainly think so.

And as always, drop me a line or follow me on Twitter!

In this episode, I discuss why it’s imperative that tech companies be more honest and stop playing the PR game, while trying to pull one over on us. Honesty is what will set companies apart from competitors!

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