There has been a ton of media coverage speculating on all sorts of Apple products in the pipeline and guesses as to what is coming out this fall.

First of all, nobody knows except Apple.  All of the pundits are guessing.  Even if you are working on the assembly line putting the phone together, you have no real way of knowing when it will launch.

Prediction #1:  iPhone 6

Yes, there will be a new iPhone this fall and it may be called the iPhone 6, it may be called the iPhone Air, or it could just be the new iPhone. 

Screen size:  There is speculation that it will have a bigger screen or that there will be 2 different sizes of screen and my guess is that we will not see the larger screen this year.  I think that when Apple extended the screen the last time that the change was made for the next 3 - 4 years which means we probably have 2 more years of this form factor.  Part of the reason is that people get really upset having to buy new sizes of accessories.  Seems silly but it's that kind of thing that ends up annoying people.

Prediction #2: iWatch

I am going to go out on a limb and say that there will not be an iWatch introduced this year meaning 2014.  The wearables market is already seeing gear from competitors like Samsung, LG, and the much anticipated Moto360.  The reviews on these devices basically say "Nice but not great" which tells me that it would be a bad move to introduce a new iWatch because the market is already wondering if these are necessary and launching it so soon after others makes Apple look a bit desperate.

Most people assume whatever Apple introduces will be incredible and with the other watches only working with Android, Apple isn't really losing current customers unless those customers switch from iPhone to another phone.  That could happen but the numbers won't be significant since people would have to break their contracts and do massive data migration.

The only reason I could see to introduce the iWatch in the fall would be if it will have the health / fitness tracker capabilities.  Everybody will want one in January as they fight off the holiday pounds and look to get in shape for spring.

Prediction #3:  Macbooks in multiple colors

The Macbook lineup have been excellent over the last few years but with a lot of great Apple products, they look a bit boring after a while.  This fall would be a great time to introduce color to the Macbook line.

People were willing to pay $200 extra in the past for the black polycarbonate Macbooks and I think that being able to get them in multiple colors would spring a little life into the sales of the product line.  Not that Apple needs to sell more as they do well enough but when the competition is cheaper and getting thinner, it would be nice to be able to buy a black Macbook Air to show off some style.

Prediction #4:  CarPlay

With CarPlay launching this summer / fall, there is going to be a lot of visibility on Apple from the support perspective for the in car experience.  While it's not a requirement that it launches without any issues, having any problems that become news will be a black eye on their launch into this marketplace.

The aftermarket systems from Pioneer and Alpine are going to do very well.  There are a lot of people out there who don't want to use a GPS, an iPod, a Stereo, and CD Player in their car when their phone can do it all.  CarPlay will be a hit because it gives people exactly what they have always wanted

We are launching our first MVP tonight at the Beta.MN event in downtown Minneapolis.  There's going to be about 300 people and we are looking to get feedback on our location based survey startup currently operating under the name "RoomPoll".

We have all the startups that are attending loaded with feedback forms as well as the event and the RoomPoll site too.  It should be a fun night with a lot of great networking for those interested in Minneapolis startups.

If you are there, find the guy with the RoomPoll shirt on and say "Hi!".  Especially if you are a developer wanting to help build out this great new startup!

"Everyone gets a free terabyte."

What a great statement.  And I hope it causes other online photo databases to respond the same way that email providers did when Google provided 1 gigabyte of email storage which at the time was unheard of online.

Flickr has always been one of those sites that I had tried and thought it was o.k.  It didn't have the exact tools I wanted and I slept better at night knowing my photos were safe on my computer.  The other main reason was that online storage limits for photos was nowhere near the capacity I wanted without having to pay a monthly fee.

This move by Flickr makes them relevant again in my opinion.  This is a big, bold move and if this is any indication of how Yahoo! is going to go after competitors in their spaces, I'm looking forward to what Yahoo! has planned.

I've never really gotten into the Picasa / Google photos services enough to make it something I use all the time but I'm close to wanting to just put all my stuff in the cloud and photo storage and sharing will be the next thing I am going to focus on.

Flickr is back in the discussion because they took away a barrier that won't matter in a few years.  Storage is always getting cheaper and to jump to 1 terabyte for me is a big deal but for Yahoo!, I'm guessing it's not that big of a deal.

Nice move by Flickr / Yahoo!  Innovation doesn't always have to be shiny or new.  It can sometimes just be "more".

Analytics is being applied to every part of our life from fitness (Fitbit, Nike Plus) to home automation (SmartThings) or even finance (Mint).  While some cars have had the ability to display some statistics about how you are driving, it's always been an expense option to add as part of a package.

This will change when Automatic goes live.

Automatic connects your car to your smartphone  to give you high-end car features such as driving feedback, trip timelines, and check engine light codes to diagnose what is wrong with your car.  It can also tell you where you parked and in beta is a Crash Alert to call 911 if you get in an accident.

And all it costs is a one-time purchase of a car plug for $69.95.  There is no subscription to buy.

I can already tell that this would save me money because anytime the check engine light goes on, my local garage charges me $99 to read the code and "diagnose" what the potential problem may be with my car.  Other cost savings would come from the driving feedback and the trip timeline.  And that's just for the individual user.  Parents would love this device to keep track of their kids and their driving habits.  

You can imagine a small business using this to both track and manage their drivers and to compensate them for their miles and to make sure their fleet of cars are being driven according to company guidelines.  And if a driver ever gets into an accident, you would have some information regarding hard breaking or speeding which might even help should you have to go to court.

The idea of this has been around for a while but it's nice to see that somebody has taken this "to the masses" and to show the big automakers that technology like this is possible and doesn't cost $500 with a monthly subscription.

iPhone users can pre-order now for May shipping, Android ships this fall.  

Pre-order the Automatic here:  
https://www.automatic.com/order

There are a lot of different websites or apps that get released into private beta or "invite only" and the process for these new sites or apps is pretty basic:  Sign up and then wait to get an email. 

The new Mailbox app from Orchestra, Inc. is showing a different way to run a beta of it's product and it's actually a lot of fun with complete transparency!

When you download the app, it reserves you place in line. I'm guessing most sites that are in beta do the same thing but to me what is different about this is that they actually display your place in line with the number of people in front of you and the number of people behind you.

Opening the app will count down from the last number you saw to your current place in line.  I've seen it move only a few hundred spots to moving over 10,000.  The incredible thing is that I check the app every few days just to see where I am in line.

I am guessing there are other apps or sites that have done similar things however this is my first experience with this sort of process in an app and it's nice.

I'll write up a summary of Mailbox after I get it installed but I already have had a positive experience with what I should expect from the app based on the user experience so far.

To me, this is the future.  It's a little scary but it's incredible.  

Google Now has changed how I view my email and search.  I'm actually wanting to give it more information so that Google provides me with more of everything.

Let me step back for a minute and explain Google Now.

From Google's site:
Google Now gets you just the right information at just the right time.

It tells you today’s weather before you start your day, how much traffic to expect before you leave for work, when the next train will arrive as you’re standing on the platform, or your favorite team's score while they’re playing. And the best part? All of this happens automatically. Cards appear throughout the day at the moment you need them.

I bought a Nexus 4 just so I could have this functionality.  It tells me when UPS has delivered a package to my home, it tells me when I should leave for an appointment and factors in traffic.  It's the future we were promised when Palm launched the PRE.

This is a huge differentiator between Apple and Google.  Siri can't compete with this because this displays relevant information without me asking it.  Consider Google Now "pre-search".  

Google has done an excellent job with Google Now.  This is the future, now.