'Apple TV' like an iPod

The Apple TV device won't download movies and songs directly from the Apple iTunes Store, acting more like an "iPod for your TV" according to reviews this week, including this MacBreak Weekly episode. Instead, the device can sync with a Mac or PC running iTunes, downloading predetermined content to the Apple TV. It can also stream shows and audio from a number of machines running iTunes, as long as they are "paired" with the Apple TV in a way that's similar to the way Bluetooth devices are paired with computers.

Crossroads Trailer

Some of my friends and colleagues in the Crossroads Film Society have put together this commercial for our spring festival. Enjoy:

JFP on WLEZ: 4.6.07

Listen to the new show, or subscribe to this blog's feed in your favorite podcatcher (iTunes, Juice, etc.)

http://www.wlezfm.com/podcasts/jfp4_6_07.mp3

Trying some Podcast Stuff

All you gotta do is link?

Windows Vista...Wow.

Hilarious observation by Seth Godin regarding the look-and-feel of M$ executives at the Vista launch. Sez Seth:

I absolutely adore this photo from the Times. Not one smile in the bunch, never mind ebullience, mania or even pleasant anticipation.

View the image: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/01/wow.html

Apple to Outgrow Microsoft?

Interesting blog entry over at 10 Layers.

Call it ambitious math, but the idea is that if Apple and Microsoft stayed on exactly the same revenue-growth arcs that they're currently on, Apple would overtake Microsoft in the next five years. Some comments have pointed out that Apple is unlikely to sustain the growth that it has experienced from the iPod, as it would require a revolutionary product of that same scale...iPhone is certainly nice, and could propel the $21B Apple into a $30B or $40B Apple in the next few years, but it doesn't quite open up an entirely new market segment the way the iPod did.

Another thing that I'd add is that Microsoft remains wildly profitable because their software offerings and considerably lower margins than Apple has on its hardware. If Apple made exponentially more money off of services (music, movies, TV shows, .Mac) and software, then it might be able to give Microsoft a run in that arena as well.

I'm concerned that Apple isn't in the Internet services game the way Microsoft and Google and Yahoo! are...the truth is that .Mac was launched years ago with that intention, but has lost the game to the ad-driven services offered by Google, et al.

What Apple needs to do on that front is shore up its .Mac offerings to make them exceedingly compelling to Mac users -- faster, more reliable, perhaps secure and your-own-domain driven services with some differentiators. For instance, what if Apple offered streaming audio to its .Mac subscribers, or uber-easy secure e-mail or 1-click shopping or a Blogger-type tool that focuses on podcasting, complete with a special licensing arrangement for podcasting songs or videos out of the iTunes store...?

Salon: The Readers Strike Back

A great piece by Gary Kamiya in Salon today discusses some of the trials and tribulations of media outlets that allow and/or encourage comments on their sites and blogs. Within the alternative newsweekly world, this is a point of consternation among editors and writers who traditionally have relied on strong Letters to the Editors pages to get feedback from their readers while maintaining a certain aloof journalistic superiority. Our experience at the JFP has been that conversations can devolve into ad hominem attacks and worse, and the result has been a registration process for comments and a relatively short leash by our online editors. One concern for alt-weeklies in particular is that the more no-holds-barred tone of the editorial can lead readers who want to comment to have the same sort of attitude in comments, which can make for lively discussion, but can also muck it up for everyone who wants to take a topic seriously.

Two interesting points Gary makes:

For a writer, this huge, suddenly vocal audience has some significant advantages. For one thing, it serves as an enormous fact-checker. If you make a mistake in a piece, some eagle-eyed reader will let you know, often within minutes. But a far more important effect of the reader revolution is that it has forced writers to immediately deal with substantive arguments and critique. Like most writers who publish a lot online, I've written pieces that a letter writer has sliced up so surgically, with such superior logic and style, that I began searching furtively for a "do over" button on my computer. And the sheer quantity of even less sophisticated arguments, like water poured onto a leaky roof, reveal a piece's weak points. Many writers have told me about extraordinary e-mail exchanges with readers that sometimes develop into ongoing relationships.

We've seen that in spades, with the leads and expertise leading directly to new, informed pieces for the paper and the site.

The other, less appealing side:

Open letter forums create and abet an insider-ish mentality where a certain species of poster can flaunt their egos and sense of superiority. These worthies may see themselves as keen-witted literary arbiters, but in fact they more closely resemble the extras who play outraged townspeople in low-budget vampire movies, oafs in lederhosen milling around angrily and waving burning torches. Besotted with their petty power and egging each other on, they often gang up on a single demonized writer.

This happens, too. And in the interest of democratic media, you don't want to take this stuff down unless you have to, even if it's attacking you or your writers, because you want to be open and democractic, etc.

The answer? So far, our answer has been to *do it* and *police it*. Give readers the forums for semi-anonymous posting -- they have to register with a valid e-mail address -- and then let them know when they're breaking the terms of your reader agreement. Ours is pretty simple -- no ad hominem attacks, stay on topic, add to the discussion. It's our site, and while we don't have an obligation to take something down, we can if we must.

And then there's the TrollBlog which we created to move particularly egregious trolls to their own little corner of the site for people's consideration and/or amusement. We haven't had to use it much, but it's seemed to have something of an effect on the level of discourse we can get on the site.

Google Creep

Yes, yes, yes...of course it concerns me that Google is trying to take over the world. But I can't seem to help it -- I keep using Google products. Me, the guy, for political reasons, who has stepped foot only twice in a Wal-Mart over the past eight years -- once to return items bought by a project manager I was working with, and another time to buy a microwave pizza for my hotel room in Natchez, MS. That's it. I understand they have great prices on tires, but I just got a pretty decent price from the guys at the locally-owned Texaco station down the street. (I suppose they have to get their gas from somewhere.)

And, yet, here I am posting documents and spreadsheets to Google Docs. Why? Because of the collaborative features; one of them is an outline for the book I'm working on that the editors back in the home office can check in on so that they can see the lack of progress I'm making toward my deadlines. (I've had two good days this weekend, however.) Another is a cash budget spreadsheet we're using to follow the cash flow of our local film festival, so that the Festival Director, Coordinator, and board members can see what we plan to spend, what we're spending and what we need to raise. That budget started as an Excel sheet that was mailed to me; in my Gmail account, there's this handy little link that says "View in Google Spreadsheets."

I'm weak. I clicked it.

So, yeah, taking over the world, etc. If they just put a dent in Microsoft, though, that would be a start. And I gotta say, the whole "free office applications" thing is mighty tempting to a small business owner...

Blackberry 7250 as Tethered Modem

Something extraordinary happened yesterday -- I called tech support and actually got help that was more helpful than I was able to find through Google reading messageboards and whatnot. The end result was that my Blackberry 7250, which I was trying to use as a tethered modem for the HP laptop that I've been using to write my book, actually started working as a tethered modem for the HP laptop. Amazing!

The speed isn't great -- when it connects it reports about 115kbps, but I'm not sure I believe it. Actually I haven't tried to download anything, so that might be accurate, but if so then the Blackbery suffers from some latency problems even when compared to a dial-up modem. (There are at least two "speeds" to consider when it comes to Internet connections, and the one we talk about isn't really speed, but rather bandwidth. The larger the "pipe" in terms of bandwidth, the more data can get through it at once. But if a connection has issues with latency in terms of sending and receiving small bits of information, that can affect the perceived "speed" of basic browsing as well.)

Anyway, the point was to get any sort of connection out of it at all -- and we did. The trick was actually to go into a buried network setting on the phone and reset one of the usernames for a network connection...I'll tell you how, but I don't actually remember. (You go to the phone screen, dial a crazy # code phone number and then delete one of the usernames. The Blackberry resets in a mode that is compatible with the network for modem mode.)

The other bit that was funny...due to some sort of litigation, the support guy (Eli) was not actually allowed to walk me through the setup procedure for creating the Internet connection over the Blackberry. He said it was an issue with RIM, the company that makes the Blackberry, and that his only option was to e-mail me the instructions. When he did, I noticed that the instructions were different from those posted on RIM's Blackberry website...oddly, both worked, but the e-mail instructions seem to make for a slightly faster connection.

I was also told that here in Jackson, Mississippi we don't yet have EVDO support (higher speed "broadband" over the data network) on the Alltel network, but it's due in Q1 2007, which will also mean getting an EVDO compatible phone such as the Blackberry 7130e. I'm looking forward to it.

Meanwhile, kudos to Alltel support. I was pleasantly surprised. Here's hoping my $45 Blackberry data plan will also be useful for something approaching broadband surfing on my laptop in the very near future.

The iPhone Arrives...In June

Cross-posted from Jackson Free Press:

You’ve got to feel as sorry as you possibly can for the richest man in the world. After all, here’s Bill Gates on Monday, giving the keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show, one of the largest technology shows on the planet, and he’s one of the most important people in the history of modern computing. He’s amassed a fortune by being perhaps the person most instrumental in shaping our experience of computers in homes, businesses and governments around the world.

And what is everyone talking about? What Steve Jobs has announced from Apple. Of course.

But let’s talk Microsoft briefly. After all, this year is the year of Microsoft Vista, the first major update to the Windows operating system in five years. Frankly, it was starting to feel like it—Windows XP offers some fine features, but it’s long in the tooth, with some reviewers saying that Vista is largely about catching up with the Mac OS.

With Mac OS X updating every 12 to 18 months, and with Apple now completely transitioned to the Intel processor in its products, more and more companies are considering Apple computers for their employees. According to BusinessWeek, Google has begun offering a Mac as an option to nearly all of its incoming employees—which platform you use is your choice. And when the Mac version of Lotus Notes appeared last year, it opened some business doors to Macs as well, offering cross-platform capabilities for offices that live and die using Lotus Notes.

Oops. See, I just did it. I talked about Apple when I was trying to talk about Microsoft.

Vista will be huge, of course, since Windows-based PCs make up the bulk of computers worldwide. But Linux running on Intel and Intel-compatible processors has already loosened up some corporate IT departments, and Mac OS X, after all, is ultimately a Unix-variant, based on open-source FreeBSD. Along with that, Mac OS X offers Microsoft Office applications, tons of cross-platform creative applications and the ability to boot into Windows using Apple’s BootCamp or run Windows applications in a window using virtualization through Parallels (www.parallels.com). So, more desks may have Macs in the near future.

The fun news, of course, is what Apple announced this week. First, there’s Apple TV. It’s pretty much what Steve had said it would be a few months ago when it was announced—it streams video from your Mac or PC, and will sync with your main machine, storing 40GB worth of data on its hard disk. So, if you’re buying movies or TV shows from iTunes Music Store (which is, for instance, how I’m watching “Battlestar Galactica” this season), then you’ve got a nice $299 way of getting them to your high-definition TV (in 720p) without having to move cables around and set your laptop next to your TV. It’s a nice gizmo, although I still say I think it should be able to download and stream TV and movies directly from the iTunes Store so it can be used as a totally standalone device. Until then, it’s an accessory.

The big news is, of course, iPhone. (It’s even news that they’re calling it “iPhone” being that Cisco had previously trademarked the name.) It runs Mac OS X, and with that Steve tells us that we’ll be able to run desktop-caliber applications. It offers Multi-Touch, the new interface technology developed by Apple that Steve tells us is as revolutionary as the mouse was 20 years ago. And it syncs with all of that happy Apple stuff that Mac users like to use, including iTunes, iCal, iPhoto, bookmarks and e-mail, with an interface that works through iTunes. It has a two-megapixel camera built in, a 3.5-inch high-resolution display and—a Steve Jobs trademark—exactly one button.

Using the Multi-Touch technology, the phone reacts a lot to you waving and sliding fingers across the display. Of course, the iPhone is an iPod, with all the same functionality (and 4 GB or 8GB for storage), but the interface is a little different—you move your finger across the screen to scroll through music, video and photos. As a phone, it gives you “visual” access to your voicemail messages, so that you can listen to them in any order, play the messages that are most important to you and manage them like e-mail messages. Jobs calls it “last century” to actually dial numbers, so your address book and “favorites” are front and center for the dialing interface.

Some of the big news is that the iPhone features Wi-Fi technology, meaning your surfing can happen at higher speeds when you’re within access of a wireless Internet hotspot. The Safari browser on the phone can show entire Web pages, or Mac OS X style widgets for Internet information. As Jobs puts it, it’s the first time you can have the whole “Internet in your pocket.” Support for IMAP e-mail means you can read e-mail right from a server account, the way many Gmail users do now with Treos and Blackberries. Or you can access your Web mail interface for your company’s server via the Web.

It’s a Cingular exclusive, it will cost $499 for the 4GB version or $599 for the 8GB version and it won’t ship until June 2007. The future of phones is still out there in the future. And it will be interesting to see what that does to the rest of the market.

It’s often bandied about that Apple Computer might become the next Sony or the next Disney or whatever it’s supposed to be the “next” of. In what was perhaps both an acknowledgement of that and perhaps a challenge to it as well, Jobs announced one other thing at the keynote—something that Apple has done in practice for a while. The name Apple Computers Inc. is no more … the official name of the company, for its second 30 years, is now Apple Inc. Apple makes more than computers, apparently, and maybe it doesn’t make as many products as Sony, but Apple is gambling that its products are more defining and world-altering than anything its competitors do.

Even Bill Gates probably has to admit that at this point.

My Macworld WAGs

After a cursory glance at the Mac rumor sites, I have the following WAGs (Wild Ass Guesses) to make about what's coming to Macworld this week. The hype from Apple suggests it could be good, so we'll see.

- iTV (100%) Obviously since it's already been announced then Jobs will at least talk about it more, if not roll it out as available. Again, if it downloads and stores video directly from the iTunes Store, it's a killer product. If it just streams existing media from your Mac, then it's a niche product. (If it's also DVR, I'll once again wonder why I never bought Apple stock back when I used to have some money.)

- iWork '07 (100%) And it'll have a spreadsheet. Is it odd that, to this day, I still use Microsoft Office exclusively? Apple may have to overcome that in more loyal Mac users than just me -- they could start by not making Pages seem more like a Microsoft Publisher competitor. I even use PowerPoint instead of Keynote. Weird, huh? (Of course, as I mentioned, I'm typing this on a PC laptop, so maybe I've been slipping to the dark side for years.)

- iPhone (90%) I think the hype is about Apple's phone. Smartphone/PDA/portable media center. I see people on planes watching iPods and I'm thinking that Apple could take the "ha ha, we made people care hard disks in their pockets" brilliance of the iPod two or three steps forward by giving us something that we don't even quite know to ask for yet. It'll have to browse the Internet, get e-mail, access the iTunes store and have enough storage for all that media...but if it does, it'll be the Next Small Thing.

- Server Mini (25%) I might be the lone holdout for this -- frankly, if Apple would do what I'm asking with the iTV, then it's basically already a home server. (Make it also an AirPort base station and let it act as a file server as well as a multimedia repository and you've got a Server Mini.) For the small office, a Server Mini with a fast hard disk, wireless base station capability and perhaps a built-in printer server would be a very nice option. (I've just installed a Lacie Ethernet Mini Disk in my office this weekend and still can't get the damn thing to work. Apple?!)

- Mac Tablet (10%) Maybe not even that likely. I've seen a few rumors and it'd be an interesting thought, but unless they've gone somewhere with handwriting recognition that no one (but Apple, really) has ever been before then I'll believe it when I see it.

I'll post more WAGs if I hear anything interesting.

Stranger in a Strange World, Part 0

I plan to blog over the next few months about the fact that I'm currently doing a fair bit of my freelance work on a Windows PC. It's a short story -- my PowerBook G4 ran into a little snag a few days ago, forcing me to transfer the drive from my PowerBook to a Mac Mini in my office. That's what I'm using now for newspaper business.

Unfortunately, that left me without a laptop, and I need something to work from in the house, particular when I'm trying to write a book. So, I borrowed an HP Pavillion zt3000 from a friend of mine. I'm typing on it now. What I'm finding so far is that Windows is usable; I'm able to get some work done and, once I'd set the display preferences to my liking, the OS doesn't look too bad. And I'm slowly learning some of the short-cuts to move around in the OS, although it's surprising how many things look like they're from about 1997 -- I guess that's one difference between the constant march of updates to Mac OS X vs. the every-five-years-or-so updates by Microsoft.

I'll get deeper into my experiences a little later on, but let me just ask this one question...why is it that PC people don't take the stickers off their computers? What does it mean that this computer, after two years, still has the Intel and Windows stickers on it?

Can you imagine a MacBook with little Intel stickers on it? :-)

I Dub It: 'The Calls'

Those of us who watch a little too much football between teams that don't matter to us personally are probably doing it so that we can witness a game like the Frito-Lay Cool Ranch Tostito Dippers Fiesta Bowl that I just watched between Boise State and OU. OK, so I hate OU from my childhood in Dallas and for them having foisted, indirectly, Barry Switzer on my once-beloved Cowboys.

If you didn't see it, you'll see it again anyway...on YouTube, on highlight reels. I've finally gotten to see my "The Play" or "The Drive" moment in living color as it happened. If it doesn't end up dubbed "The Call" (or "The Calls"?) then I'll eat my New Orlean's Saints ballcap. Amazing...

... Who calls for a 15-yard pass and a designed hook-and-ladder lateral on a 4th-and-18 with the season on the line?
... Who sends the quarterback in motion on a 4th-and-Goal play in overtime with the season on the line?
... Who goes for 2 points in overtime instead of getting the certain 1 point and relying on your defense to hold the other guys...with the season on the line?
... Who calls a modified "Statue of Liberty" -- after the other team has taken a time out in order to line up everyone they need to stop you -- to get those 2 points and end a perfect season with a BCS bowl game victory?

I'll be telling my grandkids about it. Heck...anybody's grandkids.

Product Placement 101 and the Sidekick III

We watched "The Devil Wears Prada" a few nights ago (another Hollywood video pickup at the behest of Ms. D. because I'd failed to get it into my NetFlix queue in time for the weekend) and I couldn't help but notice that our heroine, throughout the story, is carrying what looks to be a Sidekick III. I, of course, immediately upon seeing the film decided that it'd been too long since I'd obsessed over the possiblity of trading in my Blackberry and proceeded to spend ACTUAL TIME this weekend looking again the T-Mobile pricing plans for the Sidekick III, including the rather appealing prepaid plan (appealing if only because that seems like the easiest way to get rid of it after a few months).

I KNOW that the Sidekick III is too heavy. I feel fairly strongly that it isn't really Mac-friendly enough, although I haven't played with the online tools scheduling tools much. I know it's a toy.

I got a chance to evaluate a Sidekick II a year or so ago when I was working on a book (I think it was the Leo Laporte Mac Gadget Guide) and enjoyed playing with it. I used to tell people that the coolest thing about it's always-on access for AIM messaging was the fact that I could literally tell if co-workers at the JFP were at their desks by glancing at my Sidekick to see if their messaging was up and running. It also let me "peek in" over their shoulders and drop a quick message from home or lunch or the post office if I had something to mention to them.

Of course, a Treo or Blackberry or pretty much anything could probably do that. The camera is nice but not completely necessary and seeing as how my PRIMARY requirement of any smartphone is that it fits comfortable in the front pocket of my chinos -- not weighing the pocket down unnecessary and not fitting into a Bat-holster, since I refuse to wear a utlity belt so as not to reveal my secret identity -- then it's utterly fatuous that I'm looking at the Sidekick III at all.

So what' the verdict? Prepaid Sim cards are running about $40 on eBay with the phones themselves hovering around $250. The service is $1 a day flat for all online services and $0.15 per call prepaid. There's something I love about the straightforward pricing. Or, maybe a Sidekick II...cheaper at around $100 on eBay...