Trapped in Time

There was speculation abound from gadget blogs and Wall Street about the potential a $99 iOS Apple TV might hold.  So when Steve ended with one more thing this week, I was rather disappointed to find a stripped down version of the existing Apple TV that doesn’t provide many things consumers (see: digitally savvy TV and movie viewers) are looking for right now.

To sum it up, the new Apple TV is an ARM processor powered hard drive-free device that features 720p HD video with HDMI and optical audio outputs, 802.11n wireless and ethernet.  Compare this to the previous version that has seen so hardware improvements since its release in 2007, and the difference is rather striking.  The original Apple TV offers a 40 or 160 GB hard drive, with all of the new device’s specs plus component video as well as analog audio outputs, and most importantly a USB port.  While the old version runs a rather toasty Intel processor, it can be modified by users to function in ways Apple didn’t intend in place of or in addition to the interface provided by Apple.  

And speaking of the interface, the 2010 iteration is running what appears to be a very similar GUI to what existing users received in a firmware update late last year.  The only improved functionality is the ability to a.) rent movies and b.) stream from your Netflix account.  Granted, Netflix streaming is a nice selling point for many users, but not a make or break, especially if you own a gaming device such as a PS3, XBox or Wii. Basically Apple seems to think a smaller device (1/4 the size of the old one) with less options (see: no hacking for more functionality) but reduced total ownership costs is an improvement.  I tend to disagree for a number of reasons.

I purchased an AppleTV at the end of my summer internship in 2007, and have enjoyed its functionality, albeit not as much as I probably could have if I’d invested more into consuming my content via HD video torrents. I’m happy with that purchase cause I’ve done a lot of streaming to my living room’s 61” flat screen. But because it has a hard drive, I can still use Boxee and stream content I have acquired from online in any reasonable video format, not just Apple’s mp4/m4v formats.  Likewise, I’ve also owned an Airport Express for 6 years, and much of my use of the AppleTV comes down to the streaming audio from my iTunes library of 70,000+ songs much the same as I use the Airport Express.

At $99, this is a very affordable product, but I have no intentions of upgrading in the near future, nor do I think I would buy this when there are other streaming solutions, such as Plex, that also have iOS remote apps (which I believe is a great way of controlling media devices, and something that will redefine the remote experience over the coming years). The real beauty here is going to be the integration with AirPlay when iOS 4.2 comes out in November. Being able to send content from my desktop to my iPad or iPhone, and vice versa, sending that content to my Airport Express or Apple TV (which I can already do but not from my iDevices) is pretty awesome.

I was really hoping this thing would be a true iOS device and run iOS apps, such as Air Video, which would allow you to stream any content to and from your HDTV.  Imagine being able to really leverage an iPad to send ANY QuickTime video to your big screen! Take an iPad app like BBC News, ESPN ScoreCenter, or even videos from Safari and watch them how you’d watch any other HD content.  AirPlay still hasn’t been explained well enough to know if this is possible, and because the new Apple TV runs an iOS-variant on ARM technology, it’s also possible that iOS apps could run on the device down the road, but without any kind of on-board storage, there would have to be an Apple cloud storing your apps. Don’t see that happening in the near future either.

What’s unfortunate here is that Apple offers the most integrated personal media solution, with the best management for large libraries of content (iTunes). It also makes the best mobile devices. While this certainly isn’t a bad solution, no one else is really in a position to offer a solution that delivers the integration Apple can, even if they do make up for the gaps in codec support, video output (1080p vs the 720p Apple settled on for bandwidth concessions), and on-board storage.

Honestly, besides the ability to stream Netflix (which PS3, XBox, and Wii currently do), what does the new Apple TV offer that the 3 1/2 year old product doesn’t offer? I may have paid $230 in 2007, but I’ve had 3 years of enjoyment in the mean time, and I can still buy content directly from the store if I so choose, and utilize 3rd party media solutions based on XBMC such as Boxee to watch any content type I wish.  If Plex offered its own device like Boxee has begun to do, I think it would be the ideal solution for an iMedia consumer right now.  And apparently as of today, they have (sort of) with a fresh deal struck for integration into LG’s new line of HDTVs.

Since Apple’s Newton project closed, many have wondered if and when Apple would return to the PDA/Tablet market. In many ways, the company already has. The iPhone does much more than the few Newton products - that actually made it to market - ever did. And yet, since the iPhone’s release, especially over the past twelve months, speculation has run rampant that Apple has been working on a tablet. On Wednesday the company will almost undoubtedly unveil the new product at a media event at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

I’ve been particularly interested in such a device and followed the speculation closely for a number of reasons:

1. The idea of a thin, powerful touch screen computer that can perform a variety of tasks is quite appealing, especially in light of the plethora of existing tablet devices that have come and gone over the past decade while doing little more than raising hope of what might be possible one day.
2. Since the introduction of the iPod, Apple has been ahead of the curve in numerous areas of technology and media: the iTunes music store (and iTunes itself), thin profile gadgets (MacBook Air, the unibody manufacturing process, the iPod nano, and iPhone), groundbreaking multitouch technology (iPhone, iPod touch, and magic mouse), and the proliferation of mobile computing through the iPhone, App Store, and MobileMe.
3. When Apple launches a new product such as the iPad/iSlate/tablet, they do so very carefully with the aim of redefining how consumers view an entire market. They won’t be bringing a tablet to market just to have one in the arena; rather they surely plan to create an entirely new arena that only they are currently competing in.

So what should we expect to see on Wednesday?  That still remains a mystery, but through patent filings, rumors that won’t go away, and past offerings, the picture has started to become pretty clear. Here are my general predictions based on the best evidence available:

Design and Hardware

• Unibody construction, with a very similar design to the original iPhone, though proportionately thinner
• WiFi (hopefully 802.11n), GPS, and 3G connectivity, perhaps supporting both GSM and CDMA networks
• Glass LED screen, likely not OLED due to current availability
• Dock connector ala iPod/iPhone on both vertical and horizontal sides of the tablet for easy access
• Front-Facing Camera ala Macbook and iMac (WSJ reports)
• Headphone jack
• No USB Port
• 32 and 64 GB Flash capacities
• 10 hour battery life
• Bluetooth for wireless peripherals

Software and Features

• A hybrid operating system that falls somewhere between the iPhone and OS X
• A suite of new applications for both productivity and entertainment that leverages multitouch for never before seen user interaction.
• Cloud computing that leverages the new North Carolina Data Center opening in March (probably the same time the device is available).
• Access to your home iTunes library wherever you are seems very likely, as well as MobileMe service to store your music on the cloud.
• Television streaming subscription service with both live feeds and weekly network sitcoms and dramas available - likely to include CBS, ABC, BBC, Disney and others
• Interactive eBook and Magazine reader that leverages multiple forms of content (traditional type, audio and video). Steve Jobs has said in the past, “It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore. Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.” Don’t think he doesn’t want to change that!
• A focus on interactive learning (“Apple In Talks with McGraw-Hill”)
• Flash support in Safari
• Video Conferencing
• Face and movement recognition (patent)
• Multitasking
• Support of iPhone OS 4.0 applications
• Robust multiplayer gaming within various communities - location based and world wide
• Numerous new multitouch gestures

You Should Also Expect

• One screen size, not two or more
• Two models in different capacities (perhaps 4 depending on GSM/CDMA)
• No subsidized data plans. Apple will contend they want this in the most hands possible, but in reality they don’t have anything worked out with AT&T or Verizon
• A price tag of $800-$1,000
• iPhone OS 4.0 announcement which will add in new gestures, multitasking, improvements to the home screen, integration as a secondary device to the tablet

It’s still anyone’s guess what Apple will or will not drop on us all come Wednesday, but one thing’s for certain: this device will impact computers, mobile phones, and major media - print, television, movies, and music - in a very profound and culturally transforming way.

In addition to showing off the thinnest TVs known to man, Samsung also gave CES goers a peak at its new Whiteboard technology. I want more details and specs on this, but as a whiteboard fan, color me impressed.

A Designer Education : The future of textbooks

(via tanya77:soupsoup)

Unfortunately, I find this to be a complete misnomer if the “future” is coming in the next year or two. One thing we often don’t take into account with technology is the rate at which it is adapted, due to a variety of factors. Factors that will prevent tablets (specifically Apple’s new tablet) from being adopted in schools are many, but here are a few of the major ones:

1. Rules - If you went to a public middle school or high school since the invention of the Walkman, iPod, or cell phone, you’re probably aware that almost all schools ban their use during school hours. Use it at school, and it’s confiscated. Use it in class while your teacher wants your attention, and you are well on your way to a letter grade lower. Now think tablet: If you can’t bring your laptop to school to take notes, why would they let you bring a touchscreen tablet to “read” on? You’ll have kids surfing the internet, instant messaging their friends on the other side of the room or in another class, and generally not paying attention. The only way to remedy this would be for schools to supply tablets for individual use.  That’s about as likely as someone dropping a new MacBook Pro in my lap.
2. Cost - Since no public school is going to foot the bill to supply their students with a fully loaded tablet - don’t forget that each of the books will still cost as much or more than it did in paper form - that leaves the bill for parents to foot. Good luck getting parents to pay $800+ for a tablet that does plenty more they probably don’t want their adolescent child to have access to, and again the cost of these electronic books.
3. The Socio-Economic Disconnect - Surely there would be some students whose parents could afford to buy them a tablet and the eBooks to use for their classes. However, you’d end up with less than a quarter of students who could and do use one, and everyone else would realize their family can’t afford one. If your clothes, car and allowance weren’t enough to make you feel on the low end of the totem pole, your lack of a tablet sure will!

I think this would be a great way to learn if schools could purchase them for all of their students, customize them, and limit their use to approved applications. The chances of that happening in the next five years?  The next ten?  Even the next twenty? Very low given the pathetic shape our education system is in.

At the collegiate level, I could see students adapting this at a much higher rate. But again, the professors are much older and won’t be adapting this as part of their graded curriculum. And even at IU - at the time (and maybe still?) the most connected university in the country - many professors even at the graduate level didn’t allow laptops in their classrooms to keep the focus on them and the material they were presenting.

And at the end of the day, do we really want or need to replace textbooks? Isn’t there something to be said for highlighting, taking notes, even the accomplishment of wearing a book out after a semester or year of school?

i’ve said this before. i am so sick of hearing about twitter. and i don’t even hate twitter: i think it’s a really neat, simple platform that is super diverse (in terms of applications). but the twitter buzz over the past 6 months has gotten way out of hand.

twitter is not the next facebook. bitch, please. here’s what twitter is: some media and marketing people have been hearing about how cool this whole “social media” thing is for a few years, but were either too busy or too internet illiterate to get involved. then twitter comes along (friggin 3 years ago), and BOOM! these people finally found a non-invasive, ultra-quick way to supposedly “engage,” but i can’t help but feel like they’re missing the forest for the trees.

in many ways, it’s great that they’re getting involved. like i said, twitter is really great for some specific things. but i keep hearing about how “twitter is changing the way we communicate.” no: the only thing twitter is changing now is the way brands communicate, from julia allison to ashton kutcher to major corporations. as simon dumenco asked in his awesome article on ashton kutcher’s 1 million followers: “But what about the millions of people who have been sucked into Web 2.0 who aren’t live-and-die-by-the-media figures with agendas to advance or products to push or personal brands to burnish? Well, that’s where the supposed social-networking value equation starts to get a little wonky.”

i think what the new twitterites are experiencing is that initial realization we’ve all probably had at some point or another, when the clouds part and we realize how social computing is so quickly (and so subtly) changing human interaction. the difference is that the majority of us embrace it, incorporate it, and continue to evolve. they aren’t, at least not yet.

(via annicka)

Tweetie for Mac

I’ve found this a much better way to utilize twitter. It hides in my background but with the click of one button in my toolbar it’s in front of me and updated. The interface is beautiful (which isn’t surprising considering the design of their iPhone app), and the functionality is very robust, allowing you to do anything you would on twitter’s website, while allowing for multiple accounts. Highly recommended (well as highly as I can recommend twitter in general).

Like their music or not, Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails have been innovators and leaders in the music industry for over twenty years now. Over the past year Reznor has taken cues from Radiohead’s In Rainbows release and dropped several albums with no warning, making millions in the process and redefining the revenue model for established bands.

Not surprisingly, he and his team have also taken a proactive approach in developing one of the most engaging, community-based applications for the iPhone. In this demo Reznor, NIN art director Rob Sheridan (see: insane light show for their live concerts), and Digg’s Kevin Rose introduce the new app along with a slew of interactive features.

I love the push/pull effect that an iPhone app can leverage with an existing site, especially in the context of band and/or live music. The last few minutes of this demo are the most intriguing and innovative. Bridging the gap between those at a concert and those who are at home on their computers can be pretty powerful for bands and genres of music with a very devoted fanbase.

From the perspective of a designer and developer, much of this content can be pulled into the iPhone and pushed to the website with minimal ease utilizing XML feeds and developing light, compact web services that bridge the two. From the perspective of a business owner, there is a lot of untapped potential to develop more useful, interactive and ultimately fulfilling communities for both established and growing artists.

(via beekeeperssociety:kylebunch)

MacFormat’s best guess at the Apple Netbook *crosses fingers*

(via esquareda)

The possibilities that this kind of device, and more importantly, the first fully integrated cloud computing model can provide are almost endless.  From the article:

Your entire Home folder – all docs, photos, movies and music – would live ‘in the cloud’ on Apple’s servers. Regularly used files would be cached locally, but the system would enable you to keep files in sync between the tablet and your desktop Macs, whilst getting away with a smaller SSD.

I’m curious how many people do.  I’ve used one for years (OS X mail these days), but really hate using web-based mail unless I need to - i.e. am on someone else’s computer.  Somehow I feel like most people don’t though.

“Industry analysts expect more tech services outfits to establish operations in low-cost parts of the U.S. in the coming months and years. The phenomenon first took root last year, when India’s Wipro Technologies (WIT) opened small service delivery offices outside Atlanta and in Troy, Mich. ‘You’ll see more of this. It won’t be huge. But it will be a nice niche,’ says analyst John McCarthy of market researcher Forrester Research (FORR).”

Although IBM has made large cuts, they will be creating 1,500 jobs outside of East Lansing, Michigan in the next five years, and another 1,300 in Dubuque, Iowa over just the next two years.  Both places offer substantially lower cost of living and the cities and states have made concessions to help out IBM in order to bring the jobs to their areas.

I’m just wondering who the hell wants to go to these two places, and how companies making decisions like this will have a competitive advantage over organizations that center themselves out of urban strongholds where the most talented young minds want to be.

“Experts say it is the most ambitious government effort nationwide to harness electronic data for public-health goals like monitoring disease frequency, cancer screening and substance abuse. It follows the Bloomberg administration’s aggressive focus on everyday health concerns — which has included startling anti-smoking advertisements in subways and requirements that chain restaurants post calorie counts — and frequent use of statistics to drive public policy on crime, homelessness and other issues.

And echoing the city’s cash-incentive experiments in the school system, the health department will soon start offering doctors bonuses of perhaps $100 for each patient who hits specified targets like controlling blood pressure or cholesterol, up to $20,000 for each doctor.

In April, the city will begin sending participating doctors report cards on how their preventive efforts compare to their peers’ (only the individual doctor being rated will be named, and the rankings will not be public). A prototype was used in 2007 to send electronic messages warning physicians in the Bronx of an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease. And the city is currently using the system to track the spread of flu infection in New York City in real time — a much more accurate gauge, doctors say, than a Web tool being developed by Google.” - New York Times

Read the entire article, it’s a very innovative use of IT through a private network to create benefits for the entire community and while improving government efforts to provide better, more responsive healthcare.  I’m interested to see if NYC’s model proves successful enough to be adopted by other cities, or even on a national basis.  There are real improvements that patients and doctors alike can receive through an electronic healthcare system.