| Viewing entries in Computers | | Posted by Michael on 06/26/07. | |
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| The world has been abuzz about the iPhone, since even before Apple acknowledged its existence. Why? Who cares? My mom does... and so will you.
First, let's take a look at the state of mobile phones. For better or worse, mobile phones have become far more than simple phones. Text messaging, email, browsers, and custom apps have infiltrated them. A decade ago, a phone was a phone. Today, a phone is the micro computer.
As mobile carriers have rushed to add features, they have forced the desktop computer's generic UI (menuing , windows, etc.) into their tiny screens.
So what makes the iPhone any different? Apple started from scratch, ignoring everything that is commonplace in today's smart phones. Ok, so they didn't start from scratch, they started with the iPod interface, and appropriately appropriated some fantastic desktop features. Add to that the touch screen, iPod features, and Mac OS X.
What does this mean to you? It means that when you pick up an iPhone, you'll know how to use it, instead of spending days learning how to use it. How many of you have encountered people, not computer people, that are waiting for their iPhones?
This is a great start, though I feel that the impact of this phone has yet to be felt. Sure they'll sell million and millions of them. But far more important to the consumer mobile phone market is that this phone will be the one by which all that follow it are judged. Put another way, the features that make the iPhone will trickle in to other phones across all budgets.
Obviously many of the features in the iPhone are not unique. But the way they're implemented and the thought that went in to them is unmistakable.
On top of the great UI, Apple and AT&T have changed the mobile phone landscape in another way. The plans. Today I pay $40/mo for unlimited data on my Cingular 8125. That is $40/mo just for the data service. In addition to that, I pay another $60 for voice and messaging. As of Friday, the cheap plan with unlimited data is $59/mo, and that includes rollover minutes.
Two things change on Friday that are being heavily overlooked.
1. All mobile phones will become easier to use because they'll all use the iPhone as a base line.
2. All mobile phone plans will be less expensive ... they have to be to keep the world from switching to AT&T.
Photo courtesy of Apple, Inc.
Links:
iPhone Guided Tour
iPhone Data plans
What do you think? How will this phone impact the industry as a whole? |
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| | | Posted by Michael on 06/22/07. | |
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| I've been testing a theory for a while now that has to do with my productivity level as it relates to the number of emails in my inbox.
Simply put, the fewer emails in my inbox, the more productive I feel. There are times that my inbox reaches 150 to 200 emails... it has been as high as 400. I can't explain why it happens, but it does, and it usually happens when I'm not at the top of my game (thus the correlation).
Today I'm happy to say that for the first time in quite a while I have zero (0) emails in my inbox. Nada, zero, zilch. I don't need to file email bankruptcy. I'm email-flow positive, and will do my best to stay that way.
What do you think? Does your inbox reflect your productivity level?
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| | | Posted by Michael on 06/06/07. | |
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| John Gruber has a great post about the silly stuff going on around meta-data embedded in iTunes Plus music tracks.
Listen, let's put this in terms anyone can understand. You own the tracks and can put them on any device you want. They are DRM free tracks. DRM free however, does not mean it is suddenly OK to "give a copy to your friends" or to Limewire.
Check out John's post |
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| | | Posted by Michael on 06/04/07. | |
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| [This entry originally appeared in the old blog on 03/25/07. I've reposted it here for those that requested it. Enjoy.]
When Apple mentioned the AppleTV last fall, I wanted one immediately. It was made by Apple, it connected wirelessly to my Mac, connected my HDTV, and frankly that was enough. I bought one Friday night.
To watch video content on my Samsung DLP before Friday night I'd have to move my laptop to the TV, plug in the DVI -> HDMI cable, plug in the stereo 1/8" -> RCA cable, switch the receiver to video 4, switch the TV to HDMI input 2, then sync the video settings on the laptop/TV (and in the process hose my application's window sizing).
It was such a PITA that I'd removed all but one video podcast from my subscriptions (The Merlin Show).
Today watching video podcasts on my TV is as easy as grabbing the tiny Apple remote and finding the podcast I want then clicking play.
And watching video podcasts I have been. Lots of them. The Merlin Show, GeekBrief.tv, DL.tv, MacBreak, Cranky Geeks, teXtra, Diggnation, David Pogue, etc. It is like having my own custom tech TV station.
Watching these with the AppleTV means I no longer have to dedicate my laptop (or any other computer for that matter) to the cause. Sure the XBox has a similar feature set, and there are other solutions to the problem. Those solutions may work for you, but the tight integration with my Mac, and the ability to hack (new video formats, larger hard drives, SSH, AFP) it make the AppleTV a great purchase for me.
Next up is ripping Z's DVD collection to his G4, then connecting his iTunes to the AppleTV. Kid's TV On-Demand. You can connect to up to 5 iTunes libraries.
I don't anticipate using the AppleTV to watch movies or TV shows. Downloading TV doesn't fit in to our television workflow at all. We watch TV two nights a week by time-shifting our favorite shows with our Comcast HD DVR. As for movies, we hardly find the time to watch the 3 Netflix DVDs we have in the queue as it is. |
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| | | Posted by Michael on 06/04/07. | |
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| As my friend David says, good ideas are a dime a dozen. Well David, here's another one I had, then found. I hate when that happens.
"Data de-duplication, also called data de-dupe, removes duplicate information as data is backed up or archived. It can be done on the file level, where duplicate files are replaced with a marker pointing to one copy of the file, or at the sub-file level, or byte level, where duplicate bytes of data are removed, resulting in a decrease in storage capacity requirements of several magnitudes."
OK, so the idea isn't unique, but if someone wants to bring that tech the desktop and you're interested in my UI ideas for it, I've got plenty. |
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