Andy's Blog

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"Look for new tool release - Spring 2006"

I know that I shouldn't get my hopes up or anything, but I can't help it -- my hopes are official up! 2006 could potentially be a great year!

-Andy.

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Sayonara MWSF 2006

I have completed my MWSF 2006 experience. Even though the show is going to continue for one more day, I'm not going back. This is a fitting image to mark "the end":

I have posted some more pictures to the gallery.

Overall, I am satisfied with my MWSF experience. I think that 2006 is going to be a year of transition for Apple and it's users. Transition to a new processor architecture. Transition to Apple being in the lead. Transition to the idea that Apple is once-again a dominant force in the industry. That thought can take awhile to sink-in, sometimes.

As for me, this year marks the 2nd, and probably last time that I'll see the Steve Jobs keynote live. I'm not crazy enough to do what it will take to get into the main hall, so next year, I'll just attend the exhibit hall, and watch the webcast. It's somewhat disappointing, but that's just how it goes.

I'm still pretty tired from Tuesday's day-long MWSF extravaganza, and I'm off to Tahoe this weekend. So, I might not be able to achieve a state of "rested" for awhile...

-Andy.

Technorati Tags: Apple, MWSF, Macintosh

Keynote 3

I stopped by the Apple booth today, and got the pitch about what's new in Keynote 3. It looks like it is mostly just whiz-bang effects, like new transitions, themes, and 3D charts (you can apparently change the angle of the light source and the texture). You can also put drop-shadows on pictures. Overall, it didn't seem like a really compelling upgrade.

They have also touched up the exporting features -- you can export to iDVD now, to make a DVD of your presentation. I also got an extensive demo of the Quicktime exporter, which seems to work fairly well (although it was a little slow rendering the cube-rotate transition).

Overall, my beefs with Keynote remain. The presentations that I tend to make are rather text heavy, and light on the media. The Apple guy showed me how you can type an outline of your presentation in Pages, and then paste that into Keynote (which will automatically create slides and bullet points). But this functionality is not even close to what you can do with Word and PowerPoint over in Office 2004.

So, if you need to give a presentation that has a lot of images, charts, and videos, to an audience that is entirely local (like Steve Jobs does), then you should check out Keynote. If you're like me, and your presentations are rather text-heavy, and the audience is partially in the room and partially remote, it looks like PowerPoint is still the better bet.

-Andy.

Technorati Tags: Apple, MWSF, iWork, Keynote

Back at MWSF, rambling around the Expo hall

I went to MWSF again today, to try and get some more mileage out of my Users's pass. I visited some of the booths that I didn't get a chance to on Tuesday, and re-visited some that I did. Highlights from my walk around the show floor included:

• BrakBone - Enterprise-grade backup software that seems to work with everything. They support Mac, Linux, Solaris (including Solaris/x86), etc., etc. Too pricey to be used for my home backup solution, but it sound quite applicable to the heterogeneous environment that I have been crafting at work.
• Etymotic Earphones - In-ear headphones. I tried both the Etymotic headphones and the in-ear headphones from Shure, and I think I might like Etymotic better. The show special that that they were offering was pretty insane (over $100 off the ER-4), but I maintained my resolve.
• Prosoft Data Backup 3 - This looks like a pretty decent backup solution, that may well solve my backup needs. It can do full, incremental, and versioned backups of any volume to any other volume, even if it is a network mount. They have a free 30 day trial that I need to check out.

-Andy.

Technorati Tags: Apple, MWSF, Etymotic, BrakBone

A note to all of those bitching about the lack of modem on the new MacBook Pro

I'm seeing quite a few complaints on the 'net (there, and elsewhere) about the fact that the new MacBook Pro doesn't have a modem. I disagree with the complaints, and I think that Apple has done a smart thing once again.

It's called progress, folks. Telephone connections (POTS for us bell-heads) are on their way out. I don't think I have ever used the modem in my PowerBook, and it is over 2 years old now.

Remember when Apple released the original iMac, and Steve Jobs axed the floppy drive? There were howls of protest then too. But now, not so much.

That's called progress. The industry has moved on, thanks in part to Apple's lead. The same thing is going to happen with the Modem. Just watch.

-Andy.

Technorati Tags: Apple, MWSF, Steve Jobs, MacBook Pro

Post-Keynote Impressions

I have seen this sentiment also on the internerd, but I think that I am also feeling a little bit of post-Keynote blues. Granted, part of that is because I didn't make it into the main hall for the speech, but that isn't the only reason. On the whole, Steve's Keynote was very well done, and Apple did make a lot of significant announcements for the company. However, for your average Mac user, the announcements were less significant.

I say this because there were basically three new things announced:

1. new iLife
2. new iWork
3. mew Intel-based Macs

While Apple wanted the Intel-based Macs to be the big blowout annoucement of the show, for current Mac users, it is really sortof a non-starter. I mean, the new iMac and PowerBook are just macs. They look like Macs on the outside. When you use them, you are using a Mac. Aside from MagLock on the new MacBook Pro, they don't really have any new features. So, the only difference is the supposed massive performance gains.

But here is the deal with that -- for the first year of so, the performance of these new machines is going to kindof suck. Because Apple brought them to market early, there is still quite a bit of software that hasn't been made native. So, all of that software has to run in emulation (and based upon my impressions on the show floor -- it is slow. Not slow like VirtualPC, but not exactly zippy).

For the software that is native to Intel, I'm guessing that the vast majority was simply ported to Intel, not optimized for Intel. At the compiler level, the switch to Intel from PowerPC is a fairly dramatic one. And Apple has spent the last 5 years or so, optimizing the heck out of Mac OS X for the PowerPC. So, it is going to take a little bit of a while for Apple's tools (especially the compiler and libraries), become as optimal on the x86 architecture as they were on PowerPC.

So, given all of that, the biggest announcement of the show is really iLife, which I think is going to have a significant impact on how mere mortals share their lives online. And while that is good and all, I guess I was just hoping for something more. A little more earth-shaking, ground-breaking, "we're Apple, and we're moving the industry in a new direction".

-Andy.

Technorati Tags: Apple, MWSF, Macintosh, iLife, Steve Jobs, Intel

You can't photocast a smart album in iPhoto 6

In retelling the events of my day to Kevin, I remembered something that I need to blog about. One of my more ingenious questions that I asked today was if you can photocast a smart album in iPhoto 6. When I asked the Apple representative this question, he had no idea if iPhoto 6 supported this feature or not.

This was actually a recurring theme today. Because most of the Apple employees working the booth learned about all of Apple's new products at the same time that I did -- during the keynote. So, they were basically learning as they went along.

So, I convinced the Apple guy to try it. We made a smart album that contained a subset of all of the photos on the demo machine, and sure enough, the photocast button was greyed-out.

We both agreed, however, that this would be a cool feature. Since photocasting already has seamless support for adding and removing photos from an album, coupling this with a smart album would be a no brainer. This would allow you to make an album of say, dog pictures, and photocast it. Then, whenever you bring new photos into iPhoto and tag them with the "dog" attribute (a process that still sucks in iPhoto 6, btw. Maybe they'll get robust tagging ala Flickr in 2007), it will automatically be shared in the photocast.

Look for Apple to tout this feature as one of the great new "innovations" in iPhoto 7, right around this time next year.

You heard it here first.

-Andy.

Technorati Tags: Apple, MWSF, iPhoto, iLife, photocasting

webstractor

One of the cooler Mac apps that I ran across is something called webstractor, by a company called Softchaos. It is basically a web browser, that maintains a copy of whatever page you visit on disk. I can see how having this trail of breadcrumbs can be pretty useful when I am in full-on "Internet research mode" -- You can surf a bunch of sites, and everytime you find one related to whatever it is you are researching, you can tuck it into a folder. Webstractor also includes features for automatically updating the pages that you have saved, based upon any differences that it finds.

There is also integration with Safari and NetNewsWire (which I was evangelizing to anyone who would listen today. Man, that app rocks!) -- in that you can right-click on any link in either of those browsers, and send it over to webstractor.

Overall, it seemed like a cool app, but priced at $80, it was out of the impulse-buy range. I don't know of anything else that does what webstractor does, though, so it's possible that I could crack and buy it someday (especially if I'm ever using a Mac full time at the day job).

-Andy.

Technorati Tags: Apple, MWSF, webstractor

Jambo

Jambo is a new startup trying to do location-based social networking. You run Jambo's application, and it tells you about people who are near you (physically) that have the same preferences as you (logically). They have partnered with MacWorld to "Jambo-ize" the conference, so I downloaded the thing before hitting the show. But I forgot to play with it today during my afternoon blogging session, so I can't really speak to how well it works.

I did find the Jambo booth on the floor today, and I grilled one of the co-founders about how this thing works. It appears to ascertain location based upon the MAC address of the wireless base station. In the MacWorld case, the Jambo guys have sniffed all of the MACs for all of the WAPs in the convention center, hotels, and popular SF locations, and entered them into their database. Whenever you associate with a wireless network, the Jambo client sends the MAC address of the WAP to the server, and then they know "approximately" where you are.

So, this makes sense, and fits with their business model. They make money from conferences like MacWorld hiring them to "Jambo-ize" things, to foster social networking in a unique way. They also mentioned bringing their application to Universities, and I think that, if it worked as advertised, Jambo could be a boon in that sort of environment.

Things get a bit stickier, however, in the usage model where Jambo hasn't already cased the joint. If you are sitting on a WAP that Jambo doesn't know about, then it tries to determine your proximity by "hops". Basically, the Jambo client will send not only the MAC address of the WAP that you are connected to, but all of the MAC address from every WAP that your machine can see. Then, they search their database looking for matches.

So, if Bob and Alice are on opposite sides of Sunnyvale, connected to the Internet, they probably won't be able to see any wireless networks in common. But it could be that Bob can see a network that a third user, Joe can also see. And as it turns out, Alice can also see that same network. So now, Jambo knows that Alice is "two hops" away from Bob.

If this all sounds sketchy to you, then you're not alone -- because it sounded damn sketchy to me. I told them that they should do it Web 2.0/Wikipedia style, and have the users enter in location information to the database. There would be some privacy and accuracy issues with this, but it would dramatically simplify the architecture, by harnessing the collective intellect of its users. The co-founder dude didn't seem to be too keen on my idea, however.

Oh well.

-Andy.

Technorati Tags: Apple, MWSF, WiFi, Jambo

iWeb

iWeb looks pretty cool. I spent about 10 minutes or so chatting with the guy who designed the interface, peppering him with all sorts of technical questions. The biggest thing about iWeb is that it does work without .Mac. Basically, you can save whatever you create to your local disk. From there, you can copy it over to your webserver by whatever means suits you. The Apple guy said that some minor things won't work if the pages aren't hosted from .Mac (like their hit-counter), but it didn't sound like there would be any major roadblocks. Granted, this isn't as easy as using .Mac, but I definitely think that there are people out there who are going to use this feature.

I spent some time talking about the blogging features, and they seem to be pretty basic. The blogging functionality of iWeb doesn't support comments or trackbacks, and I forgot to ask if it does automatic archiving of posts in a calendar-based format (but it probably does do that). The Apple guy described it as more of journal -- for people that are used to keeping a diary or writing e-mails to their family, they can now bang out simple blog posts in iWeb without much learning curve.

And that, in a nutshell, seems to be what iWeb is all about. Get the content that you have (journals, photos, movies, etc.) onto the web with a minimal amount of hassle. The advantage of this is that it will get people who normally wouldn't publish on the Internet, publish on the Internet. It will get more people blogging. And that is just fantastic. This is one of Apple's core strengths -- taking something that is difficult for the average user, and making it so easy that they are not intimidated by it.

Of course, this also means that I probably won't get too much use out of iWeb.

Drat.

:)

-Andy.

Technorati Tags: Apple, MWSF, iLife, iWeb

iPhoto 6

I liked what I saw of iPhoto 6. I thought that iPhoto 5 was a rather "blasé" upgrade, and only acquired a copy when I bought my new iMac. What has kept me using iPhoto are the free plugins that I have found, for integrating iPhoto with my blog and gallery.

But now, with iPhoto 6, it looks like I actually have several reasons to upgrade to the new version. Which is good for Apple, because iPhoto is the only iApp that I use.

While the performance did seem to be pretty good running on the new Intel-based Apple hardware, I'm reserving judgement on that front until I see it running on one of my boxes. The big killer feature for me is the full-screen editing. You have to see this in action to really understand its power, but it looks like they have extracted some of the bits from their new pro application Aperture, and brought them down to the iPhoto level. It is super-easy to display multiple pictures (for comparisons) -- you can arrange them in any order, and size them to any size (that can fit on your screen). All of the editing tools (including the new ones added in iPhoto 6) are available by moving the mouse to the top or bottom of the screen, or via contextual menu.

In the short demo that I was given, I was very impressed with what I saw. I think that this is going to solve a lot of the pain that I have currently with using iPhoto to manage my pictures.

The other big new feature, photocasting, looks cool. I'm not going to use it because I don't have .Mac, but I like that it is built upon the RSS standard -- so that any RSS-capable client can interact with the photo stream. It sounds like they are just doing JPEG enclosures in RSS, which should mean that the images will just pop up in your RSS reader. I'll have to find a photocast somewhere and try it out in NetNewsWire. One interesting thing that the Apple guy demo'd is that if you try to open any URL that is for an Apple photocast, iPhoto will automatically get it. It looks like the Mac OS X URL handler is doing a regex match on the hostname for the photocasts, and redirects the appropriate URLs to iPhoto.

-Andy.

Technorati Tags: Apple, MWSF, iLife, iPhoto

More on the MacBook Pro

After the crowds thinned, I went back through the Apple booth and touched all of the things that I'm interested in. In particular, I spent some time with the "big" new hardware announcement, the MacBook Pro. While I noted previously that it is slightly thinner than my PowerBook, I didn't realize that the new machine is a bit wider as well (15.2" screen vs. 15.4" on the new 'book). I don't think it is enough of a difference to make the new machine incompatible with laptop bags and such.

The quality if the integrated iSight looks pretty good -- which is amazing, because the display isn't any thicker.

I noticed that the display model got quite warm when the processor was run at maximum performance. It felt even warmer than my PowerBook gets when it is cooking, which is a bad thing (because my PowerBook is too hot to hold when it is running at full steam).

I think that they moved the AirPort antenna to underneath the display (instead of on the side). You can tell that they are using a different type of material there (based on the picture that I took), which is quite similar to the sides of my display where the AirPort antenna is. The Apple person that I was grilling wasn't aware of this change, or if it affects wireless reception.

The new MacBook Pro doesn't have an S-Video connector, and the Apple guy didn't know if there was a way to go from DVI to S-Video.

There is no tether for the remote -- it doesn't stick to the case, nor can it be stored internally in the unit.

There is still no word on battery life, but Jade over at ArsTechnica has a wild-assed-guess (WAG) about what it might be.

The new MagSafe power connector does have a light on it, that turns amber when charging and green when fully charged. It isn't as nice as the "ring of power" on the current Apple PowerBooks, however.

The one really surprising thing that I learned is that Apple is still selling all of the PowerBook G4's (including the 15" one). While the MacBook is supposed to replace the PowerBook line, the replacement won't be immediate. This is probably because all of the applications that professionals use aren't native to Intel yet. And the new MacBook's can't run OS 9 classic apps.

Finally, contrary to what I have read elsewhere, the latch for the display has not been re-designed on the MacBook Pro. Instead, it has been duplicated. There are two latches, with the exact same design as on my PowerBook, one on each side of the iSight. This is probably a hack, because they need for the latch to be center-mounted, but the iSight was in the way. So, they hit right and left of center instead. You can see one of the latches on the left-hand side of this picture.

When I was at the iMac booth, I tried to grill the technical Apple guy about if they are using EFI or some sort of crazy port of OpenFirmware to Intel, but the dude couldn't say (note, not wouldn't, but couldn't). I also made a pest of myself asking if there would be a motherboard swap upgrade, for those of us who a month and a half ago bought a fast machine, which has now been replaced with something that is 2-3X faster. I was basically told that such an upgrade program isn't likely to happen.

-Andy.

Technorati Tags: Apple, MWSF, Macintosh, Intel, iMac, MacBook Pro, MagSafe

MacBook Pro tidbits

I quizzed the Apple rep who was showing off the new MacBook Pro, but he himself hadn't been briefed on it yet. So, there appears to be no word on what the battery life is going to be (Apple may still be testing and tweaking it, was the claim). I did learn that the new 'book has 2 USB ports, one FireWire 400 (gone is the FireWire 800 port), and that is about it. There is no built-in modem, instead you are supposed to use the $50 USB modem that Apple released alongside the new iMac.

That is really fine for me - it has been a long time since I have used a modem.

The size is basically the same as the PowerBook that I have now. It is slightly slimmer, but not by a whole lot. What is amazing is that the integrated iSight doesn't appear to have made the display any thicker. there is some extra space at the top of the display (the border is thicker at the top), which looks a little odd, but that's all. Apple did some amazing engineering in order to shoe-horn that camera in there.

I plan on going by there again to poke on the MacBook in depth, once the crowds dissipate some.

-Andy.

Technorati Tags: Apple, MWSF, Macintosh, MacBook Pro,

Steve Jobs and Paul Otellini

When I went to check out the MacBook, I found myself in a total crush. I was at the end of the row of MacBooks, and started trying to move down the line, to find some more free space. But I got stuck giving a recap of all of the new announcements for some folks who weren't able to attend the Keynote. While I was doing that, the crowd continued to grow and press in, and I heard someone murmur something about Steve Jobs.

So I looked around, and sure enough, there he was with the CEO of Intel, Paul Otellini, giving a demo of the new MacBook Pro for the press:

If I hadn't moved from my original position, I would have been right in Steve's face, asking him if Apple was going to have any upgrade plan for poor saps like me who just bought a 20" iMac mere weeks before it got updated with the new Intel Yonah processor.

Oh well.

-Andy.

Technorati Tags: Apple, MWSF, Macintosh, Steve Jobs, MacBook Pro, Paul Otellini

The MagSafe connector on the new MacBook Pro

I managed to get up close to a new Intel-based PowerBook right after the Keynote today, and snapped a few pictures. Here is a pretty decent shot of the new power connector, which Apple calls MagSafe:

It's pretty cool. It takes a surprising amount of force in order to pull the connector out, so I don't think there should be any worries of the power cord falling out at inopportune times.

I put all of the pictures that I have so far in gallery. I'll add to this as the day goes on.

-Andy.

Technorati Tags: Apple, MWSF, Macintosh, Intel, MacBook Pro, MagSafe

One more thing...

Apple tried really, really hard to shoe-horn a G5 into a PowerBook, but couldn't do it. According to Steve, the low-power G5 actually had less performance than the G4, when compared on a power/watt basis.

Announcing new notebook computer, called the MacBook Pro. Replaces PowerMac. Has Intel CoreDuo chip (same as iMac). Every MacBook pro will be dual-processors. 4-5X faster than PowerBook G4! 4.5X faster integer, 5X faster FP.

Fastest and thinnest Mac notebook ever. 15.4" widescreen. As bright as cinema display. Built-in iSight camera! Wow! Also have IR sensor and Apple Remote. Includes Front Row.

Another cool feature - MagSafe. Snap-out power cord, if you trip over the cord, it yanks. Held in magnetically, so if you trip over the cord, it pulls right out. No pins to break! Sweet!

1 inch thin, 5.6 lbs. Retains backlit keyboard, scrolling trackpad, sudden motion sensor, DVI out (can drive 30" display), Digital optical+analog in/out.

$2k model with 1.67GHz core duo, radeon X1600, 80Gb, 512Mb, new ExpressCard slot (next gen PCMCIA?). And $2500 model which has faster processor, bigger HD, etc.

Shipping in February. Taking orders today.

-Andy.

Technorati Tags: Apple, MWSF, Macintosh, Intel, iMac

New Macs!

Selling more macs every quarter. Steve showing new Intel logo. Steve produced an Intel moon man, Paul Otellini, from a smoke screen. Started a partnership with Intel less than a year ago, and Apple is ready to go. Relationship with Intel is going very well. Over 1,000 people at Intel working on this project.

Rolling out first Mac with an Intel processor ("a little ahead of schedule"). First of a new generation of macs.

First one is the iMac! Same sizes, same design, same features (built-in iSight, Front Row, remote, etc.), same price. 2-3X faster than iMac G5. Using Intel's latest, CoreDuo chip (dual core!). 2Mb L2 cache. Each processor is faster than the G5, but there is 2 of them inside. Processor is clocked at 2.0 Ghz.

Mac OS X Tiger 10.4.4 is Intel native. Including all bundled applications. New iLife and iWork are universal (one CD). Steve has been using a new Intel-based iMac all morning (that might be why it was so fast). :(

Pro apps will be universal in March. Crossgrade is $49 (trade in ppc disk for intel disk).

Quark announced that next version of Express will be universal. Beta program today, and that is universal.

Microsoft is committing to Office for mac for minimum of 5 years. Wow!

New iMacs have faster graphics too. Radeon x1600. Shipping today!

Going to transition entire product line this calendar year. Whoa!

-Andy.

Technorati Tags: Apple, MWSF, Macintosh, Intel, iMac

.Mac & iWork

Over a million subscribers to .Mac. A lot more integration with iLife, which is the big new feature for .Mac.

The new iWork has some new graphical pretties, and tables with calculations (spreadsheet-lite). Doesn't have time to talk about it in Keynote. Also $79, available today. 30 day free trial on all new Macs.

-Andy.

Technorati Tags: .Mac, Apple, MWSF, iWork

iLife '06

iPhoto:

• Paid a lot of attention to performance -- Steve says it is much faster.
• Up to 250,000 photos
• full screen editing (looks very nice). Can do compares, editing tools hide/show
• One-click effects (like Photo Booth)
• New cards, calendars, and dramatically better books (higher quality printing). Can make own calendars. And cards (including postcards).
• Photocasting - podcasting for photos. !??!?! Publish/subscribe for photo albums over the Internet? Done through .Mac -- when you photocast an album, it will automatically be uploaded to .Mac in the background. Any changes will automatically be sync'd to .Mac. When you subscribe to photocast, you get a special album in your source list. This source is automatically updated. "Just like magic". Looks pretty cool, but only for all-Mac people. whoa! They use RSS to subscribe -- it is the industry standard. So you only need mac + iPhoto + .Mac to publish, but anyone can subscribe.
• Steve is doing the demo now -- it looks nice and snappy, on what appears to be a 20" iMac.
• iPhoto 6 looks a lot like the new iTunes -- no borders on sides, brushed metal borders on top/bottom.
• Calendar facility has integration with iCal -- so you can make a calendar that already has your events on it.

iMovie:

• Adding animated themes - themes with a designated area to drop photos or movies. Looks like distilled version of motion?
• more than one open project at once
• export to iPod with one command
• create video podcasts

iDVD:

• Widescreen menus (for widescreen TVs)
• magic iDVD - for doing it fast, when you don't have time to play with it. Can pick a theme, and drop in movies, photos, or whole photo albums, create project, burn DVD. Looks pretty good.
• Vastly improved slideshows
• enhanced map view
• support 3rd party burners

GarageBand:

• added podcast studio - best tool in world to create podcasts
• royalty free sound effects and jingles
• automatic ducking - soundtrack lowers when you talk, and volume comes back up when you stop
• speech enhancer to fix sound quality of on-computer mic
• can grab iChat audio sessions, for interviews conducted over iChat, to automatically become a podcast (hot).
• new Jam Pack - World Music

iWeb:

• for sharing music, podcasts, blogs, movies, photos with people over the Internet, by making a web page
• super-easy to use, lets you build beautiful websites
• Apple-designed templates
• access to all iLife media
• photo albums
• blogs and podcasts
• one-click publishing to .Mac
• Photo viewer has some AJAX technology (works in IE, Safari, and Firefox). The AJAX UI is sick. It looks really amazing.
• Automatically-generate RSS for blogs and podcasts
• Looks kindof like Pages, but for the web
• Drop an iTunes playlist in there, and it will automatically make links to all of the songs on iTMS.

I'm super-happy that Apple is embracing blogging, with a tool that can enable people to publish. Anything that makes it easier to blog, or brings more people in to blogging, is a very good thing. They should have had iWeb back when they launched .Mac -- this is what .Mac was built for.

So, how much does it cost? Same price: $79. Available today! $99 family pack. Free on all new macs.

-Andy.

Technorati Tags: Apple, MWSF, iLife

Mac OS X 10.4.4 is coming out today!

Includes some new Apple-created widgets (some of which look pretty cool). Plus it is the first official version to work on Intel.

Technorati Tags: Apple, MWSF, Macintosh

Apple is releasing an FM tuner for the iPod

It is a remote/FM tuner, looks like a shuffle with only the control wheel part (the rest chopped off. You change channels through a UI on the iPod itself. The price is $49.

-Andy.

Technorati Tags: Apple, MWSF, Macintosh iPod

Overflow room again

I got here an hour earlier than last year, and I still wasn't even close. What's worse, is that they keynote started before I even got into the overflow room!

Grr...

Steve is showing off new keynote features on his iTMS slide (3D pie charts?).

The good news is that they sold 14 million iPods in 4Q 2005. :)

They have also sold over 850 million songs, and 8 million videos. iTMS marketshare is at 83%.

-Andy.

Technorati Tags: Apple, MWSF, Macintosh, iPod

There's a 5AM now?

So, I'm up way too early, to make a 6:13 AM bay bullet Caltrain out of Sunnyvale (which is a new service that they started back in October of 2005), in order to get to San Francisco a little after 7:00 AM, so that I can wait in line for Steve Job's keynote, which starts at 9:00 AM.

So, yeah, I'm nuts. And I'm even nuttier given the fact that when I got my MWSF badge yesterday, the woman said that I should be in line at 5:30 AM.

And of course, if you factor in the cost, comparing Steve Jobs' 90 minute keynote to a 90 minute movie, makes this one expensive movie. But hopefully I'll get lucky and make it into the main hall.

-Andy.

Technorati Tags: Apple, MWSF, Caltrain, Steve Jobs

Apple isn't going to do a DVR

While I have already weighed-in on what I think Apple is going to announce at this year's MacWorld Expo, there is "one more thing" that I've been thinking about that I want to weigh in on.

It seems like the rumors leading up to Tuesday's big MWSF Keynote are going completely wild. I think there are several things contributing to this year's wild rumor season. The first is the switch to Intel, and all of Intel's announcements at CES this week. The second major contributor is the amazing year that Apple had in 2005. Apple is in such a strong position now, that everybody is paying attention and focusing on what they are doing. The third appears to be last year's announcement of Front Row, which is making people think that Apple is going to have a "living room strategy" in 2006.

And these days, when most people think living room, they think Digital Video Recorder (DVR - like Tivo). But based upon all of the news reports that I have been reading, and my intuition for what Apple is thinking, I don't think that Apple is going to release a DVR in 2006. I don't think that Apple is ever going to make a DVR, in fact.

There are a lot of problems with DVRs. A lot of the technologies and ideas involved in a modern DVR are patent-encumbered, by Tivo and others. There are also technologogical problems, when doing HD, removing commercials, and encoding content so that it can go to portable devices. Next, the whole DVR thing is basically a giant hack -- attempting to brdige an analog mdedium (TV) into the digital world. Things like channel guides and automatic commercial detection can never be made perfect, due to how the analog and digital worlds interact. Finally, there is the fact that the TV networks and advertisers don't like DVRs, because it totally screws with their model.

Which is why Apple's new video downloads through iTunes look so good. Having consumers directly pay for content represents a new model, and it represents a much cleaner solution technically than DVRs. All Apple has to do is make a device (the Mac mini, perhaps), that can automatically download episodes of TV from iTunes (like a podcast), and provide a friendly interface for the users to view the content on their TV (Front Row).

The only challenges that Apple is going to have to overcome is bandwidth (providing TV-quality or even HD-quality downloads is going to suck a lot of juice) and cost. I say cost, because the currently $2/episode cost is way too expensive, when I compare with what I am paying per month for all-you-can-eat cable. Doing some napkin math, there are around 24 episodes of a show in a particular season. Downloading all of those through iTunes, that would cost $48. That's about what my cable bill is every month. So, for light-to-moderate TV viewers, iTunes is a huge win -- if you watch less than 12 shows, you are going to save money. If you are a heavy TV viewer, however, cable is (unfortunately) going to be cheaper. I just did the math, it it looks like I'm watching around 11 shows, plus news and sports. So, I'm right on the border line.

But I think that this is solvable -- Apple can simply offer a discount if you sign up for an entire season (like the difference between buying individual songs and an entire album on iTMS).

But don't take my word for it -- Ken Fisher over at Ars Technica has said pretty much the same thing. For further evidence, I am going to cite a Wall Street Journal article that I read the other day: "'Media Center' Puts Microsoft Ahead of Rivals". The article is heavily biased towards the Microsoft Media Center, but it has this great quote:

"At Microsoft, Front Row is already causing ripples: Mr. Gates in an email to Mr. Belfiore asked why Apple's remote control had just six buttons. The standard Media Center remote from Microsoft has 39 buttons. (Mr. Belfiore's explanation: Front Row computers don't have TV or digital video recorder functions and thus don't need as many buttons.)"

Of course Apple doesn't have DVR functionality -- they don't need it! And as a result, they don't need all of those buttons either. I think that Apple will stay with the iMac remote for their new media center, especially since Steve Jobs made such a point of comparing the simplicity of the Apple remote to the complexity of the Microsoft remote.

I can't wait until Tuesday.

-Andy.

Technorati Tags: Apple, MWSF, Macintosh, DVR, iTunes, Front Row

Final "Album Reviews" of 2005

I bought some new CDs a few months ago, that I have been meaning to write another of my album review posts. So, here we go:

• Minus The Bear - "Menos El Oso": Wow! Another great disc from Minus The Bear. There are no weak tracks on this CD, and I have been listening to it non-stop since I bought it. This album is pretty much a continuation of their last album, "Highly Refined Pirates". So, if you liked that disc, you should definitely pick this one up. However, if you didn't get into Minus The Bear before (Sara), then this won't be the album that brings you over to my side of the fence.
• The Decemberists - "Picaresque": Yet another band that I am possibly "ahead of the curve" on. I really like The Decemberists, yet both my resident music critic (Kevin) and my sister have panned them with extreme prejudice.

  But I am not swayed. The Decemberists can best be described as a poppier/happier "Sixteen Horsepower". And that comparison will only help the small number of people who have heard that band. The Decemberists have a little bit of a country feel, playing a lot of instruments, but never letting the music feel dense. They feature male and female vocals, but the male vocals are a little on the whiny side, which is probably what turns most people off. But if you continue to listen, you will be rewarded with an incredible album. Stand-out tracks include "The Engine Driver" and "On The Bus Mall". Strongly recommended.

• Panic! At The Disco - "A Fever You Can't Sweat Out": an amazing Fall Out Boy clone. Which is quite alright, since they are on Pete's label, Decaydance. What is strange about this band, however, is that the lead singer of P!ATD sounds exactly like Patrick of FOB.

  Seriously.

  The first time I heard this CD, I thought that it was Patrick singing vocals, and it took quite awhile for me to be able to tell the difference.

  Vocal similarities aside, P!ATD is also similar to FOB musically and lyrically. The only differences is that P!ATD uses more electronics, no screaming, and (if you can believe this) are actually more poppier than Fall Out Boy.

  So poppy, in fact, that this album has been stuck in my head for weeks. This album is so good, that Kevin and I have started predicting the death of Fall Out Boy, as they are supplanted by their younger, poppier, and more westerly competitors, Panic! At The Disco. If you are in a hurry, check out the tracks "I write sins not tragedies" and "Time To Dance". Recommended.

• Death Cab For Cutie - "Plans": This is the new album from Death Cab, and while it is a solid effort, it seems like it is missing a certain something. To be quite frank, I just haven't been listening to this album very much, preferring the new Minus The Bear and Decemberists albums. "Soul Meets Body" is a pretty good song, but it doesn't match the heights of their previous albums (like my all-time favorite song, "Debate Exposes Doubt", off of "The Photo Album", for example). So, I would only recommend this for die-hard DCFC fans.
• Feersum Ennjin - "EP": This band is a new side project from Paul D'Amour, who as you all well know used to be the bassist for a little, itty-bitty band that I only kindof like, Tool. This EP is hard to describe -- it is rock, but very experimental, yet a bit more focused than most of the super-crazy-experimental music that I have heard (i.e. Mr. Bungle. Ug.). The only other band that I can really compare this to is Lusk, which was also a Paul D'Amour side project. So, if you ever listened to Lusk's "Free Mars", then you should probably check this out. Otherwise, this is only worth looking into if you are seeking to expand your musical horizons. If you listen to one song off of this EP, try my favorite track, "U-Boats".
• My Chemical Romance - "Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge": More emo for the Fall Out Boy-loving set. I couldn't shake their song "Helena" from my mind after seeing the music video, but I didn't want to pay $14 to be one of those me-too little punk high school kids. So, I ended up not buying this album for a long time, until I found a used copy and cracked.

  Never-mind that this album is really targeted towards the high school crowd: it's good. In fact, I have been quite surprised by how much I am listening to this album. Recommended (if you don't mind the stigma of saying that you listen to MyChem). :)

• Rilo Kiley - "More Adventurous": This is another really great album. Rilo Kiley has a folky poppy female vocal-driven sound, not unlike Denali or Ivy. This album has a few slow spots, but on the whole is very good. The lyrics paint a vivid, story-like picture of love, loss, and everything in between. The stand-out tracks are "Does He Love You?" and "I Never" (Kevin really likes that song, in fact). Recommended.

-Andy.

Technorati Tags: Panic! At The Disco, Fall Out Boy, Minus The Bear, Death Cab For Cutie, Rilo Kiley, The Decemberists, My Chemical Romance, Feersum Ennjin, Tool, Lusk