One thing that struck me during Steve Jobs' keynote yesterday was this odd moment when Jobs was trying to rationalize many of the reasons MacBook Air owners would be happy not having an optical drive in their laptop. He was going down a list of things we need optical media for and replacing them one by one with various Apple creations. Apple's perceived solution for not having a drive would be to buy all your media through iTunes and play it on your iPod, delegate the task of reading discs to another computer in your house, or simplify things with a new and proprietary $99 external drive. Sounds simple, right?
It's commonly been referred to as the "Steve Jobs reality distortion field" and there hasn't really been a clearer example of it since Apple launched the "simpler" version of its one-button mouse that actually had five. In this case, it's the importance of optical media and the role it still plays in our lives. While I applaud Jobs and Apple trying to get rid of what's admittedly become a weak and cumbersome format, I'm a little disappointed that Apple hasn't decided to offer a real solution to the problem they're creating for novice computer users and road warriors who want to avoid optical media altogether--at least not yet.
(Credit:
Apple.com)
What I'm getting at is that Apple's in the perfect position to start offering digital software downloads to the masses, and tie it into a software system that millions of people are comfortable with giving their credit card information to on a daily basis. I'm speaking of course, about iTunes.
Apple's got all the pieces in place to start offering people computer software the same way Valve's been doing with video games with its hugely successful Steam service for the last six years. I love Steam for many reasons, but primarily for its built-in updating tools and easy-to-navigate digital storefront that make it easy to buy software with one click and not have to worry about it again. If I could get the same performance from an app that's admittedly become a little bloated but already has a decent updating system, I'd be happy as a pig in mud.
Two things stick out in my mind as being good signs such a service is in the works via iTunes:
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(Credit:
Apple Inc.)
I've had a love/hate relationship with Apple TV since its release. Despite yesterday's price cut, the addition of the movie rental service, and computer-free content acquisition for things like Podcasts and music tracks, to me it's still not a necessary living-room entertainment device. The big deal-killer for me is still the closed system, which, for a modern-day streaming device, continues to act as if certain file formats don't exist, despite the competition's (including Microsoft) beginning to accept them with open arms.
However, the one thing that does interest me and gets me actually wanting one in my living room is the inclusion of highly specialized Web-based services. The most notable addition to come yesterday? Another big Silicon Valley service: Flickr.
So now we've got four Web-based services doing their thing on the Apple TV, including YouTube, which Apple added to the device in late June, Mac picture galleries, and movie trailers from Apple's popular QuickTime site. All of these got me thinking: what other Web-enabled services would go well with the Apple TV? Short of an Apple TV SDK that would let developers build in some new functionality to the device, surely there's room for more. I've put together a list of five services I'd like to see make their way onto the Apple TV that I think would actually work, given the relatively limited remote control and a lack of a keyboard.
1. RSS reader
While an RSS reader might be a borderline Web browser (which will likely never make its way anywhere close to the Apple TV), its use for some easy reading makes a lot of sense. As we've seen with Google's Wii-optimized version of its Reader product, living room RSS can be as easy as pie with a four-way directional pad and two control buttons, which the Apple TV remote just happens to have.
2. Weather
Weather on your TV is immensely helpful, and given the inclusion of the weather widget as standard on the iPhone, the iPod Touch, and on OS X since version 10.4, it would make sense to put a larger, more extensive version of the weather app on the Apple TV for folks who want to give the forecast a quick check without turning on their computer or navigating the crummy menus of their set-top cable box.
3. Stocks
Yet another widget that would be nice to have as a larger, more informative widget for wide-screen TVs. Since most ticker symbols can be looked up with three or four letters, a keyboard would be unnecessary to input your favorite companies. Along with weather, this one seems like a no-brainer.
(Credit:
Joost )
4. Joost
Joost may be a software service, but the Apple TV has plenty of horsepower to drive it. It'll likely never happen, but given the amount of quality content that's on there, it would make a nice addition to the lineup of podcasts both audio and video that Apple's making available with the latest software update.
5. Internet radio (Shoutcast, Pandora, Last.fm, etc.)
Like Joost (above), Internet radio would make an excellent streaming extension to some of the downloadable content found via iTunes. Heck, it's already a part of the software iteration of iTunes--how hard would it be to stick those streams in there?
Got any of your own? Leave them in the comments.
One of the companies showing off their wares at today's Macworld Expo was Glance, a service that's been around since 2002 but only recently started edging into the Mac scene starting at last year's Expo. Glance serves up screen-sharing tools for consumers and private companies. Its claim to fame is its 100-at-a-time screen sharing service, which can be used for large conference sessions or digital seminars.
Today the company is launching its remote-control feature for Macs, which, like some other screen-sharing services including Yugma and WebEx, allows a participant to get control of another user's mouse and keyboard. The booth had four computers set up to a Glance session, and I watched as control was passed back and forth between the machines, which were a mix of Mac and Windows.
The company is marketing the new service as a way to help out on tech-support issues, although I was told that clients will also be able to use it to remotely access their own machine as long as they've got the conference link handy.
The consumer version of Glance comes in at $50 a month. More business-oriented clients can go for the corporate tier, which rings up at $119 a month and adds features like administrative controls and a purchase-by-the-session model that lets you only pay for the connections you need.
I'm a sucker for good show booths. Yesterday I got to sneak a peek at Google's Macworld booth while folks were still setting up, and wasn't sure what to expect in the way of new stuff. Today (to my surprise) the Mountain View-based company had one of the most jam-packed booths despite the lack of any new service offerings. What was the big-ticket item, though? The swag, and to be more specific--the Google swag scavenger hunt.
Google was offering four tiers of swag for expo-goers: Cub Scout-style merit badges, a rubbery grip pad for any portable device, some colored tube socks (not the cool YouTube ones from D5), and a pair of black flip flops with the Google logo on the top.
The setup rallied four stations showcasing Google's various product offerings, including Google Earth and Maps, the recently updated iPhone mobile service, and applications for OS X like Google Desktop, Picasa, and Sketchup, which had been showcased at last year's expo. At each station event-goers had to talk to a Google rep about the service in question to get the hallowed red Google stamp of approval. For each stamp you got on your card, you'd get to graduate to a higher level of swag, or get multiples of the lower tiered items.
Here are some shots from the booth. Let's start with some of the stations:
Google's 'Geo' station was just a showcase of its Maps and Earth products, neither of which received any sort of update today besides the mapping add-ons given to iPhone and iPod Touch users.
(Credit: CNET Networks)... Read more
Quickly filling up Netflix's rearview mirror is a sight that no tech company wants to see: Apple.
Apple announced on Tuesday that the company has cut licensing deals with every top film studio--deals that will enable iTunes to offer first-run movies a month after they are released on DVD.
This means that Apple has won a major advantage in the Web movie-rental business. One of the biggest complaints customers have with online movie services is that none offer first-run features. The same is true with some of the video-on-demand services operated by the cable companies.
Moreover, Netflix offerings don't work on anything but computers running Microsoft's operating system.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs told the audience during his Macworld 2008 keynote address on Tuesday that movies offered by the service, iTunes Movie Rentals, will play on PCs, Macs, iPods, and iPhones.
Apple also one-upped most competitors by offering films in high definition (HD). Jobs told the Macworld audience that customers can watch the streaming movies instantly. They will have 30 days to start watching the moves and once they begin streaming the film and will then be allowed 24 hours to finish viewing.
Apple will charge $3.99 for newer releases and $2.99 for older titles. Customers can pay $1 extra to obtain movies in HD. The company expects to offer 1,000 films by the end of February.
"The big surprise is that they're doing HD," said James McQuivey, an analyst with Forrester Research. "Apple nailed this because HD is what consumers want."
Apple's new rental service isn't likely to threaten Netflix's core mail-order business, according to McQuivey. Apple is charging on a per-film basis while Netflix business allows users to watch what they want for a monthly fee.
But the future of movie rentals is supposed to be providing customers access to any film with a push of a button. Nobody offers that--yet. But in the race to deliver instant gratification, Apple just zoomed past Netflix.
Still, the Web rental business as a whole has many shortcomings. Some are technological and some are the annoying restrictions imposed by the studios.
Transmitting movies over the Web, especially in massive HD-quality files, is known for taking multiple hours. The viewing experience, meanwhile, is often marked by stalling and jerky video.
Among Apple's competitors is Microsoft's Xbox. The company launched a movie and TV download store for Net-connected Xbox 360s in November and some users have complained about hours-long delays in getting their films. What Apple fans will be interested to see is what kind of viewing experience Apple can deliver.
One thing that is bound to annoy them is the viewing deadline. That isn't Apple's fault, according to McQuivey.
The reason for the deadline, he said, is that the studios insist on it because they don't want movies sitting on people's hard drives for too long.
"Their worry is that this would discourage people from picking up the DVD at Wal-Mart," McQuivey said. "The DVD market is $23 billion a year, twice as big as the annual box office revenue. The studios don't want to mess with that if they can help it. At least for now."
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