Apple TV
Macworld 2008
2008-01-17
I visited Macworld today. My immediate impression was that It was more crowded and larger than last year. Notably there were many companies selling storage solutions: clearly back up and media storage is now becoming mainstream in the Mac world.
This is a plastic missile launcher powered and controlled by USB. I was lucky enough to get the missile streaking out of the frame while the shutter was open.
Ever wanted to type with one hand? The FrogPad lets you do that. In the foreground are two pads, one for left-handed people and one for right-handed people. The common letters are on the keys and to get the less common letters you chord with another key. There is also a symbol and a shift lock key. It takes a little getting used to, but I was able to type a simple message without too much trouble.
These are relaxation pods. I didn't ask what went on inside them.
One use for an old iMac case: turn it into a trash can.
I got my hands on a MacBook Air after waiting in line for a while. It's very thin, very light, and it's a Mac. There's not much else to say about it. Performance seemed fine for the small amount of playing that I did with it. The case got warm, but definitely not hot. Since it is all aluminum and curved, it's much stiffer than you would think it would be. MacBook Pros look like huge ugly bricks next to this thing.
Apple was showing off very little this year. The only Macs apart from the MacBook Airs were Mac Pros with two big screens each. These were being used to show off some pro apps and also for general OS X demonstration to any interested parties. No sign of Aperture. No iMacs. No minis. There was a whole wall of Apple TVs and plenty of iPods and iPhones on display.
Eye-Fi was there with their orange wireless SD card. You plug it into your camera and it transmits your JPEG images via regular wifi to your computer. Their software then stores it or automatically uploads it to a photo sharing site.
I also saw people creating hideous creatures with Spore. The gaming area was small this year.
Need a cover for your laptop? I didn't think so.
This is a plastic missile launcher powered and controlled by USB. I was lucky enough to get the missile streaking out of the frame while the shutter was open.
Ever wanted to type with one hand? The FrogPad lets you do that. In the foreground are two pads, one for left-handed people and one for right-handed people. The common letters are on the keys and to get the less common letters you chord with another key. There is also a symbol and a shift lock key. It takes a little getting used to, but I was able to type a simple message without too much trouble.
These are relaxation pods. I didn't ask what went on inside them.
One use for an old iMac case: turn it into a trash can.
I got my hands on a MacBook Air after waiting in line for a while. It's very thin, very light, and it's a Mac. There's not much else to say about it. Performance seemed fine for the small amount of playing that I did with it. The case got warm, but definitely not hot. Since it is all aluminum and curved, it's much stiffer than you would think it would be. MacBook Pros look like huge ugly bricks next to this thing.
Apple was showing off very little this year. The only Macs apart from the MacBook Airs were Mac Pros with two big screens each. These were being used to show off some pro apps and also for general OS X demonstration to any interested parties. No sign of Aperture. No iMacs. No minis. There was a whole wall of Apple TVs and plenty of iPods and iPhones on display.
Eye-Fi was there with their orange wireless SD card. You plug it into your camera and it transmits your JPEG images via regular wifi to your computer. Their software then stores it or automatically uploads it to a photo sharing site.
I also saw people creating hideous creatures with Spore. The gaming area was small this year.
Need a cover for your laptop? I didn't think so.
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Robert Scoble Is Getting Interesting
2007-03-27
Robert Scoble was blogging about Microsoft before he was part of Microsoft. Now he's no longer part of Microsoft, his blog is getting interesting. His recent posts and particularly the comments they foster and his responses are very telling. He gets it. He likes Apple TV. He doesn't believe that Microsoft is in it to win.
#127: this is the problem. Microsoft is actually something like 100 companies lashed together. The Xbox team might be doing something cool while the Internet team is totally sucking wind.
In this context we’re talking about the Internet team.
Oh, and cool?
How about Photosynth? http://scobleizer.com/2006/11/10/demo-of-the-year-photosynth/
That’s cool. But it can’t be turned into a product.
Why? Cause it takes nine hours to stitch together a few hundred photos. Unusable.
So, very cool, but not a business.
Most of what we’re talking about above is about being BOTH cool and a great business ON THE INTERNET.
Microsoft is lacking on both areas.
And the comparison to the Beattles is NOT out of place here. Demonstrates that you take a Microsoft approach here.
Comment by Robert Scoble — March 17, 2007 @ 12:03 pm
#127: this is the problem. Microsoft is actually something like 100 companies lashed together. The Xbox team might be doing something cool while the Internet team is totally sucking wind.
In this context we’re talking about the Internet team.
Oh, and cool?
How about Photosynth? http://scobleizer.com/2006/11/10/demo-of-the-year-photosynth/
That’s cool. But it can’t be turned into a product.
Why? Cause it takes nine hours to stitch together a few hundred photos. Unusable.
So, very cool, but not a business.
Most of what we’re talking about above is about being BOTH cool and a great business ON THE INTERNET.
Microsoft is lacking on both areas.
And the comparison to the Beattles is NOT out of place here. Demonstrates that you take a Microsoft approach here.
Comment by Robert Scoble — March 17, 2007 @ 12:03 pm
Apple TV Is Very Hackable
2007-03-24
The folks over at Something Awful are hacking Apple TV. Since the ATV runs Mac OS X, this is almost trivial: pop the cover, take out the hard drive, mount it on a Mac via a Firewire case, and modify. They have it playing Xvid movies, running SSH, and more. The hard drive can be replaced with a larger one too.
I notice that it contains a ForceFeedback framework too. That means games. Only games (simulators) use force feedback.
It may seem odd that the box is as open as this. After all, the XBox and other equipment like it is locked down just as tight as the manufacturers can make it. Not that it stops anyone. But it is not odd at all when you consider that Apple is in the hardware business. An open box sells more boxes, and that is all that matters. This is really the lowest-cost Mac on the market now.
I, Cringely: Appeerances Can be Deceiving
2007-02-20
On I, Cringely Robert Cringely esposes his theory that the Apple TV box is (going to be) part of a centrally-controlled P2P network. This could actually happen, I think. But there is more.
The idea is that instead of creating a VOD (video on demand) system that suffers from all the delays of downloading after you have decided to watch, a problem shared by every delivery system out there, including DVDs by mail from Netflix, the box which is always plugged in and turned on will be downloading movies for you 24 hours a day. Only when there is a sufficiently large chunk available on your Apple TV will the system offer it to you for watching. The rest of the movie will come from other Apple TV boxes all over the world, seeded by Apple and/or Google servers.
This means that Apple can achieve very rapid distribution of movies without setting up millions of servers. This reduces costs of course, but also makes Apple the fastest network mass distribution system there is. That in itself makes for some interesting possibilities. Why stop at movies? Shorter content, often at lower resolution is much easier to handle and can include a much wider selection. Like weather, local news, and traffic conditions. And widgets of course. There is no reason that the Apple TV cannot display widgets exactly the same as the iPhone and the Mac can.
The other thing it does is to allow Apple to offer instant gratification and with it receive instant income. Think about it. Your Apple TV says "Last week you watched Lord Of The Rings part one on DVD. I have part two ready for you to watch right now. Just pay me to watch it". Why go to Blockbuster or wait for Netflix? VOAW: Video On A Whim.
The article also asks this question:
Bob misses the obvious. They are not designed to all stack together, so much as to each stack with another piece that Apple has not yet released. What is that piece? My pet theory is that it is a home server. That will allow people to maintain very large collections of movies for P2P distribution and so earn credits toward their own movie downloads. That's right. Apple will give you credit for providing P2P content to other people. The more you have and the bigger bandwidth you have, the more you can earn. A big, easy to use home server is also perfect for home video collections, photos (many people have tens of thousands of 10M photos these days), and backing up to.
Another theory I have is that it will be a WiMAX box: fixed, high speed, wireless networking -- real broadband in fact -- that will not be controlled by either the cable or the phone companies. This will introduce real competition into the marketplace and rates of payment will fall like crazy as rates of data transfer climb like crazy. This is why you won't care about the bandwidth cost or the amount of data your Apple TV is sending and receiving.
The idea is that instead of creating a VOD (video on demand) system that suffers from all the delays of downloading after you have decided to watch, a problem shared by every delivery system out there, including DVDs by mail from Netflix, the box which is always plugged in and turned on will be downloading movies for you 24 hours a day. Only when there is a sufficiently large chunk available on your Apple TV will the system offer it to you for watching. The rest of the movie will come from other Apple TV boxes all over the world, seeded by Apple and/or Google servers.
This means that Apple can achieve very rapid distribution of movies without setting up millions of servers. This reduces costs of course, but also makes Apple the fastest network mass distribution system there is. That in itself makes for some interesting possibilities. Why stop at movies? Shorter content, often at lower resolution is much easier to handle and can include a much wider selection. Like weather, local news, and traffic conditions. And widgets of course. There is no reason that the Apple TV cannot display widgets exactly the same as the iPhone and the Mac can.
The other thing it does is to allow Apple to offer instant gratification and with it receive instant income. Think about it. Your Apple TV says "Last week you watched Lord Of The Rings part one on DVD. I have part two ready for you to watch right now. Just pay me to watch it". Why go to Blockbuster or wait for Netflix? VOAW: Video On A Whim.
The article also asks this question:
I'll tell you my theory about the Apple TV in a moment, but first I want to riff a bit on the other components in the new ministack -- the Mac Mini and the new AirPort Extreme Base Station. All three components have the same form factor, very similar cases, and they stack beautifully one atop the other. But why? Under what circumstance would you even want to stack all three together? It makes no sense to me.
Bob misses the obvious. They are not designed to all stack together, so much as to each stack with another piece that Apple has not yet released. What is that piece? My pet theory is that it is a home server. That will allow people to maintain very large collections of movies for P2P distribution and so earn credits toward their own movie downloads. That's right. Apple will give you credit for providing P2P content to other people. The more you have and the bigger bandwidth you have, the more you can earn. A big, easy to use home server is also perfect for home video collections, photos (many people have tens of thousands of 10M photos these days), and backing up to.
Another theory I have is that it will be a WiMAX box: fixed, high speed, wireless networking -- real broadband in fact -- that will not be controlled by either the cable or the phone companies. This will introduce real competition into the marketplace and rates of payment will fall like crazy as rates of data transfer climb like crazy. This is why you won't care about the bandwidth cost or the amount of data your Apple TV is sending and receiving.
Macworld 2007 Pictures
2007-01-12
I visited Macworld 2007 today. It was very busy all day. I took these pictures with my Canon S3 set to ISO 200 since the light was pretty low.
Many people sat to watch demonstrations of the features of Leopard, the iPhone, Apple TV, and others:
Here are some new Mail features:
Apple TV was on display:
Apple TV is much like Front Row but outputs to your TV instead of the computer screen. It can be synced like an iPod. So another way of thinking of it is as a high definition video iPod with wireless streaming added. The unit has a fat rubber base that does not slip and cannot scratch anything. It gets quite warm during use.
Aperture training was popular:
There were about thirty 24" iMacs set up for the attendees to play with and follow the demo. This is the same model that I use for Aperture. Lightroom was also popular.
The iPhone was displayed like the Hope diamond, with security and plexiglass:
Getting close up pictures was tricky, but possible:
It is smaller than you think it should be and very rounded:
The screen is extremely sharp and crisp. I could read the smallest text. At 160 pixels per inch it is about twice the linear resolution of a regular computer display.
Many people sat to watch demonstrations of the features of Leopard, the iPhone, Apple TV, and others:
Here are some new Mail features:
Apple TV was on display:
Apple TV is much like Front Row but outputs to your TV instead of the computer screen. It can be synced like an iPod. So another way of thinking of it is as a high definition video iPod with wireless streaming added. The unit has a fat rubber base that does not slip and cannot scratch anything. It gets quite warm during use.
Aperture training was popular:
There were about thirty 24" iMacs set up for the attendees to play with and follow the demo. This is the same model that I use for Aperture. Lightroom was also popular.
The iPhone was displayed like the Hope diamond, with security and plexiglass:
Getting close up pictures was tricky, but possible:
It is smaller than you think it should be and very rounded:
The screen is extremely sharp and crisp. I could read the smallest text. At 160 pixels per inch it is about twice the linear resolution of a regular computer display.
Why The Living Room Is So Important To Apple
2007-01-09
EETimes has another great article that shows in detail why the home market is so important to Apple. Entitled The Top Ten Hang-ups in Home Networking, it catalogs the problems of interoperability, multiple standards, DRM, customer confusion, and leadership void that makes connecting anything to anything difficult or impossible. But the opportunity is huge:
A few data points provide a snapshot of the opportunities. Market watcher iSuppli Corp. (El Segundo, Calif.) predicts shipments of products with integrated wired home networking will rise by more than a factor of 10 in the next four years, to hit 223.8 million units in 2010. Parks Associates estimates the number of North American homes with networked digital-video recorders more than tripled from 400,000 in 2005 to 1.7 million by the end of 2006.
They state the problem very clearly:
But there are no easy pickings in this gold rush. Engineers face historic levels of complexity building the digital home for several reasons. An unprecedented number of players are competing for a piece of the action. Coordination between these would-be architects is minimal.
and give the consequences:
"The glue that holds all this together is home networking, and it stinks," said Van Baker, a consumer analyst with Gartner Dataquest, in an early 2006 story. "If home networking stays like it is, it will stall at 30 percent penetration," he said.
The home network is wide open for any player that can simplify, market, and deliver. Whoever achieves significant penetration will either drag the other players along, or push them to the side. Clearly iTV is part of this, but I expect there to be more.
Apple will start with the TV, get a toehold, and place themselves in a position to enable other players to do business through them, so creating an ecosystem. Think low-price downloadable games, YouTube videos, iChat, networked security cameras, and things like that. Make it compatible and it will just work on any Apple home system.
A few data points provide a snapshot of the opportunities. Market watcher iSuppli Corp. (El Segundo, Calif.) predicts shipments of products with integrated wired home networking will rise by more than a factor of 10 in the next four years, to hit 223.8 million units in 2010. Parks Associates estimates the number of North American homes with networked digital-video recorders more than tripled from 400,000 in 2005 to 1.7 million by the end of 2006.
They state the problem very clearly:
But there are no easy pickings in this gold rush. Engineers face historic levels of complexity building the digital home for several reasons. An unprecedented number of players are competing for a piece of the action. Coordination between these would-be architects is minimal.
and give the consequences:
"The glue that holds all this together is home networking, and it stinks," said Van Baker, a consumer analyst with Gartner Dataquest, in an early 2006 story. "If home networking stays like it is, it will stall at 30 percent penetration," he said.
The home network is wide open for any player that can simplify, market, and deliver. Whoever achieves significant penetration will either drag the other players along, or push them to the side. Clearly iTV is part of this, but I expect there to be more.
Apple will start with the TV, get a toehold, and place themselves in a position to enable other players to do business through them, so creating an ecosystem. Think low-price downloadable games, YouTube videos, iChat, networked security cameras, and things like that. Make it compatible and it will just work on any Apple home system.
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