3 Stations East

That New Apple Wireless Keyboard

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 14:12:23 -0500

Surely I'm not the only one who saw the new Apple wireless keyboard and thought, "Media center keyboard."

Prediction: it'll interface with the Apple TV in time.

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Sort Of

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 08:55:00 -0500

Yesterday I was looking at my iPod's artist listing - my preferred way to get to music - and realized something: A.C. Newman was the first artist.

This couldn't be, I thought, because forever and ever 10,000 Maniacs have been the first artist.

It seems to be a change in iTunes 7.2.5.2.1.5 though, as no matter how I choose to sort the artist column within the program, my number-based artists are now at the bottom of the heap!

So why did this change? When did this change? And more importantly, why the heck can't I tell iTunes to put my number-based artists up top again?

Here's an Apple Discussion on the issue.

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Building the Perfect OS X Browser

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 21:52:37 -0500

So yeah, I played with Camino 1.5 for a week before I went crawling back to Firefox. And I've been off-and-on with Safari 3.0 beta all day. It's frustrating because all three of these browsers come very close to what I want in a browser but none of them pegs it perfectly.

Thus, my review of the current state of OS X browserdom and which pieces would make the Perfect OS X Browser.

Firefox 2.0.0.4
The best thing about Firefox: extensions. The second: cross-platform consistency. If I can make a site work in Firefox on the Mac, I know it'll look just dandy on the PC. Safari has matched that feature now, of course, but the extensions in FF are what bring me back. That, and the Undo The Tab I Just Closed By Accident command... it has saved me countless times.

However, it's a stupid memory hog. I don't care if it's the browser or the extensions I'm running... it's a mess. I hate the spinning beachball. The interface, even with GrApple, is still kind of a mess.

Camino 1.5
Love it. Great, great stride forward. Feels fast and zippy. Fits in to OS X very well. Feels leaner than Firefox. I appreciate that it's the same rendering engine, too... no having to worry about CSS breaking a beautiful layout.

But I can't move tabs? And I can still only store one username/password per domain name? And it's nice that there's a Flash blocker included, as well as an ad blocker, but (like Safari) that's not too useful if I can't whitelist sites.

I really do like Camino, but those little things just bug me a lot. Maybe 1.6 will fix 'em.

Safari 3 beta
Boy, does this look weird on a PC. I couldn't test it with a work app, which required an authenticated login - it crashed. On the Mac, it's very fast. Being able to move tabs? Great. The ability to move tabs off the tab bar into their own windows? Great! I still like the streamlined, clean interface. It's better at typography than Firefox and Camino.

But the new search? It kicks ass. It is easily the best search implementation I've seen in an app since Coda. They're tied, in my mind. Safari will actually highlight all the matches on a page and pop them up a bit. Once you've tried it, you'll think every other browser needs it too.

The cons? Uhm... hm. Other than what I've grown used to with Firefox... there... aren't... any really. It's a beta. Oh, that's one! It's a beta.

I'm going to stick it out with Safari 3 for a little while. But those Firefox extensions might be too much for me to miss.

The Perfect OS X Browser
It really is too bad that not any single browser has nailed everything perfectly. Firefox has a sucky UI; Camino's latest version just got outpaced by Safari; Safari's lacking expandability (to some degree.)

So for me, the perfect browser would include:

Firefox extensions;
Both the Gecko and WebKit rendering engines;
Safari's tab implementation, in-page search, and bookmark management;
Firefox's DOM inspector;
Safari's UI;
Camino's slick-looking "warning panels" (for pop-ups, etc.).

That's it. As you can see, things aren't too far off. Truly if Camino had extension support - the real deal - I think that would be the winner.

In any case I give Apple credit for their power play today, in making Safari the uber-platform for iPhone, Mac, and Windows web development. Well done!

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MacBook Essentials?

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 17:05:59 -0600

Now that I've made the jump from a desktop to a laptop I need to ask: what are the essential utilities and thingamajigs I need with a MacBook?

Software is pretty much covered. And the machine will be in limbo for two reasons: a) vacation next week; b) I'm upgrading the HD and memory.

(One nice bonus is that I ordered a machine with 512MB knowing full well I'd upgrade it... and it shipped with a gig. Thanks, Apple!)

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First Thoughts on Amazon Unbox

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 16:21:21 -0500

Amazon launched its video download service, Unbox, today in advance of Apple's expected entry into the fray next week. Here are my initial thoughts given I can't use the thing because I'm on a Mac.

The pricing is not horrible. $1.99 for a TV show is typical. $3.99 for a rental undercuts my local Blockbuster by 30 cents. Purchase prices aren't too bad - many are $9.99 or thereabouts but I did see some for $20, which isn't an advantage over buying a DVD.
You can burn to DVD, but it doesn't work in any DVD player so this is just for backup. Lame.
They offer Trek, which means Paramount hates iTunes for some reason.
Doesn't work on iPod or with iTunes natively; wonder if there's a way to strip the DRM.
Must use Amazon's player (gee, more programs, thanks.)
The quality is DVD quality and, if you want it, a smaller, worse quality version for your portable video thingie. That's nice. However...
Download times suuuuck. Per Amazon's own chart, a two-hour movie takes almost two hours to download on a 3.0mbps connection. On my so-so 1.5mbps at home, it takes almost four hours. That's unacceptable to me. I know that's not Amazon's fault.

So, if a movie takes four hours to download I could in theory set it to download in the morning and have it on my computer at night. But I can just stop at Blockbuster on the way home (or use Netflix, dur) and for that extra 30 cents on the rental I can actually play it in my DVD player, which has much more comfortable seating nearby.

And I've said it before and I'll say it again but, anything that doesn't support the iPod does face an uphill battle. It's funny how Amazon addresses this in the FAQ:

Can I use Amazon Unbox on my Macintosh or iPod?
No. Apple Computer Inc. has exclusive rights to the hardware and software that would make this possible. Because of these restrictions, we are unable to make Amazon Unbox compatible with these products. While it is possible to run one of the approved operating systems on computers made by Apple, we cannot guarantee the performace [sic] of Amazon Unbox on these systems.

The thing is, that's not entirely true. Amazon could sell non-DRMed videos which would work splendidly on an iPod - they just choose not to (either by force from the MPAA or not - but probably so.) This kind of oh-so-slight misinformation bugs me a lot; the truth is that both sides are using DRM, one shittier than the other (arguably), and they don't work together. The correct answer would be:

Can I use Amazon Unbox on my Macintosh or iPod?
No, because the copy protection Amazon Unbox's downloads uses is designed only for the Windows platform and Windows-compatible devices.

That's the real truth. Why doesn't Amazon just say that?

One last thing that is actually great is that this does provide competition for iTunes in the pricing department. The first season of Firefly is on sale at Unbox right now, and it undercuts Apple's price by a few bucks. That's good! I hope Apple considers responding in kind. (They might even consider doing a "series run" sale - buy all x seasons and save money.)

And About Apple

The rumors on the internets say that Apple'll open up a movie store next week, selling movies and not doing rentals. $10 for old movies, $15 for new. No word on quality or selection. The rumors also state that if Apple does start out it'll be only with Disney (surprise).

It's my opinion that the pieces are indeed coming together for some awesome convergence, but we're not quite there yet. If Apple offers high quality downloads like Unbox, it'll take a fortnight to download the things. That's a bad experience. If they offer middling quality, people will bitch about it (and rightfully so at $10 - $5, maybe not.)

Apple isn't big on bad experiences, so I'm hoping these rumors turn out to be false. I find it a bit hard to believe that Apple would settle for a mediocre experience to appease the movie studios... but time will tell.

Rebox

So, in summary, Unbox will serve as an interesting experiment - perhaps, nothing more.

Addendum: About Rentals

I learned today that the Unbox rental model is this: you can watch it one time within a 30-day period. That plainly sucks, and I'll definitely pay the extra money to get it from Blockbuster because I can watch a film 18 times within a week. That's much more valuable to me. Can't imagine many people enjoying that restriction.

Apple's gotta pull a rabbit out of its hat if they're going to compete with Unbox, but the MPAA's restrictions are horrible.

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Couple of WWDC Thoughts

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 07:33:58 -0500

Time Machine looks nice but the Star Trek background is just crazy geeky. I was wondering what UI conventions were in place when this was designed - I mean, it entirely throws the UI out the window. That's fubar. ("Press the Cancel button and launch yourself into... hyperspaaaaaace!") C'mon, where's the "Pro" mode once I start getting tired of those animations? And thanks for getting rid of the dock and menu bar. Sheesh. WTF.

To-do lists in Mail are killer. I already mail myself to-dos at home and at work (usually from one to the other), so a smart client would be nice. (Although, I do have a rule set up in lowly Outlook for them, and it works fine.) It's only a matter of time before there's a bridge between Apple's to-do, Apple iCal, and Basecamp/Backpack. I was annoyed, however, that Mail's lame-ass toolbar icons weren't changed. They're an anamoly. Get rid of them, please.

Finally, I think the iChat upgrade is a very, very wise - but quiet - play for businesses. Yes, you can do video backgrounds and photo backgrounds. (I IMmed Dave that it would be smart to record footage of one's office, and then give everyone the impression that one was always working.) The iPhoto slideshows with video are very slick, great for family, but the Keynote presentations and even the iPhoto shows are awesome for business. If I work remotely and need to show a bunch of slides, for instance, I don't have to do a WebEx or LiveMeeting or any crap like that. That is nice. That's very nice!

And being able to share desktops over iChat is a total play for business. I can't tell you how many times I've done that with Windows, and I can't tell you how many times it's pissed me off. If it's pulled off elegantly - now only a 50/50 shot with Apple given Time Machine - it's going to be a godsend. I mean, if my mother-in-law is having problems with her Mac mini, I can just ask her to let me see the desktop. That's how it should be on any operating system.

All in all, the announcements yesterday were solid but not out-of-the-park, and that's okay. The Mac Pro looks great of course, and the base configuration finally has an acceptable amount of memory (1GB!)... but I'm still hoping for an updated Finder. Aren't we all?

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