The Occasional Blog

I’ve heard reports that iPhone web surfing traffic is orders of magnitude more than other smartphones. Given that it’s not a crippled browser like on my previous Sony Ericsson or Blackberry it’s not surprising.

Checking the usage counters on my (second) iPhone, I’ve used 466M down and 74M up via the EDGE network since I got it 6 months ago. It doesn’t monitor WiFi traffic. While it does check mail, it only gets headers unless I pull up a message so most of that is web traffic. Nothing spectacular, but I find it pretty interesting.

As you well know, I’m an iPhone owner and fan. While it has been the best phone I’ve ever owned, it isn’t perfect. I’m writing this as I sit waiting for a meeting that isn’t going to happen (I got stood up), I decided to write this little post on my iPhone* about my thoughts on tomorrow’s iPhone SDK announcement by Apple. There are many questions about what will and will not be possible for 3rd party developers, but I’ll go ahead and make my predictions:

1. Delivery will be done only by the iTunes music store
2. Software will be signed by Apple making small developers mad (and many users)
3. Signed apps will be approved by Apple but they’ll claim they will be fully supportive (time will tell)
4. There will be options for free apps
5. There will be some apps available immediately
6. There will be a Blackberry-like service to push corporate email to iPhones
7. There will be a lightweight iWork suite announced
8. There will be Bluetooth keyboard support
9. Developers will have more access to the hardware than feared but less than hoped
10. I’ll go out on a limb that they’ll also announce a small tablet device with the touch interface but that may be further out (6 months)
11. I’ll be buying around $20-30 of software that is immediately available

I admit I’m taking the shotgun approach. My money is on 1-6. We’ll see what the future holds for us.

* The draft was on the iPhone, but links and final was done on my desktop

When I was up at Macworld two weeks ago I got to see in person many of the announcements that were made during Steve Jobs’ keynote (MacBook Air, iTune Movie Rentals, Time Capsule , etc.). While the MacBook Air is quite sexy, the most interesting thing I thought while strolling through the Apple booth was how much they were pushing the newly updated Apple TV.

If you haven’t heard of it, it was originally announced last year and is basically an iPod that you keep attached to your TV. You navigate the on-screen display with a small remote using an interface similar to Front Row on OS X. I was wholly unimpressed with it as originally announced as it required you to sync content to its 40G drive from another computer on the network. This year, they have improved the software to where you can now rent movies or purchase music or movies from the device itself (before purchases had to be made on your computer and synced to the device).

While Apple isn’t the first to offer movie rentals via digital delivery, they are arguably the highest profile and stand the best chance on making it work (much like they were with digital music purchases with the iTunes Music Store). My question is, what is Apple up to? Are they trying to be the premiere source for digital delivery of media? I suppose so, but it doesn’t necessarily make sense. Maybe they are going to truly transition to the classic razor and razor-blade business model and try and get as much (or more) revenue from each Mac or iPod purchase in the services they offer. It appears the the new price-drop of the Apple TV is not due to lower costs which supports the theory.

I personally have two gripes about the rentals. First, the HD versions of movies are $1 more (generally being referred to as a “guy tax”) and can only be purchased on an Apple TV. That means that my Mac Mini which I have set up as a media center for my TV can only do standard definition. My other complaint, which is more of a deal breaker, is that you have 30 days to begin watching any movie you rented (which is decent), but only 24 hours to finish watching it when you start. That’s a problem. When Becky and I watch a movie, we often don’t finish it in one sitting (especially during the week). With the current model, when we go back to finish it the next night, it’ll be expired and already removed from the system. Lame. My guess it’s a short-sighted requirement from the studios rather than a “feature” from Apple, but either way, it’ll have to change before I get on board.

I’ve been trying to keep up on blogging and haven’t written anything in a bit. At the moment, I’m sitting in my room at the Cupertino Inn as I’m at Apple participating in three day training for Xsan. It’s the second of such trips I’ve done in two weeks. Sure, I kinda digg traveling and part of me doesn’t mind being stuck in a hotel room as I can get a reasonable amount of work and surfing done, but really, I’d rather be home with my family.

I did just hear about www.5ives.com by Merlin Mann. I just added it to my reader. Some of them are pretty funny.

I’m here again tomorrow. I’ll try to come up with something more interesting.

Today was all about the South hall. Obviously, Apple’s booth was the largest and in the middle of the floor. Most people were interested in fondling the MacBook Air but the other products got plenty of interest as well. They were smart to have empty MBA shells at the sides of the booth so people could marvel at the new design. Time will tell how durable it is as the form certainly makes you want to slip it in a backpack or bag. The recessed USB ports look cool, but I’m sure owners are going to have to carry a USB extension for those things that won’t fit.

The coolest product I saw was Eye-Fi which is a 2G SD memory card that also has WiFi circuitry that is independent of the camera. In practice, it allows you to take a picture and have it automatically upload it to your computer (in local mode) or to Flick via their servers. If there isn’t a known network available, it stays on the card just like normal. I asked if they were thinking about a MemoryStick version and he said they are talking to Sony but it’s too early to know. I hope they do.

I also talked with the Omni Group booth about their new OmniFocus which I’ve been using for a bit. I wanted to make sure I was using it properly as I started while it was in public beta and developed habits before some features were implemented.

The funniest thing was the fact there were iPod/iPhone case vendors everywhere including two that were across the isle from each other (awkward). Becky‘s in the market for one so I’ll have to try and find out what she wants and see who has a good show special.

I’m very happy that El Gato released a new version of EyeTV. They addressed several complaints I had since switching from my MythTV last year. They add a smart listing (e.g., smart playlist) based on multiple categories and can optionally record any matching episode. They also improved the on-screen menu which will make it easier to use on our TV.

Yesterday was the opening day of Macworld Expo in San Francisco. The keynote ran from 9:00 to around 10:45 but I did not have a pass for it and considering the extreme interest and attendance, I wasn’t bothered by that. Since registration wasn’t open until after the keynote, I went across the street to the Metreon and followed Engadget‘s live blogging of the presentation.

My take on the announcements? "meh" I like the iPhone upgrade (GPS-like locater, web clips, multi-person SMS, song lyrics, and movie chapters) but am still quite put-out that they still don’t support tasks. I was hoping they were going to discuss the development kit for the iPhone and perhaps bring some vendor out to show a upcoming app, but I suppose that isn’t quite the venue for it.

I am also so-so on the iTunes movie rentals. I really like the concept and while we subscribe to NetFlix, I think we’ll use iTunes occasionally for those movies we don’t want to wait for. Since I am a bit frugal by nature, I would have liked it to be $1.99 and $2.99 (back catalog vs. new releqses) instead of $2.99 and $3.99 and am also disapointed by what has been called the "guy tax" of $1 extra for HD versions (if available). What’s worse, it appears that the HD versions can only be viewed on the Apple TV which leaves my Mac Mini in the SD cold. I’d bet big money that the studios required that restriction so that you can’t easily get to the file to strip the DRM and pirate like everyone strives to do.

Lastly, Apple announced the MacBook Air which is an ultra-light 13" laptop that is quite sexy in person. I have to admit, if I was in the market, I’d strongly consider one but I’m not coveting it. Many have criticized the non-user replaceable battery but having seen the unit in person, I don’t see how they could have made it removable and still keep the laptop thin. The replacement cost for the battery is reasonable, but it’s not clear if it can be replaced at an Apple Store or if it has to be sent in for servicing. Granted, you don’t really need to replace the battery often, but I’d rather not be without a laptop for days to do so.

Other than that, I spent the afternoon in the West hall which is made up of mostly smaller vendors. Some of the highlights include Skullcandy (a vendor of urban tech accessories), Budclicks (clip-on accents for earphones), Fluid Mask 3 by Vertus (alpha mask creation with a unique UI), Blurb (individual softcover and hardcover printing service), and of course Drobo by Data Robotics (a personal RAID device with very impressive features that I’ve been drooling over for a while).

Today, I’ll be hitting the South hall which is the big one. I’ll twitter what I can and do a day 2 wrap up tonight.

This upcoming Monday afternoon, I’ll be flying up to San Francisco to spend a few days at Macworld 2008. Back "in the day" when I worked for a small software company (Gryphon Software, makers of Morph) we exhibited at Macworld all the time, but I haven’t been there for years so I’m really looking forward to it.

The reason I’m attending this year is my company’s increasing use and support for Macs as well as me becoming more involved in supporting our cinematics group’s Shake renderfarm.

I’ll probably post one or two blog posts of my experiences and will try to also twitter what I can just for fun. You can follow me on Twitter by going to my page there.

Of course you know that I have an iPhone and while there are a few things I can complain about (no syncing of Notes or iCal to-dos, no mail rules, "scrubbing" works poorly on long format content) I am very happy with how well it works as a phone, iPod, and portable Internet device.

If you have an iPhone or are considering one, you may want to listen to the Apple Phone Show podcast (iTunes link). It’s hosted by Scott Bourne and has Andy Ihnatko on most episodes.

It’s a decent short-format podcast that runs 30 minutes and is only once a week. Each show, they discuss recent events, occasionally cover rumors, review iPhone accessories, and share tips.

While I have gotten quite moved in and adjusted to my iPhone, one thing has come to leave me wanting. Apple has long advertised iTunes as the “hub” for your personal media. You can rip or purchase your music, shows, and movies and sync them easily to your shiny new iPhone or iPod with ease. It’s quite impressive, in fact, how seamless it all works. PDF files, on the otherhand, aren’t considered first-class citizens in the media world (at least how Apple views it).iTunes allows you to add Adobe PDF files to your library and, in fact, provides many of the liner notes for iTunes Music Store purchased albums in PDF format. Unfortunately, they do not get synced to your iPhone or iPod Touch even when set up to do so. Even stranger is the support that the iPhone has to view PDF files when attached to an email message. So, you have a device that supports the format, a program that also supports the format, but a disconnect between the two.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not viewing the 480×320 screen of the iPhone and iPod Touch to be the ideal presentation of “printed” media, but I see significant value in the possibility of having all sorts of “portable” documents with me in my pocket. Off the top of my head, I can think of several:

• A dump of my iTunes library to confirm I don’t already have a song I’m about to purchase on the iTunes WiFi music store.
• A list of secure info (e.g., credit card numbers) if they can be encrypted.
• Technical reference to be used when a book or network is available.
• Flash cards or other information to be referred to frequently.

I’m hoping that the disconnect is just an oversight and a future update of either/both the iPhone or iTunes will resolve this. The screen is quite decent on the iPhone and if you format a page properly, it would be very readable and go one more step further to becoming the “one device” that it is quickly approaching.

Items needed:

• 8G iPhone
• Towel
• Ziploc bag (quart size)
• 2C Uncooked rice
• Pond (any size)

Instructions:

1. Take 8G iPhone and drop (while listening) into pond
2. Remove iPhone from pond and towel off
3. Attempt to turn off iPhone by holding down hold button
4. When touchscreen is unresponsive (when attempting to activate slider to power off device) place into Ziploc bag and fill with uncooked rice in powered-on state (flickering screen optional)
5. Leave in sealed bag for 72 hours

If you have followed the instructions carefully, you will be left with an 8G iPod Shuffle without any of those flashy iPhone features like display, touchscreen, built-in speakers but can easily sync with iTunes and control music playback with the play/pause switch on the headphones. Enjoy the simplicity!