Apple actually has a useful video demonstrating setting up a Wireless Audio network with AirTunes through the Apple AirPort Express. This video explains many of the concepts that are difficult to do in an e-mail or a blog post.





Created 143 weeks, 4 days ago

Can't find your Hip Hop genre in the new iTunes 8.0?

Just look for the blinged out category icon:


That cracks me up.


Created 177 weeks, 2 days ago

Anyone who knows me well has undoubtedly made some type of snarky comment about whatever retro cellphone I am currently sporting. I have been living off of old, obsolete and repaired cell phones for years, waiting for "The" mobile device to come out. It looks like I have a date with an Apple store on July 11th for a new phone.

Folks, the iPhone 2.0 iPhone 3G has been announced and hopefully you saved your federal tax-rebate for just this purchase. With gasoline as expensive as it is now, you might want to just stay home and take your calls on your new phone.

As a hobby application developer, I always wanted to open my apps to the mobile market without having to write device-specific builds. The Web as a platform gives developers this freedom on traditional computer devices, yet mobiles have basically lacked a capable web browser until the iPhone was released last year.

Without 3G access however, the original iPhone was still just a device for early (whiny) adopters and technonerds (yes, you Ashley; no not the whiny part). To me, this new iPhone seems like the device that will provide me users with web browsers fast enough to make a rich, mobile web application a reality.

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This wouldn't be a good review for me unless I pointed out some of the upgrades from the previous model.

As Apple and I have a "tentative MacBook Pro relationship" at best right now, I have to make some guesses on the new iPhone 3G based on a few pictures and a stats page. Apple, I'll be happy to provide a more thorough review in exchange for an iPhone 3G. What the heck, I'll even forget all the MacBook Pro woes we have gone through over the last year.

Comparing the photo of the new iPhone 3G shown on the Apple iPhone page to the older model, it looks like there are some significant physical changes in the size and shape of the device. A new glossy metal case (white or black), and a non-uniform bevel. This should help you dig it out of your pocket right-side facing up.

The new bevel pretty much means a new cradle connector will need to be used in your existing docks. All new iPhone accessories and cases will need to be re-purchased as well (but it isn't like we didn't see that one coming).

The speakerphone/ringer ports appear even larger than the previous version , or else they have been relocated. I hope this is in an effort to improve the noise-cancellation quality on the speakerphone feature.

Also, because Apple is using additional carriers now, the new iPhone 3G sports a SIM slot near the bottom of the phone.





When it comes to mobile devices, one of the major features to consider is battery life. I am seldom in one place long enough to really charge a phone the same time and duration every day. Li-ion batteries work the best for this because they don't suffer from a memory effect and they hold a charge longer than other types.

With a higher bandwidth 3G chip in the new iPhone 3G, unless Apple has added some additional energy optimizations to the hardware and software, they had to increase the capacity of the batteries in order to make the iPhone 3G last as long as the original iPhone. Let's take a look at a battery life comparison chart:
 

Lastly, a slew of software improvements are due out with the 2.0 iPhone software; the most significant improvement is support for community-created applications. The iPhone camera also gets a GPS tagging feature (EXIF?) and there is a slight decrease in the base iPhone weight (by 0.1 oz). The iPhone will still be sold in an 8GB or 16GB flash-storage size.

So what is missing from this upgraded sci-fi phone?

As far as the camera goes, there is still no LED lighting and I will have to wait and see if the camera lens is more or less scratch proof with the new case. Also, Apple didn't provide a forward facing camera which means no face-to-face videoconferencing without another display.

And where is the damn A2DP that many other bluetooth providers have long-since supported. The iPhone will still be missing the ability to Copy/Paste/Select text. And finally, until the iPhone provides support for Flash binaries I consider that a missing feature. Web apps will only be 'so' rich with JavaScript support (think Flash 9 features).

Well folks, see you in line on July 11th.

technorati: iPhone3G, iPhone 3G, iPhone, 3G, comparison, Apple

Created 190 weeks, 4 days ago

Netflix has announced that they are now supporting set-top appliances that work with their instant (on-demand) movie service. The first appliance available is one The Netflix Player from Roku (who makes the SoundBridge) and it retails for $99.



Ash and I have been using the Apple TV for about 3 months now (since we kicked Comcast cable TV to the curb) and we really like it. The only pain is getting existing DVD titles into Apple TV format; it takes some time and a somewhat above-average knowledge of video transcoding. I think we would both agree that it would be nice to have access to (free*) Video on Demand content like this offering from Netflix since we already have access to this with our Netflix account.

* because the iTunes quality vs. cost is a very bad deal. Typically, TV shows are encoded to iPod quality, not 47" TV format. It makes more sense to buy the DVD and transcode it yourself

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So, if Ashley buys one I hope to learn a few things about this device.

• What format does the content come in? Are they are licensing hardware decoding for the same video technology they use to stream to the PC (DRM with WMP) or does this use a new format available at another location (like youtube mp4 content).
  
• What kind of hardware is in this puppy? Embedded windows? linux?
  
• Because Roku has no recurring revenue for this device, what kind of product support do they plan? What does the roadmap for HD/+ look like? (I suppose 100$ isn't much to shell out for a few years worth of supported playback)
• Are we going to see support for anything other than Netflix Instant Queue on any of the Netflix appliances? I really like how Windows Media Extenders work and the plug-in architecture there seems really tight. The distinguishing factor for the Apple TV for me was the iTunes store support from within the device. If Microsoft can pull off something similar I would think about moving to Windows Media Center (IPTV!).
  

technorati: Roku, Netflix Movie Player, Instant, Netflix, apple TV

Created 193 weeks, 3 days ago

I just saw this ad from a premiere iPhone 3rd-party case manufacturer:

A 75% sale seems to indicate that they know something about the next-gen iPhones.

technorati: iPhone, Apple

Created 193 weeks, 4 days ago

I have transcoded or purchased enough movies to hit 100 in our digital library. Total size: 289 GB, total running time: 8.1 days. I hope to get all of the movies Ashley came with on there in the next few weeks. I wish Apple had put an optical drive on the damn thing with some transcoding software though, leaving the PC on all day is costing me dinero.


Created 195 weeks, 3 days ago

Since I have been sick and Ash has been taking care of yours truly , we spent some time this weekend converting some of our DVD collection into (HD) H.264 Mpeg-4s for use on our Apple TV.  We have mostly been using Handbrake to do the heavy lifting because it is Multi-platform. If you do this, be aware that the Apple TV profile with HB 0.9.2 doesn't work well on Windows, try adjusting the Normal profile and upping the quality to upscale your non-HD DVDs.

Twelve movies converted so far. A DVD conversion takes around 2 hours on average from each MacBook pro. The Windows XP machines are running about the same conversion time, but are able to squeeze in an additional quality first-scan. Go figure.

I think we have nearly 200 DVD movies, that equates to what... 400 hours of processing time. I wonder if I can pass along the carbon cost it takes us to convert all of these discs back to RIAA? Anyone in the government want to ride on that?

If you want me to send you some additional tips on how to setup an at home, fully digital movie library, send me $400 through PayPal and I will send you a very detailed PDF walkthrough which outlines what hardware and software you will need and what the optimum settings for each are.


technorati: Apple TV, Handbrake, DVD, H.264

Created 197 weeks, 6 days ago

I mean, why would this work. (Deep Breath). Sigh.


Cannot Deauthorize

You may only deauthorize all computers once per year. You must wait until May 15, 2008 before you may deauthorize all your computers again. If you are having problems deauthorizing computers, please contact Apple Customer Support by visiting http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/store







Created 204 weeks, 4 days ago

OMFG! I don't know if I should applaud Apple or deplore Apple for taking so long. I do know that I am totally blown away that the day has come for two key wireless speaker features to be finally supported by Apple products.

First, the Apple TV "Take 2" software update adds the ability to allow the Apple TV to work as a remote AirTunes speaker. I just told Aaron the other day that if the Apple TV would support this, I would buy one immediately. Looks like I am about to make good on that promise.

The other amazing news is iTunes now supports connected speakers through the iTunes API. This has been something that I have all wanted since day one. Now softwares such as Alloysoft's Signal and PlayerPal can access the speakers in the GUI.

Wow, wow, wow, wow.... Wow.

It looks like I spoke too soon. It seems that the iTunes API still doesn't support remote speakers. :( Somehow Signal got it working without API support. Go Alloysoft!


technorati: apple, airTunes, apple TV, API

Created 205 weeks, 38 minutes ago