Category Archives: Gadgets

When will Apple enable Newsstand for iOS 5?

I’ve seen discussions wondering when the Newsstand functionality will work in the iOS 5 betas. If iOS subscription compliance was due yesterday, and many periodicals have been featured in the App Store lately: I would bet Newsstand support will be flipped on, along with the new store, at the final release. I don’t expect any of the developer betas to have this feature available.

My belief is this is Apple’s only feature to encourage content owners to offer subscriptions through in-app purchases and they want to control the launch and publicity behind it, not some loose-lipped developers.

Link

The team behind MacHeist has released a $0.99 iPhone/iPod touch game. MacHeist has raised over $2 million dollars for charity in the past by creating fun mission-based games and selling bundles of Mac software for heavy discounts. This new offering, an iOS game has four classic game types (like one similar to soduku) with varying degrees of difficulty. The best part: you can ultimately unlock what I presume to be a download code for Steam’s ~~very popular Portal~~ game called Eets (via GigaOm) For only 99 cents, it’s a beautiful game, innovative, very well done, and worth a download.

List of potential new Apple products

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If the rumors are true, Apple may be planning a new product launch to coincide with the 10th anniversary of their retail stores. The stores have been wildly successful and much of Apple’s growth may likely be attributed to them. So what can Apple release that would get bodies into the malls? What haven’t they done already? Here’s all I can come up with:

* Digital alarm clock
* Flip phone
* Electric toothbrush
* Blu-ray player
* Video Game console
* Plasma TV
* E Ink reader
* Electric shaver
* Microwave
* [Vacuum](http://www.dyson.com/)
* Fridge
* Hybrid vehicle
* [Digital wristwatch](http://www.rolex.com/)
* 3D glasses
* Vinyl record player

That’s the exhaustive list of items I’ve been able to compile. Who’s ready to start some bets?

My favorite gadget: JAMBOX

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I’ve been using the JAMBOX from Jambone since January and it’s become one of my favorite gadgets that I didn’t know I needed until I started using it.

What is JAMBOX

The JAMBOX is a portable bluetooth speaker that is about the size of a 20oz soda bottle. You can pair it with a handful of devices including phones, laptops, iPads, etc. The sound quality is tremendous. It’s no Bose but it’s leaps and bounds better than the built in speakers on the aforementioned devices. You can charge it through a wall adapter or a USB cable and holds a charge for weeks. I typically use it for 10 minutes every morning and an hour on the weekend and only recharge it once a month. It comes in multiple colors but black is the only acceptable color, in my opinion.

Why and when do I use it?

I love music, podcasts, and NPR programming (mostly the news). JAMBOX allows me to have this in a variety of scenarios I usually wouldn’t, or where headphones aren’t appropriate.

Getting ready in the bathroom: after a shower in the morning I like to put on the morning news from NPR while I get ready for the day. I just grab my iPhone and pull up the NPR app. It sounds much better than the iPhone speakers and I can even hear it in the next room.
Trips to the mountains in the car: we don’t have an auxiliary input in our car so our choices are listening the radio (not always available in the mountains) and CDs (we never remember to make new ones). This allows us to listen to anything: podcasts, new music, streaming music, even TV shows or movies.
Conference calls at home: it’s pretty awkward for two people to crowd around a cell phone and yell into it when having a conversation with someone on the line. This has a great microphone and excellent sound quality for a true conference call solution.
Watching laptop in bed: we have a laptop that runs Hulu and other movies at the other end of the room hooked up to a monitor but the sound from the laptop isn’t loud enough. By simply pairing the laptop with JAMBOX we can have the speaker rest on the headboard behind us and watch in comfort.

All in all, it has become a very handy music solution. This summer I expect we will use it outdoors on our new patio for entertaining and lounging.

What about Sonos?

We have two Sonos systems which are great but the JAMBOX can be taken anywhere and isn’t tied down to a pair of speakers. Plus, I can use literally any audio source on my iPhone or iPad (which have Bluetooth) which the Sonos does not.

All in all, this is one of the best audio devices to have and would recommend it to anyone.

Link

The PlayStation Network is now shut down indefinitely following a security breach. I have no problem with that fact I can’t access supplementary online multiplayer gaming. But, I can’t wrap my head around why PSN has its tentacles in every downloadable application I’ve installed. Hulu, which has its own very nice authentication system, cannot be accessed now (ever again?) because I must pass my credentials through PSN. Why is this PSN layer mandatory and in front of an application that has nothing to do with PlayStation’s network? I haven’t tried but I assume the same is true for MLB.tv ~~and the Netflix app~~. I’m calling it: the Apple TV is much better positioned to foster the app economy and will capture the lion’s share of the “box connected to TV” market (video, games, movies) by popularizing a much better ecosystem in the 6-8 months PlayStation spends rebuilding PSN.

The power of Time Machine, Dropbox, and Subversion

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I’ve been testing a certain unreleased [operating system](http://www.apple.com/macosx/lion/) for the past month or two and I’ve been largely pleased. That was until I ran into a nasty little bug (which has been documented to happen on Snow Leopard, too). It goes like this:

* Type on your keyboard
* Observe as a Kernal panic wipe your screen
* Reboot

A nasty little bugger, no doubt. But here’s the rub: you no longer have any login accounts.

Let me say that again because it’s important: once you reboot, you are prompted to log in to *nothing*. Not a single user account is available to select. You can type in any combination of username and password, but don’t bother, they won’t work.

The neat thing is, I could usually just grab my OS reinstall disk and do some sort of reset trick to tell the OS to create a new administrator account. But the neat part of being on the bleeding edge is… this one happens to crash when you try that.

### “No problem” says Time Machine

I plug my computer into two [Time Machine](http://www.apple.com/macosx/what-is-macosx/time-machine.html) drives almost every day. One at work and one at home.

With a quick reboot and “Restore from Time Machine”, within three hours my entire computer had been brought back to the exact state it was in on a Friday morning and I was back in business (e.g.: I could log in again).

### “I’ve already got this” says Dropbox

Once I log in, [Dropbox](http://db.tt/SwXMrCf)[^1] is already busily computing how many files I have on my machine and which ones are different than what they have on their servers. It was a lot, but within an hour everything had been re-downloaded and my documents, music, and photos were all back to exactly the way there were moments before the dreaded key combination occurred.

### “Just a few more things” says Subversion

Luckily it was a Saturday evening and I wasn’t working on anything of much importance (remember kids, commit early, commit often). So, with a quick “[svn up](http://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.1/re28.html)” on my work file directories I had all the code and documents back on my drive from Friday. I’m sure a few local changes I made are missing, but nothing of much significance. I’m a manager, not a maker.

—

And with those three simple tools: local incremental backups, storage in the cloud, and a version control system I went from utter catastrophe to right-as-rain in an afternoon. If I had my Super Duper drive it would’ve been even faster.

Bad things don’t have to happen to data. This stuff really is that easy…

[^1]: Sign up for Dropbox with [this link](http://db.tt/SwXMrCf) and we will *both* get some extra megabytes!

Theory: why mirrored display is now available for iPad

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On the latest episodes of Hypercritical and The Talk Show, both John Siracusa and John Gruber, respectively, pondered the latest Apple iPad feature: video mirroring.

In short: video mirroring allows you to hook up an iPad to a cable connector and project exactly what you see on your iPad screen onto another display device; a video projector, television, and external display are all good candidates for video mirroring. This is what you can do with almost any laptop today.

So why is this a feature now and not sooner? “The Johns” wondered if this could have been a hardware limitation, simply some new software feature, or perhaps a little of both. Arguably, there has not been a hardware limitation for two reasons. First, Apple has had the ability to demonstrate applications during their press and keynote events using mirroring technology. Sure, they could build a special device to accomplish this but that seems unnecessary. Especially since we know the proprietary 30-pin connector has been designed to carry video signals. Second, and more importantly, there have been Cydia applications (for jailbroken devices) available for nearly a year to perform exactly this feature including DisplayOut and ScreenSplitr.

Beyond the how: why is Apple just now making this functionality available to the masses? My theory: subscription content producers.

The programmers of the world are not interested in you using your personal computer to replace your expensive cable subscription viewing habits. Trading in television advertising dollars for internet advertising dimes does not appeal to the businesses. Therefore, a separate iOS experience is created: Hulu Plus for NBC, Fox and friends. At Bat for Major League Baseball.

Success! Apple has created an environment where content can be enjoyed and money can be spent. Despite this past week’s hiccup (enforcing Apple’s 30% cut for in-app subscriptions), content producers can trust Apple to help make money on all devices at all times (and not be tied to someone like Verizon’s Vcast).

Though, by introducing the mirrored display, Apple has now ever-so-slightly started to break the ecosystem they’ve led everyone to jump onto. By allowing iOS content to appear nearly anywhere, including our living rooms, the assumptions that went into building these apps (people can only watch this show on their tiny screen) are now wrong.

This is similar to what Apple accomplished with the iPod and iTunes a decade ago:

The iPod device allowed people to listen to music on something other than a CD, tape or the radio.
This destroyed the music industry. People stopped buying music.
Apple rebuilt the music industry by coupling the device to the store: iTunes.
People buy music from Apple, people buy iPods from Apple, musicians and labels make money.
Apple controls the industry.

Apple knows that televisions are broken. Jobs has admitted that TiVo, Google TV and Roku aren’t even close. There’s no good experience for the user and no good way for anyone to make money. That’s why the Apple TV is just a “hobby”, says the sheep in wolf’s clothes.

Apple is at Step 1 again: allowing people to watch their television and other subscription content somewhere else.This is largely under the guise of allowing businesses and educators a post-PC experience in the boardroom and the classroom. I think they’ve learned from their previous successes, though. Steps 2, 3 and 4 can happen simultaneously with the App Store.

In short, this will not happen overnight like the Napster days of old. The carpet will be slowly pulled out from everyone’s feet (perhaps including Apple’s own developer relationships). The mirrored display feature is just another subtle step in that direction.

Would you rent a computer for $100/month?

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Since the most recent MacBook Air was announced, like any self-respecting nerd, I’ve been running some numbers.

The Past

Some context: I’ve used a first-generation MacBook Air as my primary and only computer since July 2008 (27 months ago). This means I use the same computer at work, when I travel, and when I’m on the couch.

Just a mere 800 days ago, I purchased mentioned notebook with the following specifications:

13″ display
1.8 GHz processor
2 GB of memory
64 GB solid state hard drive

And it only set me back a measly $2,699. If you can recall the summer of 2008, SSDs were very expensive. I paid heavily for what has been my faster, and favorite computer in the short history of owning laptops.

That said, much has changed in recent months.

The Present

Fast forward to today and Apple is able to offer nearly the exact same computer for a more affordable cost. In fact, 2008 Devin is pissed.

The latest MacBook Air with 13″, 1.8 GHz, 2 GB, and a whopping 128 GB solid state drive (double what I have now) is a modest $1299. Wow. Less than half the price in just two years.

Sure, the cost of computing is always coming down, we all understand that. And frankly, my computing needs have not changed much. So why even entertain a replacement? Isn’t two years a little premature to swap out?

Improvements

The thing that makes the new MacBook Air interesting is the technology enhancements and iterations that have brought it to where it is today. On paper, my old clunker and the new hotness look nearly the same.

But, in reality, much has changed:

Improved screen resolution means more pixels in the same space
Bluetooth advances that allow me to change songs and volume from a wireless headset
Wireless networking advances for accessing faster 802.11n networks
Better battery technology that gives me at least 50% more working time per charge
Smaller components with more space for more ports (an extra USB and all-new SD card reader)
Support for the Apple headphones with remote volume control and mic
Less space for a backlit keyboard

Not to mention the obvious: an improved device design that makes the machine a tad lighter, slightly slimmer, and a bit more aesthetically pleasing (at the cost of the backlit keyboard). And these are just a handful of the little things I’ve noticed, I’m sure there are more. I hear Apple is detail-oriented.

So, the current MacBook Air is an improvement over what I have in-hand now. Then comes the money.

The Cost

I’ve been thinking about the cost of replacing devices and the “acceptable” frequency of upgrades. With some quick math, anyone can figure out how to amortize (spread out) the cost of their gadget over a lifetime. Since my MacBook Air is my primary and only machine, I don’t even need to assign any special value based on usage; it’s used 100% of the time:

$2700 / 27 months = $100 per month

The immediate question: did I receive over $100 in value every month I used the original MacBook Air? Have the past two years been “worth it” to even start considering a replacement? Short answer: of course. I use it at work every weekday to earn my fatty paycheck.

A-ha, but Crowd Favorite would provide me with my own computer. I happened to opt to use my own. This now becomes a different question for me, personally.

Put another way, would I pay $100 to use this notebook every month for the past 27 months? Still, yes.

Taking any possible side income out of the equation, I would pay $100 every month for the ability to do the following:

Upload, store, manage my large photo and music collections
Connect with friends and family that don’t live nearby via Facebook and Flickr
Download podcasts and sync them to various devices
Browse my email, twitter updates, funny cat pictures, etc.
Compose new blog posts, manage my website, and self-educate
Watch videos on Netflix, Hulu, TED and entertain on streaming video sites
Manage household finances and to-do lists
Play games like World of Goo

All things considered, I can do a lot for under $100 a month. Heck, most people pay close to that just to watch HBO shows and high-definition football games.

The Point

Most would look at dropping a couple grand as a fairly important purchase and avoid it as much as possible. But, rethinking the cost in more manageable and relatable numbers will help realize it’s not that scary. We all know our monthly bills and monthly income, so why not re-think a purchase like a new notebook accordingly?

Would you pay $100 per month to rent your personal computer?

(If you hadn’t realized already, this is my round-about way of convincing myself its okay to buy a new, expensive, and potentially unnecessary gadget. Ha!)

Theory: why YouTube is slow on iPad

The iPad appears to have had an issue from day one: videos from YouTube can sometimes take extremely long to buffer and play. As with any inconsistent behavior, you don’t notice this the 95% of the time when there is no problem. But that 5% will frustrate you to no end. Especially since other devices (laptops, smartphones) can load the same videos blazingly fast on the same network. Plus, other video providers including Vimeo, Hulu, and Netflix have no issue at the same time.

## Current theories

There have been plenty of discussions about this across message boards and blogs since the early days of the iPad. I’ve tried everything and most seemingly sound like a wild-ass guess (WAG). Some of the highlights:

– Your DNS settings are wrong: the DNS lookup is taking too long and by switching to OpenDNS or Google’s (conspiracy theory alert) DNS everything fixes itself. This makes no sense during video buffer (DNS lookup is complete) and does not explain why other devices don’t have this issue.
– Other router configurations will fix it: I’ve seen some obscure router settings thrown around about packet rates or loss or this or that. Again, the problem is not at the network level, it’s at the device (iPad).
– Low brightness setting: somehow the wifi power corresponds to the brightness setting and the lowest level will prevent video loading. Interesting theory but I almost always keep my brightness at the lowest setting other internet applications have no issue: video (Hulu Plus, Netflix), web pages (Safari) and even Instapaper.
– Auto-join networks enabled: I have no idea why this is discussed as I’m already on a wifi network and am never prompted. The network is fine as all other devices load YouTube and the iPad still gets blazing (10 MB/s) speeds.

In short, these theories miss the key points:

– the wireless network is always fully operational and experiences no other issues with any other providers
– other devices on the same network are not experiencing the slowness specific to YouTube
– the iPad is still downloading at very fast speeds, even for large video files
– other applications are not experiencing any issues at the same exact time
– the timing of the slow buffers is inconsistent (may happen once a week with in a one-hour window)

## YouTube’s iPad experience

I’ve had plenty of experience with YouTube and other video hosting sites. Since YouTube was a launch partner with Apple’s iPad, it’s clear to me there is some behind-the-scenes stuff that is loading iPad-specific video types. Here’s a few points:

First, it appears to only be higher-quality videos (so that Apple’s YouTube app is always loading beautiful videos?) can be displayed on the iPad, you don’t even have the option of viewing a lesser quality version. Keeping in mind that at upload time, YouTube creates various formats and sizes from the small mobile-friendly videos to the 1080p high quality versions.

Second, it’s also clear that not all videos will load on the iPad. For instance, Cee Lo Green’s “F*ck You” will not load on the iPad. From the mobile website this NSFW video (mobile link) will not load even if you try to tap the big play button. To confirm this is not just a bad video, I’ve saved this video as a ‘favorite’ and tried loading it from the YouTube app itself. At which point it returns the error: “The author of this video does not allow playback on iPad.” Curious…

## My theory

The iPad is always trying to load a very high quality version of a video, but it’s not the same version as the desktop or other mobile versions. It’s clear that from both the mobile site and the YouTube app that there is a different video format being delivered to the iPad.

The very slow buffer and download speeds may be explained by:

– an iPad-specific video is being compressed, or converted on-the-fly which requires much more time on the YouTube server’s side of things (doubtful as the same video may load quick one day, slow the other)
– a larger file size like 1080p being loaded where this is not the default on the desktop nor a mobile device. This could explain the perception of slower loads as more data is being delivered (this would only explain the slowness simply being magnified)
– a different set of servers or content delivery providers are responsible for an iPad-specific version of the video. This network is not part of the same resources as the remainder of of YouTube.

Why would YouTube keep the server resources for one device separate from the rest of the powerful mega data centers that power the other billions of videos being served? My thinking is that YouTube was required to maintain serious secrecy up to the iPad launch and quarantined any iPad-specific delivery, formats, servers, CDN resources, etc.

This has only seemingly been getting worse with time. I have had plenty of weeks where I’ll load funny cheezburger YouTube videos with no problem. I’ll even watch music videos, CollegeHumor videos, all on YouTube with no problem. But lately, the buffering has been getting worse. A 90 second video will take more than five minutes to load during “peak” hours (weekends, after dinner). My guess is there is many more iPad users coming online but nothing new happening on the YouTube infrastructure side.

I’m sure the plan is ultimately to move everything into the same data warehouses but this takes a few months of careful coordination. Especially since the iPad cannot load Flash, which means it cannot load ads, this is now a cross-departmental issue with far reaching intentions and consequences that was only just surfaced on the day the iPad was announced. Video publishers want to do things right for the iPad and, as we’ve seen, change takes a long time and the technical hurdles will remain on-hold. Note the huge ad beneath Cee Lo Green’s music video to buy his new album. You don’t see that on a stripped-down mobile version of YouTube.

iPad is for consumption, so what?