Category: Podcast media
01/16/08
Steve Jobs: what's MISSING in the air...
Once again, Steve Jobs gave one of his legendary keynote addresses and once again he announced a lot a nice to breathtaking products and enhancements.
But once again, he left out quite a few details. ![]()
And once again, I am going to point them out! ![]()
Note: don't get me wrong, I love that stuff, I buy it all. I just wish the right stuff released in the right order..
Half baked iPhone enhancements
OK, nice software updates, but:
- Still no copy & paste! Can you believe that? ... but we have wiggling icons now

- Still no video capture. The hardware is there... but apparently marketing has decided you cannot use it.
- Still no podcast update "over the air"... but who cares, as long as the keynote is dubbed "Something in the air".
- Still no games (not that I personally care... but still)
Basically, this looked more like a $20 software release for the iPod touch (which is good, even if you need to pay) than an iPhone event. My bet is they're holding back some more about the iPhone. As Steve says at the end of the keynote: this is what they announced in the first 2 weeks of 2007. There are still 50 weeks to go! (Hint: the iPhone SDK is to be released at the end of February...)
Movie rentals
That was long anticipated. It's nice to have it, but:
- Movies start after 30 seconds and you can watch them almost live... right... if you have an exceptional broadband connection and you are downloading a standard def movie... no way is this going to happen for mere mortals ordering HD...
- Now if an HD movie ends up taking 10 hours to download... and you only have 24 hours to watch it, after you initially realized you only had 3 seconds to watch after 30 seconds... there's gonna be a problem. Let alone if you watch one evening and you get interrupted, you may not be able to watch the end before the next evening... more than 24 hours later. Bummer.
- Release dates are 1 month after DVD releases. So how long is this after you can get the DVD from NetFlix?
- OK, so I get the DVD from NetFlix... how do I insert that DVD into my Apple TV? I don't right? I need a separate DVD player... how convenient... Oh wait, I could use a Mac Mini instead of an Apple TV. Cool? No, not cool: how do I get the Apple TV software to install on the Mac Mini? Front Row there has barely been updated in years...

Btw, there's a lot more reasons to get a Mac Mini instead of an Apple TV: it gives you access to media that you can't get through Apple! Let's say Joost for starters...
Then Steve also said they asked users and they told him they didn't want music rentals... Why didn't he ask me? I still wish there was a monthly plan where you get unlimited music at 128 kbps (that you can only listen to as long as you're subscribed). That would still let Apple sell me the high quality 256 kbps versions of the songs I like the most.
MacBook Air
That one really kills the Sony TZ... but again:
- No Ethernet port!! Hello?? Yes I get the 802.11n pink tinted glasses moment... but what if you're in an hotel room that only has wired internet? It's only 2/3rds of the hotels out there...

- Why does Steve sounds so bored (if not evasive) when mentioning the environmental issues addressed in the making of the MacBook Air? Are those few extra dollars in production cost really bugging him that much?
Anyway... despite all this... I'm pretty excited to get my hands on all this stuff. The Time Capsule + Time Machine is brilliant integration!
OK, back to playing with my upgraded iPod Touch... ![]()
09/25/06
iPod car integration: not quite!
On the last Apple special event, Steve Jobs was almost bragging about the fact that 70% of new cars sold in the US this year had (optional!) iPod “integration” available…
Obviously, he didn’t talk about the rest of the world. But most of all, what Steve didn’t tell us, is how crappy the existing “integration” solutions actually are!
At the very same time, I was at Apple Expo 2006 in Paris, checking out what the car manufacturers had to offer…
iPod & Audi TT

Audi was showing off their new TT. Nice car. Wanna check the inside? You gotta ask the blonde to unlock it for you…
04/10/06
Two weeks of facts about the Intel Mac Mini

Okay, well, one of the reasons I've been quiet for the last two weeks is because I got myself one of those intel Mac Minis...
The bottom line is: I love that thing!
But here's a little more details... including answers I coouldn't find anywhere on the net before (so I just had to buy it to check it out by myself). (My configuration is a Duo Core with 512 MB of RAM and 100 GB of hard disk. Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. DVI to PAL adapter for TV.)
Conclusion: there are a lot of details that certainly itch the geek inside of me, but at the end of the day I always enjoy to wake up the mini and watch a couple of video podcasts it will download automagically. I admit I even use the remote for that
(Well, I programmed my AVR remote to mimic the Apple remote
)
Also, the whole user experience (except that thing with the mouse) is so much smoother than on Windows. The apps are pre-installed and nicely integrated with one another. And most of all: most of it "just works as expected". (Except the mouse, did I mention that before?)
Finally, on week-ends it takes no longer than 2 minutes to move the Mini to the desk and connect it to a real monitor for a little iLife experience. I gotta come back on this later.
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