Observations on Technology

The New Pocket Watch

Wednesday, January 21st, 2009

One classic item which clearly defines a turn of the century gentleman was his pocketwatch. Always at the ready with the time and quite the fashion statement. No Steampunk outfit would be compelete without one. However, most people in 2009 still have this handy time piece is a more digital form.

It could be your cell phone. It may be your iPod. It could even be that iTouch or BlackBerry. Digital convergance has brought back a time honored tradition of looking into your pocket for somethign to tell you what the time is. Now it may not be as cool as a fog watch but it is just as useful.

The next time you grab your iPod to see what time it is, remember that you are carrying on a tradtion that goes back centruries.

Posted in Fun, Life Lessons, Observations on Technology | Comments Off

Reward Convergence

Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

One thing that Apple does VERY well is immediately rewarding an end user for staying within their suite of software tools and adding value to their data. Sony does this from a hardware standpoint as well and it is a model that software developers should look at and strive for.

Let me give you an example. I have opened iChat (connected to AIM), and Mail on my MacBook. When I look at my Inbox, I noticed a green ball next to the name of one of my contacts. When I check iChat, I see that that contact is online now so Mail is notifying me as such with a green ball because I put this contact’s AIM name in my Address Book. Knowing this, I opened up Address Book and confirmed that everyone i have on my AIM list is in my address book so they show up as online when I have Mail and iChat open. This also makes iChat show the full name of the people instead of their AIM names so it is easier for me to know whom is online and whom is not.

The moment I put an AIM name into Address Book, it changed in iChat, updated Mail, and made me feel like the time I spent on updating had an immediate affect on the system. Of course this is just an illusion of value but it does give me a warm feeling of accomplishing something that helps my programs talk to each other. Sony does this by making all of their components talk to each other easily. A PSP can connect to your home PS3 and stream video or music content to your PSP in real time. Value added content just for staying brand loyal.

This is a simple concept anyone can use when writing a suite of software. Seek out technologies that may make your development easier and allow your users to have value added services. Things like OpenID will allow for single sgn on capabilities and may give you additional information on your users you may not have had the time to develop independently.

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The Apple Knee Jerk

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

Well another set of Apple announcements is now over. Here is my knee jerk reaction to the news.

iLife ‘09 – This actually looks interesting and any update to iMovie would be most welcomed. iPhoto integration to Facebook and Flickr make it worth it. Totally will upgrade.
iWork ‘09 – I don’t use iWork at all so I can’t really talk to the updates. Slides forced to iPhones looks like a cool but limited feature. If I did more presentations it might be worth it.
17″ MacBook Pro – Let me just say, I am STILL incredibly happy with my MacBookPro and see no reason presented today to upgrade. I rarely use it on battery only mode so 3 hours of battery time is fine vs 8 hours. I am just not sold on the uni-body aluminum design. It has to be thinner and lighter which is a plus but the non-removable battery just doesn’t work for me. Just imagine the first time a system shut down hangs and you can not pop the battery out to force a shut down. Also, the price point is still way too high for only one spec model.
iTunes – The quick quiz on this one is how many songs that are currently $0.99 will be $1.29 by the end of the month? My prediction: ALL OF THEM! $0.69 is probably the first week of a new single. $0.99 is a “deal” price and $1.29 will become the standard price for all singles with albums going up too. So your 10 song $9.99 album just became a $12.99 album. DRM free music is cool but they have got to cost more than a DRMed version. Putting it on the 3G network is cool but only applicable for iPhone users which I am not (yet).

All in all it was interesting but just not exciting. I think there is very little in these announcements to get me to open the wallet wide and it will actually hurt consumers in the long run.

Macworld 2009: Macworld through the years

Tags: Apple, Facebook, ILife, IPhone, ITunes
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When Staying Put is the Right Technology Choice

Wednesday, December 10th, 2008

I am neither an early adopter nor late to the game on most technology purchases. I have been described as “ahead of the curve” because I will wait a little while before trying something new. However, certain restrictions always prevent me from being on the bleeding edge. Cell Phones for me are limited because of the limited number of carriers where I live. New gadgets and tech usually are not tested in my neck of the woods. No matter how many surveys and product demos I am asked to give opinions on, they are usually for products in late beta stages and most people know about.

However, there are some pieces of tech that withstand the test of time and I will never upgrade. I am not talking about yanking out the Nintendo64 and shoving some carts in for nostalgia purposes. I mean there is tech that is 5-7 years old in my house that I use on a daily basis.

The grand-daddy of these devices is my Tivo. It’s a series one that I hacked with a larger hard drive and network connection. The main reason for not upgrading to a Series 3 HD? Lifetime Service. When I bought the lifetime service I calculated that I would have to keep the unit running for 1.5 years to see a return on investment. I have owned the box for 7 years now and have seen that ROI without a mis-step in service. OK, so maybe I can;t surf the web from my Tivo , order Pizza, or stream NetFlix movies but it does exactly what I need it to do without costing me money.

Another great example for me is my Panasonic Home Theater system. After an electrical storm claimed my previous receiver I had to make a quick buy replacement. This baby was overstock and cost all of $100 but had SDDS, Dolby Digital, and DTS capabilities. Granted it has no manual or remote but I would rarely use those things anyways. This piece of kit does exactly what I need it to do and has never failed.

Generally, I think of the following things when deciding to replace tech

Does the new purchase give me significant advantage over what I currently own?
Is the new tech backwards compatible with what I currently own?
Can I reuse this I currently own but may not be using to it’s full advantage?
Does the new purchase help me reduce long term costs over what I currently own?
Is the price right?

If the answer to any of these is “no” or “costs go up”, I am more likely not to upgrade. That is not a bad thing either. You don’t HAVE to have the latest and greatest if your digital needs are being met. Sure I would love to play with a G1 phone but I don’t NEED to have it. Looking at wants vs needs is what should guide some of your tech purchases.

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Playstation® Home closed Pay Beta

Thursday, October 30th, 2008

Subscribers to the Playstation newsletters got the following e-mail this morning from our friends at Sony.

As an update to the PLAYSTATION(R)3 News email sent on Friday, October 24th, the special invitation to PlayStation(R)Home’s closed beta is available only to Qore annual subscribers who purchased subscriptions by 10/29. Qore Episode 06 purchasers will not be eligible for the special PlayStation(R)Home beta invitation at this time. We apologize for the miscommunication.

Lets read between the lines here. In order to get the “closed” beta code you have to Purchase a subscription to Qore. That’s not a closed beta, it’s a pay-to-play beta. I am not opposed to it but Sony should label this properly. Also, when was the last time you paid to be part of a Beta program?

Tags: games, playstation
Posted in Computer Gaming, Entertainment, Observations on Technology | Comments Off

Revising my Mac Book Pro remarks

Monday, October 20th, 2008

This past weekend I was able to get my hands on the new Mac Book Pro that was announced on Tuesday. After having a bit of hands on with it I have to revise my comments from earlier this week as the user experience is different than what I imagined.

I need to take back my comments on the trackpad. Instead of it being an unresponsive flat pad you tap, I was surprised to realize the whole pad is actually a button. One big clickable button with the proper feedback as a normal button on a mouse. That totally negates my argument about tap clicking. Also, I found that 2 finger scrolling came naturally, 3 finger was ok, and 4 finger was just kinda annoying.
I didn’t notice if this model had the keyboard mistake on it but I will definitely check next time.
I have to add that the glossy screen is not my favorite. I could deal with it but I can see how it would massively annoy some people.

All in all still a good machine but I am much happier with what I have.

Tags: Apple, Laptops, MacbookPro
Posted in Computers, Observations on Technology | 1 Comment »

Apple Notebook Event

Tuesday, October 14th, 2008

Today Apple hosted their long awaited event announcing updates to their Mac Book and Mac Book Pro notebooks. A friend of mine asked me if I was going to be pissed if they massively upped the ante on the performance and storage of the machine. I don’t think so but lets break down the updates and see.

One thing I am happy about is that I got a system with the OLD keyboard on it. Having used the chicklet keyboard on the Mac Book and the Air I have to say it would quickly become the bane of my existence if I had it on my Pro.
I do not like it here or there
I do not like it anywhere
I do not like the chicklet keyboard
I do not like it, Steve I Am
An advanced graphics card was expected and is only really put to the test while gaming or doing high end graphics. I don’t do either of these on a consistent basis so no huge loss there.
Getting rid of the button on the track pad is something I HATE. The first thing I did on my old notebook was turn off the touch pad clicking feature so this is a huge win for the older model.
By putting all connections on the side, they have actually reduced the number of devices you can connect. In the new version you lose 1 usb port, the firewire 400 port, and the DVI connector in lieu of the mini display port (Apple proprietary and will require an additional purchase for non-Apple displays).
Being able to quickly swap the drive like you could with the MacBooks is a nice new touch.
The new MBP can now have double the hard drive space, double the RAM, and 4X the graphics capacity of my current MBP. However, it is a good $700 more than what I paid for my MBP. Also, my model is a 17 inch display while the new models will only be 15.4 inch or 13 inch.
UPDATE: In the QA session it was mentioned the 17″ model is being refreshed as well but no details on specs or price were given under the new design. At the Apple store the current 17″ model is still for sale but is unchanged in terms of specs, design, and the $2800 price tag. Roughly a $1000 more than what I paid for a refurbished model.

Bottom Line: I am far happier now than I was before the announcements. The new additions either don’t apply to me or I wouldn’t want them.

Tags: Apple, Laptops, MacBook, MacbookPro
Posted in Blogs, Computers, Music, Observations on Technology, Working from the Home | 2 Comments »

Two Months Back Into Mac

Monday, October 13th, 2008

Photo Provided by http://flickr.com/photos/wicho/

Photo Provided by Wicho via Flickr

Well it has been a couple of months now since I have switched from using a PC Notebook to a 17″ Mac Book Pro and things are still going well. As I mentioned before I used to be a die hard Mac fanatic about 10 years ago but switched to PCs due to the lack of decent software on the Macs at the time. My recent switch back had to do with my desire to pick the right tool for the new media and technology development I currently do. As promised, here are my top of the head observations over the past two months.

When I bought the Mac I knew I was going to be running certain PC software and games. I started to go down the path of using Parallels but found that transferring my XP license off my existing notebook would basically make it impossible for me to sell it as a low end PC. After a month I broke down and bought CrossOver instead. CrossOver is the OSX port of WINE which does not require that you have a full version of XP/Vista to run your software. You will need a Mac with an Intel chip to run the software properly. All of my PC games run flawlessly under it and most of my PC software runs as well. Unless you absolutely need XP on your machine for some obscure reason like your network doesn’t play well with Macs, I would opt for CrossOver first for any windows software emulation.
I am just amazed by how much free software is out there to help make a transition between PC and Mac easy. I did break down and buy some tools I use all the time like the Adobe Suites. However, things like NeoOffice, FireFox, AppFresh, QuickSilver, and TweetDeck have become invaluable tools. Even the free Apple software like Safari, Mail, and GarageBand have revolutionized how I use the notebook.
One thing I forgot about Macs and missed was that things just work. I plug a microphone in, it recognizes it and records from it. I plug a camera in, it finds it and lets me control it from the software. I want to record a video, iSight comes on with the mic and just records without a loss. On the PC side you can make things work but it takes time and is never 100%.
My co-workers often complained about how they HAD to be PC based for all of the development they do. After a bit of searching I found that the Mac could do all of the things my PC could do for development and more. It was just a matter of taking the time to seek out a solution for a specific problem. For example, I thought I would be totally at a loss for remote desktop connections to PCs until I found that Microsoft wrote a RDC client for OSX. It’s not widely publicized but if you look for it, you can find it. Major problem solved.
Web development is like night and day. On the PC I got into the habit of developing code and pushing it to a testing server. On the Mac, everything was not only included but pre-installed. Apache, PHP, Virtual Hosting. All on my box and ready to roll. The only thing I needed to add was MySQL and that was very easy. Granted I will need to break some old development habits but given the fact I can now test and code anywhere without having to be dependant on a connection is just amazing.
Slowly over this time I have noticed something very significant for me. I haven’t turned on my notebook in the past 2 months at all except to transfer a file or two. I am significantly using my desktop PC less and less. The Mac has actually help me do things like rebuild my 9000 song music collection, clean out software I don’t use, and make it easier for me to backup my work and life.

Do I regret the purchase? Absolutely not! Apple has come a long way to address software, hardware, and just confidence concerns. Under Steve Jobs this company has finally moved forward enough to really be the company they always should have been. I understand why so many people are converting now. This is one seriously sexy and powerful piece of kit. Apple also puts so much information online and makes it so easy to just find things like software and solutions that I can’t imagine going back to the “pay for everything” world of PCs. And it looks like things are only going to get better with the Apple announcements tomorrow.

I do need to break some old habits like calling it a Mac when I am talking about OSX. I also know I am grossly underusing the machine’s true power. But that will come with more time. I am just incredibly happy with this rather expensive purchase and can see getting a lot of use out of this machine for a very long time.

Tags: Apple, microsoft, Personal computer
Posted in Computer Gaming, Computers, New Media Industry, Observations on Technology, Web Development, Working from the Home | Comments Off

I Am A Media Consumer

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008

One thing I have struggled with throughout my life is a definition of whom I am. Job Titles and awards have rarely helped in this matter. You see, I am the voice of the large majority of mediocre. I love video games but don’t excel at them to be on leader boards. I have tried my hand at a variety of sports but never seem to get above a novice level of accomplishment. I can program complex systems but am nowhere near the level of true system programmers. I can develop full web applications but they pale in comparison to the Diggs of the world. I can make flowers grow but can never seem to tend full gardens. I can fix most issues in my house but I don’t have the patience to finish my office or add that addition it badly needs.

I have figured out one thing I am rather good at and this will make marketers very happy. I can consume media. I don’t mean read a paper here, look at a website there, search for someone here. Oh no. I can consume vast amounts of media in a relatively short amount of time from a variety of sources. This really shouldn’t come as a shock to most people. In January 2008 Deloitte LLP’s Technology, Media and Telecommunications reported that there is a large shift in the way and types of media are consumed. Also the rise of the “personal publisher” would have a profound effect on traditional media outlets like TV, radio, and film. Follow that with a report in 2007 where Deloitte discovered that general media consumption has gone up but traditional media outlets have either stayed stead in readers/viewers or has gone down. We as a society consume more and more media which is probably why we are driving to information overload capacities.

My media consumption leads to what I think is not a unique problem. Too many choices and too little expertise in any one of them to focus. Do I fall into the trap of programming and watch TV? Is a film a constructive use of an hour and a half of my life. Do I lack enough distractions to produce that podcast or do work? Should I relax and read a novel? Is that even relaxing? I have a world of knowledge in from of me with the internet but I am not sure where to start. The options are dizzying for me and can often lead to overload and decision paralysis.

If you suffer from this as well, think about the following things.

Not all media HAS to be consumed. Figure out what works for you and how to use it. I personally hate terrestrial radio so I have swapped it for online shows and podcasts.
Treat media as either data or information. Data is any piece of knowledge that is out there in any format. Information is the right piece of knowledge or media in the right place at the right time. Going to the Drive-in for me is Information because it is a constructive use of 4 hours time which forces me to shut my brain down and relax. If I feel I should be working, I can bring out my laptop and abuse the WiFi there.
Choose to either be the expert or a jack-of-all-trades. Experts usually focus on one or two thinsg and try to achieve “perfection”. Jack-of-all-trades have general knowledge of a lot of things with some expertise in some thing. Neither one is better than the other. Michael Phelps may be an expert at swimming but we all found out on SNL he is not so great at comedy.
Pruning or ignoring media sources is ok. Not all media sources will work for you. Ones you used to rely on may suddenly grow tired or your needs change. In order to grow you need to prune away things that don’t work or may be driving you in the wrong direction. Don’t be afraid to do that.

I am going to try to reduce some of my consumption and get a bit more focused on what I want to do. I won’t be getting a high score on Rock Band 2 anytime soon or writing the next killer web application. But hopefully I will be driving towards new accomplishments that will make me personally proud to have done them.

Tags: Information overload, media consumption, Social Media
Posted in Blogs, Life Lessons, New Media Industry, Observations on Technology | Comments Off

Rock Band 2 on PS3 Complaint

Tuesday, September 16th, 2008

Image via Wikipedia

Yea, the game isn’t even out on the PS3 yet and I already have a complaint about it. It think it is great that Harmonix and MTV Games is pushing the fact that Rock Band is backwards compatible and can have almost 500 playable songs from the minute you put the disk in. What is deplorable is the fact they forgot to mention you have to buy the Song Exporter from the Playstation store for $5 in order to do that. Massive FAIL!

I mean I have spent not a lot of money but at least an additional $100 over the course of the year for more songs. They could at least throw in the song exporter if I have bought 2 or more songs instead of trying to hit us up for an additional $5 of revenue for something I have already purchased. Not to mention, so where is the RUSH download of the Moving Pictures album we were promised 3 weeks ago?

UPDATE: Seems that Harmonix announced that the delayed RUSH album will be available this week (Sept 22nd) along with a bunch of other content. I will believe it when I see it.

Tags: Harmonix Music Systems, Rock Band, Rock Band 2
Posted in Computer Gaming, Entertainment, Observations on Technology | Comments Off

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