Archive for January 10th, 2006
Generation “It Sucks To Be Me”
Tuesday, January 10th, 2006
Here’s a fun article on Slate reviewing some books about the plight of Gen X and the up and coming Gen Y. Hilarious. Here’s the podcast mp3. (Cool!)
Kamenetz complains that: “No employer has yet offered me a full-time job with a 401(k), a paid vacation, or any other benefits beyond the next assignment. I have a savings account but no retirement fund. I can’t afford preschool fees or a mortgage anywhere near the city where I live and work.” Of course, Kamenetz doesn’t have kids to send to preschool. And chances are, by the time she does, she’ll be able to afford preschool fees. Most people in their 20s don’t realize that their incomes will rise over time (none of the people I know who have six-figure incomes today had them when they were 25), that they will marry or form a partnership with somebody else, thus increasing their income, and that they may get over having to live in the hippest possible neighborhood.
Welcome to the real Real World. 
Mac Expo
Tuesday, January 10th, 2006
Well, that was a little underwhelming. But oh well, the Mac addicts out there are now officially PC users. Heh. So, how long before someone fires up a new Dual Core Windows laptop and a new Dual Core Apple laptop and launches Photoshop to see who gets some whiz-bang filter operation done faster? I want my speed braggin’ rights dammit! Windows naturally has Apple price beat by a mile, but what about pure operating system performance?? With the hardware playing field leveled, we finally get to put the performance argument to rest (for now). My money’s on Windows. 
One nice side effect I’m hoping for, Apple should do a pretty good job of dealing with heat dissipation on Intel processors.. (read: fan noise) hopefully showing the Windows vendors how it’s done.
MCP: So Close, and Yet..
Tuesday, January 10th, 2006
The Portable Media Center’s are starting to really shine, with one big exception – no wireless yet. Add wireless and one of these little doodads would complete my digital home. I dig my sister’s Bose docking station for her iPod, but being a Windows guy, I want something that integrates, that does more than just play music. In short, I want streaming content. In my kitchen I currently have an ancient little boom box for FM and CDs. I want to ditch this for something that plays music and streams the nightly news. The new Toshiba Gigabeat S almost fits the bill – FM, Music, Video and TV playback, but it looks like wifi support and Media Center Extender support for streaming live content isn’t built in. Argh. We’re so close! Give me something like the Gigabeat S or the Samsung Yepp with wifi and extender support and we have it! I suppose the lack of DRM might be what’s holding things up. I’d be willing to bet by years end we’ll be there. The idea is to get..
| from this - |
|
to this - |
|
More Debate On DRM
Tuesday, January 10th, 2006
It’s rare you come across really interesting and informative discussions in the blogsphere. (My blog is a perfect example. 
) There’s a great discussion on DRM going on right now over on Burning Bird. I’m definitely in the “DRM is OK as long as it doesn’t restrict my Fair Use” camp. It annoys me when companies don’t license their DRM (Apple) and it also annoys me when my rights are restricted because the content creators didn’t think about the problem soon enough. A good example of this is in the fact that it is currently illegal for me to burn my non HD DVDs to my hard drive. It’s not my fault the DRM isn’t in place to protect the content, yet I have to pay the price. (Well, I have to break the law and rip them anyway, even if I’m not throwing the result up on the net.)
Apple Expo
Tuesday, January 10th, 2006
Just some early morning musings on what emerging new trend Apple might set today. Maybe nothing, maybe it’ll just be the first Mactel based machines, and a couple new iPods. It’s about time Jobs did something about Apple’s desktop market share anyway – it’s been in the dumps for 15 years and even Jobs can’t seem to help lift it. Some new Intel based desktop hardware might be the ticket, although, a change in hardware doesn’t really fix the Apple desktop market share problem now does it? The problem there is Apple, not the hardware. Maybe it’s the colored Shuffle? Not likely. The Shuffle was dead out of the gate, replaced by the uber-cool Nano. Hmm, maybe a colored Nano? Yaaawwwn.
So I have to wonder… maybe they will do something completely off the wall, totally new? How about a a Mactel based PVR? That seems to be in the buzz. It certainly seems possible, Jobs has already said he has no interest in this space (yeah right) and he has the nads to try and break into a space filled with established players. Plus, if Apple did a PVR, I’m sure they would put a new, killer twist on it. (A win-win scenario for the consumer.) I’m not sure if they could compete on price – Tivos are dirt cheap these days and they have as much buzz as Apple’s iPod. Plus Apple would have to play some serious catch-up in the technology arena – beautiful living room MCEs are being built with all the bells and whistles, Vista has CableCard support, and the new Tivo Series 3 is right around the corner. A Mac Mini PVR with no HD or CableCard support and a small drive? Not going to cut it.
What’s a guy like Jobs to do? Maybe he announces a deal with Tivo on a new MacTivo? Naaa. Jobs likes to play alone, in his own personal sandbox. So maybe, just maybe, they announce the purchase of Tivo? Hmmm. Now that would be cool. Google’s not interested, Sergey and Page are too busy Jumping the Shark, and Tivo was uncharacteristically quite at CES this year. Who knows? Buying an established company instead of competing isn’t exactly Apple’s style, but getting a hold of the Tivo userbase? well, there’s some value there. I’m probably being overly optimistic. Yep. A couple new iPods and some Mactel machines. Maybe a Mac Mini with Front Row. That’s probably about it. Yawn.
