Apple TV: Still a hobby after all these years
Apple dusted off its four-year-old Apple TV "hobby" on Wednesday and gave it some polish. But even with a lower price tag, a smaller, sleeker design, and a few more bells and whistles, the streaming set-top box is still likely to remain a side project.Steve Jobs even referred to it as such when he introduced it at the annual fall event held in San Francisco Wednesday. In place of his famous "One more thing," he said, "One more hobby" when introducing the latest version of Apple TV.There were some interesting new features: the new Apple TV is a quarter of the size of the old model, got a very attractive price cut (from $229 to $99), and added Netflix integration. But none of those things automatically put Apple in the driver's seat when it comes to this nascent category.#nlrText { float: right; width: 170px; padding: 5px; margin: 10px 10px 10px 0; font-family: verdana; font-size: 10px; border: 1px solid #999; background: #FFFFEF; } #nlrText h4{display: block; font-size: 1.4em; padding: 0; margin: 0; color: #900; }Apple's music eventHere's a brief rundown of what Apple announced at Wednesday's press event. iOS 4.1Free update for iPhone, iPod Touch will be available next weekiOS 4.2To come in NovemberNew iPodsA major refresh of iPod lineup, including the Shuffle, Nano, and TouchPingNew iTunes 10 with social-networking music features Apple TVNew, smaller cloud-based Apple TV For more details on these announcements, read our summary post here. There seems to be some interest from consumers in cutting the cord on cable TV (depending on whom you ask, that is) and being able to share content from a PC to a living room device. Shipments of Internet-enabled living room devices, which include Web-connected TVs, set-top boxes, and game consoles, are predicted to rise from 99.3 million sold in 2009 to 430 million by 2014, according to Forrester Research. But how exactly it should be done hasn't been figured out.Apple has never publicly said how many Apple TVs it has sold, and they let it remain a mystery Wednesday when Steve Jobs said, "We've sold a lot, but it's never been a huge hit." But neither has a competitive product, he was quick to note.The digital living room is clearly up for grabs. There have been companies trying to break through--like Roku, Boxee, and now Google with its upcoming Google TV--with set-top boxes. Even Samsung is making a move here, but by taking a different approach and trying to build its own platform with apps and content directly into TVs and Blu-ray players.Though he listed some of the things he and his cohorts at Apple have learned about what customers want from a living room device over the past few years of Apple TV, Jobs still had no larger, articulated vision for Apple TV Wednesday.He spent a lot of time talking about what doesn't work in the living room based on customer feedback. According to him, what people don't want: noisy, large set-top boxes; user-generated content; a computer in their living room; or to have to think about hard drive space.Jobs emphasized that people specifically don't want a computer in their living room. That was his way of taking a swipe at Google, which is taking a Web-centric view of living room content consumption with Google TV. But Jobs' view might be why we didn't see the introduction of apps on Apple TV, as some had predicted. Apps are something associated with computers and other gadgets, so perhaps Apple doesn't want to give the impression that Apple TV is a mini computer.What consumers do want, according to Jobs, is pretty straightforward: Hollywood-quality movies and TV shows ("people don't want amateur hour," he said), cheaper content, and to rent not own.In that case, Apple has plenty of competition. Roku and PlayStation 3 and Xbox have integrated Netflix as well as Amazon Video on Demand content, plus other sources of Hollywood content. And while the 99-cent rental idea is interesting (and not unique--Amazon is offering the same thing), the content isn't quite there yet. When it comes to TV shows, only ABC and Fox have signed on with Apple.For Apple, the main advantage and interest they have in advancing Apple TV is that it adds to the overall ecosystem the company is building with its "iDevices" and its library of music, video, photo, podcast, and book content. Apple now has a phone, music/video player, touch-screen tablet, computer, and now living room device to share content between via a coming feature in iOS 4.2 called Airplay.Now that the price is fairly reasonable, the ultimate success of Apple TV is going to rely on the kind of content people can get and the timetable in which they can get it. And that means working out licensing issues with content owners. That's something Jobs has pioneered before, so it's not impossible that he won't do it again.
More free on-demand audio with Muziic
More free on-demand audio with Muziic
Like Spotify, Muziic offers a free downloadable piece of client software with an iTunes-like interface and offers on-demand access to millions of streaming songs. Unlike Spotify, I had no problem finding huge catalogs from artists that are notoriously prickly about posting their music online, including Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, and Radiohead. It also did a great job with all of my more obscure test cases.How did an unknown company run by a 15-year-old and his dad pull off this incredible licensing coup? Easy--they've basically built a customized front-end to YouTube. Any song that's been uploaded to YouTube is available in Muziic, including a lot of music that isn't available on most commercial services, like the full Pink Floyd's performance at Live 8 and Led Zeppelin's one-off performance in 2007. Unfortunately, a dispute between Warner Music and YouTube earlier this year means that a lot of recordings owned by Warner are no longer available. But in a lot of cases, users have filled the gaps with (probably unauthorized) recordings from the artists--so while I can't get my favorite studio recordings from Neil Young or the Flaming Lips, there are dozens live nuggets from each of them. With any luck, Warner and Google (YouTube's parent company) will resolve their dispute and these gaps will be filled. In the meantime, the Nelsons can work on some of the fit-and-finish problems I found with Muziic. The Web site doesn't render properly in Firefox 3.0. The high-quality audio option didn't work for me--I think it's supposed to render YouTube's default Flash audio into AAC on the fly, but the description doesn't make much sense so I can't really tell. (The default audio sounded fine anyway--at least no worse than MP3, which of course isn't so great.) They could use some professional design help--I couldn't maximize the player to fill the screen, there's a lot of unused space in the margins, and the black on black toolbar sliders are awfully hard to use for those of us who have no patience to download different skins.Overall, though, this is a pretty interesting and impressive piece of work. Muziic also offers an encoder that apparently lets you upgrade your MP3s before uploading them to YouTube--I didn't test this as I'm more interested in listening than sharing, but I'll give it a look later this week and let you know what I think. More important, Muziic (and Spotify) are finally showing the world how compelling a free, legal, on-demand music service can be--nearly a decade after Napster introduced us to the concept. Follow Matt on Twitter.
Like Spotify, Muziic offers a free downloadable piece of client software with an iTunes-like interface and offers on-demand access to millions of streaming songs. Unlike Spotify, I had no problem finding huge catalogs from artists that are notoriously prickly about posting their music online, including Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, and Radiohead. It also did a great job with all of my more obscure test cases.How did an unknown company run by a 15-year-old and his dad pull off this incredible licensing coup? Easy--they've basically built a customized front-end to YouTube. Any song that's been uploaded to YouTube is available in Muziic, including a lot of music that isn't available on most commercial services, like the full Pink Floyd's performance at Live 8 and Led Zeppelin's one-off performance in 2007. Unfortunately, a dispute between Warner Music and YouTube earlier this year means that a lot of recordings owned by Warner are no longer available. But in a lot of cases, users have filled the gaps with (probably unauthorized) recordings from the artists--so while I can't get my favorite studio recordings from Neil Young or the Flaming Lips, there are dozens live nuggets from each of them. With any luck, Warner and Google (YouTube's parent company) will resolve their dispute and these gaps will be filled. In the meantime, the Nelsons can work on some of the fit-and-finish problems I found with Muziic. The Web site doesn't render properly in Firefox 3.0. The high-quality audio option didn't work for me--I think it's supposed to render YouTube's default Flash audio into AAC on the fly, but the description doesn't make much sense so I can't really tell. (The default audio sounded fine anyway--at least no worse than MP3, which of course isn't so great.) They could use some professional design help--I couldn't maximize the player to fill the screen, there's a lot of unused space in the margins, and the black on black toolbar sliders are awfully hard to use for those of us who have no patience to download different skins.Overall, though, this is a pretty interesting and impressive piece of work. Muziic also offers an encoder that apparently lets you upgrade your MP3s before uploading them to YouTube--I didn't test this as I'm more interested in listening than sharing, but I'll give it a look later this week and let you know what I think. More important, Muziic (and Spotify) are finally showing the world how compelling a free, legal, on-demand music service can be--nearly a decade after Napster introduced us to the concept. Follow Matt on Twitter.
Mint Market is all pre-owned stuff in near-mint condition
Mint Market is all pre-owned stuff in near-mint condition
Shopping on Craigslist is awesome, but sometimes it can be a pain to find the high-quality goods you're looking for. The hidden gems tend to be buried between listings for worn-down junk, and in many cases, it can be difficult to differentiate between the two. To solve this problem, the new Mint Market app promises a more targeted experience. Much like Craigslist, Mint Market (download: Android | iPhone) covers everything from clothing and furniture to auto parts and event tickets. The difference, however, is that sellers on Mint Market only list items in new or like-new condition. What's more, they can mark their items with a "Mint Condition" stamp to indicate that they are no more than 60-days-old. The first thing that struck me about Mint Market was its interface. While it may not be the most easy-to-use thing in the world, it's certainly visually attractive. The Home screen features a long, vertical stream of listings, with each item displaying a large photo, name, and price. This layout makes it easy to scroll through items quickly without straining your eyes. By contrast, the same cannot be said about Craigslist or any of its third-party apps, which are, for the most part, text-based. To make things easier, with Mint Market, you can sort through the list by Price, New, and Nearby, or you can choose to display only items marked "Mint Condition." And of course, you can search based on keyword and other parameters.The best feature on Mint Market has to be Item Feed, which essentially lets you save searches for easy reference later. For instance, if you search for computer accessories that cost between $20 and $30 in Los Angeles, you can save the parameters using Item Feed, so you don't have to go through the process all over again. And if you like, you can even activate an alarm to notify you whenever new items that fit your search pop up. There's also a Favorite button for saving specific items.Of course, the other half of Mint Market deals with selling your goods. To post a product, just take a photo with your phone, add a title, description, price, and any other relevant information. It's really simple. The app also lets you keep track of all the items you're selling.While Mint Market is certainly a welcome addition to the growing number of goods and services marketplace apps, it is obvious that it is still young. It has a few usability issues, and the community still has a lot of growing to do. That said, I can definitely see this blossoming into a useful resource for buyers and sellers sometime in the future.Mint Market (download: Android | iPhone) is available for free download now from the Google Play Store and Apple's iTunes App Store.
Shopping on Craigslist is awesome, but sometimes it can be a pain to find the high-quality goods you're looking for. The hidden gems tend to be buried between listings for worn-down junk, and in many cases, it can be difficult to differentiate between the two. To solve this problem, the new Mint Market app promises a more targeted experience. Much like Craigslist, Mint Market (download: Android | iPhone) covers everything from clothing and furniture to auto parts and event tickets. The difference, however, is that sellers on Mint Market only list items in new or like-new condition. What's more, they can mark their items with a "Mint Condition" stamp to indicate that they are no more than 60-days-old. The first thing that struck me about Mint Market was its interface. While it may not be the most easy-to-use thing in the world, it's certainly visually attractive. The Home screen features a long, vertical stream of listings, with each item displaying a large photo, name, and price. This layout makes it easy to scroll through items quickly without straining your eyes. By contrast, the same cannot be said about Craigslist or any of its third-party apps, which are, for the most part, text-based. To make things easier, with Mint Market, you can sort through the list by Price, New, and Nearby, or you can choose to display only items marked "Mint Condition." And of course, you can search based on keyword and other parameters.The best feature on Mint Market has to be Item Feed, which essentially lets you save searches for easy reference later. For instance, if you search for computer accessories that cost between $20 and $30 in Los Angeles, you can save the parameters using Item Feed, so you don't have to go through the process all over again. And if you like, you can even activate an alarm to notify you whenever new items that fit your search pop up. There's also a Favorite button for saving specific items.Of course, the other half of Mint Market deals with selling your goods. To post a product, just take a photo with your phone, add a title, description, price, and any other relevant information. It's really simple. The app also lets you keep track of all the items you're selling.While Mint Market is certainly a welcome addition to the growing number of goods and services marketplace apps, it is obvious that it is still young. It has a few usability issues, and the community still has a lot of growing to do. That said, I can definitely see this blossoming into a useful resource for buyers and sellers sometime in the future.Mint Market (download: Android | iPhone) is available for free download now from the Google Play Store and Apple's iTunes App Store.
At 'Game of Thrones' premiere, nerds can identify
At 'Game of Thrones' premiere, nerds can identify
And asked why he really was behind the rope line at the event -- when everyone making their way down the line to talk to the assembled press gaggle was either a member of the cast or a producer -- Newmark simply said, "I'm just wandering around. A nerd's got to do what a nerd's got to do."It was only after he walked away that it occurred to me that I had missed my one opportunity to ask the founder of Craigslist what a personals ad in Craigslist Westeros would be like. I'm sure the words "smoking hot," "heir to the throne," "skilled with swords," and "dragon-friendly" would be part of it.Speaking of geeks, or nerds, though, it was interesting to note some of the cast members' opinions on the fact that "Game of Thrones" has a significant following among the tech set. Actor Kit Harington, who plays Jon Snow, said he thinks it might be because one thing about geeks is that they "love escapism and they love fantasy." Executive producer D.B. Weiss said he thought it might have something to do with the fact that "people in the tech world can handle complexity," and "Game of Thrones" is nothing if not complex. I dare anyone who hasn't read and then re-read the books or seen the first two seasons multiple times to intelligently recap the story so far and keep it all straight. This is, after all, a show with one of the largest casts in television history, we were told.CNET's Brian Tong takes a picture of George R. R. Martin, the writer of the 'Game of Thrones' novels, and an executive producer on the HBO adaptation of the books.Daniel Terdiman/CNETSadly, HBO brought out only eight of the show's actors to the San Francisco screening of the season three premiere (which will show on HBO starting March 31, and which fans are no doubt going to love), and favorites like Dinklage, Emilia Clarke (who plays Daenerys Targaryen), and Lena Heady (who plays Cersei Lannister) were absent. Still, "Game of Thrones" poster boy Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jamie Lannister), Maisie Williams (Arya Stark), Rose Leslie (Ygritte), Natalie Dormer (Margaery Tyrell) and Harington were there.I wondered if Harington uses Twitter, but he said no. Mirroring a common belief that Twitter is simply a place for telling the world what you're up to, he said, "I talk about myself enough, to be honest, doing things like this. And I think if I spent my spare time writing about myself to the world, then I think I'd go crazy."I also wanted the opinion of some involved with the show about the fact that on the one hand, so many people are cutting the cord these days, refusing to pay for television service at all, let alone for premium channels like HBO, and that on the other, keeping up-to-date with a show like "Game of Thrones" requires access to the service. Harington and Martin both noted that the show is currently the world's most-pirated. HBO probably has mixed feelings about that, given that it's losing potential revenue, but that it's gaining an audience.Martin added that it's important to remember that any show on HBO, no matter how successful, has a smaller audience than the broadcast shows he worked on in the 1980s, when people had far fewer entertainment options. "We're moving into an era when we have so many choices," Martin said, mentioning cable channels, Netflix, and original Web programming. "So I don't know what's going to become of it. I leave that to the guys with the suits. I'm just telling my stories." San Francisco was treated to a screening of the 'Game of Thrones' Season three premiere Wednesday night.Daniel Terdiman/CNET
And asked why he really was behind the rope line at the event -- when everyone making their way down the line to talk to the assembled press gaggle was either a member of the cast or a producer -- Newmark simply said, "I'm just wandering around. A nerd's got to do what a nerd's got to do."It was only after he walked away that it occurred to me that I had missed my one opportunity to ask the founder of Craigslist what a personals ad in Craigslist Westeros would be like. I'm sure the words "smoking hot," "heir to the throne," "skilled with swords," and "dragon-friendly" would be part of it.Speaking of geeks, or nerds, though, it was interesting to note some of the cast members' opinions on the fact that "Game of Thrones" has a significant following among the tech set. Actor Kit Harington, who plays Jon Snow, said he thinks it might be because one thing about geeks is that they "love escapism and they love fantasy." Executive producer D.B. Weiss said he thought it might have something to do with the fact that "people in the tech world can handle complexity," and "Game of Thrones" is nothing if not complex. I dare anyone who hasn't read and then re-read the books or seen the first two seasons multiple times to intelligently recap the story so far and keep it all straight. This is, after all, a show with one of the largest casts in television history, we were told.CNET's Brian Tong takes a picture of George R. R. Martin, the writer of the 'Game of Thrones' novels, and an executive producer on the HBO adaptation of the books.Daniel Terdiman/CNETSadly, HBO brought out only eight of the show's actors to the San Francisco screening of the season three premiere (which will show on HBO starting March 31, and which fans are no doubt going to love), and favorites like Dinklage, Emilia Clarke (who plays Daenerys Targaryen), and Lena Heady (who plays Cersei Lannister) were absent. Still, "Game of Thrones" poster boy Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jamie Lannister), Maisie Williams (Arya Stark), Rose Leslie (Ygritte), Natalie Dormer (Margaery Tyrell) and Harington were there.I wondered if Harington uses Twitter, but he said no. Mirroring a common belief that Twitter is simply a place for telling the world what you're up to, he said, "I talk about myself enough, to be honest, doing things like this. And I think if I spent my spare time writing about myself to the world, then I think I'd go crazy."I also wanted the opinion of some involved with the show about the fact that on the one hand, so many people are cutting the cord these days, refusing to pay for television service at all, let alone for premium channels like HBO, and that on the other, keeping up-to-date with a show like "Game of Thrones" requires access to the service. Harington and Martin both noted that the show is currently the world's most-pirated. HBO probably has mixed feelings about that, given that it's losing potential revenue, but that it's gaining an audience.Martin added that it's important to remember that any show on HBO, no matter how successful, has a smaller audience than the broadcast shows he worked on in the 1980s, when people had far fewer entertainment options. "We're moving into an era when we have so many choices," Martin said, mentioning cable channels, Netflix, and original Web programming. "So I don't know what's going to become of it. I leave that to the guys with the suits. I'm just telling my stories." San Francisco was treated to a screening of the 'Game of Thrones' Season three premiere Wednesday night.Daniel Terdiman/CNET
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