NAB envy

After seeing photos from the NAB conference, I have become envious. With all of the cutting edge software, and slick large screen presentations, and hands on tutoring. If only Apple made engineering software. The dream of such a conference for engineers. Any conference that I have gone to for engineering has been bland and boring. Does it have to be. Apple HELP!!!

It was bound to happen....

Gentlemen, the iGrill is here!! A new addition to the George Forman grill line now includes an electric grill with the ability to play songs from you iPod. It has 10W speakers built in. Now you can get your groove on while grilling up them burgers. Mmmmmmmmmmmm.

Jobs dodges a bullet

It seems Jobs is a lucky man given that the SEC has decided not to charge him with any wrongdoing in the backdated options issue. If you don't know, Apple's (former?) CFO has publicly stated that Jobs was aware of the backdating after he himself was being charged. This whole mess seems to really stink. I find it hard to believe that Jobs could be so nieve to not understand the implication of backdating options. But he did end up getting a bye. This whole deal seems like something Apple would never do. Maybe this practice has become so rampant in corporations that it didn't seem like a crime anymore. Hats off to the SEC for doing a cleanup job of this type of shady dealings. I hope Apple stays clean here on out.

3/4 Pentabytes

Yes Apple has setup a data storage bank at NAB of 3/4 Pentabytes. I'm not sure if this is what comes after Terabyte but the array looks impressive!


Link

Adobe Creative Suite

The just released Adobe Creative Suite 3, the Universal version for intel based Macs, took the number 3 spot on Apple online store from the iPod nano. Man, they must be selling tons of them! It all goes back to the mac's roots as a device that helps people be creative! It isn't cheap at $1800 for a brand new version, $600 to upgrade. Power to the creative people!

Order Restored to the Universe

I just checked the Amazon top sellers for Electronics. The 30 Gb iPod is number 1 where it belongs, with the 80 Gb a few spots down, and the shuffle a little further down. The Gigabeat is nowhere to be found, and the Zune is at number 78 behind almost all the iPods and several Sansas. Do they even sell the brown Zune anymore?

New iPod killer

Link

Stitch the Rapper

I noticed that there were no comments on my attempt to make a rap song about the "MacNight in the UAE" post. I thought it wasn't bad for a first pass. But yet no comments. Maybe I am loosing my edge. Oh well.

3 Hour Keynote!

Jobs is scheduled to give a 3 hour keynote at the WWDC on June 11! I don't think I've ever seen him give a keynote that long. I speculate 1 hour for Mac Leopard programming stuff, and 2 hours for the launch of the incredible iPhone! Hey, he might even give the attendees free iPhones! (Yeah, right!)

Joost beta

I signed up for the Joost beta test. It took a couple of weeks before they added more people for testing and then I got an email which gave me the link for the Joost download. Joost is that program which is being developed which by the makers of Napster and Skype. The main advantage is that they distribute the server demands over all computers using Joost. That way one central server doesn't get overloaded. This allows for streaming of video in full screen at up to near DVD quality.

The interface is very slick and modern and runs in full screen or window mode, and only appears when the mouse is moved. There are a series of channels with individual shows you can view. Some are full length shows of about 1/2 hour. Or snippet shows of maybe 5 min. They have some mainstream content like National Geographic, and some internet only programs. The quality of the video depends on the provider. Some are high res and is probably close to DVD quality. But the quality can vary even in the same show. If there is movement in the program the quality drops compared to more still shots. They allow people to rate content, and even chat with others watching the same show.

My review would say: The quality and interface is impressive. Most of the time there is clear streaming content. Not of the quality of some Quicktime content but there is much less lag. With a quicktime video like high def movie trailers. The stream can just stop abruptly and then wait for data. I see less of that for the most part with Joost. But even though there are less drops of content with Joost, they end abruptly with a "sorry come back later" error message. Not a pause but just stops. Many programs will stream for 10min with no delays and then the "sorry" message. Not ready for prime time yet. But this is beta so I guess that is what is being fixed. I have read that these types of networks get more reliable with more users because the content has more places it can come from.

As for a challenger to Apple TV? I think it is a different market. Joost is for viewing on a computer monitor only, as far as I know. The interface requires a mouse. The content is focused on internet style programming. But each show typically has a splash ad (about 20 sec) with big name advertisers. But typically only one ad per episode. Apple TV will probably win for reliable playback but I don't know since I don't have one. Apple TV typically has already downloaded the content and is only streaming it locally from your home computer to the Apple TV box. So delay is much less likely for streaming content.

If you would like to try Joost beta. Let me know, I can invite others to try in the beta test. I guess they want to limit the numbers of people testing. They have a Mac version right from the start.

Is Jobs reading MacNight?

I just noticed that we have a hit from up near Cupertino on Geovisitors. I am just going to assume it is Steve Jobs checking out our humorous blog. The wit is so cutting edge and the humor just hovers over each and every post. It must be Steve. Of course there a few million other possible people it could be but lets just believe it is Jobs so that we have a story. Now McFan he may be worried about your overzealous enthusism for all things Steve. I won't say anything about that shrine or anything. Ooops.

Leopard Delayed!

Well, our beloved new OS Leopard has been delayed until October. I guess resources aimed at finishing iPhone took some resources away from the OS release and caused the delay. You know what I say - get it right!!! I'll wait for an outstanding release rather than buy a buggy release earlier. Tiger works fine for me! What's your take?

Toshiba Gigabeat Number 1 on Amazon

Right now, the Gigabeat is number 1 on Amazon. I was initially confused, until I saw that it is a 40 Gb player discounted from $300 to $100!! I don't know how they do that! I guess they just want to move out inventory.

Ello governor

I have noticed that we have been having more visitors from Europe than the US for the blog. You might call them Macnight voyers. Just peaking in but no comments as far as I can see. Maybe then ended up here by accident. Anyway you got here, welcome and feel free to comment. If you would like to be able to post too, just email us or say so in a comment. The more the merrier. Cheers. As they say.

Apple TV subculture

I have noticed that iTunes now has a link for content for the Apple TV. Currently the quality of the content is early podcasting but there is some actually good material. This could become something like a youTube.com on your TV. The young internet generation that is leaving regular TV may be pulled back to this. Some of the programs have a quick ad in the video. You can watch it on iTunes if you don't have Apple TV. Maybe Apple will add a search mode directly from you Apple TV for this type of content. Similar to the movie previews they have now. This is sort of like "snippet" TV which fits into the short attention spans of the Y generation. If it includes ads I could see Apple TV driving a new snippet TV economy for programming and ad revenue. This could be the first adopters of Apple TV in my mind.

Positive Sansa connect review

Here is a rather positive review of the new SanDisk player. Maybe it will be very successful after all!

SanDisk

Zune nano-killer

Making the rounds in cyber space is the rumor that MS is ready to release a "nano killer", as bloggers are calling it. Supposedly very small and with a rather large screen on the surface, it is set to knock out the iPod nano. Can MS do it?

MGM Films on iTunes!

Apple just added MGM films to iTunes! I admit, the lower resolution is a bummer. But I also think DVD resolution is a little beyond the reach of most household wireless networks. It's be cool when that actually happens! It's amazing how many movies have been downloaded even at the lower resolutions!

What do you think of Sansa - WiFi

What do you think of Sandisk's latest MP3 player the Sansa? It will go for about $250 with a 4GB flash storage but will be the first player to offer WiFi downloads of music. They have teamed up with Yahoo's online music store.

In my opinion, adding WiFi sounds like a good thing but the news reports I read act as if it so revolutionary that it will change the MP3 market. Just think, you will not need a computer to download songs, just an open WiFi connection. Except that if you have a home WiFi network then you probably have a computer. So maybe the market is for people who hang out at airports where they have open WiFi networks. Now all you need to do is drive to your nearest airport with your Sansa, pay $2/hr for parking and download your music without a computer to your Sansa. Of course the other option would be to use a WiFi sniffer program, drive aroung town until you find an open WiFi network and then download direct. But wait, most sniffer programs require a computer. Ok, so maybe it isn't all that revolutionary. Maybe they just wanted to beat Apple to the punch with the WiFi before the iPhone comes out.

Macnight now has an RSS feed

I have setup our blog to be an RSS feed. Now you might say, what the heck is an RSS feed. Well it took me a bit of researching to figure this out too. RSS and its brother Atom is a way for the blog to push info to subscribers whenever new content is added. For now all I got working is new postings but I will see if I can get new comments added too. Some web browsers handle RSS feeds as something called "Live links". This adds a dynamic bookmark which will have a long list of the current postings on Macnight. Safari does this and so does version 2.0 of Firefox. The other option is to use something called a news reader. This is a separate program that allows you to add feeds to it and then all the headlines, blogs update automatically. This is for the hard core user. Google had one of these online. Thunderbird email also performs this function but has limited features. I find the "dynamic bookmarks" to work the best for what I need. A simple quick check without loging in to blogger.com.

Macnight in the UAE?

I was doing a blogger search for Macnight to see if our site shows up on blogger search engines. And I was surprised to come across this web site advertising the upcoming Macnight in the UAE (United Arab Emmerites). Thats one of those countries in the middle east with loads of oil. It is nice to see that Macs are accepted around the world and a MacNight is probably happening somewhere in the world right now.

Link

Geovisitors

I don't know if you noticed that I have added a link to the bottom of the blog. This is something called geovisitors. It keeps track of the location of the servers which were used to link to the Macnight blog. If you click the link at the bottom of the blog it takes you to a map of the recent activity for the blog and a Google map of server locations. It even shows by color which connections were more recent. I thought it was pretty cool. Of course with our small group it is not likely to have many markers. Check it out.

Grab the pitchfork

I have noticed that some of our MacNight members have stopped posting all together. This is quite sad. Obviously there is plenty to say, and many Apple topics to comments on. Or even make one more of an issue than it really is. It's actually quite fun to do. We don't want an angry mob forming soon. We know you are out there. We have that GPS tracking device we planted on you, so we know.
OK, maybe you don't even check back to MacNight anymore. Try posting just one post. And before long you will be a regular poster. It can be addictive. You know you want to.

Mac Pro with 8 Cores

Dual 4-core processors at a speed of 3 GHz now in the top of the line Mac Pro. 8 Cores of blistering speed for the software sophisticated enough to take advantage. $4000 for the maxed out (all the trimmings) Mac Pro. Anyone need to design the next Space Shuttle?

Apple distinguishes itself once again

I believe that takes a very honest businessman to stand up and do the right thing, over what will make your company the most money. Jobs has stepped up and shown that with the push to make downloads DRM free, Apple is above the norm in business. Apple could have easily pulled a Microsoft and do whatever it takes to maximize profits, even at the expense of their users. Apple has the potential to lose a lot of money down the road now that you can move music to any player, free of DRM. Yet they did it anyway. I applaud the move. And in the end, I believe it will only improve Apple's image and business.

A trillion dollars of market capitalization

Yes a financial analyst predicts that Apple could be the first company in history to have a trillion dollars of market capitalization. He basis this on the current growth trends for Apple. And assuming that Apple duplicates this growth with the new iPhone and Apple TV. I don't know if he is smoking something funny, but if all the ducks end up in a row, I guess it is possible.
He also predicts that Apple could double in value by the end of the year. And that all of the US national debt will disappear and world hunger will end by year end. OK so I made up the last two.

Link

Myth TV - Linux's Apple TV

I found that Linux has something like Apple TV. But it also will act as a DVR, play DVDs and games. This shot is one of many possible "skins". It looks impressive. I'm sure setup requires computer speak.


More shots

DRM free music on iTunes

Have you heard that latest about EMI allowing DRM free music to be sold on iTunes? Both DRM-free and DRM versions will continue to be sold with the DRM-free being of higher quality bit rate. This comes at an extra cost. The DRM-free music will sell for $1.29/song while the DRM version is still 99 cents. Is it worth it to pay a little extra for Dfree music? I think so. I always felt a little funny buying music which is locked to a particular companies DRM system. Even if it is Apple. Who knows if this system will be supported in the future, and then you would be out of luck.

This may have the side benefit of squelching all of the lawsuits which are brewing in Europe. Or may be due to them. At any rate, I think Jobs made it clear that Apple is not the one pushing for DRM it is the record companies. And now they are starting to budge. There are still other record companies which think that EMI is making a mistake. We will have to wait and see.