| | | The world has been abuzz about the iPhone, since even before Apple acknowledged its existence. Why? Who cares? My mom does... and so will you.
First, let's take a look at the state of mobile phones. For better or worse, mobile phones have become far more than simple phones. Text messaging, email, browsers, and custom apps have infiltrated them. A decade ago, a phone was a phone. Today, a phone is the micro computer.
As mobile carriers have rushed to add features, they have forced the desktop computer's generic UI (menuing , windows, etc.) into their tiny screens.
So what makes the iPhone any different? Apple started from scratch, ignoring everything that is commonplace in today's smart phones. Ok, so they didn't start from scratch, they started with the iPod interface, and appropriately appropriated some fantastic desktop features. Add to that the touch screen, iPod features, and Mac OS X.
What does this mean to you? It means that when you pick up an iPhone, you'll know how to use it, instead of spending days learning how to use it. How many of you have encountered people, not computer people, that are waiting for their iPhones?
This is a great start, though I feel that the impact of this phone has yet to be felt. Sure they'll sell million and millions of them. But far more important to the consumer mobile phone market is that this phone will be the one by which all that follow it are judged. Put another way, the features that make the iPhone will trickle in to other phones across all budgets.
Obviously many of the features in the iPhone are not unique. But the way they're implemented and the thought that went in to them is unmistakable.
On top of the great UI, Apple and AT&T have changed the mobile phone landscape in another way. The plans. Today I pay $40/mo for unlimited data on my Cingular 8125. That is $40/mo just for the data service. In addition to that, I pay another $60 for voice and messaging. As of Friday, the cheap plan with unlimited data is $59/mo, and that includes rollover minutes.
Two things change on Friday that are being heavily overlooked.
1. All mobile phones will become easier to use because they'll all use the iPhone as a base line.
2. All mobile phone plans will be less expensive ... they have to be to keep the world from switching to AT&T.
Photo courtesy of Apple, Inc.
Links:
iPhone Guided Tour
iPhone Data plans
What do you think? How will this phone impact the industry as a whole? | |  |
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| | | | My friend Ari Newman of tru.vu and Newman Venture Advisors has an interesting observation about Web developers in the Boulder area. It seems as thought all of the funded startups are sucking the market dry.
I know a some of these guys and they're pretty much booked as he says. If you're a good web developer and you have rails experience, give these guys a glance. They're in need of help.
Ari says you don't have to be local, but you do have to kick ass and already have remote relationships worked out. Read the post yourself here Web developer drought in Boulder?
Good luck Ari and team! | | |
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| | | | A movie was released today about a product that has grabbed nearly everyone I know by their inner geek. This post isn't about that product however. This post is about broadband in 2007. (To see, and download the movie for yourself, visit the Apple iPhone: A Guided Tour page at Apple's site)
There is no choice here but to date myself, so I'll just get it out there. My first internet experience (INTERNET, not BBS ;-) was on a 14.4k modem. Ouch. I said it. Modem. MODEM. Moh-dem. And yes, I said 14.4k, which translates to 1.44 KB/s for those keeping track. (see Wikipedia's List of device bandwidths for details).
The reason for the post is to remind myself, and subsequently you, just how far we've come in the last 10 to 15 years. As I clicked the link to download the 175MB file, I cringed for a split second, then remembered that all is well in broadband land. I have nothing to worry about. As the file was downloading, I glanced at the downloads window ... the file was almost done.
That movie took just a couple of minutes to download. A couple of minutes for a 175MB file. With the 1.44KB modem, it would have taken about 34.56 HOURS!
Go ahead, say it. I'm a geek.
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| | | | I've been testing a theory for a while now that has to do with my productivity level as it relates to the number of emails in my inbox.
Simply put, the fewer emails in my inbox, the more productive I feel. There are times that my inbox reaches 150 to 200 emails... it has been as high as 400. I can't explain why it happens, but it does, and it usually happens when I'm not at the top of my game (thus the correlation).
Today I'm happy to say that for the first time in quite a while I have zero (0) emails in my inbox. Nada, zero, zilch. I don't need to file email bankruptcy. I'm email-flow positive, and will do my best to stay that way.
What do you think? Does your inbox reflect your productivity level?
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| | | | Today Apple released a software update for the AppleTV that allows you to watch YouTube content on your TV. When Apple announced this, I thought it was a non-story. Then I saw the screenshots and the impact hit me.
I have to be forthright... I don't spend much time with YouTube on my computer(s). When I'm in front of my laptop, for instance, I'm usually working. If not, I'm tuned in to my RSS feeds. When I'm in front of the TV though, I'm obviously looking to kill time.
Typically "killing time" involves video podcasts, or our Thursday evening TV night (Survivor, Smallville, Grey's, Heroes), but now I have some other short-attention content to watch.
Way to go Apple/Google, this will be interesting. Remember when the networks controlled what was on your TV? Those days are gone.
More at AppleInsider | | |
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| | | | Can a team of people create an entire company in a weekend, from scratch? From concept to launch during a Friday night to Sunday night timeframe. Can it be done? Yes it can, and I'll be a part of it.
Chris and I were banging out grillm when I read about this event for the first time. We looked at each other and said, "Wow, what a great idea!"
Unlike our two man show, this a is a group of world class people teaming up from all areas of business. Management, funding, marketing, bizdev, application development... everything you really need to create a viable business.
I can't wait for the result, there are some phenomenal people involved. I'll be just back from the Butte, ready and refreshed. Who's catering coffee and pizza? Brad? ;-)
StartupWeekend: "July 6-8 in Boulder, Colorado. Let's create a startup." | | |
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| | | | Caron Schwartz Ellis wrote a nice piece for the Boulder County Business Review on the resurgence of web companies in the Boulder/Denver area.
The companies she mentions are a hop or two away from me. While I don't know them all personally, I think that they're all doing great work. Being involved in the startup scene has been a wonderful experience, and this article reminds me of that.
Sure, at one point we would have been in the list, but times change, as do priorities. How about you save some space for me in the followup article next year Caron? Deal?
BCBR ARTICLE: The return of the dot-com | | |
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| | | | John Gruber has a great post about the silly stuff going on around meta-data embedded in iTunes Plus music tracks.
Listen, let's put this in terms anyone can understand. You own the tracks and can put them on any device you want. They are DRM free tracks. DRM free however, does not mean it is suddenly OK to "give a copy to your friends" or to Limewire.
Check out John's post | | |
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| | | | At first glance, ustream.tv looks like another way to stream a live webcam. Look a little deeper and you'll see that they're changing the live broadcast model.
I was introduced to ustream.tv while listening to a podcast called net@nite with Leo Laporte and Amber MacArthur. They mentioned a live video feed, and that feed was done with ustream.
At the time (April 07) ustream.tv wasn't able to keep up with the traffic demands that a Leo Laporte required. Now they've grown and scaled to handle that and more.
As an example, former TechTV show host Chris Pirillo has a live (sponsored) feed from his office. Though the largest number of simultaneous viewers I've personally seen there is tiny (70), they claim they're ready for Leo.
The fact that this company exists was inevitable, but that they started the company in February of this year is nothing short of amazing. Talk about a zero to 60 entrepreneurial experience.
With the new version about ship, I'm positive they're going to play a major role in redefining what live broadcasting is and who has access to it. Their features are geared toward monetizing live video streams and the subsequent archives. Incredibly cool.
Watch for ustream.tv. | | |
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| | | | [This entry originally appeared in the old blog on 03/25/07. I've reposted it here for those that requested it. Enjoy.]
When Apple mentioned the AppleTV last fall, I wanted one immediately. It was made by Apple, it connected wirelessly to my Mac, connected my HDTV, and frankly that was enough. I bought one Friday night.
To watch video content on my Samsung DLP before Friday night I'd have to move my laptop to the TV, plug in the DVI -> HDMI cable, plug in the stereo 1/8" -> RCA cable, switch the receiver to video 4, switch the TV to HDMI input 2, then sync the video settings on the laptop/TV (and in the process hose my application's window sizing).
It was such a PITA that I'd removed all but one video podcast from my subscriptions (The Merlin Show).
Today watching video podcasts on my TV is as easy as grabbing the tiny Apple remote and finding the podcast I want then clicking play.
And watching video podcasts I have been. Lots of them. The Merlin Show, GeekBrief.tv, DL.tv, MacBreak, Cranky Geeks, teXtra, Diggnation, David Pogue, etc. It is like having my own custom tech TV station.
Watching these with the AppleTV means I no longer have to dedicate my laptop (or any other computer for that matter) to the cause. Sure the XBox has a similar feature set, and there are other solutions to the problem. Those solutions may work for you, but the tight integration with my Mac, and the ability to hack (new video formats, larger hard drives, SSH, AFP) it make the AppleTV a great purchase for me.
Next up is ripping Z's DVD collection to his G4, then connecting his iTunes to the AppleTV. Kid's TV On-Demand. You can connect to up to 5 iTunes libraries.
I don't anticipate using the AppleTV to watch movies or TV shows. Downloading TV doesn't fit in to our television workflow at all. We watch TV two nights a week by time-shifting our favorite shows with our Comcast HD DVR. As for movies, we hardly find the time to watch the 3 Netflix DVDs we have in the queue as it is. | | |
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