Category : iPod

Apple acquires Lala.com, but why?

Posted by Evan at 4:30 pm

For those of you who follow tech news you’ve likely heard about Apple’s acquisition of Lala.com, a service with a tag line of “All the music you could ever want, playable in a web browser”. There’s been much speculation around their reasoning for the acquisition and while there’s been no official statement from Apple regarding the deal I think there have been some pretty strong hints dropped in Apple’s recent product features.

iTunes, meet Mobile Me
First it helps to look at what Lala.com has been offering to users, the ability to sync their music libraries onto Lala and then stream that music to any web browser from any computer, just by logging in. Right away this suggests to me that Apple is looking for a new feature to boost the feature set of it’s highly criticized Mobile Me service. Mobile Me, among other features, is a service that gives registered users the ability to work with their iLife files through a web-based interface. Sharing your iPhoto images, uploading your video creations from iMovie, etc. Apple has said publicly that it is planning new features for Mobile Me and this seems like a perfect fit considering iTunes is technically part of the iLife suite.

But that’s not all…

A subscription-based music/video service?
In addition to online music library distribution, Lala.com also offers the ability to “purchase” songs for unlimited playback for $0.10 per track. Of course you can’t download it for that price, it’s $0.79 to purchase an MP3 of the same song. Apple of course offers a very similar service with their iTunes Store… minus the subscription based service. Many speculators take this as a sign that Apple is planning to offer a subscription service for iTunes, which also seems possible despite Apple’s statements to the contrary in the past. But there are some technical issues this could address as well, such as their movie rental service.

As it stands, when you rent a movie from iTunes you have to physically download that video to your hard drive in order to watch it completely. Yes, it will stream once the download has started, but the entire video file must be downloaded in order to finish the movie only to be deleted once your rental period has expired. What if they could stream that rented video from the cloud to your device without ever having to transfer the 1GB+ video file to your machine? Even the experience of purchasing movies from Apple TV could be improved if you had the option to store the movie on the cloud instead of downloading it that already full hard drive on your computer.

In the news recently there have been reports of Apple pitching a subscription-based service to some of the television networks. This platform also seems like a great solution for an online television subscription service…

A few dropped hints
There have also been a few product features here lately that hint that Apple is moving in the direction of a media center or server to client relationship with some of its products. Apple TV most notably has the ability to stream content from your iTunes library to your television without having to physically transfer large video files from your host computer to the Apple TV. And because of the prices of Solid State Drive technology Apple is unable to increase hard drive capacities on its flash-based devices, such as the iPhone and most of the iPod line, users are unable to transfer their large music and video libraries onto these devices.

So what would a service like Lala.com do to remedy this problem? They provide the storage and stream the content to your device over your internet connection (or mobile network). So now instead of selecting a subset of your music library to import onto your iPhone you simply sync your iTunes library data with this new service and instantly have access to all of your music instantly. And it wouldn’t stop at iPhones and iPods either, you can bet this service would be hugely popular for media center products like the Apple TV who’s hard drive is much too small for the average digital media collection. Many folks who’ve gone DVD-less are filling 1TB+ drives so quickly that most storage solutions aren’t large enough, even their home PC.  It’s a perfect example of cloud computing and truly a great idea if they’re looking to add value to Mobile Me.

24 hours with the iPhone

Posted by Evan at 7:09 pm

Last night we had a wonderful dinner at MCL (probably my favorite place to eat here in Richmond). After dinner I started showing my father-in-law Tom my new iPhone and some of the features. He was pretty amazed at the fact that we could get online and check the status of an eBay auction. As I went through the features I was struck by the fact that we were sitting in the middle of a restaurant and surfing the internet, checking email, getting driving directions and many other cool webby things, all without the faux pas of using a notebook computer in such a setting.

I left Thursday morning and drove to the AT&T store in Muncie Indiana. It was the closest place I could find that actually carried the iPhone. The company I work for offered to purchase the phone for me so I was off to pick it up and get it setup right away.

The features of the iPhone have been discussed ad nauseum and frankly I’m tired of hearing all of the feature overviews. What I will say is that The iPhone is an incredible device. It’s the first gadget I’ve ever used that actually exceeds the hype and marketing surrounding it. What’s so amazing about it? Everything works exactly as you might expect. The interface is so clean and simple and inviting and even for a person like myself with large hands it’s easy to navigate around without hitting the wrong buttons.

Here are a few of the things I’ve loved about the iPhone that I didn’t expect:

1. It brings new value and enjoyment to apps already on my computer
   I’ve always used iCal and Address Book for managing events and contacts, but neither was an app that I used every day. The fact is that I wanted a way to access that information even if I wasn’t on the computer. Until I didn’t have a way to do so. Now if I create an even in iCal and set an alarm it’s transferred to my iPhone and I get a friendly little sound when the alarm is triggered. My contacts are all synced to the iPhone and are instantly accessible with the tap of a finger. I’m especially excited about the ability to have a nice photo of all of my contacts that is displayed any time I receive or make a call to that person. Very cool indeed.

2. Truly usable portable video player
   I was pretty skeptical about whether or not I would actually want to watch a movie on a screen that’s 3.5 inches wide. However after spending some time watching YouTube videos, podcasts and even portions of feature-length movies I have to say that I enjoy it very much.

3. Data syncing from iPhone to computer
   I never got into the whole PDA thing (maybe because my life was never complicated enough to warrant having one). However, now that I’ve got the iPhone and can quickly and easily add an event to the calendar, a contact to my Address Book or even purchase songs from the iTunes store I’m wondering how I ever lived without that ability. I thought of a song I wanted to purchase from iTunes and since I wasn’t near the computer I decided to purchase it on the iPhone. Once I returned to the computer and docked the iPhone I was happy to see that the purchased song was transferred to my music library instantly.

4. The keyboard is actually nice
   I’ve got big hands. I was somewhat worried that the small, touchy keyboard in the iPhone would be a little too small for me to comfortably type on. Much to my surprise it’s actually wonderful. I don’t do the whole double-thumb express just yet but I get by pretty quickly using a single finger. I’ve been updating Twitter, replying to emails and surfing the web (including filling out forms, wow) with ease.

Here are a few features I’d love to see on the iPhone in the future:

1. Voice activated commands
   My free LG phone from Verizon allowed me to call a contact in my address book by simply saying their name. As far as I can tell the iPhone doesn’t have this ability, however I think it’s reasonable to expect that feature in the near future.

2. One touch speed dialing
   I would love to be able to display the keypad, hit the number 1 and have it automatically call my wife. Again, a feature that my LG phone had that seems absent from the iPhone. The favorite contacts list is nice but it’s a little difficult to use if you’re not looking at the phone.

3. A more robust iTunes mobile store
   Don’t get me wrong, the fact that I can purchase songs with my phone is awesome. Since I had never owned a smart phone before now this isn’t something I ever expected to have on a portable device. However it’s obviously a very watered down version of iTunes. From what I’ve seen you can’t access/subscribe to podcasts, preview/download music videos or movies or tv shows and I believe audiobooks are missing as well. I know that most of these are high bandwidth items but it would be nice if they were at least available if someone wanted to purchase them. How cool would it be if you could order a movie on your iPhone and when you returned home you find that it has been downloaded to your computer/Apple TV?

So, in short the iPhone is wonderful. I’m so thankful that my employer was gracious enough to allow me to get one and I can’t wait to start developing for it!!! Have an iPhone? I’d love to hear your thoughts on what you like and what improvements you’d like to see.

Macworld 2007 Predictions

Posted by Evan at 9:20 am

The 2007 Macworld conference and expo is happening next week and as any Apple user will tell you this is a big deal. Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple gives the keynote presentation in which he almost always introduces or announces new products. There’s no shortage of Macworld predictions out there. From the iPhone to the announced but yet unreleased iTV, there are plenty of predictions out there. But I thought of a couple of likely announcements that I haven’t seen elsewhere. So, at the risk of looking like a typical Apple fan boy, here are my 2007 Macworld predictions.

More color options for MacBook

Apple has made it clear over the last couple of years that it is trying to use its popular iPod to help and sell more of their computers, and to a large extent they’ve been very successful at doing so. In most cases this has meant MacBooks (previously iBook) that closely resemble the industrial design of the iPod. Smooth curves and glossy white as well as black finishes are obvious similarities on both the iPod and the MacBook. So, now that we’ve got a highly colorful assortment of iPod Nanos can we expect Apple to roll out new color options for the MacBooks? We’ll see! I have to admit that a lime green MacBook would almost put my MacBook lust over the edge.

iTunes Movie Store Rental Option

Apple didn’t exactly surprise the world when they announced the inclusion of movies on the iTunes store. There had been speculation for many months before the event that suggested Apple would do so. However, what was surprising was the lack of movie studio support and the absence of a rental option. Purchasing a digital copy of a movie is a great idea, but paying around $10 for it isn’t that enticing when many DVDs are nearly the same price.

I believe we’ll see a new DRM-controlled rental option on the iTunes movie store. You pay $3 or less for a digital download of the movie that will play as expected on your computer for 30 days or so. Then, after that period, the file (which can no longer be played) can be deleted.

Apple Video Tablet

Some time ago there was a big to-do made about Apple patent filings for what appeared to be a large tablet PC with a touch screen display that was around 8�? in size. After the TabletMac was all but dismissed some others started to speculate about the possibility of this being a new portable video device that Apple was planning to release. With Apple’s recent interest in the movie field this seems highly possible. It also sounds like a good companion to the iTV. Movies streamed wirelessly to your portable video screen anyone?

Some other well known predictions that I also agree with are:

• Video iPod with larger, widescreen display
• iPhone
• iTV release (finally)

However, those who have visited Apple’s website recently likely noted the new graphical feature which states “The first 30 years were just the beginning.�?. So could we all selling Apple’s announcements short?

Remove iPod scratches for $4?

Posted by Evan at 4:07 pm

I personally haven’t had any problems with scratching on my 5th generation black iPod video, but I know that others claim to be plagued with gouges and scratches so I thought I’d pass this interesting fix along to you iPod owners.

Todd Dailey has written a wonderful guide (with photos) called “Restore your iPod nano to new condition with a $4 can of Brasso” to show you how to make your iPod look like new for the cost of a can of Brasso ($4 currently). His pictures make it very clear that this is indeed a great second chance for those of you who decided not to opt for a protective case for your investment.

My favorite podcasts

Posted by Evan at 8:39 am

If you’re at all familiar with the world of online music or the music revolution that is the iTunes music store you’ve heard about the latest craze, podcasting. What is it? It’s rather simple really. Podcasts are simply audio files (usually mp3) that the producers make available to listeners on a (usually) regular schedule. It’s sort of like delayed radio, but much better. iTunes has a built-in podcast manager that automatically gets the newest issues of all of your subscribed podcasts. But, this post isn’t about what podcasts are, it’s about what some of my favorites are. All of these links go to iTunes, which is a free download from Apple. Keep Reading…