Category: Hardware

A kwality product

The Macalope responds to “iTV” doom and gloom.

Not that the Macalope isn’t sympathetic to the argument that the “iTV”‘s ability to stream a quality picture to HDTV sets is in question, but there are a couple of counter-arguments to be made to Davis Freeberg’s turd in the Apple special event punch bowl.

First, the Macalope notes that you can almost exactly replace “iPod” for “iTV” and “CD-quality” for “HDTV quality” in Davis’ argument. Davis notes this and says:

If you let someone hear a CD track and an iTunes track and ask them to rate each on a scale of 1 to 10 you will get very little difference between the two. If you show someone a show in HDTV though and then in non HDTV you will get a much wider differential.

The Macalope is sure that’s true, but while the HDTV-owning portion of the market is growing, not everyone owns one yet and even if consumers do notice the difference it may not matter that much to them if it provides another feature: ease of use. That doesn’t make them “idiots”.

Hell hath no fury like a tech purist surveying a compromised solution.

[ADDENDUM:  the Macalope, for example, owns an HDTV set.  He’s downloaded TV shows from iTunes and – while he’s noticed the quality is not as good as DVD – it’s been acceptable.  The movie downloads are supposedly four times as good and if they’re good enough on Steve Jobs’ TV, they’re probably going to be good enough on the Macalope’s.]

Most importantly, however, all that’s known so far is that Google and Apple are in talks. If you follow the links all the way back to the Engadget piece that started it all, you’d see this is the key graph:

All we’ve got to go on so far is a quote from Google’s consumer product chief, Marissa Mayer, who has confirmed the two companies are “engaged in talks.”

Engadget’s coverage focuses on video, but if that’s all there is to go on, this could just be related to the advertising connection speculated in the post below (although the Macalope suspects they must have meant “video talks” or the whole piece is jumping to conclusions). Also, it doesn’t mean it’s related to streaming existing Google video to the “iTV”. It could be something entirely new.

If Davis wants to jump off the “the ‘iTV’ is gonna flop” balcony, that’s his business. But the Macalope would preach a little patience.

UPDATE:  Customers download 125,000 poor quality, over-priced movies from the iTunes Store in its first week (antler tip to Daring Fireball).

Ha-ha!  Idiots!

UPDATED AGAIN: Via Daring Fireball, here’s another source talking about the Apple/Google “talks.”

But again the key graph is nebulous:

Google’s consumer product chief, Marissa Mayer, tells me that indeed, the two companies are engaged in talks.

Mmm. “Talks.”

“Talks, talks, talkie, talks.”

“Oooh, we talked about our hair and boys and all the great stores down at the mall. And then we had a pillow fight!”

Hmm.

[Edited for spelling.]

Paging Robert Morgan

The iTV announcement takes the Macalope back.

That convergence you ordered ten years ago is here.

For those who don’t remember Robert Morgan, he wrote a rumor site ostensibly aimed at investors and then a column for MacWeek before it became eWeek.  He preached the convergence of computers and consumer electronics in long, sometimes rambling posts.  But these were some of the rumors the Macalope was weaned on when he was but a young Mac buck.

Morgan wrote around the time of the original iMac’s introduction when the rumor mill heavily bet that it would be a set-top box.  Witness this CNet article from 1998 which is both astoundingly wrong and accidentally prescient:

Apple Computer (AAPL) is working on portable and TV set-top entertainment devices that offer Internet access and play everything from music CDs to DVD movies, as the company refashions itself for the convergence of consumer electronics and PC technologies.

The top-secret project could throw the computer maker back into the limelight of the high-tech industry if, as planned, the company combines a WebTV-like Internet access device with a CD or DVD player to create an easy-to-use, low-cost computing device, sources close to Apple said.

Apple declined to comment, but one source said the convergence project is code-named Columbus.

Columbus turned out to be the iMac.  On the prescient side, the article notes:

“Studios need critical mass. It’s hard to justify new channels (for distributing) content if the subscriber base is small,” said one entertainment industry source.

Which pretty clearly describes how it’s Amazon and Microsoft that face the uphill battle here in 2006.

So, it’s been a long time coming – and it’s still not actually here yet – but the Macalope will be hefting a flagon of mead to Robert Morgan along with the modest portion of crow he’ll be eating tonight.

Because the Macalope was certainly wrong about wireless video vs. wireless audio.  Judging by Gizmodo’s specs, it appears the “iTV” doesn’t have a hard drive (although Gruber speculates it has one for caching) so it is, in fact, receiving streamed video from a Mac and, for smaller content, from the iTunes Music Store.  Certainly the “TubePort” was also wrong, though, and simply based off last night’s crop of rumors.  No dongles and no “iDisk-like storage component hosted by Apple.”

And no “true” video iPod.  We’ll just have to soldier on with these “fake” video iPods.

HD video requires transfer rates of 25 mbps and regular ol’ fashioned non-extreme Airport and mixed Airport/Airport Extreme environments only get up to 11 mbps.  So, while the Macalope hates to say it, it’s time to ditch that stylish but antiquated key lime iBook.

UPDATE 9/13 – Correction:  25 mbps is for uncompressed HD.  Commenter Jeff notes you could copy the movie file over 802.11b in less time than it would take to watch it, so you should be able to stream it.  He also points out the use of the term “802.11 networking.”  Is that because it’s 802.11b and 801.11g or because it’s 802.11a?

Special Event Eve

The Maclope’s guesses for tomorrow’s Special Event.

Ah, Special Event Eve. Much like Christmas Eve. Visions of a [sometimes] bearded gentleman who wears the same thing every time [one a black turtleneck and jeans, one a red suit] delivering presents [that you’ll either pay for monitarily or emotionally].

The Macalope is here to go out on a limb with his educated guesses about what Apple will deliver tomorrow.

  1. Movie download service – Unfortunately for Apple, this will come as a surprise to no one. At least the rumor sites aren’t to blame this time. What would be surprising is if Apple is able to deliver a studio besides Disney. For those looking to see how Apple conducts a real leak, the Macalope suggests looking at this instance. Amazon made a pre-production announcement and Apple made the headlines read “Apple, Amazon to Deliver Online Movie Stores.”
  2. New iPods – Will this be the long-heralded “true” video iPod?. Someone please shoot the Macalope at the thought of the year-late rumor site triumphalism. As with any large woodland creature, you’ll need at least a 12-gauge.
  3. Not an Airport-streaming video system

Come again, Macalope? But all the late night buzz is about the wireless video streaming device! Get with the program!

Well, speaking of the program, the Unofficial Apple Weblog may have one.

But the Maclope’s not buying “TubePort”.

Let’s get this straight. TubePort streams – presumably via Airport Extreme – video content that is being streamed to your Mac from an “iDisk-like storage component hosted by Apple.”

That’s a whole lotta streamin’. The Macalope hopes they don’t accidentally cross the streams in his living room, causing his sofa and plasma TV to shoot off in opposite directions (OK, no one is more aware than the Macalope that two Ghostbusters references in fifteen posts is not good).

Also, if it’s Airport-based, why two dongles? All of the Macs this system would be likely to work on have Airport Extreme cards included.

And if mom and dad decide to watch National Treasure downstairs while the kids are trying to watch The Lizzie McGuire movie upstairs, that’s two movies streaming through the same Airport connection in two different directions – once from Apple to the Mac and then from the Mac to the TV.

Personally, the Macalope doesn’t want his Airport network so active it gives him a tan. Nor does he want to watch jerky video that makes Nick Cage stutter more than he did in Peggy Sue Got Married.

There are, of course, no certainties in this game, but the Macalope suspects that if there is wireless transfer shown tomorrow, it’ll have to do with music, not video. And that if there’s a Mac-to-TV connection for viewing videos, it’s wired.

Now, the Macalope must be off to bed. You know what they say about Special Event Eve. If you don’t go to sleep, it’ll never come.

"Each of us is carrying an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on his back…"

What’s on your PowerBook? An intense red glow.

The Macalope is now reminded of that line from “Ghostbusters” as he slings the pack containing his PowerBook mit explosive battery on his back every morning on his way to the office.

The thing is, the Horny One has become too accustomed to the “laptop lifestyle” to simply use his PowerBook tethered to the desk. And heaven forfend he should have to shut it down. That’s a once-a-month affair and only then to install an OS update.

So, for the next 4-6 weeks, the Macalope is living dangerously. He’ll take the battery out at night to keep his woodland home from burning to the ground, but the rest of the time it’s FLAME ON!

The Macalope was doing a little math in his antlered head and realized that 1.8 million 300 gram batteries is 1,188,000 lbs worth of landfill. Yikes. The Macalope would hate to live in the third world country that’s going to have to handle that. Although, with the state of consumer protection there, they might just resell them.