It's all in the execution..

or not as might be!

Lots of talk and speculation of how Apple are going to be beaten to the punch with the absence of the Apple tablet, and how other companies are going to bring out similar devices before them.

If the HP Dreamscreen is typical of the perceived "threat" I don't think they've got to much to worry about!

 I mean, really, what a terrible execution of a cool idea? 

Naff interface, naff video (what? it supports JPG, PNG and BMP - wow!), no touchscreen - seriously?

I can hear the howls of derision from Cupertino from here!

Update on Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 3:27PM by Don McAllister

OK, As some comments point out, this is really just a glorified Digital photo frame and on further checking is being marketed as such by HP. The original blog post was written in response to some sites who were reporting that HP had beaten Apple to market with a tablet device, buat as you can see if you look at the demo and then checkout HPs official site -

HP Dreamscreen

you'll see it's not really intended as a competitor to the fabled tablet.

My bad for not checking but obviously some sites were link baiting by even suggesting such. Ho hum!

I've been Squarespaced...

New blog!

Ok, so not so new...

I had a few issues with the Wordpress blog overnight which looks like the result of the site being hacked. Don't ask me how or why, the Wordpress instance was on a separate account on my dedicated server, all the plugins were up to date, (except for one) and I was running the latest version of WordPress. I'd updated the version before all the recent hacking reports so I'm a bit non-plused as to how it happened.

Must admit though, I'd been meaning to revamp the Wordpress blog for a while but it was one of those things I kept putting off. The thought of trawling through all those WP themes....

So the events of last night were an impetus to get off my butt and sort something out. I'd checked out Squarespace before and was impressed. The thing that swung it for me was the Wordpress import features. It only took me a couple of hours from scratch to import all my Wordpress posts and graphics. Most of that time was getting used to the features of Squarespace, of which I've not even scratched the surface.

For full disclosure, I've no affiliate or any working arrangements with the Squarespace guys, heck, I even forgot to use one of the discount codes available from MacBreak or Tekzilla - d'oh!

Just a word of warning though. I really wanted to move quickly, so the appearance of the site may (will!) change over time as I get more familiar with the Squarespace interface and its capabilities.

I've also not been able to move across the user accounts over from Wordpress although all the comments have come over properly attributed as best I can see. The new blog is setup not to allow unmoderated comments so if you'd like to comment, please feel free but it may take a short while for it to appear.

I'll let you know how I get on as play a bit more!

Truly awesome...

So another Apple special event has come and gone and we're left with the usual mixed bag of reactions. No tablet, no flying car, no iPod Touch with a camera, heck, even no word on the Beatles.

The usual cries of "Meh!"

But just step back for a moment and ponder what Apple actually announced yesterday and more importantly what it took to put it all in place.

I'm sure it wasn't planned in a single meeting but imagine for a second if it was...

OK, so here's the plan.

Let's re-design and re-architect the iTunes Music store. We'll have a completely new look and feel and lets swap out some of the underlying architecture. Might as well add in some new media formats whilst we're at it, you know, like DVD extras but for Music, like we had on LPs. May as well add in some extras for Movies whilst we're at it. Just knock up the format and start negotiations with the record and movie companies and put in place the process to start gathering the extra content. Better put some kick ass design resource in place to make them look beautiful. Oh. and check with the infrastructure guys for sizing and delivery implications.

By the way, this baby generates serious revenue and is a high profile service, just make sure you can flip a switch for the changeover.

Let's go with a new Desktop client to go with the updated store. Again, let's give it a radical change to the look and feel and build in support for the new media formats. One thing that's been bugging me, and that's media sharing. We really need to be able to share media around the home. Now that the DRM has been removed, lets add in the functionality to share media between a number of Macs.

No, not a central library, lets make it bidirectional so you can freely share files locally.

Yes, movies and TV shows as well!

Better get someone onto further negotiations with the record companies... tell you what, let them have their ringtones they've been banging on about for ages. Oh, and can we make it seamless and simple to use. Best come up with some way to automate the sharing of newly purchased media between Macs as well.

You know, the Genius playlist feature is great but sometimes I want to just play a mix of songs. Get someone to engineer a new way of choosing music based on all the data we've collected. We'll need a new interface and some new way of assembling artwork. It needs to integrate with the data at the backend.

You'd better get the iPhone dev guys involved to add some support in the new 3.1 release. We'll need to add in support for the new Genius stuff in the iPod app. Actually, thinking about iPhone apps, can we finally put in some code to allow users to manage their iPhone applications from the desktop. Get the iTunes guys and iPhone devs to put it in the new desktop client. Something simple with drag and drop to re-organise the iPhone application icons.

Thinking on, wouldn't it be neat to use Genius with the AppStore. Get the iPhone devs and the App Store devs to come up with a scheme to suggest apps based on current apps purchased. There'll be a ton of backend stuff and we'll need the App Store application updating on the Phone.

Just going back to the desktop client, can we "beef up" the synchronisation with the iPhone and Apple TV whilst we're at it. Let's add some extra features and give more control over what is synced, just for example, we've got faces in iPhoto, why not allow them to sync based on that.

Of course, if we're changing the desktop app we'll need to get the iPhone remote app re-written to support the new features.

We need to look at introducing some new hardware for the Christmas market.

Tell you what, keep the iPod touch feature set the same but re-engineer the top models to have the new 3GS chipsets for speed and bump up the top memory option to 64GB. Keep the 8GB as is, but drop the price. As far as the Nano is concerned, lets add in a video camera at no extra cost, yeah, a microphone as well.

No, keep the form factor the same, but make the screen bigger. While you're redesigning the internals, you might want to throw in an FM tuner as well. Can you make it buffer so you can pause and rewind live radio? Cool! The main thing though is to make it possible to tag music on the radio, so that they can buy it from the iTunes store. Best get the Nano software teams to co-ordinate with the backend guys. Might as well look at some new colours whilst you're at it. Don't forget, these all need to be designed, prototyped, tested, approved, manufactured and into the supply chain for immediate release globally at the same time as all the other changes.

Best think of something for the MobileMe devs, don't want to leave them out... I know, assign a passcode on your device via MobileMe. Work that into the 3.1 release and update the MobileMe infrastructure at the same time.

There's some other stuff that needs to go into the 3.1 release such as enhancing Voice Control and Accessibility but you know what needs to be done there.

OK, That should probably do it.

As usual, all this needs to be done in absolute secrecy.

As far as timing, let's aim for two weeks after the Snow Leopard release. That should give us enough time for the final preparations.

I need all the backend systems, the new media formats, the iPhone and iPod touch firmware, the new iTunes app, the updated iPhone apps, the new software for the devices, the devices themselves manufactured and in the supply chain, along with the Apple website changes, the supporting marketing and advertising collateral, and a couple of TV ads.

I need all this ready to flip the switch on 9th September.

This all goes out as one update people so it needs to work as one.

I really can't think of another company audacious enough to pull something like this off on a regular basis and execute it so well.

Truly awesome...

"Meh" indeed!

Click to read more ...

What if...

As you're probably aware, Apple are holding a special "music" themed event tomorrow.

It's no big deal as this is traditionally when they roll out a revamped range of iPods for the Christmas market. They hold one of these events every September.

What is different this year however, is that the event is being held on the same day as a major Beatles relaunch including the entire Beatles catalogue remastered and rereleased, along with the launch of the Beatles RockBand - a very big deal!

The rumour mill has been awash with speculation that these events may be linked in someway, with the Beatles being involved in the Apple event. Perfectly reasonable, you might think!

At least it was, until Apple sent out the original invites to their event with the tag line:

"It's only rock and roll, but we like it."

Eh?

Isn't that a blatant reference to the Beatles arch rivals The Rolling Stones?

What gives?

So here's the completely off the wall, completely unfounded and extremely irresponsible what if bit...

What if Apple have completely fallen out with the Beatles (record company?) due to years of failed negotiations to try and get the Beatles into the iTunes store?

What if the Apple event hasn't been scheduled for the same day as the Beatles re-launch to compliment the launch but to completely over shadow it?

What if Apple were to announce some ground breaking product at the event tomorrow that would whip up a media frenzy unlike anything seen since the iPhone, you know, something that pundits have said would definitely not appear this side of 2010, even if it could be marketed as an amazing Christmas gift to people who already have iPhones and iPods.

What if the event was a blatant attempt to steal the Beatles thunder, would Steve Jobs even think of such a move?

What if?

Just sayin'

:-)

Click to read more ...

6 Million tracks on my iPhone...

If there's one application I'd have bet money on not being approved by Apple in the iPhone App Store it's Spotify.

Some background...

For non-european readers, Spotify is a Swedish based music service that's been operating in Europe for quite a while now, slowly building up quite a following, not just from the consumers but also the major record labels. The service offers both free and subscription based music from a huge playlist of over six million songs. You can stream these songs for free via a dedicated Spotify client and this model is supported with what used to be the occasional ad, although they seem to be getting more aggressive in the number of ads they play. Still no where near the number of ads you'd hear on a commercial radio station. All the songs are high quality "using Ogg Vorbis q5 codec which streams at approximately 160kb/s. Premium subscribers can enable higher bit rate streaming at 320 kb/s" and it's possible to setup collaborative playlists and share links to songs or playlists.

You can also subscribe to a Premium service to remove the ads and get the higher bitrate material. Interestingly, the choice of songs remain the same.

Up to now resisted the temptation to upgrade to the premium service as I was fine with the ads (and to be honest, I didn't realise the higher bitrate option was included. However, that all changed this morning when I woke up to the announcement that the Spotify application was now available for the iPhone/iPod touch from the App store. The concept of having unlimited access to over six million songs on your mobile device is pretty mind blowing. After using the desktop client for a couple of months, I have to admit that the model is pretty compelling.

Now we knew the app had been approved several weeks ago but few details were known about it. The timing of the release gives me cause to wonder as Apples special "Music related" event and announcements happen in just two short days. But more of that later.

Anyone can download the app for free BUT you need to be a premium subscriber to use it. Luckily, you can subscribe for a day for only 99p (Update - the Day Pass won't work with the iPhone app - Thanks @SteveWiles) or for a month for £9.99 which you can cancel at any time. There is also an annual subscription for £119.88.

Still, I was on the fence about the whole streaming model and the value proposition of the premium model. Great if you have ubiquitous WiFi but here in the UK, most of the time when I'm out and about, I'm lucky to get an Edge signal, never mind WiFi. The thought of paying for the service but not being able to use it in the absence of WiFi or 3G didn't really sit well with me.

But Spotify for iPhone has a sucker punch! ?

The iPhone application allows you to cache up to 3,333 spotify songs offline.

Holy moly!! Apple are letting Spotify copy up to 3,333 songs from the subscription service to your iPhone so even without any Edge, 3G or WiFi, you can still listen to music. The caching is done via the client when you're connected to WiFi.

It's a deal!

So in the interests of my readers:-) I stumped up the £9.99 to try it for a month.

As I'm already a Spotify free subscriber, it was simply a matter of firing up the Spotify client, clicking an upgrade button and the simplest signup process I've ever done. Seriously, it took only as long as typing in my credit card details and it was done - super slick and easy - just how it should be.

Downloaded the Application onto the iPhone and logged in and all my Spotify playlists appeared in the client. Selected one to sync and straight away the songs were downloaded. I sync'd Angles by Dan le Sac, an album I nearly bought last week!

The player is simple and easy to use. Basic play controls and Album art appear, and you can get more information on the artist and album by pressing the i button in the top corner. This takes you to other tracks the artist has on Spotify and options to add the track to a playlist. There's a search option for tracks, albums and artists. Couldn't see anyway to make a playlist on the iPhone client though?

So with my client installed, an album cached and a track playing over WiFi, I left the house to jump in the car and go the Gym.

Now before I proceed, let me just state that the Spotify app is amazing and the model it presents is a complete game changer. That being said, there are limitations to the model and I'm pointing out these limitations to illustrate why perhaps it's really not that surprising that Apple let the app be approved.

The first limitation is that the song I was playing stopped once I left the WiFi zone. I couldn't get an Edge or 3G signal and playback was interrupted - no real big surprise there. Baring in mind that this was on the morning of the launch and the Spotify servers are most likely getting hammered, I'd leave it a few days before I'd state that you couldn't use the streaming service over Edge. I did find a 3G signal and it was better but still not fluid playback. The quality is great by the way. Anyway, this is mitigated by the fact I had my cached playlist downloaded to the device so I could play that.

Excellent!

But....

The other big limitation for me was the fact that only Apple applications can do background processing, so to have your Spotify playlist playing, the Spotify app must be running as the foreground app. As I see it, at least in the way I use my iPhone with email and twitter (not whilst driving I have to say) this is a major limitation in the usage of the Spotify app. Even in the car, it would mean I couldn't use Spotify and my TomTom SatNav at the same time.

This is where I could see Apple coming in and stealing the Spotify model (if the record companies allow them) by creating a similar service, completely integrated into iTunes and with an iPhone/iPod touch app with full background processing. All the familiar (advanced) integration with the iPhone headset buttons and voice control. Apple could kill the Spotify service dead in it's tracks if it wanted too.

You also have to consider that Apple have approved the application before the Spotify service is rolled out to the US. Again, good timing before launching a comparable but deeply integrated service of their own.

I say again, it's really interesting that this app was released two days before the Apple music event where new iPods and a new version of iTunes is anticipated to be launched.

Very interesting....

Click to read more ...