28 posts tagged “apple”

WTF? Almost on par with some of the Windows error message:

Time Machine Error

Congratulation to Al Gore for winning the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on the climate changes. Apple pays tribute to its board member. (Don't think I've forgiven you over the iPhone update debacle yet, Apple. I have not!)

I know I should have taken time to write about my iPhone experience last Friday. But with having friends over for dinner on Saturday, tennis and French Grand Prix on Sunday, some important programming to do Monday and Tuesday, and 4th of July lunch with my friend Wendy, only now I have the time to sit down and write something.

It's not the hardware, says Engadget HD.

Yes, iPhone is still more than 2 months away but I already know what accessories I would be buying or looking for when it is finally out on the street.

• Carrying case - During the MacWorld keynote, Steve Job did not mention whether a carrying case will be included in the iPhone package. Most probable reason is that they are still in the design stage so they have nothing to show yet. But given the history of iPod carrying case Apple includes in the box, I would imagine it will be just functional and will create a huge 3rd party market. Ideally, the case has to be thin but well made so not to increase the bulk of the iPhone. Somehow the case has to made taking the iPhone out easy so the chance of dropping the phone would be minimum. And most importantly, the headphone jack has to be accessible while the phone are inside or outside the case.
  
• Screen protector - Assuming that Apple is not using the ultra tough coating invented by TDK, some type of screen protector that allows the touch screen to be used is needed.
  
• Bluetooth stereo headphones - Apple is providing a wired stereo headphone with microphone as accessory but I am hoping the iPhone will support A2DP Bluetooth profile so a wireless Bluetooth headphones can be used instead.
  
• Solar/Battery charger - The battery in the iPhone is not changeable like in the iPod. I don't think it is an issue since there are plenty of ways to charge it up (e.g. from desktop computer via USB cable, power charger from wall socket or car socket, etc.) but for those situations where electrical power is unavailable (let's say I'm on a beach) then a solar recharger would come in handy.
  

I causally mentioned to my friend at work who is also an Apple user that I may get the Apple TV when it is finally out. His reaction was, "What? Why would you want to watch video blow up?"

I explained to him that I want to watch my video podcasts on the TV instead of in front of my computer, despite the fact I have a very nice 24" LCD monitor. My friend just rephrased his question and wanted to know why I would want to watch low resolutions video on my 46" HDTV.

Then I realised that he thought all the video podcasts on iTunes are sized for the video iPod. He did not know some video podcasts are in hi-def, such as MacBreak which is in glorious 1080p. Others such as Diggnation and Merlin Show are in decent quality 480p which should scale OK on the big screen. But the most important of all are the TV shows that we've bought from iTunes: Smith, NOVA, etc. which we would not watch unless it is easy to put onto the big TV.

Yes, there are cheaper ways to get video from our macs to the TV but Apple TV takes the hassle out of the whole equation. Do I really want to figure out how to stream video from my Mac Pro to my PowerBook (probably using VLC), then onto the TV using S-Video (i.e. no HD)? How would I control the playback? Certainly not through a remote control and an onscreen display that Apple TV would provide. Do all these worth $299? To me definitely, probably not for most of you geeks out there. But then, I just want to watch video from my computer on my HDTV, not doing my annual geek certification exam.