Archive for October 16, 2008

Who killled Radio? The Internet

In this modern age where everyone is using a computer for their day-to-day life radio broadcasts have become more and more obsolete and Internet radio has made it even more useless.  The internet now has various different services that replace most of what Radio offers.

Podcasts are now availible which is talk radio shows distributed over the internet in MP3 format and on any variety topics and can be listened to when ever the viewer wants. The other advantage of pocasts is you can get the information much faster instead of having to sit through long advertising breaks and music breaks podcast has quick ads and no music can be distributed over that format so that you can get the information much faster and podcasts don’t have the FCC regulations that restrict content and foul language giving much more freedom. Podcasts can also be made by anyone with a microphone and internet connection so you can get a wide variety of opinons and perspectives.

As for music broadcasts the two main services are Last Fm and Pandora. They both allow you to enter your favorite song or musical artist and then builds a playlist of songs that you may like based on what you entered in as your musical preferences. This allows you to have your own radio station of songs that you like and not have to sit through long advetisements or songs that you don’t like. The internet is a great way to get music that you like and have a personalized playlist you can share with your friends.

By moving  to the internet for audio broadcasting not only gives the listener more freedom to listen to their music and shows but also allows them to share their favorite content over a variety of social networks and if they choose to they can create their own radio show by making a podcast allowing them to express their own ideas. With the continuing growth of internet broadcasting I predict very few people will be using radio in the next 25 years and think it will decrease even more in later years.

Amazon Unbox Video

Amazon’s Unbox video on demand site has become one of my new favorite video websites becuase it give more freedom when you buy video online. Unbox is like Apple’s iTunes’ television and movie store but, even better because with Unbox you can buy the Television shows for:  $1.99, buy movies for $9.99 and rent movies for 24 hours for only $2.99, which is very competitive with iTunes’ prices but, instead of just being able to watch video on Itunes and on your iPod you also have the option to watch online in a Flash player so you can have access to your favorite shows anywhere you want.  Unbox has a large library of movies and shows and also has free videos available as well. The one downside to this service is that the desktop offline player is Windows only, meaning if you are a Mac or linux user then you wil only be able to watch your videos while you are connected to the internet.  The unbox video store is a great way to get video that you can watch it anytime and anywhere! This service make watching television on your computer extremly easy and enjoyable and could pose a threat to regular cable television and could force television netoworks to change their entire business model.

Apple Notebook Event Summary

Today, Apple unveiled their newly designed notebook line at a Townhall Meeting at the Apple Campus in Cupertino, California. First thing Steve Jobs introduced Apple COO, Tim Cook, and as always Cook flaunted Apple’s growing market share and what it is better than Windows. Afterward,  Johnathan Ive, Head of Apple’s Design group, disucssed their goal of a case made out of one block of alluminum and how this process not only makes production easier and cheaper but it actually makes the case stronger and more durable! Then , Steve Jobs came back on stage and announced the switch to much faster Nvidea Graphics chips which will boost the graphics performance to 55% faster than the current Macbook Pros and general performance increases to about 86%. The new Macbooks will include a glass trackbad that will allow the user to put buttons on their trackpad and is 30% bigger than the current trackpads.  The new trackpads also have new gestures you can use to get the most out of your Mac.

New Products:

Macbook Pro 2.4 GHZ Intel Core Two Duo, 15 Inch LED Backlit screen, 2 GB DDR 3 Memory, 250 GB Hard drive and Slot-load superdrive for $1,999

Macbook Pro 2.53 GHZ Intel Core Two Duo, 15 Inch LED Backlit screen, 4 GB of DDR 3 Memory, more powerful graphics card, 128 GB Solid state drive for $500, option to upgrade to 2.8 GHZ for $300 base price: $2499

17 inch Macbook pro upgraded as well!

Macbook Air: Nvidea graphics card (four times faster graphics), 1.6 GHZ processor, 2 GB of Ram 120 GB drive for $1799

Macbook Air solid state- Normal Macbook Air plus: 1.86 GHZ procesor, and 128 GB SSD drive for $2499 (Much more affordable)

Both Macbok Airs will be release in November

24 inch Cinema display: Built in USB, Magsafe power adaptor, and display cable design for macbooks! Will be release in November!

Macbook $1299 13.3 inch display, 2 GHZ duel core processor, 2 GB DDR 3 RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, slot load superdrive.

Macbook $1599 13.3 inch display, 2.4 GHZ, 250 GB Hard drive,  2 GB of RAM, Slot load superdrive!

The old white Macbook is still availible for $999at it’s current specs!

These new macbooks make them even more irrisistable and I personally think can really hurt Windows’ market share and if Apple keeps the invovation going, which I’m sure they will eventually have a larger market share than Windows!

Apple October 14th Notebook Event Predictions


Once again, the eyes of the media and Apple fanboys worldwide will be on Cupertino, California for the release of Apple’s new notebook line tomorrow at 10 AM Pacific. The speculation over the new notebook line has been floating around the internet since late summer and was originally rumored to be updated at the Let’s Rock event.  I have been following the speculation for months and will be posting the rumors that I think will actually happen, what might happen and what has been rumored but, what I truly doubt will actually be announced tomorrow. I hope this will help everyone out there in Apple world understand what will actually happen tomorrow in Cupertino and what is pure Internet-speculation.

What will see:

  1. Redesigned Macbooks- The basic design of the Macbooks have been the same since the ibook G4! The plastic cases are clunky and out of date. The new macbooks will feature a aluminum case similar to the Macbook Air.
  2. Redesigned Macbook Pros- The Macbook pro has also had the same design since the Powerbook G4 but, I think that the new design will not be much different than the current model, but, it will be thinner!
  3. 13 inch Macbooks- In the past year ultra portable laptops have been made from every company from Asus to Dell and while Apple has tried with the Macbook Air however, the laptop is way too expensive to gain a large market share and is too under-powered for the price.  A 13 inch Macbook could be the answer to the Apple fanboy’s ultra portable prayer and a great way for Apple to increase their market share.
  4. Upgraded Macbook Airs- When the Macbook Air came out it had an extremely elegant design but, it still needs to be more powerful to justify the $2,799 price tag. I think a faster processor and slightly bigger hard drive will do the trick and could make more people take the dive into getting the air.
  5. Faster Processors- I think it is time to bump the processor speeds on all the notebooks to slightly faster speeds to keep up with the faster processors that are being made. Maybe just a slight increase but, just something to keep Apple competitive.
  6. NVidea Graphics cards- It is simply a good idea to make macs even better for creative professionals with the best graphics card they can put into their laptops.
  7. Price reductions- The main complaint about getting a Mac is the fact that Apple computers are more expensive than other computers. Rumors have been floating around  that prices will drop slightly my predictions are about $200 for the Macbook, $200 for the Macbook Air and $300 for the Macbook Pro which will make the Mac a much more affordable option for the consumers.

What We Might See:

  1. $800 Macbook- Everyone complains about the fact that Macs are too expensive but if Apple makes a  less-powerful Macbook and sells it for around $800 that would validate the Mac and make the Apple market share grow exponentially!
  2. Iwork 09- The Apple office suite has been rumored to have an update coming tomorrow the rumors are not very strong but, there is a chance.
  3. Ilife 09- The built in Apple entertainment package has also had rumors of upgrades but, once again the rumors are not that dominant.
  4. Bluray- Kevin Rose had mentioned that the new Macbooks might include a Bluray player or burner. I think that if they do include it it will be an option you have to customize and pay a premium for.

What we will not See:

  1. Mac Mini update- There has been no evidence to a new or upgrade Mac Mini and if there ends up being a $800 macbook I can kind of see that the Mac Mini will either fade away or maybe get merged into the Apple TV and become a great Media center PC. But, a $600 screenless computer won’t last!
  2. Networked TV- Pictures have been floating around the internet, a combination of a big screen TV and a Apple TV but, there is no eveidense to even suggest this is in the works but, it would not fit in with a notebook-centric event and the same goes for the Mac mini, maybe Macworld 2009!
  3. Macbook Tablet- The speculation over a Apple Tablet has been floating around since Macworld 2007 though, they havn’t been fulfilled I still think that Mac tablets and tablets in general are useless and that a mouse and keyboard are the best input methods.

I hope this can help everyone decode the rumors all over the web and also come back tomorrow for my reactions and opinions on tomorrow’s events.

Also play the Macbook Event Bingo as you either watch the video or read the live blog stream

Flickr

Many of my friends have been using Flickr for a long time and kept trying to convince me to join in and use it.  I finally started using Flickr yesterday and have to tell what I think about it.  The user-interface is both simple and elegant, you can easily upload your pictures from your web browser or a variety of installable applications that you can use to post your pictures.  You are limited to posting only 100 Megabytes of pictures every calendar month with a free account however, if you pay $25 a year you will be unlimited in pictures and can also make unlimited sets and post video.  Once you upload your pictures, you are able to tag people who are in the pictures and give descriptions, you can also make your pictures private so only your friends or family you designate are allowed to see the pictures or you can set it so that only you are able to view the pictures. Flickr is a great way to share your pictures and I recommend that everyone should give it a try because it is a great way to share and store your pictures.  You can share your pictures that you take with your friends and family both across the street and across the World!

Bad Behavior has blocked 148 access attempts in the last 7 days.