Archive for April, 2007

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Yod’M 3D is a Beryl for Windows

April 30, 2007

Just found this. Yet another Desktop Manager! This is a Beryl Wanna be (still much further behind in developement) and it lets you spin your desktop around like a cube and has some other features. Check it out here! Works with all major versions of Windows. Stop by the forums to suggest some features, too bad he is using DX9, this should all get pushed up to the new Vista UI controls which would let you do a lot more I would think. Pretty impressive overall.

 

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Why are PodCasters locking Podcasts–an open format (RSS)–into the iTunes music store?

April 30, 2007

Someone reach out and slap me please if I am missing something but if isn’t the whole point of RSS to be open? Isn’t this the same type of behavior for which people are giving Microsoft grief? If I want to listen to someone’s Podcasts: why must I have the iTunes music software installed on my Vista box? I have absolutely zero interest in installing iTunes, I might for a second consider using it to download my GF’s TV shows but that’s not the point.

RSS is an open format and by embedding it into the iTunes music store you are locking out people that don’t have any interest in downloading iTunes and thereby killing the strength of the format. My PC is a perfectly tuned machine with 3 IDE’s, 2 creative Suites, a host of other USEFUL utilities and the huge bloated but nice 2007 Office Ultimate I simply refuse to install another program unless it is 100 percent needed.

Note: I could be totally misguided but I’m tired of clicking on a link for a Podcasts and getting directed to iTunes and I refuse to listen to any podcasters that do this. At least offer a RSS only version, I can understand wanting exposure. Or maybe it’s because they don’t want to pay the bandwidth and Apple is picking up these costs for them?

Anyone want to throw me a bone? I really, really, would appreciate it. Thanks a lot!

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Music Giants Music Store offers lossless 1100 kbps DVD-Audio/SACD Music at a price similar to iTunes.

April 29, 2007

I’ve been keeping track of music download services and I just ran into a Gem. As a man who is building a multi-zone, hifi digital sound and data infrastructure through my entire home and yard, this stuff matters to me. I think it’s great that you will be able to download DRM free high quality music from iTunes and other services. But with the price of hard drives going down, it’s companies like MusicGiants that offer and will continue to offer a compelling music download service.

Music Giants currently offer remixed SACD’s and DVD-AUDIO files as Windows WMA 1100 kbps 5.1 and 2.0 Hidef Stereo versus the 128 to 192 kbps of other download services and at 1.29 per track or 15.29 and if you would take away the DRM, I think you would have a unstoppable value.

This–as far as I know–is the first online music service that is letting customers download DVD-AUDIO, SACD quality music directly into the computer, and you can only get it (5.1 2.0 hifi) on a Vista Media Center experience. That’s one thing you don’t have on the Apple ecosystem, and they have signed with each and every one of the major labels.

The quality of music you get from iTunes is sickening. Napster isn’t too much better and I think at Wal*Mart you can get a quarter meg per second encoding which is fine for most people but the future is digital, and it’s all hi-definition, a 128 or 192 kbps music file will sound like a cassette tape in 10 years. 

Unfortunately, the store currently only works in IE.  

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Vista Aggravation: Media Center Icon renames itself.

April 29, 2007

While this might seem like I’m picky I like all of my icons all on the top row of my desktop, and the text below them are setup to only take up one row. I’ve taken things like Google Sketchup 6 and changed it to Sketchup or Microsoft Office Word 2007 and changed it to Word. In this manner, on my 2560×1600 resolution, 30 inch monitor I have 34 icons for programs and links to hard drives around the home all lined up and only taking up the top row of my desktop and each icon only having a single line of text…. All except one icon which sticks out like a wart.

Microsoft’s Windows Media Center will not let you change it’s name to Media Center. I can call it MC but if I try to call it Media Center, some evil logic in windows changes back from:

ICONGOESHERE

  Media Center

        to

ICONGOESHERE 

    Windows

  Media Center

Any Microsofties out there wanna explain that one for me please? I know it seems stupid but it’s very aggravating. I want my Media Center icon to say Media Center, not Windows Media Center.

Update: I found a workaround for the odd behavior but it’s not perfect. If you fire up notepad and then hold down your alt key and then type 393 on your number pad while holding alt, it will create a "ë" this special "e" can be used to replace any of the three "e’s" in media center at any point you wish, and it will not change back to Windows Media Center, which takes up two lines.

One other variation which might be slightly less noticeable is ALT 396 which will produce an "î" which is less difficult to distinguish from a regular i. I think I’ll use that character instead.

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The blogosphere has stalled?

April 29, 2007

Everyone’s up in a roar over nothing.

Tris Hussey says:

Lots of chatter about the this “plateau” in the blogosphere.  C|Net was gathering comments from folks like Mark Evans and WebProNews covered it as well.  Now the question is, so what?

So, it’s stalled at 15 million. You said it right, "So what!" In five years there will be 15 million experienced bloggers. You also remember that there is only so much of the population that likes to participate in any new activity unless it’s vital to success. I wouldn’t call that a stall, as the experience grows, the human nature as expressed through writing will have grown tremendously. We will be in a world communicating like one big ugly organic brain that thinks as one. How important will the newspapers be then? The blogosphere will grow and grow, and eventually, it will be the third most common way we communicate next to talking and IM.

Tris Hussey also says:

Blogs and social media exploded onto the scene and achieved amazing growth.  Lots of people jumped on the bandwagon, and more than a few have fallen off on the ride.  I’m pretty sure we’ll pick them up again on our next pass.  Right now we work on creating more content, more value for people (to me content is value), and improving technologies.  After this breather, I think we’ll see Blogosphere 2.0 or 2.5, maybe Social Media 2 (SM2?) and that is going to be exciting.

Amen.

 

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Inside Scoop on the Apple Smart Home, The future of Apple TV

April 28, 2007

I have often critiqued Apple for not approaching the CEDIA crowd, and how that would make them obsolete in the home within the next ten years. I am now finding out that while you will never see them at CEDIA, they are using their brand power to approach and army of manufacturers–under NDA’s most likely–to get the technology delivered to your home.

I just found this out from a life long friend and from who I consider a source that I would trust like a brother. Apple, some time ago, approached the owner of his company to help build out the future of Apple TV, which was being considered to consist of IPTV, integration with devices like DVD carousels, integration with X10 modules, UPB modules, and most importantly, Z-Wave modules and compatible devices, to give the ability to control your lighting and other smart devices in your home. 

Apple wants to control your home just like Bill gates does. My lifelong friend’s CEO–a multi-billionaire entrepreneur–told him that while he would have considered partnering with Apple, he already is a platinum partner with Microsoft, and they have an agreement (non compete most likely?) which prevents them from working with Apple or folks who compete with the Microsoft MCE ecosystem.

The device which Apple and unknown partner/S is working on will do much more than the Apple TV of today. I believe that this is the reason for the delay with leopard. Apple is building functionality into the iPhone that will use TCP over Cingular’s CDMA network, and over 802.11 to connect to a server or server service running on either the Apple TV and/or Leopard.

Remember, Apple dropped the Computer off of their name. They are a consumer device company. I can see Apple releasing Apple TV ready thermostats, I can see them making automation very simple point and click. They will make it easy to setup, and easy to control, but they have a lot of work to do in order for me to take them seriously. Steve Jobs wasn’t lying when he said he pulled engineers to work on the iPhone, he just didn’t tell the whole story.

In my opinion Microsoft better get on the ball now if they are going to stay relevant. MCE needs to have these features built in off the rip, and they need to have a strategy for the home that not only complements their high end solutions partners, but provides at least some of the functionality that is being made commodities by the future of Apple’s Smarthome.

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Virtual Earth Ships API 5, Just in time for Silverlight Beta

April 28, 2007

The Virtual Earth teams’ API hits Revision 5. Among the headline features they have managed to shrink the map control code base to about 25% it’s original size while adding features. They say you can pick up the SDK (ISDK) here. We are approaching an application and framework that is about two years old. Without knowing much about 3D or programming in 3D, I can tell you that this I believe API, or Google Maps API, or Yahoo!’s API (or all of them) are going to be the future of telematics.

http://virtualearth.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!2BBC66E99FDCDB98!8642.entry#trackback

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My Support and Trust in Live Spaces looks like it’s going to be rewarded

April 28, 2007

Martin LaMonica at C|Net, explains that Microsoft’s Windows Live platform is going to get an uncoupling soon.

Microsoft next week at its Mix07 conference plans to detail more generous business terms for partners to use its Live online services and to open up new application programming interfaces for Windows Live Spaces.

The company will allow outside developers–which can be at commercial enterprises–to build mash-up applications that generate up to one million unique user visits at their sites per month for free. Beyond that, Microsoft will charge 25 cents per user per year or look to establish a business relationship where it can deliver online ads to those sites, company executives said.

In addition, Microsoft will provide APIs to photos or contact information for its Windows Live Spaces users if they give permission. Windows Live Spaces is Microsoft’s social networking site where people can post blogs, share photos and other information.

"One of the innovations we will enable is to allow you to build a commercial business free and clear on these sets of services," John Richards director of product management for Microsoft’s Windows Live Platform.

I can’t say I’ve never had envy being at spaces.live.com when everyone else gets to play with their plug-ins, but I can’t deny that the service has done nothing but get better from when it was an MSN service. I guess we will find out more next week. The successful platforms are the ones that are loosely coupled.

    • The company has tried to unify the business terms that let outsiders use its APIs and create consistent technical offering that they can count on for a few years, said George Moore, general manager of platform strategy for Windows Live.
    • For example, an application could pull birthday dates from a person’s contact information and automatically send a song via a music-sharing site.
    • At Mix07, Match.com will show demonstration of how it has integrated Microsoft’s instant messaging within its Web site via APIs. The integration will allow people to anonymously send messages to Match.com members.
    • Microsoft will offer the ability to let other sites integrate presence information through Windows Live Messenger within 90 days, Richards said.
    • Also at Mix07, Microsoft is expected to release a beta of its Silverlight cross-platform browser plug in.

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Do Robert Scoble and Jason Calacanis both feel like whores when they Link to someone?

April 28, 2007

Robert Scoble–some like to say Robert is of Microsoft fame, but I say that Microsoft is of Robert Scoble fame–explains the way he calculates what he links to. He understands that in doing so, he has distributed some of his "link juice" which is the dispersion of influence according to algorithms that are watching and other people.

I wouldn’t know what he is talking about, even though my traffic is picking up, I don’t know what it feels like to have a large audience–yet. I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. He does explain that you better have great writing skill, and Robert–while not the most intricate writer–possesses a skill that makes very complex things seem not only understandable but he can make you feel that should be a part of yourself, your life and the entire focus of your energy.

Robert can take something like a hard drive, the most boring thing in a computer, and make you want to know more about it. Seagate? How else can you explain that early century Internet grassroots interest in the monster of hidden calculating brass that was Microsoft a half a decade ago.

Robert Scoble makes you feel like it’s you sitting there. He likes to lead the conversation instead of follow it and you have to give him credit, he does drive his family and himself crazy with that camcorder and those free plane tickets just to bring what’s happening to you before–let’s say–CNN @ CES.

 

While Robert Scoble would never play a game with linkbaiting, he point us in that direction with the whole matter of using linkbating as a game. 

Jason Calacanis stands of the shoulders of accomplishment. And this could explain why Jason Calacanis likes to play games with linkbaiting. As former GM of Netscape, co-founder of Weblogs, editor and moving voice behind the less spoken of NYC Silicon Valley of the late 90’s (called Silicon Alley,) Brooklyn born, and–get this–he even has a bull dog by his side, It’s hard to not like someone with a bull dog. (I have two of them) Jason just wants you to stick your head up his ass to get a link. I think that’s fine and he deserves it as much as the next successful CEO.

Both of these people are great successful examples of how powerful it is to reach that point in your life when you actually can change something. Not just change something for yourself, you know you’ve made a difference when something you’ve done changes the way of millions, if not billions of lives, if even in a small way. To each out there trying to do that, I wish you luck, I sit here doing the same thing, and what I can’t offer in reassurance I can redeem with, if it’s smart and you work hard, you’ll definitely succeed, and if I see you do it, I’ll be certain to link to it. No matter what type of blogger you are.

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Apple’s latest Patent Shows They are Working on an End-to-End Smart Home Solution.

April 27, 2007

If you have ever been to Cedia, you would know that there are five million different vendors all swearing that their solution is the best. The entire industry is built upon high margin home integration specialists who will–for a price–integrate all of these solutions so that you can control your home from a single device. Not long ago, folks at CEDIA would laugh at you if you said Microsoft was going to take over your living room, today, Microsoft is at the center of over 90 percent of these companies strategies. Today, if you said Apple TV will control your home, you might get laughed at, or I might actually be on to something. I believe Apple could eliminate all of these integration companies (I own one) and put together the entire ecosystem that works as smooth as an iPod in a way that even JoeBlow could set it all up.

Apple TV has a name that is stronger than perhaps the strongest brand at CEDIA, a company called Crestron. Crestron is a high end solution that will control your lights, your HVAC, and everything else in yoru home, it also is very expensive and requires the work of companies who can program in various niche languages for automation and it doesn’t have a very robust IDE.

I believe Apple TV will work with Apple iPHONE and some yet to be announced wifi, or X10 enhanced (there is a newer spec, the name is evading me) modules to control your lighting, your media, your garage door, and everything else, right from your iPhone or Apple TV. You will be able to open your garage door by pushing a button on your iPhone. Apple has no choice, the Apple TV is irrelevant unless they can do what the CEDIA crowd does. They can’t compete with their current Apple TV either because it only does a poor mans 720p, which isn’t any good on very large screens.

The patent talks about a Remote Device, a Keyboard and Mouse device (remote control) being able to control a Module controller that talks to a media player/s. These media players talk to internal events from external applications and libraries. The module-controller talks to a bunch of modules (think dimmer switch modules, camera modules, security modules, HVAC modules to control your home.

You heard it here first. Apple is going to bring to your home the first end to end complete solution for a Smarthome. It won’t come with expensive maintence plans to keep your media center updated with patches and viruses. I’ve been wrong before, but I think I got this one right. If it’s better than the Microsoft Lifeware solution, I’ll "Switch". This is going to put a lot of companies out of business. I’ve called Apple out of this a few months back, I said, Apple TV, what a joke, I can’t control my lights with that! And not a few months later look what we have here.

Update: Also, note that there have been many OSX Leopard delays. Is Apple sending engineers to work on this as well? What logic is in the iPhone that we don’t know about yet? Certainly the Remote Device they talk about below is this Remote Device. They wouldn’t tell us if they were. It all makes sense now.

Apple’s Patent Diagram (source USPTO)

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