Finding my music - that's what my iPod allows me to do.
With one hand, I can browse by artist, album, genre, and playlists. Further, these all integrate to such an easy to use music catalog / shopping system - iTunes (see post titled it's the software stupid).
Plus, beeing and early adopter of the iTunes music store, I find that there is a reason 70% of purchased digital music is being sold from iTMS. THey make it easy to find music you know about but more importantly, discover music you didn't know about.
Just give it a try - download iTunes and got o the music store. Check out iTunes Essentials and pick a genre, artist, or mood (like "road trip" or cocktail party") you don't know anything about - like Jazz or Folk. Then check out the "essential" recordings, or the "deep cuts" that have been put together by the folks at Apple who know this kinda music.
Don't get me wrong, $200 is cool. But for me, savings $200 is much less cool than knowing far more about music and having better taste in music than I did before and for that, I have only Apple to thank.
there are other's too - about a half dozen WMA sites like Wal-mart but they all hav ethe same half baked catalog, poor browsing, and add to value to the shopping experience.
After listening to Apple's Q1'05 Earnings call I have to say that I am concerned that the musicstoresbesidesiTunes will soon go the way of so many dot-coms. Here's two reasons: - Apple stated in the call they have 70% market share in on-line downloads. - Apple stated in the call they posted a small profit on the sale of now >230,000,000 songs (admittedly, these were not all in Q1'05).
If the $0.99/9.99 model is so razor thin that one company with 70% of the market is eaking by, how can six other companies who share the remaining 30% of the market hope to survive?
Napster seems to be in the lead (don't they have about 10% market share?) but it is primarily due to the subscription model they have, not selling tracks/albums. Sounds like an opportunity for Apple to swoop in and service the sub-market for subscribers to me.
But back on subject, the Creative statement that they have some type of advantage because their player submits to the DRM of half a dozen music stores that are loosing money just says to me that Creative is tightening their seatbelt on a sinking ship.
I take a photograph of a building that is under construction here and submit it to the "search engine". So what might I be wondering? - what street conrner am I at? - who owns/is building/will occupy? - what materials is it made of? - how is it being constructed?
Same goes for anything. A flower, a person, an object. Without context, search results will be across the board.
Huh, now that you mention it, same problem with Google today. Just do a seach for "building".
Okay, I have been looking around for a good keyboard/mouse combo to allow me to use a Mac mini as a Media Center computer for PVR/iTunes.
I am wanting something inexpensive, preferably rugged incase it is dropped. Must be wireless, preferably bluetooth, and perferably a single unit.
I want to be able to sit on the sofa with a keyboard in my lap and use OS X for launching/navigating iLife applications. I am not trying to have a workstation for cutting iMovies, just want to be able to manage an iTunes playlist or import some digital photos. Nothing too fancy.
Please offer your advice/experience/opinions!
Thus far, I have found the following: Wireless Mobile Keyboard - Developed by Motion Computing and offered at $150, this bluetooth all-in-one keyboard/mouse is meant for TablePC users, but looks like the best offering I have found thus far for my purposes.
Media Center Remote & Keyboard - a $180 offering by Gyration is not Bluetooth but includes an interesting pointing device that looks like a large remote control and uses a gyroscope to point the mouse on the TV. This offing is specifically for media centers.
diNovo Cordless Desktop - This $250 Logitech 'system' does not have an integrated mouse but apparently the detached calculator pad functions as a remote control and has an LED screen. I believe much of the functionality may be Windows Media Center/XP only.
In the the time spent arguing the sub $100 price difference between the Mac mini and the XYZ from Company PDQ, you could have _earned_ enough money to buy whichever you like.
If a theoretical $50 is all that is stopping you from choosing a complete PLATFORM for managing your digital life, er iLife, then you have missed the point or are just being an ass.
Plus Apple is giving away FREE SHIPPING - OMG, get out your calculators and factor that in!!!!!
There are many financial news websites posting articles about Mac mini and iPod Shuffle. After reading them, I can better understand just WHY Apple took the action it did against Think Secret.
In summary, the articles stated that the stock price of Apple ran up more than 7% in the days preceeding Mac World in anticipation of the leaked rumors of a $500 Mac and a flash iPod. Further, the stock dropped about 6% during the key note primarily because Apple sold "only" 4.5 million iPods. More than the 4 million many analysts predicted, but less than the 4.6 and 4.8 million other analysts had.
Now, if the share price of Apple can drop 6% because the wildly sucessful iPod "only" clobbered-the-shit (technical term) out of the competition versus some analysts estimating it would clobber-the-ever-lovin-shit, imagine what would have happened if Apple had NOT released the said rumored products.
Further, imagine how big the POSITIVE impact would have been if the Mac mini had remained a secret until Jobs' announcement.
I am not familiar with the Shuttle product, but does it include 100Mb WiFi (Airport Extreme) and Bluetooth? If not, I did not see you note either an add-on or those (significant) limitations in your comparison.
Also, Apple is offering free shipping. Since you are positioning your comparison as being acurate to down to two significant digits ($27.14), you need to factor in something that could cost as much as twice your marginal difference.
Bottom line - if you are going to do a comparo, consider all the angles. I don't care how much a fanboy you may or may not be, it doesn't help anyone to get incorrect/incomplete information.
An interesting note from MacWorld is something Jobs said about the iPod Mini.
Before the iPod Mini was released, the flash player market was double what it is today. That means the iPod Mini did NOT canibalize hard drive player/iPod sales but instead got Flash player buyers to spend more money on buying a Mini and claimed the upper end of the Flash Player market.
This means the iPod Shuffle is being sent in to sweep up the low end market where people are buying $49 128 MB players.
I have to say after reading the rumors, I was suspect that the Mac Mini would be underpowered, but after completing a web-app dev project on a 1Ghz iMac with 768MB ram, I find the possibility of developing with this 1.25 Ghz sub-$650 workstation (when you factor in a good KVM from the likes of Belkin and some more Ram) to be awesome.
1.25 Ghz Mac Mini - $499 Belkin 2 port KVM - $38 512 MB Ram (for 1.25 iMac) - $93
What blows my mind even more is that the $650 our company would spend just on Office and Visual Studio _licensing_ gets all the software (Xcode) for developing as well as OS X and, oh yeah, the computer!
I bet Jobs is just scared the same will happen to him. Yeah Steve, you heard me. You are just CHICKEN! You know if Gate's and his 102% market share can't build a stable OS for his presentation, there is no way your piss-ant fruit company stands a chance. That's right Steve, better not stream your keynote.
Obviously not everyone can be at MacWorld for teh Keynote(especailly now that Apple is only doing one a year on the West Coast).
For a tech geek, watching Job's Keynote is a kin to watching some great sporting event live. Sure you can Tivo the Game and watch it later, but when you already read the score and heard about the surprise come back, watching it post-live is not the same.
ATLEAST broadcast it in Apple stores - it is a freaking marketing event!!!
Why don't you let Apple release a 64-bit OS before you declare the 32-bit G4 and these new switchers "stuck with limited software choices". This is a freaking entry level Mac, not some pro-media editing workstation. It is for people who want to surf, email, IM, listen to music, and open a Word or Excel doc from work. What do they need 64-bit computing for in 2004?
Yeah, it will leave "headless switchers in the dust eventually", but so will a top of the line Apple, or for that matter any PC purchased today. That's just the marketspace.
I am using a 1st generation 400Mhz G4 PowerBook at home and while I wish it had a few of the bells and whistles of a newer system, this thing is totally capable for the tasks i described above. That said, it is my opnionion that the system described by ThinkSecret will not leave any Switcher disapointed in their investment.
Another purpose is that the heat sheild probably made a nice, fresh hole in the ground where it hit. This is a good way to examine what is under the surface which couldn't be done without drilling tools the rovers do not have and also allows them to compare fresh holes to those that have been on the surface exposed to the atmosphere.
I have just finished a project for small group physician practices all built OSS and 2005 I will be working on another project for the same market with.NET.
As much as IO enjoy OSS and dislike the evil that is blah blah blah, I have to say.NET is a very good environment to get large, complex applications built in with limited resources. I had never programmed in it myself until two months ago and I must say it is not difficult at all to pick up as long as you understand OO programming (which any programmer does).
So my take as far as the market itself is that the best thing to do is develop web services that can be consumed by the customer. That way, the platform you develop in does not matter. If you have to pick, then know that Microsoft is making huge strides in healthcare with transcriptions, digital medical records, iPaqs and Tablet PCs. I don't see a lot of OSS in the market.
Apple gets to sell a Windows compatible box without having to sell Windows on their boxes. Further, the idea that Apple makes its money off hardware is still in play because Apple isn't switching to Intel, rather MS et al will be switching to Power5/Apple.
So just as one might have multiple desktops on a PC, this would allow a home user who traditionally uses Windows to have a MS Windows "Desktop" as well as an OS X and/or Linux desktop. The consumer gets to use the applications they are familiar with natively, but also has the choice of other OSes when work compatibility gives way to curiosity.
The question is, will Apple and IBM shack up to lock out Wintel and if they do, how much of the iTunes/iPod enterprise does IBM want in return.
Historically, Apple is notorious for being a very 'closed' architecture company.
Some of that changed, after they proved completely incapable of producing a robust 'next generation MacOS' and were forced to buy one in from NeXT that just happened to borrow heavily from the UNIX culture of openness. It didn't change out of the goodness of Apple's culture as a company, though. It changed because they were about to throw in the towel.
I have to call bullshit on this. Just look at what Apple has done after NeXT. Take a look at Rendezvous - what does that have to do with the buying NeXT? They certainly didn't HAVE to make it OSS.
Apple has a business model of wanting to control all aspects of their user experience. But when the market rejects their notions, Apple DOES change. Take PCI for instance. Used to be you had to but a graphics card for a Mac or a PC, now, you just need to be certain there is a driver for it. Same with hard drives, monitors, etc. When it comes to software, the more OSS works for Apple you can bet your ass the more Apple will embrace it.
Erm, "programs they imported"? But what about the libraries too?
You neglected the rather obscure conjunction I used in my sentance called an "and". Take another look:
I suppose staking the entire future of their company on adopting and building 80 open source technologies really does reinforce your point.
You don't have to be satisfied that Apple uses open source goodies like Apache, Bind, OpenLDAP, or emacs. You don't even have to like Rendezvous or acknowledge that the other six technologies that Apple made open source are worth a shit. You certainly don't have to agree that Apple is the "first computer company to make open source a key part of their strategy" (though I read that as physicial computer manufacturer, of which only IBM on your list qualifies and they have not jumped in OSS with both feet like Apple.)
But please, why the hostility? These are FACTS - 80 open source technologies used in OS X - nearly 10% developed by Apple. FACTS. If you support OSS then you should aplaud Apple and encourange them to do more and more. Atleast Apple is not working against OSS.
Open at the Source: 73 Open Source technologies implemented by OS X 7 Open Source technologies created by Apple
I believe your quote was: You forgot to mention that Apple has made no significant contributions to the Free Software community, while basing their own OS on Free Software projects and releasing everything they sell under Microsoft-style proprietary licenses.
I suppose staking the entire future of their company on adopting and building 80 open source technologies really does reinforce your point.
Apple is not suing those three sites, they are getting those sites to give the sources and unpublished details they have on the Asteroid rumor so they can sue the informant.
As I was reading about Donating to NeoOffice/J, I was wondering if NeoOffice/J was a non-profit. It does not appear to be, but now it has me wondering if they or any other opensource, non-commercial community software project could apply for and be approved for non-profit status.
It isn't exactly helping the homeless, but if it isn't trying to make a buck and it's all open to the public, then why not?
Slashdot Mirror
Finding my music - that's what my iPod allows me to do.
With one hand, I can browse by artist, album, genre, and playlists. Further, these all integrate to such an easy to use music catalog / shopping system - iTunes (see post titled it's the software stupid).
Plus, beeing and early adopter of the iTunes music store, I find that there is a reason 70% of purchased digital music is being sold from iTMS. THey make it easy to find music you know about but more importantly, discover music you didn't know about.
Just give it a try - download iTunes and got o the music store. Check out iTunes Essentials and pick a genre, artist, or mood (like "road trip" or cocktail party") you don't know anything about - like Jazz or Folk. Then check out the "essential" recordings, or the "deep cuts" that have been put together by the folks at Apple who know this kinda music.
Don't get me wrong, $200 is cool. But for me, savings $200 is much less cool than knowing far more about music and having better taste in music than I did before and for that, I have only Apple to thank.
Pretty impressive for an also ran.
What is an also ran?
there are other's too - about a half dozen WMA sites like Wal-mart but they all hav ethe same half baked catalog, poor browsing, and add to value to the shopping experience.
After listening to Apple's Q1'05 Earnings call I have to say that I am concerned that the music stores besides iTunes will soon go the way of so many dot-coms. Here's two reasons:
- Apple stated in the call they have 70% market share in on-line downloads.
- Apple stated in the call they posted a small profit on the sale of now >230,000,000 songs (admittedly, these were not all in Q1'05).
If the $0.99/9.99 model is so razor thin that one company with 70% of the market is eaking by, how can six other companies who share the remaining 30% of the market hope to survive?
Napster seems to be in the lead (don't they have about 10% market share?) but it is primarily due to the subscription model they have, not selling tracks/albums. Sounds like an opportunity for Apple to swoop in and service the sub-market for subscribers to me.
But back on subject, the Creative statement that they have some type of advantage because their player submits to the DRM of half a dozen music stores that are loosing money just says to me that Creative is tightening their seatbelt on a sinking ship.
You can never trust those Hollywood set designers to cleanup after lunch.
So I am at work in downtown Fort Worth, TX USA.
I take a photograph of a building that is under construction here and submit it to the "search engine". So what might I be wondering?
- what street conrner am I at?
- who owns/is building/will occupy?
- what materials is it made of?
- how is it being constructed?
Same goes for anything. A flower, a person, an object. Without context, search results will be across the board.
Huh, now that you mention it, same problem with Google today. Just do a seach for "building".
Any thoughts on adding the firewave to a Mac mini with an EyeTV 200 and a bluetooth wireless keyboard/mouse combo from Motion Computing?
Okay, I have been looking around for a good keyboard/mouse combo to allow me to use a Mac mini as a Media Center computer for PVR/iTunes.
I am wanting something inexpensive, preferably rugged incase it is dropped. Must be wireless, preferably bluetooth, and perferably a single unit.
I want to be able to sit on the sofa with a keyboard in my lap and use OS X for launching/navigating iLife applications. I am not trying to have a workstation for cutting iMovies, just want to be able to manage an iTunes playlist or import some digital photos. Nothing too fancy.
Please offer your advice/experience/opinions!
Thus far, I have found the following:
Wireless Mobile Keyboard - Developed by Motion Computing and offered at $150, this bluetooth all-in-one keyboard/mouse is meant for TablePC users, but looks like the best offering I have found thus far for my purposes.
Media Center Remote & Keyboard - a $180 offering by Gyration is not Bluetooth but includes an interesting pointing device that looks like a large remote control and uses a gyroscope to point the mouse on the TV. This offing is specifically for media centers.
diNovo Cordless Desktop - This $250 Logitech 'system' does not have an integrated mouse but apparently the detached calculator pad functions as a remote control and has an LED screen. I believe much of the functionality may be Windows Media Center/XP only.
In the the time spent arguing the sub $100 price difference between the Mac mini and the XYZ from Company PDQ, you could have _earned_ enough money to buy whichever you like.
If a theoretical $50 is all that is stopping you from choosing a complete PLATFORM for managing your digital life, er iLife, then you have missed the point or are just being an ass.
Plus Apple is giving away FREE SHIPPING - OMG, get out your calculators and factor that in!!!!!
There are many financial news websites posting articles about Mac mini and iPod Shuffle. After reading them, I can better understand just WHY Apple took the action it did against Think Secret.
In summary, the articles stated that the stock price of Apple ran up more than 7% in the days preceeding Mac World in anticipation of the leaked rumors of a $500 Mac and a flash iPod. Further, the stock dropped about 6% during the key note primarily because Apple sold "only" 4.5 million iPods. More than the 4 million many analysts predicted, but less than the 4.6 and 4.8 million other analysts had.
Now, if the share price of Apple can drop 6% because the wildly sucessful iPod "only" clobbered-the-shit (technical term) out of the competition versus some analysts estimating it would clobber-the-ever-lovin-shit, imagine what would have happened if Apple had NOT released the said rumored products.
Further, imagine how big the POSITIVE impact would have been if the Mac mini had remained a secret until Jobs' announcement.
I am not familiar with the Shuttle product, but does it include 100Mb WiFi (Airport Extreme) and Bluetooth? If not, I did not see you note either an add-on or those (significant) limitations in your comparison.
Also, Apple is offering free shipping. Since you are positioning your comparison as being acurate to down to two significant digits ($27.14), you need to factor in something that could cost as much as twice your marginal difference.
Bottom line - if you are going to do a comparo, consider all the angles. I don't care how much a fanboy you may or may not be, it doesn't help anyone to get incorrect/incomplete information.
An interesting note from MacWorld is something Jobs said about the iPod Mini.
Before the iPod Mini was released, the flash player market was double what it is today. That means the iPod Mini did NOT canibalize hard drive player/iPod sales but instead got Flash player buyers to spend more money on buying a Mini and claimed the upper end of the Flash Player market.
This means the iPod Shuffle is being sent in to sweep up the low end market where people are buying $49 128 MB players.
I have to say after reading the rumors, I was suspect that the Mac Mini would be underpowered, but after completing a web-app dev project on a 1Ghz iMac with 768MB ram, I find the possibility of developing with this 1.25 Ghz sub-$650 workstation (when you factor in a good KVM from the likes of Belkin and some more Ram) to be awesome.
1.25 Ghz Mac Mini - $499
Belkin 2 port KVM - $38
512 MB Ram (for 1.25 iMac) - $93
What blows my mind even more is that the $650 our company would spend just on Office and Visual Studio _licensing_ gets all the software (Xcode) for developing as well as OS X and, oh yeah, the computer!
As reported yesterday, Bill Gate's presentation of Windows Media Center didn't go so smoothly and included a Blue Screen of Death.
I bet Jobs is just scared the same will happen to him. Yeah Steve, you heard me. You are just CHICKEN! You know if Gate's and his 102% market share can't build a stable OS for his presentation, there is no way your piss-ant fruit company stands a chance. That's right Steve, better not stream your keynote.
Or maybe Steve was planning to get naked
Obviously not everyone can be at MacWorld for teh Keynote(especailly now that Apple is only doing one a year on the West Coast).
For a tech geek, watching Job's Keynote is a kin to watching some great sporting event live. Sure you can Tivo the Game and watch it later, but when you already read the score and heard about the surprise come back, watching it post-live is not the same.
ATLEAST broadcast it in Apple stores - it is a freaking marketing event!!!
The next little thing from Apple.
Are you for real?
Why don't you let Apple release a 64-bit OS before you declare the 32-bit G4 and these new switchers "stuck with limited software choices". This is a freaking entry level Mac, not some pro-media editing workstation. It is for people who want to surf, email, IM, listen to music, and open a Word or Excel doc from work. What do they need 64-bit computing for in 2004?
Yeah, it will leave "headless switchers in the dust eventually", but so will a top of the line Apple, or for that matter any PC purchased today. That's just the marketspace.
I am using a 1st generation 400Mhz G4 PowerBook at home and while I wish it had a few of the bells and whistles of a newer system, this thing is totally capable for the tasks i described above. That said, it is my opnionion that the system described by ThinkSecret will not leave any Switcher disapointed in their investment.
Don't want to restate the obvious so I will restate what may not be so obvious:
A 1" thick headless unit fits nicely in my A/V cabinet.
Yeah, you heard me - network connection - audio line out (or atleast USB/Firewire for 3rd party)
This is the new Media server for my den.
Another purpose is that the heat sheild probably made a nice, fresh hole in the ground where it hit. This is a good way to examine what is under the surface which couldn't be done without drilling tools the rovers do not have and also allows them to compare fresh holes to those that have been on the surface exposed to the atmosphere.
I have just finished a project for small group physician practices all built OSS and 2005 I will be working on another project for the same market with .NET.
.NET is a very good environment to get large, complex applications built in with limited resources. I had never programmed in it myself until two months ago and I must say it is not difficult at all to pick up as long as you understand OO programming (which any programmer does).
As much as IO enjoy OSS and dislike the evil that is blah blah blah, I have to say
So my take as far as the market itself is that the best thing to do is develop web services that can be consumed by the customer. That way, the platform you develop in does not matter. If you have to pick, then know that Microsoft is making huge strides in healthcare with transcriptions, digital medical records, iPaqs and Tablet PCs. I don't see a lot of OSS in the market.
Best of luck.
Apple gets to sell a Windows compatible box without having to sell Windows on their boxes. Further, the idea that Apple makes its money off hardware is still in play because Apple isn't switching to Intel, rather MS et al will be switching to Power5/Apple.
So just as one might have multiple desktops on a PC, this would allow a home user who traditionally uses Windows to have a MS Windows "Desktop" as well as an OS X and/or Linux desktop. The consumer gets to use the applications they are familiar with natively, but also has the choice of other OSes when work compatibility gives way to curiosity.
The question is, will Apple and IBM shack up to lock out Wintel and if they do, how much of the iTunes/iPod enterprise does IBM want in return.
Historically, Apple is notorious for being a very 'closed' architecture company.
Some of that changed, after they proved completely incapable of producing a robust 'next generation MacOS' and were forced to buy one in from NeXT that just happened to borrow heavily from the UNIX culture of openness. It didn't change out of the goodness of Apple's culture as a company, though. It changed because they were about to throw in the towel.
I have to call bullshit on this. Just look at what Apple has done after NeXT. Take a look at Rendezvous - what does that have to do with the buying NeXT? They certainly didn't HAVE to make it OSS.
Apple has a business model of wanting to control all aspects of their user experience. But when the market rejects their notions, Apple DOES change. Take PCI for instance. Used to be you had to but a graphics card for a Mac or a PC, now, you just need to be certain there is a driver for it. Same with hard drives, monitors, etc. When it comes to software, the more OSS works for Apple you can bet your ass the more Apple will embrace it.
Erm, "programs they imported"? But what about the libraries too?
You neglected the rather obscure conjunction I used in my sentance called an "and". Take another look:
I suppose staking the entire future of their company on adopting and building 80 open source technologies really does reinforce your point.
You don't have to be satisfied that Apple uses open source goodies like Apache, Bind, OpenLDAP, or emacs. You don't even have to like Rendezvous or acknowledge that the other six technologies that Apple made open source are worth a shit. You certainly don't have to agree that Apple is the "first computer company to make open source a key part of their strategy" (though I read that as physicial computer manufacturer, of which only IBM on your list qualifies and they have not jumped in OSS with both feet like Apple.)
But please, why the hostility? These are FACTS - 80 open source technologies used in OS X - nearly 10% developed by Apple. FACTS. If you support OSS then you should aplaud Apple and encourange them to do more and more. Atleast Apple is not working against OSS.
Open at the Source:
73 Open Source technologies implemented by OS X
7 Open Source technologies created by Apple
I believe your quote was:
You forgot to mention that Apple has made no significant contributions to the Free Software community, while basing their own OS on Free Software projects and releasing everything they sell under Microsoft-style proprietary licenses.
I suppose staking the entire future of their company on adopting and building 80 open source technologies really does reinforce your point.
Apple is not suing those three sites, they are getting those sites to give the sources and unpublished details they have on the Asteroid rumor so they can sue the informant.
As I was reading about Donating to NeoOffice/J, I was wondering if NeoOffice/J was a non-profit. It does not appear to be, but now it has me wondering if they or any other opensource, non-commercial community software project could apply for and be approved for non-profit status.
It isn't exactly helping the homeless, but if it isn't trying to make a buck and it's all open to the public, then why not?