Musings

I leave Monday for what will probably be my last Macworld. I’m sad. Apple will be pulling out of Macworld which is the largest and best gathering of Mac fans in the world. This is the last year it’ll participate in Macworld. 

Even Steve Jobs will not be speaking at the event’s keynote. Apple’s chief marketing honcho Phil Schiller will speak instead. 

Everybody’s guess is that it’ll be a muted Macworld because no one expects anything big to be announced. That I think so although I hope there’ll be some exciting new gizmo to write about. Given these gloomy times, it would be nice to have a sexy new toy that’ll excite every gadget lover. 

What will it be? There’ll be the updates on Apple’s business like the number of applications available on App Store and the amount sold. There’ll certainly be a celebatory note on the number of iPhones sold. It’s certainly sold more than the 10 million units Steve Jobs had predicted about a year ago.

In terms of new products, it’s tough to say what’ll be available. Apple has always been a trendsetter and not a follower. So I don’t think it’ll be a netbook since every brand worth its salt has this new laptop format out. It might be a Nano iPhone – that will be quite nice to have. Or there would be upgrades to Apple TV or the iLife product. 

Whatever it is, I’ll be sad. I get a big kick going to Macworld every year. The new gadgets, the landmark keynote speeches by Jobs. I remembered when Jobs unveiled the first iPod Mini. Immediately I knew I wanted the blue iPod Mini. Then there’s the launch of the iPhone and the iPhone 3G. It was so exciting. 

Of course, the way Apple organises the keynote speech, gets the journalists all hyped up. No one knows what’s being launched, only a small group of people in Cupertino, Apple HQ, know the secrets. That generates a lot of gossip offline as people start to speculate what Jobs will pull out of his hat. Gives Apple lots of news. 

I’ll be posting from San Francisco next Monday on what Macworld is like without Jobs. It’ll be less fun but somehow I think Apple will still steal headlines from CES which will be held the same week as Macworld.

I received the Xmas present which has the potential to turn me into a couch potato. Yet I’m already in love with it. For months, I’ve observed from afar, shall I or shall I not? 

Finally, I plonked the money down for the 160GB version. It was only a pre-paid order as the Epi Apple store didn’t have stock. Less than 24 hours later, I had taken possession of the Apple TV. 

But it would be another 24 hours before I was buying my favourite TV episodes from iTunes and watching it in full HD glory. The salesman forgot to tell me that I needed a HDMI cable ‘cos Apple TV didn’t come with it. Neither did my TV. 

Anyway, setting up was easy, plug one cable to the power and hook up the two gadgets via the HDMI cable and Apple TV automatically comes on. However, navigation is easy but the configuration took a bit of time. First time I had to read an Apple manual, so not very easy for the average TV viewer. 

What I found difficult was how to tune to iTunes and getting connected. The manual misses that one step. Instead it gives instructions on how to sync iTunes on your computer with the the TV. 

As the first step, I just wanted to watch movies and I want to buy/rent the content. It took about 30 minutes of fiddling and finally, I was able to buy it. 

If you’re used to browsing iTunes on your computer, the experience on a TV takes your breath away. iTunes simplicity of presenting content makes it so easy to browse what tickles your fancy – sci-fi, animation, classics, drama, non-fiction – in movies or TV episodes. Once you’ve keyed in your user ID, buying stuff is 3-steps away. Browse listings, select, hit buy, enter password and you’re done. Depending on whether it’s a movie or TV episode, you can start watching within 5 minutes,

That’s the best part. On the computer, the downloads can take a bit longer. You’ve to wait for the entire episode or movie to download before you can start to view it. With Apple TV, you can view the movie as the download continues. It’s a bit jarring as you near the end ‘cos you’ve to wait a few seconds now and then for the content to download completely.

For under $600, it’s certainly worth the money. But because it’s so easy to buy content, I’m afraid that my pocket will empty much faster than when I could buy/rent iTunes content on my computer.

But then, watching movies on widescreen TV is so different from watching it on a laptop.

I just love iTunes not because the online music store is really huge with different types of genre to suit any musical taste. I love it because I can buy the latest TV episodes of Bones, Closer and CSI. Now I’m even considering getting a high res display so that I can buy the HD versions of serials.

But the hidden value of iTunes for me is the iTunes U. I have learnt about Facebook and what it intends to do listening Mark Zukerberg at a Stanford University talk. Or hear Nobel prize winner Paul Krugman predicting the global crisis of today two years ago? Then there was the interesting talk on credit crunch by well respected economist Joseph Stiglitz.

Thomas Friedman’s books are great reading, he’s a good writer. But the thought of having to plough through Hot, Flat and Crowded, his latest book on climate change, was too daunting. But I learnt about the arguments he presented in the book, through his talk at Oxford University.

Few  Singaporeans would have heard Singapore diplomat Kishore Mahubani speak at Columbia University to promote his new book The Asian Hemisphere. But I heard him, courtesy of iTunes U. There’s even a video clip of his talk on iTunes. Even NUS has put up a couple of podcasts. One featuring the current Indian Commerce Minister (sorry, I can’t remember his name) talk about his book on the growth of India.

I also heard Steve Wozniak, the other Steve who founded Apple, talk about his early days in computing at Oxford University; Prof Henry Jenkins, renown media academic talk about New Media literacy as part of a MIT course on media; Steve Jobs at Wharton University.

My list of podcasts are long. I listen to them when I’m driving. Some are about 60 minutes, others less. But I enjoy all of them. They really supplement my reading on current issues and trends.

That’s a reason why I guard my iTunes account carefully. Hopefully Apple wouldn’t wake up one day and decide to yank my account. I won’ cry over the loss of the online store and even TV episodes – I can buy them in the real world – but the podcasts would be hard to get. It would be really tedious to visit various university websites and hunt these podcasts down.

The podcasts from universities like Stanford, LSE, MIT and others give you opportunities to listen to professors, company founders, economists and others you read about only in magazines but never listen to in real life. People like Marissa Mayer of Google, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Paul Krugman, economics nobel laureate and Thomas Friedman, NYT columnist. 

Yup, these podcasts are sure interesting.

Has anyone tried Google’s Mobile Apps? 

I did. My verdict: not bad, voice search works 50% of the time. Translation: it seems to work. 

Now the details. It’s a free app and downloading it from App Store is simple like all the other apps. I think it’s available only on those who have a US iTunes account (sorry to those who don’t have one). 

Google’s mobile home page is clean, almost zen-like in keeping with its philosophy of simplicity but high usability. All the features in Google are listed on one side – Gmail, Reader, Calendar, News, Photos, Translator, Search etc. You can toggle among Search, Settings or Apps.

2 important features jump out: voice activated search and translator.

Switch on the voice feature in the settings before you start. Then instead of typing in a keyword search, speak into your iPhone. First try with “Madonna” gave me the answers for the famous singer. Alas Britney Spears gave me “Buffalo”, a university town in New York vicinity. Second try was “Britney vs …”. Not very good. “Today’s temperature” came out as TV converter!

Well, Google did warn users that it was only for a North American audience which means my accent doesn’t qualify. Maybe when Google has the accent business settled, then the accuracy for the rest of the world won’t be so bad. It’s a tough challenge for the search giant. 

The translation appears to be good but like all similar services, it can’t translate the nuances and the metaphors. “This food is out of the world” in English came out in Chinese as “This food can’t be eaten because it is not from this world”! Otherwise, the translation appears good. I mean I trust that Google has done its homework since I don’t speak Latvian, Czech, Swedish, Li (a language used by the dominant ethnic mintority on Hainan Island), Arabic, Vietnamese and some 30 other languages. 

At the moment, this app is only for the iPhone. I guess it’s an experiment. With feedback, Google will improve and release it for other brands of phones. 

The one-button to Google on cellphones is a good idea. It’s only one click to search and a couple of clicks to Gmail (you’ve to sign in). Previously, I would have to go to my browser, then Google. Smart of the search giant to do this.

I’ve tried the Google app on the iPhone. It allows you to easily use all the Google functions like Gmail, Reader, News, Search etc. The interface is so-Google – clean and simple. I like this. 

What I found fun was the voice activated search. You can use it to search your contacts list or to search for information. Just speak into it and the search results appear. 

However, my accent doesn’t seem to agree with it. Madonna appeared correctly but Britney Spears came out as buffalo. Only after 2 tries, that the right search results appeared. From the one hour I spent trying it out while having breakfast at McDonalds – not too quiet an environment – the accuracy is about 1 in 3. Also I found out from news reports that it’s best suited for American accent. 

Another voice activated software I downloaded was Say Who? Tell it why you want to speak to and it’ll auto-dials for you. If there’re more than 1 Grace, then it’ll list all the Graces and you select which you want to dial. Accuracy isn’t bad. One cool thing is you can also Say Where to find an address on Google Maps instead of typing. Try this, it’s quite fun.

Watched the latest James Bond Quantam of Solace last weekend. It’s different from the other Bond movies. 

There’re still the same thrills and spills but the movie is edgier. The fight scenes are more brutal and raw. Everyone Bond comes in contact with dies. Unlike other 007 movies where there’s always a love concern, Bond has no romantic links. Even at the movie’s end which usually sees Bond in an intimate scene with a woman, there’s none. 

Even Q, the tech expert who equips Bond with a specially outfitted car and gadgets, is absent. But then, there’re plenty of other technology. 

There was the multi-touch computer where the British intelligence agent moved files and images around using his fingers. Tap on it, and the files lead to other files. The same thing can be done on a wall to wall display as well. 

Bond sends images taken on his Sony Ericsson phone to hq where they are checked against a database on the wall display. Results are immediately appear on the phone so that Bond knows who he’s dealing with. A name card given to the bad guys is actually embedded with a chip which allows Bond to track movements via his phone. 

Unlike the movie Minority Report, the technology here is believable in the sense that it’s available and in use. Although Microsoft wasn’t a sponsor in this movie, the multi-touch technology for the computer table and the wall display are proven stuff. 

Go see the movie, it’s quite thriling. 

I listen to podcasts downloaded from iTunes (yup, I’m the few lucky ones who registered on itunes US site before they slammed the door on registrations outside of the US) and I enjoy them.

They are usually podcasts of panel discussions and seminars held at Stanford, MIT or Harvard. Usually about tech of course. So I’ve listened to Mark Zuckerberg, Eric Schmidt etc. Very useful.

Why then do people not listen to podcasts? Is it so difficult to do? At iTunes you browse through the lists. At other sites you follow, you download the audio file to the computer and then transfoer to the MP3 player.

Pew Internet’s report on podcasts showed that 19% of all Internet users listened to podcasts, up from 12% reported in August 2006. (Go here if you want to read the report http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/261/report_display.asp). Puzzles me why people don’t listen to podcasts?

It brings to you “live” information that you don’t have a chance to go to. Maybe the process is still too difficult. Also, you can start learning quite of lot of things from 101 in philosophy to genetics.

I guess, people are really lazy or are we not really a digital nation?

I’ve been having a little problem – well, not little when u can’t access Internet signals in my home. I’m on a wireless network using Apple’s time capsule which is both a N router and a hard disk. Altho’ it’s a N router, I get intermittent signals from my study which is 6 walls away in a L-shaped corridor.

Sometimes I’m lucky I get 1 bar of the signal, but it drops often. The best time is at night when the signals are strongest but only when my neighbour upstairs switches off his signals. Why I know it’s my neighbour’s signals? Well, his signals are strongest above my bedroom – so strong that it knocks out my own wireless bubble.

I can’t do without Internet so I’ve subscribed to mobile broadband – really good deal from STarhub in a promotion last month. First 3 months free cos there’s maxonline subscription in my house and thereafter 50 % discount for 2 years. Under $40 a month for internet on the go.

I’ve tried it at cafes and it’s wonderful not having to try endlessly trying to get on to wireless@sg.

Finally  I can surf on the iPhone using 3G. Guess what was causing the problem? My home wireless settings. It was in conflict with the device.

Singtel was equally perplexed. The product manager tapped away furiously and was about to give up when she gave it one last shot. “I hope your remember your home wireless settings password,” she said. “I’m going to wipe it out as a last try.”

She did and it worked. First time she saw this problem, she added.

Since the wi-fi surfing at public places is fine, I now have to re-configure my home wireless setting and HOPEFULLY, there’ll be no conflict. I’m crossing my fingers.

As to why I took so long to get this solved… well, I wanted to be sure that I’d tried every avenue I knew first before I went to SingTel. I even hooked up with geeky friend Julian to see what could possible have gone wrong.

For people finicky about leaving finger prints on the iPhone’s surface, there’s a special cloth that comes with the phone. I’m sure many noticed it. I didn’t – I don’t read manuals (if the product can’t be used immediately out of the box, I don’t have the time to fiddle with it) and the cloth was right at the bottom of it. It’s quite useful.

Just heard on the grapevine that the Sony Ericsson Experia is an OEM of HTC Touch Diamond. 

Wow, what’s happened to Sony Ericsson. It used to design nice phones, now it putting its brand on someone else’s phone. Shows that there’re some brands that are good at marketing and others are good at manufacturing.