Tag: Apple

Flash on the iPhone

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Since Bobby Scoble posted a link to a funny video earlier about the lack of Flash on the iPhone, it has sparked more discussion about it on the comments thread. Here’s my take:

If the iPhone had Flash support, then it would be very easy to build fullscreen web-powered applications for the device which *could* look and operate just as good as the native UI – without using Apple’s tools or Safari/js/wigdets UI and platform.

Mobile versions of Flash are an issue due to the differing Flash versions they can support. Eg: FlashLite for many Symbian, etc mobile phone platforms and often PocketPC can only support previous versions of Flash, say v5 or v6, which have limited support for xml and flv stuff people might want these days. Though that’s not to say that a hugely compelling Flash application can’t be built in Flash 5 or 6, because it can! (QuickTime has rubbish support for recent Flash too, btw)

But Flash is VERY GOOD at creating and submitting FORMS – which is more or less what every Web2.0 application does, be it up front or around the back of the scenes via JavaScript functions ie: AJAX.  Flash developers who have been building online interactive apps for years have hae the AJAX mindset for a very long time, programming switches and routines to work behing the nice shiny vector graphics, which might then go and hit a web based script and database on the server.

Does anyone know of Apple and Abode are indeed talking or not? Let’s face it, it would make for a great announcement and demo by P.T.Jobsnum! ‘One more thing’

People like ‘Some Guy‘ don’t seem to be able to see the Wood for the Trees (‘Branches for the Apples’?) with suggestions that it’s all about YouTube and the comparison between FLV and MPEG H.264.

Ho hum.

iPhone, web

iPhone Default Ringtone?

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iphoneringtone.jpg

Something that I think would be interesting to know is: What will be be the default ringtone on the Apple iPhone?

Sure, these days we can all change our ringtone to anything from a cartoon yelp to a hip-hop riff, but there has to be a default. And I want to hear it now.

Apple should see this opportunity to increase brand awareness by coming up with the perfect ‘earworm’ – a bit of music or riff that you hear and cannot get out of your head – even better if it’s ‘good’ and not something annoying. 😉

UPDATE: Thanks to Derrick here it is (apparently):

I would say that many of us know the default Nokia ringtone, for example – you can hear Leo Laporte etc singing (‘dee di dee di..’ etc.) it in the theme music for TWiT. It’s a ‘classic’.

oldnoks.jpgTalking of ringtones and evolution – back in 1994, I was working for a B2B ad agency on the then recently launched mobile operator ‘Orange’. We went to the Telecom Managers Association conference in Brighton, where I met a guy who was responsible for sorting out the new handsets they would have on offer. He showed me the latest Nokia handset which they were about to launch. The classic 2nd gen black bricks they did back then. He was very excited by the fact that this model had 7 ringtones on it.

I suggested to him that it would be a great idea to have a ringtone that sounded like an old bell ringing telephone. It was a few years before this found its way into the default ringtone offering 😉 Heh.

I doubt that chat I had had anything to do with it – but it makes me smile inside everytime I hear it. 🙂

iPhone, Nokia

Apple iPhone = Cisco iPhone

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It looks like Apple and Cisco have decided to ‘share’ the iPhone brand. I think this is a bit odd and possibly silly.

Whether Cisco like it or not, Apple’s useage of the brandname will be always ‘mentally connected’ (that’s kind of what brand awareness is, right?) with their forthcoming Apple phone – not a cordless VOIP Skype handset (which I must say are very good – I have one)

There’s got to be some crazy deal going on under all this, or Cisco’s lawyers are in awe of Apple’s.

Is there such a thing as an ‘Apple Lawyer Fanboy’? 😉

iPhone

New Apple iPod Shuffle is NOT a podcast player?

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UPDATE : ‘Fixed’ Thanks to Diego! – but why not read on anyway. Then see the solution. And it’s a doozy. Nopodast Shuffle

OK. So I get a brand new iPod Shuffle out from its box, to use as a demo device to demonstrate podcast subscription etc. from the podcast.com site, as well as other sources of feeds. First I let it charge all night.

Then, once fully charged, I hooked it up to a brand new machine, with a brand new copy of the latest iTunes installed. When I hooked up the Shuffle, it said it needed a firmware update, which I did. Fine.

So, the first thing I do is add a podcast feed I already know about. iTunes adds that fine, then sets about downloading the latest episode. Coolio.

Now I have the podcast episodes download I want, I drag the podcast feed to the Shuffle icon, when it then sets about storing the downloaded podcasts onto the Shuffle. Hurrah!

When iTunes tells me that it’s safe to disconnect the iPod I do so, plug in my headphones to listen to my new fresh and lovely podcasts.

But wait!!! What’s this?? After hitting play, I see blinky lights!! Green – Orange – Green – Green for 2 seconds, which according to the little card which comes with the Shuffle means ‘No music on unit’ !!

Yes, yes I KNOW I have no music on there – I added podcasts (which iTunes correctly detected as such in the ID3 Genre tag as ‘Podcast’)

W.T.F!!! (Originally meaning – not Technorati’s ‘Where’s the Fire’ 🙂 )

OK. So, I tried to go to iTunes podcast section and add a podcast from there. Same process – same result. No Podcasts!!

Then I tried to add a music track. I imported it to iTunes, then dragged it to the Shuffle. It loads fine. Then I disconnected it and hit play. Hurrah! I hear music.

Next track? The same. Next? The same. Next, next, etc. IE: The shuffle still thinks it has only one track on it even though when it is plugged into iTunes, it can clearly see all the mp3 files there on it.

So what gives, Steve?

Are they distancing themselves from Podcasts? The Shuffle is NOT detecting the ‘Podcast’ genre in the ID3 tags by the look of it.

I also note that a recent firmware update on a Nano I have here (I have a Nano, a Video iPod and a Shuffle for testing purposes – so I too can feel the pain. Heh.) Apple have removed the menu option ‘Podcasts’ from the Music menu where it used to be. Now you can only get to your podcasts on a Nano by going to Music > Genres > Podcasts – where it is reading the ID3 tag to filter out Podcasts (though not all podcasters tags their MP3 files this way, as many ID3 writing apps still do not list ‘Podcast’ as a valid ID3 genre)

Can anyone out there shed any light as to what the f*uck is going on over there in sunny California? I’m really pissed off about this as I bought my brother one of these so he could listen to podcasts. Thanks Steve.

ps: I’m reading ‘iWoz’ – Steve Wozniak’s (who more or less invented the personal computer with keyboard and screen attached) autobiography. It’s great! I’d really like to meet him one day. He thinks like I do.

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ipod, mp3, podcast, podcasts

Huge Queues at AppleStore London

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Word on the street has it that there’s huge queues outside the Apple Store on Regent Steeet. I wonder what they’re queuing for?

Possibly the same as I will have to when I return a LESS THAN TWO WEEK OLD MacBook Pro 17inch currently suffering from random shutdowns.

I was on support for ages. They tell me I have to take it back to the USA where I bought it – isn’t Apple a GLOBAL company yet????!!! For crying out loud!

On the phone we went through some things to try to solve it. Reseating the RAM and resetting the Power Management [PMU] (remove battery and power – hold power button down for over 5 seconds) – but still, it shut down TWICE while we on the phone.

You could almost hear the guy on the other end of the support line sigh when I mentioned the phrase ‘random shutdown’.

Hopefully, when I’m back in Boston in January, they should have a register that I wanted to fix this within the 14days.

My only other option is to send it for repair. Even though it’s LESS THAN 14 DAYS OLD!!

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MacBook Grind

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Oh no!!!! My four month old MacBook Pro has started to make an awful grinding, whirring sound as illustrated here, here and here.

Oh crap! I was very happy with it. I have never had a Windows laptop make this noise. It gets SO HOT too! I think this is why. Heat expands things dontchaknow. It sounds like the space for the fan to move has gotten smaller. Like the spindle it spins on has warped.

Now, as I bought it in the USA, does this mean I have to take it back there? Or can I take it to Apple in the UK? Y’know. Are they like – global? ;p I did buy AppleCare with it. But surely they should fix this anyway right?
The worst thing is, is that this means I will no doubt have to go without it for over a week!! I CANNOT AFFORD TO DO THAT! But I suppose now, I cannot afford not to. Hey Steve, could you please warm your hands first? They’re delicate.

So, if anyone out there has had the same problem and had to take theirs back, could you tell me – did you get a whole new one? Did you have to lock up all your files or reinstall anything at all on its return? Do they prod around your files? (Let’s not forget I’m CTO of podcast.com folks) Should I trash the Windows installation on here?

Oh no. I really don’t need this now 🙁

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How Microsoft could win the portable player game

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I think this looks like a great product.

I hope it can read an RSS feed directly over that WiFi (like a PSP can)! So I can download podcasts too, over the connection (like PSP can).

As well as wifi connectivity (for download) the killer app, for me, would be the ability to record AND upload too. This could be based on something like Nokias old uploader api (which was very easy to implement in any scripting language). Or a simple/simplified ftp client.

If they (MS) offered storage too, along with their desktop client/shop/aggregator based on the account, then they would have it all wrapped up.

Location agnostic consuming and publishing – desktop or mobile device – listening, viewing, subscribing etc. All synced up the next time the device links to the desktop. Full of real statistics, linkage and relevance.

Bingo! You’d have it all.

THEN if your reading AND writing/publishing tools support the core content and organisation XML standards for podcasts of RSS and OPML, PLUS additional support for microformats such as FOAF etc AND OTHER community APIS (though this could be done by any developer community or group of widgetwelders)

If Microsoft did this, they would win – imho

By ‘closing the content loop’ (by effectively flipping one end and connecting it to the other) – publish to receive : AND discover/navigate : subscribe , it would be like APple where things ‘seem’ to be locked in, they wuold have the opportunity to turn the whole network inside out, exposing all the data needed – all the ‘neural’ connections – all the paths, all the people and all the content.

This would ‘connect’ the owners of such devices to eachother, creating the community feel, but also prove they are not going to create a ‘walled garden’ of content – for devices that don’t know (much) about anything else.

[given that i am talking about ‘open’ podcasts here – user generated (argh) – as opposed to music/video/protected shopping/purchases with their own DRM.]

You don’t have to be able to read the ZUNESTONES to see it. Do you?
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ps: When are Google or Yahoo! going to produce a device? They should! 😉

pps: people who know me personally, will know that I am a huge love love and passionate user of gadgets. I have been on this crusade for a while. 😉

devices, feeds, gadgets, ideas, ipod, mp3, podcast, podcasts, rss

Are Apple and Dell banned from Virgin flights?

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I just heard on the latest episode of TWIT that Virgin, Korean Airlines and Quantas are banning Dell and Apple laptops from their flights!!!!!!!!! (Funny that now Dell are an advertiser on the Twit podcast now 😉 )

WTF!!!?? Does anyone else have more info on this? I really did not enjoy having to pack my MacBookPro into my check-in luggage on my last trip to the States.

Please say this is not true (I don’t even think Virgin have a power adapter for the new magnetic MacBookPros)

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