yjblog

So Wednesday’s very cool Apple announcements came and went (won’t bother providing links — it’s all over the online news world), and people are bemoaning the iPod video and the iTunes video store for their lack of, well, everything (low download resolution, no DivX support, etc.).

Engadget’s The Clicker column, however, raises the likely point: it’s likely all part of Apple’s evil plan. My favourite proposition from the site that I can definitely see coming true? From “Step 3: Help drive Torrent traffic”:

What if, on the other hand, a new set of torrents emerged. Instead of files intended for all types of destination devices, these files just assume they’ll be played on the wildly popular iPod. It would be easy enough to encode iPod friendly versions. It’s just H.264 and Apple (surprise surprise) offers a $29.99 upgrade to its Quicktime Pro package which offers encoding into H.264.

All of a sudden you’ll be able to look at:

Lost.S01.E02.ipod

and know that not only will the file play on your iPod, but that it’s been optimized to do so. Suddenly, the lack of DivX support isn’t so important. In fact, by excluding DivX Apple might have given the torrent community the direction it needs to truly make iPod torrents consumer friendly.

The article goes on to mention how this would pressure content owners into coming up with better content and pricing, but I stopped paying attention after that little quote above… iPod-tailored torrent downloads! The sheer fucking brilliance of it all.

Nobody wins against the Apple marketing machinery. That said, oboyoboy, two more days to the big announcement [iheartapple.org]!

Everybody wins!

Cumulative score: Chicken 8, Opponent 9.

Previous: Chicken vs Suicide Jumper

Tags: chickens, ipod

Four days and forty-odd diarrhoea attacks later, I am a weakened dehydrated shell of who I used to be. Good thing I have no morning classes today.

Random bits of information:

• ST Forum is apparently free to view again. Good thing it’s my least favourite part of the newspaper, or else I’d actually be going back to that ridiculous site that thought it could get away with charging for propaganda. As if to demonstrate how trivial and puerile its published letters typically are, consider these articles I saw on my first visit to the free-to-view site: RJC students, watch your dropping pants and short skirts; Beauty salons with scantily-clad women in Tanjong Pagar Plaza. Aaargh! The nonsense! Make it stop!
• iPod nano, iTunes phone and iTunes 5.0. Not really worth staying up till 2am and hammering all those Mac news sites’ servers for, I think. The iTunes phone is especially disappointing — Motorola didn’t even make any design improvements over their E398 to help sell the thing. I think I’ll buy a black Sony Ericsson K750i and a black iPod nano and duct tape them together instead.
• Also, the new iTunes 5.0 interface is cleaner, true, but Apple’s interface decisions grow ever odder. Look at the corners of each of the three windows below:
  
  From front to back, they’re Mail.app, iTunes and Safari. Notice anything odd about the iTunes rounded edge? Yes, it’s barely there. This really, really irks my rounded-edge-loving sensibilities.

Now that the iPhone is a non-factor, I suppose I can continue contemplating buying a Mac mini for the home computer.

Ooh, a random and unexpected new Apple product. And someone was just telling me today that he hated Macs because of their silly one-button mice.



Some choice quotes from their blurb:

Capacitive sensors under Mighty Mouse’s seamless top shell detect where your  fingers are and predict your clicking intentions, so you don’t need two buttons  — just two fingers. Click on the left side to use Mighty Mouse in its simplest,  single-button form. Click on the right to access contextual menus within  applications and edit, copy, label or download from your mouse. It’s simple  sleight of hand.

This seems to be stating the obvious… are they telling me that if I click the left side of the mouse, it’d predict that I want a left click? Erm… Whu?! Maybe it’s all about the lack of tactile feedback on a non-moving shell (kinda like the third-generation iPods). Must go take a look at one.

Mighty Mouse even sounds as good as it feels. The audio feedback  built into Mighty Mouse provides an aural sensation that responds to your  movements. A tiny speaker inside Mighty Mouse produces button-clicking and  Scroll Ball-rolling sound effects.

Okay, Apple, you win. A speaker in the mouse for sound effects is clearly ridiculous. Ridiculously cool, yes, but ridiculous.

So the Apple blogs were all abuzz about the new iTunes with podcast support (good enough to replace my NetNewsWire-iTunes combination), and then I noticed MacNN posted a notice saying the Apple Store was down with the customary “We’ll be back soon” message.

So I clicked on the link to the store, and lo and behold — new iPods! All the “bigger” models (even the U2) have been upgraded to colour displays, and the 60GB model cut in price to US$399. Nice! I don’t see any mention of this on any news site yet (nothing on Google News on “iPod”), so… lookit me, I am teh l33t r3p0rt3r!@! I have breaking news! Waves arms frantically. Ow, pain.

Ah well, it’ll be all over the internet in a few minutes.

Technorati Tags: apple, ipod

Linky links links, consolidated this time and with less of that annoying “opinion” shit I sometimes have.

Boing Boing: Real life Counter-Strike reenactment: A video of real-life Counter-Strike. My sides, they are in pain.

New York Daily News - Home - Nerds make better lovers, linked from Slashdot | Nerds Make Better Lovers: The first article’s rather nonsensical (Tiger Woods is with that Swedish model because he’s a “nerd”, not because he’s horrendously loaded? Right, right)… Also, if the computer-geeks think they aren’t getting any, spare some sympathy for us computer- and comicbook-geeks. However, the /. responses are quite on form (the +5 moderated ones, anyway), e.g.:

HER DIARY:

Saturday, May 21st 2005

Saw him in the evening and he was acting really strangely. I went shopping in the afternoon with the girls and I did turn up a bit late so thought it might be that. The bar was really crowded and loud so I suggested we go somewhere quieter to talk. He was still very subdued and distracted so I suggested we go somewhere nice to eat. All through dinner he just didn’t seem himself; he hardly laughed and didn’t seem to be paying any attention to me or to what I was saying. I just knew that something was wrong. He dropped me back home and I wondered if he was going to come in; he hesitated but followed. I asked him again if there was something the matter but he just half shook his head and turned the television on. After about 10 minutes of Silence, I said I was going upstairs to bed. I put my arms around him and told him that I loved him deeply. He just gave a sigh and a sad sort of smile. He didn’t follow me up but later he did, and I was surprised when we made love. He still seemed distant and a bit cold, and I started to think that he was going to leave me and that he had found someone else. I cried myself to sleep.

MAN’S DIARY:

Saturday, May 21st 2005

Apple switched to Intel.

Absolutely gutted.

Got a shag though.

Nokia to build phone browser from Apple tech | The Register: Safari for Nokia Series 60! Well, kindof… Safari Webkit for Series 60 browsers, at least.

Steve Jobs at Stanford Commencement ‘05: After traditional Commencement antics, Jobs imparts straightforward advice (Stanford Report), Apple CEO hits serious note at Stanford / In keynote speech, Jobs tells graduates not to waste time (SF Chronicle): Ah, the memories. If only I’d finished NS before going to school — I’m still bitter we had the most boring graduation speaker ever.

Also, a great Wacky Walk picture from the SF link:

So I’m still on the topic of the Mac switch to Intel, and I came across this very interesting article today:

The Shape of Days: Mac OS X on Intel: Try before you buy?

In summary:

• Apple sends out developer kits for OS X on Intel with Pentium processors and hence an Intel-based version of OS X that isn’t locked to Apple-Intel chips yet
• Once they get their hands on it, pirate kiddies will put OS X86 up for distribution on BitTorrent in, like, two seconds
• This version, being for development use only, will probably be unupgradable but will run all iLife apps natively (assuming they’ve been ported to x86) and other programs in emulation (Rosetta software)
• Anyone curious about OS X and who knows how to download-and-install an OS gets a taste and (obviously) never wants to look back
• When the actual machines come out: Ka-ching!$$!!$!$!

Interesting. It might just work, too.

So it’s all true: Apple is going to Switch to Intel (Google News search for apple intel). Intel x86, for that matter.

I guess the good news will be that faster Powerbooks will be out the door sooner than if we’d all waited for Powerbook G5s (and carried dry ice around so they could be used without exploding). The first new Macs running OS X86 will supposedly be arriving next June, which is just in time for my planned upgrade (though past the window for using a student discount to buy one). If prices start dipping before that, though, I’m not averse to using an older chip with the same good OS and software… maybe.

Otherwise, it’s all rather shocking, and just a little melodramatic. Here, to lighten the mood:

Apple to switch to Sun Chips

The company plans a rapid transition to the new chips. Citing a “ramp-up of production”, Jobs committed to personally eating 3,000 bags by next summer, and encouraged developers to do their part. “Although, from the looks of things, you’re all doing just fine on the snack front,” said Jobs, to stony silence.

Jobs then did a cartwheel before pointing both index fingers towards the crowd in a “dual handgun” gesture. “Zinger!” he exclaimed.

Apple’s stock fell 1.23% on the news.