Apple’s yearly iPod event was last night- the live stream was cool, a bit glitchy in places but an impressive demonstration of live streaming nonetheless.
Some killer stuff there. The iPods are meh, for anyone who is lazy (i.e. doesn’t work out) and owns and iPhone. The iPad update looks awesome, really awesome actually. Ping stands to be a huge profit center or a colossal flop, I think it will flop – I just don’t see people caring that much (I probably am wrong). The Apple TV update is so good I am going to buy one, and at $99 it is finally priced right.
I’m with Ben on everything but the Apple TV update. It wasn’t what I was hoping for, but more to the point it’s still a hobbled device for anyone outside of the UK due to a lack of Netflix. Would a LOVEFiLM integration make it more interesting to UK users? Possibly. But playing video on it that you haven’t got in iTunes is still a clusterfuck of inconvenience. Had the Apple TV included Apps- then a simple stream to app like Rivet would have solved the problem.
Pretty much every major application from Apple was upgraded for the iPhone 4 was announced save one- the iPhone Remote app. Remote has not received an update for either iPad use or retina display. Now possibly, (hopefully), this is because the app will get it’s revamp along with the supposed new iTV, (née Apple TV).
According to Engadget the new iTV will be $99, lose the internal hard disk, run iOS, and apps. Quoting Engadget, “(iTV) will introduce new iTunes streaming services the box could take advantage of”. Assuming Engadget are correct here, the streaming of films and television programmes is fantastic news, particularly as Bloomberg reported last night that Apple is “in advanced talks with News Corp. to let iTunes users rent TV shows for 99 cents”, and similar discussions are taking place with other media companies.
Running the iOS on your television would change the television industry for good. Suddenly it isn’t Sky, or BT or Virgin dictating what channels are available to you- its down to what apps you install. This is also opens up the interesting proposal that I in the UK could legitimately watch MSNBC, or Showtime or Hulu.
Now this is all speculation, and it is unlikely UK viewers would be able to get their hands on an HBO app for example, (not when HBO get £150m from Sky for an exclusive five years deal). But it’s not only television apps- as John Gruber suggested in Dan Benjamin’s Talk Show podcast this opens up the possibility of games from the iTunes Store on your television, with the iPhone or iPad becoming the ultimate, customisable gaming input device. Also, considering the graphical capabilities the iPhone 4 is capable of, (see John Carmack’s incredible demo of id Software’s next game, Rage on an iPhone 4).
Assuming the $0.99 to rent an episode, (about 60p), was carried over to films… Say £2.00 to rent and stream a movie from iTunes… this would make Freeview + iTV an incredibly strong rival to Sky, BT, and Virgin’s television offerings- particularly if you’re not a sports fan. This would be very exciting, (a major blow for me because I make my living working for Sky Movies), but how exciting. Apple generally unveils their Christmas line-up in September- so maybe, (hopefully), 2011 is the year of Apple TV.
Disclaimer
I work for Sky, but the opinions on this site are entirely speculation on my part and I have no knowledge whatsoever as to my employer’s position on Apple or any future broadcasting platform plans.
A few news stories and links I’ve collected this week but don’t really warrant a post in their own right. Wondering if I should do this more often- rather than just post when I’m annoyed about something.
ITV Player to launch on the PlayStation 3 by the end of the year.
If there was anything worth watching on ITV this would be interesting news.
Trailer for Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan is out.
Darren Aronofsky directs Natalie Portman in ballet thriller. There is no way this can be anything other than brilliant.
Cult of Less. BBC profiles people who live with just a laptop and a rucksack.
I’m increasingly coming to the conclusion that so much of my life is stored or managed online that my iMac is one of the few items I’d rush into a burning house to save. Oh, and the cat.
So let’s say DRM works, or accomplishes something positive for any involved part, or is in any way worth the investment of time or money. Let’s also say unicorns exist, while we’re at it. Maybe they can ride that unicorn to 1 Infinite Loop, and sign a few papers, and at least open up TV shows for distribution in Sweden.
Jesper is a must-read on DRM issues, theory & practice.
iPad Owners are an elite bunch… They’re wealthy, highly educated and sophisticated. They value power and achievement much more than others… They’re also selfish, scoring low on measures of kindness and altruism.
This is according to MyType, a Facebook application which gets users to answer quizzes to allegidly determine their personality type. The Daily Mail ran with this story saying:
Are you wealthy, sophisticated and smart but don’t care about anybody else? The chances are you own an iPad… The next time you see someone sitting on a train smugly using theirs, take comfort from the fact they are probably not a nice person.”
Why would the Daily Mail attack iPad owners? Because wealthy, sophisticated and smart people tend not to read the Daily Mail… Wealthy, sophisticated and smart people know a shit newspaper when they see it.
An update on The Pope’s £12m UK Holiday. It seems the UK Government didn’t want the embarrassment of having the Pope arrested on our shores, so the new Justice Secretary Ken Clarke has moved to prevent the possibility of an arrest warrant being issued against the Pope during his state visit in September.
Sky News understands that Whitehall officials have been “seriously concerned” that campaigners would use international criminal rules to try to detain the Pontiff while he is in the UK… Justice Secretary Ken Clarke has proposed changes to the rules on universal jurisdiction, a law that allows individuals to be prosecuted in the UK for serious offences such as war crimes, crimes against humanity and torture even if they were carried out abroad.
So, in summary. UK law is being changed so that a delusional, homophobic man who shelters rapists and sadists is not held to account when he visits the UK.
Not really the actions of the “most liberal parliament in a generation” deputy prime minister Nick Clegg claimed it would be in a Guardian interview earlier this month.
If you believe our actions — our American actions — in 2010 can make it more likely that there’s a real government in Afghanistan, then asking Americans to die in Afghanistan is asking them to die for something that is in the national security interests of the United States. Which is what American kids sign up for when they enlist. But if you believe that our actions — our American actions — in 2010 cannot make it more likely that there’s a real government in Afghanistan, then asking Americans to die in Afghanistan is wrong. It’s over.
Rachel Maddow on the hard choice in Afghanistan.
Rachel is my favourite US political commentator, her weeklong special on Afghanistan was the most informative on the subject I’ve seen from both UK and US news organisations. If you don’t already get her MSNBC show podcast you really should.
I’m a news junkie, and proud.
In short, using Marmite in an ad, which many within the BNP thought would be a good stunt, backfired badly when Unilever decided to sue. The Daily Mirror reports today that the party had to privately settle the court claim, and may now face financial ruin.
Personally I hate the taste of Marmite, but if they manage to bring down the racist and bigoted BNP then I’ll be buying a tub of the stuff in solidarity.
Hulu has launched a ‘plus’ service. Users can stream a full season’s worth of HD TV episodes, plus the rest of Hulu’s library to their iPhones, iPads or Macs for $9.99 per month.
This is pretty much the model posited by Jesper last year,
It is ridiculous that the free market hasn’t been able to deliver this to us yet… a web site where people can view TV shows and movies in high quality, streaming over the Internet, for a monthly fee. That’s it. This isn’t rocket science. (quote edited for clarity)
However, despite the Hulu slogan ‘Anywhere, Anytime’, as I’m in the UK I am unable to use Hulu. Checking the Terms of Use:
Hulu is a U.S.-only service at this time. Unfortunately, we don’t have international streaming rights for our content.
I am a potential customer to Hulu. I am willing to pay $9.99 per month, (about £6), to watch new episodes of 30 Rock, The Colbert Report, and Family Guy at the same time as my US friends. The regional distribution mess that stops me using Hulu was created by the entertainment companies simply to maximise profits and minimise customer convenience.
I am a True Blood fan, Season Three is currently screening in the US.
So my best option is to download it from PirateBay. Not through choice, but the only viable option.
Yes, internet bootlegging is wrong and it hurts the makers of the programs I love. The content companies seem determined to continue down the path of trying to shut down torrent sites, Pirate Bay is the Rasputin of file sharing networks- it has survived raids, sales and other attempts to shut it down yet it still sails on. The only way the content companies can win this one is to provide a legal, fair way for customers, (all customers no matter where they live), an easy and convenient way to consume their product. Why is this so hard for the Entertainment industry to understand?
The UK is financially, not in a good place right now. So why is the UK Government preparing to waste up to £12m to allow a delusional, homophobic man who shelters rapists and sadists from international law, to visit Britain?
The Pope is due to visit Britain in September, with UK with taxpayers footing as much as £12m for the four-day tour. The costs apparently don’t include the policing and security, quoting the Guardian:
It is known that three forces – the Metropolitan police, Strathclyde and West Midlands – will be among those responsible for ensuring papal and public safety… All three forces must meet the costs from existing budgets.
How a man who claims to be the right-hand man of God could possibly need security is beyond me. If this man truly believes he is the holy representative on Earth, why would be feel the need to hide behind bulletproof glass?
Why is the UK expected to fund the trip at all? The Church is hardly an organisation feeling the pinch of the global recession. The privileged position the Church encumbers has allowed even the worst offenders to make a small fortune. The notorious Father Maciel enjoyed not only a long history of ‘hunt the holy sausage’ with his young charges, but Italian newsweekly L’espresso estimates the Legion’s assets at 25 billion Euros, with a $650 million annual budget, according to The Wall Street Journal. Sarah Silverman was only half-joking in her brilliant video, Sell The Vatican, Feed The World.
If the Pope does visit Britain, then I hope he is arrested as soon as his private jet hits the runway. Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins have lent their support to an effort to arrest the Pope. In an article in the Guardian QC Geoffrey Robertson makes the case against the Pope, including his lack of sovereign immunity, and the alleged violation of the ICC Statute, which defines a crime against humanity as including “rape and sexual slavery and other similarly inhumane acts causing harm to mental or physical health, committed against civilians on a widespread or systematic scale, if condoned by a government or a de facto authority.”
For those who consider the arrest of the Pope on these grounds as impossible, last week, the US Supreme Court issued a decision that the Vatican does not have legal immunity in a claim of sexual abuse by a Catholic priest. The tactic the UK lawyers are taking is what led to the arrest of Augusto Pinochet. More to the point, the arrest of the Pope is morally the right thing to do, as this man is responsible for the systemic covering up of a worldwide network of child rape.
More on this from Christopher Hitchens in Newsweek, Slate, and on MSNBC with Tamron Hall.
