mac [dot] honan [dot] net

Hi!

noreply@blogger.com (mat) — Wed, 30 May 2007 04:56:00 +0000

I haven't been posting here lately, but I am doing some Mac blogging over at Cult of Mac. See you there.

Best,

Mat

Bandwagon is live

noreply@blogger.com (mat) — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 07:55:00 +0000

Launching on time--just a little bit before midnight by my Pacific time clock--Bandwagon is live. This iTunes backup solution is the best I've used yet. It runs in the background, backing up your library to S3 servers while you go about your business. You can set which library items it backs up and which it excludes.

I've been using it for a month or more, through the beta period, and it's certainly been the easiest backup solution I've used. I don't have to fuss with DVDs, or Automator scripts, or making a redundant library on an external. It just works. Had I written this piece today, I could have summed it up in a word: bandwagon. Don't take my word for it, give the 30 day trial a shot (it's only a buck!).

Congrats to Terence and the rest of the Xackup crew on a successful product launch.

uSight

noreply@blogger.com (mat) — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 05:20:00 +0000

Note: you probably need Firefox or Safari to see this. And you definitely need an iSight.

Explained

Apple, Apple, Beatles, and Pirates

noreply@blogger.com (mat) — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 21:08:00 +0000

Apple records and the company formerly known as Apple Computer reached some sort of deal, finally. And as just about everyone has noted, perhaps this will finally open up The Beatles catalog to online sales, starting with availability on the iTunes Store.

We know this is coming, largely because of the Macworld keynote. As Rob Griffiths pointed out:

Steve’s slides were loaded with Beatles references. Album covers, Beatles songs playing, etc. They were everywhere. Too plentiful to miss. And yet, no announcement was made about the Beatles collection being available on the iTunes store—was there some sort of last-minute legal hold-up?

Well if there was some last-minute legal wrangling, hopefully it's over now. (In fact, I wouldn't be totally surprised to see The Beatles for sale as early as tomorrow, included with this Tuesday's new batch of iTunes Store releases.) [UPDATE: I was wrong!]

And just how popular will that batch of songs be? Coincidentally, I received a release from NPD today via Lee Graham with year-end analysis of the most popular artists in various formats.

Biggest selling CD of the year? Rascal Flatts. Rascal Who? I must be sleeping; never heard of them. But Ho-hum, that's CDs, right? Anyone still buying those is out of touch anyway.

So lets move along to digital downloads. Here's what NPD had to say about digital downloads:

In 2006, the most popular artists judged by the number of digital downloads
via paid digital music services, like iTunes, were as follows:

1. The Fray
2. Nickelback
3. George Carlin
4. Justin Timberlake
5. Rascal Flatts
6. Linkin Park
7. Johnny Cash
8. Creedence Clearwater Revival
9. Pink
10. The White Stripes

Fascinating. And all the moreso because The Fray failed to make the list of top ten CDs, as did Carlin, JT, Linkin Park, CCR, Pink, and The White Stripes. I'd attribute the disparity to youth, were it not for Carlin and CCR. But here's the really good part:

The most popular artists, judged by the number of song tracks downloaded
via peer-to-peer (P2P) services by U.S. consumers in 2006 were as follows:

1. Eminem
2. Ludacris
3. Nickelback
4. 2Pac
5. The Beatles
6. Justin Timberlake
7. 50 Cent
8. Red Hot Chili Peppers
9. Beyonce
10. Rascal Flatts

What's interesting about that is it demonstrates that one doesn't need a new release to enjoy high demand. The classics will do quite nicely, thank you, as evidenced by the presence of both The Beatles and 2Pac on the top-downloaded list--and of course the ever-present Beatles bin at any and every music store in the world.

Yet The Beatles don't appear on the top ten list of CDs sold. And they aren't even in the top 1000 of online sales (naturally, since they have not licensed their music for sale online). It's going to be very interesting to see if, once they make a belated entrance into the market, The Beatles can transition from number five on the free downloads list to a high spot on the paid downloads list.

My guess is that, when released, Beatles albums are all going to enjoy their biggest sales since their initial release on CD format. Yet it seems very improbable that they could do as well in terms of sales on the year as they do with illegal downloads.

But who knows, maybe I'm wrong. If things work out with iTunes, maybe The Beatles could just be the next Rascal Flatts.

My latest iMix

noreply@blogger.com (mat) — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 20:18:00 +0000

After signing up for a Triathlon, I'm running with my Nike + iPod a lot more, and am both looking for new running playlists and creating my own. Also: it's a chance to try out publishing iMixes, again.

It's a Good Time to be in the Bags Business.

noreply@blogger.com (mat) — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 05:38:00 +0000

Kevin Fox's take on this year's Macworld Expo is pretty funny. But what really catches my eye isn't the iPod accessories -- it's the bags. Every year there are more bags, more iPod cases, more phone cases, more treo cases, more digicam cases. iPhone cases aren't far behind.

I WILL BE THE FIRST TO ADMIT THIS IS UNFAIR

noreply@blogger.com (mat) — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 06:19:00 +0000

Ars/Infinite Loop has a great story today on Why there won't be a Mac tablet any time soon. Also today, OWC announced a Mac tablet.

Expo Countdown!

noreply@blogger.com (mat) — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 18:34:00 +0000

As far as I am aware, there is not a single Macworld Expo countdown widget in existence.

Not even one.

Thankfully, I have rectified this, using Dashcode to create one that you can download and install and use to be filled with joy and trepedation.

I think you will love it.

Return to Sender

noreply@blogger.com (mat) — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 21:12:00 +0000

I noticed something interesting at the Bowling Green, Kentucky Best Buy just after Christmas. The returns table was loaded with mp3 players of nearly every imaginable stripe, but not a single iPod.

I wonder how many of these were gifts that were returned because they simply weren't iPods, and Johnny only wants an iPod because that's what all his friends have. As Michael Gartenberg said to me:

“Kleenex is a generic brand for all tissues. You go to Walgreens and any box of tissues is ‘Kleenex.’ ‘Tivo’ is a generic term for DVR, any DVR is a ‘Tivo,’” Gartenberg said. “‘iPod’ is not generic for an MP3 player. Woe unto the consumer who bought something else as a gift thinking they were buying an iPod. It has not become a generic product; it’s a very specific product, from a very specific company, with white headphones, and heaven forbid the consumer erred and got that wrong.”

Wil Shipley Interview

noreply@blogger.com (mat) — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 18:15:00 +0000

Infinite Loop has a great interview with Wil Shipley up today. Wil's a sharp, friendly guy, I remember speaking to him when I reviewed Delicious Monster, and again at a Macworld Expo. Great interview today, and it is loaded with gems like this that help explain why his software works so well:

I'm intentionally waiting to buy a Core 2 Duo machine until I ship Delicious Library 2, because Delicious Library 2 runs so fast on the Core 2 Duos it would be unfair for me to use one day-to-day—I'd never optimize my code, and people stuck on old PowerBooks would hate me. I know a company where they recently bought every engineer a 30-inch display, and my thought was, 'Oh, man, it's gonna be hard to use their apps on a portable... .' There are so many problems you don't solve unless they are bothering you personally.

iTunes Collapse: ORLY?

noreply@blogger.com (mat) — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 19:29:00 +0000

Engadget has an interesting headline today: "iTunes sales "collapsing," blanket licensing to succeed?"

It's (loosely) based on an analyst's report from Forrester. I haven't gotten a copy of the Forrester report yet, but this is the kind of thing that makes me not take blogs seriously. I don't think the Engadget reporter understood the Forrester research report he cites. (Or, rather. Fails to cite.) Or maybe he just read a summary of it. Either that or intentionally made it a lot more breathless.

Apple's music sales, according to Forrester's sample, fell 65 percent in the first six months from the previous year. Not through December, through June.
If the Engadget reporter had bothered to read past the headlines, he might have noticed that "Forrester, which based its findings on analysis of 2,791 U.S. iTunes debit and credit purchases, said it is too soon to tell whether the decline is seasonal or if demand for digital music is falling." That's a huge caveat. It's not accurate to write, as Engadget does, that "since January, the monthly revenue going into Apple's iTMS has fallen by '65-percent,' with the average transaction size falling '17-percent.'" You have to have that seasonal caveat in there or you're doing a disservice to your readers.
That digital music won't save the record industry, or that there are only a few iTMS tracks per ipod, are hardly news. (I wrote the same story for Wired magazine in the Spring.) Even as Apple sells more and more digital music, the music industry makes less on it because they earn significantly less in annual revenue from digital than physical sales both because the cost per unit is lower and because people tend to max out at four downloads per album, several (more comprehensive) studies show. So, instead of a $16 sale, you get a $4 one. The Forrester report found the median sale was $2.97, which is still in that ballpark, but even lower, and probably about right as the "four track" figure takes p2p downloads into account. Even when free, the average music consumer today doesn't download an entire album. This is true of "concept" albums even.
Apple's iTMS can, to a certain small extent, be sussed out. When you look at the company's quarterly financials, iTMS and iPod accessories are listed as "other music." In q4 2005 (quarter ending around October 15) that revenue was $265 million. In Q4 2006 it was $452 million. Now, while that might represent a fortune in revenue from the kickbacks it gets for every accessory sold with a "Made for iPod" logo, it seems unlikely there is a "collapse" going on or you would see it reflected more in the quarterly numbers. In Q3 2006 (which included the lasrt two months of the Forrester study) "other music" revenue was $457 million. In Q3 2005 it was $241. Q2 2006 (which includes three months of the study) was $485 million, and in Q2 2005 it was $216.

So, in any case, while there may be a year-to-year decline, or stagnation, in sales, I think the word "collapse" is probably an extreme characterization. Since Apple doesn't break out sales as much as analysts would like, there's a lot of tea leaf reading over it.

But you can say some things with certainty. It had sold zero songs at its launch in April 2003. In January 2005, it had sold 250,000,000 songs. In July '05 it was up to 500,000,000. And it took until January 06 to sell 1,000,000,000. By September, when Jobs rolled out iTunes 7, Apple had sold more than 1.5 billion songs. While that's a longer time frame to add those half-billion songs, it certainly does not seem to suggest an overall 65 percent decline. I'd be very surprised if those numbers hold up. Finally, furthermore in Apple's last quarterly conference call, it noted that it was doing better than breaking even on the iTMS sales, which likewise does not suggest a collapse.

Oh. And as for blanket licensing: if that's the case, then why is eMusic the number two online music retailer in terms of downloads, even without any major label artists? Consumers don't want DRM, and they want to own their music. While iTunes isn't perfect, it's certainly less odious than the Windows Media options.

Update And another Oh. The Engadget post states "Notably, it's not just Apple suffering the cashflow drought, as Nielsen Soundscan reports that the "industry as a whole" is steadily declining. Additionally, research has shown that the "median household" spent just "three dollars" about six times per year, showing that digital downloads aren't exactly "replacing the CD," but rather complimenting hardcopy sales at best." I'm not sure if they are indicating that the music industry as a whole is suffering (duh) which wouldn't really follow, or that the digital market is declining (which is what I think the post is trying to say). But in any case, The RIAA numbers for the first half of 2006 show not a decline, but an 86.6% increase in revenue from a year ago. $417.2 million for the first half of 2006, vs. $223.6 million for the first half of 2005. That does not include subscription or mobile services, both of which were also up, by 48.3% and 96.8% respectively. Subscription sales for the first half of '06 totaled $96.1 million for 1.9 million subscribers, and mobile was at $356.4 million on 144.3 million units (exceeding digital sales numbers for the first half of 2005).

Meanwhile, total physical sales were down 15 percent, to $4,066.0 million from $4,786.2 million. The overall market saw a 6.1 % decline, to $4,935.7 million from $5,255.7 million in 2005.

Update #2: Forrester is publicly disavowing the Register story (on which that Engadget post was based) while Apple broke it's typical silence on these matters to note that iTunes sales aren't tanking.

My $100 Gamble

noreply@blogger.com (mat) — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 19:00:00 +0000

I have a bet with Ken Kurson. Ken is a longtime financial columnist for Esquire, and published the late, great Green magazine, which I used to do a bit of writing for. He's also a Mac user, and a tech enthusiast, and a generally astute guy.

At a Giants game last summer, we made a bet. I bet Ken $100 ¹ that in one year, Apple would still own at least 70 percent of the mp3 player and music download market. At the time, I had recently finished testing the latest iTunes Store killer, MSFT and MTV's URGE. I liked it, but overall: meh. The only thing URGE is going to kill is time. I had also just tested out the new Sansa--at the time the hot shit iPod killer du jour--and while I thought it was hot and sexy, I didn't think the Cupertino homicide division was going to be called to the scene of a crime anytime soon.

I felt my bet was pretty safe. But now I'm worried that I'm going to owe Ken a Ben Franklin, and I'll tell you why: Xbox 360. Specifically, I realized my bet was in trouble when I sat next to a guy watching movies on his PSP. Allow me to explain.

The PSP is nearly as iconic as the iPod. While my DS has sat in a drawer unused for many months, if it had a display like the PSP and an easy way to load movies or TV shows on it, you can bet that it would have a dedicated pocket in my Jack Spade man bag along with my iPod and SD600. But I'm not really a gamer, and I won't be buying a PSP just to play bootleg movies. Meanwhile, the PS3 is inspiring not a gaming and entertainment revolution, but rather questions as to Sony's solvency.

Microsoft isn't Sony. It doesn't do revolution. Rather than rolling out products that will revolutionize the marketplace (or die trying!) it tends to do things well-enough and gradually refine things, making them incrementally better. And worse. Right now, the Zune is something of a mess. Getting video on it should be easier. Squirting is neat conceptually, but lacks something in practice. But stay tuned.

Just after it rolled out the Zune, MSFT unleashed the Xbox Live Video Marketplace. While the Mac may be Apple's digital media hub, it's clear that for MSFT, it's the Xbox. As a friend said in reaction to the Xbox Marketplace, "iTV better be pretty damn good."

If the Mac and the Xbox can be viewed as digital hubs, the iPod and Zune are the digital companions. If you don't already, you'll eventually use them as portable media centers to transport your music, movies, photos, files, games, and any other sort of digital content, from place to place and hub to hub.

As MSFT refines the Zune (and it will) and ties it into the Xbox via WiFi (and it will) the Zune is going to suddenly look a lot better. And more to the point, The Xbox Live Marketplace and Zune Marketplace are going to gain a lot more adopters.

I still think the iPod is the best portable media device out there, and the iTunes Store the best media store. But both largely depend on the other. Without the iPod, the Store would be just another place to buy media. And without the Store, the iPod would be just another player. The total package is the thing, and you cannot untangle the two.

But tie the Xbox to a more video-oriented Zune via WiFi (they already link via USB) and suddenly you have a new package that may be better than anything Apple has to offer. And while it isn't completely obvious yet at this point, MSFT is slightly ahead in the game. (Oh, and then there's Windows. Heard of it?)

The real iPod killer won't be a product, it will be a complete system.

Of course, we're just ahead of an Apple release cycle. An iPhone, or gaming system, or even a profoundly usable iTV will change the landscape entirely. But if Apple slips on January 9, or lets MSFT jump way out ahead, I'm gonna be down $100.

1. Ken wanted to bet a new iPod, since I already have five of those (plus iRivers, Creatives, and even some Thumps) the last thing I needed was another mp3 player. (In fact, Ken, if you read this, perhaps if you lose you might agree to take one off my hands.)

Why Squirting Sucks for Songwriters

noreply@blogger.com (mat) — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 18:08:00 +0000

On Friday, I bought seven tracks off of Final Fantasy's 2006 album He Poos Clouds, and in doing so exposed the fatal flaw with squirting songs: three is just enough to make me hate it.

Let me back up. You've probably heard about squirting by now. If not, it's what Microsoft calls the Zune's WiFi filesharing process. I have a song on my Zune, and I connect to yours via WiFi and "squirt" you a song. You then have three days or three plays--whichever comes first--before it goes away. There's been a lot of carping about how neither of those is enough, and I agree. But nothing works quite like a concrete example, so lets' stop squirting for a moment and pick Poo up again.

On October 16 (thanks iTunes meta-data!), I bought three tracks off of He Poos Clouds. This was largely a blind purchase. I had read a lot of critical wankery about the album, and decided to give it a shot. I previewed a few tracks, and picked the three I liked best based on those thirty second snapshots. And in they went, into my 50GB iTunes library.

Remember the final scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark? When the Ark of the Covenant is being packed away in a massive government warehouse, presumably never to be seen again? Singles, especially ones I'm not familiar with ahead of time, often meet a similar fate when they go into my music library. There is a reasonable chance that I might never listen to them. At the very least, I might not hear them more than once in a timely fashion. I assume this is probably true of most people with libraries that exceed 10GB (and all of our libraries are only getting bigger).

In this case, however, I did listen to all three of the songs I bought. They were "This Lamb Sells Condos," "I'm Afraid of Japan," and "The Pooka Sings." I listened to all of them on October 16, the day I bought them. I even rated "The Pooka Sings" with four stars, in an attempt to make sure it would hit some of my auto-generated playlists and I'd hear it again.

But I never did.

What I did listen to again (and again, and again) was "This Lamb Sells Condos." It wasn't my favorite on first listen, but it popped up a few more times and I liked it and subsequently added it to a few custom playlists and my iPods. I proceeded to fall in love with it. I listened to it repeatedly until (by the time it came up on my iPod as I was waiting at baggage claim at SFO on Friday night) I was on my 34th listen. It owns me. When the song hits its denouement it was all I could do not to lie down upon the baggage carousel, and ride it around in circles with my arms outstretched in a sympathetic expression of, um, whatever it is that music does. When I arrived home, I bought all the rest of the songs on the album.

Meanwhile, I'd heard "I'm Afraid of Japan" four times, and "The Pooka Sings" just once, that first time. While these songs would (nearly) fall into Zune's acceptable use limitations, they did nothing to make me buy the other seven on the album.

So let's say someone squirts me a song, and it's the best song ever written. It will break my heart into a million pieces, and destroy my will to exist unless that simple melody is drifting from my headphones into my ears. Even so, if there's a three day limit on it, I'm not going to have enough time to grow attached to it. Now, I may not require 34 listens, but only the most purile pop pablum is that instantly accessible. Had I only had three listens to preview a song before purchasing it, Mr. Owen Pallett, despite being an excellent songwriter, would not have seen one dime of my money. Much less ninety-nine cents times ten.

So, ultimately, it is not the consumer getting screwed by Zune. There is plenty of great music out there. Without "This Lamb Sells Condos," I would still have the new Yo La Tengo to keep me company as I fly high above the country in a fancy airplane with my iPod and in-seat satellite radio. There would still be new Joanna Newsom tracks and Calexico and M. Ward and The Harpeth Trace. I would be fine without it. My life, in no way diminished. No, the consumer has enough to listen to today already. Our plates are full. It is the songwriter--who already must fight his or her way to the top of the 50 GB library to be heard--that gets fucked by the three squirt stop sign.

Creative: Made for iPod

noreply@blogger.com (mat) — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 15:48:00 +0000

Yesterday's announcement that Apple and Creative are settling their suit was good news for both companies. For Apple, it ended an annoyance and settled uncertainty regarding future patent litigation. For Creative, it provided a much-needed cash infusion. It seems like a win-win. And I guess maybe it is, although in some respects Creative's patent trolling resulted in a payday while all Apple got to do was to swat a very expensive fly.

But that's just on the surface.

Ultimately, the real winner is Apple. $100 million is chump change for a company with a $58 billion market cap and thick gooey gobs of cash on hand. But more to the point THE STEVE'S chief rival in the MP3 player market was just forced to stand up and publicly declare its intention to become Apple's bitch.

Last sentence, first graf of Apple's press release: In addition, the companies announced that Creative has joined Apple's "Made for iPod" program and will be announcing their own iPod accessory products later this year.

Can you imagine, say, Ford ending a suit with Honda byannouncingg that it's going to make after-market accessories for the Accord? Pepsi starting to sell Coca-Colatchotchkiess? Microsoft developing for the Mac? (oh. wait.)

One of the iPod's greatest strengths is the market in accessories. Want a choice of cases? Get an iPod. Want a stereo that works with your player? Get an iPod. Want a car connector that will play your MP3s and charge your device? Get an iPod.

By selling "Made for iPod" accessories Creative is helping to sell iPods. Not only that, but for every gadget it sells with the Made for iPod logo, Creative will have to kick some cash back to Apple.

And as to their own Creative MP3 players? They're out. They're done. Fuck you; take your ball and go home. Maybe not right away, but when you actively begin promoting your competitor's product, while your own business is in the shitter, it's not a sign that you intend to continue business as usual.

I remember the very first Creative Nomad jukebox. It was a sea-change. But I also remember the very first MP3 player on the market, the PMP 300 from Rio. (Hell, I owned it.) That was not only a sea change, it was a revolution. And look where Rio is today.

I get to use a lot of MP3 players. And the thing is, Creative's suck. How they've remained number two is beyond me. And I'm not a complete iPod snob. I own two iRiver players, one of which I use all the time (though, in all fairness, mostly for recording.) I played with that new hot shit SanDisk player last week and it is phenomenal.

That is. On its own.

It's phenomenal on its own. And ultimately, all the other manufacturers are selling products that must stand on their own. While the iPod, on the other hand, stands with (first and foremost) the iTunes Music Store, Nike, Honda, Bose, CBS, Gucci, Denon, BMW, Disney, MTV, Belkin, Altec Lansing, JBL, Kate Spade, Levi's, Jeep, and, now, Creative.

Podbrix 1984 Playset Goes on sale tomorrow

noreply@blogger.com (mat) — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 17:38:00 +0000

Tomi's got another minifig set for sale. This one is the coolest yet:

We humbly present to you the PodBrix master work. The 1984 Playset was envisioned from the beginning of PodBrix but only now has been realized. Including an intricately detailed "runner" minifig, two riot police minifigs and an audience of twelve figures, this brick-based work is inspired by the classic TV commercial and features over eighty parts. A static LED backlit movie screen complete with a minifig style "Big Brother" completes the effect.

The 1984 Playset is a limited edition of only 100 units, each signed and numbered by Tomi. Each unit is hand-crafted to order and requires some simple assembly. Three AA batteries (not included) power the LED backlight for the screen.

The 1984 Playset will be available for sale on Wednesday August 2nd at 9:00pm EST for $198.99 each.

I'm Steve Jobs. I invented the friggin iPod, okay? Have you heard of it?

noreply@blogger.com (mat) — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 22:56:00 +0000

I've been reading The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs, Aged 51 1/2 quite a bit lately. It's leading up nicely to the August 7 keynote at WWDC, and it's nice to see Steve really getting into a groove over time, as he becomes a more confidant writer. Today's post, where Steve writes about a phone call he received from Sir Richard Branson, was one of the best yet:

So the truth is I kinda sorta hate this guy cause he made such a big deal out of his stupid Virgin online music store and he was all Mr. Smack Talk about how he was gonna kick the crap out of iTunes -- ya right -- but now here he is pretending like he's my big buddy or whatever. Maybe the altitude is friggin up his head or whatever and he figures maybe I don't remember what a dickbreath he was on the music store thing. Anyhoo, I push back on him some more and say I just don't see the synergy and he gets a little PO'd cause as you might have noticed he's got a teensy little ego problem, and he says in this sort of fake rough Cockney accent, Look, mate, I've been in your bloody stores and I've seen all these stupd iPod gizmos and you tell me what the hell do they have to do with anything, right? I mean, the bloody Tivoli iPal? It's a bloody FM radio! Only it's painted bloody white and has a plug for an MP3 player, innit? iPal my ass. But I don't hear you bitching about that, mate. So I'm like, Branson, my bro, cool out, do some yoga, smoke a doob, cut a fart in your space suit or whatever, but sure, go for it. Have the lawyers work it out and give me a slice of the action. And God bless you, you crazy big-toothed bleached-hair balloon-flying freak. He says Bloody right, mate, you won't regret this, and I promise you can break a bottle of fake champagne on the first plane and take the first ride, the maiden voyage, right alongside the Beckhams, my word as a gentleman. And I'm like, Dude, I don't fly commercial, it gives me hives, I'm allergic to non-vegans, but thanks anyway and good luck. Then I called our lawyers and told them, I don't care if you have to put a bullet in this guy's head, but do NOT let this deal happen. Peace out.

iPod Sports Kit Hack

noreply@blogger.com (mat) — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 14:50:00 +0000

I've been running with the iPod Sports Kit and a pair of Nike Plus shoes the last few days. I love both. But if you're in love with your current kicks, there's no need to surrender them for the Sports Kit. Check out Alaina's cool shoe hack.

The MagSafe meltdown -- famous for being Apple

noreply@blogger.com (mat) — Wed, 28 Jun 2006 18:10:00 +0000

Hello! Guess who's back. Back again. Mat is back. Tell a friend. You know what I learned while I was away? I should have sprung for that modem adapter for my MacBook. Contrary to what I believed, here in the technology capital of the world, broadband is not ubiquitous, and in some parts of the country, people still do dial-up. Who knew?

Onward.
The stories of the MagSafe meltdowns have inspired me to tell a little story. This being the second, well-documented, example, I thought some personal perspective might be in order.

The year was 2000 and 2. I was a mere lad of 29, nearly 30, and living in a studio apartment in San Francisco, surrounded by unemployed legions of former dot-commers with related cocaine and financial problems. It was a simple time, and I had (and have) Innurnet access from Earthlink in the form of DSL.

One day, I awoke to an odd smell in the apartment. A smell of burning wires. Alarmed, I began looking about, and discovered the power adapter for my DSL modem was in the process of melting away its plastic housing, leaving exposed red-hot wiring. The carpet below was all quite warm, and I think I was about 20 minutes from a house fire. I yanked the (gooey) plug form the wall, and called Earthlink, sure that they would share in my consternation at having my house nearly burned down. I have documented the conversation before, butI believe it bears repeating:

Me: Yeah, when I woke up today something smelled funny. It was the electrical adapter for my DSL modem. It had gotten really hot, and the plastic was melting on the side and it had nearly started a fire. I need a new one.

Earthlink: Yes, that's a known issue.

Me: WHAT?!? You KNEW about this and you haven't recalled all of them? Do you understand someone could die?

Earthlink: No, no one could die.

Me: What do you mean no one could die? If it starts a fire, it could kill someone.

Earthlink: That hasn't happened.

A few months after this, Earthlink recalled my DSL modem, and sent me a new one (I still have it) suggesting that the problem was rather widespread.

Yet what did you hear about it? Nary a twitter, I'd posit. And why not? Yes, it was a problem that only affected a small percentage of people.... but so is the MagSafe issue (and the latter case seems to have been caused at least partially by the user).

People care about Apple. Nobody gives a shit about Earthlink. We've also entered a stage where broadband is ubiquitous--forget that bullshit up top--and as soon as a problem arises, photos from Flickr send it spiraling all across the globe.

I'm not saying that there isn't a problem, perhaps there is. What I am saying is that it would be--certainly at this point when so relatively few have been sold--much cheaper for Apple to recall defective parts than to defend a class action lawsuit brought by hundreds, or even a dozen or so, homeowners who watched a Magsafe destroy their castles. It would be better PR, too. Perhaps one is on the way, though I doubt it.

And to prove my point that this is more an issue with obsessive Apple-watching than anything else, I leave you with links to IBM, Dell , Gateway, and Compaq. Remember those? Sure you do.

I'm not saying there isn't a problem. There very well may be. But every time a Mac user sneezes, the community shouldn't automatically assume OS X gives you the bird flu.

Creative lawsuit could have broad consequences

noreply@blogger.com (mat) — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 23:52:00 +0000

I failed to link to my latest Playlist/Macworld story which looks at the chances and implications of Creative's lawsuit:

The chances of Creative Technology winning an injunction to prevent Apple from selling the iPod domestically are slim, legal experts say. But its suit against Apple alleging patent infringement could have broad consequences for both companies and the portable media player market as a whole.

Black and white differences

noreply@blogger.com (mat) — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 01:02:00 +0000

So the 2GHz black and white MacBooks should be identical,aside from their cases, right? Not so, say Macworld's latest tests:

After testing the white 2GHz MacBook and comparing the results to the published scores of the black model, we saw small performance differences in many of the tests, with the edge going to the white model in most cases. Retesting leveled out a few tests (though I can’t explain why), but still shows the white 2GHz model performing better than the black model, most notably in our Compressor MPEG-2 Encoding test and our iMovie test applying the Aged video effect to a clip.

XP On My MacBook

noreply@blogger.com (mat) — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 00:04:00 +0000

Aw, yeah. Blue screen me, baby. I love it when you cause a catastrophic data error.

Man, I had completely forgotten how fucking awesome Windows is.

Installing XP Part II - How to get around CD read errors

noreply@blogger.com (mat) — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 05:20:00 +0000

As I mentioned below, when I went to install XP on my MacBook, it would not recognize the install CD. And, apparently, I'm not the only one who's had this problem. While I posted an extremely long and complicated work-around below for getting Parallels installed, there's a much easier solution for BootCamp--at least for me.

Though my MacBook still didn't recognize the XP install CD, all my other Macs do. As I mentioned below, I made a disc image of the XP install disc and saved it to my MacBook. Next, I burned that image to a CD.

Voila.

When I fired up BootCamp again, and used the copy of XP I had burned to a CD-R, everything worked like a charm.

Isn't that where Santa Lives?

noreply@blogger.com (mat) — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 01:28:00 +0000

Mac Rumors has a story up questioningly titled "Norway To Pressure Apple To Change iTunes EULA?"

I have four things to say to about this:

Norway, Population of, 2006, estimate - 4,610,820

Annual Sales, music industry, total, Norway, 2004, Strong year - $147.8 million

Apple, profit, 2006, second fiscal quarter - $410 million

In which I review iPod alarm clock systems

noreply@blogger.com (mat) — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 15:39:00 +0000

Playlist just ran my review of the iLuv i177 and JBL On Time. I liked the iLuv, but was just sort of lukewarm on the JBL. Yeah, it had better sound, but the alarm clock was the suck, and that industrial design, while pretty to look at, makes for a shitty bedside accessory. Who needs spatial sound in an alarm clock? I mean, aren't you just going to shut it off as soon as possible? And do you really want to wake up to a subwoofer? I don't. But I suppose it makes a nice all-in-one unit for dorm dwellers.

Installing XP on a MacBook in 25 easy steps; How to

noreply@blogger.com (mat) — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 16:01:00 +0000

1. Go to Office Depot and blow $200 on Win XP.
2. Download BootCamp and Parallels
3. Install BootCamp Assistant
4. Burn drivers CD
5. Partition drive
6. Insert XP CD
7. Wonder what those noises are
8. Curse, as MacBook fails to recognize XP CD, spitting it back at you
9. Read Apple discussion forums with multiple reports of similar problem and cringe.
10. Repeat steps 6 through 10 for approximately 30 minutes.
11. Idea!
12. Start up Mac Mini as FireWire slave drive to MacBook
13. Insert XP install CD to Mac Mini optical drive
14. Try to run CD via Mac Mini.
15. Denied :-(
16. Fire up Disc Utility
17. Create .cdr disc image of XP CD from Mac Mini, save to desktop of MacBook
18. Encourage process to go faster by swearing
19. Annoy people you don't realy know all that well via AIM, hoping for moral support
20. Launch Parallels
21. Create Win XP virtual machine
22. Choose to install from Disc Image
23. Call Andre to tell him you're a fucking bad ass
24. Watch install process with anxiety
25. Start!