Technology

Something occurred to me today in that odd way that ideas just all of a sudden appear in one’s brain.  It’s one of those weird thoughts that often times I just dismiss, ignore, or sometimes play out, only to realize later that it’s just a bunch of crap.

There’s all this reporting lately of the demise of big media – that the internet is killing establishments like The New York Times or NBC.  More specifically, that giving away their content for free on the internet was a bad business move and is destroyed their underlying business.

I’m not a fan of that perspective – I feel like a lot of content has already been ‘free’ – over-the-air TV and Radio, and even the nominal fee for a daily newspaper hardly covers the production costs.  They’ve been supported by advertising and my feeling is that they’ve got to figure out a way to make advertising work online.

So the idea today starts with this: It’s the low-cost barrier that the internet has enabled that is destroying old media – YouTube vs. NBC; blogs vs. New York Times.  This idea isn’t new and I believe it’s accurate.  People are more interested in the varying content online, and specifically they’re able to match content to their particular world-view better than they could with any of the large nation-wide media companies.

But here’s what hit me today: Advertisers are in the same boat as the old media companies.  Coca-cola is trying to reach a national audience (world-wide audience actually) and it’s going to get tougher and tougher to cater their message to the more and more niche markets represented by online media.  This represents an opportunity for local products to compete with their national/global competitors in the same way that local media now has the opportunity to compete with their national competitors.

Could we see the return of regional products like soda and beer? Restaurants & clothiers?  That prospect interests me – as one who likes to travel one of the aspects I enjoy is how different the world can be the further one gets from home – could it be that traveling to the next state over could be as it once was?  Will we see the products and services breaking into smaller regional offerings?

I stumbled upon this image today during my morning browsing and I couldn’t help but to laugh.

At first it was the idea that the 90s was the decade of the mobile internet.  Um… really?  I can pretty much remember browsing the internet on my first Sony/Sprint phone.  After about 10 minutes (and who knows how many dollars) I think I had rendered some bad mobile site’s input field to search for movie times or something.  The search results would have taken another half hour I’m sure.

My first reaction was that they had leapfrogged a decade – one could argue that the 00s was the decade of the mobile internet (but I would really push that to the 10s).

But then I saw the 80s.

Really?  Internet computing in the 80s?  I barely had my Compuserve account in the 80s (like, ‘89) let alone — a Google screen shot?!  I’m not sure I’d associate a company founded in 1998 with the decade of Pac Man and the Apple II.

Makes one question Morgan Stanley’s credibility.  Though I guess you don’t need this image to tell you that banks don’t always get it right.

I have long admired Apple’s ability to produce high-quality products, from their early Apple II ad Mac products through the iPod and iMacs of today.  But I have often held off purchasing Apple’s products because of their maniacal control that they place over their systems.  I was disappointed (but not surprised) that yesterday’s iPad announcement continues their insistence that the iPad will continue to be a closed ecosystem allowing only approved App store applications.

The iPhone is a wonderful device but really I should be able to install software of my choosing, just like on a computer.  I have the same gripe with the AppleTV.  I absolutely loved Boxee on the Apple TV, as I’ve written about in the past but I eventually had to give up on it because of the constant upgrade wars with Apple.  Now, if I want to watch the State of the Union address (or many other shows), I have to watch on the computer and not the TV because Apple has said so.

Were I to do it over again today, I’d buy a Mac mini and attach that to the TV, instead of an Apple TV.  That way I’d have the ability to install and run whatever application I want – Boxee, a web browser, etc.,

And were I to do it over again today, I’d buy a Google phone.  I’m aware of the shortcomings of the current Google application offering but that will only improve as more people adopt that device (or, more accurately, device platform).

And so, what will I do today?  Will I buy an iPad?  (Beside the fact that I’m not really in the market and won’t be buying one in the near future..)  Certainly the device is compelling.  I really think Apple has hit the nail on the head.  It really is a great device for most casual computer users.  Cruise the web, watch a video, look at some photos, check the weather, etc.,  It really is made for the couch (or the train/airplane).  But I won’t be able to install Boxee.  I won’t be able to run flash.  I won’t be able to install Firefox.  I won’t be able to decide whether the power-burden of background apps is acceptable or not.  These might not be deal-breakers for the iPad device – but if this signals the future of computing platforms – closed ecosystems where you have to fully buy in to one company’s environment – one where you have little control over how it works – I’m concerned.

Great mention in Wired magazine about Better Place (the company founded by Shai Agasi, that I initially pointed to here) starting a pilot program in Tokyo for their all-electric vehicles.

I really like the concept of removable battery packs – akin to filling up your car with fuel, as you do today – as a way to expedite the move to electric.  I also love the idea of electric city cars – perhaps best represented by the Taxi.

I hope that this takes off and I hope we see more of this in the very near future.

This past weekend I finished up a rather tedious project of digitizing the few DVDs that I own.  The reason for this project was to clear up more space in the apartment and to make the films more convenient to watch.

By this point I think most people have done this with their CD collections, importing them into – well, let’s face it – into iTunes.  Does anyone really use any other media organizer? (OK… I admit, Songbird is pretty awesome, but if you’re syncing an ipod iTunes still feels like the way to go.)

So while most of us have converted to digital music, there are still lots of DVDs hanging around.  This is in part because of the film industry’s successful attempts to block DVD copying software but it’s also admittedly because most people don’t really desire the same convenience from their films as from their music.

The allure for me was realized recently on a domestic flight with no programmed entertainment – no movie on a 5 hour flight?!  Sure, I had my iPod with me and I listened to podcasts and music, but as long as I had my laptop with me, I might as well watch a movie on the bigger screen.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have any DVDs with me and even if I did, the DVD drive spinning would chew up the battery.

I used a few programs on my Mac to record the DVDs into a reasonably-sized file that sits on my disc.  It was a pretty simple process really (once the right software was installed – including VLC media player, Handbrake copying software and MetaX data tagger).

All of my DVDs (and really, we’re only talking about maybe 30 or so) are now in a cardboard box where I can place them next to my CDs and forget about them.  The files on the other hand can be managed through iTunes and synced with my AppleTV so I can watch them on my TV, on my laptop or even on my iPhone (Though I don’t see that happening any time soon).

Thanks Yahoo!

Thanks for the great redesign, which allows me to get to the “good stuff” first.

Yes, thanks.

I use Yahoo Mail still, for all of my ‘transactional’ emails – when signing up for sites like Twitter, or buying items on sites like B&H Photo.  I don’t want my other email address to get polluted with spam so often associated with publishing your email on the web.

And I still use MyYahoo, though sparingly.  Really, I just use it as a quick means to access my email and stock information with some other content thrown in there in case I miss it in my other browsing.

The problem I have is this: I access my Yahoo Mail through the Mail widget on the MyYahoo page.  That takes me to my inbox, you’d assume.  Well, it doesn’t.  It takes me to this useless page that shows news items (Today’s top stories) as well as a bunch of other crap I couldn’t care less about.  From this page, I then have to click Inbox to see my actual mail.

WHY?

Isn’t this news stuff already being delivered to MyYahoo?  And look at all of the redundant links to the inbox – why?  Maybe because people want to see their freakin INBOX when they access their mail, and not your “top stories’ or ‘good stuff.’

Who designs this stuff?  At least make it an option for me to control – most users won’t set the option and you’ll still have the opportunity to put your crap in front of them.  But for those of us who will, we’ll be forever appreciative, and maybe even give you some good words.