Archive for August, 2007
Re: Macworld: Apple rethinks its DVD stance
Tuesday, August 28th, 2007Macworld: Apple rethinks its DVD stance
Summarized, Macworld believes Apple has ignored major iDVD and DVD Studio Pro in their respective suite upgrades because the company is embracing online distribution. Macworld missed the larger analysis.
Apple is caught in the Blu-ray and HD DVD format war. Until a victor is declared, Apple will not release a new disc-based authoring application. Customers want a way to share high-definition video offline and Apple is compelled to provide a solution. However, developing for the losing format would be tragic economically and frustrating for users whose memories are stuck on a cutting-edge, and yet irrelevant, format.
It’s that simple.
Apple is embracing online distribution, but the company also realizes that its two DVD authoring products are largely feature complete in that further development won’t likely yield a worthwhile profit. Both iDVD and DVD Studio Pro are sold in suites and not available for purchase separate from those suites. Users are going to upgrade the suites because of the new features and improvements in the other suite applications. Few users would have upgraded based solely on an improved iDVD or DVD Studio Pro.
Apple also must have a hardware complement for its software to be a complete solution. The price, availability, and size of current Blu-ray and HD DVD burners and players are prohibitive for inclusion in Apple systems. Asking customers to buy non-Apple hardware to run Apple software, especially for the iApp audience, is unrealistic.
Sitcom in My Cereal
Sunday, August 19th, 2007Food shouldn’t have a face unless it’s meat.
I don’t understand the surge in anthropomorphic food marketing. Food shouldn’t talk and desire to be eaten. If my food has to talk to convince me to eat it, I probably should trust my instinct to not eat it. I’ve never sat down with a bowl of cereal and thought, “If only my food was like that chick on Friends, I’d find it more appetizing.”
A few recent examples:
A Frosted Mini Wheat encourages a young girl that eating him is an important part of going back-to-school:
Two chickens desire to be Foster Farms chickens and try to convince stay-at-home moms that they are good for their families:
Chips Ahoy cookies sing, “Don’t you want me baby?”:
My personal favorite: Apple and Cinna-Mon (note the appropriation of Jamaican culture) are the Odd Couple that seems happy to be impaled and love being part of your complete breakfast:
Quote: RFK American Experience
Sunday, August 19th, 2007“Our country is in danger not just from foreign enemies. But above all from our own misguided policies. This war must be ended and in my judgement, it can be ended. And it does not involve giving up, but it does involve not continuing to follow the bankrupt policy we’re following at the present time.” –Bobby Kennedy, March 18, 1968
Spare Me
Friday, August 17th, 2007This post is titled as such so that Steph can say, “Puns are the lowest form of humor,” in my head.
Arthur, Mark, and I went bowling tonight.
Bowling seems mind numbingly simple: roll a non-ergonomic ball across the floor and knock down wobbly pins. The simplicity of the game is why it’s so frustrating. Anyone with a little physical precision should be able to at least get a few spares and a strike.
I bowled a 62, half the score of Mark and a third of Arthur’s. Even the five-year-old in the lane beside me scored higher. Only an earthquake would have helped me.
The cashier, who merrily charged us $39 for a single game, snickered as I returned my shoes.
Like every good bowling alley, there was an arcade. I figured that I could enjoy a few games of pinball. I played two games of pinball. Each lasted under a minute, even with a pity ball.
Despondent, I went over to the gumball machine with my last quarter. The machine was one of those tall ones with chasing tube lights and zigzag planes with a hole in each plane so the ball is fun to watch as it is dispensed.
My gumball got stuck in the tube lighting on its way down. I tried shaking it loose, but the cashier shot me a scornful look before I could retrieve the candy.
Let me reiterate: I lost at the gumball machine.
Tonight just wasn’t my night for playing with balls.
Quote: On CSS and IE
Wednesday, August 8th, 2007“Sometimes I don’t envy what you do. In Quicktime, a person at a table doesn’t turn into a tyrannosaurus on someone else’s computer.” – my boss Jason
