by Brian Hertziger

First of all, I want to thank Cal for inviting me to be a guest-blogger at the PC/Mac Smackdown.  I’ve been a listener of the program from the first episode and now a regular participant in the foray.

I started out my Apple experience many decades ago with the early Apple ][ computers, owning an Apple ][e.  From there, I moved to the Windows platform, and remained there for decades.  I worked in IT supporting the Windows platforms.  Perhaps the years of supporting Windows and dealing with their many shortcomings, I opted to slide over to the Mac.  It was an experiment, but it worked out in ways that I could not have expected.

One of the downstream benefits of the change to Apple was the experiment with renting and watching movies via iTunes.  I tested the concept that way and then decided that it worked well enough that I purchased an Apple TV.

First of all, if you buy an Apple TV -- save yourself some money and buy it from the Apple online store in the Refurbs section.  They're as good as new and save you money.

Next, all you need is a TV with a component in OR an HDMI connection and a network connection and you're set.  It was "Apple Easy" for me to setup (I just had to provide my WPA password so it could get on my wireless network).

I used to only rent movies on Apple TV, which was a trouble-free process.  Standard definition movies take a few seconds on my connection to buffer before starting to play.  HD movies take a little longer, but typically 20-30 seconds.  In any case, it is way cheaper than going to the video store and I don't have to get out of my fluffy-bunny slippers (okay, more the wife than me).

A benefit I had not expected is the movies that I had watched because of the trailers (which you can't get at the video store).  I ended up watching movies that I would not have watched if I had just relied on the synopsis at the video store.

I was terribly upset with the local video store and the number of damaged DVDs we ended up renting and had to take back.  Never an issue with Apple TV.

So, my experience has been positive.  So why am I writing this?  Apple has called this product a "hobby".  What does that mean to us as consumers?  Probably nothing.  Apple has been adding features and capabilities, which has made me appreciate the value of my purchase even more.  It certainly doesn't get the high-profile exposure that an iPhone will get, but it has enriched my life .

Are there alternatives?  Yes.  Are they as good?  They may be.  Are they cheaper?  Perhaps.  Does it warrant a look if you're interested in such a thing?  Absolutely.

DVDs are so last century  :)

In some intersting news from Macrumors, today 3 new web browser apps have appeared in the iTunes app store.  Here is the excerpt from Macrumors:

“A partial list of these new applications include:

- Edge Browser (Free) – No loss of screen real estate to the address or navigation bars.
- Incognito ($1.99) – Now you can browse without leaving a history of any kind.
- WebMate:Tabbed Browser ($0.99) – Web Mate simplifies browsing by queuing up all the links you click on, then allowing you to view them one by one when you’re ready.
- Shaking Web ($1.99) – adds a sophisticated algorithm to compensate for small hand shaking to allow for easier reading.

This could open the door for mobile versions of prominent web browsers such as Opera and Firefox, though there remain other SDK restrictions that could prevent full-featured versions of those browsers from appearing. Still, Apple appears to be loosening some early restrictions they had applied to the App Store approval process.”

Two questions come up as far as I’m concerned:

1. Does anyone know if any of these browsers are using webkit?  One would think that would be the case.

2. If this is the case, is this a small sign that webkit is slowly becoming the web standard?  I mean, if Microsoft is concidering web kit…why not?

Any thoughts?

Mac Mini’s Murdered in cold blood.  Vista Sucks….battery life.  Plus WE GOT BUTTONS!

Episode #65

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Not that I have a formal opinion about this yet myself.  But here is an interesting development in the world of digital video.  From Appleinsider…”Afraid that Apple will gain the sort of lock on downloadable video that it did with music, Sony and a group of video business heavyweights are planning a new standard that would let copy protected movies and TV from any participating service work with many devices..

Officially, the goal is to create an interoperable but still locked down approach to distributing videos online where buyers or renters could simply assume that an online video could work. As long as a device is in the user’s “domain,” content would play. In a presentation on DECE obtained by AppleInsider, Sony also claims that such a system would create a much more consistent rights environment: customers wouldn’t face shifting copy limits if they choose to switch stores, while many stores today are ultimately balkanized.”

Catch the full article here.

Ok, here is the first free game that I’m going to post and I have to say I’m really hooked.  There is something about this game that I can’t put down.  It’s a bit stratagy, a bit logic, a bit….I don’t know…it’s just really fun.  The idea is to get all of the coins from one end to the other.  The trick is you can only stack a smaller coin on top of a larger one.  It gets hard really fast but the challenge keeps making you come back for more. Enjoy!

Dudes and Dudettes….you HAVE to check out this free app while it still is free.  Simplify Media allows you to play your iTunes library at home from your iPhone anywhere you are.  This requires you to download a free client program on your computer.  Load up the app on the iPhone and then let it scan and find the open client app…and zap!  You have streaming audio from your library via the cell network!

WARNING: this will REALLY drain your battery if you choose to sream you music this way while you are at work and not paying attention…:)

But well worth a try.  Link to web client is here:  Simplify Media

Posted by Cal