Apple, Tivo, and the iConcert

You’ve all heard the rumor by now: Steve Jobs is finally in the market for a Tivo. Not the device but the entire company. Or at least that’s what some industry analysts want us to believe.

Whether or not a deal happens is another story. I’ve gone on record in the past about how badly Apple needs a set-top box strategy, but never did I actually see any evidence of such progress. All we’ve heard from Cupertino on the television front is how uneven the playing field is in the world of cable and satellite television. How cable companies have too much power. How satellite companies are building their own boxes. How Apple is a computer company, not a TV company. And so on, and so on, and so on. And to make matters worse, our man, The Steve, just flat out hates television, calling it “the most corrosive piece of technology that I’ve ever seen”. He doesn’t watch much of it and he brought his kids up to do the same.

But then you have to ask yourself the question “Does Steve Jobs not like television as a medium, or does he simply not like the way it is presented to him?” I suspect it may be the latter. By that I mean, he doesn’t like crap programming, he doesn’t like commercial breaks every 15 minutes, and he doesn’t like the dayparted nature of the traditional television schedule.

So what is the killer app that could change the way Steve views television and get Apple right into the living room game?

How about music.
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Unprotecting iTunes vs. Unprotecting Napster

I just read an article on CNet News.com about how Steve Jobs supposedly wrote emails to a bunch of music executives pointing them to a blog entry which explained in easy steps how to turn Napster-protected tunes into unprotected tunes. The purpose of the e-mail was allegedly to show the music industry how unsafe Napster DRM is.

Hey, guess what? Aside from all the hacks people have put together to also un-DRM iTunes Music Store tunes, the method below will always work. Always has, always will:

1. Purchase album from iTunes Music Store
2. Burn album to CD
3. Rip CD to MP3 using iTunes

Your album is now unprotected in less than 5 minutes, you’ve used Apple’s own software with no hacks, and you haven’t done anything illegal. So what’s the big deal? Unprotecting music without first burning to CD is bad, but if you burn to CD first, it’s ok? I don’t get it. I know there is a miniscule loss of quality doing a second transcoding, but most people won’t even notice (hence, the explosion of the MP3 market).

I’m definitely not one of these people who thinks all music should be free, but I do think it’s time to finally start admitting that all DRM is breakable and always will be. One side of me thinks that a combination of “stealing music is wrong” messages, difficult-to-break DRM, and easy-to-purchase legal music is enough to keep the economics of the music industry afloat, but the other side of me thinks that Wilco might be on to something.

ESPN Seeks Flash Developers

If you know Flash like the back of your hand and you don’t mind 15 million people seeing your work every day, ESPN.com wants to talk to you. Our main office in Bristol, Connecticut has an opening for a full-time advanced Flash developer to help build bleeding-edge applications for the largest sports site in the world, ESPN.com.

ESPN has always been a pioneer in the world of Flash and web development with projects such as:

• The world’s first dynamic Flash sportsticker (“The Bottomline”)
• Dynamic Scalable Flash headlines
• Real-time Flash GameCasts
• NCAA March Madness Flash tournament brackets
• Fantasy Football League Manager
• ESPN Motion for Mac and Firefox

… and many, many more.

Having worked on this stuff for the last four years, I can say that not only are the projects extremely fun and about as high-profile as it gets, but the amount of resources at your disposal is mind-blowing. What good is writing a data-ticker if all you can pull in is some public domain weather information that everyone else has? Throw in ESPN real-time game update feeds from every single sporting event in progress throughout the country though and then you’ve really got something. In addition to the raw amount of data available, you’ve got the highly talented production and engineering teams at ESPN working with you to get everything just right.

Anyway, if you want to find out more, drop me a line with a link to your resumé and/or portfolio and I’ll pass it on to the appropriate people. I must stress that this is more of a Flash developer position than a Flash design position although it can obviously include some of each. If you don’t know ActionScript 2.0 and object-oriented scripting, the position is probably not for you. If you do, however, know that stuff and you’ve got a love for sports, I highly recommend finding out more.

Working here is a fun, fun gig.

The iPod End Game

I have to admit, the iPod has been one of those devices that has fooled me from the start. I never thought anyone would buy a $400 portable music player, and before you laugh at me, remember how you felt the day it came out. If you bought an iPod within the first few weeks of it being released (or at least would have if it was PC-compatible), you’re off the hook. If not, you were skeptical like the rest of the world.

Oh how times have changed since then. iPod sales have far surpassed everyone’s expectations — including probably some people at Apple — and by the end of 2005, the device could see a market share of over 80%. Possibly well over 80%. An entire book could be written on the rise of the iPod, and in some senses, an entire book already has.

But I don’t want to get into any of that. It’s a huge hit. Bravo Apple. You are shaking up the world again… in a great, great way.

What I want to talk about is how this game will play out. How the rules will change when Microsoft puts both feet in the water. How sales will be affected when consumer tastes change. How new devices and new technologies will help, hurt, or kill the iPod. And most importantly, how Apple may attempt to defend its newfound position of power with a diversification strategy.
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MacWorld 2005: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Twice a year, Apple fans like me take the first half of the workday off to watch the semi-annual ritual that is Steve Jobs’ MacWorld Expo keynote speech. When Apple is nice, they provide a live Quicktime feed for us to get our drool on. When they are cruel, they provide no video and force us to watch text-based accounts provided by the nice folks at MacNN, Engadget, MacMinute, and others. Either way though, we eventually get what we’re after: a first glance at what’s coming out of Cupertino this year.

UPDATE: The archived keynote is now available here.

I thought this year’s announcements were quite good and filled with several things to be excited about, but at the same time, I feel Apple is still behind the game with regards to a few lines of business they should be in. Let’s talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly.
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