Saturday, January 19, 2008

DRM, the new iPods and the unanticipated

Apple's movie rentals won't work with older iPods, including the 5G model I own.

The NYT mentions one reason for this:
Where Is Apple’s Rental Service for Music? - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog:

...The technology behind this is that iPods need to have a tamper-proof clock in them so that content can be vaporized after its expiration date. The first models didn’t have this feature; the new ones do...
Another "feature" of the new iPods is that they won't allow video out except through Apple's connectors. This is known as "plugging the analog hole", without this "feature" it would be relatively easy to create high quality copies of any video stored on an iPod.

As the NYT suggests these technologies could be used to control music distribution as well.

These stories illuminate an interesting aspect of the copyright wars. They drive hardware sales. Each new front obsoletes a generation of hardware. Rather good news for Apple.

On a similar front, malware wars have been good for Microsoft. Malware mandates continuous software patches, and eventually malware driven product updates - like Vista.

Unanticipated emergent consequences, as always.

Speaking of unanticipated consequences, if I were the music industry, I'd be buying up used CDs and destroying them, while distributing new music by wire -- with full DRM support. Is anyone visiting used CD store looking for suspicious batch buyers?

What about the strategy of selling non-DRMd music on Amazon? Sure, it's good for beating up Apple, but I think it's really about destroying the CD. Buy up used CDs and destroy them, migrate consumers off CDs and onto the wire, then introduce robust watermarked identifiers so music can always be traced to the purchaser.

Not a bad strategy really, but it's sure to have unanticipated consequences. What will it mean when all thinks identify us? What will happen to the use and value of these identifiers? Will kidnappers force people to turn over their music collection? Will owners be able to "repudiate" their data, so it becomes unplayable? How will all this data be mined?

Lots of fun.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Salvaging the MacBook Air: Bluetooth tethering to the iPhone

The aggravating dockless MacBook Air, a bleedin' $2,000 peripheral that's basically an inferior reincarnation of the PowerBook Duo, is probably going to sell like mad. At first.

Then, one prays, reality will set in.

So what would make the Air less foul?

Daring Fireball suggests an out ...

Daring Fireball

...Totally agree re: ubiquitous wireless networking, but so far, judging from email from DF readers who’ve pre-ordered Airs, it all boils down to weight...

If Apple enables bluetooth tethering of the MacBook Air to an iPhone then it's possible to imagine tolerating that immense waste of design talent.

Grrr.

(Note that the current iPhone doesn't support tethering with anything, if it were enabled expect an additional monthly charge. If it happens it will likely require the 3G iPhone, thereby driving a surge of iPhone updates. Double grr.)

Bose QuietComfort 2 Mobile Communications kit connects to an iPhone

Sadly, Apple has not released an iPhone with a standard headphone mini-jack (the current recessed receptacle won't fit most mini-jacks). I'm getting the feeling they never will.

Sigh. Faust would understand.

I figured I'd have to buy a stupid dongle or whittle down my Bose QuiteComfort 2* headphones. Turns out there might be an alternative -- the $40 Bose QuietComfort 2 Mobile Communications Kit. Sure, it's much more expensive than whittling, but it includes a microphone so you can handle incoming calls. On the other hand it only works with post-2005 QC2s. (I might get away though, my original QC2 was replaced for free about a year ago.)

So if you have an older set you probably want to call Bose with your serial number before you buy.

* My one extravagance. There are now good alternatives for about half the price.

Broken iPod? Get 10% off a new one

iPods are rarely discounted, so this is worth remembering if you have a broken old iPod:

Reminder, 10% off new iPods with trade-in - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

... Daniel Jalkut at Red Sweater reminded us that you can get a 10% discount on a new iPod any day at your local Apple Store if you do one simple thing: bring in an old iPod to trade in. The program's been around since 2005, but it's always worth another mention...

My old iPods become household music servers, but if it doesn't work this is better than nothing.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Multiuser machines and devices: the next most messed up part of OS X

I think Permissions are the most messed up part of OS X, but device management on a multi-user machine is a close second.

Specifically, management of owned devices.

So a drive that's shared between all users seems to work. CDs can get stuck though. They become invisible except by using Disk Utility to force an eject (sometimes the hardware eject button will work).

The real problem shows up with iPods however, and presumably with an iPhone as well.

Each user account tries to seize control of the iPod. So if I sync on my account, then switch to my wife's account, the iPod can go into a limbo state. It thinks it's attached, but the OS says it isn't.

Reset time.

It's almost as if Apple doesn't really support use of an iPod on a multi-user machine.

No, that couldn't be ...

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

iPhoto Hot Tips page is very good

Even Adam Engst found things here he didn't know...

Apple - Support - iPhoto - Hot Tips

Sometimes photos look better in a particular context when "flipped" horizontally... e.g., have your two kids face each other on a two up photo page. It seems few people know about the contextual menu option that allows you to do this easily. Simply cntrl+click on a photo in a book, card, or calendar and select "Mirror Image."

Definitely worth a close read. Short too.

This is why I wait for 10.5.3 ...

A very good example of why 10.5 is still not ready for me:

Spanning Sync Blog: Update on the Leopard iCal Sync Bug

...We've filed this bug with Apple (bug #5597932) and, given the number of people affected by it, are optimistic that it will be fixed in Mac OS X 10.5.2, rumored to be shipping later this month. In the mean time you should:

  • Consider this bug before upgrading to Leopard from Tiger
  • Make frequent backups of iCal (File > Back up iCal...)
  • Disable the Address Book birthday calendar if you think you might be running into the problem

We understand and share the frustration this bug has caused our users—and all Mac users trying to sync their iCal calendars with other devices and applications. We look forward to a permanent fix from Apple...

Apple has a culture of innovation - obviously. Quality? Customer service? Not so much.

It's just not in their DNA. The saving grace is a very high quality customer base that notices problems and complains about them. If not for that customer base I'd still be on XP - no matter how excellent Apple's innovation.

When Apple makes a big move, experienced customers know they'll break stuff rather than miss dates or sacrifice secrecy. When 10.5 slipped last Feb I thought it wouldn't ship before March 2008. I should have said it wouldn't be ready to use before March 2008.

The good news, for those of us who can wait, is that by March of 2008 10.5 might be safe to use. Personally I'm thinking May 2008  looks better.

Hard on people who need new hardware though ...