PlasmaBlog

One of the highlights of Macworld 2008 for me was attending Merlin Mann’s presentation on ‘Time & Attention‘. The session was originally labelled ‘Living With Data’ so many attendees were surprised not to be learning about backing up their files etc. It is a testament to Merlin’s presentation skills and his obvious passion for the subject that no-one left halfway through the misleadingly billed session. And I spoke to many people afterwards who were fascinated and downright inspired by Merlins talk. As was I.

The audio and slides for Merlins ‘Time & Attention’ presentation can be watched online at 43folders.com

The diminutive Macbook Air must be Apples most controversial product in years. Designing a subnotebook is an exercise in compromise. By it’s very nature, certain features must be left out or cut back to achieve the compact form factor that subnotebook users demand. Each persons opinion of the Macbook Air is determined by whether the compromise in features outweigh the benefits of the machines physical attributes. Still undecided? Here is a roundup of early Macbook Air reviews…

Ars Technica (in my opinion the definative review site)

Macworld (an epic review by Jason Snell)

MacNN - Initial impressions

Engadget (a balanced review by Ryan Block)

Gizmodo - disassembly (self explanatory)

Gizmodo - review

PC Mag

Crave

CNET

Wall Street Journal (a suprisingly critical review from Walt Mossberg who is considered by many to be biased towards Apple)

Newsweek (an early review by the author of the fantastic iPod book ‘The Perfect Thing’)

USA Today

Gearlog - unboxing

NotebookReview.com (good review with video)

In previous years I have flown into San Francisco the evening before Macworld begins and then suffered badly at the hands of jet lag for the whole week. This year I decided to fly out four days earlier so I had some time to adjust before Macworld started. This left me with some free time to explore San Francisco. On the Sunday morning, my Nikon D70s and I took a 16 mlle walk from the hotel on Union Square, to the top of Nob Hill, down to the waterfront and along the beach of Chrissy Fields to the Golden Gate bridge (and back again).

I have uploaded some photos from the walk to Flickr.

Being a geek I tend to travel with more gadgets than clothes. The first two items I grab are my Macbook Pro and my iPhone. I then proceed to pack the many cables and power bricks required to keep me online for the duration of my trip. Booking a hotel with complimentary wifi is high on my list of priorities. However, for a number of reasons I left booking my trip to Macworld a little late this year. The penalty for this was a severe lack of choice when it came to hotels. In the end I opted for the Grand Hyatt on Union Square which advertised paid wifi access through T-Mobile hotspots.

Big mistake. The first thing I like to do when my 16 hour trip is over is to drop in on the family via video iChat to let them know I arrived safely (and to baffle my kids with the fact it is still daylight where I am but dark where they are). After handing over my credit card details to T-Mobile I was sent a password. It didn’t work. So I called them and following a 20 minute wait on hold the support rep ironed out the problem. Great. I’m online. Now for that video chat.

Nope. No can do. Several of the obligatary ports are blocked (which is apparently T-Mobile policy). A text chat will have to do. By this point I can feel the jetlag kicking in. Its only 4pm but my body thinks it’s midnight. So I grab my coat and my iPhone and decide to grab some lunch. Scared witless by the many stories of four digit phone bills I decide to sync my mail using the wifi hotspot before leaving the hotel rather than suffer the absurdity of roaming data charges. My iPhones browser asks for the T-Mobile password. It fails. So I make another call to T-Mobile support. This time I am told that only one device can be used with my hotspot account and the MAC address of my laptop has been recorded. i must pay another $9.99 a day if I wish to use my iPhone too.

Now I am seriously pissed off and I ponder the situation over Burger King Whopper that makes the UK version look like a hamburger happy meal. Following my waddle back to the hotel I rummage through my collection of cables and dongles and pull out an Airport Express and ethernet cable, boot up my Macbook and turn on ‘internet sharing’. Following a little configuration I manage to set up a wireless hotspot of my own broadcasting an SSID of ‘Free T-Mobile Wifi’. With jetlag now taking control I hit the sack, sleeping well in the knowledge that half of The Hyatts residents are making good use of my $9.99 per day T-Mobile access. zzzzzz.

I have uploaded a new widescreen wallpaper to PlasmaDesign.co.uk. This photo was taken on the corner of Montgomery Street and Clay Street at about 2pm. I was blessed for the duration of my week long trip with fantastic weather (especially for January!). Lots of my past work can also be downloaded for use as desktop wallpaper.

At last years ‘All Things Digital’ Conference Steve Jobs labelled Apple TV ‘a hobby’, playing down the significance of the product and lowering expectations for it’s future. it is rare for Jobs to comment on such matters but I believe he did so as a damage limitation exercise. It has become clear in the months since that Apple TV has not gone down well with consumers. Sure, geeks have put their hand in the pocket and ponied up the cash. But in a clear sign that they felt the product was crippled, many went on to hack their Apple TV’s, increasing HD space and installing workarounds that enable the device to cope with many more codecs (such as DivX and XVid). In comparison to other Apple products of recent years, Apple TV 1.0 was a failure.

Fast forward to Macworld 2008 and Jobs unveils Apple TV 2.0 admitting on stage that their first stab at the digital living room was flawed. Although Macbook Air went on to steal the limelight at this years keynote, the real game-changing news to come from Cupertino was that Apple had secured digital rental deals with every major movie studio. In addition Jobs showed off a complete rewrite of the Apple TV software which no longer require the device to interact with a computer. Movies, TV shows, podcasts and music can now be purchased directly from the iTunes Music Store without the user ever having to leave the comfort of their sofa. To top it off Jobs went on to announce that the new features would be a free upgrade to existing customers and that the software update would usher in the ability to play HD content encoded in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound, all using the existing hardware out in the field. Sounds like a home run right?

Well maybe not. I believe the Apple TV’s future rests in the hands of the advertising agency. In recent years Apple’s ad campaigns have been schizophrenic. No-one can dispute the success of the silhouette iPod adverts. And the iPhone ads do wonders to demonstrate the capabilities of the touchscreen marvel. But despite the increase in Mac market share over the last couple of years I seriously doubt whether the current ‘I’m A Mac, and I’m A PC’ ads do much to encourage the average Windows user to switch platforms.

Sure, they are witty. If you are already a Mac user.

But to a PC user I suspect ‘Mac’ comes across as condescending. Macs have many advantages over their competition, two of these being the beauty of their hardware coupled with the elegance and robustness of Mac OS X. The ads do little to demonstrate either.

As of yet Cupertino has done Apple TV no favors. In the twelve months between its launch at Macworld 2007 and the unveiling of Apple TV 2.0 at Macworld 2008 it’s reputation has been left to languish. First impressions are hard to shift. And although the second coming of the device elevates it to one of the most compelling devices released by Apple in recent years, it’s announcement by Jobs was overshadowed by the Macbook Air (which secured the psuedo ‘One Last Thing…’ spot at this years keynote).

As of now, subtlety is not an option. If the marketing department decide to use the Apple TV adverts as a demonstration of the devices abilities it could spell the end for Blockbuster and seriously dent the HD-DVD/Blue Ray formats. However, if they opt to make the adverts more cryptic and artsy then Apple TV will struggle to shake off its reputation as a lemon.

While at this years Macworld in San Francisco I was privileged to be invited to give my impressions of the show on the Macworld podcast. Senior Editor Rob Griffiths interviews Riccardo Ettore of Ettore Software and myself about the keynote, the Macbook Air, the show floor and the transition to Intel.

You can catch the podcast here.

Read the tech blogs at the moment and you can’t help but notice how controversial Apples new Macbook Air is. Although it is not yet shipping to the general public I was lucky enough to spend 20 minutes with one while attending MWSF2008. First impressions? Super sexy. This thing is impossibly thin and is typically well engineered. However, as noted by many pundits, the size comes at a cost. No optical drive, no replaceable battery, no firewire port, no ethernet port, non-upgradeable memory.

I have read many vitriolic user comments on the tech blogs lambasting the high costs/low feature set of the Macbook Air since its announcement at Macworld. The consensus seems to be that the MBA is for a niche market. Yet it has reminded me of another Apple product launch from the not too distant past.

When the iPod nano was released there were many people who questioned why anyone would purchase a 4GB MP3 player when for only $50 more the same person could purchase a full sized 30GB iPod. It was labelled over priced and under specced. Yet the nano went on to be Apples most successful iPod to date selling many more units than the classic iPod.

My point? The vast majority of the population are not posting on Engadget or Gizmodo. They have little need for more than one USB port at a time. They spend the majority of their computer time surfing the web, sending mail, instant messaging and working within general office apps. And dare I say it, they are more fashion conscience than your average geek. I would argue that the authors of countless negative blog posts are missing the point. It is in fact they who are the niche market. The pro user. The nerd. Apple is targeting the Macbook Air at everyone but them.