Bereninga

Last week, Apple released a refreshed version of its Apple TV product. First, let’s get a quick run-down of some key changes:

• Netflix streaming
• content moved from local storage in the Apple TV to streaming only
• price changes for Apple TV unit to $99, rentals for HD TV shows for 99 cents, HD movies for $4.99

How thrilling are these changes? Unfortunately, not thrilling at all. Even though these are “new” features to Apple TV, they’re not anything new to anyone who already has a pretty good home entertainment system already. Apple is trying really hard to get Apple TV to be something people need, but it misses the mark.

First, Netflix streaming is old news. The XBox 360, Playstation 3, some Blu-ray players, HDTV sets, and other devices already have Netflix streaming built-in. Netflix as a feature is now just extra for the Apple TV since people who have Netflix most likely already stream it from another device other than their computers. Why would people want to have another piece of hardware to wire up in their system? In fact, if people who don’t have a Netflix-only device and are looking to get one, they can get a cheaper one: the Roku.

Content also is streaming only. So what does that say? That means you’ll never truly own the content you buy. If you’re a Netflix subscriber, you should be used to this. If not, you will.

The price point is definitely right. At $99, it’s easy to get Apple TV as an impulse buy as opposed to a bigger financial commitment. HD TV rentals for 99 cents seems pretty good too, but $4.99 for HD movies is a little high. Why would a Netflix subscriber want to pay more money for what they can get on Netflix? If you don’t have Netflix, you’d better watch one movie per month or else pay Apple more money for what you can get on Netflix for the same price. Get my drift?

I don’t see what Apple TV brings new to the table. Perhaps one feature is pretty neat: streaming content from your iPhone or iPad to Apple TV through AirPlay. This allows your device to act as a remote so to speak.

Here’s what the dream Apple TV would have but probably won’t have:

• Blu-ray support
• 1080p streaming
• remote control via iPhone/iPad
• Pandora
• iOS support

Are you going to get an Apple TV? I really would like to know why.

You’ve read it right: the iPhone 4 does not upload HD video to YouTube or Facebook. The only possible way to upload HD video is through a computer that has downloaded the HD video from the iPhone 4. Yes, I know, it’s quite disappointing. I felt it first-hand when I tried uploading “HD” video to both of these sites. On YouTube, video is at least uploaded in 320p. On Facebook, the video is compressed so much that the quality pretty much goes to crap. I actually uploaded an HD video to Facebook last night through my Macbook Pro but it still has yet to show up.

Even when I’m on WiFi the videos are left looking pretty sad. I’m actually quite disappointed in Apple for leaving out this major detail, especially in marketing their product. They just happened to leave out that you actually can’t upload an HD video via iPhone 4. Amongst other disappointments, I wonder what other surprises show up. I’ve linked some videos below of video I’ve recorded and uploaded through the iPhone 4. It also peeves me that Facebook labels the video “HD” when it clearly (unintended pun) is not. I can’t even remove the HD label either!

Wow, I can’t even explain how exciting and crazy it’s been in the mobile industry this season! Major players right now are the HTC Evo 4G and the iPhone 4. It’s pretty much like a clash of the titans! I’m assuming that by now there are tons of posts about their specs, so I won’t list them here and I’ll assume that you’ve read about them.

Why is it so exciting? It’s bonkers right now because Apple and HTC are throwing a bunch of lawsuits at each other. Apple and Google are also competing for mobile OS domination. Apple’s equipped with iOS4 and Google has Android. Apple seems to be taking on HTC hardware-wise and Google software-wise, and they seem to be doing a pretty good job.

Right now, Apple’s big player is its new iPhone 4, and HTC’s is the Evo 4G. So are you on the fence? I was. That is, until I saw the Evo 4G at the Sprint store the other day. The size of this phone is just way too big! I could not imagine myself putting this beast in my pocket. Compared to the size of the iPhone 4, the Evo is just not pocket-friendly. Of course, some people might not mind having a brick in their pocket. I have an iPhone 3G and already think that it’s too big for my pocket. This may be considered personal preference, though. Also, I’m Asian, so my pockets may be smaller than yours. I still think that phone size is such a fundamental concept that HTC missed in its Evo 4G, though, so expect me to make fun of you when I see you take out that clunky phone.

You can compare phone dimensions here and see for yourself.

Photo is a screen shot from PhoneArena.com.

Lately, I’ve been using Google Chrome, and I don’t think I’ll be going back to using Firefox or Safari for normal everyday-browsing and here’s why:

• Extensions – The are great extensions out there that make life a little bit easier. The cool thing about the extensions on Chrome is that they appear with one click. Great extensions such as Chromed Bird and 1-ClickWeather for Chrome appear as interactive drop-downs. Ubiquity for FireFox almost provided similar functionality in that users can input commands in a pop-up window that was activated by pressing Command + Space Bar. However, “Labs is currently focusing its attention on other experiments”. You can forget about extensions for Safari because none exist. Sadness.
• Speed – Chrome is pretty lightweight compared to FireFox. It barely takes up memory usage. Firefox is a little heavier. What a fat ass. Safari though seems to be just as zippy as Chrome.
• Tab Behavior – Tab behavior on Chrome is pretty sweet. If you close a tab, it returns you to the last active tab. Safari brings you to the next tab on the left of the just-closed tab. (Argh, that means I have to use the mouse/trackpad again!) Also on Safari you navigate through tabs by Command + Shift + { or Command + … nevermind, this is just as annoying to type out as it is to use. There’s no way to navigate through tabs on Safari simply by Command + tab number. Firefox works like Chrome in that you can use Command + Arrow or Command + tab number, but it also suffers from forgetting your last active tab.
• Video Support – Oh, video support on the web. The format war about online video has been raging on lately and what a battle it’s become! Luckily, Chrome came well-prepared! It supports h.264, Theora AND VP8. All the bases have been covered, right? It looks like the others will have to duke it out or copy Chrome.

So why are you NOT using Chrome?

Today, I found out that most Firefox personas suck and here’s how I found out.

Yesterday, Firefox released 3.6.2. I upgraded as usual and was sent to the Firefox Updated page. I finally gave in to trying out the Personas feature and browsed for about half an hour trying to find a theme that was not distracting and looked seamless with the browsers buttons and input fields.

Here are some reasons why I think a lot of the Personas did not look right:

1. The background image(s) and/or colors were too distracting. Do we read websites with photographs as the background? Various colors in the background just make it hard to look for something quickly and easily.
2. The color of the title bar was too bright or makes the window title hard to read. This may be picky, but the title bar is present all the time and is pretty hard to ignore. I tried one theme that made the title bar text black and the title bar background red. Is this really that enjoyable to look at constantly? Seriously?
   
3. The browser buttons didn’t fit with the theme. It just looks strange to have these gray buttons over a natural Persona or something colorful. The buttons should look like they fit into the Persona or at least share colors that are used.

Unfortunately, I really only found one theme that fit the bill: MozillaZine. Thanks to jrocknyc I was able to find a list of some decent themes. MozillaZine was my preferred choice of his ten, but I may go back to using Themes. I just miss the full integration of Themes. Developers were able to customize fonts, tabs and buttons with Themes. Personas unfortunately only change the background.

Think of it like this: what if everything on my website was the same except the background? It would look silly.

As a member of Brightkite, I’ve seen some iPhone screenshots that I’ve usually just looked at but never thought about taking any myself. Anyway, it’s quite simple.

1. Navigate to where you want to take a screenshot.
2. Hold down the home button, and then press the on/off button.
3. The screen will flash after the photo is taken.
4. Navigate to the “Camera Roll” gallery and the screenshot will be there.
5. You’re done!

Simple as cake eh? By the way, this would be a funny little prank to pull on someone when they’re not looking. Just take a screenshot of their home screen and tell them that their icons aren’t working and hand over their phone.

In case some of you haven’t noticed, Google decided to make its buttons a little cooler. I like how they grouped each function according to how similar they behaved. The left three buttons are ways to remove the items from your inbox. The next two buttons are interesting. “Move to” is used to label an item and archive it simultaneously. “Labels” just adds a label to an item. What if you want to add more than one label to an item and then archive it? You will most likely have to do it the old school way by adding the labels and then still clicking on archive. Also, first-time users may (or may not) get confused after moving something to a label/folder. In this new interface, the labels act as both a folder and a tag.

Ohhh, did I just say tag? I wonder why Google just doesn’t implement tags and trash the idea of folders. Perhaps it may have to deal with the way Apple Mail handles Gmail. Currently, Apple Mail doesn’t have a label or tag functionality. Apple, do you hear this?

Anyway, I guess we’ll see how well users adapt to the new interface.

Photo courtesy of lovebuzz from Flickr

During the Superbowl this year (kudos to Pittsburgh for the win. You guys rule!), they played so many 3D ads for movies and TV shows that I vomit a little bit in my mouth. I really cannot imagine 3D really going anywhere past the theater experience. I really have a hard time picturing my friends and me sitting in front of the TV wearing those silly 3D glasses just to watch a show, and it’s starting to really annoy me how websites and TV are hyping it up. It’s like hyping up VHS or audio cassettes. The technology is not where it should be and it’s just plain inconvenient. Advertisers should just save their money and put it elsewhere because 3D won’t be going anywhere. In a recession, you’d think people would be spending money on something more worthwhile. But then again, Paul Blart: Mall Cop was #1 in the box office for two consecutive weekends.

YouTube went widescreen yesterday. Does this imply that YouTube will eventually start having HD content? Maybe, but not for a long time. It already took them this long to go 16:9. Sucks for folks with smaller screens! Standards are moving up.

Wondering where your old electronics go? It may end up being burned in a small village in China. Engadget posts the report. The Basel Convention, which makes shipping of electronic waste illegal, is an agreement that the U.S. has yet to ratify. Ironic since the U.S. is probably the biggest exporter of electronics.

Maybe I’ll keep my dinky cell phone and old laptop for a little while longer.