Apple recently re-branded its iPhone OS to the less device-specific iOS, and not only because it seemed ridiculous to have the iPhone operating system powering the iPad, which is a decidedly different gadget. No, as rumors surrounding the upcoming iTV suggest, Apple wants to bring the touch-enabled, app-powered operating system to still more hardware platforms.
A new patent application making the rounds suggests that Apple’s plans for iOS go beyond its Apple TV revamp, too, and extend to the desktop. The patent in question describes a modular iMac, with the ability to pivot down to a more touch-friendly angle and the power to switch between OS X and iOS, depending on your needs at any given computing session.
Obviously, Apple considers its forays into touch-enabled mobile computing a success and wants to translate that success to its traditional desk and laptop computing divisions. Anyone who’s used an iDevice and/or gotten used to multi-touch gestures using either a Mac notebook trackpad or the recently released Magic Trackpad peripheral will likely attest to the convenience and ease of use of Apple’s take on touch computing. But can the iOS model be successful on more traditional computers, and who will reap the benefits of such a change?
In some ways, of course, a unified iOS platform across all devices will be a boon to consumers. Presumably, apps purchased for one platform will be installable and usable on each of the others (with limitations and exceptions, as evidenced by the iPad and iPhone differences). So your money will go farther, and a more uniform experience means that even the most casual computer users will get the most out of their devices.
But the consumer isn’t the party that stands to gain the most from a move towards iOS. Apps are the key to Apple’s mobile operating system, and apps, as we’ve seen, present a sort of “walled garden” version of the Internet for safer, more controlled consumption of content. Apple’s policies regarding the policing of that walled garden are of debatable merit, but what isn’t in question is the advantage to content producers.
By segmenting, repackaging and reselling focused content bundles in the form of apps, Apple is making it possible for web content creators to charge users directly for their wares, instead of having to rely on the unpredictable revenue stream provided by advertising, which has by far been the dominant model to date. The widespread availability of free information on the web has been cited as responsible for the gradual decline of traditional media outlets, like print news.
iOS on more devices means more potential revenue sources for media providers and content creators, and could provide the boost that journalism is looking for. Ironically, it should help Google, too, since the relevance of its search capabilities depends upon the continued production of good and useful information sources, which apps could help fund in a big way going forward.
Of course, the upshot is that Apple gets to operate as the arbiter of taste and morality for all of the content that passes through its gates. Is it a small price to pay for the continued sustainability of media production, or a pill you’re ultimately unwilling to swallow?
Related GigaOM Pro Research: Rogue Devices: The Consumer Influence On Enterprise Mobility, Part 1
Written by Darrell Etherington on August 24th, 2010 with no comments.
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There’s a movement underfoot. A movement to break free of cable providers’ high costs and poor service. A movement to time- and device-shift. A movement to watch what we want, where we want, when we want. For me, personally, there’s no way I can rid myself of my cable bill. My wife is the chief TV watcher in the family who also pays the bills, so, well, we’re getting cable. However, were I to be a single guy, I’d not pay for cable; I just can’t justify the money. Plus, I tend to get wind of the cool TV show to watch three years after it debuted, leaving me to play catch-up. Usually, that’s in the form of an expensive DVD set or iTunes purchase. I am also usually just as comfortable watching something in my office, or in bed on the iPad.
This has made me take a serious look at Hulu Plus and Netflix.
The CliffsNotes version of this article: if you’re a movie person, get Netflix, If you’re a TV person, get Hulu Plus. The reason: Hulu’s movie selection is completely abysmal, whereas Hulu Plus is good for current-run TV shows.
Now, lets look at the apps. Our sister site NewTeeVee has a write-up covering the availability of shows here, so I’m not going to subject you to a large table in this post.
Hulu Plus ($9.99 per month)
There’s been a lot of bloviating about the short ads you’re forced to watch, even on the paid version of Hulu. They are noticeable, with an announcer’s voice that frequently grated on me. While I can kinda see the point, for me, it’s not a big deal; my cable-only channels subject me to longer, more frequent commercial interruptions. The ads on Hulu Plus aren’t a deal-breaker for me, but they are a point against the service.
What’s more of a bother to me is how limited the mobile offerings are. Not all Hulu shows are available for viewing on the iPad or iPhone. Stargate SG-1 is available in its entirety on the web; not at all on mobile (according to Netflix, this will be available for streaming August 15, so we’ll see if it’ll be on Hulu Plus then). However, Hulu Plus’s offering are deeper — where the free version might only have three shows of a season, the Hulu Plus version is more likely to have the full season. I did find Hulu was more likely to have older TV shows, as full seasons of Hill Street Blues and the A-Team are available (and let me say, the A-Team does not hold up well after all these years). Hulu’s movie selection is very weak — no mainstream movies to be found.
The app performs well. You can manage your queue, although, oddly, you can’t add a full season in one press. Because Hulu’s service is entirely streaming, I found the app a little easier to navigate than the Netflix app. However, in a curious technical decision, the Hulu Plus app doesn’t support the VGA output cable. Since I don’t have a 3G iPad, Hulu was the only one I was able to test over a cellular connection, and the results were fair, but from a small sample set: On the train to work, where AT&T coverage is spotty, the video was pixellated; at home with a better signal, it worked fine. One annoying feature in the Hulu Plus app is every time I launched it, it reminded me I was watching a video and did I want to continue watching it?
Netflix ($8.99 per month)
Comparing Hulu to Netflix is a lot like comparing iBookstore to Amazon’s Kindle store; like Amazon, Netflix has the benefit of a large library. As with Hulu, there are shows only available on Netflix — I could not find Nip/Tuck, Weeds, and Thirtysomething on Hulu; the complete offerings are only on Netflix. It also bears repeating for people who skipped my intro bit that Netflix is the place for you to go if you’re into movies.
I found the Netflix app to be a little sluggish. The video playing was usually fine, but I encountered a lot of slowness browsing the libraries. It’s also hard to pull down the Genres list — postings at the bottom were cut off. In addition, it’s impossible to just search by the titles available for streaming. Unlike the Hulu app, Netflix actually uses the VGA cable.
Final Thoughts
I was hoping that, at least for TV shows, one service would be a home run. Sadly, that’s not the case. While I found more TV shows on Netflix than Hulu that I enjoyed, I could convince myself to pay for Hulu for a few months to re-watch Hill Street Blues as well as start House and Law and Order. I’d be well ahead of the DVD costs. Hulu also earns points for current shows.
Given the economics, it’s not a requirement for an either-or service, For less than $20 a month, you can have access to a great library of movies and TV shows. The ads on Hulu Plus are a bummer. You get no commercials and larger selection (including movies, on Netflix) but Hulu Plus also lets you stay current on your shows. If you’re just staying current, and not digging through a backlist, there’s little reason to sign up for Hulu Plus.
Looking Ahead: My Wishlist
Both these apps are fantastic, but operate under the necessity of an Internet connection, which means you’re screwed if you’re on a plane or in a bad cell area without Wi-Fi. What I’d love is for these apps to have the ability to also download movies into their device library for off-line viewing. I’m not sure how the licensing or logistics would work, but I hope that’s in their plans.
Which app do you prefer, and why?
Related GigaOM Pro Research: Three Reasons Hulu Plus is No Threat to Netflix
Written by Mark Crump on August 9th, 2010 with no comments.
Read more articles on Commentary and Entertainment and Media and apps and movies.
Rolling Stone‘s Special Issue of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time made its debut Tuesday on Zinio, a digital publishing platform that could spell the difference between “survive” and “thrive” for old-school media publications looking to keep the doors open in coming years. With a stable of top-tier periodicals such as National Geographic, Esquire, [...]
Written by Lonnie Lazar on August 5th, 2010 with no comments.
Read more articles on Apple and Media and Music and News and Reviews.
So you’ve got this great Mac, and you’ve probably got some great photos or video of the family, or that mountain bike adventure, or the last rock concert you and your friends attended. Whether you like to show off these great moments and experiences on your mobile iDevice, or at home on the computer or high-def TV, the same conundrum can occur: How do you store and organize all this great stuff so it’s easily accessible in one place all the time?
I’m sure I know what you’re grumbling right now: “iPhoto/Aperture does that, what’s the big deal?” Well, if you want to get right to the good stuff — all the good stuff — without scrubbing through the chaff first, there may be a better way to address the situation.
The situation as I see it, looks something like this:
- Over time, I’ve used iPhoto, so I have some photos there.
- I also, and exclusively now, use Aperture.
- I’ve got random video clips from the point-and-shoot camera that are scattered around Finder and iPhoto.
- I’ve got Flip video in the Flip version of iPhoto.
- I’ve got photos and HD video from my iPhone 4 in Aperture.
I realize that maybe I’m just sorely disorganized (ok, I know I am), but I’m guessing similar conditions probably exist in many a household out there in reader-land. Sharing all of this from my Mac is one thing. At least it’s all right there, so even if I have to switch apps and dig a little bit, I can get to it. But then there’s the real kicker: How do I elegantly get all of the good stuff synced to my mobile iDevice to share on the go?
My Solution
The solution I came up with isn’t necessarily the best (please share your own in the comments for the good of the community!), but it has certainly proven to suit my needs. Basically, I siphon all of the photos and personal video from their various locations (older iPhoto libraries, various Aperture libraries, Flip Video, Finder, and so on) and drop them all into a single iPhoto library (which I’ve named ‘sync’).
If you’re unfamiliar with creating a new iPhoto library, it’s quite easy. When you launch iPhoto, hold down the Option key, and a dialogue will ask you if you want to select a different library, or create a new one. Once I created the new library and dragged all my media in, I made sure it was organized in a way that made sense for me to show it off. So I’ve got ‘Family 2009′, ‘Family 2010′, ‘Photography’, and ‘Home Movies’ albums for easy access to everything. Of course, you may want to drill down to specific events like iPhoto and Aperture do, so do whatever makes most sense for your needs.
The beauty of this particular solution is that since Aperture is my main photo application, iPhoto is left untouched. Therefore, leaving the ‘sync’ library as the default in iPhoto means it’s always available for syncing to my iPhone. And of course if I’m at home I can pull up iPhoto on the MacBook or big screen to easily share the content that I want without having to sift through tons of other media that isn’t nearly as interesting.
The downside here is that whenever you have new photos or videos, you have to manually drag and drop them into your new ‘Sync’ iPhoto library. Although with a little time and know-how, Automator could be utilized to solve this problem as well.
If you’ve run into the same problem, and developed your own workaround, we’d love to hear your solution as well.
Written by Nick Santilli on August 4th, 2010 with no comments.
Read more articles on Media and Tips and iPhone and sync.
If you’re getting around now to jailbreaking your iPhone and love social media, think about adding qTweeter to your app arsenal.
There are plenty of awesome Twitter and Facebook iPhone apps, but Cult of Mac finds qTweeter a must-have because you can broadcast social media updates just by pulling the app down from the status bar, [...]
Written by Sayam Aggarwal on July 28th, 2010 with no comments.
Read more articles on Media and iPhone and iPod Touch.
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