Archives by Topic: Apple
New Movies Available on iTunes Same Day as DVDs
Now, this is more like it, Apple.
According to a press-release issued by the technology company earlier today, new movie releases from all of the major film studios will be available for purchase on the iTunes store on the same day that they are released on DVD. That’s not “for rental,” which was the major drawback of the new iTunes initiatives announced earlier this year at Macworld, but for purchase.
A smattering of films had been seeing releases like this over the past couple of weeks (including Juno, which I’ve been aching to see), so I suppose this announcement shouldn’t come as a total surprise. But, surprise or not, it come as most pleasant news on the day on which my iPod decided to play dead and stop syncing with my iMac and on which my laptop’s hard drive, based on the noise coming out of it right now, decided it wanted to audition for lead singer in a death metal band.
An iPhone for $200?!?
Fortune is reporting that the next version of Apple’s iPhone will cost $200, which is about half of what it costs now. $399 has always seemed a little steep to me, even though I’d pay that in a heartbeat if I had the money. If the price comes down to $199, then I’m not going to be able to resist anymore. If the 3G iPhone really is priced at $199, I will buy on the day it’s released.
Speaking of which, who wants to bet that the opening of the Boston Apple Store will coincide with the release of the 3G iPhone? I think it’s a definite possibility.
Synchronicity: Syncing Contacts, Calendars, and Other Data Between Computers
Since bringing my iMac home from the Apple Store just over a year ago, my day-to-day computing experience has been pleasant and almost entirely absent of frustration. Yes, I still use a Windows laptop for work, and yes I spend more time on that slow-as-molasses Dell P.O.S. than I do on my Precious, but just knowing that I have an iMac to go home to at the end of the day has made days spent with the Dell significantly more tolerable.
But there is one thing missing. There is one thing about my present technology situation that drives me crazy, and that is the lack of synchronization. In short: I want all of my contacts, calendars, and e-mail easily accessible and modifiable from any computer or device that I want to access them from. I really don’t think that this is too much to ask, and I really don’t think that I should be paying extra for this kind of service.
Currently, I use IMAP and Google Apps For Your Domain to keep e-mail in sync and I use a service called Plaxo to sync data between Mail, iCal, and Address Book on my Mac and Outlook 2007 on my Dell. Plaxo is a relatively good service, but it’s prone to data duplication issues and the plugin that’s required on both ends is a system-hog. It’s free, which is cool, but I hate having to add something onto my system to make it do what I want it to do. I feel like the system should just do what I want it to do, with a minimum amount of effort put in by me.
So, I’ve begun to explore other options. The most obvious option is the one that appeals the least to me. Like so many people, I could start working entirely out of a browser. If I used Gmail and Google Calendar exclusively for all of my mail, contacts, and calendar needs, I wouldn’t have the problem I’m having now. But I like using a desktop client, and I like the way Apple’s Mail.app works specifically. And, more importantly, I can’t stand the way Gmail looks. I tend to get headaches if I stare at it for too long.
The Mac Address Book application does have the ability to sync with an online contact application natively, but that contact application is Yahoo’s. Putting aside Yahoo’s uncertain future, I find this option less than ideal because of the sheer bloatedness of their application and the clutter of its interface.
I got excited about Microsoft’s Live Mesh when I heard about it the other day, but it’s unclear to me how it would work with calendars and contacts. And, of course, it’s PC-only at the moment.
Apple’s .Mac service would seem to be a viable option, as would Spanning Sync, but each of these products violates what I believe to be a cardinal rule: thou shalt not charge extra for data synchronization.
Which leads me back to where I started, to what I’m stuck with: Plaxo. In the end, it seems like it’s probably the only option that makes sense for me right now. If I could actually edit the contacts and events that I can sync to my iPod (when, iPhone, will you finally be mine?), then I probably wouldn’t even care about having data synced to my laptop. But I can’t do that, so I’m stuck with what I’m stuck with.
Anyone out there have any thoughts on this? Do any of you use any of these syncing products? What have your experiences been like?
Topics: Apple
Apple Store Boston - Coming Soon!
I had a total moment of geek overload this morning. I was listening to Nine Inch Nails, thinking about last night’s new episode of Lost, and then I came across this sight: the scaffolding coming down in front of the soon-to-open Apple Store on Boylston Street in Boston. I’m obviously a little late to the party, as ifoAppleStore apparently had a post up about this yesterday, but I’m glad that I got to first experience the awesomeness of the scaffolding coming down in person, rather than experiencing it via the Web.
The Apple Store vs. Tech Superpowers
As we all learned in Geek Force FiveCast #002, I walk by the currently under-construction Apple Store on Boylston Street in Boston nearly every day. Tech Superpowers, a Boston-based Apple reseller whose backdoor faces the backdoor of the new store, has been providing webcam coverage of the construction since last year, and has today posted an interesting piece on the effect the Apple Store’s arrival might have on their business.
As construction nears what looks like the final stages, the mood at TSP is one of anxiety and anticipation: What will happen when the doors open? Will we get no more walk-in service customers? Will we get a boat-load of referrals from the Apple Store business consultants looking for a Mac professional services firm? Will the Genius Bar help us rent more laptops to people that have their machines in for service? Will this city block become “Apple Central” for Boston and New England?
Probably a little bit of everything.
I, for one, hope that the Apple Store and Tech Superpowers can coexist peacefully and that the local business doesn’t die out. I wants me an Apple Store very, very badly, and I haven’t been into TSP in ages (since 1999, I think, when I won a free scanner during a WFNX contest… was it TSP back then, or something different?), but I could see myself heading in there quite a bit as my iMac ages. Good luck to the peeps at Tech Superpowers!
