Monthly Archive for October, 2007

Apple-NBC War Continues

Published
by
Dan Hamilton
on October 29, 2007
in Technology
. 0 Comments

Jeff Zucker, head of NBC Universal, wanted a piece of Apple’s iPod sales in return for a deal to sell NBC’s programming on iTunes:

“Apple sold millions of dollars worth of hardware off the back of our content and made a lot of money,” Zucker said. “They did not want to share in what they were making off the hardware or allow us to adjust pricing.”

“We don’t want to replace the dollars we were making in the analog world with pennies on the digital side,” he said.

So, let me get this straight Jeff.

You want Apple to pay you a percentage of each iPod sale for the right to sell, for $1.99, an episode of the Office on iTunes.

Now, this is the same content that you give away for free every week.
The same stuff that anybody with a TiVo can record and then skip all those commercials when they watch it later.
Are you the dumbest guy on the planet?
Good luck with hoho or whatever you call it. HoHo is not exactly burning with buzz but I’m sure it’s just what everyone wants - the ability to watch streaming TV and movies with commercials on their PC.
Oh yeah, and another thing Jeff. Apple didn’t sell iPods off the back of your content (which you already give away for free). Apple sold iPods off the back of the Big 5 music label’s content (LOL).
Seriously, Zucker’s thinking is the problem here. He believes that his viewers will just watch where and when and how he says they will. It is a pre-digital mindset. The problem is that as DVD’s, TiVo and iPods and iPhones have become common place, viewers have realized that they like the ability to choose the time and place and medium to watch TV shows and movies. That’s why the movie theaters are slowly dying. Its why TV ratings are steadily declining. Its why DVD, iPods and TiVo sales are increasing.

Zuckers mindset conveniently forgets that iTunes sales saved his bacon:

“I’m not sure that we’d still have the show on the air” without the iTunes boost, says Angela Bromstead, president of NBC Universal Television Studio, which owns and produces “The Office.” “The network had only ordered so many episodes, but when it went on iTunes and really started taking off, that gave us another way to see the true potential other than just Nielsen. It just kind of happened at a great time.”

I think Apple should do one of two things - either seriously look into buying NBC Universal from General Electric or, drop the H-Bomb and release a version of iTunes that will rip DVDs in the “it just works” Apple way. I’m sure either move would get the movie studios and networks to play ball.

Apple’s No Cash For iPhone is Legal

Published
by
Dan Hamilton
on October 29, 2007
in Technology
. 0 Comments

Although, this guy doesn’t think so, Apple’s No Cash allowed policy is probably legal:

Coinage Act of 1965, specifically Section 31 U.S.C. 5103, entitled “Legal tender,” which states: “United States coins and currency (including Federal reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal reserve banks and national banks) are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues…There is, however, no Federal statute mandating that a private business, a person or an organization must accept currency or coins as for payment for goods and/or services. “

Oddly enough, I am a licensed attorney so here’s my thoughts for what its worth (and that’s not much I’m afraid).

Since there is no Federal Law that mandates private merchants accept cash for transactions, private merchants are free to not accept cash. The point here is two fold, first, the Federal Government can only enforce Federal Laws that exist and second, the regulation of private merchants is generally left to the States. While State Law may require private merchants to accept cash, I don’t know of (and have not heard of) any States that require private merchants to accept cash.
There are also freedom of contract issues here. Parties are generally free to set the terms of their own contracts. A consumer purchase is just a form of contract. Apple agrees to sell you and iPhone and you agree to pay for it. Apple is now setting the term that the only way you can pay is via credit card. You are certainly free to reject that term and, of course, Apple can refuse to sell to you since you rejected its terms.
The commerce clause argument (i.e. that the iPhone is a device regulated by the Federal Government and is often used in interstate commerce) is interesting. The problem is that who is going to foot the legal bills to challenge it - especially given current interpretations of the commerce clause (i.e. due to the conservative nature of the federal courts they have tried to limit the scope of the commerce clause. I think it is safe to assume that commerce clause challenges will generally fail - especially in this case where the challenge is not to any federal or state law but to the policy of a private merchant).

That being said, it is still interesting to consider.

The FCC has no regulatory powers over the sale of the device (i.e. it can’t influence the price apple sells it for or who apple sells it to) so the argument that the iPhone is subject to federal government regulation based on FCC requirements is peripheral at best.
The more interesting argument is that the iPhone is often used in interstate commerce. The problem here is that the current view of the commerce clause, outlined in United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549 (1995), United States v. Morrison, 529 U.S. 528 (2000) has set the limits of the commerce clause to (1) the channels of interstate commerce; (2) the instrumentalities of interstate commerce and; (3) actions that affect interstate commerce. Now these limits apply to Federal Law. Since there is no Federal law that requires private merchants to accept cash, I suspect that courts would find no commerce clause argument can apply based on Lopez and Morrison. Additionally, Seminole Tribe v. Florida, 517 U.S. 44 (1996) held that the commerce clause does not give the federal government the power to abrogate the sovereign immunity of the states. Thus, since States have the power to regulate private merchants, a commerce clause challenge to the policy of a private merchant will fail.
Anyway, that’s my 15 minute legal analysis and its probably not very good. I think the U.S. Treasury statement is much more authoritative.

**Note: Although I am an attorney, I am not your attorney. Nothing in this post or on this website should be taken as legal advice. If you need legal advice, contact your state’s legal services association or bar association who can refer you to an attorney.

iPhone Bashing for Fun and Profit

Published
by
Dan Hamilton
on October 29, 2007
in Technology
. 0 Comments

This blog compares Daring Fireball’s post on Apple’s fourth quarter earnings with this mess of a post about the iPhone sales numbers as some kind of lazer that cuts throught the iPhone hype. It is simply amazing to me how people like to ignore or discount facts. It should come as no surprise that iPhone bashing is a sure way to get web traffic.

As much as I hate to do it, sometimes you see something that just gets under your skin. So….

The Mobile-Review.com article makes some seriously crazy arguments.

First, that Apple was behind the iPhone unlocking madness:

somebody really wants third-party companies and certain individuals to bypass the iPhones security and share their methods with others. Apple’s rivals, apparently, are not interested in this, why would they want to boost its sales and market shares anyway. So the only party that can actually gain here is Apple itself.

The basis for this ridiculous assertion? That somebody gave George Hotz a new car for hacking the iPhone and, that someone offered $100,000 for a software hack to unlock the iPhone.

The inference Mobile-Review.com makes is that given this large amount of money at issue and since Apple would benefit, Apple had to be behind this iPhone unlocking effort.

Of course, this is just pure BS. A 2 minute Google search uncovers the truth. The iPhone was hacked because folks rightly assumed that there would be a lucrative market for unlocked iPhones in which a SIM card from any cell phone carrier could be used.

Next, Mobile-Review.com argues that Apple, sinister monster that it is, has created to the iPod Touch to get people into the stores only to bait and switch them into the iPhone, all in some nefarious plot to get to the 10 million iPhone sales figure:

And the fact that the Touch is not hyped or promoted like its glamorous sibling should come as no surprise either – those who really need it and know exactly what they want will go for the Touch, and everybody else will be better off with iPhones in their pockets, for it is the company’s main focus.

Ummm. Ok. Well lets see here. Forget the fact that after Apple announced the iPhone, everyone assumed that Apple would eventually release something like the iPod Touch. Forget the fact that Apple is going to make truckloads of cash from selling the iPod Touch this holiday season. Forget the fact that the iPod touch is the future of the iPod family of products. Are people going to be “up-sold” from the iPod Touch to the iPhone? Yes. Is there anything wrong with that? Nope, its a perfectly accepted retail practice (see: Mac Mini). Please tell me Mobile-Review.com that you have something else besides this.

Well, Mobile-Review.com does have something else and its a doozy: Apple wants unlocked iPhones since it knows that in order to get its 10 million sales goal, it will have to sell iPhones to people who do not use AT&T:

Apple has deliberately driven all contracted phones out of its stores, so now it offers only the hardware. This means that the goal (10 million units sold) will be achieved at any cost, even if the company’s partners, carriers in this particular case, will suffer. Apple alone is responsible for the market of illegal iPhones that has already emerged – if they didn’t make it so affordable, it all would be different.

Yes. Of course. That’s why Apple is limiting iPhone Sales to 2 per person. And why it has warned everyone that unlocking the iPhone invalidates its warranty. I see everything now - if Apple says No, they really mean Yes, Black is White, Up is Down. Ugh. Come on. Be serious here.

I can’t believe that this guy had the nerve to call this hair-brained conspiracy theory a valid counter weight to Daring Fireball’s rational analysis. I kept asking myself why. Why would anyone make such a irrational argument? Then I checked the traffic logs on my website.

In the past week, I’ve made about 1 post per day. But, my best days for traffic were articles that were directly about the iPhone. Anything iPhone drives web traffic. I guess thats why drivel like Mobile-Review.com gets written. iPhone bashing for fun and profit. Ugh.

[Updated: October 30, 2007]

One of the challenges I am struggling with on this site is whether to open up my random thoughts to comments. Due to some bad (i.e. overwhelming spam comments) experiences, have comments turned off, but I am allowing trackbacks. So, today, I got a trackback from ramikayyali.com, who originally linked to the Mobile-Review.com article. Here’s a link to his response. I am not sure how to take his response. My original gripe was really with the Mobile-Review.com conspiracy theory and I only peripherally had an issue with the ramikayyali.com post. But, as I see his response, I think he’s proving the point I was trying to make - i.e. that bashing Apple or the iPhone is a sure way to drive traffic to your blog:

the reason I linked to such “drivel” is so I can read more responses like Dan’s.

Was I sarcastic? Yes. Was the Mobile-Review.com article “drivel”. Yup, in my opinion it was.

I have re-read Rami’s original post a number of times and I think I got it right. Rami is making a comparison to the Mobile-Review.com conspiracy theory and the Daring Fireball Tea Leaf reading. I just don’t think its a valid (or fair) comparison.

But, like Rami, I’ll let my readers decide.

Sox Win!

Published
by
Dan Hamilton
on October 29, 2007
in General
. 0 Comments

 


I ran from school in 1978 only to have Bucky Bleeping Dent crush my hopes. In 1986, I watched the ball roll behind the bag. Grady Little in 2003. In 2004, I finally got to see the World Championship. Now, 3 years later I get to see another. 


Six Leopard Hidden Gems

Published
by
Dan Hamilton
on October 27, 2007
in Technology
. 0 Comments

Well, I’ve been up most of the night poking around Leopard and have come across some hidden gems:

DASHBOARD MOVIE WIDGET: what the hell was Apple thinking holding this back? It is awesome, and I hardly ever use widgets. Be sure to check it out.

PREVIEW: Good Lord, has preview been beefed up. Try this: take a picture of someone and save it as a jpg. Then open it in preview and use the Extract Shape tool to “carve them out” of the background. Preview is like the cheap person’s photoshop now. You can play with the color levels, put text over pictures, crop, flip and adjust. Oh yeah, it does some cool things with PDF’s too.

TEXT EDIT: A free word processor. It checks grammar and spelling. It does bullets and outlines. You can make up styles. For 80% of the world, its as good as M$ Word.

WEB CLIP: I check the lottery numbers web page ever day. No more. That strange box next to the reload button in safari, just click it and then “Clip out” a section of an web page that you want you check and is often updated. Ta Da! instant, updating Dashboard widget, no need to launch in the web page browser, just hit F12.

DICTIONARY: Not sexy, but useful. The dictionary has been beefed up with Oxford American Dictionary, a thesaurus and wikipedia. Just highlight a word, control-click and chose dictionary.

ALEX: The new leopard voice is so good its scary sometimes. I have had my mac speak the time since OS X 10.1 but when Alex did it tonight, I thought for sure someone else was in my house at 2 a.m.

There’s a ton of other cool things (print preview is very cool now, back to my mac makes the $99 dot mac worth the cost, quick look is very handy, spotlight searching is beefed up and faster, there’s a ton of hi-resolution pictures of mac hardware hidden in one of the library folders) but these are 6 things that I had either forgotten about or didn’t know about. Let me know if you find any other hidden gems.

Five Minute Leopard Install Review

Published
by
Dan Hamilton
on October 26, 2007
in Technology
. 0 Comments

Still in the process of getting everything up and running since I did an erase and install, but here are my first impressions:

1. Snappy.
2. Make sure you disable Airport before you boot the Leopard install disk. With Airport on, it did not see my laptop’s hard disk.
3. File icons are flat, not sure if I like that, especially since its harder to distinguish between them.
4. What happened to Airport Disc Utility?
5. No Time Machine over Airport? I actually saw several websites note this. Hopefully Apple will fix this with an update down the line. Kind of takes the ooomph out of Airport Discs when your primary machine is a laptop (I mean who wants to be tethered to a USB disc all the time?).
6. Started install at 7 p.m., got the welcome video a little over 1 hr later (note that I let the install verify the install disk which took about 30 minutes).
7. Still getting things back into shape. I tried to cut corners by not doing a full hard disk back up (just applications and the user folder since I keep my documents, movies and iTunes and iPhoto libraries on an Airport Disc).  Probably could have saved time by doing an archive and install, but I wanted a fresh start. This messed me up with my calendars and mail accounts. Got the calendars working pretty easily. Still working on the mailboxes and hoping that when I sync iPhone my contacts will fill in. Also looks like some of my applications need to have the serial numbers put back in.
8. Some old applications are showing the generic OS X icon in the finder. I’m hoping that disc utility will fix that.
9. Dock on the right will show flat (which is good) and in 3D when it is on the bottom.
10. Like the new Leopard voice.

Well, in the time it took me to write this, the last of my files have copied onto my laptop. Looks like I have a bit of clean-up and then I’ll need to run disk utility to repair permissions and I should be good to go.

Welcome to Leopard everyone!

iTunes Needs Movie Rentals

Published
by
Dan Hamilton
on October 26, 2007
in Technology
. 0 Comments

With the exception of the iPod Shuffle, all of Apple’s iPods and the iPhone support video playback. Yet, the movie and TV sections of the iTunes store have become stagnant with little new content. While iTunes has millions of songs for sale, it has less than 1,000 movies. The Apple TV, Apple’s “hobby”, appears to be going nowhere. Apple needs to do something soon to step up its video content market. But what?

Well one of the things Apple seems to be doing is to go after short films. But this is not a viable long-term solution. Apple needs video content soon to help fill up all of those iPods and iPhones that will end up in stockings this Christmas. Many of those iPods are going to be replacing ones that can’t play video. Come the end of January, unless Apple has something up its sleeve, people are going to start asking why there’s no content.
Apple’s position seems to be that the iTunes movie and TV sections are still young:

“We’re really at the beginning stage in the movie space,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president for iTunes, adding that iTunes had sold more than four million movie downloads…but still had fewer than 1,000 titles for sale.

But this is simply not a reasonable argument when all of your products support video playback.

To further put the heat on Apple, the infamous NBC-Apple feud has apparently ended badly for Apple as talks between NBC-Universal have broken down. Thus, come December 1, all NBC shows, many of which are iTunes top sellers, will be pulled from iTunes.

Unlike the music business, Movie and TV producers seem to have Apple’s number:

NBC Universal spokesman Cory Shields said his company’s programs help drive the sales of iPods. “The iPod is only as good as the content on it,” he said.

I suspect NBC’s challenge to iTunes will eventually fail. Although (unlike the music business), NBC does not get any significant portion of its revenue from iTunes sales, it does get buzz among the people it most wants to attract with its shows. Not to offer it on the iTunes store is just foolish. But, the fact that NBC can even think it is possible to challenge Apple and the reason Apple’s movie selection is so meager can probably be pinned on one person: David Porter of Wal-Mart.

It seems Mr. Porter has clubbed the movie studios into submission in order to protect Wal-Mart’s multi-billion dollars in DVD sales. As a result, digital movie sales are stuck in the mud with limited selection and insistence by the studios on high prices and ridiculous digital rights management (DRM) restrictions.
But there may be a way out for Apple: Movie Rentals.

Leopard Key to iPhone Enhancements

Published
by
Dan Hamilton
on October 25, 2007
in Technology
. 0 Comments

With the release tomorrow of Mac OS X Leopard, I expect that the iPhone will finally “come home” to the OS it was designed to operate with. Consequently, over the next couple of months iPhone users should see a significant increase in the iPhone’s capabilities.

It has been argued, correctly I think, that the iPhone is a Leopard device and needs the new technology of Leopard to reach its maximum potential. With Leopard’s release, I expect that the iPhone firmware is due for an update - probably within the next 2 weeks.
We should see, at a minimum, an update to the iPhone’s mail and calendar applications to support the enhancements Leopard makes in those applications and, maybe some other goodies.
For mail, expect Leopard to allow you synchronize the iPhone Notes application (edit and start new notes on the desktop that are then uploaded to iPhone on the next sync). I imagine the iPhone will also get its missing To-Do app to integrate with Leopards enhanced To-Dos.

On the Calendar side, I suspect that the iPhone calendar app already supports Apple’s new iCal Server and the CalDAV format but if it doesn’t yet, the next iPhone software update will take care of that.

I also suspect that we will finally see iChat for the iPhone sometime soon.

However, the biggest enhancements the iPhone will see are a direct result of Apple’s confirmation that it will release a Third-Party Developer Software Development Kit (SDK) to allow new applications on the iPhone. Despite all of the gnashing of teeth about the iPhone’s lack of a real development kit for third party software developers, I had always assumed that Apple would eventually open up the iPhone for its developers. Steve Jobs’ announcement that a SDK will be released in Febuary caused much rejoicing in the Mac development community.
The release of Leopard also gives a glimpse of what kind of SDK Apple will provide. For example, Core Animation is already known to be a part of the iPhone software and it is expected that some of Leopard’s security features were put into OS X specifically for iPhone. As folks begin to unlock the secrets of Leopard in the next few months, expect that some of those hidden features will become part of the iPhone.
One of the overlooked things that Apple has done in the past couple of weeks is to create a new section of their developer web site geared specifically to the iPhone. They’ve also given registered developers access to recorded video from the iPhone tech talks Apple scheduled in various major cities a few months ago. The new iPhone development site should be a hub of activity over the next couple of months.
Now, I suspect the iPhone development environment will be a separete or unique mode of XCode (or quite possibly an enhancement to Dashcode) and that Apple will build into the development tool the security it needs to support 3rd party iPhone development. Once that new tool is in developers hands (and developers will probably get it at or soon after January’s Macworld Conference), iPhone users should begin to see new iPhone applications roll out a a nice pace.

The next couple of months should be an exciting time for iPhone users.

With Leopard’s release iPhone users should see an software update in the next couple of weeks (since Apple will want to put it out before the holiday buying season starts in earnest), and probably one right after Macworld in January as Third-Party developers begin to crank out new iPhone applications. Let the fun begin!

Classic World Series Moments: I ain’t got my Taco

Published
by
Dan Hamilton
on October 25, 2007
in General
. 0 Comments

Royce Clayton and Coco Crisp


Here’s a conversation, caught by the TV crew and played on the broadcast, from game 1 of the 2007 World Series between Royce Clayton and Coco Crisp of the Red Sox about Taco Bell’s free taco promotion.

Royce: You said if somebody steals a base in the World Series… 

Coco: The first time somebody steals a base… Taco Bell is gonna give one taco… to everybody in America. 

Royce: To everybody what? 

Coco: In America. 

Royce: That day? 

Coco: I dunno… [unintelligible] 

Royce: What the hell you talkin’ bout? It’s gotta be that day. 

Coco: But there’s only like two hours left in the day at that point. 

Royce: So what? That’s what the deal has to be. How you gonna come in and say, “I ain’t got my taco!” You could go to every Taco Bell in the world and say that. “I didn’t get my taco!” How they gonna know?

So Royce, on the unlikely event you check my blog, here’s the official rules:


During any game of the 2007 World Series, Taco Bell will offer the prize identified below for ANY “stolen base.”
For purposes of this event, an eligible “stolen base” is defined as a base stolen during regulation or extra innings play and is subject to the determination/designation of the official Major League Baseball scorekeeper as an official stolen base.
If a base is stolen during regulation or extra innings play by any player for either team, Taco Bell will offer every person in the U.S. the opportunity to obtain one (1) free Crunchy Seasoned Beef Taco
Only one (1) Free Taco will be permitted per person, regardless of how many eligible bases are stolen during the Games.
This offer is open to legal residents of the fifty (50) United States and the District of Columbia only.
Eligible consumers can obtain their free Crunchy Seasoned Beef Taco on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 (if base is stolen in Games 1 or 2) OR November 6, 2007 (if base is stolen in Games 3-7).
To obtain the Free Taco, consumers must visit any participating Taco Bell® restaurant in one of the fifty (50) the United States or District of Columbia between 2:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. (local time) on the Redemption Date only and request a Free Crunchy Seasoned Beef Taco.
Limit one (1) Free Crunchy Seasoned Beef Taco per person.

So, Royce, I hope that clarifies things for you. Oh, I almost forgot. You don’t get a taco:

MLB Entities and employees thereof are ineligible.

And, the “I ain’t got my taco” excuse might not work:


Participating Taco Bell restaurant manager reserves the right to deny Free Taco to any person he/she reasonably believes has already received a Free Taco or has engaged in any other fraudulent activity.

So, hopefully Coco will steal a base in game 2 so we can all get our free tacos. 

[UPDATED 10/25/2007: Jacoby Ellsbury, the Red Sox rookie center fielder, just stole 2nd base and earned everyone a free taco]

Happy (belated) Birthday iPod

Published
by
Dan Hamilton
on October 24, 2007
in Technology
. 0 Comments

I missed this yesterday - the iPod’s 6th Birthday.

I remember watching this webcast. It was held, I believe, in Apple’s (small) town hall auditorium and everybody and their brother knew that Apple’s big secret was going to be an MP3 player. Looking back now is how much folks hated it. It was mac only. It was expensive ($399 for 5GB). The overall reaction from the tech pundits (and just about everyone else) was that the iPod was not a game changer.

Pretty funny. I still have my original 5 GB iPod and it still works like a charm. One of its coolest things about that 1st generation iPod? It came sticker on it with the words “Don’t Steal Music”.

Re-live the birth:

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