If anyone was paying attention at WWDC07 this year, they would have noticed Apples efforts in bringing Mac OS X Developers tools (Xcode) up to par with the rest of the apps in the Mac. Due to the Intel transition, mayor updates languished and were they put on hold to keep up with the architectural changes(there is so much they can do). But now that it is over and it’s time to move forward they are going full steam ahead with these. The developer tools are improving substantially for the Leopard release and what better time to do it than now, when Apple has four mayor platforms in place: the Mac, iPhone, iPod and their hobby Apple TV. All of these are built with Apple’s Cocoa framework and Objective-C on a OS X. So waiting to solidify the Leopard code-base before releasing SDKs for these platforms would be wise(as I mentioned before). So far, all evidence points to this. I want to believe that Apple is not as stupid as disgruntled developers and fans(me) are claiming in leaving the iPod, iPhone and TV closed platforms. I believe Apple is smart and they treasure third party developers(which can break or fortify any platform). If they didn’t, why would they have made a deal in 1997 with Microsoft to continue support for Office?
Third party developers will make OS X the entertainment platform for years to come. I once heard Brent Simons say: “Many people claim that Windows has a larger installed base than the Mac, but most Windows machines are cash registers, and those users don’t buy what Mac developers market for anyway” (Not exact words, since my memory is kind of bad). The point is completely right, Mac developers are mostly targeting a segment of the market that spends in consumer goods and creative professionals. Just take a look of widely successful Mac software…it’s mostly for consumers(Delicious-Library, NetNewsWire, RapidWeaver, appzapper, Adium). I can’t wait for a day when I can read my RSS in NetNewsWire on my Mac, on the road on my iPhone, and at home in bed in my next toy (Apple TV). OS X is going from an operating system, to a true everywhere entertainment platform.
This was supposed to be a short comment pointing to Glenn Fleishman article that says than an SDK is coming soon(he has reliable sources, and he has a good reputation).
Once again, I read it through John Grubber’s Daringfireball (if you don’t subscribe to it, DO IT, you won’t regret it).
Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, Jamiroquai, Oasis, Prince and now Madonna. Although she is not going direct like some artists, but rather going without a record label. Finally the walls are crumbling.
On a side note: I downloaded the Rainbow album on Tuesdays when it came out. I got an MP3 version of the files in very good quality (160 kbps) and DRM-less. The only interesting thing to note was the procedure it took to get it into my hands. Sign into the web page, enter my credit card info, received a confirmation email. Since it was pre-released I had to wait till Tuesday. In the meantime they sent me a pre-release notification email:
THANK YOU FOR ORDERING IN RAINBOWS. THIS IS AN UPDATE.
YOUR UNIQUE ACTIVATION CODE(S) WILL BE SENT OUT TOMORROW MORNING (UK TIME). THIS WILL TAKE YOU STRAIGHT TO THE DOWNLOAD AREA.
HERE IS SOME INFORMATION ABOUT THE DOWNLOAD:
THE ALBUM WILL COME AS A 48.4MB ZIP FILE CONTAINING 10 X 160KBPS DRM FREE MP3s.
MOST COMPUTERS NOW HAVE ZIP SOFTWARE AS PART OF THE OPERATING SYSTEM; IF YOUR COMPUTER DOES NOT, YOU NEED TO GET WINZIP OR ZIPIT INSTALLED PRIOR.
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR PROBLEMS DOWNLOADING YOUR FILE, PLEASE CONTACT OUR DOWNLOAD CUSTOMER SERVICE TEAM AT
And after that I got the actual email for the download. Three emails plus sign up. It’s nice that artists are going direct, but we are really going to need music brokers (i.e. iTunes, AmazonMP3 etc) to make it even easier and cheaper.
Andrew Carter has an interesting piece on Radiant CMS on Rails.
The state of cms/blogging software on rails is still weak. Maybe it is because of what Andrew said, that it is so easy to build a cms in a couple of hours. But still I think the RoR community should go with one and strengthen it. Something like mephisto, typo, or radiant could be great contenders to wordpress if their roadmaps got more serious, thus pulling in greater community support.
That’s Motion Picture Association of America(MPAA) which also tries to hurt people that share:
I know that movies are more expensive to make than a music record, so I am going to spare you on my “anarchist speech”, but still you need to step it up a bit. No more you need this OS to play on this device and need to rent for 24 hours crap and it expires. Make it easy to pay, download and view movies in real time. I know you make shit-loads of money from DVDs, but there is a whole new economy waiting to be tapped in the digital world. Downloads are your friend, not your enemy. Start simultaneous releases worldwide, and offer movies everywhere in different mediums simultaneously in order to reduce piracy. Non of that “after it’s been a while in DVD you can rent it online crap”, because it doesn’t make sense. Your sales will probably dip if you cannibalize DVD sales, but profits will soar. It is hard for me to believe that it would cost that much to be able to make an online movie store. Right now the state of all movies stores suck, for one reason of the other, and I know it is all your fault. So help these technology help you(like iTunes). Use bitorrent technology as a way to lower distribution costs. Innovation is there for the taking: So do it!
Interesting comparison TechCruch did a year ago on the different stores. Link.
And another one does…Yes another mayor music group has ditched the mayors and going solo. Nine Inch Nails (NIN) are announcing that they are officially free agents. It wouldn’t be a surprise that they would distribute their album just like Radiohead. The recent lawsuit victory for $220,000 over 24 pirated songs will probably be the climax of this whole RIAA fiasco. The walls are starting to fall!!!
I am not an anarchist, but fair pricing is fair pricing…the market demands agility(downloads not CDs) and cheap pricing (cents or free, not dollars)!
When Apple announced the delay of Leopard(because of the iPhone), they said it would ship in October. As for the iPhone Apple said June, so they actually took all the time they could and released on the 29 which was by the way, the last Friday of that month. Therefore if they follow the current pattern and release on a Friday at 6pm (just like Tiger and the iPhone), Leopard should be showing up in shelves on the 26th of October. That would mean that an announcement should be made as early as this week in terms of pre-orders. I can’t wait to install it. Favorite feature: Spaces, Core Animation and native Ruby on Rails support. I hope Mac developers offer discounts on the Leopard upgrades to their apps. I especially want to see what TexMate and Delicious-Monster have in the works. This is going to be a developer’s release(cool features for developers to create sexy apps) thus a release for the next generation of indy software that will benefit consumers. 2007 is going down in history as the year of mayor OS updates: Vista, Leopard and the best of the best, according to their CEO…Amiga OS 5(he said it’s better than OS X…lol).
(I do hope that Leopard is much more stable than when Tiger got released!)
The OLPC(one laptop per child) program which has generated enough buzz to last them a couple of more years is having a sale for US residents: Buy one for you, and a second one is sent to some kid. It costs $400 to do this, and it is tax deductible. David Pogue from NYT has a review and video on it. If it was a bit cheaper I would buy one. It is priced at the same price of an iPhone. The only difference is that it is really, really open. This will be the favorite geek toy, this upcoming christmas.
I just pre-ordered Radiohead’s latest controversial album (Rainbow) for just 1.45 pounds. I am not a cheap bastard! I went to iTunes and checked my library and found I had only three of their previous songs. Therefore I decided to pay to actually see if I like them. That comes out to roughly $0.25 cents per song….more or less what eMusic charges for an indy group(which they are now, since they are lable-less).
3/4 cup double-strength coffee, cold
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 cup low-fat milk
2 cups ice
Steps:
Make double-strength coffee by brewing with twice the coffee required by your coffee maker: That should be 2 tablespoons of ground coffee per each cup of coffee. Chill before using.
To make drink, combine all ingredients in a blender and blend on high speed until ice is crushed and drink is smooth. Pour into two 16-ounce glasses, and serve with a straw.
CARAMEL:
For this version, add 3 tablespoons of caramel topping to the original recipe and prepare as described. Top each glass with whipped cream and drizzle additional caramel over the whipped cream.
MOCHA:
For this version, add 3 tablespoons Hershey’s chocolate syrup to the original recipe and prepare as described. Top each glass with whipped cream, if desired.
Judging from our checks, as much as 10 percent of the iPhones sold in September were purchased with the intention to be resold unlocked.
I don’t really trust the guy, but he is making a point. Apple has to open up if it really wants to take over a solid chunk of the wireless business(far beyond their 10 mill estimates).
