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As I have been listening a lot of Spotify and watching more and more Comedy Central shows online and one thing seems to be a common trend: more and more ads.
Spotify is almost like a radio, except they don’t have anyone speaking before or over the music yet. Daily show seems to be interrupted quite frequently for short advertisement breaks, which have become longer and longer. First they were few seconds, then ten seconds – now even a minute.
More and more ads.
We’ve been renovating our apartment thanks to the opportunity window opened by renovations done to the plumbing, electricity and antenna wiring in all the houses in this housing company. New bathroom, floor, paint on the wall, floor lists, new furniture, new electricity and ethernet wiring make this place look and feel like new one. At some time next year – when Sonera will get their gear together – we will also have 100 megabit broadband connection to our apartment. At that time we should also have a new lcd-tv and I’ve been wondering what would be the best way to use and consume media in our living room.
In my ideal situation I would have a media pc that can be used with a remote controller from a sofa and has a good usable interface, when working without mouse and keyboard. Media pc should be able to utilize media from external hard drive and from the network shares. As the future for streaming media and online purchases is undecided, it would be preferable if one could install own software ( Spotify, Videofy, last.fm, iTunes etc. ) to the machine. From hardware perspective media pc should be small and quiet, so that hissing sounds from the machine do not ruin or spoil tender moments of Titanic. It should connect to the tv with HDMI.
So far I’ve been looking at – among others – following options:
…but I can’t seem to make my mind as every option has also their downsides. Luckily I am not in a hurry, and can think about different options for a long time, as for now my laptop is sufficient to work also as a media pc when we want to watch movies, and iPod can be used to play music in livingroom.
So what is good and bad in each one of above options?
AppleTV
AppleTV is from usability point of view great device, except that it comes with a terrible stronghold by Apple. Possibility to run own software, including http://xbmc.org/ or Boxee would be good, but it seems that Apple is running cat & mouse -game with hackers, trying to wipe out both of them from Apple TV after any new updates to the Apple software on the device.
For almost 300 euros the verdict is: screw that.
Mac Mini
Neat’O! For 500 euros or so, you can get small form factor mac, where you can install any software you like. Core 2 Duo processors should be sufficient to process HD-movies to the screen via HDMI-connector. You can run your own software, including Boxee or Plex – and Spotify or other up and coming services. New machines are also quite eco friendly in terms of energy usage, so your carbon footprint also stays in shape. This would be ideal choice.
Except for the price. 500 euros is a lot to be paid for something that is used so little during the day. It is half of the price of Macbook, which could be used also during the day on the move for lots of things. When you spend already enough money on TV and speakers, you don’t want to drop another 500 euros to an additional computer. Or that is atleast what I think, at the moment.
AsRock ION 330 or Asus EeeBox EB1501 Atom N330
For 300 – 400 euros you could get your hands on new ION based computers running either linux or windows. And again you can run software you like, but I fear that general usability will be a bit worse compared to mac mini. Mac ecosystem has also the culture of well produced products, where also user experience has been well thought. Case example EyeTV, which has kicked ass compared to any other digital tv software I have seen.
However the tide might be turning as more people will get these as their nettops / HTPC-machines and price pressure drives machines / components cheaper. Get these below 200 or 250 euros and we have a really good competition, especially when Boxee and other opensource software packages get more mature.
DViCO TViX HD M-6500A and other embedded systems
Embedded media players range from starting point of 100 or so euros, up to 300 euros ( and even more ). Some or cheap and crappy – especially on the usability side, but it seems that there are really good ones like DVico Tvix HD M-6500A. HD M-6500A is in Finland about 250 euros, so it is definitely less than the price of competing products, and based on reviews it seems that usability is not an issue.
Is there any reason, why this shouldn’t be a clear winner?
Well most importantly there is no support what so ever for own programs, so these embedded media players cannot support Spotify or other future online services unless explicitly coded to do so. But…
I don’t know.
Maybe I’ll just wait and see where the world turns and whether prices come down. I have time.
I made the first step into professional audio and purchased a pair of Genelec 6010A-loudspeakers. For those in the know Genelec is manufacturer of studio monitors and loudspeakers fancied by musicians and music technicians. 6010A is their quite new entry level consumer model with a small form factor. Small but fierce is one of their marketing slogans and boy how right it is.
I thought that I would need beefed up amp and 5.1 home theater system to get sound this good. Even though these speakers are small – suitable to be used as computer speakers, they are well capable of being loud speakers for your home theater system or expensive hifi-stereosystem. I was extremely surprised about the quality of the sound and the volume these small active speakers can produce.
If you are in Helsinki and have Stockmann’s department store’s customer loyalty / bonus-card, you can get a pair of these puppies for 398 euros ( 199 euros per piece ).
Throughout the history of mankind many surges of economic growth have been built on top of oppression of people and advances of technology, especially since technology has made it faster, easier and cheaper to oppress other people.
Globalization has brought lots of good into the world and has allowed companies and humanity to tap into unused or underused resources around the globe, but at the same time it has distracted us as humanity from larger questions about the world and sustainability of the economy and our way of life. Globalization has allowed us to live over our means, as the true costs ( economic, social and environmental ) of production of goods and services has been absorbed somewhere else.
As globalization has started to show it’s effects in western countries by destruction in old employment opportunities and low cost competition from abroad it will interesting to see how it changes our perception of life, work and everything. There are global restructurings under way and no-one seems to yet know what the future will be and what will the future social contracts between citizens and countries or employees and companies be. However it is clear that countries will struggle with their social responsibilities ( services, retirement etc. ) as the growth that should be used to fund prior commitments is no longer given and opportunities for growth through oppression become more scarce.
As we are using global resources, have global workforce and global problems old nationalistic contracts and viewpoints on competition as a zero sum game should be thrown out and new ones should be figured out. It is no longer sufficient to solve problems only locally as in interconnected world someone else’s problem will be also our problem. It will be interesting to see, whether we will be able to find some kind of global solidarity and create models for economically sustainable societies that are not based on continuation of oppression.
And you don’t even need to be a tree hugger to want that.
Fell in love today. Josh Weldon’s new creation.
Super villains and heroes + human relationship story + familiar actors + musical = epic win.
Loving it.
For about a week I’ve been mostly spending time in bed as I have had an annoying virus based flue that took most of my strength away, but did not bring normal symptoms of high fever etc. – only really sore throat, headache and general fatigue. So I have been sick, but not so sick that I would have been willing to just lie down – and still too sick to do anything meaningful. Really frustrating combination as I have had lot’s of thing to do at work and otherwise too.
So this week has been quite interesting, having slept most of the time and trying to get better – and reading and watching interesting stuff that does not require too much concentration. Kevin Smith’s productions it is. I’ve been fan of Kevin Smith’s work for a long time, but until now I haven’t really been a fan of Kevin Smith. That thing however changed when I had the opportunity to read Smith’s story about his friend’s drug problems ( http://silentbobspeaks.com/?p=235 ) and listened to him tell his stories on Theevening with Kevin Smith and on his other live recordings. Besides the fact that the man is sort of low brown comic genius he also has huge heart and humble attitude towards his work and his work’s fans.
Now that my flue is otherwise over I am finally back to work ( on weekend – yay! ) and stumble upon new funny medical phenomena. Don’t really know what caused it, but for some reason my lower lip has swollen to double or triple size. Feels strange and looks even funnier, something like Buddy Love’s face when he starts his transformation back to Dr. Klump in Eddie Murphy’s The Nutty Professor. Did get some allergy medication from the doctor’s office, and swelling should go down in a day or two. If not, I might go into movie business or start making hip hop music.
Even though I’ve lately just posted about my personal disappointments with Nokia products or software, I still don’t discount Nokia in any ways as a lost cause or company. They have and have had really interesting things bubbling under and future could be very interesting if they don’t drop the ball.
Open innovations and communities
Nokia has succeeded in creating vibrant and large communities with developers who learn, program and share their products with others. If you start to develop applications on Nokia platforms there is plenty of information, examples and other users from whom to ask tips and guidance. Nokia betalabs is another great example of community through which Nokia tests their beta software and services with the public.
However these efforts have not yet produced comparable successes to iTunes Appstore’s hits.
But seeds have been sown.
Python for S60
Python as a rapid prototyping and development language on your mobile? You must be nuts! And you were untill people made it happen and now Python seems like a really nice language to write small applications. Though Nokia is still working on how to distribute Python runtime in the future to phones Python is already an interesting tool, especially as Python is already getting interesting traction and ready made examples make your start much faster than ever before.
I’m not at all interested in writing applications in C for S60. Python apis make life much more fun.
QT for S60 and Python bindings for QT
Trolltech’s QT has been bubbling under for some time and ever since the first news about porting QT to S60 came, people have been waiting for to see it in action. Demos and previews have been promising – even though I haven’t had the interest to write C-code myself. I’ve been waiting for the package to become complete – Python bindings for QT to come available also on S60.
What is interesting with QT? Learn one library / environment and you can do development on Mac, Windows, Linux and mobile devices. Common base for all the desktop applications and easy to use QT widgets also on mobile. When they get the whole package together, it should be good.
Maemo
Linux based operating system for PDAs and phones. N900 will be interesting next release to test where Maemo software and devices might be going. Could Maemo be a serious challenger for Android and replace Symbian? You never know. However it seems that there are some very smart people working in Maemo division and atleast opensource community follows with interest releases and information that comes from Maemo division. Latest example is PySlide – opensource python bindings for QT.
So Nokia has great things bubbling under. It will be interesting to see what they make out of them.
Lately I’ve really tried to get back to the mobile revolution bandwagon and enjoy about the opportunities that I have with my N95 8 Gb Smartphone. After all it is a true pocket computer with multitasking OS, GPS and what not – and these days I can write my own software with Python or Java to the phone. I’ve become really excited about all the possibilities!
However today was another big meh with Nokia software for me, as I tried to find interesting software for my phone. Just out of curiosity I decided to check what is new in Ovi Store and in Nokia Download!-application. I don’t quite get what is the idea with Download!-application these days if Nokia Ovi should be the place for everyone to get their fix on cool S60-software. If Nokia totally axed working Widsets service, why did it keep Download! alive?
Nevertheless I was happy to browse through Download!-list of applications, especially it seemed that there were widgets that I missed ( for example YTV-routeplanner ) and Facebook application, and finally Ovi Store application. Funny thing naturally was that none of those were to be found from Ovi Store.
However joy was very short lived as I started to test applications. YTV RoutePlanner did not work as it used to, there was login required to WidSets which naturally does not work anymore and anonymous usage had a broken captcha. Facebook-application just launched the webbrowser to Facebook. Ovi Store worked and seemed to be quite ok, though I did not find anything remotely interesting.
So even though I consider myself a hardcore user and really interested to try new things, there are only few pieces of software that I really use on my smartphone:
Camera + Shozu
Yeah, I like to take images and upload them. These days it seems that also Ovi works, but I am a long time Flickr user and not about to switch services. I had strange errors with Flickr-upload previously and was really frustrated untill uploads started to work with Shozu instead of Nokia’s standard upload features on Online share. As I just tested features again, they worked without any problems again.
Sports Tracker + Maps
By far the best applications from Nokia. Both are quite easy to use and have great utility. One gripe I have though, it is insane that Maps and Sports Tracker do not use same maps data. If you download maps with Maps loader, you will be suprised to see that when you start Sports Tracker that it needs to use data connection to download maps as you go.
Opera Mini
Better browser than the internal one. But then again browsing on small screen is quite pain in the ass.
Therefore most of the time I use my phone just as a 3G modem for my computer.
Instant messaging
I am still testing which instant messenger would work best for my needs, and would like to get a decent Twitter application too, but feel hesitant to pay ten euros for something that I don’t use all the time. I’m now starting to test Nimbuzz, which should give me MSN and Google talk to the phone – will blog about my experiences. Quick test showed that it worked. Another question is what is it like to use it on daily basis.
Conclusion?
I like the hardware of my Nokia N95 8Gb and all the possibilities it has. But in reality my smartphone is not that smart thanks to the software. I do envy little iPhone users who can do loads of more with their phone, and do it at ease.
Nokia made a big splash by releasing information and really slick marketing video about coming product. Throughout the internets people noticed the news and twittered about it onwards. However there was critical information missing – including pricing – to actually make something about the announcement.
After reading some commentary( among others http://gizmodo.com/5344095/nokia-booklet-3g-netbook-packs-gps-3g-hdmi-andwindows#comments ) I laughed out loud for a very poignant comment left to Gizmondo’s article ” Welcome to 2007, Nokia.” from user Samifumi.
Specifications seem interesting and promising, most interestingly 12 h battery life and sturdy looking design – but they come with a big question. Does premium design come with premium price? Patching up rumors to rumours it seems that the netbook could be priced around €399 or something else, naturally depending on subsidies given from mobile operators who might bundle booklet with unlimited dataplans. Operators like Saunalahti and Elisa in Finland are already doing that with existing netbooks – pricing dataplan and netbook bundle around 30-40 euros per month. Could Nokia’s Booklet bring something new to the equation for endusers and to the company’s bottomline.
Nokia’s stellar supply chain management and existing sales channels with operators, possibility to bundle handsets and netbooks to operator is interesting from the business perspective, and if priced right machine could get pull from the market. But there are numerous questions about the future. While discussing with Mikael about the Booklet, he immediately commented about the prospects of hardware being outdated quickly – especially as competitors in computer business have had really quick turnarounds in their lineups.
I love my 13″ MacBook, which is my main computer that I carry with me everywhere I go. If price is right, I might be tempted to try the Booklet. Even more if would work perfectly also with Linux.
On our trip to Lapland and back I had the opportunity to see and try out the much waited Nokia N97 phone. And was not thoroughly impressed, even though I saw promise in the phone.
First of all I have to say that in many cases Nokia is really trying to drive the mobile innovation, even though it seems that Apple reaps most of the benefits and fame on smartphone-front. N97 fails or comes short exactly in the area where Apple shines, usability and user experience. Since I switched to macs I have lost some of my geek nerves as these days I become frustrated with devices and programs that are not intuitive to use or fight against usability idioms I have learned or become used to. First feel with N97 was not that bad or horrible, but it felt very Nokia – something you don’t brag about or show to your friends as you might do with numerous iPhone features and apps. But N97 is clearly best and most interesting S60 Phone from Nokia and with few updates it might become excellent, if not now – hopefully in future generations.
There were lot’s of things that were good: Nokia maps worked nicely with large touch screen, flipping through photo gallery worked also well and … and I forgot the rest. I remember giving the phone back to it’s owner quite fast as the quick test drive did not immediately make me want one. “Meh, I’ll wait for the next generation or get iPhone or .. or ..”
I might feel differently about the phone if I had had it for longer time, personalized it for my needs and really used new features like widgets for web services I use. However customizing the front menu and general usability made me not to want to invest more time to testdrive the phone yet. Like I said, the phone has promise and can build on top of strong hardware features that Nokia has bunded into the phone.
Nokia still has great, great possibilities with their phones and software, if they get their stuff together. iPhone clearly sets the bar for comparison, but as we all know the iPhone ecosystem has lots of problems – most clearly the dictatorship that Apple controls about applications that are allowed into the ecosystem. Nokia’s platform is truly open and has interesting technological features, but it seems that people don’t yet get the best out of the platform to produce constantly world changing applications again and again.
iPhone development and ecosystem is in it’s own league, but at the same time Android is picking up speed. Nokia really needs to get their stuff together and capture mindshare from developers. If you look at developer materials for iPhone or Android, you can see and feel that development on that platform could be fun. Nokia has so much different software platforms, features and different phones that developers can feel themselves overwhelmed on where to start and how to start. Atleast I know that I do feel like that.
Looking forward what happens with smartphones next year. If nothing interesting comes along, I will try to continue living with my N95 8Gb – though there is not many days when I wish that I would have an iPhone.
