Andrew Wirtanen » Apple

The next big thing: Internet-enabled set-top boxes

Andrew Wirtanen — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 22:58:55 +0000

Do you know anyone who is still saving up for an iPad? I bet you don’t. That ship has sailed. The iPad did not really disappoint, but it never proved itself as a necessity. Sure, I’d like one to keep on my living room table, but I’d much rather have the new Kindle. But, I don’t view that as a necessity either since I can always read books for free from my library.

The iPhone has proven itself as more than a luxury item. All cellphones that can’t browse the Internet quickly became dinosaurs the second the iPhone was released. Sure, I pay more per month for service (just under $70 on my grandfathered plan), but it’s worth it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve used the GPS with Google Maps to figure out where I am, or I learned something important with the ability to check my email/twitter/Facebook/etc.

A lot of people I know live without cable television. Considering you can save over $600/year by going unplugged, it’s not a bad idea. Cable TV is a lot of money, especially if you tack on the HD DVR and extra channels. You can watch a number of TV shows online now, but there isn’t one clean solution to put them on your big, shiny LCD.

In September, that will change.

Get ready to spend $99 on the iTV from Apple. Kevin Rose (founder of Digg) says the device “will change everything”. If you look at his reasoning, he’s absolutely right. Of course, the Boxee box will be released right alongside the rumored iTV. Unfortunately, not many people outside the tech community have heard of Boxee (and everyone has heard of Apple). Google TV will join the party a little later, providing iTV with the same competition that the iPhone faces from Android devices.

Forrester says 14% of Americans are considering buying a tablet next year. Companies are rushing to get their tablet out the door. Instead, they should be rushing to come up with their Internet set-top box.

Anyone want to buy a 40GB Apple TV?

Experience Is The Product

Andrew Wirtanen — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 15:53:44 +0000

Peter Merholz (Adaptive Path) posted on his blog this week that his slidecast “Experience Is The Product” hit 400,000 views. Peter gave the talk at dConstruct 2007 in Brighton, UK. The presentation argues for focusing on the experience rather than technology and features. It’s a great talk that uses examples of good user experience design that we still use today, three years later (e.g. Nintendo Wii, iPhone, iPod, Tivo, etc.).

By the way. Slideshare doesn’t give you valid XHTML for embedding, but I found this tutorial that shows you how to embed valid slidecasts.

SmartScreen: Time to jailbreak my iPhone?

Andrew Wirtanen — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 18:19:36 +0000

I haven’t found a compelling reason to jailbreak my iPhone, but SmartScreen for iPhone just might be one. The application allows for widgets on the iPhone lock screen. Of course, there are all sorts of privacy concerns here, but for simple useful applications like weather or a calendar, this is great. Check out the demo video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

In other iPhone news, AT&T finally is allowing MMS as of 9/25. This means that I can now send picture and video messages!

[MediaPhone via Gizmodo]

Revolutionary New Laptop with No Keyboard

Andrew Wirtanen — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 04:03:16 +0000

The Onion just released one of its funniest Mac-bashing videos yet. It’s the day before the last (and Steve Job-less) Apple keynote at MacWorld, and I think this video is a great follow-up to my last post on Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs). BCIs are keyboardless and so is this new laptop dreamed up by The Onion staff. It’s good to see input devices different than the keyboard and mouse, no matter how ridiculous they may be:

Click here to view the embedded video.

iPhone Tip: Enable Caps Lock

Andrew Wirtanen — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:46:30 +0000

Here’s a quick tip for all of you iPhone users:

Settings > General > Keyboard > Enable Caps Lock

Now, when you quickly tap the Shift key twice on the keyboard, it will turn blue and become a Caps Lock!

Why wasn’t this enabled by default? I have tried, on numerous occasions, to figure out how to enable Caps Lock. I tried holding and pressing the Shift key, and also hitting it quickly.

[Thanks to The iPod Observer]

Usability Emergency: Japan Needs Better Phones

Andrew Wirtanen — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 02:07:35 +0000

Usability specialists take note: Japan is in dire need of an easy-to-use phone with features they are accustomed to (mobile TV, credit card payment, GPS). It’s an interesting problem, since cellphones are radically different between the US and Japan. Japan is on the cutting edge, and mobile phones in the US are relatively outdated before they’re even released.

Apple faces an incredible challenge of getting the world to adopt one phone. With iPhone 2.0 and third-party application support being released on Monday, June 9th, they may be able to win some points. Great applications can be written by local developers instead of through the eyes of Cupertino. This is going to cost Apple a lot less money, and may make the phone more popular in mature cellphone markets. It may also be the only solution to pushing a single phone worldwide.

(Picture from subkernel).

MacWorld Keynote in 60 Seconds

Andrew Wirtanen — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 03:52:46 +0000

Out of all the video podcasts that I watch, Mahalo Daily is quickly becoming one of my favorites. The podcast is hosted by Veronica Belmont, formerly of CNET’s Buzz Out Loud. When people ask me about what happened at MacWorld this week, I’ve been pointing them to this short and sweet summary:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Apple TV Take 2 Gets it Right

Andrew Wirtanen — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 22:51:27 +0000

It’s taken a year and a half, but Apple has finally made the Apple TV (40GB $230; 160GB $320) worthwhile. Most of my original complaints are no longer valid, though I was correct in the device’s initial failure to grasp only but a niche market. With version 2 of the device, Apple has changed very little, but have added one major capability to iTunes: HD movie rentals.

Just when we thought Blu-ray had won the format war, Apple has made things very interesting. While one can’t own the movies they purchase (this will be coming at some point–probably with a virtual catalog in the iTunes Movie Store instead of local storage), Apple TV makes HD movies that much more accessible. A $3.99-$4.99 price tag on rentals also adds some competition for Netflix (who recently announced unlimited streaming movies–but those aren’t HD).

Apple TV Take 2 was my favorite announcement from the MacWorld 2008 keynote, which also featured a NAS (dubbed Time Capsule), new applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and the deliciously green and expensive MacBook Air.

Usability Hits Mainstream

Andrew Wirtanen — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 18:06:37 +0000

Usability has come a long way since 1983 (the year I was born and the year this photo of Bill Gates was taken). The first Computer-Human Interaction (CHI) conference was held in 1982 and some of the major contributions to the field were published a decade later (e.g. Nielsen’s Usability Engineering and Dumas’s A Practical Guide to Usability Testing). For more on the birth of usability, see an earlier post.

This week is the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas and Bill Gates delivered his last CES keynote. He will step down to a part-time role at Microsoft in July (while maintaining the chairman title). When asked about the difference between Apple’s approach and Microsoft’s approach to product releases, Gates points to usability. Gates explains that Microsoft has a large number of researchers and there is a “renaissance of usability and prototyping” led by people like Bill Buxton (author of Sketching User Experiences). Gates notes the need to combine usability with the deep computer science work that Microsoft is good at. He claims success in usability with Office 2007 and XBox. He applauds Apple for focusing in on specific products and polishing them. See the full interview at Gizmodo.

If Bill Gates recognizing usability is not enough for you, then take a look at US News and World Report’s Top 31 Careers. The list includes “Usability/user experience specialist.”

How to Turn an iPhone Off

Andrew Wirtanen — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 14:08:46 +0000

Looks like the best phone ever made has a big usability issue! An iPhone owner went on a cruise, and came home to a $4800 iPhone bill from AT&T. It turns out that he thought he turned the phone off when he hit the power button, but it was actually still on and checking email.

When you hit the power button once, it just turns the screen off. You have to do a long press to turn the phone off completely. Watch the video over at CNET by Tom Merritt.