On The Radio

Netflix is one of those wildly successful endeavors that you never hear much about. From time to time I guess, but we get a thousand times more Lindsay Lohan news by my count. Since its inception in Los Gatos, CA back in 1997 though, Netflix has quietly invented the superior mouse trap as it pertains to video distribution… and in so doing, has shepherded Blockbuster, their main competitors, down the road to bankruptcy, where many anticipate a Chapter 11 filing sometime here in 2010.

For the uninitiated, I have the cheapest subscription that Netflix offers which is $9 per month which allows me (1) DVD out at a time. When I return this DVD (in the provided SASE) they send me the next one. If you watch the DVD and return it within 24 hours, this amounts to approximately 90 rentals a year at a cost of $108. The same amount of rentals from my local Blockbuster would come to $400 plus gas, time and any possible “late” fees, all issues that are non-existent with Netflix.

But we’re only just getting started… one of the key elements that makes Netflix the king of the roost is their superior website coupled with their non-invasive email feedback system… the website serves up well over 100,000 titles in an extremely easy to navigate interface… and if you interact with the site in terms of answering the specific questions it asks you pertaining to content you’ve recently viewed… the site smartly offers you choices that are more “educated” at the top of any and all search queries. The only times I’ve had to dig on this site were the times I was looking for a movie that was recommended to me or is otherwise off the beaten path… From there you save movies to your “queue”, and this becomes the list that Netflix automated shipping facilities use to send you your discs, one after the other.

But there’s more… and this is the real kicker… Consider the name Netflix. These guys intent from day one was to deliver movies over the internet… hence the name. That was some real forethought for 1997 when you think about it. Here in 2010, that aspiration is well on its way to becoming reality… what could the shelf-life of physical DVD’s be anyway? For those of you with a broadband internet connection and devices capable of Netflix streaming (All 3 major gaming consoles, hundreds of models of A/V gear like Bluray players and HDTV’s as well as most computers with an OS that’s within a couple years old), there’s currently tens of thousands of titles on Netflix that can be streamed instantly. And this is on top of the 90 physical DVD’s you get and doesn’t cost a dime more. I watch numerous TV series using the streaming as well as more movies over three different devices in my house… It’s amazing and adds to the value tremendously.

Once you’ve watched a movie over the stream you’ll occasionally receive an email asking you how the picture quality was. The email will offer three choices… click on one and a screen will appear that thanks you, that’s all there is to it… you’ll also receive emails inquiring as to what day a physical DVD was delivered on as they continue to tweak their network in an attempt to get those DVD’s to you as fast as possible.

So that’s it for now… a quick tour of Netflix for any of you that have been curious about it without yet having taken the plunge.

On the radio I’ve said it repeatedly… there’s always something to be gained by not being the first on your block to own some new, hyped piece of gear. Whether it’s a product that’s brand new and thus genre defining, such as the iPad… or simply a generational upgrade to an already popular product such as the iPhone 4, something will always happen that causes you to say to yourself, ‘Damn, I should have waited’.

Such is the case with the latest iPhone apparently as nary a week after Apple set sales records with the release of the new 4th generation version of their wildly popular smartphone, reports littered the internet that Apple iPhones would add Verizon Wireless to its list of approved carriers breaking the 3+ year exclusivity that AT&T has enjoyed (reports here and here).

Will this happen? No way to tell for sure although there are hardware issues. iPhone in its current incarnation is based on GSM, a global standard where as Verizon and Sprints networks are based on CDMA, much more domestic and considered a weak architecture on the international stage… but in the end it comes down to how many units you can move and if Apple has determined that opening things up to Verizon would add significantly to those numbers, you can expect to see it happen. Apple had an Intel-based version of Mac OSX in production for years before Intel-based Macs were introduced… you can bet the same holds true for iPhone hardware that’s Verizon-ready.

If Verizon does get the nod though in January as has been reported… how do you feel if you had stood in that long-ass line at your local Apple Store, which concluded with your being locked in to AT&T for the next two years, just to hear this news now? I suppose the Verizon vs. AT&T debate might never have been an issue for you, especially if you’re satisfied with the service you’re getting from AT&T… but on the advent of the launch of Verizon’s well reviewed 4G network, early adopters of the iPhone 4 might find themselves in the lurch… at least for 18 months or so.

When it comes to WordPress, I’d have to say that over time its become one of the most influential tools of my career. In the beginning it was software that was open source (free) so therefore worth messing around with. This I did… but back in the beginning it was primarily a straight up blogging platform… and as I wasn’t that much into blogging at that point, I strayed away from it for a while. But then I got a new client where the best solution for what they were looking to accomplish caused me to check out WordPress anew… and what I learned from messing around with professionally developed themes, was that WordPress was a mighty powerful CMS as well, giving the designer the capability to easily build entire sites using WordPress as the foundation.

That was about two years ago now, back around WordPress 2.5. Between then and now, significant upgrades have been introduced both in functionality as well as user-interface improvements to the admin area. This morning, WordPress 3.0 Thelonious was released… the culmination of 6 months of work by 218 dedicated contributors that resulted in 1,217 bug fixes and feature enhancements. Primary among these enhancements are an even simpler installer, a minor overhaul of the admin area to incorporate new features and the long talked about “multi-user”" mode which allows multiple WordPress blogs to be run off a single WordPress installation. Not sure how this can help those of us who already have multiple installs up-and-running… but I’m on the lookout for the tutorials that will most certainly emerge now that the release has hit the streets.

Also of interest is that the default theme “Kubrick” that has shipped with WordPress for so long and has been seen on so many blogs… has now been retired in favor of “Twenty Ten”, a new default theme that has been taylored to some of the new functionality such as built in menu-creation utilities. I can’t say I’ll really miss Kubrick, but worth noting all the same.

I’m also not able to recommend the update at this point as I still have to study deeply what effect, if any, the upgrade would have on my existing suite of custom themes. That said, this site is a much simpler theme and I’ve already updated to 3.0 without a single problem… so my guess would be that everything would be fine as customized themes never alter any of the WordPress base code which would be the only code affected by the update… but we’ll see.

The easiest way by far to update your existing WordPress installations is with the Automatic Upgrade plug-in, you can find that here… and if you’d be installing WordPress for the first time… then get started here.

On and on and on it goes… What did Flash ever do to Apple? Why is Apple forbidding Flash from playing in its sandbox? Adobe cried foul last week scrapping plans to include a feature in Flash CS5 that would allow apps created in Flash to be compiled for the iPhone, iPod and iPad…  this after Apple added a clause to its Developers Agreement that prevents applications created this way to pass muster for inclusion at the App Store.

Flash content has of course never been available on Apple’s mobile devices. Adobe has publicly stated repeatedly that this fact keeps iPhone users from experiencing the “full web”… claiming that Apple is engaged in a power grab seeking to exclude all outsiders from profiting from the App Store while keeping its content homogenous and under its control.

At first glance this would seem a valid suggestion, but in a rare post at Apple.com, Steve Jobs laid out not one, but six reasons why you’ll never see Flash content on any of Apple’s mobile devices. You can read about it in detail here at the original post, but in summary;

First, Flash is 100% proprietary, completely controlled by Adobe. Although many aspects of the Apple experience is proprietary as well, all aspects that pertain to the internet are “open”, as in open source (free and publicly supported). The future of the web on Apple devices will embrace the trinity of open web standards; HTML 5, CSS and Javascript.

Second, Adobe claims Apple users are missing the “full web” because 75% of video on the web is in the Flash format. What they don’t say is that all that video is also available in the more modern h.264 format, which was developed by Apple and is emerging as the uncontested front-runner for the video compression standard within HTML 5.

Third, there’s reliability, security and performance. Flash consistently gets poor security marks (it’s easy to hack), it’s the number one reason a Mac crashes and it’s a proven fact that it runs very slowly on all mobile devices, not just Apple gear. All these problems once seemed curable, but at this point, they’ve lingered for years and years.

Fourth is battery life. Mobile devices need to decode video in hardware, decoding in software uses too much power. Many of the chips in modern mobile devices ship with an inline h.264 decoder. These are an industry standard found in every Blu-ray DVD player and have been adopted by Apple, Google (You Tube), Vimeo, Netflix and on and on. Flash video requires an older generation decoder that initiates from the Flash Player plug-in, which is software. On an iPhone, h.264 video will play for 10 hours on a single charge, video decoded by software kills the battery in about 5 hours… striking difference. Video encoded in h.264 can be played natively on HTML 5 compliant browsers such as Apple’s Safari or Google Chrome without the use of any cumbersome plug-ins. It can be said that getting rid of plug-ins (like Adobe Flash) is one of the major goals of HTML 5.

Fifth is interface. Flash was designed for the desktop era of PC’s using mice, not for touch screens using fingers. Most every existing Flash site is coded to respond to rollovers, the action of hovering the mouse over a target on the screen. This indicates that even if Apples devices supported Flash, every Flash application out there would have to be re-written to support touch… so if you were going to do that, why not just code your project in HTML 5 which is an open standard and not proprietary?

And sixth is a bit more abstract, but certainly something Apple has learned from 3 decades of innovation… which is, “allowing a third party layer of software to come between developers and the platform ultimately results in sub-standard apps and hinders the enhancement and progress of the platform”. In other words, features that are added to the iPhone/iPod/iPad by Apple, couldn’t be realized by developers using Flash to develop, until Adobe decided to include that functionality in one of their updates.

This last one was the only one I really needed to hear… For me, 20 years of working with software has definitely proven this to be true. Apple and Macintosh have always remained my platform of choice because they’re designed so damn well. They also own innovation, giving me OS features today that my PC brethren won’t see for five years. Add to this the fact that a Mac rarely crashes… ironically, the only apps that ever crash on my Mac are Adobe apps (if I had a dollar for every time Photoshop has crashed I’d be retiring… sho’nuff).

This rock-solid performance is brought to us courtesy of Apple being as proprietary as they are. Comparing a Mac to just about any other platform is all the proof that’s needed. For that reason I’ve never doubted the vision of Steve Jobs, that cat knows what he’s doing… He was the one who started it all and he was the one that came back and saved it… and in-between he developed what would become OSX and founded Pixar Animation. No matter where your loyalties lie, his genius can’t be denied…

Now I’m still using my original iPhone, my iPod is approaching its 6th Birthday and I’m yet to purchase an iPad… but I’m quite sure that these devices will all be part of my digital life for the foreseeable future… and it’s not because I’m an “Apple Fan Boy” as Mike DiMichele would put it… but rather I’m a designer of things, and as such I put a premium on things that are well-designed. If Steve Jobs thinks Adobe Flash’s days are numbered, I’m guessing he’s most likely correct… as he has been with so many other things that have been important to the philosophy of the platform that has fueled my career. Plus, as a designer I never really did enjoy creating web content with Flash… so much tinkering necessary to get things working like you need to see them… when I was turned on to open-standards a number of years ago, I put all those old structural tables as well as the Flash stuff away in a drawer and the only time I open that drawer these days is when a client insists on it.

Stay proprietary Apple (not like you need my blessing). All the haters are just jealous. You’re the best company the world has ever known… keep it that way…

Sideways Smiley Face died on March 14, 2010, surrounded by his loved ones. The cause of death was over-use. Born on a Computer Science online bulletin board at Carnegie Mellon University, Mr. Face devoted his life to pointing out that the previous sentence was meant to be funny. He also gained worldwide recognition for his tireless efforts as a glib substitute for the words “I’m amused”. His other interests included frowning and winking. He is survived by his children, Sideways Surprised Face, Sideways Glasses Face, Sideways Abraham Lincoln Face, Sideways Santa Claus Face, Sideways Pope Face, and, of course, his beloved wife, XOXO. In lieu of flowers, Mr. Face’s family has requested that people use actual words to express their feelings.

:-)
Sideways Smiley Face
(1982-2010)

(Courtesy of the vanity card for Chuck Lorre Productions #281. See them all here…)

Considering some of the discussion on the show of late… I’m going to kick off this seasons holiday gift suggestions with a disclaimer, which is; None of the companies whose products are mentioned below have sent me anything in the form of compensation… no cash payouts, no evaluation models, no bikini-clad supermodels (are you listening Go Daddy? I write one of these posts once a year and next December is right around the corner)… Actually, and I can almost guarantee this fact… none of these companies have the slightest inkling I’m writing about their products at all… this is all stuff I either own or use myself or have friends that have turned me on to… Also worth noting is that many of this years offerings will work on a Mac or a PC… but as you all know by now, everything is sweeter on a Mac…

As is the custom, I’ll start low and then go high with stocking stuffers at the end… I’ve dialed things back just a bit from last season when we were all flushed with disposable income right? That said, I’m a classic champagne taste with a beer pocketbook… I like to dream about gadgets I crave… and at the end of the day, cool stuff costs what cool stuff costs…

1-Year MobileMe Subscription ($99) • I led off with this last year… and after some consideration, I’m gonna stick with it again this year because it’s still a great suggestion for someone you may know with a relatively current Mac that hasn’t yet tried MobileMe… The value really starts to kick in if the recipient has at least (2) devices… an iPhone or an iPod Touch and an iMac for example. MobileMe allows you to seamlessly keep all your devices in perfect sync… Bookmarks, Contacts, Calendars, Email, etc. MobileMe also allows you 20gb of remote storage space, like having a hard drive on the web… and all of your info is available to you from any web-connected computer in the world via me.com wrapped in the stunning Apple look & feel that we all so love… Posting your pictures to a pro feeling web slideshow only takes 3-clicks… and new this year (for the 3G devices) is the ability to locate a lost iPhone or iPod Touch on a Google map, lock the phone remotely, post a message to the device that will show up even if the device is locked and if worse comes to worst… remotely wipe the lost device of all data… pretty neat… and remember, all this functionality for about a quarter a day.

Flip Ultra ($150) • It’s a YouTube world and we’re all just livin’ in it… and the product line of compact video recorders from Flip offer the most streamlined way of getting video from the street to the web… Now this isn’t a recommendation I’m making for everybody on your list… It’s best suited I believe for teens and folks in their 20′s where the main objective will simply be the posting of videos they’ve taken directly to the web… whether it’s YouTube, Facebook, TwitVid or the like… not that you can’t edit video taken with the Flip in a 3rd-party video editing app… but you can actually get much better raw video quality in hand-held camcorders that are cheaper than the Flip Ultra. The Flip’s claim to fame is its portability… no harder to tote around with you than your phone or iPod… Flip is currently offering (5) different models in its product line… I recommend the Flip Ultra mainly because it’s the most lenient for Mac system requirements (works back to Tiger on non-Intel Macs) as well as it featuring the extended 120-minute recording time and compatibility with the optional rechargeable battery pack that gives the device up to 4-1/2 hours of continuous operation. Ultra video is composite 960 x 240, which isn’t the best… but it’s definitely more than suitable for delivery on the web. You interface with your computer via a telescoping USB connector on the top of the device or can view your video directly on a television monitor using the supplied cables… Oh, and it will surprise you in low light situations… I used a friends in a dark gallery space recently and was blown away by the results… Not for everyone, but if you have one of those Web 2.0 birds on your list that you like to the tune of $150… look no further.

Autodesk Maya 3d Modeling & Animation Software ($3,495) • Just like last year in my ‘most expensive’ category… a product that’s definitely not for everyone… but if you know that special kid that’s interested in movie-making, special effects, architecture or set design… and most certainly your inventor types… this is the kind of software that can break an imagination wide open and set the user free in terms of being able to visualize what’s in their mind’s eye.

Although you’ve most likely never heard of Maya, it’s a product with a long and storied history… the probable inception of what is now called Maya likely dates back to 1995 when Silicon Graphics purchased both Alias and Wavefront, two companies that offered software focused on differing aspects of 3d modeling and animation. Their source code was combined to market a product simply called Alias|Wavefront. As coders from the two merging companies began to work together… a new engine emerged that the developers codenamed Maya (sanskrit for “illusion”). In 1998 it was decided to roll all the code into one all-encompassing interface and the software was formally re-named Maya. Sold by SGI in 2003, the software was surprisingly owned briefly by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan before landing in its current, far more appropriate home with AutoDesk, the makers of AutoCAD, who purchased the company formerly known as Alias in October of 2005. Since then the software has continually been improved with Maya 2010, the third AutoDesk upgrade, having just recently hit store shelves.

Having been used on hundreds of Hollywood movies… most notably “Spider Man”, “The Lord of the Rings Trilogy”, “The Matrix”, “The Hulk” and “Terminator 3 : The Rise of the Machines”… make no mistake about the complexity of this software… Maya is to Google SketchUp what Word is to a post-it note… I’ve spent hundreds of hours inside of Maya and still feel as though I’ve merely cracked the surface. Photoshop is a program that allows beginners to ease in to being functional with the software and then reveals far more complex functionality for those who need it or choose to seek it out… Maya is not such a program… instead, it’s pretty complex right from jumpstreet… but for the right person, the cost of the software is balanced by the shear power of what you can make.

Stocking Stuffers Under $30

3-months of Netflix ($27) > Admittedly, I’m a johnny-come-lately to the Netflix bandwagon… I spent at least a couple years saying ‘why would I want that?’ But then one night early last Summer I headed over to the local Blockbuster looking for a title that I wouldn’t really call obscure… and struck out completely… a closer look revealed that the local video store seems to be heading down the road of the local record store… large quantities of only the most popular titles… so I went home and dialed up Netflix on the web… read about it briefly and signed up… fast forward here a few months and I’ve seen every episode ever of “Rescue Me” and “Sons of Anarchy”… and I’m now two seasons into “The Shield”… all of this and I’ve still never physically tuned in to the FX cable network… pretty sweet… I’m sold… and as I watch DVD’s on the computer while I work, I’ve been pretty diligent about getting them back in the mail the day after I receive them which has equated to (2) discs a week on average or about $1 per rental (Blockbuster=$4.42). It’s also worth noting that Netflix allows you to stream hundreds of movies directly to your (Intel-based) Mac to keep you busy while you’re waiting on your next disc… So if you know someone on your list that hasn’t yet tried Netflix… this could end up a really cool gift on the cheap… All you need to know right here.

Nine Inch Nails – Ghosts I-IV ($10 or free) > This 2-disc set, although not released in 2009, has made the list for a couple of reasons. First, it has really grown on me over the last year and a half as great music to have playing (on the computer) when you’re focused on some task other than listening to music… 36 instrumental tracks that span many different moods and tempos while always remaining a great backing track… part of the reason I believe Reznor will be doing a lot more soundtrack work now that he has disbanded NIN… and the second reason is the price. Free to download in high-quality mp3 format and only $10 for the physical 2-disc set by mail… the fact that this is cheaper than the latest Britney Spears offering is just another in a long line of music industry ironies.

So that’s what I’ve got for this holiday season… if you’d like to leave some suggestions of your own… please click the Comments link just below and tap ‘em in…