Think Apple Would Dare To Take On the Movie Theaters?

With the addition of movie rentals on iTunes, Apple has given my wife and me a new entertainment outlet, letting us essentially have video on demand from a wide library, for only 3 or 5 dollars, at any time we wish. Just recently, Apple made more headlines by signing a pact where new DVD releases would simultaneously debut on iTunes. But this still doesn't solve the issue that iTunes doesn't have new releases that are currently playing in the box office, and I think Apple should be strongly considering working with the movie studios to deliver movie rentals of films currently in the theater, at a premium price, if they aren't already.

While new movies and blockbusters hit the theaters each weekend, it's been a long time since we made the effort of going to the theater, paying $11 and up per ticket, stomaching high prices for food and drink, and even then not having first dibs on seating, lacking the ability to pause or rewind the film (like on TiVo or Apple TV), and being forced to sit through an incredible amount of previews and pre-feature ads.

Our living room TV and laptop are the new theater.

But this still means we're missing out on the experience of seeing a new movie in its opening weekend, and being part of the conversation with others who have caught up on the latest Hollywood mega hit. By the time these one-time hits have reached iTunes, and therefore, the Apple TV, months have likely passed by, and often, the interest I once had in seeing the film has passed, leaving me more likely to do something else.

The movie theater industry has already lost me as a customer, for the most part. But they can get some of my revenue back if they strike a deal with Apple, and make new releases available on iTunes the day they debut in the theater.

I propose the following pricing for a 24-hour new movie rental:

• $9.99 for viewing in the first two weeks.
• $7.99 for viewing in weeks three through six.
• $5.99 for viewing in weeks six through twelve.
• Standard iTunes pricing for all weeks afterward.

There's no question that getting this deal completed won't be easy. Theater owners would be rightly concerned as to losing customers and entertainment moguls aren't known for being flexible. Movie studios might even be concerned you'll rent from iTunes, and show a new feature on your huge flat-screen TV to a busload of your friends. And maybe you would. But if we see Apple's work so far, both with music, and later TV shows and now, feature-length films, it only makes sense that this day will soon come. As a consumer, I can't wait, and I hope I don't have to wait too long. My credit card is ready, and until these new releases show up on iTunes, I can find better things to spend my money on.

Previous Discussion:

March 22, 2007:
The Apple TV Debate Is Upside Down
April 11, 2007:
How Apple Could Crush Netflix Now
September 15, 2007:
Adding Movie Rentals to iTunes Would Save the Apple TV
October 29, 2007:
Eight Reasons the Apple TV is Failing, and How It Can be Saved

My iPod Touch is Rarely Used for Music

Almost three months ago, we welcomed the iPod Touch to our family.

At the time, I was looking forward to taking videos with me on trips, for surfing the Web via WiFi, and for listening to scads of music. After all, Steve Jobs once said the iPhone, and ergo the iPod Touch, had the best iPod experience ever created. But it's been interesting to see that while my first iPod was all about music, the iPod Touch hardly ever gets used for that purpose.

So what am I doing with my iPod Touch? The overwhelming majority of activity is to browse the Web via WiFi, whether just away from the laptop, or at a friend's home with WiFi. Given the iPod synchronizes its bookmarks with my Safari Web browser, and with the addition of widgets for e-Mail, stocks and weather, just about anything I need is a few "touches" away. And the iPod Touch, to be honest, is the best device I can think of for taking the Web into places where a laptop wouldn't make sense. Ever take a PowerBook into the men's room at work? Didn't think so. But an iPod Touch fits right in your pocket...

As expected, I have used the iPod Touch for viewing movies and TV shows, especially on plane flights. Before my flight to Boston last month, and for this shorter trip to Phoenix, I made sure to rent one or two films before taking off. While Apple hasn't gained the fullest of movie libraries for rent yet, I've found a number of titles worth watching, especially when my alternative is craning my neck to see whatever United or US Airways has on tap. (My latest iPod Touch movie? Punch Drunk Love... and you can skip it.)

With Web access and TV or film, the need to play music is fading. While on my laptop, I almost always have iTunes going, but for my iPod Touch, iTunes is almost a forgotten app.

Recent Apple advances have made iTunes music even less important since I first got my iPod Touch. I've added custom icons to my home screen for Facebook, louisgray.com, FriendFeed and Twitter, and each offers me one-click access to where I'm most frequently engaged and communicating. I'd have added buttons for TechMeme and SiteMeter as well, but so far, I've chosen appearance over functionality, as neither site has a good custom icon. (Here's a great "how to" from Webomatica.)

Gaining the new widgets now puts .Mac and GMail in my pocket, with send and receive functionality. It's not quite able to replace the Blackberry yet, but I've grown quite adept at touch typing on it, more so than I had originally expected. Adding movie rentals to iTunes also made going to P2P networks for films much less inviting.

I'm near my laptop at home and work so often it's a rare time that I need to use my iPod Touch for music. I'm glad it's there if I ever need to tap into it, but over time, it's becoming less and less. Now it's a lot less about finding the right playlist, and a lot more about finding the best open wireless hotspot. That's more than I would have expected when Apple first debuted their original iPod years ago.

My TiVo and My Mac, Finally on Speaking Terms

With two Tivos in the house and a pair of Mac laptops being on almost 24 by 7, you'd think we'd be earlier to the game as far as getting the devices to talk to one another was concerned. But, despite my occasional protestations, we've sometimes taken the slow adopter route, and not forced ourselves to be exactly cutting edge. That's why, more than a year after Roxio first announced Toast Titanium 8, with full Tivo2Go support for Mac OS X, I'm only now enjoying the benefits of taking my TiVo'd shows anywhere I like.

I couldn't ask for the process to be much more simple than Roxio has devised. Their Toast Titanium suite comes with multiple applications, focused on CD burning, and a TiVo Transfer application. After entering in my TiVo's DVR ID, and connecting the TiVo to our wireless network with a simple USB adapter, Roxio scanned the TiVo's disk and showed me the TiVo's contents, including show name, description, duration and how much space it would take up on my hard drive to download it.


The TiVo Transfer Interface (Click to Enlarge)

To grab a show, all I have to do is click it, and hit "Start Transfer". I can even choose "Create Auto Transfer" for a specific show, so that every time my Mac is connected to the network, it'll download it directly to my hard drive. Now, if my wife is monopolizing the TV, or if the house needs to be quiet for whatever reason, I can take the show directly to my Mac, plug in my headphones, and watch on my laptop instead, with quality no worse than on my set.


Downloading from TiVo Transfer (Click to Enlarge)

TiVo changed the game on television networks by shifting when we watched shows, or how we consumed advertising. The option to take the shows with me on my laptop changes the location where I watch my entertainment. While the downloaded TiVo content isn't set up to play on my iPod Touch, or at least without file conversions I haven't tried yet, I appreciate having this new, fun, feature. Now, I intend to slink off and catch up on a few Daily Shows with Jon Stewart.

My Apple TV Still Wants Rentals, But Apple is Holding Out

Remember how pleased we were to learn that Apple finally introduced movie rentals via iTunes? I was stoked. In the midst of the writers' strike, the fact we could potentially gain access to new entertainment via the Apple TV and playing on our big screen was a home run. But weeks after the MacWorld Expo hubbub has died down, we're still left waiting, and the situation isn't getting better any time soon. For as the calendar turns from January to February, we got news today that Apple still needs a few more weeks to get it right. (See Also: TUAW)

Rats.

Since the introduction of movie rentals, we've already enjoyed a few films we hadn't seen in the theaters, including "The Hoax" and "A Guy Thing". Both were in the perfect spot for this - not good enough to see for $10, but of high enough quality where I'd feel bad if I snuck off to some Peer to Peer solution and grabbed it, sans paying. As you would expect, the viewing experience from Apple was simple. After the films downloaded, they were in a special section of iTunes for rented movies, and played just like a DVD would on my laptop. When done, I deleted them, and got that 1 GB or so back of free space on my drive, just as I would expect.

But, despite this wonderful innovation, my Apple TV still doesn't have access to it. I've checked the settings, and each time I look, I'm told I'm "Up to Date". What a shame. Hopefully, Apple's newfound transparency in terms of notifying customers there are delays doesn't turn into a repeat pattern as the weeks turn to months and so on...

Apple TV Movie Rentals Will Be Great During Writers' Strike

With pretty much all of prime-time TV on hiatus for the foreseeable future, we only have a few options as far as our TV watching goes. We could stop watching (not going to happen), we could lower our standards in regards to which shows we watch, pick up new shows, or start using our TiVo and Apple TV to pick up movies.

Luckily for us, Apple made that decision much more clear today - with the company finally announcing movie rentals on iTunes, months after we recognized the market opportunity for Apple to crush Netflix. Making the announcement even better yet, the update is free, even for us "Version 1.0" Apple TV owners.

Steve Jobs said Apple had failed in bringing Web video to the big screen. As we'd said many times before, he said customers wanted movie rentals. We didn't want to buy our films. We wanted to watch them once, and throw them away. Today's announcement offers exactly that - and we can make our selections via Apple TV, without ever needing to download directly onto our computers.

Now, we've gone from having no good new content on our TV to a seeming infinite, near-instant repository for quality films. While we haven't yet updated our Apple TV to get there, we already recognize the benefits. And while Apple made many other announcements today, covering the iPhone, the iPod and new laptops, it's the addition of movie rentals to iTunes that will have immediate impact on the way we take in media.

In one day, the Apple TV went from the endangered list to the must-watch list. Boom.

Apple Finally Getting Around to iTunes Movie Rentals

I'm hoping it's not in the "too little, too late" category for Apple TV, but it looks like Apple is finally making headway in negotiations with the major movie studios to offer customers the ability to rent films through iTunes, in addition to purchasing them outright. According to the Financial Times, Apple will likely announce a deal with 20th Century Fox at Macworld San Francisco next month kicking off a deal that would not only bring movie rentals to iTunes, but also DVDs rippable to iPods.

I've long said the Apple TV is on fumes without a rental option, and that if Apple could successfully roll out a movie rental service through iTunes, it could spell the death knell for services we enjoy today, from Netflix to Amazon Unbox and even Blockbuster.

While 20th Century Fox is said to be furthest along, the article also mentions Cupertino is working on also getting Sony Pictures Entertainment, Paramount and Warner Bros queued up. Here's to hoping Steve Jobs can pull out a big rabbit from his hat and make our early investment in the Apple TV a good one.

Also See:
Amazon Gets $11.97 of My Apple Money
Eight Reasons the Apple TV is Failing, and How It Can be Saved
Adding Movie Rentals to iTunes Would Save the Apple TV
Apple Entering Video Rental Download Market?
How Apple Could Crush Netflix Now

Amazon Gets $11.97 of My Apple Money

With the new TiVo HD installed, we have access to the Amazon unbox service, letting us rent popular movie titles directly through the TiVo box. For only $3.99, we can download everything from "The Simpsons Movie" to Jim Carrey's "The Number 23" or "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", and keep each show at home for a full 30 days.

So now, from one box, I can record multiple TV channels simultaneously, get recommendations for new shows I would like, stream my iTunes and iPhoto library via TiVo Desktop, and download movies from Amazon.

Meanwhile, my Apple TV just sits there. If Apple offered movie rentals through iTunes, I'd likely have bought them through iTunes, out of loyalty, and the company's typical leading interface and ease of use. But they don't... still. So tonight, I purchased three films for $3.99 apiece, totaling $11.97, sending my money to Seattle, Washington instead of nearby Cupertino.

The more I can do with my TiVo HD or my Wii, the less I see myself using the Apple TV. The Apple TV still offers the best way to get my full iTunes Library and access YouTube through the television, but that's it. And if I keep using the Amazon unbox service and find myself happy with it, then I just might become a fairly loyal customer for them instead, even if Apple eventually follows on with movie rentals.

Apple, your time for leadership with the Apple TV has passed. Now, just get your act together and stop forcing me to give my money to your competition.

Doubling Down On Our TiVo Obsession

Not too long ago, I mentioned I had taken TiVo up on the company's offer to add a TiVo HD unit to our house and maintain our lifetime subscription, all while keeping our old unit up and running for 12 months. And while I got the new Tivo HD shipped some time ago, it didn't get set up until yesterday, thanks to my needing to install new cable cards, and having to wait around for Comcast to offer me the privilege of utilizing their services.

While relying on the cable company to show up in the all too familiar "8 to 12" window isn't fun, their serviceman came by yesterday and did a quick, efficient job.

After I configured the TiVo HD unit in our bedroom, attached to our 42-inch plasma TV, I took our old unit back to the living room, to our long-neglected 27-inch CRT, and got that one set up. Now, instead of my wife and I having to share the one functioning TiVo in the house, we can both be watching our recorded shows, pausing and rewinding live TV, and avoiding commercials. It's yet another excuse for us to be spending time apart while we're both at home!

While this is a tremendous advance, graduating from our current setup to home entertainment nirvana will still take quite a bit of work, however. We still need to:

1) Sell or give away our oak entertainment center (almost completed!)
2) Purchase a flat-screen plasma or LCD for the living room, getting rid of the older TV
3) Put the plasma TV on the wall in the bedroom (not the dresser)
4) Put the new, not yet purchased, TV on the wall in the living room
5) Move the Wii and Apple TV to the living room
6) Consider getting real home theater audio

As you can see, this project could take a while, especially at my typical glacial pace. We love our TiVos, and are excited to have the power of TiVo throughout the house now, but it's always good to have a plan to take things to the next level.

And yes, I haven't lost the irony that now we've gotten our second TiVo, there's absolutely no new TV to watch, thanks to the writer's strike. I guess that's why I'm watching ESPN Classic's rebroadcast of the 2004 league championship series between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. Please don't tell me who wins.

It Could Be a Boring... Slow... Cold... TV Winter

Thinking ahead to the weekend, it dawned on me that I won't be watching college football this Saturday. With the exception of upcoming bowl games, most of which I can ignore, that season is over. And when it comes to college basketball, I simply don't care. Couple those harsh realities with the fact the Hollywood writers' strike has no end in sight and I foresee a serious lack of entertainment on the boob tube over the next few months.

Despite our having hundreds of channels on cable, our TiVo has already almost been squeezed dry of its content. The dramas we watch on a weekly basis are in reruns and hiatus. Late Night with Conan O'Brien and the Daily Show with Jon Stewart are dark. Meanwhile, baseball is but a memory and a hope, and even the BBC America shows have seen their seasons come to an end.

That leaves us with a few options:

1. Find new shows to watch, either new or in syndication, via USA, Bravo, etc.
2. Proactively seek out movies playing on Encore and other networks and record them.
3. Look at Apple's embarrassing lack of video on iTunes and pay for it.
4. Go to movies this winter in the theater.
5. Wrestle away the Netflix account from my wife and get it going again.
6. Leverage BitTorrent to fill our video gap.

Of these, #1 and #6 are the most likely. Maybe I can find an edgy drama we've never had time for to date. Maybe the combination of "free" movies and a wider selection than Apple will make BitTorrent a viable alternative. But I have zero faith that the writers and all of Hollywood will come together and start producing new shows again to keep us busy.

How many more days is it again until Spring Training starts?

Facebook Fast Becoming a Game Platform

When Facebook offered developers the opportunity to write applications on the company's API, the fast-growing social network set up an opportunity to break out of its friend-finding, networking roots, and become something entirely different - a platform for real interactivity, not just learning what a friend has done in a passive sense, but to engage directly, either in real-time or in more a "taking turns" mode.

While Facebook's initial applications have been much maligned for their absolute uselessness, enterprising developers are quickly finding Facebook is a great place for casual gaming.

While games similar to those offered on Facebook are available in a myriad of other places, like Pogo or Yahoo! Games, Facebook has built-in benefits. After all, you can challenge friends in your network to a game, instead of being asked to play complete strangers. And while Scrabulous has achieved the highest share of coverage, other games, including the Boggle-like Scramble, and the Risk-like Attack, are gaining traction.

While I've not been overwhelmed with many of Facebook's features, I have taken to playing Scrabulous against family members, including my brother, who's about 2,000 miles away, in Tennessee. While game play is relatively slow, to the tune of 2-3 moves a day, it's something we can do together, regardless of distance. And believe it or not, the competitors on Scramble are pretty sharp, making me work just to get in the top 5 (with more than 100 players per game) and displayed on the leaderboard.

The earliest days of the Web featured easy access to research, but also leisure activities, like porn and gaming. The rise of social networks looks to be doing the same thing. With Facebook trying to keep adult material out, it's no surprise the first successful apps are for passively watching videos and playing games. As for real-world business apps, it will be some time yet. Facebook has got a lot of work to do before they "get serious".

Kathy Griffin Comes to Cupertino

You might have noticed a 2-day gap in my blogging here. Oops. But that happens every once in a while when actual real-world activities get in the way. Given I post 90% of my entries here in the evening, a simple event or game or movie can make it look like I'm AWOL for a full 24 hours.

Last night's event was seeing Emmy-award winning comedienne Kathy Griffin at the Flint Center in Cupertino. Being the good, occasionally-supportive husband that I am, when my wife bought the tickets, I signed up to go. She's a bigger Kathy Griffin fan than I am, and though I tried to be open-minded and ready to be converted, that didn't change.

Noting her surroundings, Kathy Griffin started off with a few jokes/complaints about her iPhone, made by nearby Apple Computer, polled the audience on how many were Cupertino millionaires (quite a few), and regaled us with stories about her relationship with the company's co-founder Steve Wozniak.

That I liked.

But for the most part, her bit consisted of name-dropping celebrities, recapping recent Oprah episodes, mocking Marie Osmond and slamming Mormons. None of that worked for me. For the most part, while she went on and on about her run-in with Liza Manelli or being introduced to Stephen Spielberg, I made do by looking around at the intricacies of the Flint Center, wishing I was there for an Apple special event instead of discussing the proper way to fake a fainting on Dancing With the Stars (another show I avoid like the plague). I counted the exit signs, I looked around at the balcony and wondered how many RSS feeds I was missing while she prattled on about Andy Dick's indecent exposure at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville way back in 1999.

While others were laughing about a story of some B-list actor on Everybody Loves Raymond who I'd never heard of, or mocking Larry King's relationship with his kids, I was trying to hide my jaw-cracking yawns. I was tired. And when her show was complete, it was none too soon.

Clearly, Kathy Griffin has an audience. The ones who watch episodes of Access Hollywood, The View, Regis & Kelly and the red carpet shows at Hollywood's award events. The ones who want to know what's really going on with Britney Spears and Lindsey Lohan. But it looks like I'm not in her demographic. If I hear Jim Gaffigan or Lewis Black or Eddie Izzard are in town, trust me, I'll be there, but I won't be seeing Kathy Griffin again.

Double Feature Movie Night In Denver

With no scheduled appointments or meetings in the morning, Kristine and I took advantage of our evening and caught a double feature at the movie theater here in Denver tonight, catching George Clooney in "Michael Clayton" and Steve Carell in "Dan In Real Life" back to back - the first show at 8, and the second starting just after 10 local time.

Of the two, Michael Clayton was better designed, in my opinion. Of the many hundreds of actors who have tried to make the jump from television to the big screen, George Clooney has been among the best to pull it off. He's become a must-see actor, and has chosen some aggressive roles, such as that in "Good Night and Good Luck" and "Syriana", which were both quite notable. Carell seems to be working on his role as the next Jim Carrey, alternating slapstick humor with oddly fitting serious roles. Though he was fantastic in "Little Miss Sunshine", "Dan In Real Life" didn't feel like a modern-day classic by any stretch.

Michael Clayton dealt with Clooney's acting the part of a bagman for a top legal firm, whose job it was to clean up messes, only to get embroiled in one larger than he ever expected, which threatens to cost him his life. Though a subplot of his getting in money trouble due to a wayward brother was weak, it did serve to distinguish him from the high-rolling jet set lawyers who surrounded him.

Dan In Real Life followed a typical storyline of a lonely author seeking companionship, but finding it just out of reach. Though the plot was augmented with his being a widower with three young daughters, and sibling rivalry over a mysterious woman, it floated along surreally, with the occasional joke, while we all waited out the inevitable finish. Of course, the fact we lost video in the theater on three occasions didn't do the film any good. If I were more punitive, I'd have demanded a refund.

We haven't taken the time in recent months to be caught up at the big screen. I'm glad we took the time today and didn't have to rush home to feed the dog or get up early enough to keep our schedule normal.

Eight Reasons the Apple TV is Failing, and How It Can be Saved

I enthusiastically bought the Apple TV early this year, and was among the first to receive it when Apple started fulfilling orders. But what could have been the best conduit between the Internet and my Television has turned out to instead be a reminder of what even good technology companies can do when they don't make a product line a priority. Should Apple continue to neglect the Apple TV, it just might disappear altogether, and I'd be stuck using mine as an expensive conduit for playing iTunes, as I do now.

(See also: Jeremy Toeman: Why isn’t AppleTV an actual TV?)

Why the Apple TV is Failing

1. No Compelling Exclusive Content

Sometimes a killer application, game or content can drive a product from one of the crowd to a must-have. Witness how the X-Box, largely ignored in light of the Nintendo Wii's success, spiked in demand with the launch of Halo 3. The Apple TV, and its content provider, iTunes, don't offer any compelling television or film content that can't be found elsewhere. Bringing YouTube to the big screen isn't exactly innovative either.

2. No Flexibility In Displaying Content

Locking customers into iTunes and the iTunes Music store sold tens of millions of iPods. But the fact that I can't take downloaded .avi files, DiVx files, RealPlayer, Windows Media or anything else from my computer to the Apple TV, with the exception of QuickTime videos or iTunes downloads reduces my options to use it. Just like Apple once embraced the "Rip. Mix. Burn." slogan to attract downloaders, there's a mountain of people using BitTorrent and other services to get movies free. The Apple TV could become a must have box for those guys if they had an outlet. A simple tagline of "Don't Steal Movies" would give Apple enough cover, as the line "Don't Steal Music" once did.

3. TV is Free, Stupid

Let's see. I can either watch a show live for free with commercials, I could record it to my TiVo for free and skip commercials, or I could pay $1.99 to get commercial-free 22 minute episodes of my shows. I think I'll take the TiVo method. The iTunes package worked great for music because consumers were accustomed to paying for music, but we're not accustomed to paying for TV.

4. Purchasing Movies Makes Little Sense

How often do you watch movies more than once, even the classics? Not too often. There are many outlets to rent movies and return them, from NetFlix to BlockBuster and beyond. Why would I pay anywhere from $10 to $15 to wipe out a gigabyte of hard drive space and not enjoy it more than once? I haven't purchased a single movie from iTunes still, and can't think of why I would. (Also: See above for BitTorrent allowing for free downloads today or my post from April)

5. Apple Is Distracted

Apple only mentioned the Apple TV once during the last quarter's financial earnings call. They don't care, so why should we care? They don't even want to tell you how many they sold, and it's no secret that if a company won't break out one product line, but does for all the others, they're hiding something. With the iPhone, Leopard and Mac sales taking the headlines, the Apple TV is getting the short shrift. The recent ugly spat between NBC and Apple made it clear that nobody is winning the revenue game there when it comes to film and TV downloads through iTunes.

6. Apple Isn't Supporting Eager Developers

The Apple TV is a cleverly disguised cheap Macintosh, and the developer community was once excited enough to hack into the box to run native applications and get the Apple TV to act more like a Mac. With the right support, the Apple TV could be extended to be an excellent game machine, to add more video sources, and grab the eye of the geek community.

7. iTunes is Losing the Video Streaming War

One of today's biggest pieces of news was Hulu, NBC's attempt to take TV shows online, supported by commercials. ABC has long done the same thing. Joost has some extremely compelling software that lets me select shows on demand, run streaming from other computers, with minimal advertising. To even watch a single episode from iTunes, I have to download the whole thing and then sync it to the Apple TV.

8. iTunes and the Apple TV Have No Answer for Rentals

In my mind, it would be incredibly easy for Apple to offer movie rentals, with DRM, that would get me to download movies from iTunes. I would dump my NetFlix account if I could get films from iTunes to the Apple TV in an hour, rather than the days it takes to turn my NetFlix account around. But while there have been rumors about the service's debut now and again, we've got absolutely nothing to show for it.

How the Apple TV Can Be Saved

1. A Solution for Movie Rentals is Needed Now

Suck it up, Steve. Admit that people don't want to own their movies the way they own their music. Precedent has been set that movies are to be watched once or a few times, not many times (See my note from January). And as fast as networks are getting and as big as hard drives are getting, the concept of downloading movies of any quality is still a big deal. Let me download, watch, and delete. That's all I want. You work out the business model.

2. Cut Exclusive Deals With Movie Studios

Can you imagine if movies debuted in the theater at the same time as they did on iTunes? If I could see those films playing in the box office on my home screen instead of having to go to a theater, with its crowds, sticky floors and crying babies, I would do it. But if I have to wait 6-9 months to get it on iTunes, by that point I've either seen it already or stopped caring.

3. Make the Box Something New: A Game Device?

If it's really a Mac under that hood, Steve, then it's a lot more powerful than you're letting it be. See how the Nintendo Wii has captured the imagination of so many? What if you could make your one box the answer not only for music and videos and YouTube, but for video games? I don't care if you get Halo 3 on there tomorrow, as quite honestly I'd be content with Cribbage or Scrabble on the big screen, so long as you promised Tetris and sports games would eventually show up.

4. Open the Box Up to Developers and Support Them

Developers are not the enemy. In fact, they can be the best allies you have, doing the work your team isn't doing, and expanding your customer base, without much cost to you. You supply them the hardware and the network connections, and let them do the rest. Hold seminars on how to program for the Apple TV.

5. Act Like You Care About Apple TV

Don't call this box I purchased a hobby. I took it seriously, can't you? While I understand the iPhone is pretty cool, as is the iPod, and Leopard and Mac... don't you think this box, with so much potential, should get a little love? Don't tell me you shipped it to just give up on it.

6. Watch What the Industry Is Doing and Learn

Every few months or so, I read an article about how TiVo is dying. Really? Their box still kicks your ass. What about SlingBox? Couldn't figure out how to get me a way to watch my Apple TV when I was on the road, but some punk startup turned that idea into an acquisition worth hundreds of millions? What about Joost or Comcast OnDemand? How can you take this tremendous Apple TV and iTunes package and come up with an answer for real-time on demand? So far, you've got nothing.

Steve, and the Apple team, we're among your biggest supporters. That's obvious. I'm not the type of user who would complain if you dropped the price or added new features after I bought. I bought version 1 and I know the issues there. But for you to ship away and slip away makes no sense here. If you ever think iTunes will make it in the video world, you're holding on to the very best way to make that happen, the Apple TV. But if you don't do anything about it, it will be too late, and you will have failed.

Now please excuse me so I can go watch some Netflix DVD we rented. When I get back home, I also look forward to catching up on my TiVo shows. Will you have anything new for me?

ShowHype Connects Hollywood With Silicon Valley Geekery

Take the community submission format of BallHype or Digg, the blog ranking algorithms of a TechMeme leaderboard, and sprinkle in the gossip and glamour of Hollywood, and you get the unique community news and discussion site of ShowHype, which debuts today, brought to you by the minds behind BallHype.

The latest "Hype" in the family aims to take the mantra of "The best stories, the biggest fans" and apply it to a world where people are more familiar with movie scripts than JavaScript, and the box office is more closely watched than the NASDAQ. ShowHype users can log in to view the most popular entertainment news, videos and blogs of the day, submit new articles or even create unique ShowHype stories for what's sure to become a focused audience trading in the latest Hollywood dirt.


The ShowHype front page highlights today's stories with the most buzz.

Six months after the successful debut of BallHype, the site's creators, Jason and Erin Gurney, just may have another sleeper hit on their hands. Speaking to them a few weeks ago about the site in a sneak preview at their home, we talked about how they're eager to find fun topics, like entertainment and sports, for their users, and are steering clear of more divisive subjects. So don't wait around for PoliticsHype or GodHype any time soon!

Anybody familiar with BallHype will find the ShowHype interface extremely familiar. If you already have a BallHype login, the same credentials will get you into ShowHype. In fact, I've already started a users' group in ShowHype for "TiVo Fans", where we can share tips, news and tricks. If you're into Hollywood in a big way, or even if you're the more casual type who secretly wants to know what exactly is going on with Lindsey Lohan, Kate Hudson, and Justin Timberlake, then ShowHype should be a must-bookmark destination.

Also see: TechCrunch | ParisLemon | Frantic Industries

TiVo HD Lifetime Promo Too Good to Pass Up

In June, I was tempted to upgrade to a Series 2 TiVo and maintain my lifetime membership, for $299. Having been a series 1 holdout for 4-plus years, I almost sprung for it. But I didn't. Then in July, TiVo announced a low-price HD box, bringing the entry price to HD TiVo goodness down to $299 instead of $799. But, still, we held on to our Series 1. It's worked great for years, and I wasn't interested in paying a monthly fee to Alviso, where TiVo is headquartered.

Despite all that, today, I finally gave in to TiVo's marketing ploys.



It seems TiVo is a little tired of us Series 1 lifetime membership holdouts getting their services for free, seemingly forever. After June's promotion, I got an e-mail today offering me the new TiVo HD at the standard $299 price, but offering the option to move my lifetime membership from the old box to the new for only $199 more, and I get to keep the series 1 active for another year. Given it can cost upwards of $179 for just one year's worth of TiVo, it made sense, and we accepted their offer.

Once the new TiVo HD comes, we'll finally have a TiVo on both our TVs. We'll finally be able to record two channels at once. We'll finally be able to download movies directly to TiVo from the Web. And we'll just maybe get to see it in HD, if I ever stop being cheap.

Additional coverage: Engadget: TiVo offers lifetime service transfers to the HD... if you've got $199

Welcome Back, Network Television

Just as the baseball season is coming to a close, a new season is upon us - that of the Fall television season. After months of mundane TiVo near-ignorance, and dabbling in the BBC America network, primetime television roared back to life in our home earlier this week with the 1-2-3 combo of Bones, House, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. After a brief Wednesday's vacation, the TiVo whirred up again tonight, taking in Ugly Betty, CSI and ER.

(I'll let you guess which two of the shows are slugged "wife only")

In the summer months away from the standard idiot box fare, we spent a significant amount of time enjoying our Nintendo Wii, reading 200+ RSS feeds in Google Reader, blogging a bit ourselves, picking winners on Ballhype, catching up on our Netflix queue, and attending a ton of A's games. Now, as we've regained yet another distraction from all the real work we need to do, some of those other items just might go down in the number of hours spent daily - or, in the cases of blogging or reading RSS feeds, they'll have to be done in parallel. There's nothing like sitting cross-legged on the bed with the laptop open while occasionally glancing up at the TV set to make sure you haven't lost track of the plot, after all.

To be honest, there weren't any real cliff-hangers from Spring that had us waiting with anticipation. In fact, we were disappointed, as we are every year, to see some of our favorite shows disappear, as Fox's hilarious War At Home was axed without fanfare and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip was similarly canned, though a lot more noisily.

Now, our time with the TV becomes a balancing act. How do we make sure we train the Series One TiVo to get our BBC shows (Coupling and Hotel Babylon) without missing some season premieres? Is it possible to play the Nintendo Wii while watching CSI? (I think not...) And will our Saturdays be spent watching the two, three or four shows we missed during the week?

All I know is regardless of how many shows we take in, and whether we can possibly catch our fill of crime dramas, medical emergencies and jury trials, we'll have our TiVo remote in hand to zap through the commercials and save precious minutes with each episode. Hopefully, we won't find any more new shows to add to our own fall schedule, or I'll have to start calling in sick to the office.

Ballhype T-Shirt Give-Away #2, and a New Record!

A few weeks ago, we offered a free Ballhype t-shirt to a randomly selected individual who left a comment on the blog stating why they most deserved to win. In the end, with help from our 18-year-old beagle, Dharr18 was the lucky winner.

Well guess what? We won yet another Ballhype t-shirt again this week, after a controversial record-setting week of long shot picks aimed at predicting upsets. (See some discussion here)

It's once again time for you to put your name in the ring, and possibly walk away with a brand-new shirt from one of the hottest Web communities to debut this year.

To earn the Ballhype t-shirt, I ask only you comment to this post, and list:

1. Your login at Ballhype.com (or create one).
2. The game you most enjoyed watching in the last week.
3. Why you enjoyed watching.

It's that simple. Assuming we have more than one respondent, the rules are:

You must respond by 11:59 p.m. PDT, Mon. Sept. 24th.
Ballhype management will ship in USA only.

As with the previous contest, it is highly likely that Molly, our beagle, will be selecting the winner. We will cover that process at the time the winner is awarded. But until then, take a look at the Ballhype T-shirts available, and see what you could win!

Good luck!

Adding Movie Rentals to iTunes Would Save the Apple TV

Sometimes, being an early adopter really bites. After years of drooling anticipation from fans, myself included, Apple delivered on their set top box strategy, with the debut of the Apple TV, acting as the conduit between video on my iTunes and my wide-screen TV. While I recognized the first box would have issues, I had to get one. I also trusted that the box's feature set could be updated on the fly, putting my faith in Apple to deliver additional functionality as the box gained in maturity.

And in the six months or so that I've had my Apple TV, the only real news is that I gained the ability to browse YouTube in June. I still don't have Apple's blessing to play .avi files from other sources on my widescreen TV. I still don't have anything like games on the Apple TV, and worst of all, iTunes still hasn't debuted movie rentals - what I believe to be the missing link between potential product obsolescence and product success.

Today, my Apple TV largely plays my music on the TV's speakers, acting as an overpowered stereo, with some cool graphics. But the price barrier to download films - at $10 for anything from the iTunes store, is a fallacy in the face of Netflix pricing, and the ability to set up my TiVo to proactively find films for free.

With this background, we now see Forbes lustily calling the Apple TV "The iFlop", saying while the iPhone has soared in the global consciousness, the Apple TV has been dissed as a hobby and hidden in the backs of stores. Apple won't even discuss the product's sales success, or lack thereof, as an individual line.

I have faith Apple can get their act together on the Apple TV, but very little faith in the media owners of today (i.e. the movie studios) to do what's best for consumers instead of what's best for their own pockets. If they do not deliver reasonable download terms for movie rentals via iTunes, it could both spell the death of Apple TV and even worse, send us to BitTorrent and other less-desired means to get our digital entertainment fix.

Let's get this done, Apple. I've been begging since April for you to crush Netflix, have seen rumors you'll pull this off at least since July and I have no interest in seeing Forbes' dire prediction come true.

A's 11-9 Win Kicks Off Big Sports Weekend

Come Monday morning, there is little doubt I'll start off the workweek a little hoarse, my voice worse for the wear after what's sure to be a great weekend of sports - as I have two A's games and a Cal Bears football game on the docket.

Tonight, I joined up with a colleague and took in an exciting back and forth game between the A's and the visiting Texas Rangers. While neither team is a threat to make the playoffs at this point, both clubs played with pride. Though the A's started off in a quick hole, down 6-0, they battled back, and on the power of a 7-run 5th inning, actually led at one point by the score of 9-6. But not even that would last, as Sammy Sosa slammed a three-run homer to tie it up, at 9-9.

Astutely, I turned to my friend and said, "I bet you it'll take one team's reaching double figures to win this game..."

Not surprisingly, I was right. The A's Nick Swisher untied things with a moonshot to left field, making it 10-9, and the A's padded on an 11th run for the final tally, more than three hours after the game had started.

All told, the game featured twenty runs, forty base runners, and 210 minutes of action. Not only did my colleague and I enjoy the game, but we had the rare opportunity to sit in a section occupied by the visiting team's sales staff, who made for great company, and really knew their baseball.

I'm looking forward to going back the Oakland Coliseum for tomorrow's rematch at 12:55. From there, Kristine and I will zip up to Berkeley to see our Cal Golden Bears take on Louisiana Tech at 3:30. With any luck, I'll be back here tomorrow telling you just how our teams won both those games...

Geeky Web Comics, With Stick Figures

There are a few geek-oriented Web comics out there, from Joy of Tech to the Gaping Void, but among my very favorites is the oddly-named Xkcd, by Randall Munroe.

As the site states, "This comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors)."

Needless to say, this liberal arts major really enjoys it anyway. Xkcd deftly intertwines mathematics, science and technology with humor, social awkwardness and dating, often with very amusing results. I recently took the time to start at comic #1 and click next through today, gaining the benefits of reading a full comic book online. Even after several dozen, I still found myself laughing time and again. While Randall doesn't slave away a the art side of his stick figures, the word play and scenarios are hilarious.

Some examples:





I hope you enjoy his work as I have. Check them out at www.xkcd.com.

Wii Steals Show In Family Weekend Visit

My wife and I got home a few hours ago after the 150-mile drive from Folsom, California, after a quick two-day visit with my parents and youngest sister. While we enjoyed one another's company, saw their new house, swam in their pool, visited with my grandmother, played cards and went out to dinner, among other things, there was a clear winner for attention - our Nintendo Wii.

With four controllers, the entire family moved furniture aside, and we battled against one another in tennis, bowling, golf and baseball, without leaving our living room. With Kristine and me acting at first playing the part of the more experienced pair, we quickly saw our mediocre skills matched and trumped - especially by my mother, who somehow managed to average more than 200 a game in bowling when I could barely break the 125 mark. As I battled to pick up splits for spares, she would methodically knock all the pins down - at one point, scoring five straight strikes, much to our joint delight, disillusionment and annoyance.

All told, our Wii was happy to report it was (ab)used to the point of 5 1/2 hours on Saturday, and almost 3 hours Sunday, before we had to turn it off, pack it up and drive home. And while it definitely sounds silly that we racked over eight hours together in front of the video game console, it brought us all together doing a shared activity that was at least mildly physical, and certainly competitive. Also, I'd be lying if I said my right shoulder wasn't a bit sore after the weekend workout.

We enjoyed our trip and seeing the family, finally getting time on our busy schedules, and we were lucky enough to, this time, have brought the entertainment with us. I, for one, know I need to practice some more before we have a rematch.

New TAB Post: Apple Remote Could Slow Apple TV Gaming

With the Nintendo Wii on board, I've been thinking a lot about how intuitive and fun it is to play the console, and how, in contrast, my Apple TV has found a lot of idle time. I think Apple's hobby has a lot of potential as a game platform, but Steve Jobs is being quiet, and I think the focus on minimalism, from the box to the remote, offers up challenges to developers and potential game players.

After all... the Apple Remote simply doesn't even have enough buttons to play Tetris, let alone Mario Brothers. Would it be a major impediment to Apple expanding the platform? I think it would.

That's the background behind my most recent contribution to The Apple Blog, titled Would Apple's Remote Deny Proper Gaming?. Per agreement with them, I will not be cross-posting the piece, but instead, have provided a link. Enjoy.

BBC America Helps Beat Summer TV Doldrums

While the major television networks fill their summers with the latest ridiculous reality shows, my wife and I have been more than happy to indulge in other pursuits, including watching televised A's games, making the most of our Netflix subscription, and battling each other on the Nintendo Wii. This has left our TiVo largely neglected, dutifully taking down each Jon Stewart or Conan O'Brien airing, but not doing much else - until recently, when we asked our TiVo to step up its game by dabbling in the British arts, recording the series "Hotel Babylon" and "Coupling" on BBC America.

As usual, we are quite amused by what the proper English have put together. In the same spirit as the original "The Office" series and "Absolutely Fabulous", both Coupling and Hotel Babylon seem to be ahead of their time, sure to be poorly mimicked by wannabe TV producers here in the states in no time.

Of the two, Hotel Babylon is both newer and most promising, in my opinion. Taking what would otherwise be pure drudgery - managing a hotel, keeping guests pleased, and rooms cleaned, instead presents a foundation for all sorts of mischief, internal politics, and odd characters, with an acceptable level of sex, drugs and alcohol thrown in for good measure.

But Coupling is in itself quite funny - almost like the series Friends could have been if it were to have some semblance of intelligence, and a darker side. The most recent episode we saw showed two sides of a couple's breakup and eventual reconciliation, cutting a clear demarcation between the two genders' interpretations and reactions to the same event. For starters, the girl treated herself to a beauty parlor, while the man headed to a strip club. You get the idea.

Given that much of network television is getting progressively worse, and the summers are the most vapid of them all, I'm glad we've found an escape route, even if it means listening to