Technology

It’s the future now, Damn it!

1
1 year ago
by Phlashman in

So earlier tonight I was a little bored and got the sudden urge to watch some Star Wars films. Not a too unreasonable urge given my geek nature. I was even willing to part with actual real life money to see at least one in HD probably 2 and I’d probibly watch a third tomorrow. So as it’s 2011, I have a 50Mb internet connection, I have a Xbox 360, PS3 and HD Sky Box surely somewhere some how some combination of these couple of years old technologies would deliver some of the most popular movies of all time in to my home.

No. No Star Wars on Zune, No Star Wars on Lovefilm streaming, No Star Wars on iTunes (except clone wars, which is awesome, but my Sky Box has a few episodes on it), not even a desperate search to see if it’s being shown on ITV4 or something bought anything up. How is this possible in 2011?

As we all know Mr. Lucas hasn’t made anything of note since The Last Crusade in ’89 and has spent the last 20 years trying his hardest to bleed as much money out of Star Wars as possible. Which is understandable really, because his cut of the $2 billion original trilogy box office couldn’t of lasted him long, good job he got all that money from the toy and extras because it was quite a while before he made the prequels, which made a pityful $2.5 billion at the box office. Never mind the video releases, eventual DVD release, cinematic re-releases. So you’d imagine being so poor he’d be desperate to take my money for an internet HD version? Obviously not.

This is a prime example of the movie industry making the same mistakes the music industry have been making for years. Sticking to old world measures to restrict customer choice rather than letting the customer choose how they’d like to consume your content with a wide range of options as some people want different things. Again lets look at Star Wars to see the real world example. Let’s take the HD original trilogy (the films I’d like to watch) they were first shown on Sky HD on Jan 1 2007 (more than 4 years ago), in 2010 they got shown on ITV4 HD, the blu-ray release is scheduled for release in September 2011. So it’s going to be nearly 5 years from the first showings to the first chance to actually own it.

And then they are shocked and outraged when people pirate films? In any business if you treat your customers that badly, you shouldn’t be surprised that they don’t want to do business with you.

Luckily, we’re coming to a crunch point. Netflix in the US has set out the blue-print for the future, a monthly fee for access to a huge streaming database of movies. Spotify is doing the same for music and the tech giants are taking notice. Amazon bought Lovefilm (regularly called the Netflix of the UK, I wouldn’t go that far), Google are looking to move their youtube brand in to the movie market and Microsoft’s Zune service is available but they are doing a great job of not telling anyone about it (Example: my brother got a new HDTV the other day, not yet having any HD content to play on it I said why don’t you just watch a few trailers on the Zune Marketplace as they’re HD and on his 40Mb internet will be blu-ray quality. He said ‘what?’ he plays on his Xbox for hours almost every night and didn’t know about it).

And then of course there’s Apple. iTunes accounts for 70% of music sales, but total sales have stalled. They have the largest number of people with an internet account linked to a credit card, for one click purchasing. 200 Million people according to Steve Jobs on Wednesday. They have a huge data-centre ready to light up. Maybe 2011 is the year AppleTV stops being a hobby?

So things are looking good for the future. But the future is now, Damn it! Every day that consumer choice is stifled piracy will increase, these services have been technically achievable for years and not being able to watch Star Wars in HD tonight has really pissed me off.

I’m off to have a bath and then watch an episode of Clone Wars. I think I’m going to need a rest before I digest the news about The Phantom Menace being converted to 3D and re-released in Feb 2012.

Ashley.

Digital Comics

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1 year ago
by Phlashman in ,

I love reading digitial comics on my iPad. Before my iPad I’d still read comics, normally once a series had been collated into what known as a trade paperback (or trade, or TBP) but the cost would seriously limit my reading. For example an issue from a series I’ve recently loved “Hack/Slash” issue 28 Dec 2009. Cover price $3.50, UK Price £3.50 ($5.16), and trust me it takes some finding. Comics aren’t big here in the UK because it’s unrealistic to take that sort of punt on something. Remember in the UK comics aren’t carried in shops (except the occasional specialist store in the big cities), and even then you’ll be lucky to find much beyond DC and Marvel.

But as soon as the iPad came along I knew things were about to change and boy has it changed. It’s so much better from a UK comics reader’s point of view now. Prices are matched with the US much better. That same issue of Hack/Slash cost me 59p, a price that is about as good as free. OK, I can’t lend it to anyone without lending them my iPad (not that I lend anyone comics anyway) but the fact I have it at all is testament to the iPad and the Comics by Comixology app. I would never of come across the series without them. Over the last few months I’ve read every bit of Hack/Slash available and I highly recommend you do the same.

That said, recently Kotaku had a really good post about digital comics and what’s wrong with it at the moment. I’ve also read other blogs and articles about digital comics and there’s a growing consensus and for some a growing frustration about how the digital comic market is operating.

First comics are generally not available “day and date”, meaning the same day the print version hits the shop. Sometimes it might be a few weeks delay but in other cases it’s years. Action Comics, the comic that spawned Superman, one of DC’s biggest comics, the latest issue is July 2007. Plus considering that issue is #851 you’d expect there to be plenty of back issues to get stuck into? There’s 8. Yes, less than 1% of one of the most popular comic in the world is available. I understand it might take time to digitize the back catalog, but digital comics have been on the cards for years, add the 10 months the iPad has been out, 8 issues is just pathetic.

Another problem many have is many series don’t have free or low-cost introduction issues. Most comics are £1.19 ($1.99), while it’s hardily a fortune it’s too much if you are looking for something new. Some series do have free first issues, which is good. But some have 8 page Issue 0 previews, which aren’t enough to give you a feel about weather you’ll like a series or not. Rarely have I found a series that I take an instant like to. To give a series a proper chance you have to get to issue 3 or 4. I’d love to see issues 1 & 2 free and 3 & 4 at 59p (99c). By then I’ll probably know if I’m will to put down £1.19 an issue. Don’t get me wrong I think 59p an issue is a good price points for all comics.

The last problem is a problem with locating certain comics. Going digital is a great chance for comics to regain a place in mainstream media. Over the past 20+ years they’ve slowly been whittled down to a niche and unless you have some knowledge, buying a comic can be quite a task. The “comic book guy” of the Simpson is how a great many people see it. Some publishers haven’t made it easy, restricting their comics to their app. So even if you do get a great recommendation about a new comic, unless you know who published it you might have trouble finding it. Luckly many publisher are working with Comixology including Marvel and DC. It’s fast becoming “the” digital comic shop but I hope it doesn’t become “the only” digital comic shop. In something as new and rapidly changing as digital comics, competition is a must. I’d also like to see better recommendation and new reader points (points in long running comics where new readers can pick up the story) to be much better highlighted.

So, digital comics are great, but they could be better. Hopefully since it’s still early days the current problem will be sorted out in time. If you have a iPad I urge you to download some of the comic apps and have a look around. Also this post let me post a load of really cool art from said comics.

Ashley.


Apps, Apps and Apps

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1 year ago
by Phlashman in

Apps are everywhere. It’s the tech buzzword of the year and the year before that. There are loads, loads and loads. 300,000 apps on the Apple app store alone, 50,000+ on Android, Facebook apps, Blackberry apps, Google TV apps… so many just getting seen is a major task. But when you do, and if you app is good enough you can strike gold. Angry Birds has been downloaded over 36 million times in 10 months. To put this in perspective all Mario games (including games that he’s just appears in, like Smash Bros.) have sold 210 million over 30 years. Sure, Angry birds costs a lot less than a Mario game, but it was also much cheaper to make, quicker to make. 36 million downloads at $1+ each for a outlay of $100,000 max.

The current status of apps reminds me a lot of the internet boom, there are some great apps making us rethink how we do basic things. But there’s also a load of crap and finding the gems in an ever grown mountain of poop isn’t getting much easier. The app ecosystem feels very much like the web pre-Google. Yeah, there are Apps and sites that try to help out on this front, like Chomp.com or appshopper.com, but much as we had Yahoo! and askjeeves.com finding the apps you want is still a chore.

So how to fix it? Android Market place and (more importantly) the Apple App Store have to take the lead in solving these problems. First they have to allow developers to have more flexible pricing structures supported by the API. For example, half the detritus in the app stores can be removed with support for Demo modes, clearing out the junk ‘lite’ and ‘free’ versions. In app purchasing of extra levels doesn’t seem to go far enough for me, I either want a free demo version or to buy it and have it all. The model used on XBLA where every game has a trial mode would be good. Or a time based demo which would be good for non-gaming apps.

Subscription models, these seem to be on the cards in the next few weeks, but it’s very late. The app stores are already clogged with more than a year or so monthly new apps. Off topic for a moment, it’s rumoured that the launch of subscriptions for apps will come with the launch with a new tablet only paper. I’m not sure if it’s doomed from the off or not. I’ll blog about it once the facts are out. I hope they allow subscription models to be used with any app and not just magazine/newspaper apps as this might be a good way for other services to work, MMO games and media services could be good uses too.

These things would allow users to try more apps to help them find the right apps. Currently some apps chances are restricted to those who have the money to take the chance on a app if they don’t have a ‘lite’ or ‘demo’ version.

Lastly, the app stores have to get social. The best recommendations come from friends. Game Center is a good start. I’ve played more new games on my iPad since getting 4.2 as I can see what my friends are playing and what they thought of certain games. But this needs to be universal for all apps. Ping should of been this, It should of imported your twitter/facebook/contacts and centralised and shared your likes not just in music, but films, TV, books…. and apps. If it was all free to try too, I’d be trying more apps and if they are good I’ll be buying more apps.

Myself, I’m itching to get developing apps. I just haven’t the time or equipment at the moment. I’m hoping that the app stores solve some of these problem. It’s still early days in the new world of apps, the best it yet to come but when it does I hope it’s easier to find it.

Ashley.

3 Months Later…

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1 year ago
by Phlashman in , , ,

Yep, I’m Lazy. Well my excuse was going to be mental exhaustion which would be kinda true but still… I’m just lazy.

As I’m going to try to not just write for my blog on a quarterly basis I’ll just blog briefly on some of what’s happened since July then go over them more in the next few days and weeks.

First on the City front. Ignore my last post, the Malaysians turned out to be Thais and Paulo Sousa got sacked after a terrible start… but now we have Sven-Goran Eriksson and result have picked up and there’s hope the season won’t be so bad after all.

Second, apparently Steve Jobs doesn’t read my blog so no Apple subscription service.. yet. They have completed a huge data-center in North Carolina which should come online any moment now. It’s huge, so huge in fact they are building an identical one right next to it. They’re a cooking something. iPad multi-tasking should arrive this week, so that’ll be nice.

Third, Call of Duty: Black Ops comes out on Tuesday. It’s kind of uncool to like Call of Duty games but I like them and that’s what my brothers mainly play. To be honest I prefer them to Halo now. I’ve got Tuesday off so I can get a fair bit of play in day one. It’s an interesting time in gaming, casual games seem to be changing the market and as I’m more a “core” gamer I’m not sure how I feel about it.

Fourth, TV seems a little empty without the promise of more Lost or 24 on the horizon. Caprica has been cancelled so has The Event, something that was looking promising. Stargate Universe seem to be plodding along quite well though and The Walking Dead looks like it could be a quality new series. I haven’t been to the Cinema in forever it seems, but my little brother Joe has passed his driving test so hopefully that’ll change. Really looking forward to Tron with it’s Daft Punk soundtrack. Sucker Punch is looking great and there’s a new Superman in the works which is great.

Lastly, news, politics and the rest. I think I’m needing a good news story right now. The news is just cuts cuts cuts, though I won’t really be affected people will be and it’s pretty depressing. I rarely go into town (Coalville) but did the other week and the number of empty shops was shocking, it’s feeling like a town on the brink of collapse. I’m quite in to my American politics too, and as someone of the left of the political spectrum, I find the situation over there quite distressing.

So, I’ll be expanding on the above in future post. But for now at least I’ve proved I’m still here.

Laters.

Ashley.

P.S. This lifted me a little:


But really I do love a bit of Dubstep on the way home on a cold winter night, here’s a spotify playlist I put together. Tweet me if you need a Spotify invite. @Phlashman

iOS, iTunes & I

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1 year ago
by Phlashman in

OK, I admit it! I’ve become a little bit of an Apple fanboy but just an iFanboy, I’m still not a fan of OS X. Anyway, I have just got my iPhone 4. It’s pretty great, the screen is the most spectacular thing. It really has to be seen to be believed. The upgrade in processor and RAM takes the performance to a whole new level. My old 3G is extremely sluggish in comparison, even more so if you update to iOS4.

Once again Apple has delivered a top of class product, despite still having big issues. The antenna/death-grip problem has maybe been the biggest problem an Apple product has ever seen, it really is quite a big problem. I’ve tried the death grip myself and sure enough I could get the signal down to nothing within a few seconds. I haven’t came across a situation in actual use where it’s been a problem for me yet, but I’ve only had it a day.

I’m really enjoying iOS, it feels like it’s just a few small steps from perfection as the “lightweight” OS. Here’s what I’d do to if I was Steve Jobs, some of this is already rumoured, some of it is wishful thinking but if these things could get done I’d be there in an instant with my money.

First, the App Store has to have an unregulated section. Make it so users have to read and accept several screens of warnings about voiding warranties, but let developers have the freedom to create. Sure there will be nasty horrid apps, but also there will be gems that will grow to become the next big thing. At the moment they are being stamped out by the App Store police before they have the time to see the light of day (Yes, you could jailbreak but you shouldn’t have to IMO). Every app that gets submitted goes in to this category until Apple approve it, if they don’t it stays there unless there’s some serious harm it’s doing.

Second, it’s about time iTunes got a total overhaul. The major thing for me would be the pricing structure, tonight I got lost in iTunes for the iPad. I was watching lots of trailers, they looked and sounded fantastic but I still can’t bring myself to value digital downloads on a piece by piece basis. District 9 is my favourite film of recent years but £10 for a digital version? That I can only watch on my PC or iDevices? No sale. On the other hand I’m loving Spotify. £10 a month for all the music I want? I didn’t normally spend that much on music anyway but not only am I paying more than I used to for music, I’m consuming more new music. Spotify’s only problem is it’s music catalogue, it’s good but not nearly as large as iTunes.

So my plan for iTunes would be go monthly subscriptions: £10 per month for music, £10 per month for TV, £10 per month for Films, £10 for Books, £10 for Comics, all you can eat. Link it to your iTunes account not your iDevice. That way if I go round my friends house I can login and watch films I have paid to access on their iDevice. This way also stops the need for mass local storage. I only need space on my iDevice for the media I want offline, that’ll be my all time favourite music and a few recent albums, and a few films or programmes for when I’m travelling. This keeps devices smaller and cheaper. Lastly with iTunes I’d allow targeted ads for cheaper subscriptions, but also allow non-subsidised ad-free subscriptions.

Third, iOS has to spread to the TV. Watching films on your iPad is great, but bizarre when you are sitting about 10ft from your great big 1080p TV and sweet surround sound setup. Yes, I can see me watching a film on an iPhone or iPad on the plane or train or a situation where I know I’m going to be doing a lot of waiting. But not in my living room or bedroom.

I’d re-do AppleTV, make it a HDMI through device so it can overlay it’s interface on your existing TV. Add iOS to bring the world of apps to the big screen, it’d be great if I can just catch up on my tweets during an ad break or have a system to enhance programs with extra information. Imagine having an app for a series you can turn on while you watch the programme and it detects where in the programme you are. Then you can pause and see a little “making of…” bit for that scene? Again, this can be subsidised with targeted and/or interactive ads. A channel could display a special marking during their ident at the start and end of each break to let the system know when it can do ads in live broadcasts.

So, that’s it. Obviously there’s a few things to get ironed out, like how iOS would work on a non-touch based TV. If Apple made this happen, I’d get a new AppleTV for £200 and I’d get Music, TV, Film, Book and Comic subscriptions (£50 a month, up from the current £0) and seriously consider cutting down my Sky channels to just the sports.

Of course if Google or Microsoft or anyone else can delivery these services on devices with the quality of the iPad and iPhone 4 first, then they’d get my money instead.

Ashley.

The iPad, Apple & Me

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1 year ago
by Phlashman in

So, here it is. The iPad review.

When the iPhone came out it wasn’t that the concept of a touchscreen phone makes lots of sense, indeed many companies had already done one, I even had an LG Prada. Given the ever growing number of tasks we have been using them for it was clear a changing interface was obviously needed otherwise we’d end up in a sea of button and complex menus. It was Apple who used their amazing design abilities to craft a new user interface language, based in touch, and showed the whole world how it was done.

I remember the first time I experienced it, on an iPod touch. It was true amazing considering how bad touch had been up to the point. The small additions like momentum in menus, the accelerometer and sticking to a single home button meaning pretty much everything had to be done through touch, revolutionised how developers think about and how they design their programs.

But even after I hopped on-board the iPhone wagon with the 3G 2 years ago, it was not the perfect experience. One of my main niggles was the size of the screen, I loved how browsing was implemented with touch, but all the zooming in ruined it. As apps came available that let you read comics or books, I imagined how nice it would be to view more than a single panel or 2 paragraphs at a time. So once I heard rumours the fabled Apple tablet was actually to become a reality I knew it’d a be product I would be very interested in.

Again, the Tablet has been one of those devices that has always been around but never perfected. The most famous attempt being Microsoft’s Tablet OS’s, but the problem was they just tried to port the full Windows experience over to a touch screen laptop, this doesn’t work for touch devices as they need to be simpler. As soon as the iPhone and it’s interface became a reality the iPad was just a matter of time.

So here it is. The iPad. I have the 32GB 3G model, but all the models are identical to the eye (bar the 3G having a small plastic area at the back for the 3G aerial. Basically, it’s a giant iPhone. It’s curved slighty at the back which is a single piece of aluminium which feels very solid. I find myself drumming my fingers on the back quite hard without any fear of incident, it’s a little heavier than you think it’d be, but now after some use I don’t notice the weight. You have a few buttons and speaker holes around the side but it’s the huge single piece of glass covering the screen that’s what this device is all about.

Once you turn it on, the screen is beautiful, the colours are great and the resolution is perfect. Unlock and you’re at the home screen, you already know how to use it and that’s about all you need to know. I’ve tried writing about how great browsing is, and how you can get lost in the content but at the end of the day, the only way to explain to someone what the iPad is like is to pass it over them and within a few minutes they get it. Like a book or a film or a piece of music you can rave on about it but you know someone else won’t truly know how you feel until they have read it or watched it or heard it.

No, you don’t need the iPad. It isn’t a device you can’t live without. I wouldn’t want to use it to program something or even write a long blog like this. Yes, Apple are being very restrictive on the App store. Yes, there is no flash player.

The iPad isn’t about what it can or can’t do. It’s about how it does what it does.

Ashley.

P.S. I feel like that was a bit of a cop-out review, I wanted to go into how I’ve become addicted to Angry Birds and how with the ‘Comics’ app I’ve re-found my love for them. But I wanted to keep the review about the actual device. In blog posts to come I’ll cover the apps more and also Apple’s stance on the App store and Flash, but for me those things don’t get in the way of what I think about the device. If you’ve got an opinion about this review I’d love to hear it.

Picture Credit: Apple.com

Bits, Bobs & Writers Block

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1 year ago
by Phlashman in ,

Sorry I haven’t blogged in the last week. As you can guess from the title I’ve suffered a little writers block, plus I’ve had neck injury that’s made pretty much any movement hard but I’m feeling better now.

I’ve had two articles with titles and intro’s started but I just couldn’t complete them, maybe because it’s just damn bad timing. One was about consumption of media, basically laying out how I want digital distribution to work, but it appears I’m not entirely sure what I want. I thought I did but as I sat down and started to write it I realised I didn’t. There’s a good chance Apple will be announcing some updates to iTunes on June 7th at WWDC, so maybe after I’ll have a clearer idea of what I want.

The other article was about my anticipation for the iPad. But again I wasn’t sure about what I wanted to say. I think waiting until I have mine would be best, should be next week, then I can do a more conventional review and put some of my opinions in that piece.

That said my little brother Joe got his the day before launch and came into work to let me have a quick go. First impressions, it’s a little smaller than I thought it’d be, heavy but not as heavy as I’d thought it’d be. It’s amazingly fast and the screen is superb. Can’t wait to have some real time with it.

Being a true geek I’ve downloaded a fair few apps in readiness, I have a lovely handmade case I urge all iPad owners to check out: http://www.etsy.com/shop/MyGreenMonkeyDesigns shipped from the US it still came in less than the official case, while I’m using an iPad I don’t need a case, I just want something to protect it in my bag too and from work, it’s even got a pocket for a few accessories. The nicest part was that it came with a hand written letter asking for feedback.

So that’s it for now, I’ll have a iPad review ready soon. I’m also planning on doing a tech advice blog every Tuesday I was going to get started this last Tuesday but with my neck going it’ll wait to this next Tuesday.

Update, I’ve done my first “Tech Tips” blog, you can see in on the Tech Tips page. Click the link at the top.

Ashley.

Picture credits: Apple.com, Green Monkey Designs
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