I love this device.  I really like the 802.11n and I really like the Price Point!  I can afford the 99$ and that makes this an easy buy.  Having access to NetFlix and my iTunes Library in the same place really makes me love this.  I see 3 things that will happen to the device over the next year or two:

1. The Orchard will hold and deliver personal content to any iPhone, iTouch, iPad, and Apple TV.
2. Apple will develop a home iTunes server that will allow for several accounts and multiple account access.  Think HP’s Windows Home Server with the iTunes plug-in.
3. Apple will allow for App development which will bring in more content and some games.  This may require a new Apple TV to handle multiple iPhones, iTouchs, and iPads … to act as game controllers.

Once, Apple puts these pieces into place, it defines the paradigm and concept of what that device in the living room is that handles TV Shows, Movies, Music, and Gaming!

I need to pre-order mine.

iron wil

P.S.

Others Thoughts

1. Wired’s Epicenter, How Apple Just Disrupted the Cable Guys.
2. Ars Technica, No longer a hobby? $99 Apple TV drops storage, integrates Netflix.
3. Fortune Tech, Apple TV swings hard but misses.

I  have to disagree with Fortune, I think that they are wanting a solution to a problem that everyone is searching for.  Wired & Ars, I think are on the same train of thought as I am and Apple.  It isn’t the answer yet … another step or iteration on the path to getting it right.  I look forward to seeing what comes next.  I hope they see and realize that this can’t be a stand alone box; it has to have a robust back-end of content.

I don’t think that Apple will move off OS X unless it is to another desktop OS [11?].  I don’t think that they will move to iOS for their “Trucks” either, how else would people program for Apple products [pro & consumer]?  I think that if they move to a touch based OS for “OS 11″ then we will see programming change to a modular and visual interface and the keyboard will still be needed for some functions.  The only way the keyboard could be minimized is if a Star Trek like voice command is implemented.

What I think will happen is Apple will develop it’s Siri acquisition to build a more robust voice command interface and then over time move it into the desktop computer while beefing up the touch interface.  I also think that the home desktop will turn into a media server that will be connected via Wi-Fi to the TV, stereo, and hand-held devices [iPads, iPhones, and iPod Touches].  We will use the Knowledge Navigator [hand-held device] to interface with the home server and it will do the heavy lifting and data crunching.  It will store and back-up all the data from our devices and allow for the transfer of songs, movies, and other data back and forth via Wi-Fi.  Yes, this will work with the iPod Nano and Classic too!

The future of Apple is the Federation.  No really, the future is going  to be both trucks and cars, the desktop or work horse machine and the hand-held device.  The number of desktop machines will diminish because a family will own one & then they will all have hand-held devices.  The delivery of media will continue to be in two places the TV and the hand-held.  We will see the ability to move from one device to another and the media will follow seamlessly.

Ahhh, the future, please come now!!!

iron wil

I can see replacing my 13″ MacBook with the iPad and using my iMac to do the heavy lifting.  I can see using Dropbox and Evernote even more.  I can see converting all my current OOo [OpenOffice] documents to iWork which means that it easily justifies the expense [not that I consider iWork expensive].  In fact, I think that I could buy 1 iPad for each of my family members and then set up accounts on our iMac as the kids get older.  This would allow my boys to each have one for online games and Apps and their own music selections.

While my personal transition to eBooks has been slow, this may entice me to make that move.  I am using Stanza on my iPhone & it isn’t really a compelling experience.  I also don’t have a lot of reading time and find that Audible is a better resource for me right now.  I hope that this iBook software allows for marking and notes because that would be a big failure right out of the gate if it wasn’t included.  I hope that Amazon gets on board like Audible has with Audiobooks available via iTunes; especially if they can keep the books at the low cost they already are for Kindle owners.

I think this beats the NetBook model hands down even if it isn’t quite what I thought it would end up being. Now, a few weeks ago I published my own predictions for the iPad.

I predicted that Apple would release a multi-touch device similar to the JooJoo [aka CrunchPad] that ran Apps, eBooks, with WiFi/3G, iTunes, a built in battery, Lala, and the content aspects of the Sports Illustrated Tablet demo.  I was right on some items and we could still see Lala become part of the service package MobileMe [I was not the first to suggest this].  I will admit that I am still blown away.  I love the device and look forward to heading into town in 60 Days and testing one out.  I think I will have to get a sitter & take the wife to a movie to justify the whole thing.

I know that many people will not get it until they see others using it and that I can understand.  It was the same way with the Kindle and other devices.  I didn’t get the iPod until I owned one.  Yeah, until I owned one and then I felt dumb because I had not invested in it before then.  It was a mind blowing music experience and since then, I have bought a couple dozen albums.

New Prediction, iSlate with Inkwell for writing with a finger or 3rd party stylus.  This will be more like the Axiotron ModBook.  It will be slide between the iPad and MacBook.

iron wil

I would love to watch new release movies in my living room on opening weekend in my home.  I would be willing to pay 20$ for this.  My own snacks, a pause button, my couch, being able to sit and watch a new movie in my home!  That would rock!  Think about it the Studios could take most of that [90%/10%] and make much more than I am guessing they do through the current movie theater system.

Of course, if I like a movie enough, I may then go see it in the theater for that huge screen or to see it in 3D.  I am just saying … how about it Hollywood!?!

iron wil

This is a great tribute site for authors and characters! Hey, Oscar Wilde

iron wil

It was very hard to see Ben arrive at the decision to take his own life so that others could live.  He obviously viewed the deaths of 7 people as murder.  He felt personally responsible to those individuals and the only way he could ‘repair’ the damage is to give life to someone that is dying.  To see Ben live and be committed to a goal and do the hard thing is amazing.  I don’t think many people in our country understand the kind of commitment that it takes to live your principles and stick to them even if it kills you.

This movie, despite the suicide, is easily one of my favorite movies and sits with HERO and Remember the Titans as a fantastic movie of principle and living a principle centered life.

iron wil

I have to give Will Smith lots of credit for making that movie and delivering on that story.  I can see why it was rewritten for the American public, we like our heroes to live and crush the enemy.  They also made the story much more heart warming and tender.  I don’t know if that was for the women that would be watching the movie with their husbands or because it made it a better story.  I am going with the better story.

See the movie!  It is fantastic!!!

Dvorak’s US CIO dustup, Fred Figglehorn, Samsung TL225, XML patents, and more.

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jay Adelson, Brian Brushwood, Patrick Norton, and John C. Dvorak

Show Notes

MacBreak Weekly 154: Graceful Degradation

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Alex Lindsay, Andy Ihnatko, and Merlin Mann

iPhone becomes #1 Flickr camera, iTunes 69% of music sales, Tom Tom iPhone GPS, Quake Live, and more.

Show Notes

Security Now 210: Listener Feedback 73

Hosts: Steve Gibson with Leo Laporte

Security news and listeners’ questions…

Show Notes

Windows Weekly 119: The Solitary Pleasures of Enterprise Computing

Hosts: Paul Thurrott and Leo Laporte

Which Windows 7 should you buy? Bing continues to surprise and Windows Live Movie Maker ships…

Show Notes

This Week In Google 4: Filers vs. Pilers

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Gina Trapani, Jeff Jarvis, and Kevin Marks

Extracting meaning from your Twitter feed, what Wave is, and isn’t, and the Google-Apple conspiracy…

Show Notes

iron wil

Tron 2.

iron wil

Hosts: Paul Thurrott and Leo Laporte

Windows 7, Office 14, Zune rumors, MSDN, Software Wars, Roku, and more.

• Windows 7 Beta Fallout
  There is almost universal praise for the Windows 7 public beta which was released on January 9, 2009. After impressive demand for the new beta Microsoft has suspended its previous policy which would place a limit on the downloads to 2.5 million and will allow people to download the beta until January 24, 2009. Paul recommends re-arming rather then activiting to save your license keys. Windows 7 also runs great on netbooks, lower end notebooks designed for portability and low power usage. Paul describes a good experience on a 1.6GHz Atom system with 1 GB of RAM and 16GB of harddrive space. The only big question is: will the positive reviews of Windows 7 be enough to get XP users to upgrade?
• What about Office 14?
  With Windows 7 coming out in mid-2009 many are wondering if Office will quickly follow. Microsoft just started a limited beta test of their server offerings, but there is no news about the client. Sources say that we will have to wait until late 2009 or early 2010 for the new Office.
• Zune rumors
  Rumors abound that Microsoft may be exiting the portable media player business by discontinuing the Zune. However, Microsoft recently stated that rather then discontinue the Zune they are going to be expanding the product line. With Apple offering DRM free downloads from it’s iTunes music store, Microsoft may have their work cut out for them.Paul is going to try to get Rob Greenlee of the Zune Insider podcast on a future episode of Windows Weekly to discuss the Zune in more depth.
• Keith Curtis
  Keith Curtis is a long-time Microsoft employee and the author of “The Software Wars,” a book which states that open source software, not Apple, is the real future competition to the Windows operating system. GNU/Linux has been all but dismissed as a possibility on the desktop, but Keith disagrees and he may have a point. He will appear on a future episode of Windows Weekly where he will discuss his book and his ideas in detail.
• Roku Digital Video Player
  • This just in: Roku Digital Video Player adds hundreds of HD movies and TV shows via Netflix, plus 40,000 movies and TV shows from Amazon On Demand. The latter is coming in a few weeks
  • Netflix HD content
  • Office, 30 Rock, Heroes, Star Trek, plus movies like Elf, Ace Ventura, etc.
  • An amazing list of Windows 7 tips published by a Microsoft engineer.
  • Free Battlestar Galactica webisodes on Zune Marketplace In Season 0: A 10-part episode, Face of the Enemy, that bridges the gap between the last season and the next, plus two specials, “Recap” and “Catch the Frak Up”

A Message From Paul Thurrott”This week I’m going to be in Reston, Virginia on Friday for the ‘D.C.’ edition of the MSDN Developer Conference held at the Hyatt Regency Reston. It’s sort of a mini-PDC that’s going around the country. In DC to visit with Rafael. But drop me a line if you’ll be at the show.”

Tips of the week

• Software of the weekWindirstat: Excellent disk usage viewer for Windows – surprised I haven’t had this one in here before. Thanks to Greg Martin for the tip. See the discussion page for other similar free programs.

• Audible pick of the week: Cross Country, Unabridged, by James Patterson, narrated by Peter J. Fernandez and Dion Graham.

Check out Paul’s blog at the SuperSite for Windows for more information.

get yours here.

iron wil