Wal-Mart, drop kicked it's movie service into the round file. I called it in February, but looks like it took a little longer than I expected.

Engadget reported it.

According to Engadget, any schmoe that purchased one of these, is still able to watch it on the machine they purchased the video on, but no where else, since it's DRM'ed to hell and back. Have fun, dummies.

Apparently part of the end was caused by HP discontinuing some bit of technology that Wal-Mart had hung it's hat on, bummer.

CNET has an interesting article entitled, Is Apple becoming Microsoft?

Well duh, i wasn't aware that was up for debate. It's been happenning for a few years now. Unfortunately for Apple, M$ is successful inspite of itself, VISTA can blow chunks, no one likes it. Enterprises are STILL standardizing on it. M$ can stumble, fuck up, fall down, rip us off, etc, and the enterprises will still be running Exchange.

Apple doesn't have that leisure. Apple is largely supported by Fanboys. I know it. I am one. I extol the virtues of OS X to anyone who makes eye contact (I don't but I know DB thinks I do, LOL)

The writer of the article, wraps it up by saying he doesn't think Apple or M$ are evil empires, blah blah. I disagree.

I don't think they're evil, I think they're smug. Which is often worse.

M$ releases piss poor software, not ready for prime time, we allow them to. I'll give them that being the 5,000,000 lb gorilla in OS/Software makes them largely a target for attack by virii and script kiddies, but really. Both have been around so long, maybe M$ should work on hardenning the system rather than making it look like OS X. One battle I think they can win, the other, never.

Apple, bends us over, and uses a wiffle ball bat on us, and we let them. a 16GB mp3 player for $400? a phone that doesn't even do what most other phones do, $600 with contract?

Laptops, that cost a good deal more than any other...? let's not start the comparison fight, i agree that you can get darn close now, but that hasn't always been the case.

Does iPod technology still cost what it did 6 years ago? I can't see how, no other tech costs what it cost that long ago, yet iPod prices aren't coming down.

Add to that, the fact that Apple likes to leave it's early adopters out in the cold, and even some of it's late adopters. I have an iPod Photo (that's the one with a color screen, the first one, even) it hasn't seen a firmware update since.....  I dunno. ages long past. At least M$ gave Zunies with the 1.0 a bump to the 2.0 firmware. Apple just expects us to upgrade, and we do.

I'm not immune, I'm 100% throwing stones, inside my own glass house.

That might be coming to an end. My laptop has at least another year before I start to think of replacing it, so no new money from me yet in that market. since Apple thinks MP3 players should do everything but play music, I doubt I'll own another iPod. I've got my 40gb that will be in use until the battery gives up the ghost. I bought a touch, for watching some video on, and using as a PDA, so no new iPod money from me Apple.

To sum up, Apple isn't evil, they're smug. The last time they were smug, was right before Apple stock was worth $8.  If Apple continues to abuse it's partners and customers, I can see them getting another consumer smack down. You can't rest on the "underdog" vibe forever Apple.

You go, Jeff Zucker! Fight that bad fight!

I love to see industries that are so set in their ways, so fossilized into doing "what they do" that they can't grow, can't change, can't even get out of the way of the big ass iceberg in their path. That Would be (among many, many others) NBC's Jeff Zucker.

This comes from Apple Insider

"We know that Apple has destroyed the music business -- in terms of pricing -- and if we don’t take control, they’ll do the same thing on the video side," Zucker said at a breakfast hosted by Syracuse’s Newhouse School of Communications.

Uh? You mean put music in the hands of more people, EVER! I've said this before, but prior to owning an iPod, I didn't buy music, well not 100% true. I bought Run DMC's "Raising Hell" in the third grade, and I bought a few singles when I worked at Wal-Mart. Since owning an iPod, I've spent a good several hundred dollars on music. Some of it mine, some from giftcards, but greenbacks all the same.

So how, Mr. Zucker has Apple killed the Music Business? I suppose strictly speaking, it's killed the business OF music, but that's only because the business OF music has chosen to fight for it's old ways. Rather than adapt to or embrace the future the business OF music has chosen fight to get us back to the good ol' days of Tape cassettes and CDs, each running 12-15 bones. Fuck them!

Answering questions at the breakfast Sunday, Zucker offered substantially more color on the iTunes matter, explaining that it was “a relatively easy decision” for NBC to walk away from the Apple download service because it had only earned about $15 million from the service last year in spite of accounting for about 40 per cent of the videos sold on the store.

Uh? would NBC have made that 15 Mil anywhere else? That was 15 Mil that NBC WOULD NOT HAVE MADE AT ALL. They didn't trade one revenue stream for another here, they were GIVEN an opportunity to add another! Much like the music industry (the business OF music, not the artists) the video industry has chosen to fight a losing battle to protect outrageous profit margins.

So what now NBC? You'll take your content off iTunes? Start charging 5 bucks a pop for it on NBC.com, and no one will buy.

He said NBC routinely propositioned Apple to breach its standard pricing model and experiment with higher pricing for one hit show such as “Heroes” by raising the price from the iTunes standard $1.99 to $2.99 on a trial basis.

“We wanted to take one show, it didn’t matter which one it was, and experiment and sell it for $2.99,” he said. “We made that offer for months and they said no.”

The NBC chief also revealed that in addition to more pricing flexibility, his firm was also seeking a cut of Apple hardware sales -- such as the iPod and iPhone -- which were capable of viewing content downloaded from the iTunes Store.

"Apple sold millions of dollars worth of hardware off the back of our content and made a lot of money," he said. "They did not want to share in what they were making off the hardware or allow us to adjust pricing."

That's cuz it's a dumb idea. Apple is really good at finding sweet spots. .99 a song, perfect!, 1.99 an episode, perfect! Plus the die is cast! The Post office can get away with raising prices every six months, there's no alternatives. When NBC raises their prices to 5 bones a show... people will do what they used to, watch it on TV or Bit torrent it for free. Greedy Bastards!

I wonder if NBC has demanded a cut of the profits from companies like Memorex, 3M, etc who make CD and DVD media. They're making money on the backs of NBC content....  Heaven forbid NBC figure out how to run more lean, na why bother? Figure out how to take more money than they deserve, that'll solve the problem

He said that 50 million streams of TV shows accessed on NBC.com during the month of October are proof that there is a demand for traditional TV series on the web.

uh, If I'm not mistaken, those 'streams' are free! so since free is doing so well, let's raise the price to 5 bucks? Great idea!

Here's my parting thought...

leave the damn commercials in! You think any one cares? We don't! we'll watch them, or we'll skip over them just like we do with TiVos. How am I the only one that came up with idea? NBC, are you hiring? Maybe it's time for a Chief Executive?

So last night I came across a post on TUAW about two new GUI jailbreak apps. GUI? no need to put my linux hacker hat on?

iJailbreak (for intel macs only, for now) is great. There's a few commentors bitchin' about it not working, my guess is maybe they weren't patient. Some reported it taking 5 minutes, I'd say mine took 10. I was literally sitting around for a while watching this little "Please wait, this might take a while" screen.

The UI is great, in it's simplicity. The prompts walk you through every step. In the end, several reboots later, you're the proud owner of jailbroken iPod Touch.

The picture kinda sucks, I've never been good at taking pictures of electronics...

So far I've installed

Stumblr

iShare

iSplit

TextEdit

Chat

and Finder

All in all my iPod Touch makes a pretty good newton 2.0, so far, as for being an iPod... well my old 4th Gen iPod Photo is still on active duty. I'll probably en up pulling all music off of it, and just using it as a PDA and video player, which it so far is excelling at. As I play with it more I'll post updates.

it's cool. That's really all there is to say. the UI is as cool as I expected, and once it gets hacked like the iPhone, I'll be moving music off in trade for apps, and it'll be my neat little newton 2007.

The Pros:

• The UI. It's everything I assumed it would be based on other iPod UIs and Apple's nack for making the UX as good as it can be. The navigation is smooth, the browser works great. it's pleasing to interact with the thing.
• Safari. While not my favorite browser on the Mac, the fact that I can read my Gmail, check my Gcal, and use Gmaps... that's frakkin' sweet!
  
• WifI. I love having connected devices. WiFi is becoming so commonplace, that finding it isn't hard.
• iTunes Wireless Store. Other than it being another way for me to send my salary to Cupertino (and whatever level of hell the RIAA exists on), it's ok. It's nice to be able to think of a song and quickly buy it, rather than hope I remember when I get home... I could live without it, but it's neat

The Cons:

• Capacity. Steve, you suck. 8gb and 16gb? What the fuck!? You should know as well as any one how much music is on iPods. Why screw us over with a cool device that can't hold our music? The Classic has frakkin' 160gb.. and all the Touch gets is 8 or 16gb? I know Flash memory is expensive, and I don't care. I don't care if it's Flash, no one else does either. What's next? an iPod as thick as a piece of paper that holds one song?  Get over it Jobs, thinner is not the end goal for everything, at the expense of other stuff.
• The back. Shiny aluminum is great, for a museum piece. The first time I touched my iPod Photo, it was a smudge. I've even sanded it to get the brushed look, and it still looks all lame and smudgy. the iPhone gets a brushed back side, but the iPod stays gay and shiny? Weak.
• Apps. Been said a gagillion times, but open it up. I can't wait to make this thing a cooler, better, sexier PDA than anything out there, but that ain't happening until it's a little more OPEN

Over all I think the Touch is a great device. When (I'm sure it's a matter of when, not if) it sports more HDD space it'll truly rock. For now it's a cool little video player and DAP, that I have to selectively fill with just the best of the best of the best content.

Well they do, just back in the 80's and 90's. They've apparently decided that selling music in 2007 is just not for them. TUAW reports that they won't be selling their music on iTunes, because they don't want the songs sold seperately, only as a complete album...

Great, when you guys invent a time machine to go back to when that model worked, let us all know.

On the one hand, selling the whole album for artistic reasons is one thing, not that I agree, but at least it's a reason.  To me it screams, "We couldn't put together an album of all killer, great songs, so we want to make sure everyone doesn't just buy one song."

Time's have changed Radiohead... time to join us in the present. The Album model is gone. Well strike that, it's not gone, it's still in Wal-Mart and Target and Best Buy, whom I'm sure sell plenty of music, but seeing as how iTunes, has surpassed Best Buy as a music retailer... I'd be having second thoughts on shunning such a large source of customers...

Poor Radiohead, say hello to Right Said Fred, when VH1 casts you in "Where are they now"

So today was Apple's media event.

It was exciting, and a let down. iPod Nano (the fatty). ugly and not something.

The iPod "classic" pretty much a thinner model of the 5th generation iPod video blah blah. 160gb, neat but I don't even fill my 40gb Color iPod. So really, 160gb? Don't care

iPod Touch... almost what I was hoping for... ALMOST.

As I said before, WIFI, not interested, however now that it's been revealed that safari is also included.. well now... that makes things interesting. Like I said, I didn't care about sharing music over WIFI, however being able to browse the web, maybe check my gmail, my calendar, etc... that has a nice place in my utility belt.

I have an N800 internet tablet right now, which is great, but also not quite what I expected, so this iPod I have quite a bit more faith in fulfilling my needs.

My biggest complaint... the HDD.. or rather the flash media... "but's it 8mm thick." whoopty fuckin' do! I think Steve has forgotten what the purpose of an iPod is... despite his earlier claims about the iPod being a DAP, and a good one. Not a radio, not a this, not a that... apparently it's all good until Steve decides it's not.

So it seems that Steve thinks that if we want WiFi and a next gen UI, we don't actually plan to listen to or carry with us, our music. I'm no audiophile, but 16gbs doesn't even hold my music library... How about this? Stop worrying about how damn small you can make it, and make it useful. I mean, really how big would it be with a 40 or 60 gb hard drive? As big as a 5th gen iPod, Oh no, the terror!!!!

So we'll see, how it goes. It should arrive October 2nd...

MacRumors has got some mock ups from 9to5mac, of the upcoming (rumored) iPod Nano and iPod touch... I could care less about the stumpy looking little nano, true or not. I'm rather hoping for false, since it's kinda butt ugly... but whatever. I have a shuffle for the gym, and another for everything else, and the nano plays no part in my world.

And while I hope the mock up of the touch isn't correct simply because the E.T. thing is kinda gay, like super flaming crazy rainbow gay, I do hope the touch is exactly what's pictured, maybe with more HDD than an iPhone.

Having seen a few iPhones in the wild I totally dig the screen, the UI, everything... except the incredibly limited HDD... 8gb, NOT ENOUGH. I'm guessing the (Please be more than a rumor) iPod touch will have standard iPod storage sizes... that's my hope. It's up to Apple to not let me down.

There's also speculation that tomorrow will bring us an iPod with WiFi... Yawn... Granted there's like 1,000,354 iPod owners for every Zune user, but still. I don't see myself sharing music with or listening to the music of, others.  I don't even listen to what other iTunes users share. I've tried... I never see things I like in other's library, and if I do, chances are, it's in my library too.

Touch screen, cover flow, all that's great. WiFi... as long as I can turn off, fine...

One more day.... Come on Apple!!

Or at least an iPod that isn't shit.... Please oh please Santa!

Rumor of the event is at least confirmed.

I've got my fingers crossed. I'm ready for a new iPod, come one full screen, touch.... no whammies, no whammies, no whammies!!!!

TUAW's got a source saying we'll be seeing some iPod goodness on September 5th, That in conjunction with Mac Rumor's post about a forthcoming full size iPod and I'm anxiously awaiting 9/5, even if it IS one day before my nightmare project is supposed to be delivered.

I might honestly wet myself if they finally come out with my much anticipated touch screen iPod. THAT would get me into an Apple store even if there was a line.

Come on his Steve-ness, don't let me down, even though you're on a string of that, with the DVR, Tuner free Apple TV, and the making me wait so long for a useful iPod, and the iPhone (insert all things)...

Don't let me down!  

UPDATE:

A few more Rumors. From Think Secret,

ArsTechnica reported Friday that Apple will hold a media event September 5 to announce the new iPods. While Think Secret sources have as of yet been unable to confirm that Wednesday media event, they have privately relayed for some weeks now that new iPods will be in consumer hands by September 7.

Apple last revised its iPod line-up September 12, 2006 when the company unveiled the second-generation iPod nano and iPod shuffle models, as well as the 5.5G iPod.

A substantially revised iPod nano is expected in September, and a new iPod is also likely to be announced but could very well not be available at launch. Sources say Apple has wavered between releasing a touch-screen iPod this year or waiting until next-year, and while as recently as July the consensus was that Apple would hold off until 2008 to avoid facing component shortages, the slower than expected sales pace of the iPhone means those parts may be available in sufficient quantity to roll-out a touch-based iPod this year.

And from AppleInsider,

While the list of what would be released at the event is less certain, the report points to at least one new iPod being announced during the event. AppleInsider's own sources maintain that supplies of fifth-generation iPods and iPod nanos have been extremely low or non-existent at high-profile dealers, including Best Buy. This was a strong sign that Apple was clearing channel inventory ahead of completely new replacements, the insiders said.

Recent reports from these sources add that stock of the music players won't be replenished for at least another two weeks, which coincides with the immediate aftermath of the probable Apple event.

And while most of the details of the iPods themselves are unknown, people familiar with the late summer iPod updates claim that as many as four iPod models could be made available within coming weeks, the majority of which would be based on NAND flash memory rather than the hard disks used in fifth-generation models. The direct replacements for the fifth-generation iPod and the iPod nano are said to rely on a heavily modified version of Mac OS X.

Both sources have been wrong in the past, and Apple is very good at tricking the rumor sights, but this batch of rumors are at least fairly narrowly focused, so that (to me) is a good sign. Fingers crossed.

According to the WSJ, MTV and Real Networks, are planning to join forces to "take on Apple and iTunes"

"Take on" is probably a bit too strong a term, since MTV wouldn't know music if music came up and took a crap in it's hand, and Real... well I can't think of anything Real has done well since... I guess, ever. Real Player = shit, Rhapsody = shit(tier), etc.

"The move appears to spell the end of MTV's Urge digital service, launched in partnership with MicrosoftCorp. last year. Microsoft has been heavily focused on its own Zuneservice in recent months, to the apparent detriment of Urge, which hadfew subscribers. MTV itself no longer invested significant resources inUrge after Zune's debut, according to a person familiar with Urge."

Moving from one failure to the next, clever, that always works. I'm interested to see how they do, but I won't be holding my breath.

"The new company will be called Rhapsody America. MTV Networks will contribute cash, a five-year note for $230 million and its Urge subscribers to the venture, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. RealNetworks, which will contribute cash and its Rhapsody subscribers, will retain a majority ownership stake in the venture."

230 million?!? Crikey! Give me that money if you're so insistant on throwing it away! I could do so much with it! More than make another lame ass music service (OH yeah, subscription required, of course) that'll be doomed to fail in under 12 months.