01 April 2007
Hidden details about the iPhone
04/06/07 13:13 Filed in: the
iPhone
Actioncorp TV prepared this video after
reviewing Steve Jobs keynote introducing
the iPhone. After going back over the
keynote with a fine tooth comb, several
hidden details surfaced and are presented
in this video. Notably, the Calendar
application, Directions and Traffic, Letter
Scrolling, and Ringtones.
Although I disagree with the video about the button on the bottom left for directions and traffic. The reviewer admits he can't make out what the icon is; I think it is the universal logo for "restaurants", a knife and fork, therefore the button is for finding nearby restaurants.
Great anticipating about this groundbreaking device. Of course, our iPhone movies are going to look great on the iPhone's large, bright screen.
In the meantime, you can watch movies on the following iPod models:
Apple 80 GB iPod video Black (5.5 Generation)
Apple 80 GB iPod video White (5.5 Generation)
Apple 30 GB iPod video Black (5.5 Generation)
Apple 30 GB iPod video White (5.5 Generation)
Although I disagree with the video about the button on the bottom left for directions and traffic. The reviewer admits he can't make out what the icon is; I think it is the universal logo for "restaurants", a knife and fork, therefore the button is for finding nearby restaurants.
Great anticipating about this groundbreaking device. Of course, our iPhone movies are going to look great on the iPhone's large, bright screen.
In the meantime, you can watch movies on the following iPod models:
Apple 80 GB iPod video Black (5.5 Generation)
Apple 80 GB iPod video White (5.5 Generation)
Apple 30 GB iPod video Black (5.5 Generation)
Apple 30 GB iPod video White (5.5 Generation)
The iPhone will be a platform
04/05/07 09:43 Filed in: the
iPhone
Some good comments yesterday in Slate's The iPhone Wannabes by Paul Boutin.
Paul writes, "When Jobs touts the iPhone as three devices in one, he's selling it short: It's a computer, not some limited, specialized gizmo. That means that rather than a fixed set of applications—music, video, Web browsing, chat—it can, in theory, run any program that works on a Mac. The iPhone's killer feature, then, is probably something that doesn't even exist yet. It has the potential to spawn a mobile application as mind-blowing as the Web browser..."
Paul continues, "Once the third-party application restrictions start to loosen, the iPhone won't be just a phone. It'll be a platform."
Further, Paul adds that its "interface looks and works more like the computer you use all day, blurring the distinction between the two. There's nothing else like it in the pipeline."
Of course, we think it will be a great device to watch our movies on the road, too, with its bigger and brighter, higher-resolution screen. Better than the competition's. But that's only one thing it excels at -- a device that can do so many things well. It will be exciting to see how the iPhone changes the future of how we use handheld devices.
Major day in history towards the elimination of DRM
04/02/07 12:44 Filed in: DRM
The big news today is that EMI -- struggling in it's sales -- has made a deal with Apple to offer the bulk of its music library on the iTunes music store completely free of DRM and in a higher resolution format that gives users audio quality that is near the original recording quality. The higher quality non-DRM tracks are $1.29 song. Apple's iTunes store is offering customers who have purchased previous DRM, lower-quality versions of the tracks to upgrade at only 30¢ per song. Steve Jobs also stated that more than half the tracks on the iTunes Store would be available DRM-free by the end of the year.
MacDailyNews reports, "With DRM-free music from the EMI catalog, iTunes customers will have the ability to download tracks from their favorite EMI artists without any usage restrictions that limit the types of devices or number of computers that purchased songs can be played on. DRM-free songs purchased from the iTunes Store will be encoded in AAC at 256 kbps, twice the current bit rate of 128 kbps, and will play on all iPods, Mac® or Windows computers, Apple TVs and soon iPhones, as well as many other digital music players."
The BBC News writes, "Analyst Mark Mulligan, with Jupiter Research, said the announcement 'changes not just the rules of the game, but the game itself.' He said he expected the other record labels and online retailers to follow suit in due course. 'Other retail partners have to come to the party because they can't be seen to be offering an inferior product'"
In this Jupiter Research article, Micahel Gartenberg states, "It is a good step forward for consumers but more importantly, it showed Apple at the forefront of acting as 'champion' for consumer interests. After all, it wasn't Rob Glaser or Bill Gates up there with EMI."
Steve Jobs' open letter to the music industry on Apple's site called for the big music publishers to do away with DRM because 90% of the world's music is sold on CDs - which does not have DRM - and to penalize digital music downloads only frustrates customers and restricts their use of legally purchased music. Some anti-DRM websites bloggers -- whom we applaud their efforts otherwise -- were convinced that Apple wants the DRM to tie music solely to the iPod and therefore accused Steve Jobs of insincerely positioning himself (to defend against the Norwegian government's and the EU's demands for Apple to make its music more interoperable).
Of course, tunes purchased from the iTunes Store have never been tied solely to the iPod: customers can play them on a Mac or a PC, and on multiple computers and can burn them to a CD, which effectively removes the DRM and which allows the copying of the tracks to any other portable device.
Anyway, as far as the bloggers and some tech writers and suits who accused Steve Jobs of being disingenuous... this should quiet them. As Carl Howe wrote in this Blackfriar's Marketing article, "For Apple, it now has a deal that proves that Jobs' claim to oppose DRM is real and differentiates Apple's services significantly from the draconian DRM restrictions Microsoft places on its music and video. And without as many DRM shackles to enforce, Apple has the potential to further simplify the user experience for its customers."
Howe continues, "Most record labels will see this as a ground-breaking, dangerous experiment. But with [EMI's] CD sales down 20% this year, they had to do something. And kudos to Jobs and Apple for having the courage to call for the end of DRM and the business drive to make it happen. It's one small step for music, but one giant leap for consumer fair use rights in the digital age."
In this PC Magazine article, "Torgeir Waterhouse, senior advisor to the Norwegian Consumer Council, in an email. 'I applaud their move, and encourage all the other contenders in the digital music business to make the same important move.'"
The best "real time" look at the iPhone interface to date
04/01/07 09:26 Filed in: the
iPhone
As of this date, the best close-up look at the iPhone's unique graphical user interface -- from an actual iPhone in use -- is this video from CBS News.
Of course, you can see by watching the interface why the iPhone is going to be such an exceptional phone -- as well as a mini-computer of sorts allowing you to surf the web, calendar appointments, and link to your contacts -- but also take a look at that large bright screen and imagine what a great personal video player the iPhone will be.
Our movies at MOVIEiPHONE.com are optimized for the large screen of the iPhone. And yet the file sizes are small enough to not crowd the storage space on your iPhone. With a good set of ear buds, a great movie watching experience.