JustinFlood.com

AppleTV – Turning a Hobby into a Business.

Since the release of AppleTV, Apple CEO Steve Jobs has maintained that it isn’t yet a serious business venture for Apple, but more of a “hobby”.   For some this is simply a way of explaining away a less-than-successful product, but I think Jobs is being more honest about it than we think.

It IS a hobby to them, but I think it’s likely that you’ll see the AppleTV going from a hobby to a business soon.  Very soon.

Jason Calacanis recently talked about how Apple is going to go into the Television business,  making flat panel TVs.  While I’m sure they have a few Apple flat panels in the lab, there is no freakin’ way they’re ever going to get themselves into such a commoditized business.   They would have to compete with EVERY television maker out there, and there just is no way for them to grab enough marketshare to make it worth it.  In a world where $700 Vizio HDTVs are King,  there is no way for Apple to add enough value to make a $2000+ TV worth it to most people, which is likely where they would want to place it in the price structure.  I still think the set-top box is the way for them to go.

Why?  Find out after the jump.

More »

New Rumors about Apple’s MacBook refresh!

I Just found a very interesting article over at AppleInsider about the upcoming refresh of the Mac line.

Production ready versions of Apple’s next-generation MacBook and MacBook Pro notebooks have surfaced stateside in matching attire, according to people who’ve been privy to early glimpses of some of the company’s other hardware offerings.

In its attempt to provide the most accurate picture of Apple’s future product plans, AppleInsider notes that these people lack a lengthy track record. Therefore, the following information is being conveyed as rumor to supplement earlier reports of higher conviction (outlined below). That said, the limited information provided by these people thus far has proven to be extremely accurate.

According to the latest reports, both the new 13-inch MacBooks and 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pros will share similarities not only in their employment of aluminum enclosures, but in their overall aesthetic as well, with the new 13-inch MacBooks for the first time matching their higher-priced cousins as if they were members of the same product family.

Again, the new designs were described as a cross between the 13-inch MacBook Air introduced this January and the aluminum iMacs that made their debut during the summer of 2007. In its April report, AppleInsider noted this would include a trimming — or tapering — around the edges and instances of black material to contrast the largely aluminum motif of the new notebooks.

New, however, are reports that Apple has done away with some traditional I/O ports and altered others as it strives to marginally reduce the overall footprint of its next-gen notebooks. In particular, those people who claim to have seen the new designs say the FireWire 400 port appears to have been removed from the new MacBook Pro, leaving a backwards compatible FireWire 800 port.

Hm, thats funny.  I believed I called this one back a couple of weeks ago  (see “Is Apple planning to ditch the MacBook Pro?“).   As I’ve said previously,  Apple’s movement in the notebook space makes it seem more and more likely that they will drop the “Pro” moniker from it’s larger screened laptop line, and bring all three screen sizes under the MacBook name.   Even MacRumors caught onto this, though I don’t think they quite “got” it either.  They Said: (emphasis added by me)

The new 13″ MacBooks, 15″ MacBook Pros and 17″ MacBook Pros are said to share similar Aluminum-based look “as if they were members of the same product family“. The current MacBooks and MacBook Pro are very distinct from one another with the MacBook housed in a white or black plastic enclosure.

I would be surprised if they indeed did NOT drop the Pro moniker from the notebook line and lower the prices a bit.  The market has previously reacted extremely well to Apple’s notebook offerings, and making the larger screen sizes more accessible to the general public could only help them further.  More to come as we hear it.

Is Apple planning to ditch the MacBook pro?

Rumors are beginning to swirl that yet another SteveNote might be on it’s way quite soon.  October 14th soon if you believe what is being said.  Add to that the rumors that brand new MacBooks are on their way to stores as we speak, and you have the idea that we might just have a new MacBook event on our hands.  Since there is a keynote presentation planned, you can bet that there is new hardware in the mix.  Apple wouldn’t call the press out for a processor upgrade.  So what’s coming?  New designs for the MacBook?  Or new designs for the MacBook Pro.

I’m going to make a bold prediction and say that MacBook pro is going away, and that these are new designs for the MacBooks.

Yes,  I said it.  It’s rampant speculation with no basis in reality, and I could very well be wrong, but  I think it’s a good possibility that they will indeed remove the MacBook Pro from the line entirely.

That isn’t to say that there won’t be 15″ and 17″ notebooks with the former CAPABILITIES of the MacBook Pro though.  I think it just might be possible that Apple will consolidate the Macbook and the Macbook Pro into one line of notebooks with three screen sizes  13″, 15″ and 17″.  Since the design is rumored to be all aluminum anyway,  I don’t think there would be enough of a differentiation between the two to be able to call the MacBook Pro … well.. Pro.  The processors are nearly the same,  and as of now, the only real advantage the MacBook Pro has, is it’s more powerful graphics chip and larger screen size.

It seems almost obvious to bring them all into one line, with the MacBook air in it’s own category for business users.  The general consumer tends to like larger screened laptops, but would more likely be turned off by a device that would seem to be aimed at professionals.  Professionals however probably wouldn’t care as long as the device is powerful enough for the tasks they would want to accomplish.

I have a feeling that these new MacBooks will also be dramatically less expensive than the previous generation as Apple starts to make more inroads into the general public and continues to grow its notebook marketshare.    I’ve heard rumors of a starting price of $799.  Though I think that might be a bit low for Apple.  I could see them starting at $899 though for the 13″ and then moving up in both price and capabilities as you go bigger.

I could be way off, but somehow, A new MacBook line in 3 sizes without the pro moniker just seems right to me.   Either way, we’ll find out on October 14th.

T-Mobile’s First Android Phone Coming Next Month?

TmoNews is reporting that despite rumors of developer troubles and delays that T-Mobile’s first Android based smartphone codenamed the G1 is on track to be released September 17th, 2008.

We’re hearing rumor after rumor that Android has been delayed, and pushed back to 2009. Well TmoNews is jumping into the pool or rumors, calling BS on those other rumors, and putting in our vote of confidence on a presale of the Android phone on September 16th, 2008. This information, coming from a trusted source, prices the Android phone, also known as the G1 (Codename or real name, we’re not sure) at $399.

Full invoice that is.

Scare you? Good, well during the presale of the G1, T-mobile customers can pick up the phone for $150. This is where it gets interesting, we’re not seeing any prices for new activations during the presale, so this could mean that only current T-mobile customers can pick up the G1 during the presale. Other customers interested in the G1 may have to wait until begining/mid October before a national public launch. Many users have seen the recent video circulating the next claiming to be the HTC Dream (AKA G1), and have been complaining about the ugly white color. Well we have good news for you too, as the G1 will be released in black, white, and brown. Being 3G enabled, the HTC manufactured G1 will unfortunately require its own data plan from T-mobile, which we expect to be more expensive then current data plans. Interestingly enough (maybe not so much knowing Google) users will be required to have a Google Gmail account for the phone to work. So far expected specs include 3G, a 5″ long by 3″ wide touch screen, and a slide out Qwerty keypad, and no mention of UMA or Wifi. We’re really excited for this all-too-secret device to hit T-mobile’s lineup. Stay tuned to TmoNews for more information coming soon!

Update: The HTC Dream (G1) will have a 3.0 megapixel camera. The presale will last 1 week, and be for existing customers only. Employees are not included in the presale, sorry! Presale begins Wednesday, September 17th, and 3G will be a large aspect of this device. Use your imagination

I call BS.  Complete and total BS.

While what WAS leaked on video IS likely the HTC Dream or G1 prototype hardware, and it DID look to be in a finished and functional state,  I can’t imagine that Android as an OS is anywhere near production ready.

Everything I’ve heard from just about every developer who was interested in writing Android software is that the SDK hasn’t been updated in months except to a couple of closed door devs, and even those devs are saying that the OS isn’t up to spec yet.

If T-Mobile really is planning to release a phone with an OS that isn’t quite there yet,  they are simply setting themselves up for failure.  The whole point of Android is to have an open phone OS that is able to compete with Windows Mobile, Palm OS, and iPhone.  This phone will be the first Android phone released, and will set the tone for public opinion on the OS.

If the OS doesn’t work it’s going to be really hard for Android to regain the traction it had.  Though I can understand the urgency for releasing a phone as soon as possible.  With the second generation iPhone already on the market, and a large number of developers already focusing on that platform, Android already has a tough road to hoe, so to speak.

Also, the article points out that this phone will be running on T-Mobile’s not even born yet 3g network.  Any way you look at this, T-Mobile and HTC are running a huge risk with this device if they are actually planning to release it next month.

Let’s hope it pays off.

Check out the video of what is being called the HTC Dream below:

iPhone nano – the iPhone for everyone?

Ah the Apple rumor mill, the unending source of much frenzied speculation from the multitude of nerdy bloggers out there (including myself of course).

The latest bit of speculation out there that for one reason or another won’t die is that of an upcoming iPhone nano.

While I wouldn’t be surprised that Apple is indeed working on a smaller form factor iPhone, I don’t see a near future release happening simply because I find it hard to believe that Apple would so quickly cannibalize it’s early sales of iPhone 3g.  But that absolutely doesn’t mean it’s not coming.  In fact, I’d bet on it.

So let’s speculate about the device itself, Shall we?.  I’d assume it would be similar in proportions to the current iPhone, just reduced in size by lets say 30%?  I doubt Apple would ruin its work setting up it’s platform of touch computing put in place by the original iPhone, so it will absolutely feature a multitouch screen, and similar controls to the current iPhone.

I’d expect it to start out at 2 and 4 gigs of storage, and feature a higher resolution screen than the current iphone so that it will be able to display current iPhone apps without any issues.

So what WON’T it have?  GPS,  3g, exchange support.  In other words the expensive pieces of hardware from the iPhone 3g.  Chances are it will be very similar in capabilities to the original iPhone, just in a much smaller package.  It will definetly still feature the App Store, and the iTunes wifi music store, simply because both of those are revenue generators Apple wouldn’t want to give up.

So that brings us to the question, why?  Why would Apple even want to bother making an iPhone nano?  Simple.  To get the platform in the hands of as many people as humanly possible.  It’s the iPod effect all over again.  Apple wants to rule the market for small convergence devices, and it looks like they might just get their way.

So what would it cost?  Well that’s up to Apple and AT&T, but I can’t imagine that with the iPhone 3g selling at $199, they would be able to get away with anything much higher than $50.   But there is a more intriguing possibility..

Imagine if you will, if Apple was able to negotiate with AT&T to have them offer the iPhone nano free with any 2 year contract.   Would you pass up a “free” iPhone nano, and pick up a cheapy Nokia flip phone instead?  I doubt it.

All of a sudden, the iPhone becomes the next RAZR, everyone and their mom will be using one, buying apps, downloading music, and slowly but surely, putting every other phone maker out of business.

While companies like Samsung, Nokia, and HTC are trying their best to build smartphones that compete with the original iPhone, is it possible that Apple is getting ready to blow out and dominate the entire low end phone market while those companies are distracted with the original iPhone?

Seems like something Apple would do, doesnt it?

Nikon D90 rumors abound – includes possible game changer

Nikon Rumors today released some rumors they had heard about a supposed sucessor to the vastly popular Nikon D80 DSLR.   The replacement dubbed (predictably) the D90, has one feature though, that may be a game changer in the camera market.

Quoting ByThom.com

The Nikon D80 Replacement…
August 5–The D80 is now the granddad in Nikon’s DSLR lineup. On a specification level, the D80 is missing a lot of check marks that the competition can now boast about in their marketing, and the fact that we’re now almost exactly two years into the D80’s life seems unusual given how fast the other Nikon consumer models iterated.

Well, that’s about to end. The replacement for the D80 will be called the D90, as expected. Curiously, at a casual glance the only thing that most people will notice different from a D80 is the presence of a much bigger color LCD on the back. Indeed, most of the controls look pretty much the same (though the buttons are round now) and are in the same place on the D90 as they were on the D80. However, there are a few odds and ends that catch your notice on closer examination. On the back, for example, we now have Live View and Info buttons, and the OK button is in the middle of the direction pad. On the front there’s a microphone grill next to the infrared receiver. On the side, the labels on the rubber doors reveal HDMI and GPS connectors in addition to the expected ones.

So what is a D90? Well, a 12mp, ~4.5 fps DSLR, basically. On paper those seem like modest boosts from the D80. In practice, they are a distinct notch forward in performance. The big news, however, is that Live View now has a twist that other DSLRs can’t currently claim: it can record video (thus the microphone grill).

We also get a new lens for kitting with the D90: the 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G DX VR. Modest in size (67mm filter size), this seems like a nice addition to the lineup and well targeted to the D80/D90 type of user. Essentially, this is a 28-150mm equivalent. Not truly superzoom, but a good compromise between size and reach. This new lens also plugs the VR hole Nikon had in the DX lens lineup (essentially no VR in the kit lenses if you wanted more than 55 but less than 200 at the long end).

Don’t ask when or how much. To my knowledge, Nikon hasn’t scheduled a press conference for product introduction yet, though they have a first quarter financial results meeting later this week. Since high-quality photos of production models appear to be circulating on the Internet, I’d guess that soon is the answer to the first question, and I wouldn’t expect any big surprises (up or down from the original D80 list price) in cost.

The news about a new DSLR usually just involves a bump in megapixels, some extra sensor sensitivity, and maybe a bigger screen.  Nothing to get panties in a bunch over.

But this is different.

If a $1,000 DSLR is about to get the ability to shoot video, the world of indie films, and user generated video content on the web is about to get very interesting.  The extremely high quality of the average DSLR lens is lightyears beyond any consumer level video camera, allowing for far more film-like images, with beautiful short depth of field and sharp focus.

In fact, companies like Red Rock Micro, currently make adapters for higher end pro-sumer video cameras to allow them to use SLR lenses, because the image quality is FAR better.

Check out these shots courtesy of RedRockMicro, showing footage filmed with a Nikon SLR Lens on what is otherwise a variety of standard prosumer level camcorders:

Imagine if anyone with a standard Nikon D90 would be able to shoot (hopefully 720p) super high quality video straight to flash memory?  It would be an absolute revolution in the world of independant film.

Anyone with the ability to purchase a $1000 DSLR and a few extra lenses would be able to create content that would compete in visual quality with some of the highest quality equipment out there.

If these rumors are true, I hope Nikon can realize how much of a possible game changer this could be in the world of video production.  I know I’m already drooling at the possibilities!