Posted by The Blogging Desk on Wed, Sep 01, 2010
Pause the episode of True Blood so we can talk about much more important things. No, not Glenn Beck's fashionable reading glasses, I'm talking about Flash on the iPad. Let's get into it.
Recently, several tech pundits have blogged that they are getting sick and tired of hitting pages that include Flash. These important pages include, but are not limited to: press releases, bike trails, and movie trailers. Ah, not press releases!
I use my iPad as a consumption device about 98% of the time. Mainly Instapapering, Google Reading, Tumblring and reading comics. I literally cannot think of one instance where I went, “Dammit, I with this had Flash.” Sure, it would be nice to be able to watch Hulu on a mobile device, but even Android devices with it do not allow for Hulu.com to work. (Also, the Hulu+ selection is worthless.)
The one instance I can think of getting annoyed regarding Flash would be looking up a restaurants website and finding that their page is entirely in Flash. This isn’t an annoyance that the iPad cannot display it, but more often than not it’s because the website looks terrible once I walk over to my laptop. Have you even tried looking at a menu from a website like that? Chances are you need to download it as a PDF. Did we lose a war?
It sucks that press releases and movie trailers would be in Flash, but I know I never come across them when I use my iPad. That’s just me. In fact, who sits down to watch movie trailers? Or even press releases, to be honest?
I tried commenting on the pundits page about what sites he visits on the iPad that require Flash, but apparently most of the people commenting were out of line, and mine were quickly deleted. Ah well.
I guess it's not OK for Apple to block Flash from their iPad, but it is OK to deleted and lock comments from your own blog.
END RADICAL FASCISM! (or something.)
Posted by The Blogging Desk on Mon, Aug 30, 2010
Apple jerks across the east coast will no doubt be taking their breaks inside of their dark, depressing offices so that they can follow the live-blogs that will be uploading nerdy pictures and text for the frothing masses.
Sure, you can include me in “the frothing masses”, but at least I can admit it. And so what if my frothing towel has my initials on it? I’m in the IT Support field, so get over it, poindexter.
Rumors are once again swirling to tornado-like levels relating to just what Steve Jobs will announce in two days in California. So sit back, sip your overpriced Frappé, push your Wall Street Journal aside, and close that SEO Webinar taking place on your sweet Toshiba ThinkPad. Here are my predictions/hopes.
To the tech nerds, like myself, that have an average of 400-500 new Google Reader items per day, it’s pretty much a given that Apple will unveil a new iPod touch with FaceTime capabilities. Sweet, right? FaceTime looks to be Apple’s new big thing in iOS and they will be pushing it pretty hard. You won’t even need an actual phone to contact other people on iPhones for video chat. The new beta of iOS 4.1 includes making FaceTime calls via phone numbers AND email addresses. Not only does that open things up for an iPod touch, but it looks to open things up for Mac OS X computers as well.
AppleTV is being heavily rumored to be getting an iOS upgrade, but would they do so at an Apple “music” event? The invitations that were send out were of a guitar without mention of anything else. It’s possible this could be Job’s, “one more thing” announcement at the very end. I’m hopeful for an iOS AppleTV with its App Store. Though, if that’s the case, it would still be a long ways off as they would have to push out the beta SDK for such an item long before it would hit the masses. That would be the same reason I’m skeptical of the iPad getting iOS 4.1 any time soon. There has been no beta for the iPad in….forever?
And what about iLife? Apple has a suite of apps designed for digital creation ranging from creating your own website, DVDs, movies and also music. I’m going to guess that Garageband will be getting a significant update, maybe even an iOS app? Oh man, just the thought of recording a podcast on my iPad just made me spill my Frappé all over myself.
So an iPod touch w/ FaceTime, AppleTV announcement, iPad 4.2 beta SDK, and an updated iLife suite are my hopes.
If those don't happen, I'm gonna be, like, so mad.
Posted by Matt Kolowski on Tue, Aug 24, 2010
Previously, I had wondered how an iOS i/AppleTV would be controlled. Perhaps via the new Magic Trackpad? Maybe your iPhone or iPad would control things. But, how would that work and would it do?
Our favorite curly haired Apple writer, John Gruber, spoke about the AppleTV on his podcast, The Talk Show. He surmised that the new iOS powered device would have its own store, and not run iPhone or iPad apps. Very astute. If it ran those apps, how would you control them out of the box, would you be required to buy a Magic Trackpad? Silliness.
The current AppleTV model comes with a small remote capable of 4 directions and a home or “menu” button. MacBooks used to come with a similar remote, I have no idea if they still do. It’s my best guess that the new AppleTV will be controlled by that same remote.
Let’s think about it - let’s assume Gruber is right and that the new model will have its own App Store. Presumably, it would need its own store because the input methods would he drastically different, at least at its base. How would you even begin to navigate around a home screen without being able to touch it? You’d need apps that would not need scrolling or swiping. Perhaps just one touch?
An Apple remote would be capable. In terms of viewing video, you’d be more than able to go right or left to select a film, fast forward, etc. You could double-tap right to switch screens. But would there be games?
I say yes, and these games would be controlled by an iOS device. Why not have a game that syncs with your iPhone and turns the screen into a controller, and reacts to the motions of it? The app could be universal and upon launching, would become aware of its AppleTV brother and switch to a different mode. Essentially, it would be a buttonless Wii-mote. I know, that would make people freak out and say, “I’m not paying $199+ for a controller!”
Do you realize how many people have an iOS device these days? I can totally envision reading in an AppleTV store, “this app requires an iPhone, iPod touch or an iPad.
It’s not that crazy.
The rumored hold-up is that studios don’t want to be forced into a 99c price point in the store. The Talk Show also mentioned this possibility: why wouldn’t NBC just release their own app and charge a monthly fee to stream? An AppleTV and its own store has the chance to fully realize the potential Hulu hasn’t.
A world where you could literally release yourself from your cable bill, and pay the stations outright for their services. An ESPN app? Hold me - an NHL app for streaming games?
Out of the box, the best chance to ditch cable. If you have an iPhone, something much more. At $99 a pop, this would be pretty stunning.
(Note: this was written entirely on my iPhone using the app, “Elements”. Grab it.)