Floating Away

Steve and Bill: The Summer of Reunions Continue

Yesterday, during the Wall Street Journal's, D Conference [D=all things Digital], Steve and Bill shared the stage in an extremely rare public discussion moderated by Walt Mossberg and an annoying lady.

During the talk, they spoke of the early days, about how the XBOX 360 was developed using Macs, and they traded jabs about the I'm a Mac/I'm a PC commercials.  Of the PC guy, Bill said, "His mother loves him."

Apple made some interesting announcements at the conference.  Among them being in June Apple TV will stream YouTube content.  However, they did admit that the resolution won't look so great on a high end TV.

Additionally, Steve said that they are working to allow 3rd party developers the ability to create widgets for the iPhone.

Here are some clips:

The entire program can be seen here.

The Ninja Remote: A must for every smart ass (+ Deadliest Catch Ramblings)

Trolling around on one of my favorite blogs, I came across a story from TMZ, that not only featured an amazing new product, but their use of Deadliest Catch references was brilliant.

Speaking of Deadliest Catch, this past King Crab season was great.  I didn't care much for the rookie captain of the Maverick, and I think his inexperience and cockiness really showed when he blamed everyone but himself for his 5,000LB crab shortfall.

My two favorite boats are still the Corneila Marie and The Northwestern.  You don't mess with either Sig or Phil!  But the best is yet to come:  bring on the Ophelia crab!

Let me try and get back on topic:  The Ninja Remote.  With this clever device, one can control most public TVs.  Yes, it's like a universal remote for LP.  Speaking of which, I should write about my obsession with Matt, Amy, Zack, Jeremy, and Jacob one of these days.

Back to the Ninja Remote...seems like fun.

One last note about Deadliest Catch.  Before flying to Alaska to try and get a job as a deckhand, read this note from the Hansens.

My New Pearl

I've been sporting a rather classic non-descript phone for the past two years.  One of the perks of working with Nokia was getting free phones.  However, there comes a point in every man's life when he says, "no mom, I don't want any more jello" [one of Dan's personal mantras].  And the same applies here.  I'm sick of my basic old phone.

If you're interested, I've been using the Nokia 6230.  It works well, but the screen is pretty bad, and I've started to think that it would be cool to access gmail on my phone.  As a result, I've been considering a "smartphone" for the past few months.  My three main criteria have been:  1.  it must look good.  2.  it must work with Cingular. 3.  it must work with my Mac.

While Steve introduced what will inevitably be my phone in January, it's not ready for prime time yet.  With most new technology, you've gotta give it some time.  I figure I'll be ready to buy the second incarnation of the iPhone, which is at least 12 months away.

So I'll stop rambling.  Last week I got the BlackBerry Pearl and it agrees with my criteria.  When I was still in the research phase, I decided to ask the MACist over at LAist about compatibility.  I guess he doesn't get a lot of questions, so for a short time, I made it to the front page of the LAist.

 

The New 100% Touch Screen iPod: Initial Pics

This story broke a few days ago, but some of you may not have seen the drawings.  Apple submitted a new patent filing on June 23rd, that just recently became public.  In this filing, Apple details exact uses for the device including a digital media player, picture frame, pda, cell phone, and handheld gaming device.

The new iPod Touch will have no physical buttons.  Instead, all controls will dynamically appear.  A beveled border that sits around the perimeter of the screen contains the actual "touch mechanics."

For complete details, check out AppleInsider.

Mainstream Press

Welcome to all who are coming from Melissa McNamara's CBS Blogophile column.  Feel free to stay and look around for a while.  Hopefully, you will like what you see.

Audio Scrobbler / Last FM

A while ago, I became aware of Last FM's Audioscrobbler.  It is a really great idea, but I have had some problems with it. 

Basically, it tracks all of the music I listen to on my computer and keeps an online database for me. It recommends music, people who have similar tastes, and tracks what I listen to by week.  I signed up and every once in a while check in on it to see how it works. Recently though, I noticed that it was particularly slow.  Stuff I have been listening to doesn't even make it on to my list and my biggest frustration is that I rarely listen to stuff on my home computer, so all the music I listen to on my iPod doesn't even get counted. 

But, this morning I check on the site and saw I had a message. Thinking I had a new friend, I clicked on it only to see it was an email from Last FM. 

Hi,
As you might have noticed, one of our profile servers (which your account is on) has been rather slow recently. Affected users are noticing that their charts are taking ages to update, and neighbours are not calculated fast enough. This is due to the changes we're making in the way profile data is stored and searched. The new profile system should be in place within 2 weeks - unfortunately, meanwhile you may continue to experience slow chart-updates.

To sweeten the deal we're upgrading your account with a free 1 month subscription. (or extending it if you already subscribe). Along with the usual subscriber perks, you'll have access to the beta test of the new site update (in early June). This will give you a chance to try out the new charts system before everyone else, and tell us what you think before it's launched.

So, for one month, I am a subscriber to Last FM, which means a couple of cool things. 

1. I have my own radio station. It basically just plays what I have recently played before. I am two songs in and it started wth The Shout Out Louds and now it is playing the Silversun Pickups.  I think the only way to get to it is by going to my page and clicking on "floatingaway radio".

2. I made a nice little box on the right side of my blog which tracks my weekly artist list.  Does anyone know how to make it sync with my iPod? I would be really grateful if anyone could help me with that.

The (Real) Video iPod: Coming Soon

You may have heard that Apple is currently working on an iPod designed exclusively for video with a 4" widescreen.  There is speculation that the entire front of the iPod will be display with a touch screen scroll wheel that appears when you touch the screen.  I found this video that illustrates what it may look like. 

The iPod Revolution

iPods are changing our lives. That is really nothing new, but what is interesting to me is how wide reaching the change is.

Yesterday, these three stories found me:

• According to the LA Times, The Office is now a top ranked program, largely due to the NBC iTunes Video Store.

"On Monday, last week's episode — in which someone mysteriously soiled Michael's office carpet — was the No. 2-selling TV program on iTunes. "The last time I was in New York, I had three different people come up to me and go, 'Dude, you're on my iPod,' " costar Rainn Wilson, who has developed a strong fan base as the arrogant dweeb Dwight, told reporters earlier this month."

• The Natural History Museum of LA County is opening an exhibit called Sonic Scenery in which visitors can experience their collection via new sounds by The Sun Ra Arkestra, Ozomatli, David J, Autolux, Matmos, Stephen Hartke, Nobody, Languis, Nels Cline, and Jon Hassell.  The exhibition is introduced by Esa-Pekka Salonen, Music Director of the Los Angeles Philarmonic Orchestra.

Visitors can buy a audio device there or download the tunes at the iTunes music store before heading out.

• Stereogum and BoingBoing both had great stories on iPac: Your Senator Needs an iPod.

"Senator Stevens, the 82-old committe chairman of the the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, surprised the audience by announcing that his daughter had bought him an iPod, and suddenly Stevens had a much greater understanding of the many ways innovative technology can create choice for consumers."

So iPac is trying to get every Senator an iPod. Chone thinks this is basically an illegal bribe, but I still think it's cool.