So DrunkenBlog has an interesting treatise on the new Apple-Motorola partnership (which I briefly rambled about earlier) with the added twist of the Real Networks “Harmony” issue. To be frank, the author makes a very persuasive argument and I wouldn’t be surprise if a lot of what they’re hypothesizing turns out. But without knowing what kind of broadband penetration (be it cable, DSL or satellite) we have currently (or what the projections are), I’m still hesitant about putting my money down on anything that requires a broadband connection to work effectively, or at all. While I do not doubt that even with the US economy being what it’s been for the last 4 years broadband has grown, it’s still a relatively expensive luxury.
Of course, one can make the argument that Apple has the audience who can afford it (and/or already has it) when pitching this sort of idea to the television & movie industries. But what kind of buy-in numbers are we talking about here, for a successful launch of an iMovie Store / Apple wifi PVR / whatever to happen? One presumes maybe something less than the iTunes Store launch. Well, they’ll definitely get less - a lot less. A TV/movie version of the iTunes Store would absolutely require broadband (as opposed to the iTunes Store, which can work via dial-up). DrunkenBlog has made a very compelling argument for an iMovie Store - such a thing will happen, but I still think it’s a bit further down the road. My coworker’s theory of a wifi PVR solution goes against Tivo (and to a much lesser extent, my former employer, ReplayTV) as well as the only Mac PVR that I’m aware of, Elgato Systems (but admittedly, they’re much less of a concern - see the whole Konfabulator/Dashboard and Watson/Sherlock scenarios). We might see something there, but I’m guessing it’s less likely to occur.
i almost got in a fistfight with a 50 year old man at a Yes concert. he was throwing popcorn at the back of my head because i was standing up. but that was only because *everyone else in my section* was standing up. apparently, this dumbshit thought that he could take us all down, one handful at a time.
Comment by mdpdb — 9/1/2004 @ 8:06 am
I’m sorry Michael, but the thought of you starting a concert-wide brawl at a Yes concert is just too funny - sucks that this jerk totally ruined the experience for you though. I wonder if he was ever successful in taking people down with handfuls of popcorn before? A kind of “Redenbacker-fu”, if you will.
You know, it never fails to amaze me what kinds of people you can find in your average Yes concert - diverse age range, racial backgrounds, sanity levels… The last concert I went to, a friend & I were totally amazed by two guys in particular who we refer to as “Rain Man” and “Crack Boy”. Much to my displeasure, Crack Boy sat/stood in the seat in front of me. Unlike your experience, he *was the only one in our section* who chose to stand. But he would occasionally sit down for five seconds, then stand back up again. Every once and a while he would shoot up the “horns” hand sign (you know, index finger & pinkie finger up) and do some air guitar. Then he would meander over to the white hippie-wannabe “dance” zone right in front of the mixing board (we were actually seated right across the aisle from it). Then he would come back. Repeat ad infinitum.
Rain Man, however, was seated in some section way behind us and would basically just walk up the aisle and stand either right next to us (I had the aisle seat) or somewhere in our vicinity. Then he would walk back. He would return - going up a little further. Then fall back. Again, repeat ad infinitum.
Comment by Brian — 9/2/2004 @ 7:56 am