iPad2 - Smashed!

It finally happened.

About 11:00pm last night, my lovely daughter managed to arrange a high-speed liaison between my iPad 2 and the tile floor. Oh joy.

Smashed beyond all reapair, I took my sorry excuse for an iPad back to the Apple store. Tail between my legs, the associate politely informed me of the benefits of Apple Care warranty and the rugged Otter Box cases available for my precious gadget. 10 minutes later, I'm sitting at the Genius Bar, awaiting my fate.

In classic Apple style, my appointed Genius gave me an awesome deal on a replacement, and had it in my hands within 30 minutes of me showing up at the store. No, it wasn't free, but it's a bit much to expect a free replacement after declining the warranty and then dropping it on the floor.

Just one more reason I love Apple products (yeah, call me a fan-boy or whatever). Not only are the products outstanding, but when it comes to customer service, they are second-to-none.

Thanks again, Apple. This time for dulling the pain of a rather unpleasant event.

Kudos to the Apple store in Boulder and my Genius, Max.

Steve Jobs - 1955-2011

Few people have changed the course of human history as Steve Jobs has. May he forever be remembered as the most visionary technology innovator of our time.

Much as the work of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford ushered in the industrial revolution, Steve Jobs and his remarkable vision and leadership has largely defined the information revolution.

Henry Ford put power and promise of the automobile within reach of the common man. Steve Jobs put the power of a nearly infinite universe of information in our pockets.

Thomas Edison made the technological breakthroughs that enable modern life accessible to the masses. Steve Jobs envisioned and created products that enable unprecedented communications, access to information, and in a very real way he "redefined" modern life on Earth.

The world has suffered a great loss.

Magento on Rackspace Cloud - Update

At the beginning of the year, I posted about my experience running Magento on the Rackspace cloud infrastructure.  The gist of that post was that Magento does in fact run quite well, as long as you use a minimum of the 2GB instance provided by Rackspace.  (Original Article Here)

Since then, I have been migrating several sites to this infrastructure.  Initially, I figured it would be easy to put 5 or even 10 sites on one instance, and scale it up to 8GB or 16GB or whatever was needed.  Vertical scale with a single cloud server appeared to be a quick and simple deployment plan.  Unfortunately, this all came crashing down on me when I went to add the sixth site.

Rackspace kindly informed me that they could only assign a total of 5 IP addresses to a single CloudServer instance.  This really makes no sense to me, since I can get 5 more just by adding another server, but that's their policy anyway.

In case you didn't know, every site that has its own SSL certificate requires its own dedicated IP address.  This includes all of the Magento sites that we currently manage at 4word systems.

Forced to deal with the reality of spinning up several 2GB+ instances to support a larger number of sites, I got to thinking about my original strategy.  After all, to keep on the planned path would turn out to be expensive as hell.

What if I offloaded the database activity to a separate server?  How might that impact the performance / hardware requirements for the web server?  How big would the DB server need to be?

Through a good amount of trial-and-error I have discovered the following (so far).

1:  The database server can be surprisingly small if properly tuned.  MySQL database tuning and maintenance can be a tricky thing, but currently I am supporting around 10 Magento databases on a 1GB CloudServer instance with no performance problems whatsoever.  I will again mention that this absolutely requires a well-tuned MySQL installation.

2:  The web server size requirement also drops considerably.  Previously, I had a single Magento site that was so busy most of the time, I needed to upgrade from 2GB to 4GB to prevent heavy swapping to disk.  After offloading the database to the new 1GB instance, I was able to reduce the web instance from 4GB to 1GB.  This is a remarkable improvement.  2 servers at 1GB is half the cost of a single 4GB instance, and the 1GB database server is able to service at least 9 more websites.

The long and short of it is this:  If you plan to host Magento on CloudServers, do yourself (and your budget) a favour.  Split the database on to a different server.  Even if you are only managing a single site, you will get more performance for less money any way you cut it.

Mass Transit in America - Time for a New Dawn

The history of this country is rich with ambitious, nationwide transportation projects.  One might argue that transportation has enabled much of the growth that has fuelled the rise of the US as a global superpower.  Transporting materials, supplies, finished goods and people across the nation with speed and efficiency is a hallmark of American accomplishment.

Sadly, with the completion of the interstate highway system in 1992 (at a cost of 4x the original estimate and 3x longer than planned) transportation has taken a vacation when it comes to public policy.

The World Has Changed
A lot has changed since 1956, when the Federal Aid Highway Act was written.  Smog, congestion, oil-dependency and highway fatalities are a fact of life now for virtually every American.  While the highway system accomplished it's grand objective, the consequences can not be ignored.  Each day, tens of millions of people wake up, get in their cars, and waste an average of an hour each day driving to and from their place of employment.  Risking life and limb, the gainfully employed venture out onto the interstate highway system so they can afford to pay for the vehicles and fuel that make it possible for them to do the same thing the next day.

Count the Cost
With the average price of a new vehicle hovering around $30,000, few Americans can afford to directly purchase a new car.  Instead they turn to the benevolent finance companies (aka banks) who will ensure that the actual cost will nearly double.  Given that a car typically will be out of warranty within 3 years and nearly worthless after 10, it's not unusual for the capital cost of a vehicle to come to $7,000 - $8,000 per year.

Add on the compulsory insurance coverage for another $750 or so per year.

With the average round-trip commute at 32 miles per day, an average fuel economy of 25 MPG, we add another $1,200 - $1,300 per year in fuel alone.

Add to that the cost of regular scheduled maintenance, tires, brakes and repairs, it's easy to see that operating a car solely for the purpose of getting to work can easily run $9,000 - $11,000 per year.

News Flash: For nearly 1/2 of American households, that represents 20% or more of total pre-tax income.  When you look at after-tax income, vehicle expenses can easily exceed 30% of the average family's take-home pay. 

I'm convinced most people don't see that.  We've been conditioned not to.  Advertising works, people.

Oh, and that's before we even consider the more than 250 hours each year lost by the average commuter on their way to and from work.  At an average rate of $25 / hour, there's another $6250 down the drain.

It's time for change.  I thought that's why we hired this guy for President. . .

"Higher" Education

Wow, long time no post.  Been workin my tail off on QuickPix (an iphone app), which you can learn more about here.

In any case, I had to take a moment to talk about college in this country.  It's driving me nuts.

First, as a culture, we strongly encourage, even coerce, nearly every high school graduate in America to run off and attend college immediately after high school.  For many, this means moving out of the house, amassing large student and consumer debt, and becoming somehow "educated" by the academic machinery of America.  Lessons include: binge drinking, drug use, promiscuity, athletics and a few classes sprinkled in between for good measure (and to justify the price of admission).

In these times, few college graduates are able to find jobs.  It's no wonder.  The jobs that most grads are qualified for range from frat party coordinator to entry-level drug dealer all the way up to professional alcoholic and surf bum.  There are exceptions, of course, there always are. . . .

To top it all off, upon leaving college many students are left with tens of thousands of dollars in debt with no means to repay.  Even if they DO get a job - a GOOD job - right out of the gate they start on the American treadmill of life:  Go to work to repay a bank loan (or 6).  Don't forget you'll need a new car to get to that job, and we know just the bank to loan you the money!

College is a good investment in your future.  Just ask the banks (with their record profits) and the Universities (with their skyrocketing revenues and double-digit annual increases).  College grads make more money than non-grads.  Look at the research!

So who does the research?  The same people doing virtually all of the research in this country - the Universities.  Enlightened self-interest?  You be the judge.

The most valuable lesson to be taught in this country is fiscal responsibility.  Millions are made by the likes of Dave Ramsey, Suze Orman, Robert Kiyosaki and countless other financial geniuses (no offense - I've read them all).  Their message is overwhelmingly the same:  That all debt is bad and that to be free, one must cast off the shackles of debt.

So what do we teach our kids?  At age 18, we show them the enlightened path that we know best as a country:  Borrow money you don't have to invest in something that you can't afford the risk of investing in.  We do it with everything - real estate, transportation, stocks, bonds, options, and now "education".  It's the American Way.  Might as well get started as soon as possible.

30 years later, with a mountain of debt, "investments" tied up in inaccessible or prohibitively expensive accounts (IRA/401k), and virtually no asset base, we, as adults, turn to the financial experts.  What do we want to know?  How we can get get OUT from under the debt we've accumulated and not work until the day we die.  We call it "retirement", and less and less of us have any real hope of getting there anytime soon.

What are we teaching our kids by saddling them with debt before they even get their first job?  Our culture of debt-financing and unrealistic expectations are a major contributor to so many of our cultural problems.  It nearly defines the difference between rich and poor, income disparity, the drain on our public treasury.  If the good, hard-working people of this country could stop buying shit they can't afford with money they don't have, perhaps they would save a buck or two, or even invest in income-producing assets over the course of their working lives.  Such a thing could lead to the unthinkable:  reduced reliance on government-mismanaged systems like Social Security, Medicare, & Medicaid.

The good news is that we're all on the same page.  The government does it, most Americans do it, and we teach it to our kids.  That many people just can't be wrong . . . can they?

Reviewers Love QuickCam Before it Hits the App Store

Over the past week, we were able to get several influential reviewers to beta test QuickCam.  I must say the response has been overwhelming.  This is a tough crowd, not at all shy about telling app developers what they really think about the app.  We're so excited about the responses, that I thought I'd share a few of them here, even though we're still waiting on Apple to approve the app.  At this point, I can't share the names or websites of the reviewers, but the response has been incredibly positive.  Here are a few quotes from the feedback we have received so far:

"the camera speed is definitely quicker, it's replaced my default camera app"

"it's replaced my default camera"

"It's fast. It really is."

"have to say, I'm impressed with the apps speed"

"it's quite fast. you should think about licensing this out to other photo apps"

"Cool app :)"

And our personal favorite:

"seems to work pretty good for me – I like the feature of being able to take snapshots while filming video.  This is going to take my porndirector career to the next level."

I can't wait to announce general availability in the app store, but the Apple Gods have determined that we're going to have to wait a little longer.

Stay tuned for more updates.  We've still got more reviewers looking and approval should come any day now.

Cheers!

New iPhone App Coming Soon - QuickCam

A friend and I have been working on a kickass new app for your iPhone since January.  It's about the hit the App Store and change the way you take photos and video on your iPhone forever.

QuickCam is the app, and like the name suggests, this thing is fast.

Instead of waiting 3 seconds for the stock camera to launch, QuickCam fires up in less than a second on the iPhone 4.  Faster on the iPod Touch.

No more waiting to switch to "video" or "photo" mode either.  Buttons are right at your fingertips to start up a video or take a photo with a single tap.

Hold down the photo button for the fastest full-resolution rapid-fire camera available for iOS.  Instantly take 2.5 full-size photos per second at the touch of a button with QuickCam

Oh, and the really fun part - you don't have to stop taking a video to snap a photo.  That's right, for the first time ever, you can take photos and video at the same time.

All this and a few other hidden gems make QuickCam the perfect replacement for your stock camera.  I mean really, faster is always better.

We're currently looking for reviewers, bloggers and podcasters to test out the beta.  Be among the first to see QuickCam in action.

History I Missed in School - US Confiscates Gold from its People

Ok, I have the right to be random, it's my blog.

Anyway, I got a history lesson tonight that blew my mind.  Took me quite a while to verify this with many sources, but all accounts point to the unthinkable.

In 1933, during the great depression, our government decided it was in the "public interest" to confiscate all of the privately-held gold of US citizens in exchange for paper dollars.  Immediately after paying out $20.65 per ounce of gold to the people, the government arbitrarily changed the value of gold to $35 /oz.  This resulted in the immediate asset devaluation of 40% to the people - and a 40% profit to the government.

Oh, forgot to mention that this came after FDR shut down the banks and forbade them from honoring their commitments to their depositors.  FDR ordered that the banks cease redeeming dollars for gold because of this "national emergency".  So, it goes like this:

Banks: you can't give out any more gold to the people you owe it to.
People: give us all your gold - or else.
Slight pause . . . . .
Oh, sorry, gold is worth a lot more now, too bad you don't have any.  And those paper dollars we forced you to trade your gold for?  They're worth a lot less.  Now run along now and spend your paper.

Talk about a raw deal.  I turn in my gold for your dollars, and you turn around and arbitrarily set the value of those dollars to 60% of what they were worth when we made the trade -- overnight!

An interesting aside - Gold is currently trading around $1,400 USD per ounce.  In 1933, it was bought by the government from the people at $20.65 per ounce.  That is a simple annualized rate of return in excess of 84% over the past 80 years, or a cumulative ROI of more than 6,500%.  Too bad home values didn't go up 84% per year for the past 80 years, eh?  Coincidence?

I could not believe that the US government would so damage its citizens in one fell swoop.  The truth is that it did happen, exactly as described, by executive order 6102.  Issued by Franklin D Roosevelt, this illegal, unprecedented violation of the personal property rights of the citizens illustrates the grim reality that our government will stop at nothing to preserve itself in an "emergency".  Subsequent executive orders modified the confiscation provisions, however they retained the general premises that owning gold was not permitted, and acquiring gold was something only the Federal Reserve was authorized to do.

It remained illegal for private citizens to own gold in any significant quantity until 1974.  Yes, 40 years later.  You would think that gold is a drug in this country the way it is so actively controlled and guarded by the economic powers that be.

We are on a perilous path.  Our dollars are worth nothing physical or tangible.  The value of the dollar is actively manipulated by a small handful of academics in a board room (Federal Reserve).  The debt is staggering.  Soon will come the day when the US is not able to meet its financial obligations to the countries around the world who are lending us trillions of dollars to fund our excess.  It doesn't take a genius to figure out that you can't spend more than you make every year and never have to face the music.

When (not if) the dollar faces total collapse due to our inability to fund the debt and entitlements our government has promised, there will be little of real value other than gold.  Just don't let the government find out you have it.  If they want it, they obviously are willing to take it from you.

People need to wake up in this country.  We need to teach our kids the real lessons of history, how governments throughout history have mistreated the public, mishandled the economy and driven the people into unimaginable debt.  Stop pretending that it can't happen again.

David Letterman is an Idiot

How did I get on this economics kick?

Anyway, David Letterman had Senator Rand Paul on the program last night.  Other than being outright rude, condescending and dismissive, Dave said some things that were outright moronic.

I was appalled.

Firing off comments like "Those numbers just don't seem right to me".  Well, Dave, they don't seem right to me either, but they are facts.  Just because you don't like the facts doesn't mean they can be dismissed out of hand with an "I don't know why, but they just don't seem right" remark.  Yes, Dave, it is true that the top 1% of taxpayers pay nearly 1/2 (actually between 38 and 40% from 2006-2008) of all of the income taxes received by the treasury.

Oh, another funny number that doesn't seem right.  32% of tax filers had zero income tax liability in 2006.  But I digress.

Nobody likes the idea of cutting federal spending if it means laying off teachers, firefighters, police or other middle-class public employees.  Let's face it, though, the United States can only afford about 1/2 of what it spends annually. The proposed 2011 budget is $3.69 trillion in spending with a projected deficit (difference between income and expense) of $1.65 trillion.  That's exactly like spending $37,000 per year on a salary of $16,500.  How long  can this possibly last?

This is not political, it's simple economics.  Budgeting 101. The stuff you should know as a prerequisite for graduating high school.  You can't borrow your way to prosperity.  Even Carlton Sheets should know that at this point, after the housing bubble collapsed.

Dave's solution is a popular one - tax the rich.  I mean, they don't need the money anyway.

For reference, the top 1% of income earners includes those with an annual household income greater than about $380,000 (2008).

So the top 1%, paying roughly 40% of all income tax collected breaks down like this:

Total income tax collected by the Treasury: 1.455 Trillion
40% of total income tax collected: $582 billion
Total households in America: ~115 million
1% of households in america: ~1.15 million
So, on average, a top 1% household currently pays $582b / 1.15m, or $506,086 dollars in federal income tax.

Seems fair.

So now, on to Dave's solution - fill the budget deficit by taxing the rich.

Total deficit: $1.65 Trillion (1,650 billion)
1% of households: 1.15 Million (0.00115 billion)
Additional taxes paid by the wealthiest 1% annually to fill the deficit per household: $1,434,782.
Add that to the $506,086 they already pay on average for an annual tax liability of $1.94 million.

Simple.  If you make over $380,000, we quadruple your average income tax liability.  Of course, there is also Social Security, Medicare, and State tax you also need to pay. We can probably leave those alone though, until we recognize that they are insolvent.  With this simple quadrupling of the income tax on the richest 1% of Americans, we can afford to pay for our government - this year.

I wonder how many jobs this new tax policy will create. . .

Don't get me wrong, I'm a long way from being in the top 1%, and I don't think it's time to cut taxes on the rich.  The point here is that the hole in the budget is just too large to fill by taxing the rich.  We need to address the issue from both sides - revenue (taxes) and spending.  The problem is too big to tackle from either side alone.  Just as many businesses and households have had to adjust to their own financial crises, our government needs to do the same.  Cut spending & increase income.  It's the only way out.

Even if we can solve the giant financial hole in our annual spending, that doesn't even begin to start reducing into our national debt, which is approaching $18 Trillion.  This amounts to about $90,000 per household in America.  The only larger debt most Americans will ever know is their mortgage - but that is the subject of another post.

If you believe in the philosophy that the debtor is servant to the creditor (as I very much do), you will be happy to know that at least 25% of our national debt is owned by foreign countries.

Chief among our creditors are: China, Japan, the UK and Oil Exporting countries (Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Libya, Iran, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Ecuador, Indonesia, Algeria, Gabon, and Nigeria).


Sweet dreams!

How a Small Change in Home Prices Destroys Wealth

I generally try to keep these posts related to technology, gadgets and the like, but I couldn't resist a little delve into economics.

A couple of days ago, it was announced that home prices fell 4% nationwide in 2010. Better than some years, worse than others, but it occurred to me that a lot of people fail to realize the practical implications of a decline in home values.

It goes without saying that most people in America don't own their homes, their banks do.  If we actually owned our homes, we would not have had the subprime mortgage crisis at all, or the government bailout of Fannie, Freddy, AIG and scores of other banks.  This is important to keep in mind.

So, if we accept that banks own the homes, and "Homeowners" have "equity" in their homes of say, 20% for sake of argument.  Let's see what happens when home values go down by 4% in one year.

Home value at the beginning of 2010: $200,000
"Homeowner's Equity" at the beginning of 2010: $40,000 (individual asset)
Bank receivable (mortgage) at the beginning of 2010: $160,000 (bank asset)

So, in 2010, home value drops by 4%, or $8,000.  Assuming no repayment of mortgage principal, and neglecting the cost of taxes, insurance, interest and maintenance, here's where you end up.

Home value is now $192,000
"Homeowner's Equity" is now $32,000 (individual asset)
The bank receivable (mortgage) remains $160,000 (bank asset).  The mortgage is not devalued at all, you still owe the entire amount, regardless of what your home is worth.

So the "Homeowner" has lost $8,000 on their original cash investment of $40,000, or a whopping 20% in one year.  The bank hasn't lost a thing, but the wealth of the individual "Homeowner" has taken a very serious hit.

Maybe this is perfectly obvious to everyone, but for some reason, I just don't think it is.  Unless you actually own your home, the loss on the asset is magnified by the leverage (mortgage) employed to acquire the asset.  The "Homeowner" takes the loss on the entire asset while "owning" only a small fraction of that asset.  It is the American people who bear the risk in this transaction.

Home ownership is identical to purchasing stock on margin.  Few people have the risk tolerance or sophistication to sell uncovered options or buy stock on margin.  How is it that home ownership somehow persists as a cornerstone of the "American Dream"?

If you ask me, home ownership is indentured servitude taken to a whole new level.  It is a huge fraud perpetuated on the American public by the financial establishment.

Life with Apple TV - Episode 4

What a difference the right equipment makes.

Today, a Qwest tech came out and immediately noticed that the modem sent to us less than 6 months ago was - in his words - "a relic".

Apparently the device we were sent was not capable of the 7mbps service by design.  No wonder AppleTV doesn't work.

So, 15 minutes and a new modem later, our internet is usable - so time to test out the AppleTV again.

First test: Netflix streaming.  Within 45 seconds, the movie started, and 10 minutes in, there was no jitter or chop.  Looking good.

Next test: Rent a movie from iTunes.  Immediately after purchasing the rental, I went to play the film.  AppleTV reported that the movie was loading.  After a minute or so, it reported that it would be ready to play in 1 hour and 1 minute.  About 5 minutes later it was ready to play.  Shortly after (within 5 more minutes) I started the movie, which began to play within a few seconds of me starting it.  It was only an SD (standard definition) movie, and not HD, it played flawlessly for my 10-15 minute test period.  I'll watch the whole film later tonight, but I highly suspect that it will run flawlessly.

Final test: Search, navigation and general usability.  The iTunes store implementation on the AppleTV is a pleasure to use.  Much like all Apple products, it is intuitive and responsive.  Reviews and recommendations come up very quickly and look great on the 42" LCD TV that I have connected.

All told, today is a complete 180 for me on AppleTV.  I'm glad we stuck with it and got the internet connection up to speed.  If you have good, fast, reliable internet, the AppleTV is quite a nice device that is super-easy to set up, reasonably priced and performs well on a good connection.  I'll be doing some more tests over the next week or so, but tonight was a good night for AppleTV.

Google Says I'm Right

So, if you remember back on December 29, 2010, I wrote a short piece about how the huge selection and relatively high quality software available through the AppStore was a major advantage for the iPhone over Android.  (more)

Today, I read that Google is hiring mobile app developers for Android, presumably to do something about it.  (more)  I can only surmise that they read my blog post and were convinced of the urgency of the problem (haha).  In any case, it looks like Google is taking the issue seriously, and is willing to put their seemingly limitless resources to work on it.

The problem I see is this:  Apple has created a machine whereby they actually charge developers to join, then they scrape off a healthy 30% of gross revenue for all apps sold.  Google, on the other hand, is now going to pay talented engineers ($$$) to create apps for Android (cashflow negative) which they may or may not actually charge for.

Don't get me wrong, I'm in no position to criticize Google's business model.  If they can deliver ads in the apps they develop and give away for free, it's quite possible that they can make a serious endeavor of it.  The problem is that like most of Google's "open" projects (Android, iGoogle Gadgets, etc), few developers outside of Google ever get into the game.  Google becomes essentially the only user of their own APIs.  The jury is still out on whether that is good or bad, but it is certainly different than the road Apple has taken, and so far, Apple's been doing quite alright with it.

Why not post a comment and share what you think about Google's move to bolster the Android app market.  Will this be the end of Apple's supreme reign on the handheld?

Life with Apple TV - Episode 3

Honestly, the title of this series should be changed to "Life With a Shitty Internet Connection".  I don't think I can expect any network streaming device to work on a connection that consistently delivers < 500kbps.

The good news is that Qwest will only charge you for 10x what they actually deliver.  They're billing department is very reliable.

Adding insult to injury, they have an engineer working on the issue, and it should be fixed in 1-2 weeks.

Yes, weeks.

In case you don't recall, the problem became very evident back on January 21, which was 2 weeks ago.

So, pay for 5,000, get 500.  We'll "probably" have it "fixed" within the next 2 weeks, which makes 4 weeks since my original complaint.

Maybe I'll get to paying my bill 3-4 weeks late, see how that works out.

Checking into alternative providers this weekend, then perhaps I can make a fair evaluation of the AppleTV that's mostly collecting dust at this point.

The iPhone / Android Debate Rages On

I just ran across a re-post on a forum of a previous post related to how Android is missing the point.  The post drew quite a bit of fire from the Android camp, and it was great to see the debate.  Of course, in the original post, I was pointing out that the real value of the current generation of smartphones (iPhone and Android specifically) is in the apps, and that Android simply doesn't have it together the way that Apple does.

It was flattering to see the re-post, so I thank you.  It is also great to see the debate and comments that ensued.  Even those that disagree.  I only wish that the comments were posted directly on the original post.  In any case, thank you xFilter for posting my stuff over on Rage3D.

I encourage you to read the thread if you are at all interested: http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33972303

Healthy debate is the cornerstone of great achievement.

Cheers!

Life with Apple TV - Episode 2

Friday, January 21, 2011
Day 5 With Apple TV

So here I am, almost a week in with Apple TV.  Admittedly, I haven't had a lot of time to play with it, but that didn't stop Apple from billing me for the movie that failed to download to the device.  Every morning I get up and try to play "Dispicable Me", which I rented on day one, and every morning I am met with the unchanging progress bar.

Seems to me that the core functionality should work before they start shipping product.

In any case, we have been having internet connection problems lately (thanks a lot Quest).  I wonder if I just kinda-sorta paid my bills once in a while if they would be happy with my account.  Seems only fair to me, since the service kinda-sorta works once in a while.  But enough rambling about my lousy internet service.  Even with a spotty connection, you would think that the Apple TV would be able to download a rental movie within say, 5 days or so.  Needless to say, this is somewhat disappointing.

While I have been waiting for my rental to download (and well after it has been paid for), I did manage to order and receive a refurbished MacBookPro.  After applying the latest software download, the AitPlay feature streaming to the Apple TV is working very well.  Also having good success using HandBrake to convert some of my AVI files and DVDs to MP4 to replay on the Apple TV.

Unfortunately, I need to leave my MacBookPro turned on and iTunes running for AppleTV to be able to stream movies from it.  A somewhat clunky solution if you ask me.

I was really hoping that Apple would have a refined, useful product before going to market.  AppletTV at this point is little more than a very small, decent Netflix player that integrates nicely with an iTunes library on a running computer that has iTunes open.  In hindsight, I suspect that the Roku is a better value, as it has a lot more features for the same or lower price.  I also suspect that most of the features actually work, since they don't have the power of the Apple brand to drive sales.

I'll keep using the AppleTV and hopefully publish some better news once the next software update comes out.  At this point, for me, the core features simply do not work.  I will also get on the phone with Apple support when I get a chance and give them the opportunity to rectify the situation, however for the moment, I am pretty disappointed.

Life with Apple TV - Episode 1

Monday, January 17,2010:
AppleTV Inception Day

Getting the Goods:
Early in the afternoon, I picked up the AppleTV 2 from the Apple Store in Boulder, CO.  Unfortunately, they had no in-store demo for me to play around with, but judging from my stellar experience with Apple products so far (2 iPhone 4s, 2 iPod Touch 3g, MacBook Pro), I had no reservations.

Installation:
Setting up the Apple TV could not have been easier.  Plug in the power, plug in the HDMI cable, and configure my wireless network WEP key.  Typical Apple - flawless.

First Tests - AirPlay from iPhone 4 to AppleTV
Since I had been reading online about the AirPlay feature built-in to the latest iOS for iPhone, I had to try it immediately.  After firing up a movie on my iPhone 4, the AirPlay icon appeared as expected in the video controls.  Simply choosing the AppleTV device, presto, the movie was playing on the bigscreen within 15 seconds.  Simply awesome.

Expanding on this test slightly, I quickly noticed that it was just as easy to AirPlay from iTunes on my HP notebook.  Somewhat surprised, and impressed, I moved on to some other tests.

Renting a Movie
Navigating to the "Movies" option on AppleTV, which is clearly the iTunes store, the kids promptly chose "Despicable Me" for us to watch.  Having no problem paying a few bucks for a rental, I queued it up for rental.  After using Netflix on several other devices (including my phone, DVD player and WII), I kind-of expected the movie to start playing within a minute or so.  No dice there.  AppleTV notified me that it would be ready in a whopping 32 hours.  At this point, I figured that we would need to queue up some rentals and watch them later.  Disappointed, I abandoned Despicable Me for the moment, and moved on to some other things, presumably while AppleTV downloaded the whole movie (or something).

Netflix on Apple TV
After my disappointment renting a movie from the iTunes store, I wanted to see how the AppleTV worked as a Netflix client.  I easily set up my Netflix account and was able to easily navigate to my instant queue and browse movies to watch.  My kids again selected an animated feature (Fly Me to the Moon) and we started it up.  It took longer than expected to load - perhaps 3 minutes - but did start to play.  The video playback on this run was choppy, stopping more than a dozen times during the 1.5 hour feature.  Another disappointment.  Of course, maybe it was related to the concurrent download of "Despicable Me" from the iTunes store?  In any case, not real thrilled at this point

After the kids were snugly tucked into bed, sitting there frustrated with the poor Netflix performance, I figured I'd try a few things.  First, I just selected a movie from my instant queue and started playing it.  Oddly, it started up quickly and ran flawlessly for the 45 minutes or so that I was able to keep my eyes open.

Conclusion : Inconclusive
So, in conclusion, the results are inconclusive for today.  AirPlay works like a champ, movie rentals from the iTunes store (direct to the AppleTV) are disappointing at best, and Netflix is touch-and-go.  Looks like more testing tomorrow.

3 Reasons to get Camera+ for iPhone

My favorite photography-related app this year (or rather last year) is Camera+.  Billed as an "all in one" camera app, I still find myself using the stock camera or ClearCam to actually capture the images, but once they are captured, it's all Camera+ for me.

So here they are, my 3 good reasons to get Camera+ for your iPhone:

Reason #1:  Quick & Easy Image Editing 
The best features of Camera+ are in the lightbox.  This is where you can open any image you have on your camera roll and crop, rotate, and apply a myriad of special effects.  Many times now I have taken lousy photos and made them acceptable with a few quick taps on the Camera+ editor.

Here's a "Before" image shot with the stock camera:

And "After" a few quick edits with Camera+

As you can see, a little work with Camera+ can make a big difference.

Reason #2: A Better Camera
The camera is OK.  Better than the stocker because it includes some features that either are not present on the stock camera or I just couldn't find them.  Noteably the stabilizer, timer and burst mode.  Camera+ also makes the zoom feature very easy to use, but it's still a digital zoom (as opposed to optical), so I never use it anyway.

Reason #3: Shoot and Share with Ease
Also included is the ability to easily share your photos out to Flickr, Facebook and Twitter.  While I appreciate how quick and easy it is to share photos this way, it does upload them to a branded domain / frame that is promoting Camera+.  Overall, though, it's worth it in my opinion to have a quick, easy way to post a shot.

Here's a sample of what that looks like once you upload it to the Camera+ website automatically from the app: http://campl.us/pWd (My New Year's Eve "Toast")

So, What are you Waiting For?
I recommend this app to anyone who finds themselves (like me) frustrated with the photos on their iPhone.  Even if I know they can be fixed easily on a computer, I don't want to go through a sync just to do it.  It also makes sharing super-easy, which is great for all you tweeps, FB's and Flickrs out there.

Cheers --
-- Steve