Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: The Southern Apps

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  • Russell Brown,

    I'd rather that gaming consoles were open (which would turn them into game-oriented computers) and that we lost the cross-subsidy between consoles and games.

    You'd like to determine the whole industry's business model for it? If you don't want a game console, don't buy one, basically.

    However, consoles only play games (mostly because they are restricted) and hence it doesn't matter as much.

    My PS3 plays DivX*, Blu-Ray, TVNZ ondemand, etc. It even has a web browser, and it supports the installation of an alternative OS. But it's generally still as locked down as game appliances always have been. There are reasons for that.

    *I'd like it to support .mkv video, but Sony won't go there.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    With pad form factor devices, it's possible that they *will* become the standard individual computing device. It's also possible that Apple and Microsoft will try and move the walled garden model up the food chain to conventional systems like PC and Mac.

    And that's a reasonable discussion to have. I think the problem with the App Store model is going to be more around content than coding.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    You' d like to determine the whole industry ' s
    business model for it?…

    Isn't that what all the antitrust actions against Microsoft were about? Stopping them adopting a business model that exploited market dominance to lock out competition?

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    I sense the scorching heat emanating from the event horizon of the copyright thread. Must...pull...up....now....

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Isn't that what all the antitrust actions against Microsoft were about? Stopping them adopting a business model that exploited market dominance to lock out competition?

    But you were talking about making all game consoles give up proprietary software. How far do you go with that?

    With respect to walled gardens, I just don't see the web going away. There are multiple web browsers from multiple vendors on the iPad, offering a variety of features, and apart from the Flash ban (which is a key factor in the thing just working), they browse the whole web.

    In single-purpose apps it's different -- most notably in that they provide a payment gateway so publishers can sell their content to people who want to buy it. I don't actually have a problem with that.

    I'm sure there are things Apple could do that would dissuade me from using the device -- breaking the web experience would be one -- but I'm not anywhere near that.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Martin Lindberg,

    Possibly relevant - Apple livestreaming their event tomorrow

    However -

    Viewing requires either a Mac running Safari on Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard, an iPhone or iPod touch running iOS 3.0 or higher, or an iPad.

    The segregation of the Net haz started!

    Stockholm • Since Jul 2009 • 802 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    Wow, that sounds... cultish.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Don Christie,

    Fark. I thought I had signed off, but wait, there is more...

    It was the iPad than banned Flash, but more tellingly along with Apple's change in what tools you could use to develop App store apps. That was well after youtube an Vimeo did their html5 video stuff. Firefox has been developing against the <video> tag for an age...

    ...and, sad to say (I am old and not at all cool), I cut my teeth on developing Apple apps in the early 1980s and on blowing up their external floppy drives. So I have some history with the platform...

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1645 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    Personally I find those two things missing from his reviews of Apple stuff.

    This is all in response to Russell commenting about something about the iPad that he found irritating.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • SteveH,

    It was the iPad than banned Flash, but more tellingly along with Apple's change in what tools you could use to develop App store apps. That was well after youtube an Vimeo did their html5 video stuff. Firefox has been developing against the <video> tag for an age...

    No, Don, it wasn't. Flash was banned from the iPhone. See, for example, this article from 2007, or this one from 2008, which clearly states that the developer SDK prohibits it (as an interpreter).

    In late 2009 Adobe announced plans to release a tool that would compile Flash code into a native iPhone app, as far as I know no such app ever passed Apple's app approval process and they have since explicitly forbidden any app that is not originally written in C, C++, or Objective-C.

    The lack of Flash only became a big deal in the media with the iPad, but it has never been permitted on any "iOS" device (quotes because it wasn't called that when the decision was made).

    Since Sep 2009 • 444 posts Report Reply

  • Tony Siu,

    Since I (sorta) of started the flame thread about Word vs. Everyone Else....Anyone want to buy my 2nd Generation 16GB iPod Touch? Heh

    Btw, looks like Apple haven't push out iTunes yet (as of 10:22AM local time). For the specs page, I was hoping that it would be a Cocca app rewrite. Sadly, it was a no. And where is my iWorks update!

    (from someone who have drank The Apple Kool Aid a year ago)

    Auckland • Since Mar 2008 • 82 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    Anyone want to buy my 2nd Generation 16GB iPod Touch?

    Sorry, no, but I'll use this occasion to mention that I'm looking for a cheapish non-Touch iPod - 4 or 8 Gb, I guess - for my little cousin, up to $100.

    Help me to help this young lad out so that he is not forced to grow up in a household containing only Shania Twain and Westlife.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Since I (sorta) of started the flame thread about Word vs. Everyone Else....Anyone want to buy my 2nd Generation 16GB iPod Touch? Heh

    Still happy with my "old" classic iPod, actually. If I was going to upgrade I'd have to go for the 64GB Touch, and at a very stiff $649 it doesn't appeal. It certainly packs a lot o' fun for a handheld though.

    Btw, looks like Apple haven't push out iTunes yet (as of 10:22AM local time). For the specs page, I was hoping that it would be a Cocca app rewrite. Sadly, it was a no.

    Apple shouldn't slap "download iTunes 10" buttons all over its website until iTunes 10 is actually there to download. I'm interested in seeing whether Ping can provide some of the social networking sizzle that the iTunes world has rather conspicuously lacked. My guess is that it'll be over-managed by Apple.

    I am surprised to see the new Apple TV emerge without any App Store action -- confounding the predictions of Kevin Rose and others.

    It's now an iOS device, running an A4 chip, but in its current iteration it's basically an Airport Express for video -- no storage, all streaming and video rental. It'll be available in NZ at $169, but it's not clear to me how much use it would be, and what content would be available.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Glenn Pearce,

    The segregation of the Net haz started!

    I've noticed that iPod/iPhone users do tend to sit at the front of the bus.

    Auckland • Since Feb 2007 • 504 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes,

    Never been impressed with the iPod, in any of its iterations. I wouldn't go as far as saying the sound quality is crap but it is far from the best you can get. I am quite happy with my sony NWZ-A828 but if I were to be in the market for a new one I'd find it hard to ignore the Archos 3 Vision A steal at under $150.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • 3410,

    I wouldn't go as far as saying the sound quality is crap but it is far from the best you can get.

    It's true.

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report Reply

  • Sam F,

    if I were to be in the market for a new one I'd find it hard to ignore the Archos 3 Vision A steal at under $150.

    I'm genuinely tempted. Anyone know what kind of rep Archos has for reliability, though?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1611 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    I regret to report that local open-internet hero and one-time star of the Linux Journal, Radio NZ's Richard Hulse, spoke to the same group of students today as I did last Thursday -- and like me, he used his iPad.

    Resistance now officially futile ;-)

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    I could smell the regret in your breath from here, young man.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Barnes,

    Anyone know what kind of rep Archos has for reliability, though?

    I've not heard of any problems with them but have no personal experience with them.
    On the other hand if you want to spend a little more you just can't beat these devices from Cowon. They really make an iPod sound like poo.
    ;-)

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    Resistance now officially futile ;-)

    Who needs resistance? Every store I've walked in and asked to fondle their iPads has said they don't have any in stock but their Botany branch does. If I were quicker on the draw I'd have said "Look honey, I came to fiddle with your iPad, not go down to your Botany".

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • George Darroch,

    Ah ha, hush that fuss, everybody off to the back of the bus

    Oukast - Rosa Parks.

    I tend to like what Apple brings to the equation. Advanced usability, slightly better functions and premium pricing. The rest of us get these advances about a year later at half the price. When any product takes up too much of the market however, other competitors start to get marginalised and find it difficult to turn a profit with better product - witness the iPod, which really doesn't deserve anything like the great majority of users it has. Monopolies, by design or default, harm innovation and improvement.

    WLG • Since Nov 2006 • 2264 posts Report Reply

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