You’ve most likely heard Apple’s warning that the next firmware update (rumored to be version 1.1.1), will likely cause permanent damage to any iPhone that has been unlocked. Furthermore, they have stated that any such damage will not be covered under the iPhone’s warranty. OK, before you panic, take a moment and breath. This isn’t such a big deal, and should not have been unexpected. You should have already known the risks that are involved in hacking your iPhone, and been prepared to take the necessary steps to void them, namely not updating your firmware until you know it’s safe to do so.

But hot on the heels of Apple’s statement, the iPhone Dev Team has responded:

Based on download numbers, the iPhone Dev Team believes that, worldwide, several hundred thousand people have unlocked their iPhones. That number continues growing every day. The removal of the lock, a bug, was a major step forward in the iPhone development. It made the iPhone free and useful to anyone, not only to those in certain countries.

Apple now announces that the next firmware update, expected later this week, will possibly break the handset of all of us free users in the World. It speaks of “damage” done to the firmware and “unauthorized access” to our own property, The removal of those firmware problems, which were built in in favor for AT&T, does not cause “damage” as they want to make us believe.

We will provide you with a tool in the next week which will be able to recover your nck counter and seczones and even enables you to restore your phone to a Factory-like state.

In the meantime we advise you not to update your free iPhone with the upcoming firmware. Wait for the next version to be fixed to work properly with your carrier and not break your phone.

So there you have it. Be patient, don’t rush to install the new firmware when it comes out, and keep an eye on this space (or any other useful source of iPhone hacking/unlocking news) for updated information on how to proceed. I recommend against trying any of the premature manual re-lock methods. There’s no need to rush. You have control over when you update your iPhone’s firmware, so there’s no sense rushing to implement a risky hack that may do real permanent damage to your iPhone. An easy solution will come in time, so relax and enjoy your iPhone in the meantime.

Worst case scenario I foresee is you’ll need to re-lock your iPhone, install the new firmware update, then unlock it again using a new version of the unlock tool that will no doubt be released shortly after the new firmware hits the interwebs.

As stated on many other blogs already, the process requires you to have already jailbreaked (jailbroken?) and activated your iPhone. I recommend using iNdependence version 1.2 (or newer) to accomplish this, as well as updating the firmware of the iPhone to the latest 1.0.2 version. Then you copy the SimFree application to your iPhone’s /Applications folder using whatever method you prefer (iNdependence offers this functionality, but I used SFTP myself), install your new SIM card, run the SimFree app and press the Apple logo that appears on the screen. The actual unlocking process takes 2-3 minutes, and the software keeps you informed of it’s process quite nicely. Once it’s done, it will inform you that your phone was unlocked successfully, but you’ll have to re-activate your new SIM card using iNdependence before you can start using it.

Once you’ve done all of that, you will be able to make and receive calls, send/receive text messages, and even use EDGE internet access, once you’ve entered your carrier’s specific APN server, username and password in the appropriate fields under Settings–>General–>Network–>EDGE. For Rogers, these are:

APN: internet.com
Username: wapuser1
Password: wap

Also note that you may have to upgrade your SIM card, if it’s an older one. Rogers recommended a SIM card version of 8930 2720 4000 or greater. If you have problems, check to see if your SIM is an older one.

So what doesn’t work? Visual voicemail, which is an AT&T specific feature, but you do get standard voicemail notifications, and tapping the voicemail icon on the Phone screen will automatically call your provider’s voicemail number. The YouTube app also doesn’t work, which is a known issue for which there is apparently a workaround. Otherwise, it’s functioning as one would expect, and functioning well. A word of caution to Rogers customers though: Rogers data rates are VERY expensive. These are the rates I was quoted by Rogers on the phone:

Rogers Mobile Internet Data Plans:
$5/month for 5MB combined upload and download, 3¢/KB thereafter
$10/month for 10MB combined upload and download, 3¢/KB thereafter

Rogers MyMail Email Data Plans:
$15/month for 1.5MB combined upload and download, $21/MB prorated thereafter
$25/month for 3MB combined upload and download, $10/MB prorated thereafter
$40/month for 7MB combined upload and download, $6/MB prorated thereafter
$60/month for 25MB combined upload and download, $7/MB prorated thereafter
$100/month for 200MB combined upload and download, $5/MB prorated thereafter
$210/month for 500MB combined upload and download, $5/MB prorated thereafter

To give you an idea of how much data certain features use, I checked the weather for 4 cities using the Weather widget, and updating the Stocks widget for 5 stocks used up 14KB of combined data (5KB upload and 9KB download). Not too bad, then I loaded two web pages, one from a forum post on ehmac.ca, and then the home page of the Art Of Geek blog. The usage jumped to 347KB (29KB upload and 318KB download). I signed up for the $10/10MB Mobile Internet plan, which appear to be the best value, provided you don’t go over your limit in a month since each extra MB will cost you $30. Ouch! Checking and receiving about 40 emails added another couple hundred KB to the usage, most likely because the iPhone has a full mail client which downloads all the new emails rather than just mail headers like some other smart-phones do. It’s clear that Apple intends users to have an unlimited data plan like that offered by AT&T, as they haven’t gifted iPhone with many features to help the user limit data use such as only downloading headers in Mail, or disabling the loading of images on web pages in Safari. So anyone planning on using an iPhone on Rogers in Canada should be conscious about what features they’re using and whether they are connected to EDGE or a free WiFi network.

I was fully aware of these issues when I decided to buy the iPhone, and had it not had WiFi built-in, this would have been a deal-breaker for me. But all this isn’t new to anyone who has an internet enabled smart-phone in Canada. I had the same issues to contend with on my previous mobile phone, a Nokia E61, which also had WiFi. But the iPhone’s larger, higher resolution screen, and far superior desktop-like web browser, email and Google Maps clients make the iPhone a far more useful and capable mobile internet device than the Nokia E61, which was considerably slower and woefully underpowered, occasionally unable to load certain web pages due to lack of memory. In contrast, the iPhone loads full emails with inline images and browses complex web pages very efficiently, even over the Rogers EDGE network.

I suspect we’ll be seeing a lot more iPhones roaming the streets of Canadian cities in the weeks to come. The Rogers rep I spoke to on the phone said I was the third person he had spoken to this morning. This is likely to grow since Apple slashed the price by a third and affordable software unlocking becomes widely publicized. In fact, just today, news broke about a free software unlock solution having been released, available here. I knew it was only a matter of time before this would happen, but certainly didn’t expect it just a day or two after the iPhoneSimFree solution was released. Had I known, I could have saved the $64CDN I paid to have my phone unlocked. Thus is the price of early adoption, and it’s a price that I was not only fully prepared to pay, but in my opinion, was worth every penny.

If I were to buy an iPod touch, I’d of course get the 16GB model, which is $399US, which happens to be exactly the same price as the 8GB iPhone. I decided that even if the iPhone couldn’t be unlocked anytime soon, I’d still get everything (and more) that the iPod touch can do, just with less storage capacity. So my logic was that I should just get myself an iPhone, since it’s the same price, and I’ll eventually be able to unlock it to work on the Rogers network here in Canada.

It was then I woke my wife up and pitched the idea of an early morning road trip to the Walden Galleria mall in Buffalo, NY. Being a gadget junkie herself, my wife of course was all for it (yes, I’m a lucky bastard, yes, she has a sister and no, her sister is not available). So by 5:35 am, we were well on our way, equipped with Google maps directions in hand. I had checked Apple’s handy iPhone availability page to confirm that the Walden Galleria store did in fact have them in stock.

By leaving so early, we not only ensured we didn’t hit any traffic, but also that we zipped through the US Customs border checkpoint. Unfortunately, we also ensured we’d have to wait over 3 hours before the mall (and Apple Store) opened for business. So we stopped at a nearby Tim Hortons for a bite, picked up a couple of magazines at Rite-Aid and hung out at the Walden Galleria mall until it opened. Needless to say, we had time to window shop the entire mall, and read our magazines with about 45 minutes to spare. These may have been the longest 45 minutes of my life. On the positive side, we knew it wasn’t in vane, because when we first arrived at the mall at about 7:45 am, an Apple employee was already in the store. We were able to get his attention and he kindly confirmed that they did in fact have 8GB iPhones in stock. A good thing, since I had my Google maps directions to the Syracuse NY Apple Store, and was fully prepared to execute them if necessary. Thankfully I didn’t have to.

Within 10 minutes of the store opening we got up from the uncomfortable mall bench where we were perched to mark our territory in front of the Apple Store entrance, since the beginnings of what would become a small crowd started to form in front of the store. While we waited, we spoke to another couple from our home town of Brampton, Ontario, who coincidentally enough, had the exact same inspiration to take the drive to Buffalo and buy an iPhone as we did. They had somehow managed to call the store and get them to put two iPhones aside for them. As they told me this, I felt a moment of worry since the clerk we had spoken to hadn’t confirmed HOW MANY iPhones they in fact had in stock. Turns out any such worry on my part was unwarranted.

The store opened promptly at 11 am, and we were able to quickly secure two 8GB iPhones from a gentleman named Sean behind the counter, who rang us up in short order. In order to avoid having to make the drive back to Buffalo anytime soon, we opened our iPhones in the store and made sure they turned on and didn’t have any visible issues. My wife’s was fine, but mine unfortunately seemed to be frozen once it booted up, as it was not responding to any inputs. Sean force restarted it, and it locked up again. He did it again, and this time it appeared to be working. I was able to power it off and on again a few times without it locking up again. So we were on our way.

As we pulled out of the parking space, I felt compelled to test my iPhone again. I powered it on, and it promptly froze again. I made the decision to return to the store and ask for a replacement. Sean was courteous and said he would ask a technician about the issue. He returned and said that this was a known issue and that once I updated to the latest firmware, it wouldn’t happen anymore. I told him that since I came so far, I wasn’t willing to take that chance. Sean continued to insist there was nothing wrong and even made reference to me having to pay a restocking fee if I wanted to replace it, but he then quickly offered to speak to a manager without me having to ask to do so.

After about 5 minutes, Sean returned from the back room with a new, unopened iPhone and said he would replace it for me free of charge (as he should!). I promptly opened up the new one, and tested to make sure it was functioning properly. It looked great and Sean rung up a new receipt for me. That’s when I flipped the new unit over and noticed what appeared to be a little scratch on the aluminum casing. This can’t be, I thought, and promptly tried my best to remove what I was hoping was just a smudge of some unidentified goop left over from the assembly line. I tried my thumb. I tried my shirt. I tried using a little spit on my thumb, and even using my thumb nail. My heart sank as I realized it was not coming off. It was one of those little marks that was almost too small to make a fuss about, but nonetheless one that I knew was going to bother me every time I looked at it from now until the end of it’s useful life.

I motioned Sean over and with a very apologetic tone (and my most convincing puppy dog eyes), told him I was going to have to ask for another unit, since this one had a scratch. I was expecting to get a look, or a sigh, or an argument, or that he’d have to have the manager take a look at the ‘scratch’. But instead, Sean just said, “No problem”. He then went into the back room for what seemed like maybe 5 minutes (probably to clear it with the manager), before returning to exchange my iPhone for the second time. I thanked him for his handling of the situation and he said it wasn’t a problem, and that my satisfaction was very important to them. We completed the transaction and I inspected the unit and confirmed, with a sigh of relief, that it was both functional and free of visual defects.

With that I returned to the car and we headed home. Not wanting to test our luck any further, we fully declared our purchases to Canada Customs and paid our outstanding taxes, which amounted to 14% PST+GST charged on the after-tax price we paid. For those curious about the total cost, the $399US iPhone was $433.91US after 8.75% NY State sales tax. Assuming a 1.06 exchange rate, that’s about $460CDN, plus another $65CDN in sales tax when we crossed the border back to Canada, for a total cost of $525CDN, or about $13 more than it would have cost us for the 16GB iPod touch at retail.

After some digging on the internet to find the appropriate software and instructions, our iPhones are now activated and hacked to allow the installation of third party apps. We aren’t able to use the devices as a phone yet though, but anticipate there will be affordable, software-based unlocking services available within the next week or two that will allow us to use our Rogers SIM cards with the unit. The only other feature we can’t use is the built-in YouTube viewer, apparently because it requires a working EDGE cell network connection for it’s first connection. iTunes syncs Address Book contacts, iCal calendars, Safari bookmarks, email accounts, music, video and podcasts as expected. I also had no problems browsing the web and sending/receiving email via our home WiFi network.

So how is it? Lets just say that all the positive stuff you may have read about the iPhone is true. It has far and away the most advanced user interface ever implemented in a consumer electronics device, and is an utter joy to use. Surfing the web is fantastic, with web pages rendering identically to the way they do in Safari on the Mac. It is the best damn iPod Apple has ever made and watching videos and podcasts on it’s large screen is a treat. But I have to say, as awesome a product as the iPhone is, it’s made even more awesome with the help of all the unauthorized third party development being done for the device. I have already installed an ebook reader, a terminal shell, an ssh client and server, an AIM IM client, RSS news reader, Minesweeper game and IRC chat client. All of the third party apps I’ve installed have fantastic user interfaces, although some are a little buggy. The best part of it all is all these apps can be easily installed, updated and uninstalled using another unauthorized third party app called AppTap by NullRiver software, which installs an iPhone app called “Installer” that presents you with an up to the minute list of applications that you can install over WiFi. No muss, no fuss. This is a very unique situation where the open source community has been able to deliver a better application deployment, update and uninstall environment than ANY consumer electronics OS vendor has ever done. This is, in fact, the way every open smartphone should handle third party app installation.

Caveats? Sure, there are a few. For instance, there is a possibility that Apple will release a firmware update that locks out third party software hacks and SIM unlocking methods, but I’m confident that Apple is more interested in selling iPhones than blocking their most enthusiastic iPhone fans. The iPhone isn’t perfect either. There are areas where it can see improvement, like in text editing, copy & paste, voice dialling, etc. But those have all been covered before by countless bloggers, and I agree with the majority who say that the iPhone’s shortfalls seem insignificant compared to it’s overall functionality and usability. Besides, Apple has a history of, and has gone on record as saying they plan to improve the iPhone over time via software. Like for the iPod before it, I’m looking forward to every firmware update Apple releases to see how they improve usability and add functionality. In the meantime though, I’m very impressed with what Apple has been able to deliver thus far.

There seems to be a big misconception about the AAC format. Many people seem to think it’s an Apple owned format, but that is incorrect. AAC is an open standard, and was developed by Dolby, Fraunhofer, AT&T, Sony and Nokia to replace MP3; it was declared a standard by the MPEG group back in 1997. Apple chose AAC for it’s iTunes Store because it was the logical industry standard format for their needs. It offers better quality audio at smaller file sizes and supports features like 5.1 surround sound and DRM. Apple’s DRM solution is called FairPlay, and is used to encrypt the AAC file so it’s playback can be limited to authorized devices. Remove FairPlay and you’re left with an open, industry-standard music file which will never, and can never, be controlled by Apple or any other single company. AAC has already gaining widespread support in the consumer electronics industry – even Microsoft’s Zune can play DRM-free AAC audio files.

Microsoft’s Windows Media Audio (WMA) format, in contrast, is a proprietary format. Only companies and devices that license it from Microsoft can use it. It was created so people would require Microsoft’s products in order to play back their music and by extension, make Microsoft lots of money. But in order to convince third party music sellers and device makers to support WMA, they needed to offer value. That value came in the form of a digital rights management system that could be licensed, saving everyone from having to make their own DRM system, the way Apple did. The record labels wouldn’t allow their music catalog to be sold digitally without some form of copy protection, fearing it would contribute to online piracy. So company after company came knocking on Microsoft’s door seeking to license their WMA/DRM solution, later branded “PlaysForSure”, in order to get a slice of the music download action. The record labels were set to hand Microsoft it’s music monopoly.

Apple no doubt saw the risk of letting Microsoft take over the digital music market. They were already seeing what Microsoft’s domination in the web browser and office suite markets was doing to lock people into the Windows OS. To combat the WMA threat, Apple at first decided to try promoting the MP3 format by releasing iTunes in early 2001 and the iPod, later that year for the Macintosh – both of which were promoted as “MP3 players”. But it was Apple’s decision to take iTunes and the iPod to the Windows platform a year later that was the trojan horse that would eventually lead to the death of WMA. In 2003, Apple launched the iTunes Music Store, later renamed the iTunes Store, and cemented their position as the leader in digital media, bringing AAC along for the ride. The rest is, as they say, history.

Once iTunes goes completely DRM free, competing stores will be forced to go DRM free as well, in order to compete. They’ll also jump at the chance to finally be able to sell music to iPod owners, something they’ve been begging for ever since the iTunes/iPod duo took over the market. But there’s one little thing–the iPod doesn’t play WMA formatted music. So one by one, Microsoft’s former media partners, no doubt still smarting from being locked out of Microsoft’s Zune party, will start selling DRM-free music in AAC format. Why? Because WMA, and even MP3, require royalty payments to use. AAC does not. There’s no point whatsoever in continuing to sell WMA formatted music, if you aren’t using Microsoft’s DRM copy protection.

So as the whole world adopts industry standard audio formats over the coming years, where does that leave Microsoft and their closed, proprietary WMA audio format? Dead in the water. Microsoft will be forced to adopt AAC for their Zune Marketplace, otherwise they’ll lock themselves out of all the consumer devices that are developed to support AAC, but won’t support WMA. Not to mention, even Zune owners won’t want to buy WMA formatted music for fear of not being compatible with future device purchases. WMA has lost it’s value proposition and will die a slow death along with Microsoft’s aspirations of obtaining a music format monopoly. It’s a great day for music lovers as well as the consumer electronics and music industries, and no doubt will be seen as the day Microsoft lost the music format war.

Back in November of last year, a friend of mine IM’d me and told me about this new smartphone he had purchased. I told him what I was looking for in a phone, and he told me his phone would do all that, and synchronize contact photos to boot. I was skeptical, because I was starting to give up hope that any device could live up to my high expectations, short of Apple making a phone of their own*. But I was curious to see what benevolent creation my friend possessed. That phone was a Nokia E61, and after a short demonstration and a bit of a test drive, I was convinced. The next day I bought an unlocked Nokia E61 from a local reseller, and kissed my Motorola RAZR V3i and Palm TX goodbye.

The latest version of Mac OS X’s iSync at the time didn’t directly support the Nokia E61, but a free plugin available off the Internet quickly solved that problem. I just had to drag the plugin into a specific location on my hard drive, and iSync suddenly recognized and worked with my phone, like they were designed for each other from the beginning.

So last night, the Mac OS X 10.4.9 update dropped via Software Update, and I quickly went about downloading and installing it. The installation went without issue as expected and I was quickly back up and running with no muss or fuss. But this morning, when I went to launch iSync to sync up my phones with my MacBook Pro, I was greeted with this message:

My first thought was, “where the heck did I install that plugin?” My second was, “oh no, I might not be able to sync my E61 until an updated plugin gets released!” Well, looks like Apple’s iSync developers read my mind because they seem to have anticipated my concerns and dealt with them ahead of time. I proceeded to click on the little arrow to the right of the plugin name in the dialog box, and was pleasantly surprised to see a Finder window pop open with the offending plugin highlighted. All I had to do was drag the file to my Desktop to disable it. Then I relaunched iSync, re-added the Nokia E61 to the list and it was instantly recognized. Seconds later, I was syncing it without issue. I no longer need to use a third party plug-in because iSync now has built-in support for the Nokia E61.

Once again, Apple has exceeded my expectations by obsessing over the little details so I don’t have to waste my time. After this positive experience, I couldn’t help but wonder what it would have been like had I gone through the same ordeal on Windows or Linux. Having used and supported the former for years, and dabbled a bit with the latter, I think I’ve got a pretty good idea what that would have been like.

*Of course, we all know Apple has decided to make their own smartphone, the iPhone, which is slated for release in the US in June. No firm release date has been given for Canada, although Rogers Wireless has apparently said they would be the exclusive carrier in the Great White North. For the record, as much as I do like my Nokia E61, I do plan on replacing it with an iPhone as soon as they arrive north of the border. A mobile phone that is as well thought out as Apple’s other products is, will be utter mobile nirvana.

Well, a few weeks back a video showed up on YouTube purporting to show off new drag-able tabs in the upcoming version of Safari in Mac OS X Leopard, but there was much reason to be skeptical, given all the fake Leopard screenshots and movies that made the rounds leading up to WWDC’06. Well kids, it looks like drag-able tabs are coming to Safari 3.0, as well as a couple of other really cool features, according to an article on Musings From Mars blog. The article includes videos demonstrating the three features, so I highly recommend you check it out!

Drag-able tabs, much improved in-page search and resizable form text fields! Very nice. Now the one feature that I’d still like to see is true zooming in and out on a page. Not simply changing text size, I want all page components to scale proportionately. Opera is the only browser that I know of that does this. Very handy for people with lots of screen real estate who wants to enlarge a page to make it more easily read from further back, or those with notebooks who want to be able to see more of a web page on the screen at once. Give me that and site-specific settings, and I’ll be a really happy camper. Of course, drag-able tabs, improved in-page find and resizable form text fields go a long way to helping me forget about the other stuff.

Zune Marketplace will sell music for 79 Microsoft points per track, which works out to 98.75¢, since 80 Microsoft points will cost you a buck. So for all intents and purposes, songs are the same price as they are on Apple’s iTunes Store (99¢). There will also be an all you can eat subscription service for $14.99/month. This is more expensive than some of the PlaysForSure subscription services available from other vendors. Microsoft Marketplace will launch with only music for sale. Video will come down the road.

The shipping Zune player is considerably bigger than I had estimated based on the publicity photos previously released. Of course, any time you have to estimate, you’re bound to be off a tad, not to mention publicity photos could be misleading. My guess was that the device would be between the size of an iPod 30GB and iPod 80GB. The reality is it’s bigger than even the 80GB iPod, so owners of that wonderful device can still brag they have 50GB more storage AND a smaller device. The actual dimensions are 4.4 inches x 2.4 inches x 0.58 inch with a weight of 5.6 ounces. That makes it 13% bigger/2% heavier than the iPod 80GB, and 45% bigger/30% heavier than iPod 30GB it’s trying to compete directly with.

So all that extra bulk must be for a bigger battery that will beat the iPod’s battery life, right? Wrong. According to Engadget:

They were pretty tight lipped about it, but our new pal and independent analyst for Directions on Microsoft, Matt Rosoff, let us know that according to his contacts, with wireless off we can expect a 12 hours of music playback at 128Kbps, 3.5 hours for video playback, and 4.5 hours when running a slide show. Compare that to the 30GB iPod’s 14/4 hours and the 80GB iPod’s 20/6 hours, and it’s a little difficult to fully envision the payoff for that added thickness and height.

So iPod 80GB owners can also brag they have nearly double the battery life of the Zune as well. We can only imagine what the battery must be like with WiFi turned on.

Does Microsoft really think people will buy a bigger, uglier device that has worse battery life JUST because it has a bigger screen and gimmicky WiFi that is next to useless? Anyone serious about video is going to prefer the higher capacity and longer battery life of the 80GB iPod, and the casual video user will really notice how much smaller/lighter the iPod 30GB model is. Microsoft is going to learn a hard lesson from the Zune this holiday shopping season. But hey, they have to spend that cash hoard on something, nothing says it has to be successful. One thing is obvious: the Zune isn’t even fit to compete against other products on the market from the likes of Creative and iRiver, against the iPod it’s DOA.

[Edit 10/3/2006, 11:18 am: Changed "for all intensive purposes" to "for all intents and purposes". Thanks to reader "Poppycock" for catching that error.]

I’ve been using Mac OS X since the Public Beta was released in 2000. Over the years, as I’ve delved further into learning about the operating system’s Unix underpinnings, I’ve always kept a Stickies note handy where I would paste terminal commands that I thought might come in handy at some point in the future. Every one of these commands required countless Google searches and time scouring the results to find solutions to the problem I had at the time. It’s in the interest of saving others from spending too much time searching that I present my Stickies Mac OS X terminal command list. I hope these help all of you as much as they have helped me.

A warning for newbies:

If you’re not familiar with the Mac OS X Terminal, it’s an application that allows a user to directly execute Unix commands by typing them into text based command prompt. You can find the Terminal application in /Applications/Utilities on your hard disk. Please be aware that the terminal and Unix commands are very unforgiving. A simple typo or misplaced punctuation can mean the difference between your command working and you deleting or overwriting something important, especially when executing commands with administrator rights (via the sudo command). If you aren’t sure what you’re doing, it’s better to take the time to research the answer than to simply guess and possibly mess something up you won’t know how to fix. This article is not meant to be a tutorial on how to use the Terminal. If have never used the terminal, may I suggest you visit O’Reilly’s MacDevCenter which has some good tutorials to get you started.

The Commands

Disclaimer: Please note that I cannot be held responsible for anything bad you do to your computer while attempting to use any of these commands. Use them at your own risk!

Eject Stubborn CDs

disktool -e disk#

I found myself one day with a CDROM stuck in my CDROM drive, but no way to eject it. It didn’t show up in the Finder or on the Desktop, and hitting the “Eject” button on the keyboard did nothing. I found and tried two or three other terminal and GUI based solutions from sites like Mac OS X Hints, but none of them worked except this little gem. I haven’t had to use it for years and it may not work for every stuck CD, but this one saved me from having to reboot my computer to get a bad CD out. Type disktool by itself to get help.

Unmount Stubborn Network Volumes

umount -f /Volumes/volumename

Like the stuck CD issue above, I have once or twice come across a network volume that I could not disconnect. Substitute the stuck network share’s name in place of “volumename” in this command. You can view the pdisk man page to get help by typing man umount at the prompt and hitting return.

Delete partition table on iPod

pdisk

This menu based terminal app saved a dead iPod. I once made the mistake of formatting my iPod as an external FireWire drive as some non-standard format (maybe NTFS or Unix File System). After doing that, I couldn’t re-initialize the iPod using the latest iPod updater. While I don’t remember exactly the steps I used to get the iPod working again (it had to do with deleting the partition table), this tool is what did the trick for me. You can view the pdisk man page to get help by typing man pdisk at the prompt and hitting return.

Restart Bonjour service

Stop Bonjour service:
sudo launchctl unload /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.mDNSResponder.plist

Start Bonjour service:
sudo launchctl load /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.mDNSResponder.plist

A while back I had a problem where one of my Macs would periodically fail to broadcast it’s Bonjour name for things like print and file serving. Rebooting the computer would resolve the problem for a time, but it would always come back. Rather than having to reboot my computer all the time, I searched for and found this handy set of commands for stopping and starting the Bonjour service which would do the trick until the problem occurred again. Since this was a service, it was great not having to reboot. I eventually solved the problem, which if memory serves was caused by my router, but I felt it was handy to hold onto this in case I ever needed to stop or restart the Bonjour service again. These commands need to be run as administrator, which is why they are prefixed with the sudo command. You will be prompted to enter your admin password to execute them.

Restart Apple Remote Desktop (ARD) service

sudo /System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/Resources/kickstart -restart -agent -menu
Note: This is a very long command that should all be typed or copied/pasted as one line.

I had a problem with Apple Remote Desktop once where if I left a remote control session running for too long (say overnight), the remote display would no longer refresh automatically. In my quest to avoid rebooting my server, I found this handy command that restarts the ARD service, which listens for and manages remote control requests. This has to be run on the machine you want to control normally. Since I was having problems remote controlling said computer, I would log in remotely via SSH by typing ssh ip_address and execute the command while logged in remotely. Very handy indeed. Being able to remotely login via SSH is no doubt one of the most useful reasons to learn the command line. All terminal commands that are covered in this article can be executed remotely. You can view the SSH man page to get help by typing man ssh at the prompt and hitting return.

Reset Network Interface

Shut down network interface:
sudo ifconfig en0 down

Start up network interface:
sudo ifconfig en0 up

Note: Substitute en0 for appropriate network interface id (a.k.a. BSD device name). You can use System Profiler (in the /Applications/Utilities folder) to find the BSD device name for the network connection you want to reset.

I can’t remember why I needed to do this. Might have been while I was troubleshooting that Bonjour service issue, or maybe I was trying to change the connection’s MAC hardware address. Doesn’t really matter. The point is you can use this combination of commands to restart a network interface. These commands use the SUDO command to run using administrator rights and so you will be prompted for your admin password.

[Edit: Thanks to commenter "why o why" for pointing out, "it should be noted that if you remotely shutdown the ethernet interface you are using, it will be difficult to get it back up remotely "]

Restart Apache Webserver

sudo apachectl graceful

While restarting Mac OS X’s built-in Apache web server is as easy as toggling the “Personal Web Sharing” service’s status in the Sharing preference pane, you can’t do this easily remotely unless you can remote control the server in question. Over a modem connection, this can be near impossible or at least very painful. This command comes in handy if you’ve modified the Apache configuration file via a remote SSH connection as the changes only take effect after the Apache service is restarted.

Restart MySQL Server

Stop MySQL Server
sudo /Library/StartupItems/MySQLCOM/MySQLCOM stop

Start MySQL Server
sudo /Library/StartupItems/MySQLCOM/MySQLCOM start

Not so long ago I installed the MySQL open source SQL database on my web server so I could run a phpBB based forum site. MySQL also happens to be the database that runs the Art Of Geek blog. These two commands are useful for stopping or restarting the MySQL service via SSH, or if like me you have ever broken your MySQL installation just enough for the MySQL preference pane to stop working.

Change a file’s type code to make an AAC file an iTunes/iPod audio book

/Developer/Tools/SetFile -t 'm4b ' filename.m4b
Note: You must have the Mac OS X developer tools installed for this command to work!

This gem of a command will set the type code of a file to ‘m4b ‘ (there is a space after the ‘b’), which tells iTunes it’s an audio book. This is required if you have ever ripped an audio book from CD, and want iTunes to see it as an audio book. The file must be an AAC file, and you need to change the file extension to .m4b. The truth is, this command can come in handy any time you need to implicitly set a file’s ‘type’ or ‘creator’ codes. You can view the SetFile man page for help by typing man SetFile at the terminal prompt and hitting return.

That’s all the time (and commands) we have for today folks! I’ll post more in a future article!

So how big is it? While Microsoft hasn’t released any physical dimensions for the Zune, it’s easy enough to extrapolate the length and width using the screen size as a reference. The Zune’s screen is 3″ (7.6 cm) measured diagonally. Based on the hi-resolution photos Microsoft has released, that would make it 4.3″ (10.9 cm) long by 2.3″ (5.8 cm) wide. Discerning the device’s thickness is much more difficult due to the lack of any photo of the device’s profile, and the fact that it has a bevelled edge.The only photo we have to go by is a three-quarter view lifestyle shot. Our best guess, based on extrapolation of scale, is the unit will be about 0.5″ (13 mm) thick. So it’s slightly longer, narrower and thicker than the 30GB 5G iPod. Overall, the Zune is about 16% larger in volume than the same capacity 30GB iPod but 8.5% smaller than the 80GB iPod.

The Zune doesn’t have a scroll wheel like the iPod. That round scroll-wheel looking control is really only a 4-way navigation button. Once again Microsoft demonstrates it isn’t above making their technologically inferior user interface look like the technology leader’s. I’m sure it will fool a few unsuspecting customers though. I can only imagine how fun it will be scrolling through a library of thousands of songs with a fixed speed button. The Zune also appears to have some sort of proprietary dock connector on it’s bottom edge, no doubt in an attempt to encourage third party development of connectible accessories as the iPod’s dock connector has.

From a file format perspective, the Zune supports pretty much all the same formats the iPod does, but adds WMA and WMV formats (of course). At least Microsoft is being somewhat realistic about acknowledging that they have lost the format war in the portable space. There’s a reason they’re called PodCasts after all, and iTunes rips CDs to industry standard AAC format, so Microsoft is obviously going after current iPod/iTunes users by supporting the formats they already have. Strangely however, Microsoft has decided to not support Mac users, so for now, Mac owning iPod/iTunes users will remain out of Microsoft’s reach. Maybe Microsoft felt it would be futile to try to convert users who are already familiar with more than one of Apple’s superior products. So Microsoft is going to concentrate on the rest of users who don’t know any better (yet), only there’s one problem: people who already own an iPod, have already made a conscious decision to not use a Microsoft infested product. What’s the likelihood that they are going to switch BACK? Is the Zune that much better?

The answer to that question is NO. The Zune amounts to a cheap knockoff of the iPod, with a gimmicky feature (Wi-Fi), a cheap plastic case and a bigger screen. No scroll wheel. No iTunes. No 80GB model. On top of that, Wi-Fi and a bigger screen are going to put additional load on the battery, so expect to see lower battery life on the Zune, but I assume Microsoft will play with the numbers to make it look like the battery life is as good or better. This is easily done by measuring battery life while playing files encoded with unrealistically low bitrates to reduce the CPU workload. At least that’s what many PlaysForSure device vendors do. Price-wise, I fully expect Microsoft to bite the bullet and offer the Zune for the same price as the 30GB iPod ($249 US), although rumors had pegged the price at $299 US, which coincidentally was what the 30GB iPod used to sell for. Microsoft will be happy to lose money on this product for years to come, just as they do in many other markets.

So with the bigger screen and no doubt lower battery life being a wash, the only thing going for the Zune is the FM tuner and Wi-Fi social networking experiment. The total dominance of the iPod has pretty much proved that the majority of customers aren’t interested in listening to static-filled FM signals. I’m sure some über-geeks and teenagers are going to thing Wi-Fi is a neat idea, but in practice, how much are people really interested in listening to other people’s music? When people listen to an iPod, they want to switch off from the world or entertain themselves while they do something else by themself. It’s an anti-social activity, and try as they might, Microsoft is not going to be successful in turning it into a social one. Not to mention this music sharing feature only works with other Zunes. How often are people going to run into someone else with one?

The most likely scenario for Zune’s Wi-Fi sharing is teenage friends who hang out together at school or wherever, but they have already shared their music libraries a long time ago via their computers. From the looks of it, the sharing will only work for music purchased from the Zune Marketplace, as it will require DRM to limit sampling to 3 listens over 3 days. Microsoft would come under the wrath of the RIAA if they allowed unprotected music to be transferred at will. So kids and teenagers will have no use for it, since they don’t buy a lot of music and Adults won’t have any use for it because they have better things to do with their time and it will more than likely just confuse them like the advanced features on their cell phones.

Let’s face it, Zune is no iPod killer. It isn’t even an iPod annoyer. In fact, the only chance Microsoft has of making a market for the Zune is to integrate it closely with their XBox 360 console and add Zune Marketplace to the XBox Live online service. At least then it will offer something tangible to a select market: people who own an XBox 360 but don’t own a computer. They won’t take over the digital music market with that strategy, but they could move a few thousand units to die hard XBox 360 fans. Zune is just another product from Microsoft that proves they have no creativity or scruples. There are dozens of media players out there that are better than the Zune, and that’s before we consider the iPod. Microsoft has stabbed every one of their PlaysForSure partners in the back with the Zune, and this will come back to haunt them one day.

Microsoft has also sent mixed signals with their Zune strategy. First, they were all about giving consumers choice, and now it’s about no choice, since Zune won’t play nice with PlaysForSure or Macs. In a recent interview with Engadget, MS Corporate VP J Allard had some interesting things to say about PlaysForSure:

Engadget: So up until this point Microsoft’s digital music strategy has been largely to create an ecosystem and be a supplier of a DRM platform to manufacturers and online music stores. PlaysForSure was the thrust of Microsoft’s strategy until the announcement of the Zune. How does PlaysForSure fit into Microsoft’s strategy going forward? It doesn’t appear that the Zune will be compatible with any PlaysForSure retailers. How does that affect Microsoft’s current partners who rely on PlaysForSure?

I think there’s two answers to the question. First answer is, this whole digital music revolution is really just starting. There’s still a lot to be figured. We certainly don’t think we have it all figured out, and we think there will be change. The second thing is that specifically when it comes to PlaysForSure, think about you might buy a Windows PC versus how my mother might buy a Windows PC. My mom calls up Dell and says, “I have seven hundred bucks, get me a computer. What’s the best thing I can get?” She doesn’t specify the keyboard, the monitor, the memory configuration. The conversation might get as specific as, “Do you think you want to burn DVDs?” Then she gets a product that shows up and it’s all pre-installed.

There are other people that go to Fry’s Electronics and hand pick the graphics card, the case for their computer, they build a Windows-based PC from the ground up. We have a solution for both of those things. We at Microsoft have a platform that is Windows, we have a solution for the crowd of consumers that are very deliberate about how they build their PC solution, and we also have a solution for people who just want turnkey. And I think that’s how these two strategies complement each other. The PlaysForSure is still a program we’re going to invest in, we still have a lot of partners there, and for a class of consumers who that want to have a hand-crafted media media experience and maximize their choice, we have an answer. There’s another class of consumers that just want to get digital media, and they just want to be able to go to one store and have it all just plain, dead simple, and don’t want to know what a codec is.

Engadget: Wasn’t that the point of PlaysForSure?

Well, it’s like asking a question about Windows — and the point of Windows was to bring personal computing to the world — some people are going to pick their PCs, they’re going to pick their monitor, they’re going to pick their printer, they’re going to pick their graphics card, and combine the things that they’ve chosen. Other people just a want a system that’s end-to-end — all compatible out of the gate — and that’s what Zune does. Zune says there is no choice; you get a Zune device, you hook it up to the Zune service, and it just works.

Engadget: When PlaysForSure was introduced, the premise was, we make it simple so that you don’t have to worry about whether your player works with the music you’re purchasing…

That continues to be the premise for devices that are branded in that category, and we think that we’ve clearly done a lot in that program, where there’s a lot of devices out there, there are a lot of services out there, there are a lot of partners, and there are a lot of satisfied customers. We like that program. We’ve also found that there’s a category of customers that say, “Give me a brand experience, advertise it to me on television; I want to be part of the digital music revolution, and that solution [PlaysForSure] doesn’t work for me.” So they’re two complementary solutions — not everyones gonna want Zune and not everyone’s gonna want PlaysForSure. They’re different paths there, and we’re okay with both of them.

Spoken like a Politician. I’m sure your PlaysForSure hardware and online store partners are okay with both strategies too Mr. Allard. What I’d like to know is who are all these people who are asking for a brand experience? People buy the iPod because it just works and works damn well. They don’t buy them because they are craving a brand experience and want it to be advertised to them on TV. Sure, the advertising may be part of the reason they decide to buy an iPod, but that’s not the same as people asking to be advertised to, and in a way that’s insulting to the people who Microsoft is targeting with the Zune.

Allard and Microsoft can dance around it all they want, but the truth is they are getting their asses handed to them on a plate by a company that they are used to beating. Their strategy for the last 5 years, including PlaysForSure, has failed to stop the Apple juggernaut. So what does Microsoft do? They fall back on what HAS worked for them in the past: copying Apple as closely as they can. Only Apple has already won, and people don’t want what Microsoft is offering anymore. Zune will contribute to Microsoft’s failure, as consumers get even more confused by the alternatives to the iPod and Microsoft’s partners start to turn against them in a desperate attempt to hold onto what little market share they still have–Apple really should be thanking Microsoft for making it so damn easy to kick their ass.

Apple has been growing in leaps and bounds over the last 2 years, and I think they are finally starting to embrace the fact that they are a consumer and corporate powerhouse. They’ve got everyone’s attention, so it isn’t necessary to make a big deal out of every product revision. People know what an iMac is, and sure, a 24″ model is an impressive addition to the line-up, along with faster processors, but they don’t need to waste time and effort telling people about it, because people will find out about it just the same. One of the side benefits is that product sales should take less of a hit leading up to major annual events such as MacWorld and WWDC as people come to realize that those events are no longer synonymous with new Macs or iPods. With the fierce pace of new product development going on at Apple, it had to happen sooner or later. More PR time is needed to show off new products, so established product lines can afford to take a back seat from the PR machine.

As for Steve Job’s change in wardrobe, I suspect being on Disney’s board may be influencing him to try new things. Either that or his supplier of mock turtlenecks has discontinued the style. Regardless, my only questions are what took him so long, and would it kill you to try a different colour? Baby steps I suppose. At this rate, we’ll see him in a blue dress shirt in about 4 or 5 years.

Say hello to the new iPods

Yesterday’s announcement was all about Apple’s consumer electronics and media business. Apple took the wraps off upgrades to all three iPod lines, beginning with the top end hard disk based iPod. The new 5.5G iPod, which is available immediately, offers higher capacity on the high end (80GB, up from 60GB) and better battery life for both models. When watching video, Apple claims the 30GB model will provide 3.5 hours of viewing, up from 2, and the 80GB model provides 6.5 hours of viewing time, up from 3 hours–a very welcome improvement for those who felt the previous model’s battery life was anemic for watching videos. A brighter screen, new software features and some useful tweaks to the UI such as a navigation aid that displays the location in the alphabet in translucent letters as you scroll through your music round out this update. The latter feature was seemingly borrowed from the recently leaked details on Microsoft’s yet to launch Zune device. This illustrates one problem Microsoft will have competing with Apple: if they are going to always be behind in getting new features to market, and are unable to keep their details secret, Apple is always going to be able to beat them to the punch.

The biggest news regarding the new 5G iPod has got to be the addition of games that can be purchased and downloaded off of the iTunes music store. Nine titles are available, including classics like Bejeweled, Pac-Man, Tetris, Mahjong and Texas Hold-Em were announced, although more will likely follow. These new games look nothing like the simple games which have shipped on the iPods previously. They are graphically rich and colourful, looking as good or better than the latest mobile phone games. Like the addition of video, the game implementation continues to demonstrate Apple’s ability to add value and functionality to the iPod product line without detracting from the product’s core appeal as a music player. Improvements such as gapless playback, music search and redesigned earbuds are testament to the fact that Apple hasn’t forgotten what people primarily buy iPods for.

While the current generation iPod isn’t going to be a challenger to the Sony PSP or Nintendo DS, it’s clear that Apple is waking up to the commercial potential of mobile gaming. Sony and Nintendo would be wise to keep an eye on Apple’s movements in this space. Sales of games for mobile phones are earmarked to be $2.4 billion USD this year and are expected to reach $7.2 billion a year by 2011. The new iPod game offerings seem intended get a piece of that pie. As the iPod gets more and more power and storage, we may see it become a more serious game platform in the future, and the iTunes Store is a killer distribution model for a video games, given how much of a problem the video game industry has with keeping up with demand of hot titles.

This also marks the first time Apple has allowed third parties, like EA, to write software for the iPod, although they still maintain control over what software makes it onto the iPod via the iTunes Store, for now. The choice to allow the games to play on all 5G iPods indicates that Apple is viewing it more as a new revenue stream and not just a means to sell new iPods, otherwise they could have easily excluded the previous models in order to force owners to upgrade. In fact, with new lower prices of $299 and $399 CDN ($249 and $349 US), it’s not hard to imagine that Apple may be starting to look to the iPod as the razor that will help them sell more media (the razor blades) via the iTunes Store.

The redesigned iPod nano has gone back to the aluminum case design from the old iPod mini, a very welcome change, given how much negative PR Apple got regarding the first generation nano’s tendency to be easily scratching. Unbelievably, the new nano is even thinner than the previous one, while doubling the storage capacity (2,4 and 8GB) and nearly doubling the battery life (from 14 to 24 hours) at the same price points. The new nano also has a brighter screen, text search and letter index display from the 5.5G iPod. In another tribute to the iPod mini, the 2G nano is available in 5 different colours: the 2GB model in silver only, the 4GB model in blue, green, pink or silver, and the 8GB model in black only. All models are available immediately priced at $169, $229 and $299 CDN ($149, $199 and $249 US). There is no doubt in my mind that the 2G iPod nano will be even more successful than it’s predecessors, the 1G nano and iPod mini. Both of which were hugely successful in their time. Apple is doing it’s part by promoting the 2G iPod nano with a new TV, transit, billboard and magazine advertising blitz.

Of all the iPods, the shuffle has gone through the greatest redesign. Like it’s bigger brother, the nano, the shuffle is now clad in aluminum, but has been shrunk to a fraction of the size of the old pack of gum sized model. It’s truly an amazingly small device, which Apple has dubbed the world’s smallest mp3 player. The unit also features a built-in clip for affixing it to clothing. Gone are the built-in USB connector (a step back, from the convenience standpoint, IMHO), which has been replaced by a charging/syncing USB dock which appears to use the headphone jack for connectivity and power. The new shuffle will be available in October in a 1GB model only for $89 CDN ($79 US) and is otherwise feature-identical to the models it replaces. The new shuffle is a major improvement overall from the previous model, but I think it will lose a bit of it’s appeal for those who saw the shuffle as a combination flash thumb drive and mp3 player. Having to carry around the sync/charge cable and dock on long trips makes the new shuffle a little less road warrior friendly, but the smaller size will make up for that somewhat.

iTunes the software, iTunes the store

The second part of yesterday’s announcement focused on an updated version of iTunes software and updates to the iTunes Store. iTunes 7, available as a free download now for Windows and Mac, is a major update with some nice UI tweaks and much wanted features such as gapless playback, support for multiple libraries on multiple hard disks and a “backup to disc” feature. iTunes 7 will also automatically download–for free–any missing artwork for songs in your library, provided you have an iTunes Store account, and the song exists in the iTunes store. This feature alone will be worth the upgrade for a lot of people.

The sources list is now broken up into categories with separate library items for Music, Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, Audiobooks, etc. There is a Store category which contains iTunes Store, Purchased Music and a new downloads manager. A devices category will display any connected iPods or iTunes compatible phones, and you can now manage all device settings from here instead of having to go into the iTunes preferences. They have even integrated the iPod updater into iTunes, so you no longer have to run a separate utility to update or initialize your iPod, as seen in the picture on the right (click to enlarge).

Two new views have been added, both designed to let you explore your music visually using album art. Album view (top image on the left, click to enlarge) displays each album’s songs next to the album cover, if available, and is pretty much like sorting your list by album, only with the addition of the artwork being displayed to the left side of each album.

The second new view is by far the most impressive feature of iTunes 7, cover flow view (bottom picture on the left, click to enlarge). Cover flow view shows you all your album cover art and allows you to flip through your albums quickly in a fluid 3D animated view that has to be seen to be believed. You can use your mouse scroll wheel, two finger trackpad scrolling or the scroll bar to quickly flip through your entire collection visually. I can see why they added the free artwork download feature. This view mode would be useless if you didn’t have any artwork. Of course those of you who haven’t been bothered to enter artist and album ID3 tags for most of your music are going to have a new reason to want to clean up their music library.

Another new feature that will be much heralded by iPod users is the ability to sync the purchased media on your iPod with more than one authorized computer. Great for keeping the music on your work and home computers up to date, although it appears that Apple hasn’t changed it’s stance on not making music piracy easy since this feature only works with purchased content. All in all, I’m impressed with this new version of iTunes, and I think it’s safe to say it’s one of the biggest updates iTunes has ever seen, helping to ensure iTunes maintains it’s supremacy.

The iTunes Music Store has been re-christened as simply The iTunes Store, finally dropping the term “music” from it’s name, a logical move given they have sold TV shows for nearly a year and the addition of games. Even more logical since yesterday’s announcement of the addition of feature length motion pictures to the iTunes store. No big surprise given Apple’s choice of theme for the event. I think everyone saw this coming, especially after the launch of Amazon’s Unbox movie download service, which I covered in a previous article. As predicted, Apple’s initial offering is limited to Disney owned properties, including Disney, Pixar, Touchstone Pictures and Miramax films.

Steve Jobs was quick to point out that when iTunes launched TV program downloads, they started with only 1 network and 5 shows, but less than a year later they have grown that library to 220 shows on 40 networks. No doubt they will gain support from the other major studios over time. Movies, like TV programs are only available in the US for now, but Apple plans to go international in 2007.

Pricing is pretty much what was predicted, and similar to Amazon’s offering, with the exception of a lower price of $12.99 US for new releases when pre-ordered and during opening week, going up to $14.99 after the first week. Older titles will sell for $9.99 US every day. New releases will go on sale at the same time as the DVD release, which is important if Apple and Disney hope to offer an alternative to DVD. So far Apple has stuck with it’s strategy of only selling content, staying away from the rental model that Amazon Unbox offers. This is a positive for Unbox, as it will likely allow Amazon to stay relevant by differentiating itself in the face of competition from iTunes’ 800lb gorilla.

Apple has also upped the resolution of all video downloads to 640×480 from 320×240, for a 4x increase in resolution. I haven’t been able to nail down exactly what Amazon’s Unbox video resolution is, they say it’s DVD quality, which should mean 720×480, but no one has any exact numbers yet, so the jury is out on whether they have a slight advantage or not. Regardless, the bump in resolution is a welcome improvement. Video now also features “Dolby Surround”, I can only assume that means Dolby Digital, but can’t say for sure. I just feel sorry for anyone who has purchased a lot of video content from the iTunes Store at the lower resolution. No mention was made if those customers will be allowed to download the higher-res version. I wouldn’t hold my breath though. Usage rights is the same as for TV shows and music, 5 computers and an unlimited number of iPods. Like Amazon’s offering, movie purchases cannot be burned to standard DVD video disks, although they can be streamed over a home network and played on a TV connected to any Mac via Mac OS X’s FrontRow interface and Apple remote. But…

…there’s just one last thing.

In usual Apple style, Jobs saved the most interesting announcement for last, although it came in the form of a sneak peak rather than a product announcement. Apple’s final link to the video playback puzzle, the box that will allow you to play your iTunes Store TV and movie purchases on your big screan TV, is a box code named “iTV” which is expected to launch in the first quarter of 2007. Resembling a half-height Mac mini, this box will connect to a TV via HDMI or component video, and has analog and digital optical audio outputs. A built-in power supply means no external transformer to clutter the space behind your home entertainment center. Connectivity comes in the form of ethernet, 802.11 wifi (they didn’t specify which flavor, I suspect this means it may be the upcoming N variety) and a USB 2 port, presumably for hooking up an iPod or maybe an optional optical drive.

The whole thing will operate using the now standard Apple 6-button remote using an on-screen interface similar to FrontRow, although slightly reworked. Steve Jobs demoed it, and it just worked and worked well. The only thing I think that is missing is an optical drive for playing back your content that you’ve backed up to DVD or CD media. The way the device was presented, it required everything to be on your computer. Unless Apple releases some kind of ‘XRaid Home’ media server, this is going to be a pain as it will require you to load the media you want to watch onto one of your Macs or PCs, unless they release a stackable DVD drive option for it that plugs into the USB 2 port. More advanced users will be better off with a Mac mini in their home theatre setup because of the wider support for formats and the ability to play DVDs and media stored on CD and DVD-R. But a lot can happen in 4-6 months, and it’s possible Apple might make changes based on feedback they get. They sort of tied their hands by pre-announcing the price, $299 US, making the iTV a more consumer friendly, lower priced alternative to a Mac mini.

Impressions, MIA

My overall impression of yesterday’s “It’s Showtime” event was that it was a strong update of it’s extremely successful iPod/iTunes business lines, which extends Apple into new territory: feature film and mobile games. The announcement was an even bigger deal from the standpoint of drawing a clearer picture of Apple’s strategy for the next year. If Apple’s midas touch can indeed be applied to these new markets, it’s not hard to imagine them becoming considerable revenue streams going forward, helping to cement Apple’s dominance in digital media even further. It appears the rumors of the decline of the iPod and iTunes store were greatly exaggerated. Apple now has an 88% market share of the legal US download market, up from 82% in May. Apple is the number 5 seller of ALL music in the US, moving up behind the likes of Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target and Amazon. No small feat, given that Apple only sells digital media online whereas the other 4 resellers on the list still pawn physical CDs.

So what of the widescreen, touch screen iPod and Apple iPhone? Most reputable sources didn’t expect Apple to announce either at yesterday’s event, and the word on the street is we shouldn’t expect to see either until some time next year, if at all. I still have my doubts of whether a touch screen iPod will actually see the light of day, given the tendency of touch screens to attract scratches and fingerprints, but I’m not willing to rule it out completely. I think the iPhone would be a sure-fire hit. There are so many people who are dissatisfied with their cell phone experience, that would gladly ditch it for a mobile phone with the iPod’s industrial design and simplicity. Pressure in the mp3 player market from newer mobile phones with competing capacities to the lower-end iPods will most likely eventually force Apple to enter that space, but not before they are good and ready. The mobile phone market is a fiercely competitive and complex market. If Apple enters it, it will have to be from an aggressive position, not a defensive one, which means they have to make sure they’ve done their homework.

Most movies can be rented for $3.99 or purchased for $9.99 to $14.99. TV shows sell for $1.99, the same price as they go for on the iTunes online store. But there is one major difference: Amazon’s offering includes both a DVD quality version as well as a lower bit-rate version for playback on handheld devices. This is the key differentiator, since Apple only sells iPod-quality videos, which are much lower than DVD-quality.

Amazon has garnered the support of a fair number of big television and movie studios, as can be seen from the list of well known names:

Participating Television Networks
A&E, Adult Swim, Animal Planet, BBC, The Biography Channel, Cartoon Network, CBS, Comedy Central, Discovery Channel, Discovery Health Channel, Discovery Kids, E! Entertainment Television, FINE LIVING TV Network, FOX, Fuel TV, FX, HGTV, The History Channel, KBS (Korean Broadcast System), Logo, MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, The N, PBS, Speed, Spike, Travel Channel, TV Land and VH1.

Participating Movie Studios
20th Century Fox, Paramount, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Lionsgate and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc.

So did Amazon beat Apple to the punch? Could this be the end of Apple’s dominance of online media? Don’t start selling your Apple shares just yet. There are a few weak links in Amazon Unbox’s chain that might prevent it from being the success they are hoping for. Given that Apple is all but assured to be launching their own Movie download service next Tuesday, Amazon’s thunder could be all but extinguished in just 5 days time if Apple has found ways around just one or two of those weak links.

So let’s get the obvious things out of the way. The Amazon service requires you to install the Amazon Unbox client software on the PC you wish to download and watch movies from. Because they are using Microsoft Windows Media VC1 format, this service requires Windows XP (Home, Pro, Tablet or Media Center Edition). Of course like every other service that is a slave to Microsoft, this will not work on computers running Mac OS X or Linux. No big surprise here. It has been pointed out by some how ironic that Amazon’s video download service doesn’t work with the top selling brand of computers Amazon sells.

The Fine Print

So what about portable video players? We know the iPod is out, due to reliance on Windows Media format. But this is where the huge Windows PlaysForSure ecosystem is really going to shine, right? Well, according to Amazon’s Unbox website:

Supported Devices
The devices in the list below have been tested with the Unbox Video Player. If your device is Plays for Sure compliant it may work, but we cannot guarantee performance on untested devices.
Creative Zen Vision: M
Creative Zen Vision
Toshiba Gigabeat S
Archos AV 500
Archos AV 700
iRiver PMC (Portable Media Center)

Oh the irony! So if you have a PlaysForSure device, Amazon can’t be sure it will play. There’s strike one, right there. Not only does the service not work with 75% of the mp3 players in the US market (iPods), but it doesn’t work with the majority of the rest, either. So right out of the gate, Amazon’s offering works with at best 5% of the devices on the market.

So lets forget that the majority of people won’t be watching their Amazon Unbox purchase on their portable media player. That’s not such a big deal, since most people watch movies and TV programs in their living room on their big screen and surround sound system. So we’ll just burn a copy to DVD and pop it in our trusty DVD player, right? Wrong. Video purchased using the service cannot be burned to standard DVD video discs and so can’t be played on standard DVD players. So if you want to watch your downloads, you’re going to have to find a way to hook your TV up to your computer.

Given that most people’s computers either don’t have outputs to connect to their TV, or are installed in a completely different room from their home theatre, not to mention most consumers don’t know the first thing about how to hook their computer up to their TV, this scratches the majority of consumers off the list right there. So now we’re left with computer savvy consumers who either have a Windows Media Center PC (like there are a lot of those), or a notebook PC with compatible video out.

One thing that a lot of tech savvy users are known for is having multiple PCs in the house. They’ll primarily be using their Media Center PC to watch movie downloads, and then maybe transfer the file to their notebook to watch on a long flight or train ride, or to another family member’s PC. It’s important to note then that Amazon Unbox videos can only be authorized to be played on 2 different computers at any one time. Each one of those PCs can transfer the video to one compatible portable media player. These tight restrictions on usage, and the inability to burn and playback on standard DVD players are probably going to be the biggest hindrance to widespread consumer adoption.

So what about the software? Surely Amazon Unbox’s client software must have take a cue or two from the design and functionality of iTunes, the gold standard in media players, right? Nope. Amazon Unbox’s player can only play content purchased from the Amazon Unbox store. No other media will work with it, period. So consumers will have to use one program to manage and watch Amazon content, and another to manage and watch non-Amazon content. How’s that for user experience? I’m not sure if it was Amazon wanting to control their user experience, or whether it was for technical reasons that they had to design their own client, but they haven’t learned anything from Apple’s success. Where Apple offers a single, unified experience for doing EVERYTHING with ALL your media, Amazon and Microsoft require users to use two different programs. That’s one more program than necessary if you ask me.

So is it going to flop? Probably. With you typical 2 hour movie being 2.4GB in size, requiring hours to download, and all the other points I raised, it’s hard to imagine too many people getting excited about paying DVD prices to watch movies on their computers. If you could burn standard DVDs and weren’t limited two only 2 computers, then Amazon would probably have a winner on their hands. The success or failure of this service is probably going to rest on what Apple announces on September 12.

It’s Showtime

As it stands, the rumors that are floating around are that Apple will announce movie sales from $9.99 to $14.99. Not much else is known, but the scuttlebut on the ‘net is that Apple will be launching with only Disney studios’ catalogue of content, which is going to seem like not much at first, but you have to remember that Disney owns the Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group made up of Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures, Hollywood Pictures and Miramax films. Disney also own Pixar Animation Studios in addition to their own animation studios. So if the rumors are true, Apple may not be starting out of the gate with as big a list of movies, but they already have a large selection of TV shows for sale, and they will no doubt sign more studios on board over time as was the case when they launched TV downloads with only a small catalogue of ABC programs.

An Apple iMovie download service would most likely have the same liberal usage rights as they have become known for: authorization of up to 5 computers, and an unlimited number of iPods. But as mentioned before, iTunes video purchases are optimized for playback on an iPod, which has a very small screen. If Apple launches their movie download service without bumping up the resolution of the files, this could be the one chance Amazon has for some limited success. Essentially, they would be offering higher quality video content for about the same price. DRM restrictions and poor user experience aside, that does give them a competitive edge.

Anyone who thinks Apple hasn’t anticipated (or known) about Amazon’s offering isn’t giving them much credit though. Rumors are also swirling about an upgraded AirPort Express base station with the ability to stream video from your computer to your home theatre over a wired or wireless network. Such a device could be the key to cracking the digital movie download market wide open.

Regardless of whether Apple matches Amazon’s video resolution or releases an AirPort Express Video device though, Apple already has a leg up in several areas which nearly guarantee it’s success: it’s service will work with the most devices in consumer’s hands. The iPod has the lion’s share of the market, and Apple’s solution works with both Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac OS X, the latter which is seeing a strong comeback and is expected to have a bumper holiday season this year and tends to sell to more media-savvy consumers.

The bottom line is Amazon is doing some things right, but a lot of the same things wrong that have proven to not be popular with consumers. They are selling content to a very limited market, and have yet to make a name for themselves in the digital download market. Apple, assuming the most conservative estimates are true, has a guaranteed winner on their hand with a large installed base of existing and potential customers, the dominant brand, more liberal usage rights, the better end-user experience and maybe a trick or two up it’s sleeve to seal the deal. If I was Amazon, I’d be hoping Steve Jobs doesn’t have ‘just one more thing’ to talk about at the end of his presentation this coming Tuesday.

Is it a wide-screen video iPod, an iPhone, Apple Newton resurrected or a combination of the three? There’s no way to know for sure, but all this information certainly does make the wait for Tuesday, Sept. 12 that much harder. While I doubt we’ll see any out of this world mobile chameleon device being announced, it’s still nice to hope for what fantastic Star Trek-ish device Apple has up it’s sleeves.

Adding fuel to the speculation is the fact that Apple released updated iMac and Mac mini computers this week with little fanfare. Products that most tech pundits were expecting Apple to unveil at their special event next week. Sure, faster processors don’t warrant any special event these days, but the new 24″ high-end HD capable iMac certainly would tie in nicely with the movie download service everyone is expecting Apple to unveil. I mean they only had to hold off on the announcement for an extra week. So what gives? Not announcing the new iMacs at the “It’s Showtime” event can mean only one thing: That there are more exciting things to announce and they don’t want to eat up precious time talking about a new iMac, as drool-worthy as it may be.

I don’t know about you, but I’m really hoping Apple announces an iPhone. But if I had to bet money on it, I’d guess we’ll see an event focused on movies, which means iTMS movie downloads (most likely for $14.99 and $9.99 a pop), new iPod nano’s in an aluminum scratch resistent enclosure, updated iPod video with a small chance of a bigger screen video model, and the piece to resistance: a new AirPort Express with Video, or similar set-top box for streaming your iTMS video downloads from your computer to your TV in the living room. This is where I’m setting my expectations, and I think that I’m setting relatively low. Anything above and beyond will be icing on the cake. Better keep some space on the ‘ol credit card just in case…

[3:58 pm Update: MacNN has posted an article about another related Apple patent application submitted in April 2006 for a “Hand held electronic device with multiple touch sensing devices”. Hopefully in time more pieces of the puzzle will come into place. Of course, the puzzle will be solved if and when Apple formally announces new products that are designed around any/all of this technology.]

The Get A Mac TV ads were actually phase 2 of their marketing campaign, phase 1 being the opening of Apple Stores across the United States and later expansion to other countries such as Japan, UK, and Canada. Now numbering 160 stores and growing, this strategy is geared towards giving people an excellent consumer experience and the opportunity to test drive Apple’s products in a relaxed no-pressure environment. The TV spots have played a strong role in boosting brand awareness and driving traffic into Apple Stores.

Well now it looks like Apple is following up on this successful strategy with some informative print advertising. A 14-page brochure has been spotted attached to a 3 full page ad in Entertainment Weekly magazine. In it, Apple hilights the most popular iLife applications (iPhoto, iTunes, iMovie, GarageBand), as well as a couple of Mac OS X features (iChat, Dashboard) and Microsoft Office. The brochure closes by showcasing the Macintosh consumer lineup (iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro and Mac mini). You can see scanned images of the entire brochure on Flickr.

This is an excellent follow-up to the TV ad campaign, because it is more product focused rather than branding/symbolic in nature, as the TV spots are. By making it a brochure that can be removed from the magazine, potential customers can pull it out and save it for later or pass it on to a friend. I think these brochures will get far more views than they would if they were simply full-page ads. Assuming Apple runs these print ads in a wide range of popular publications, I think they’ll go far to finally bridge the gap between the branding/imagery of the TV spots and the hand-on experience of the Apple Store. These brochures dangle a bit more of a carrot to pique the interest of consumers enough to get them to visit the apple website or stop in at their local Apple Store.

I am curious why Apple has chosen to avoid mentioning Windows compatibility in the 14-page brochure though. While I don’t think Apple should be focusing too much of it’s marketing message on luring people to the Mac platform with the intention of using it for Windows, they have mentioned it in their TV spot titled Touché. Following that up with a page on their brochure with a screenshot of Windows XP running in virtual machine window with Mac OS X apps wouldn’t be such a bad idea, would it?

Critique aside, Apple’s Mac marketing strategy is now coming into focus and seems to be close to firing on all cylinders for the upcoming holiday season. It will be interesting to see how much thunder Apple can steal from Microsoft Windows Vista before it launches. There has never been such a great opportunity to steal market share as there is now, especially given that Windows Vista will drive most Windows customers to buy new hardware in order to keep up with the latest version. Many of those customers may just decide to spend that money on a new Mac instead.