How good can it be, if it isn’t HD?

Jeremy from Living Digitally asked me how much I thought iPhones would be going for on eBay at launch. I really didn’t know what to tell him, I am probably being naive, but I really hadn’t considered that scenario. I guess I am hoping that there are enough to go around. The worst part is that in the past, every time I have seen gadgets go for unbelievable prices on eBay I have always persacuted the manufacturer for letting it happen and even pointed to Apple as a great example of how to service your customers while at the same time ensuring some eBayer didn’t get to profit from your product.

This also got me thinking, what would I do for an iPhone; and if I do happened to get one on the first day and can sell it on eBay for double, would I even keep it?

As much as I want an iPhone I am not willing to stay over night to buy one, or to pay a cent more than retail for it. And if the touch screen doesn’t live up to it’s hype, I will promptly return it within the 14 day return policy that most cell phones have.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I can’t wait for the next 14 days to be over so we can finally see if this thing lives up to the hype.

From the very beginning I intended to use my old MBP hard drive as a pocket drive and I finally got around to buying an external case. I really wanted one that was USB powered, but since the drive itself was SATA, I also wanted an eSATA port. This feature came in handy when I wanted to test out enabling the eSATA port on my Series3. The drive does require a lot of power via USB, and interestingly enough only works in the right hand side port on my MBP. This is actually ok, just as long as I don’t have to use the dual USB cable that came with the enclosure.

I picked up an enclosure for $24 from Newegg and despite a few reviews stating the drive rattled, it looked like it hit the spot. It come with a few screws, so of course I used them, and what do you know, my drive isn’t rattling. Anyways, I formated my drive with both a FAT32 and HFS+ partition so I could use it to sneaker-net files between windows computers if needed.

BTW, I took these pictures with my new Nikon D40, I am still learning how to use it so would appreciate any pointers.

I see this report stating that the iTunes video model will soon peak and not be successful, which I find pretty funny. The reason I find it funny is because it seems like a wanna be self fulfilling prophecy by big media, who just doesn’t get Internet media. Sure the instant gratification is great, but most people would rather use the VOD features of their main provider if that is their main goal. The reason why people download content from the iTunes Music store is the same reason they buy DVDs; they want to own the content and they want to watch it when they want, where they want. Saying the iTunes Video model will not survive is like saying DVDs will stop continue to be successful. The other models require that you be at your computer and you can’t fast forward through the advertisements.

When will these analyst learn that it is the freedom to watch what we want, when we want that makes iTunes –and DVD for that matter– popular.

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As long as I have had my MacBook Pro I have regretted ordering a 120GB 5400rpm drive. I ordered it when the it was first announced, and in my all my excitement I failed to notice the performance difference between 5400rpm and 7200rpm drives. My good friend Frankie quickly pointed it out; no, I didn’t appreciate it. As much as I wanted to swap the drive, I just couldn’t justify it because of the price and the fact that my drive is always full, until recently 160GB 7200rpm drives weren’t even available. I was very excited when I learned that Seagate was releasing a drive for me, only to be disappointed to have to wait to actually receive it. Well the time has finally arrived and it was worth the wait. Anxious to justify my purchase I rebooted and ran back to back XBench tests to get a baseline before swapping in the new drive (more on that later).

After following the great disassembly instructions at iFixit and only loosing one screw I used my favorite Linux LiveCD Gentoo to dd the original disc which took just over an hour. I used the same technique I did for upgrading my Series3, and lucky for me, 2.5″ SATA drives use the same physical interface as the 3.5″ variety. I put everything back together and what do you know, it booted.

Just before I got started my friend Ryan reminded me that 7200rpm drives will kill my battery faster than 5400rpm does, thanks for hating on my new purchase! So just after I booted with my new drive and ran XBench a few times, I researched the drives specs and more specifically the power requirements. The original Toshiba MK1234GSX drive averaged 2.5 watts when seeking compared to the Seagate which was 2.3 watts, while the Read/write uses 2.0 watts vs 2.1 watts and lastly the idle/standby: 1.0/0.25 vs 0.8/0.25. So not only is the new drive bigger and faster, but it also uses less power!

On to performance.
I ran multiple XBench tests so I took the best from both.

Total Disk test results: 30.41 vs 41.86 or 27% increase.

Sequential test results: 35.76 vs 89.12 or 60% increase.

Random test Results: 26.46 vs 27.35 or 3% increase.

My overall XBench score also went from 83.64 to 97.54, which I think makes it well worth the $199 for the new drive, not to mention the additional 37GB of usable space and now I can turn the old 120GB drive into a pocket drive.

Ever since I started using a Mac I continue to be surprised when things “Just work”, and today I am writing this with my new EVDO 740 Air card from Verizon. I have been wanting one of these ever since I changed jobs and my new employer supplied me with a phone from Cingular instead of Verizon. Cingular’s voice service is good, but the data leaves alot to be desired. Unlike most of my purchases I didn’t research this as much as I usually do. I was in a pinch and needed to get my Internet fix, previously my research had let me to Sprint, but tonight when I tried to go to the Sprint store they were closed at 7pm, and what do you know, Verizon was just across the street and open till 9pm. After waiting a few minutes Carlos was really helping me out and even got me a discount on the device or $100 instead of $179, no rebates!

So I was off, but concerned about activation, as reading that it wasn’t possible to activate on a Mac. Reading the directions on my way home — yes while I was driving — I realized that OS X was supported and when I eventually plugged the ExpressCard in, I was amazed that I was on the internet in less than 2 minutes and all I had to do was insert the card, click ok a few times, followed by my password and finally hit the connect button. All I have to say is WOW! I wish using my XV6700 was that easy.

This is my first Verizon service and I am off to a great start, we’ll see how long that lasts. Ohh did I mention it was fast?

‘Been reading PC world for some time, and thanks to a fellow Engadgeter I get mentioned in online article about hacking the Apple TV. While this won’t be printed, it’s still exciting for me and I’m glad Cyrus decided to invite me to participate. Not only did I get recognized for being the first to write an Apple TV drive upgrade How-To, but he used a quote, “Hacks don’t have to be practical, they have to be enjoyable,”.

Thanks Cyrus!

One of my problems with the Apple TV is you can only sync with one Mac and I keep my iPhoto collection on a different Mac than iTunes. This on top of the fact that you can’t stream Photos means I have to move my iPhoto library to my Mini. I don’t want to do this, so I figured an easy way around it. I am going to do a one-way manual sync from my MacBookPro to my Mac Mini using rsync.

No doubt I could schedule this, but my MacBook isn’t always on and I don’t update my iPhoto library every day so I am going to do it manually.

For now I will run it from the terminal, but I may write an AppleScript that prompts me for the credentials. Here is the command.

rsync -e ssh -az –delete /Users/bdrawbaugh/Pictures/iPhoto\ Library macmini.local:/Users/bdrawbaugh/Pictures

Then I get prompted for my password on my mini and it syncs.

So far I really like this thing, the HD video lived up to my expectations and I spent my first two days upgrading the drive. The partitions were a little tricky, but nothing dd can’t handle. Still looking for a free way to expand a HFS+ partition, but the $35 iPartition will have to do for now.

I am having a few other issues; as I feared you can’t sync iPhoto from one computer and iTunes form another. This causes me problems, I guess I will have to manually sync my iPhoto Library between Macs. Not a big deal, maybe they will fix it.

The biggest problem I am having is with the IR remote. I use an Xantech IR distribution system and the Apple TV just won’t work. Just to check my remote, I moved my MacBook Pro to my equipment closet and attached the IR emitter to it, used the same remote and it works fine. Not sure what I can do, but this is a real show stopper if I can’t control it.

I am a little dishearten at Apple for not getting the Apple TV I ordered on day one to me before having them in stock at the Apple store. Then on top of this, the Apple TV came signature required. Not sure who stays home all day waiting for packages, but I don’t and since I didn’t know this in advanced so I didn’t have it shipped to my work. Ahh well, i think I will just let Fedex return this one for me.

Bought mine from the Apple Store this morning, will return the one I ordered when it arrives tomorrow. (No I couldn’t wait)

I will be interested to see the results after the really encoding geniuses get a chance to do their magic.

Either way I am thrilled, look for my full review soon.

With all the Apple TV posts today thanks to Walt, I figured I would throw in my 2 cents. So here are 10 reasons why the Apple TV will be a success.

1. There is no better way to enjoy your iTunes music collection on your home theater system. Sure there are plenty of ways, like Windows Media Center, burning CDs, Xbox 360 and simply plugging the iPod in, but are these the best? Will they always be there, ready for you or will you have to run out to your car to grab your iPod or use some syncing software to keep your ratings and play count in sync.  Do you really think the Xbox360 media interface looks as good as the Apple TV?
2. There is no better way to view your iPhotos on your HDTV in HD. You could use your Series3 Tivo at 3 time the price or the clunky Xbox360 interface, but that is assuming you are running a PC or know how to share your pictures directory on your Mac and still don’t have access to your iPhoto albums.
3. Movie Trailers. Apple has had the best online trailers for some time and there won’t be a more enjoyable way to watch them then via the Apple TV.
4. It has a 40GB hard drive. Sure it could be bigger, but it will be nice to find new media available even when your laptop isn’t turn on.
5. Video Podcasts. There is no easier way to watch Video podcasts on your big screen TV. With iTunes you can easily find them and always have the latest episode synced to your Apple TV.
6. Easy to use, easy to configure. Unlike a Mac Mini or other computer, the Apple TV has a HDMI port as well as component. Toslink and everything else you will need to connect it to your HDTV. A small easy to use remote and we hope a  wiz to plug in.
7. No power brick. Unlike the Xbox360 and a Mac Mini there is no big power brick to clutter up  your wiring. Wow just like a real consumer electronic device.
8. Because YouTube content looks bad and doesn’t have any business on my HDTV.
9. Because Philip “The Swanni” Swann said it would fail and so usually the opposite comes true.
10. Because it is made by Apple. Seriously, once you drink the Apple kool-aid it’s hard to not buy everything they make.

You might have noticed that I completely ignored the HDTV content. That is because it isn’t a reason it will succeed. In fact I don’t think it is very useful as a HD content streamer. But compared to the Series3 and a Blu-ray player everything else is just not up to snuff. The best places to get HD from is your cable provider (or Sat) or on a Blu-ray disc. Call me when you can download a 50GB HD movie on your broadband connection.