Should There Have Been, or Were There, Extensive iPod Touch Testing September 16, 2007
Posted by Zach in Music, Tech, iPhone.1 comment so far
Ah more Touch news, a big surprise huh. Well this one brings into question some of the problems and complaints that people have had with the iPod Touch. We’ve heard the problems of the screen just not being as phenomenal of that on the iPhone, we’ve heard a couple accounts of iPod failure, and of course the list of things the iPhone has over the Touch will be thrown out by people for months to come. No surprises there. But there are some small issues that I can’t believe Apple missed. Obviously the internals of the Touch and the iPhone are similar but I now have reason to think that Apple just did not spend enough time field testing and general testing the Touch. This showed up on the front page of Digg this morning. The Touch calling itself an iPhone huh? Some kind of facade, some kind of trick? Nope, just a stupid slip up by the Apple. Now, I’m aware there was more to test with the iPhone, as it is a phone after all, and finding out where connection speeds and how well the antenna worked was crucial. Still, people putting in hours with the Touch finding the errors and reporting complaints could have helped, right?
Is this kind of event a big deal? No (but the screen is kind of disappointing, though not dramatic). But, it shouldn’t even happen. The iPhone received extensive field testing months before it’s release. There were very lucky people wandering around cities with the “holy” device for a while. The iPod’s Touch release was quick, coming not long after the release of the iPhone. So obviously Apple had the technology and they’ve had this in the works, but yet a few shortcomings. So was there inadequate testing, or none at all? Hmmm….
So, About Those iPods… September 9, 2007
Posted by Zach in Apple, Music, Tech, WiFi and Internet, iPhone.add a comment
Walk into the Apple store nearest you and without doubt you will find crowds. Are they gawking over the iPhone? Not anymore they’re not. Mr. Jobs and company have of course unleashed the latest myriad of iPod products. We’ve got a little bit of everything spawning from last weeks “And the beat goes on” event. From some newly colored shuffles to an added touch. The details are everywhere, and as always I try not to tell you what you’ve already been told a million times about the iPod shuffle, Nano “Fatty”, iPod classic, and the iPod touch. But, I will remind you that, these new products were not the only things that came out of the event. New services also came with the new pods. Updated iTunes lately? Noticed that ringtones tab when you plug in your iPhone? Well if not, go do a double take. The first of the new iTunes changes is the ability to add custom ringtones to your iPhone (for the iPhone owners who haven’t already found a way to do so for free like I have). For 99 cents extra you can select a portion of a limited choice of songs that you would like to have play everytime your wife calls to ask if you’re going to pick up dinner. Personally I have not tried the new service but from what I’ve heard, it’s nice, it’s reasonable considering the price of other ringtone services, and easy to use. However, not all iTunes songs can be made into ringtones. But even bigger news came at the conference, the news of an iTunes store accessible on your iPhone or iPod touch via WiFi (it’s about time…etc…). According to Steve Jobs, by the end of the month the service will be available. And there’s also been a partnership with Apple and Starbucks (no surprise that the two trendy companies did so). Now, when your enjoying your vanilla latte and reading a more popular blog then my own on your iPhone and you hear a song wafting through the familiar coffee shop atmosphere, you can access the iTunes store and purchase that song from the Starbucks radio playlist. Not groundbreaking, but neat none the less.
So what about the iPods? Well the shuffle just got a new paint job. The iPod classic, resembling a birthchild of the Nano touchwheel mixed with an iPod video comes in an 80GB ($249) and a 160GB ($349) flavors. That’s more episodes of Lost and the Office (well not anymore for the latter, thanks a lot NBC) then is healthy. Then there’s the iPod Nano “Fatty”, which really will just be known as the Nano (3rd gen). The Nano is compact, square, and plays video. The Nano and classic both have coverflow as we have come to love in iTunes and even more so on the iPhone. I can’t imagine that it will be as fun using the touch wheel, and early reports say the coverflow is a bit choppy, can’t beat the original. It’s a nice looking little device, but watching movies on that tiny little screen can’t be comfortable. But on top of it all comes the iPod Touch, a gutted iPhone with some flare. The new device is thinner then the iPhone and obviously does not have the phone features. But it is the same iPod that we love on the iPhone and it even has Safari, Youtube and WiFi. It comes in 8GB for $299 and 16GB for $399. The slightly smaller and more angular cousin to the iPhone is looking good, and when it releases in the near future it will no doubt create a buzz.
So how do my fellow iPhone owner (and lovers) feel about all of this. Does the touch take away from the allure of the iPhone. Sure we can make calls, text, and do so much more on our Apple phone, but will seeing more and more of these devices take a way from it all? Not to mention the price cuts on the iPhone which I mentioned in my previous post. How do you feel about it all?
Did The Conchords Fly? September 4, 2007
Posted by Zach in Music, TV and Movies.add a comment
(Photo Courtesy of HBO)
Hello internet, just a quick little write up here, want to get something up here before the internet is flooded tomorrow with posts about the Apple special announcement (excitement!). So what am I here to talk about tonight? The Flight of The Conchords! For those of you that don’t know The Flight of The Conchords is a comedy folk duo from New Zealand consisting of Jemaine (No R people!) Clement and Bret McKenzie. The two kiwis are absolutely brilliant if you ask me. Just look them up on youtube and check out scenes from their HBO One Night Stand or any of their other shows.
These guys have been popular in New Zealand for a good while now, but have gained popularity state side with lots of thanks to HBO. HBO agreed to give the Conchords their very own show called, The Flight Of The Conchords of course. The show is all about Bret and Jemaine making their way as an out of place band in New York City with their manager (whose real job is working at the New Zealand consulate) Murray Hewitt (played by Rhys Darby). Murray’s no manager and the Conchords are no band by most standards. But, after watching a couple episodes the seemingly stupid series just gets flat out catchy and addictive. I watched the first two episodes following Entourage and was just flabbergasted, I didn’t know what to think, but in time I couldn’t stop listening to the kiwis hilariously whacked out lyrics.
So the point of this post is the Conchords aired their season finale on Sunday night following the Entourage season finale. I won’t give away too much detail about the episode but I would like to express a bit of dissapointment about the episode. It was a good, typical, Conchords episode (which we WILL be seeing more of soon, as they’ve signed on for another season) with added talent from comedian Demetri Martin as a goofy keytar player who comes into the show as Murray tries to add a third member to the band (a bongo player named Todd) and winds up splitting the duo. Again, I’ll try not to give you a total synopsis, but I will say that the lack of even one Conchord’s song was rather dissapointing. There was a song by Demetri and Todd (anyone know who he was played by?) that was mildly amusing, but just not the Conchords. So hopefully we’ll see more catchy New Zealand music videos next season, but this final episode left me bored and disappointed. I still have faith in these guys though, and if you haven’t seen the show, you should certainly make an effort to do so.
So that’s it for now, as I’ve mentioned I will be talking about the Apple bluetooth headset soon, and I’m sure I’ll have something to write about tomorrow after Mr. Jobs engrosses the masses. Later.
