Disturbing Search Terms
June 24th, 2011 § 2 Comments
While checking the stats for this site I came across a few disturbing search terms that lead to hits. They are:
Brian Himes Murderer
Brian Himes Obituary
Scary right? Makes me want to do my own search.
Doomed Industries
June 24th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
I find it humorous that Yahoo featured a story about doomed industries on their website today. They appear to be doomed themselves. I think there was even an article on mashable.com this morning about their struggles.
I remember a time when Yahoo was my go to site. I wouldn’t have dreamed of using any other site for my search needs. Now, I only visit when forced to. I suspect it is the same for most people. It’s funny how things change.
Read the article about doomed industries: http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/112946/doomed-industries-bnet
FaceTime and Data Plan Limitations
June 14th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
I may not fully understand this, so forgive me for this rant if I’m ill-informed.
I read today that one of the new features of the upcoming iOS 5 is the ability to make FaceTime calls over 3G. However, rumor has it that carriers may turn this service off out of data usage concerns.
Now, I find it frustrating that carriers can dictate the service I have and don’t have out of concern for data usage. I pay a pretty penny for my data plan and you’re telling me I’m not free to use it as I wish? If I use more than my allotment they get to bill me so why do they get to refuse specific services? It could potentially mean more revenue for them so why are they doing this?
Second, there are other identical services out there that do the same thing as FaceTime and they run over 3G. Will FaceTime be the straw that broke the camel’s back? I doubt it.
I’ve heard this argument applied to countless services before and it always frustrates me. Why do we pay for tiered data plans if the man gets to tell us how we can use every mb?
iCloud: A Typical Apple Move
June 7th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
I’m having a little debate with a friend regarding Apple’s new iCloud service for iTunes.
He thinks that Apple got internet music right with this new service, and that streaming isn’t necessary. I think their new service is cool, but misses the boat because it doesn’t include streaming.
Time will tell us who is right in this debate, but the debate got me thinking. Yesterday, even after the WWDC keynote, I was holding on to a thin thread of hope that Apple would see the error of their ways and open up iCloud to internet streaming. Today, I’m coming to the realization that Apple will probably not make the move to streaming.
It’s a typical Apple move if you think about it. The masses get excited about a particular service and Apple releases something that they deem superior. I think that’s what we are seeing here with iCloud for iTunes.
Apple probably thinks streaming music is messy. And, they are probably right. It is dependent on users having constant access to wifi or 3g. It puts a strain on the data networks. And, to make music stream easily you end up sacrificing sound quality.
By downloading the music to the device you are using, you have great sound quality and constant access. Sounds like an Apple argument, right? That’s why I would be completely surprised were Apple to release streaming capabilities.
I think we’ll have to live with this form of iCloud for a while, which really isn’t bad. It’s just not quite the full service many of us were hoping for. As for the little debate I was having, I still think I’m right but we’ll see what the masses say. If enough people demand streaming Apple may be forced to change their outlook on music in the cloud.
Did Apple miss the boat with iCloud for iTunes?
June 6th, 2011 § 3 Comments
Did Apple miss the boat by not including music streaming with their iCloud offerings announced today? I think so.
Don’t get me wrong, iTunes Music Match sounds great. Almost too good to be true. It’s hard to believe the Apple was able to get the record companies to agree to let them scan your music folders and match the songs in iTunes for $24.99 a year. That’s amazing. But here’s my gripe, I don’t want to have to download my music to listen to it. I want Apple to host it, allowing me to stream over wifi, or 3g. Downloading across multiple devices would be a great added bonus, but streaming is really what I was hoping for.
Amazon and Google seem to get it. Both of their services allow streaming. Amazon will even let you download music you’ve purchased through them from their cloud player. Why didn’t Apple take one more step and allow streaming? If they had, their service would have been heads and shoulders above everything else. Instead, we’re left with something that has great potential, but isn’t quite there.
I hope Apple sees the light and adds streaming. If they do, they can count on having me as a loyal customer.
