Just look at their 1.0 product short comings that a subsequent version fixed:

• iPod: firewire only, no iTunes for Windows, no service to replace old batteries, mechanical scroll wheel
• iPhone: no 3G, no GPS, no third-party software, no contacts search, no corporate e-mail/contacts/calendar sync, 4GB model, couldn’t easily use third—party headphones, no music ringtones, etc
• iPod Touch: pretty much the same list as the iPhone but you have to pay for each update even though they are free for the iPhone and new iPod Touches
• AppleTV: couldn’t purchase or download content on the AppleTV, measly 40GB hard drive, no support for Dolby Digital 5.1, had to be connected to a computer to do anything, apparently people are still unhappy with the state of AppleTV
• Mac OS X: launch version had almost zero software, ran very slowly, no DVD playback, no CD burning, no Windows/Samba file-sharing, no built-in search
• MacBook: palm rest discoloration, cracking plastic, low quality 6-bit LCD panels, you could only order it with 512MB of RAM, had draft-N wireless support but you had to pay $5 to use it, excessive heat made Apple label it a notebook instead of a laptop (because it is too hot for your lap apparently)
• And now MobileMe: “1%” of users couldn’t access their mail for weeks (as of this writing I’ve seen reports that some still can’t), Apple’s idea of PUSH technology isn’t actually a PUSH at all, exchange contact and calendars don’t sync, and now they are adding MobileMe software onto non-MobileMe users’ PC via iTunes without asking or even telling them

Basically, within a year or two of each product coming out a new revision/version comes out that fixes the glaring bugs and notably missing features, and sometimes even costs less. If you ask me, it really does seem like 1.0 is more of a paid public beta test for Apple. The thing that amazes me is how they can get their users to forget about all of this. That is some amazing marketing…

After watching Nintendo’s success as of late I came to a realization; Nintendo is becoming the new Apple. Ten reasons why I think so after the jump.

1. Both companies biggest competitor is Microsoft
2. Each of them had been a much bigger player and innovator in their space only to languish into insignificance, and are now stronger then ever
3. They have a reputation for must-have gadgets that are as much coveted for their tech chic as their technology (iPhone/iPod and the Nintendo DS Lite)

   

4. Both companies focus on a lot on first-party accessories for their products
5. They each have a history of developing a platform where only first-party products do very well
6. They will launch competing products to major partners products (Apeture/Final Cut Pro/Shake vs Adobe, iWork vs MS Office, Wii Music vs Guitar Hero/Rock Band)
7. Both will keep partners in the dark on upcoming changes to key products until the general public finds out (Wii Motion Plus, No Carbon for Adobe #4)
8. Both stocks are trading at stratospheric levels (>300% increase over 3-years)
9. Both will sell you a product (iPhone 1.0, Wii, DS) and then sell you another product that rectifies the glaring shortcomings of the first one and act like it is innovation (iPhone 3G, Wii MotionPlus, DS Lite)
10. And the most important aspect of all, both CEOs like turtle necks (apparently)
    

For all the Vista users out there, I recently stumbled across an awesome program for the Vista Sidebar. It is called Amnesty Generator, and basically it will take the code for any web widget (think Google Gadgets, ESPN, etc) and turn it into a Vista Sidebar compatible gadget. It is a simple program, but works great; I use it to display the NBA.com live sports scores on my desktop. Check it out. There is also a Mac OS X version, but I have not used it.

Next up on the block is Nintendo’s forthcoming Mario Kart release for the Wii. Forget Zelda or Metroid, Mario Kart may be the most important franchise Nintendo has made in the last decade or two. All three people Everyone who had a N64 or Gamecube had Mario Kart; it is probably the only game I really played on Gamecube. It single handedly kept Nintendo in the console business, IMHO.

The formula is simple, easy and fun racing antics for you and your friends. Really it is about playing with others and yelling at them when they use a power-up on you. “Damn you Carl! That was the luckiest turtle shell ever!” The problem is that Mario Kart for Wii will not have voice support for online play (of course you can still taunt in person :)).

Maybe it is just me, but I don’t get it. Why doesn’t Nintendo come out with a headset for the Wii (it uses Bluetooth after all)? They made a steering wheel for Mario Kart, and I would think that another accessory to buy would fit perfect with Nintendo’s current accessory fetish strategy.

Mario Kart online won’t be half of the fun it could be with voice support. I understand that they may be concerned about the unwanted jagged words you often hear on Xbox Live, but limiting voice chat to friends-only by default would take care of that. When I read posts like this of people using Xbox 360s to do voice chat while they play Wii games, you know something is wrong.

Lastly, and certainly not least, why do people care what Kevin Rose says or does? (This is a real question, feel free to comment). I know he runs a website that is almost as popular as TechConsumer (ha!), but really, why do people care? It was the Kevin Rose 3G iPhone rumors post about back-to-back webcams that really pushed me over the edge. It got coverage on AppleInsider, Gizmodo, Techmeme, and of course Digg.

Kevin Rose has had one good idea in his life so far (which appears to be easy to copy and make better), and that’s it. Digg initially thrived under the so-called “wisdom of crowds” but it is now languishing under “mob rule.” Interestingly enough, the mob has a fancy for Paris Hilton, all products from Apple, and stupid ugly cats (and squirrels). More people on Digg read what Kevin Rose says than what Ben Bernanke says (even with this “recession”). Rose’s predictions were way off on the iPhone 1.0, so why would I listen to him now? He doesn’t work with or for Apple (actually his business relationship is closer with Microsoft).

So again I ask, why does anyone listen to Kevin Rose? If you can actually give me a good reason why, I’ll be surprised.

That was me before I started using VoIP (voice over IP) at home about two years ago. It is easy and inexpensive to setup, will work with your existing telephones, and I’m only paying about $8.50/month for service now. Here’s how:

VoIP gets talked about a lot these days, but it is usually: some service from your internet provider (Comcast, AT&T, Verizon, etc) that is only marginally less expensive than the phone company, really complex to setup (Asterisk), or it doesn’t work with your existing equipment (Skype). What I am recommending doesn’t fall into any of those categories. I am using a SIP-based service called Gizmoproject (Skype’s main competitor) with a hardware SIP ATA (analog telephone adapter).

SIP is the same technology that Vonage uses (they just lock their hardware down to their service). It is a standardized way of doing VoIP (unlike Skype’s proprietary setup); think FTP but for voice. As it is a standard, many different companies offer SIP-based services and products that are interoperable with each other. To get started you need two things, a service provider, and a hardware ATA.

As I just mentioned, I am using Gizmoproject as my SIP service provider, but you could use others if you wanted. They have “Call In” numbers with unlimited inbound minutes that cost $12 for 3 months, or $35 for 12 months. The price for calling out depends on the location you are calling, and the prices fluxuate a little bit. Currently, calling any number in the U.S. costs $0.019/minute. International calls are quite inexpensive as well, see this link for the full list. “Call Out” credits are purchased in $10 or $20 increments.

I should note that you don’t have to have a “Call In” number to make calls, and you don’t have to have “Call Out” credits to receive calls. They are independent of each other.

One of the great things about Gizmoproject is that SIP-to-SIP calls are always free. I set my parents up with this because of that. And because it is all going over the Internet it is a free call whether they live in Luxemborg or Los Angeles. Calls to toll-free numbers (800, 888, etc) are free too. They also came out with a new feature called Backdoor Dialing that allows Gizmo users to call about 11% (currently, but the number is growing) of U.S. phone numbers for free.

Another feature I use somewhat regularly is their call forwarding feature. If you are waiting for a call on your landline but want to run some errands you can just forward all of your calls to your cellphone. I know this can be done with most traditional phone services, but with Gizmo it doesn’t cost an arm-and-a-leg per minute; you only pay your normal per minute outbound call rate.

The hardware SIP ATA I have is a Grandstream Handytone. You can get one that even supports having two seperate lines for about $50 online. My house isn’t hooked up to any POTS (plain-old-telephone-service) service so the SIP adapter just plugs into my household wiring. If you still have a traditional land line service, you can plug a phone straight into the ATA. If you want the ATA to run to all of your phone outlets in your house, just disconnect the phone line coming into you house from the phone company (usually located in the phone box on the side of your house) before you plug the ATA into one of your phone jacks. Now all of your existing phones will be connected to your VoIP service.

You will have to put in a few settings (username, password, etc) into your ATA, but it is pretty easy. Here is a link to Gizmo’s knowledge base entry on setting up a hardware ATA. You can also put in what area code you want the ATA to think you are in. It will add the area code prefix (Grandstream calls it “Home PNA”) you choose to any 7-digit number you call. If you don’t see it in the ATA settings, make sure your ATA isn’t using really old firmware.

Once you have that setup, you are ready to go. When you pick up the phone you will hear a dial-tone just like you did before. You will make calls just like you did before. You will just be saving a lot of money. Last year it only cost me $102 total ($8.50 per month) for this setup! We mostly use it for long calls (my wife talking to her mom) or when we get low on rollover minutes.

There are a few downsides I should point out. Most SIP services won’t transfer your current home number, so if you want to keep that you are pretty limited. Vonage will transfer your number however, and the SIP ATA I have recommended will work with Vonage. There isn’t any 911 service either, but I can always call 911 with my cellphone so that isn’t an issue for me. Gizmo does include free caller ID, but unfortunately it will only show you the number (similar to cellphones) not the caller’s name. Lastly you can’t use a fax machine, at least with Gizmoproject. There are SIP-based Fax over IP services that use the same ATA but they aren’t quite as cheap as Gizmo. They are still probably cheaper than your traditional phone service, however.

What the hell is up with Apple and their fetish for making products that don’t have user-replaceable batteries? It was bad enough with the iPod, (even if it isn’t quite the only MP3 player in that category) but then they added the iPhone to the list, and now the MacBook Air (my vote for the worst product name since Microsoft Bob). I really can’t understand how it is acceptable to have to send in your cell phone or laptop every year or two (according to Apple) just to have a battery replaced. Did I mention that they’ll rent an iPhone to you while yours is in the shop?

How many iPods have been thrown away and replaced by new models because the battery died and it wasn’t worth the $66 investment in an old iPod. That’s great for the environment. And can someone tell me why it costs $20 more for an iPhone battery replacement than an iPod? It should be telling that Apple has FAQs just on battery replacement!

Next up on the chopping block? Sony. This whole Blu-ray and PS3 business just annoys me. It is like they can’t make up their mind on what their products are going to do before they launch them. The Blu-ray spec was so not-ready-for-primetime that the Playstation 3 has been the only safe-bet for a future-proof Blu-ray movie player. This helpful guide to what features each Blu-ray player does and doesn’t support should be proof enough that Blu-ray still isn’t really ready for the average movie buying consumer (let’s ignore the price that is 3x higher than HD-DVD too).

The Playstation 3 has been all over the product map as well. In the little more than a year that the PS3 has been out, they have had five different versions of the console and they are about to add a sixth, yet they have never sold more than two SKUs at a time. Let’s see, will this new one play PS2 games? If it does, will it be all games via hardware, or some games via software? Does it have WiFi? What about SACD support? Oh you haven’t heard of that? It is just another failed media format by Sony that some PS3s support.

And while Sony has made it obvious that they are using the PS3 as a Trojan horse for Blu-ray (or is it the other way around now?) could someone tell them that many people like to use universal remote controls when they watch a movie? Just try to explain to my wife why she can control everything in my living room with our Harmony remote (which we absolutely love), except for the PS3. Surely out of the five or six variants of the PS3 they could have made one that had a remote “eye” like the Xbox 360 does.

Speaking of the Xbox 360, even though they have three SKUs, all of the differences in features are accessories, so even a $280 Arcade model could be accessorized out to be like an Elite (minus the black paint job) if you wanted. The PS3 SKUs differences can’t be fixed/change after the fact.

Oh, and lastly, would it be too much for the PS3 to actually come with the HD cables (component or HDMI) to actually hook up their “true HD” game console to my HDTV (you know, like the Xbox 360 does)? I’m sure it makes sense to people that they are getting a free “Blu-ray HD” movie, but not the HD cables to watch it with. Actually wait, don’t do it Sony, I love to watch people at BestBuy get suckered talked into buying an $86 Monster HDMI cable (one of the few remaining joys of brick-and-mortal shopping). You know if they didn’t waste all that money on an HDMI cable they might have some money for an extra game or controller…but you wouldn’t want that sale, would you Sony?

Start with a TV and maybe a DVD player. Slowly add a game console, then a DVR, maybe some surround sound, another game console, etc. Then one day your wife will start complaining commenting that she doesn’t know how to watch a DVD or can’t switch it back to the TV. I had four remotes, and I was thinking of adding another one. I knew that wouldn’t go over well; not that I liked having to manage a pile of remotes either. Fortunately there is a better way…

The example above is exactly the scenario that has happened to me over the last five years. We started out with just a TV. (You know, one of those crappy small ones you start out with. ) Then we added a DVD player, bought a better TV, got an Xbox 1 (supplanted the DVD player), HD DVR, Surround Sound Receiver, and then Xbox 360 came out.

To watch TV, it took two remotes (fortunately my surround sound remote managed the TV ok or it would have been three) for the surround sound receiver remote and the DVR. I would have to turn on the TV, switch to the HD input, then turn on the receiver, and switch that to the DVR, and then I’d have to pick up the DVR remote to change the show; 6 button presses just to get it on. Volume was handled on the receiver remote, so even once it was all on I still needed to have both near me.

The icing on the cake in this whole setup was getting Windows Vista Ultimate on my desktop computer so that I was now using my 360 as a Media Center Extender as well (a review on that will come in a few weeks). Even though the Xbox 360 has wireless controllers, I really wanted to get a remote to control it properly. Initially I thought about getting the official Microsoft-brand Xbox 360 Remote which is fairly inexpensive, but five remotes was just too much. This led me to my latest “can’t live without it” gadget, a Logitech Harmony Universal Remote.

The Solution to Remote-Creep

For those not familiar with Harmony, it was a company that Logitech purchased a few years back and is now Logitech’s brand of high-end programmable universal remotes. What makes Harmony so unique among other universal remotes is that you set it up via a program on your computer and sync the changes to the remote via USB. There are two consequences of this design. It is far easier to setup than other programmable universal remotes. It is also relatively future proof, as the remote can download codes to new devices that come out after the remote was produced.

The remote I purchased is the Harmony Advanced Universal Remote for Xbox 360. The list price for the remote is $100, but you can usually find it for about $80 online. Although it is marketed as an Xbox 360 remote, it is basically exactly the same as the Harmony 880 but has added X, Y, A, and B buttons which is useful. The other Harmony remotes could still control the Xbox 360, though.

The Industrial Design

Harmony’s remotes are known for their high-quality industrial design. The remote’s weight is well balanced and is notably slimmer than most remote controls. It is very comfortable in my hand, and my only aesthetic complaint is that it doesn’t have any sort of bump/notch between the volume and channel up/down buttons. I don’t actually have trouble accidentally hitting the wrong button, but it just feels like I should look down sometimes to make sure I’m hitting the right button. It is easily light-years beyond any other remote in my “arsenal” though.

Setting up the Devices

As mentioned earlier, you use the Logitech Harmony Remote Software to setup the remote. This setup is broken down primarily into two parts: devices and activities. I have five devices: DVR, TV, receiver, Xbox 1 (primarily running the awesome Xbox Media Center software BTW), and an Xbox 360. Entering in all of these devices was deceptively simple, select what category the devices falls under, who makes it, and what the model number is, and click next. Honestly, that is basically it. You can customize some stuff, and if somehow it doesn’t have the device in the Harmony database (pretty unlikely), you can manually add it using the remote’s ability to “learn” commands from another remote.

Setting up Activities

The second part of the setup is determining what activities you actually want to configure your devices for. I decided on five activities for my setup: TV, DVD / Music (using Xbox 1), Xbox 360, Media Center, and Laptop. When I select DVD / Music on the remote, it automatically turns on the devices needed for that activity and changes the affected inputs.

The Harmony remote is even smart enough to remember what is already on or off. So if I switch from TV to Xbox 360, it just turns on the Xbox 360 and switches the inputs, but if I switch back to the TV it will turn off the Xbox and change inputs. I even have mine set so that it never turns the DVR off, even though it is only used for the TV. The options are really limitless.

In fact you’ll notice that I have separate activities for Xbox 360 and Media Center, even though both use all of the same devices. The difference between them is that the Xbox 360 can be powered up into the “dashboard” for gaming or straight into the Media Center interface. Hint for you Xbox 360 Media Center Extender users out there, add an additional duplicate device for the Xbox 360 as a Media Center Extender and set the power on button for it to “Media Center”. Then when you turn on that device in your activities it will go straight to MCE.

Once your activities are setup you sync the changes onto the remote via an included USB cable, and you are ready to go. My wife couldn’t believe it was really as easy as pushing the “TV” button to turn everything on and set it up right. Or that she could switch to DVD with just a push of a button. Since it remembers what is on, if you push the power button on the remote it will automatically turn off everything that is on too.

Bonus Feature

Now as if all of the automated goodness wasn’t enough, I stumbled upon a new feature for my DVR; a 30-second commercial skip button. My standard DVR remote does not have this button, but the Harmony remote lists it as a function and the box supports it. As all commercials are in 30-second increments, this makes skipping commercials even quicker.

The Bad

Unfortunately, not everything is perfect with the Harmony (although I can find weak spots in almost anything). The only real problem with the Harmony remote is that it is still quite technical to set it up. While the software could certainly be much worse, it is no where near being easy enough for my wife to setup this remote, and she is the type of person who will benefit from it the most. Everything is “wizard” driven and some dialogs particularly aren’t very intuitive (see image to the right).

If you are a pretty tech savvy person though, you should be able to set it up. It took me probably 60-90 minutes to really get it set how I wanted it at first, but I’m still making tweaks here and there a week later.

The good news is that the support options look like they are great. I didn’t use them, but it looked like Logitech hosts an active forum just for Harmony, and they even have their own telephone tech support with a number that is easy to find on their website.

Conclusion

Ultimately, even with the moderately complex setup, it is a really great gadget. I’m hooked and will never not have a remote like this ever again. It is kind of like a DVR, where once you use it you’ll wonder how you survived without it before.

The great thing about this product is that it feels so consumer focused the whole time. From the special blister-pack plastic packaging that is perforated for easy opening without a machete, to the fact that it comes loaded with batteries AND an extra replacement set too. This is definitely a product where you get what you pay for, and it is good. 8.5/10.

Part One: the CinemaNow Service

So I looked at my Netflix Queue and picked out “Man of the Year” (which was better than I was expecting BTW) for the low low discount price of $2 from CinemaNow’s “Last Chance” section. Soon as I found the movie on CinemaNow’s site I noticed that they only support using their site with Internet Explorer.

CinemaNow with Firefox

CinemaNow with Internet Explorer

What makes this annoying is that their service requires installing the “CinemaNow Movie Manager.” It is the application that actually downloads the movies. I don’t know why they don’t make the software just register its own URI like cinemanow:// in Windows that would make it work in more than one browser. I’d rather not have to install any additional software though; the files use Windows Media DRM, and could be played in Windows Media Player. Basically, it seemed like the movie manager software was worthless and unnecessary.

After I went into Internet Explorer to purchase the rental, the movie manager software launched and the movie started downloading. In the hour it took to download the 1.2GB file I could have gone to Blockbuster to pick up a movie. You can’t start playing a video while it is still downloading either; which you can do on XLM. After completing the download, I tried to play the movie and was informed that I was not authorized to play this file on “this device.” I looked into the support on their site, and ended up having to e-mail them.

They did respond within about half an hour, but I was already done messing with this for the night, and was not at my computer. They gave me a coupon code to purchase the movie again, which would issue a new license to view the file. It worked without requiring downloading the file again.

The first thing I noticed as I played the file is that the resolution is terrible. After looking at the properties I saw that the resolution is only 512×222! That is only one-third the resolution of standard definition television or DVDs at 720×480, or even most P2P video files. Needless to say, it looked even worse scaled up to 57″ on my HDTV. In addition there was a lot of intermittent stuttering in the video (in Windows Vista and XP and on my Xbox 360, all from local storage or over a wired LAN).

The file properties show that they are encoding their “1500k” files at about 1600kbit/sec actually—much higher than you normally see on P2P files. Of that 1600kbit/sec, only 96kbits are dedicated to a stereo (no surround sound) audio stream. The stereo sound is okay at 96kbit/sec as they use Windows Media Audio and not MP3, but it is a far cry from the 5.1 surround sound I’m used to enjoying on DVDs and video from the XLM.

In short, the video quality was sub-par, and the audio was only passable. Both shortcomings would be much less noticeable on a standard definition television using the built-in speakers, however.

Part 2: Xbox 360 Playback

Now for the part that enticed me to try out this service in the first place, the Xbox 360 playback. As soon as I turned on my 360 the CinemaNow Movie Manager software alerted me to the fact that I had an Xbox 360 on the network. (Duh!) When I clicked on the notification it opened a web page with instructions on how to setup your computer to stream the file to the Xbox 360. Basically, if you follow the instructions exactly it will work, but it isn’t even close to being easy enough for my Dad to do. Frankly, I don’t know why the media manager software doesn’t just take care of the dozen or so steps to setup your computer for streaming; that is how it should be.

I later discovered that you do not have to stream the file to the Xbox 360 via Windows Media Player Sharing. Any UPnP software that can stream video to the Xbox 360 should work; I used Orb and it worked great, and I bet TVersity would work fine too. Just make sure the UPnP software is sharing the folder that CinemaNow saves your movies in and that you can play the file on the computer you downloaded it to.

*Side note for Windows Vista users: as TVersity doesn’t seem to work on Windows Vista yet (at least not for me and I’ve tried) check out Orb. It can transcode any format of video or audio to what your UPnP device can handle (Ogg Vorbis into WAV for my 360), works perfect in Windows Vista, and can do a lot of other cool things, such as online radio DVR, Slingbox, etc.

The Bottom Line

CinemaNow’s service is not as good as the Xbox Live Marketplace. Video quality is below standard definition, the audio isn’t in surround sound, you can’t play the file on the 360 while it finishes downloading on your computer, it takes a lot more effort, and it doesn’t work in Firefox. Honestly, I don’t think I will ever use CinemaNow again. The one area where I would maybe recommend doing so is to grab a few movies to watch on a laptop on a plane for those who don’t know about DVD rippers. It is unacceptable for watching on the TV though.