VNC on PSP = Killer App!

Got to be done. Surely Sony MUST have this earmarked for a Firmware update. Remember where you read it first. :)

Quicktime 7 = HiDef (HDTV)

This is only for the geeks--you have been warned!

Quicktime 7 has been anything but quick! Without doing any checking my guess is that Quicktime 6 has been around for a good 4 or 5 years. Will 7 be worth the wait? I think it will and here's why.

HD Video (High Definition) is going to be huge. I have viewed a couple of film trailers in HD format on the 20' iMac LCD and they looked quite stunning. Even the lowest flavour of HD is 4 times sharper than the very best DVD and it shows. Right now the only people that can get easy access to HD Video are the Americans where some cable firms transmit shows in the new standard, but I have a hunch that the will change this year, that's where Quicktime 7 connection comes in.

Quicktime 7 contains the new codec, H.264. Simply put, this provides up to four times the frame size of video encoded with today's MPEG-4 video codec at the same data rate. That one statement changes everything! Well not 'everything', but everything in connection with video compression. :-)

In the real world it will mean that Quicktime 7 video at the data rate of 50k a second (standard broadband) will look like today's video at 200k a second. And 200kbs MP4 video looks very close to DVD quality, so that's pretty big news! Taking it one step further, applying some calculations to the ideas above it would to be possible to provide HD quality video in real time over a fast broadband connection. 2 megabit per second broadband connections are becoming quite popular even now, so in a year or two they will surely be very common, even a 1 megabit connection would allow the viewer to start watching the film after only 45 minutes of buffering.

Apple have already announced 2005 as the year of HD, so could they have something in mind other than iMovie HD? An iPod Video Store to complement the relaunched and renamed iPod Music Store perhaps? They could even offer a twin grade service, a film in HD format at £16 or the same film but in DVD qaulity format for just £7. It might even be possible for them to offer individual TV episodes at £1 each.

The more I look at this the more it seems that the age of delivering content on bits of cirlcular plastic is over. Its happening to music right now, video can't be too far behind can it?

I did say it was just for geeks!

Secret of the Shuffle!

Reading this article this morning prompted me to make this proper blog post regarding Apple's iPod shuffle.

First of all the sound quality. To quote the above article "With earbuds, the iPod Shuffle's signal looks darn near identical to the no-load signal. I checked and rechecked this result because I couldn't believe my eyes. The iPod Shuffle sounds great, with a solid low end, and no need for bass boost. The reason for this sterling performance is that the left and right channels each have two transistors, one pushing, one pulling, and no capacitor that gets discharged over time." So it would seem that the Shuffle has excellent quality output, certainly sounds good to me even through the Apple earbuds which can handle considerable bass. Obviously the quality depends of the strengh the compression algorithm and the bit rate. AAC is probably the most effective audio codec around right now and even at 128kbs the sound is full and precise for 80% of tracks I've listened to in the last week or so.

Now usability. First use of the Shuffle reminded me of the first time I ever used a Mac. Simplicity, absolute and complete simplicity. Is it over simplified? Some might say that it is but they would be the ones who don't really understand what the whole "iPod thing" is. To explain let me give an example. iTunes smart-playlists are simple to set up, you could have a playlist which contains the following filters -- Songs not played in the last 2 months but which have been played over 4 times but no more than 10 times, songs which are no longer than 3:50, songs which have a rating of more than 4 stars. The end result is a list of tracks which you obviously have enjoyed in the past but haven't played them to death! Simply set this playlist to be the default sync in the 'Autofill' option and you can look forward to 8 hours of great music which is still fresh. This is just one example of the endless options for the Shuffle. In short, the power of iTunes allows the iPod shuffle to be incredibly simple.

The usablilty doesn't end there. Audio books, Pod casts, DVD soundtracks which can be bookmarked (Blade Runner full movie soundtrack!) -- all other uses which extend the overall fun of Shuffle ownership.

The physical design. I could rant on and on and on about how 'right' the Shuffle design is. Everyone who’s seen it and touched it has agreed that it's astonishing. Where to start? The way the volume goes up and down in an almost analogue fashion, the way the buttons click to such satisfaction, the ease of operation when holding the Shuffle in any hand and from any direction, the battery life, the perfect length of the lanyard, the ever-so slightly countersunk buttons.

Perhaps the greatest thing about the Shuffle is the plain white surface, but more on this later . . . ;)

First Look: ROTS Poster!

Well here it is, the final Revenge of The Sith poster. Overall I love it. Some elements work really well, others not so. Vaders mask is just right, whilst Yoda looks too ‘action figure’. Not quite up there with the AOTC poster but certainly worthy of the Lucasfilm logo. I’m Looking forward to seeing the international variations one day, other countries had much better ROTJ posters than we did.

Oh Yeah Baby!

80's music is back! Again! I found The System - Don’t Disturb This Groove on iTMS. I loved this album, I bought it in a secondhand music shop in Southampton when I was at college. Anyway, after experiencing all these classic 80's tracks again I thought it's about time I had a go at doing an 80's track myself on GarageBand. Jam Pack 2 Remix Tools has everything I need and I reckon I can manage some double cheese vocals. :)

The Yawning Thing

If your listening to music and you yawn, the music seems to go up in pitch by about a semitone. I wonder why . . .

Do The Shuffle!

Yesterday a man from the future appeared in my office, he came from a future where gadgets actually worked like you hoped they would, where electronic devices have long progressed beyond the need for manuals. In his hand was a small white stick which made wonderful sounds when pressed. He handed me the diminutive yet capacious device and through a flash of light the sucked him back into his own time, I could see him put his finger to his lips and then whisper "don't tell anyone, they'll all want one!” :)