Blog Posts from MacWorld Expo

iTunes Movie Rentals and device syncing

So, before I left San Francisco, I rented Pirates of the Caribbean 3 to watch on the flight and I synced it to my iPhone this morning. Actually, I started the download process yesterday afternoon, because the bandwidth in my hotel was so poor, but I digress. Anyway, the rental process was very easy and moving the file over was just as I expected. It’s a 1.8 GB file, so moving it over via USB takes a few minutes.

What seems to happen though, is the file is moved from iTunes to the device, rather than just copying it over. When I got home and wanted to watch the end of the movie on my computer (rats…because Apple TV hasn’t been updated yet to support rentals…), I saw that my iPhone sync was copying the 1.8 GB file from the iPhone back to iTunes.

Presumably, in the future, when you want to finish watching it on an Apple TV or other device, you’d have to copy it over yet one more time. I don’t understand why Apple doesn’t just keep the master rental file in iTunes for the full rental time, and copy it out to devices (rather than move), and retrieve the state (watched/complete, or semi-watched) and timestamp of where the viewer left off.

Okay…reading back the above is confusing myself.

Of course, there are really only two likely normal use cases of iTunes Rentals. 1) You rent the movie in iTunes and watch it on your computer completely or sync it to a device and watch it completely. 2) You rent it on your Apple TV and watch it completely there.

Still the use case I’m describing (that just happened to me) can’t be too uncommon: You rent a movie in iTunes and sync to a iPhone/iPod and partially watch it. You get home and want to finish watching it on your Apple TV.

So, the way iTunes handles rentals transfers, I will have moved my ~2 GB file 4 times. Once when you download it, another when you sync it, again when you re-sync it back to iTunes and finally synced out to your Apple TV.

Whew.

Am I over thinking this? Or does it seem that just leaving it in iTunes all the time to begin with fixes a little bit of the wait?

January 19, 2008 at 12:38 am by Chris Ainsworth. | 5 Comments.

---

More Mac games at the Expo, Part 3

This is the final Mac games post of my 3-part series (read parts 1 and 2). There’s a whole bunch of companies makings games for the Mac who were demoing products at Macworld 08, and I wanted to mention just a few more.

Ambrosia is soon to release a really great-looking game called Aquaria that was described as an “ethereal action/adventure underwater fantasy game.” A guy not employed by Ambrosia had logged so many hours on their demo this week that they let him show me the game. It looked gorgeous. You play as a mermaid trying to reunite her people, who are scattered across what looks like a vast system of underwater caves. Can’t wait to play this game. Ambrosia is also putting out Multiwinia, a sequel to Darwinia, later this year.

January 18, 2008 at 11:59 pm by Michael Gaworecki. | 2 Comments.

---

What I Learned from Macworld 2008

As I’d hoped, the Macworld Expo provided me with a chance to dive headfirst into the Apple pool. Between the exhibits and the presentations and the random conversations that I had with people throughout the week, I was able to get a really good idea of why people like Macs and what things I might be interested in doing with the one that I’m about to get.

Here’s a round-up of the things that I learned from attending Macworld this year:

- Macs really are more reliable. Everyone that I talked to confirmed that they felt their Mac notebook was more reliable than a PC. My PC gave out on me halfway through the week with virus problems that took about two hours to fix. Because I use my notebook as my main computer, I need reliability. That’s the number one reason that I’m making the switch.

- I can go light but I probably don’t want the MacBook Air. I’m totally interested in the new notebook but I’m not convinced it’s the one that I want to spend my money on. I think if I was in a position to have a travel laptop and a second one for home, then I’d probably consider it. But because I’ve got only one computer doing everything for me, this new one isn’t the one for me. Still, I do think it points to a great direction that Apple is going in.

- The John Lennon Tour Bus is totally cool. I don’t know how I didn’t know about this thing since it’s been around for a decade but I didn’t. It’s a cool project that provides some great education and is definitely something that I’m interested in supporting.

- There are more accessories than gadgets that I’m interested in. I love gadgets. I’m probably going to get an iPod Touch this coming week (although I’ve heard some great arguments as to why I should just go ahead and get an iPhone instead so even though I thought I was settled on this, I’m not one hundred percent sure yet.) Nevertheless, I try to keep the number of gadgets that I buy down to a mininum because I try to be thrifty with my money. As a result, I’ve gotten in the habit of being able to overlook most toys. But apparently accessories still catch my eye because I was totally drawn to the booths offering different laptop bags and sleeves.

- Technology is making multi-taskers out of all of us. This was a theme of nearly every presentation that I went to throughout the conference. It’s not Apple-specific but it was something that was really interesting to think about. I’ve always been a multi-tasker myself but many of the people I know aren’t so it’s fascinating to see that younger folks are heading this direction.

- Macs are good for gaming. This was one thing that was really new news to me and I think is fairly new to a lot of people. Macs just don’t seem to have the association with gaming that PCs have. However, after hanging out at the MacGames Pavilion and attending the presentation on how to make my own games for Mac, I’m fully convinced that I could have a well-rounded gaming experience with only a Mac computer.

All of these things were important to learn but the most important thing that I really came to realize this week was that there is truly a community built around Macs. Mac users are passionate about their choice. They’re interested in new technologies that are being released and they’re interested in sharing that passion with others. Everyone that I spoke with this week was more than happy to provide me with information and opinions about technology in general and Apple products in particular. This sense of community is something that I think is good for the industry … and it’s something that I want to be a bigger part of. So, it’s official, my immersion in the world of Mac led to a conversion.

January 18, 2008 at 11:29 pm by Kathryn Vercillo. | 2 Comments.

---

Green Tech at the Expo

Green Tech was by no means prominent at Macworld 08, but there was still a pretty good amount on display. Environmental sustainability has become a major concern when it comes to technology products. Computers and most other electronic devices consume lots of energy while they’re living and produce lots of waste when they die. Hazardous waste, in many cases. But nearly all of the major manufacturers have begun thinking through the lifecycle of their products and designing them to have as little an impact on the environment as possible – not only because of the demand for Green Tech in the marketplace, but also because it’s just plain old good business.

January 18, 2008 at 11:24 pm by Michael Gaworecki. | 3 Comments.

---

One last Best of the Booths

I do believe one final Best of the Booths post is in order.

There was so much to do and see this week, I didn’t even get a chance to take a nap in one of the sleeping pods Pzizz had been kind enough to set up for us.

January 18, 2008 at 10:57 pm by Michael Gaworecki. | 1 Comment.

---

Technology as Necessity

At yesterday’s conference presentation on the Cybernetic Teen, Jason Cranford Teague used the word “necessity” when talking about technology for teens today. He provided an interesting comparison between a teen’s tech use in 1987 and a teen’s tech use today. He also provided a definition of the word “necessity” which made sense within the context of his presentation. And it got me thinking about whether or not I’d agree that certain technology is a necessity for teens today. Because it was on my mind, I talked it over with several people today and found that we all seem to be divided on the issue.

Teague said that a teenager in 1987 would have been unlikely to have a home computer, especially one with Internet and that a personal mobile phone for teens then was possible but highly unlikely. (He also noted that they’d be using a Walkman for music and playing a Nintendo Game System for fun.) Then he argued that today it’s a necessity for kids to have a computer with Internet access at home and that it’s almost a necessity for them to have a cell phone. (He also pointed out that they all have iPods and that they’ve got a choice between three different game systems, all of which are about as complex as their computer would have been in 1987).

His definition of necessity for making this argument was that more than 60-70% of their peer age group has one. He said that when a supermajority of your peers has a tool of communication, you become essentially incapable of proper communication with them in the way that communication is defined for your group. (Well, I paraphrased that a little, but that’s essentially what he was saying, I think.)

By this definition, it makes sense to me that he was saying these things are necessities. But in a general context, do I think that’s true? I do believe that a home computer with Internet access is a necessity for a majority of kids in a Western World today. (Teague did note that he was speaking about Western countries, but he didn’t differentiate between urban and rural teens and I believe that the argument could be made that teens in some rural areas don’t currently meet the minimum standard for the term “necessity” to be applicable. I don’t have the numbers on that handy, though, so I could be wrong.) Although I believe that his definition probably accurately describes the cell phone as necessity for teens, I’m not sure that I think it’s truly a necessity. I believe that teens today could appropriately communicate with their peers through IM and social networking sites without the use of their cell phones and not be “out of the communication loop”. But of course the underlying assumption for that is that I believe the home computer and high speed Internet to be “necessities”.

So I asked some other people what they thought about the issue and found that it’s something that people didn’t agree on. (In fact, there was something of a heated debate going around the lunch table today.) Everyone did seem to agree that Teague’s definition of “necessity” and the point that he was making seemed essentially to make sense. However, the whole topic took off on another tangent about whether this stuff is really necessary for teens. To me, it’s just a given that a teen in America today who is going to move forward in life is going to require Internet access at home. But I was surprised to find that even at a tech conference there are people who disagree with that. Based on the conversation, I’d even say there were some budding Luddites in the room today!

What do you think - is technology like in-home Internet a necessity for teens today?

January 18, 2008 at 7:40 pm by Kathryn Vercillo. | 2 Comments.

---

Only a Few Hours Left

With only about four hours left to see all that there is to see here at MacWorld, everyone’s running around trying to make it to the things that they’ve missed out on so far. From what I’m hearing as I’ve spoken with people this morning, everyone’s seen all of the things that they were especially interested in seeing. However, they’ve also all heard about tons of stuff that wasn’t at the top of their priority list which they want to check out before the Expo closes up shop.

A few of the things that people have said they want to do today:

- Play games. Apparently not everyone has been over at the MacGames Paviliion wasting all of their time like I was. Several people I talked with this morning said they wanted to make it over there to test out some of the games that they’ve been hearing about all week.

- Get signed up with EFF. One person mentioned that she hadn’t become a member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation yet so she was going to stop by the booth in West Hall and get some more information. They’re giving away T-shirts if you donate a certain amount of money and they’ve also got free literature on things like blogger’s copyrights.

- Take a stroll along Mac Developer Blvd. Also over in West Hall is this area which one guy said he’d seen passing through but hadn’t spent any time in yet. He’s hoping to get over there today and get some new information on some mobile technology stuff that he had questions about.

It sounds like almost everyone spent a good chunk of time in South Hall this week and wants to get over to West Hall today to see the exhibits that they missed out on there. I’m on the opposite side of that spectrum. Having spent most of the week in West Hall, I’m going to check out South Hall to see what I’ve missed over there.

January 18, 2008 at 3:22 pm by Kathryn Vercillo. | 1 Comment.

---

More Mac games at the Expo, Part 2

I’m very glad EA has returned to releasing games for the Mac, because they have some of the coolest titles that are available on the platform. I already discussed Spore at length, so I’ll concentrate on a few of their other games that are demoing at Macworld 08.

January 18, 2008 at 3:19 pm by Michael Gaworecki. | 2 Comments.

---

The Washington Post and the news on the net

If you haven’t ever seen any of the short videos in the onBeing section of WashingtonPost.com, you should do yourself a favor and check them out. They are incredibly funny and profound, yet the idea is simple: People from the Washington D.C. area talking on the subject of being themselves.

The web arm of The Washington Post is one of the most innovative news organs out there. Rob Curley is head of the “skunkworks” team that conceives and builds the newspaper’s creative web presence. He gave a presentation on Thursday at Macworld in which he described himself and his team as “Mac nerds from Kansas trying to save a dying industry from the Internet.” He sees that salvation coming from local and even hyper-local news delivered through a variety of inventive web tools.

January 18, 2008 at 3:43 am by Michael Gaworecki. | No comments.

---

More Mac games at the Expo, Part 1

I promised more coverage of the game offerings here at Macworld 08, and I’m delivering. This is going to be a three-part series of blogs detailing the plans that various companies have for games on the Mac in 2008.

I’m going to start with Aspyr. You may remember from my last post on Mac games at the Expo that they specialize in porting games from the PC to the Mac. They’ve got a huge year coming up, as their new releases are all big gaming franchises being made available for the first time on the Mac.

January 18, 2008 at 1:16 am by Michael Gaworecki. | 2 Comments.

---