LIVEdigitally

Archive for June, 2010

How to Turn On FaceTime on iPhone 4

Friday, June 25th, 2010

Since three of the four people in my office didn’t realize that FaceTime isn’t enabled by default, we thought it would be nice to share the simple, but easily over-looked aspect of how to actually turn it on for anyone with an iPhone 4. And yes, I am jealous, but I’m on Verizon and that’s not changing anytime soon (though I think my Android phone is heading to the trashbin fairly soon – more on that another time). Also, I think this post will do really well for my blog’s SEO purposes, which is great because of all the ads I show. Oh, wait… Anyhow, here you go:

When you first get your iPhone and make a call, it’ll look like the old iPhone call screen:

Don’t fret, you are merely 4 clicks away from Facetime! First, go to home, then settings:

Then click on “Phone” settings. Now you’ll see a big happy shiny button to enable FaceTime. Do so.

Now the next time you make a call, you’ll see the FaceTime button dead-center in the middle. And all will be well in your world!

We had a little debate about if this should’ve been enabled by default or not. I think we all agreed it seemed a bit odd to start disabled, but I’m sure there was some reason behind it, possibly due to privacy, bandwidth concerns, etc. Once FaceTime is enabled, you’ll also notice a slight change in your call history:

I wonder if a future version of iOS will enable FaceTime voicemails or recording?

Anyhow, hope this was helpful to those who didn’t want to have to use the official Apple FaceTime tryout number! :)

Posted in Guides, Mobile Technology | 7 Comments »

Why the Mac Mini is not, at all, an Apple TV

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

Lots of musing yesterday that the new Mac Mini is a “Apple TV in disguise.” It’s not. Here’s why:

Price
There’s a world of difference between seven hundred and one or two or even three hundred dollars. This is even more the case in the icing room as opposed to the ipad or mobile devices, where theres no precedent or parallel for the product. Further people evaluate living room stuff extremely differently, and seven hundo is like buying two xbox 360s. Too much. In fact, you can truly skip the entire rest of this piece, since this price is an utter non-starter for this discussion.
But what about HDMI?
Just because the product has hdmi doesn’t mke it a living room product. Sure front row or Boxee will have that effect, but there’s a radical difference between a purposeful and incidental use case for a device like this. Hdmi is there because it’s replaced dvi as the digital video standard, and because a huge screen does make a beautiful monitor. An interconnect does not alone a product make, otherwise I’d be comparing the Mac Mini to a router because it has an Ethernet port.
Software
Per the above comment, today it’s front row or nothing, from apple direct. Yes, users can download Boxee or plex, but to think consumers en masse will throw down seven hundred dollars for this solution is way off the mark. For that purpose, they’d just buy an apple tv, or a roku or a wdtv, etc.
But what about New Software?
Okay, it’s fairly naive of me to say the future of this scenario is the existing version of front row. Obviously they’ll rev it, and lets assume the rev is solid. Per all the above points, it doesn’t matter how much better it is. It’s not about a “better experience” when we are talking the price point.
The Apple Way
Apple makes products with high margins, mass appeal, and excellent software. A seven hundred dollar apple tv is only one of those things, and at best can get to two. Why would they make such a bizarre strategy shift here? It’s not, at all, the apple way. Far from it.
Consumers and boxes
Most consumers don’t buy extra boxes for their living rooms. They buy TVs, game consoles, and media playback devices (the cheapest of the bunch). When they do buy add ons, they tend to be under $300, such as the slingbox, roku, or wdtv. In these cases, the value add for the price point is clear. So looking at the new Mac mini from the lens of ‘what new content or services does this bring to the living room?’ the answer is practically nil.
Consumers and content
Cable tv (and by that i include satellite and other existing offerings) is, on average, pretty good. The average American has access to tons of content, both on broadcast and on demand systems, not to mention whatever they are dvring. Throw in a dvd player and a game console, and the content universe is quite outstanding. The quantity of people who truly want to throw away their existing stuff is really really small. Its not to say there isn’t room to add in more, but its not seven hundred dollars worth more in any consumers’ eyes. For a box that expensive to earn a spot in the living room, it must supplant existing content offerings in such a way that consumers clearly perceive the value. So not only is a brand new software package a requirement, but a massive increase in content, especially free content, is as well.

But What If?

If apple discontinued the apple tv line, this would have a shift, but only a minor one. In that scenario, I’d imagine the opportunity truly shines for google tv products and the Boxee box by dlink (full disclosure: I consult with dlink), as they will offer similar value propositions but at steeply discounted prices. And unlike the comparisons between the iPad and the janky tablet rivals, these other products are far more likely to show promise and value. Still doesn’t add up.

And now for something completely different.

A man talking about the same topic, in video form:

Watch live video from Jeremy Toeman on Justin.tv

Posted in Convergence | 6 Comments »

GIVING NOTICE: I’m reclaiming Facebook for personal use

Monday, June 14th, 2010

According to Facebook, I have over 400 friends. According to the number of people with whom I share personal things, go out for drinks, have over for dinner, call to catch up, and otherwise consider “Friends”, that number is off by a long shot. So I’m going to fix it, and I’ll explain why.

I consider myself quite a social, yet private person (yes, privacy matters, and is not going away anytime soon). I speak at a good number of public events, am decently well known in the tech industry, and am generally “out there”. But I don’t like to share my personal life with everyone, partially because I don’t think everyone cares, but mostly because I consider my life private. I neither need nor want “the world” to know whether I go for a bike ride with my kids, have a date night with the wife, catch up with an old friend over a beer, or any other “regular living” activity. But it’s deeper than that.

I firmly resent the notion that I am supposed to have to include anyone and everyone I’ve ever met into my personal life, and even if it’s considered an industry faux pas, I simply don’t care anymore. I have plenty of vehicles for communicating anything remotely work/tech/industry related, and plan to continue to use them. Facebook, for me, is supposed to be my personal network, not my professional one.

So here’s my new Facebook friend policy:

Actual Friends, not “friendly acquaintances”
Current Friends, not “people I kinda knew in high school”
Work people I go out with socially, not “someone I met at a conference and exchanged business cards”
etc

In the next few days, I’ll be UNfriending anyone who doesn’t make the above list. This might sound harsh or alienating, but I like to live my life assuming everyone has enough self-esteem. I don’t look at this as rejection, and I hope anyone who gets unfriended doesn’t think of it that way either – it’s not. Just because I like someone and have a professional relationship with them doesn’t mean we’re Friends.

While I might be an “early rejector” I fundamentally believe I won’t be the last, and most folks will come around the conclusion that they need to separate out their personal lives from the professional. While there will be many who have some blend (I believe I’ll be in that camp), It really never should’ve gotten so far out of hand in the first place. I hope my actions can help others who are feeling the same way, but scared of the potential backlash.

Posted in General | 7 Comments »

Predictions for WWDC 2010

Monday, June 7th, 2010

Watch live video from Jeremy Toeman on Justin.tv

Summarizing my video, my predictions:

New iPhone, possible OS X and/or iWork update, lots of stats, demo’s of iPhone 4.0 OS, no cheap Apple TV refresh, no iPhone on Verizon

Links I reference in the video:

Posted in General | 1 Comment »

Party Mode TV: great until the inevitable bathroom break

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

Watch live video from Jeremy Toeman on Justin.tv

For context, one of the “grand visions of the future” is how people from around the world will be able to watch TV “together”. It’s a wonderful idea except that the visionaries behind it seem to forget the pragmatic realities of how people actually watch TV…

Posted in Convergence | No Comments »