This morning, I went out for my morning trip to Wawa to drop $1.27 on a medium chai. Since my return trip would take me within 500 feet of the Apple Store (Sagemore, if you care), I decided to check out the line situation. While I was there, I took a picture and talked to the guys at the front of the line.

In front of the Apple Store, there were about 25-30 people in line, mostly under the cover of umbrellas, some under the awning of neighboring store, Blue Tulip. The 2 guys at the front of the line have been there since 1:00 P.M. on June 28. Ok, not exactly iLoser style, but still, overnight in crappy weather for a phone/iPod/“miracle device” that you’ll be able to stroll in and casually buy in a few days. That’s dedication.

I then took a ride to the other side of the shopping center to check out how things were going at the Cingular, err.. The New Deathstar, err, The New AT&T. Much quieter there.

At AT&T, there were only 5 (empty) chairs, and a few cars with people in various states of consciousness.

What the heck guys? If Apple’s got enough iPhones to give one to every single Apple employee that’s been with the company longer than a year, then I’m quite sure there’s enough to go around.

Darla has this posted on her site. She credits “Joe” for the image.

Wow. Holy half-truths Batman.

While there are technically no lies on that image, it doesn’t really seem to tell the whole tale. Let’s see..

• GPS and turn-by-turn directions – Yes, it’s indeed true, the N95 has a built-in GPS. During the nearly a month that I had an N95 (and no, it wasn’t a proto), I found the GPS nearly useless. It was unbearably slow to lock on. I’m talking like 5 minutes guys. And the turn-by-turn directions – those cost extra.
• Wireless stereo – A2DP is indeed present on the N95 and is missing on the iPhone, at least at launch. Since Nokia was able to add A2DP to recent N73 firmware releases, I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to think that we may yet see A2DP on an iPhone software update. Regardless of the device in question, A2DP will drain your battery.
• Second camera for video calling – Since the iPhone is (thus far) only for sale in the US, this is a non-starter. The N95 can only do video calls on a 3G network. The only UMTS band supported in the N95 is 2100 Mhz, not available in the US.
• Video-out port – I believe, like other video-capable iPods that have come before, the video output comes via the headphone jack.
• Removable battery – I’m torn here. Yes, it’s true, the N95’s battery can be swapped, and the iPhone’s cannot be swapped. However, this fails to address the abysmal battery life afforded to N95 users. Less than a day on a single battery? That’s just bad, like on an epic scale.

Kids, there’s room enough for both of you. There are lots of things that both camps can learn from the other.

I’m a big S60 user (work phone is an E65, home phone is an N73). I’m also a fan of Apple products. Neither side has the perfect phone. Fanboi-ism doesn’t help, regardless of what side it’s coming from.

Wow. I’ve got a new definition for “devotion.” You decide to tattoo the logo of your MP3 player on your arm.

I can only hope it’s a joke and photoshopped.

Dude, go outside or something. And next time, wait until something is going to be sticking around before you go tattooing it on yourself, if being stabbed thousands of times is your thing… I’m not even to go into the list of how many ways the iPod is better than the Zune. At this point, it’s been beaten to death so badly, that I’m surprised “Zune” is not synonymous with “bad tech”.

Welcome to the social, indeed.

Forbes is running a story about a couple of companies that I’ve never heard of, Media Rights Technology and BlueBeat.com.  Seems the kids at MRT and BlueBeat think they’ve got a DRM solution that would keep people from copying digital media.  Ok, so it’s just another DRM solution, right?

Apparently not.  The brain trusts at MRT and BlueBeat believe that Apple, Microsoft, Adobe, Real and others need their products so much that they’re suing.  They’ve send cease & desists to Adobe and Real for “actively avoiding their X1 SeCure Recording Control.”

Ok, so under the DMCA, you can send a C&D for circumventing a security mechanism, but this is a whole new level.  Now threatening lawsuits because I didn’t buy and use your product?  That’s just stupid.

Hey guys, maybe they just don’t want your product.

Today, EMI announced that their entire catalog will be made available on the iTunes store without DRM. So, you want to just know the deal, rather than read the whole release, eh? Ok, here it is.

• 128k AAC with DRM – $0.99 | € 0.99 | £ 0.79
• 256k AAC without DRM – $1.29 | € 1.29 | £ 0.99

Looks like the Euro folks are still getting a bit hosed, but not too badly.

Yes, that second one is a higher bit rate too. Why? Lots of folks have complained about low bit rates on the iTunes store. Personally speaking, I don’t care about the higher bit rates, but I’m jazzed about freedom to move my music around to devices other than my iPod. Speaking as someone who’s got a Nokia N95 in his future, this will be a big win.

Yes, the price has increase by $0.30, but I’m willing to pay a small premium for keeping all of my fair use rights intact.

Update: I updated the post to reflect the proper bit rate – 256k instead of 224k.

Currently playing in iTunes: (Nothing But) Flowers by Talking Heads

Forget about Mactomster. While it was donationware, it was great, but now that it’s just another overpriced solution, there’s moving on to be done.

Enter super-nice guys from s60themes.co.uk with their brandy-new and free iSync 2.4 plugins. There’s also iSync 2.3 plugins as well for a variety of S60 (mostly N and E series) and even some S40 devices.

Say thanks to the guys there and be thankful!

So last night, I was setting up Heather’s new MacBook, migrating her data from her old PowerBook. It came time to pair her Nokia E50 with the system and setup iSync to sync her phonebook, calendar, etc. Naturally, I went over to the Mactomster website to grab the latest iSync plugin for the E-series devices.

I found that the download links now point to a Store page that offers the plugins for sale for 7.49€ each. Each plugin only seems to serve a single device, rather than the previous model of a plugin serving multiple devices. That’s almost $10 per device.

Suddenly, 9.95€ for the Novamedia plugin doesn’t sound so bad. On the Novamedia side, you pay once for the plugin that works for all supported devices. You don’t have to pay again for a second device.

The only thing I find a bit insulting is the fact that on the Mactomster site, the PayPal button requesting donations is still there. If you’re asking for donations, you shouldn’t be asking people to pay for the plugins. Now that both Heather & I are using the Mactomster plugins, I was planning to donate to support the work. Now, my money will be going to Novamedia to purchase licenses for their plugins, giving greater flexibility.

The guy next to me on the train has a Zune. I politely asked him how he liked it. Boy, did he answer.

After first trying to install the thing, his PC just didn’t get along with the Zuneware. He had to reformat and reload his XP PC. Fortunately for him, he said he was using a volume lic key, so didn’t need to call the Microsofties to get permission to use software already paid for. Smart dude, he had a current data backup, and all software bits to reload at the ready.

Round 2 with the Zuneware was more successful. It works, though he thinks iTunes on his daughter’s PC is better designed.

His biggest axes to grind (other than the obvious software deficiencies)? Crippled wifi (ad-hoc, zune to zune only) and the ridiculous point economy of the Zune store. In the Zune world, you buy points, which you use to buy songs. Why not just set a price? To make Zune pricing look cheaper than the iTunes store. Instead of $0.99 a song, you pay 75 points. By the way, the math will tell you that 75 points = roughly $0.99, give or takes a couple of tenths of a cent.

So, does he regret his purchase? It seems. Is he going to chuck it in favor of an iPod? Only when it breaks, he says. With only 2 purchased songs invested, he doesn’t have much skin in the lock-in game.. All of the rest of tunes are ripped mp3s that he used to load on a Creative MuVo.

This morning’s Digg has a story bit about the latest of Apple’s “Get a Mac” ads. I’m a fan of these ads, mostly for the comic relief, but this one’s really got the gist of UAC down. You get asked constantly to do stuff with UAC on, and with it off, you get no protection at all.

Go directly to the HD version of the ad

Funny.

Currently playing in iTunes: rapture riders (full version) by blondie vs the doors

Yesterday, Ken Fisher wrote an excellent piece on Hollywood’s true motives behind DRM. I saw a link to the article on Digg, thanks Kevin Rose.

Ken hits the nail squarely on the noggin in his piece. All the DRM we’re currently enduring, and worse, yet to come, is not about pounding a stake into the heart of piracy. Pirates will always be around. Eh? What about all of this stuff with HDMI and HDCP controlling what content can and can’t be displayed? There are plenty of HDMI devices out there that support, but do not honor HDCP restrictions, for instance. These devices are already in the wild, how will the MPAA & friends stop them? Answer: they can’t.

DRM, as Ken points out, is 100% about you, the consumer. With the DMCA, it’s illegal for you to enjoy fair-use rights that you’ve enjoyed for years. Take that Pirates of the Caribbean DVD you bought. You want to watch that on your iPod? Buy it again, sucker. Oh, you believed them when you saw that commercial for the DVD that said, “Own it today!”??? You know what you own? A plastic case, and the DVD media, not what’s on the DVD. According to the letter of the law, it’s actually illegal for you to invite friends over to watch a movie, since that constitutes a showing of the DVD. Our pals across the pond in the UK can’t legally rip a CD into iTunes either. In short, DRM gives the content provider all of the “rights”. DRM should really stand for “Digital give up all your Rights Management.”

Curiously enough, the VCR was going to destroy the entertainment industry. Funny how that never happened. Also funny is how the studios manage to stay in business with such staggering losses, all due to DVD piracy.

It’s madness I tell you. Just plain madness.

Rise up, don’t buy the lie. Don’t put money in the pockets of greedy individuals. I’m not advocating law-breaking, merely not patronizing a pox on humanity.

Currently playing in iTunes: Crazy by Gnarls Barkley

How appropriate, eh?