Yes, the days of traditional TV watching are almost over. It appears Apple TV will help make sure of it. Apple TV is here!
I’ve been reading reviews and reports of this computer/TV phenomenon. It offers all the stuff most customers want, like Hulu, Netflix, HBO Go, Showtime, Youtube, AOL On, Yahoo Screen and more. Come to think of it, maybe Apple TV offers too much. One thing it doesn’t offer is Amazon Prime Video. Maybe it’s because Amazon kicked Apple influence from it’s storefront. But of all the apps offered by Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video won’t be one of them. But you can play video games with Apple TV, and plenty of them. Thanks to the A8 chip, and a gyroscope remote control, gaming is made simple. Many say the games are more realistic with Apple TV than they are with any hand held Apple device. Then there’s the Siri Remote. Many critics say it’s better than the old remote. The critics still say there’s still room for improvement. And what about this $79 for a spare Siri Remote? That’s half the price of a whole Apple TV system altogether. ?But the remote has a touchpad on one side. You can even swipe it across a show to get to your favorite part.
So for those (myself included) who are cynical of that annoying Siri voice, the remote still has some value. Some of us can’t wait to the climax of a show or movie. So I can thank Siri Remote for fast forwarding that part for me. But is a spare one worth half the cost of an Apple TV? That’s what I’m wondering. It’s funny how Amazon and Apple are virtually censoring each other from their networks. Will Apple TV contribute to changing the way we watch TV? Who will win the battle between Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV?
Everyone knows what a flop Ashton Kutcher‘s ‘Jobs’ was back in 2013. This Friday, October 23, 2015, director Aaron Sorkin will release the movie Steve Jobs. Already, a tech journalist criticizes this movie. And it’s not positive criticism.
A technology journalist named Walt Mossburg was there during Apple’s boom of the 2000s and right up to Steve Jobs‘ death in 2011. Mossburg says Sorkin got the Steve Jobs character all wrong. In one quote, Mossburg takes a jab at Sorkin, claiming he’s the one who’s known the real Steve Jobs for years, not Sorkin. Walt Mossburg didn’t appreciate how Sorkin focused on the negative aspects of Jobs’ life. This is true of the coverage of Apple’s turbulent start, when he was young and naive. But the movie goes really hard on Steve Jobs as a family man, or lack thereof. Much of the film is about Jobs’ long denial of his own daughter, Lisa Brennan-Jobs. Mossburg claims some of the movie was totally made up. The end credits back Mossburg’s claims. There are two ironies here. The first is Mossburg was a big Sorkin fan…up to this point. The other irony is the movie ends in 1998, right before Apple entered it’s golden age that continues today. Oh, there’s a third irony here. The movie ended before Mossburg and Jobs’ camaraderie had begun.
I’m partially siding with Aaron Sorkin on this one. We all know of Jobs’ amazing, wonderful contributions to the computer technology world. That should be honored and praised. If there’s one point Mossburg has, it’s that Sorkin could have covered Jobs’ accomplishments better. But keep in mind Steve Jobs was a human being. He had flaws and challenges. He made bad choices, just like we all have. In order to tell the whole story about the whole man, you have to tell about his failures as well as his accomplishments. Denying his own daughter just happened to be one of Jobs’ failures as a family man. And about lacking wisdom: Who doesn’t lack wisdom when they’re in their twenties, especially early-mid 20s? Your twenties is a time when you’re just figuring the world out. Of course you’re going to lack wisdom. Nobody bats 1.000 in the game of life. Do Mossburg’s complaints deter you from watching this upcoming movie?
You’ve seen the shows: Orange Is The New Black, House of Cards, Narcos. Netflix isn’t only the world’s most successful streaming service, but on it’s way to becoming an overall entertainment powerhouse. Netflix may be already there.
Maybe this is why Netflix builds it’s own studio, instead of dealing with others. Their productions are so hot it must be this way. Rumor has it they’ve already leased a Hollywood lot. Not only that, they want comedian/talk show host Chelsea Handler to host a show exclusively for Netflix on that lot. They’re also filming upcoming comedy shows Flaked and Lady Dynamite on that lot. Netflix leaders want to end their dependence on mega media companies like Time Warner, Disney, or 21st Century Fox. Netflix started in the late 1990s as a DVD by mail delivery service. In the late 2000s, with the social media revolution going on, Netflix reinvented itself as a streaming service. By the mid 2010s, Netflix was producing it’s own shows and winning critical acclaim and Emmy’s. But with that comes great competition. Rival Hulu is also expanding. Hulu is also co-owned by Fox, NBCUniversal/Comcast, and Disney Corporation.
But with this kind of expanding comes more challenges, especially financial. How are they going to pay for the lot? How are they going to keep paying for the big stars everyone wants to see? Making high ranking and high quality and award winning TV shows and movies doesn’t come cheap. There’s another reason I want Netflix to win. It’s the same reason I won’t be streaming with Hulu anytime soon. Hulu is owned by not one, but three different mega media conglomerates. The last time I checked, Netflix was still virtually independent. For those of you that have followed my blogs, you know how I feel about corporate mergers. So yes, I hope Netflix have all the success in the world with this lot. How will Netflix do?
Last year, Microsoft teamed up with the NFL. The NFL used their tablets for coaching and game calling purposes. This year, a social media company teams up with America’s most successful sports conglomerate.
Snapchat and the NFL have a one year deal in which Snapchat that will provide NFL video and photo footage to the NFL’s Live Story feature. This feature will go from the beginning of this season through Super Bowl 50, which is scheduled for February 7, 2016. Snapchat will host a NFL Live Story episode every week/end. Both will peddle to advertisers and both will split profits. But there is a catch. Snapchat is forbidden by the NFL to use NFL broadcast footage. This means most of Snapchat’s footage will be coming from fans like you and me. The NFL season and Super Bowl aren’t the only upcoming happenings for Snapchat. Recently, Snapchat has covered live events from fashion week to the Republican presidential debates. And Snapchat isn’t the only social media venue the NFL is making deals with. It has partnerships with Facebook and You Tube. Remember last Super Bowl, when certain commercials aired on You Tube first? The NFL announced a two year partnership with Twitter. This is a trend that is going nowhere fast.
Despite scandals and disputes that seem to follow the NFL everywhere, from Ray Rice to Deflategate, the NFL is still the number one sports franchise in the USA. Many millions follow their favorite team on any given Sunday…and Monday night…and Thursday night. Over a hundred million Americans watch the Super Bowl every year. Snapchat knows it and the numbers prove it. Live Story already draws an audience of 20 million people. Facebook, You Tube and Twitter know the economic power the NFL has. The NFL knows social media is the new way of communication. Sounds like both are doing the smart thing and playing off each other. Is this a good relationship?
Everyone loves the emoji. What better way to express yourself than the cute little faces and symbols one can put in emails and social media posts? But there is new emoji coming out that isn’t so cute.
The undesirable emoji I refer to is the middle finger emoji. It’s officially called Unicode 7. It took 15 months for it to be approved. It will be available on iOS 9.1. At the Apple conference last Wednesday, a lot of new emoji symbols were introduced, such as the hot dog, taco, burrito, champagne bottle, unicorn, even a Jewish synagogue. But the one that stands out to me is this very direct middle finger that needs no translation. To be fair, the signal has always been in the computer world somehow. Emoji One, What’s App, and Windows 10 has the finger cartoon. But Apple’s 9.1 version has the best version (if you want to call it that) of it. Let’s say you wanted to upset someone. You had these four finger versions to choose from. You’d want to choose the iOS 9.1 version. Don’t go rushing to your iPhone device to get this emoji yet. It won’t be available until next year. I’m sure there are those, including some of you reading this, that can’t hold out that long.
From an economic standpoint, this emoji is going to be a huge seller. I just feel it. I am totally for free speech and First Amendment rights! I hate censorship. So I don’t think this emoji should be taken down by any means. But I?have to throw my moral card down. Isn’t there enough hatred and anger in the world today? Does Apple really want to add anymore? If you’re dissatisfied with something, or someone, isn’t there another, more dignified emoji you can send? Yes, the middle finger emoji is legal and constitutional. But is it responsible and is it right?
Yesterday, Apple held their annual September press conference. They demonstrated new and improved items for the upcoming 2015-16 year. As usual, Apple had the media and the public talking.
Yes, new iPhones were revealed, but that was the mid-card side show. The main events were the were the super sized 12.9 inch iPad Pro and Siri controlled Apple TV (which I talked about several times). Apple iWatch bands also made an appearance. We knew this was going to be an awe-inspiring show when Cook said monster announcements are in store. There were 2 1/2 hours of them. There were a few pleasant surprises. The new versions of iPhone 6 will cost the same as the old ones. But this iPad Pro is as powerful as is large. Thanks to A9X, it has twice as much memory bandwidth and ?store performance as it’s predecessor, iPad Air 2. Maybe that’s why it has twice as much price. The smallest iPad Pro will cost $749. The LTE 128 GB model will cost $1,079. Then there’s the Apple TV. The remote might be the best thing about Apple TV. It’s small, sleek and contains Bluetooth support and a touchpad to live for. The Siri app is even more far out. I saw a demonstration where the man said comedy. Apple TV immediately downloaded all the comedies available to him. There are so many apps here I don’t know where to begin. Don’t expect Apple TV to come cheap. They closed with multi platinum selling pop group One Republic.
Obviously, I can’t cover everything about this conference. So you can click here to watch the whole conference. And it was a great one. But here comes the big challenge: turning this conference into sales in the months to come. Will people buy this Apple TV over competitors like Amazon? Are people willing to pay anywhere from $750-1,080 for iPad Pro? Will Siri make you sorry you ever invested in your new Apple TV? Apple has talked the talk. They set the expectation bar high. Can they walk the walk?
