1 Million iPads sold in 28 Days – Streaming World of Warcraft

May 3, 2010 by Dan Taylor    5 Comments    Posted under: Games, News

The number itself isn’t surprising, but it’s always nice to have an official word from the producer. Apple confirmed today that their millionth iPad was sold last Friday.

In a press release, Apple CEO Steve Jobs says, “One million iPads in 28 days–that’s less than half of the 74 days it took to achieve this milestone with iPhone. Demand continues to exceed supply and we’re working hard to get this magical product into the hands of even more customers.”

To date, iPad users have downloaded 12 million apps and 1.5 million ebooks.

Early estimates from industry analysts placed 1.3 million iPads sold by the end of June. As per usual, Apple is blowing predictions out of the water.

And in related news…

Games Developer legend David Perry has been working on some exciting stuff over the past few years, least of which is his Gaikai project. At it’s root, Gaikai is a browser based game streaming technology that uses server side streaming.

Great. Browser based games are nothing new, and at first glance, Gaikai might just be another run of the mill, games in browser technology. However,

When’s the last time you played WoW on anything other than your desktop?

Perry recently posted this image to his personal blog, showing a live copy of World of Warcraft running on an iPad (or a really good photoshop job). What’s interesting about this is that Gaikai is designed to work with a Flash Player, which obviously isn’t going to happen on an iPad. So has Perry cracked the code, or is this a prototype version of the game specifically designed for Perry and co. to test with? Either or … expect to see WoW on the go in one form or another in the near future.

For lazy bastards: iPhone app – Girlfriend Keeper

Sep 8, 2009 by Dan Taylor    22 Comments    Posted under: News, Technology

For iPhone owners, the amount and scope of available applications is simply staggering.  Just before a recent trans-Austria/German/Switzerland/Liechtenstein roadtrip, I bit the bullet, and bought the tomtom gps navigation system app for my iPhone, and couldn’t be happier.  Now, the tomtom app is something that I’d consider genuinely useful.  On the opposite end of the spectrum, I give you Girlfriend Keeper.

The premise is simple: this $0.99 app will randomly generate and send texts and/or sms’s to that special one in your life.  You know, the one that you’re too lazy to send self generate messages to.  The user enters predefined data such as eye color, date you started dating, her birthday, etc., and can be defined by “Relationship Seriousness” factors.  The user can also define how often messages are sent, everywhere from once a month, right down to every two hours.

The significant other can respond to these messages, and the app has a built in history feature, meaning, the sendee won’t (or shouldn’t) be caught off guard if these messages come up in conversation.

Some example texts:

“I just drove by a brown barn and it reminded me of your eyes.”

“Did you know we started dating 37 days and 8 hours ago?”

And fear not ladies, there’s also the Boyfriend Keeper.

For me, the jury’s still out on this one.  In concept, I think it’s a decent idea, but I’m not so sure the recipient would feel the same should he/she discover that these messages are AI generated.  On one hand, I’m thinking his/her heart is in the right place, but on the other hand, seriously dude (and dudettes), you couldn’t be bothered to come up with something original?

Is Apple working on a PayPal killer?

Aug 5, 2009 by Dan Taylor    10 Comments    Posted under: News, Technology

Just about everywhere you go these days, someone’s trying to make it easier for you to pay. Obviously, the driving force behind this is to ultimately make the sale by facilitating the consumers option to pay. And while the internet has seen it’s fair share, some successful, others not, of ways to pay, there is a constant stream of improvements to the method making their way to market everyday. But let’s face it, when it comes down to paying for something via the internet, without a direct credit card charge, my guesstimate would be that 85% of the average internet surfing/shopping consumer could name only one: PayPal.

We already know for certain that facebook has been playing with microtransactions and multiple payment platforms and options via their “Pay with Facebook” system, but as of now, we’ve got nothing but confirmations that something is being worked on. All that might come to a grinding halt if Wall Street gossips have any validity behind them. Silicon Alley Insider is reporting that said gossiper(s) may have had one too many drinks at a lower Manhattan establishment recently, and mentioned that Apple execs have dropped hints suggesting that the primarily hardware focused company is considering creating a service that would allow iTunes users (store account holders, with a valid credit card on file, or course) to use those accounts to pay for things outside the iTunes realm.

Remember, with the introduction of the iPhone OS 3.0, users are now able to spend freely on virtual and subscription goods within third party iPhone applications. In other words, the vast majority of the technology is already there, it’s just a question of opening this tech up to interface with external third-party platforms.

Now again, traditionally Apple has worked on projects that will solely drive hardware sales. iTunes certainly drove/drives iPod and iPhone sales, so why the interest in what basically boils down to a SaaS? Once you’re at the top of the pile, it’s tough to stay there. There are plenty of upcomers, as you once were, that are hungry and eager for your spot. Perhaps Apple is looking at a payment platform as a natural extension of their already easy to use iTunes Store functionality. One could make the argument that via iTunes, Apple effectively brought the microtransaction payment mechanism to the masses via iTunes, so why limit the functionality just to music? Apple has already branched out into providing video, either for rent or purchase, and again, with the OS 3.0 introduction, provided a way for application developers to monetize through in-game microtransactions.

While this is mere speculation and gossip at this point, a three way battle between eBay (parent company to PayPal), Facebook, and Apple would most certainly up the ante for all parties involved. Competition is a time tested catalyst for innovation, and any way you look at this battle, the ultimate winner is both the consumer and the vendor. Let’s see what Cupertino’s got in store (ouch…no pun intended) for us next.

Video Podcast Review – ABC CBS NBC

Jul 14, 2009 by Dan Taylor    3 Comments    Posted under: News, Video

While living 4234 miles from my home town, on another continent does have certain advantages, there’s also a bit lost in translation (literally).  And I honestly don’t know what’s taken me so long, but I finally discovered/got around to including the ABC, NBC, and CBS evening news video podcasts in my regular rotation.  I work out in the mornings (calm down ladies, it’s really nothing to get hot and bothered about) and figured out that I could kill two birds with one stone: lose the weight, gain some knowledge (and hopefully a bit of muscle while I’m at it) via video news podcast updates.  All three networks provide them free of charge via the iTunes store, but there are some differences, not just in quality, but delivery.

ABC

Out of the three, ABC receives the lowest scores.  While the other two networks deliver iPod-ized versions of the previous evenings news, ABC takes another route and creates an entirely new show specifically for the podcast version.  Sounds great, right?  Well, in actuality it’s almost offensive.  ABC is committing an intellectual offense.  By creating this completely new version of the news, I’m always left wondering, “Well, what happened during the actual broadcast version?  Was/Is there something that I’m missing here?”  Granted, ABC does include a 45 second highlight at the end of these podcasts by presenting their ‘Partnership with Google’ segment, in which they highlight the days’ trending (top searched) topics of the day, but to be honest, I’m not sure if they’re not just looking for filler here.

The ABC video podcast weighs in (on average) at a paltry 86 MB, making it a quick delivery (if mid-afternoon news is your deal), but also suffering from what I like to call, RUFK video quality.  Granted, on the average iPod or iPhone screen, this video quality is fine, but on my 24 inch desktop monitor…Well, let’s just say, I’ve counted pixels.  ABC FAIL.

ABC also comes in dead last with delivery times.  I live in Europe, which means I’m 6 hours ahead of the Eastern Seaboard, so when I’m working out at 8am, it’s still only 2am in New York.  However, that doesn’t mean that I’m not hungry for my daily dose of corporate sponsored news.  When I open iTunes in the morning to sync up the podcasts, you can imagine my dismay when ABC’s most recent update is from two days ago.  I tracked delivery times last week, and found that ABC’s ‘special’ (perhaps as in bus?) section arrives around 1 in the afternoon here, or 8am EST, putting them in dead last.  Next.

CBS

The CBS podcast gets 8 out of 10 marks.  They deliver a full version of the previous evening’s broadcast, Katie Couric included (be that good or bad).  The only reason for the markdown is, as we saw with ABC, delivery time.  CBS is only slightly better than ABC, with an average delivery time of 11 am CET, or 5 am EST.

Video quality is greatly improved over ABC, with the average podcast coming down at around 100 MB.  That may sound like a lot, but given today’s broadband speeds and sharing technologies, I’ve never waited more than a minute to download this podcast.

NBC

Mr. Brian Williams, sir, I stand and applaud you.  Ok, I’m quite certain that Brian Williams has, in fact, nothing to do with the NBC Evening News Video podcast, but the IT type folks at NBC have nailed it.  Not just a fluke, the NBC Evening News video podcast is a rock.  Simply due to this podcast, the NBC news is now my preferred source (obviously after The Daily Show and the Colbert Report, where everyone else gets their news, right?).

Video quality is outstanding, with the average download being somewhere in the 120 MB range, and I only very rarely can see a pixel or two, on my obviously way bigger than your average iPod or iPhone screen resolution.  NBC is also the only podcast that is made available in a widescreen format.  Again, not a bank breaker, but to this geek, a duly noted attention, or lack of, as it were, to detail.

Delivery time?  Fuggetaboutit.  As previously stated, I’m looking for fresh content around 8am CET, or 2am EST.  I’ve never looked any earlier than this time, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that NBC is posting this update 20 minutes after closing the show.  Of the three, NBC has never let me down, and always delivers the most up to date (with a day delay – it’s Europe, I’d expect it) news.  We have a winner!

Overall, I’m grateful to all three sources, as none of them have to provide this service, and that’s exactly what it is, a service, and free at that.  I can certainly see merits in what ABC’s trying to do, but I think they’re coming up short of the mark.  CBS, close, but no cigar.  If they’d put a little speed on their scheduled upload and available to the world schedule, they’d be on par with NBC.  And as far as NBC goes, delivery time and quality count in my book, and you folks, deliver on both fronts.

After watching three different broadcasts of each network’s evening news programs, let me simply leave you with this question:  Why do they all report, more or less, the exact same stories as their competitors?  Oh wait…that’s right.  We leave the ‘other’ news to those ‘less’ successful evening news programs over on that cable channel and put them on late at night.  Who could possibly be watching?

Skype for iPhone review

Mar 31, 2009 by Dan Taylor    7 Comments    Posted under: News, Productivity, Technology

Both the iPhone and non-iPhone world was abuzz yesterday (or today, depending on which time zone you’re in) about the confirmed announcement of skype for iPhone launching today.  Living in Europe, I’m up +6 hours ahead of the east coast – bonus!

My thoughts have echoed so many other iPhone owners, “Hey, where’s my skype application?” and I’d tried a number of work arounds, but nothing that delivered voip.  Fring is a great app for iPhone that will handle all your IM programs (think Adium for iPhone), including skype, but again, no voice features.  So you can imagine my excitement when the news broke like wildfire across the net yesterday when rumors were confirmed and skype would be made available (for free no less) today.

To my surprise, upon entering the app store via iTunes, skype is not (yet) the top free app, and I had to do a little searching.  Needless to say, there’s quite a few mentions of skype in the search results, but here’s the direct link to the skype app for iPhone.

Note: I am currently running the 3.0 firmware on my (obviously) jailed iPhone.

Installation

As with any iPhone application, installation is a breeze, literally a click and a password (if you have this option selected) away.  A quick install and eject later, I fired up my shiny new skype for iPhone application.  Sadly, I wasn’t able to grab a screenshot of the entry screen, but the folks at skype thoughtfully repeated their message about skype not being a replacement for a regular phone, and that emergency calls may not be made with skype (or any other voip service, for that matter).  Not necessary, but a nice thing to do.

Setup

The skype for iPhone setup is very familiar to any user of the desktop version, and is appropriately styled the same way.  Simply enter your user name and password, and you’re off to the races.  No ‘unknown error’s thus far.  Nothing but smooth sailing.

Use

If you’ve used any other type of IM service on your iPhone, and/or are fairly familiar with the way iPhone lays out lists (think of your contacts book), the UI is instantly recognizable.  Contacts are displayed alphabetically, and you have the option to display all contacts, or only those currently online.  As with the desktop version, contacts’ display icons appear next to their name, along with their status.

As with any new toy, I wanted to really test just how far this tiny little app will take me.  A quick view of my contacts list revealed that my friend Bree in Hawaii was still awake and online.  Hawaii?  Sure, I think that’s approximately half way around the world from where I am – looks like a suitable test location.  And here’s where things started to get a bit rocky.  First, Bree didn’t show up as online on the iPhone, but did show up on the desktop version.  I sent her a message via the desktop, and her response showed both on the desktop version and the iPhone.  Needless to say, the minute I got a response, poof!  Bree’s now online.  Perhaps I was a bit impatient, and didn’t give the system the proper amount of time to load all the data.

My initial call to Bree went through (technically), but I could not hear her, nor could she hear me.  At this point the application froze, and I had to ‘home’ button, close and relaunch.  Fair enough, it’s a first release; I’m willing to cut the Swedes some slack.

Our second attempt at a call can only be described by Borat as, “Great Success!”  Voice quality was just as good if not better than the desktop version, and on par with actual phone call quality.  We talked for about 5 minutes, all the while me moving about the house, closer and further away from the router.  All good.  As a point of comparison, I decided to hang up and call her back, but only using the 3G network this time.  Third attempt worked like a charm.  No lag, no dropped call, semi-instant connection.  I’d almost go so far to say that skype for iPhone performed better on 3G than over my wireless connection.  Although, to be fair, perhaps the application was suffering from stage fright, and that first misfire was the one and only bobble I’ll ever have (crossing fingers).

Just to put the distance question to the test, I gave a call to my buddy Olivier here in town, and low and behold, no misfires, instant connection, perfect voice quality.  So maybe there is something to routing a call 10,000 miles away vs. 3.  Either way, the application met my expectations.

Conclusion

Other than the first misfire while calling Hawaii, the skype for iPhone application works, and works quite well.  Is it perfect?  Yes/No.  I’d love to give the application 5 stars, but the first bobble knocks off half a star.  Given that the application is free and there’s a pretty good chance you’ve already got skype running on your desktop,  there’s absolutely no reason this little app shouldn’t be sitting on the front page of your iPhone.

Kudos skype – it’s been a long time coming.  Welcome to my phone.

Update: According to TechCrunch, within three short days, the skype for iPhone application has been downloaded over 1 million times.

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