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Its a holdover from when carriers slapped their bloatware on every phone they sold and customers just assumed this is what you used (its the same impulse that causes my mother in law to ask if she needs to download Comcast’s “security suite” that they keep sending her emails about). Its the same reason people inexplicably go to Verizon or AT&T stores to get an iPhone when they could have a much better experience at an Apple store…. out of habit.

Of course the difference here is you have to go looking for it. I’d be willing to bet the Android version that Verizon can preload on their phones gets a heck of a lot more users than the iPhone version. If there wasn’t a demographic of people that fell for pre-installed crapware carriers and PC OEM’s wouldn’t bother.

1 day ago on Verizon Cloud backup app now on iOS

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Publishers represent the songwriters. When you buy a CD or digital download or stream a song a portion of your payment goes to the perfromer and a portion goes to the songwriter. This is not about some greedy middlemen trying to hold onto their cut.

Who do you want to get more of your money when you stream? The members of Radiohead or some venture capitalist in silicon valley?

1 day ago on With downloads dwindling, music publishers throw a roadblock into Apple's iRadio plans

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No licensing deal is forever. Bands/labels/distributers have removed music that was previously available to stream on Spotify and Rdio just like Starz and Disney have yanked their content off of Netflix. If you love an album the only way to guarantee it won’t disappear is own a copy of the files that are under your control, not some DRM server.

3 days ago on With downloads dwindling, music publishers throw a roadblock into Apple's iRadio plans

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I don;t want that. it sounds like crap. I;ll just buy the music I want and use streaming to try out new stuff I’m not sure about.

3 days ago on With downloads dwindling, music publishers throw a roadblock into Apple's iRadio plans 1 recommend

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You do realize that “artists” and songwriters are often one in the same. This is about songwriter compensation. Bands that write and perform their own music get compensated as both from sales of their recordings.

3 days ago on With downloads dwindling, music publishers throw a roadblock into Apple's iRadio plans 1 reply

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For me its about owning versus renting. As Netflix shows there is never a guarantee that an album you love will always and forever be available on a particular service. That combined with the fact that my car doesn’t have bluetooth audio (or any other way to hook up an iPhone) so I’m stuck burning CD’s for trips.

3 days ago on With downloads dwindling, music publishers throw a roadblock into Apple's iRadio plans 2 replies 1 recommend

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I do the same. And as a result I end up buying less music unless it stands up to repeated listens. But we are probably not in the mainstream. Heck, people that pay for streaming services aren’t even in the mainstream. In the US at least most people just opt for the free plans.

3 days ago on With downloads dwindling, music publishers throw a roadblock into Apple's iRadio plans

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Herman Miller stuff is incredibly well made, even when its in plastic. I have a set of dowel wood leg plastic Eames side chairs but I doubt I would have ever purchased them had I not been able to get a design trade discount through work. The price is indeed quite steep considering they were originally designed for to bring good design to the masses.

4 days ago on Iconic Eames chair returns to its fiberglass roots

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Great, thanks. Megapixels don;t matter much to me but better light sensitivity, metering, autofocus and more on-body manual controls do. Ordered the 60D and should have it by the weekend.

4 days ago on Is the Canon 60D a big enough upgrade from a Rebel XT to justify $699?

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Samsung is successful because their products are on every carrier, they pay gobs of money on TV, web and print ads to make sure everyone knows about the Galaxy brand and they give “incentives” (ie they pay carriers) to really push the phones in store. Its all about money. They are successful because they are an electronics behemoth who floods the market with their devices and uses their endless supply of cash to ensure it succeeds.

Making fun of iPhone users is not part of that success equation. That part is purely preaching to the choir (the choir being a niche of anti-Apple geeks who would never buy an iPhone anyway). It’s akin to politicians “rallying the base” with extremist positions and saving moderate positions for when they talk to the mainstream. The mainstream is who gets them elected, not the base.

5 days ago on Samsung Galaxy ads a perfect Mac vs PC response? 2 recommends

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Thanks. Just making sure I’m not expecting too much. I really did like all the controls being on the right, the top mounted LCD and the general feel of the camera body.

5 days ago on Is the Canon 60D a big enough upgrade from a Rebel XT to justify $699?

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Thanks! I think I’’m going to get one and give it a try over the coming memorial day weekend. At 1100 or 1400 dollars I might balk but at 699 the D60 is about the same as getting a Rebel. I know the 60D is 2 years old and the newer Rebel 4Ti is equivalent in a lot of ways but a better experience in the hand and less menu digging and more manual control is one of the things I want in an upgrade. The smaller body and touchscreen just aren’t all that appealing to me.

5 days ago on Is the Canon 60D a big enough upgrade from a Rebel XT to justify $699?

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I suppose only in the Android app then, which is not going to do any good for those who have iOS devices And even though that makes it equal to Spotify and Rdio for the 10 dollars a month plans it still doest address the whole slew of other downsides I listed. And the most troublesome downside is the lack of a 5 dollars a month web only or free- ad supported option.

6 days ago on How Google beat Apple to a streaming music service

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Do you have any idea how many bluetooth headsets have been sold?bq.

Well as a matter of fact, I just saw this the other day:

“While sales of Bluetooth headsets are still growing, they haven’t kept pace with the growth of smartphones (33% vs 124% increase in units shipped between 2010 and 2013 according to Michael Morgan, Senior Analyst for Mobile Devices at ABI Research).”

http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/the-best-bluetooth-headset-is-the-jawbone-era/

Meaning, bluetooth headsets are certainly popular, but they are nowhere near as ubiquitous as the computers we carry in our pocket. Nor are they used in as many social situations. Compared with smartphones, wireless headsets are a niche product for people who need them for very specific circumstances. Smartphones are quickly becoming mobile computers for every circumstance imaginable.

Which is exactly what Nilay prediucted might become the fate of Glass. Actually glass could very well be the successor to bluetooth headsets giving you quick visual information and audio when driving. Which would make them quite useful. Just not the allways-on, 24-7-365 computing revolution that some are predicting.

7 days ago on Will Google Glass create information heroes or new-wave Bluetooth dorks?

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Bluetooth headsets have been relegated mostly to where they belong… in vehicles. The ridiculous fad of wearing them everywhere, in meetings, at dinner, walking around the office, walking down the street with that stupid blinking blue light going off like you have been assimilated by the Borg has most certainly fallen out of favor… because people have figured out that it makes them look like pretentious, self-important douches.

Interesting how using ones smartphone… discreetly and appropriately….in the same situations has not been squashed. The intrusive social implications head mounted tech are why Glass will wind up more like Bluetooth headsets than smartphones.

8 days ago on Will Google Glass create information heroes or new-wave Bluetooth dorks? 1 reply

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I’ve been giving Google play music all access a spin for the last two days and I calling it half baked.

On the plus side it allows you to upload your own music and there’s a web interface (unlike Sportify but not as good as Rdio’s web interface)

On the downside there is no iOS, Windows Phone, or Blackberry apps, no desktop apps, no set top box apps, a so so web interface and a less than complete library. Add in the fact that you aren’t able to download music for offline listening (either the stuff you uploaded or the stuff you are essentially renting) and Google appears to be the weekest of the three big names in music streaming right now. Its only really interesting to those who eat drink and breathe the Google lifestyle.

I’m certainly not giving up Rdio for Google Music. And if Apple’s solution turns out to be a glorified Pandora I won’t give it up for that either. Maybe the big guys can’t do it better than the little guys?

8 days ago on How Google beat Apple to a streaming music service 2 replies

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I’m always happy to see Google Maps being improved. Its one of the most indispensable apps on my iPhone. The rest of Google doesn’t do a whole lot for me since I use iCloud for all my synching between Macs and iOS devices. I used to be a Reader devotee but have moved on to the very capable and slick Feedly. Google+ is nice looking but automated levels and contrast adjustment is not going to make anybody leave Facebook for it.

8 days ago on Your thoughts on Google I/O?

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Another basic human need and want to to speak face to face with someone without that person constantly looking up and the the right to check whatever… or without the fear of being recorded without our consent. The human face is an area of intense scrutiny and importance during communication. This precisely why even a decade after their introduction, it is still considered rude and bad form to wear one’s bluetooth headset in many social situations.

The desire to be informed by technology does not necessitate the wearing of a heads up display. We have phones in our pockets and several other locations on our body where wearable computing devices do not get in the way of face to face communication. The body language associated with using those other devices are important queues to those around us as where our attention is at the moment.

8 days ago on Will Google Glass create information heroes or new-wave Bluetooth dorks? 1 reply 2 recommends

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What is more interesting is how many people are dismissing wearable computers when it is so obvious these things are the future regardless what they believe.bq.

There is nothing “obvious” about the future. History has shown that it never turns out the way you predict.

Just as the naysayers may be wrong, so too may be the boosters.

8 days ago on Will Google Glass create information heroes or new-wave Bluetooth dorks? 1 reply 3 recommends

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I tried Google Now for a few days and unless you live in the Google universe its kind of useless. I’ve got all my info in iCloud so Siri works great for me. Now that Reader is going away, the only Google service I can’t do without is Maps.

8 days ago on Siri and Google Now: Are you refusing to choose?

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Glass apologists keep telling me that we are all just being negative, that all sorts of game chamnging tech products have been greeted with derision at first and then have been gladly accepted by society. And they may have a point. To them I have but three words: Segway. Bluetooth headset. Some products take adjustment, some just overstep their welcome.

Providing on the spot information to those around you will not make you a “hero”. Nobody likes that guy who is always whipping out his phone to prove some point of other at dinner. And that’s with a device that can be put away in one’s pocket. Just imagine how irritating it will be when its attached to one’s face?

Bluetooth headsets are a perfect analogy. Now that the novelty has worn off, most people just leave them in their car where they provide a valuable service. Glass may turn out to have some great uses. But wearing them around every waking hour of the day will be shunned by society just as the its shunnes the guy who never takes off his bluetooth headset.

8 days ago on Will Google Glass create information heroes or new-wave Bluetooth dorks? 3 recommends

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The ability to upload your own music to the cloud to be used in your streaming mixes is one rather nice feature. But I’ll admit after using All Access yesterday Rdio stilll has the superior web based experience. Google’s has a clunky layout with too much stuff and way too big text that limits what you can see on the screen at once.

9 days ago on Google takes on Spotify with Google Play Music All Access subscription service, priced at $9.99 per month

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Signed up and used it for most of yesterday afternoon. Rdio still has the best interface but this is definitely a step up from Spotify’s horrible desktop UI. The ability to add your own tunes to the cloud and use them in your playlists is a nice touch.

Sadly, Spotify has gained all its traction for all the wrong reasons… they got in bed with Facebook and they have a free tier which seems to never end despite several promised to the contrary (for American users at least). I’ll gladly pay for a good service like this but I’m not the norm. Most people are too cheap to even shell out 5 bucks a month much less 10. If Google wants to have any chance of becoming a big player with this they really need a free, ad-supported option.

9 days ago on Google takes on Spotify with Google Play Music All Access subscription service, priced at $9.99 per month 1 recommend

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For the record, Bose 201’s have a long history as entry level speakers from the late 70’s and early 80’s. The hate against Bose began with the introduction of the Accoustimass jewel cube and sub systems in the 90’s. I can’t speak to the 201’s quality today but tiny plastic jewel cubes and a boomy sub they are not.

10 days ago on Daft Punk's 'Random Access Memories' available now to stream in its entirety from iTunes (update)

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Anybody who loves Hip Hop or Techno owes a debt of gratitude to disco. Without disco as an outgrowth of Philly Soul there would have been no early rap of the Sugarhill Gang or the Electro of Afrikaa Bambataa or House Music and then Techno. Disco, funk and soul are like mother tongues and all the various forms of dance music and hip hop are the dialects loosely based on them.

That said, I don’t find the Daft Punk record to be all that “disco” (at least the orchestra and bass slap and diva form that most people are familiar with). Its got elements of it (the Italo disco of the Giorgio Moroder track) but a lot of it reminds me of the synthesized pop, funk, and soul of the early 80’s. Its more Quincy Jones and George Benson than Donna Summer and Bee Gees in my opinion.

11 days ago on Daft Punk's 'Random Access Memories' available now to stream in its entirety from iTunes (update) 1 recommend