Out of the Box

There’s a pretty exciting report coming from the Financial Times that Apple is negotiating with the major music record labels to build in access to their catalogs into the price of the device. Such a move would be consistent with rumors of an Apple DVR in that it would show that Apple is intent on keeping the value on its hardware products, the roots of the company. As many have speculated, while Apple has sold over four billion songs, the iTunes store hasn’t been a major profit center.

According to the FT, the labels want $100 per device, which would be prohibitive for where popular models such as the iPod nano are today. Also, I’m not thrilled with the idea of the license being tied to a device. That seems like a step backward from the trend of DRM-free music sales; even DRM tracks can be used on an unlimited number of iPods.. Nevertheless, if Apple (or any other company, for that matter) and the labels can pull it together, it would represent a digital music renaissance, taking us full-circle back to the early days of “free” digital music and the explosion in discovery that went along with it.

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Recent Apple patents showing a flip-design iPhone and a DVR that might be able to exchange guide data with an iPhone (as well as give talk show hosts really bad haircuts) remind us that, while Apple has shared technology (operating systems, video and graphics support, iTunes support) among its entrants in each of the “three-screen” products — Mac, iPhone/iPod, and Apple TV, there really hasn’t been that much active collaboration among them at this point outside of being able to start a TV show or movie on one device and finish it on another (a cool feature, to be sure).

It’s fine for Apple to move slowly here. Consumers don’t buy “synergy”, they buy products. But just as I’ve credited the Apple store with providing an environment for letting consumers experience the iPod and expose the iPhone (particularly during the holiday season), Apple’s retail presence could make some of these difficult home networking concepts more palatable. The living room is definitely the weakest link and while the DVR market has been an extremely tough not to crack, Apple TV remains Apple’s weakest link in the chain.

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• New column: With SDK, iPhone is Jobs’ "next great thing" http://tinyurl.com/3dnhg7 #
• @JasonCalacanis Cellular is coming to the subways, which aren’t very laptop-friendly today. Might as well wait for 4G at this point. #

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Today Microsoft and Adobe announced that Flash Lite will be licensing Flash Lite and Reader LE for Windows Mobile devices. Flash Lite may not be able to accommodate everything that the desktop Flash player can do, but its inclusion should open up the door to more content viewable on Windows Mobile devices. Of course, Microsoft has its own competing standard for such content in Silverlight, but with its arrival on mobiles not slated for some time and with Silverlight still not able to read Flash content for some time, so I see it as more than a stopgap measure.

Adobe has seen a number of operators, such as Verizon Wireless here in the U.S., use Flash Lite as a platform for user interfaces. Enabling Windows Mobile to include such functionality should make that operating system a more viable contender for mainstream handsets.

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So, I just tried posting something, and got back the error message, “No! No! No!” and then the blog sat on the floor, threw a huge tantrum and said it wanted a lollipop.

It’s been a fun year. Awards were won. Readership is growing. Twitter updates are allowing even more granular commentary. There are other things in the works, but the imminent release of WordPress 2.5 has provided a procrastination excuse window for measured consideration. Thanks for reading.

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Mark Cuban takes The New York Times to task for debasing itsesf by calling its blogs… “blogs.” Rather than having the Times’ imprimatur validate the blog, he argues, calling its blogs “blogs” drags the venerable newspaper down into that dangerous dystopia of dubious diatribe known as the blogosphere. Journalists, don’t go there alone at night if you value your kidneys. Once bloggers start moving into your publication, your media property values will sink like a stone.

The Times’ struggle against Internet commoditization began when the newspaper — like every other major news organization – established an editorial presence on the Web. Refusing to call its online presence a “Web site” in favor of something that nobody understands would not have changed the fundamental dynamics of the Web’s low barrier to entry. (That said,, the Times now follows Mark’s advice to tie into its print recognition by branding its Web site “all the news that’s fit to click.”) If blogging is as commoditized as Mark portrays it, then a flashy rebadge isn’t going to help much.

Also, I don’t see how Mark can dsmiss all of the positive connotations of blogs – intimacy, feedback, conversation, perspective and modernness. Calling the Times’ blog “realtime reporting” doesn’t convey any of this. ”Reporting” may reflect the Times’ traditional brand value, but doesn’t distinguish beyond what the Times may be doing online or, for that matter, what CNN does on television. Indeed, the Times could be doing a lot worse than blogs in attracting some sources of traffic.

Mark closes by referencing HBO’s “It’s not TV. It’s HBO.” marketing slogan, but that’s an easy distinction to make in a bandwidth-constrained medium by a premium cable channel. Over a decade ago, HBO (once better known as an acronym for Home Box Office) shifted its emphasis from commercial-free movie airing to creating its acclaimed lineup of original, exclusive TV series. The slogan, which came later, reflected the reality. It didn’t create it.

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• I’ve no need for more megapixels and noise in an Elph but would like to see Canon bring 5x zoom to its 8 MP Elphs. http://snurl.com/21vli #

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• This is what geeks consider a six-pack: http://tinyurl.com/2o9sxo #
• Elite bloggers reading Out of the Box in droves. http://www.rossrubin.com/outofthebox #

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• Per Acer, 16:9 is the new 16:10. Seems to make sense at least for the 16″ size, where it adds 7 percent more screen real estate. #
• Toshiba’s HD DVD tab for this year? one billion dollars. Avoiding a prolonged format war? priceless. http://snurl.com/21n9s #
• Great to see AA hop on the in-flight broadband bandwagon. I recall when Seamus McAteer said tthis would never be. http://snurl.com/21nyq #
• Microsoft agrees with me that Blu-ray on the Xbox 360 makes no sense, as I’ve previously written. http://snurl.com/21oct #

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Today, Pandigital, one of the most successful digital photo frame vendors, takes the wraps off a new display product aimed at the kitchen. The kitchen is often an activity hub of the home, but limited progress has been made turning it into a digital hub. Nonetheless, that hasn’t been for lack of trying, particularly for Internet appliances. 3Com’s ill-fated (and perhaps just simply ill) Audrey was targeted at the kitchen, as were a few incarnations of the pricey Icebox device, which integrated a television, DVD player, and Web browser along with a washable keyboard. The PC most explicitly designed for use in the kitchen today is the HP TouchSmart PC.

There have also been a few specialized grocery list organizers and simple digital reminders, such as the Simpliciti Aurora, the inexpensive Jenda, the even more recent SmartShopper, and the imminent Audiovox Digital Message Centers. Like the Audiovox product, the Pandigital Kitchen HDTV/Digital Cookbook/Digital Photo Frame (yes, that’s its real name), includes a digital photo frame, reflecting Pandigital’s main business. And like the Icebox, it includes a TV (albeit a digital one). There aren’t may details about the digital cookbook part.

The 15″ screen with 512 MB of RAM will cost $399 whan it’s released in June. The TV will support 720p output. The specs say it will be able to display pictures from Picasa Web so there is probably some network connectivity. At $399, it will be a relatively niche product, but Pandigital will try to cover the decor bases by offering black, white and stainless finishes for this unique hybrid.

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