WOWNOW

Hi Everyone

Well Apple started shipping the new generation Apple TV (ATV) last week and mine has finally arrived.

I loved the original ATV so the new ATV had a lot to live up to. Currently it doesn’t excite me however heres my initial review of the next generation ATV.

Like

It was easy to set up – it was fully functional in under 10 minutes; and

Interface is easy to use.

Dislike

No storage, all owned content streams from another iTunes shared library;

No localised streaming TV shows such as Bigpond TV; and

Only rental options, if you could buy watch and download to your other device later it would be better.

Currently I would give it 3 out of 5 stars.

I do believe however this might just be the start of something much bigger and that Apple may no longer treat the ATV as a hobby product.

The new ATV is built on the iOS platform which could see ATV specific applications become available and for the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and ATV to become an integrated gaming centre.  Although many don’t see the ATV moving into the gaming market I think it’s an option that Apple will consider (if they haven’t already).

Beyond the somewhat obvious suggestion of Apps I also see the new ATV as a move by Apple to start to build demand for a future release of an Apple Cloud Solution. In late 2009 Apple bough LALA a cloud based music streaming service, now with a streaming only ATV it seems the logical step for Apple to take. That is to release an Apple branded cloud media storage solution, an extension of MobileMe or a standalone product.

If I can buy content and have it hosted in the cloud and stream it to any of my iOS devices, including the ATV, then it takes the ATV from a 3 to 4.5 star product.

So at $129AUD it’s not bad, certainly a lot cheaper than the previous model if you have the spare cash and don’t currently have the original ATV, I am sure you will enjoy it. If you’re an existing ATV owner there is no benefit, that I have discovered, to rush out and buy the new one just yet.

I would love to hear about your experience with the new ATV, leave me a comment.

Thanks

JB

PS – in Australia the TV Shows menu item is not enabled from what I have seen – is this correct?

The list of dislikes grow by the hour…

So at home I use Telstra’s BigPond Elite Liberty ADSL service I use the latest generation Apple Time Capsule for my wireless network. So with what is meant to be a premium grade ADSL service and Apple  MacBook Pro and other Apple products using Apple wireless networks I expect for their to be no issues. However I have noticed that even watching owned content streaming to my new ATV when I am busy on the network the ATV pauses, not a lot, but even once is enough but it was more than once. I am a bit shocked by this because other reviews talk of how they are impressed with the streaming. I am going to try renting (meh I want to buy and stream) a movie and see if I have any problems with that service.

Also if iTunes crashes the content you are watching on the ATV obviously stops as well – another painful “feature”.

So a recent blog was about the first 24 hours of my new magical and revolutionary Apple iPad. I wrote, with enthusiasm, of how I thought it would be a valuable tool to my working week, so here is my wrap up.

My Work Days

I joked when my iPad arrived, with my colleagues, that I was going to have a week without paper and pen – so in some ways that became the test for this week.

Firstly let me remind you that my day job is for the State Government and while the public sector is transforming itself there is still a considerable need for paper submissions and approvals, so going completely paperless isn’t easy.

Regardless of these limitations I am giving the iPad a tick for productivity improvements for the week, for example

• • Any action points that I gained during the day went straight into my online, syncing, task management program. Compared to my old method of witting it on my daily running sheet and then either trying to remember it or manually putting it into my calendar.
  • I had it set up in one meeting with the photos of everyone at the meeting, their names, position and organization so I could easily remind myself of who they where. (Sounds weird but it made things a lot easier)
  • I’ve used it to edit documents on the fly while in the back of cabs from one meeting to the other – it’s the form factor that makes it great for that sort of thing. Sure not something I have to do all the time, but it was great to be able to do it.

Some of these examples may seem small but when they occur over and over again in a day and a week – it adds up and makes a difference.

My Uni Class

Usually while I am in class I am doing e-mails, taking key notes from the presentation, reading RSS feeds, using google to quickly find information on the topic being presented, so I thought I would try it without my laptop and just use my iPad.

The hands down benefit of just taking the iPad is the sheer ease of use and portability, not to mention that it fits on those darn little tables much better than the 17” MBP. I managed to do everything I normally would do and found it less intrusive for the other students during the tute.

My Daily Commute

Okay so these days I catch a bus to and from work, prior to the iPad I tended to listen to music, read the occasionally newspaper article or some rss feeds or twitter. Now with the iPad I am finding that I am reading The Australian online before I get to work. This means that the 15/20 minutes I would spend going through the political and business headlines each morning are done before I get to the office another time saver.

Of course I also did the normal 15+ things during the commute now just with a bigger screen and keyboard.

But, it’s not all work there has been FUN as well.

I am not a huge game player but I do like a few other apps designed for chilling out. From streaming multi-format videos over wifi and 3g to my iPad to reading some of my favorite magazines, I am able to maximize my down time no matter where I am.

But is it really Magical and Revolutionary?

I can already hear people saying you can do all of that stuff on a netbook, but the fact is I didn’t and a lot of people I know with netbooks don’t.

I do know that restaurants, hair saloons and all sorts of businesses are using iPads in settings traditionally filled with paper based methods or inefficient cash register systems, they could have but didn’t use netbooks.

When all is said and done Apple sold 2 million iPads in the USA alone in the first 2 months of sales. Despite the critics of the iPad and the apparent lack of need for such a device many companies have subsequently announced plans to introduce their own device to compete with the iPad.

I feel, at very least, it is encouraging people to rethink the possible when it comes to mobile computing and that I is going to have a wider lasting, perhaps revolutionary, impact on the market than many would think.

In closing yes I am an Apple fan but I have used netbooks and tablets and this is the first such styled device that I have personally found useful.

If you have an iPad I would love to hear what you love about it and your favourite app(s).

Have a great day and thanks for reading.

JB

Hi all, well if you follow my Twitter account @jasonsbrsdshaw you would know that yesterday I was like a kid on Christmas day, with the arrival of my iPad.

Yes I generally love Apple products and I would consider myself an early adopter of technology so it’s no surprise that I pre-ordered the iPad and waited anxiously for it’s arrival.

The big day arrived and my iPad finally arrived. Yay leaps of joy internally and loads of new toy smiles. However I did ask myself, “did I just pay $1049, just for a smile?” I am glad to say that the first 24 hours has confirmed for me that the iPad is more than a geeky accessory.

The first 24 hours of use?
Well let’s start with using the iPad during a meeting within the first few hours of having it. I was talking with a colleague about a new initiative for our staff and how social media could assist the program. So out comes the iPad and I demonstrated, in real time, social media tools that could be used to assist.

Productivity boost achieved – I didn’t have to schedule a follow up meeting and take my MacBookPro along, I simply dealt with it on the fly.

Outside of this i have used the iPad to read a number of newspapers, start reading some magazines and looked at some books. I have found reading on the iPad easy and love things like going straight to a website mentioned in the article or in text video, unlike traditional print media where you would have to go to the computer, etc.

I am also travelling today and while I wouldn’t usually get my laptop out for a one hour flight, the iPad is easy to whip out and start working on. I can actually see myself leaving the laptop at home for short same day or overnight trip.

Oh and if all that productivity stuff is boring you, never fear – games are awesome on the iPad! I am not a huge gamer but i can see the iPad having an impact in this space as well.

Ok it’s not perfect.
So people have said, it should have a camera or it needs multitasking and other such things. Well sure a camera would be handy, but how often do you actually do web conferences with video? How often do you use Skype for video? Sure I use these tools but not regularly and not enough for me to miss the camera, I’m sure it will come in a future generation.

Now multitasking would be nice – I am guessing it will come as an OS upgrade sometime after Apple’s WorldWide Developer Conference.

Oh and a mute button would be handy, but I am just being picky.

The wrap up.
Thr iPad has lived up to my expectations and I can see it being a positive impact to my productivity and also put a bit of fun into my week when I steal a free moment to practice my rally car driving skills.

I am really looking forward to Grandma and Mum using the iPad, I think they are going to love it. It will be Grandma’s first “computer” like device.

So there you have it a full 4.5stars from me.

PS – this entire blog was typed and published on the iPad