I saw an interesting article over at Apple Insider that said that some of the movie studios were considering an iTunes release for all of the Oscar Best Picture nominated movies this year. Honestly, I really like this idea.  It’s the best I’ve heard in a while.  Here’s why.

I love things like Netflix.  Being able to get the movies I like anywhere I want is really cool. I can sit in the family room with my family and they can watch whatever they want on the big screen TV (except when my Steelers play football!!).  I can grab my iPad, my MacBook (or any other Netflix compatible computing device), plug in a set of headphones and watch MY stuff whenever I want.  I’m still "with" the fam, even though we’re watching different programming. 

Is iTunes the digital media answer?

I can also take that device anywhere in the house (I have Wi-Fi throughout…) or even watch on the train going to and from the office (provided the 3G gods smile upon me and I’ve got a decent data signal).  But if you think about it, that’s where the chink in the armor is…THAT’S where the system falls down. 

Things like Netflix or Blockbuster On Demand are cool; but only work when and where you have solid network coverage.  In Europe, the model is nearly bullet proof, as the EU MANDATED that all wireless carriers create, support and maintain the latest wireless technologies.  Europe has ubiquitous 3G and/or Wi-Fi nearly everywhere. The continent pulses with it; and the coverage and speeds are pretty good, too.

Here in The States, we’re a long way from being close to what the European Union has in terms of Nationwide 3G (let’s not get into 4G and/or HSPA+, kids… there are still some places in the country that don’t have consistent, stable 3G speeds (meaning they’re stuck with EDGE at best), let alone 4G or HSPA+ or better.  I know for a fact, that AT&T built their digital network on top of their old analog infrastructure here in Chicago (which is partly why the coverage is so flakey and unreliable).  The wireless carriers don’t want to spend the BILLIONS of dollars that will be required to properly upgrade their network infrastructures in order to handle all of the increased traffic that devices like the iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab, as well as every other smartphone on the planet, will place on their networks without some serious prodding. 

But let me hand off that soap box for another time… There’s more to be said there; but its only tangibly relevant to the subject matter at hand – Digital videos, read: movies, and the Oscars. The issue here is getting advanced copies of nominated films to Academy members so they may view and vote on the films.  In previous years, studios pressed special edition DVD’s and delivered them to voting Academy members.  These DVD’s had special warnings on them physically as well as digitally to destroy and not distribute them; but they often got passed to family and friends.  The contents of those DVD’s was often ripped (the ability to do that is way to easy, way too quick) and then uploaded to torrent sites where they would be instantly pirated around the world, often without the "owning" Academy Member’s knowledge.

The proposed solution is actually rather ingenious.  Distribute one-time use iTunes redemption codes for advanced rental copies of the films that expire 24 hours after redemption.  This way, Academy members can download and watch the movies, and then cast their votes.  The movies have a 24 hour shelf life; and while breaking iTunes DRM isn’t unheard of, the methods are not as easy and aren’t as readily available as ripping a DVD.

Let’s face it, if someone REALLY wants to pirate a movie, they’re going to find a way to do it.  Making it more difficult, not impossible, is and should be the goal of DRM.  Which begs the question – if its good enough for the Oscars, what about the rest of the time?  What about all the other movies out there?

Some people may call me naive, but I believe that most people are good.  People won’t pirate content if they can have it where they want it, when they want it (at an affordable rate). Remember the mobile broadband thing I mentioned above?  Yeah… this is where it comes to play.  If I can get what I want, where I want, when I want; AND I can take it with me for when I can’t get access to the Internet,  the likelihood of me (or anyone, really) pirating something drops DRAMATICALLY. 

Are [we] going to completely eliminate piracy?  While Hollywood may insist on it before they completely adopt a complete digital model, its not very likely.  Its simply not realistic to think that any DRM or copy protection scheme is going to eliminate piracy and allow authorized users to conveniently (read: not completely piss the user off so they never buy from you again) use legally licensed content.  The only way I know of to do that is to NOT release or license the content. Period.

However, digital delivery methods like Apple’s iTunes could (and do for the most part for the movie distribution they do) go a long way to making issues like the Oscar’s Best Picture awards voting, as well as post general release video sales, a huge hit. While I may not be able to view the content on anything else other than my computer or registered iDevice, with so many of them sold and so many people having at least one, I truly wonder if that’s as much of an issue as it was say, 3-5 years ago.  My guess is that it isn’t…

But I’m just sayin’…

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Getting ready for work today, I’m very amused by this comic found on p. 6 of the January 24, 2011 edition of ComputerWorld.  Talking with some co-workers, many are ready to jump ship from AT&T.  Verizon, which has an excellent network should be ready for the influx of traffic.   Learning from all of AT&T’s mistakes should and deploying later should help for a very successful launch.    Verizon launches its iPhone on February 10 with preorders for existing Verizon customers starting on February 3.  But if you are planning to make that switch so you can get a rate of $30 a month for unlimited data, you better do it soon as according to NetworkWorld:

Verizon’s McAdam said that the $30 unlimited data plan for the iPhone 4 would be a temporary offer, and that the company would, like its rival AT&T, shift to a more granular tiered pricing model soon.

"This is part of the play by Verizon to get customers to move to the iPhone quickly, and to give AT&T customers a reason to jump ship," Gold said. "It’s not a bad move."

Many believe that Verizon will raise the price of the unlimited data plan to $120 a month.  Current Verizon rates are $15/month for 150MB and $30 for unlimited data with voice plans of $40 for 450 minutes and $69.99 for unlimited minutes.  Couple an iPhone with a service like Line2 for $10 a month or some other VoIP alternative and TextFree for unlimited texts and you have a potential winner – (Line2 I have not tried with a cellular network only my local WiFi but the results are mixed).  So for a potential $80 a month with a VoIP solution or $100 a month for unlimited data and voice (and with TextFree add unlimited texts)!  This deal seems perfect for the IT professional especially with the mobile hotspot where you can get internet linked out (hopefully without further charges from Verizon for tethering but extremely unlikely as they charge for Droid tethering at an extreme rate) to a machine when a client location doesn’t have internet yet.

I’m seriously considering getting an iPhone.  Right now I’m relying on my iPod Touch for everything such as banking deposits, VoIP, credit card processing, texting, Google Maps (load maps first and then leave WiFi area),  contacts, and scheduling.  With Verizon’s deal, I may just be enticed enough to switch carriers and go with an actual iPhone rather than my iPod Touch 4g.

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Some news just totally cracks me up.  I just read on NetworkWorld up how a 60 year old lady attempted to smuggle 44 iPhones into Israel by hiding them in her stockings!  Are people just that crazy?  Of all places to pull off such a stunt – with Israeli security…that’s a no no.  She tried carrying a all 44 iPhones on her person.  Granted it could be extremely lucrative with market prices of $800 and $1387 for 16Gb and 32GB models respectively, but is an iPhone really WORTH THAT MUCH EFFORT?  There are so many different phones to choose from.  It doesn’t HAVE TO be an iPhone.  And if you can’t get an iPhone, would you go to the black market to get one?

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I saw this cool article over at Computerworld by Sharon Gaudin on Google’s parting gift to Eric Schmidt – $100M in stock and options, vested over four years.

Wow!  That’s one heck of a thank you card. I’d definitely say, "you’re welcome!"

The article goes on to state that the management change is likely due to an agreement that Larry Page and Sergey Brin had with Schmidt – You run the company while we gain business experience, then one of us will take over. Larry Page obviously thinks that now is the time.

What to the changes at Google mean..?

And he may be right.  Google turned 12.  Their financials are firm, and their future looks pretty good.  But $100M clams?!  Wow!  Man, I’d settle for 1.0% of that in cash (well actually a whole lot less…) but I’m just sayin’.  Schmidt has obviously done a good job, putting the company in a decent position to take on challenger Facebook over the next few years.

I’m not certain what the company has in mind if it takes on the social network giant; but let’s at least hope it’s a heck of a lot better than their Google Buzz introduction.  That attempt to take over and recreate a Twitter look alike went over like a lead balloon.  Twitter is well established; and while 140 characters ain’t much, ga-jillions of peeps tweet all day long.  If Google intends to take on Facebook, then they had better provide a social networking solution with one HECK of a compelling reason to move from a very comfortable, very familiar experience to something new; and I really DO mean a HECK of a compelling reason.

The FB Masses are much like my wife and mother-in-law (who recently got on the computer for the FIRST time about a year ago when my wife introduced her to Farm Town).  They don’t like change, don’t want change, and will RESIST change, simply because change is different than what they were used to (and really, "what was wrong with what [I] had before?!?").  Most everything that they want to do (chat, keep up with friends, share pictures, play games, etc.) they can already do on Facebook; and quite honestly, Facebook is doing a very good job.  So why switch..?

If Google does decide to take a poke, I think they’re going to have to address the following:

• Facebook to Google Whatever (like in, whatever they decide to call it) export/import
• Easy FB Photos to Picasa photo album transfer
• Easy FB Videos to YouTube transfer and integration
• Tons (read UNLIMITED) of photo and video storage
• Easy FB Friend to Google Whatever Friend import and invite
• Games
• Executable over the web
• Android based??
• Android Smartphone compatible
• Market installable so I can install it on my Froyo or better compatible phone and take the game with me where ever I go
• Game progress can be transferred/synchronized back to the cloud so that I can play via a desktop again when I want
• Team/vs. mode regardless of client (desktop or mobile device – read tablet…) that allows people to play any time, anywhere, with anyone
• Google Cloud Print Compatible
• Print photos to any printer, anywhere on the internet (so new pics show up on Grandma’s printer…Surprise Grandma! New pictures of Junior just for you..!)
• Google Docs/Google Apps integratable
• I can share/grant read/write permissions for docs with friends if I want
• Friends can update and save documents
• Documents are printable via Google Cloud Print
• On-line Photo and Video Editing
• Picasa for photo storage & sharing
• Picnik integration for photo editing
• YouTube Channel integration (and all its power, including subscriptions and subscription notifications)
• FB Chat to Google Talk transition instructions and orientation
• Life Integration
• All tools available via Android Smartphone apps from the Android Market
• Desktop tools available for off-line edits and updates (See Google Pack)
• Full 2-way sync for all account end-points

The final product is going to have to be a lot better looking than iGoogle, too.  It’s an ok portal, but if its going to be the beginnings of a FB challenger, then Google is going to have to get serious about Social, and serious about some value-added glitz.  If you look here, you’ll see that Google’s got a lot of what’s needed already.  They just need to repackage it, put it in a different wrapper and/or portal offering, and then listen to their users and the feedback they give.

Making all of the above available off-line and syncable is going to be huge.  My family is at Disney right now with Grandma and Grandpa.  The hotel they’re staying at, even those on premises, don’t offer free Wi-Fi or internet access.  Being able to off-load all of my pictures and videos to a desktop client where I can organize them, touch them up and then have them automatically sync up to the cloud where I can further tweak, share, etc., would be huge when I take my laptop with me, but can’t get to my cloud based tools.

That’s the Google-dollar question – what’s Google going to do; and what will it look like? I’m not certain what Larry Page has up his sleeve, but its going to be an interesting time as a consumer if Google does go up against Facebook.  No matter what happens, taming the Social Network monster is going to be a big job. I don’t know of anyone else around that has the talent and resources available to take on the challenge. Again, I just hope that the end results are a heck of a lot better than Google Buzz, and its initial offering. If that’s what Google’s gonna give us, they might as well do everyone a favor and not even try…

But, I’m just sayin’…

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What crazy volume….10 billions downloads from the Apple App store with Neon Play’s Paper Glider application. 

Neon Play CEO Oli Christie received a telephone message from Apple saying, "Mr Christie. This is Apple in Cupertino. We have some good news to share with you…"

"We’ve been eagerly discussing the 10 billion app countdown in our game studio, so when I got a call from Apple Cupertino saying they had some "good news", I thought they might tell us they were featuring one of our apps on the App Store," said Oli Christie, CEO of Neon Play.

"So when they said that Neon Play’s Paper Glider was the 10 billionth app, I was completely and utterly dumbstruck. It’s a great piece of news for the whole Neon Play team. Paper Glider was already the number one app in the UK, so this is a double piece of great news for our studio."

Paper Glider is a free to download iPhone app. The aim of the game is simple – you need to flick a paper plane with your finger to try and get it out of the office window while avoiding ceiling fans. Once you’re out of the window you need to fly the plane as far as you can by using your limited amount of wind boosts.

The game has received over 2.5 million downloads to date and is currently no. 1 in the UK free apps and no. 2 in the US charts.

Congrats to Apple for 10 billion app downloads as well as Neon Play for making a wonderful app that got the 10 billion download award.

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The vision – one number controlled by you for life by Google just made another stride ahead.  Instead of getting a brand new number, you now can port your number to Google Voice for a mere $20.  By doing so, whatever number your porting from, that service would be terminated – so do so with care if you are under contract as you could suffer early termination charges with a carrier.  For AT&T prepaid users like me – that means now I can port my number over and just get a new number by buying another prepaid plan – plus I’ll get all the benefits that Google Voice has to offer such as voicemail transcription as well as call screening and call blocking.  Yay!

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