“This player will be a nice upgrade path to Blu-ray for current owners of HD DVD discs when HD DVD goes under.”

As owners may know, the BD-UP5000 is no longer supported, and the Blu Ray version was capped at BD profile 1.1. It seems now that studios are releasing discs that will not only be unable to make use of BD 2.0 features (like Internet connectivity, which is expected) but also won’t even play the movie. Below is the beginning of a list of movies that I have found to be incompatible with my “old” Blu Ray player. I’ll update it as I find more.

• Hot Tub Time Machine
• Splice
• Salt
• Knight and Day

Please feel free to comment, adding any that you know of.

Shot and cut together on an iPhone 4. Music is “Arise” by E.S. Posthumus, licensed for personal use under Fair Use rules.

P.S. This is only a temporary housing situation, like the video says.

I don’t have any pets, aside from my pet dead plant.

From my Couchsurfing.org profile, written in 2004.

I do miss that dead plant.

Things are still coming together, for now.

If you drop Cherry Coke Zero the way you did Full Throttle Zero, I will cut you.

Thanks!

Love,
Chris

Apple just finished up its announcement for the new aptly named iPad.  Many sites will have in-depth reviews so I will speculate for a moment: who is this for?

I think that Apple has a few segments in the mobile market that all constantly push and pull at each other:

1. Macbook users
2. iPhone users
3. iPod Touch users

As an undiscovered sudoku prodigy, I’d like to use some logic to generalize a bit to find where the numbers belong.  Feel free to argue in the comments.

iPad’s interface is essentially an OS X lite for portable applications.  Of course, Macbooks are just as portable and are fully powered.  Taking out an iPad on the bus ride to work to watch a podcast would be faster than taking out a Macbook.  However, somebody that recognizes the value of a Macbook is in my opinion more likely to have an iPhone already to subsidize it with being connected. (See next section.)

Is the iPad for Macbook users?  Not likely.

iPhone users all have one thing in common: dropped calls.  As an iPhone user, am I interested in giving more money to AT&T for any reason?  NO.  The iPad offers little functionality that isn’t already fulfilled by the iPhone.  The entire app catalog is the same (for now), including scheduling, contacts and podcasts at a glance.  The iPhone excels in a few aspects such as I can strap it to my arm when I go to the treadmill, I can whip it out in .35 seconds to watch a video podcast (in widescreen might I add) on the bus without an issue.  It is fully connected with a required data plan pretty much any time, anywhere I need it.  Not to mention, I can take photos with my iPhone.

Is the iPad for iPhone users?  Definitely NOT.

Given the hardware specs, iPod Touch users are likely people who don’t have iPhones because they don’t subscribe to AT&T for one reason or another.  Since iPod Touch is basically an iPhone minus the phone, what is left is a love for the functionality.  These people probably fall into the realm of possible new customers.  Really, the iPad 3G is an upgrade for iPod touch users who would like to extend beyond wifi connectedness into the rest of the world.  This group probably makes up the largest group of theoretically “unconnected” customers.  According to this graph (and this post) from Wired, app sales from iPod touch jumped 1000% around Christmas time.

It’s been enough time (about a month, ha) where pretty soon all of these new users will be realizing the deficiencies pointed out by the iPad, and will begin wanting to use more connected and location-based apps. (Touch users currently only have wifi-based location services; iPad does not have GPS but has wifi/3G-assisted location services.)  This is what Touch users are lacking and while it’s not full-on GPS, it is pretty good and is one step closer.  An iPad will not fully replace the portability of a Touch, but it would make a good addition to somebody’s iLife without throwing down $1100+ for a Macbook.

Is the iPad for iPod Touch users?  Probably.

There are no doubt people that fall in between, and groups that are completely unrelated to any of these like students.  Other users might include:

1. Students – I think that if I was a student, I would buy an iPad in a hurry especially if textbooks were available.  Then again, since the desktop computer is essentially on the way out and most students have laptops anyway, they might fall back into the Macbook (laptop) users category.
2. Sales People – If all you have to do is present, this would be an excellent tool for doing that, as well as keeping entertained on the plane ride.
3. Everybody not in my industry – I will admit that it is difficult to see through lenses of somebody who isn’t surrounded by technology all of the time.  Having been brought up in Smalltown, U.S.A., I can appreciate the simplicity of being “unconnected”.  Perspective, my friends, is everything.  If I didn’t stare into a laptop screen all day long – if I was waiter or a hotel concierge or a bus driver, I might invest in one of these.
4. My Dad – I think he would think this is pretty cool.  I know that he doesn’t have 3G coverage.  He barely has cell coverage (at least for “big city” cellphones) and high-speed Internet can be found in the back of the co-op chemical building in town where you choose between Internet and cell signal.  He would dig the searchable iBook thing and I don’t know how many farmer apps there are but I think he would get some use out of it.

I am not far from this side of the fence: I would buy this for portability reasons when I have a larger/heavier laptop and do more freelance work that requires more presentation, and when it has a camera (because this is begging for augmented reality apps and video chat).

What do you think?  Will you buy an iPad?

Unfortunately, the program is still young.  There are a few features that are not available that would be really helpful, and while I’m sure they will be coming down the pipe eventually, they are sort of needed now.  One thing in particular that I’m referring to is the inability to easily make a call from your cellphone through Google Voice when you are away from a computer.

Right now, in order to make a call you have to:

• Dial your GV number
• Press 2
• Dial your contact’s number
• Hang up, because you don’t know your contact’s number
• Wait til you get to a computer

I don’t even know my own mother’s phone number.  It’s not that I’m a horrible son, it’s just that nobody really needs to remember phone numbers anymore.  On my old phone she was in my speed-dial as “666″ (M-O-M).  Now it’s just a tap on the Favorites screen.  (Yes, despite her speed-dial moniker, she is one of my favorites!)  The issue is if you want to be a hard-core GV user, you probably want to always make your calls and texts appear as if they are from your GV number. In lieu of an actual Google Voice app (I’m glaring at you, APPLE) we have to settle for using the mysterious 406 numbers that we see.

What are 406 numbers used for?

Whenever somebody sends a text message to your GV number, you get a text from a heretofore unknown 406 number.  The text includes your contact’s name, followed by the contents of the text message.  What you have to do is save that 406 number to that contact.  This number is a Google Voice user-specific number that has been assigned to that contact.  If you easily want to text or call that person using your GV number, call or text that saved 406 number.

This must mean that Google has taken over all of Montana’s telephone numbers to be able to assign a number to one of 6 billion people and each of their phones, right?  No.  Each number is user-specific, meaning that if you and I each dial 406-888-8888 from our respective GV-linked cellphones, I will get one person and you will get a different person.  When Google Voice gets a call to one of these 406 numbers, it uses the caller ID info sent from your phone and the numbers in your contact list to determine your account and who you are calling.  Essentially each person that sends you a text message is assigned a number that you can text back so it appears that your response is coming from your Google Voice number.  As far as anybody knows so far, these numbers are permanently assigned to your contacts.  Google employees have hinted that these numbers have other secret potential as well, so you can expect to hear more about this in the future.

So to recap: instead of dialing your GV and hanging up in frustration, just dial the 406 number that you saved and your contact will receive a call from you behind your GV number.