0:00:00this is episode number one of
0:00:01hypercritical the show is hosted by John
0:00:04siracusa and Dan Benjamin that's me this
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0:00:44monitor calm this is the first episode
0:00:47of hyper critical right you're John
0:00:49siracusa people know your writing from
0:00:52ARS technica and maybe some other places
0:00:55too out Dan Benjamin we're going to
0:00:57we're going to start talking about
0:01:00things technology maybe Apple a little
0:01:03bit things that we love and hate the
0:01:07you're gonna you're going to be more of
0:01:08the hater I'll be more of the lover I
0:01:11guess you hate plenty of things too we
0:01:13will find that out I think through the
0:01:15show yes but this is a new show I
0:01:18interviewed you on the pipeline and ever
0:01:19since then I said you we need to do a
0:01:21show and you kept saying I can't I can't
0:01:23do it I can't do a show I work and I
0:01:26said what this isn't work and you said
0:01:27well I have a full-time job I have to I
0:01:29have to go into an office I'm a you know
0:01:32I wear a suit and tie every morning and
0:01:34not quite punchy in but no I got a 9 to
0:01:395 but you made it work you you you end
0:01:42up 9 to 5 - more or less
0:01:43you know you went to your boss and you
0:01:45said that listen we got to make this
0:01:46happen this is more important than than
0:01:49anything this is the most important
0:01:50thing I've got going as the show and he
0:01:52said I said ok so they're making an
0:01:56exception and once in a while
0:01:57periodically we need to be fair and set
0:01:59expectations Jon that periodically we
0:02:03may not be able to do a show because of
0:02:05something urgent that happens with with
0:02:06you and your job that's true work has to
0:02:09take precedence but today we are doing a
0:02:11show and what are we talking about you
0:02:12came up with this long
0:02:13of topics and told me to pick one I
0:02:15picked one you just pick one randomly
0:02:17I'm wondering about that I know I picked
0:02:19on because I thought it would be kind of
0:02:21interesting but because I don't want to
0:02:23talk about Verizon anymore
0:02:24yeah really we could have another show
0:02:27we repeat everything that's already been
0:02:28said about the iPhone Verizon and Mac
0:02:30App Store now we thought one of your
0:02:33topics that I really liked was talking
0:02:36about the the present and future of will
0:02:41you say it it was your time also you
0:02:43picked the TV topic yeah the TV topic is
0:02:45not particularly topical because what
0:02:47the new Apple TV was the last time you
0:02:49know people in the Apple community were
0:02:51talking about TV but it's on my list I
0:02:53blogged about it when the new Apple TV
0:02:55came out but it's still kind of sticking
0:02:58in my craw the whole TV issue and
0:03:01apparently in your craw as well to some
0:03:03degree because you picked it out of the
0:03:04long list of other topics many which are
0:03:06much more relevant but well you know
0:03:07we'll save the list mean Marco can
0:03:09compare list because he's got a list
0:03:10I've got a list a lot although I show
0:03:11you my list yeah he doesn't reveal the
0:03:13list but the whole reason that I did I
0:03:15picked this topic I'll tell you why
0:03:17because I currently am I'm mystified
0:03:21first of all CES was was just last week
0:03:24and the big thing at CES you would think
0:03:29that more companies would want to be
0:03:32getting into this into this TV set-top
0:03:35box type space the Apple TV space for
0:03:38lack of a better term there are so many
0:03:41companies that do a really good job of
0:03:43this but you know and people love do you
0:03:45have one of the new Apple TVs do you
0:03:47have it I do not I have a new one and I
0:03:50have an old one and I'll let you take a
0:03:52guess which which one do you think we
0:03:54use for our main TV in the house new one
0:03:57or old I can't guess I don't know your
0:04:00TV habits I mean that the two machines
0:04:01are so different
0:04:02take a guess I'm going to say new old
0:04:05yeah yeah we started out with the new
0:04:08one but the problem with and at first
0:04:09like it seems like this is a really big
0:04:12benefit is that the thing doesn't need
0:04:14to sync or anything you know that's
0:04:16that's the big plus for it it doesn't
0:04:17need to sync you just do any computer
0:04:20can send stuff right to it or pull stuff
0:04:22from it right but that actually became a
0:04:25huge liability because my wife has a lab
0:04:27and my main machine is a laptop although
0:04:31I have like a dozen machines in here to
0:04:32you know to do the show with these
0:04:35different shows at the end of the day I
0:04:38just I have a 13 inch unibody MacBook
0:04:41that's my main my main machine where I
0:04:43would keep stuff like that and neither
0:04:45these machines are like consistently on
0:04:48you know and she found it to be a big
0:04:51pain it's like oh she'd have to go and
0:04:52get her laptop out open it up and and
0:04:55make sure that it's on and in some cases
0:04:57make sure that it was plugged in so it
0:04:59wouldn't run out of battery and he
0:05:00always is it is where she's sitting with
0:05:02it in a you know a Wi-Fi dead zone or is
0:05:05it okay I mean all of these different
0:05:06issues it makes it a big pain to make
0:05:09sure that that there's there's a data
0:05:11source for the new Apple TV whereas with
0:05:13the old one you sync it and if your
0:05:16primary audience is either somebody like
0:05:18us where we might rent something or buy
0:05:20something and watch it and we can plan
0:05:22for that or it's a three-year-old kid
0:05:25and he wants to you know watch whatever
0:05:27you know shows cartoons whatever you
0:05:29pull down for him it's so much easier to
0:05:31just load up the Apple TV and put it
0:05:34down there and then even if the internet
0:05:35connection goes out you still got it you
0:05:39know you don't need another computer to
0:05:40be on and hooked up and running iTunes
0:05:42and and there's a whole issue with the
0:05:44dropping the home shares did you ever
0:05:45have that problem I don't have either
0:05:48one of either one of these so why did
0:05:52you pick this topic then well I mean I
0:05:54because I have a lot to say about also
0:05:55what do you have to say about it well so
0:05:57let's let's I always like to pull back
0:05:59because I always think about you know
0:06:00I'll think about some topic like you
0:06:02know why the old Apple TV is better or
0:06:04worse than the new one and so on and so
0:06:05forth and then I'll just say is this a
0:06:07specific case of a more general problem
0:06:09and keep going up and up and up and at
0:06:11the top level this I end up thinking
0:06:12like it what's the problem with TV
0:06:14obviously there's some sort of problem
0:06:17with television that people are
0:06:19introducing products that will solve
0:06:20this problem for you and you know that
0:06:24the problem of TV I think my conclusion
0:06:26was that I think it's the same problem
0:06:28as with most other things like music or
0:06:30telephones or anything else is that
0:06:32technology advances and when technology
0:06:34advances it causes problems all right um
0:06:37so for consumers the
0:06:41problem with TV is that like at this
0:06:43point even non-technical Institute
0:06:45consumers know that the technology
0:06:47exists to do stuff that would sort of
0:06:49eliminate the past limitations of
0:06:51television all right then maybe they
0:06:54don't know the specifics but they just
0:06:55know that like television when they were
0:06:57growing at by these limitations that
0:06:58right now there's stuff that can get
0:07:01past them I go beyond what television
0:07:03used to be able to do and for you know
0:07:05content distributors or producers and
0:07:08everything their problem is that all
0:07:10this technology makes their past
0:07:11business models less effective so this
0:07:14is kind of the problem with TV this is
0:07:16why there's all this TV stuff going on
0:07:18because we've got this technology
0:07:19technology is the thing that screws with
0:07:21everything it it it makes that it puts
0:07:24the desire into the consumer because
0:07:26think if the consumers didn't know this
0:07:27technology existed like they didn't see
0:07:29you know that how their computers work
0:07:30and how their phones work how everything
0:07:31else works and say hmm why the hell is
0:07:33TV still stink right right and then you
0:07:37know the technology comes in disrupts
0:07:38the existing business models and so
0:07:41that's why I think people are trying to
0:07:42make TV stuff and even at CES you didn't
0:07:46see all the boxes and everything but you
0:07:47did you know you have Google doing the
0:07:49Google TV thing and stuff and people are
0:07:50trying to sell you televisions that are
0:07:52connected to the Internet and and all
0:07:54the other things so people are trying to
0:07:56make products to get money out of people
0:08:00who are trying to solve this problem
0:08:03with TV all right so let's look at what
0:08:05Apple did because Apple is always the
0:08:07great white hope and all these
0:08:08situations where we've got some sort of
0:08:11technology problem or whatever so they
0:08:13made the Apple TV version one right
0:08:15that's what you bought yeah and you're
0:08:16saying you know it does more or less
0:08:19what you wanted to do the stuff is on
0:08:20the TV you connect it to your television
0:08:23set you don't need to have any other
0:08:24computers on it's got a reasonable
0:08:26interface and what it basically did for
0:08:29you is that you could buy television
0:08:32shows and watch them on on this little
0:08:35box thing right right and then Apple TV
0:08:39v2 was the same thing but now you can't
0:08:41buy stuff you can only rent you can I
0:08:43can only rent I mean you could buy stuff
0:08:45on your own iTunes and and since it's
0:08:47streaming from your own computer you can
0:08:52watch that but I guess if you think of
0:08:55new Apple TV as as being a conduit for
0:08:58renting stuff then it's great they love
0:09:02it is it great like what limitations
0:09:04like you know what technology exists
0:09:05right what limitations of past
0:09:07television do these boxes bypass for you
0:09:09so that's a fair question I think the
0:09:11bigger the bigger limit the biggest
0:09:15limit is they act as a very effective
0:09:18conduit for throwing something up on a
0:09:21TV that you really like the airplay
0:09:23angle right that's a kind of a separate
0:09:25thing so did not give makes your TV more
0:09:27useful because now you can you know use
0:09:29it as a big-screen when you enter the
0:09:30room with your iPhone right and eject
0:09:32and the thing appears on the TV screen
0:09:34it is very cool yeah that's that's
0:09:37that's a legitimate new thing you're
0:09:38saying that let previous limitation of
0:09:40TVs that you had to like rummage around
0:09:41behind the thing and get all dusty and
0:09:43trip over the cables and everything
0:09:44anything on the TV it was just too much
0:09:46of a hassle and now you can do that so
0:09:47that's that's one use one one way that
0:09:49it bypasses the previous limitations but
0:09:52you know you've got a time shifting -
0:09:56right like you can watch the shows when
0:09:57you want yeah anytime you want but you
0:10:01you know you still people people always
0:10:02ask me this like can you tape they
0:10:06always answered tape by or they use a
0:10:08word tape can you tape stuff and I say
0:10:11no no you know and that's then so so we
0:10:14have this is the thing do you have a
0:10:15TiVo though right well it really depends
0:10:18on what people have it depends on the
0:10:20television habit so what would you say
0:10:21your TV habits are like you know you got
0:10:23the shows for the kids that's one thing
0:10:24and then do you watch television like is
0:10:26it as a weekly ritual nightly ritual
0:10:28yeah I am not all of a sports day right
0:10:32yeah I mean I'd like I don't I don't
0:10:33miss I only I only miss NFL if there's
0:10:37extenuating circumstances like for
0:10:40example my three-year-old wants to do
0:10:42something else which is usually but in
0:10:44you know prime time and if I always
0:10:45watch that i watch a lot of baseball but
0:10:47as far as like regular shows i only you
0:10:50know there's a few like science or other
0:10:53type shows i'll watch but you know like
0:10:56I don't have any shows and I just sit
0:10:57down and watch like every single night
0:10:59if I do I you know it's maybe thirty
0:11:01thirty to sixty minutes of TV a date
0:11:03like tops usually but I do TiVo stuff
0:11:08and and and the stuff that I TiVo a lot
0:11:10of the time is stuff that I just you
0:11:12know I think might be interesting or the
0:11:13stuff that evil will find for me that it
0:11:16thinks is interesting and it's it's
0:11:17usually pretty right on so with the
0:11:20exception of sports which I'm assuming
0:11:22you want to watch live when possible you
0:11:24are time time shifting pretty much all
0:11:26the other thing yeah and I do with the
0:11:28sports too which is the were you know
0:11:29like a lot of the time if the game you
0:11:31want to watch is on Sunday you know it's
0:11:33Sunday and it's a 2-1 o'clock game or
0:11:36even a 4 o'clock game you're not going
0:11:38to get to watch that if you want to
0:11:39spend any time with your family at all
0:11:41so I've got a I've got a tight and then
0:11:42I just hope that like nothing intercedes
0:11:45in my reality and I accidentally hear
0:11:47the score or something like that yeah
0:11:49that's a problem so here you are
0:11:51screwing with the content owners
0:11:53business models basically because your
0:11:54your time shifting and when your time
0:11:56shift it's much easier for you to skip
0:11:57commercials and and if you're not a big
0:12:00television watcher you don't have to get
0:12:02the big subscription that has every
0:12:04single channel in the world you can now
0:12:05get the small subscription with just
0:12:07your live sports and just pick up the
0:12:09other shows you want on iTunes or
0:12:10something right exactly if you don't
0:12:13watch 50 shows it's cheaper for you to
0:12:15go ala carte than it is to buy a
0:12:16subscription where it's previously said
0:12:17that our model is you buy a subscription
0:12:19to television through our cable company
0:12:21you the smallest patch you can get it
0:12:22has a million channels in it and we
0:12:24don't care if you only want one show
0:12:25right you don't have an a la carte
0:12:26choice right but think about what your
0:12:30experience is you already described
0:12:31three separate ways to watch television
0:12:33you've got live TV which is coming over
0:12:35your cable or satellite or whatever
0:12:36you've got your TiVo which is recording
0:12:39stuff from cable and satellite and time
0:12:41shifting it for you and you've got all
0:12:42now two Apple TVs but essentially one
0:12:44Apple TV per television which is another
0:12:46input where you're buying things on your
0:12:48computer and getting them synched over
0:12:49there or you're buying them from renting
0:12:51them from the Machine and getting them
0:12:52sink through that that's three separate
0:12:53things so that's this is a big
0:12:55complication over when you were a kid
0:12:57when you'd sit down in front of the TV
0:12:58turn the dials to the channel you want
0:13:00to watch at the appointed time yeah that
0:13:01was it was much better back then too and
0:13:04so you've gained all these abilities but
0:13:05you the experience is generally worse
0:13:07and forget about like don't even worse
0:13:09to get DVDs or blu-ray I don't know if
0:13:11you do any of that do you even have on
0:13:12an optical disk connected to your TV now
0:13:14not anymore the last thing we had when
0:13:17it went when I first bought a larger
0:13:21four
0:13:21at television which do you remember the
0:13:23fiasco called DLP I don't we were one of
0:13:27the fools who bought a DLP TV and and I
0:13:31when I got that I got an up converting
0:13:33actually I think I had a Mac Mini
0:13:36connected to the TV at the time but that
0:13:38didn't that wasn't as enjoyable as you
0:13:41know as I'd hoped it would be back then
0:13:44this is you know five or six years ago
0:13:46so I got a I got like an up converting
0:13:49you know upscaling DVD player which I
0:13:52forget how many years ago I took it out
0:13:54but no I have nothing like I couldn't we
0:13:57don't own a blu-ray player of any kind
0:13:59well if you did you'd be subject to
0:14:02another thing that's worse than you know
0:14:04past television experiences which is you
0:14:06just like DVDs or blu-rays you stick the
0:14:07disc in you got unskipable previews
0:14:09you've got ads the thing takes a million
0:14:11years slow forget about if it's a kids
0:14:12movie you just want to get to the movie
0:14:14and the kids really possible how can it
0:14:16be so bad I hear people saying this all
0:14:18the time and at first I was like now
0:14:19they just must have a stupid player or
0:14:21something but this is like a cross this
0:14:23is this is a feature as a feature for
0:14:25the studios like it terrible the DVD and
0:14:28the blu-ray spec say there's you know a
0:14:30bit you can flip it says when you're on
0:14:32this screen the following buttons do
0:14:33nothing and those buttons are taking to
0:14:35the menu skip advance you know sometimes
0:14:37they let you fast-forward scan through
0:14:39it and if you want your player to be
0:14:40compliant to get the little logo like
0:14:42for example PlayStation 3 once had the
0:14:44little logo that says it's blu-ray
0:14:45compliant and it's from Sony or anybody
0:14:47wants that you know if it's not some
0:14:48Chinese knockoff thing it doesn't care
0:14:50about compliance these the machines
0:14:52honor these stupid discs instructions
0:14:54that tell them not to let the person
0:14:56skip this that's why you can't skip the
0:14:57FBI warning you know the trailers for
0:15:00other movies you're not interested in
0:15:01you just want to watch the movie and it
0:15:04kind of got you technologically prisoner
0:15:06in the case of blu-ray because it is the
0:15:08highest quality video product that you
0:15:10can buy if you care about that kind of
0:15:11thing right yeah that's seen 1080p and
0:15:14you can you're lucky if you get 720 for
0:15:17most video services and if it's
0:15:19streaming forget about you know
0:15:20artifacting and other issues like that
0:15:22so I think TV is a big hairy mess right
0:15:24now like many other businesses have been
0:15:27big messes when technology comes along
0:15:30and changes them and so I'm looking to
0:15:32not just Apple but really anyone to say
0:15:34you know solve my
0:15:35problem I've got a TV problem because I
0:15:37watch more a little bit more television
0:15:38than you do more you know regularly
0:15:40scheduled shows and stuff like that and
0:15:42mainly on the sci-fi channel and my is
0:15:43my understanding it's not the case but I
0:15:46can be in your understanding if you'd
0:15:48like actually smart sci-fi is not sci-fi
0:15:51anymore it's s yfy room yeah nothing to
0:15:53do with science or fiction it's just
0:15:55something else oh but anyway I'm looking
0:15:59for a solution to this so of course I
0:16:00was an early adopter of TiVo because
0:16:03there was a company saying we're going
0:16:04to try to do something about the you
0:16:07know the we're going to try to advance
0:16:09the state of the art in television and
0:16:11TiVo was a big advance it gave abilities
0:16:13that didn't exist before
0:16:14it added only one box to your existing
0:16:18set which was then like a VCR or
0:16:19something eventually a DVD player right
0:16:22ah but but it basically replaced
0:16:24whatever was you were using to watch
0:16:25television with um but at this point
0:16:28everyone's got you know or everyone
0:16:30who's a tech geek or whatever has two
0:16:31three four sometimes a ridiculous number
0:16:34of things attached to their television
0:16:35yeah
0:16:36and televisions all have like four
0:16:38inputs which is kind of a recognition of
0:16:39the fact say look people want to buy our
0:16:41TV but they're going to have a bazillion
0:16:43box is hanging off this thing so we
0:16:44better put a lot of inputs on our
0:16:46television you know like how many inputs
0:16:48does your monitor have on as one how you
0:16:51connect the computer right but a
0:16:53television has 250 inputs because they
0:16:54know that it's it's a rat's nest of
0:16:56wires back there and the television
0:16:57watching experience is such that like
0:16:59when the babysitter comes over they
0:17:00can't figure out how to work your
0:17:01friggin TV because they can't better
0:17:04know what input to switch to or what
0:17:05buttons to press on to five different
0:17:06remotes and when the kid wants to watch
0:17:08you know this particular show it's on
0:17:10this device but this show is on that
0:17:11other device it's it's a nightmare so I
0:17:14want and not just a babysitter but
0:17:16didn't in many cases your house yeah so
0:17:18my wife hates it like we went out and
0:17:21bought one of these harmony remotes
0:17:22which that you know as horrible as the
0:17:25logitech harmony software actually is
0:17:27and it is horrible I mean it is it is a
0:17:31cesspool of user interface
0:17:34experimentation even even despite that
0:17:39it works pretty well but it doesn't work
0:17:41very well with a TiVo of all things so
0:17:44now we have the the Logitech Harmony
0:17:46remote which was working great
0:17:49and it was doing you know that the old
0:17:51DVR box that the cable company had
0:17:53forced upon us and then then the the
0:17:57Apple TV's it could it could do those
0:17:59but now that we have a TiVo we now have
0:18:02the TiVo remote again and she's back and
0:18:06forth to having two remotes again hates
0:18:08it two remotes is this I think I know a
0:18:12near victory because if you know have
0:18:13seven remotes you know you only have two
0:18:15and one of them controls a lot of
0:18:17devices is pretty good yeah but so you
0:18:19know we also don't have like a stereo
0:18:21this is so funny we have when we got
0:18:23this house it was already like set up
0:18:26for this it had the the connections for
0:18:28the speakers in the ceiling like you
0:18:30could put four stirs up in the ceiling
0:18:32so we you know when when I moved in I
0:18:34got speakers and I cut holes in the
0:18:36ceiling and where that wires were
0:18:37hanging down and put put the speaker's
0:18:40up there and wired them up but we never
0:18:42use them like I don't even have a stereo
0:18:44thing hooked up to them it they're just
0:18:46just they're just there at least audio
0:18:50still is reasonable in that you can get
0:18:54one set of speakers you don't have to
0:18:57get a set of speakers for each one of
0:18:58your devices yeah that's what it would
0:19:00be like it was in the same mess as the
0:19:01video component so but I mean you know
0:19:04so well so so well so think about the
0:19:06other thing I wanna bring up is uh you
0:19:08know so I'm looking for Apple to solve
0:19:09this right and I've been looking for
0:19:11years I've been buying TiVo's TiVo's
0:19:13doing what it can do but I felt like it
0:19:15wasn't enough and the boxes were
0:19:16proliferating and Apple was coming out
0:19:18with these things were just adding more
0:19:19boxes where I wanna buy them because I
0:19:22didn't feel like they were adding
0:19:23anything to my already complicated setup
0:19:25and then Jobs had that d8 conference
0:19:29last year to remember that uh yeah sure
0:19:31did that talk and the question came from
0:19:33the audience which the guy in the
0:19:34audience I'm glad he was there because
0:19:35he basically asked my question which was
0:19:37like TVs a big mess when are you going
0:19:38to fix it for me mr. Jobs and his his
0:19:43answer was that it's kind of intractable
0:19:46an intractable problem right now because
0:19:48the TV industry subsidizes set-top boxes
0:19:50and gives them away for free now the
0:19:53fact that that was the first inside of
0:19:54jobs his mouth it gives you a window
0:19:57into the way he thinks we said we can't
0:19:59solve this we Apple can't solve this
0:20:00problem because the you know set
0:20:03boxes are give away for free the
0:20:04underlying premise there is that the way
0:20:07Apple makes money is by selling hardware
0:20:09which is rich 100 true look at their
0:20:10balance sheet where does Apple's money
0:20:12come from
0:20:12they sell hardware they get good margins
0:20:14on it hardware devices cost a lot of
0:20:16money relatively speaking
0:20:17that's where Apple's money comes from
0:20:19which by the way I can get off a little
0:20:21tangent on the river in the blogosphere
0:20:23see the Apple is a insert word hardware
0:20:26or software company line Apple's
0:20:28hardware company they grant fines apples
0:20:30a software company big grant Falls those
0:20:31two sentences have been around for I
0:20:34think for as long as Apple's existed
0:20:36each you know each time you see it it's
0:20:38one person and fatica lee insisting
0:20:40either Apple is one of the other right I
0:20:42think it's kind of stupid because what
0:20:45is an X company Apple is an X company
0:20:47you can argue about that all day it's
0:20:49just semantics but if you look at their
0:20:50balance sheet it's much easier to say
0:20:53Apple makes its money from because that
0:20:55is a question with a concrete answer and
0:20:57you can't really debate about it so
0:20:58Apple makes its money from hardware so
0:20:59and Jobs knows that I think he's just a
0:21:02hardware kind of guy like I think that's
0:21:03how he comes at problems thinks about
0:21:05what is the thing that I can hold in my
0:21:07hand that will solve this problem
0:21:09so as soon as he has about TB says oh
0:21:11well the problem is we can't make money
0:21:13because we can't sell you a piece of
0:21:15hardware and he went through this whole
0:21:18big list of you know why they can't sell
0:21:19hardware because it's all subsidized and
0:21:20look at all the people have tried to
0:21:21sell hardware and he rattled off this
0:21:23big list of companies longer list than I
0:21:25could come up with on my own he came up
0:21:26with like replay TV remember them oh
0:21:28yeah I got driven out of business for
0:21:31skipping commercials TiVo Vudu right
0:21:33Google he threw google under the bus and
0:21:35you know they weren't gonna be
0:21:36successful with their Google TV devices
0:21:38and Sony and all these other people I'm
0:21:40saying that basically you can't sell
0:21:41these boxes because everyone just
0:21:43expects them to come for free with the
0:21:44television or be built into their
0:21:45television or come for free with their
0:21:47cable subscription and if we can't sell
0:21:49boxes Apple can't solve your problem and
0:21:51so he's basically saying all these
0:21:53companies are a failure even TiVo he was
0:21:55the first one he listed TiVo complete
0:21:57failure like we don't want TiVo's kind
0:21:58of success because it's basically
0:22:00failure to us right and he and he
0:22:02reiterated like the many boxes problem
0:22:04all you got all his crap connected to
0:22:05your TV is no fun you know he recognized
0:22:08that problem he and he said it is a
0:22:10problem and he just said there's no way
0:22:12to get past this wall right now I mean
0:22:15the only
0:22:16the only way to do it would be to tear
0:22:18up the set-top box and replace it with
0:22:20one box with a consistent UI and then
0:22:22get it to consumers in a way they're
0:22:23willing to pay for it right and you
0:22:25wonder like are you trying to say that
0:22:28the new Apple TV is that thing well they
0:22:32kind of got the get consumer get it to
0:22:34consumers in a way they're willing to
0:22:35pay for all right because they lowered
0:22:36the price really low and that's why a
0:22:38lot of people I think ended up with
0:22:39Apple TV 1r TV 2 and why it's selling
0:22:42much better than yelling booster like
0:22:43ants 99 bucks I'll try it but all the
0:22:46other problems still exist and a
0:22:49business that is not a tech problem
0:22:51because we have the technology it's not
0:22:52a vision problem because he knows where
0:22:53we want to go you don't want all these
0:22:54stupid boxes connecting everything it's
0:22:57just a go to market problem so there's
0:23:00no go to market strategy and he means
0:23:01from Apple's perspective we can't sell
0:23:03you a box therefore we can't make money
0:23:05therefore we can't solve this problem
0:23:06for you and this was a depressing
0:23:08depressing snippet of him when I saw
0:23:10this video my heart just sank because I
0:23:12wanted him to make me a box to solve
0:23:14these problems he basically said we're
0:23:16not going to do that because we don't
0:23:17think we can make money doing it and I
0:23:20could you know I can deal with that from
0:23:22a reality perspective as a yeah I
0:23:24understand this is a problem for you but
0:23:26I want someone to solve it right like
0:23:28don't you want someone to make your TV
0:23:31experience better
0:23:32in the living room fewer remotes fewer
0:23:36trade-offs between renting and buying
0:23:38and how much it costs and what you can
0:23:40get when you want this show isn't
0:23:42available because it's you know you
0:23:43can't see the new season of this show
0:23:45because it's not available yet and you
0:23:46can't see live sports because those
0:23:47contracts are locked up and you know
0:23:50this goes away from the store or comes
0:23:52back on the store but it's not an HD all
0:23:53these ridiculous limitations that we
0:23:54know are just artificial they're not
0:23:57they're not based on technology and
0:23:59they're just getting in the way of what
0:24:01we know should be possible in our
0:24:02utopian future of television watching so
0:24:06this is why Television drives me nuts
0:24:09and until someone solves it especially
0:24:10this Apple says they're just not gonna
0:24:12like what do I hope for now just sit in
0:24:14front of my TV and deal with all these
0:24:15boxes and say it's never going to get
0:24:16better well so what is the solution then
0:24:21you've got to have something in mind
0:24:23well a lot of things in mind but first
0:24:25you got to pick an actor like who's
0:24:27going to solve this at TiVo
0:24:30is probably the company who I give money
0:24:32to that I hate the most because I don't
0:24:35have a cell phone contract which that
0:24:36could be another show we could do but uh
0:24:38most people hate their cell phone
0:24:40providers but then you know still give
0:24:41them tons of money every month
0:24:42I despise TiVo especially in recent
0:24:47years but I keep giving the money
0:24:48because they're my best available option
0:24:50for what I want and the thing that
0:24:52drives me nuts about TiVo is they've
0:24:53been getting worse with time not better
0:24:54like this little you know iPod Touch
0:24:57that I have you know even a first
0:24:59generation iPod Touch that costs less
0:25:01than a TiVo is so much faster and more
0:25:04responsive than this TiVo box I bought
0:25:07like a year ago and it just it just
0:25:09makes no sense from a technology
0:25:10perspective it makes sense from a
0:25:11business perspective if you buy into
0:25:13jobs is a conclusion that TiVo is
0:25:16basically a failure because they can't
0:25:17make money well if TiVo can't make money
0:25:19they can't invest in their products and
0:25:20their products instead of getting better
0:25:21get worse with time like the new TiVo
0:25:23uses flash for its UI of all things it's
0:25:25slower than the previous model and that
0:25:27model is slower than the previous model
0:25:29right you're talking about a product
0:25:31they called like a premier is the new
0:25:33one that uses flash the one before it
0:25:34the one I have is a series three
0:25:37that was actually TiVo HD was likely
0:25:39cheap the cheaper series three sisters
0:25:42the luxury HD model and then they they
0:25:45sort of deke on dented it to use a car
0:25:48term and gave you a cheaper version that
0:25:50was similar in sides but less convinced
0:25:53fancy so you have probably you have
0:25:55probably the best HD capable one that's
0:25:57out there but if you I have several
0:26:00generations Attila's and house going
0:26:02back to a standard def one and they get
0:26:04faster and more responsive as you go
0:26:06back in time and you think of any other
0:26:08technology products like that it's
0:26:09readable and yeah drives me up a wall so
0:26:12TiVo is sort of you know not living up
0:26:16to its its contract to be a modern
0:26:18technology company and do all the things
0:26:20you expect them to do they're sort of I
0:26:21don't know if they're giving up or
0:26:23they're just struggling they don't have
0:26:24enough money that they're making really
0:26:26bad decisions like going with flash for
0:26:28the UI it's just slowing things down
0:26:29even more that's just it's just
0:26:32depressing
0:26:32yeah I think but but what what are my
0:26:34other options my other options are Apple
0:26:36TV well that's it doesn't make sense for
0:26:37me because the ala carte model is more
0:26:39expensive for me than a subscription
0:26:40model
0:26:42and you know what you don't so it sounds
0:26:43to me though like you're not really
0:26:45getting any content at all from a
0:26:48computer it sounds like I have a Netflix
0:26:51subscription so I streamed from Netflix
0:26:52all the time on on your TiVo well have
0:26:57seven boxes connected to my TV that can
0:26:58do Netflix soon you know your dishwasher
0:27:00will get the stream kinetic you're right
0:27:01but what does the stream Netflix well I
0:27:04have I have a choice of and that's the
0:27:05thing that almost maybe buy a new Apple
0:27:07TV because I have a choice of where I
0:27:08want to watch Netflix to and and I
0:27:10decide in a sort of extremely Steve Jobs
0:27:13Ian manner to use the box that has
0:27:16that's the quietest so my playstation 3
0:27:19for example can stream Netflix but the
0:27:21fan is allowed to forget it you know and
0:27:23a DVD player is considered Netflix but I
0:27:26usually have them turned off so if I
0:27:27don't have to turn them on at all I
0:27:28don't have to hear their fan at all but
0:27:29the TiVo is always on so streaming
0:27:33Netflix through the TiVo even though
0:27:34it's kind of slow and clunky adds the
0:27:36least amount of noise to my watching
0:27:38environment so that's what I do
0:27:39it's interesting though because I think
0:27:42for a lot of people but there's already
0:27:45existing content or they're getting
0:27:48content on the computer itself I've
0:27:51talked to people I won't name I won't
0:27:53name names okay but there are a lot of
0:27:55people out there and I know a few of
0:27:57them who acquire let's just use that
0:28:00term they acquire video content from the
0:28:06internet maybe they're buying it maybe
0:28:10they're acquiring it in some other way
0:28:11but they get it they get it they have it
0:28:14there are other people who will go and
0:28:16rent a DVD and they'll rip the DVD and
0:28:19know they'll have it whether they
0:28:21purchased it or rented it or whatever
0:28:23but they have it and they rip it and now
0:28:24it's on their computer and now they want
0:28:26to watch it on that television so Rivlin
0:28:29in these these situations I think I mean
0:28:31that's it doesn't sound like you do that
0:28:33you're you're I definitely do that I
0:28:35mean that's yet another we didn't even
0:28:36get it I get yet another source of stuff
0:28:38I'll say I'll get that how do you get
0:28:40that onto your teeth well so I've got
0:28:42the PlayStation 3 and I run a server on
0:28:44my Mac that can stream the content from
0:28:46the PlayStation through from the
0:28:47computer to the PlayStation 3 which
0:28:49plays up on the TV that's that's another
0:28:51example where Apple is not interested in
0:28:52being in that market Apple streams its
0:28:55from your Mac to the television but it's
0:28:58not interested in streaming the crazy
0:29:00you know that MKV file that you've
0:29:02downloaded from some you know place and
0:29:05the sad thing is that a lot of time I
0:29:06end up downloading content that I'm
0:29:08paying for sometimes downloading content
0:29:10that I'm paying for more than once right
0:29:12so I have a cable subscription and I pay
0:29:15for HBO and it's got a shovel HBO's a
0:29:16bad example I have a cable subscription
0:29:18it's got BBC America right I pay for
0:29:20this cable subscription I pay for the
0:29:21package that includes BBC America which
0:29:23is extra money right right and sometimes
0:29:25there's also BBC America available on
0:29:28Netflix streaming and I pay a monthly
0:29:30subscription for Netflix streaming and
0:29:31yet I still end up acquiring air quotes
0:29:34something that I could have watched when
0:29:37it aired on BBC America I could have set
0:29:39my Tivo to record when it aired on BBC
0:29:41America or I could have streamed through
0:29:43Netflix if I was if I wanted to wait a
0:29:45certain amount of time when it was
0:29:46available on Netflix streaming or I can
0:29:49have Netflix on me the disc when it
0:29:50becomes available on DVD but this
0:29:51subscription too so I'm paying all this
0:29:53money to all these different people and
0:29:54I still end up downloading it because
0:29:55it's a better experience because it's HD
0:29:57and my cable company does not offer BBC
0:30:00America and HD I don't have to wait for
0:30:02it appear on Netflix streaming and I
0:30:03don't have the way for discs to come in
0:30:04the mail but through the magics of the
0:30:06internet that you know an HD version of
0:30:09that thing appears the day after it airs
0:30:10and so it's an absurd situation where I
0:30:14you know obviously I'm paying for my
0:30:16internet connection to where that's how
0:30:18on the blotting is you know just because
0:30:19it's the best experience I want by the
0:30:21way you know that commercials are
0:30:22eliminated from it and there's no you
0:30:23know I'm sick of people things at the
0:30:26beginning you just download it when you
0:30:28go to sleep wake up in the morning flip
0:30:30on the PlayStation which is a little bit
0:30:31loud navigate with a little remote and
0:30:34it starts streaming from the Mac and you
0:30:36watch it it's it's a ridiculous scenario
0:30:38like no one wants my money I'm giving
0:30:40two different people their money and
0:30:41money and they still won't give me what
0:30:42I want I literally cannot pay for this
0:30:44content to be available to me in in the
0:30:46way that I want it you know in the way
0:30:48that I know is technically possible it's
0:30:51just absurd and and it's you know
0:30:53something only geeks can do to like my
0:30:55wife can't do this on her own if she
0:30:56wants you know some particular show
0:30:58she'll watch it on one of lesser formats
0:30:59if she has to yeah the couch with us
0:31:01asked me to set it up oh and but see
0:31:03there's a lot of people you know we're
0:31:05very much geeks and I think a large
0:31:07portion
0:31:08of our listening bass will be will be
0:31:11geeks but when Steve Jobs talks about a
0:31:15product he's not he's aware of us for
0:31:18sure
0:31:18but he's not thinking about us I mean
0:31:20that's that's why the iPhone is such a
0:31:23success because geeks like us can enjoy
0:31:25it but the regular human being who just
0:31:28wants something that works and that's
0:31:29cool and does a bunch of different
0:31:31things that they don't have to spend
0:31:33their lifetime figuring out you know
0:31:35that that's what they wanted like
0:31:36without getting into the whole phone
0:31:38topic you know that there needs to be
0:31:42that simplicity and ease of use brought
0:31:44to all of these things that we're
0:31:46talking about and you know who wants to
0:31:48set up a media server on their Mac and
0:31:50keep it running all the time so that
0:31:52they can stream con I mean like a
0:31:53regular person doesn't want to do that
0:31:55like for mobile like I'm curious what
0:31:57software you're using but a regular
0:31:58person their eyes just glaze over when
0:32:01you start talking like that the problem
0:32:03is the same it's just that the geeks
0:32:05have have some sort of recourse like
0:32:07because of the knowledge and skills that
0:32:09we have we can find something about it
0:32:10the regular people they have we all have
0:32:12the exact same problem we're just either
0:32:14more willing or able or probably both to
0:32:16go through hoops to try to solve it
0:32:17other people will just either accept the
0:32:19problem as just a reality or just sort
0:32:21of grumble data quietly but we're in a
0:32:23unique position because we know that
0:32:24this problem doesn't exist but from from
0:32:26the perspective of a company trying to
0:32:27solve it you can solve this problem once
0:32:29like I don't want to talk about phones
0:32:31or music but think either one of those
0:32:32scenarios they were similar you know
0:32:34technology comes in screws with the
0:32:35business let's pick music is an easy one
0:32:38you know messes with the business Apple
0:32:41recognizes that the technology enables
0:32:43you to bypass limitations of previous
0:32:45tech like you don't have to have one
0:32:46cassette of songs with you you can have
0:32:48your entire library with you we can make
0:32:49that what's built the device that does
0:32:51that and then all of a sudden people are
0:32:52ripping their CDs which have no DRM and
0:32:53them piracy is all the place music is
0:32:55completely free the record companies
0:32:59feel like their entire business has been
0:33:01destroyed by this company Apple comes
0:33:03out with the you know DRM and iTunes
0:33:06store get everyone together it gets all
0:33:08the big labels says look you know we
0:33:10just destroyed your business come we'll
0:33:11help you rebuild it put all your music
0:33:13into our store gives one unified
0:33:14interface to buying stuff sells a
0:33:16bazillion iPods the music industry picks
0:33:19back up start selling a lot of digital
0:33:20content eventually the DRM stuff gets
0:33:22dropped because they realize look you
0:33:24know it doesn't matter we're still
0:33:25making tons of money on this digital
0:33:26music with or without DRM customers
0:33:28don't like DRM let's drop it that's a
0:33:30success story Apple came into a
0:33:32situation that was you know for offer
0:33:34okay so first Apple wrecked it with its
0:33:35technology or anything but then they
0:33:37came in later and they got all the the
0:33:40parties together that needed to be
0:33:41brought together and they you know they
0:33:42come up with a solution
0:33:44phones are similar a little bit you know
0:33:47how we're phones broken before the
0:33:48iPhone well people you know if you ask
0:33:51them do you like your phone oh yeah I
0:33:52love my blackberry or whatever but
0:33:54people who knew more about technology
0:33:55knew that come on that's the palm
0:33:57operating system on your tree oh that's
0:33:59a piece of crap right and rim yeah it's
0:34:02nice for typing out your emails and
0:34:04everything but where's my web browser
0:34:05that isn't extremely painful to use
0:34:07right so eventually tech people and
0:34:09Apple knew that we had the technology to
0:34:11make something a lot better and they did
0:34:13but they they busted some incumbent
0:34:15business models to you know percentage
0:34:17of app sales is not going to Verizon a
0:34:19Verizon doesn't control what gets in
0:34:21that phone rising doesn't control when
0:34:23the OS is update but neither does 18 t
0:34:25they broke the carrier model no more
0:34:27$2.00 ringtone revenue coming in from
0:34:29four to all the carriers right Apple
0:34:32took that away from the carriers but
0:34:34brought the consumers a product they
0:34:35needed but TV like you can see jobs in
0:34:39this video thing which you should link
0:34:40in the show notes if you have them you
0:34:43can see him going through the scenario
0:34:44in his head like what we need what we
0:34:45need to do to do what we did in music
0:34:48and phone what we need to do to do that
0:34:49in TV and it goes to this big litany of
0:34:51problems like there's not five big five
0:34:53record labels there's a million you know
0:34:56cable companies and forget about that's
0:34:58just in the US the rest of the world the
0:35:00TV formats are even stood not standard
0:35:03so there's tons and tons of producers of
0:35:06television content and distributors of
0:35:08television all around the world and
0:35:09there's no single standard that they can
0:35:11build to again he's thinking of building
0:35:12a box like yeah you make it PL NTSC
0:35:15satellite cable do we have to work with
0:35:18every single cable company in the u.s.
0:35:20Plus every single cable and satellite
0:35:21company in the rest of the world that's
0:35:22a lot of deals to make um and so he's
0:35:27thinking of the business deals he would
0:35:28have to make he's like I want to solve
0:35:29this problem for you but I just can't
0:35:31think of a way to get these guys
0:35:32together now it's kind of a shame that
0:35:33they don't just you know he knows what
0:35:35he needs to do and you know it's
0:35:36difficult
0:35:36but they sell to a lot of carriers for
0:35:39cellphones too right like it's I don't
0:35:42know I guess I just don't see the upside
0:35:43but the Apple really needs a business to
0:35:46be a global business a big huge global
0:35:48smash bang business and in every case
0:35:51they felt like that and in that made
0:35:53them do it like GSM is the global
0:35:54standard so even though they have to
0:35:55deal with a million carriers they can
0:35:57make one phone based on GSM and sell to
0:35:59more or less the whole world and now
0:36:01they're you know back cutting a little
0:36:02bit with the CDMA stuff but that's just
0:36:03a stopgap but with TV I guess there's
0:36:07just nothing in there for them to get a
0:36:09foothold on they just can't sell you a
0:36:10box so they're just not gonna do it and
0:36:12I think somebody's do it if I become
0:36:15over the ridiculous fantasy scenarios
0:36:16and how Apple could solve this yeah I
0:36:18would say okay Apple work your magic go
0:36:21talk to first of all I don't care about
0:36:22the rest of the world sorry guys but I'm
0:36:23Sims thinking of myself here how could
0:36:25you solve the problem for the US right
0:36:27away this is not a feasible solution
0:36:28because Apple needs a global solution so
0:36:30right away I'm in Fantasyland but if
0:36:33Apple wanted to solve the problem for
0:36:34the US it would get together all the US
0:36:36cable carriers and satellite which is
0:36:39also impossible probably the same way it
0:36:41got together the record labels and say
0:36:43look we want to solve this problem what
0:36:45we're going to do is either try to get
0:36:47you guys to come to agreement or at the
0:36:48very least get you guys to sell us your
0:36:50content or maybe just one of them get
0:36:52like Comcast or you know Verizon files
0:36:56are working into your cell phone deal or
0:36:57whatever cell-cell Apple your content
0:37:00and then Apple in their mythical data
0:37:02center which in North Carolina which
0:37:03solves all problems if anyone ever has
0:37:05in the entire universe I'm going to use
0:37:06it now in my fantasy scenario to solve
0:37:08this problem Apple gets the the feed
0:37:11from the cable provider which they pay
0:37:13for it some drastically reduced rate
0:37:14pipe that into their data center where
0:37:17they have tons of little boxes that
0:37:19record all the shows and ferry them out
0:37:21or whatever and then Apple sells to the
0:37:22consumer a little tiny box or subsidizes
0:37:25you know $50 box $100 box or maybe it's
0:37:27given away for free gives that to the
0:37:29consumer and then watch all their
0:37:30television through that box they watch
0:37:32live sports to it they watch any show
0:37:33first-run movies anything you can get
0:37:35anywhere because Apple is paying Apple
0:37:38is basically the reseller Apple is
0:37:39acting like a cable company buying the
0:37:41content from wherever it's available
0:37:43storing it and then streaming it out to
0:37:45you for your monthly subscription fee
0:37:47that you pay that water box and
0:37:50that's all content that would be great
0:37:52yeah we already but I already skipped
0:37:55over seven reasons why that's basically
0:37:57impossible seven yeah but with that but
0:38:00that would be a solution because then
0:38:01you can throw it all your other boxes
0:38:03and there would be no limitations all
0:38:05right it all depends on the business
0:38:06deals and how much it cost so if they
0:38:08gave you the box for free and it cost
0:38:09you 15 20 $30 $40 I don't know what the
0:38:12price limit is a month where that would
0:38:13be a good deal but you know I want Apple
0:38:18to solve the problem and sell me the
0:38:20solution so Apple deal with all these
0:38:21companies that own the content Apple
0:38:23deal with who has the exclusive NFL
0:38:24contract Apple deal with why things
0:38:27aren't available in Netflix streaming
0:38:28but you can get them in on a DVD R and a
0:38:30blu-ray streaming HD content you know
0:38:33maybe my internet connection is not fast
0:38:34enough so maybe that's another reason
0:38:35the solution isn't as in the feasible
0:38:37yet but that would be one example of a
0:38:40solution another one that I would take
0:38:41as like a second choice is just Tebow
0:38:44get your act together because they're
0:38:46not solving the entire problem but
0:38:47they're solving a lot of it they're
0:38:48solving the broadcast television
0:38:50subscription problem for me because I
0:38:53pay for a subscription it's got a lot of
0:38:55shows Tebow does a lot of what I wanted
0:38:57to do some stuff is outside that realm
0:38:59like movies and stuff like that but for
0:39:01television shows traditional television
0:39:03shows - you would just get its act
0:39:05together and make a box it doesn't stink
0:39:06I'd pay a lot of money for you know oh
0:39:09and don't forget Tebow doesn't just sell
0:39:11to you that box they sell you a monthly
0:39:12subscription form right or a life
0:39:14together but they're taking away the
0:39:15lifetime it seems like well they keep
0:39:17saying they're going to but I just got
0:39:19one on my I mean do you have one on
0:39:20yours yes I bought it on mine I bought
0:39:23mine more recently than you bought you
0:39:25as my latest one my TiVo HD XL was only
0:39:27a year or two ago and they were still
0:39:29selling a lifetime but you know they're
0:39:31making ton I don't see how that can't be
0:39:33profitable the hardware in my TiVo must
0:39:36cost them one hundred and fifty dollars
0:39:37and I bought the box were like 300 and
0:39:40then paid like 500 more where ever was
0:39:42for the lifetime but the other people
0:39:43were paying month-to-month they're
0:39:45paying a monthly fee for what for the
0:39:47guide info they say you're paying for
0:39:49the list of when the shows are on list
0:39:51by way which stinks and does not
0:39:53correctly flag things as repeats and
0:39:55makes the Daily Show record 20 times and
0:39:57everything about TiVo drives me nuts
0:40:00but they still can't make money I hope
0:40:02they have a box that they sell it's got
0:40:04to be a massive profit and they have
0:40:05recurring revenue and they still can't
0:40:07make money it's just depressing
0:40:10yeah but here here's the thing let's
0:40:12take a step back for a second there's
0:40:14other there are other companies who are
0:40:16trying to solve some of these problems
0:40:17an example of that would be the Boxee
0:40:21Box
0:40:22have you tried this you read anything
0:40:24about this I know about boxy the program
0:40:27and I've used it I've read about the
0:40:29Boxee Box which I'm assuming would be
0:40:31like you so you don't have to PC running
0:40:32boxy connected here yeah its elevation
0:40:35inside this box and it will run the
0:40:36software for you right it's a small
0:40:38little cube that that sits under you
0:40:41know or beside your TV and it's it's
0:40:44small I mean it you know it you can hold
0:40:46it in one hand and it is some form of PC
0:40:51that that runs the boxy stuff and and
0:40:55it's that's all it does but you know
0:40:58really the it's the same as running boxy
0:41:01on on a Mac or PC yourself it just it's
0:41:04a it's a one and I think it's it's
0:41:06either 99 or 100 99 bucks I forget the
0:41:08price of it but what do you think of the
0:41:11boxy experience well the boxy and to
0:41:15even greater extent Google TV are kind
0:41:18of like like when I wrote my blog post
0:41:19with this solution or problem or I don't
0:41:22know I was just complaining really but
0:41:24if I wrote the blog post about TV there
0:41:26was a condensed version of this big
0:41:28complaint about television and why Apple
0:41:29doesn't want to do anything about it
0:41:32everyone said Oh Google TV have you seen
0:41:34the stuff about Google TV they're going
0:41:35to do what you want some people brought
0:41:37up boxy too like the thing was you know
0:41:39make me a box that's omnivorous this is
0:41:41the client-side solution instead of
0:41:43Apple doing something at a data center
0:41:44Apple or somebody else make a box it's
0:41:46omnivorous right take content from
0:41:47everywhere Google TV was totally trying
0:41:49to do that you attach the Google TV it
0:41:51is the Borg it absorbs all the 50 other
0:41:53inputs that you have right Amazon
0:41:55on-demand YouTube you know your Netflix
0:41:59subscription your television your cable
0:42:00everything it sucks it all in provides a
0:42:02unified interface and then you watch it
0:42:05and the demos for Google TV and the
0:42:07mission statement all sound great but
0:42:09you know how hard that is and Google is
0:42:10finding out how hard that is it's
0:42:11especially hard when you don't help
0:42:13apparently
0:42:13the broadcast companies that you're
0:42:15doing this and they said nope no content
0:42:16for you right okay that's kind of a big
0:42:19bummer you know great playing there
0:42:20Google but uh boxy and these other ones
0:42:23are kind of a a geeks type toy in that
0:42:26they're nudge-nudge wink-wink omnivorous
0:42:28where they say you know we can get
0:42:30content from YouTube and blonde anyplace
0:42:33else you might get it you know say no
0:42:34more say no more right like they do that
0:42:36thing and so people get the box and
0:42:39sometimes they're that they're filled
0:42:40with features that will like correctly
0:42:42recognized illegally downloaded things
0:42:44and provide album art from a
0:42:46crowd-sourced you know net album art but
0:42:48you know episode subscrip descriptions
0:42:50and it will identify this is you know
0:42:52dexter season 3 episode 4 with a full
0:42:54description and a picture of the thing
0:42:56and a star rating and social like they
0:42:59will go along there it's amazing to me
0:43:01these things work flex is another one
0:43:02that they will take your illegally
0:43:04downloaded content and make it feel like
0:43:06a much much much much better TiVo and
0:43:09and it's amazing you know the dream
0:43:11solution that I know some unnamed people
0:43:13do is you get an RSS feed from a torrent
0:43:17site that has torrents of the shows you
0:43:19want and that just runs continuously
0:43:20torrenting the episodes that you want
0:43:22and it puts them into your omnivorous
0:43:24box your numerous box sorts them out and
0:43:26breaks them down into seasons and
0:43:28everything and so when you turn on your
0:43:30television you have this interface to
0:43:31almost any Content you want in real time
0:43:34in HD with no commercials you know with
0:43:37subtitles if you want it just an amazing
0:43:39experience doesn't exist no matter how
0:43:41much money you pay anybody and you're
0:43:42getting it for free albeit illegally if
0:43:44you're a geek and set up this giant
0:43:46scenario that's that's too much work
0:43:48even for me and and especially since I'm
0:43:51paying everyone I can possibly pay to
0:43:54try to get the content I want already
0:43:55what I then what do you think of the
0:43:58potential down the road for and I've
0:44:03heard people talk about this before
0:44:04where essentially you pick and choose
0:44:08what it is that you want to watch and
0:44:10you pay based essentially instead of
0:44:13being for a an overall subscription you
0:44:16subscribe to just the things that are
0:44:18interesting to you so if you just want
0:44:19to watch The Biggest Loser
0:44:20you paid $2.99 for or 1099 or whatever
0:44:25it would cost for the
0:44:27description to a Biggest Loser and you
0:44:29get the whole thing and you get them
0:44:30when they come out so they are available
0:44:32to you you know on whatever night at
0:44:358:00 p.m. that's when you can watch it
0:44:37or anytime thereafter it's just there
0:44:39for you it's almost like that torrenting
0:44:41except it's more legitimate it shows up
0:44:44when it's available you watch it and
0:44:46instead of having to sort through the
0:44:49200 channels that everybody has the of
0:44:51which they only watch for and tape
0:44:54things on those four you know or or
0:44:56scattered across you know that the
0:44:59instead you're saying I'm going to pick
0:45:02a menu of shows I'm going to pay those
0:45:04shows appear on my TV I watch them when
0:45:07I want to watch them it's not quite
0:45:08video on-demand
0:45:09its subscription what do you think of
0:45:13that as a geek I have to be personally
0:45:17very wary of this and I think in general
0:45:19people need to to recognize the fact
0:45:21that subscription you know bundling of
0:45:24channels pays for the shows the geeks
0:45:27want to watch right a la carte it very
0:45:32quickly makes it completely unfeasible
0:45:33to make geeky shows because not enough
0:45:35people want to watch them so all those
0:45:38people who are watching America's
0:45:40Funniest Home Videos or American Idol I
0:45:42guess is the more modern reference there
0:45:43or any other sort of mass-market show
0:45:45those shows you know or even you know
0:45:47the popular basic cable shows those are
0:45:49paying for the shows that geeks want to
0:45:50watch and the reason a la carte is not
0:45:53you know offered as much as because it's
0:45:56more expensive and then the less the
0:45:58farther out of the mainstream you go the
0:46:00more expensive it gets for you so what
0:46:02about what about things like Hulu and
0:46:03integrating Hulu into you know into the
0:46:06boxy and and other things like that Hulu
0:46:08does solve a lot of that problem
0:46:10everyone is trying to it's a bunch of
0:46:13it's the free market at work everyone is
0:46:15trying to solve the problem in the best
0:46:16way that they can and I guess it's the
0:46:19fight to see who's going to you know do
0:46:20better but from the consumers
0:46:22perspective you're just slowly replacing
0:46:24one set of boxes with another set hoping
0:46:27someone comes out on top TiVo has
0:46:28actually been around the longest so a
0:46:30lot of anyone who's a TV geek and
0:46:32watches a lot of TV probably has series
0:46:34of TiVo in their lives at this point but
0:46:36there's still new boxes coming out that
0:46:37we're interested in and we keep trying
0:46:39one to see if this will help or this
0:46:40will work
0:46:41we're May building our own TV experience
0:46:43piecemeal from solutions that don't
0:46:46really solve our problem in their and
0:46:47their entirety just solve one small
0:46:49aspect of it and the geekier you are the
0:46:51more you're able to piece together what
0:46:53you hope is a solution that that fills
0:46:55the puzzle piece in your life for
0:46:56television but nobody's solving at all
0:46:59and these box makers and it's not Apple
0:47:03can't make a run of it but like Roku or
0:47:06Vudu they don't have this they don't
0:47:07have to have a global business where
0:47:08they can sell million units they just
0:47:09want to you know make a living they
0:47:12don't need an apple size kind of success
0:47:14to to feel like they're a success do you
0:47:16have a Roku I don't I mean like I don't
0:47:19use a Roku for anything that I can get
0:47:21in a Roku I can get it in a different
0:47:23form on another box that I have but like
0:47:25I said I almost bought that new Apple TV
0:47:27a because it's 99 bucks and be because
0:47:28it has no fan I said just think of it I
0:47:31can stream TiVo in what everyone seems
0:47:34to say is a better experience in
0:47:35streaming TiVo off of stream TV live
0:47:37stream Netflix yeah ah and the
0:47:39experience that people seem to say it's
0:47:41better than streaming it over a TiVo
0:47:42which I have no trouble imagining
0:47:43because the TiVo slow and annoying and
0:47:46just drives me nuts when it streams TiVo
0:47:48and it would add no additional noise so
0:47:50maybe I'd have tough time making that
0:47:53argument to my wife that I want to spend
0:47:55a hundred dollars and another box of the
0:47:56television just so I can do something
0:47:57that I can already do slightly better
0:48:00but you know so far I haven't bought one
0:48:01so what about what about what our friend
0:48:03John Gruber calls the back door the back
0:48:07door concept of being able to you know
0:48:10get an app on your your iPad or your
0:48:14iPhone and use airplay to output the
0:48:18video from that app and the one that he
0:48:20talks about and the one that I certainly
0:48:23would want to do this with and will do
0:48:26this with is an MLB so you want to watch
0:48:30a game you subscribe I think it's you
0:48:32know 14 bucks or whatever it is see to
0:48:34subscription to the MLB you set your
0:48:37iPad down instead of watching it on the
0:48:39iPad you hit the little airplay button
0:48:40and boom shows up on your Apple TV now
0:48:42you're watching it on your television
0:48:44and what about that you can do that with
0:48:47the Hulu app you can do that any any app
0:48:50my understanding is any app that has
0:48:54access to era that decides to get access
0:48:58to the airplay which is available if
0:49:00you're building an iOS app you can just
0:49:02use it you can output your your video
0:49:05right to that so in that sense it's like
0:49:08a your TV becomes a wireless monitor for
0:49:13your iOS device slea the Apple TV - you
0:49:18can get the cat to scare the bird and
0:49:20then the bird will make a squawk that
0:49:22will they will start all the the other
0:49:24bird talk over the use of all the same
0:49:26discounted you're discounting it you're
0:49:28not discounting and I'm just saying
0:49:29these are solutions for geeks that you
0:49:32you're going to go to someone and say
0:49:34here's the new way to watch television
0:49:35you're going to download an app onto
0:49:36your iPhone and you're going to press
0:49:37the button onto your iPhone and make
0:49:38sure your Apple TV that you also bought
0:49:40by the way is also set up and connected
0:49:42the televisions on that input and then
0:49:43you can play the thing from your iPod
0:49:44over there to the television but by the
0:49:46way it's going to drain the battery on
0:49:47your iPod and so make sure you have your
0:49:49app I plugged in and you can only do
0:49:50limited things on your iPod while this
0:49:52is going on and make sure you have
0:49:53enough space for the show you want to
0:49:54stream and it's not a solution to the
0:49:57television problems just one more it's
0:49:59just one more thing that you get and
0:50:01it's great and everything like I
0:50:02especially like the experience of go on
0:50:04a trip take pictures come back home and
0:50:06show the pictures without fiddling with
0:50:09stuff but even that is beyond most
0:50:12people I think it's just it's just great
0:50:14for us geeks and we're on the cutting
0:50:15edge of this maybe it'll get easier with
0:50:16time but that kind of backdoor solution
0:50:19I feel like everyone is nibbling around
0:50:21the edges of this thing but the mass
0:50:23market is still paying for cable and
0:50:24watching American Idol and that's their
0:50:26solution for television slim in the chat
0:50:28room says that you could make a nerd cry
0:50:30in 15 seconds by crushing his dreams
0:50:33that's true I you know I guess I'm
0:50:36getting greedy at this point because
0:50:37Apple has solved all these other
0:50:39problems for me at Apple pretty much
0:50:40solved the music problem and well now
0:50:43why do you think it was so it they they
0:50:45they walked in and really really did
0:50:48solve the music problem and they did it
0:50:50so quickly and so effectively why why
0:50:55was it so much easier there are you know
0:50:58and we know that the record industry
0:51:00they're not pushovers you know what I'm
0:51:03saying I mean it wasn't iTunes itunes
0:51:05was Pearl Harbor caught on my surprise
0:51:07right came out of nowhere Sunday morning
0:51:10bombed their whole business right and
0:51:12then and and just you know just
0:51:14decimated them and then then they had
0:51:16you know they had many things going for
0:51:17them the fact that there was big five
0:51:19record labels that sort of controlled
0:51:20everything instead of eight million
0:51:21different cable companies right right
0:51:23and the fact that they were they were
0:51:25negotiating from a position of power
0:51:27it's like look your business is already
0:51:28destroyed you need us to bring you back
0:51:30right the fact that music was more
0:51:35easily within the realm of technology
0:51:38abilities although I'm kind of
0:51:39disappointed that the iTunes resolution
0:51:41made a revolution made the quality of
0:51:43music go down reversing a very long
0:51:45trend of the quality music going up I'm
0:51:47talking about like bitrate and
0:51:48everything like that yeah it's still
0:51:49like for the mass market technology
0:51:52reached a point where we had no problem
0:51:53whatsoever giving you music that was
0:51:55good enough for all consumers television
0:51:57is pretty much at that point too but you
0:51:59could say like come on why is it not
0:52:011080p everywhere so we're just on the
0:52:03cusp but but music was well within those
0:52:06bounds and really just they just scored
0:52:08a surprise attack victory
0:52:10um and everything went right and caught
0:52:13everyone unaware caught the content
0:52:14providers unaware caught all of the
0:52:16other companies unaware Apple just got
0:52:17out the gate and did their thing and
0:52:19said yay we are victorious um but then
0:52:21every other business looked at what
0:52:23happened to music and just quickly in
0:52:25the boardroom it's like oh my god we we
0:52:27do not want what just happened to music
0:52:28to happen to us and they you know
0:52:30quickly fortified and started
0:52:31backpedaling and and said if if a fellow
0:52:33comes to us remember don't do what the
0:52:35music guys did just like yeah we got to
0:52:39be stronger we can't let them take over
0:52:41let's make deals with everybody let's
0:52:42tell everyone in content Netflix will
0:52:44sell you a Roku you want to stream
0:52:45through anybody what we don't want to
0:52:46Apple to have too much power it was it's
0:52:50kind of a little bit of a cluster now
0:52:51because the apples victory in music has
0:52:54made their repeat of that victory in
0:52:56other markets or anybody's repeat that
0:52:58victory landmark is much harder books
0:53:00are like that till you books all these
0:53:01companies music industry is kind of
0:53:03their cautionary tale and they have now
0:53:06become their own worst enemy even more
0:53:07so because they think they're doing what
0:53:09they need to do to defend themselves
0:53:11against that type of victory but
0:53:12consumer consumers perspective again
0:53:15other than the music quality going down
0:53:17consumers perspective iTunes was a big
0:53:19big win right
0:53:20we all have iPods we
0:53:21we don't really have many complaints
0:53:23about getting our music you know the
0:53:24Beatles are finally on iTunes like it's
0:53:26it's utopia utopia of poorly compressed
0:53:29music but still so then since we're
0:53:33since we're almost at a time again you
0:53:36do this on your lunch break we it's true
0:53:38yeah where where are we going to be then
0:53:40in a year or five years from now is it
0:53:42is it just going to be more devices that
0:53:45maybe do a little bit more but we still
0:53:46have 10 things hanging off the back of
0:53:48our TV I think that the things hanging
0:53:51off of our TV will get better and
0:53:53smarter and they will fight with each
0:53:54other or coalesce than expand and
0:53:56coalesce and expand I don't think
0:53:58there'll be much of a net change in the
0:54:00number of things but I think all that
0:54:02that activity will slowly slowly slowly
0:54:06leach out the mass market from where
0:54:11they are now which is a subscription
0:54:13television so from a cable provider a
0:54:15satellite slowly start pulling them a
0:54:17little tiny bit of time into other
0:54:18avenues I don't think in five years it
0:54:21will be that drastic maybe you know 95%
0:54:23of the people have cable or satellite
0:54:25subscription snow maybe it'll be 94 93
0:54:2792 but that will start to happen
0:54:30at the edges the geeks the people who
0:54:32only watch one show and they want an ala
0:54:33carte makes sense them even with the
0:54:35ridiculous pricing of you know one show
0:54:36over fifty bucks it still makes sense
0:54:38for some people to do that for an entire
0:54:39season of show that will just continue
0:54:42to happen in a nibble away at the
0:54:45corporate in five years I don't see it
0:54:47being fundamentally different unless
0:54:48some player gets the wherewithal to go
0:54:51for one of the solutions though that I
0:54:52talked about before the data center
0:54:54solution the client side omnivorous
0:54:56solution where you talk to the content
0:54:57guys beforehand and you make the UI
0:55:00Apple quality and not Google quality but
0:55:05that that's where I see things going I
0:55:06just hope Tebow is still in business
0:55:07because I don't know what I'm going to
0:55:09do if they're they stopped making their
0:55:10crappy boxes because then what am I
0:55:11going to pay for so yeah but what what
0:55:15what happens I mean the it's clear that
0:55:17TiVo is not like they're not they're not
0:55:20they're struggling they're not out of it
0:55:23but they're struggling
0:55:24I mean why why would a player want to be
0:55:27in this industry at all I'm all I'm
0:55:29frequently amazed that Apple has done as
0:55:32much as they've done
0:55:34for for this in this space it's clear
0:55:37Apple wants to be in this business but
0:55:40that jobs just recognizes as a
0:55:42businessman that he doesn't have a way
0:55:45to do it successfully yet maybe at some
0:55:47point that stops mattering and they do a
0:55:49pay pull an Xbox and say we're going to
0:55:50sync ten billion dollars over ten years
0:55:52into this business but it's going to
0:55:54lose money hand-over-fist but eventually
0:55:55we're going to have a foothold and maybe
0:55:57start making some market success I don't
0:56:00know if it's in Apple to do that type of
0:56:02thing they tend to want to make money on
0:56:03everything they do
0:56:03Nintendo style rather than Microsoft
0:56:05style but it you know it's happened in
0:56:08other industries before Microsoft spent
0:56:10billions of dollars to get a football in
0:56:11the console business they lost billions
0:56:13of dollars to do it and they decided it
0:56:15was worthwhile maybe some company
0:56:16decides the same thing about television
0:56:18and you know embarks on one of these
0:56:21endeavors that will actually solve the
0:56:23problem for the consumer even though
0:56:25they know it's like a long-term play
0:56:26like it's a ten-year plan before we see
0:56:28a cent out of this but who can do that
0:56:30Microsoft could do it in the console
0:56:32market
0:56:32barely who else is that big you know
0:56:35apples is a big play right the Exxon
0:56:37Mobile we'll get into the business of
0:56:40television there the other person who
0:56:41has a lot of disposable income but I
0:56:42really don't feel like that's their core
0:56:43competency yeah really all right John
0:56:46we'll work on it we're going to do this
0:56:47again right we're going to be back here
0:56:49next week at every week on Friday unless
0:56:52there's some kind of job emergency that
0:56:54requires you to put your suit and tie on
0:56:57and and you know this will be a weekly
0:57:01thing so people can come back here and
0:57:03hear more from John if you want if
0:57:05people want to start reading more from
0:57:08you they should do what Ars Technica is
0:57:11that the best place for your best
0:57:12writing or where you put right there so
0:57:15infrequently but the most the place I
0:57:16write most of the time as you all know
0:57:18is Twitter but that's that's in tiny
0:57:19little snippets and you're siracusa si
0:57:21RAC USA on Twitter so if you want to
0:57:26hear from me everyday 140 characters at
0:57:28a time that's one place to look for it
0:57:30place otherwise yeah I write for ours
0:57:32occasionally you'll see me in Mac world
0:57:33and I have a couple of blogs stashed
0:57:37away on the internet well very good well
0:57:39we will we'll see you guys all again
0:57:42next week have a good one