Oatmeal Stout - Justin Thorp’s Web 2.0 blog

So yeah… the new version of Google Reader for the iPhone (http://www.google.com/reader/i/) is 10,000x better then the old one.  This makes me SUPER happy because I basically live off of Google Reader.

iPhone users, check it out and tell me what you think.

Yesterday, Apple announced the addition of HBO television programming to the iTunes store.  This is awesome and seems totally like a no-brainer for HBO.

For me (the consumer) it’s great too.  I have yet to really dive in and get into shows like the Sopranos, The Wire, and Rome (I know I’ve been living under a rock).  Now with them being on iTunes, its really easy for me to just buy an episode or two and slowly get addicted to the shows, rather then having to lay down the big investment.

Yes I know I could have added the TV shows to my Netflix que but that takes planning and fore thought.  This is so much more easy and instantly gratifying.

I guess the lesson here is… make it so easy for people to try your content… to get a taste that it’s easier for them to become hooked.

So are you going to try any of HBOs shows on iTunes?

The Acid3 browser standards compliance test hasn’t been out that long and WebKit, the open source framework behind the Apple Safari browser, already scores a 95/100.  Congrats guys!  Way to lead.

Heh… I think my heart is just starting to stop palpitating.  I was getting up from my desk to throw something away and my foot must have been wrapped around my headphone chord.

My work MacBook Pro went flying and shut in the process. Because Apple makes resilient products which are amazing, the computer is fine.  Thank God!

When can I get my MagSafe headphone connector?!?!?

Anyone else almost had a fatal laptop emergency?

At WidgetDevCamp, I floated the idea of doing a iPhone SDK Dev Camp. Seems like there was some interest for it then.

Now that the Apple iPhone SDK is out, I’ve already gotten a few folks asking about it. One of the reasons I thought this would be cool is because it’s so new we’d all be starting at the same place.

Drop me a comment if you’d wanna attend this event.

It’s been really interesting to watch as Apple has continued to lower and lower and lower the barrier to entry for people to buy their first iPod.

With the recent price drop, someone can now walk into the Apple Store and pickup an iPod Shuffle for $49.

It’s like now… if people ever wanted to try an iPod, they could just get an iPod shuffle. It’s $49. What do they have to lose?

I guess… if I wanted to learn from this, I’d ask myself that if I’m trying to sell product X how can I make it so simple that people would be like “what do I have to lose?”  It’s so easy and has such a low barrier to entry.

On Friday, I was walking out the door on my way to work and I realized that I hadn’t seen this week’s episode of LOST yet.  I stopped what I was doing ran over to my computer, bought LOST on Apple iTunes, and waited 15 minutes as it downloaded.  I then put it on my iPhone and went about my merry way.

Seems like things just aren’t where they need to be.

I’d get a season pass to LOST on iTunes but I only use laptops and I’m always running out of space on my hard drives.

I want some type of easy media server type of solution that will hold all of my media but when I sync my laptop and my iPhone I can pull media off of the server and put it on my iPhone.

It’d also be nice if there was a way to buy TV shows on the fly from the iPhone so that while I was walking to the subway it could have been downloading.  It’d also be nice if my phone could pull TV shows off of my media server.  I know with current cellular technology this isn’t possible but it’d be nice.

I know the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was in Las Vegas this last week but I’m not really sure what happened there. I’m not excited about anything.  My friends aren’t buzzing about anything that came out.

Apparently, Gizmodo pulled some stupid stunt…  but who cares.

Sounds like CES unveiled a bunch of really cool displays which I can’t afford or may not be available for 5 years… but doesn’t that happen every year?

Heh… I think Apple’s announcement of their Mac Pro update was more memorable and bigger news.   So… I guess I’ll to wait for Apple’s MacWorld this week to find out what I should get really excited about as far as consumer electronics.

So it seems like everyone and their brother is talking about the Amazon Kindle E-Book reader.  Well, I’m not a fan yet.

1. It’s something else that I have to carry.  Do I wanna carry one more device?
2. It’s expensive.  It’s $400 (well $399).   Is carrying paper books with you that much of a problem?  A big enough problem that it’d be worth $400.
3. If I lose a hardback book, I’ve lost $25.  If I lose the Kindle, I’ve lost $400. (This is speaking from someone who was mugged and got his iPhone stolen.)

I think the future of e-books is the Apple iPhone.  It’s something more people already have.  It’s the most popular device with the biggest screen.  It has a good battery.

The Apple iPhone is also launching it’s SDK in February.  Who’s going to write the e-book reader app come February?

While I’m not overwhelmed with excitement with the upcoming release of Mac OS 10.5 Leopard, being an Apple fanboy, I’m sure i’ll be getting it shortly after it comes out on Oct 26th. (I may not be able to go on opening night because i’ll be at Startup Weekend DC.)

Anybody wanna have a Mac OS 10.5 Leopard Install Party? Because of DC Startup Weekend, we could have on it on Monday, Oct 29th. Everyone can come over to my apt., drink beer, and hope the update doesn’t kill our laptops.

Drop me a comment if you’re interested.

Updated: It’s 10.5 not 10.4.  Thanks.