SOMEWHAT FRANK

WWDC 2009: iPhone 3GS & 3.0, Macbook Pro & More

I did not attend Apple's WWDC 2009 in person but thanks to the Web, I still could follow along as we all look for the new iPhone G3S, SDK 3.0, Macbook Pro and more. This is what I learned from following the chatter online:

Computers

• Launched 3 new Macbook Pro models at 13, 15 and 17 inches
• All have built in SD Cards
• The 13 inch version was formerly the Macbook
• Lowered the prices on the Macbook Air

OS X

• Finder was rewritten in Cocoa programming language
• Faster installs by 45%

Safari

• Safari 4 will ship today with faster Javascript than IE 8
• Separated out plugins so that the entire browser won't crash

Quicktime

• Launched Quicktime X with a new logo to boot
• Offers http streaming
• New user interface
• Offers ability to trim and share videos directly within QuickTime to iTunes, MobileMe or YouTube

Dock Expose

• If you click and hold any application icon on your dock it will just expose the windows associated with that particular program
• Drag and drop support allows you to drag a file to the a docked icon and all of your windows will line up, allowing you to drag the file directly to the right one

Mail, iCal & Address Book

• Offering new exchange support orks with Mail, iCal, and Address Book
• Spotlight search will now search PC docs and attachments from within Mail
• Meeting invitations can now be accepted from within Mail
• iCal now does search to find available times for group meetings

iPhone OS

• 1,000,000 SDK downloaded. 50,000 apps in store. 40,000,000 iPhones & iPod touches sold already
  
• New OS 3.0 available today with 100 new features on June 17th to all iPhone users for free and for $9.95 to iPod Touch users
  
• New OS supports cut, copy, paste, MMS support, landscape mode in all Apple applications
• Support for sending Photos, contacts, audio files, etc over the cell network
• MMS Support won't be available by AT&T till later this summer
• Spotlight: enables search across entire phone, contacts, apps and details within apps, etc.
• Tethering allowing users to share the Internet connection with with Mac/PC, USB or Bluetooth
• Parental controls introduced
• iTunes: Rent and purchase movies right from the phone!
• iTunesU also now available on the iPhone
• Safari Mobile: Performance upgrades, HTTP streaming audio/video, Autofill, HTML 5 support
• Find My iPhone: MobileMe Service launched that allows users to locate iPhone on a map then send wipe command to delete all items on the phone remotely
• In App Purchases: enables the purchase of content within applications
  
• Real-time data straight out of iPhone (i.e. medical alerts)
• Turn-by-turn navigation via TomTom GPS app on the iPhone
• Textbooks on the iPhone via Iceberg app on the iPhone
• ZipCar on the iPhone allows users to book and even unlock a car with the iPhone

iPhone 3GS

• iPhone 3Gs is for SPEED
• Photo Camera - 3.2 Megapixel auto focus - Has a new autofocus, tap to focus, autobalance, low light sensitivity, auto macro
• Video Camera - 30 frames per second with auto focus, exposure control, and more
• Videos are kept in your photo library and you EDIT videos on the phone!
• Videos can be auto share to iTunes, MobileMe and YouTube
• Voice control - make calls & play songs, playlists and play similar songs with the sound of your voice
• Digital Compass
• Accessibility settings - voice over, zoom in, invert colors and mono audio
• Nike Plus Support 
• Hardware encryption for business
• Better battery life
• Most environmentally friendly iPhone
• Priced for $199 for 16GB and $299 for 32GB in black and white
• Available June 19th

iPhone 3G

• Available now for $99

Apple MobileMe Syncs Everything For A Fee

The release of the new 3G iPhone and the launch of the Application Store secured the spotlight last week but there was another release which caught my attention. Apple launched MobileMe to replace the .Mac service which has been around for awhile. Though the .Mac migration may have had a few hiccups, the new MobileMe service offers users who pay just $99 per year an Apple run exchange for keeping contacts, calendar events and email synced to a PC or Mac computer and iPhone or Touch. The release positions Apple into a new space as a supplier of personal enterprise computing solutions. Apple takes on "free" email providers by locking up new me.com users to an account on a yearly subscription. Will this change the "free" email standard?

Which iPhone Apps Are You Queuing Up?

I just got the latest version of iTunes and have been poking around the new iPhone application store. So far I have been impressed by the applications that are offered. I started to queue up a number of applications that should be added to my iPhone as soon as the 2.0 software update is released (or I could download it early here). I took a quick screen-shot of the applications I will be adding as soon as I get the iPhone 2.0 firmware update, they are as follows:

AIM, AOL Radio, Baseball, Eventful, Evernote, Facebook, Google Mobile App, Light, Local Picks by TripAdvisor, Loopt, NetNewsWire, NowLocal, NYTimes, Remote, Twitteriffic, Typepad, Whrrl & Yelp

The two that I have not seen yet are Flixwagon and Qik as they both have made public statements here and here respectively saying they will be working on the iPhone . I am hoping they are released soon as they stabilize and perfect the service offering.

I am curious to see what you will be added to your iPhone - let me know in the comment section below.

Introducing SOMEWHAT FRANK TV Video Podcast

If you are a regular SOMEWHAT FRANK reader you probably noticed the recent redesign which included a color palette change, logo update and slight tweaks to the navigation. I guess I got the creative bug and wanted to rearrange the furniture a little and show off my design skills (or lack there of). :)

Along with that change SOMEWHAT FRANK also now has a video podcast called SOMEWHAT FRANK TV. It will offer in-the-field reports and video interviews with startup founders, authors and other social media and web technology related experts. You can subscribe on iTunes or favorite feed reader. Or you could just watch it on SOMEWHAT FRANK. I hope you enjoy it!

Video Interview With Greg Cangialosi Author of The Business Podcasting Book

I got a chance to chat with Greg "The Trend Junkie" Cangialosi, CEO and President of Blue Sky Factory, today regarding his new book "The Business Podcasting Book." The book is a great guide for any corporate executive or other party interested in better understanding podcasting. Greg and I chatted about a number of topics related to podcasting and social media which ranged from discussing our podcasting pal Gary Vaynerchuk who has been changing the wine world to a quick getting "how to get started with podcasting" step-by-step.   

My iTunes Data Widgets Now Sharable

iTunes has been offering personalized recommendations within the iTunes application for quite sometime and I have found them to be very accurate and helpful. I have often discovered new songs that I like within the recommendations and downloading them quickly for instant gratification. iTunes has started to role out syndication of personalized music data as My iTunes Widgets, making it easy to share your music interests.

One Llama For 'Fun' Music Discovery

One Llama, a product of six employee Champaign, Illinois-based startup One Llama Media, leverages audio analysis, search and discovery systems to offer a place for music lovers to discover, listen, share and buy new music. Though in the music discovery category, One Llama differs from Last.fm, Pandora and MyStrands by focusing more on search result technology rather than community aspects of music discovery.

One Llama's users interface design is fun and light. Users can search for new music by song or artist and search results are returned in a flashy cluster experience (shown in the screen-shot below) that reminds me of Visual Thesaurus or Quintura.

Users can create playlists on their own or One Llama will create a playlist with recommended songs that are similar to a song or songs you have identified. One Llama created a quick list of recommended songs based off of one song I liked. I was then given the option to share, save or buy these tracks or the playlist. I have shared the list below as an embeddable widget but you can also share it directly to Facebook.

If you like a song you can purchase is on iTunes or Amazon. One Llama also offers an iTunes plug-in which links the web to your desktop music making it even easier to find and purchase the songs you just discovered on One Llama.

In talking with Director of Product Development, Amit Sudharshan, a recent graduate of University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, he explained that:

"One Llama believes finding music should be a 'fun' experience that people should be able to discover, enjoy and share."

As a music lover myself, I would have to agree. Currently, One Llama uses collaborative filtering to offer up song and playlist recommendations but Amit mentioned that audio signal extraction technology is coming very soon. This will enable One Llama to offer music search technology which uses collaborative filtering to recommend songs that people usually play together as well as signal extraction technology to recommend songs that sound alike. One Llama recently partnered with EMI and APM to power their search and find songs that "sound like" other songs within the APM library.

Sticking with it's 'fun' mission, One Llama shows its lighter side by allowing users the ability to personalize their llama avatar. My llama avatar is shown to the right.

Bottom-line: One Llama offers an innovative music search and discovery technology that is fun and easy to use. I had fun using One Llama and I think you will too.

iPhone Mania Turns To AT&T Activation Hell, Google Widget Payday, AOL News & CNN Redesign, Web 2.0 Tracking, A Tour of myAOL & French Web 2.0

Photo of the Week: I spotted this sole mushroom while visiting 'the country' in Illinois.

Somewhat Frank Weekly Tidbits: 07.01.07

iPhone Mania Turns To AT&T Activation Hell
The iPhone caused quite a stir and it appears Apple handled demands very well as it was almost too easy to get the iPhone in several locations. I was able to pick one up with no wait. However, since acquiring the iPhone I have yet to get it activated. It seems I am not the only one. Thus far it has taken over four hours, 2 phone calls to AT&T and one trip to an actual AT&T store. I am hoping tomorrow I will be able to get my iPhone activated but it will take at least one more call to AT&T support to help me transfer my number from my current service provider. Bummer. :-S

The French Web 2.0 Wave
France leads Europe in its enthusiasm for Web 2.0 startups, an industry that has doubled in size across the continent since 2005. Jerome Archambeaud examines the French market on GigaOm.

New CNN.com Goes Live - Google and Yahoo Both Search Providers
CNN re-launched its website as an enhanced multimedia site - packed with web 2.0 features such as recommendations and user generated content. In addition, CNN is using both Google and Yahoo for search.

Wimzi: AOL’s Answer to MeeboMe
AOL is widgetizing AIM with the new Wimzi widget: like other chat widgets, this lets you chat with your website visitors in real time.

Google offers seed funding for widget startups
Google is directly investing in small companies to expand the popularity of its iGoogle product. If this is not validation that widgets have real value then I don't know what is.

When You’ve Got To Go, Go To Mizpee.com
MizPee is a new service focused on delivering pertinent information regarding the location of nearby restrooms - cause when you gotta go you gotta go!

AOL launches new blog-like news site
AOL News launched its new design in a blog-like fashion, with excerpts of all the day's main stories laid out chronologically from top to bottom.

A tour of myAOL, a Personalized Aggregator
Jeremiah Owyang had us into PodTech to share the new myAOL with the PodTech team and live blogged it.

Keeping Tabs on Web 2.0
A great roundup of sites that are tracking Web 2.0 directory-style.

Blogging is Like Songwriting
Kent Newsome explains why blogging is like songwriting.

Robert Scoble & Fast Company magazine
Robert Scoble is now writing a column for Fast Company magazine and offers up his first column.

Poll: Are you getting an iPhone?

The iPhone frenzy has been brewing all week across the country. I just was curious to see how many Somewhat Frank readers were going to get an iPhone immediately. Take this poll and let me know.

Middio: Search YouTube Music Videos

Are you looking for music videos on YouTube? You are not alone. Middio launched publicly on Cinco de Mayo (May 5, 2007) to help users find all the music they are looking for on YouTube. Middio indexes YouTube music videos so that you can search by song or artist and returns search results with embedded video thumbnails. Interestingly, Middio was created by Jake Jarvis, the sixteen year web developer, blogger, student and son of popular blogger Jeff Jarvis of BuzzMachine fame. Nice work Jake!

I performed a few video searches and received pretty good results but I also expect the search algorithm to continue to improve with time. I think the real value in Middio lies in the fact that it removes many of the bogus results you might encounter when performing the same search on YouTube itself.

Additionally, Middio enables users to convert YouTube videos to iPod format to be taken with you which is similar to a product put out by the TechCrunch team that allows for the download of YouTube videos. TechCrunch reported that it is possible that YouTube will try and block this portion of the application. Middio also currently enables users to share videos to Facebook so it could use some additional means for sharing but I figure they will come with time. Videos are played within Middio and you can see a screen-shot below.

SplashCast Now Playing Podcasts & RSS

SplashCast, a Portland-based media player startup, has launched MyPodcastNetwork to enable users to play podcasts directly from the feature rich Flash-based media player. Previously, the SplashCast player was limited to only pulling in RSS feeds from YouTube and Flickr but with the MyPodcastNetwork feature you can pull in any podcast feed you like. Users can now play any podcast on your web site, blog or personalized startpage. When a podcast updates, the SplashCast player will automatically pull in the latest. This will make it easier to collect and play your favorite video and audio podcasts which could disrupt some podcast subscribers dependence on iTunes.

SplashCast is also assembling a Podcast directory to help users find the podcasts they are looking for. Users can submit any RSS feed with enclosures to the SplashCast catalog and it will be available for viewing in a SplashCast player.

What's next for SplashCast? It sounds like the focus will be on improving its search functionality and adding some basic editing tools to help users remix media content.

Find out more about MyPodcastNetwork from SplashCast Director of Content, Marshall Kirkpatrick in the video below.

Gates & Jobs Duke It Out In Apple iWorld

The "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" commercials produced by Apple which consist of a war of words between two actors playing the roles of a Mac and a PC have created quite the buzz. With the release of Vista the most recent commercial describes the user "Allow/Cancel" prompts that might frequently bombard a Vista user. Current.tv decided to see what would happen if  one of these Mac commercials consisted of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Place your bets now, as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs square off and duke it out in the clean white virtual world of the Mac ads. Who do you think will win this "tech czar" duel?

 

midomi Search Engine Names That Tune

Have you ever heard a new song and wanted to purchase it but had no idea who sings it or the name of the song? It happens to me all the time. I will hear a new song on the radio and not catch the name of the track which makes it extremely difficult to find and purchase the song later. My search usually involves listening to a number of chart topping songs and many times I never find the song I was looking for. There has to be a better way! midomi has proposed a solution by offering a search engine that enables users to search for music by singing lyrics of the song.

midomi recently launched to offer a music search engine with social networking hooks. midomi allows users to sing, hum or whistle a song and the engine finds the song. With the mission of building the most comprehensive database of searchable music and is taking a social user generated approach. Aside from searching users can contribute to the song database by singing in midomi’s online recording studio in any language or genre. Contributed music is then added to the search index and is served up to when others search on the site. Users can also create profiles added the classic social networking features of adding friends and sharing music information and recommendations.

midomi has the rights to over 2 million tracks and sells them via the site. The tracks are in the wma format and are $0.99 per song. In testing midomi the voice-driven search seemed to find more user uploaded music than mainstream music downloads. Ironically, Mike Arrington also recently checked out midomi and wasn't too happy with it. Check it out for yourself and make the call.

Riffs: Rant, Rave & Recommend

Have something witty to say about a particular item? Riffs, an ATTAP Technologies company, offers a feature-rich, social bookmarking, recommendation site for information-sharing details about movies, music, fashion and other sorts of interests. With Riffs you can recommend different items by starting a riff, registering and posting a witty comment about a particular item. Alternatively, you can just rant or rave about an existing item by leaving a comment or simply giving an item a “thumbs up” or “thumbs down.” Users can also create and link to webpages associated with specific riffs.

Riffs launched with more than four million items to riff on, including albums, movies, restaurants, events, consumer electronics, games and books. You can add practically anything to Riffs and then you and the rest of the community can riff on it. The most popular riffs are presented on the homepage as well as within its corresponding category. Riffs offers loads of different features, which include RSS feeds for each individual riff and riff profile. Unfortunately, Riffs does not offer category level or popular riff RSS feeds.  Riffs also offers users to tag items as a way to organize items. A screen-shot of the “web 2.0” tag is shown below.

Riffs flexes its social networking muscles by enabling profile creation and the collection of contacts or friends therein. Friends can offer up recommended content to other Riff buddies. Additionally, Riff has implemented a music recommendation engine called iSuggest, which offers up automated music recommendations based on your recorded musical taste. iSuggest is a downloadable application that connects your Apple iTunes library to Riffs. It allows you to get music recommendations right where you listen to music and at the same time helps you keep your Riffs music preferences updated. Qloud and Mog are a couple of other services that sync with iTunes in a similar fashion.

Another interesting feature that caught my attention was the ability to import del.icio.us bookmarks into Riffs so that you and the community can further comment on them. I struggle to see how bookmarks play into the granular item riffs that are already in the system, but I guess Riffs is looking to offer content about just anything; so it makes sense. It is a good way to get people to adopt the system and start to use Riffs as a social bookmarking system.

Check out this online Riff demo about setting up your page. Riff has also provided a demo on how to perform the del.icio.us import.

Bottom-line: Riffs offers a simple repository for information about just about anything you can think of and in true web 2.0 fashion it’s powered by user created riffs or content items, recommendations, comments, rants, raves and other item details.

Zamzar Free Online File Conversion Tool

Have you ever wanted to convert a pdf file into another format but had no means to do so? Or better yet, have you ever wanted to convert an aa3 file (i.e. iTunes song) to a Windows media format? I have to admit these are both annoying and irritating situations without the proper software install. Fret no longer as Zamzar is here to help.

Zamzar, a UK based startup, offers a simple, single page Ajax web application that lets you convert your video, audio, images, and documents from nearly any format to nearly any other format that you like. Zamzar's mission is to:

"To provide high quality file conversion for as many file formats as possible."

It seems that Zamzar is sticking to their mission. Check out this list of file conversion formats. Folksonomy interviewed Zamzar co-founder Chris Whyley recently if you would like to find out more about the creator behind this simple yet powerful product. Finally, stay tuned to the latest updates from Zamzar via the Zamzar blog.