I got mine this weekend. It’s worth getting just to see how a really well-designed product works. Apple TV IS really well designed, in part because it explicitly doesn’t do certain relatively complicated things.

1) The first iPod model that came out did NOT have iTunes Music Store (hard to remember), so you only played MP3 files on it. It was also locked to a single computer, so if you changed computers, you lost whatever was on your iPod. This was the predecessor to the Fairplay DRM — a really simple way to guarantee to the music labels that Apple wouldn’t enourage piracy.

Apple TV, likewise, will only synchronize with one computer. If you switch which computer you sync with, the stuff on the hard disk inside Apple TV gets overwritten. At first, I thought this was stupid, in part because my computer leaves the house when I do. But then I realized it was brilliant because syncing with multiple computers is much harder to make work for both Apple and the consumer.

2) All that said, synchronizing that much data (movies are about 1.5GB each; TV shows are 200-500MB; and so forth) takes a LOT of time on a wireless network. If you’re used to using Firewire or USB 2.0 with an iPod, be prepared for a whole different dimension. I started syncing my iTunes data yesterday around 10am. By the time I unplugged to go to the office, the Apple TV had both movies and about half the TV shows. And syncing is really pretty dumb; it goes one media type at a time, so still no photos on the Apple TV.

3) That said, there’s nothing wrong with this product! The screen resolution (HD only) is spectacular so that movies and TV shows I buy on iTunes look better than anything else on my television, possibly even including the Blu-ray DVDs I’ve watched on my Samsung DVD machine. Photos are brilliant (once they all get there). And music is as good as the sound system on the television.

In fact, you begin to think that maybe Apple will end up being the delivery mechanism for real HD video. The company has no legacy to protect from being a cable or satellite or broadcast network. The selection of movies they have on iTunes is already pretty good. And you don’t have the issues of protecting consumers from their own media that the Fairplay system creates for music listeners. (I’ve stopped buying music on iTunes since I can’t use it anywhere else.) Video is different than music: Watch it once or maybe twice and you’re finished with 99% of the video that exists. For the other 1%, go buy the DVD.

4) The industrial design of Apple TV is beyond brilliant. It’s small enough that it will go anywhere and pretty enough that it fits just fine sitting by itself in front of the television (not in the stack of stuff underneath). My television has an HDMI plug, so it was the easiest thing in the world to install: Plug in power, connect to the TV, turn it on.

This is the most satisfying experience I’ve had since the first time I got my TiVo to work — and the installation time was about 2% of what it took to get that TiVo to record its first show!

Update April 1, 2007: 1) Michael Chang (comment below) was correct. Apple TV can show HD resolution, but iTunes doesn’t deliver movies and video in that resolution. 2) I solved the only-one–HDMI-slot by buying an HDMI switch, but this stuff is expensive! The switch ($141 including tax) and a 4-foot HDMI cable ($108) cost almost as much as the Apple TV ($299). I didn’t shop around, so I’m sure the BestBuy guy just gave me the most expensive stuff. But that’s the business model for Monster, isn’t it?

Any day now, our landlord will finally deliver a working swipe mechanism to open our office door. Meanwhile, since we moved in, we’ve had to use a physical key to get in, even though we already have the cards that let us into our parking garage. What leads to this rumination, though, is my recent car purchase.

I bought a 2006 Toyota Prius, which came with a smart key. I don’t need to pull the key out to open the car or operate it. As long as I have the key on my person, the car talks to it to establish my authenticity and allow me to open the door and push the start button. It’s kind of eery, actually, for an older guy like me: I walk up to the car and when my hand reaches the door handle, the car senses my proximity, talks to the key and unlocks.

My life now: I physically lock the door to my house, walk up to my car and drive away. I swipe me and my car into the parking garage, swipe myself into the gym, and then take a key out to open our office door. Any day now, of course, our landlord will finally deliver a working swipe mechanism; then I can use one card for both parking garage and office door.

Why do I have a key? Isn’t it feasible and affordable now to install electronic locks everywhere, including my house? Indeed, if it is feasible, why the heck do you need different electronic fobs or cards for each entry point? Why can’t I use my ATM card or cell phone or something else I already carry around? (See this post on my personal blog for another smart-card experience, but I don’t want my identity stored on that one!)
You can feel it: The future isn’t too far around the corner.

Big news! Videogame sales in Japan had their worst week ever! No wonder since the console business is sick. That’s exactly what Stewart and I predicted in June last year. We said the videogame industry is due for a major overhaul. (Download the Powerpoint presentation in our Library.) Our premise was that the next generation of games is going to be too expensive to produce and that the new games that do get produced are versions of old, stale games.

The news from Japan this week: the PlayStation 3 has had its worst week ever (ending January 14th), selling only 25,531 units in Japan. The Nintendo Wii had its second worse week selling 93,708 units. The Microsoft Xbox 360 couldn’t even sell 10,000 units. Retailers in Japan are reducing their PS3 prices by upwards of 20% in order to stimulate sales.

After buying two of the three new boxes and playing with all three platforms (Wii, PS3, and the Xbox 360), I have to say that I haven’t been impressed with any of the platforms.

The Xbox 360 is the worse of the three. Even on my 10-foot high definition projection screen at home, I can’t really tell the difference between the games that are shipping on the 360 and those I can buy for the PS2. Even worse, most of my old Xbox games are not compatible. Of the 100 plus titles, I can’t name one that is exclusive to the 360 that I would buy that machine to play. Of course, the Xbox has that special Microsoft feature that requires you to update your machine on the network out of the box otherwise your games will just crash without any warning.

The graphics on the PS3 are great, but the current crop of games are more of the same with just prettier graphics and for $599 for the machine and $60 per game, I want significantly more than just eye candy.

Of the three boxes, only Nintendo’s Wii offers anything new and compelling. The controller is fantastic even if the strap is cheap. The problem with the Wii is that the box suffers from an anemic graphics co processor and CPU. While the current set of games are fun, the novelty of the controller is already beginning to wear off (not to mention how sore my wrists are getting).

That’s not to say it’s game over but we better start seeing some compelling and platform defining titles soon, otherwise it’s going to be a blood bath for both the console manufacturers as well as the software publishers. (And we’re open to pitches for new kinds of game companies, as we describe in our presentation: more television-like, episodic kinds of content with a business model that works.)