(via david)
iCloud vs Dropbox
I’ve been using iOS 5 beta on my iPhone for the last week.
And aside from a few glitches, I’m gonna keep it. The tradeoffs are worth it.
The thing I’m most curious about right now is iCloud and where it’s going.
The implementation in this beta is pretty smooth. Basically it just works in the background. Download an app, and it’s automatically in iCloud.
Buy a new song and it’s stored in iCloud and sent to all of your devices.
Take a photo on your iPhone, well, you get the idea. It’s seamless.
In iOS 5 beta, iCloud/Photostream doesn’t handle videos you capture on iPhone. That may come in the future but this shortcoming has brought to light the differences between iCloud and Dropbox.
Dropbox handles video captured on the iphone. But here’s how I send that video to my dropbox. I open the Dropbox app. I tap Upload, then i goto albums and then I upload the video. A few moments later it’s on Dropbox.
Sounds complicated? Its not but it’s a lot more steps than sending stuff to iCloud.
Yet, I’d rather use Dropbox vs iCloud at this time. With Dropbox it gives you total control and the ability to use anywhere and everywhere. When Photostream, via iCloud, sends the pics I took on my iPhone to my iPad, it’s a broadcast stream. I can’t delete or change them for example.
And iCloud feels like a seprate universe from everything else in my life. As far as I can tell, I can’t point my Boxee to iCloud. I can’t send songs from iCloud to things like turntable.fm. I don’t think i can share my iCloud data with my friends or family.
I hope Apple provides an easy API so that 3rd parties like Dropbox can automatically send data from native iPhone apps to Dropbox as easily as they send stuff to iCloud. I’m not sure if that will be solved with iCloud APIs or not.
But that would be a killer iOS 5 feature.
I love these back to back tweets from @kevinrose
Are we going to see an Apple television panel soon?
Image via Wikipedia
That Apple rumor is back. I’m not talking about the alleged Apple tablet.
We’re talking about an Apple television set.
The reality is that no one knows but it’s fun to think about.
So in that spirit, here’s what I want in my future Apple television
1 - Make it beautiful. I have no doubt it would look great. Right now we have a Pioneer Elite plasma in our family room. Yes, it’s a fine tv. But Apple could make a much beter looking physical device. The iPhone and MacBook Pros are a work of art. I’m thinking a future apple television set would be super thin and built beautifully. How about a 50 or 60” OLED? It’s not possible with the current manufacturing processing technology/limitations but a boy can dream right? .
2 - iSight camera. We have a Mac Mini connected to our Pioneer HDTV. But we don’t have iSight camera hooked up. It would be awesome if it was integrated in the monitor itself.
3 - Less is more. I don’t want anything I don’t need or want. Please don’t include tuners, speakers, cablecards, blue ray or any of those legacy video input sources. Just give me a few HDMI inputs and that’s it. Maybe an SD memory slot. I just want the perfect compliment to the MacMini in our family room. That’s it.
4 - Open. It should be open like my Mac Mini is today. I would never buy it if it’s closed. Support for multiple media players and codecs is a must.
5 - Networking. It’s gotta have ethernet and wifi.
I’m sure I’m missing some cool stuff. Feel free of course to add away !
- Confession: I hate my Apple TV (tuaw.com)
- Is iPhoneTV Coming to Your Living Room? (threeminds.organic.com)
Apple iPhone sw update breaks hacks again
So the cat and mouse game continues.
This is the first apple update I’m not going to install on my iPhone. My hacked iphone finally gives me the feature I’ve been waiting for. Contact search.
Apple’s updates have to better than the hacks if they want to keep playing this game.
Or I suspect there will be many folks like me that we stay a few versions behind and keep their community functionality.
