andrew t elliott

Apple's Education Event

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:21:52 -0500

I submit this having no explicit or implicit knowledge of Apple’s plans for this announcement or future development of either the App platform or the iBooks platform.

Education has long been a core component to Apple’s strategy. Creating an intuitive interface not only allows for easy migration from another platform, but allows for young people—who may still be developing cognitive understandings—to engage users in an intuitive relationship with technology.

In Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs, he claimed that there were three new areas of innovation that Apple would focus on: Television, Photography and Textbooks. The future of television has already begun with the AppleTV set-top box, but that technology is expected to be replaced with an HDTV with display, touchscreen, and Siri controls, most likely arriving in time for Holiday 2012. Apple has been advancing their optics and serves up the best marriage of software and hardware powering cellphone cameras—and the most popular cameras on Flickr. Apple has had iTunes U in place for quite some time, whose content is available for no cost to anyone with an Apple ID (although a credit or debit card is needed to obtain an Apple ID).

In all three areas, Apple has had skin the the game for quite some time. Apple TV was first shown in 2006 and traces roots past 1995 with the release of the Pippin and the development of the Apple Interactive TV for Apple’s excitement about bringing computing to the living room. Apple QuickTake was released in 1994 as well and was one of the consumer-focused digital cameras available, but it was discontinued after 1997. Apple has always prioritized their relationship with students and schools, beginning with an entire generation of students growing up with a “computer lab” full of computers from the Apple II line and leading through their well-publicized “educational discount” and annual back-to-school promotions which run from June to September.

I have no doubt that Steve called textbook publishers assholes and bozos thousands of times while discussing how to disrupt the traditional business educational materials, the business model is broken. For public schools, sending the same physical book everywhere doesn’t make work because the curriculum requirements vary state-to-state and sometimes even district-to-district. Creating a different book for each use-case doesn’t make sense either, as the economy of scale is lost entirely in producing a product line in every conceivable flavor. The textbooks are also essentially a subscription model, where the subscription lasts for as long as the physical book can maintain structural integrity and the contains accurate and relevant information.

So, what do I expect to see on Thursday?

Context clue - The Guggenheim Museum: Can you imagine a more dramatic architectural background? Following the Isaacson biography’s relentless affirmation that Job’s entire life was to integrate and simplify systems, what better shadow to cast than that of Frank Lloyd Wright? I think that the choice of venue is to further disrupt the concept of classical learning models -e.g. school, teacher-student relationship, and “book as container for knowledge.” Art is a perfectly acceptable container to transfer knowledge, it is also a venue where unexpected and unintended lessons occur, even when masters have painstakingly crafted work after agonizing over each detail, qualities which were associated with Steve and Apple would like to showcase as part of their DNA.

Tim Cook will be in attendance and probably kick off the event. He will set the tone, which is the oft used Apple trope of “the intersection of liberal arts and technology.” I expect that John Crouch, Apple’s long-time VP of Education, will lead the event. I expect Eddy Cue and Scott Forstall to lead sections.

Apple will create an Education Store subset of the App Store.
- This will allow educational material to differentiate from the $0.99 App economy.
- It will also allow Apple to curate and merchandise more granularly.
- Textbooks will be subscribed to.
  - Teachers will be able to “build” their own curriculum from the content available.
  - This solves the problem of diversified product line.
I expect to see some classroom interface for iOS.
- I see this as a simple way for a teacher to take comments, poll, assign work, and assess a classroom from their podium.
- It should scale between a 10 student class and a 500 student college lecture.
- Students should be able to document the lecture, both collectively and individually.
- AirPlay to share media or as an “overhead projector.”
A Game Center-like social component
- Form study groups within a class
- Overcome the proximity problem of education by connecting similar courses.
Apple will highlight the next release of iBooks.

Apple should take this moment to position themselves as the best product to bring into a classroom. One of the biggest moments to purchase a computer is for incoming college freshmen. Apple will bring the iPad out as the best option for Fall ‘12 students, by then many kinks will be worked out of the system and there will be a broad array of Education apps available.

I fully expect Apple to tread cautiously and repeat the phrase “open standards” throughout this entire presentation. Google has been winning the battle for hearts and minds in the open-information game, and Apple will use this moment to raise the stakes. Apple will claim full EPUB3 compliance and highlight their role in shaping the spec.

Personally, I would like to see a bigger home screen presence for the iBookStore, putting reading front and center, reminding users of the wealth of information available in the bookstore, not burying it 3 layers deep behind the download of iBooks, the tap on the iBooks icon, the tap on the Store link inside. Newsstand’s store is a second-tap experience.

Beyond all this, I’m excited to see what Apple has cooked up, I think they’ll have something very special to deliver. It will undoubtedly ruffle a lot of feathers, but not I doubt that it will entirely upend the industry. As ever, I expect Apple will have a very clean and well thought out package to deliver. I just hope they can sell it without the reality distortion field.

iBooks

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 13:30:00 -0400

This is a response to Business Insiders’ Apple’s iBookstore Is Looking Like A Rare Flop:

The iBookstore isn’t a failure because Apple hasn’t seriously tried. However, the fact that Steve Jobs was interested in books at all is telling.

Apple has made little effort to seriously prioritize iBooks within their ecosystem. iOS devices don’t even ship with iBooks. All other Apple content stores are hardwired into iOS, even the upcoming Newsstand is included in iOS5. It is quite apparent that Apple only views iBooks only as one of hundreds of reasons to purchase an iOS device.

Success at Apple is defined not only by profitability, but by disrupting an entire industry, and leveraging that disruption into an immense head start in market share. Under that definition, Apple’s only successful content ventures can be tied to success of their dedicated platforms: The iTunes Music store, via the iPod, and the App Store, via iOS.

The iBooks app lacks any positive differentiation between its iOS competitors – aside from the monopoly of having a Store button. The only moments that Apple has been able to differentiate iBooks were significant yawns: First-to-market on fixed format and sync-to-text (read-aloud).

Apple has no dedicated reading platform and Apple is in the hardware business. They sell personal technology and operate content stores to make that technology more valuable. Nook and Kindle are commanding the market not only because they have dedicated platforms—which lead to better user experiences—but both B&N and Amazon are content stores that sell hardware to make their content more valuable.

Looking to video as a roadmap may help to clarify Apple’s mind: Video was introduced in 2005 to the iTunes store to add value to the iPod. In 2007, Apple released the AppleTV set top box, calling it a “hobby.” Now Apple is widely rumored to be entering the $30B+ living room entertainment market with an Apple HDTV.

It is possible that Apple views the iBookstore as a hobby. But Apple doesn’t just take up hobbies, so they must believe there is a multi-billion dollar opportunity for them. Apple has acquired content, so this begs the question: Does Apple have a dedicated reading device in their pipeline?

480. If a street performer makes you stop walking, you owe him a buck.

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 10:58:43 -0500

That is absolutely the rule.

and a happy new year to you too

Mon, 03 Jan 2011 15:10:54 -0500

and a happy new year to you too:

lancerubin:

As I was getting off the F train just now, I was blind-sided by a casual service change notice on the window with, what essentially amounts to, this information:

From January 10 through May 2011, there aren’t going to be any Manhattan-bound trains at this station (which is the station near your apartment that you use every day). Sucker.

I re-read it at least 5 times, thinking, “What? No, this can’t be true. What?”

But it is true. Painfully, mindbogglingly true. Apparently they’re doing work on the Culver Viaduct, so me and katie’s and hundreds of other people’s stop is fehhhhcked. There’s gotta be a better way to handle this Viaduct work than straight-up closing down Manhattan-bound service at multiple stops. I mean, right??! And there’s gotta be a better way to inform people that this will be happening than with a lame piece of paper a week before.

I have no idea how to process this information. The day after i just spent 15 more dollars on an unlimited metro pass, and I don’t even have a subway stop.

Thanks, MTA. You’re terrible.

Wanna See a Magic Trick?

Tue, 26 Oct 2010 09:20:18 -0400

I’m going to turn myself into … you! That is, if you are logging into Facebook, Google and many other websites over an unsecure wifi connection.

A new Firefox extension called Firesheep is causing quite the uproar. It allows a user to collect cookies transmitted over HTTP on an unsecured WiFi network. The user can then use these cookies to log into any of the accounts.

It allows a person to sit in a coffee shop (or on another open wifi network) and as other patrons of the coffee shop connect to their favorite timesuck websites (while they should be working on finishing an article which is WAY past deadline, for example), Firesheep intercepts the cookies being shared over the HTTP protocol and logs them. Bingo bango, the nefarious coffee shop patron can now log into all the accounts accessed on that WiFi Network while he was running Firesheep. An even more troublesome situation is if the nefarious person lives above the coffee shop.

Eric Butler has stated that he released Firesheep only to provoke websites to use the more secure - albeit slower - HTTPS protocol.

via TechCrunch

Apple.com moves to the Dark Side

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 16:18:37 -0400

Following last Wednesday’s Back-To-The-Mac SteveNote announcing the refreshed MacBook Air lineup, Apple.com went dark — literally.

Apple.com — which historically uses a white background — has turned black. Completely black. Visitors were greeted with a full black image, from which faded a hand holding the new 11.6 inch MacBook Air. Shortly, the blackness fades and reveals the classic Apple homepage, navigation at top, news bar, and featured boxes below.

Apple.com has gone black before — for the Original iPhone launch and for the announcement of OSX Leopard.

More than being simply black, the shift marks a change in philosophy. It seems that Apple’s iAd team realized that Apple.com is absolutely the best place to advertise Apple products, and they have taken 3 seconds to cleanly, elegantly and cinematically advertise their latest product to each and every visitor.

ajpitts: This is in response to Justin Bieber’s statement about...

Fri, 24 Sep 2010 12:38:00 -0400

ajpitts:

This is in response to Justin Bieber’s statement about feeling like he was the Kurt Cobain of his generation…

Julia in the MissionKaimal Mark II Lens, Kodot Verichrome Film,...

Fri, 17 Sep 2010 14:58:44 -0400

Julia in the Mission

Kaimal Mark II Lens, Kodot Verichrome Film, No Flash, Taken with Hipstamatic

Life Goal #1: Achieve 10% of Paul Newman’s...

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:58:39 -0400

Life Goal #1: Achieve 10% of Paul Newman’s awesomeness.

theimpossiblecool:

Newman.

The iPad (looking back at some silly thing I wrote)

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:08:10 -0400

Here’s something I started writing when the iPad was announced:

——

The iPad will hurt iPhone.

And not the same way that iPhone has hurt iPod sales.

The accessibility of this iPhone is part of what has made it such a success. It is instantly recognizable as the ultimate in portable electronics. It is what’s cool and what everyone wants.

One of the reasons the iPhone is thought of as unattainable and luxurious was the initial price point: $499 and $599.

——

I’m not going to finish this thought, because I think this post sums it up nicely. The part that I had wrong was that the iPad would take the iPhone’s place as luxury brand. The iPad is actually going to be at the bottom of the list, it’s the most consumer product.

Because the mobile phone marketplace is so highly competitive, the iPhone is the place where the real experimentation is happening. Apple even gambled on the design of iPhone4, which spawned so much media blowback. Bad PR sure - but the sales are better than ever. So Apple is choosing to innovate in the most lucrative market.

Apple has proven with each release that the iPhone is growing in popularity - I don’t personally know anyone who has had an iPhone and chosen to give it up.

Apple makes the same money selling a 32GB iPhone as it does a 64GB WiFi iPad: $699

I need this alarm clock

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 16:45:00 -0400

BEIRUT - Nantes

Sun, 05 Sep 2010 12:46:09 -0400

BEIRUT - Nantes:

Beirut performing in a staircase. Fantastic.

Apple's Closed App Ecosystem is a Myth.

Wed, 05 May 2010 16:36:00 -0400

The simple fact is that Apple has made is so easy to develop and distribute applications via the App Store that it leaves developers wondering how they ever did it before.

Here’s how you did it before: From your website, the user can download your application. For a fee, the user can acquire a license key, or license file which they are given instructions how to install.

Here’s how you COULD do it: Develop your app, using published or unpublished APIs within iPhone OS. Build your file. Compile your .ipa, upload it to your website so that it can be downloaded by users, charge users a licensing fee for one year (length of your $99 dev subscription) at the same time you get their UDID. They received their .mobileprovision file unique to their device. Tell them how to install it, etc.

Done. You’ve created your own app store whereby you don’t split money 70-30 with anyone, but which will CERTAINLY be busted at some point by Apple - likely by not renewing your dev license.

Right?

And for those trying to make a case for their apps on the iPhone *cough* ADOBE *cough* - you can use this as a proof of concept and spread your videos and demos to the far reaches of the blog-o-drome to prove your perfect implementation. The creates a groundswell of support and rings as a true counterpoint to anyone’s Thoughts which may preach the opposite.

Just like everyone else

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 14:42:47 -0400

I’m not giving away an iPad.

Good luck!

Twitter is not for breakfast @rickygervais

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:47:00 -0500

Twitter is not for breakfast @rickygervais

Tablet to be "iPhone on steroids"

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 11:55:45 -0500

Tablet to be "iPhone on steroids":

This makes sense in the Apple product model. This is the “iPhone HD”, not that it will be named as such, but in concept it will be to the iPhone what the iPhone is to the iPod Touch. It is the “Pro” device in Apple’s mobile ecology.

The timing of a March or April ship date makes sense as well. New features are released to the Slate in April, available exclusively on the Slate for 3 months when some (not all) are integrated into the new iPhone model in June/July, and some are added to the iPod Touch in September.

Each business unit feeds the other, but the largess of desire is place on the new, most profitable iteration of Apple’s multitouch devices.

To paraphrase a teacher of mine: The Slate is the runway in Milan The iPhone is Bergdorff And the iPod Touch is JC Penney.

One sets the fashion, one commercializes it, the other sells it to everyone.

Contra - I wantcha.

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 14:24:42 -0500

(Skip to the bottom and listen to the album while you read this.)

I’m very pleased with the new Vampire Weekend album.

I’ve been a huge fan since I first discovered their self-titled freshman effort. It’s catchy, fun and I can listen it over and over. If I had it on CD, I would probably have left it in the player for two weeks straight. Instead I can offer play count information: 56.

I’m not a music reviewer and lack the analytic capabilities to assess the album in a deep way. I do know about technology, though, so I’m looking at their digital release plan for the album.

I first came across “Horchata” via Pretty Much Amazing Blog in October (I RSS them, so I’d say I found it on the 5th or 6th). PMA offered a 96kbps download of the song (which is now a free download at vampireweekend.com).

Over the next two months, “Cousins” was released as a single and “White Sky” (my fave) showed up on their MySpace page.

They are now streaming their whole album on their website. It streams low-quality MP3s through a flash interface, simply play the whole album through or pick it by song. It’s possible to intercept the MP3s (via Download Helper or similar) but at 96K it’s not worth it. It’s a model I’m a big fan of, low quality is free, real deal is gonna cost you.

On top of that, I’m most impressed with is in the Facebook Connect and it’s really small and simple:

They just made their own little connect that calls it out. Otherwise it’s a regular status update (I’ve obscured the name and photo). It’s so minute, but it’s what made me stop to reflect on how I had come to be so exposed to an album before it even went onsale.

For your listening pleasure:

How to sell me on the "iSlate"

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 11:29:00 -0500

DISCLAIMER: I know nothing real about any of this, I’m just a fan and can’t wait to see what’s next.

These are my outstanding questions on the iSlate:

What problem is this device solving? This is the fundamental issue I have with the tablet computer: it’s a solution for a problem I’m not yet aware of.
How do you hold it? - I am most curious about how this gets solved. Is it like an iPhone? 10” is too big to hold and use with one hand. To hold it with one hand on the side seems awkward. To hold it as a painters palate is too unstable.
Where do you use it? - Real portability? Is this an everywhere device, like the iPhone or is this like a laptop, which can be used while walking around, it’s just not recommended.
How do you carry it? - In a bag? A pocket? Does it come with a special sleeve like the 5G Video iPods did?

And this is what I’m looking forward to seeing on January 26th:

Steve Jobs dramatic introduction - like the MacBook Air hiding in the envelope, I’m looking for a nice visceral reveal from Steve Jobs. And maybe a joke about how skinny he and the device are (though I’d much rather see Jobs with some more meat on the bones).
iPhone OS - I don’t think it will primarily run the iPhone OS, but I do think it will be capable of supporting the iPhone apps.
OS X Touch - We will see an innovative UI that is a NEW OS interface, and this will be the real jewel. Anyone can make and assemble hardware, but the most copied features on the Mac are ways to get from point A to point B. I don’t know what it’ll be called, but Steve loves touting OSX whenever he can.*
Business Model - Steve has previously described Apple as a three-legged stool: Mac, iPod, iPhone. Look right at the top of the Apple.com page - the three are listed in that order. But where does the iSlate fit in the picture? All products in the Mac line-up have the word “Mac” in them - MacBook, iMac, Mac Mini, Mac Pro, etc - same with iPod, and same with iPhone. The only orphan is the Apple TV, which is still a “hobby”. So, if the moniker “iSlate” is the real deal - where will it fall?
iMac bezel-less design cue - I love this look and I know Jonny Ive does too, I’d be surprised if it were omitted.
iSight built-in - I’ll be excited to see this, because it’ll be the first iteration of a real, usable videophone. No one has really adapted iChat as a communication tool. This also brings us one step closer to being The Jetsons, rocket-cars, pill-based-food and houses in the clouds.

Awesomeness I don’t expect, but would love to see:

Cloud-based streaming media - I think it’s time that Apple start firing up those servers in North Carolina. For iWork Cloud, iTunes subscription TV service, or LaLa.com?
Tactile Feedback - Not the worthless buzzing haptic feedback.

1999 brought OSX, 2001 was iPod, 2005 was Intel, 2007 was the iPhone. It’s been 3 years since we were shown the first glimpses of the iPhone, and people have finally wrapped their heads around it so obviously it’s time for a new revolution in computing.

*Lest ye forget, it was the NeXt acquisition that gave birth to OSX and brought Steve back to Apple.

Big, Gorgeous iTunes Artwork

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:32:00 -0500

I have no doubt that this can be automated. I also have no doubt that I won’t be the one to do it. For your edification.

Sample: Artwork from The Wire, Season 3:

Copy the link. Paste the link into your browser.

At this page, either copy the location of the image or view it.

You now just need to take the “100x100-75.” out of the image to get a crisp, clean 600x600 uncompressed jpeg of your artwork.

This is for informational use only. Please use responsibly and do not redistribute iTunes artwork without the requisite permissions, etc etc. Be cool, y’all.

Theater in a digital download

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:20:52 -0400

Theater in a digital download:

But where does the audience live in this, the next iteration of documenting theater?

Isn’t this just poor film - and not theater? Hasn’t this road been explored. I can’t help but think of Dogville.

Theater is the unique artform that is rebuilt upon every viewing for a specific audience. “It’s a good audience tonight” is an unthinkable utterance from a painter, novelist, sculptor, etc. Our work is created in front of the audience now, always now. Doesn’t this remove one of the critical definitions of theater?