Time For Apple To Step Up

If Apple doesn't release an iTunes/media center enabled TV within the next 12 months, the jig is up.

Netflix finally got smart and started becoming ubiquitous. In addition to invading multiple media center devices (Xbox, TiVo, Roku) they're also going to start going straight into TVs. This may not necessarily win them a lot more customers, but it's a big win for the TV makers and it sets a precedent. It's a huge loss for cable and also for Apple and Sony, who all get instantly bypassed. Now if Hulu.com and Netflix strike up a deal, they will truly become a massive powerhouse, and could potentially wipe out any cable On Demand service and certainly make Apple look stupid for charging money for individual downloads versus a subscription fee. It'd be neat to see Netflix make a total end-run around all cable companies and destroy their monopoly forever.

Speaking of Flash-enabled video streaming: Intel and Adobe announce Flash-on-a-chip. Oops. Another gut punch for Apple there - Flash will now go native on every device with an Intel chip in it: smartphones, set top boxes, media centers, computers, TVs, you name it. Flash is Apple's greatest enemy at the moment, because it completely subverts the iTunes paradigm. Streamed music and video?? Not in my iPhone! (I'm still surprised they allow a Pandora iPhone app to exist, but maybe they do so because it only plays random songs).

I think what we're going to learn is that people don't actually care about downloads. Nobody wants to have a multi-terabyte storage server sitting in their living room; some beast that they have to administer, and basically buy two of because they need to have a backup (because disks always fail sooner or later). No, what people want is instant gratification - they don't care if they "own" the bits, if the ones and zeros are located in their home; they just want access to them at all times! Ideally, they want access to their bits no matter what location they're in. Streaming will win over downloading every time, and this is why Netflix has a huge advantage over iTunes; unfortunately, Apple's got the studio power and is locking up the good stuff. It's the content, stupid!!

Disaster Planning

If Yellowstone park does actually erupt and cover half the country in a bunch of hot ash, it'll most likely end up doing that to the portion of the country that makes food (specifically the part that grows corn). I don't know what kind of remediation would be needed to recover soil that's been volcanically affected for purposes of growing crops, but if a big eruption does occur, it's going to be a world of hurt - a real global food crisis, and then a whole bunch of global cooling that might make growing crops more difficult.