There’s a lot of speculation on the net right now about what the near future holds for the Apple TV. This has largely been brought on by recent changes to the lineup, namely the demise of the low-end model and the price reduction on the remaining one. That, coupled with the long time since the last real update have brought the analysts out of the woodwork.

I’ve had an Apple TV since the second rev, when they lowered the price and bumped the hard drive capacity to 160 GB. I’m lucky enough to also have a TiVo, so I’ve never been one who really clamored for the Apple TV to become a full-fledged DVR. I think that if Apple decided to jump into this market, they could probably do a good job, but it’s been pretty clear that they want no part of it, and it’s probably better that way.

I tend to think of the Apple TV as simply a conduit to get my iTunes-purchased video onto my HDTV and music piped through my speakers. I’ll occasionally rent a movie or buy a missed TV show on the device, and for these things it works well. The killer app that made me buy it really was its small form factor. I like that it’s very easy to put a bunch of content on the Apple TV, and move it to the trailer at the start of a trip. Then I have that content combined with my normal music library in the trailer. It’s really a pretty good device for this kind of travel.

Here are a few things that I’d like to see improved:

1. I’d love for the Apple TV to have a folder that I could through video into and have it sync to the Apple TV. For this to really work, it has to be able to play it. That’s a long way of saying that I want the Apple TV to gracefully handle pretty much any type of video I throw at it. Think of the VLC player and you’ve got the right idea.
2. I’d like to see the restrictions on movie rentals relaxed. I’m happy enough to pay for rentals, but having to finish a movie within 24 hours of starting it is a pain-in-the-ass. I paid for it already—let me watch it on my own timeline.
3. I understand that the movie industry controls when something can be rented or purchased. Let me be clear: I’ll never pay to “own” a movie on the Apple TV. If I want to own a movie, I’ll get the DVD or Blu-ray. If we must have this division, let me hide the new-for-purchase-only track altogether.
4. The HD tax seems kind of steep for TV episodes. I don’t mind paying the $1 tax for the better quality in a movie, but $1 extra for a TV episode makes me wince.
5. Let me set a preference that I always want HD, and make it the default unless I explicitly say I want SD, or HD isn’t available.
6. I frequently find myself hunting for stuff in the menus, which is pretty un-Apple-like. For instance, I might finish watching an episode of a TV show, and want to immediately get the next one. That requires a surprising amount of menu-hunting.
7. In-show navigation could use some work. Fast-forward and rewind need those touches that TiVo has that take your reaction time into account. Also from the TiVo: I’d love to have a skip back a couple of seconds button.

I don’t have a huge list, obviously. It does what I want for the most part, but it really hasn’t revolutionized my life either. I’d love to see Apple really decide this segment is important to them and have them surprise me like they did with the iPod. I’d really love for them to make it possible for me to kill my cable subscription, but I know that’s asking a lot. But the iPhone was asking a lot too, wasn’t it?

In my neighborhood, we have a truck belonging to a local landscaper that semi-permanently parks on the street. It was originally very ugly: beat up and covered with graffiti. My wife, ever the neighborhood watchdog, called on it and it moved after the sheriff came and tagged it. It’s been back since, but at least now it’s cleaned up and has been painted. (She’s still on the war path, though. ;))

CitySourced, recently launched at TechCrunch 50, ought to be her new favorite service. It essentially allows you to report eyesores with your iPhone (other devices coming) and the service routes your reports to City Hall, or other appropriate authorities. I think it’s a great idea, and the pitch (about 10 minutes long) is worth taking the time to watch.

Of particular interest to me (and my wife) is that San Jose (where we live) is the first city that the company has signed on as a customer. I do wonder how sensitive it’ll be with regard to jurisdictions; we live in a small pocket in San Jose that’s unincorporated and is typically handled by the Sheriff’s department as opposed to SJPD. I guess we’ll find out as you can bet there’ll be a picture of that truck in CitySources soon after it opens to the public. ;)

I’ve mentionedthe darned thingenough times that you might think my site is a link farm promoting the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1.

This is obviously not a link farm, but it’s certainly true that I’ve had this camera in my head since it was announced. I have a great SLR with great lenses, but there’s no getting around the fact that it’s big. One of my main uses for a camera is that I want one to take mountain biking with me. To that end, I’ve owned most models in Canon’s G-series. They’re fine cameras, to be sure, and the recently announced G11 looks great. But the GF1 is only a little bigger (which I’m painfully aware can be a slippery slope), but has a significantly bigger sensor. That’ll undoubtedly lead to higher quality RAW images, which is of critical importance to me. Of lesser, but still significant importance, are the benefits of interchangeable lenses and the optional viewfinder, which I’ve also pre-ordered.

A good camera for photographing on a mountain bike ride requires, in addition to the obvious benefit of small size, speed when taking pictures. The small size enables me to wear it on my chest (in a case that I clip to my CamelBak), so I can access it easily. But the action is usually fast and often takes place in dark, covered places. So the f/1.7 lens that accompanies the kit that I’ve pre-ordered is exactly the kind of thing I want. An even wider-angle, fast prime would be great, too. That challenging lighting environment should also highlight the superior sensor, given the dynamic range frequently involved.

As secondary motivation, I intend to use the GF1 as my “go-everywhere camera”. I imagine I’ll typically leave the viewfinder attached when using it this way (as opposed to leaving it off to minimize the size when biking). I can further imagine that the GF1 will find itself taking many images of my daughter while we’re on the go and the SLR wasn’t on the packing list. As they say, the best camera is the one you have with you, and I hope I’ll do better at taking this one with me than I have in the past. I’ll probably try and make a semi-formal project of taking the camera with me frequently, but that can be a post for another time.

As for the pre-ordering itself, it’s the first time I’ve ever ordered a camera before I’ve held it. One thing that was holding me back was the lack of support of its RAW format in my image organizer/editor of choice, Adobe’s Lightroom. Alas, they just announced support for it in Lightroom and Photoshop (via Camera RAW 5.5), handily removing that obstacle and further backing my choice to switch from Aperture to Lightroom (many revisions ago). Besides, I ordered it from Amazon, so I know that the return policy is good if the handling turns out to be abysmal. I’m hoping that the camera is everything it seems to be.

Good tip on how to use Snow Leopard to set a different app to open on a per-camera basis.

For the second year in a row, I’ll be joining my friend Penny and her PenPals team in the Waves To Wine ride, benefitting the National MS Society. If you can, please visit my page there and consider a small donation on my behalf.

I plan on doing this and the Livestrong ride annually, and I hate asking for money, and this is the least aggressive way I can think of to do that. Anyway, it’s a good cause and I appreciate anything that’s sent their way via my participation.

Thanks!

Wonderful shots from Hubble, as usual. I never get tired of looking at stuff like this.

Awesome riding.

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Thom Hogan normally reviews Nikon equipment, but has been using an Olympus E-P1 as his small travel camera for a recent trip to Africa, and written has a long review of it. It has an extensive section on its handling, which I think is probably the most important thing to consider in a camera like this.

As I’ve said before, I love the direction that Olympus has taken here, and I’m thrilled to see the camera manufacturers now doing battle in this important market segment. I won’t buy an E-P1, but it’s a matter of time before I jump in.

Check out this excellent hands-on preview of the GF-1, which has a direct comparison with the E-P1 and some extended discussion from a photographer who has spent some time shooting with each. The GF1 is sounding pretty awesome.

One thing I did get wrong in my earlier post about the GF1 is that I said that it has in-body IS, which it does not. That’s an advantage to the E-P1, although I’d much rather have fast, accurate autofocus if I had to choose.

Engadget has a hands-on with the GF-1 I posted about previously, and it looks great to me. The EVF (shown near the end of the embedded video) looks great. The one on the E-P1 is there solely for framing, and has none of the data that’s available in this one. I also thought the UI, despite being in Spanish and Japanese for the demos, looks much nicer than the Olympus’. The styling isn’t as retro-cool as the E-P1, but still looks good as far as I’m concerned.

I’m looking forward to getting my hands on one to play with.

I got to play a bit yesterday with the E-P1, and was impressed with how solid it felt. I didn’t like the control system much, though—the thumb-scroll thingy was a bit wonky for my taste. And manual focusing felt really awkward.

Now there’s competition in the form of the Panasonic GF1. It fixes a couple of the E-P1’s perceived issues: slowish AF and no available electronic viewfinder. The EVF is a clip on, but I’m OK with that. I’d probably leave it behind for mountain biking and other times where a compact size is critical, but having it really would improve the handling, if my short time with the E-P1 is any indication.

IS in the body is great. Combined with a screaming fast 20mm f/1.7 lens, this could really be a winner.

Apple is finally offering a matte screen option on the 15-in MacBook Pro. The matte screen was the main reason I went for a 17-inch MBP when I bought mine, and I probably would have gotten the 15 had it been available. Now that I have the 17, I’m glad I got it, but it’s great to see Apple bring this back, even if it does cost $50 extra.

Competition for the E-P1? Awesome. Let’s hope other manufacturers start competing in this space too. The Four-Thirds group may have found a great niche and real advantage here.

When I decided to ride in the San Jose Livestrong Challenge, I decided to ride in memory of my grandmother, who died of cancer when I was young. When I told Val that I was signing up, she reminded me of a site called Fat Cyclist that she’s read for a long time.

The wife of the author of the site, Susan, has been fighting cancer for some time, and the site has become something of a rallying point in the wider fight against cancer. Teams had formed in each of the Livestrong cities to raise money in Susan’s honor. I hadn’t followed the blog, but after reading some of the articles, I joined Team Fatty.

I’ve never met Susan or her husband, but their stories have been touching, inspiring and sometimes so honest and open that they’re difficult to read. Sadly, yesterday’s post had more of those qualities than most. Susan has passed away.

Susan’s family and friends have my sincere condolences, and I wish that I could have done something more than the miniscule act of joining their team.

Wired is running a review on the E-P1 I discussed earlier on. It has an important point that I hadn’t heard before:

The three-inch LCD is clear and bright, and that’s good, because with no viewfinder you’re relying on it to compose your shots. That can make manual focusing an exercise in Heisenbergian ambiguity: You can either be in focus or have a well-framed shot, but not both. When you turn the focus ring, the viewfinder zooms in to a tiny detail of the frame, letting you easily judge the clarity, but also robbing you of the ability to see the whole picture. It’s like composing shots by looking through a long cardboard tube.

That’s a significant limitation. I can imagine manually focusing this camera a lot, given its reported autofocus limitations, but this might make that too ungainly too.

There’s been a rumor floating around that an E-P2 with an integrated viewfinder might be on its way. Come on, E-P2!