so i got all excited when i realized that DOCSIS 3.0 was available in my area, and looked into whether it was worth switching from AT&T Uverse’s service. I was happy with Uverse – 18Mbps down, 1.5 up, for $55/mo ($65 after the 1st year promotion ended). The service was rock solid, but the uploads were pretty slow.
so on comcast.com, i sign up for Extreme 50 for $80/mo: 
and when I checkout, it reiterates the $80 price:
but of course, it would be too much to expect that to be the actual price. when the installer comes, he tells me the price is $115/mo if you don’t bundle it with another comcast service. in the ‘terms and conditions’ it mentions that this is a promotional price, but nowhere on the website could i find the $115 price listed.
oh, and the Motorola SB6210 DOCSIS 3 modem i bought from amazon didn’t work (though it’s supposed to be compatible), so I had to rent the cheapo modem they provided.
i would have been screwed, but then realized that work offers a discount on Comcast Teleworker (16 down, 2 up) for a fixed $52/mo. it was easy enough to transfer over to this type of account. and overall, i have to say that cable seems faster than Uverse’s DSL.
so in the end i’m happy with the service i ended up with, but that doesn’t mean i feel Comcast is any less sleazy than ever.
the search volume on the phrase “apple tablet” for the past 12 months:
the search volume on the phrase “apple phone” in 2006 (just before iPhone was announced in Jan 07):
just sayin…
here’s a list of new & old technologies that stuck (and some that didn’t) this year:
- iPhone 3GS: it’s hard to believe i’ve only owned it since June. i swear, i must use mine at least 100 times a day. the biggest improvement over the 3G is the speed. everything is just snappier. i can’t overemphasize how much i love my iphone.
- App Store: no need to explain here. every time i go in, i find something new and amazing.
- SSDs: in April I got my first SSD, an OCZ Vertex, but I didn’t keep it and ended up with an Intel X25-M gen 2. the performance gain is so amazing, i got 2 more SSDs for my other macs. it’s the single biggest speed improvement you can make.
- Drobo gen 2: still our main storage device, for the 2 things i definitely don’t want to lose to a hard drive crash: our iPhoto and iTunes libraries. i upgraded drives this year and now have 2.5TB of space. even with all the movies i’ve got, there’s plenty of room to grow.
- google reader: still my main go-to source for keeping up with sites, blogs, craigslist searches, firmware updates, you name it. and the mobile site is awesome on the iphone.
- twitter: caught up quickly to google reader in terms of my reliance on it. the real-time web is here and it’s useful. twitter search is invaluable.
- mac mini connected to lcd tv: still super-useful as our all-purpose HTPC. upgraded to the last model so that it runs 1080p smoothly and Plex/Boxee are smooth like butter. who needs cable.
- 24″ imac: our main workhorse home computer. fast & brilliant screen. gonna upgrade to the 27″ to be even faster and more brilliant.
- macbook air: wifey uses the base model as a netbook around the house. it’s perfect for her needs. so thin & light.
- readability: i use this bookmarklet all the time to make online article readable on the screen.
- instapaper: and when i don’t have time to read the article, i click the Instapaper bookmarklet to save it for reading later (on mac or iphone).
- simplenote: it’s notational velocity on the iphone/browser. note-taking awesomeness.
- dropbox: not only to keep all my documents in sync on all my macs, but i’m increasingly using it to carry my /Library environment around so that apps like Plex, Boxee & Things all sync.
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- didn’t stick: SugarSync: totally un-Mac like.
- craigslist: i must have bought/sold about 100 times this year.
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- didn’t stick: ebay: total pain in the ass to put something up for sale. bought a few items
- PS3: Uncharted 2 is the best video game i’ve ever played.
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- didn’t stick: Xbox 360 & Rock Band
- didn’t stick: gaming via Windows 7 via Boot Camp
- 1Password: indispensible password manager for the mac. one of the first things I install.
- launchbar:
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- didn’t stick: Quicksilver: i was reluctant to leave, but development is pretty much dead. like most who’ve switched, i’m really liking LB
- smugmug: all our baby pics & videos are posted here. way better than flickr, but you have to pay for it.
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- didn’t stick: flickr: let my pro account expire. haven’t looked back since joining smugmug
- animoto: this is imovie for the rest of us. creates amazing slideshows, really easily.
- Canon SD960is digital camera: 12mp + 720p video. fantastic pics.
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- didn’t stick: eye-fi card: it screwed up the audio of video clips, and they never posted a fix.
- yojimbo:
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- didn’t stick: evernote: i wanted so much to like it, but in the end, the UI is cluttered and your data is hard to export. the iphone app was dog slow when taking a photo note. good effort, but their windows roots are apparent.
- didn’t stick: together: it has all the additional features a yojimbo user could want, but ultimately doesn’t feel as smooth.
- didn’t stick: Notational Velocity: the recent upgrade is great, and forthcoming integration w/simplenote will be even better. but if i’m using yojimbo, i’m going to put everything in there.
- Omnifocus: the king of GTD apps, but really steep learning curve. I just wish iPhone syncing weren’t so slow.
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- didn’t stick: The Hit List: this app was hot for a while, but everyone’s been waiting over 6 mos for the iPhone app. it’s just a single developer, so it’s slow going.
- didn’t stick: Things: it’s GTD for the masses; as such, it’s quite dumbed down and prettied up.
- MindManager: MM8 for Mac is being released soon. I use mindmapping all the time at work.
- Amazon Prime: renewed the expensive $80 feature, but totally worth it. free 2day shipping on most items, plus you can share it with about 4 ‘family’ members.
other things that didn’t stick:
- kindle 2: I just sold it, after 9 months with it. it’s a nice device, don’t get me wrong…it just never won the battle for my attention over the iphone.
- facebook: i went through a phase of obsessively checking it and pruning my profile. now i check every few days, and find most of the status updates boring. i’ve ‘hidden’ updates from all but a handful of people.
Today I pulled out the stock 320gb hard drive in the mini and swapped it for a 30gb OCZ Vertex SSD. Why give up all that extra space? For the extra speed. Opening apps is almost instantaneous. And since it’s used as an HTPC, most of the media is access of the Drobo so all I need room for the is OS and apps.
This video was a huge help: Mac mini (Early 2009) Hard Drive Upgrade
If all goes according to my master nerd plan, within the next month or so my computing setup at home is going to speed up immensely on all fronts. Check it out:
- iMac: Currently I’m on the 24″ 3.06Ghz Core 2 Duo, but I plan to buy the 27″ iMac i7 Quad Core (as soon as it’s available to Apple Employees). The i7 has hyperthreading, so it can be up to 8 virtual cores for parallel tasks. Alternatively, if you’re using only 1 core it can overclock itself to 3.4Ghz. The geekbench score of the i7 shows it to be over 100% faster than 3.06Ghz C2D. It’s pretty rare that you see a system jump this much in performance within 1 product generation.
- SSD: SSD benchmarks put hard drives to shame, and the Intels are the best out there. I put an Intel X25-E in my Macbook Pro, and it’s pretty ridiculous. Things open up immediately, and I never see the spinning beachball of death unless an app truly crashes. I’ve have an 80GB Intel X25-M gen 2 SSD waiting for the iMac. It’s going to be a bitch to install it internally (hopefully I’ll be able to pay someone to do that), but once it’s in it’s gonna be sweeeet.
- DOCSIS 3.0: I just discovered that Comcast has rolled this out in my area, and promptly ordered the Extreme service – 50Mbps down and 10Mbps up! It’s $80/mo for 6 months, then $100/mo. But if I don’t think it’s worth keeping, I’ll downgrade to the Ultra plan which is 22/5 for $63/mo. Either way, it’s going to be way faster than my existing AT&T Uverse 18/1.5 plan that’s $55/mo.
The fact is, “computing” is totally integral to both our professional lives and our personal lifestyles and for our entertainment – so I think these investments are worth it.
It’s a long read, but worth it. Here’s a choice excerpt that rings so true. It’s a fictional conversation between Fake Steve talking to Randall Stephenson, CEO of AT&T:
While I’m ranting, let me ask you something, Randall. At the risk of sounding like Glenn Beck Jr. — what the fuck has gone wrong with our country? Used to be, we were innovators. We were leaders. We were builders. We were engineers. We were the best and brightest. We were the kind of guys who, if they were running the biggest mobile network in the U.S., would say it’s not enough to be the biggest, we also want to be the best, and once they got to be the best, they’d say, How can we get even better? What can we do to be the best in the whole fucking world? What can we do that would blow people’s fucking minds? They wouldn’t have sat around wondering about ways to fuck over people who loved their product. But then something happened. Guys like you took over the phone company and all you cared about was milking profit and paying off assholes in Congress to fuck over anyone who came along with a better idea, because even though it might be great for consumers it would mean you and your lazy pals would have to get off your asses and start working again in order to keep up.
…
And now here we are. Right here in your own backyard, an American company creates a brilliant phone, and that company hands it to you, and gives you an exclusive deal to carry it — and all you guys can do is complain about how much people want to use it. You, Randall Stephenson, and your lazy stupid company — you are the problem. You are what’s wrong with this country.
[From The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs : A not-so-brief chat with Randall Stephenson of AT&T]
The consensus of the rumor mill is that Apple will introduce a tablet product in Q1 ‘10. Tt’s supposedly corroborated by asian component manufacturers and publishing companies, some of whom have already publicly demo’d their ‘tablet ready’ content (Time, Wired, Conde Nast).
Though I don’t doubt the rumors, I’m curious how Apple would overcome these obstacles:
- What’s the tagline for why you need it? The iPod was “100 songs in your pocket”. The iPhone was “a phone, the best iPod ever, and an internet communicator” all in one. How do you convince someone who owns an iPhone and a laptop that they need to spend ~$700 on a tablet?
- How would you type on it? the iPhone’s virtual keyboard only works b/c the iPhone is 2″ wide and your thumbs can reach all the keys. It wouldn’t work on an 8″ wide tablet, especially when it’s turned landscape at 10″ wide.
- How do you prop it up? I can’t imagine any Apple product ever having a fold-out kickstand, but it would almost be a necessity.
- Extended display functionality: if you have an 8-10″ tablet connected to your computer for sync, surely it will do something besides say “sync in progress.”
- Battery/Screen: if it’s to be an e-reader, it has to compete with the e-ink screen technology that’s used in devices like the Kindle. They have great readability and battery life, but the downside is that it’s greyscale only. There’s no way the Apple tablet would be greyscale, so the screen has to be both vivid & bright for movies/games, yet also readable and low-power for reading.
- iPhone apps: would existing apps need to be re-written for the high resolution screen? Or could you run multiple existing apps at the current size, and be able to drag them around?
- Connectivity: it’d have to tether with your existing AT&T iPhone data plan. If you don’t have an iPhone, it’d have to be an additional AT&T/Verizon plan.
- And finally, Content. The iPod was a great device, but only took off after the iTunes Store provided songs. The iPhone is a great device, but only took off after Apps were available. The tablet will be a great device, but will only take off when…iTunes LP, magazines, newspapers, comics, and dare I say, books, are sold through the iTunes Store.
Despite all the hurdles, I think all the lofty expectations come from the fact that Apple is the only company that could pull it off.
