Problems are: where to begin and pretty much everything and more has already been said.
I was going for the Random thought about blablabla… until John Gruber posted his Various and Assorted Thoughts and Observations Regarding the Just-Announced iPad.
So, after a quick round up of some of the good reads of the last couple of days, I’ll take a more personal approach (mixed with a few things I consider in need to be said, again).

One of the best reads was probably Fraser Speirs‘ piece rightly called Future Shock.
He doesn’t talk about the iPad, but more of the biggest scam of the last century: computers are not for everyone, despite what they are trying to sell us, and how the Apple tries to solve this problem.
And that’s what trolls, screaming their pain about the lack of front-facing camera or a Flash plugin, are missing.
This revolution (yes, it is one) is not about the device, it’s about a new way of using computers.
I wrote a piece 3 years ago about this. Every words are still up to date, and the iPad is a new, soon to be good, answer.
About those trolls, by the way, here is a really good word to them (and the following one is not bad either).

Here ends the recommended readings.
For the ones about wether or not the iPad has a USB connection or a video output, you’re on your own
(and try to think a little bit and find the answer yourself. If you can’t, here is the Macworld FAQ).

As for the things already said elsewhere, but that really matter, they are simple.
The success of the iPad is not tied to the design of the product, or even the OS.
It’s the Content: The Apps that will enable it with the perfect function for you, or the new way of experiencing medias.
Dan Lyons a.k.a. Fake Steve Jobs wrote a great piece, capturing the essence of the iPad, months before its announcement.
Let me repeat : It’s the Content.

In that way, the NY Times application mock up that was presented during the keynote is far from being anecdotal.
D Day minus 60, there is already a new-ish way of experiencing medias.
Pause a minute, and try to imagine what this device will enable in, say, two years from now.
And what goes for News goes for Comics (remember the Marvel buyout by Jobs-(partially)-owned Disney) or Movies.
In a word: Stories.
How will the iPad tell stories in very few years from now.
This is mind blowing.

The iPad is a device to access content, instead of creating content.
It’s brilliant: Youtube’s stats show there is a 0.2% contribution ratio.
In our case, it means that for 1 person uploading a video (needing a not-iPad computer), 499 can view it on their iPad.

The iPad will redefine a lot of things (in addition to being a tremendous success)

That’s what Gruber knows already, of course, when he calmly collects quotes for his delicious future claim chowders.

All that is great sport, and it’s a really enjoyable (if collateral) part of Apple’s business.
Let’s get things down, to a more personal level.

Every last Apple announcements were pretty much the same.
A few talks before “yeah, I’m a cool kid, I heard about The Rumor”.
Then come the announcement, and then: The Vending Machine Conversations.
Those are just the funniest things.
Three kind of people here:
iPhone owner since day one, or two, not necessarily Apple fanboy, just the guy who knows what it feels, what difference it makes.
He’s sold on the iPad, even if he might not buy one.
Then, there’s the recently-purchased iPhone owner. This one doesn’t really care. If he stumbles upon an iPad, he will let himself be dragged in. Until ten, wait and see.
Last, there is the “I on’t need an iPhone, I’m good with my useless Blackberry” type,
going in concert with the “I don’t own anything digital, I’m a rebel” kind.
Those people have a real problem with computers. Not that they don’t use one, far from it. Most are power users. Windows users usually, but advanced non the less.
They have a problem with their digital lives, and they wait for companies, like Apple, to solve it. Except that even they can’t define their own problem. They don’t even know they have one.
Apple rumors lead them to hope, and obviously, they are disappointed. Thus comes the Rage.
“Humpf, I prefer my Archos, it hold 160GB. iPad’s lame.”
“I was expecting a computer I can use with Illustrator and Photoshop, but when I’m away, you know. iPad’s lame.”
“Apple really blew smoke to our face all these last weeks. iPad’s lame.”

Oh boy! These moments are really precious..
Well, for you I have just one thing. You’re a morron. Not for not wanting or needing an iPad, just for not understanding how game changing it is, even with you not needing one.

Reading the trolls on the Internet is fun. Hearing them from your office chair: priceless.

So, what the iPad means, for me, in my day to day life ?

I already know that I will buy 3 of them in the next 12 months.
One for me.
Not that I need it, but I’m a geek Apple fanboy.
One for my wife.
We were pretty set on buying her a MacBook, to complete her iMac, in casual web browsing, mail reading or video watching moments.
The iPad fits perfectly here. It’s not a mobile use per se (as in “out of the home”), it’s a comfy-in-the-couch use.
And the third one will be for my son.
He will probably inherit mine when I upgrade to the 2nd generation iPad.
Those who know me, also know that he will be between 30 and 36 month old by then.
What ? WTF ? An iPad for a 3 years old kids ?
Yes and definitely yes.
The iPad will solve many broken use case we, as parents, are facing.
At 2 (and for the last year), he’s been using our iPhones, playing games we bought for him, watching little funny videos of him and his cousin, or just playing with those funny little pictures that moves all around.
It’s amazing to see how natural Apple’s touch interface is to a 2 years old kid.
So he will play on the iPad.
Then there are movies. Sometimes, he watches animated movies on a portable DVD player. Clunky, fragile (the player and the DVD), no real battery and a horrible screen. Once ripped, all those cartoons will hold in his iPad.
It will become the perfect entertaining/learning device, at 1.5 pounds.

Also, I’m seriously considering replacing my mother’s MacBook with an iPad.
Simplifying her approach to computer.
I might have to wait for printing support first, though.

Then there is this email from my brother, the day after the announcement:
“I have a crush on the iPad. Will need one.”
He’s not a power user, he works with a Windows PC and a Blackberry, and owns an iMac for web surfing, photos and music.
The iPad will be the perfect companion to its digital life.

I will close this post with what might be the most lethal feature: the price.
Having an entry level model at $500 is just a brilliant move.
Competition is left sitting in the mud, an it puts the iPad in range of almost any electronic consumer good.
Considering you will be able to do many different things with it, the iPad will very often be an interesting alternative.
This is one of the rare product for which Apple is leaving his fat margin away to secure market shares fast.
They want to impose the iPad and the concepts that goes with it to the biggest audience.
If they succeed, computers will never be the same.

Yes. Again. I had a life changing experience.
OK, little clarification needed here.
By reading some of the latest posts titles, one might think I have a rather small life.
In fact, it’s the opposite. I just have many lives. Many many.
The main one evolves around my wife and my son.
Then there is the one around Mac Computers (which, itself, includes many others), the one designing, the one coding, the one listening to music, the one watching movies, and so forth.
Well, recently, some of these lives, Computer and Data related, have been profoundly altered by a not-so-new service called DropBox.

DropBox takes your data and put it in The Cloud (a very fashion word to say on a disk somewhere on the Internet…) and once it’s there, you can then synchronize multiple machines with said data.
Let’s say you have a machine at work, another one at home, plus a laptop you carry around when you’re not in one place or the other.
Well, you install the DropBox app on these machines, select the folder acting as the DropBox and let the magic happen.
Data get sent on DropBox servers, and then copied back on the other machines.
It’s the new version of that USB thumb drive collecting dust in your pocket.

You also have a clean web interface to browse and download your files, for when you don’t have one of your machine at hand, SSL secured.

That was the original idea.
Since, the Dropbox team has been busy. The list of feature is long and keeps growing.
Versioning system. To access any previous version of your files;
LAN sync. Your machines will recognize they are on the same network and transfer files directly, bypassing the internet, thus greatly improving transfer rates.
iPhone app. Free, you can browse your drop box, and even open and read a whole bunch of supported files (image, music, movies, text, presentation, pdf) and upload photos or movies from your camera role (the closest thing to a Finder the iPhone has).
Sharing. Specific folders and files can be public, enabling easy collaboration or punctual sharing.
Free. Not really a feature per se, but still very cool. 2Gb just by signing up. 250b more if you come from an affiliate link, and 500Mb more if you are the one bringing a new user.
Paid plans are not cheap, $99/year for 50GB, $199 for 100GB, but considering the amount of services, it’s fair.

Future development look promising too.
The team setup the Votebox, a place for user to vote for the next features to be implemented.
There are some great ideas, one of them being an API.

So, now that we have taken a quick tour of Dropbox services,
lets see in what way it changed my way of working and organizing my digital life.

First, I got rid, once and for all, of all the thumb drives that were sitting all around my pockets.
It may seem trivial but for someone like me, always trying to consolidate stuff in pockets, it’s a big deal.

The great thing is that data stays on the local disk. Allowing you to use files just like any other.
I put just about everything on my Dropbox.
It has my web development folders (git repositories included), my graphic design files, my clients projects and every tools and documentation I use regularly (or not).

I use it to transfer data from one point to another, also:
Need to bring home 500 Mo of files ?
Drop in in the box and leave.
By the time you get home it will be on the internet, and, given your home computer is awake, it will be there too.

In the end, I’d say that Dropbox brought me peace of mind.
In the same way that, since the iPhone, I leave home without knowing where I go precisely: I’ll look it up on the way ; I leave home, without wondering if I will need any given file. I have them all available.

If you want to try Dropbox, and would like to enjoy 250MB of free (in addition of your free 2GB),
use this link.

So, according to plan, what will happen here this year :
I will post every week for the first 3 weeks, then find a perfect excuse to skip weeks 4 and 5, reveal this excuse on week 6, aannnnd that’s pretty much it.
Then we’ll go back to the former furious pace : not posting every single day.

Well I hope not.
I hope I will try and have make time to add my $.02 to this really amazing and very young thing they call Internet.
And while I’m at it, I shall try to tweett more, and comment more on other blogs.
All that will probably not help my 24-hours-is-not-enough problem, but I think I will learn more and better.

What will we talk about around here ?
Computer realted stuff, mostly ;
a little about music and movies ;
and maybe just about anything else.
If you have a blog suffering from anemia, it’s not too late for joining too.
You should.

So, welcome 2010 ! This is Week #00
(Yeah, #00 because (1) this post doesn’t really count, and (2) I’m a developer, so I start counting with zero.)

This pretty much means that I need music everywhere all the time.
Walkman, then DiscMan, then MiniDisc, then iPod solved the problem when far from home.
But Home has always been a problem.

I need to easily have access to any one of my 25 000+ song, in any room, at all time.
Seems easy. It’s not.

The first attempt to distributed music was Apple AirPort Express.
An as short as inconclusive attempt.
Second attempt, until recently was with Roku’s Soundbridge.
Wifi connected devices, with or without speaker, reading your shared iTunes Library.
Design of the product is average, interface is passable, and reliability uneven.
But it did the job, until one of the devices died.
Then came THE QUESTION:

Do I stick with this solution, or do I migrate to a whole other one ?

The other solution, you’ll have guessed, is Sonos.

For several months I wondered.
Then I took the plunge. Sonos it would be.
Sonos has nearly the perfect solution for ubiquitous music around the house.

To begin with, those nice white & alu little boxes fit perfectly in any interior.
Not the main issue, but important for us, aesthete.
Configuration : a breeze.
They choose not to rely on your crappy wifi network to provide the service; they create their own, without you even knowing. It’s fast, and streams my 320k m4a across the apartment when my Mac has sometimes a hard time finding my Airpot Extreme. And the more you add zones, the better is your coverage.

Once you point it to your iTunes Music Library, you can have your playlists and everything, without further configuration. You don’t even rely on iTunes anymore. The Sonos create it’s own stream, thus not being limited to 5 clients.
You interact with the system via an app on your mac, via the Sonos Controller, rugged and water-resistant, or, icing on the cake (three coats please) via a full featured free app on your iPhone.

What’s more to say… it works. Period.

All that is left is to choose a nice pair of speakers. I chose Jamo’s A102.
Not necessarily audiophile’s first choice (hey! let’s be honest, my bathroom isn’t the Vienna Opera Hall…), but nice performance considering size and look.

And for those of you needing more things on the cake, let’s say, a cherry, comes in the Sonos Customer Service. Nice people, actively contributing to Twitter, and ready to go the extra mile to make a customer happy.

It’s been a long time since I didn’t feel that way for a consumer product, and that feels good.

Of course, you could argue that it isn’t cheap.
I agree, but honestly, have you ever been really satisfied with cheap solutions ?
I figured not.

Life Is Good.

A few months ago, I was raving for the soon-to-be-released Sony and Sanyo tiny/HD/pricy camcorders…
and all I got was a Flip…

It’s low res, it has no function at all but it changed my D-life.
Better than the One Ring: you don’t need 8 phrases to describe it :

On button to rule them all.

Gruber, among many others, started to talk about it a month or so earlier. I even tried to debate it with him on Twitter — pointless: you can’t beat the Flip (and you can’t beat Gruber).

I can’t tell you what it does : it does nothing but record video. And that’s the whole point.
640×480 – 30fps. Output a divx-wrapped mpeg of good quality, that you can access as if it was on a thumb key. Tiny screen, play, pause, delete. And one big red button.
It has a really good performance in low light conditions.

You can seize any moment; would it be only 10 seconds long, you’d still catch the last 7.

I think that even if my iPhone was recording video, I would keep carrying my Flip in my pocket.

So, now for the tech part of the post: Quality is fine, but Divx sucks.
I don’t want my whole life being stuck in this MS-non evolving-10yo. format.
I don’t want to spend my life converting video either.

So, here are a few applescripts to take care of that (mainly originating from this forum post).
Mainly, it takes one or several .AVI files, via Drag&Drop or File Selection, launch QT, convert the files according to two QT Settings, save the resulting export in a folder, and moves the original file in a Done folder.
There is a second little script, to export the QT Settings.
Paths are hardcoded: Convention over Configuration.

To set up your environment:

1. Create the directory hierarchy that suits you. Mine is a video folder, containing a _to_be_converted folder,  a _tools folder (containing the scripts and QT Settings, and the converted videos at the first level.
2. Export your desired QT Settings: Convert a video with the settings, then launch the QTSetsExport script.
   Place your settings in your folder _tools.
3. Modify the ConvertMyVideos script to reflect your hierarchy.
   Be careful, applescript expects HFS formatted paths and not posix.
4. Start Converting !

Here is a .zip with my hierarchy, scripts, settings etc…

You just have to expand and copy it on your HD, edit the script with the location of the folder and you’re done. Settings export in H264, 5kb-640×480-AAC128k and 1k-480×360-AAC96k.

[Disclaimer: This is a really old post (july 08) kept as a draft until now. I still wanted to publish it, in the hope to help a lost soul with the scripts...]