innovation playground Idris Mootee

iPod's New Podcast Mashup Services And Power Point Karoke

Apple recently filed a patent that describes a method for automatically creating customized podcast mashups from various podcasts. It is a good idea to allow people to download a fully customized podcast.  Users are able to influence or control content within a media item being personalized. In one embodiment, personalized media items are podcasts. Users are able to influence or control the content in or with a podcast. In other words, a podcast can be created in accordance with a user’s needs or specifications so that the content within a podcast is customized or personalized for the user. What Apple is proposing is allowing users to sample/ take portions of multiple podcasts that meet their interests, and download a combined podcast that includes the specified extracts requested. Think like an RSS reader where you get bits from multiple sites, but in audio. Apple is continuing the push of iPod to become a platform other than a music player.

The patent talks about stored podcast characteristics, which may tie-in with Apple’s patent for “Podmaps.” A Podmap is not unlike a sitemap, but obviously for audio, and would specify what was in a podcast when. In theory this new patent could extract audio from a larger podcast per the specs in the Podmap and place that audio in a new custom podcast besides material from other podcasts. It’s a neat idea, but sampling data from an audio track would bypass things like preroll advertising in a podcast which may undermine the blossoming podcast advertising market.

So what's next for Ipod? Here's an idea.....how about iPod karoke? Ugg?

Talking about karoke, have you heard about Power Point karoke?  You have to be either German or a hardcore techie. The phenomenon has been spreading geek to geek and conference to conference since it was invented by a German artists' group back in 05. PowerPoint Karaoke sessions have been held at last year's E-Tech conference in San Diego, the Chaos Conference in Berlin, and at smaller tech gatherings in Los Angeles, London, and Montreal. It is simple, pick a deck randomly and then present it in front of a large audience. Interested?

I am sure we've all came across scenarios when people present a deck full of garbage and then start talking vaporware. Power Point, like Karoke,if placed in the hands of the wrong people can become dangerous (yes, a real killer app) and a means of torture and incredible torments for many. It is still a fun idea, we should do that in the office every Friday....Karoke Power Point day! Gotta to go bed..early flight to New York tomorrow morning.

Mac Addicts' Bling Bling

Everyone fancy our MacBook Air when we were using to for presentations today. As far as I checked with the people at two New York Apple stores, the wait lsit is still 4-5 weeks. So before everyone gets them, we will use them to show off.  It is a matter of time when jewelry meets technology.  The idea of blinging-out your electronic gadgets is here. Computer Choppers has gold-plated one MacBook Pro for the public to ogle, in all its gleaming wonder. They also offer a great deal of electronics customization, aside from coating your MacBook in 24 karats of yellow precious metal for $1,200-$1,500.  I am not sure if they can coart your iPhone in gold too. I don't see why not. They also offer an upgrade path for platinum or gemstones. If you have a few bucksto burn, they will glamor up your Apple logo with diamonds or sapphires. I think they also do regualar laptops, but who would want a gold Dell? Uh. And if you are really into gold, this is the car for you.

For all of you MacAddics, MILK desk from Heckler Design is just for you. This sleek desk, “OneLessDesk” combines 2 desks in one, one for your 24-inch flat-panel display rather two 24-inches and other Apple goodies…iPhone, Shuffle, Nano, Touch, iPod Classic and the other for your peripherals. Once you are finished with the work, lower ‘deck’ glides effortlessly under the upper deck for a neat and spacious feel. OneLessDesk occupies about one foot of space from your wall so you can enjoy the extra space anyways or you can use the independent desks in just about any configuration. The designer desk also features an out-of-sight, rear-facing perforated shelf to hide the wiry mess all in ventilated, heat-sinking comfort. OneLessDesk is constructed entirely of thick, 12 gauge stainless steel, fully welded, and sports a beautiful, non-directional brushed finish. perfectly match your ultra modern style. Only 100 OneLessDesks will be produced and they only costs $900. Hurry up.

Apple Product Roadmap 2007-2010

I wrote about the new iPod a few weeks back. It was finally announced today...an iPod Touch and a new nano. The iPod Touch looks like iPhone minus the phone capability. As widely predicted, it is wi-fi enabled, comes with Safari browser, calendar, contacts etc. With its gorgeous 3.5-inch widescreen display, iPod touch is great for watching your favorite TV shows. The iPod touch has a built-in accelerometer that automatically senses when you rotate it into its landscape position. When you're in music, it automatically switches to Cover Flow(TM) so you can browse your music collection by album cover artwork with just a flick of a finger. When in Photos, it automatically displays the photo in its landscape aspect ratio; and when in Safari it displays the web page horizontally. iPod touch also has a built-in ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts the display's brightness. They are talking about 22 hours of audio playback and up to five hours of video playback time with a charge.

What's missing is a social network capability, add a close distance sensor and a little piece of people matching application, this will become a killer gadget. Here is Apple product roadmap as I see it ( Freebie idea for Apple Inc. with compliments from Idea Couture Inc. ).

You Will Love the Next iPod

Ready for a new iPod. Here's a preview (from Apple's patent filing). Here's how the magic works, when you touch the backside, the  transparent "ghost" controls appear on the front. You'd then use your finger on the backside of the device to navigate your way through the transparent controls up front. The key to the equation is force sensitivity. As you run your finger along the backside, the cursor hovers, but when you press harder, you can click on things. This is so cool.

Countdown for Apple Sept 5th Special Event

Last week I wrote about Apple's next moves.  Invitations (above) were sent out this week for an event in San Francisco, where Jobs will presumably introduce the new iPod/iPods. It's the right time, I need a new iPod.

If you haven't bought your iPhone yet, wait a couple of months and you might have another choice-a  gPhone. It is rumored that Google has been working hard to create its own Linux mobile phone OS. I am not sure if Google will be working with Apple on this one and I think they will bring a suite of cool mobile apps to this phone. I will write about some potential new apps that they would want to incorporate into the OS. Wondering who would be making the hardware? Nokia. Motorola, Erisson or LG?  I think we can expect a mobile OS platform battle in two years...or less. 

Separately, WSJ is reporting that Apple appears to be exploring new opportunities to more deeply integrate its products with the entertainment systems inside vehicles. Steve Jobs met recently with Volkswagen AG CEO Martin Winterkorn, according to Hans-Gerd Bode, a spokesman for the German auto maker. German financial magazine Capital reported the two executives discussed a possible "iCar" project that would feature products by Apple, whose iPod music player already has some integration with car stereo systems

Multitouch Display Product Roadmap - Apple Best Known Secrets

Will we soon be reaching a tipping point where we will demand technology to be simple and easy to use? When I say technology here, I’m referring to all gadgets, cell phones, and digital cameras and like some of you, I’m still struggling everyday with my Blackberry (don’t get me wrong, I love my Pearl), my Lunmix camera, and my newly installed Office 2007.

Apple’s relentless pursuit of simplicity and elegance has set the new standard for user experience. It fully masters the intangible concept of design--the underlying software engine that connects music lovers to an iTunes music library or short videos from YouTube. They take the pain away from purchasing and adding the pleasure to enjoying music, and are now doing the same thing with iPhone. iPhone is the beginning of something big, not only for Apple but for several industries. I am very convinced that the iPhone and its multitouch-display technology is another strategic turning point platform for Apple. Jobs’ touch is always magical. Let me make a few predictions for the next 24 months:

-    I expect an iPhone type multi-touch iPod to be launched within the next 3-6 months. It will be larger in size than the current video iPod and will be sold at $350-$400 and the first one will come in black instead of white.

-    I expect a first full multi-touch screen iMac in 12-16 months. Probably with a 10-12 inches screen and you can use most of the functions without even needing a keyboard. A keyboard is entirely optional and most likely not included. It will cost some $1,600-$1,800 when first launched.

-    I expect a gaming device of some sort...iGame? Although this will be a little further down the road...maybe 24-28 months away. Most likely a joint venture with a key industry player. It will be a fully networked device and all the control mechanisms will be a combination of touch screen and audio command. The Nintendo Dual Screen won’t be competing with Sony PSP, but it will be competing with Apple’s iGame.

Many of the design innovations happening the next three years will focus on mobile devices and applications because cell phone use is so integral to our lives. The convergence of digital cameras, social-networking devices, music players, portable video players, and GPS devices will seed new user behavior. The next three years will also be the turning point for interface design since the days of the desktop, keyboard and mouse. Multi-touch display also serves a valuable function in personal computing. The so-called gestural interfaces will become more prevalent in home-networked devices. This is a whole new growth cycle and will have cross-industries impact. This is the most fun one can have as an interface designer. Design is king.

The shift toward making design a top priority is partly driven by the fact that microprocessors and sensors are turning up in an increasingly large array of everyday devices and every device or appliance can potentially become a node to multiple networks. As devices and networks converge it is opening up a flood of new experiences that will further inspire more new services. The problem is when all these devices or appliances become more computer-like instead of mere gadgets, we will be also adding layers of complexities as we allow configurations and there will naturally be lots of integration issues. We, as consumers, all hate to deal with the complexity of networking these devices--we just want them to work. Is that too much to ask for? This will become a huge challenge for designers. Consumer will be happy to pay for ease-of-use and elegant styling. This is a huge market opportunity. So far, only Apple is well positioned for this game. Companies like Philips, LG, Samsung, Motorola and Sony will not be bystanders either.

I am happy to see that design has gone beyond just to make a product looks cooler or something that we add at the end to make up for bad engineering. It will be weaved early and fully into any product development process. It is getting more complicated as there are more interaction designs and integration issues. The need for a new breed of designers and business thinkers to deal with these problems prompts Northwestern University to start a (beginning this fall) an MBA manufacturing program that includes a Master's degree in Design. MBA meets MFA. Companies today are eager to hire talent with such diverse skills and in fact this is the core philosophy on which the new firm that I am starting is anchored upon. It is Design + Business = Innovation.

Apple New Widescreen Lightweight Macbook with Advanced Touchpad Technologies

Apple is filing a few more patent update. Apple recommends an audio user interface that generates audio prompts to help a user navigate through the features of handheld computing devices. Audio prompts would provide audio indicators that allow a user to focus their attention upon other tasks. The filing notes for handheld devices include voice synthesis engines to provide test-to-speech conversion which tends to produce poor quality audio due to computing power limitations. So Apple recommends a system in which a host computer -- such as a Mac -- performs the processing-intensive text-to-speech conversion of a handheld's media file names and menu items when it is connected over a wired USB or FireWire connection. Under this method, the handheld device only needs to perform the less intensive task once it is disconnected and used on the go.
Apple also filed for a continuation on a old patent originally filed 2004 on a "wide touchpad" for laptop. The patent application gets people thinking particular with the recent interest in multi-touch technology.  I think they are playing with an idea of a iPhone-inspired Macbook with some innovative "smart" touchpad technologies. Apple dismissed any rumor by saying that this is only a "research" project.

They're proposing an enlarged wide version touchpad which "may be a cursor control device having the capabilities of conventional computer mouse devices, such as the ability to point, drag, tap, and double tap etc. The touchpad would be located in the area normally reserved for the palm rests and be intelligent enough to ignore unintentional contact. i don't know how they deal with the accidental touching as users rest their hands on it. They are probbaly looking at a "smart" touchpad instead. I can't wait for a small lightweight MacBook as the current small one is rather heavy, at least compare to my ThinkPad X. No reason why it should not have built-in VOIP  with webcam, I don't think we will get this before this Christmas. It would be nice. Steve, pls have them available in black. Thanks.