So it took me a while to do this, but I finally took advantage of the Warner Bros. offer to “upgrade” (still love that term!) my HD-DVDs to Blu-ray discs. Just in case anyone forgets the story. When “High Definition” discs were introduced back in 2006, there were two competing platforms, the aforementioned HD-DVD and Blu-ray versions. Despite efforts to not turn it into a format war, the two camps promoted their respective discs as the better way to do hi-def video discs. There was no discernable difference.

The reason I went with HD-DVD in the first place was to get the HD version of “The Shining” (and other Stanley Kubrick films), and it was stunning. It was especially exciting to see a wider screen version of the film, particularly the opening sequence of Jack Torrance’s drive to the Overlook Hotel viewed by helicopter.

At the time of the format war I was basically unconcerned about whether HD-DVD “won” or not. The technology existed to “rip” the HD content to a hard drive. Practically speaking however, the convenience of the disc did become important, especially when considering the extra features included. It’s difficult to duplicate the access to those features with a ripped version, not to mention managing an approximately 16 to 20 GB file for just the movie. So when I saw Warner’s offer, I said some day I’ll do that. Last week I decided to take the plunge.

The offer was to trade in the cover art of the HD-DVDs plus $4.95 in exchange for the Blu-ray version. The only exception to this was Blade Runner which has multiple versions and several discs so I had to pony up $14.95 for that one. So the line-up of movies is The Shining, A Clockwork Orange, 2001 – A Space Odyssey, Full Metal Jacket, Batman Begins, Blazing Saddles, Goodfellas, and Blade Runner. So with postage I spent about $56 which is $7 a disc – not a bad deal. I still have some HD-DVDs that weren’t on the upgrade list, so I’ll need a strategy for those movies going forward. I did receive a bonus disc – Rumor Has It… a 2005 Rob Reiner film – no clue as to why.

I have built up quite a good collection of Blu-ray discs over the last few years. Maybe I’ll blog about those movies one day.

I like my iPad (v2), and as of Monday I’ve been challenged to see how much I REALLY like it. You may know by now that I lost my beloved MacBook Pro to either a bad logic board, or some evil Jim Groom mischief. In all seriousness though, the MacBook Pro is the best computer I have ever owned. I originally got it to run Windows Vista. At the time (summer 2008) I was still scoffing at Macs, but I was more and more looking at software tools for educational uses that were available on both platforms. I was discovering more and more that the software written for the Mac generally ran better and certainly in most cases looked prettier.

So this laptop went everywhere with me. It was my work computer and my home computer. I opened and closed the lid I don’t know how many times and it was (usually) ready for action in seconds. But 10-10-11 is a day that will live in infamy for me. I tried to restart it for (what was) the last time and it never came back up.

So I had to make an appointment with the tech guys with the small phillips and torx screwdrivers (thanks Barry) to retrieve my hard drive so I could use it temporarily with another, identical MacBook Pro (left behind by my colleague Jerry Slezak). Thankfully I can say that I’m typing this using that spare MacBook Pro and I am once again productive.

But what about the iPad you might be saying? Well, the iPad isn’t a productivity machine. I know I’ve said before it was a consumption device. That is basically true. I can do some productive things on an iPad, but it’s the basics like checking and responding to email, and Tweeting. When I get home I can control my Apple TV with it and now with iOS 5 I can view ANYTHING on my big screen in the living room with Air Play Mirroring. I also am dabbling with some audio sequencing and sythesizing software. However, it is still best at reading, listening, and watching content.

So what is limiting the iPad’s use as a creativity/productivity machine? – it’s the software (and surely processing power limits what the software can do). As we know, processing power grows pretty fast, and the iPad 2 looks a lot like the top half of an MacBook Air. You might see where I am going with this. All of the issues with processing power, battery life, and adding peripherals to a device of this size, point to a direction of merging it all into one. Bring your iPad X with you when you need to check email or write a quick post, then “dock” it when you get back to the office. No new concept here.

But there are differences with the iPad and a Mac laptop that make it hard to visualize the convergence of the two. Touch is a wonderful way to interact with a computer, but our fingers will never be as precise as a mouse pointer, or as quick as a keyboard shortcut. But mice and keyboards are much more artificial than touch, so all it will take is a rethinking and gradual evolution of touch computing to accomplish productive tasks. Hell, we may not as a general rule need to touch our computers in the near future, we will speak to them. It’s why iPads and tablets ARE a big deal, because they are the next platform that we will build upon to be more creative. Just remember it’s the humans that are revolutionizing things and not the devices.

Everything is a Remix Part 3 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.

If you’ve been living under a new media rock, then you might not have heard of Kirby Ferguson’s “Everything is a Remix” series. If you have been fortunate enough to watch it, you’ve been treated to some very well researched videos that explore the notion that in modern times there is no more original thought. Everyone is just copying, or worse yet stealing, previous works. Ferguson doesn’t dispute that fact. He just simply points out that it has been going on for centuries.

His latest video is another myth-buster. Specifically the mythology of invention. Ferguson points out that copying is one of the key elements of creativity. We so insularize the modern day inventions and inventors in our history that we don’t realize the ideas that were duplicated from previous, less well know creators that enabled the breakthroughs. The common theme is that we remember the mass marketers of an invention, and not the true inventor(s) who were copied from. As musician Damon Albarn once said “the whole thing about pop music is that you’re ripping off as many people as you possibly can, and the trick is to listen to the right people”.

Through parts 1, 2 and now 3, Ferguson hammers home the point that copying is what has advanced our society in every facet. However, it is no less work to copy previous works, and it is the tedious tinkering that has produced the breakthroughs, improvements, and radical changes in our lives. Now go watch these three videos if you haven’t already – and then have at those remixes.

Hat tip to the inimitable timmmmboy for scooping me on the latest video. I had been waiting for it, but he beat me to the punch.

Melchers Olde Tyme

As I and others are finding out, the iPhone 4 is a pretty spectacular digital still camera. One of the key differences with the iPhone is that there are applications (“apps”) that can enhance the capabilities of the handy little device. The iPhone comes standard with a camera app, but one that provides some pretty stunning functionality is Tap Tap Tap’s Camera +. It’s one of those take a picture and apply the filter type programs, but it works very well and provides loads of functionality that I’m just beginning to play with.

Camera + Effects

The picture at the top of this post, and the ones following, are using the effects (the grunge effect in this case) and the border (the one called Old-Timey) features.

Seeing the photos in this context makes me want to find the stories of these buildings. There are also the “flaws” of the modern day (bicycles, cars, modern signs) intruding on the historical accuracy, but it almost makes it fun to find those errors. Here are the rest.

Olde Tyme duPont

Trinkle Olde Tyme

Seacobeck Olde Tyme

Chandler Olde Tyme

I got my Glif last week and haven’t used it yet, but I’m still excited about it. After I received it, I subsequently listened to three podcasts that mentioned what a great product it was. It’s nice to have affirmation that you made a smart purchase, especially one like the Glif. You could say it’s a little pricey (about $20), but that’s before you see what it does, and how well it is designed.

Oh right. What is a Glif? Well, on a basic level it is a tripod adapter for the iPhone. It form fits on the iPhone 4 to give you a standard tripod socket. However, because of its design, it can also be used as a stand for both horizontal and vertical orientation. It will be one of those handy gadgets I keep in my computer backpack for different occasions.

Now it’s time to get some use out of this thing.

Now, they call it Plex/Nine, but it is actually version 0.9, so it’s still beta software. I do use it often and it’s the least frustrating media center software I’ve used. So besides media management, what do you get? First, it will read all of your movie files. That includes all my Handbrake ripped movies as well as the “raw” DVD rips of my video library. It seamlessly merges both types of files from a single directory and gives you a clean, attractive interface to view your collection. You also get the ability to watch your Netflix Instant Watch queue, view your Flickr photos, view YouTube videos, play your iTunes music, videos, and podcasts, along with many more services. It even plays my old catalog of DivX videos.

So the anticipation is killing me. I do have some anticipation for the Apple TV device and will be curious if they deliver a $99 device that has similar capabilities to Plex. I find it interesting where we are in computer history. We still have the HTPC/Media Center PC and then several set-top box media devices such as the Apple TV, Roku, Popbox, the Western Digital TV Media Players, and many more. It is similar to the market for traditional desktop/laptops and tablet(iPad)/netbooks. What’s going to be the best combination of features? The appified box (will Apple TV be iOS 4? Seems almost certain) vs. the full on OS box. To me the iPad et. al., and the iTV et. al. are just new markets in the computer world. How it all shakes out will be interesting. It definitely needs a good shake.

The character that Stephen Colbert plays nightly is hardly humble or reflective. So with typical bravado, Colbert announced on his January 4th show that the Report was now in High-Def. “My opinions will be crisper, [and] my anger more saturated”, said Colbert. He proceeded to demonstrate that people watching in HD were getting 15% more show. He then chided those who watch in Standard Definition that they didn’t get to see the really cool stuff on either side of the screen. “Nobody tell the ‘Standard-Defs’ about what they’re missing”.

The larger point of this is that going High-Def does mean more picture on your screen. Previously, I was watching Colbert with black bars on the sides. Now I can see the coffee mug and the box of tissues, and it was so worth it paying for that new HDTV. But seriously, The Daily Show and Colbert were two of the final holdouts of the 4:3 screen ratio. Now the only thing that I watch with any regularity that isn’t in a 16:9 ratio is WRC-TV News from Washington D.C. Doesn’t sound like that’s going to change any time in the near future despite WRC having the areas highest rated newscast.