tech ronin

Shopping for a New Place to Live on Craigslist

On September 9th, my landlord gave us notice that they were selling our house in Mill Valley and we had to move. The rent has been low and the place great, so I've been here 17 years. Lucky for 17 years. Of course, having a wonderful rental may have kept me from buying a place but them's the breaks.

We were worried about finding a place we would like without paying more than we are paying now. For good reason it turns out. The prices are $500 or more higher than we are paying now for an equivalent place. The solution we decided to go with is to get a smaller place. To downsize.

We found a new apartment in Tiburon with two bedrooms. We are going to pay the same amount for 1 less bedroom, a much smaller yard and patio and an apartment instead of a house. We are in a slightly more upscale neighborhood which was not a goal but some would consider it a benefit. The location is roughly as good otherwise.

The main thing I wanted to share here is that Craigslist used to its full capability really helps. What amped up the value for me was to subscribe to a custom RSS feed for the kind of place I was looking for.

I was able to see new listings as they came onto the market by simply checking my RSS feed regularly. Highly recommended. Each Craigslist page seems to have its own RSS button so you tailor your search and then generate your own personal RSS feed. Great way to go!

In my case, I also created a little FileMaker database for the candidate properties. FileMaker let me create a button that would take the street address to get to the google map for the place. I put a few container fields on the screen and some tabs to allow me to put screenshots of google maps in that were optimized.

I would do a screenshot zoomed out to see generally where the property was and then zoom in with the satellite view and get a close up of the neighborhood. This part was manual but quick to do. I would usually do one screenshot for a property and two or three if I was especially interested. I also could drag and drop photos of the house exterior and interior when available.

The cool thing was that once I typed in an address in my database, I could click a button to get to the google map. I've always wanted to be able to do this and it was when FileMaker Pro 8.5 came out with its web viewer that it's become super easy. FileMaker created standard code for google maps in the webviewer so I just copied and pasted that URL into my button and off I went.

First take on Amazon DRM-free music downloads

I just downloaded my first Amazon download for 89 cents! I had to download a small downloader application first (a beta).

I had to quit Safari to complete the install. Luckily I didn't have my usual massive number of tabs open, but heads up on that. The downloader put the song right into iTunes for me. This is quick and easy!

I am glad to see Amazon making a credible entry into the music downloading business to provide competition to Apple's iTunes. I'm even happier to see they are doing a DRM-free, relatively high-quality offering. They have two labels, Universal and EMI, so far.

Like anyone, I prefer to skip DRM. Now I can get a lot of music without DRM at a reasonable price. I intend to buy single songs at 89 and 99 cents per song. This deal beats Apple's 1.29 cent price for their DRM-free songs.

Apple has the edge in two areas. First, the iTunes store is way better overall. But, Amazon has better search and I hope that means Apple will give us some decent search to augment their current strengths. Second, Apple uses AAC encoding and Amazon is using MP3. AAC gives you a notch better quality at the same size.

So, Apple's DRM-free music is a little bit better and that difference would probably be noticeable on high quality headphones or high-end speakers. There is one caveat, though, which is that MP3 is supported everywhere and AAC is only supported on some players. If you are an iPod user, you'll be able to take advantage of AAC.

I will continue to use the iTunes store and also check out the Amazon store in some detail. I will report back on my experiences. Right now I want to support the Amazon DRM-free offering, so when I find something I want on the Amazon store, I will purchase there.

When I find a single song on iTunes that I want, I will just buy the DRM-free version there and pay the extra 30 cents. It isn't worth the trouble to go back and buy it on Amazon and I get the small AAC quality advantage to boot.

If there is no DRM-free version on iTunes, I'll buy there only if I don't think the DRM-free version is available on Amazon. DRM-free takes precedence because the convenience later in moving the song to different machines will make up for the inconvenience now of having to find the song again on Amazon.

Keep in mind that Apple wins either way. More good DRM-free music will drive iPod and iPhone sales. Besides, the competition will inspire Apple to do better work.

Finally, we want legal DRM-free music. Amazon, by joining the DRM-free side of the argument, will pressure the other labels that are holding out to open up their music too. This is good!

Crippled iPod Touch won't fly

It is clear that the iPod Touch could have all of the hardware-independent applications the iPhone has. But Apple has deemed to cripple the Touch to, it seems, moderate cannibalization of iPhone sales.

You do get a Contacts button that the iPhone doesn't have but you don't get notes, weather, google maps, stocks or email. That's BS!

Pre-iPhone, I always felt constrained with the lack of input on my iPods. I knew they could have offered much more. Minimalism has its limits. We want more from these little devices because they can take the place of notebooks, notepads, address books, calendars and sometimes computer notebooks when we are traveling light.

Not everyone wants or needs an AT&T cell contract. Apple hasn't made deals yet outside the US and they are going to sell the Touch right away in all 22 countries they operate in.

I'm wondering if Apple can get away with this transparent crippling without creating a big backlash that makes the iPhone price drop fiasco look tame.

I see their approach very handy for them. They start with maximal crippling then perhaps turn features back on one or more at a time when and if cannibalization seems under control.

Great way to do things if you've never read the Cluetrain Manifesto or just written a letter about trust and trying to live up to your customers high expectations. Put me on record as predicting an uproar once people buy these things and find out they are crippled. Not the iPhone without the phone.

Cool new iPhone/iPod touch interface for Typepad

I'm posting via my iPhone. I could already post from my iPhone but now things in Typepad are iphone-sized.

You get a set-up screen and protected email addresses to post from.

Important point. The iPod touch is also supported. Of course the touch doesn't have a built in camera...

The volumes that the touch can generate in 22 countries at $299 and $399 and no phone contract will quickly dwarf the iPhone's sales. The volume will drive iPhone-sized apps like this one and, as Steve says, expand the tent.

Good to hear too, Apple just sold their millionth iPhone. So much for the theory that Apple needed to drop the price to hit their Sep 30 million sales goal. Go Apple.

First Look at the new fat nano

I made it over to the Apple store a few minutes ago. Played with some new nanos. Trying different colors to see which I liked. The screen is really good. TV-watching should be fine.

I liked the *black* one the best. It looks coolest. I was surprised to see that the back side is chrome now. My second favorite was the Product (red) one.

This is a tiny, light and cheap way to get into iPod video. The video and the gorgeous bright screen are the primo features here. The $79 1-gig shuffle has stiff competition now with the fuller-featured 4 gig nano for $149.

If you are wondering. I didn't buy one. First, I haven't got my $100 credit yet. Second, I love my iPhone and am not sure I want 2 devices.

There better not be a 16 gig iPhone in the wings

I want a 16 gig iPhone, the sooner the better. If a 16 gb version is released soon, I will try to find a way to buy one and sell my 8 gig.

But there is another side to this. The $399 price for the 8 gig iPhone makes room for something above it. The 16 gig iPod Touch is shipping in less than 2 weeks.

When does the other shoe drop on this iPhone price cut? People got mad to see the price drop so fast on the iPhone. Steve's $100 credit for the early adopters soothed ruffled feathers. But, don't tell me they won't get re-stimulated if Apple sucker punches geeks with tight pocketbooks who buy $399 8 gig iPhones only to see 16 gig iPhones a week or two or even a month later. That won't go over and will continue the *let's extract every last cent out of customers* mentality that may have driven the $599 for 2 months and cut to $399 pricing plan.

Could you surf an iPod Touch with a 3G phone?

Just a thought. Thinking a 3G-phone-owning enthusiast could hack the Touch so that it could use the 3G phone as its modem to get on the Net. That might be an option for fans who would like that big, beautiful Touch screen but already like their faster 3G phones.

Whoa iPod touch, $399 iPhone, phatty nanos

Rocking with the rhythm! I didn't dare hope for a trim and gorgeous iPhone-like iPod so soon. I see there's no email button or notes on the iPod touch. There's no stock quotes or weather either.

Lots of space for something but I don't know what. Now that OS X drives these little music machines, there's plenty of room for exciting possibilities. Who knows? Maybe Apple will open up the touch while guarding access to the iPhone for a while longer.

Keep in mind that you don't get a speaker or a camera in the iPod touch. But then, not having to pay for a 2 year service contract with AT&T has got to count for something. You get more iPod for your money here. The 8 gig touch is $100 cheaper than the iPhone's new $399 price.

Loving that Stevie Jay put wi-fi in the iPod touch (16 gig version is $399). Safari on an iPod. You can download direct to your iPod touch and iPhone from the iTunes store. Instant gratification. Direct downloads will play well in Asia where not everyone sees the need for a computer when they have a cell phone to take its place.

Trying to figure out what I do next when I buy my next iPod. Do I blow my money and get a 16 gb iPod touch as a compliment to my iPhone? Probably not the smartest move. Seems too redundant and bulky to have two iPhone-sized devices. The touch is slightly smaller but not by much.

How about a cute little 8 gig phatty nano ($199) as a sleek adjunct? All I have to do is divvy up the media storage in a logical way between the two. I'm liking that new green. I can't wait to see that 2" screen boasting an amazing 204 pixels per inch and delivering the same QVGA pixel count, 320x240, as its bigger brother.

My theory on the iPhone price cut: (1) Steve needed to make that cut to drive more sales to meet the Sept 30 deadline for selling a million iPhones. They are on sale right now at the online store for $399 and (2) now there is room to charge $499 for the impending 16 gig iPhone and $599 for the 16 gig with 3G?

The 4 gig iPhone is being phased out. Engadget says you can get them for $299 while they last. Also, if you just bought an iPhone in the last couple of weeks, you can ask for a refund of the difference less a 10% restocking fee. You go!

Stock market dropped AAPL with perhaps a panic that (1) sales must not be brisk if a 33% price cut was needed and (2) hey, the margins just got shot to hell!

And, one more thing. Free wi-fi at Starbucks for your touches and iPhones! A little wheeling and dealing there to get the free wi-fi with this button that will sell Starbucks tunes. Update: on further research, it is not clear that you can use the wi-fi for anything besides the iTunes store. That's weak if true.

Overall, these are awesome new iPods. OK, the shuffle is a disappointment. But, the nano and iPod touch are both extremely cool and you can't beat the iPod classics for storage space. They share the new OS X UI.

Critics were saying the iPod has peaked. Remember when Apple said 30 years and we are just getting started at the beginning of the year? They weren't kidding. With the drop of the iPhone price to a realistic level, who is going to stop Apple now?

See Gizmodo's iPod touch photo gallery.