Why isn’t anyone calling it what it is (New Apple TV = Set-top box)
On a scale from 1to10, the new Apple TV is a set-top box.
Apple announced today the new version of Apple TV, a tiny little device for streaming HD movies to your home television. This is very cool – the form factor looks awesome and beautiful, as we might expect of an Apple product. It’s eschewed the HDD in favor a small amount of flash memory for programs and buffering, and otherwise is streaming only. A bunch of cool streaming services (like Netflix, Flickr, etc.) are also embedded. All of this is great.
What’s funny to me is that no one seems willing to call this thing what it actually is: a set-top box. (Abeit a tiny one that’s cool looking.) Engadget, Crunchgear, Boy Genius Report, and about a zillion other blogs have all posted about Apple’s announcement. But all of them are consistently leaving out the set-top nomenclature which has, at this point, accumulated a lot of negative mojo. It’s also conspicuously absent from Apple’s press release.
I think this is because no one likes set-top boxes. They’re clunky, take up space on the media console, take up an HDMI input on your receiver or TV, add a remote control to your coffee table, and cost extra $$$. Lots of companies are focusing instead on embedded devices, including Google TV and VUDU. (Disclaimer – I’ve worked with VUDU in the past.) Basically these folks embed their streaming services into televisions and Blu-ray players, so that instead of needing an extra device on the console, you stream content directly into the device you already own. This is more efficient for the consumer, and adds value to the manufacturers of devices people are already planning to buy (like TV’s and BDP’s). It sort of leaves hanging the folks who make set-top boxes, like ROKU and Apple.
It’s just strange to me that no one is willing to call this thing what it is. One blogger refers to the new Apple TV as “streaming-focused device…” which is true by the way. But it’s also a friggin’ set-top box.
I don’t know why this bothers me. I’m an admitted Apple fanboi. I’ve had three generations of iPhone, own several iPods, am on my second Macbook, and want to get an iMac. I might even get an Apple TV – it looks sexy. Doesn’t change the fact that it’s a set-top box, and I think it should be labeled (pigeonholed) as such.
If I were going to rate the new Apple TV set-top box (sight unseen) on a numeric scale from 1to10, I’d call it a 9 (until they prove me wrong.) But if I were going to numerically rate their fishy attempt to avoid an ugly label that is nevertheless true, I’d call it a 2. The sauce is weak.
On a scale of 1 to 10, the 
Comfort is the (only) area where the Smart Alec falls a little short for me. I’ve been looking for a bag that suits all purposes, which is admittedly a patently unfair criteria. I use it for walking around conferences, for car commuting, and for commuting on my bicycle. The bicycle commuting was the only issue for me – the backpack straps were a little thin and hurt my shoulders a bit. This is when I’m loading the bag fairly heavily (macbook pro, charger, clothes, shoes, notebook and a cup of coffee), and riding a relatively long time (45-55 minutes.) With that load and over that length of time, I found that the bag hurt my shoulders a bit. Not unduly, but not cushy either.
On a scale from 1to10, I just can’t decide what this means.
I can’t do as good a job as they did in interpreting what Shooter was aiming for, why it’s important politically, socially, or to the annals of Country (and other) music. What’s more, I don’t really care to analyze it that way. I like Shooter’s music, particularly his 2007 album, 
Today, all most of these networks have a place. Obviously Facebook is kicking ass. MySpace still has tens of millions of users, many some of them active. Even Friendster, for instance, is insanely popular in the Philippines. Orkut, Google’s social network is very big in Brazil (though Facebook’s presence is growing there.) But what has become of Tagworld? Nothing good.
What’s interesting is that some people do seem to still visit Tagworld – to me though, the site seems effectively dead. If you visit the home page, you’re greeted with a stunning bit of verbiage (look to the right.) To me, between the lines this says: “we’re over it – if you want to keep using it, run it yourself.” Some members do seem to visit and update their profiles – many of the public profiles on the homepage have updates newer than the last 24 hours. 
