Colin Charles Agenda

It’s 2013, and my media consumption hasn’t changed much from 2011. I still like watching TV series as they come out or back-to-back (and Netflix is smart with House of Cards – back-to-back from the start). Attached to my TV is the same device I’ve owned for several years that decodes digital compressed video – I just transfer content to its hard disk, and play off the device.

Nowadays, you can buy an Apple TV in Malaysia, but it’s not something I’ve thought of picking up. I’ve thought now for over five years that YouTube is an MTV replacement. This being the MTV of yesteryear when the focused on music videos (not today with all their content play). YouTube is so much more now though – I can get educated, entertained, or just plain switch off watching it.

Amateur hour on YouTube is fast disappearing. Lots of professional created content exists there, and I’m happy to watch it. This is the first step to disrupting Hollywood.

So, I’ve got the choice of an Apple TV to watch iTunes based content. Or maybe I can AirPlay stuff from my laptop. Or I can continue to use my current setup which is loading the hard disk with data. This doesn’t allow me to enjoy YouTube and other stuff on my TV though…

Enter the EMAGINE. I was invited to the launch so I got to play with the device a little. Device costs RM399. It runs Linux (currently no sources online; no API information online for developers). I like that they support local content channels like Eumakh and more. Their company backing it, SelecTV looks interesting with minimal media hype from the usual channels (they are a Malaysian MNC with investment from MAVCAP + Intel Capital).

Their motto: “open platform to create a new experience in media consumption & delivery”.

They have figured out a way to play YouTube videos without showing the ads. I don’t know if this affects how content producers get paid out (because if it does, I’d rather watch the ads). One big problem I find with podcasts and youtube for example is there is no curated content. Sometimes I just want to lie back and see what’s on, not pick what to watch. This is where the cable experience still rocks. Luckily, they have curated channels on EMAGINE. 

All the demos were focused on YouTube. More great quality content is on Vimeo too. And other sites. Remember that YouTube has local peers in Malaysia, but the other services don’t. So even with a 5mbps cable connection, you may not rock hard. Buffering, etc. is going to affect the first time experience.

Some other interesting bits: Karaoke on the box with some 50,000 songs. This is a paid service. Great interface compared to going to a KTV, but I’d pass (I’m not the target market). The idea of shopping from your TV, i.e. using Lazada currently, is quite smart (I hope to see more TV shopping). The potential to get pay-per-view TV exists, but there is no content there because well, getting content is hard (er, expensive).

There’s no spinning disk so this isn’t a PVR. It comes with 3 USB ports, so I presume you can hook up your own hard disk and enjoy watching downloaded content. There is music options, but the company seems to only want to focus on video. It comes with Intel WiDi which may or may not support Miracast. Bottom-line: I want my Macbook Air or iPad or Nexus 7 sending content to my TV via wireless. If this stuff can’t work, advertising WiDi is a cop out.

I was told that the comparison might be to the cheaper Roku box. I don’t have one or haven’t played with one before, so I reserve comments here.

I like the partnership with Lazada. Its the only place you can order an EMAGINE box. It presumes you’re already internet connected. My ideal box is something I’d write about in another post, but in the meantime while I think about that, I may think about the EMAGINE. Of course, I myself don’t stay in front of my TV often enough so its still up in the air. 

I was at the launch of EMAGINE yesterday, and all of us walked away with a door gift: an EMAGINE mini wireless keyboard.  

When I first saw it I thought it would be a Bluetooth wireless keyboard (potentially handy for a tablet). Sadly, I notice that you need to connect it via USB. It works like a clicker.

Its vendor is Sonix Technology Co., Ltd. The manual is clearly written in China (words like “Accissories”). It’s been around for quite some time (testing on Fedora 7, Ubuntu 8.10, etc.).

It’s a 2.4GHz wireless mini QWERTY keyboard, comes with a touch pad as well (so you can mouse around).

Plug it into Linux or Mac OS X and it “just works”, without drivers. You end up having to power the device on/off. It comes with its own USB-based charger (no wall-plug), so I presume you’re meant to charge it/dock it at the EMAGINE device itself. 

In the package contents though, it suggests you only get a remote, not this keyboard. Beta testers (I’m not one) claimed that they already had a keyboard.

I’m not sure that the keyboard is made for many regular hands. I consider my hands no larger than the average, and find it quite difficult (not impossible, just strained) to type with two thumbs as it is a little too wide, thanks to the touch pad. Your mileage may vary. Then again, how many of you want to do serious keyboarding in front of your TV?

Next up, some thoughts on the EMAGINE (based largely on tweets from last night). I do plan to order one to give it a twirl. 

Does having a critical mind require you to be a critic? Does being a critic long enough make you a cynic?

These are thoughts that have crossed my mind in recent times. As I’ve grown older, I realise that I’ve been overly idealistic in the past.

These days, I’m motivated to see the positive in things. Punditry overall is boring as it doesn’t create.

I’m motivated by Scooter Braun’s motto:

IMAGINE. CREATE. EXECUTE. DELIVER.

I think I’ll spend some free time going back and only looking at the positive side of things.

Yesterday I unboxed my new MacBook Air 13″ (full-spec) laptop. I used a USB3 disk to backup via Time Machine the old laptop (which maxed out at USB2), and then did a restore using USB3 last night and today it seems that the laptop is ready to use. This is my first experience with OS X 10.8.2 as well – I was previously on 10.7.5. What did I have to change?

1. I had to re-login to Dropbox, but at least it didn’t have to perform a full sync (there was some data exchanged, but it wasn’t the entire Dropbox folder).
2. I had to re-login to Google Drive. This required a full sync as the old folder was not recognised as an original.
3. I had to make sure settings for iCloud were sane again (as there was a popup).
4. I was asked to re-download MsgFiler and login to the App Store.
5. I had to change the caps lock key to become a control key manually again.
6. The Mail.app version changed and it has to reimport/reindex messages again (this takes some 1 hour 15 minutes on my machine with 33GB of mail).
7. The F4 key for some absurdity goes to an application called Launchpad (that makes it look like an iOS device). I used to have Dashboard on F4 and I much prefer that. It seems the only way without a third party app like Functionflip is to press Fn+F4 to get my Dashboard. I think this is rather silly of Apple – changing muscle memory is difficult.
8. My scroll continued to work from the old settings (I’m no fan of a natural scroll).
9. Time Machine allows you to “inherit backup history”, thus using the same drive that brought you over to be the new backup drive.
10. There now exists a Notification Centre. A little odd thinking that iOS styled notifications have made it here. Do I still need Growl which constantly reminds me that there is a (paid) update waiting?
11. Seems the screensaver and the lock after it has been enabled needs to be re-enabled.
12. CrashPlan would not work as you need Java SE 6 so you’d have to install it – seems odd that Apple decided to drop this rather significant piece of software. Then again, considering who drives ownership, and the recent security scares…
13. sudo tmutil disablelocal – the local backups were enabled again, and I only want Time Machine to have backups to an external disk.
14. I couldn’t print as there needed to be new printer drivers. Many apps had to be updated in the App Store. Gasp.
15. Turn off most notifications with Notification Centre. I really don’t want to be “beeped” when mail comes in.

Initial impressions of the laptop? The machine is fast. It has a lot to do with the SSD disk, as well as the 4-core i7 processor. Out of the box, the battery capacity is meant to be 6700 mAh, though I’m getting 6669 mAh. Battery life is one of the strongest reasons why I picked up a 13″ over a 11″ – I just didn’t want to have to deal with flaky batteries a few years down the road… 7 hours brought down to say 5 is manageable, but 5 hours brought down to say 3 is annoying.

Another reason is resolution. Using a 15″ MacBook Pro to a 13″ MacBook Air has no change in resolution for me either – its all 1440×900. It seems 512MB of virtual RAM is reserved for the Intel graphics card (so I guess this Air won’t suffer the same fate as the first ever MacBook Air which was dog slow in terms of graphics).

Its good to note that the Thunderbolt port is also MiniDisplay compatible – all my old cables work. The only catch is that it is no longer on the left side of the laptop but the right side.

Today I was on a phone call when I hobbled onto Twitter to see that DigitalNewsAsia’s #disruptmy was happening (follow the money – more panelists) . I found a link to a Google Hangout, so I plugged in my external monitor and decided to watch. In the meantime, I setup Twitter to be a second screen. On my main screen I did tasks that needed to get completed: catch up on IRC backlog, reply to lots of emails.

What has Google Hangout done for me?

The event starts at 5.30pm sharp. I probably joined not long after and I didn’t feel like I missed much. Do you know what it takes to get to The Gardens at 5.30pm? Traffic jams in the country will mean that I probably should leave at 4-4.30pm at the latest to be there safely. No looking for parking. Not paying for parking. No driving.

What did I miss out? The potential to socialize with some of the panelists & attendees. However I’m willing to bet I know most of the folk in that room, or can be connected to them at best by one degree of separation if required.

Overall, these Hangouts are awesome as you’re going to save time. It’s a secondary thing, like watching TV while you get work done… or listening to a podcast. Very different experience to actually being there.

Come Q&A, I got pretty bored and could tune out relatively quickly (except maybe the part about not getting excited by the Techcrunch hype; I think it goes down to the fact that many people just don’t understand finance). Next up, Team DigitalNewsAsia remember to take Q&A via Twitter. Remember folk, events are fun & all, but don’t be a conference ho. Back to work!

“You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” 

Harvey Dent (fictional character) said that in Batman The Dark Knight. Deep, and something we should often think about.