Under the Magnifying Glass
Emancipation of Our
Digital Memories
By Steven H. Fyffe
sfyffe@maccompanion.com
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Jared, Grandma, and Papa were playing in a local playground
yesterday. It was great fun watching that bundle of energy zooming through the
maze of the wooden fortress. Yes, watching … when Papa tried to follow, at
Jared-speed, he almost knocked himself out on a low-hanging beam and then
tripped on a step scraping his elbow ... the sixty year old boy was trying to
keep up with the six year old boy, to no avail.
Suddenly, the scene came to a screeching halt. Papa and his
pocket camera took center stage. Jared halted in his tracks to view the video
of himself on the tiny LCD … “Papa, I want to see". Oh, the marvel of
digital media … instant gratification?
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Looking Back a Few Decades
I recall a few years ago that Jared’s mommy was also
fascinated, watching herself on a white screen as a Super 8 movie projector
flickered away. Of course, this was after a week or so waiting for the film to
come back from the developer and then waiting until old Dad set up the
projector and screen on “Home Movie Night".
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Do you remember those the stacks and stacks
(not the Leopard kind) of boxes of Kodak Carousels and sorting through hundreds
of slides by holding them up to a light?
Freezing Time Digitally
Digital photos and movies have indeed revolutionized how we
freeze our memories in time. For one thing the hundreds of photos and movies of
my little girls have been transformed into thousands of digital photos and
movies of my grandson.
You may have seen those funny advertisements, depicting
digital photos being trapped in a digital camera, awaiting download … then
suddenly an ominous sound is heard as one of the photos is about to be deleted.
My digital photos don’t meet that fate, but all too often
they reside deep in the inner dungeon of an external hard drive. Many of my
digital movies have resided on the lonely, dark island of a miniDV tape,
awaiting rescue and import into iMovie. Now, the majority of my digital movies
are on flash memory, along with the photos. Their little digital hearts jump
for joy, since they get downloaded much faster than before. But all too often,
that gleam in their teeny pixel eyes is turned to tears, as my digital movies
join their predecessors in the depth of an oubliette.
Our Digital Media is Screaming for Independence
If you hear the faint yell for freedom in the distance, you
have not been transported to the jungle of Nool with your elephant friend,
Horton. The teeny-weeny voice is not coming from a tiny speck where the
inhabitants of Whoville reside (1). Yes, the acclamation “Let freedom ring!”
is ascending from your own digital media. They are screaming in unison from
their tiny throats, “Free us from our digital purgatory!!”
How do we emancipate our digital memories and bring them
back out of the computer room into the living room?
I recently
conducted a poll of fellow Mac geeks … OK that immediately skews the results.
Of course, Macintosh aficionados often responded by suggesting that I hook my
Mac up to a television. I found this picture of one serious Mac mini (2) home
entertainment center with an Elgato EyeTV (3). I could not locate the source of
the picture, but my hat goes off to the guy who assembled it.
Alternatively, several of my Mac friends suggested burning
them on DVDs. None suggested how to keep them organized nor instantly available
at our finger tips.
I
have also seen beautiful photo books from Apple (4) through iPhoto (5) which
would make any coffee table proud. I can hear the digital photos mockingly
telling their digital movie fellow inmates, “Na, Na Na, Nu Na Na, we beat you
to the light of day” … at least until the photo album got shoved onto a dusty
shelf.
Emancipation, Almost
Well, in our home, the emancipation cries for freedom from
our digital media have softened, but have not been totally silenced. The first
glimmer of hope arrived in the form of an Apple TV (6) about a year ago. With
the Take Two (7) firmware update of Apple TV, further progress was taken in
that direction when it was no longer tethered to computers … at least, in part.
Our Precious Digital Memories - Back in the Living
Room
So now we are in the new millennium. In our living room,
Apple TV took the place of honor once occupied by our Super 8 projector and
Kodak Carousel.
Allow me to share, portions of a review which I wrote last
year for the Northeast Ohio Apple Corps and published in their newsletter,
“Apple Bits” (8) …
“I knew I wanted an Apple product that would take all the
stuff on my computer—videos, pictures, music, and so on—and make it
available in my living room via an easy, remote-control–driven
interface,” wrote Jason Snell, Editorial Director, Macworld, in the
introduction to “Macworld Apple TV Superguide” (9).
I can relate. Ever since I started dabbling in digital
media, I have had the desire to stop holding digital stuff hostage in my
computer. Putting it another way: “When do I get to see the pictures?” …
“Where’s my music you bought?” … “I thought you took movies of our grandson,
when are you going to show them?” quote my dear loving wife. Understand that my
beloved would not touch a computer with a ten-foot pole.
“Uh, yes honey. I’ll work on it this weekend". Indeed,
I have tried a variety of ways to transform digital stuff into a form my wife
could enjoy easily whenever she wanted, in the comfort of our living room.
While I had some success, all had their limitations and what I wanted was ONE
solution for everything … a digital media entertainment hub which remains
purely digital … no CDs or DVDs to burn & keep organized; no tiny iPod
screens to manipulate; no Macs to navigate.
The day after I bought the Apple TV, I came home to discover
my beloved listening to her music and watching hundreds of photos of my
grandson gently floating on our TV. WOW!! I knew for certain that this was a
great investment, because my wife was really enjoying it. She also enjoys
watching her music videos or movies of our grandson, Jared. And when he comes
over, with a few clicks of the Apple remote, grandma & grandson can watch
the Cars movie or a TV recording of “Thomas the Train”, or listen together to
Jared’s favorite songs by clicking on his own personal playlist … no muss, no
fuss … pure digital !!!! Talk about “On-Demand” … Apple TV is the most personal
& most user-friendly entertainment center you could ever want for all your
precious digital media.
I included in my July 2007 review a list of those who I
thought would NOT want the Apple TV,
and those who should run right out and get one for their family ...
Who Wouldn't Want an Apple TV? Eight is Enough.
- A Best Buy customer who sees the box on the shelf without
so much as a demo unit attached to a HDTV.
- Those who would want to have a fully functional Mac mini
in their living room AND everyone in the family has enough computer savvy to
navigate it (or to ignore it until the geek comes home).
- Those without a HDTV, EDTV, or SDTV with component input
… you know you really want an HDTV don’t you.
- Those who have no geeky types around to coordinate the
transition of digital media from their computer to the Apple TV.
- Those still on dial-up and other cave men.
- Those who have no computer … these people don’t have
iPods either.
- Those who have no digital photos, nor digital music, nor
digital home video … although without any content, the Apple TV’s screen saver
with included photos is very pretty.
- Those who are still taking only film photos and Super 8 movies
and think a megapixel is an elf on steroids.
Who is the Apple TV for?
Now notice, I did NOT say, “Those with no commercial movies
or TV programs on their computer". In spite of the name, Apple TV is a
great PERSONAL digital entertainment hub for all YOUR digital media. I believe
Apple could do a much better job advertising the power of the Apple TV as a
personal digital hub, not just an outlet for the iTunes Store. Even if you
didn’t rip DVDs, record eyeTV programs, or buy iTunes Store movies and television
programs, the Apple TV is a great investment. You may already have a DVR or
TiVo or Netflix that meet that entertainment need. But still, Apple TV is a
fantastic, easy to use peripheral for anyone with digital content of their own,
IF they want to bring that content out of the computer room into the living
room with a click of a remote.
Take Two
OK, now it is 2008. Steve Jobs apparently decided to turn
his “hobby”(10) into a business venture and Apple TV Take 2 has arrived.
Unfortunately, much of Apple’s advertisements of Apple TV … what little there
is … focused on movie rentals (11). Ho hum. I already had access to
Pay-Per-View.
Are They Finally Getting It?
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What I want to know is how Apple TV Take Two improved the
ability to show photos and movies of my grandson in my living room. On the .Mac
web page the advertisement states, “Your friends and family hit prime
time – Web Gallery is now on Apple TV”
Close, but no Gold Star
Oh cool, I had been asking for that ever since iLife '08 Web Galleries (13) arrived. I knew it must be possible, since Apple TV supported YouTube, after it's first major upgrade (14). Apple TV Take Two also now supports Flickr (15), another major photo sharing web site. I was excited, but soon had water thrown in my face when I discovered that only public content on my .Mac Web Gallery (16) could be viewed.
Apple TV does not support viewing password-protected movies and photo albums, nor hidden media not appearing on my Web Gallery home page. Why not? Both the iPhone and the iPod Touch allow you to enter a password to gain access to private Web Gallery content. I was ready to purchase an Apple TV for my daughter and my parents, so they could have immediate access to photos and movies of Jared, but I want to keep them private.
Still the Greatest Entertainment Hub for Our Digital
Memories
![](UMG_files/jared_in_living_room_m.jpg)
For Jared’s grandma and grandpa, Apple TV has gone a long way to emancipate our precious digital media. Whenever Jared wants
to watch the movies and photos of us playing with him at the park, with a
minimum of geek magic, our digital memories are streaming from my MacBook Pro
through our Apple TV to our HDTV. Just like when his mommy was a little girl,
our living room is the center of laughter on “Home Movie Night".
Still Takes a Useful Papa
Yes, it still takes a resident geek to prepare the digital
photos and movies for display on the Apple TV. Not much has really changed over
the years. A few decades ago, old Dad had to figure out how to keep the Super 8
movie projector running and to repair the film when it broke. Likewise, old Dad
had to figure out how to put the slides into the Kodak carrousel, so they were
not backward on the screen. I guess it is a good thing that Apple TV is not too
user friendly. This old, old grandpa doesn’t need to watch “Thomas the Train”
to be reminded that even he is still a “Useful engine”… I mean Papa.
Keep Experiencing the Joy of Discovery
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your visit. Until
we meet again, follow Jared’s example by putting your Mac “Under the Magnifying
Glass".
REFERENCES:
(1) http://www.movietome.com/movie/356746/horton-hears-a-who/index.html
(2) http://www.apple.com/macmini/
(3) http://www.elgato.com/elgato/na/mainmenu/products/250plus/product1.en.html
(4) http://www.apple.com/ilife/iphoto/printproducts.html
(5) http://www.apple.com/ilife/iphoto/
(6) http://www.apple.com/appletv/
(7) http://www.macworld.com/article/132085/2008/02/apple_tv_take_two.html
(8) http://web.mac.com/neoac_mug/NEOACv2/Bits_files/07jul.pdf
(9) http://www.macworld.com/article/57852/2007/05/appletv.html
(10) http://www.engadget.com/2007/05/30/steve-jobs-live-from-d-2007/
(11) http://www.apple.com/appletv/rentals.html
(12) http://www.mac.com/WebObjects/Welcome
(13) http://www.apple.com/ilife/iphoto/#webgallery
(14) http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305738
(15) http://www.apple.com/appletv/features.html#photos
(16) http://www.apple.com/dotmac/webgallery.html