Under the Magnifying Glass

Emancipation of Our Digital Memories

By Steven H. Fyffe

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?

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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

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.

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