Home Servidor

January 26, 2010

A couple of posts ago I wrote about the home media server I think Apple needs to produce. (And I’ll get around to responding to comments there shortly.) In the meantime, reader and friend Todd has sent me a link to the Home Servidor. I love smoking cigars, and I have a need for a home server. Why not combine these two items into one? Half humidor, half server, all good.

Furthermore, I think it would be a good idea for Apple to create their own Home Servidor. Users of Apple products tend to be more affluent and enjoy the finer things in life, and I believe an Apple Home Servidor would serve that market. It should incorporate all the masturbatory buzz phrases that dominate the Intarwebs, and Apple should work out a content deal with Cigar Aficionado. It will be the most important thing Steve Jobs has ever done. Ever. It will make my hair grow back. Rumor has it that there will be a special March 5 event introducing this life-changing device. And by life, I mean all life on Earth.


Hydroponic pumpkins!

January 23, 2010

My friend Todd sent me these pictures of hydroponic pumpkins taken at an undisclosed location. That’s all I know.

On a related note, I purchased 200 feet of PVC pipe this afternoon.


The missing product in Apple’s line, and it’s not a tablet

January 23, 2010

While all the idiots out there get their jollies from speculating about an Apple tablet device they know nothing about, including whether it really exists, my co-worker and friend Brad and I repeated a question we’ve long asked that has more practical value: Where’s the Apple home media server?

All of the pieces exist.

  • Large hard drives, as evidenced by the 2TB Time Capsule.
  • Small but capable hardware, as evidenced by the Mac mini server.
  • A terminal-type device to get media to and from the server and your television or stereo, as evidenced by the AppleTV and AirPort Express.
  • The foundation of library synchronization, as evidenced by the AppleTV again and the Home Sharing feature from iTunes.
  • A fast wireless way to move data, as with AirPort Extreme.
  • The ability to control the hub via web browser, in the style of MobileMe.
  • And an automated way for all the parts to discover each other, in the form of Bonjour.

The key piece missing from Apple’s media array is the centralized hub where potentially hundreds of gigabytes of media are stored and distributed to devices for playback. Technologically inclined homes need the ability to store and organize multiple media libraries belonging to the individuals who live there, and there needs to be an ability to watch or hear different things at multiple locations when they’re wanted.

My vision is to have a device like a tall Mac mini server with 2TB of expandable storage that boots a trimmed-down OS X and media sharing app, similar to what AppleTV does now. The server is a fashionable but discreet box that resides on a desk or in a closet. Start it and forget it. My television is connected to an inexpensive AppleTV-like terminal device that converts 802.11n media streams to HDMI out. In addition, I can also optionally acquire an AirPort Express-like device that turns 802.11n media streams into audio out. All of these pieces find each other and configure themselves using Bonjour. Desktops and notebooks would be terminal devices for media as well. The management interface, advertised over Bonjour, would be accessed through a web browser and resembles iTunes in that it’s function is management of your media library.

When you purchase media using iTunes on your notebook, it synchronizes with the server and presents the option of retaining a local copy. All devices, including iPhones and iPods, have the option of porting selected media around and synchronize over wireless where possible.

Currently, desktops are slowly falling out of favor and are, presumably, used by people for something productive and rarely left running a copy of iTunes for the sole purpose of sharing. Apple’s most popular desktop model, the iMac, comes with an LCD, keyboard, and mouse that would be unnecessary. Notebook hard drives are limited in their capacity to store HD video and the apps and data tech-capable users need. The current AppleTV can’t sync with more than one user library at a time. AirPort Express is an entire wireless access point where only a simple relay is needed.

I assume that Apple is purposely ignoring Blue Ray because they see the future of digital media as being delivered via the Internet through iTunes in a future form. How about giving us a reasonably priced, expandable, more efficient way to enjoy that media, and the media we already have? As I usually state in these situations, surely if I’ve thought of this idea, some engineer at Apple who actually, you know, uses this stuff is working on this project, or has at least brought it up in some meeting, right? What’s stopping it? What am I missing that I see the potential for this setup when Apple may not? If Apple really is part computer systems company and part consumer electronics company, what could better serve to penetrate every crevice of the electronics-heavy consumer home than a central server and lots of simple satellite devices?

Screw your guesswork tablet. Wake me when Apple introduces something big.


“It isn’t so, and never was.”

January 22, 2010

“[The Revolutionary generation] set a high example, and we have much to learn from them. Much recent historical writing has served us ill in that respect. In the late twentieth century, too many scholars tried to make the American past into a record of crime and folly. Too many writers have told us that we are captives of our darker selves and helpless victims of our history. It isn’t so, and never was. The story of Washington’s Crossing tells us that Americans in an earlier generation were capable of acting in a higher spirit – and so are we.”

David Hackett Fischer, Washington’s Crossing, p. 379

I completed this book recently and I wanted to get that quote written down before I forget about it. Having been educated in the 80’s and 90’s when denigrating America’s history and its founders seemed to be in vogue, I was gratified to read Professor Fisher’s conclusion to his very enjoyable book. I’ll make my thoughts about this book the subject of a future blog post.

Professor Fisher has a free lecture about Washington’s Crossing available on iTunes U, but I’m unable to provide a link here because Apple’s iTunes link maker is unable to find it.


Starting over

January 22, 2010

Way back when, I had time and motivation enough to populate my site with real content, which got me a little recognition. It was fun, but then life entered a phase where time and motivation had to be re-prioritized and this site took a back seat to house remodeling, new employment, personal relationships, book reading, and a thousand other small things that fill a person’s life.

A few months ago, life started to settle and my thoughts turned to resurrecting this site. I wasn’t sure how to proceed, but after a little thought and experimentation, here it is. Stay with me. I’ll post at an appropriate frequency and do my best to make it interesting.