Apple’s not much better at graphics than PC’s. In fact, the majority of modern laptops can probably outdo their Apple counterparts at that price-point. Sure, Macs are able to run Garageband and Final Cut HD (only because of OS X, which can be illegitimately put on any computer now), but that doesn’t really give them the ‘graphic-design-edge’ that everyone boasts about. In fact, I find the Windows variants of Flash CS3 and Photoshop CS3 to be much more user-friendly than the OS X variants (similar, but the tiny differences really bug me — windows that drag funny, etc).

Similarly, the Nexus One and Droid phones are written by many columnists to outdo the iPhone 3GS — both in terms of hardware and user experience. But why is it that the iPhone is still capable of surpassing these two phones in sales and popularity? (Granted, the Nexus One is still a ghost.)

photo credit: doommeer

Smart marketing.

It’s not about commercial time. If it were, the Droid would probably be a lot closer to the iPhone. And in fact, I personally find the Droid commercials to be a bit more clever than the iPhone ones.

It’s the simplicity, the physical popularity, the word of mouth, the lack of exposure the Droid has to the non-geek world, and the reputation (or lack of, rather).

The iPhone definitely has a much more interesting ‘one-button’ hook than the Droid would. One-button to do all things. One-button to rule them all. Etc, etc. It’s just funny, and it’s a major selling point — plus, Apple is very well-known for it’s ‘simplicity’ (in fact, OS X is maybe just a bit simpler than Windows, in my opinion).

photo credit: psd

Where do you see a Motorola Droid? Maybe in a Chinese mall, along with those next-level cell phones that only 0.1% of the population takes a note of. You don’t see classmates, friends, colleagues, bosses, or anyone using them. This is also a reason why Blackberry hasn’t been trumped by Apple yet. It’s because of the physical presence that both Blackberries and iPhones have; you see strangers in the mall scrolling with their thumbs, or texting on their QWERTY-keyboards. And maybe one person on a bench, on some phone that looks like an HTC model or a generic brand — nothing to pay attention to.

When the iPhone came out, the world knew about it. Sure, there are people that know about the Droid — but not many. And a lot of them are just…geeks. Enthusiasts. Where the iPhone appealed to fashionstas for its beauty, geeks for its applications (as well as gamers), media freaks for its screen, and insecure people for its popularity, the Droid is only known to geeks. Not your mother, not your sister, not your grandpops. Just geeks. Maybe you, and one or two of your friends. And, to be frank, no one really cares that much about it, because no one’s seen anything that it can do better than the iPhone (when in fact, there is quite a bit that can be shown).

And, lastly, the iPhone’s already proven to be fun to use. It’s proven to be worth its price tag. And its prices are dropping, while specs are rising. In contrast, the Droid is still very new to the market; although a lot of smartphones came before the iPhone, the iPhone is really the phone that brought smartphones to the mainstream crowd — Feist’s song, its clever demonstration of the Shazam app (which really wow-ed my friends when we saw it), and its variety of apps just really makes the phone. Whereas, the Droid (and Android) still has a lot to prove.

photo credit: dailylifeofmojo

I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it’s very difficult to dislodge Apple and the iPhone from their throne. There needs to be a shift — from simple commercials, to different marketing tactics. How about giving away free Droids, to certain people to try? Chanel did that with her perfume — only to a few select exclusive high-end people, for free. That way, when people are looking to see what the rich people are doing, they find that — Lo and Behold, they’re not using the iPhone, but a Droid! It’s only ideas that are out of the box, that will stand a chance against Apple’s iPhone.

Cover image by William Hook: http://www.flickr.com/photos/williamhook/3656233025/

Moblin Video

There’s a revolution starting about (evidence: 1,2). No need to panic, but you might do a double-take: the netbook revolution has started. You might have noticed some “savvy”-looking people carrying around absolutely minuscule laptops/notebooks. I know I did a double-take. But now, the number of these people are starting to grow exponentially — from a 40-year-old housewife (power to the people!) to that businessman in a power suit. Next thing you know, the majority of people will probably have one of these miniature laptops/notebooks — also known as netbooks. In fact, my own parents have considered getting one as of late — and so have I.

photo credit: intdev

My desire for a netbook comes with the thought of convenient computing. Sure, good old powerful computers are still essential for tasks like heavy photo and video editing, gaming, and rendering — however, lighter, more convenient and portable netbooks are appealing for their quick boot speed and simple UI. Because practically everything in a netbook is accessed through the Internet, it’s not really necessary to have a more “complicated” UI like Windows — instead, the netbook’s main functions can all be covered in just a few tabs or menus.

photo credit: Joe Brockmeier

From the video, Moblin looks like a very inviting and warm operating system — I’ve seen some comments directed to it’s UI being too childish for some of the more mature users, but I personally find it quite refreshing. Also, it’s great that Moblin not only provides easy access to the Internet, but also to more specific and specialized features like direct Twitter updates and media players. Moblin shows great promise, and if I ever manage to get my hands on a netbook, I just might have to give it a whirl. If you’re interested in learning more about Moblin, you can visit them at http://moblin.org/.

With an absolute ton of free software like Limewire and websites like Keepvid nowadays, I’ve gotta be blunt: the only reason I can see people turning to Videoraptor — basically one-third of RS Audials’ triangle of software — is its no-spyware guarantee.  It’s up to you whether that’s worth the price.  However, let’s have a closer look at Tunebite and Radiotracker, RS Audials One talk for DRM-Protection breaker and Internet Radio recorder, respectively.

The GUI is a very interesting one: there is a different colour scheme for every piece of software.  There is a uniquely shaped window, and three tabs on the side for Radiotracker, Videoraptor, and Tunebite.  The tabs are links to the program, which then opens up on the main side of the screen.  An interesting, unique layout — although it does take a while to load.

Tunebite was impressive.  I was a bit skeptical about how well it would work initially: although it wasn’t able to convert SpiralFrog’s .wma files, it was able to crack one of iTunes’ .m4p files into a 256kbps .mp3 file.  Unfortunately, Tunebite’s video converting function didn’t work as smoothly as its audio conversion: I tried converting a .m4v video I purchased off iTunes, and although it captured audio perfectly, only a few random frames of the video were caught — although I will mention that this could likely be due to the fact that I didn’t pay much attention to the configuration it told me to change in iTunes.  In my defense, that dialog box never popped back up, so I wasn’t able to discover what needed to be fixed or altered.

Arguably, the most interesting part of RS Audials One has to be Radiotracker.  Radiotracker basically allows you to input an artist, album, or song that you want to record from Internet radio streams.  Radiotracker will then scan over a couple of thousand of radio stations (my average use had around 3,400).  This is perfectly legal: however, it does take a good while longer to find the tracks that you want.  Radiotracker was generally every accurate about when to start and stop recording — on occasion, it would have ended too late or cut off too early, but those are just minor mishaps that can be easily fixed.

For $69.99, I’ll admit RS Audials One is a bit of a stretch.  For a less illegal version of Limewire, an arguably mediocre DRM-breaker, and an impressive radio-recording piece of software, I think RS Audials One can be skipped and you could consider Radiotracker on its own for $39.90 (still a bit expensive, no?).  As for the RS Audials website, I know it looks a bit sketchy, but it’s quite helpful in regards to sales information.