[CM] Apple's older products could use some improvement too

From	RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com>
Newsgroups	comp.misc, comp.sys.mac.advocacy
Subject	[CM] Apple's older products could use some improvement too
Followup-To	comp.sys.mac.advocacy
Date	2014-05-08 13:57 +0000
Organization	solani.org
Message-ID	<lkg2fr$6kp$1@solani.org> (permalink)

Cross-posted to 2 groups.

Followups directed to: comp.sys.mac.advocacy

Show all headers | View raw

From the «escape via airport» department:
Title: While everyone wants the next Apple blockbuster, old product categories need fresh new ideas too
Author: Geoffrey Goetz
Date: Wed, 07 May 2014 13:00:19 -0400
Link: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OmMalik/~3/aAtCFZN9NBQ/
Podcast Download URL: http://gigaom2.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/what-is-possible-today-with-airport-devices.png

Tim Cook and Apple keep talking about entering into new product categories[1]
. Analysts and the media alike have been going wild with speculation on what
that means. But what about categories that Apple already has products in?

I’m talking about Apple products that some of us use every day but really are
not all that exciting to talk about. Products that if done right could help
usher in a new era of making cloud-based services more personal and closer to
home.

Debuting on July 21, 1999 at Macworld New York[2], the first Airport Base
Station brought Wi-Fi into the home the Apple way. Since that time, the
Airport has added improved security, the ability to share files and back up
your computer, connect printers to your network, and even stream music
throughout your house. But is that enough? The following are a few examples
on how Apple can catch up and perhaps surpass other products similar to the
Airport by doing thing’s Apple’s way:

[image 3]

AirPrint printers, AirPlay music and AirDisk drives

The Airport lineup of devices[4] has an odd mixture of capabilities. The
Airport Express, for instance, behaves more like the Apple TV in some
respects as it can bring both digital and analog audio streaming to any home
theatre component or speaker system by using AirPlay[5]. This ability however
is limited to the Airport Express as both the Extreme and Time Capsule do not
have an audio out port. Unlike the Apple TV, the Airport Express can serve as
a wireless router, Wi-Fi extender, or network access point bringing an
Ethernet connection to any spot in your house, behaving more like the Airport
Extreme and Time Capsule.

Then there is the USB port[6]. The USB port on the Airport Express is for
printers only while the USB port on both the Airport Extreme and Time Capsule
is for both printers and USB hard drives. When you connect a printer to the
USB port it turns the printer into a network printer, not an AirPrint
printer. When you connect a hard drive to the USB port it turns it into
Network Attached Storage. By default and using only Apple technologies,
neither is accessible to iOS devices.

It would be great if all of the Airport devices could allow both OS X and iOS
devices alike to access any printer via AirPrint, any sound systems via
AirPlay, and any attached storage device via AirDisk.

Back to my iOS personal cloud

Time Capsule comes equipped with either a 2TB or 3TB internal hard drive.
This hard drive can be used as Network Attached Storage[7] or as a sharable
Time Machine backup drive[8] for OS X. While any OS X device can access the
hard drive[9] within the Time Capsule, it takes third-party apps to access
the drive from any iOS device. And only OS X can access this drive remotely
over the internet[10] by using iCloud’s Back to My Mac[11] feature. No iOS
device can access this personal cloud storage locally or across the internet.

Another great feature of currently available with Back to My Mac is its
ability to share screens between OS X devices[12]. With OS X it is possible
to use this feature to access your Mac, using another Mac, from across the
internet. To do so from an iOS device you will have to use a third-party app[13]
, and you won’t be using Back to My Mac.

Apple can change all of this by making Back to My Mac work for both OS X and
iOS, allowing devices running either operating system capable of accessing
the drive within a Time Capsule, as well as access any screen connected to
its network.

Time Capsule for iOS backups and update files

With iOS devices, there are two options for backing up[14], either use iTunes
on your Mac or PC, or use iCloud. The advantage that backing up to iTunes is
that you can utilize third-party apps to gain access to your device’s backup
history[15]. It is not nearly as slick or user-friendly as Apple’s own Time
Machine, but it could be if Apple wanted it to be.

Time Capsule devices could take things one step further by downloading local
update files for your OS X and iOS devises. Having a single copy of each
update file for the devices you use on your local network would certainly cut
down on network update times, and could provide for faster recovery times
when you have to restore from backup.

Faster updates and a way to access iOS backups stored locally on your network
would help bring what makes Time Machine a valuable part of OS X to iOS
devices.

iTunes server on the internet

Having your music library stored on your computer[5] and available via iTunes
through Home Sharing requires you to leave it on all of the time[16]. Not
only that, but it can require a lot of storage space depending on how big
your music library is, and how many movies and television episodes you own.
With desktops already being replaced by laptops, and laptops starting to
be replaced by tablets[17], and everything moving to memory-based storage
like flash drives and SSDs, the amount of free space one has is actually
shrinking rather than growing.

Storing your iTunes Media library on your Time Capsule makes sense given that
it is one of the few devices that Apple sells with a hard drive. Especially
if you can share access to your library directly from the Time Capsule. Using
Apple’s own iTunes Home Sharing[18] technology, the Time Capsule can be used
to stream audio and video to authorized devices on your network.

Once your music library is stored on a Time Capsule, and once the Time
Capsule becomes accessible over the internet to iOS devices through iCloud’s
Back to My Mac technology, then it should be easy to access your music
library from across the internet[19]. It would effectively use something like
Home Sharing when you are away.

[image 20]

Most of what is necessary to create a media based network appliance that can
be used both at home and over the internet is already there. The market for
the home based personal cloud[21] has emerged just enough for Apple to see
what works and what doesn’t work. The key technologies are just not exposed
across the board to both iOS and OS X devices alike. Having such a central
hub for all of your media, files, backups and updates for all of your Apple
devices is likely to become more popular as we move away from the era of
desktop computing[22].
[image 23]

[image 25][24]

Related research and analysis from Gigaom Research:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial[26].

* Development strategies for the app-developer community[27]
* A demographic and business model analysis of today’s app developer[28]
* How mobile will disrupt the living room in 2014[29]

[image 31][30][image 32]

Links:
[1]: https://gigaom.com/2014/02/07/tim-cook-says-apple-bought-back-14b-in-stock-is-working-on-new-categories/ (link)
[2]: http://everystevejobsvideo.com/original-ibook-airport-halo-introduction-macworld-ny-1999/ (link)
[3]: http://gigaom2.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/airport-models.png?w=708&h=351 (image)
[4]: http://www.apple.com/compare-wifi-models/ (link)
[5]: http://gigaom.com/2014/01/18/how-to-set-up-multiroom-audio-with-airplay-speakers-and-itunes/ (link)
[6]: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2421 (link)
[7]: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5924 (link)
[8]: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1175 (link)
[9]: http://support.apple.com/kb/PH13779 (link)
[10]: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1552 (link)
[11]: http://www.apple.com/support/icloud/back-to-my-mac/ (link)
[12]: http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14148 (link)
[13]: http://gigaom.com/2014/05/03/how-to-turn-your-ipad-into-a-desktop-with-these-remote-access-apps/ (link)
[14]: http://gigaom.com/2012/04/20/quick-tip-backing-up-ios-to-icloud-and-itunes-simultaneously/ (link)
[15]: http://gigaom.com/2014/04/26/how-to-recover-lost-contacts-on-ios-and-prevent-it-from-happening-again/ (link)
[16]: http://gigaom.com/2010/12/03/insomnimac-whats-keeping-your-mac-up-at-night/ (link)
[17]: http://gigaom.com/2014/02/08/how-to-replace-your-old-computer-with-a-new-ipad/ (link)
[18]: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3819 (link)
[19]: http://gigaom.com/2014/04/19/choosing-the-best-cloud-based-music-app-on-ios-for-your-cd-music-library/ (link)
[20]: http://gigaom2.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/what-is-possible-today-with-airport-devices.png?w=708&h=459 (image)
[21]: http://gigaom.com/2014/03/01/how-to-set-up-your-own-personal-home-cloud-storage-system/ (link)
[22]: https://gigaom.com/2012/04/28/apples-inevitable-path-to-a-post-pc-era/ (link)
[23]: http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=gigaom.com&blog=14960843&post=839456&subd=gigaom2&ref=&feed=1 (image)
[24]: http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?iu=/1008864/Gigaom_RSS_300x250&sz=300x250&c=433513 (link)
[25]: http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ad?iu=/1008864/Gigaom_RSS_300x250&sz=300x250&c=433513 (image)
[26]: http://research.gigaom.com/?utm_source=appleutm_medium=editorial&utm_campaign=auto3&utm_term=839456+while-everyone-wants-the-next-apple-blockbuster-old-product-categories-need-fresh-new-ideas-too&utm_content=ggeoffre (link)
[27]: http://pro.gigaom.com/2012/09/a-demographic-and-business-model-analysis-of-todays-app-developer/?utm_source=appleutm_medium=editorial&utm_campaign=auto3&utm_term=839456+while-everyone-wants-the-next-apple-blockbuster-old-product-categories-need-fresh-new-ideas-too&utm_content=ggeoffre (link)
[28]: http://research.gigaom.com/report/a-demographic-and-business-model-analysis-of-todays-app-developer/?utm_source=appleutm_medium=editorial&utm_campaign=auto3&utm_term=839456+while-everyone-wants-the-next-apple-blockbuster-old-product-categories-need-fresh-new-ideas-too&utm_content=ggeoffre (link)
[29]: http://research.gigaom.com/report/mobile-disruption-in-the-living-room-in-2014/?utm_source=appleutm_medium=editorial&utm_campaign=auto3&utm_term=839456+while-everyone-wants-the-next-apple-blockbuster-old-product-categories-need-fresh-new-ideas-too&utm_content=ggeoffre (link)
[30]: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/OmMalik?a=aAtCFZN9NBQ:da4Dg_BfFik:yIl2AUoC8zA (link)
[31]: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/OmMalik?d=yIl2AUoC8zA (image)
[32]: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OmMalik/~4/aAtCFZN9NBQ (image)

Back to comp.misc | Previous | Next | Find similar | Unroll thread

Thread

[CM] Apple's older products could use some improvement too RS Wood  <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-05-08 13:57 +0000

csiph-web