macdavid pro

Last week I was excited to learn about Hulu finally releasing an iPhone app. I was always eager to see this happen as I always carried the assumption that the app would be essentially like the desktop experience: free episodes of the current primetime television shows that I love and now available in the palm of my hand–on the go. All good and dandy, so long as you’re willing to pony up and pay for it.

Hulu Plus is apparently an app for “Plus Members” only. In order to view the latest video content one has to sign up for a monthly charge of $9.99…or let’s just say 10 bucks.

Now I was immediately disappointed and dismayed because I was under the impression that the shows were free with the only “cost” of having to view episodes after the actual air date. I thought to myself, “Where in translation did Hulu lose this fabulous idea? I promptly and unequivocally stated in an app store review that (paraphrasing), “If you drop it to $5 dollars or less a month, you might get my business. Until then, I’m deleting this app.”

Afterward I scanned the hundreds (at the time) now thousands of reviews placed for this app and the overwhelming majority asserted a similar resolve: Has Hulu gone quackers!? I’m not paying 10 bucks to watch tv when I can just watch them in real time on television, use NetFlix or even iTunes. I think perhaps Hulu has hit a wall and a big one at that.

Mashable posted a question on their Facebook page asking, “What’s your opinion of Hulu Plus? Is it worth the price?”

Here are a few of the responses to that question.

In all fairness to Hulu and in the name of simply good business, the company has to make money to provide a service. It is most certainly a phenomenally novel idea to provide free current primetime TV content online with limited commercial interruption, but that only brings in so much, I assuming. And for the record, I’m not against a SMALL fee for using Hulu Plus on my iPhone, but I’ll be darned if Hulu thinks I’m gonna shell out 10 bucks a month for what I can get elsewhere on a much larger screen.

Somehow, Hulu must find a way overcome this hurdle or that app will go into the trash bin of app store history. I don’t think that I’m only ono this one. What do you think?

I got an email about a new site that launched called Slangwho, claiming to be a search engine powered by “the people”. Now Business Insider has already sounded off on this and was very generous as well as diplomatic in it’s response to the mysteriousness of this new search engine, providing great details about it. So instead, I’m going to focus on my experience with the site, and let me start with how I first heard about this site. This showed up in my in my email inbox.

I thought, “Okay….?” And I click on the “Slagwho” link. The all black background pops up with the prompt to type in my email address so that I can “start slanging the web”. I became immediately annoyed, closed the window and forgot about it until today. I went back and entered one of my other email addresses to see what happens, and so far nothing. While I did violate one of my social media rules of never entering an email address on a site that just asks for it with no Terms of Service (TOS) link nor info about the site, I wanted to indulge this site to see where it goes. I don’t want to seem harsh but this isn’t an appealing way of getting my attention as a potential user of this legendary search engine–It just seems a bit shady.

Am I wrong in my assessment? Would you trust a site with your email address without having a Terms of Service posted nor any information about the health of the business? I bring this up because should a startup ever get acquired by another business, your information could be up for grabs, and God only knows what will will be done with your information. I mean, I guess I get it: a search engine powered by its users, dubious, but interesting. Also it’s shrouded in darkness, but there’s so much secrecy that it betrays it’s purpose. Make sense?

Add your comments below this post. I’d love to hear what others think.

I just started entertaining the idea of an iPhone case for my future iPhone 4. Did a casual Google search and came across this really neat case on case-mate.com. It evidently has been around for the iPhone 3G/3GS and I’m wishing I knew this earlier. I think it’s a cool for when I don’t want to carry both my wallet and phone because I’m one of those people that constantly does the patting of the pants thing every 30 minutes. No lie. I’m sure people think I’m crazy, but this may cure my ailment. lol

It’s not available right now because it’s temporarily out of stock. Figures, given the pre-order madness for the mobile device and makes me cringe at the thought that we could see lines close to that of June 2007 for the first iPhone. Oy! But I digress.

I give this case 4 out of 5 M’s for what it does, minus one M because I fear it will be slightly bulky.

Here are it’s features (emphasis is based on what I like most):

• Easily fits 2 credit card size items
• Only 2.5 mm thicker than Case-Mate’s award-winning iPhone 4 Barely There case
• iPhone 4 screen protection kit included
• Access to all iPhone 4 ports and controls

If you’re interested in this case as much as I am, you can sign up here to be notified by email when case is available for ordering again. :/

Here is a screen capture I took with Skitch. I hope case-mate.com doesn’t mind.

from case-mate.com.

Say2them.com launched this Wednesday (June 16) and it’s basically a celebrity social media site that allows visitors to fan or troll through to post comments about celebrities they love or hate.

Judging from what I’ve seen so far it seems people wasted no time in the course of two days (as of this post’s publication) to let’em all have it–it being their unedited opinions about celebrities very public mishaps or successes…probably more of the former. Honestly, I wondered for a moment if this is really a good idea or an open public invitation for hundreds or thousands of anonymous’ to have a trolling holiday with celebrity scandals, although that might depend on who they’re commenting about.

Personally, I don’t put much stalk into the lives of the rich and scandalous. Shoot! I’m trying to make my own living…get a little change in my pocket. Can I get an “Amen” or a “Hallelujah” up in here?!

[UPDATED - June 19, 2010]:

I received a recent response from say2them.com in the comments of this post clarifying that they are actually working towards a variety of topics and people, not only in the Hollywood spotlight, but social media and even tech companies.

Thanks for the post! I am trying to keep the chosen celebrity and issues as varied and relevant as possible, so there is something for everyone.

Therefore, I also included categories like politicians, athletes and companies. For example a blogger like you may leave the hollywood commenting to the teenage crowd, but I am sure you have knowledgeable remarks for “Steve Jobs/Apple” or “Google”.

So even if you aren’t interested in what star got busted or forget to wear underwear…there is still definitely a place for you and your friends on the site. And be sure to check back often, because a new person or issues is added every day!

From,
Say2them . com

Anyway post what you think of the site.

Obviously one of these guys here were not apart of Team Edward!

This is a really great development in iPhone OS news. I think I’m most excited about the multitasking more than anything for the iPhone. And it appears that Apple figured out an effective way to do it without too much affect on the battery life.

To reiterate what I said on twitter, I toyed with jumping ship from the iPhone if Apple wasn’t going to bring multitasking to the device. In hindsight, I’m glad I didn’t.

That was nice.

Disclaimer: All of my nagging aside (below), I genuinely like the device and would love to own it for entertainment purposes. But… (cue the rest of this post)

That’s precisely why I don’t want it, It does nothing for me. And based on my personal budget and how it therefore dictates my purchasing privileges, I have to put this fun new shiny toy in it’s rightful category: EXTRANEOUS. It fulfills a space that is already satisfied, singularly and collectively, by my iPhone, MacBook Pro and iMac at home. I’m getting the same feeling I had when the MacBook Air was unvelied: Stale deal. PASS!

Moving on…

I don’t really hold grudges, but I do have that “never again” mentality once I’ve been burned. In fact, this mentality somewhat dictates my overall worldview in life: Take my nice demeanor for granted and you’ll surprisingly get shanked! Watch out! With that said, Apple burned it’s loyal customers (me among them) by randomly dropping the price on what was essentially a fortune for such a small but albeit entertaining and equally UTILITARIAN device (email, calendar, music, camera, video, calculator, contacts, notes, etc)–I was livid with Apple. It was unfair and just flat out WRONG! So never again will I be a first adopter with Apple. And spare me the “that’s just tech” bullsession. Remember this sexy letter of appeasement from the man himself here. Yeah I read that and suddenly I felt like the nation of Israel, and Dubbya Bush was asking me to give up land for peace. What the FRENCH FRY!) So, suffice it to say, WTF! I’m the customer and in my mind I’m right, even if the staunchest tech guru says I’m wrong. I’m right, cause I am. (Circular reasoning is fabulous even when you know it’s fallacious. lol It just feels good!)

Reason two: I don’t know where this device fits into my life based strictly on practicality, or plainly put, need, when it’s already fulfilled in things I already own as stated above. When I want to make a big purchase I ask myself time and time again as I stare at the product, then on the way to the register and while walking out the door, “What dire purpose is this serving and is it worth the cost?” When I apply this basic rubric I find that I save myself a world of unnecessary buyer’s remorse and financial hurt. Therefore, having weighed and tried this sexy new device from Apple, my conclusion is no, I don’t need it.

But let’s get to the real reason for my objection to the device (LOL) if I were to ignore my prior reasons above, and base my purchase on the babyboomer hand-me-down, capitalist indoctrination to: Spend, baby spend for a new entertaining and shiny gadget… (cue drumroll) …on CREDIT! Come, all ye faithful. I compel you to confess, all ye early adopters. You bought that iPad April 3rd on credit in the middle of a recession. Ouch! Too harsh? I joke. Far be it for me to judge…out loud. Look, if it couldn’t be purchased with cash and the item is no bigger than a thick novel (give or take), it probably shouldn’t have been purchased, unless it cures terminal illness (and I speak from experience). Just sayin’.

There are some key features that I would love to have seen in this device but aren’t present. What’s mainly lacking for me is:

• No Camera. I have one word for you, Skype. And that also means no creepy Chat Roulette. lol jk …and that takes me to my next point.
• No Flash or a worthy championing replacement to Flash once and for all, if not a compromise between Adobe and Apple. Furthermore, seeing as how (I’m guessing) 75% of the web and it’s content is Flash dependent, I prefer not to suffer with an expensive device that, well let’s be honest, would primarily wind up being used as just large iPod that provides a lot of viewing pleasure. Oh but wait, forget that. Forget Hulu.com, ABC.com, Crunchyroll.com, and all the other countless flash-based sites that I love, and are technically being pinned into making an exclusive app for the device (which is good and bad). It is good because the iPad will have a dedicated application for each choice of entertainment, but bad because that’s just shady and manipulative–oh wait that latter point is what makes Apple successful. All is forgiven. (JOKES!) But still, I’m addicted to Flash like America loves Saudi oil (and the Saudis love our money). “Hi I’m MacDavid and I’m a Flash addict. (boots i-Gun app) And what?! Say somethin’!!” lol

Do I want one? Well if you can’t detect the implications of my desire for one, then I’ll go ahead and unequivocally say YES, Sherlock! But I just don’t want the one Apple is offering. I want the iPad 4me version. ‘Til then, iPass.

And I know what you’re thinking. “Such a fanboy. You’re just bitter.” Yeah, and so what. It’s my MacParty and iCry if I want to.

Kthanx bye!

Phew! That was cathartic.